Experience vs. Ordinances

Anciently, there were two main purposes of the temple. The more common purpose, both in the number of occurrences and the number of people to whom it was available, was to participate in ordinances that typified reentrance into the presence of God. The more important but less common experience was to actually re-enter the presence of God in the temple. Everything in the temple pointed to re-entering God’s presence.

Over time, the wickedness of the priests caused a cessation of God’s appearances in the temple. The inevitable outcome of such a transition is a reconstruction of the intent of the practice. In this case, the ordinances that taught one what to do to re-enter God’s presence became the end instead of a means to an end. Thus, the ordinances that typified the appearance of God took precedence over the actual appearance of God, until finally the typifying symbolism was lost and the ordinances became practiced without a recognition of what they represented, let alone an attempt to actually obtain a visitation from God.

In Jesus’ time, the Pentecost proved to be a restoration of the purpose of the temple, although the structure itself was dissociated from the event due to the apostate rulers’ control of the actual temple. On that day,

...when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. (Acts 2:1-6.)

This, Joseph taught, was an endowment of power from on high, designed to give the disciples power in the priesthood, manifested by outward spiritual gifts, before they went out to preach the gospel to the world.¹ As First Presidency counselor Charles Penrose later taught, although the receipt of the gift of the Holy Ghost was an internal occurrence, it is always attended by outward manifestations of spiritual gifts.²

[The gift of the Holy Ghost's] internal fruits are faith, knowledge, wisdom, joy, peace, patience, temperance, long suffering, brotherly kindness and charity. Its external gifts are manifested in prophecies, visions, discernments, healings, miracles, power over evil spirits, speaking in various tongues, interpretation of tongues, etc. (Charles W. Penrose, “Mormon Doctrine, Plain and Simple,” p. 17.)

Jesus had commanded them to await this “endowment of power from on high” before leaving to preach the gospel.³

This pattern of endowment was renewed in our dispensation in 1831. On Jan 2, 1831 the Lord said,

Wherefore, for this cause I gave unto you the commandment that ye should go to the Ohio; and there I will give unto you my law; and there you shall be endowed with power from on high; And from thence, whosoever I will shall go forth among all nations, and it shall be told them what they shall do; (D&C 38:32-33.)

In Feb 1831 he said,

Again I say, hearken ye elders of my church, whom I have appointed: Ye are not sent forth to be taught, but to teach the children of men the things which I have put into your hands by the power of my Spirit; And ye are to be taught from on high. Sanctify yourselves and ye shall be endowed with power, that ye may give even as I have spoken. (D&C 43:15-16.)

In the same month he said,

Behold, thus saith the Lord unto you my servants, it is expedient in me that the elders of my church should be called together, from the east and from the west, and from the north and from the south, by letter or some other way. And it shall come to pass, that inasmuch as they are faithful, and exercise faith in me, I will pour out my Spirit upon them in the day that they assemble themselves together. (D&C 44:1-2.)

This promise was fulfilled prior to the building of the Kirtland temple. On June 3, 1831, a conference began where many Elders experienced Pentecostal experiences. Here are several first hand accounts:

It was clearly evident that the Lord gave us power in proportion to the work to be done, and strength according to the race set before us, and grace and help as our needs required. Great harmony prevailed; several were ordained; faith was strengthened; and humility, so necessary for the blessing of God to follow prayer, characterized the Saints. (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 1:176-177.)

The spirit of the Lord fell upon Joseph in an unusual manner. And prophesied that John the Revelator was then among the ten tribes of Israel who had been led away by Salmaneser, king of Assyria, to prepare them for their return from their long dispersion, to again possess the land of their fathers. He prophesied many more things that I have not written. After he had prophesied he laid his hands upon Lyman Wight and ordained him to the High Priesthood, after the holy order of God. And the spirit fell upon Lyman, and he prophesied, concerning the coming of Christ, He said that there were some in the congregation that should live until the Savior should descend from heaven with a shout, with all the holy angels with him. He said the coming of the Savior should be like the sun rising in the east, and will cover the whole earth....He saw the heavens opened and the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of the Father... (John Whitmer, History of the Church 1:176.)

Some curious things took place. The same visionary and marvelous spirits, spoken of before, got hold of some elders; it threw one from his seat to the floor; it bound another, so that for some time he could not use his limbs nor speak; and some other curious effects were experienced, but, by a mighty exertion, in the name of the Lord, it was exposed and shown to be from an evil source. The Melchizedek Priesthood was then for the first time introduced, and conferred on several of the elders. In this chiefly consisted the endowment--it being a new order--and bestowed authority. (John Corrill, History of the Mormons (1839), p.18.)

In January 1833, the school of the Prophets at Kirtland opened with Joseph's washing of the Elders’ feet. Fasting and prayer followed the ordinance, and the participants witnessed Pentecostal experiences. Zebedee Coltrin reported “many powerful manifestation [sic] of the holy spirit...the gift of tongues and the interpretation thereof.”⁴ In 1883, Coltrin reminisced that Jesus himself had appeared to the school of the Prophets.⁵

From the preceding examples, we can see abundant evidence that a temple is not actually necessary to obtain an endowment of power from on high. Yet, the Kirtland temple provides a wonderful example that they can co-occur.

