Posted on 01/25/2011 3:46:02 PM PST by Colofornian
The LDS Temple in Mormonism serves a special purpose in the lives of Mormons as it is utilized by church leaders who hold the keys to the Temple as a way to ensure standard ten percent tithing and increased loyalty from members. As outlined in the following paragraphs, members who receive a LDS temple recommend must agree to pay ten percent of their income to the Mormon Church, and agree to follow certain requirements such as being loyal to church leaders. Having a temple recommend also serves as a status symbol, as those without it cannot marry or attend marriage ceremonies in the temple, nor can they be sealed for eternity with their father so that they may eternally be together with their family in Mormon Heaven. While the exact percentage of Mormons who receive Temple recommends are not published by Church authorities, a large number do not have them are involved only in local Mormon Ward Church activities.
The LDS Mormon Temple is written about in further detail at the website the Mormon Conspiracy to Rule America.
Temple recommends, which worthy Mormons may receive from their bishops, and are also signed by their stake presidents are mandatory for admittance into the Mormon temple. Endowment ceremonies, marriages, baptism for the dead, and other sealing ceremonies are performed. “The ‘temple recommend’ is a cherished slip of paper that gives its holder the right to enter the LDS temple and participate in its ceremonies. Mormons ‘pass stringent demands of dietary laws, tithing, sexual orthodoxy and others requirements for a ‘temple recommend’. These recommends are printed forms which, when filled out by the bishop, provides a copy for the Mormon church headquarters files, one copy for the ward’s records, and a third for the holder to present at entrance of a temple for admission.”
“Since the church believes that one must be ‘temple worthy’ in order to attain the Celestial Kingdom, having the power to grant or withhold recommends gives the local bishops immense power. Furthermore, in predominantly Mormon areas the lack of a recommend can often mean the loss of a job or being shunned by one’s neighbors. These slips of paper are most valuable.” 1
It is possible to “borrow” someone else’s LDS temple recommend and gain entry into the Mormon temple, as well as to forge one. However, only a very daring individual would attempt to enter the temple without his own official temple recommend. Laake, for example indicates that she knew of only one person who entered the Mormon temple without his own temple recommend.
In applying for the temple recommend a Mormon must be interviewed by his/her bishop (or the bishop’s first or second counselor) and is asked such questions as:
(1) Do you attend meetings?
(2) Are you a full tithe payer?
(3) Do you support your church leaders?
(4) Do you avoid tobacco, alcohol, coffee, and tea?
(5) Are you morally clean?
(6) Do you wear the sacred garments?
(7) Do you keep the Word of Wisdom?
(8) Have you ever been divorced?
(9) Will you regularly attend church including sacrament, Priesthood and other meetings? 2
(10) Will you follow the church rules and doctrines? 3
(11) Are you involved with, or have sympathy for any apostate groups? 4
Temple Ceremonies
The LDS temple ceremonies were largely copied from the Masonic Lodge by Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism. Scott writes that “Any Mason who reads even such an abbreviated account of the temple ceremony as I have outlined will be amazed at the similarities between temple ordinances and Masonic Lodge ordinances. Joseph Smith claimed that he got much of the substance of the temple ceremony from the Book of Abraham papyri. The truth is that Joseph Smith was himself a Mason of the sublimest degree.” 5 The Masonic lodge resents the use of Masonic symbols in Mormon temple ceremonies, so much so that the Grand Lodge of Utah (1979) has refused initiation to known Mormons and denied admission to any Mormon Mason who was initiated in any other state. 6
The pilfering of the LDS temple ceremonies from the Masonic Lodge discredits the claim of the church hierarchy that the Mormon Church is divine. The Masonic Lodge whose rites include memorizing long statements, are recited in the induction ceremonies, and if one ever reveals any of the secrets of the ceremonies he has received within the lodge, he is to have his throat slit and bowels cut out of his body. The oath that Masons take “ to have my throat slit and bowels cut out of my body if I ever revealed any secrets of the Masonic Lodge” was, until recent times, (1990) a part of the oath of the Mormon temple ceremonies. If the Mormon Church is the true church established by Joseph Smith from instructions given by God, why was it necessary to copy Masonic rites for Mormon Church ceremonies? If the temple ceremonies were required by God, wouldn’t He have provided Smith with revelations of his own to guide him in devising the ceremonies?
