Journal of Discourses 23:280; “…Whatever men’s laws may be we cannot deny the truth of God, the revelations of God. I cannot do it, I would be damned and go to hell if I were to do it….” – George Q. Cannon, Salt Lake City, October 8, 1882
So did George Cannon go to the Celestial Kingdom or not?
LDS Church apologist Michael Ash wrote an article in the April 2013 church magazine Ensign (“The Restoration and Early Christian Teachings,” pp. 60-65). His article explains that teachings such as premortality, work on behalf of the dead, and exaltation can be found in the writings of the Early Church Fathers. There are several problems with this view, including the fact that Mormonism teaches in a “Great Apostasy” that surely took place before these men ever wrote on these topics. In addition, the author pulls quotes from obscure sources to support his view that Mormonism must be true because it restored these lost teachings via the life of Joseph Smith and other prophets.