From his book ‘Following Christ,’ Stephen E. Robinson wrote:
. . . . So the great divide between the saved and the unsaved, between those who inherit the kingdom and those who do not, between those who are right with God and those who are not, isn’t just who is “good” and who is “bad,” for technically speaking we are all bad in some degree (Romans 3:23; Mosiah 2:21). Rather, the great divide is whether we accept or reject the covenant with the Savior Jesus Christ, the only being in eternity who can make us innocent by incorporating us into his infinite, perfect, and sinless self. And this great divide is crossed when we first make the covenant to enter the Church of Jesus Christ. Since Christ is already in the kingdom of God, when we come unto him we also of necessity come into it.
What I want to emphasize in this regard ought to be self-evident, but apparently a lot of us miss it. For members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, these critical steps, which are equivalent to entering the kingdom, are already behind us. They are history. Therefore we are not waiting for what some future verdict will decide. If we are in the covenant, the verdict is already in, and so are we. Since having faith, repenting, being baptized, and receiving the Holy Ghost all take place before we are counted members of the Church, those who are already members in good faith are already in the kingdom. We are in it now. For most of the readers of this book, the glorious threshold has already been crossed, and the doors of the kingdom have already closed gently behind us! If we are truly in his church, then we are truly in his kingdom.3
Yet many Latter-day Saints who already believe in Christ, have already begun their repentance, have already been baptized, and have received the gift of the Holy Ghost—in short, have already entered into the covenant—many of these people continue to think and act as though the determination of whether they are in or out of the kingdom; saved or damned; celestial, terrestrial, or telestial is somehow still in the future. They have been influenced by the common traditions of the world. Too many saints see their mortal lives in the Church as a kind of porch or anteroom outside the kingdom doors. If they work hard enough in this life, they feel, the doors will eventually open up and admit them at some future time. Horsefeathers! Having been handed the good news of salvation, these people decline to open the envelope but continue to twist in the wind, wondering from day to day if they are “good enough” to qualify for what they, in fact already possess. They are like defendants in a court case who have been found innocent but who weren’t paying attention when the verdict was read and somehow missed it. So hours later they are still sitting alone in the courtroom, ringing their hands and praying for acquittal—long after the judge and jury have rendered their verdict and gone home.
Those members who think their place in the kingdom is not yet established either did not enter the Church in good faith in the first place or else came to Christ honestly but did not understand what happened when they believed, repented, were baptized, and received the gift of the Holy Ghost—that they passed through the strait and narrow gate and now stand, conditionally, in the kingdom of God. There is more to be done but we are through the gate. The gate was faith, repentance, and baptism: For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water (2 Nephi 31:17). As the Lord revealed to Emma Smith through the Prophet Joseph, “All those who receive my gospel are sons and daughters in my kingdom” (Doctrine and Covenants 25:1, emphasis added). And God cannot lie. ~Stephen E. Robinson (deceased), Following Christ (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1995, this from a Dwarsligger® edition) 239-42
