Mormon "Prophet" Mason

I am fully aware that the founder of the Mormon Church, Joseph Smith, became a Mason after he left Palmyra, NY, following in his brother Hyrum's footsteps. I've heard rumors that the current "Prophet" and President of the Mormon Church, Gordon B. Hinckley, is also a Mason. Can anyone verify this or does anyone have any evidence to support this claim?

OK, this is one of those "Dont quote me on that" replies, but i have heard (and make no statement to the validity) that all the highest lvls on the mormon church are freemasons, and that you have to become a mason before you can be elevated to that level.. again dont pin me down on that, it's just what i heard/read somewhere

Well thanks for your reply, I didn't really expect any replies to this post, I'm surprised it didn't get deleted...yet.

It wouldn't surprise me if you're right though. (I was gonna do the whole quote thing for this reply to your post but I figured I'd respect your wishes of not getting quoted.) Freemasons seem to be most prominent in organizations that have concrete rank structures, like the military and police departments, although I'm not entirely sure about the reasoning behind this. Despite what the Mormon heirarchy would like its members to believe, there is a definite rank structure. At the top is the First Presidency made up of the Prophet/President and his two counsellors. Beneath them is the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Beneath them are the Quorum(s) of the Seventy. And it goes down from there to Stake Presidencies and and on down to the bishops and their counsellors, etc. Although the Church teaches that the Prophet and counsellors and all other "callings" for that matter are "called of God", it usually goes in order of who's been in the longest. When the Prophet dies, the next man in line moves up. So this rank structure is an ideal place for a Freemason presence. The fact that the founder of the Church and first prophet was a Mason doesn't hurt the chances, either.

[edit on 15/11/06 by an3rkist]

The Mormon Church is, at least theoretically, extremely anti-Masonic. The reason for this is a simple one:

Joseph Smith, along with several thousand other Mormons, became a Mason irregularly in Nauvoo. They all were expelled a few weeks later, and the Mormons developed hard feelings against the Masons because of it; but that didn't stop Smith from being impressed with the initiation ceremony.

Later, when Smith composed the Mormon Endowment Ceremony, a great deal of it seemed to be just a plagiarism of Masonic ritual, as worked at the time in Illinois. Smith claimed that the ceremony came to him as a vision from God, and that it was duty to restore the "true" Temple ceremony, which had become "corrupted" through Freemasonry.

Smith once famously said that "Just as Christianity is the apostate religion, so is Freemasonry the apostate Endowment", meaning that the Christians had corrupted the "real" religion, the Masons had corrupted the "real" initiation ceremony, and it was his job to "restore" them.

Obviously, the Masons of the time saw it for what it was: a line of BS. It was obvious that Smith had ripped off Masonic ritual, and nobody who was a regular Mason was impressed.

This all lead to tension between the Masons and the Mormons, which still exists in some places. Indeed, for over a century, the Grand Lodge of Utah refused to admit Mormons to the fraternity on grounds that they were followers of an illegitimate Masonic rite (the Endowment).

It is unlikely that Hinkley is a Mason (or any other high level church official) since technically we are regarded by them as infidels.

WELL.

I always thought Mormons where completely crazy. This kind of proves it for me haha. Do Mormons use the Masonic initiation ritual as their initiation into their church??

As I recall Mormons were not allowed to be Masons for awhile because of their polygamist practices. When the Church finally got rid of polygamy, (probably to ease tension between them and the government), or atleast sometime there after, Masons again allowed Mormons to join. I think what you say makes a ridiculous amount of sense though and I'm kind of ashamed I didn't come to that conclusion myself. My brother went on a Mormon mission and he's the one that mentioned to me that he had heard the Prophet was a Mason. I'm sure if Joseph Smith considered Masons infidels, then the current Church Presidency would, too. However, is it possible that they started their own...I don't know the right word, their own rite maybe? I know there are different organizations of Masons, and if Joseph Smith had stolen rituals perhaps he stole some other ideas too.

It doesn't matter if the masons accept mormons, the mormons forbid members from becoming masons.

Supposedly, some of their rituals are based on masonic rituals.

I live in Salt Lake City Utah, and was raised within the Mormon church by extremely DEVOTE and FANATICAL members............(my Grandfather went on 3 back to back missions for the church) I come from origonal Mormon pioneer stock and am related to Butch Cassidy.

I have not counted myself as a 'member' of the cult for over 20 years, and this was after an in depth study of the religion itself.

I personaly found Mormonism to be an almost PERFECT 3 way mix of Christianity, Masonry and Muslim beliefs.
I swear..........Joe Smith blended the 3 to 'create' his cult wich is the biggest cult on the planet to date.

I am proud to say I practice a solitary spiritual path wich most resembles Paganism.

Here is a thread on Mormonism
www.abovetopsecret.com...

[edit on 15-11-2006 by theRiverGoddess]

Some tidbits of possible interest

last three sections show the wording used in Mormon ritual
www.utlm.org...


Mormon Apron
home.teleport.com...

Also at one time they had a petition to join the search that was much like a Masonic petition requiring two people to sign it to join.

Originally posted by Rockpuck
WELL.

I always thought Mormons where completely crazy. This kind of proves it for me haha. Do Mormons use the Masonic initiation ritual as their initiation into their church??

No, but many lines found in Smith's original Endowment ceremony were taken from Masonry verbatim.

In the 1980's, the Mormon Church revised the Endowment ceremony, and eliminated the Masonic characteristics.