INTRODUCTION Mormon Temples are the most secret/sacred facet of Mormonism and are completely different from neighborhood Mormon chapels. Once a new Temple is dedicated, no non-Mormons are ever allowed inside. Most Mormons are not permitted to enter the Temple either. Only Mormons who have passed stringent requirements of worthiness determined by a penetrating private interview with their Bishop, and then a second similar interview with their Stake President, are issued a “Temple Recommend” which permits them to enter the Temple (See figure 1). Temple Recommends are valid for one year after which the entire interview process must be repeated to receive a new Recommend. According to LDS church leaders, less than 20% of adult Mormons have valid Temple Recommends and thus are qualified to attend the temple. Less than 10% of adult Mormons regularly attend the Temple.**
PART ONE - EXPLANATION AND COMMENTARYBefore a Mormon is issued his first Temple Recommend, he is normally required to attend a course of study intended to qualify him to “live worthy” or to become qualified to live LDS standards of loyalty, dedication, financial contributions and personal traits of worthiness. Very little of the ceremonial aspects, and none of the promises or penalties of the Temple rituals are included in the curriculum nor are these ever discussed at any time outside or inside of the Temple. These are still a mystery to the participants, who are acting on faith in Joseph Smith and the Mormon church’s divine authority.
During a member’s first participation in the Temple ceremony, he “receives his own endowments” which means he attends to his own personal salvation requirements. In a special instruction session with all the initiates he is asked by the Temple President to make a personal commitment to return to the temple often, at least once per month, to renew his own commitment and to remind him of his covenants while he is serving as a proxy for a deceased person to provide that person with Mormon salvation. He thus becomes a “Savior on Mount Zion” by acting in behalf of someone who did not have this opportunity himself.
**See the Church News supplement to the Salt Lake City Deseret News, week of January 16, 1982, page 10 for very interesting information on Mormon dedication to this “Keystone of their religion.”WHY WORK FOR THE DEAD? Mormons believe that everyone who lives and dies on this earth goes to a place called the Spirit Prison, except faithful Mormons, who go to Paradise. Mormon Spirit Missionaries go down from Paradise to the Spirit Prison and teach the Gospel of Joseph Smith to the lost Christians and others there. Those who accept Mormonism must remain in prison until a worthy Mormon performs certain essential rituals, called “Ordinances” for them in one of the Mormon Temples. Then they are released from Spirit Prison to join the Mormons in Paradise. Since these rituals or Ordinances require a physical body to be washed, anointed, baptised, etc., they can only be performed by a living person in the place and manner prescribed by Deity, acting under Universal (Mormon) cosmic laws.MORMONS GOAL: TO BE A “SAVIOR ON MOUNT ZION” TO CHRISTIANS AND OTHER LOST SOULS The extent of the pressure upon worthy Mormons to return to the Temple as often as possible to perform more of these proxy Temple rituals is difficult to convey. They are continually reminded of their responsibility to all of the multitude of dead persons waiting in “Spirit Prison” for their “work” to be done. They believe they are personally becoming “Saviors on Mount Zion” to each individual for whom they perform these rites, and all of those who accepted Mormonism will be waiting for them in Paradise, to greet them and heap thanks and praise upon them for having done this work in their behalf, which released them from the “Spirit Prison”.ALL TEMPLES WOULD CLOSE WITHOUT GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH The operation of all Mormon Temples is totally dependent upon continuing genealogical research. Mormons spend millions of hours and scores of millions of dollars annually doing exhaustive personal genealogical research to correctly identify their deceased progenitors so that these secret ordinances can be performed for them in one of the Temples. Since they do not provide enough names to keep the Temples busy, the church has a massive “name extraction” program which provides the bulk of the individuals for whom patrons serve as proxies. Mormons spent over ten million man hours, at approximately two and one half hours per person, performing these rituals for the dead last year. The investment of the church in genealogical facilities, equipment, and manpower is staggering to the imagination, employing several thousand persons, plus even more volunteers, and hundreds of millions of dollars invested. Christian churches kept nearly all of the early U.S. and European vital records which are used for genealogical research. Therefore most Temple work is being done to make dead Christians Mormons. If your Christian ancestors were West European, or settled in the U.S. by the early 1800’s, they probably have been or soon will be made Mormons in one of these Temples. This unique doctrine and practice of Mormonism attracts many converts to the church for the sake of their unsaved, departed loved ones.
