The climactic conclusion to the Endowment is the Veil Ceremony in which each patron is tested by a Veil Worker, who represents the Lord behind the Veil, for his knowledge of the four tokens and their names, which were given to him during the Endowment. The Veil is a seven foot high by three foot wide ivory colored fabric panel hung on a beautifully finished hardwood framework (see figure 4). It has seven “Marks of the Holy Priesthood” in it which correspond to the four marks in the patron’s Priesthood Temple undergarment. Three of these Veil marks are sewn in the form of openings which are large enough for hands or arms to pass through. Between each pair of Veil segments is a curtained opening through which the patron is conducted after he successfully completes the testing. The Veil is located at the front of the Terrestrial Room, representing the Terrestrial (where almost all Christians and nearly all Mormons will supposedly spend eternity), and separates it from the Celestial Room, representing the Celestial Kingdom, where those who successfully keep all of the Mormon commandments will go to become Gods over their own planets. Thus the patron gains entrance to the Celestial Room by passing the testing conducted by the Lord at the Veil. Unfortunately for them, no Mormon is successfully keeping all of the commandments required for entrance into their Celestial Kingdom.

    There are approximately 60 Veil segments in the Los Angeles Temple, equally divided between men and women. The Veil is perhaps the most important object in the Temples, and was used over four million times last year alone. The veil of the Hebrew Temple was rent in twain from top to bottom at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, thus destroying its function (Matthew 27:51). Jesus’ atonement ended the need and purpose of the Temple forever (Hebrews 9:11-17). The Veil of the Hebrew Temple had only one opening and was only opened once each year by the one and only High Priest to enter for a specific ritual performed on behalf of all Israel and then to return through it (Hebrews 9:6-7). Over four million Mormon Temple patrons, mostly women but including hundreds of thousands of High Priests, WORKED their way through their Temple Veil to provide vicarious exaltation for dead people. They did nothing on the other side, an did not return through it as the Hebrew High Priesthood, yet Mormons speak of their Temple as a restoration of the one in Solomon’s Hebrew Temple. They rarely mention any claims of specific similarities, or the very many obvious differences.

THE VEIL CEREMONY     The Veil Ceremony is the Patron’s principle opportunity to participate in this two hour ritual. A Veil Worker represents the Lord behind the Veil, and an Introducer presents the patron to the Lord and coaches him through his lines and actions if necessary. The Lord reaches through and opening in the Veil to take his hand in the various grips or tokens and asks him specific questions through the Veil. His answers must be word perfect. The culmination of this examination is the name of the Second Token of the Melchizedek Priesthood, the Patriarchal Grip, or Sure Sign of the Nail, which is given to the patron only through the Veil, while embracing the Lord in the Five Points of Fellowship. THE FIVE POINTS OF FELLOWSHIP     The Five Points of Fellowship are inside of right foot by the side of right foot, knee to knee, breast to breast, hand to back, and mouth to ear.” The patron and the Veil Worker both reach their left arm through the appropriate mark in the Veil, while holding right hands in the Patriarchal Grip, and embracing each other, maintaining strong contact at all the points indicated with the Veil separating them, while the Veil Worker gives the name of the token to the patron and the patron repeats it back verbatim. The name of the token is, “Health in the navel, marrow in the bones, strength in the loins and sinews. Power in the Priesthood be upon me, and upon my posterity through all generations of time, and throughout all eternity.” This is a form of incantation similar to various Witchcraft, Voodoo, or Black Magic incantations in use for centuries before Joseph Smith developed his Endowment. Many women patrons are seriously agitated and disturbed by this procedure through the Veil. Since the Veil Workers are all men, they tend to put the blame on the men for being overly familiar or enthusiastic in this embrace. Since the women tend to be more sensitive and perceptive, I believe they are often spiritually disturbed by the overtly occult mystical demonic power that is being invoked in this incantation. This probably significantly contributes to why less than ten percent of those Mormons who are eligible actually attend the Temple regularly, while nearly triple that number have been through this experience once. After the patron repeats this incantation verbatim, calling these spiritist powers down upon himself and his posterity for eternity, he is ushered into the beautiful, ethereal Celestial Room, as the climax and reward for his perseverance and performance. THE CELESTIAL ROOM     The Celestial Room is a very large, elegantly decorated and furnished sitting room. It has no function or purpose except that patrons may stand or sit for a few minutes to wait for spouse, friends, or associates to come through the Veil. Conversation is permitted only in quiet whispers. This is the only opportunity a Mormon ever has to ask a question about the Temple ceremonies. It is supposed to be a place to meditate, or seek answers to problems or inspiration. In actual practice, however, patrons are not permitted to remain in the Celestial room for more than a few minutes. Rarely is anyone available to answer any questions or discuss a problem. It is very business like an efficiently operated, like a production line.

