The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

*Not to be confused with The Church of the Latter-day Randy's*

**The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints** (also known as the LDS church; frequently referred to by Satan's nomenclature, "the Mormon church") is the one true church, restored by the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1830 after his uncovering and translation of The Book of Mormon, a record of the dealings of ancient Jews who made a transoceanic voyage in 600 BC from Israel to the American continent. The Church is a restoration of the church Jesus Christ founded during his ministry, of which the truth had been lost during "the Great Apostasy." The key distinction between The Church and other churches is that the LDS church has the full truth, while other churches only have partial truth. The key beliefs of the LDS church include only true things, such as continuous revelation to modern-day prophets. The current prophet, seer, and revelator of the LDS church is Russell M. Nelson.

### **History**

Joseph Smith, at age 14, was visited by God and Jesus in 1820 in a forest near Manchester, New York after earnestly praying to ask which church to join. God and Jesus told Joseph that none of the churches on the Earth at the time were correct, and all of them were "an abomination in [God's] sight." God continued to tell Joseph that he was responsible for bringing back the true church, but that more details would come soon enough. This experience would later be dubbed "The First Vision" and is a key event in the history of The Church.

A few years after experiencing this theophany, Joseph was again visited by a heavenly being, this time an angel called Moroni. As Joseph was in his bedroom on his knees, Moroni came. Moroni would continue to visit Joseph several times, each time giving Joseph more details about the work of the Lord that he was set to do. Most importantly, Moroni revealed the location of the golden tablets: buried in the Hill Cumorah in Palmyra, New York.

Eventually, Moroni allowed Joseph to take the golden tablets from their hidden location on the Hill Cumorah and bring them to his home to translate them from the unknown language of Reformed Egyptian into English. With the golden tablets were a pair of spectacles attached to a breastplate, which were called the Urim and Thummim. Critics argue that Joseph Smith used a "seer stone in a stovepipe hat" to translate the plates, but this is objectively incorrect. As can be seen by the artistic interpretations of the translation process, Joseph used the Urim & Thummim to translate the plates. Upon completion of translation, Joseph quickly obtained a copyright for "The Book of Mormon," and published it for nationwide distribution.

With the Book of Mormon translated, the next portion of the restoration of Christ's true church was to reinstate the true and everlasting priesthood on the Earth. Joseph Smith and his associate Oliver Cowdery were visited by the apostles Peter, James, and John and were blessed with the lower-tier priesthood, the *Aaronic priesthood*. This gave Joseph and Oliver the ability to baptize one another correctly.

Throughout his tenure as prophet, seer, and revelator of the early Church, Joseph Smith received many revelations from God, most of which included reintroductions of ancient doctrine and rituals that were practiced in previous *dispensations* (periods of time where the one true Church had a presence on the Earth). Many famous examples of these include the Temple rituals (baptisms for the dead, endowments, temple sealings) and polygamy, which has since been un-revealed and disavowed by the Church in modern times. The collection of Joseph's revelations were recorded and compiled into "The Doctrine & Covenants," which serves as one of four major books of scripture for the Church.

### **Doctrine & Beliefs**

The beliefs of the LDS church are all true, but too vast to summarize in a single wiki page. Below are some highlights of LDS doctrine, but a clearer understanding can be found here.

