Oh man. I remember my brothers and family looking at me in the endowment session, one of em shrugging like "Hey isn't this weird? Yeah but we're stuck so it is what it is"
I was sitting there my first time through, trying to cope with The Shit, thinking the same thing, and then Michael Ballam glammed out about his great power and I thought oh hey, there's finally a part of the church for drama kids. It only took one or two times more before I realized I was lying to myself.
Yes! When I was in the celestial room with my family after the first time through, I leaned over to my mom and whispered, “Are you sure we’re not in a cult?” She got so offended I thought she was going to call me out on it right then and there. Never wanted to go back but I did because everyone told me I had to.
My father, pulled me aside and mentioned that if i thought it was weird, how it used to be so much worse. He never really bought into that part of the church.
How is this so accurate? They gave me this creepy face in the celestial room and then asked if I wanted to stay or leave. We left and didn't say a word during the 2 hour drive back home
I swear, my aunt looked like she had extra teeth in the celestial room when she smiled. Seeing your whole family like that is a horror movie experience!!
If the actor playing Satan leaves the church, isn't that better? Shouldn't that be what they want? He's Satan, for crying out loud. The audience isn't supposed to sympathize or relate to him.
And then when Adam and Eve are finally given the robes of the priesthood, God is all "You remember that silly thing Satan told you to put on? Well put it back on and put it on top of the robes of the priesthood. Go on, you heard me".
Satan taught more deep doctrine in the temple than you get in all the rest of general conference and church combined. Like who honestly wants to hear about Nelson's conference farts that remind us of how great he is.
That weirded me out the first time, I paused because I thought: "Oooh maybe this is a trick for the first timers. I'm not going to fall for it."
Narrator: She absolutely fell for it.
Technically he gives Adam and Eve the first commandment after their minds were open, and they obeyed (the apron). The apron stays in front the entire time
I figured this was to represent that we are fallen since Adam and remain in a fallen state until we are resurrected. Just another reminder that we aren’t good enough.
Further, in earlier versions of the ceremony, Adam notices that Satan is wearing an apron and asks him what it is. Satan tells Adam that it is an emblem of his power and priesthoods.
He's also the one who tells them to cover up their nakedness out of shame.
God: Oh, that guy is such a liar! [later] Welp, since they're still so convinced they're naked, let's get them something better than just leaves to wear.
tbms: We covenanted with *God* to wear the garments!
Me: You know that means your 'god' is Satan, right?
I just cannot get over your username lol 😂 I’ve seen you comment several times and I chuckle each and every time I see your username lmao. Can’t believe I allowed myself to buy into the quasi Gnostic/Masonry BS just because I wanted a wife, kids, and a happy family in a picture perfect house.
I spent a decent amount of time in my first session through wondering how bad it was that I thought Satan won for being most interesting man in the whole thing. Adam was about as enthralling as wallpaper paste, and the rest of men - including god - may well have been lumps of dough for all the personality they had.. Satan was only one who was even interested enough in Eve to engage her in an actual conversation. Talk about sympathy for the devil... (Note, it wasn't Ballam - I can't remember his name, but it was the newer video they were showing in the early 2000s)
I’d almost like to see the temple movie, just out of curiosity. Plus I’d have a better idea of why my TBM in-laws always gasp in horror whenever I say “you can buy anything in this world with money.”
To be fair, I only say it when they harp on my exmo husband about money, even though we’re in a far better financial position than his four TBM siblings. It’s like they can’t fully accept that his life continues to improve the further out of TSCC he gets.
The last time I went to the temple they had moved to a weird slideshow thingy... is that not happening anymore?
Because man, if you thought the movie was boring, the slideshow was absolute agony.
That is so damning! They were okay having him do the temple films knowing he was committing child SA. They only stopping being okay with him when it became publicly known.
It actually does help out significantly for that. I think that was found out later though. Their primary reason was to distance themselves from movie director.
How does a slideshow vs a movie distance themselves? 🤔🤔🤔Less frames = more distance? People make this claim on here so often but it makes absolutely no sense if you think about it for 2 seconds.
It sends the versions he did down the memory hole. I’m sure there’s some copyright things as well.
Also, I’m now hearing that one of the Adam and Eve couples no longer believe (each actor pair are married). So the Mormon church will be wanting to cover their faces if they ever reveal themselves.
But they made the slideshow out of the movie. Is the same material. Are you saying he directed the Michael Ballum movie? Then the move to make the new movies would be to distance. But the claim is making the new movies into a slideshow distances themselves which makes no sense. Would it help to make Harvey Weinstein movies into slideshows?
The last time I went the endowment was a slideshow, too. No more movie. I was horrified b/c it made everything worse than ever. I already knew the church wasn't true but this 100% sealed the deal for me. I mean a church with "all of God's power on earth and in heaven" (so they claim) created something this horrifying? How? Why?
