I just has this revelation over on the Postmormon board. The discussion was, why does Satan get the priesthood, in reference to the portrayal of Satan in the temple movie. Its an interesting discussion. For the benefit of the nevermos and those who didn't make it that far, here's a little background of what goes on in the temple: Prior to the fall of Adam & Eve, Satan wears an apron. We are told that it symbolizes his power and priesthoods. His apron disappears after the Fall. Adam and Eve are instructed by Satan to put aprons on when they hear god coming. The entire congregation in the temple act as Adam and Eve, and everyone puts green aprons on. Here is the thought that I posted:

Satan no longer has his apron because he gave it to Adam, found a spare, and gave the spare to Eve. The apron is the only non-white part of the temple outfit. White represents purity before the Lard. Green represents impurity, guilt, and shame. Adam & Eve are told by Satan to put the apron on, and they obeyed. The apron represents our fallen state, our guilt before god, our shame. Thus Satan's power and priesthood is guilt and shame. Guilt and shame are the two most powerful tools of the priesthood in the church, the primary motivators that leaders use to control the membership. See how it all ties together? The church is led by Satan.

For scriptural proof see my article at http://packham.n4m.org/satan.htm

Why are we obeying Satan, and what is HE doing in the temple anyway?

He couldn't answer that.

Thanks for your post. Guilt and shame are the foundation of the lds church. I remember so vividly Satan telling us to run and hide because of our nakedness. To this day it is difficult to undress without feeling some guilt or shame. It started with that temple scenario with Satan.

The temple is not a place of solace or healing. Who would have thought Satan would be there too? Not me.'

Green also represents this world of beauty. What is more beautiful than the green of spring after a long winter. Yet the mormon church makes green a product of shame for our bodies. Fig leaves? It makes me smile not to remember.

Satan had priesthood and power which is guilt and shame, the same as what the mormon church preaches to its members. It keeps them obedient, which is the desired outcome so tithes can be collected.

Thanks for the insight. Good points, as per your usual!

What a great article, Richard! Most enlightening, many things I had not thought of before, thanks for sharing.

I caught that Satan in the temple cermony and it set wrong with me, but as a new convert I let that red flag slide.

(I only went to the temple twice in my life, I wasn't very good at tithing when I struggled to buy groceries. The Church couldn't over ride my common sense most of the time.)

It's just good to know to trust my own instincs and not to let others convince me I don't see what I see.

In the temple Satan actually ENDORSES the Mormon Church.

Satan basically says this: "If you folks don't go along with this true church, you'll be in my power!"

Why would Satan warn the very people that he wants to win over?

Shouldn't Satan be saying the opposite: "Don't listen to these Mormon guys; they are lying to you. Follow me instead."

If the Mormon church believes that Satan is "the father of all lies", then none of this Temple wording makes any senses

What WOULD make sense however is this -- if the church is a lie, and Satan is the father of all lies -- then Satan is the Mormon church's FATHER.


...Go figure.

satan is a tool that was constructed by the early church to control people. i believe elaine pagels wrote a book on satan.

This is just an anti-Mormon lie based on a typographical error that occurred during the transcription of the original revelations. The church is actually led by somebody named Stan.

Its interesting and fun to discuss parts of the Mormon Endowment ceremony but to be honest I think you guys might be over-analyzing the Lucifer bit. If you try hard enough you can find contradictions in anything religious (scripture, doctrine, history, etc). The LDS endowment was written by men not Satan himself. And I really don't think Joseph Smith was secretly a Satanist. A lier, philanderer, a con-man, a fraud, yes, but an actual Satanist, no.

To be honest I don't think Joe and Brigham, when writing up the temple ceremonies, gave it quite as much that as the rest of you are. They just threw Lucifer in there to add something interesting to their little play and try and scare their followers into submission. I don't think they actually were Satanists.

You’re right, over analyzing something that doesn’t exist seems to be a time waster, but it does teach us a lot about how the Church lies, maniplates, spins and traps members with it’s webs of lies.

It's good to study the abuser and his tatics.

From the very first, I always felt the presence of evil in the temple! With me, it was not fear, guilt, and shame. It was more like creepiness and temple-nausea.