The Mormon temple rites are secret, but as Laake writes: “Although the most significant rituals of Mormonism go on within its temples, and although the "Book of Mormon" itself warns against secrecies in religion, the temple ceremonies are nonetheless top secret outside temple walls, lest their sacred strangeness be ridiculed and defiled by non believers.” 7
It is understandable that a primary purpose of the secrecy of the temple ceremonies is to prevent embarrassment to the Mormon authorities and members from outsiders who would contend that they were strange. Perhaps in the 1840’s, the time of Joseph Smith, such ceremonies were necessary to attract members and to hold them together, as this gave them some cohesion. Also in Smith’s time, there was no television, no movies and as a result the church was the entertainment center. But today, with the varied choices of entertainment, education, the automobile, travel and other human fulfillment activities, secret ceremonies such as those held in the Masonic Lodge and the Mormon temple seem to be completely outdated. Why is it necessary to have secret ceremonies in the Mormon Church when most other religions are open? Could it be that if the Mormon Church had a policy of openness, too much would be exposed and the religion would die?
Endowment ceremonies with oaths are administrated to Mormons in the temple. According to Laake: “These are sacred ordinances and promises that make a person eligible for the highest heaven, and the Mormons partake of them on their own behalf during their first visit to the temple. In the years to come, I would be expected to run through the same ceremony again and again as a proxy for dead ancestors whose names had been discovered through the Mormon pastime of genealogy. (The idea behind the temple is that certain ceremonies, such as baptism and marriage and the ‘endowments,’ are vital to a person’s placement in the hereafter and yet can be performed only on earth. Unless conscientious mortals turn their attention to the graceless states of those who’ve gone on, scads of wishful spirits will flap around in limbo for eternity.)” 8
The Mormon temple depends on numerous workers, generally volunteers, usually elderly men and women who have time to devote to the temple. In the temple are workers who rent the white costumes for the ceremony, and workers who anoint those who are to receive their endowments with washings and anointing. Most of the presentations in the temple are on video, excepting the Salt Lake temple that still has live actors (Mormons of course) playing the various parts in the ceremony. The LDS temple ceremony may last as long as five hours in live sessions. Initiates are first greeted by temple workers and separated into a men’s and women’s locker rooms. They are given temple clothing and all parts of the body are washed and anointed with oil by the temple worker. Initiates are told that it will clean them from the blood and sins of this generation. Members are told that they must not reveal what they are told or what takes place in the temple and they must take oaths to that effect. Many feel after completing the ceremony: “Why should they not keep it a secret. If they ever complete the ceremony, they would be too ashamed to tell anyone what they had participated in.” Many often feel defiled, ashamed and bewildered while going through the ceremony. Some women who complete the ceremony are embarrassed by the “five points of fellowship” embrace by the male temple worker. One complained that the temple worker held her too close which was embarrassing and much too intimate for a stranger. 9 Laake describes the washing and anointing ritual that happened on her wedding day as follows: “Her gentle hands darted beneath my sheet to bless the parts of my body. ...She intoned, ‘I wash you that you may be clean from the blood and sins of your generation.’ She touched my head (‘that your brain may work clearly’), my ears (‘that they may hear the word of the Lord’), my mouth and lips, my arms, my breast and ‘vitals,’ my loins (‘that you may be fruitful in propagating of a goodly seed’), my legs and feet. Her chanting and her cool fingers were both song and dance, and I was caught up calmed. When she had finished the first round she began again, replacing the water with oil from a dropper that anointed me head to toe....Finally the temple worker leaned to my ear to whisper my ‘new name’ : Sarah.
