3 Nephi 28

“What would you want from me after I’ve gone to my Father?” Jesus Christ asked each of his disciples, one by one.

Nine of them said, “We’d like to come quickly to heaven after we’ve finished our lives and completed our ministry.”

“You are blessed,” said Jesus Christ, “for having desired this thing from me. After you are 72 years old you may come to my kingdom and find rest.”

“And what do you want after I’m gone?” he asked of the other three disciples.

The three hesitated, afraid to ask him for what they really wanted.

“I know your thoughts,” Jesus Christ stated. “You want the same thing that my beloved friend John, who helped me with my ministry among the Jews, also wanted. You are even more blessed. You will never die, but will live to see all the works of my Father that will be performed among men, from now until judgment day, when I will come again in glory with all the powers of heaven. Between now and then you shall live as immortals. But when I do come again, you will be transformed in an instant from mortal to immortal. Then you will be blessed and received in the kingdom of my Father.

“From now until judgment day you will know no pain or sorrow except for the sins of the world. I will do this for you because you have wanted it from me, and because you want to bring me the souls of men while the world still stands. In the end you will sit down in the kingdom of my Father and be filled with joy. You will be with me just as I am with my Father, with whom I am one. The Holy Ghost witnesses the relationship of my Father and me, and my Father gives the Holy Ghost to men because of me.”

When Jesus Christ finished speaking he touched the first nine of his disciples with his finger and then he departed. The sky opened and the disciples were lifted up into heaven where they saw and heard things that they were forbidden to reveal. They were transformed in spirit in order to behold the presence of God.

I do not know whether they were mortal or immortal thereafter but I do know that they returned to the earth and ministered to all the people. They brought all who would believe their preaching into the church. Many were baptized and all of these people received the Holy Ghost.

When they were thrown into prison by those who didn’t believe, the prisons couldn’t hold them, and were broken apart. When they were thrown into pits in the earth they were delivered from their depths with the word of God. When they were thrown into furnaces they were not burned. When they were thrown into dens of vicious beasts they played with the beasts like children with lambs.

They went forth among the Nephites and preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to people all across the land. Many were converted to God and united into the Church of Christ. The people of that generation were blessed, just as Jesus Christ had said they would be.

I, Mormon, am nearly finished speaking of these things. I was prepared to write the names of the three who lived immortally among men, but God forbade me to do so. They are to remain hidden among other men. But I have seen them, and they have ministered to me. They will be among the Gentiles in the future, but the Gentiles will not know who they are.

The time will come when God will have them minister to all the scattered tribes of Israel, all of the nations, and all of the people of the earth. They will bring many souls to Jesus Christ because of the strong persuasive power of God that is in them. They are like angels of God who can appear instantly to anyone they want to visit with. Amazing things will be performed by them before judgment day, when all people will stand before Jesus Christ to be judged.

If you read the scriptures you will surely know that the amazing works of Jesus Christ will surely come to pass. Pity on those who do not listen to the words of Jesus Christ or to those he has sent out among the people to speak on his behalf. Whoever rejects the words of Jesus Christ will not receive his mercy on judgment day. It would be better for them if they had never been born. Do you imagine that you could ever free yourself from the justice of an offended God, and find salvation after trampling him beneath your feet?

I have asked God about the three immortals to learn more of their physical nature. He told me that their bodies have been changed to keep them free from death, from pain, and from sorrow, except the sorrow they know from the sins of the world. This change is different from the change that will take place on judgment day, but they have been changed in such a way that Satan cannot tempt them. They were sanctified in the flesh so that they are free from the powers of the world. They will remain this way until judgment day, when they will receive an even greater change and be received into the kingdom of God, to live eternally in heaven.