The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Beginnings=== {{See also|History of the Latter Day Saint movement|Joseph Smith#Life}} Joseph Smith formally organized the church as the [[Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)|Church of Christ]], on April 6, 1830, in [[burned-over district|western New York]];{{efn|Scholars and eyewitnesses disagree whether the church was organized in [[Manchester (town), New York|Manchester, New York]] at the Smith log home, or in [[Fayette, New York|Fayette]] at the home of [[Peter Whitmer]];<ref name=RoughStone>{{Cite book|last=Bushman|first=Richard Lyman|author-link=Richard Bushman|title=Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling|year=2005|place=New York|publisher=[[Alfred A. Knopf|Knopf]]|isbn=978-1-4000-4270-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mz3tpz4eRBQC| via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>{{rp|109}} Marquardt states that organization in Manchester is most consistent with eye-witness statements.<ref name=Inventing/>{{rp|223}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Marquardt |first=H. Michael |date=2013 |title=Manchester as the Site of the Organization of the Church on April 6, 1830 |journal=[[The John Whitmer Historical Association Journal]] |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=152–153 |jstor=43200317 |issn=0739-7852 }}</ref> The LDS Church officially favors organization in Fayette.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ayala |first=Leonor |date=July 13, 2004 |title=Mormon conversions surge in Latin America |work=[[NBC News]] |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5378318 |access-date=June 30, 2023}}</ref>}} the church's name was later changed to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.<ref name=RoughStone />{{rp|627 n. 73}} Initial converts were drawn to the church in part because of the newly published [[Book of Mormon]], a self-described chronicle of [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|indigenous American]] prophets that Smith said he had translated from [[golden plates]].<ref name=Ruckus>{{Cite news |last=Fletcher Stack |first=Peggy |author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack |date=November 9, 2007 |title=The Book of Mormon: Minor edit stirs major ruckus |work=[[The Salt Lake Tribune]] |url=https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=&itype=NGPSID |access-date=June 26, 2023}}</ref><ref name=Lost/><ref name=OriginsBoM/>{{rp|57, 72, 90}} Smith intended to establish the [[New Jerusalem]] in North America, called [[Zion (Latter Day Saints)|Zion]].<ref name=RoughStone/>{{rp|122}}<ref>{{lds|D&C|dc|57|1|3}}</ref><ref>{{lds|D&C|dc|84|4}} "[T]he city New Jerusalem shall be built by the gathering of the saints, beginning at [Jackson County, Missouri], even the place of the temple, which temple shall be reared in this generation".</ref> In 1831, the church moved to [[Kirtland, Ohio]],{{efn|In 1834, Smith designated Kirtland as one of the "[[Stake (Latter Day Saints)|stakes]]" of Zion, referring to the tent–stakes metaphor of ''[[Book of Isaiah|Isaiah]]''.<ref name=Dummies/>{{rp|175}}<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 11, 2023 |title=Stake Conference held for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |newspaper=[[News-Topic]] |via=[[Yahoo! News]] |url=https://news.yahoo.com/stake-conference-held-church-jesus-181600805.html |access-date=June 25, 2023 |location=Lenoir, North Carolina}}</ref>}}<ref name=Brodie>{{Cite book|last=Brodie|first=Fawn M.|author-link=Fawn M. Brodie|title=No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith|publisher=[[Alfred A. Knopf|Knopf]]|location=New York|edition=2nd|year=1971|isbn=978-0-394-46967-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nbBMEAAAQBAJ}}</ref>{{rp|97}} and began establishing an outpost in [[Jackson County, Missouri]],<ref name=RoughStone/>{{rp|162}}<ref name=Brodie/>{{rp|109}} where Smith planned to eventually move the church headquarters.{{efn|Smith said in 1831 that God intended the Mormons to "retain a strong hold in the land of Kirtland, for the space of five years".<ref>{{lds|D&C|dc|64|21}}</ref>}} However, in 1833, Missouri settlers violently expelled the Latter Day Saints from Jackson County.