“...I didn’t know what this new name was for and the conditions attached to it disturbed me. I must reveal it to no one, not ever, except at the one proper moment during today’s ceremony, the temple worker told me. “...I was coming up now on the only part of this morning that I’d been truly dreading. It was time to climb into my first pair of regulation Mormon underwear, an unlovely wardrobe item that, during their first LDS temple visit, Mormons agree to wear for the rest of their lives and that they refer to ever after as their ‘garments,’...One of the purposes of the ‘garments’ is to make sure that Mormons eschew daring clothing. ...Women’s garments were slit in the crotch, very generously, so that they flapped open and left a girl’s greatest fascinations exposed....I was wearing long johns.” 10 Mormons are admonished to wear their garments next to their skin (girls under their bras) as protection from Satan while they complete their work on earth. Both Laake and her mother hated the garments, as they often prevented them from wearing fashion clothes, since the garments would keep such clothes from fitting properly. Laake writes: “... I figured that from this moment on I was a freak.” 11
Some of the other ordinances and secrets of the temple include:
(1) Women learning to obey their husbands in all things so long as their husbands obeyed God.
(2) Men receiving a special secret handshake (the first token of the Aaronic Priesthood)
(3) Men receiving the second token of the Aaronic Priesthood and the first and second tokens of the Melchizedek Priesthood with their signs and penalties.
Laake, in her 1972 ceremony (as all Mormons are required to do, when going through the ceremony), was asked to make a sign, “as though we were slitting our throats ‘ from ear to ear,’ to signify the penalty for revealing this handshake to anyone on the outside.” 12
Joseph Smith invented the Temple ceremony of Passing through the Veil. It was to show what he imagined would take place when one dies and enters heaven. Smith created a veil which was like secret huge white bed-sheets, with slits in them large enough to put hands through for testing the knowledge of signs by veil workers on the other side, representing the Lord. After testing, initiates pass through the “sheets” to the “celestial room,” representing the celestial kingdom. Part of the ceremony is taking someone through the veil, which signifies entering heaven from earth. During the marriage ceremony when the new bride is “sealed”, not only for time (life on earth) but for eternity (life everlasting) to her husband she is taken through the veil by her future husband. It is ironic that should this sealing of the wife to the husband later result in divorce, the woman often cannot get her temple marriage annulled and remains a wife “for eternity” to her ex-husband even if their marriage for “time” on earth has ended, but the husband can remarry in the temple and have another wife (and another..…) for eternity. And when he enters the celestial heaven after his death he will have two or more women sealed to him (depending upon how many divorces he had) thus having polygamous marriages in his celestial heaven. Women, on the other hand cannot be sealed to more than one man in the Mormon “eternal life”.
Laake tells about her temple experience in being taken through the veil by her husband. She writes: “As I moved with the others toward the bed-sheet, we were told that it symbolized the veil that separates this life from the next. ... The person who took his place on the other side of the veil was Monty [her future husband]. It was he who would usher me into heaven. It always happened this way for brides, who unlike the men had made their temple covenants not to God but to their own husbands.” 13
The LDS Temple rituals of celestial marriage and sealings for young brides often shatter their expectations of an enjoyable experience. Many young Mormons joke about the ceremonies, wondering what a secret handshake or wearing the “garment” has to do with eternal marriage. Laake writes: --- “The mysteries of the world were fraternity rituals (Temple celestial marriage ceremonies). A wild bewildered giggle was forming in my throat.
“What in the world was everyone doing? Did all the white-suited glorifiers in the room unquestioningly accept a ritual of nutty gestures from the pseudo-occult as a sacrament?
“These were the first moments when I viewed Mormonism with suspicion...... 14
1 Laytayne Colvett Scott, Mormon Mirage, 193
2 Ibid., 193
3 Ibid., 193
4 James Coates, In Mormon Circles Gentiles, Jack Mormons, and Latter-Day Saints, (New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1991), 85 (From IN MORMON CIRCLES: GENTILES, JACK MORMONS AND LATTER-DAY SAINTS by JAMES COATES. Copyright © 1991 by James Coates, Reprinted by permission of Perseus Books, L.L.C.)
