LDS TEMPLES
COMPARED WITH THOSE OF BIBLICAL TIMES
The LDS church has temples all over the world, but they are not what
one would expect them to be. They are not used for worship
services, but for work for the dead and for ceremonies pertaining to
life in the hereafter. Entry is restricted to Mormons of good
standing, provided they have obtained a temple recommend from their
bishop.
All those who choose to go through the temple are sworn to absolute secrecy about what goes on inside, to the extent that they are not even permitted to discuss these things with their nearest and dearest. Originally included in the temple ceremonies were many of the Freemasonry rites, accompanied by some rather gory oaths about what would happen to the participants if they ever broke their word concerning secrecy.
There has never ever been any secrecy practiced by the people of God, either under the Old Covenant or under the New. The biblical God is a deity of light, in whom there is no darkness, and it follows that nothing that emanates from Him needs to be done in secret. Truth doesn't need to be concealed, only deception, or practices that are wrong or inappropriate.
Since the advent of the Internet, the LDS church has come under a lot of open ridicule and criticism. Ex-Mormons have made public some of the ridiculous LDS temple ceremonies (which had included secret handshakes that they needed to learn so that they could identify themselves to God, and so on). Because of the overwhelmingly adverse response, the LDS church decided to modify their ceremonies. Some have been done away with altogether. But the oath of absolute secrecy still applies.
It needs to be remembered that the original ceremonies were supposed to have been given to the LDS by God Himself. However, it appears that many of them came straight out of Freemasonry, as they are either identical or very similar.
After Mormons have been through the LDS temple they are expected to wear special underwear for the rest of their lives, and are told it will protect them. But one can't help wondering why people who claim that they are Christians should be required to wear undergarments that are decorated with pagan symbols.
In order for Mormons to fully understand just why their temples don't fit in with either the New or the Old Covenants, we need to go right back to when God commanded His chosen people to build the first tabernacle, which was really just a portable temple.
THE OLD COVENANT TEMPLE
The temple, the Aaronic/Levitical priesthood and the sacrificial system were all part and parcel of the Old Covenant set up, and have no place in the New Covenant.
In the book of Exodus, God instructed Moses to lead the Hebrews out of bondage in Egypt, into a land of their own. He promised that He would be with them and instructed Moses to have a portable tabernacle built that would represent His presence in their midst as they journeyed. The pagans believed that Gods were strictly territorial, and that each area or region had its own specific God. But the God of Israel was teaching His people that He wasn't confined to one area alone, and that His presence would be with them no matter where they went.
When they eventually settled in the promised land of Israel, they did away with the portable tabernacle and erected a permanent temple in the city of Jerusalem to represent God's presence.
We need to be clear that the sole reason for the existence, firstly of the portable tabernacle and then later on of the permanent temple, was to represent God's presence on earth in the midst of His people. The people went to the temple to pray to, and to worship God. They also brought their sin offerings and their sacrificial animals to the temple, because that's where His presence was. However, they worshipped, prayed and sacrificed directly outside the temple, in the courtyards, because the temple wasn't for them. It was exclusively for the presence of God.
Inside the temple was a sacred place known as the Holy of Holies. Because it represented the presence of a holy God and the question of sin had not yet been dealt with, ordinary folk weren't allowed in. So the temple was never ever used either by the people or by the leadership for any purpose whatsoever. It was there solely to represent the presence of God, and they had no access to it. However, once a year, after undergoing ceremonial cleansing, the High Priest was permitted to go in, to offer atonement to God on behalf of the nation. But other than on that one special occasion once a year, nobody was allowed to enter the temple.
Secret temple ceremonies and temple work for the dead are exclusively Mormon ideas and would have resulted in instantaneous death for those concerned, if they had attempted such practices in biblical times.
Because the Israelites were surrounded by idolaters who worshipped many different Gods, each God having his own temple, they were instructed never to build more than one temple for themselves. Otherwise there would be a very real danger that they could fall into the trap of believing that there was more than one God. That's why the Jews had to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem from all over the world to their one and only temple at times like the Passover.
