Posted on 03/14/2013 10:44:57 AM PDT by Colofornian
Springtime seems to be the season when strange things happen – or controversial occurrences – happen in connection with temples within the church system of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons).
The chart at the end of this article highlights “15 occultic and controversial facts you may want to know about Lds temples.”
Thirteen of those 15 “Facts” relate to the Lds church history of its temples, and strangely the overwhelming “dates” associated with these occur in mid to late March and the months of April or May.
Why?
Perhaps it goes back to the original “pact” Joseph Smith made. He received a Masonic degree on March 16, 1842. And by May of 1842, he injected elements of the Freemasonry ceremony into the Lds temple rituals.
Temple Occultic Occurrences, Manifestations & Hauntings:
Even six years prior, on March 27, 1836 in Kirtland, Ohio – the location of the first Lds temple (and one abandoned by the Mormons prior to Smith implementing Baptisms for the dead)... strange visions were going on:
Temple dedications were often the scenes of such mysterious occurrences. Joseph Smith wrote of "many strange visions" that were seen when the first temple was dedicated at Kirkland, Ohio on 27 March 1836. It was noted that men would run about "under the influence," while others would "speak in a muttering, unnatural voice and their bodies [would] be distorted...." (Joseph Smith, Times and Seasons 1 April 1842, page 747) Smith wrote: "Soon after the Gospel was established in Kirtland...many false spirits were introduced, many strange visions were seen, and wild, enthusiastic notions were entertained; men ran out doors under the influence of this spirit, and some of them got upon the stumps of trees and shouted, and all kinds of extravagances were entered into by them; one man pursued a ball that he said he saw flying in the air, until he came to a precipice, when he jumped into the top of a tree, which saved his life; and many ridiculous things were entered into... (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 213-214)
What kinds of "ridiculous things?"
The records of early Mormonism are replete with accounts of activity from the spirit world. According to John Whitmer, who was the official Church Historian in Joseph Smith's time, some converts to the new religion would "act like an Indian in the act of scalping," or would "slide or scoot on the floor with the rapidity of a serpent...." During the ordination ceremony of Harvey Whitlock as a high priest in 1831, he was seen to have "turned as black as Lyman was white," his fingers "were set like claws," and, unable to speak, he went about the room with eyes "as the shape of oval Os...." On another occasion, one man, who weighed over 200 pounds, was thrown through the air by an unseen force, and another "began screaming like a panther...." 46. John Whitmer, John Whitmer's History (Salt Lake City, Utah: Modern Microfilm Company, n.d.), Chapter Six.
Haunting also took place in the Manti, Utah temple in April 1877 and the Salt Lake City temple the Spring of 1893.
Lds "prophet" Wilford Woodruff claimed:
* "I have had many interviews with Brother Joseph until the last 15 or 20 years of my life; I have not see him for that length of time." Journal of Discourses, 21:317-318, October 10, 1880, cf. Journal of Discourses, 19:229
* And that The Declaration of Independence signers appeared to him in the St. George, Utah temple in the 1870s (see chart below).
* Similarly, Lds "apostle" Heber C. Kimball (one who manifested signs of demon possession as a Mormon missionary in the United Kingdom in 1837) said "Joseph Smith continued visiting myself and others up to a certain time, and then it stopped." -- Lds "apostle" Heber C. Kimball, Deseret Weekly News, 53:112, Temples of the Most High, 1896, p. 345
LDS Temple Ritual Changes
Even though EVERY small detail of a Mormon temple ritual is highlighted as being of great import, the Lds Church have made SEVERAL official changes to their temple rites (See Temple Ritual Changed...Again). What is significantly strange about that is that one official Lds church publication, Church Handbook of Instructions: Book 2 Priesthood and Auxiliary Leaders (1998) highlights how important those details are: The publication cites Lds “apostle” James Talmage that:“No jot, iota, or tittle of the temple rites is otherwise than uplifting and sanctifying. In EVERY DETAIL the endowment ceremony contributes to...” (and Talmage goes on to tout several aspects of that). [The original Talmage source cited is The House of the Lord, p. 84 of the 1976 edition, as cited by The Church Handbook of Instructions, Book 2, p. 261.]
