anointing

U.K. Coronation Ceremony as an Endowment

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Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on June 2, 1953

The sacred ceremonies in which new monarchs are crowned kings and queens in the United Kingdom have significant parallels to the LDS Mormon endowment. These traditions stem from ancient times in English history, and have remained relatively unchanged in form throughout ages. The most recent coronation ceremony was on June 2, 1953, when Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne. This ceremony took place in Westminster Abbey, a well-known ancient church in London, England, signifying that this was a religious ritual.

The reason for the parallels to the temple ordinances is clear. The LDS endowment is, likewise, a coronation ceremony in which members of the House of Israel (Church members) are promised to become kings and queens, priests and priestesses, and are given all the rights, privileges, knowledge, and wisdom necessary in order to make that promise a reality. By doing so, members of the House of Israel become one with Christ (John 17), and therefore receive all that Christ has been given, including a crown, a robe of righteousness, and a throne (Rev. 1:6; Rev. 2:10; Rev. 3:21). The endowment is ancient, being given to our first parents, Adam and Eve. Since that time it has gone through many stages of apostasy, corruption, assimilation, and adoption into many different forms and by many different people. But glimpses of the temple ordinances can still be seen in these practices.

There are several points of interest to take note of in the ceremony, summarized and listed below, when Queen Elizabeth II was initiated, anointed, and consecrated as the sovereign of the United Kingdom: ((The full ceremony can be read at http://www.oremus.org/liturgy/coronation/cor1953b.html)) [Read more…]

The Culminating Sealing Ordinance of the Temple

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No, it isn’t being sealed to your spouse on wedding day, although that is a prerequisite (preparatory and required) to receive this highest and most sacred sealing ordinance. The priesthood sealing powers of Elijah, as restored in this last dispensation (D&C 110:13-16) and vested in the presiding high priest of the Church (D&C 132:7), are truly infinite in their application, being enabled to promise eternal life and exaltation to the faithful saints while yet in this life, as Peter explained to the ancient saints (2 Pet. 1; Eph. 1:13-14). Those saints who so receive are they who are of the church of the Firstborn (D&C 76:54, 94), and who may then receive the Second Comforter (D&C 88:3-5).

The Prophet Joseph Smith declared:

After a person has faith in Christ, repents of his sins, and is baptized for the remission of his sins and receives the Holy Ghost, (by the laying on of hands), which is the first Comforter, then let him continue to humble himself before God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and living by every word of God, and the Lord will soon say unto him, Son, thou shalt be exalted.

When the Lord has thoroughly proved him, and finds that the man is determined to serve Him at all hazards, then the man will find his calling and his election made sure, then it will be his privilege to receive the other Comforter, which the Lord hath promised the Saints, as is recorded in the testimony of St. John, in the 14th chapter, from the 12th to the 27th verses. ((TPJS, 149-151.))

I would exhort you to go on and continue to call upon God until you make your calling and election sure for yourselves, by obtaining this more sure word of prophecy, and wait patiently for the promise until you obtain it. ((ibid., 299.))

Dr. Andrew C. Skinner, currently Executive Director of The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at BYU, provides more insight into these sacred principles in his recently published book, Temple Worship: [Read more…]

An Early Christian Church Exhibit

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An exhibition back in 2000 at The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, which was curated by Yael Israeli and David Mevorah, shows artifacts from the early years of the Christian church. The exhibition was entitled “The Cradle of Christianity“:

The exhibition attempts to synthesize the literary sources with finds that have been excavated in this country, particularly over the past fifty years: architectural remains, liturgical objects from churches, personal belongings of the Christian inhabitants of this land, and souvenirs made for pilgrims.

They have made an effort to separate the artifacts from the religious doctrines, trying to present the artifacts as they are, objectively.

I found several things interesting as I browsed the website of the exhibition: [Read more…]