History reveals that the only time they had more than one temple was for a period after Solomon's death, when the kingdom had split into two. And that signalled the beginning of their idolatry. Their captivity and dispersion followed.
Regarding LDS claims that their specifically Mormon temple practices are missing from the Bible because they were removed by evil people, one shouldn't forget that the Jewish nation didn't only practice their religion straight out of the then recorded scriptures. They also did so from memory. They explained it all to their children orally, over and over again. So every Jew, old and young alike, knew these things off by heart. Someone, somewhere, would have objected if such important practices had been removed from the scriptures. It would have caused an almighty uproar with repercussions that would still have been heard today. So Mormons may rest assured that nothing was ever taken from the original temple practices.
There has never ever been any evidence discovered anywhere, in any form, of anything remotely resembling Mormon teachings or practices prior to the time when Joseph Smith founded the Mormon church.
THE RATIFICATION OF THE NEW COVENANT
Christ's shed blood ratified the New Covenant and thereby rendered the Old Covenant with its temple, priesthood and sacrificial system, obsolete. No longer would God's presence be represented by the temple, because believers themselves would become the temple of God:
In the very early days the apostles (who were all Jews) did sometimes worship in the courtyard of the Jewish temple on a Saturday. But they didn't go to the temple as a matter of course, because the New Covenant church worshipped on a Sunday, not a Saturday. They went to the temple specifically because that was where all the Jews gathered, and it gave them an opportunity to preach to them about Jesus being their long awaited Messiah. Their mission was firstly to preach to the Jewish nation, and then to the gentiles. The Jews were still under their Old Covenant of Law, as in the main they hadn't accepted Jesus as the Messiah, and that is why they worshipped at the temple. The temple was a part of the Old Covenant set up, not the New.
As a Christian, when I attend a church service I don't go there to meet with God. He comes with me, because His presence dwells within me. He's with me all the time, wherever I go, and has promised that He'll never leave me or forsake me (Hebrews 13:5).
In the book of Revelation, the new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven is described as having no temple:
SYMBOLISM USED IN MORMON TEMPLES
It is a well recorded fact that Joseph Smith came from an occultic background. Photographs taken during the time he was the prophet and leader of the LDS church reveal that he was wearing an occultic ring. He freely admitted that he received his revelations from God through an occultic stone, and it is common knowledge that he had "translated" the Book of Mormon with the aid of that same occultic stone. He was also a Freemason, as were others in the early LDS leadership, and they brought many of the Masonic secret ceremonies and symbols with them into the Mormon temple setup.
Freemasonry is a brotherhood embracing all religions. Their symbol of a compass and square along with any book of 'scripture' such as the Koran, the Vedas, the Bible, or whatever, form the Three Great Lights of Masonry that represent pagan solar gods. In spite of their pagan connotations, the LDS temples are decorated with Masonic symbols. To complete the picture of pagan solar worship, the external masonry is emblazoned with stars and planets and the like. Their actual placement and the direction they face has a great deal of significance. It reveals that they weren't just randomly included as decoration, but that they have a special meaning.
Masons worship a god whom they call "the Great Architect of the Universe," symbolized by the same all seeing eye that the ancient Egyptians used to represent their pagan god, Osiris. This all seeing eye is also regarded by Satanists as the symbol of Lucifer. Notwithstanding this, it is featured on the external masonry of the LDS temple. And the inverted pentagram used in Satan worship is also displayed on the external facade. But the Christian symbol of the cross has been banned from all their premises, including the temple premises.
(The information concerning the external facade of the LDS temple was gleaned from the book, "Whited Sepulchers, the Hidden Language of the Mormon Temple," by William J. Schnoebelen and James R. Spencer.)
Mormons are taught to abhor the symbol of the cross, and their women do not wear a crucifix. Their outright rejection of the symbol of the cross and their unease when it is displayed was brought home to me after the death of my oldest Mormon brother. A memorial service was held in the [Christian] chapel of the retirement home where he had died. As the Mormon bishop began the service he pointed to the cross embossed on the front of the pulpit and remarked that this would never have been allowed in a Mormon chapel. But in saying that, he shot himself in the foot, so to speak. There were many non-Mormon friends and relatives in the congregation who had been under the impression that Mormonism was an "acceptable variation of Christianity." That very day they were convinced otherwise by that one telling remark made by the LDS bishop.
