In the Latter Day Saint movement, an ordinance is a sacred rite or ceremony that has spiritual and symbolic meanings and act as a means of conveying divine grace. Ordinances are physical acts which signify or symbolize an underlying spiritual act; for some ordinances, the spiritual act is the finalization of a covenant between the ordinance recipient and God.
The Restored Church of Jesus Christ is a small Latter Day Saint church headquartered in Independence, Missouri. It was founded in 1980 by Eugene Oliver Walton, who had previously been an Elder in the Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite), and who claimed to be the "One Mighty and Strong" prophesied in Mormon scripture. When the Cutlerites rejected his claims to leadership of their movement, Walton left to found his own church.
The Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite) is a denomination of the Latter Day Saint movement headquartered in Independence, Missouri, United States. The church derives its epithet from its founder, Alpheus Cutler, a member of the Nauvoo High Council and of Joseph Smith's Council of Fifty. Cutler justified his establishment of an independent church organization by asserting that God had "rejected" Smith's organization—but not his priesthood—following Smith's death, but that Smith had named Cutler to a singular "Quorum of Seven" in anticipation of this event, with a unique prerogative to reorganize the church that no one beyond this group possessed. Hence, Cutler's organization claims to be the only legitimate Latter Day Saint church in the world today. Currently, it has only one branch, located in Independence. The Cutlerite church retains an endowment ceremony believed to date to the Nauvoo period, practices the United Order of Enoch, and accepts baptism for the dead, but not eternal marriage or polygamy.
The Latter Day Saint movement is a religious movement within Christianity that arose during the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century and that led to the set of doctrines, practices, and cultures called Mormonism, and to the existence of numerous Latter Day Saint churches. Its history is characterized by intense controversy and persecution in reaction to some of the movement's doctrines and practices and their relationship to mainstream Christianity. The purpose of this article is to give an overview of the different groups, beliefs, and denominations that began with the influence of Joseph Smith.
John Alpheus Cutler was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement who founded the Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite) in 1853. He had previously served in several church positions under Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, as well as captain of Smith's personal bodyguard and "Master Builder and Workman on all God's Holy Houses." Following the death of Joseph Smith in June 1844, Cutler at first followed the Twelve Apostles under Brigham Young, but later left Young's church to reorganize the Church of Jesus Christ, with himself serving as its first president. Cutler claimed that this was the sole legitimate continuation of Smith's organization, and he served as its leader until his death.
In the Latter Day Saint movement, a temple is a building dedicated to being a house of God and is reserved for special forms of worship. A temple differs from a church meetinghouse, which is used for weekly worship services. Temples have been a significant part of the Latter Day Saint movement since early in its inception. Today, temples are operated by several Latter Day Saint denominations. The most prolific builder of temples of the Latter Day Saint movement is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The LDS Church has 367 temples in various phases, which includes 197 dedicated temples, 5 scheduled for dedication, 49 under construction, 1 scheduled for groundbreaking, and 115 others announced. Several others within the movement have built or attempted to build temples. The Community of Christ operates one temple in the United States, which is open to the public and used for worship services, performances, and religious education. Other denominations with temples are the Apostolic United Brethren, the Church of Christ, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and the Righteous Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Church of Jesus Christ may refer to:
The history of Community of Christ, formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, covers a period of approximately 200 years. The church's early history traces to the "grove experience" of Joseph Smith, who prayed in the woods near his home in Palmyra, New York, in the early-19th century. Several accounts of this experience have surfaced over the years. Most of the accounts share a common narrative indicating that when he went to the woods to pray, he experienced a period of encountering evil or despair, but then experienced an epiphany or vision in which he came to know and understand God's goodness. Later, as an adult, Smith founded the Church of Christ on April 6, 1830.