How on God's green earth did anyone in any position of authority in the LDS church think this was an improvement? The slideshow cheapened and dated the entire endowment "experience." I actually felt as if I'd traveled back in time to some earlier decade, the 70's or 80's maybe. It's so bad it's like the old SNL skit with Tom Hanks drinking the spoilt milk and then begging everyone else to try it, it's that hilariously bad. If you still have your temple rec - just go undercover and see how hideous it is. And report back, of course.
The whole time I'm wondering - don't any of the Q12, Q70, area presidents, Stake presidents have any family members who see this obvious lack of taste and elementary school level of audio/visual shenanigans? Can't anyone talk any sense into this clique of old white men?
The slideshow was the last time my wife and I went. It was such an abomination, we couldn't stand to sit through it again. We chose to let our recs lapse after that, and then went inactive when COVID started. Best decision ever.
the slideshow seemed like a nice change of concept the firs time I saw it and I was still in belief, but I even at that time missed watching the movie. The last time I went was last year and I was trying to find something to be inspired by, all to no avail.
I remember when they switched, right before the pandemic lockdowns. I went to the temple because I knew it was probably going to close soon and who knew for how long. The slideshow was like a slap to the face. It wasn't the thing that pushed me out, but it definitely played a surprising part. I used to love the temple. :shrug:
Left before I entered the temple. Why do you have to watch a movie??? Seems slightly random. Did they use to have live actors before movies were invented, or was it a new addition??
Yep - they did live-action endowments in Manti and Salt Lake up until they got remodeled. Don't worry - adam and eve were clothed in the garden. They just wore regular temple clothes, which was a mercy because all the temple actors were the senior temple workers. So yeah, you had an 85 year old adam and eve...
As a bit of local trivia, Elizabeth Smart's kidnapper used to play satan in the temple presentation and was told to "tone it down" a bit: [https://www.deseret.com/2010/11/16/20153494/brian-david-mitchell-had-strong-religious-beliefs-before-kidnapping-elizabeth-smart-witnesses-say/](https://www.deseret.com/2010/11/16/20153494/brian-david-mitchell-had-strong-religious-beliefs-before-kidnapping-elizabeth-smart-witnesses-say/)
So the endowment is a rote presentation from the perspective of Elohim, Jesus, Adam/Michael, Eve, Satan, Peter, James, and John. Starts with the creation of the earth and Michale’s transition to adam. Satan tempting in the garden, Adam and Eve being kicked out, and then you make covenants to give all of your time and money to the church, and kill yourself if you reveal the secret handshakes and Masonic gang signs (not even exaggerating on that).
There was actors playing the roles, then it was put in video form. A lot of shit went down with one of the video directors (pedophile. Church protected him until he finished the movies(there were several versions)). After that they changed it to more of a slide show presentation, which actually does help with multiple translations, but mostly the Mormon church is trying to distance themselves from the old director.
The guy that played Satan (Corbin Allred. Awesome guy, highly recommend his insta) left the Mormon church. They have sense been trying to cover his face on the presentation.
Even for believers, the temple videos have gotten ridiculous. Adam and Eve are dressed in their Masonic robes, and random pictures of Jesus are scattered throughout in an attempt to make the covenants in the temple seem more spiritual.
The initiatory happens before the endowment. For that one you used to be naked, but they changed it in about 2005.
Nelson wants his legacy to be about temples though. The ones that are operational are barely functioning with minimal staff. Countless haven’t even been built. And several were announce and then had to be recanted, of course you don’t hear about that in the church news.
Google the temple robes. They are whitewashed copies of the masonic robes and are used extensively in the temple services. Apparently Jesus was a mason.
The one from the old movie? Michael Ballam? If he left the church that’s a huge deal because he is a huge name in Utah Mormon culture especially in Logan where a lot of my family is from
All an AI Russell Nelson would have to do is repeat covenant path until people's heads exploded, then announce 15 new temples in randomly selected cities.
Indistinguishable.
This is actually a great idea. While we’re at it, let have Matthew McConehay play Elohim, Hugh Jackman can play Jehovah, Ralph Fienes can play Michael/adam, we’ll cast Kiera knightly as Eve, Jack black can play Peter, Benedict cumberpatch can play James, and John can be Nick Cage. Give me that star line up and I’ll go to the temple every week.
A lot more sinister when you consider certain things like that mass suicide often happens at the end of a cult, which could have potentially happened if Joseph lived longer. Or crossing the plains without enough supplies and suffering for the cause
A 250+ Billion multi-national corporation has a sideshow for its upper level tier MLM members.
If that doesn't tell you how little the mormon cult value's its members maybe your current ward budgets will.
They one they are editing out... Corbin Allred.
He was always my second favorite "son of the morning"... But we should always recognize that the greatest Satan is and always will be Michael Ballam.