    Patrons move from the Celestial room out a side door and back downstairs to the locker room, still wearing all the Temple clothing. There the patron removes his Temple attire, puts on his normal clothing, and is free to leave at his leisure. There is a comfortable waiting room near the entrance where he may await spouse and friends.

TEMPLE MARRIAGE FOR TIME AND ETERNITY     A typical Temple contains from six to twenty Sealing Rooms where marriages and Sealings are performed for the living and the dead. Sealings are performed for couples already married, living or dead, to extend their marriage to eternity. On a typical spring Saturday in Los Angeles from 60 to 100 marriages and Sealings may be performed, mostly for young couples. The Sealing Rooms are elegantly furnished and decorated (See figure 5). The walls are lined with formal dining room type chairs and a beautiful altar is in the center. Two opposing walls are covered with solid mirrors so that one can seem to see “for Eternity” in both directions. The Officiator for this ceremony is a Temple Sealer, who is called to this position because he is considered an especially “Spiritual” person.

    The room is often filled with many friends and family of the wedding couple, who must also have valid Temple Recommends, who have come to be with them, all dressed in white Temple clothing. It is an impressive ceremony. There were approximately 40 dearly beloved friends at the Sealing of my wife and three teenage children to myself one year and six days after our Baptism. (It is the order of the Priesthood that wife (or wives) and children are sealed to the Priesthood holder). Though we were dazed and perplexed by the rush of confusing activities that had taken place during a period of sever hours preceding it, at the completion of that brief climaxing ceremony we truly felt blessed. With this capacity crowd of joyful well wishers encouraging us, we truly felt a wonderful bond of family togetherness envelop us. It is an event I will never forget. We thought we had achieved a wonderful goal through sustained sacrifice, dedication and hard work. The promises bestowed were glorious beyond understanding, and it felt worthwhile and rewarding. The support and fellowship of all those beloved friends who were there just for us was a very significant factor in the good feelings we had, for without them it would all have been a mass of confusion and senseless rituals.

5 LAWS-
    All Temple patrons covenant and promise to keep and live by these five laws of the Endowment.

• 1 - Law of Obedience- Wives agree to obey their husbands in righteousness, and husbands, in turn agree to obey the law of Elohim and keep his commandments.
• 2 - Law of Sacrifice- All agree to give everything they have, including their lives, if necessary, to the building up of the Kingdom of God.
• 3 - Law of the Gospel- All agree to obey the Law of the Gospel, and to avoid lightmindedness, loud laughter, evil speaking of the Lord’s anointed, the taking of the name of God in vain, and every other unholy and impure practice.
• 4 - Law of Chastity- All agree that they shall have no sexual intercourse except with their legal and lawful husband or wife (or wives).
• 5 - Law of Consecration- All agree to consecrate their time, talents, and everything with which the Lord has blessed them or will bless them to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for the building up of the Kingdom of God and the establishment of Zion (the Mormon Church).

