A common element in the tombs of ancient Egypt was a false door. It was an image of a door sculptured into the wall of the tomb. The Egyptians, however, believed it was a gateway which the spirit of the deceased could use to enter the next world.
An article in the January 2019 Ensign (the monthly magazine of the LDS Church, now renamed the Liahona) reveals Mormonism’s false door to heaven taught through Mormon religion. The article is entitled “Entering the Gate of Heaven”. It focuses on the vision Jacob had at Bethel where he saw a stairway to heaven with angels ascending and descending on it (Genesis 28). The article’s title is taken from Jacob’s exclamation that this was the gate of heaven.
The author equates Bethel and Jacob’s vision with LDS temples and the ordinances and covenants connected to them.
“What a powerful sight it must have been to see that the way to the presence of God is ‘to receive all those ordinances in the house of the Lord, which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels.’ ”
And again:
“ ‘Jacob realized that the covenants he made with the Lord there were the rungs on the ladder that he himself would have to climb in order to obtain the promised blessings—blessings that would entitle him to enter heaven and associate with the Lord. …’ ”
In Mormonism, the temple is the gateway to heaven, to living eternally in God’s presence. And it is up to them to climb the ladder by keeping their covenants with the Lord.
Nothing could be further from the truth. LDS temples are not the gates of heaven. They are like the false doors in Egyptian tombs. They give no access to heaven. All they give is false hope.
JESUS, NOT LDS TEMPLES, IS THE GATE TO HEAVEN.
Jesus is the way (John 14:6). And he is the stairway. In an obvious reference to Jacob’s vision, Jesus said:
“I tell you the truth, you shall see heavens open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
He was the stairway in Jacob’s dream. And unlike the ladder envisioned in the Ensign article, Jesus is more like an escalator. We don’t have to climb every rung through our own faithfulness and obedience. Jesus, through his obedience for us, flattened those rungs and made them steps on the escalators, steps which carry us upward with no effort on our part.
How does anybody get to heaven? Not through climbing the ladder of LDS ordinances and covenants. But rather, through riding the escalator by trusting in Jesus’ works and obedience.
JESUS IS THE REAL DOOR TO HEAVEN.
*This blog was updated for relevancy on February 18, 2021.
