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 the US states of Wyoming, Arizona, and Montana.
The title "Apostolic United Brethren" is not generally used by members, who prefer to call it "The Work," "The Priesthood," or "The Group." Those outside the faith sometimes refer to it as the "Allred Group" because two of its presidents shared that surname. Members of the AUB do not refer to their organization as a "church" and, unlike nearly all other Mormon fundamentalist groups, regard the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) as a legitimate, if wayward and diminished, divine institution.
Religious scholar J. Gordon Melton characterised the group as "the more liberal branch of the Fundamentalist movement", as the group allows sexual relations apart from the strict purpose of procreation.[1]
The group came into the Hollywood spotlight with the release of the hit reality TV series Sister Wives aired in 2010.
The AUB furnished a detailed description of their beliefs and practices in August 2009 to the Utah Attorney General's "Polygamy Primer,"[2] which was later revised in 2011.[3] This booklet is used to educate the law enforcement and social relief agencies involved with similar groups.
As of 1998, there were approximately 10,000 members of the AUB,[4] most of whom reside in Utah and Mexico. The headquarters of the AUB is in Bluffdale, Utah, where it has a chapel, a school, archives, and a sports field.
The AUB's members tend to integrate with their surrounding communities, much more so than some other Mormon fundamentalists, such as members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church). This can largely be attributed to the AUB's former prophet, Owen A. Allred, and his desire to be upfront with local law enforcement and the news media, especially when it came to ending rumors of underage, arranged marriages that many other fundamentalist Mormon groups were known for. Allred believed that transparency was key in helping the community see that the AUB and its members were not a threat.
Organization
The AUB is headed by a President of the Priesthood. Next in authority is a Priesthood Council (of which the President is a part). Below the Priesthood Council are Presidents of the Seventy, the Seventy quorum members, high priests, elders, Aaronic Priesthood members, the Women's Relief Society, Sunday School, Girls Class, Boy Scouts, and the Children's Primary organizations. On a local level there are Bishops, Priesthood Council representatives.
Meetings
General Sacrament Meeting and Sunday School meetings (as well as many private family Sunday Schools) take place on Sundays, as do Priesthood meetings. Relief Society (a women's organization), Girls Class, Primary, and Scouting take place throughout the week.
Dances, firesides, musical events, plays, and classes are often held at meetinghouses.
Doctrines and practices
The AUB regards the Book of Mormon as sacred scripture in addition to the Bible, and accepts the Articles of Faith written by Joseph Smith to summarize Latter Day Saint beliefs. The AUB teaches that the LDS Church is still fulfilling a divine role in spreading the Book of Mormon and other basic doctrines of Mormonism, and in facilitating genealogy.
Members of the AUB are known for their belief in plural marriage and what is commonly called the "1886 Meeting". Other key beliefs include the United Order, the Adam–God doctrine, and the exclusion of Blacks from the priesthood. While not all members take part in plural marriage, it is considered a crucial step in the quest for obtaining the highest glory of heaven.
Attitudes toward the LDS Church
AUB members regard the LDS Church as an important vehicle in spreading Mormonism's introductory teachings, particularly through the LDS Church's missionary program and the widespread publication of the Book of Mormon. The group's founder, Rulon C. Allred, told a fundamentalist congregation in 1966: "We are specifically instructed through John Taylor by Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ, and by Joseph Musser as well that we are not to interfere ... with the function of the [LDS] Church."[6] On November 16, 1966, in another discourse, he commented: "[We] are not in a position to dictate to the [LDS] Church, or to presume that we preside over [LDS Church] President David O. McKay, or that we can send missionaries into the fields of labor, or that we can in any way dictate the affairs of the Church.”[7] "God’s Church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," Allred declared.[8] He further explained in 1975: "We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, no matter who may decry it or who may deny it."[9] "We are functioning within the spiritual confines of the Church," he commented, "but we are definitely outside of its legal organization."[10]
Under his leadership, the Allred group did no missionary work or temple work, leaving those responsibilities to the LDS Church. He predicted in 1975 that "the time is at hand when God is going to intervene in the matter, and the temples will be opened to us, and we will have our endowments and do our own work for our dead." Under his brother Owen's leadership, the AUB constructed its own endowment houses for ordinance work;[5] this was in response to the LDS Church's policy change which extended priesthood and temple blessings to all races, change which caused Allred to exclaim “do not go into a temple that has been defiled by the Canaanite being invited into it” and to publish an ad listing several racial statements from Brigham Young and accusing the LDS Church of forgetting past revelations.[11][12] Several LDS joined the AUB over such changes.[13]
Drew Briney, an author on Mormon polygamy, former AUB member and appeals attorney,[14] summarized AUB members' general sentiment toward the LDS Church:
The "AUB" accepts the mainstream LDS Church as Christ's Church but views it as "out of order" just as the Israelites were "out of order" at the time of Christ—still accepted, just somewhat prodigal. Its members are taught that they should not disparage the LDS Church and its leaders teach that "the mother church" should be respected by the "father" (AUB or "the priesthood") the same as a husband should take care of and honor a wayward wife inasmuch as he is able to do so. Incidentally, AUB's leaders commonly concede that no organization is exempt from being out of order to some degree (including the AUB) but they emphasize that the LDS Church has abandoned many doctrines taught by the early brethren—not just plural marriage. Some of these doctrines include: Adam-God teachings; united order or "full consecration"; proper conferral of the priesthood; the ban on blacks receiving the priesthood; the doctrine of dissolution; the kingdom of God as a separate organization from the Church; the ordinance of rebaptism; the ordinance of mother’s blessings; giving a complete temple endowment (as opposed to the shortened version now administered in the LDS Church); the wearing of a full length, unaltered garment; the unchanging nature of all ordinances; prayer circles outside of the temple; the law of adoption (sealing men to men as father/son); and the teaching that a living prophet can never lead you astray—even if he strays from teachings and revelations of previous prophets.[15]
History
The AUB's claims to authority are based around the accounts of John Wickersham Woolley, Lorin Calvin Woolley and others, of a meeting in September 1886 between LDS Church presidentJohn Taylor, the Woolleys, and others. Prior to the meeting, Taylor is said to have met with Jesus Christ and the deceased church founder, Joseph Smith, and to have received a revelation commanding that plural marriage should not cease, but be kept alive by a group separate from the LDS Church. The following day, the Woolleys, as well as Taylor's counselor, George Q. Cannon, and others, were said to have been set apart to keep "the principle" alive, including sufficient priesthood authority to perform marriage sealings and pass on that authority.