• 1 - The First Token of the Aaronic Priesthood: Is given by clasping the right hands together and by placing the joint of the thumb over the first knuckle of the hand. Its name is the NEW NAME you received in the temple this day (The ‘New Name’ is usually Biblical, and is the same for everyone on a given day, i.e., every male who goes to the temple on the third of the month will receive the name “Abraham”. The name of the First Token of the A.P., then, would be “Abraham”).
• 2 - The Second Token of the Aaronic Priesthood: Is given by clasping right hands together and by placing the joint of the thumb between the first and second knuckles of the hand. The name of this token is your given name (If you are Elmer Jones the name of the token would be “Elmer”, and if you were Sadie Jones it would be “Sadie”).
• 3 - The First Token of the Melchizedek Priesthood or Sign of the Nail: Is executed by bringing your right hand forward in a vertical position, fingers close together, thumb extended, and the person giving the token placing the tip of the forefinger in the center of the palm with the thumb on the back of the hand. The name of this token in “The Son”.
• 4 - The Second Token of the Melchizedek Priesthood, the Patriarchal Grip, or Sure Sign of the Nail: Is given by clasping right hands and interlocking little fingers, and placing the index finger of the right hand on the center of the wrist. The name is “Health in the navel, marrow in the bone, strength in the loins and in the sinews, power in the priesthood be upon me and upon my posterity through all generation of time and throughout all eternity”.

• 1 - The Sign and Penalty of the First Token of the Aaronic Priesthood is made by bringing the right arm to the square, the palm of the hand forward, the fingers close together, and the thumb extended. The penalty is executed by placing the right thumb under the left ear, palm down, fingers close together. The thumb is drawn quickly across the throat to the right ear and the hand dropped to the side. This signifies having your throat slit from ear to ear and your tongue torn out by its roots.*
• 2 - The Sign and Penalty of the Second Token of the Aaronic Priesthood is made by bringing the right hand in front of you, the hand in cupping shape, the right arm forming a square, and the left arm is raised to the square. The penalty is executed by placing the right hand on the left breast, and drawing the hand quickly across the chest, then dropping both hands to the sides. This signifies having your chest ripped open and your heart and vitals torn out and fed to the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air.*
• 3 - The Sign and Penalty of the First Token of the Melchizedek Priesthood is made by bringing the left hand forward, the hand in cupping shape, the left arm forming a square. The right hand is brought forward, the palm down, fingers close together, and the thumb extended. The thumb is placed over the left hip. The penalty is executed by drawing the thumb quickly across the body and dropping both hands to the sides. This signifies having your body cut asunder and your bowels gush out upon the ground.*
• 4 - The Sign of the Second Token of the Melchizedek Priesthood (no penalty is mentioned) Is made by raising both hands high above the head, palms forward, fingers close together, and lowering the hands to the side three times while repeating aloud the words, ‘PAY LAY ALE, PAY LAY ALE, PAY LAY ALE.’ They are told this means, “Oh God, hear the words of my mouth” in the Adamic language.

*Up until the 1930’s the penalties were plainly stated as indicated. The patron was agreeing or covenanting that if he or she revealed these secrets, the Mormon elders would very literally take them and execute the penalties upon them. This is known as “blood atonement”, and is still a doctrine of the Church today.

**The significance of the penalties is no longer explained to the patrons as plainly as it was in former days. Today it is described as “various ways in which life may be taken.” As the patron is executing the morbid gesture of the penalty, he is affirming that rather than reveal the secret token, name, sign and penalty, he would “suffer his life to be taken.” IMMORALITY AND SEXUAL ACTIVITY IN THE TEMPLE RITUALS     Numerous stories have been circulated of all manner of sexual activities, indecent exposure, polygamous marriages, marital intercourse, etc., taking place as part of the Temple rituals. We want to unequivocally and emphatically state that none of these are true. There is no overt sexual activity, immoral or otherwise, contained within the rituals or otherwise conducted within the Mormon Temples, although there are numerous similarities between ancient pagan fertility rites and Mormon Temple rituals. We do not believe that polygamous marriages are knowingly being performed within the Temples today. Since polygamy is still an essential element of Mormon doctrine, and still very much alive in Utah, we realize that some Mormon dishonestly obtain polygamous marriage through Mormon Temples by concealing the truth of their intentions. THE GARMENT OF THE HOLY PRIESTHOOD 4 MARKS -

