“The Adulterous in Heart Will Deny the Faith and Be Cast into the Lake of Fire”
Doctrine and Covenants 63:13–19
13 Nevertheless, I give commandments, and many have turned away from my commandments and have not kept them.
14 There were among you adulterers and adulteresses; some of whom have turned away from you, and others remain with you that hereafter shall be revealed.
15 Let such beware and repent speedily, lest judgment shall come upon them as a snare, and their folly shall be made manifest, and their works shall follow them in the eyes of the people.
16 And verily I say unto you, as I have said before, he that looketh on a woman to lust after her, or if any shall commit adultery in their hearts, they shall not have the Spirit, but shall deny the faith and shall fear.
17 Wherefore, I, the Lord, have said that the fearful, and the unbelieving, and all liars, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie, and the whoremonger, and the sorcerer, shall have their part in that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
18 Verily I say, that they shall not have part in the first resurrection.
19 And now behold, I, the Lord, say unto you that ye are not justified, because these things are among you.
President Joseph Fielding Smith wrote:
“‘Nevertheless,’ the Lord has said, ‘I give commandments, and many have turned away from my commandments and have not kept them’ [D&C 63:13]. Immorality was made manifest among some who had joined the Church. Evidently these thought they could hide their sins from the leaders of the Church, but some of them were discovered. Others were to be discovered, for they were known unto the Lord and their evil practices could not be hid. Of these the Lord said, ‘Let such beware and repent . . . , lest judgment shall come upon them as a snare, and their folly . . . shall follow them in the eyes of the people’ [D&C 63:15]. Not only are men to be judged because of their evil deeds, but for the evil thoughts of their minds. Therefore the Lord repeated the warning which He gave in His sermon on the mount. ‘And verily I say unto you, as I have said before, he that looketh [on] a woman to lust after her, or if any shall commit adultery in their hearts, they shall not have the Spirit, but shall deny the faith and shall fear’ [D&C 63:16].
“One of the outstanding evidences of the truth of this latter-day work is the fact that those who are unclean and guilty of immoral conduct will, if they repent not, in time deny the faith. It is this class also which seeks after signs. The Lord said to the Jews who sought a sign: ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas’ (Matt. 12:39; see also 1 Cor. 6:9). This sin stands in the sight of God second only to murder [see Alma 39:5] and denying the Holy Ghost. Those who are guilty and do not repent in a short time become fault-finders, criticizing their brethren, then the principles of the gospel, and finally become bitter in their souls against the work and those who are engaged in it. The most bitter opponents of the Church and the gospel many times have been proved to be immoral and leading unclean lives. The Prophet Joseph Smith has said: ‘Whenever you see a man seeking after a sign you may set it down that he is an adulterous man’ [History of the Church, 3:385].
“‘Wherefore, I, the Lord, have said that the fearful, and the unbelieving, and all liars, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie, and the whoremonger, and the sorcerer, shall have their part in [that] lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death’ [D&C 63:17].”
(Church History and Modern Revelation, 2 vols. [1953], 1:230–31.)