5 Laytayne Colvett Scott, Mormon Mirage, 203 (Also Joseph Smith Jr., Documentary History of the Church, IV, p 552)
6 Ibid., 203 (Also Walen, The Latter day Saints in the Modern Day World, p 204
7 Deborah Laake, Secret Ceremonies, 73,74
8 Ibid., 74,75
9 Judy Robertson, No Regrets, How I found My way out of Mormonism, 61
10 Deborah Laake, Secret Ceremonies, 78,79
11 Ibid., 81
12 Ibid., 84
13 Ibid., 88-89
14 Ibid., 90
(Hmm...I could have sworn that the real Biblical Gospel claims that the blood of Christ takes care of those...but leave it to Mormon leaders to trump the blood of Christ with water -- just like they do in their Weekly Sacrament, replacing fruit of the vine with water).
From the article: “The ‘temple recommend’ is a cherished slip of PAPER that gives its holder the right to enter the LDS temple and participate in its ceremonies. Mormons ‘pass stringent demands of dietary laws, tithing, sexual orthodoxy and others requirements for a ‘temple recommend’. These recommends are printed forms which, when filled out by the bishop, provides a copy for the Mormon church headquarters files, one copy for the ward’s records, and a third for the holder to present at entrance of a temple for admission.” “Since the church believes that one must be ‘temple worthy’ in order to attain the Celestial Kingdom, having the power to grant or withhold recommends gives the local bishops immense power. Furthermore, in predominantly Mormon areas the lack of a recommend can often mean the loss of a job or being shunned by one’s neighbors. These slips of PAPER are most valuable.” 1 ... Having a temple recommend also serves as a status symbol, as those without it cannot marry or attend marriage ceremonies in the temple, nor can they be sealed for eternity with their father so that they may eternally be together with their family in Mormon Heaven.
Therefore, a piece of PAPER signed off by a Mormon lay bishop -- a position held at one time by Mitt Romney -- can determine if...
...a man gets to be sealed with his family forever in heaven...
...a person will be living with Heavenly Father forever -- or not...
...you can see your son or daughter get married (or other relatives and friends, for that matter)
...you'll become a "god" or not...
Reflective Questions:
* Could you imagine Mitt Romney having that kind of power over you were you in Mitt's ward back when he was a lay bishop?
* Or knowing that Mitt himself believed he once held that kind of power over others?
* Now do you see why the author called this a "Mormon conspiracy"? (It takes quite a plot to have a piece of PAPER carry that much weight in a person's life)
* Now do you see why Lds lay bishops carry so much fearful power in the Mormon church? (A bishop says "jump" -- and the Mormon asks, "How high?")
You see mere pieces of PAPER carry tremendous weight in the Mormon church.
Q1: How do Mormons determine their next head "prophet"?
A: Among those eligible, a piece of PAPER printed long ago does. It's called a calendar. The age of the Mormon general authority among the candidates is what dictates to the Mormon god who gets the nod.
Lds may talk about how they "sustain" who the "prophet" is by a show of hands...but coincidentally, no "no" votes seems to have ever been tallied. Even the Mormon holy ghost can't override the the power of calendar PAPER re: the selection process.
Q2: In the Mormon plan of salvation, what power do pieces of PAPER carry beyond temple recommended Mormons?
A: Others (non-Mormons) can get a "get-out-spirit prison" monopoly card because some keen Mormon researchers found some old pieces of PAPER -- birth and death records...which in turn can trigger a proxy baptism in that Mormon temple...which supposedly triggers deceased Mormon spirit missionaries to go visit the Spirit World where ALL go after they die [If you don't believe this part of what I'm saying, go to this Mormon published source here: The Spirit World, Our Next Home
Q3: How does the power Mormon leaders assign to mere pieces of PAPER compare to how Jesus treated the all holy Bible -- which consists, of course of pieces of PAPER?
A: Even Jesus set the holiest pieces of PAPER in proper perspective when He said: 39(You) Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of ME. (John 5:39)
IOW, even many people attending a Christian church abort the process. They search the Scriptures, thinking "in them" that they "have eternal life"....Yet Jesus said even the PAPERED Scriptures' purpose was to testify to HIM!!! (A testimony to a living relationship with the LIVING WORD, Jesus Christ). Jesus CANNOT be reduced to mere words about Him on pages. The LIVING WORD is to be encountered! Do Lds see the very ritualism to which they've become attached?