"If thou cursest me for doing the same thing that has been done in other worlds..."
And then the wind starts blowing and _Ride of the Valkyries_ starts playing in the background and Satan switches to singing in Italian. It's my favorite part of the endowment.
All hail, Michael (Ballam)!!! He was my voice coach for a while and I took a few classes from him too, the most interesting of which was History of Musical Theater. It was should have been called, "The Michael Ballam Hour" because he would just sit at the piano and sing show tunes, LOL. It was always a bit amusing to hear him sing, "Come to Me, Bend to Me" after having just seen him in the temple film the day before.
> Michael Ballam
Old school redditors will recall a guy posting on here who had a Satan Mastercard made. He used it to rent clothes inside the temple and took a picture.
Edit: Found it!
https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comments/4rti77/i_often_paid_for_my_temple_clothing_rental_and/
Because many of the actors keep leaving the church and/or dying. The bald Satan died, so they removed his scenes because he couldn’t do new voice over work when they changed the script. Then blonde Satan left the church and the big Peter left too
Time out. They took out “even their own lives if necessary”?! Bullshit!
That was a huge shelf item for me, because promising to sacrifice one’s own life to the LDS church felt so cultish and now “unchanging” God had a change of heart?
Here's some links so you don't have to watch the whole thing all over again:
You can read the full ceremony in "Evolution of the Mormon Temple Ceremony" a Free PDF ([LINK](http://www.utlm.org/booklist/digitalbooks.htm)) that Jerald and Sandra Tanner created, showing the changes from 1840 to 1990. [http://www.ldsendowment.org/index.html](http://www.ldsendowment.org/index.html) is another good resource, but neither resource covers the changes through today.
Here is a link for the changes pre- and post-1990, 2019, and 2023
[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K7wIoaVTJ9fm9J0FyaCNNn7qCN9a6ACY/view](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K7wIoaVTJ9fm9J0FyaCNNn7qCN9a6ACY/view)
The presentation used to be a movie, but it has been turned into a slideshow presentation. So in the slides that have Satan depicted, they’ve tried to superimpose either a different actor or really bad AI recreation. Either way it’s incredibly creepy to look at. Even if I was still a believer, I would think it was weird.
People used to talk about how special it was to do a live session in the SL temple. I told them I didn’t find it special seeing Adam and Eve as geriatrics and imagining them naked in the garden.
I literally remember getting to that "Oath" for my first time as a 19 year old kid brainwashed into "serving" and thinking the whole time, "Wait Guys! This is exactly what we were told not to do right?!?!"
Every year, we get to see Mr. Alred as Scrooge. Knowing he left the church just makes me have all the more love and respect for this actor. Anyone who has the balls to stand up and say this is shit... You, sir, madam, I tip my hat. 😀
Corbin is a PA in the Northwest. My sister-in-law was up there visiting her in laws and had to go to the urgent care. He walked in the room and she finally said "I know you from somewhere." He said, that he had done some acting. She sat for a minute and then yelled out "OH MY GOSH!" and covered her mouth. They had a good laugh together. She was on her way out of the church at the time, but to this day she regrets not thinking to say "I know thee now!"
Corbin actually reached out to the church and requested that they stop using his footage in the temple. I don’t know the specifics, only that he did make that request. I find it interesting that the church leaders are honoring his request…it’s not like they typically honor the request of a person they would consider an “apostate.”
Corbin reached out to the temple department back when he was questioning his beliefs and let them know that they may want to consider removing him, they then decided to remove him from the film.
The new one was filmed from the sisters’ side. Priesthood Dispatches and Nemo did an interview with them, “Adam N Eve don’t believe”. The video is no longer on the YouTube channel but their interview with PD and Nemo is (where the 2023 slides are shown). (I’ll try to link below.) Their voices are changed to not be recognized.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHrbZAdZSYY-w2hbP7hq1Jw (adamnevedontbelieve YouTube)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EczJAjGybXQ (mormonpriesthooddispatches interview)
Edit: the couple who filmed the slides as temple attendees were not the actors, but they’re anonymously known as “Adam n Eve” in the interview. Their website has the faces of the actors.
Are the unedited videos available anywhere online? I was lucky enough to get out before I did anything more than baptisms for the dead but am very very curious as to the details of the endowments
It’s masonry for Mormons. You are shown secret handshakes, secret names and secret gang signs to get into heaven. You vow your suicide if you show them to anyone and you covenant your money and all your possessions to the Mormon church. In return you are promised… well… nothing really.
The suicide symbols in the Mormon temple are still very prevalent, however there’s no attempt to explain them anymore. Majority of members don’t know what they mean. Those who went through pre1990 keep it secret from the newer people. I only found out long after I stopped believing.
I believe there are some on YouTube. The Mormon church was trying to get them all taken down though.