A Christian church would never, ever ban the symbol of a cross on their premises.
LDS doctrines and teachings have been designed in such a way that their followers will never find God's chosen way of salvation. To top it all, Mormons have been taught that the Bible, God's weapon against spiritual deception, is unreliable and full of errors and omissions. So they have no standard of truth against which to judge the correctness or otherwise of LDS doctrine.
The author is not denigrating Mormons or the Mormon way of life. Many of the people I love best in the world are Mormons. And they are gentle, sincere and lovely people. But that hasn't prevented them from being spiritually deceived.
Apart from their stance on morality, Mormonism bears no resemblance to biblical Christianity. If it had, the LDS leadership would have ensured that their buildings displayed some sort of Christian symbolism. There are literally dozens of Christian symbols that they could have used besides the cross, seeing that offends them so much. There is the alpha and the omega sign, the lamb symbolizing Christ, the dove symbolizing the Holy Spirit, the burning bush, the seven branched candlestick, the fish, and oh, the list goes on and on. But instead the LDS leadership deliberately chose symbols from paganism, astrology and Satanism. And they banned the cross.
My heart and my prayers are with you as you read this article. Should you wish to contact this site, you are welcome to use the email facilities provided at the bottom of the home page.
The following link will take you to an article that discusses the LDS's abhorrence of the symbol of the cross:
Mormon Opposition to the Cross
Copyright 2007 by Mormonism and Biblical Truth. All rights reserved.
All those who choose to go through the temple are sworn to absolute secrecy about what goes on inside, to the extent that they are not even permitted to discuss these things with their nearest and dearest. Originally included in the temple ceremonies were many of the Freemasonry rites, accompanied by some rather gory oaths about what would happen to the participants if they ever broke their word concerning secrecy.
There has never ever been any secrecy practiced by the people of God, either under the Old Covenant or under the New. The biblical God is a deity of light, in whom there is no darkness, and it follows that nothing that emanates from Him needs to be done in secret. Truth doesn't need to be concealed, only deception, or practices that are wrong or inappropriate.
Since the advent of the Internet, the LDS church has come under a lot of open ridicule and criticism. Ex-Mormons have made public some of the ridiculous LDS temple ceremonies (which had included secret handshakes that they needed to learn so that they could identify themselves to God, and so on). Because of the overwhelmingly adverse response, the LDS church decided to modify their ceremonies. Some have been done away with altogether. But the oath of absolute secrecy still applies.
It needs to be remembered that the original ceremonies were supposed to have been given to the LDS by God Himself. However, it appears that many of them came straight out of Freemasonry, as they are either identical or very similar.
After Mormons have been through the LDS temple they are expected to wear special underwear for the rest of their lives, and are told it will protect them. But one can't help wondering why people who claim that they are Christians should be required to wear undergarments that are decorated with pagan symbols.
In order for Mormons to fully understand just why their temples don't fit in with either the New or the Old Covenants, we need to go right back to when God commanded His chosen people to build the first tabernacle, which was really just a portable temple.
THE OLD COVENANT TEMPLE
The temple, the Aaronic/Levitical priesthood and the sacrificial system were all part and parcel of the Old Covenant set up, and have no place in the New Covenant.
In the book of Exodus, God instructed Moses to lead the Hebrews out of bondage in Egypt, into a land of their own. He promised that He would be with them and instructed Moses to have a portable tabernacle built that would represent His presence in their midst as they journeyed. The pagans believed that Gods were strictly territorial, and that each area or region had its own specific God. But the God of Israel was teaching His people that He wasn't confined to one area alone, and that His presence would be with them no matter where they went.
When they eventually settled in the promised land of Israel, they did away with the portable tabernacle and erected a permanent temple in the city of Jerusalem to represent God's presence.
