By Sandra Tanner

One of the most important tenets of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the necessity of temple ordinances. LDS Apostle Bruce R. McConkie explained:

From the days of Adam to the present, whenever the Lord has had a people on earth, temples and temple ordinances have been a crowning feature of their worship.. . . The inspired erection and proper use of temples is one of the great evidences of the divinity of the Lord’s work. . . . where these are not, the Church and kingdom and the truth of heaven are not.¹

The LDS Church teaches that only those with proper priesthood authority can administer these essential rites. Joseph Smith, in May of 1842, initiated a small group of men into the new temple ceremony, called the endowment. It would be some months before women were included.

The endowment ceremony, which is performed in special white clothing and a green apron (representing Adam and Eve’s fig leaf apron), includes a play re-enacting the Fall in the Garden of Eden, secret handshakes, passwords and oaths to always obey the edicts of the LDS Church and to always wear the LDS temple undergarments. These rites are never to be discussed outside of the temple.

Young people, age 18 to 22, generally go through the endowment ritual prior to serving their short term mission, or prior to their temple marriage. A person must have a temple marriage/sealing in order to progress to godhood. The 2016 Eternal Family Teaching Manual explains:

Eternal marriage is essential for exaltation in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom, and it is attained only through being sealed by the proper authority in the temple and then living in accordance with the covenants entered into at that time.²

After members have experienced these rituals for themselves they may return to the temple to do proxy rituals for their deceased loved ones, thus offering the dead a chance to accept the LDS faith in the spirit world. While LDS teens usually perform baptism for the dead, only adults perform the Endowment ceremony and proxy marriages/sealings for those who have died outside the faith. This is the reason the LDS members are so involved in genealogy—collecting the names of their ancestors so that the living members can perform the necessary rituals for the dead. However, the church does not stop at tracing their own genealogy. According to the LDS Church, it “has created the largest collection of family records in the world, with information on more than 3 billion deceased people.”³ These records are used to perform proxy rites for thousands of dead people with no connection to the LDS Church.

Second Anointing

Through the years there have been numerous published exposés of the endowment ritual (see Evolution of the Mormon Temple Ceremony: 1842-1990). However, there is another little-known ceremony given by invitation only from church leadership called the second anointing.⁴ In fact, teachers are instructed to avoid the topic. In their Doctrines of the Gospel Teacher Manual we read:

Caution: Exercise caution while discussing the doctrine of having our calling and election made sure. Avoid speculation. Use only the sources given here and in the student manual. Do not attempt in any way to discuss or answer questions about the second anointing.⁵

In order to qualify for this ritual one must have proven him/herself worthy with a lifetime of service and already participated in both the endowment and sealing ceremony.

LDS researcher David Buerger pointed out:

The higher ordinance was necessary to confirm the revealed promises of “kingly powers” (i.e., godhood) received in the endowment’s initiatory ordinances. Godhood was therefore the meaning of this higher ordinance, or second anointing . . . ⁶

One does not apply for this privilege, but is invited to the temple, under strict secrecy, to meet with a couple of the top leaders for this special honor. The couple receiving their second anointing go to the temple, and then dress in their temple robes. On December 26, 1866, LDS Apostle Wilford Woodruff described the ritual in his journal:

I met with The Presidency and Twelve at President Youngs Office at about 12 oclok. The subject of the Endowments & 2d Anointings was presented when President Young said that the order of the 2d anointing was for the persons to be anointed to be cloathed in their Priestly robes the man upon the right hand and wife or wifes upon the left hand. The Administrator may be dressed in his usual Clothing or in his Priestly Robes as he may see it. The meeting Should be opened by Prayer then the Administrator should Anoint the man A King & Priest unto the Most High God. Then he should Anoint his wife or wives Queens & Priestess unto her husband.⁷

On January 11, 1846, Brigham Young and his legal wife, Mary Ann Angell, received their second anointing. Part of their ceremony reads:

Brother Brigham Young, I pour this holy, consecrated oil upon your head, and anoint thee a King and a Priest of the Most High God . . . for princes shall bow at thy feet and deliver unto thee their treasures; . . . And I seal thee up unto Eternal Life, . . . And thou shalt attain unto [the] Eternal Godhead . . . that thou mayest . . . create worlds and redeem them; so shall thy joy be full . . .