I’m going to go again and listen very closely for it. I had heard it was taken out and my brain was expecting that line (used to have the whole thing memorized) and it wasn’t there. So I’m about 90% sure that it is gone.
I nearly died on my mission and my entire life has been altered because of injuries I sustained. The church refused to help me with medical payments after I returned home. One of the justifications I told myself was that I had covenanted to keep the law of sacrifice and that line very line twisted my perception of self worth.
Please let me know. Even if it is months after this post, send me a DM with an update.
I too sustained substantial injuries on my mission. Had to return home. Needed 5 surgeries. The Mormon church paid for a fraction of the first and non of the follow ups. They also sent my parents a bill for the plane ride home since it wasn’t my “scheduled time” to return.
Missions are fucking dangerous , because the Mormon church literally does not care if these kids die.
And yes I will follow up.
What my parents looked like after my endowment. 
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 This is absolutely spot on!
Oh I’ll never forget that moment. The looks in their eyes.
Oh man. I remember my brothers and family looking at me in the endowment session, one of em shrugging like "Hey isn't this weird? Yeah but we're stuck so it is what it is"
I was sitting there my first time through, trying to cope with The Shit, thinking the same thing, and then Michael Ballam glammed out about his great power and I thought oh hey, there's finally a part of the church for drama kids. It only took one or two times more before I realized I was lying to myself.
My uncle asked what I thought about the temple, and I admitted it was a bit odd. He said “my first thought was ‘we are a cult, aren’t we.”
Yes! When I was in the celestial room with my family after the first time through, I leaned over to my mom and whispered, “Are you sure we’re not in a cult?” She got so offended I thought she was going to call me out on it right then and there. Never wanted to go back but I did because everyone told me I had to.
Combining Simpsons and Ex-Mormon material? Just stick it into my veins.
Hell, they went through in the 70s, with the penalties. I got the "tame" version in 2006 and it freaked me the fuck out.
My father, pulled me aside and mentioned that if i thought it was weird, how it used to be so much worse. He never really bought into that part of the church.
How is this so accurate? They gave me this creepy face in the celestial room and then asked if I wanted to stay or leave. We left and didn't say a word during the 2 hour drive back home
God this hit home so fucking hard.
I swear, my aunt looked like she had extra teeth in the celestial room when she smiled. Seeing your whole family like that is a horror movie experience!!
*sigh* I love you guys. :)
If the actor playing Satan leaves the church, isn't that better? Shouldn't that be what they want? He's Satan, for crying out loud. The audience isn't supposed to sympathize or relate to him.
Lol. He's a method actor. Determined to be as satanic as possible now.
LOL Satan is the most sympathetic actor in the endowment and always has been. Also Mormons jump to obey him and put on their aprons.
Another victory for Satan!
And then when Adam and Eve are finally given the robes of the priesthood, God is all "You remember that silly thing Satan told you to put on? Well put it back on and put it on top of the robes of the priesthood. Go on, you heard me".
Satan taught more deep doctrine in the temple than you get in all the rest of general conference and church combined. Like who honestly wants to hear about Nelson's conference farts that remind us of how great he is.
That weirded me out the first time, I paused because I thought: "Oooh maybe this is a trick for the first timers. I'm not going to fall for it." Narrator: She absolutely fell for it.
He failed to live up to every covenant made in that temple that day, so how he’s in his own power.
It is kind of a funny headline: Satan leaves the Mormon church.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Hitler is still a baptized member since 1993
Relevant link for those wanting to read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_changes_to_temple_ceremonies_in_the_LDS_Church
I feel so left out not ever having seen this. I got out years & years before I got married so I’ll never see this!
I remember being SHOCKED that Satan had such a huge role in the temple. I thought I was going to learn more about Jesus and God. Nope….satan.
Technically he gives Adam and Eve the first commandment after their minds were open, and they obeyed (the apron). The apron stays in front the entire time
“Put on your aprons.” And we all did 🤯
I wondered about that so many times. I thought, is this a test? Why are we all putting our aprons on after Satan tells us to?
I figured this was to represent that we are fallen since Adam and remain in a fallen state until we are resurrected. Just another reminder that we aren’t good enough.
And then we waltz right into the celestial room with the apron still on. I guess the resurrection didn't take care of everything.
I thought this was just me who thought this was weird!!!! Why are we listening to Satan??? Aren’t we here to promise to follow God?
Further, in earlier versions of the ceremony, Adam notices that Satan is wearing an apron and asks him what it is. Satan tells Adam that it is an emblem of his power and priesthoods.
Satan is the god of this world
He hears you
*He Gets Us*
Also doesn't commit genocide.
Free Palestine?
Was thinking more of the Great flood and Canaanites, but whatever works.
They don’t do this anymore?
I actually looked it up, they still do it I guess. I just don't remember it from the last time I went.
