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CHELSEA - Will women also teach the people in spirit prison or is that just for the men?
JOEL - In the vision President Joseph F. Smith had about preaching to those in Spirit Prison he reports:
"And as I wondered, my eyes were opened, and my understanding quickened, and I perceived that the Lord went not in person among the wicked and the disobedient who had rejected the truth, to teach them;
But behold, from among the righteous, he organized his forces and appointed messengers, clothed with power and authority, and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness, even to fall the spirits of men; and thus was the gospel preached to the dead.
I beheld that the faithful elders of this dispensation, when they depart from mortal life, continue their labors in the preaching of the gospel of repentance and redemption, through the sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son of God, among those who are in darkness and under the bondage of sin in the great world of the spirits of the dead." (D&C 138:29, 30, 57)
From these scriptures it appears that those who are sent to preach are "clothed with power and authority" and are "the faithful elders of this dispensation", which would obviously refer to the men. But this probably just means that the missionary work is conducted under the authority of the priesthood the same as it is here on earth. If women can be missionaries here on earth, why not in heaven as well? President Joseph F. Smith seems to agree.
In Section 138 he also mentions women who he saw assembled in the Spirit World:
"And our glorious Mother Eve, with many of her faithful daughters who had lived through the ages and worshiped the true and living God."(D&C 138:39)
He then offers this opinion about the role of women in the Spirit World:
"Now, among all these millions of spirits that have lived on the earth and
have passed away, from generation to generation, since the beginning of the
world, without the knowledge of the gospel -- among them you may count that at
least one-half are women. Who is going to preach the gospel to the women? Who
is going to carry the testimony of Jesus Christ to the hearts of the women who
have passed away without a knowledge of the gospel? Well, to my mind, it is a
simple thing. These good sisters who have been set apart, ordained to the
work, called to it, authorized by the authority of the Holy Priesthood to
minister for their sex, in the House of God for the living and for the dead,
will be fully authorized and empowered to preach the gospel and minister to
the women while the elders and prophets are preaching it to the men.
(Gospel Doctrine: Sermons and Writings of Joseph F. Smith, 6th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Chapter 24)
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