However, anyone who has had the powerful manifestation of the Holy Ghost and then denies the Savior, it would be better if he had never heard the gospel or known the power of the Savior through the Holy Ghost. This means that once we have gained a testimony of the gospel there is a great responsibility to obey its principles or we will be worse off than if we had never accepted the gospel. Of course this individual could still repent before death overtook him but if he dies in his sins, judgment will be immediately invoked upon him.
The sin of apostasy is even more serious where the Spirit has not only confirmed the truth of the gospel but the veil has been sheered back so the power of God has been plainly manifest. For this person there is a possibility of being declared a son of perdition, for which there can be no forgiveness. This extreme penalty is described in 2 Nephi 1:22 where father Lehi feared that Laman and Lemuel would suffer this kind of punishment and not only lose their body and soul, but be cast back into outer darkness as naked intelligences.