<ref name=RoughStone/>{{rp|222–227}}{{efn|Brodie stated that the brutality of the Jackson Countians aroused sympathy for the Mormons and was almost universally deplored by the media.<ref name=Brodie/>{{rp|137}}}} The church attempted to recover the land through a [[Zion's Camp|paramilitary expedition]], but did not succeed.<ref name=Brodie/>{{rp|141, 146–159}}<ref name=RoughStone/>{{rp|322}} Nevertheless, the church flourished in Kirtland as Smith published new revelations and the church built the [[Kirtland Temple]],{{efn|By summer of 1835, there were 1500 to 2000 Saints in Kirtland, and from 1831 to 1838, church membership grew from 680 to 17,881.}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Waterman |first=Bryan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GZ7tAAAAMAAJ |title=The Prophet Puzzle: Interpretive Essays on Joseph Smith |date=1999 |publisher=[[Signature Books]] |isbn=978-1-56085-121-9 |page=120}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Desert Morning News 2008 Church Almanac|page=655|publisher=[[Deseret News]]|date=2008}}</ref><ref name=Brodie/>{{rp|101}}<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Arrington |first1=Leonard J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oMQgrBcI998C |title=The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-Day Saints |last2=Bitton |first2=Davis |date=1992 |publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]] |isbn=978-0-252-06236-0 |page=21}}</ref> culminating in a dedication of the building similar to the day of [[Pentecost]].<ref name=RoughStone/>{{rp|310–319}}<ref name=Brodie/>{{rp|178}} The Kirtland era ended in 1838, after a [[Kirtland Safety Society|financial scandal]] rocked the church and caused widespread defections.<ref name=RoughStone/>{{rp|328–338}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brooke |first=John L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eyvftt-1F_kC |title=The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644–1844 |date=1994 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-56564-6 |page=221|quote=Ultimately, the rituals and visions dedicating the Kirtland temple were not sufficient to hold the church together in the face of a mounting series of internal disputes}}</ref> Smith regrouped with the remaining church in [[Far West, Missouri]],{{efn|Smith referred to the Far West church as the "church in Zion".<ref name=HotC>{{Cite book |last= Roberts |first= B. H. |author-link= B. H. Roberts |title= History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |volume= 3 |publisher= [[Deseret News]] |year= 1905 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=m2bEVgSvbS8C |access-date= September 27, 2020 |archive-date= November 2, 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201102121407/https://books.google.com/books?id=m2bEVgSvbS8C |url-status= live |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>{{rp|24}} His statement calling Far West "Zion" had the effect of "implying that Far West was to take the place of Independence".<ref name=RoughStone/>{{rp|345}}}} but tensions soon escalated into [[Mormon War (1838)|violent conflicts]] with the old Missouri settlers.<ref name=RoughStone/>{{rp|357–364}}<ref name=Brodie/>{{rp|227–230}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Remini |first=Robert Vincent |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u3nzkbb2ha8C |title=Joseph Smith |date=2002 |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |isbn=978-0-670-03083-5 |page=134}}</ref><ref name=Origins>{{Cite book|last=Quinn|first=D. Michael|author-link=D. Michael Quinn|title=The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power|publisher=[[Signature Books]]|location=Salt Lake City|year=1994|isbn=978-1-56085-056-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AnfZAAAAMAAJ}}</ref>{{rp|97–98}} Believing the Latter Day Saints to be an insurrection, the [[Lilburn Boggs|Missouri governor]] ordered that they be "[[Missouri Executive Order 44|exterminated or driven from the State]]".{{efn|Boggs' executive order stated that the Mormon community had "made war upon the people of this State" and that "the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace".<ref name=RoughStone/>{{rp|367}} In 1976, [[Missouri]] issued a formal apology for this unconstitutional order.