The House of Aaron, less commonly known as the Aaronic Order or The Order of Aaron,[1] is a US religious sect that believes they are descendants of Aaron and believe in the Aaronic writings. The sect is centered in Eskdale, Utah,[1] a small farming community in Millard County, with additional branches in Partoun and Murray, Utah. The House of Aaron was founded in 1943 by Maurice L. Glendenning and has an estimated membership between 1,500 and 2,000.[1]
Maurice L. Glendenning, founder of the House of Aaron
Glendenning was born 15 February 1891 in Randolph, Kansas. He and his family were unfamiliar with the Latter Day Saint movement and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). However, as a boy, he confided in his father that he could "hear heavenly music even when wide-awake".[3] As a young teen, the heavenly music became interspersed with angelic voices uttering poetry, which he began to write down in notes he kept private out of fear of ridicule.[3] As a young man, the "angelic poetry" evolved into doctrinal and philosophical statements,[3] and he gradually began sharing the text of his messages with more and more friends and relatives.
In 1928, Glendenning and his family moved to Provo, Utah, looking for employment. Counseled by LDS missionaries, Glendenning began to feel that a number of LDS doctrines, including the priesthood and proper authority, helped him understand his experiences and writings.[3] Glendenning and his wife were baptized into the LDS Church on August 14, 1929.[3]
On January 15, 1945 he was excommunicated as the "Instigator of the Aaronic Order".[3]:35 LDS Church General Authorities asserted that Glendenning was an apostate or heretic. While LDS members could receive divine inspiration for themselves, no one could receive authentic divine messages for the church as a whole, except the President of the Church.[5] However, Glendenning claims not to have received divine messages for the LDS church as a whole; rather, he was accused of wrongdoing presumably because he had claimed to receive divine inspiration that, if true, would affect the validity of some of the teachings of the LDS Church.[5]
The House of Aaron does not consider itself to be part of the Latter Day Saint movement.[3]:5 However, religious researchers have categorized it as part of the Latter Day Saint movement, due to Glendenning's membership and excommunication from the LDS Church,[2] the LDS roots of most of its founding members,[2] the similarities between Glendenning's claims and those of Mormonism's founder Joseph Smith, and the Utah location of its commune and branches.[3][6][7]
The House of Aaron ministry is currently under the leadership of John M. Conrad,[4] who states, "Our passion and mission is to assist in the gathering of Israel into a Holy Nation with Yeshua as King and the Torah (Word) as its constitution. Our focus is on Yeshua (Jesus)."[9] The House of Aaron website states its mission is "to participate in and hasten the preparation of the Body of Jesus Christ for His second coming." Its vision is to "restore the Biblical, Levitical ministry to its prophesied fullness in Jesus Christ and to reconcile individuals, families, and fellowships to their places in the Body of Christ."[10]
The following statement comes from the official House of Aaron website:
The House of Aaron is the Biblical name of the family of Israelite priests ordained by God to serve Him at the Tabernacle in the wilderness and, later, at the temple in Jerusalem. Aaronites were a family within the tribe of Levi. This entire tribe was called by God to minister to him and then to the people. The specific duties of the Levites were to assist Aaron in the work of the Tabernacle, in teaching, ministering in music and judging all the tribes of Israel. God made clear that Levi was to have no inheritance in the land but Him. (Deuteronomy 18:1–2) Thus, no territory was identified as Levi and Aaron's home. Instead, 48 Levitical cities were scattered about the land, some in each tribe to remind Levi that his ministry extended to all the tribes of Israel.[10]
Scripture
The House of Aaron considers its beliefs to be strictly Biblical and part of the broader messianic movement united under the Alliance of Redeemed Israel (ARI). Its basic beliefs have never included the Book of Mormon, nor any other LDS scriptures.[3]:5–8
In 1978 the Levitical Writings was published. This book was a compilation of 1944's Book of Elias, or the Record of John, 1948's New Revelations for the Book of Elias, or the Record of John, and 1955's Disciple Book.[3]
Currently, House of Aaron says that the "Levitical Writings" is only mentioned and studied on occasion but is not used for doctrine.[9][11][12] House of Aaron leader John Conrad states unequivocally that the Bible is "the undisputed basis of our doctrine and teaching."[9]
Godhead
In contrast to the LDS Church's teaching of Godhead, the Aaronic Order teaches that Christ is seen as having a Heavenly Father, but also is to be thought of as the Father and that the Holy Ghost is the spirit of God and Jesus Christ resumed after his resurrection.[3]
