In Mormonism the very elite of membership including Stake Presidents, Mission Presidents, along with Seventies and the top 15 along with all their wives receive a secret ritual that confers to them that their “Calling and Election” has been made sure. What is this ritual? What do we know about it? How has the church framed it in their theology? and why do only a select few receive it? This and more on this week’s episode. RESOURCES:
https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V16N01_12.pdf https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmyldshistory.blogspot.com%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR0YbteylqfjyBp3P_E8vU6c3WdGzGrCsOldzbCteN1jHdANClh8-TNfGPQ&h=AT0n2SeXpCqsisJ4BybEBV99LV5oOGWdD4p1HtYeYqON6tSYCRjkkxg7aHU-9f2gtlBVUUcy0PkhgbhWw6H5-T9wuBaTiuWCo1PeaxDh-KypeEmBY6CoYcW_Kl-seflSHqc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_anointing
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/doctrines-of-the-gospel/chapter-19?lang=eng Do not attempt in any way to discuss or answer questions about the second anointing.
www.mormonstories.org/podcast/tom-phillips-and-the-second-anointing/
http://www.mormonthink.com/glossary/secondendowment.htm
https://www.exmormon.org/mormon/mormon508.htm
http://archives.lib.byu.edu/repositories/14/archival_objects/255732
http://academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Second_Anointing
http://www.fact-index.com/s/se/second_anointing.html https://www.lds-mormon.com/2danointing-shtml/
https://blog.mrm.org/2013/01/the-second-anointing-of-modern-day-mormonism/ https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Calling_and_Election https://www.jstor.org/stable/44368772
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Congratulations on another exceptional show. Even though I thought I was fairly well versed on the 2nd anointing, I was surprised by the nuggets of new information that I learned. But I think you missed one very important point about problem introduced by Church leaders issuing specific members as having their Calling and Election made sure. An issue so big that it was one of the heavier items on my shelf twenty years ago. One that serves as an important backdrop each time that an apologist makes an excuse for a failed revelation. It’s the claim of revelation directly from god that a couple is sealed into heaven. What does that do to the plethora of revelations claimed by apostles throughout Church history which are subsequently disavowed or dismissed by apologists?
The inevitable go-to by defenders of the faith when confronted by a claimed revelation that is clearly bogus is that it was never canonized. There is a very long list of examples in Church history where an apostle feels that god has spoken to him about a concept or prophecy that is later discarded, or even disavowed. Universally, apologist simply respond that it doesn’t matter when apostles incorrectly claim revelation from god because they have a sustaining process that weeds them out.
As part of my apostasy, I came across a lot of failed prophecies and errant teachings claimed to be received from god. And then I came across David John Buerger’s book, Mysteries of Godliness and discovered that thousands of 2nd anointing had taken place, presumably by revelation. The process of god confirming someone’s calling and election made sure doesn’t allow for confused apostles who have shown to be flawed in identifying when god is speaking to them. One does not allow for the other. I explained this to my bishop, and he had no good answer. He simply moved on to another topic. Did god speak to the Q15 when enacting the 2015 policy, or when he revoked it? Did god really seal Mattson’s and Phillip’s souls or were the Q15 confused? This specific ordinance is quite problematic.
Amazing episode.
There is also another “ordinance” the church doesn’t talk about.
The Priesthood Ordinance of the “Dusting off of feet” which is in layman’s terms, a Mormon curse.
There is a key of the Priesthood required in order to perform it.
In Mormon Lore there’s the two stories that come to mind:
One is some supposed town or country (in Africa perhaps) that soundly rejected some missionaries or something. Maybe even killed two or something. The Mission President dusts off his feet and within some timeframe (like months or something) the town is literally GONE. Like wiped off the map either by war or who knows.
The second story I heard was that some missionaries went to a laundromat to wash clothes and left or forgot their garments in a dryer or something. They go back and the owner of the Laundromat has hung the Mormon Magic Underwear in the window, etc. They plead with him to give them back and the owner won’t etc. so they call their Mission President and he comes and dusts his feet off at the laundromat and soon after, it magically burns down.
