This cult, known officially as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was founded by Joseph Smith Jr. on April 6th, 1830 and was originally called "The Church of Christ," later renamed as "The Church of the Latter-day Saints," then finally to its present name. It formed out of what was known as the Restoration Movement that began in America in the mid 1800's in which several ministers began forming new groups in an effort to go back to what they perceived to be "original New Testament Christianity." This movement also resulted in the formation of the Seventh Day Adventists, the Church of Christ and its splinter, the Christian Church, as well as a host of smaller groups, many of which no longer exist. It is interesting to note that one prominent person who contributed to the founding of the Mormon cult was one Sidney Rigdon, a Campbellite preacher who converted his entire Church of Christ congregation to the new cult. There are several splinter groups, each claiming to be the true church founded by Joseph Smith Jr. Prominent among these is the group formerly known as The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and headed by a direct descendant of Joseph Smith. This group, headquartered in Independence, Missouri recently changed its name to the Community of Christ and rejects several of the doctrines espoused by the Salt Lake City, Utah based group. Interestingly, the Reorganized group has a document signed by Joseph Smith Jr. designating his son as his siccessor, and this group has won a court case in which the court recognized the reorganized group as the legitimate "church" founded by Smith, and the Salt Lake City group as the schismatic, and this has proven to be a "thorn in the flesh" to the Utah based group on many occasions. Please click on the links below for articles dealing with this pernicious cult.
Articles On Mormonism
The Jesus of Mormonism
The God of Mormonism
