Lucifer's Lantern

  This article appeared in 1904, during the height of national scrutiny surrounding the LDS Church and the U.S. Senate investigation into whether Apostle Reed Smoot should be seated as a senator. At the center of that inquiry were questions the public had debated for decades but rarely heard addressed in sworn testimony.  What actually happened inside the Endowment House ?  What oaths were required?  Do the oaths conflict with civic loyalty, democratic norms, and basic transparency? The reporting below relies on testimony given under oath to the Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections and presents the claims exactly as they were reported to a national audience. This was not written as theology or internal instruction. It was written as political journalism, aimed at informing a non-Mormon public that largely had no access to temple ceremonies and relied on secondhand descriptions. THE WASHINGTON TIMES DECEMBER 14, 1904 MORMONS TAKING OATHS OF ENDOWMENT HOUS...

 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced on December 14, 2025 that a temple will be built in Portland, Maine . The announcement came during a regional Christmas devotional and was delivered by Elder Allen D. Haynie, a member of the Church’s Area Presidency, rather than during a General Conference session or directly by the Church president. What makes this announcement stand out is not the location, but the method. For years, temples were almost always announced during the April or October General Conference, usually by the Church president, at the close of a major session watched by a global audience. Under Russell M. Nelson, this practice became especially prominent, with long lists of new temples read out twice a year. These announcements have often been used rhetorically to imply numerical growth, even in regions with small or stagnant membership.  Announcing a temple outside of General Conference reduces the performative aspect of that claim.   T...

Temple worthiness isn’t just about "good behavior" in Mormon teaching. It’s a gate that determines who qualifies for the highest blessings the religion offers. The church teaches that only people judged worthy can enter the temple, make covenants, and receive the ordinances that lead to exaltation, which is the belief that humans can become like God and live forever with their families in the celestial kingdom.  This makes worthiness interviews a spiritual checkpoint that can shape someone’s identity, their standing in the community, and even their hope for eternity.    Are You Worthy to Enter a Mormon Temple? Are You Worthy of the Mormon Temple? Yes No Restart Enter the Temple

I want to share a little bit about my experience going through a Mormon temple. Specifically, I’m going to talk about the expectations that were set up from a young age, what it was like the first few times I went, and how I eventually lost my faith in temple worship overall. I grew up in northern Utah. My parents were LDS, so I was a child of the covenant. I was baptized at eight and raised in church culture—Boy Scouts, Young Men’s, seminary, a mission. Basically the typical path you’d expect from a Mormon boy. The point I want to make is that the decision to attend the temple wasn’t just a spur-of-the-moment choice. You don’t just wake up one day and decide to go. At least not in my experience. I was born into the church, started attending Primary, and from that point on, I was told I’d get baptized, receive the Aaronic priesthood, receive the Melchizedek priesthood, and go through the temple. That message was repeated over and over from the time I was in Sunbeams until baptism at ...