I just read a post about the temple and then I remembered someone who says he knows a lot, taught me that in the prior to 1990 movie, satan would wear red, maybe the apron, but that the color represented communism. Also that the animals mentioned, represented some countries.

Have anyone heard about such or similar meanings in the temple involving governments?.

Not me. As I recall, Satan, the devil, wore a black apron with colored symbols embroidered on it representing various religious symbols. No red in the temple. Of course, the last time I went to the temple was around 1968 and some old geezer pressed himself into me at the veil and gave me a sheepish grin after he pulled me through. I hope the geezer got his jollies for the day because somewhere deep inside I decided I wasn't going back. Yuck.

This was in the full swing of the Benson-Skousen anti-communism era and I do not remember any red in the temple--the ceremony long pre-dated the world communism movement, although Joseph Smith and Karl Marx were sort of from the same era. Nope--the temple ceremony was about the other religions--the competition, so to speak. Arg. I really don't want to remember this stuff, not even after all these years.

I remember satan wearing a red robe with a black apron and of all things a wrist watch in the movie around the early 80s.

The live session I did in salt lake he did not wear red, and his apron was blue and black, the symbols on it were masonic. There are portraits of George Washington wearing a simular apron.

The animals in part could be symbolic of countries if they mirror the animals in Daniel and Revelations.

1960's vintage here and Satan did wear black and his Apron had religious symbols as mentioned.

Try to find one of those Aprons now. Can't be done.

One of the symbols of Satan's Priesthoods was the moslem Crescent moon. Don't remember the others.

It was not the Masonic symbols, but other religions.

As for animals, the temple walls used to have murals painted on them. SLC and Manti both have dinosaurs painted on the walls in the world room. So someone must have believed in them.

We must always keep in mind that symbols have no inherent "meaning" whatsoever. If I invent a symbol, and say it means X, then for me it means X. For you, it could mean X, or Y, or (quelle horreur!) nothing at all. It is possible to trace the historical context in which such and such a symbol was devised, thereby determining its original "meaning" in that context, but to claim that it "means" that in all contexts till the end of time is simply mistaken.

We can certainly try to discern the impluse for inventing symbols in the first place. Carl Jung gave us the pattern when he offered this little gem. He allowed how this or that object could be a phallic symbol, but then he asked, "but what does the phallus symbolize?". Symbols are ultimately to be understood as arising out of deep levels in human psychology, and in that sense are independent of a declared "meaning", such as Communism or Satan.

Reegarding Freemasonry: they have no key to cosmic symbolism whatever, Dan Brown notwithstanding. Each and every one of "their" symbols was either invented on the spot, or else borrowed from some other source because somebody thought it was cool. Freemasonry did not originate with Adam. It did not originate with Solomon. It did not originate in the Great Councils of heaven before the Foundations of the Earth. It originated at a specific time in history, for reasons that made perfect sense at the time, and went from there. There is no central governing body of Freemasonry tasked with keeping the keys of the true and cosmic meaning of their symbols. Freemasonry borrowed from every source you can imagine- the Greek mysteries, ancient Egypt, Hebrew Kaballa, etc. The operative word is "borrowed". We can perhaps trace the "meaning" of any of those symbols in its original context, but to claim that it meant the same thing for the particular group of Freemasons who thought it was cool is simply misleading. They liked it because they thought it was cool. That is all.

So why are those things in the Endowment? Because, IMHO, the people who devised the ceremony were deluded. In 19th century America, it was taken for granted that the Freemasons held the secrets to life, the universe, and everything. The church leaders were simply convinced that if they also used the symbols of Freemasonry that they too could control the forces of the Cosmos. They wanted to be among the Cool Kids whom everybody else wanted to emulate. And so it goes.