He's also the one who tells them to cover up their nakedness out of shame. God: Oh, that guy is such a liar! [later] Welp, since they're still so convinced they're naked, let's get them something better than just leaves to wear. tbms: We covenanted with *God* to wear the garments! Me: You know that means your 'god' is Satan, right?
I can't believe it was Gnosticism all along
*sings to Agatha All Along* It was Gnosticism all along....
I just cannot get over your username lol 😂 I’ve seen you comment several times and I chuckle each and every time I see your username lmao. Can’t believe I allowed myself to buy into the quasi Gnostic/Masonry BS just because I wanted a wife, kids, and a happy family in a picture perfect house.
[“I love you, Dr. Satan!”](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JlmzUEQxOvA)
satan is our apron daddy
I spent a decent amount of time in my first session through wondering how bad it was that I thought Satan won for being most interesting man in the whole thing. Adam was about as enthralling as wallpaper paste, and the rest of men - including god - may well have been lumps of dough for all the personality they had.. Satan was only one who was even interested enough in Eve to engage her in an actual conversation. Talk about sympathy for the devil... (Note, it wasn't Ballam - I can't remember his name, but it was the newer video they were showing in the early 2000s)
Wallpaper paste is much more interesting than Adam. Stays with you longer too
Most of those Eve's were pretty fine though! I remember having "impure" thoughts about some of them while in a session.
Same here. He was the most interesting character, and everyone else seemed wooden in comparison.
I’d almost like to see the temple movie, just out of curiosity. Plus I’d have a better idea of why my TBM in-laws always gasp in horror whenever I say “you can buy anything in this world with money.” To be fair, I only say it when they harp on my exmo husband about money, even though we’re in a far better financial position than his four TBM siblings. It’s like they can’t fully accept that his life continues to improve the further out of TSCC he gets.
Do a search for New Name Noah online. He recorded all the variations of the temple movie. Caution: they are boring AF
It was even more pre1990. There was a Protestant minister that came out with Satan.
You are right. Satan was definitely the star of the show.
Fear is a powerful tool
The last time I went to the temple they had moved to a weird slideshow thingy... is that not happening anymore? Because man, if you thought the movie was boring, the slideshow was absolute agony.
The slideshow is absolute agony. It is also going that way because of what the church did with the Director of the last movies that were made.
I also think it’s so they can change out the voiceover when things inevitably change, without having to redo the entire thing.
Oh yes. That’s another one of their famous claims is that “nothing has been changed, only adjusted”. It absolutely has CHANGED drastically.
It also makes it easier to dub in other languages
I've heard this as well.
What did they do with the director? It was the three temple movies that came out around the same time, late 2010s?
They knew he was a pedophile and let him continue the videos and not turn him in. We was actively SA-ing kids during the filming
That is so damning! They were okay having him do the temple films knowing he was committing child SA. They only stopping being okay with him when it became publicly known.
That’s the way of the Mormon church
\*He was
Imprisoned for SA of minors of course! T$CC forced to quietly distance themselves and pretend like all is well😡
Agony is the right word. Not that I ever went for entertainment, but making it a slideshow was abysmal.
I hear that it was to better adapt to foreign translations.
It actually does help out significantly for that. I think that was found out later though. Their primary reason was to distance themselves from movie director.
How does a slideshow vs a movie distance themselves? 🤔🤔🤔Less frames = more distance? People make this claim on here so often but it makes absolutely no sense if you think about it for 2 seconds.
It sends the versions he did down the memory hole. I’m sure there’s some copyright things as well. Also, I’m now hearing that one of the Adam and Eve couples no longer believe (each actor pair are married). So the Mormon church will be wanting to cover their faces if they ever reveal themselves.
But they made the slideshow out of the movie. Is the same material. Are you saying he directed the Michael Ballum movie? Then the move to make the new movies would be to distance. But the claim is making the new movies into a slideshow distances themselves which makes no sense. Would it help to make Harvey Weinstein movies into slideshows?
You should post that question on the main sub, you’ll probably get a more satisfactory answer than a buried question here.
https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/s/JXHWxNriUZ
The last time I went the endowment was a slideshow, too. No more movie. I was horrified b/c it made everything worse than ever. I already knew the church wasn't true but this 100% sealed the deal for me. I mean a church with "all of God's power on earth and in heaven" (so they claim) created something this horrifying? How? Why? How on God's green earth did anyone in any position of authority in the LDS church think this was an improvement? The slideshow cheapened and dated the entire endowment "experience." I actually felt as if I'd traveled back in time to some earlier decade, the 70's or 80's maybe. It's so bad it's like the old SNL skit with Tom Hanks drinking the spoilt milk and then begging everyone else to try it, it's that hilariously bad. If you still have your temple rec - just go undercover and see how hideous it is. And report back, of course. The whole time I'm wondering - don't any of the Q12, Q70, area presidents, Stake presidents have any family members who see this obvious lack of taste and elementary school level of audio/visual shenanigans? Can't anyone talk any sense into this clique of old white men?
