Portal:Latter Day Saint movement

The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded in the United States by Joseph Smith in the late 1820s.

Collectively, these churches have nearly 18 million nominal members. The vast majority, more than 17 million, belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). About 250,000 belong to the Community of Christ, formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The remainder belong to other denominations with memberships generally ranging in the thousands. The predominant theology of the churches in the movement is Mormonism, which sees itself as restoring again on Earth the early Christian church; their members are most commonly known as Mormons. An additional doctrine of the church allows for prophets to receive and publish modern-day revelations.

A minority of Latter Day Saint adherents, such as members of Community of Christ, have been influenced by Protestant theologies while maintaining certain distinctive beliefs and practices including continuing revelation, an open canon of scripture and building temples. Other groups include the Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which supports lineal succession of leadership from Smith's descendants, and the more controversial Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which defends the practice of polygamy. One source has estimated that over 400 denominations have sprung from founder Joseph Smith's original movement. (Full article...)

The White Horse Prophecy is an influential, disputed version of a statement made by Latter Day Saint movement founder Joseph Smith in May 1843 on the future role of his followers in saving an endangered US Constitution. It was written down by one of Smith's adherents Edwin Rushton in an undated document, possibly ten years after, and separately recorded by follower James Burgess. Rushton's record of Smith's original statement predicts that the US Constitution will one day "hang by a thread" but be saved by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), "by the efforts of the White Horse." According to Rushton's retelling of the prophecy, LDS adherents would "go to the Rocky Mountains and... be a great and mighty people," associating them with one of the biblical four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in the Book of Revelation. One source from the LDS Church's largest university Brigham Young University (BYU) believes the Rushton document was written after 1890.

On the basis of either Rushton's version or Smith's original statement, some critics of Mormonism and some Mormon folklore doctrine enthusiasts hold that Mormons should expect that the US will eventually become a theocracy dominated by the LDS Church. The idea that LDS members will at one or more times take action to save an imperiled US Constitution has since been restated by numerous top LDS leaders. Three years prior to the 1843 statement, Smith had similarly predicted the constitution would someday be "on the brink of ruin", but be saved by his followers. As to the Rushton version of the Prophecy, the Church stated in 2010 that "the so-called 'White Horse Prophecy'... is not embraced as Church doctrine". Numerous denominations within Mormon fundamentalists continue to preach the doctrine, and it remains influential in conservative Mormon political discussion, with multiple top LDS leaders citing similar teachings into modernity. (Full article...)

The Yearning for Zion Ranch, or the YFZ Ranch, was a 1,700-acre (690-hectare) Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) cult community of as many as 700 people, located near Eldorado in Schleicher County, Texas, United States. In April 2014, the State of Texas took physical and legal possession of the property. As of 2019, the property was in the process of being sold to the Dallas-based firm ETG Properties LLC, who were already leasing it for use as a military and law enforcement training facility. (Full article...)

The Church of Christ, informally referred to as the Fettingites, is a denomination within the Latter Day Saint movement which split from the Church of Christ—informally known as "Hedrickites"— in late 1929. The faction was formally established on April 8, 1930, and an Associated Press report published in The New York Times and Los Angeles Times April 7, 1930, describes it as having been briefly named "The Church of Jesus Christ" and later, the "Church of Christ". It is informally referred to as the "Church of Christ (Fettingite)", after its founder, Otto Fetting, but this sect has never officially been named as such. Otto Fetting, an Apostle in the Church of Christ, was the alleged recipient of a series of messages delivered by John the Baptist concerning construction of a temple on the Temple Lot, along with other aspects of Hedrickite doctrine and practice. The rejection of his "Twelfth Message" by a majority vote of his fellow Apostles in October 1929 led to a split in the Temple Lot organization between those who rejected Fetting's messages and those who accepted them. The "Fettingites" subsequently established their own church organization.

While Fettingite doctrine and practices are virtually identical to those of the Church of Christ, a significant difference exists today in the acceptance of the messages' authenticity between Hedrickites and Fettingites. The Hedrickite leadership voted at their April, 1936 conference to formally reject Otto Fetting's claim of having heard from John the Baptist, but some laity in the Hedrickite sect have informally expressed interest or belief in his claims, to where about a half-dozen Hedrickites today believe Fetting received some or all of the revelations he claimed. After its founder's death in 1933, the Fettingite sect further divided into various factions, including The Church of Christ (Restored), the Church of Christ at Halley's Bluff, and the Church of Christ with the Elijah Message. As with the Church of Christ, each of these groups declares itself to be the "only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth." (Full article...)

• Outline of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Outline of the Book of Mormon
• Outline of Joseph Smith

Elijah Abel, or Able or Ables (July 25, 1808– December 25, 1884) was one of the earliest African-American members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), and was the church's first African-American elder and Seventy. Abel was predominantly of Scottish and English descent and appears to have been the first, and one of the few, black members in the early history of the church to have received Priesthood ordination, later becoming the faith's first black missionary. Abel did not have his ordination revoked when the LDS Church officially announced its now-obsolete restrictions on Priesthood ordination, but was denied a chance to receive his temple endowment by third church president John Taylor. As a skilled carpenter, Abel often committed his services to the building of LDS temples and chapels. He died in 1884 after serving a mission to Cincinnati, Ohio, his last of three total missions for the church. (Full article...)

• ... that Songs and Flowers of the Wasatch represented a shift in Mormon history toward a "socially-accepted American cultural and religious heritage", according to historian Jennifer Reeder?
• ... that it is debated whether or not Nephites used minted coins?
• ... that an unnamed abuse survivor risks her life to become a spy in "one of the bravest actions in all of the Book of Mormon"?

• Spring of 1820: Joseph Smith, age 14, was visited by God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
• 26 March 1830: 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon published in Palmyra, New York.(printer press pictured)
• 27 March 1836: The Kirtland Temple was dedicated in an eight-hour service.
• 1 March 1842: The Wentworth letter, containing the Articles of Faith, was first published.
• 10 March 2000: In LDS Cinema, the film God's Army was released.