We need to be clear that the sole reason for the existence, firstly of the portable tabernacle and then later on of the permanent temple, was to represent God's presence on earth in the midst of His people. The people went to the temple to pray to, and to worship God. They also brought their sin offerings and their sacrificial animals to the temple, because that's where His presence was. However, they worshipped, prayed and sacrificed directly outside the temple, in the courtyards, because the temple wasn't for them. It was exclusively for the presence of God.
Inside the temple was a sacred place known as the Holy of Holies. Because it represented the presence of a holy God and the question of sin had not yet been dealt with, ordinary folk weren't allowed in. So the temple was never ever used either by the people or by the leadership for any purpose whatsoever. It was there solely to represent the presence of God, and they had no access to it. However, once a year, after undergoing ceremonial cleansing, the High Priest was permitted to go in, to offer atonement to God on behalf of the nation. But other than on that one special occasion once a year, nobody was allowed to enter the temple.
Secret temple ceremonies and temple work for the dead are exclusively Mormon ideas and would have resulted in instantaneous death for those concerned, if they had attempted such practices in biblical times.
Because the Israelites were surrounded by idolaters who worshipped many different Gods, each God having his own temple, they were instructed never to build more than one temple for themselves. Otherwise there would be a very real danger that they could fall into the trap of believing that there was more than one God. That's why the Jews had to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem from all over the world to their one and only temple at times like the Passover.
History reveals that the only time they had more than one temple was for a period after Solomon's death, when the kingdom had split into two. And that signalled the beginning of their idolatry. Their captivity and dispersion followed.
Regarding LDS claims that their specifically Mormon temple practices are missing from the Bible because they were removed by evil people, one shouldn't forget that the Jewish nation didn't only practice their religion straight out of the then recorded scriptures. They also did so from memory. They explained it all to their children orally, over and over again. So every Jew, old and young alike, knew these things off by heart. Someone, somewhere, would have objected if such important practices had been removed from the scriptures. It would have caused an almighty uproar with repercussions that would still have been heard today. So Mormons may rest assured that nothing was ever taken from the original temple practices.
There has never ever been any evidence discovered anywhere, in any form, of anything remotely resembling Mormon teachings or practices prior to the time when Joseph Smith founded the Mormon church.
THE RATIFICATION OF THE NEW COVENANT
Christ's shed blood ratified the New Covenant and thereby rendered the Old Covenant with its temple, priesthood and sacrificial system, obsolete. No longer would God's presence be represented by the temple, because believers themselves would become the temple of God:
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16, KJV).At the moment of Christ's death the New Covenant was ushered in, and the curtain that had partitioned the Holy of Holies off from the rest of the temple ripped into two. This was a divine indication that Christ's vicarious death had provided direct access for fallen man into the presence of a holy God.
In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. (Hebrews 8:13, KJV).
And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. (Mark.15:37-38, KJV)Under the New Covenant the believer himself becomes the temple of God, through the indwelling of God's Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19, Ephesians 2:19-22). So it's no longer necessary to have temples or tabernacles made with hands. There is no record of the early church ever building a temple, because they themselves were the temple of God:
Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:18-22, KJV).
In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22, KJV)Apart from the one and only Jewish temple in Jerusalem, the only other temples mentioned in the New Testament were those belonging to idolaters.
In the very early days the apostles (who were all Jews) did sometimes worship in the courtyard of the Jewish temple on a Saturday. But they didn't go to the temple as a matter of course, because the New Covenant church worshipped on a Sunday, not a Saturday. They went to the temple specifically because that was where all the Jews gathered, and it gave them an opportunity to preach to them about Jesus being their long awaited Messiah. Their mission was firstly to preach to the Jewish nation, and then to the gentiles. The Jews were still under their Old Covenant of Law, as in the main they hadn't accepted Jesus as the Messiah, and that is why they worshipped at the temple. The temple was a part of the Old Covenant set up, not the New.
As a Christian, when I attend a church service I don't go there to meet with God. He comes with me, because His presence dwells within me. He's with me all the time, wherever I go, and has promised that He'll never leave me or forsake me (Hebrews 13:5).
In the book of Revelation, the new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven is described as having no temple:
And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. (Revelation 21:22, KJV)This fits in with the fact that the temple was intended solely to represent the presence of God. The Bible is the most amazing book. Although it has been recorded by a great many different writers over a very long time period, everything fits together so perfectly, that it just has to have been supernaturally inspired.