Elder Heber Chase Kimble then anointed Mary Ann Young, a Queen & Priestes unto her husband (Brigham Young) in the Church . . . Sister Mary Ann Young, I pour upon thy head this holy, consecrated oil, and seal upon thee all the blessings of the everlasting priesthood, in conjunction with thy husband: and I anoint thee to be a Queen and Priestess unto thy husband, . . . inasmuch as thou dost obey his counsel; . . . And I seal thee up unto Eternal Life, thou shalt come forth in the morning of the first resurrection and inherit with him all the honors, glories, and power of Eternal Lives, and that thou shalt attain unto the eternal Godhead, so thy exaltation shall be perfect, . . .⁸

Early Mormon Apostle Heber C. Kimball recorded the second anointing ceremony in his diary:

February the first 1844. My self and wife Vilate was announted Preast and Preastest [Priestess] unto our God under the Hands of B[righam]. Young and by the voys [voice] of the Holy Order.

Apriel the first 4 day 1844. I Heber C. Kimball recieved the washing of my feet, and was annointed by my wife Vilate fore my burial, that is my feet, head, Stomach. Even as Mary did Jesus, that she mite have a claim on Him in the Reserrection. In the City of Nauvoo.

In 1845 I recieved the washing of my feet by \[which follows is in Vilate’s hand:]\

I Vilate Kimball do hereby certify that on the first day of April 1844 I attended to washing and anointed the head, /Stomach/ and feet of my dear companion Heber C. Kimball, that I may have claim upon him in the morning of the first Reserrection. Vilate Kimball.⁹

Kimball’s comparison of his wife’s washing of his feet to Mary washing the feet of Jesus stems from the early LDS teaching that Jesus and Mary were sealed in marriage. Speaking in 1855, Apostle Orson Hyde declared that “Jesus Christ was married” and that “Mary, Martha and others were his wives.¹⁰

The second anointing rite has been slightly modified over the years. Mr. Buerger gave the following outline of the modern second anointing ceremony:

In practice today the second anointing is actually the first of two parts comprising the fullness of the priesthood ceremony. . . . In the Salt Lake temple, second anointings are usually administered on Sunday afternoons. . . . The first part of the ceremony—being anointed and ordained a king and priest or queen and priestess—is administered in a Holy of Holies or special sealing room and is performed by or under the direction of the president of the church. There are usually but not always two witnesses. Only the husband and wife need to dress in temple robes. The husband leads in a prayer circle, offering signs and praying at an altar. He is then anointed with oil on his head, after which he is ordained a king and a priest unto God to rule and reign in the House of Israel forever . . . He is also blessed with the following (as the officiator determines): the power to bind and loose, curse and bless, the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the Holy Spirit of Promise; to attain godhood; to be sealed to eternal life (if not done previously); to have the power to open the heavens; and other blessings.

Next the wife is anointed . . . to be an heir to all the blessings sealed upon her husband . . . to receive the blessings of godhood; . . . to have the power of eternal lives (of posterity without end); . . .

At the conclusion of this ordinance, the washing of the husband’s feet by his wife is explained to the couple. It is a private ordinance, without witnesses. Its significance is related to the resurrection of the dead, as Heber Kimball noted. The couple is told to attend to the ordinance at a date of their choosing in the privacy of their home. At the determined time the husband dedicates the home and the room in which they perform the ordinance, which then follows the pattern of Mary’s anointing Jesus in Matthew 12. The ordinance symbolically prepares the husband for burial, and in this way the wife lays claim upon him in the resurrection . . . Kimball’s journal entry derives from a speculative belief taught by early Mormons that Jesus married Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus.¹¹

The emphasis on the wife’s assertion that “I may have claim upon him in the morning of the first Resurrection” seems to relate to the teaching in the temple that the woman is called from the grave to exaltation by her husband. The first time members go through the endowment ceremony they are given a new name, like Paul or Mary or some other scriptural name, and the wife is instructed to not tell her name to anyone other than her husband. Writing in 1846, one former Mormon woman described receiving her new temple name:

In one place [during the temple ritual] I was presented with a new name, which I was not to reveal to any living creature, save the man to whom I should be sealed for eternity. By this name I am to be called in eternity as after the resurrection.¹²

Preaching in 1857, Apostle Erastus Snow declared:

Do you uphold your husband before God as your lord? . . . Can you get into the celestial kingdom without him? . . . No woman will get into the celestial kingdom, except her husband receives her . . .¹³

Apostle Charles Penrose, writing in 1897, explained:

In the resurrection, they stand side by side and hold dominion together. Every man who overcomes all things and is thereby entitled to inherit all things, receives power to bring up his wife to join him in the possession and enjoyment thereof.

