For members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, section 76 of the Doctrine and Covenants is central to our understanding of our lives into the eternities. Latter-day Saints believe in a resurrection of the body, a final judgment, and finally a life eternally in a kingdom of glory for all but the vilest of sinners and most rebellious against God the Eternal Father.

These kingdoms comprise, in very broad terms, the Celestial (for the most valiant), the Terrestrial (for good people who aren’t prepared to sacrifice everything for Christ), and the Telestial (for everyone else). That’s a snapshot of D&C 76.

But look at little deeper into section 76 and there is something really curious about the description of those who will inhabit the Telestial world – something I don’t recall ever hearing anyone speak about.

The very first description of those who will dwell throughout eternity in the Telestial kingdom are, ‘…they who received not the gospel of Christ, neither the testimony of Jesus.’ (D&C 76:82)

We might be inclined to read this as being those who refused religion, or at least refused Christianity. Or potentially, if you’re a member of the LDS church (or any other church that claims to be the only true church), those who refused to join the LDS church. But a few verses later we get more detail on this group:

‘… these are they who are of Paul, and of Apollos, and of Cephas. These are they who say they are some of one and some of another—some of Christ and some of John, and some of Moses, and some of Elias, and some of Esaias, and some of Isaiah, and some of Enoch; But received not the gospel, neither the testimony of Jesus, neither the prophets, neither the everlasting covenant.’ (D&C 76:99-101)

If we stop and really think about this, the first thing we can see clearly is that everyone included in this group is religious. Those who follow Paul, Apollos¹, Peter (Cephas), John and Christ are all christian. The remainder are all believers in the Old Testament at least. So every single qualification for the Telestial kingdom – remember, the lowest kingdom apart from the truly and fully evil individuals – are bible believers.

This, to me, is fascinating, and should make every one of us who believes the word of God as contained in the Bible (and other scripture) stop and think. It should cause each of us some really deep self-reflection.

If you’ve been an active member of the LDS church for a long time, you will have known people who love to read the words of particular general leaders of the Church. Joseph Fielding Smith, Neal A Maxwell, Bruce R McConkie, and Jeffrey R Holland have all been extremely popular in their respective time periods. Don’t get me wrong, if any given person explains the messages of the scriptures in a way that resonates with you there is of course nothing wrong in seeking out their sermons and teachings. But there can be a fine line between holding a particular respect for the way someone teaches the gospel and ‘prophet-worship’. That the Lord points out that there are followers of specific religious leaders in the Telestial realm suggests that His people often cross that line.

Back in the 80s, when I was a teen, a very popular saying was that Elder McConkie had been born for the specific purpose of teaching doctrine, including playing a key role in producing the Bible Dictionary of the scriptures produced by the Church. In many ways, he was set up as something of a light doctrinally – if Bruce R McConkie said it, it must be true. He was quoted extensively in talks and in lessons, including in official Church material.

Of course, in hindsight we can now see that his writings were a product of the time in which he lived. Many of the things he taught – most notably about blacks never receiving the Priesthood and the Catholic Church literally being the Great and Abominable church spoken of in Nephi – have since been disavowed by the Church, and his seminal work, Mormon Doctrine (reviewed by the First Presidency before publication), now difficult to get hold of.

None of that is a fundamental criticism of the Church or of Elder McConkie. It simply further evidences the fact that we can’t rely on the arm of the flesh. Ever. Every single mortal, including prophets and apostles, will be wrong at least occasionally – even, or perhaps especially, when they themselves tell us otherwise. We’re to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, not the mouth of a mortal man. (Deuteronomy 8:3, Matthew 4:4)

There are things the Church teaches today – even officially – that the Church itself will disavow in the future. That is the pattern of the past.

I’ve recently written several posts about the importance of avoiding deception, including – and here we should perhaps say especially – within our own religious traditions. One of the keys to avoiding deception that I identified was a willingness to be wrong about anything we believe. This is the only way we can have our false traditions be corrected through study and through the Holy Ghost. Our false traditions otherwise become Iron Gates².

D&C 76 contains one more descriptive verse about those who will inhabit the Telestial kingdom: ‘These are they who are liars, and sorcerers³, and adulterers, and whoremongers, and whosoever loves and makes a lie.’ (D&C 76:103)

Okay, so we have some pretty good descriptions of those who will inhabit this Telestial kingdom. The first is that they are religious, specifically believing in the Bible⁴. Right, so that could be any of us.