The Lds church made significant changes in – yes, you guessed it – APRIL (1990):
“In 1982 The God Makers film reenacted some of the most occult elements in the [Lds temple] endowment. The later film, The Temple of the God Makers, went even deeper. Telling many of the scenes shown are the very ones now inexplicably missage. The changes include the elimination of the following: 1. The chanting of the words pay lay ale, which temple patrons were told came from the ancient 'Adamic language' and meant 'O God, hear the words of my mouth.' 2. A portion of the ceremony in which a Protestant preacher is portrayed as a hireling of Lucifer. He is paid to preach the gospel of salvation by the grace and omnipresence and omnipotence of God the Father to 'Adam and his prosperity.' 3. The penalty signs which portray the temple patron having their throat slit, their heart ripped out, or their belly torn open for revealing the secrets of the temple rite. 4. Women in the temple having to veil their faces in prayer. 5. Women in the temple swearing a covenant to obey their husbands as God. 6. The Masonic 'five points of fellowship' and the embrace with 'the Lord' through the veil in order to gain admittance to the Celestial Room and the presence of Heavenly Father. 7. The use of female veil workers at the veil, representing mother goddesses, to embrace the women temple patrons and bring them through to the Celestial Room.” (Ed Decker, Decker's Complete Handbook of Mormonism, p. 396, Harvest House, 1995).
The Lds Church Handbook of Instructions boast about special occultic knowledge gained in the secretive Lds temples: “...members receive important knowledge of 'things which have been kept hid from before the foundation of the world. (D&C 124:41)” The Church Handbook of Instructions, Book 2, p. 261. [For more on occultic features re: the Mormon temple, see #8 in the chart below]
Necro-baptizing
By far, most of the work done in the Lds temples comprises baptizing the dead – and sealings of marriages can be done for the dead as well. Controversy has repeatedly erupted since the Mormon Church's April 1995 agreement with Jews to stop baptizing Jews killed in the Holocaust. Anne Frank and other Jews, along with many historical figures, have been necro-baptized by the Church.
The end portion of the chart below covers controversial aspects of these necro-baptisms. One still yet to be controversial feature of Mormon theology is how it presents Mormons themselves as literal “saviors” – in competition with Jesus Christ Himself!
For more on that, See Are Mormon people LITERAL saviors of dead Jews, others? (The OTHER World Series: Vanity)Surprisingly NONE of the Mormon temple activity originates from the Book of Mormon. The Lds temple itself wasn't used for “necro” purposes until the 1840s. The first two Lds temples (Kirtland, Ohio and Nauvoo, IL) were abandoned by the Mormons.
| DATE & PLACE | LDS TEMPLE FACTOID | SOURCE LINKS |
| 1. OVERARCHING INTRO | What's involved with LDS temple rituals? | The Secret LDS Temple Ceremony [Mormonism/Anti-Christian] |
| HISTORY OF LDS TEMPLE FACTS | ||
| 2. May, 1842: Nauvoo, IL | Masonic influences in temple ceremony after Joseph Smith rec'd a Mason's degree March 16, 1842 | Masonic Influence in the Endowment Ceremony + Masonry/Temple + MASONRY & THE MORMON TEMPLE CEREMONY + Top 10 Mormon Problems (see #10) + Sandra Tanner on Mormon Temples |
| Temple Occultic Occurrences, Manifestations & Hauntings: | ||
| 3. March 27, 1836 Kirtland, Ohio Temple Lds abandoned in the 1830s | Strange visions Temple dedications were often the scenes of such mysterious occurrences. Joseph Smith wrote of "many strange visions" that were seen when the first temple was dedicated at Kirkland, Ohio on 27 March 1836. It was noted that men would run about "under the influence," while others would "speak in a muttering, unnatural voice and their bodies [would] be distorted...." (Joseph Smith, Times and Seasons 1 April 1842, page 747) Smith wrote: "Soon after the Gospel was established in Kirtland...many false spirits were introduced, many strange visions were seen, and wild, enthusiastic notions were entertained; men ran out doors under the influence of this spirit, and some of them got upon the stumps of trees and shouted, and all kinds of extravagances were entered into by them; one man pursued a ball that he said he saw flying in the air, until he came to a precipice, when he jumped into the top of a tree, which saved his life; and many ridiculous things were entered into... (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 213-214) What kinds of "ridiculous things?" The records of early Mormonism are replete with accounts of activity from the spirit world. According to John Whitmer, who was the official Church Historian in Joseph Smith's time, some converts to the new religion would "act like an Indian in the act of scalping," or would "slide or scoot on the floor with the rapidity of a serpent...." During the ordination ceremony of Harvey Whitlock as a high priest in 1831, he was seen to have "turned as black as Lyman was white," his fingers "were set like claws," and, unable to speak, he went about the room with eyes "as the shape of oval Os...." On another occasion, one man, who weighed over 200 pounds, was thrown through the air by an unseen force, and another "began screaming like a panther...." 46. John Whitmer, John Whitmer's History (Salt Lake City, Utah: Modern Microfilm Company, n.d.), Chapter Six. | GOD-MEN AND SPIRITUAL VEGETABLES: The Occult Worldview of Mormonism + GOD-MEN AND SPIRITUAL VEGETABLES: The Occult Worldview of Mormonism (original source) |
