A Comparison of Doctrinal Beliefs of the Five Remaining Book of Mormon Sects

In 1844 the thirty-eight year old founder and revelator of the Latter Day Saints, Joseph Smith, Jr. (along with his brother Hyrum) were murdered at the Hancock County jail in Carthage, Illinois by an angry mob in retaliation for Joseph Smith having ordered the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor, a newspaper edited by a former Church member for revealing to the outside world Smith's secret doctrines of polygamy and polytheism as well as for exposing Smith’s ambition to use politics to advance his theocratic agenda.


Joseph Smith was considered a prophet and in direct communication with God, he never predicted his death and died intestate leaving his (original) wife Emma (pregnant at the time) destitute, since all Smith’s personal property was held by the Church. This was to fuel the lifelong hatred Emma Smith had for Brigham Young as he left Navuoo, Ill. for the west leaving both Emma and her children to starve.

Had Joseph Smith foreseen his lust for power cut short, he likely would had appointed a successor to succeed him in light of his turbulent life. So it was no surprise that at Smith's death, fifteen men arose to take leadership of the Church all claiming to have been called directly by God or having been secretly blessed by Joseph Smith himself for the position.

Of the original fifteen groups all scrambling for religious power around Navuoo after the Prophet's death, today there are only five sects or what I term Book of Mormon Sects still in existence, with all still claiming to be the real and true Church restored by God through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Though the 15 million member Latter Day Saint (Mormon) group is front and center (often considered the only  Book of  Mormon Sect) the other four sects are very much in existence even though the Reorganized LDS has become more like a Protestant denomination while the Strangites LDS membership has fallen below 300.

The chart below (revised) is from a lecture I gave at Columbia International University in Columbia, SC for the 1996 meeting of the South Carolina Academy of Religion.

 

To fit the chart on this blog (due to space limitations), I have had to modify the format.  The Book of Mormon Sects are each given a number (1 – 5 from left to right) with the sect’s doctrinal position listed below and down the page vertically under its number.

Book of Mormon Sect

1.       LDS (Mormon)

2.       LDS (Reorganized)

3.       LDS (Strangites)

4.       Church of Christ (Temple Lot)

5.       Church of Christ (Brickertonites)

God Revealed Dogmas of:            (1)         (2)          (3)          (4)          (5)                         

LEAD BY A FIRST PRESIDENCY:   YES         YES        NO          NO         NO
(3 = HIGH PRIEST)                  
(4 = APOSTLES)                   
(5 = APOSTLES)

PRESENT DAY REVELATIONS:       YES         YES          NO       YES         YES 

JOSEPH SMITH INSPIRED BIBLE:   NO         YES          NO         NO       NO 

JOSEPH SMITH BECAME A 
FALSE AND FALLEN PROPHET
BEFORE HIS DEATH:                           NO         NO          NO          YES      YES

DOCTRINES & COVEMANTS:        YES         YES         YES         NO       NO
(3 = MODIFIED LDS MORMON VERSION)                       
(4 = BOOK OF COMMANDMENTS)

WINE FOR COMMUNION:              NO         NO        NO         YES            YES
(1 = WATER) 
(2 = JUICE)       
(3 = JUICE)  

                        

TEMPLES:                                       YES         YES        NO          YES            NO  
(1 = 141 and building)      
(2 = one)      
(4 = Temple Lot)    

                                                      

PLURALITY OF GODS:                    YES         NO        NO         NO            NO

CELESTIAL MARRIAGE:                  YES        NO        YES         NO             NO

BAPTISM FOR THE DEAD:             YES         NO        NO          NO            NO

(3 = DID IN THE PAST) 

 ARONIC & MELCHISEDEC

PRIESTHOODS:                                 YES        YES        YES         YES          NO

BAPTISM OF CHILDREN:                  YES        YES        YES          YES          NO
(1= AGE 8)   
(2 = AGE 8)  
(3 = AGE 8)   
(4 = AGE 8)   
(5 = BELIEVER’S BAPTISM ONLY)

                            

DEGREES OF ETERNAL  GLORY:    YES       YES        ONE       YES         NO

(3 = REJECTED LDS MORMON D&C SECTION 131)

USE OF THE BOOKS OF

MOSES & ABRAHAM:               YES        YES          NO         NO        NO
(1 = PEARL OF GREAT PRICE)     
(2= ONLY THE BOOK OF MOSES) 

ORDIANED BLACKS WHEN
FOUNDED:                                  NO       NO          YES        YES           YES
(1 = AFTER 1978)   
(2 = AFTER 1865)

 WHICH VERSION OF THE BOOK OF MORMON USED:   
(1 = REVISION 2013) 

(2 = AUTHORIZED VERSION OF 1908, BUT ALSO THE REVISED EDITION OF 1966) 
(3= USES LDS MORMON EDITION)
(4 = USES REORIGIANIZED EDITION)
(5 = USES 1923 EDITION IN THE STYLE OF THE 1899 EDITION) 

 

NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS:  
(1= SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH)  
(2 = INDEPENDENCE, MO., THE AUDITORIUM) 
(3 = ARTESIA, N. MEX.)
(4 = INDEPENDENCE, MO., THE TEMPLE LOT)
(5 = MONOGAHELA, PA)