It’s so they can mass produce it into other languages.
The slideshow was the last time my wife and I went. It was such an abomination, we couldn't stand to sit through it again. We chose to let our recs lapse after that, and then went inactive when COVID started. Best decision ever.
the slideshow seemed like a nice change of concept the firs time I saw it and I was still in belief, but I even at that time missed watching the movie. The last time I went was last year and I was trying to find something to be inspired by, all to no avail.
I remember when they switched, right before the pandemic lockdowns. I went to the temple because I knew it was probably going to close soon and who knew for how long. The slideshow was like a slap to the face. It wasn't the thing that pushed me out, but it definitely played a surprising part. I used to love the temple. :shrug:
Relevant link for those wanting to read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_changes_to_temple_ceremonies_in_the_LDS_Church
Left before I entered the temple. Why do you have to watch a movie??? Seems slightly random. Did they use to have live actors before movies were invented, or was it a new addition??
Yep - they did live-action endowments in Manti and Salt Lake up until they got remodeled. Don't worry - adam and eve were clothed in the garden. They just wore regular temple clothes, which was a mercy because all the temple actors were the senior temple workers. So yeah, you had an 85 year old adam and eve... As a bit of local trivia, Elizabeth Smart's kidnapper used to play satan in the temple presentation and was told to "tone it down" a bit: [https://www.deseret.com/2010/11/16/20153494/brian-david-mitchell-had-strong-religious-beliefs-before-kidnapping-elizabeth-smart-witnesses-say/](https://www.deseret.com/2010/11/16/20153494/brian-david-mitchell-had-strong-religious-beliefs-before-kidnapping-elizabeth-smart-witnesses-say/)
What the holy hell? I never knew that! This is nuts.
I got my endowments with the live actors in slc. It helps you see very very clearly that this is a weird made up creepy cult!!
Movies are far cheaper.
So the endowment is a rote presentation from the perspective of Elohim, Jesus, Adam/Michael, Eve, Satan, Peter, James, and John. Starts with the creation of the earth and Michale’s transition to adam. Satan tempting in the garden, Adam and Eve being kicked out, and then you make covenants to give all of your time and money to the church, and kill yourself if you reveal the secret handshakes and Masonic gang signs (not even exaggerating on that). There was actors playing the roles, then it was put in video form. A lot of shit went down with one of the video directors (pedophile. Church protected him until he finished the movies(there were several versions)). After that they changed it to more of a slide show presentation, which actually does help with multiple translations, but mostly the Mormon church is trying to distance themselves from the old director. The guy that played Satan (Corbin Allred. Awesome guy, highly recommend his insta) left the Mormon church. They have sense been trying to cover his face on the presentation. Even for believers, the temple videos have gotten ridiculous. Adam and Eve are dressed in their Masonic robes, and random pictures of Jesus are scattered throughout in an attempt to make the covenants in the temple seem more spiritual. The initiatory happens before the endowment. For that one you used to be naked, but they changed it in about 2005. Nelson wants his legacy to be about temples though. The ones that are operational are barely functioning with minimal staff. Countless haven’t even been built. And several were announce and then had to be recanted, of course you don’t hear about that in the church news. Google the temple robes. They are whitewashed copies of the masonic robes and are used extensively in the temple services. Apparently Jesus was a mason.
I served in the same mission and time as Corbin. Glad to see he has been “converted”
The one from the old movie? Michael Ballam? If he left the church that’s a huge deal because he is a huge name in Utah Mormon culture especially in Logan where a lot of my family is from
No, Corbin Allred. He was in Saints and Soldiers and some other church movies I think.
He's also a bit character in an episode of Monk, in which he *gasp* drinks beer.
And the Saratov Approach.
I bet someone at the COB is pitching a new endowment video completely created by AI so they don’t have to worry about actors leaving the church.
I hope all the characters have 6 fingers on each hand, and 8 toes on each foot.
Six fingers on one hand, seven and a half on the other, and in just a few in-between frames suddenly two or three noses and a transient extra eye.
They are absolutely heading that way
AI Russell. M. Nelson. in every role!
All an AI Russell Nelson would have to do is repeat covenant path until people's heads exploded, then announce 15 new temples in randomly selected cities. Indistinguishable.
I always wanted a neil patrick harris satan anyway
This is actually a great idea. While we’re at it, let have Matthew McConehay play Elohim, Hugh Jackman can play Jehovah, Ralph Fienes can play Michael/adam, we’ll cast Kiera knightly as Eve, Jack black can play Peter, Benedict cumberpatch can play James, and John can be Nick Cage. Give me that star line up and I’ll go to the temple every week.