In the case of a man marrying a wife in the everlasting covenant who dies while he continues in the flesh and marries another by the same divine law, each wife will come forth in her order and enter with him into his glory.¹⁴

Apostle Penrose’s statement about the wives resurrecting in their order demonstrates the LDS belief that they will be living polygamy in the Celestial Kingdom. This would apply to current LDS President Russell M. Nelson and LDS Apostle Dallin Oaks, both of whom have remarried after the death of the first wife. This would also apply to all LDS men who have been sealed in marriage to multiple women.

While the LDS leaders claim that their rituals date to Old Testament times, their temple endowment, second anointing and other rites are very different from those of the Jewish temple. The temple in the Old Testament, with its High Priest and animal sacrifices, was a foreshadowing of Christ’s role as both our final High Priest and last blood offering for sin (Hebrews, chapters 5-9). When Christ died on the cross the veil of the temple was torn in half (Luke 23:45) thus signifying that the Old Testament temple ritual had been replaced by the atonement of Christ. Not only does the Bible say marriage ends at death (see Matthew 22:30; Romans 7:2), there is nothing to indicate that the husband will call the wife from the grave (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

Attaining Godhood

Originally, the second anointing was to be a guarantee of godhood. Mr. Buerger observed:

Because of the strict confidentiality surrounding second anointings, it is unclear precisely what long-term effect they had on recipients nor, for that matter, the degree to which the conferral of godhood was held to be conditional or unconditional. Most early nineteenth-century statements imply that the ordinance was unconditional.¹⁵

Today, some church leaders seem to be minimizing the importance of the second anointing and refer to it as a “special blessing” but not necessary for exaltation/godhood.¹⁶ In 2002 the official LDS magazine Ensign emphasized the necessity of the endowment (as opposed to the second anointing) for “eternal exaltation.”¹⁷ The article went on to state: “Obedience to the sacred covenants made in temples qualifies us for eternal life . . .” According to Mormonism, a person’s endowment and temple marriage starts one on the road to godhood (Doctrine and Covenants [D&C] 132:20—“Then shall they be gods”). In a seeming effort to down-play the literalness of attaining Godhood some Mormons emphasize that the word “gods” in the revelation is not capitalized, however editions prior to 1900 have it capitalized. Also an official statement of the LDS First Presidency used the capitalized form, and declared that man’s ultimate goal was to evolve “into a God” (Ensign, February 2002, p. 30).

In 2002 Tom Phillips, a Stake President, and his wife were invited to the Preston, England, LDS temple to receive their second anointing. He later left the LDS Church and wrote up his experience:

In April 2002 Elder Harold G. Hillam of the First Quorum of Seventy, as President of the Europe West Area, called me into his office. He said he was extending to me and my wife (she was not present), on behalf of President Hinckley, an invitation to receive a “special blessing” in the Preston England Temple. He asked whether I had heard of the “second endowment” to which I replied no. I later told him that I had heard of it, but was so stunned by his invitation my mind went blank regarding the matter.

He told me very few people receive this blessing and it must be kept secret. He said if the general membership knew about it there would be problems. More would want to receive the ordinance than the apostles have time to accommodate and members would wonder why so and so had received it but they had not. I must not even tell my children. He said I should just tell them that their mother and I were going away for the day or weekend. He recommended I read all that Elder Bruce R. McConkie had written on the subject of making your calling and election sure.

Elder Hillam promised me it would be a “life changing” experience. He said the ordinance was performed in Joseph Smith’s time but had been discontinued during President David O. McKay’s time. This resulted in only 2 of the then apostles, Harold B. Lee and Spencer W. Kimball, having had this ordinance on the death of President Joseph Fielding Smith. It was therefore re-introduced and is still practiced today.¹⁸

Among the promises bestowed on him that day were “The Holy Spirit of Promise . . . Blessed to live as long as life is desirable. Blessed to attain unto the Godhood. Power to be a member of a Godhead bestowed. Sealed up to eternal life.”¹⁹

The doctrine that men could eventually achieve Godhood, ruling their own planets, just as our Heavenly Father did, was first introduced by Joseph Smith in the 1840’s. He stated: “you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God the same as all Gods have done before you.”²⁰ The teaching that a man may achieve literal Godhood and rule over his own planet is still taught in current LDS manuals. For instance, their 2010 publication Doctrines of the Gospel Student Manual includes this quote from past president Spencer W. Kimball:

Each one of you has it within the realm of his possibility to develop a kingdom over which you will preside as its king and god. You will need to develop yourself and grow in ability and power and worthiness, to govern such a world with all of its people. You are sent to this earth not merely to have a good time or to satisfy urges or passions or desires. . . . You are sent to this world with a very serious purpose. You are sent to school, . . . to begin as a human infant and grow to unbelievable proportions in wisdom, judgment, knowledge, and power.²¹