Priesthood
The Aaronic Order believes that members given the Aaronic Priesthood in the pre-mortal existence, and need not be ordained.[3]:75,89–93 Members therefore believe that they are Biblical leaders who were predestined to come to the earth and fulfill their responsibilities.[3]
In its early years, Eskdale community was isolationist, and a uniform was worn: the men in blue slacks and shirts with "Aaron" embroidered in gold over the pocket; women in blue and white dresses with "Levi" embroidered on their small, white caps.[1] However, over the past several decades, the community has slowly become an open, integral part of the local valley, and the dress code has been relaxed.[4]
Sabbath
Since 1958 they have observed the Seventh Day Sabbath because of a revelation from Glendenning.[14]
Plural marriage
In 2005, due to numerous publications which claimed the House of Aaron practiced plural marriage, the House of Aaron was included in the Utah Attorney General's Office and the Arizona Attorney General's Office publication titled The Primer.[1] It was included within the list of "Fundamentalist Groups" that are practitioners of plural marriage.[1] However, in 2011 the House of Aaron was removed from the publication.[15] The House of Aaron states that they have never believed in or practiced polygamy and House of Aaron leader John M. Conrad has described polygamy as "abhorrent and disgusting."[9]
↑ Stein, Joshua R (11 October 2007). "Definition: Religion?". The Harvard Crimson. Cambridge, Massachusetts. Retrieved 6 January 2014. Of the official symbols, 17 are directly related to Christianity, including such obscure denominations as the Aaronic Order Church, a 20th-century outgrowth of the Latter Day Saints movement that has fewer than 2,000 members nationally.
Beeston, Blanche W. (1957). Now My Servant: A Brief Biography of a Firstborn Son of Aaron. Caldwell, ID: Caxton Printers, Ltd. hdl:2027/wu.89067576777. ISBN1258139103.
Buchanan, Frederick S. (January–February 1979). "A Refuge in the Desert: Eskdale, Utah"(PDF). Sunstone. Salt Lake City, Utah: Sunstone Education Foundation: 33–36. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
Conrad, Robert. Basic Beliefs of the Aaronic Order. Murray, UT: The Aaronic Order.
Glendenning, Maurice L. (1955). Church of the First-Born, The Church of Christ, The Church of Jesus Christ, The Church of God: A Treatise. Salt Lake City, UT: Corporation of the President of the Aaronic Order.
Glendenning, Maurice L. (1978). Levitical Writings. Eskdale, Utah: The Aaronic Order.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The church is headquartered in the United States in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has established congregations and built temples worldwide. According to the church, it has over 16.8 million members and 54,539 full-time volunteer missionaries. Based on these numbers, the church is the fourth-largest Christian denomination in the United States as of 2012, and reported over 6.7 million US members as of 2021. It is the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement founded by Joseph Smith during the early 19th-century period of religious revival known as the Second Great Awakening.
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several groups following different leaders; the majority followed Brigham Young, while smaller groups followed Joseph Smith III, Sidney Rigdon, and James Strang. Most of these smaller groups eventually merged into the Community of Christ, and the term Mormon typically refers to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as today, this branch is far larger than all the others combined. People who identify as Mormons may also be independently religious, secular, and non-practicing or belong to other denominations. Since 2018, the LDS Church has requested that its members be referred to as "members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," or more simply as "Latter-day Saints", noting that the term Mormon was originally applied as a pejorative epithet.
Mormonism is the religious tradition and theology of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationist Christianity started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 1830s. As a label, Mormonism has been applied to various aspects of the Latter Day Saint movement, although there has been a recent push from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to distance themselves from this label. A historian, Sydney E. Ahlstrom, wrote in 1982, "One cannot even be sure, whether [Mormonism] is a sect, a mystery cult, a new religion, a church, a people, a nation, or an American subculture; indeed, at different times and places it is all of these." However, scholars and theologians within the Latter Day Saint movement, including Smith, have often used "Mormonism" to describe the unique teachings and doctrines of the movement.