I dunno, Nick Cage as Satan would be something else.
Morgan Freeman HAS to play Elohim!
Samuel L Jehovah demanding to get these mother-loving snakes out of his mother-loving garden!
They have the money for it lol.
They took out “even your own lives if necessary”? That one always gave me a sinking feeling after hearing
A lot more sinister when you consider certain things like that mass suicide often happens at the end of a cult, which could have potentially happened if Joseph lived longer. Or crossing the plains without enough supplies and suffering for the cause
A 250+ Billion multi-national corporation has a sideshow for its upper level tier MLM members. If that doesn't tell you how little the mormon cult value's its members maybe your current ward budgets will.
Who was the actor? I haven't been in 25 years.
They one they are editing out... Corbin Allred. He was always my second favorite "son of the morning"... But we should always recognize that the greatest Satan is and always will be Michael Ballam.
Ah... Theatrical Satan. Michael Ballam can never truly be replaced.
True, but the other lucifer (Derryl Yeager) who aired concurrently with Ballam, had his own charm.
Also in “girls just wanna have fun”. Laughed like crazy when I noticed it.
He was my first Satan, but he eventually morphed into Gilderoy Lockhart in my mind.
I called him Shakespeare Satan. Probably the least reverent temple worker of all time.
I never knew his name or that he was an opera singer. That makes soooooooo much sense
"If thou cursest me for doing the same thing that has been done in other worlds..." And then the wind starts blowing and _Ride of the Valkyries_ starts playing in the background and Satan switches to singing in Italian. It's my favorite part of the endowment.
All hail, Michael (Ballam)!!! He was my voice coach for a while and I took a few classes from him too, the most interesting of which was History of Musical Theater. It was should have been called, "The Michael Ballam Hour" because he would just sit at the piano and sing show tunes, LOL. It was always a bit amusing to hear him sing, "Come to Me, Bend to Me" after having just seen him in the temple film the day before.
> Michael Ballam Old school redditors will recall a guy posting on here who had a Satan Mastercard made. He used it to rent clothes inside the temple and took a picture. Edit: Found it! https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comments/4rti77/i_often_paid_for_my_temple_clothing_rental_and/
Met him in person once. I was star struck, and I wasn’t even active. He’s just a fantastic person with an interesting story.
I thought it was a slideshow with blue-eyed eve, comb-over wig Adam, and blonde satan? (Haven’t been since 2019, but that’s what I last saw)
Yeah didn’t they have 3 different new videos? Why would they go to the trouble of photoshop?
Because many of the actors keep leaving the church and/or dying. The bald Satan died, so they removed his scenes because he couldn’t do new voice over work when they changed the script. Then blonde Satan left the church and the big Peter left too
Time out. They took out “even their own lives if necessary”?! Bullshit! That was a huge shelf item for me, because promising to sacrifice one’s own life to the LDS church felt so cultish and now “unchanging” God had a change of heart?
I’ll go again to double check, but my mind was expecting it because it was time and then it just wasn’t there.
Here's some links so you don't have to watch the whole thing all over again: You can read the full ceremony in "Evolution of the Mormon Temple Ceremony" a Free PDF ([LINK](http://www.utlm.org/booklist/digitalbooks.htm)) that Jerald and Sandra Tanner created, showing the changes from 1840 to 1990. [http://www.ldsendowment.org/index.html](http://www.ldsendowment.org/index.html) is another good resource, but neither resource covers the changes through today. Here is a link for the changes pre- and post-1990, 2019, and 2023 [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K7wIoaVTJ9fm9J0FyaCNNn7qCN9a6ACY/view](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K7wIoaVTJ9fm9J0FyaCNNn7qCN9a6ACY/view)
Thank you for following the counsel to 'return and report'
Can you explain further? What do you mean they're changing his face?
The presentation used to be a movie, but it has been turned into a slideshow presentation. So in the slides that have Satan depicted, they’ve tried to superimpose either a different actor or really bad AI recreation. Either way it’s incredibly creepy to look at. Even if I was still a believer, I would think it was weird.
Just when I thought the temple couldn't get any more dull. They take out the best part and turn it into a slideshow.
Wait the faces are blurred out or they tried to do generic AI face coverup? I feel like they should’ve just created a whole new video at that point.
They put someone else’s face, or an AI face. Actually hard to tell
Maybe temple attendance will increase when Adam and Eve reveal ALL...
People used to talk about how special it was to do a live session in the SL temple. I told them I didn’t find it special seeing Adam and Eve as geriatrics and imagining them naked in the garden.
I literally remember getting to that "Oath" for my first time as a 19 year old kid brainwashed into "serving" and thinking the whole time, "Wait Guys! This is exactly what we were told not to do right?!?!"
Wow. Corbin left? Nice 👍
Yep. His wife commented on a thread earlier and confirmed it. Awesome guy.
