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From the article: Baptisms for the dead often involve young people, ages twelve to seventeen. By appointment, they will spend two to three hours in the temple baptistery area, each person being baptized typically, for a score or more deceased persons.

Latayne Colvett Scott, an ex-Mormon who wrote The Mormon Mirage: A Former Mormon Tells Why She Left the Church (Zondervan, 1979), tells on p. 194 her experience in the Mormon temple in the almost rote manner these baptisms of the dead were performed upon her as a teen:

"When my name was called, I went down into the water. The baptizing elder turned me around so that he could see a large screen, something like an electric football scoreboard, which he looked at over my shoulder. On top of the screen was my name, and below it a name I don't remember, but which I'll say was Elizabeth Anderson. 'Sister Celeste Latayne Colvett,' he said, looking at the screen, 'having been commissioned of Jesus Christ, I baptize you, for and in behalf of Elizabeth Anderson, who is dead, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.' Then he quickly dropped his right arm from the square and lowered me beneath the water. As I was regaining my footing (you learn after the third or fourth time to put one foot slightly behind the other to help you get back out of the water) he had already begun the same prayer, inserting this time the name of another dead woman which had flashed onto the screen behind me. Fifteen consecutive baptisms were performed with me as proxy in a matter of about three minutes. As I left the font, another proxy was preparing to be baptized. Then I was led into a 'confirmation room' where a man sat on a high stool with a chair near his knees. I sat on the chair, my back to him, and he and several other elders placed heir hands heavily upon my head while he pronounced this prayer: 'Sister Celeste Latayne Colvett, in the name of Jesus Christ, we lay our hands upon your head for and in behalf of Elizabeth Anderson, who is dead, and confirm you a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints..." (The Mormon Mirage, p. 194)

(Of additional interest in the above-described "confirmation room" process Scott wrote about is that many Mormons have said that this proxy Baptism process offers a "choice" in which spirits on the other can reject becoming Mormons. Yet, an "automatic" confirmation process has been part and parcel of the proxy baptisms--indeed Lds leaders "confirm" dead souls as "members of the church." Which is it? Are these dead souls confirmed at a later point when deceased Lds missionaries present the Mormon proselytism offer to them, or upon the ritual process in the temple now?)

How many such "endowments for the dead" has the Mormon Church performed?

1870s-->1985: Almost 86 million

A. "Through 1985, a cumulative total of...almost 86 million endowments for the dead have been performed."

1985-1988: Another 14 million in just three years (100 million total)

B. 25 years ago today - 1988 Oct.1 [Lds complete 100 million endowments for the dead in temples]

1990-1996: Another 50 million (150 million total)

C. "A 1996 estimate by Richard Cowan states that around 150 million endowments have been performed, most of which were in behalf of deceased persons." (Endowment (Mormonism))

Almost a billion endowments for the dead thru 2014???

D. Projecting the above #...if Lds merely maintained its early 1990 growth figures, it has now performed 300 million endowments for the dead. More likely, due to the the fact that the Mormon Church went from 49 temples in 1996 to now 143 completed temples (almost quadrupled) -- with a staggering 48 completed in 1999 and 2000 alone -- and technological (digital) increasing genealogical information, it wouldn't surprise me to discover that Mormonism is on the cusp of its billionth endowment for the dead!

These numbers are mind-boggling considering:

The Mormon Church...   ...didn't even build temples for necro purposes until after 1840...  ...and didn't have an "endowment house" until 1855...  ...didn't really start endowments for the dead on any kind of broader scale til the late 1870s... ...and didn't have a temple outside of Utah until late 1919... 

