B. H. Roberts
“When the Spirit of the Lord is withdrawn…darkness, like the blackness of night surges through the soul of man, and the sun of righteousness seems set for him, he is then made to feel what it means to sin against the law of God as it has been revealed unto his soul. When you think of the bitterness of that personal suffering, you will not marvel that when the heavy burden of a world’s sin rested down upon the Son of God in Gethsemane--you certainly will not marvel that he sweat great drops of blood in his agony; nor wonder at his suffering on the cross.” (Defense of the Faith and the Saints, p. 514)
Joseph Fielding Smith
"The Spirit of the Lord will not dwell in unclean tabernacles, and when the Spirit is withdrawn, darkness supersedes the light, and apostasy will follow. This is one of the greatest evidences of the divinity of this latter-day work. In other organizations men may commit all manner of sin and still retain their membership, because they have no companionship with the Holy Ghost to lose; but in the Church when a man sins and continues without repentance, the Spirit is withdrawn, and when he is left to himself the adversary takes possession of his mind and he denies the faith.
“It is possible for a man who has received a perfect understanding of the truth and has walked in the light of the Holy Spirit to fall away through transgression. But when he turns away, he still knows that he once had the light. The Lord has said of such: ’All those who know my power, and have been made partakers thereof, and suffered themselves through the power of the devil to be overcome, and to deny the truth and defy my power-They are they who are the sons of perdition, of whom I say that it had been better for them never to have been born.’ (DC 76:31-2)” (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 3, p. 309)
LeGrand Richards
"Now, as I love the Saints for their faithfulness, I also feel remorse and sorrow for those who fail to have that kind of faith, for those who are not willing to do their part, for those who have discontinued attending their meetings. Brigham Young said that when we fail to attend our sacrament meetings and observe our prayers, the Spirit of the Lord will withdraw himself, and a spirit of darkness will come over us. Now there are a great many people in our midst who have ceased attending their meetings, and who do not observe their prayers. Some of them are near to us, some of them are dear to us, but the Lord does withdraw his Spirit.
“…And when people walk in darkness, they cannot love the brethren; they cannot love the Lord; they cannot love the people; they cannot love this great Latter-day cause, the greatest movement the world has ever known, aside from the great atonement of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” (Conference Report, Oct. 1950, p. 151)
Sterling W. Sill
"Repentance is God’s cure for every disease that plagues our lives. As repentance is postponed, the sinner becomes more willful, and any upward change becomes more difficult. If this Godly gift is not used, it may lapse into impotence, and the soul may be lost.
“Through Noah the Lord said, ’My spirit shall not always strive with man… .’ (Gen. 6:3.) And someday when it may be too late, we may discover that repentance is the most thrilling, exciting, uplifting of all possible activities.” (Conference Report, Oct. 1964, p. 112)