<ref name=RoughStone/>{{rp|398}}}} In 1839, the Latter Day Saints converted a swampland on the banks of the [[Mississippi River]] into [[Nauvoo, Illinois]], which became the church's new headquarters.<ref name=RoughStone/>{{rp|383–384}} [[File:Carthage Jail from southwest.jpg|thumb|left|[[Carthage Jail]], where [[Joseph Smith]] was [[Killing of Joseph Smith|killed in 1844]]]] Nauvoo grew rapidly as [[Mormon missionary|missionaries]] sent to Europe and elsewhere gained new converts who then flooded into Nauvoo.<ref name=RoughStone/>{{rp|409}}<ref name=Brodie/>{{rp|258, 264–65}} Meanwhile, Smith introduced [[polygamy]] to his closest associates.<ref name=Brodie/>{{rp|334–336}}<ref name=RoughStone/>{{rp|437}} He also established [[Sealing (Mormonism)|ceremonies]], which he stated the Lord had revealed to him, to allow righteous people to [[Exaltation (Mormonism)|become gods]] in the afterlife,{{efn|The [[second anointing]] ordinance provides a guarantee that recipients will be exalted.{{r|name=High|q=On 10 March 1844 Smith delivered a discourse on the subject of Elijah in which he gave his most complete explanation of the second anointing. He said ... [t]he function of the ordinance was to assure salvation ... Other ordinances considered essential for exaltation were generally held to be conditional—that is, the ordinance enabled exaltation, but the subsequent righteousness of the recipient secured it. By contrast, the second anointing guaranteed one's exaltation, and thus may be viewed as the crowning ordinance of Smith's ministry.|pp=189, 191}}<ref name="Buerger 1983">{{cite journal| last= Buerger|first= David John| title='The Fulness of the Priesthood': The Second Anointing in Latter-day Saint Theology and Practice| journal=[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought|Dialogue]]| volume=16| year=1983| url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V16N01_12.pdf|issue=1|doi= 10.2307/45225125|jstor= 45225125|quote=Godhood was therefore the meaning of this higher ordinance, or second anointing ... Most of the earliest nineteenth-century comments ... clearly imply that the ordinance was then held to be unconditional. ... The unconditional promise of exaltation in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom as gods and goddesses inherent in this priesthood sealing ordinance of Elijah was weighty indeed ....|pages=21, 36–37}}</ref><ref name=Mysteries>{{cite book |last1=Buerger |first1=David J. |url={{google books | plainurl=y | id=P08mAQAAIAAJ }} |title=The Mysteries of Godliness: A History of Mormon Temple Worship |chapter= Joseph Smith's Ritual |year= 2002 |publisher=[[Signature Books]]|url-access=limited |isbn=978-1-56085-176-9 |quote=Brother Brigham Young, I [Heber Kimball] pour this holy consecrated oil upon your head and anoint thee a king and a priest of the most high God ... And I seal thee up unto eternal life, that thou shalt ... attain unto the eternal Godhead and receive a fulness of joy, and glory, and power; and that thou mayest do all things ... even if it be to create worlds and redeem them.|page=89}}</ref> Authors have stated that Smith's words were similar to those of Paul that faithful saints may become co-heirs with Jesus.<ref>{{lds|Romans|romans|8|17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Widmer |first=Kurt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TYHZAAAAMAAJ |title=Mormonism and the Nature of God: A Theological Evolution, 1830–1915 |date=2000 |publisher=[[McFarland Publishing]] |isbn=978-0-7864-0776-7 |page=119}}</ref><ref name=HotC/>{{rp|502–503}}}} and a [[Council of Fifty|secular institution]] to govern the [[Millennium|Millennial]] kingdom.<ref name=Origins/>{{rp|120–122}}{{efn|Bushman described the Council of Fifty noting that Smith prophesied "the entire overthrow of this nation in a few years", at which time the Kingdom of God would be prepared to lead.<ref name=RoughStone/>{{rp|519–521}}}} He also introduced the church to a full accounting of his [[First Vision]], in which he claimed that two heavenly "personages" appeared to him at age 14.