In Mormonism, the Melchizedek priesthood, also referred to as the high priesthood of the holy order of God or the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God, is the greater of the two orders of priesthood, the other being the Aaronic priesthood.
In the Latter Day Saint movement, priesthood is the power and authority of God given to man, including the authority to perform ordinances and to act as a leader in the church. A group of priesthood holders is referred to as a quorum.
The Aaronic priesthood is the lesser of the two orders of priesthood recognized in the Latter Day Saint movement. The others are the Melchizedek priesthood and the rarely recognized Patriarchal priesthood. Unlike the Melchizedek priesthood, which is modeled after the authority of Jesus and the Twelve Apostles, or the Patriarchal priesthood, which is modeled after the authority of Abraham, the Aaronic priesthood is modeled after the priesthood of Aaron the Levite, the first high priest of the Hebrews, and his descendants. The Aaronic priesthood is thought to be a lesser or preparatory priesthood and an "appendage" of the more powerful Melchizedek priesthood.
The Latter Day Saint movement is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by Joseph Smith in the late 1820s.
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.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has several unique teachings about Judaism and the House of Israel. The largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement, the LDS Church, teaches the belief that the Jewish people are God's chosen people and it also teaches the belief that its members share a common and literal Israelite ancestry with the Jewish people. It also teaches the belief that God is perpetually punishing the Jewish people for their part in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and they will not be forgiven until they are converted. Their conversion is connected to "the literal gathering of Israel", as stated in one of the faith's articles of faith.
Mormon fundamentalism is a belief in the validity of selected fundamental aspects of Mormonism as taught and practiced in the nineteenth century, particularly during the administrations of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and John Taylor, the first three presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mormon fundamentalists seek to uphold tenets and practices no longer held by mainstream Mormons. The principle most often associated with Mormon fundamentalism is plural marriage, a form of polygyny first taught in the Latter Day Saint movement by the movement's founder, Smith. A second and closely associated principle is that of the United Order, a form of egalitarian communalism. Mormon fundamentalists believe that these and other principles were wrongly abandoned or changed by the LDS Church in its efforts to become reconciled with mainstream American society. Today, the LDS Church excommunicates any of its members who practice plural marriage or who otherwise closely associate themselves with Mormon fundamentalist practices.
The patriarchal priesthood is associated with the patriarchal order found in Mormonism and is especially connected with celestial marriage.
The Apostolic United Brethren (AUB) is a Mormon fundamentalist group that practices polygamy. The AUB has had a temple in Mexico, since at least the 1990s, an endowment house in Utah since the early 1980s and several other locations of worship to accommodate their members in Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana.
The priesthood of Melchizedek is a role in Abrahamic religions, modelled on Melchizedek, combining the dual position of king and priest.
William C. Conway was an American neo-Druid and the leader of a mystical sect in the Latter Day Saint movement that combined the teachings of Joseph Smith with Druidry and some of the ideas of Aleister Crowley and the Ordo Templi Orientis.
Mormonism and Nicene Christianity have a complex theological, historical, and sociological relationship. Mormons express their doctrines using biblical terminology. They have similar views about the nature of Jesus Christ's atonement, bodily resurrection, and Second Coming as mainstream Christians. Nevertheless, most Mormons do not accept the doctrine of the Trinity as codified in the Nicene Creed of 325 and the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed of 381. Although Mormons consider the Protestant Bible to be holy scripture, they do not believe in biblical inerrancy. They have also adopted additional scriptures that they believe to have been divinely revealed to Joseph Smith, including the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. Mormons practice baptism and celebrate the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, but they also participate in other religious rituals. Mormons self-identify as Christians.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Kingdom of God is a Mormon fundamentalist church in the Latter Day Saint movement. The sect was founded by Frank Naylor and Ivan Nielsen, who split from the Centennial Park group, another fundamentalist church. The church is estimated to have 200–300 members, most of whom reside in the Salt Lake Valley. The group is also known as the Third Ward or the Naylor group, after Frank Naylor.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and a topical guide to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the life and influence of Joseph Smith:
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