Hoyt Brewster explained that “dead works are symbolic of that which has no life now nor power to grant life hereafter. … Participation in dead works has no saving power, no matter how sincere the recipient may have been” (Brewster, Doctrine & Covenants Encyclopedia, 128–129). The prophet Mormon instructed his son Moroni regarding the “dead works” of infant baptism. This ordinance is not authorized by God and is unnecessary. Heavenly Father declared that “little children are redeemed from the foundation of the world through mine Only Begotten” (D&C 29:46). Such baptism, taught Mormon, “is mockery before God, denying the mercies of Christ, and the power of his Holy Spirit” (Moroni 8:23).