What's Inside the World's Most Secret Church

[Music] this is a Mormon temple they can be found across the United States and scattered around the entire world they look pretty weird huh Joe for decades these White Walls have guarded a mystery behind them only devout Mormons can perform sacred secret rituals rituals that unlock the highest level of their heaven where you can be with your family for eternity in God's greatest Kingdom of Glory to live like holy kings and queens forever they are key to the expansion of one of the richest most secret churches in the world and I will show you what

happens inside them this is the story of one of the strangest buildings on the planet what happens inside a Mormon temple Harris Johnson is a young man with big aspirations one day he dreams of becoming a journalist Harris is a Mormon he was raised devout and did missionary work but he's starting to have doubts he just had a daughter and is starting to realize that the decisions he makes now the ideas thoughts and lessons he teaches will shape who she becomes more than any time before he questions his Faith he arrives at the Washington DC

Temple to perform his sacred ordinances this is a model of Mormon belief God's plan for salvation when Mormons are born they are born on a journey their mortal life is only one stage they go through as they wait to pass on to the next they believe everyone has a premortal existence where we begin as Spirit children of the Heavenly Father God and mother before we fall to Earth as we fall we pass through a veil of forgetfulness forgetting this premortal existence now on Earth we must perform trials to prove our lasting Devotion to God if

we perform these trials correctly we can move to the highest level of all the levels in Mormon heaven but to get to that highest level you use a temple Harris and ERS the baptism room although he was baptized years ago and that's because he isn't at the temple for himself he's there for someone else Harris Johnson can only perform the temple ceremony once every time he goes to the temple after he is given a new name a name of a family member friend or other person that he wants to help by performing the temple ceremony

in that person's name he can get them out of spirit prison and into heaven a person who is dead unlike other Christian denominations the Mormons believe you can be baptized by proxy in Utah near Salt Lake City the Mormons hold the world's largest collection of genealogical Records they're buried in a Secure Vault inside a Granite Mountain here around 3 billion pages of family historical records are used to put together Mormon ancestral lines Mormons will scavenge these vaults to find distant family members that they can baptize [Music] Mormons have also baptized notable individuals who are not

related including and Frank they justify the practice by saying that they give her and others a choice those in spirit prison can either accept or reject the proxy baptism they're never forced beyond their Will Harris feels cold the water smelled more chlorinated than usual and he couldn't take his eyes off the loose strand of black hair on the clean marble he dries himself off and prepares to move on to the next stage of the temple one of the most important stages of all only those who are worthy should go to the temple entering the house

of the Lord is a sacred privilege temples aren't actually churches real Mormon churches are called chapels Mormon temples are exclusively for members of the church Mormons can only get inside with a temple recommend a sort of key but there is one exception after Mormon temples are constructed or renovated they may be opened for the public temporarily this was done by the church to help reduce the mysterious stigma visitors are allowed to T them briefly until they're dedicated and restricted from the public although the insides of the temple can be seen that doesn't extend to the

rituals performed inside them for the last 100 years Temple construction has increased a whistleblower revealed that the Church of lday saints has an estimated $100 billion Investment Portfolio it is one of the wealthiest churches on the planet each of their temples is funded by this massive war chest benefiting from their tax exemp status and Investment Portfolio the church plans to build hundreds more some costing upwards of $60 million in January 2018 the current president of the church announced his plan to build 13 3 temples almost doubling the stock of total Mormon temples worldwide they are

vital in the church's plan to expand they tend to be built along major highways or points of visibility sometimes built out of white marble they might come with a golden statue of their angel [Music] Moroni sometimes they have one Spire other times multiple in an attempt to come off like a modern American American religion the Mormons adopted various architectural Styles in the early 20th century temples were built in the style reminisent of Frank lyd Wright today's temples often just look like a strange mix of abstract shapes and geometrical features it's not clear what unifies them

