| Menu |
Joseph Fielding Smith Jr. (10th prophet):
Neither will the work in the spirit world be carried on exclusively by the men holding the Priesthood. The sisters who have made covenant with the Lord and who have received blessings and power in the temples will also have much to do in that work. This was made very clear by President Smith at the funeral of Sister Mary A. Freeze, when he said:
'Now, among all these millions of spirits that have lived on the earth and have passed away, from generation to generation, since the beginning of the world, without the knowledge of the Gospel -- among them you may count that at least one-half are women. Who is going to preach the Gospel to the women? who is going to carry the testimony of jesus Christ to the hearts of the women who have passed away without a knowledge of the Gospel? Well, to my mind, it is a simple thing. These good sisters who have been set apart, ordained to the work, called to it, authorized by the authority of the Holy Priesthood to minister for their sex, in the House of God for the living and for the dead, will be fully authorized and empowered to preach the Gospel and minister to the women while the elders and prophets are preaching it to the men. The things we experience here are typical of the things of God, and the life beyond us.'
Source: Smith, Joseph Fielding. The Way to Perfection: Short Discourses on Gospel Themes, 9th ed. Salt Lake City: Genealogical Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1951. 320.