SYMBOLISM USED IN MORMON TEMPLES
It is a well recorded fact that Joseph Smith came from an occultic background. Photographs taken during the time he was the prophet and leader of the LDS church reveal that he was wearing an occultic ring. He freely admitted that he received his revelations from God through an occultic stone, and it is common knowledge that he had "translated" the Book of Mormon with the aid of that same occultic stone. He was also a Freemason, as were others in the early LDS leadership, and they brought many of the Masonic secret ceremonies and symbols with them into the Mormon temple setup.
Freemasonry is a brotherhood embracing all religions. Their symbol of a compass and square along with any book of 'scripture' such as the Koran, the Vedas, the Bible, or whatever, form the Three Great Lights of Masonry that represent pagan solar gods. In spite of their pagan connotations, the LDS temples are decorated with Masonic symbols. To complete the picture of pagan solar worship, the external masonry is emblazoned with stars and planets and the like. Their actual placement and the direction they face has a great deal of significance. It reveals that they weren't just randomly included as decoration, but that they have a special meaning.
Masons worship a god whom they call "the Great Architect of the Universe," symbolized by the same all seeing eye that the ancient Egyptians used to represent their pagan god, Osiris. This all seeing eye is also regarded by Satanists as the symbol of Lucifer. Notwithstanding this, it is featured on the external masonry of the LDS temple. And the inverted pentagram used in Satan worship is also displayed on the external facade. But the Christian symbol of the cross has been banned from all their premises, including the temple premises.
(The information concerning the external facade of the LDS temple was gleaned from the book, "Whited Sepulchers, the Hidden Language of the Mormon Temple," by William J. Schnoebelen and James R. Spencer.)
Mormons are taught to abhor the symbol of the cross, and their women do not wear a crucifix. Their outright rejection of the symbol of the cross and their unease when it is displayed was brought home to me after the death of my oldest Mormon brother. A memorial service was held in the [Christian] chapel of the retirement home where he had died. As the Mormon bishop began the service he pointed to the cross embossed on the front of the pulpit and remarked that this would never have been allowed in a Mormon chapel. But in saying that, he shot himself in the foot, so to speak. There were many non-Mormon friends and relatives in the congregation who had been under the impression that Mormonism was an "acceptable variation of Christianity." That very day they were convinced otherwise by that one telling remark made by the LDS bishop.
A Christian church would never, ever ban the symbol of a cross on their premises.
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18, KJV)Although it is understood that members of the LDS church are unaware of how deeply their religion has been affected by pagan, occultic and satanic influences, they need to come to the realization that Mormonism was formulated by an early leadership who did know.
LDS doctrines and teachings have been designed in such a way that their followers will never find God's chosen way of salvation. To top it all, Mormons have been taught that the Bible, God's weapon against spiritual deception, is unreliable and full of errors and omissions. So they have no standard of truth against which to judge the correctness or otherwise of LDS doctrine.
The author is not denigrating Mormons or the Mormon way of life. Many of the people I love best in the world are Mormons. And they are gentle, sincere and lovely people. But that hasn't prevented them from being spiritually deceived.
Apart from their stance on morality, Mormonism bears no resemblance to biblical Christianity. If it had, the LDS leadership would have ensured that their buildings displayed some sort of Christian symbolism. There are literally dozens of Christian symbols that they could have used besides the cross, seeing that offends them so much. There is the alpha and the omega sign, the lamb symbolizing Christ, the dove symbolizing the Holy Spirit, the burning bush, the seven branched candlestick, the fish, and oh, the list goes on and on. But instead the LDS leadership deliberately chose symbols from paganism, astrology and Satanism. And they banned the cross.
My heart and my prayers are with you as you read this article. Should you wish to contact this site, you are welcome to use the email facilities provided at the bottom of the home page.
The following link will take you to an article that discusses the LDS's abhorrence of the symbol of the cross:
Mormon Opposition to the Cross
Copyright 2007 by Mormonism and Biblical Truth. All rights reserved.