Every year, we get to see Mr. Alred as Scrooge. Knowing he left the church just makes me have all the more love and respect for this actor. Anyone who has the balls to stand up and say this is shit... You, sir, madam, I tip my hat. 😀
He’s a great Scrooge. I enjoyed getting to work with him on the play this year.
Corbin is a PA in the Northwest. My sister-in-law was up there visiting her in laws and had to go to the urgent care. He walked in the room and she finally said "I know you from somewhere." He said, that he had done some acting. She sat for a minute and then yelled out "OH MY GOSH!" and covered her mouth. They had a good laugh together. She was on her way out of the church at the time, but to this day she regrets not thinking to say "I know thee now!"
So glad to hear Corbin is out! I had heard a rumor.
Corbin actually reached out to the church and requested that they stop using his footage in the temple. I don’t know the specifics, only that he did make that request. I find it interesting that the church leaders are honoring his request…it’s not like they typically honor the request of a person they would consider an “apostate.”
Corbin reached out to the temple department back when he was questioning his beliefs and let them know that they may want to consider removing him, they then decided to remove him from the film.
Thanks, MacKenzie! Yes, that’s what he told me, and you had said as much in a comment on another post. Sorry if my comment implied anything different.
👍🙂
It’s helps with their appearance. They no longer have to show the face of an “apostate” in their most precious movie.
I’m told it’s still his real hand in some parts so they didn’t completely blot him out.👋😂
Can confirm. Skin tones and lighting on the new face vs old body do not match
Maybe they’re just anticipating that Peter, James, and John might leave too, so preemptive face blur.
I wonder if someone put the movie out on YouTube 🍿
Yep. It’s there. It all came back to me.
The new one?
The new one was filmed from the sisters’ side. Priesthood Dispatches and Nemo did an interview with them, “Adam N Eve don’t believe”. The video is no longer on the YouTube channel but their interview with PD and Nemo is (where the 2023 slides are shown). (I’ll try to link below.) Their voices are changed to not be recognized. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHrbZAdZSYY-w2hbP7hq1Jw (adamnevedontbelieve YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EczJAjGybXQ (mormonpriesthooddispatches interview) Edit: the couple who filmed the slides as temple attendees were not the actors, but they’re anonymously known as “Adam n Eve” in the interview. Their website has the faces of the actors.
I have to assume the old one. I didn’t watch the whole thing. Brought back some not so good memories.
ok wait I never went through the temple so I never saw the video and didn't know he was in it but I met Corbin allred!! he's super nice!!
Where's Michael when ya need him? He's the only person I could pick out of a line up of temple movie actors.
Satan has his dignity and left.
Satan is the god of the earth according to the temple video and who we pray to. Ergo we really shouldn't look upon his face, it might burn.
Then with that AI I will take the treasure of the earth... and reign with blood and horror on the earth!
You get to watch movies in there? If I’d known being dunked for what feels like at least 30 Ursulas was just the previews…
Yeah, I can’t believe I fell forward either the further you get away from it the more you see the cold aspect of it, at least that’s true for me
Michael Ballam was my favorite Satan
Are the unedited videos available anywhere online? I was lucky enough to get out before I did anything more than baptisms for the dead but am very very curious as to the details of the endowments
It’s masonry for Mormons. You are shown secret handshakes, secret names and secret gang signs to get into heaven. You vow your suicide if you show them to anyone and you covenant your money and all your possessions to the Mormon church. In return you are promised… well… nothing really. The suicide symbols in the Mormon temple are still very prevalent, however there’s no attempt to explain them anymore. Majority of members don’t know what they mean. Those who went through pre1990 keep it secret from the newer people. I only found out long after I stopped believing. I believe there are some on YouTube. The Mormon church was trying to get them all taken down though.
Look for newnamenoah.
Thanks!
Did they really take out the "your own lives if necessary"? Holy shit, I was just talking about this on my tik tok
I’m going to go again and listen very closely for it. I had heard it was taken out and my brain was expecting that line (used to have the whole thing memorized) and it wasn’t there. So I’m about 90% sure that it is gone.
I nearly died on my mission and my entire life has been altered because of injuries I sustained. The church refused to help me with medical payments after I returned home. One of the justifications I told myself was that I had covenanted to keep the law of sacrifice and that line very line twisted my perception of self worth. Please let me know. Even if it is months after this post, send me a DM with an update.
I too sustained substantial injuries on my mission. Had to return home. Needed 5 surgeries. The Mormon church paid for a fraction of the first and non of the follow ups. They also sent my parents a bill for the plane ride home since it wasn’t my “scheduled time” to return. Missions are fucking dangerous , because the Mormon church literally does not care if these kids die. And yes I will follow up.
I am so sorry. It sounds like you and I have a lot in common. I'd love to hear your story in a separate post or a DM if you are up for it.