We are referring to the Mormons' own doctrine, here: their own definition of God and Satan. This, like most of Mormon doctrine, contradicts itself.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/2010 03:17PM by forestpal.

Milk before meat is to lie.
FAIRLDS as the semiofficial arm of the church lies all the time.
The church continues to spread the lie about Thomas Marsh.
The church lies about its finances.
Lied about its political involvement- and got fined for it.
Lies about its own members.
Lies about its membership numbers.
Lies about its prophets' words in the past.
Lies about its past.

Keeps information from investigators and expects them to join based on falulty information.

Teaches its membership to lie to protect the church.

To allow someone to believe something that you know is not true is to lie.

I was completely creeped out the first time I went to the temple. I went one month after the blood oaths were removed from the ceremony and there was an article in Newsweek talking about Mormons had made their temple ceremony less bloody and less frightening. That was more information about the temple ceremony than I got at any temple prep class so I went in scared and was completely unnerved by the whole experience.

I think if I were Satan, I'd have started Mormonism. Think of it - it's perfect. You get a kid who is into folk magic and spells, feed him a great way to make money and feel important, introduce him to the right people, offer him a little more sex than the average farmer gets. Then you just feed him ideas from there and pretty soon you've got a church that talks about God and makes people feel like they are following God, when actually they are following you or your minions (i.e. businessmen out for a buck and some status like Joseph Smith was). You lure the poor and uneducated, hold their families hostage for eternity to get them to comply and appeal to their pride in a world where those same people don't get credit for their accomplishments. You get them to breed like rabbits and control your little bunnies with fear and threats and social pressure, all the time reassuring them that it's God's will and they are special and chosen. It's a great racket . . . for Satan.

Here's my fav link on the subject:

http://vigilantcitizen.com/?p=986

I know when I post it we end up arguing about bits and pieces of it but it's still an interesting perspective.

Fig leaves are a symbol of great reproductive abilities because the fig tree produces massive amounts of fruit. Adam and Eve covered their private parts with fig leaves in the garden when they became ashamed of being naked. That is the symbolism.

Satan's apron representing priesthoods is a masonic apron. When sessions were live, he wore a blue apron with masonic symbols, but did not have the same reproductive powers of the green fig leaf apron that Adam and Eve have. Part of the symbolism is that Satan, as it says in the old testament, will be left without root or branch, meaning no parents or children. Barren and cast out of the human/eternal family.

I don't know the details anymore, but the "priesthoods" he referred to in plural are supposed to represent witchcrafts, priestcraft (as in the Bof Mormon), a counterfeit form of priesthood power.

The problems in the endowment stem greatly from the fact that you have to be a scholar to understand what everything was supposed to mean. For an ordinary person, the endowment ceremony is so mind boggling and frightening because the context of what is being portrayed is never explained and the confusion is intensified by believing that what is taught in this strange ceremony is essential to salvation.

But Satan's apron and priesthoods are supposed to be different, counterfeit versions, of what Adam and Eve have.

I attended the temple in 1971, and went thru many live sessions. Satan's apron was black at that time, and when the film came out, it was still black. I wish I could have seen the blue Masonic apron, but I missed it.

that's good, misfit. I like your thoughts on this.

i just had a revelation too, misfit will be 1st. quorum 70 in exmormondom, nice, i'm going to use that

When my ex's dad died I did not know anything about the green aprons. Well, at the viewing I guess you could say that I got a crash course. Here's what happened. I saw the deceased layed out in a white outfit from top to bottom. I understood that part but I was totally clueless about the green apron and the signifigance of it, so I asked my "jack mormon" ex "What is that?" He says "Those are his temple clothes." I asked again as I was pointing to the green apron "What is he wearing that for?" By this time the ex was getting a little agitated, and so was I, as ex would not answer my question. Also by this time there were about 60 TBMs in the viewing area, so I asked ex AGAIN "WELL, WHATS IT FOR?" IS IT FOR TIPS????" I was quite vocal by this point. ALL the TBMs looked at me in disgust, but it was worth it to see the looks on all the TBMs faces. It was priceless!!!