Joseph Smith also taught that our God had a father, who had a father, who had a father, etc., thus creating a whole pantheon of Gods:

If Abraham reasoned thus—If Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and John discovered that God the Father of Jesus Christ had a Father, you may suppose that He had a Father also. Where was there ever a son without a father?²²

While Mormons say they worship only one God, they believe there are countless Gods in the Universe, ruling other worlds. However, the Bible clearly teaches that there is only one God. Isaiah 44:8 says: “Is there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God; I know not any.”

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Hans and Birgitta Mattsson’s Experience Receiving the Second Anointing

In 2013, Salt Lake City Messenger No. 121, we shared some of Hans and Birgitta Mattsson’s journey out of Mormonism. In the early 2000’s Hans was an Area Authority Seventy in Sweden for the LDS Church. In this new appendix to their book, Truth Seeking: The story of High-Ranking Mormon Leader Hans Mattsson Seeking Sincere Answers . . . , they discuss their experience with the little-known LDS temple ceremony called the second anointing. Following is the Appendix to their book.

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Appendix to “Truth Seeking”

In his first year as an area seventy, Mattsson was called to the Mormon temple in Frankfurt, Germany. They were not allowed to tell or talk to anyone about this invitation. Hans knew that there were further temple ceremonies. Despite all his years of leadership he had not taken part of this ritual. But he had diffuse expectation of what they meant and no insight into how the ritual was performed. It was only “whispered” about this, and the people involved were expected to deny all knowledge of the secrets. This selected inner circle was very limited and got access only through an invitation.

One Sunday afternoon, Mattssons and three other couples found themselves at the Temple gate. The Apostle,

Elder Ballard and a few other church leaders welcomed them. Elder Ballard briefly explained that the ceremony they were now to participate in is known as the second anointing or to have their calling and election ensured.

“You are now worthy to receive a higher level of knowledge and to obtain a deeper degree of certainty. The experience you are now facing will change your life fundamentally,” he said.

The ceremony contained two separate parts. The first part consisted of elder Ballard washing the men’s feet. The foot-washing made the participants clean and innocent from the sins of the world. The model appears in the New Testament, where Jesus washes the feet of the apostles just before the crucifixion. Elder Ballard also anointed the participants with oil as the ancient kings of the Old Testament were anointed. In connection with this anointing ceremony, a blessing was pronounced with promises to Hans and the other men. These promises included the power to bless or curse, to live as long a life as is desirable, that the window of heaven should be opened, that is to say that nothing would stand in the way of the coveted and also the certainty of becoming a God himself. It was a fact. Now we had a sure promise.

The women were anointed to be queens and priestesses for their husbands. During the second part of the ceremony, each pair was referred to a separate room. There was a bowl with water and a towel. The wife now washed the man’s feet and dried them. She then placed her hands on her husband’s head and pronounced a blessing on him as the spirit dictated.

After this, the participants converged again in the celestial room. Elder Ballard summarized the day and invited questions because the occasion would never return. No one should know that they had received the second anointing. Uninitiated members should not even know that this occurs.

“If anyone asks, deny any knowledge whatsoever!” That message was clear.

The temple ceremony Hans had experienced as so difficult and frightening in his youth was in contrast to what he now experienced. Hans thought it was as though he was in a new dimension. He had been approved before God.

The promises and covenants that God has made with Abraham once, had God now concluded with him. He felt humble and selected at the same time. The feeling of inadequacy disappeared. God had after all chosen him, he had not exalted himself.

Birgitta’s heart flowed. Everything was wonderful, and what a spiritual experience. Now when they had the second anointing they and their descendants were guaranteed an eternal life together.

For Birgitta, the first part of the ritual was about Hans.

“The church really puts the women so high! The women are clean without foot-washing” she thought.

The blessings and promises had been pronounced over his head, but as his wife she was complicit (involved). She is a prerequisite for Hans achieving this.

During the second part of the ceremony Birgitta had been the active. She was intensely present at every moment in solitude with Hans. She was his queen, his priestess, the mother of his descendants now and forever. It was no longer just a picture or a promise of the future. It was for real here and now. She was his escort and great love. They were each other’s life and meaning and eternal destination.

Birgitta was at ease when she washed Hans’ feet in solitude. She realized that this foot-washing must have a completely different meaning than the foot-washing elder Ballard just performed. The Apostle had represented Christ himself.