from the outside like what you'd find among other religions Temple architecture of the world is an exotic jumble a bewildering complex of borrowed motifs on the one hand some see this as a strength for growing the Mormon faith when expanding temples it's important to build to local customs and Designs that's more welcoming to the locals nearby on the other hand this flexibility has been criticized for failing to centralize and clarify the Mormon style but while the outside is subject to debate what happens inside them however is not Mormon temples are unified by a unique internal

design instead of one large looming chamber Mormon temples are SP into many and that's for a reason like their belief systems temples are a journey rooms are passed through in a specific Order each with their own rituals done in stages stages where Mormons perform ordinances ordinances are sacred formal acts that allow Mormons to make covenants agreements and Promises with God these covenants show Devotion to get you closer to God the baptism is only only one ordinance of many part of the stage that takes you and others out of spiritual prison but it's the ordinances that

come after it that unlock the higher levels of Heaven a temple is a tool a tool to help make Mormons Gods after the baptism Harris Johnson moves on to the initiatory ordinance where he's washed and anointed he's touched with water and oil symbolically cleansing him for the next ordinance he puts on a Temple robes when Adam and Eve left Eden they were dressed in coats of skins so Harris does the same many Mormons wear temple garments daily under their regular clothes a reminder of their covenants and to feel closer to God simple and white with

the exception of a green apron that represents the Fig leaf that covered Adam and Eve Harris is prepared for the next and most important ordinance the endowment you will see a retelling of creation Adam and Eve the fall mortal life resurrection and finally entering God's presence he will witness what Mormons believe the story of the universe is it began with the forging of the great Rings three were given to Jen Z who did nothing at all four to the Millennials who pretended to work harder but could never commit to a single career and nine nine

Rings were given gifted to the Boomers who Above All Else desire power for Within These Rings were bound the strength and will to govern each race but they were all of them deceived for another ring was made in the land of Belgium in the light of a fluorescent airconditioned office ODU forged a Master Ring to control all others and into this ring he poured all of his power an affordable monthly subscription with the first app completely free with unlimited hosting and support included one ring to rule them all one ring to bind them all your

important business productivity and work subscriptions under one umbrella working intelligently with each other try the one true ring for free and unleash odu's [Music] power before projectors the endowment ceremony was theatrically reimagined Mormons would act out the story of creation but as the church expanded they modernized they started to rely on digital mediums that allowed them to save on labor and centralize while visiting the different rooms Mormons will receive teachings from the church and reveal specific signs and tokens these serve as a sort of double verification to prove their Mormon granting them access to the

next rooms the details Behind These specific signs and tokens are kept in high confidentiality but they have been compared with old Masonic rituals it starts in the creation room he sits apart from the women and receives instructions on the rituals in a room decorated with scenes of Mormon creation after the creation room Harris heads to the Garden Room and sees the depiction of the Advent of Adam and Eve then he heads to the telestial or World room depicting the mortal world after the fall as well as the lowest Kingdom of Heaven what happened to Adam

and Eve after they were expelled from the garden and finally he enters the terrestrial room representing the second Kingdom of Heaven which is also the stepping stone to the most important room in the temple the celestial room representing the highest Kingdom in Mormon heaven but to get to that room you must pass the veil after we die and leave the Mortal realm the Mormons believe our performance is judged but this is not a pass or fail in our father's house there are many mansions according to the Mormons there are three ranks in heaven the lowest

Celestial the Stars the second terrestrial the moon and the highest Celestial the sun our loving savior will send all the children of God to one of these kingdoms of Glory according to the desires manifested through their choices if you did not accept Christ and were sinful you're destined for the telestial the lowest Kingdom has the most inhabitants as innumerable as the stars in the firmament of heaven or as the sand upon the seashore if you were honorable but did not accept the gospel you're destined for the terrestrial these are the people who receive his glory

but not his fullness and only if you accept the gospel live in the light of God and make your way through a temple will you likely Ascend to the highest Kingdom the celestial the sun these kingdoms are hierarchies within them they are divided even further the Celestial Kingdom has three layers the highest of the Celestial Kingdom belonging to those destined to be a God to get into the Celestial Kingdom you must perform the endowment but to get to the highest level of the Celestial Kingdom you must go even further this is the dwelling of those