    Every Mormon who “receives his Endowments” (including all Mormon Missionaries) is dressed by a temple worker in the “garment of the holy priesthood” which he is required to wear 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, until he is buried in it. It is removed only to bathe and change them, and for certain “public appearance” exceptions. Most of these have the appearance of old-fashioned “long johns”.

    Closer examination reveals a pair of button-holes over the right breast sewn in the form of a square, reminding the Mormon of exactness and honor in living up to his temple vows. Over the left breast a pair of button-holes in the form of a compass, remind the Mormon that all truth may be circumscribed into one great whole, and that all appetites must be kept within certain bounds. One button-type hole over the navel, recalls the need of nourishment for body and soul, and an identical hole over the right knee, signifies that every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ. In the early Mormon Temple ceremonies some of the marks were cut into the garment with a small knife while on the patron’s body, thus knicking his flesh and shedding his blood into the garment. See Leviticus 19:28, 21:5, Deuteronomy 14:1, and Jeremiah 16:6. The same four marks are on the veil of the temple in much larger dimensions. The Temple Worker tells the patron, as he or she is being dressed in this garment, that “it will be a shield and a protection to you from the power of the destroyer until you have finished your work on the earth, so long as you are true and faithful to the covenants you make in the temple this day.”

    The garment has thus become a magic talisman to the Temple patron, and is to be his source of protection from the power of Satan throughout his lifetime. The patron is instructed that, when the garment is worn out, he must cut the priesthood markings off of it and burn them. The garment then can be used for rags or any other purpose. Thus we see that the magical “power” in in the Priesthood markings. The Christian is taught that his protection from Satan comes in a much different form from this Priestcraft occult talisman magic. Christians, in overcoming Satan’s attacks, are to put on something more substantial than magic underwear with Masonic markings. It is fully explained in Ephesians 6:12-18, and we highly recommend this form of protection to all readers.

MASONIC SYMBOLS AND RITES USED IN THE MORMON TEMPLE     In spite of vehement denials to the contrary, there is a direct link between the rites, symbols, signs, handclasps and penalties of the Masonic Lodge (Free and Accepted Masons or Free Masons) and those of the temple Endowments of Mormonism. Joseph Smith received his first degree in Masonry on March 15, 1842 and the very next day was elevated to 32nd degree sublime Master of the Royal Secret. (See History of the Church (H.C.), Volume 4, page 550, 552). Six weeks later, on May 2, 1842, Smith was teaching these Masonic secrets as his own “revelations” to Mormon leaders as the Temple Endowment (see H.C., Volume 15, Page 2). It was from his association with the Masons that Joseph Smith derived the basic ceremonies and symbols now known as the “Endowment”. Into the fabric of Free Masonry he wove his own peculiar brand of occultism, claiming it to be “Revelation” from on high.

    We do not intend to do an exhaustive comparison between Masonry and the Mormon Temple Endowment, but we would like to draw your attention to a few of the more obvious similarities. Please keep in mind as you look over the following list, that the Masonic rituals and symbols pre-date the Mormon Church by several hundred years:

    All Seeing Eye Anointing with oil Apron Beehive Square and Compass Earth Symbol Emblem of the clasped hands Solemn Assembly in the Temple Five points of Fellowship Special Garments applied to initiates Garment Markings Grips (Special handshakes) The phrase: “Holiness to the Lord” Moon symbol New Name given Special Prayer circle Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods Blood/death oaths of secrecy with morbid gestures and words describing penalties agreed to if secrets are revealed.   Location (possession of) Throne of the “Holy of Holies” Star symbols Sun symbols Tabernacles Temples.
 

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