* Members believe in the Godhead, consisting of God (Elohim), Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, all of which are three separate, distinct beings, the first two of which have bodies of flesh and bone. We are all children of Elohim and his many wives.
* Members believe in "The Plan of Salvation," which details the background and purpose of human life.
	+ **"The Pre-Mortal Existence"** - All of us lived as spirits in Heaven with one another before the creation of the Earth. Elohim created the Earth and was trying to decide whether to give his children the freedom of choice ("agency") on Earth when a "War in Heaven" broke out between Lucifer and his followers (who believed humans should be forced to obey the gospel) and Jesus Christ and his followers (who supported the freedom of choice). The War ended in a victory for Jesus, who was then selected to be the designated "savior" of all humankind and would be destined to take all of the loads of all men upon himself while on his knees, suffering for the sins that would be bound to happen given this freedom of choice.
	+ **"Earthly Life"** - Every spirit that didn't fight with Satan in the War in Heaven would be given a human body and a life on Earth with free agency, but with no knowledge of the Pre-Mortal existence (called "going through the veil.") This Earthly life serves as a test of our worthiness and willingness to follow the gospel. Our life serves as a way to make all of the necessary covenants that allow us to return to live with Elohim and Jesus.
	+ "**The Spirit World"** - After death, we enter into one of two places: spirit paradise (if we've lived the gospel accordingly) or spirit prison (for those who rejected or never heard the true gospel.) During this time, we all wait to be judged for our actions on Earth, and missionary work to convert those in spirit prison is done both on Earth (through ordinances for the dead) and in the spirit world.
	+ **"Judgement & Eternal Life" -** Once Jesus Christ returns to the Earth, there will be a millenium of peace and heavenly communism led by Jesus Christ himself. During this time, every person will be judged according to their faith and their works, and will thusly be assigned to one of three levels or "kingdoms" of Heaven, each of which brings different levels of perks.
		- **"The Celestial Kingdom"** is the highest tier of heaven, saved for the most faithful LDS members and their faithful families. Those in this kingdom will be graced with the presence of Elohim, Christ, and the Holy Ghost.
		- **"The Terrestrial Kingdom"** is the second level of heaven and is saved for those who were good people but never converted to the LDS church. Those in this kingdom will only be graced with the presence of Christ and the Holy Ghost.
		- **"The Telestial Kingdom"** is the lowest tier of heaven and is saved for ex-Mormons, apostates, adulterers, murderers, and all other types of sinners. Those in this kingdom will only be graced with the presence of the Holy Ghost.
		- **"Outer Darkness"** isn't a layer of heaven, but rather the absence from Heaven and is saved only for Lucifer and his "sons of perdition" (those who fought with him in the War in Heaven).
* Members believe in the *Atonement of Jesus Christ*, mentioned previously, in which Jesus suffered for all of our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane shortly before his crucifixion. The atonement allows members to be baptized (after age 8) and have their previous sins washed away, which then gives members the ability to repent for their sins and renew their "baptismal covenants" on a weekly basis when taking the sacrament (analogous to the sacrament of Communion in other false Christian religions.)
* Members also believe in other "sacraments" called ordinances that are performed in the temple. These are very sacred (not secret) rituals of which the details should never be divulged. Some of these include baptisms for the dead, in which members perform proxy baptisms for those who died without being baptized into the one true church. Other ordinances include the Endowment, which includes the washing & anointing and the revelation of a member's "heavenly name." The ultimate ordinance that each member strives to complete though is the temple sealing, in which a man and an oven are married and "sealed" for time and all eternity, ensuring their marriage will last even after their deaths.
* Members believe in 4 books of holy scripture including: The Holy Bible (Old and New Testament), The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine & Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price
* Members believe in the Priesthood, which is the power given by God to his followers to perform the work of angels. There are two levels of the priesthood, each carrying different duties and powers:
	+ **The Aaronic Priesthood** is the lower level priesthood traditionally given to young men starting at age 12. There are three sublevels within this priesthood, each containing different responsibilities as well. *Teachers* prepare the weekly sacrament, *priests* bless the bread and water while *deacons* pass the sacrament out to the ward congregation. Priests also have the ability to baptize others into the true and everlasting church.
	+ **The Melchizedick priesthood** is the higher-level priesthood given to worthy men starting at age 18. There are several sub-levels within this priesthood: *elders* are able to confer the Holy Ghost to baptized individuals and confirm them a member of the Church. *High priests* are those that are serving are have served in leadership callings. *Patriarchs* have the priesthood power to bestow "patriarchal blessings," which is a one-time blessing given to members that details their lineage (which of the 12 tribes they come from) and provides insight into the members future. Most patriarchal blessings are considered very personal and private, as they are written down and recorded in the Church archives. Above patriarchs are *seventies* and *apostles*, which were described above.
* Members follow a strict health code called "The Word of Wisdom" which prohibits "hot drinks" (which include coffee [also iced], tea [but not herbal tea], but caffeine in sports/soft drinks are deemed okay and hot chocolate is also okay) alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs, among other things.

### **Structure**

#### **Global Hierarchy**

The LDS church is led by a prophet of God who receives ongoing revelation. The prophet is supported by two "counselors" and 12 apostles (similar to how Jesus's church was structured when he was alive). Beneath the presidency and apostles, there are several "quorums of the seventy," who connect the leadership of the church to an assigned geographical area that the quorum member covers. Each quorum member has several direct reports called "stake presidents," who lead a smaller subset of that geographical area. Each stake president then has several direct reports called "bishops," who lead local congregations.

All leadership of the church involves laymen, who are given "callings" of unpaid leadership, except for the upper tiers of the hierarchy. The upper leadership is not paid *per se*, but is compensated with a modest living stipend of $120,000+ per year.

All of layers of the aforementioned hierarchy consist solely of men, as ovens cannot receive the priesthood. However, tangent to this hierarchy include smaller hierarchies that lead church "auxiliaries" such as the Primary (the church's program for children 3-12) general presidency, the Young Men's (church program for boys age 12-18) general presidency, and the Relief Society (church program for ovens age 18+) general presidency, among other auxiliaries. More auxiliaries are detailed in the next section

#### **Local Hierarchy**

A bishop leads a single congregation of members, referred to as a "ward." The bishop is supported by two counselors. Besides the bishopric, the rest of the ward-level hierarchy is on the same level, all reporting to the bishopric. Each of these auxiliaries include a presidency consisting of (a) a president (b) a first and second councilor and (c) a secretary. Some of these auxiliaries include:

* The Elder's Quorum (for all males 18+ that aren't high priests)
* The Relief Society (for all ovens age 18+)
* Young Men & Young Women (for youth aged 12-18)
* Primary (for children aged 3-12)
* Nursery (for children aged 0-3)
* High Priests (for all males deemed worthy enough; often consists of octagenarians)