"And thus we can plainly discern, that after a people have been once enlightened by the Spirit of God, and have had great knowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and then have fallen away into sin and transgression, they become more hardened, and thus their state becomes worse than though they had never known these things."
Sadly, I have seen that this is true by watching loved ones make this mistake. You cannot walk on neutral ground after making covenants. This is the note I have in my scriptures.
"A person who falls away from the Church after having been a member is typically "worse than [if] they had never known these things". The prophet Joseph Smith explained this position in a conversation with another member. A brother Isaac Behunin once told the Prophet Joseph Smith, "If I should leave this Church I would not do as those men have done: I would go to some remote place where Mormonism had never been heard of, settle down, and no one would ever learn that I knew anything about it."
"The great Seer immediately replied: 'Brother Behunin, you don't know what you would do. Before you joined this Church you stood on neutral ground. When the gospel was preached, good and evil were set before you. You could choose either or neither. There were two opposite master inviting you to serve them. When you joined this Church you enlisted to serve God. When you did that you left the neutral ground, and you never can get back on to it. Should you forsake the Master you enlisted to serve, it will be by the instigation of the evil one, and you will follow his dictation and be his servant."
(Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith [2007], 324)
Day 1882
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