1 posted on 10/31/2014 5:12:21 AM PDT by Colofornian
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To: All
The 2014 OTHER WORLD Series ... in case you've missed postings these past two weeks:

Scary Mormon Halloween Costumes, Ranked [The OTHER WORLD Series]
* Zombies: The Specter of Materialism [The Mormon OTHER WORLD Series]
* Seven Sub-Topical Samples Proving Mormonism's Occultic Origins [The OTHER WORLD Series]
* Demonic and Ungodly Names in the Book of Mormon 1 [The OTHER WORLD series]
* Demonic and Ungodly Names in the Book of Mormon 2 [The OTHER WORLD series]
* Demonic and Ungodly Names in the Book of Mormon 3 [The OTHER WORLD series]
* Lecture by Dr. Adam Miller, Professor of Philosophy: 'Zombies, Vampires, and the Book of Mormon'
* Mormon Vampires in the Garden of Eden [The OTHER WORLD series]

2 posted on 10/31/2014 5:13:10 AM PDT by Colofornian
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To: Colofornian

Building the “high places” that God condemned.


3 posted on 10/31/2014 5:17:55 AM PDT by high info voter
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To: All
For previous discussions linking the Mormon temple & the occult, see:
2013: * 15 occultic and controversial facts you may want to know about Lds temples [Vanity]
2013: * Reviews [The OTHER World Series: 'The eyes of the dead are upon us' - ex-LDS 'prophet']
2011: * Lds Temple Haunted? Did Declaration of Independence signers appear as ghosts to leader? [Vanity] (reposted in 2013)
* They See Dead People? (The OTHER World Series - LDS & Temple Hauntings)

**************************

Do Mormon leaders still encourage occultic temple communications?

Judge for yourself:
DATE Occultic Communication Encouraged SOURCE
Open House start date April 3, 1993 San Diego, CA Temple Visitations by the dead: Prior to the dedication of the San Diego temple, local Mormon families were given a packet entitled Family Temple Preparation Material. Included in this written material were about seven pages devoted to "true stories" of temple patrons who were visited by the dead They See Dead People?
Aug. 12, 1949 -- republished by Mormon church in its Deseret Book Co. publishing, 1972 "I haven't actually seen any of them, but sometimes when I have finished an endowment or a sealing session in the Salt Lake Temple my bosom has burned, and I have known keep within me that those persons for whom I have officiated have accepted that work." Bountiful Second Ward Chapel, "Disembodied Spirit Life" section of Life Eternal: A Series of Four Lectures Lynn A. McKinlay, Deseret Book Co. 1972, p. 206
1980 Lds "apostle" Boyd K. Packer: "On many occasions I have been present -- when sealings were to be performed, when temple ordinance work was being done, when funeral sermons were being preached --in circumstances when the veil was very thin. The gratitude of those who have gone beyond found its way through the misty barrier and was communicated as spiritual things are communicated." The Holy Temple, Bookcraft, 1980, p. 267
2009 Even Mormon Sunday School material highlights spirit paranormal manifestations Lds.org Sunday School Chapter Detail: Doctrine and Covenants and Church History Gospel Doctrine Teacher's Manual: See p. 2
Fall 2006 (and assumed other years' courses as well) BYU freshman course offering Religious Education class at BYU -- C261: Intro to Lds Family History (Genealogy): See 'Manifestations of the Spirits' section, pp. 57-58
1996 An official Mormon church publication -- even placed wholly as a digital publication for years -- highlighted such occultic communication allegedly occurring in 1884 and 1893 ... see chart below Our Heritage: A Brief History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 1996 pp. 99, 102
1983 An official Mormon church priesthood manual was encouraging such paranormal communication in citing an 1884 manifestation Sermons and Missionary Services of Melvin Joseph Ballard, Deseret Book Co. p. 249, as cited in Come Follow Me, Melchizedek Priesthood Personal Study Guide, p. 162, 1983

6 posted on 10/31/2014 7:05:09 AM PDT by Colofornian
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To: Colofornian
The best experts on Mormons are not those who reject them.

It’s like trusting Nancy Pelosi is an expert on theTea-Party.

CAUTION!! CHRISTIAN BASHING THREAD!!
----------------This thread does not praise God. It weakens faith----------------

7 posted on 10/31/2014 7:16:11 AM PDT by laotzu
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