“Who do I represent?” She recalled how Mary Magdalena anointed the feet of Jesus.

“It must be her I represent. She works in service and love. She is preparing for funeral and resurrection.”

The physical touch strengthened the proximity and affinity. But Birgitta became more uncomfortable in her next mission, to lay her hands on Hans head and utter a blessing on him. The laying of hands was not what Mormon woman normally exerts.

“What should I say? How should I say? Do I speak by myself or by inspiration?”

She wanted all her soul to lift him as a husband, family man, leader, and priesthood holder. Words came across her lips. Hans was deeply touched by her words and thus disappeared the uncomfortable feelings.

Hans and Birgitta left the temple with an even firmer determination. They now carried a great secret experience together. Their future was secured. Their loyalty would consist of all the tests. They had now achieved all that can be achieved on this earth. All old disappointments and failures were of no importance. They had been sealed and approved for eternal life with the Holy Spirit of Promise.

(epilogue)

Thoughts wander back to Frankfurt. The memories goes to that special Sunday afternoon when we received our calling as a couple and the election ensured. Then, the mind had been filled with wonderment, determination and loyalty.

“Birgitta,” I ask, “What are you thinking these days about the second anointing?”

“Maybe it was good for us when it happened, our life was so stressed and this gave added strength.”

She thinks, silence prevails and I’m waiting.

“Even though I no longer believe, the emotions it created between us remains, customized and enhanced.”

I look at her and I see how she suddenly pinch together the mouth in a grimace.

“But as a person I feel diminished. As women we are so pure and without sin, we need no washing said. Then I thought that it was due to the fact that women held so high. Now I see that it is the other way around. We are not even of legal age explained to stand for our own actions. As a Child.”

I consider her answer, and analyze the experiences and memories. The image of the outer ritual remains unchanged. But the meaning seems different. I marvel that I so fully believed in this. Why did I accept the secrecy? A single secret and selected inner circle (circuit) that others should not know about, especially my fellow believers.²³

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Footnotes:

1. Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1979), pp. 780-781. ↩︎
2. The Eternal Family Teacher Manual, LDS Church, Lesson 15, 2016. ↩︎
3. https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/topic/genealogy ↩︎
4. Second Anointing, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_anointing ↩︎
5. Doctrines of the Gospel Teacher Manual, LDS Church, chapter 19, (2000). ↩︎
6. David John Buerger, “‘The Fulness of the Priesthood’: The Second Anointing in Latter-day Saint Theology and Practice,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (Spring 1983): p. 21. ↩︎
7. Wilford Woodruff ‘s Journal, vol. 6 (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1984), p. 307. ↩︎
8. “Book of Anointings,” as quoted in The Mysteries of Godliness: A History of Mormon Temple Worship, by David John Buerger, (Salt Lake City: Smith Research Associates, 1994), pp. 88-90. ↩︎
9. Stanley B. Kimball, ed., On the Potter’s Wheel: The Diaries of Heber C. Kimball (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1987), pp. 56-57. ↩︎
10. Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses, vol. 2, p. 210. For further references see Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? (Salt Lake City: Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1987), p. 227. ↩︎
11. Buerger, Mysteries of Godliness, pp. 66-67. ↩︎
12. As quoted in Mysteries of Godliness, p. 94. ↩︎
13. Journal of Discourses, vol. 5, p. 291. ↩︎
14. Charles W. Penrose, “Mormon” Doctrine Plain and Simple, (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1888), p. 51. ↩︎
15. Buerger, Mysteries of Godliness, pp. 112-113. ↩︎
16. See Mysteries of Godliness, p. 165. ↩︎
17. Russell M. Nelson, “Prepare for Blessings of the Temple,” Ensign (March 2002): p. 18. ↩︎
18. Tom Phillips, Mormonthink.com:
    http://www.mormonthink.com/personalstories/tomphillips.htm#story
    ↩︎
19. Ibid. ↩︎
20. Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, (LDS Church, 2007), pp. 221-222; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, compiled by Joseph Fielding Smith, (Deseret Book), pp. 345-346. Also see at: Joseph Smith Sermon: King Follett Discourse. ↩︎
21. Doctrines of the Gospel Student Manual, (LDS Church, 2010), p. 29. ↩︎
22. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, compiled by Joseph Fielding Smith, p. 373. Also see at: Joseph Smith Sermon: Plurality of Gods. ↩︎
23. Hans Mattsson, Truth Seeking, Appendix, 2019. See also Tom Phillips’ account, mentioned above. ↩︎

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