The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah) has many temples worldwide. Individual church members, who are worthy, have a temple recommend. This enables them to enter any temple for their own personal endowment or to go through the ceremony in behalf of a deceased individual.

Starting in 1842 church founder Joseph Smith initiated a ritual ceremony termed an "endowment" to a select group known as the Holy Order of the Holy Priesthood. The ceremony includes signs, tokens, obligations and penalties that have certain similarities to Freemasonry. The endowment is an initiation into the highest order of the priesthoods of the church. The endowment is performed only in temples.

The majority of Mormon temples have the endowment presented by film and audio recording. The acting is done by persons who represent each character. The drama as presented is a religious dialogue together with the patron receiving names and signs of the priesthoods (i.e. the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods) with what is termed tokens (or handclasps) for the respective priesthood.

The endowment ceremony was first presented in 1842. It was orally preserved though with modifications through the first thirty years. In 1877 the ceremony was written down. Still it was not uniformed in the temples. Over the years the ceremony has been shortened and modified. There is no secret as to the content of the endowment ceremony, it is part of public knowledge. For example, in 1856 Brigham Young stated in public, "[A]nd in this congregation there are men and women who, with uplifted hands to heaven, before the Father, the Son, and all the holy angels, made solemn covenants that they never would do thus and so. For example, one obligation is, 'I will never have anything to do with any of the daughters of Eve, unless they are given to me of the Lord'" (Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [Liverpool, England: Latter-day Saints' Book Depot, 1854-86], 3:246, 16 March 1856). The obligation of the Law of Chastity is part of the endowment.

The first scene represents the creation of the world by a council of Gods. The Gods mentioned during the creation scene are: Elohim, Jehovah, and Michael (who becomes Adam). The next scene is the Garden of Eden enactment. Here Adam and Eve go through a dialogue with Lucifer (Satan) tempting them. A witness couple represents the patrons as if they were at the altar. Then follows the lone and dreary world. The patrons make covenants and promises as they proceed to the veil in the temple. Peter, James, and John visit Adam and Eve and eventually cast Lucifer out of their midst. In the Terrestrial world the True Order of Prayer is done. The marks on the garments that the participants are to wear through life are explained. A ceremony of final name of the Melchizedek Priesthood is revealed through the veil of the temple by a person representing the Lord (Elohim) behind the veil. The patron is tested for knowledge of the name and tokens of the priesthoods, receives the name of the Second Token of the Melchizedek Priesthood, the Patriarchal Grip, or Sure Sign of the Nail, and then is admitted into the Celestial Room. This room represents the highest glory in the afterlife - the Celestial Kingdom.

In the dialogue the wording is repeated a number of times as the commands, reports and obligations are expressed in the drama of the endowment. In 1990 the penalty gestures and the portion of the oaths of the first three tokens relating to each penalty were deleted. In addition, other modifications were made in the endowment ceremony.

On January 2, 2019 new revised wording of the endowment ceremony was introduced with a special message from the First Presidency. Changes included more inclusive language and gender equity.

For articles on LDS temple related teachings and development see:
David John Buerger, "The Adam-God Doctrine," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 15 (Spring 1982):14-58.
David John Buerger, "'The Fullness of the Priesthood': The Second Anointing in Latter-day Saint Theology and Practice," Dialogue 16 (Spring 1983):10-44.
David John Buerger, The Development of the Mormon Temple Endowment Ceremony," Dialogue 20 (Winter 1987):33-76.
Michael W. Homer, "'Similarity of Priesthood in Masonry': The Relationship between Freemasonry and Mormonism," Dialogue 27 (Fall 1994):1-113.