quote who have received of his fullness and of his glory therefore they are Gods even the Sons and Daughters of God and dwell in the presence of God and his Christ forever and ever end to quote after Harris Johnson passes through the Veil he enters the Celestial Kingdom the Mormon religion was founded in the 1800s during a period of American religious revivalism at around the same time a book was making the rounds among the American masses the Age of Reason in it the author Thomas Payne critiqued the belief in a Supreme Being he made his

arguments on the understanding that the Earth was not the center of the universe Almighty who had millions of Worlds equally dependent on his protection should quit the care of all the rest and come to die in our world because they say one man and one woman had eaten an apple are we to suppose that every world in the boundless creation had an eve an apple a serpent and a redeemer this attacked the idea of Divine Design it was becoming clear that our human understanding of the center of the universe was relative for some this was

enough to convert theists to atheists but others scrambled for a different explanation some tried to defend existing religious text the biblical passages can be read metaphorically the story of creation was always compatible with the universe of many worlds while some attempted to defend existing Christian theology there were others who tried to update it one such man was Joseph Smith the founder of Mormonism there are other worlds around us to which probably our Earth with all its Grandeur is but as dust in the balance Infinity of space is before it unnumbered spheres are above and below

and around us there are many worlds that have passed away and there are many that now stand and as one Earth shall pass away and the heavens thereof even so shall another come and there is no end to my Works neither to my words this is where Mormon Doctrine becomes truly different as man now is God once was and as God now is man may be the Mormon afterlife is a fractal an Ever repeating story of creation do you think that you could ever through all eternity find out the generation where Gods began to be

or see the grand beginning where space did not extend or view the last creation where gods and matter end me thinks the spirit Whispers no man has found pure space nor seen the outside curtains where nothing has a place those who enter the Celestial Kingdom are destined to be like God but there's still one ordinance you must complete to become one yourself Celestial Glory there are three Heavens or degrees and in order to obtain the highest a man must enter into this order of the priesthood meaning the new and Everlasting Covenant of marriage and if

he does not he cannot obtain it when Mormons are married in the temple they are sealed as a heavenly father and mother themselves Gods with our own new plans for salvation we send our spiritual children off to different planets we repeat the process of creation again and again forever Harris sits in the celestial room if he continued his devotion he would become a god king if he continued his devotion with strict rules against drinking alcohol and fio Mormons aren't exactly the type of people who get invited to parties very often so the entire religion has

constructed an eternal party where they're the only ones invited the rest of humanity is bounced at the door waiting in line forever you don't burn in Mormon Hell For Eternity but miss out for eternity hell is literally an eternal Dam to the next higher layer of Heaven if you're a faithful Mormon but have the unfortunate luck of being gay leaving an abusive marriage or being asexual you will never be a God for these angels did not abide my law therefore they cannot be enlarged but remain separately and singly without exaltation in their saved condition to

all eternity and from hence forth are not Gods but are angels of God forever and ever your life may still be glorious just not the most glorious looking forever up at the higher Kingdoms in heaven Harris sits in the celestial room but feels nothing he lifts his head noticing a subtle brown stain on his Temple robes he remembers how angry he got when his daughter spilled the Coke but then a smile creeps onto his face a light chuckle escapes his lips he hears the droning sound of the air conditioner with a stuttering broken fan it

doesn't feel like heaven here it feels like a dentist's waiting room he looks around observing his brothers and sisters and doesn't see future Gods only apprehension reaching for any meaning in his brief incomprehensible existence but Harris feels no smug Pride only understanding wanting to stay with your family forever is the fairest human desire but then he wonders is this the hope I'll give her to one day look at her dying father and grasp at faith that she'll see him again not to ever come to terms that maybe the end is the end Harris stands up

they look at him he passes back through the Veil born again