| 4. 1870s St. George, Utah Temple | The dead Founding Fathers appeared in the temple? Supposedly the spirits of the signers of the Declaration of Independence -- with George Washington -- appeared to Lds would-be “prophet” Wilford Woodruff. Is the temple haunted? Were these indeed ghosts of the signers? Could they have been demons in disguise as ghosts? Or was the one even contemporary Mormons appeal to as the "authoritative" voice of God on polygamy vs. monogamy perhaps given to wild religious fantasies? Furthermore, does the official Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints play down this occultic episode as being just a small event in the life of Woodruff? Or are the sources questionable? The answer to these last two questions is: Not at all.In fact anybody can go to Lds.org and find Lesson 39 of the Doctrine and Covenants and Church History Gospel Doctrine Teacher’s Manual, where they would see a lesson plan that actually plays it up and highlights Woodruff's claims...giving credence that contemporary Mormons buy into it! – (see The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn to Their Fathers) Within the lesson plan detailing the account, Mormon church curricula writers then have their teachers ask the question: What can we learn from these two stories? (Answers could include that those who are dead are anxious for us to perform ordinances for them and that we should be diligent in our efforts to redeem the dead.) So official Mormon church teachings actually present the account of such occultic ghostly/potentially demonic encounters as anecdotal evidence of baptizing dead spirits! Furthermore, BYU also includes the account as part of their curricula for incoming freshmen who have taken their "Religious Education Intro to LDS Family History (Genealogy)" course. (See next column for secondary source, which provides primary sources) | Lds Temple Haunted? Did Declaration of Independence signers appear as ghosts to leader? [Vanity] |
| 5. April 1877 Manti, Utah Temple | Mormon writer Joseph Heinerman described such things as personages of light, auras of light around some of the speakers, strange music, and other manifestations during the dedication of the Mormon temple in Manti, Utah. (See link next column + Greg Loren Durand 1995-2005 Crown Rights Book Company, citing Joseph Heinerman, Spirit World Manifestations: Accounts of Divine Aid in Genealogical and Temple Work and Other Assistance to Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City, Utah: Joseph Lyon and Associates, 1986), pages 94-97. (If one says "Well, that was 133 years ago" note that these anecdotal ghost stories are ones BYU professors feel are worth including in their class student syllabus, in the 1960s, or 1970: Charles R. Woodbury noted during one of the "fast food" baptisms for the dead that Mormons were doing in Manti that day (300 of them), he noted the following: ...let us review a journal entry written by Charles R. Woodbury after he had “witnessed 300 baptisms one day” in the Manti Temple: As a name was called out for baptism, a voice said to me, “This person has had the Gospel taught them and is converted and is ready for baptism.” Another name would be called out, “This person’s never heard the Gospel yet.” Another name would be called, “This person’s heard the Gospel and is not converted.” I sat there in that condition and witnessed 300 baptisms. I knew everyone of them that had accepted it and those that didn’t…25 out of the 300 weren’t ready for it. They weren’t converted and ready for the work. The rest of them, the other 275 were prepared and rejoiced that their work was being done. This is the testimony that I have to show people that the departed spirits know and appreciate when their work is done in the Temple, so they can enjoy the blessings of the Gospel (Woodbury, 1970, p. 19). (For source, see second link in next column) | GOD-MEN AND SPIRITUAL VEGETABLES: The Occult Worldview of Mormonism + Religious Education C261 Intro to LDS Family History (Genealogy) p. 57 |
| 6. Spring 1893 Salt Lake City Temple opening |
Mormons claim that when they opened their temple in the Spring of 1893, "Some Latter-day Saints saw...past Presidents of the Church and other deceased Church leaders." (Our Heritage: A Brief History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1996, p. 1020 |
Official Lds church source: Our Heritage: A Brief History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints p. 116, 1996 |
| 7. 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? |
| OTHER TEMPLE OCCULTIC COMPONENTS | ||