{{efn|In this account, the personages in question are inferred—though never expressly stated—to be [[God the Father]] and his Son, [[Jesus Christ]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lambert |first1=Neal E. |last2=Cracroft |first2=Richard H. |date=1980 |title=Literary Form and Historical Understanding: Joseph Smith's First Vision |journal=[[Journal of Mormon History]] |volume=7 |issn=0094-7342 |page=38|jstor=23285961 }}</ref>}} This vision would come to be regarded by the LDS Church as the most important event in human history since the [[resurrection of Jesus]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Allen |first=James B. |author-link=James B. Allen (historian) |title=The Significance of Joseph Smith's First Vision in Mormon Thought |journal=[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought]] |year=1966 |volume=1 |issue=3 |doi=10.2307/45223817 |jstor=45223817 |s2cid=222223353 |doi-access=free |page=29}}</ref> On June 27, 1844, Smith and his brother, [[Hyrum Smith|Hyrum]], were [[Death of Joseph Smith|killed by a mob]] in [[Carthage, Illinois]],<ref name=Brodie/>{{rp|393–394}}<ref name=RoughStone/> while being held on charges of treason.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |contribution-url= http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/4208 |contribution= Smith, Joseph: Legal Trials of Joseph Smith |first= Joseph I. |last= Bentley |pages= 1346–1348 |editor1-last= Ludlow |editor1-first= Daniel H |editor1-link= Daniel H. Ludlow |encyclopedia= Encyclopedia of Mormonism |location= New York |publisher= [[Macmillan Publishers]] |year= 1992 |isbn= 0-02-879602-0 |oclc= 24502140 |title-link= Encyclopedia of Mormonism |access-date= September 23, 2014 |archive-date= November 15, 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141115202830/http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/4208 |url-status= live }}</ref> Because Hyrum was Joseph's designated successor, their deaths caused a [[Succession crisis (Latter Day Saints)|succession crisis]],<ref name=Origins/>{{rp|143}}<ref name=Brodie/>{{rp|398}} and Brigham Young assumed leadership over a majority of the church's membership.<ref name=RoughStone/>{{rp|556–557}} Young had been a close associate of Smith's and was the president of the [[Quorum of the Twelve]] [[Apostle (Latter Day Saints)|Apostles]] in Smith's church. Other splinter groups followed other leaders around this time. These groups have no affiliation with the LDS Church,<ref name=Origins/>{{rp|198–211}} however they share a common heritage in their early church history. Collectively, they are called the Latter Day Saint movement. The largest of these smaller groups is the [[Community of Christ]], based in [[Independence, Missouri]], followed by [[The Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite)|the Church of Jesus Christ]], based in [[Monongahela, Pennsylvania]]. Like the LDS Church, these faiths believe in Joseph Smith as a prophet and founder of their religion. They also accept the Book of Mormon, and most accept at least some version of the [[Doctrine and Covenants]]. However, they tend to disagree to varying degrees with the LDS Church concerning doctrine and church leadership.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=[[Columbia Encyclopedia]]|edition=6th|title=Community of Christ|publisher=[[Columbia University Press]]|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/reference/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/community-christ|access-date=July 3, 2021|quote=The doctrines of the church are derived from the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine and Covenants (recognized revelations to church leaders). Brigham Young and his position on polygamy are rejected; there are other beliefs and practices they do not share with the Mormons, including the ordination of women.|archive-date=June 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210604051911/https://www.encyclopedia.com/reference/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/community-christ|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Other Mormons|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia of American Religions]]|publisher=[[Gale (publisher)|Gale]]|url= https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/other-mormons |access-date=June 3, 2021|archive-date=June 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210604051909/https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/other-mormons|url-status=live}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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