EXALTATION AND THE MILLENNIUM

The restored gospel provides a comforting message regarding all those who are born with mental handicaps. President Joseph Fielding Smith put it this way: “Mentally deficient persons, those who are incompetent of understanding, are classed among those who are redeemed as little children through the Atonement of our Savior.”

In the Encyclopedia of Mormonism by Daniel Ludlow we read: “Latter-day Saints believe in the ‘infinite and eternal power of the Atonement, that it will bring to all mankind an end to the basic effects of the Fall of Adam: it automatically forgives the sins of those who are…children under the age of eight, or mentally handicapped.”

This is from Dr. Alonzo Gaskill, a frequent presenter at BYU education week and assistant professor of Church History and Doctrine at BYU: “It seems reasonable to me that if one who has a mental handicap is on an intellectual level of someone less than eight years of age, that person, upon death will also be exalted ….guaranteed!... In fact an incredibly large number of Father’s children will be exalted in the celestial kingdom.

The Millennium will play a significant role in the number of those exalted. Why? Because so many will be born during that thousand year period when Satan is bound and righteousness reigns.
From the book, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, by Bruce R. McConkie we hear: “More people will live on earth during the Millennium than in all prior ages combined, many times over.”