| 8. Other Occultic Elements | Temple oaths, secrets, secret tokens/passwords to heaven revealed + 'Is Lucifer the god of the Mormon temple?' In the temple ceremony up through April 1990, why did the Lds temple ritual have Lucifer answer prayers in the temple? (In a presentation of Adam praying 'Oh God hear the words of my mouth' three times Lucifer answers and promises to answer for the father Adam was praying unto) | Mitt Romney's Mormon Secrets [Temple oaths, secrets, secret tokens/passwords to heaven revealed] + Is Lucifer the god of the Mormon Temple? [The OTHER World Series] |
| 9. 1927 Salt Lake City, UT | Lds temple ceremony ritualistic changes ( Why change something 'direct from Mormon god?') included removing an oath of vengeance against the United States – an oath they were swearing to retain up thru the 3rd and 4th generations...meaning we are STILL in that time period of 3-4 generations removed from the mid-1920s | Temple Ritual Changed...Again + Only The Latest In A Long Line: Temple Ceremony Changes Through History + Why the need for secret death oaths in the LDS Temple Endowment Ceremony? [Secretive Mormon church] + Sandra Tanner on Mormon Temples + Top 10 Mormon Problems (see #10) |
| 10. April 1990 Salt Lake City, UT | More Lds temple ceremony ritualistic changes (Again, why change something 'direct from Mormon god?'): “In 1982 The God Makers film reenacted some of the most occult elements in the [Lds temple] endowment. The later film, The Temple of the God Makers, went even deeper. Telling many of the scenes shown are the very ones now inexplicably missage. The changes include the elimination of the following: 1. The chanting of the words pay lay ale, which temple patrons were told came from the ancient 'Adamic language' and meant 'O God, hear the words of my mouth.' 2. A portion of the ceremony in which a Protestant preacher is portrayed as a hireling of Lucifer. He is paid to preach the gospel of salvation by the grace and omnipresence and omnipotence of God the Father to 'Adam and his prosperity.' 3. The penalty signs which portray the temple patron having their throat slit, their heart ripped out, or their belly torn open for revealing the secrets of the temple rite. 4. Women in the temple having to veil their faces in prayer. 5. Women in the temple swearing a covenant to obey their husbands as God. 6. The Masonic 'five points of fellowship' and the embrace with 'the Lord' through the veil in order to gain admittance to the Celestial Room and the presence of Heavenly Father. 7. The use of female veil workers at the veil, representing mother goddesses, to embrace the women temple patrons and bring them through to the Celestial Room.” (Ed Decker, Decker's Complete Handbook of Mormonism, p. 396, Harvest House) | Temple Ritual Changed...Again + Only The Latest In A Long Line: Temple Ceremony Changes Through History + Why the temple ceremony was changed in 1990 - LDS-Mormon + Sandra Tanner on Mormon Temples + Top 10 Mormon Problems (see #10) |
| NECRO BAPTISMS | ||
| 11. April, 1995 | Lds Church covenants with Jews to stop Lds baptisms of Jewish Holocaust Victims – a covenant not kept | A Chronicle of the Mormon/Jewish Controversy: The Issue of The Mormon Baptisms of Jewish Holocaust Victims and Other Jewish Dead+ Anne Frank, a Mormon? + * Anne Frank has been posthumously baptized (Mormon) + Elie Wiesel calls for Romney’s help to end Mormons’ proxy baptisms of Jews |
| 12. Various Lds Temples | Who Knew They were 'Mormons'? A Look @ Controversial 'Who's Who' among the dead who the Mormons have 'baptized' | LDS Struggle to Keep Proxy Baptisms Appropriate + Here Are 10 Famous People Posthumously Baptized By Mormons [Business Insider] + Baptism for the Dead - People |
| 13. March 15, 2000: Jordan River Temple, South Jordan, UT | Lds temple seals deceased Roman Catholic priest to nun (Lds' controversial practice of 'sealing' the dead in marriage) | Mormons even marry the dead by proxy (Vanity: The OTHER World Series) + Newest Catholic saint baptized and 'sealed' to wife in LDS temple? + Hemings and Jefferson Together Forever? Troubling cases of Mormon “proxy sealing” + What is an LDS Church /Mormon temple marriage/sealing? |
| 14. All Lds Temples | Mormon theological claim that Mormons themselves are literal saviors of the dead | Are Mormon people LITERAL saviors of dead Jews, others? (The OTHER World Series: Vanity) |
| THEOLOGICAL WRAP-UP | ||
| 15. Is all this 'temple' stuff revealed in the Book of Mormon? | Does the BoM "enlighten" us about baptism for the dead or any temple rite or work? (No) Then what "lens" does it offer us? What about physical temples at all? (No) It doesn't tell us about ANY rituals done, nor does it offer us "additional" views about God or "the Mormon gods"...nor anything about the Aaronic priesthood, let alone anything "new"... nor does it tell us anything about baptism for the dead, let alone anything "new" about it...nor does the BoM tell us how to become a god, let alone anything "new" about it... nor does it tell us how to eternally progress unto godhood, let alone anything "new" about it... |
Good information
IBHCFC
In before the hateful comments from cultists...
