2 Corinthians 11:3; “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”
Changes to Sacred Endowment Ceremonies
False Prophecies of Joseph Smith –
Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 91; “The order of the house of God has been, and ever will be, the same, even after Christ comes; and after the termination of the thousand years it will be the same; and we shall finally enter into the celestial kingdom of God, and enjoy it forever.”
Our bible verse today has been heavy on my heart as of late, and what I’ve been praying the Mormon people would adopt for themselves. The simplicity of Christ is so beautiful, yet the Church has turned what God lovingly gave us and twisted it into an unrecognizable lie from Satan.
Yesterday we looked at a half dozen doctrines and teachings of the Church they tried to pull off as truth, but they didn’t reflect true Mormonism at all. The last doctrine we’re looking at in this mini-series is Joe Smith’s false prophecy/teaching that temple endowment ceremonies would remain unchanged.
In summary, the ceremony changed within a year of its inception in 1842. The following is a chronological list of changes the Endowment Ceremony has gone through:
1843 sealings and 2nd anointings were instituted.
1845 endowment ceremony performed as ritual dramas
1877 endowments for the dead begins
1919-1927 major revisions to endowments include elimination of vengeance oaths, omission of descriptions of penalties, reducing # of times robes are changed, discontinuance of temple choirs.
1936 explanation of marks on veil added
1950’s filmed version of endowments introduced
1970’s reference to Satan having black skin is omitted, as well as Lucifer mentioning how much a preacher is paid
1978 ban on blacks lifted
1990 following surveys taken of members’ feelings many revisions are implemented:
Penalties, 5 points of fellowship
Preacher segment
Women covenant to obey law of husband is gone
Blaming Eve for the Fall is gone
Lecture at veil is gone
Many references to Adam replaced w/ Adam & Eve
Orders from Elohim shortened
2005 members clothe themselves, water and oil applied to head only, instead of body parts
Over all, there have been at least thirteen major revisions to the LDS Temple Endowment Ceremony since its inception in 1842.
Our only question for today is, now what?
Please, don’t forget to pray for the Mormons who believe this! Also pray those who are leaving the Church will find a fantastic Christian church to join, and become a mature member of the true church of Jesus Christ!
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