The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Kingdom of God[1] 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 over issues with another prominent polygamous family. The church is estimated to have 200–300 members,[2] most of whom reside in the Salt Lake Valley. The group is also known as the Neilsen Naylor Group or the Third Ward.[2]

The church holds weekly meetings alternating between Malad, Idaho and the Church-house in Bluffdale, Utah.

Polygamist roots

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Kingdom of God's claims of authority are based around the accounts of John Wickersham Woolley, Lorin Calvin Woolley, and others of a meeting in September 1886 between LDS Church President John Taylor, the Woolleys, and others.[2] 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.

Split from the Centennial Park group

The Centennial Park group is a polygamist sect based in the Arizona Strip. This group is itself a split from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church). The Centennial Park group refers to itself as the "Second Ward" and refers to the FLDS Church as the "First Ward". When Alma A. Timpson became leader of the Second Ward in 1988, he appointed Frank Naylor as apostle and Ivan Nielsen as high priest and later as bishop. Naylor and Nielsen disagreed with Timpson's leadership and they split from the Second Ward in 1990[3] to form the "Third Ward" with Naylor as leader.

Much of the rivalry was based between interactions between Timpson's sons and Neilsen and Naylor's families.

The new church

Naylor and Nielsen were able to gather a number of followers from both the Centennial Park group and the FLDS Church.[4] Most of the members of the new group migrated north to the Salt Lake Valley in Utah where they have built a meeting house.[4] They continue to practice polygamy as well as other fundamentalist doctrines such as the Adam–God doctrine.[2] The church has also formed a close relationship[5] with the Church of Jesus Christ (Original Doctrine) Inc.,[6] an FLDS Church-offshoot based in Bountiful, British Columbia.

Endowment House:

In 2008, they began offering an Endowment ritual. After much debate among their high council, one of the homes owned by their leaders was renovated for use in giving Endowments.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Kingdom of God, The". utah.gov. Utah Division of Corporations and commercial Code: Business Search. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Utah Attorney General’s Office and Arizona Attorney General's Office. The Primer, Helping Victims of Domestic Violence and Child Abuse in Polygamous Communities Archived 2013-01-27 at the Wayback Machine. Updated June 2006. Page 21.
  3. ↑ "A Chronology of Modern Polygamy". Polygamy: The Mormon Enigma. WindRiver Publishing, Inc. 2008. Retrieved June 4, 2010.
  4. 1 2 Hales, Brian C (2009). "The Naylor Group (Salt Lake County)". mormonfundamentalism.com. Archived from the original on October 8, 2009. Retrieved June 4, 2010.
  5. ↑ Adams, Brooke; Nate Carlisle (January 8, 2009). "Arrested: Leaders of FLDS-linked Canadian polygamous sect". The Salt Lake Tribune. Bountiful, British Columbia: MediaNews Group. Retrieved June 4, 2010.
  6. ↑ "LDS Church wins, Canadian polygamist loses in fight for 'Mormon' name". Salt Lake Tribune. 14 January 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2015. Finally giving up the fight, Blackmore has agreed to change his group's corporate name to the "Church of Jesus Christ (Original Doctrine) Inc.

Further reading

  • Hales, Brian C. (2007). Modern Polygamy and Mormon Fundamentalism: The Generations After the Manifesto(Salt Lake City, Utah: Greg Kofford Books).
  • Quinn, D. Michael "Plural Marriage and Mormon Fundamentalism", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 31(2) (Summer 1998).
  • "The Primer" - Helping Victims of Domestic Violence and Child Abuse in Polygamous Communities. A joint report from the offices of the Attorneys General of Arizona and Utah.
  • Van Wagoner, Richard S. (1999). Mormon Polygamy: A History. UK: Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-941214-79-6.
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