Nice work
Count down..............1-2-3-
I’ll take post ten.
Has any Mormon ever be able to refute anything you have posted?
“Has any Mormon ever be able to refute anything you have posted?”
It is so much easier to call Colofornian names, accuse him of hate, claim he lies, etc.
Plus, they’d have to actually find some facts, evidence or logic, if they were to try to refute postings form their own sources.
Still, they believe. Mormonism is not about facts. It is about feelings. Sincerely held feelings that are based on a falsehood.
“Masonic influences in temple ceremony after Joseph Smith rec’d a Mason’s degree March 16, 1842”
My understanding is he was a clandestinely made mason, not a mason from a recognized lodge. But frankly, if Christian churches in general were more like lodge, they’d be a lot better off.
As a Christian and a non-Mormon, I fail to see what your purpose is in denigrating people of faith whose mode of worship differs from yours...the only Mormons I have ever known were kind, generous people with admirable values who spent more time in church than most of the rest of us spend in bars...what axe do you have to grind here? Is this the California mindset you brought to Colorado? No wonder the Golden State abhors such immigrants.
I just received a book “The American Muhammad” written by Alvin J. Schmidt, professor emeritus at Illinois College, Jacksonville, IL, which outlines 70 parallels between the founder and “prophet” of Islam, Muhammad, and Joseph Smith, the founder and “prophet” of Mormonism. Joseph Smith, on at least one occasion, referred to himself as the “American Mohamet.” The book is available from Concordia Publishing House in St. Louis.
Yep,
“I will be to this generation a second Mohammed, whose motto in treating for peace was ‘the Alcoran [Koran] or the Sword.’ So shall it eventually be with us—‘Joseph Smith or the Sword!’
1838
As a “Christian” then you should know that we are to call out false prophets and teachings.
mormonism isn’t just a different way of worshiping, it is at its very foundation anti-Christian.
“If we should take a million of worlds like this and number their particles, we should find that there are more Gods than there are particles of matter in those worlds.”
- Apostle Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, v. 2, p. 345, February 18, 1855
“It is because the Lord called Joseph Smith that salvation is again available to mortal men.If it had not been for Joseph Smith and the restoration, there would be no salvation,” ( Mormon Doctrine, p. 396, 670)
“Christians—those poor, miserable priests brother Brigham was speaking about—some of them are the biggest whoremasters there are on the earth, and at the same time preaching righteousness to the children of men. The poor devils, they could not get up here and preach an oral discourse, to save themselves from hell; they are preaching their fathers’ sermons —preaching sermons that were written a hundred years before they were born. You may get a Methodist priest to pour water on you, or sprinkle it on you, and baptize you face foremost, or lay you down the other way, and whatever mode you please, and you will be damned with your priest.
- Apostle Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, v. 5, p. 89
“Both Catholics and Protestants are nothing less than the ‘whore of Babylon’ whom the Lord denounces by the mouth of John the Revelator as having corrupted all the earth by their fornications and wickedness. Any person who shall be so corrupt as to receive a holy ordinance of the Gospel from the ministers of any of these apostate churches will be sent down to hell with them, unless they repent.”
- Apostle Orson Pratt, The Seer, p. 255
***As a Christian and a non-Mormon, I fail to see what your purpose is in denigrating people of faith whose mode of worship differs from yours****
It was not a Christian who walked out of the woods in 1820 and claimed to have seen angel and apostles and Jesus, and said we better fall in line to HIS teachings because all churches were wrong and his was right and if we didn’t HE would stand in the doorway to Heaven and keep the non mormons out!
HE threw down the gauntlet, Christians picked it up and ever since then Mormons have been crying that the Christians are mean to them even though it was Mormons who picked this fight!
Whew!
Define “refute”
I mean that how they work, they redefine everything...
Often on the fly...
ooooh...you dun it now
Prove what he posts is wrong, incorrect, or false.
Indignation is a standard argument in the mormon defender's argument toolbox. Often it is the first thing they pull out when challenged.
I have known MANY mormons who don't fit your description "kind, generous people with admirable values". Taken as a group they are no more "admirable" than any other group...just more hypocritical about hiding their faults. And their generosity is nearly always toward their sect and to other mormons. Example, the multi-millions in tithing given by Romney to his church.
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