Mormon leaders, on the other hand -- like Lds "apostle" Bruce McConkie -- have counseled BYU students to NOT seek a special relationship with Jesus Christ. (See: Our relationship with the Lord)
Who will we trust?
* Mormon leaders counseling impressionable college students AGAINST a special relationship with Jesus?
* Mormon leaders inventing temple rituals, including ones that replace the blood of Christ cleansing our generational sins?
* Mormon leaders vesting the very power as to who gets to live with Heavenly Father according to a signature on a piece of PAPER signed by a part-time lay bishop, whether his name is Mitt or something else???
I've seen many Mormons asked on these threads where the Lds temple rituals even came from...(They are not from any canonized sources of their "Scriptures").
That means Mormon rituals fit the classic Latin definition of the word "occult" -- "that which is hidden."
Lds hide all of the temple shenanigans to their "prospects"...and don't reveal the sources of its impetus...which also means they can change it willy-nilly...like they did in 1990.
(They also took out the part about Christian pastors being agents of Satan -- a "drama" of sorts that was part of the temple process until 1990)
IB4PD1!
It comes from the Masonic Oath. Joe Smith was a Mason.
(Of course it does; but see if you get the Mormon church to 'fess up on that)
THX1138
Most members have no idea what the Masonic Oath is and and do not WANT to know what it is.
IB4PD2!
IB4PDSPAM
I wonder if by participating in such a ritual a Christian is committing a sin or is he merely engaging in harmless actions without any spiritual consequences.
Ah, but that prejudices the answer. Why would a Christian (as opposed to a Mormon) be found participating in such a ritual in the first place?
As far as becoming LDS a person can be deceived thus raising the question when does being a victim of deceit become culpable?
All fraternity rituals are based on death and rebirth in the fraternity
IB4PDSPAM4
Putting aside my statement for the moment, let us add something to your question and then re-ask it. I think the answer will prove more meaningful:
I wonder if by participating in such a ritual a Christian is committing a sin that cannot be forgiven, or is he merely engaging in harmless actions without any spiritual consequences.
I know I do.
Regardless of what some may think, Free Masonery is a fraternal organization, not a religion.
Any Free Mason should be appalled that J. Smith stole rites from them and incorporated them in to his religion and make no mistake, it is his religion, not God's.
the Grand Lodge of Utah (1979) has refused initiation to known Mormons and denied admission to any Mormon Mason who was initiated in any other state.
Good for them! I wish all lodges would do that.
When I was interviewed some 30 years ago to join the lodge, I was asked a simple question - Do I believe in God, singular, not gods. Had I answered in the negative, I would not have been accepted.
nor can they be sealed for eternity with their father so that they may eternally be together with their family in Mormon Heaven.
__________________________________________________
Been there done that...
ad Look Ma no temple recommend...
In 1956 I was sealed to my father and all his ancestors back to someone who died in the 1700s...none of us ever mormons...
All the descendants ever born of that one unfortunate man who died happily in the Christian faith but was dead dunked by the mormons into the religion of mormonism years later, were sealed to him...
Since I already born in 1956 that included me...
The mormons sealed me to my father and neither of us were ever mormons nor hadf mormon temple recommends...
Plus my Christian father threw a cult member off our front porch and down the steps for refusing to git...
and that cult wasnt as bad as mormonism...no polygamy, no dead dunking...
so is a temple recommend necessary for mormon “sealing” ???
No
Hitler never had a temple recommend but the mormons have “sealed” him to Eva Braun...
Stan Ann Dunham never had a temple recommend but the mormons have “sealed” her to her son, Barry Soetoro ...yes we have a mormon president...
Father Damien never had a temple recommend but the mormons have “sealed” him to some woman he never met...
Vlad the Impaler never had a temple recommend but the mormons have “sealed” him to someone...
The LORD Jesus Christ never had a temple recommend but the mormons have “sealed” Him to Mary Magdaline...plus Mary and Martha...
and so on...
IB4PD5
The statements present no dilemma too.
They really are relevant and substantial, right?
And the subject rarely gets addressed, eh?
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