Mormons are continually reminded that their own personal exaltation, which is equivalent to a Christians salvation, is dependent upon their “good works”. One of these essential works is making certain that all of the Temple Ordinances are performed for each one of their dead ancestors which they are able, through all diligent effort, to identify and thus qualify to receive them. They are also responsible for doing this work for the world’s departed masses. A lifetime of diligent church service and good works is wasted if they neglect this responsibility to provide these names, and perform these rituals for their dead. Most Mormons are not aware of the only New Testament references to genealogy in Titus 3:9 and I Timothy 1:4, both of which condemn it as foolishness and ungodly.SATAN TRADEMARKS HIS WARES In Anton LeVeh’s Satanic Bible, under “Infernal Names”, “Mormon” is listed as “God of the ghouls”, which are the living dead. His consort is “Hecate - Goddess of the underworld and witchcraft”; his followers are known as MORMONS. With the Mormon pre-occupation with ancestor research and work for the dead in their Temples, one has to question whether this is an amazing coincidence, or one of Satan’s brash signals to the wary. Mormon Missionaries in Hong Kong must use caution because ‘Mormon’ means “Gates of Hell” in Chinese, another amazing coincidence, or brash danger signal. Satan, the supreme egotist, always trademarks his products; let the proselyte beware.THE HOLY MELCHIZEDEK PRIESTHOOD: THE ONLY AUTHORITY TO ACT FOR GOD Mormons claim sole custody of the “Holy Melchizedek Priesthood” described in the book of Hebrews. All activities of the Mormon church function under the direction and authority of this supposed Priesthood. Mormons claim theirs is the only authority to act for God in the entire universe, and aggressively dispute Roman Catholic and Masonic claims to this same Priesthood. The Temple Rituals are called the “Higher Ordinances of the Melchizedek Priesthood, as do all the other church auxiliary organizations.
Mormons claim to trace their “Priesthood Authority” directly to Jesus much like they trace their ancestry through genealogy. Every Mormon Priesthood holder has his personal “Line of Authority” documented, and when he performed an ordinance such as baptism, it is customary for him to present a printed copy of this “Priesthood Lineage” to the person receiving the ordinance. This Priesthood is bestowed upon all male members over 18 years of age who have shown their “worthiness” by good works and faithfulness to the Mormon Church. They receive it by “Laying on of hands” by men who have received their Priesthood in the same way, thus extending this “Line of Authority”. This line is always traced back through Brigham Young, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, and the Apostles Peter, James and John, who supposedly brought it to Joseph and Oliver directly from Jesus Christ.THE MORMON BIBLE CONTRADICTS THEIR PRIESTHOOD CLAIMS Mormons use only the authorized King James Version of the Bible in their Missionary work and worship services. Joseph Smith’s “Inspired Version”, which belongs to the Reorganized LDS church, contains many substantive changes to the King James text. It is intentionally shielded by the Utah Mormon church from public discussion and exposure, though it is used selectively in their teachings. The Mormon church prints and widely uses its own King James Version containing special Mormon study guides, reference sections, and the official LDS church name and insignia. Reading in this official Mormon King James Missionary Bible, 1968 edition, in Hebrews, concerning the resurrected Lord and these Priesthoods, we find that it says Jesus in NOW the sole and only holder of the Melchizedek Priesthood, and that the Aaronic Priesthood has been forever abolished. It states, “But this man (Jesus), because he continueth ever, hath and unchangeable priesthood.” (Hebrews 7:24) The footnote for ‘unchangeable’ states: “or, which passeth not from one to another* (Author’s emphasis). The original Greek word, aparabatos, used here means “perpetually non-transferable” or “Untransferable forever.” How can Mormons continue passing it on anyway? By simply ignoring their own Bible!! Since they believe it is only true as far as translated correctly, and the Book of Mormon says it is full of errors and omission,they can easily ignore what they don’t like. Please read Hebrews chapters 7 and 8 to understand how completely defiant of God’s word the Mormon Priesthoods really are.*This marginal note has been removed from the latest edition Missionary Bible.
ORDINANCES FOR THE LIVING The Ordinances for living Mormons include Washing, Anointing, Clothing in the Garment of the Holy Priesthood, and the Endow ment. Sealings are performed for married couples, and minor children are then Sealed to parents. Marriages are performed for time and eternity, and under special circumstances, marriages for time only. These ceremonies account for less than 2% of all Temple Ordinances performed.ORDINANCES FOR THE DEAD The ordinances for the deceased ancestors of members or names of deceased persons provided by the temple from genealogical records include Baptism, Confirmation of membership in the Mormon Church, and Ordination to the Holy Melchizedek (Mormon) Priesthood for males. All the ordinances described above for the living must also be performed for each of the dead persons who are post humously receiving their “Temple Blessings”. Over 98% if the Ordinances performed are for the dead by a living Mormon proxy. The writer performed approximately 150 Endowments for deceased relatives and many other identified persons known to the writer, as part of over 1000 Ordinances performed in a nearly ten year period.