Members of the AUB see their history as going back to Joseph Smith and to the beliefs he espoused and practices he established. They believe that the LDS Church has made unacceptable changes to doctrines and ordinances. The members of the AUB see it as their responsibility to keep them alive in the form they were originally given and to live all the laws God has commanded. Each doctrine or practice changed or abandoned by the LDS Church is in turn perpetuated by the AUB.
Until the 1950s, Mormon fundamentalists were largely one group, but with the ordination in 1951 of Rulon C. Allred by Joseph W. Musser, who then presided over the fundamentalists, the fundamentalists in Colorado City, Arizona (formerly known as Short Creek), became more distant. Within a few years they formed their own group, which is now the FLDS Church.
The shooting of Rulon C. Allred by Rena Chynoweth on May 10, 1977 (under the direction of Ervil LeBaron), brought the AUB into the spotlight. Allred was succeeded by his brother, Owen A. Allred, who died in February 2005 and was replaced by his appointed successor, J. LaMoine Jenson.[16] Jenson died in September 2014 after a battle with colon cancer, and was replaced by his appointed successor, Lynn A. Thompson.[17]
In 2016–2017, some AUB members in Pinesdale, Montana split away from the main AUB and formed their own group with their own meetings; the breakaway group (which called itself "the Second Ward") objected to the leadership of Thompson] who was accused of molestation. However, the dissident group and the main faction continued to jointly operate the private Pines Academy, which then had 129 students, as well as the municipal government.[18]
Rod Williams, a Secret Service agent involved in Watergate and a former member of the AUB, claimed in sworn testimony, as part of the Virginia Hill lawsuit, that he stole copies of LDS Church's temple ordinances from the Seattle Temple at the behest of Owen Allred, a claim denied by Allred.[20][21]
According to one former member, attorney John Llewellyn, "plural wives [of AUB men] are sent into nearby Hamilton to apply for welfare as single mothers. The informant reported that welfare checks are often taken directly to the priesthood leaders."[5]
In 2014, after Lynn A. Thompson assumed leadership of the AUB, he was accused of fondling his daughter Rosemary Williams when she was 12 years old,[22] and shortly thereafter two of his nieces also said he had sexually abused them too. An individual within the AUB also alleged that Thompson embezzled up to $500,000 in tithing funds and other church funds and that he used official Church accounts for personal expenditures.[23] An audit confirmed Thompson had embezzled funds before becoming AUB's leader.[24] In March 2019, Pinesdale Academy, the church's school in Pinesdale, Montana, required teachers to pledge support for Thompson or else they were let go.[24] The church required its members to make the same pledge, causing many people to leave the church as well.[24] Thompson died in October 2021.[25]
Joseph White Musser (1935-1954) The Apostolic United Brethren does not recognize the presiding authority of John Y. Barlow (1935-1949) even though he did lead. Instead they believe Musser was Broadbent's rightful successor.
The True and Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days (TLC) is a breakaway sect of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is headquartered in Manti, Utah, United States, where as of 2004 it maintained a membership of 300 to 500 adherents. The church has a meetinghouse in Manti, and in the past also owned the Red Brick Store.
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.
Lorin Calvin Woolley was an American proponent of plural marriage and one of the founders of the Mormon fundamentalist movement. As a young man in Utah Territory, Woolley served as a courier and bodyguard for polygamous leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in hiding during the federal crusade against polygamy. His career as a religious leader in his own right commenced in the early twentieth century, when he began claiming to have been set apart to keep plural marriage alive by church president John Taylor in connection with the 1886 Revelation. Woolley's distinctive teachings on authority, morality, and doctrine are thought to provide the theological foundation for nearly ninety percent of Mormon fundamentalist groups.
