I [Joseph Smith] told you in my letter before leaving that I'd write you from time to time.
So now I'll tell you some more about baptizing dead people. 128:1
Sometime before the world began, the Lord decided to save people who didn't hear the gospel while they were alive by baptizing them after they were dead. 128:5
When Jesus said, "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound int heaven, etc."
what he really meant was (if translated properly), "Whatever you record on earth shall be recorded in heaven, etc." 128:8
The baptismal font was made to look like a grave, as Paul declared in 1 Corinthians 15:46-47. 128:13
If you are to be saved, dead people must also be saved. As Paul said,
"Dead people can't be made perfect without us, and we can't be made perfect without dead people." 128:15
I could make a better translation of this verse [Malachi 4:5-6] , but you get the idea.
It's enough to know that God plans to smite the earth with a curse - unless there's a link of some kind between fathers and children.
And that something is the baptism of dead people.
Because we can't be made perfect without dead people, and dead people can't be made perfect without us.
Also the end times won't come unless we baptize dead people. 128:18
What do we hear from the gospel?
Glad tidings for dead people.
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring glad tidings. 128:19
So what do we hear? Glad tidings from Cumorah!
The angel Moroni revealing a new book to be published.
The voice of the Lord in Fayette, Seneca County with three men who saw the book.
Michael on the banks of the Susquehanna with a devil detector.
Peter, James and John somewhere between Harmony, Susquehanna county, and Colesville, Broome county, on the Susquehanna River with the keys to the kingdom. 128:20
And again, the voice of God in old Father Whitmer's room in Fayette, Seneca County.
The voices of Michael, Gabriel, and Rphael the Archangels and other angels. 128:21
Go forward, not backward. On to victory!
Let the earth start singing and dead people start talking. 128:22
Shout for joy, you mountains, valleys, seas, dry lands, rivers, woods, and trees.
And you rocks, weep for joy.
Sun, moon, and start - start singing. 128:23
The Lord's great day is nearly here.
He's like fuller's soap.
Let's finish this temple an put the records of the dead people that we've baptized in it. 128:24
I have a lot more to say, but I'll save it for later.
I'm your humble servant, Joseph Smith. 128:25
