Replies

Thanks for participating. I posted the same article on another thread.

Steve Benson responds as follows:

12 March 2009 (resent with typo corrections):

"My name is Steve Benson. My grandfather, Ezra Taft Benson, was the 13th president of the Mormon Church, who served in that capacity from 1985 until his death in 1994 (He was also the Secretary of Agriculture under President Dwight Eisenhower from 1952-1960).

"I am a former Mormon (having left the LDS Church voluntarily in 1993, in objection to its sexist, racist, homophobic and historically deceptive doctrines and practices).

"It is imperative that the general public have a factual working knowledge upon which to make informed decisions with regard to the doctrines and practices of the Mormon Church. Unfortunately, the Mormon Church attempts to hide from public view its secret and bizarre rituals that, in this case, go on behind closed doors in their temples--rituals that can only be participated in by so-called 'worthy' Mormons who are vetted prior to being giving a temple admission pass, known as a temple recommend.

"Shrouded-from-public-view Mormon temple practices include proxy baptisms (commonly referred to as 'baptisms for the dead'). This ritual targets deceased non-Mormons and is often performed against the will and without the knowledge of the families of the deceased. Such has has been the case with many deceased members of the Jewish faith who were murdered during the Nazi Holocaust and whom Mormons have secretly baptized for the dead in their temples, with the goal of making them members of the Mormon Church in the Mormon afterlife. Offended Jewish groups have repeatedly petitioned the Mormon Church for over a decade to discontinue this insensitive and disrespectful practice, but the Mormon Church continues to engage in its baptism-by-proxy exercise of deceased Jews despite its previous promise to cease and desist.

"I was a temple Mormon myself (having been born and raised in the Mormon religion) before concluding that Mormonism's secret temple rites are actually flagrant rip-offs from the cultic practices of historic Freemasonry. These Mormon temple rites include secret handshakes, signs, tokens, names and costuming that closely rememble Masonic rituals.

"Mormonism's founder, Joseph Smith, was himself a Mason who stole Masonic rites for the creation of the supposedly divinely-revealed Mormon temple 'endowment' ceremony. Smith was eventually assassinated in 1844 while being held in jail for destroying a private newspaper that had published damning evidence of his multiple polygamous affairs. Members of the mob that shot him out of the jailhouse window in Carthage, Illlinois, included Masons whose secret rituals Smith had stolen for his own purposes.

"Based upon photographs from the upcoming 'Big Love' episode involving the Mormon temple ceremony that have appeared in recent editions of TV Guide and the Salt Lake Tribune (before both publications removed their online access to them), HBO's depiction of the Mormon temple ceremony appears, from my perspective and experience, to be historically accurate.

"Unfortunately, the Mormon Church does not want the general public to know these facts and has desperately tried to hide, dismiss, minimize or deny them. That is why I believe HBO's 'Big Love' episode in question provides a critical public service by making available to the nation's general viewership pertinent information about the Mormon temple ceremony, within the context of the show's relevant storyline.

"For those interested in viewing what the Mormon Church strenuously hopes they will never see, below is a still photo from the 'Big Love' episode in question which depicts the secret Mormon temple ritual:

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site297/2009/0310/20090310__Big%20Love%20Temple.jpg "

You may now proceed to trash Steve Benson as a liberal apostate.

Naaah, your words and his do that far more justice than I ever could.

Just more anti propaganda. I am sure it is all fake and made up anyways no matter how many people or what LDS doctrine say otherwise.

It is all an attempt to cast Christ one Church in a bad light, as it was written and foretold by the Prophet and as it will be until the end times.

The funniest part of the secret temple ceremony scene from the show was that Barb was being kicked out of the LDS church because she was practicing polygomy and she begged her Mother to give her a recommend so she could get in to see the temple before it was too late..... ???? Is that kind of like wanting to see someone’s house before they realize you talked about them behind their back and refuse to let you in again? Is there no concept of forgiveness in the LDS?