A Second Endowment Ceremony?

I have just now learned something about Mormonism I never
heard about before today: the second Endowment ceremony (or second anointing)—the
“calling and election made sure.” It’s a temple ceremony offered only to
married couples who have proved their worthiness over time and been personally
invited by the prophet. The ceremony is not well known by members, and those
who are invited to receive it are not allowed to tell others of their change in
status, which I suppose explains why it isn’t much talked about.

I still need to do some more research into this, but here’s
what it appears to be about: While the blessings of the covenant Mormons enter
into through baptism and the first Endowment are conditional (that is,
exaltation to the highest level of heaven and advancement to godhood depend on
obedience to their commandments and ordinances), those who receive the ceremony
of second anointing are sealed unconditionally
to the highest blessings. The receipt of the blessings has been “made sure.”
Here are some words
from Bruce R. McConkie (who is now deceased, but formerly held the office of
Apostle in the LDS Church) describing the concept:

[5] What is meant by having
one's calling and election made sure?

To have one's calling and election
made sure is to be sealed up unto eternal life; it is to have the unconditional
guarantee of exaltation in the highest heaven of the celestial world; it is to
receive the assurance of godhood; it is, in effect, to have the day of judgment
advanced, so that an inheritance of all the glory and honor of the Father's
kingdom is assured prior to the day when the faithful actually enter into the
divine presence to sit with Christ in his throne, even as he is "set
down" with his "Father in his throne." (Rev 3:21.) (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary,
3:325-353)

A man who went through the ceremony described his
understanding of it this
way:

With the second endowment, the
conditions are removed as you have already proven your faithfulness and
entitlement to the blessings. Therefore, you are sealed up to the highest
degree of the celestial kingdom unconditionally. Any sins committed afterward
may render you liable to the buffetings in the flesh, but they will not prevent
you from attaining your exaltation. The only sin that is unpardonable is
denying the Holy Ghost (or in some passages the shedding of innocent blood).

While our goal as Christians is not to “[b]ecome
as God is, enjoying to the full every characteristic, perfection, and attribute
which he possesses and which dwell in him independently,” as McConkie describes
his expected blessings, I’m nevertheless excited to see that something exists
in Mormonism similar to the security and rest we experience as God’s adopted
children.

Here’s why I’m so happy to find this:
Communicating Christian theology to Mormons is very difficult. We use many of
the same words but ascribe different meanings to those words. The result is
that one is never quite sure if the gulf of understanding has been crossed. One
minute they seem to agree, and in the next, they’re saying the opposite.

But here is a point of contact! A
concept in Mormonism of certainty about receiving all eternal blessings! What
do they think of this idea? Do they long for it? How would they feel if they
received it? I can’t wait to ask them this! For this is what we Christians have
already, and we didn’t achieve it through our works, as Paul explains in
Ephesians 1-2:

In [Christ], you
also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your
salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of
promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the
redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

Having believed, we were sealed in
Him. God “has seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”
(2:6) and “has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places
in Christ” (1:3)—both statements are past tense. Christ has permanently
obtained all blessings for us, and as God’s adopted children (1:4-5), we are
certain heirs of them.

And now I know the concept is out there,
in their own religion, for Mormons to ponder and be captivated by—a glorious,
but distant, guarantee of secured blessings, out of reach for most. Now we can
tell them the good news that Christ has already reached it for us.