With the restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood, the fullness of the gospel, and Christ’s true Church, Satan felt his dominion on the earth was under attack. The ensuing struggle between the forces of Christ and those of Satan will be at center stage until the advent of the Lord at the ushering in of the Millennium signals the beginning of the end for Satan and his minions’ activities upon this earth.
Of this struggle for the hearts of mankind, the Lord said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, that Satan has great hold upon their hearts; he stirreth them up to iniquity against that which is good; And their hearts are corrupt, and full of wickedness and abominations; and they love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil; therefore they will not ask of me. Satan stirreth them up, that he may lead their souls to destruction. And thus he has laid a cunning plan, thinking to destroy the work of God; but I will require this at their hands, and it shall turn to their shame and condemnation in the day of judgment” (Doctrine and Covenants 10:20-23). Satan’s plan to which the Lord had reference was the counterfeit of the Lord’s true plan for the redemption of mankind. The Lord’s Plan of Salvation was revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith in order that the workers of truth could distinguish at all times between the Lord’s dictates and any counterfeit variation the opposition might present then and in the future. “And again, I will give unto you a pattern in all things, that ye may not be deceived; for Satan is abroad in the land, and he goeth forth deceiving the nations” (D&C 52:14).
At the center of the Plan of Salvation are the five ordinances all of which the children of God must avail themselves in order to obtain eternal life namely, baptism, confirmation, receipt of the Priesthood, the temple endowment, and the temple sealing. There is absolutely no other way by which that goal may be accomplished. However, counterfeit variations of these ordinances abound in the world to such an extent that only a hint of the true situation may find expression in this writing.
Baptism is required for admission into the Kingdom of God and requires the candidate to be capable of distinguishing between right and wrong. The individual must understand the basic principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ, be “capable of repentance,” and have “a determination to serve” God until the end of his days (D&C 20:37 & 71). That pretty much discounts the validity of infant baptism. The ordinance of baptism is to be performed by immersion (D&C 20:74). Some other method of baptism such as the sprinkling of water simply does not fulfill the symbolic meaning or purpose of this ordinance.
Confirmation is to immediately follow the baptism of an individual seeking entrance into the Kingdom. Through proper priesthood authority and the laying on of hands, the Gift of the Holy Ghost is bestowed upon the entrant. These two ordinances must be performed for an individual within a very short time of each other inasmuch as neither ordinance is valid until the other has been performed with proper authority. Therefore, a lapse of many years between baptism and confirmation invalidates both ordinances. A confirmation ordinance performed without the intent of bestowing the Gift of Holy Ghost is a confirmation without proper purpose.
The Priesthood of God, the Melchizedek Priesthood, has been the subject of several of my writings, and significant elaboration will not take place here. It suffices for me to say that proper priesthood authority is absolutely necessary in the performance of these saving ordinances if they are to be validated or “sealed” by the Holy Spirit of Promise, the Holy Ghost (D&C 132:7).
The study of temple ordinances as revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith when compared to the counterfeit ordinances inspired by Satan is intriguing to me. I am presently reading Temple and Cosmos from the collected works of Hugh Nibley. In his essay entitled, “The Meaning of the Temple,” Brother Nibley informs his readers that “[f]or the Egyptians and the Babylonians, as for us, the temple represents the principle of ordering the universe. It is the hierocentric point around which all things are organized. . . . Civilization is hierocentric, centered around the holy point of the temple. The temple was certainly the center of things in Babylonia, in Egypt, in Greece--wherever you go. This was certainly so in pioneer Utah” (15).
Later in the essay, Brother Nibley explains the importance of this concept to the Egyptians in particular. “We have been assuming almost unconsciously, note well, that our temple is of the same class as the temples of the Egyptians. Let me explain that. The ordinances of the Egyptian temple were essentially the same as those performed in ours. And that can be explained very simply: they have a common origin. The clue is given in Abraham 1:26: ‘Pharaoh, being a righteous man, established his kingdom and judged his people wisely and justly all his days, seeking earnestly to imitate that order established by the fathers in the first generations, in the days of the first patriarchal reign, even in the reign of Adam, and also of Noah, his father, who blessed him with the blessings of the earth’ (Abraham 1:26). He sought diligently, he sought earnestly, to imitate the order that went back to the fathers of the first generation in the first patriarchal reign. The Egyptian ordinance also always had one purpose--to go back to the sp typ--the First Time, the time of the first man, who was Adam. The Egyptians didn’t have it, and they knew it. So they sought to imitate it. Interestingly, Pharaoh was worried sick about this problem. Pharaoh spent his days in the archives in the House of Life, searching through the genealogical records with the nobles of the court turning over the records, looking for some genealogical proof that he really had authority. He never found it, and it broke his heart. And ‘Pharaoh, being of the lineage whereby he could not have the right of Priesthood, notwithstanding the Pharaohs would fain claim it from Noah’ [through Ham] (Abraham 1:27)--made a very good imitation, seeking very earnestly to imitate the order which went back to the beginning” (26-27).
While this discussion has been centered around the five saving ordinances of the gospel, it should be obvious that Satan has inspired the creation and perpetuation of counterfeits for all aspects of the gospel of Jesus Christ. “Satan imitates the gifts of the spirit” is a discussion taught recently in our high priests group that is to be found in lesson #22 of Gospel Principles.
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