We next have some further definitions in two parts, which include:

Part 1

• Received not the gospel
• Received not the testimony of Jesus
• Received not the testimony of the prophets
• Received not the everlasting covenant

Part 2

• Liars
• Sorcerers³
• Adulterers
• Whoremongers
• Whosoever loves and make a lie

I’m not going to go into detail on each of these definitions because it would make the post absurdly long. Maybe I’ll describe some of them further in future posts. But a few comments are worth making.

First, it’s interesting to me that, ‘…they who received not the gospel of Christ, neither the testimony of Jesus…’ is repeated in verses 82 and 101. Repetition in the scriptures means emphasis.

Remember, this group of people are those who believe the Bible, many are Christian. So we learn here that many people who follow prophets and apostles haven’t received the actual gospel of Christ or the testimony of Jesus. Prophets and apostles, at least in the LDS church, are supposed to be special witnesses of Jesus, making this even more curious.

Of course, Peter, Paul, and John are all genuine apostles and witnesses of the resurrected Christ. Yet many of those who follow them haven’t received the gospel or the testimony of Jesus. The fault here, doesn’t appear to lie with the apostles and prophets. No, we mustn’t rely on the arm of the flesh – even prophets and apostles – but in this case, it’s not their fault their followers haven’t received the true gospel.

The problem is with their followers themselves. With the people. With you and with me. Because a true prophet or apostle doesn’t say, ‘Follow me.’ He says, ‘Follow Christ.’ He doesn’t say, ‘Believe what I tell you.’ He says, ‘Go to God directly and get your own witness from Him.’ A true prophet doesn’t say, ‘Do what I tell you.’ He says, ‘Do what the Lord tells you.’ In this case, the followers aren’t getting this message, even if the prophets are giving it.

A true prophet leads you to God and to His son Jesus Christ. He will probably tell you many other things as well, like, ‘Love your neighbour’. In Moses’s day, the command to spread the blood of lambs on the posts of their house doors in Egypt was essential for the firstborn of each household to live. But what Moses ultimately tried to do was lead the children of Israel up the mountain so they could have their own relationship directly with Jehovah. But they preferred to carry on relying upon Moses instead and missed the mark (see Jacob 4:14).

When the Lord, through Joseph Smith, tells us about this experience of Moses and the children of Israel, He is warning the Church that the same will happen to them unless they repent (D&C 84:23-25, 55-56). The Church and its members didn’t repent and there is every indication that history repeated itself.

If we believe what the Lord tells us in D&C 76 about those who will inhabit the Telestial Kingdom in the eternities, we have to accept that there will be people there who will have read and studied the words of every General Conference talk and sought to follow them. Maybe they have purchased all the books by General Authorities from Deseret Book and studied those. They probably followed the ‘Come Follow Me’ study guides produced by the Church. Yet in doing all of these things, …they … received not the gospel of Christ, neither the testimony of Jesus…’. 

What a tragedy!

Do you believe D&C 76? Do you believe what it says about those who followed true prophets and apostles, but who will end up in the Telestial Kingdom because they wouldn’t receive the true gospel?

I hope so, because recognising that we might be fatally flawed in our beliefs – no matter how committed we are to the Church or its leaders⁵ – is essential if we are to repent and turn to the One who truly can save us. To receive His gospel, and to receive Him – Jesus Christ. Yes, we need to listen to those who teach of Him, but at the same time we need to forget them, ignore them – they’re not important except for pointing us to Him.

© Copyright Jeffrey Collyer 2026

1. Apollos was a first-century Jewish Christian mentioned several times in the New Testament.
2. See my post about this and the talk by Elder Uchtdorf
3. A fascinating point about ‘sorcery’ in the Bible is the Greek word for it is pharmakeus, which you will immediately note is the root of our modern word pharmacy and pharmaceutical. One of its literal meanings is ‘poisoner’. It’s not difficult to see the pharmaceutical industry within this as so many modern drugs appear designed to foster lifetime dependence and often have terrible adverse effects. Much of the modern food industry – especially the ultra-processed foods, which make up the majority of what we buy and eat from supermarkets – also falls into this category. While many people ridicule D&C 89, what is referred to as the Word of Wisdom, the following line from that revelation is 100% spot on prophetic for our day: ‘In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn you….’ (D&C 89:4)
4. I’m not suggesting that only those who believe in the Bible will end up in the Telestial kingdom. The Lord is here addressing members of the LDS church, so I believe the message is tailored to that group.
5. Or maybe, especially if we are committed to the Church and its leaders