Mark 16:15 Fate of those who die ignorant of God

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. -Mark 16:15 Bible, King James Version (KJV)

 

Last Judgment Posthumous, by Emanuel Swedenborg, [1762], tr. by John Whitehead [1914], at sacred-texts.com

191.

[193] Concerning certain spirits who have no spiritual life because they are in ignorance of truth; and that life is inspired into them by the Lord through angels. I once felt a somewhat intense cold from the soles of the feet up to the knee; it became evident that there were cold spirits [present]. It was told me that they were those who in the world had lived in absolute ignorance of God. After they had been elevated I heard them talking, and I could perceive scarcely anything vital in their speech. They spoke as though they were making inanimate statues speak, and I despaired of any life long remaining in them. They were like automatons or sounding sculptures. But presently I heard that they had been let into a species of activity appearing like a species of gyration. Angels were caring for them by infusing life into them, which they did with such solicitude and devotion, that it can scarcely be described, nor did they suffer themselves to be wearied. In the meantime they waved them, as is said in the Word of the things sacrificed, that they were waved by the Levites, the reason being, that they might receive spiritual life. When this had been done for some little time, they began to be vivified, and to be no longer of such a nature as before; thus they began to speak something in consociation, saying that they were in heaven. The work was continued by the Lord through angels during the whole night, and after this they became such as to be capable of being insinuated or inserted into some companies in which they were afterwards perfected. For they were receptive of life because they had nothing repugnant thereto, as have those who confirm themselves in falsities against truths. The manner in which life was successively insinuated into them was represented by colors, the first of life by a marble color increasing in whiteness, the second by a growing azure color [Azure is a variation of blue that is often described as the color of the sky on a clear summer's day] in which was the white, and the third by patches of bright clouds rising up... This was from the Lord alone by means of angels. They may be said to be resuscitated from no life into some life.

Amongst those who die ignorant of God are little children. On this subject Swedenborg teaches us:

¹⁴But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. -Mark 10:14 Bible, King James Version

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons).

Doctrine and Covenants Section 131

Instructions by Joseph Smith the Prophet, given at Ramus, Illinois, 16 and 17 May 1843  

1. In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees...

Section 137

A vision given to Joseph Smith the Prophet, in the temple at Kirtland, Ohio, 21 January 1836

1 The heavens were opened upon us, and I beheld the celestial kingdom of God, and the glory thereof, whether in the body or out I cannot tell. 2 I saw the transcendent beauty of the gate through which the heirs of that kingdom will enter, which was like unto circling flames of fire... 10 And I also beheld that all children who die before they arrive at the years of accountability are saved in the celestial kingdom of heaven. 

Heaven and its Wonders and Hell From Things Heard and Seen by Emanuel Swedenborg. (First published, in Latin, 1758)

2. I. THE GOD OF HEAVEN IS THE LORD

4. Infants... form a third part of heaven...

329. XXXVII. LITTLE CHILDREN IN HEAVEN.

...No one receives heaven... through baptism; for baptism is merely for a sign and memorial that man should be regenerated... Let them know therefore that every child... is received when he dies by the Lord and trained up in heaven, and taught in accordance with Divine order, and imbued with affections for what is good, and through these with knowledges of what is true; and afterwards as he is perfected in intelligence and wisdom is introduced into heaven and becomes an angel... 330. When children die they are still children in the other life, having a like infantile mind, a like innocence in ignorance, and a like tenderness in all things. They are merely in the rudiments of a capacity to become angels, for children are not angels but become angels. For everyone passing out of this world enters the other in the same state of life, a little child in the state of a little child, a boy in the state of a boy, a youth, a man, an old man, in the state of a youth, a man, or an old man; but subsequently each one's state is changed. The state of little children surpasses the state of all others in that they are in innocence... 331. The state of children in the other life far surpasses their state in the world, for they are not clothed with an earthly body, but with such a body as the angels have... In this world children must be taught to walk... and to speak... It is not so with children in the other life. As they are spirits they act at once in accordance with their interiors, walking without practice, and also talking... 332. Little children... immediately after death... are taken into heaven and confided to angel women who in the life of the body tenderly loved little children and at the same time loved God... All little children are under the immediate auspices of the Lord; and the heaven of innocence, which is the third heaven, flows into them... 334. ...When this first age is completed they are transferred to another heaven, where they are taught by masters; and so on. 340. Many may suppose that in heaven little children remain little children, and continue as such among the angels. Those who do not know what an angel is may have had this opinion confirmed by paintings and images in churches, in which angels are represented as children. But it is wholly otherwise. Intelligence and wisdom are what constitute an angel, and as long as children do not possess these they are not angels, although they are with the angels; but as soon as they become intelligent and wise they become angels; and what is wonderful, they do not then appear as children, but as adults, for they are no longer of an infantile genius [or nature,] but of a more mature angelic genius. Intelligence and wisdom produce this effect. The reason why children appear more mature, thus as youths and young men, as they are perfected in intelligence and wisdom, is that intelligence and wisdom are essential spiritual nourishment; and thus the things that nourish their minds also nourish their bodies, and this from correspondence; for the form of the body is simply the external form of the interiors. But it should be understood that in heaven children advance in age only to early manhood, and remain in this...

Although children have been blessed to enter into Heaven at the close of each embodiment I do not believe they have been granted Eternal Life in Heaven through the Ascension simply because they have died as a child. In 1943 the Ascended Master Saint Germain taught: For the first time in four and a half million years this is made possible to this earth that children in this embodiment may make the Ascension! (The Voice of the I AM 1943 August p14)