A couple months ago, I wrote a post comparing the LDS church to the New Testament church. Today I want to do something similar: I want to compare the LDS church to the ancient Israelites.
For as long as I’m aware, the Mormons have called themselves the House of Israel. When they get a patriarchal blessing, each member of the LDS church has their “lineage declared,” much like the student of Hogwarts being sorted out by the strange hat. 😁
President Nelson has capitalized on this concepts and coined his own phrase, “gathering Israel on both sides of the veil.”
So, is the LDS church the same as the Israelites?
Let’s see how the LDS church measures up.
If we look at the Mormon temple elements and basic concept, they are definitely attempting to copy the ancient Israelites:
**The temple facing East.
**Supposedly the place God dwells.
**The temple ritual featuring a veil from floor to ceiling, with “God’s presence” behind the veil.
**Special “priests” necessary to access atonement and the presence of God.
**Washing and anointing (see note at end of post!), and wearing the “garment of the holy priesthood,”even directly quoting Exodus 29:4 (see also Exodus 40:12-13) — note this was only for Aaron and his sons. Not all Levites and certainly not all of Israel, and certainly not women!
**They wear tunics, sashes and head pieces (no green aprons.— this is fitting because in the endowment video, it’s actually Satan who tells them to put on their aprons!)
**The Holy of Holies (albeit maybe only in the Salt Lake temple?) — where only the prophet (equivalent to the high priest) goes into.
**No drinking of wine or beer when you go to the tabernacle (Leviticus 10:9)
(Note: most of these things were not the House of Israel at large, just the Levites!)
That sure is a lot of commonalities! But anyone can throw these together and call it something ordained of God. What about the elements that man cannot control? —The actual manifestations of God?
Does the LDS prophet talk to God face to face? Does his face shine like Moses’s did?
Are there cherubim sewn into the veil?
Does God appear at the mercy seat between the two cherubim?
According to President Oaks, none of them have even seen God.
Does God dwell in LDS temples? — manifested by a pillar of fire or a cloud? — a cloud so thick that you can’t see through it, and maybe can’t even enter the temple (see Exodus 30:45, also 2 Chronicles 7:2)?
Does “the fire of the Lord” visibly appear when the LDS people make sacrifices (Leviticus 9:23-24)?
Have you ever seen the LDS prophets get water from a rock or turn a staff into a tree budding fruit?
Are temple workers turned away from serving if they have a defect (Leviticus 21:18-23)?
Do they shave their whole body? (Numbers 8:7)
Do they need to shave their whole bodies to be cleansed (Numbers 8:7)?
Why does the LDS church ordain all tribes to the Priesthood while the Israelites only ordained Levites, and only some of those Levites (Aaron’s son) to be actual priests?
Why does the LDS church have all the adult members wear underwear for garments, when the real garments in Exodus were for male priests only, and only during their time at the temple?
(Note: It’s very odd for the LDS to declare a boy the “tribe of Ephraim” at the same time as giving him “the Aaronic priesthood.” These are completely different tribes and have no overlap!)
Why doesn’t the LDS church pay the priests, temple workers, and other local leaders (Numbers 18:31)?
And I just gotta ask this one….
Does the LDS priest splatter blood on the temple altars and wipe the blood on his earlobe, thumb and big toe (Leviticus 8:23)?😂
And other questions, such as:
Why does the LDS church have hundreds of these buildings when the Israelites only had one?
Why does the LDS church fund these buildings from the income of their own people, while the Israelites funded theirs by the riches plundered from their enemies?
Why do all the members wear their own holy garment, when only the temple workers of the Israelites wore it?
(Note: the high priest worked beyond the veil and was literally a middle man between the Israelites and God. So the garments really do represent the veil, just like God told me the day He told me to stop wearing them!)
The priestly garments (clothing) are described in Exodus 28 and 39. They are blue and purple robes. Underneath the robes are shorts, from the hips to the thigh (Exodus 28:42 and 39:28; Leviticus 6:3)
Breeches, as most translations render the word, are only “underwear” in the sense that they’re under the robes.
This was not underwear. Certainly not Masonic underwear! The Torah is chock full of very detailed instructions. I’m pretty sure if they were supposed to embroider Masonic etchings into their underwear, it would say so!!
Additionally, the temple rituals in the Buble were not secret. The protocols are explained in detail, all through the book of Leviticus!
Another huge difference would be the fact that Mormons don’t bring their animals to be slaughtered, to feed their priests. Of course when you ask why, they will tell you the law of sacrifice is fulfilled as it was only to point to Christ. But why don’t they consider the rest of all this fulfilled? It all was to point to Christ, even the basic fact of having a temple and having Priesthood!
…They talk out of both sides of their mouth.
NOTE ON WASHINGS IN THE LDS TEMPLE: Hebrews 9:10 (read entire passage for context) is a fantastic verse about how the old law was just a symbol of things to come, and it points out washings specifically! — as merely an “external regulation applying until the time of the new order.” So, no, we are NOT intended as Christ’s church to still be doing that!!!
I bet there are dozens of other problems, but I’m just a lay Bible reader who is reading this for the first time.
But here’s something a friend of mine brought to my attention—
Revelations 3:9 mentions “those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars.” Wow, isn’t it interesting that the LDS church claims to be Jews (practically, as a near synonymous term with “House of Israel”)?
Why would a group of people claim to be Jews, or the House of Israel, when they are clearly very ordinary Gentiles?
This whole idea of being adopted into the House of Israel is nonsense. Peter was told to take the gospel to the Gentiles, not make them Jews. In fact, Paul clearly delineated the differences multiple times, making it very clear that Gentiles are saved by grace alone and need no circumcision!
Additionally, the veil was torn! Never to be put up again! Priests were a thing of the past. Garments were a thing of the past. Temples were a thing of the past!
The New Testament church is most certainly not the House of Israel! That lineage only mattered leading up to the birth of Jesus, not after. Everything the law and rituals symbolized was leading up to Jesus, and unnecessary after.
God’s people are now the believers in Jesus—Jewish roots or Gentile alike.
And we are saved by the blood of the lamb — the One, true sacrifice — with no need of rituals and ceremonies any longer.
“If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker…if righteousness could be gained through the law, then Christ died for nothing.” (Galatians 2:18-21)
This family’s story is so interesting, as they focused on the Old Testament and began to realize many of these same differences!
“The purpose of the Jewish temple was not to exalt one to Godhood, but to demonstrate that one needs a Savior.”
-Lynn Wilder, Unveiling Grace
All I Possess 