I’d love to hear of some actual recorded instances of this Priesthood Ordinance being performed. Did Joseph Smith dust his feet off to Lilburn Boggs? The State of Missouri?
Back on my mission in the early ’80s. I had one companion that dusted off his feet to multiple people in the six months that we were a team. I told him to stop doing that but but he would always get quite worked up when we came up against antagonists.
RFM & Bill, I really enjoyed this episode (& I am a donor), so thank you. I feel like you covered Second Anointing very concisely. I think you missed one of the phrases also linked to this: “the promise of eternal life” which goes along with “calling and election” (made sure, making sure), “second anointing”, “second endowment”, “Second Comforter”, “more sure word of prophecy”, “fulness of the priesthood”, “church of the firstborn”, “sealed by the holy spirit of promise”, etc. I really enjoyed how you showed that the Church Leaders, especially starting with Brigham Young, turned this into an ordinance that they control with keys, etc.
The Church just recently changed the introduction to the endowment – look it up – to dereference the Second Anointing, by explicitly defining “the day will come when you will be called up and chosen and anointed kings and priests, queens and priestesses…” as when the individuals are sealed as a couple “in the new and everlasting covenant of marriage” so they make it sound (to the uninitiated) like that is just when you get sealed/married, not Second Anointing.
I have noticed recently that with the major changes in doctrine/practice which the Church was forced into – “cessation” of plural marriage (“celestial marriage”, the real “new and everlasting covenant of marriage”) and the “curse of Cain” and the discrimination against black males and females (no priesthood or temple for males, no temple including baptisms for the dead for women) that the Church doesn’t truly change, they just burrow underground – for example: we still have “celestial marriage” (as you’ve pointed out”) – men can be sealed to multiple women if their wife dies, and with the top brethren there are probably multiple living, platonic sealings to other living women (like Sherri Dew to Nelson, perhaps). So it got me curious – what if they’ve done the same thing with racism/tribalism (doctrine/tribe of Cain)? RFM, I think you hinted at this, too. Nelson has pushed “gathering of Israel” and tribes of Israel language more than any President/”Prophet” in my ~50yr lifetime. Did the Church just change/redefine (burrow underground) the “priesthood ban” for blacks into denying them the Second Anointing, the “fulness of the priesthood”? My buddy served his mission in Brazil while Helvecio Martins (one of the first black GA’s) was actively serving in the Seventy and Elder Martins came and did a mission conference with them and taught all those missionaries that he had black skin because he “rejected the Priesthood in the premortal life & war in Heaven…”, i.e. the very same justifications taught by past Brethren for the still scriptural curse of Cain – this was in 1993! I wonder if the Brethren privately gave this excuse to Elder Martins and his wife for denying them the Second Anointing, even though he was a GA. If you could find a black couple who has received it or who has been given the sealing power, it might debunk this. So I just did some cursory searching to see if there were any black GA’s and/or Temple Presidents. Look here:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2021-05-01/general-authority-seventies-birthplaces-global-church-211614
https://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2021-04-29/temple-president-matron-kinshasa-democratic-republic-of-the-congo-211366
Did they give these black leaders the Second Anointing or did they give them some kind of excuse like Helvecio Martins? Is the Congo Temple an exception (no Second Anointings)? Does the Church give black GA’s/Temple-Presidents and sealers the sealing power but no Second Anointing? There’s a lot that could be investigated here, but I would bet that they secretly still believe & practice (to some degree) the doctrine/curse of Cain, tribal elitism & racism. I don’t think we will ever see a black Apostle (Q15).
I know the Martins’ did.
Just an interesting point – Nelson was a Stake President from 1964-1971 (Wirthlin was his 2nd Councilor), then was called as the Sunday School General President. So his 2nd anointing in 1974 actually didn’t come as a Stake President, but as the SSGP. I think most 2nd anointings are saved for GAs as also was the case with Hans Madsen and Tom Phillips.
Tommy P was never a GA, just buddies with some.