On June 1, 1833, the Lord said to Joseph,

Yea verily I say unto you I gave unto you a commandment that you should build an house in the which house I design to endow those whom I have chosen with power from on high, for this is the promise of the Father unto you. Therefore, I commanded you to tarry even as mine Apostles at Jerusalem. (Kirtland Revelation Book, pp. 59-60.)

The construction of the Kirtland temple took 3 years. During that time the Lord repeated that the Elders would be “endowed with power from on high; for, behold, I have prepared a greater endowment and blessing to be poured out upon them...”⁶ During this time, the twelve apostles were chosen. In Oliver Cowdery's charge, he told them that although they were meant to go to all nations to preach, “you are not to go to other nations, till you receive your endowment. Tarry at Kirtland until you are endowed with power from on high.”⁷

Before the ordinances began, Cowdery prayed, “O may we be prepared for the endowment,—being sanctified and cleansed from all sin.”⁸ A few days later the brethren washed their bodies and anointed their heads with oil. Joseph then experienced the vision of the celestial kingdom recorded in D&C 137. Two days later, they sealed the anointings. These ordinances continued through the winter for all priesthood brethren (all ranks from deacons up). The ordinances themselves were not the endowment, but were tools to help the brethren prepare themselves through repentance so that the endowment could come. The understanding of the brethren that the endowment (not the ordinances) would bring power to perform miracles is captured in an article in the local paper: “They assure you, with the utmost confidence, that they shall soon be able to raise the dead, to heal the sick, the deaf, the dumb, and the blind...”⁹ Joseph Smith was teaching that those who followed the gospel would receive the promised spiritual manifestations:

If you will obey the Gospel with honest hearts, I promise you, in the name of the Lord, that the gifts as promised by our Saviour will follow you, and by this you may prove me to be a true servant of God. (Joseph Smith, Journal History, October 16, 1834.)

Those going to preach this gospel would first have to obtain the spiritual manifestations before promising them to others.

The endowment came at the dedication services, when outwardly manifested signs were given in abundance to witness the internal dispensation of power through the Holy Ghost. The dedication came with reports of all sorts of Pentecostal activity: people spoke in tongues, angels were seen, prophecies were made, etc.. “The Savior made his appearance to some, while angels ministered unto others, and it was a penticost and enduement indeed, long to be remembered....”¹⁰ One man said he “saw the Spirit in the form of cloven tongues as fire descend in thousands, and rest upon the heads of the Elders...”¹¹ David Patten said “the heavens Was opened unto them. Angels & Jesus Christ was seen of them sitting at the right hand of the Father.”¹² Erastus Snow reported seeing angels.¹³ These types of experiences reoccurred at each of the subsequent rededications necessary for lack of available seating.

Since the Kirtland temple, not one Pentecostal event has been recorded in church history, despite over 150 years and nearly 150 dedicated temples.

On November 12, 1835, Joseph gave his own explanation of what the endowment was:

You need an Endowment brethren in order that you may be prepared and able to over come all things. Those that reject your testimony will be damned. The sick will be healed, the lame made to walk, the deaf to hear and the blind to see through your instrumentality....But when you are endowed and prepared to preach the gospel to all nations, kindred and toungs in there own languages you must faithfully warn all and bind up the testimony and seal up the law. (Joseph Smith Diary, 12 Nov 1835, as recorded).

How is the endowment defined today? Instead of using Joseph’s definition, the modern church uses Brigham Young’s definition:

Your endowment is, to receive all those ordinances in the house of the Lord, which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels, being enabled to give them the key words, the signs and tokens, pertaining to the holy Priesthood, and gain your eternal exaltation in spite of earth and hell. (Brigham Young, JD 2:31 Apr 6, 1853.)

In the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, we read

The endowment of 'power from on high' in modern temples has four main aspects. First is the preparatory ordinance, a ceremonial washing and anointing, after which the temple patron dons the sacred clothing of the temple. Second is a course of instruction by lectures and representations...Third is making covenants...Fourth is a sense of divine presence.... (Alma P. Burton, “Endowment,” Encyclopedia of Mormonism, ed. Daniel H. Ludlow 1992 2:455.)

Under this definition, the actual divine presence is replaced by a “sense” of divine presence (or feelings instead of actual experience), and even that is relegated to the final part of the endowment, instead of the whole of it. In its place are informational ceremony and ritual.¹⁴ We have repeated the ancient pattern: Originally, the purpose of temples was to re-enter God’s presence. Now, ordinances given as a means to that end have become the entire focus of temple worship, with few if any remembering the original purpose of temple worship, let alone attempting to re-enter God’s presence.

Ordinances were not a part of any endowment in church history or scripture. The only time they are mentioned, as detailed above, is as part of the preparation of the individual for the endowment, not as the endowment itself.

Endowments are not about knowledge—they are about power. If you go to the temple to obtain knowledge, you are not obtaining anything that can’t be had without a temple. Of course, power can also be had outside of a temple, as it was given in the Pentecostal experiences of the meridian apostles and early saints.

While Joseph Smith’s endowment, like Jesus’ and all those who came before, was about power and experience with God, modern Mormonism’s endowment is about information. It is unclear how learning signs and tokens empower someone to teach the gospel by the Spirit in foreign lands. But this is no longer the stated purpose of the endowment. According to modern Mormonism, the things you are told and the things you are shown give you the ability to return to God’s presence after this life. There are no gifts, no angels, no tongues, and no manifestations of Jesus or the Father in this latter endowment. The word “endowment” seems to be the only commonality.