Joseph White Musser was a Mormon fundamentalist leader.
John W. Bryant is an American Mormon fundamentalist. He was the founder and first leader of a sect that is today known as the Church of the New Covenant in Christ now headquartered near Salem, Oregon.
Rulon Clark Allred was an American homeopath and chiropractor in Salt Lake City and the leader of what is now the Apostolic United Brethren, a breakaway sect of polygamous Mormon fundamentalists in Utah, Colorado, and Arizona, United States. He was murdered on the orders of Ervil LeBaron, the head of a rival polygamous sect.
The Righteous Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as The Righteous Branch, The Branch Church, The Peterson Group and Christ's Church, is a fundamentalist Mormon sect of the Latter Day Saint movement. It is based in Iron County, Utah.
Owen Arthur Allred was the leader of the Apostolic United Brethren, a Mormon fundamentalist polygamist group centered in Bluffdale, Utah. He came to this position following the murder of his brother Rulon Allred on orders of rival polygamist leader Ervil LeBaron, in 1977.
Joseph LaMoine Jenson was the leader of the Apostolic United Brethren (AUB), a Mormon fundamentalist polygamist group, from 2005 until his death.
The Church of the Firstborn is a grouping of competing factions of a Mormon fundamentalist religious lineage inherited, adherents believe, by a polygamous family community that had settled in Chihuahua, Mexico, by Alma Dayer LeBaron Sr. by 1924.
Joel Franklin LeBaron was a Mormon fundamentalist leader in northern Mexico. He was murdered by a member or members of a rival church which was headed by his brother Ervil LeBaron.
Dorothy Allred Solomon is an American author and educator committed to informing people about the pros and cons of polygamous lifestyles.
Irene Spencer was an American author and a widow of Verlan LeBaron, brother of former prophet Joel LeBaron of the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times, a fundamentalist Mormon offshoot.
Alma Adelbert "Del" Timpson, was an American Mormon fundamentalist leader. He was involved with a number of Mormon denominations, including the mainstream LDS Church, followed by the Council of Friends, and eventually heading the Centennial Park group, a fundamentalist sect headquartered in Centennial Park, Arizona. In each denomination, he held positions of importance within the priesthood and leadership structures.
The Centennial Park group is a fundamentalist Mormon group, with approximately 1,500 members that is headquartered in Centennial Park, Arizona. The Centennial Park group broke with Leroy S. Johnson, leader and senior member of the Priesthood Council of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in the early 1980s. There is no formal relationship between the FLDS Church and the Centennial Park community. The group is also known as the "Second Ward", "The Work of Jesus Christ" and "The Work".
Lynn A. Thompson was the President of the Priesthood of the Apostolic United Brethren (AUB), a fundamentalist Mormon sect, from September 2, 2014, until October 5, 2021.
The Council of Friends was one of the original expressions of Mormon fundamentalism, having its origins in the teachings of Lorin C. Woolley, a courier and bodyguard for polygamous leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who was excommunicated in 1924.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and a topical guide to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
References
↑ Melton, J. Gordon (1992). Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America. New York: Garland. p.51.
↑ Allred, Treasures of Knowledge, 1:126. He also taught: "If we have entered into these holy laws out of righteousness and a desire to keep the commandments of God, and that has been the dominating force in our lives, there is no power on earth or in heaven or hell that can sever us from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.": Allred, Treasures of Knowledge, 1:93.
↑ Hales, Brian C. (2006), "Chapter 16: Rulon C. Allred's Leadership", Modern Polygamy and Mormon Fundamentalism: the Generations after the Manifesto, Salt Lake City, Utah: Greg Kofford Books, ISBN1589580354, OCLC64510545, Because African American Church members now had access to LDS temples, the Allreds concluded that all LDS temples were desecrated.
↑ Owen Allred, "An Issue of Priesthood Authority," April 2002, 3, stated: "It was finally revealed to us from the Lord that we had instruction and permission to give certain ordinances outside of the church and the temples controlled by the church."
↑ Briney, Drew (2008), Silencing Mormon Polygamy: Failed Persecutions, Divided Saints, & the Rise of Mormon Fundamentalism (self-published), Salt Lake City, Utah: Hindsight Publications, p.28, ASINB001MBY7GY, OCLC297227864, This information came from multiple interviews with members of the AUB. Names withheld by convention of implied request.
Bennion, Janet (2012), Polygamy in Primetime: Media, Gender, and Politics in Mormon Fundamentalism, Waltham, Massachusetts: Brandeis University Press, ISBN9781611682625, OCLC760976085
Bradley, Martha Sontag (1996) [1993], Kidnapped from That Land: The Government Raids on the Short Creek Polygamists, Publications in Mormon studies, v. 9, Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, ISBN0585272123, OCLC45728295
Jacobson, Cardell K.; Burton, Lara, eds. (2011), Modern Polygamy in the United States: Historical, Cultural, and Legal Issues, Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, ISBN9780199746378, OCLC466084007
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