Cutler's Park was briefly the headquarters camp of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints established by 2,500 members as they were making their way westward to the Rocky Mountains. It was apparently created in August 1846 and covered all around what is now the intersection of Mormon Bridge Road and Young Street in Omaha, Nebraska, though it appears to have been completely vacated by December 1846, before even Nebraska Territory came into existence. Historic Florence, Nebraska was built on its site, making use of what had been left when it was abandoned.
Manti, Iowa is an unincorporated community in Fremont County, in the U.S. state of Iowa. Manti was founded in 1852 by Alpheus Cutler and Edmund Fisher, both of whom were prominent members of the newly founded Mormon religion, and led the formation of the Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite). Manti originally received its name in reference to a city mentioned in the Book of Mormon.
The True Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite) was a small Latter Day Saint faction which split from the Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite) in 1953 under its founder, Clyde Fletcher, and continued to exist until Fletcher's death in 1969. It was situated in Clitherall, Minnesota—the location of its one and only branch—and remained identical to its parent organization in all respects save leadership. Following Fletcher's death, his few remaining adherents elected to reunite with the main Cutlerite body, and this sect ceased to exist.
Clyde Leroy Fletcher was the founder and sole president of the True Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite), a schismatic faction of the Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite) that existed from 1953 until his death in 1969. After his death, his few remaining adherents elected to reunite with the main Cutlerite church in Independence, Missouri.
Chancey Whiting, Sr. was a Latter Day Saint leader who served as the second president of The Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite) from 1864 to 1902, following the death of Cutlerite founder Alpheus Cutler. During his tenure, the Cutlerites relocated from Manti, Iowa to Clitherall, Minnesota in response to an alleged vision seen by Cutler prior to his death.
Isaac Morley Whiting was a Latter Day Saint leader who served as the third president of The Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite), from 1902 to 1922. During Whiting's tenure, the Cutlerites successfully established an Order of Enoch, as advocated by founding prophet Joseph Smith during the early years of his movement. This Order, which emphasizes communal ownership of property, still functions in the church today.
Ivan Erle Whiting, Sr. was the fifth president of The Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite), a branch of the Latter Day Saint movement. His short tenure in office was marred by a dispute between the Independence, Missouri congregation of the church, where he and the church headquarters were located, and the branch at Clitherall, Minnesota, which rejected his election to office and chose Clyde Fletcher from their own congregation as president of the church. When the Independence branch refused to accept this unlawful development, the Minnesota branch broke away under Clyde's leadership as the True Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite). A battle between the two branches for church properties and leadership was resolved in the Independence branch's favor by a Minnesota court, and Clyde Fletcher's schismatic sect ceased to exist with his death, when both congregations were reunited under Erle's successor, Rupert Fletcher.
Rupert J. Fletcher was a Latter Day Saint leader who served as the sixth president of The Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite) from 1958 to 1974. As church president, he ended the schism between the church's Missouri congregation and its Minnesota branch, which had seceded from the church in 1955 and called itself the True Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite). He also authored, in company with his wife Daisy, a compendium of Cutlerite history and doctrine, entitled Alpheus Cutler and The Church of Jesus Christ.
Julian Everson Whiting was a Latter Day Saint leader who served as the seventh president of The Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite) from 1974 to 1997. During his tenure, the Cutlerites endured the second schism in their history when Eugene O. Walton, a convert to the church, proclaimed himself to be the "One Mighty and Strong" in 1980. Walton's attempt to have the Cutlerite church recognize his claim was foiled when the vast majority of Cutlerites, led by Whiting, rejected Walton's purported revelation authorizing his alleged new title.
Tithing is a commandment accepted by various churches in the Latter Day Saint movement. In practicing tithing, adherents make willing tithe donations, usually ten percent of their income, to their church. It is based on both the biblical practice of paying tithes and modern revelation given to Joseph Smith and his accepted successors. For many of these churches, the law of tithing replaced or supplemented the law of consecration. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints emphasized tithing in the 1900s and 1960s to assist in paying church debts.
