A Critical Examination of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (a.k.a. "The Mormons") cont.

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II. The Evolution of the LDS church.

After its establishment the Mormon church soon decided to leave New York (where Smith was well known) and move to Kirtland, Ohio where they eventually grew to a membership of some sixteen thousand. During their time here the church government was organized. Some of Smith's 130+ prophecies and revelations received between 1831 and 1844 were published here. Also it was here that polygamy began to be practiced and endorsed as part of church doctrine and practice. And it was from this base that Smith made a foray into Missouri where he purchased 63 acres which are the subject of a revelation in Section 84 of Doctrine and Covenants, namely that a temple shall be built there (more on that later).

The church often met resistance and outright persecution from local citizens and were at times forced to continue moving, thus eventually they had to leave Kirtland. In addition to the Missouri endeavors they established another base in Nauvoo, Illinois. After being run out of Missouri, Smith and the followers with him fell back to Nauvoo where he ran the town like a dictator. When a local newspaper published critical articles about Smith and the Mormon movement, he ordered it destroyed. Smith and his brother, Hyrum, were arrested for that crime but while awaiting trial, on June 27, 1844 a lynch mob attacked the jail in Carthage, Illinois and murdered them both.

At this point most of the faithful were convinced by Brigham Young to follow him west to Utah. They left in 1846 and arrived in the area of the Great Salt Lake in 1847. There they built Salt Lake City. Brigham Young was a strong, courageous man who controlled both the church and the Utah territory for 30 years. An example of the extent of his control is the "Mountain Meadows massacre." John D. Lee, a bishop of the church at the time confessed and testified that Young had ordered him in 1857 to wipe out an entire wagon train consisting of over one hundred non-Mormons.

There is much more to be written about Smith, Young and their successors but space prohibits this. Suffice it to say, as Martin puts it, "...Smith gave the movement its initial thrust and Brigham Young supplied the needed momentum necessary to establish it as a bona fide religion." (Kingdom of the Cults, p. 176.) These two, then, are the foundation of Mormon doctrine and practice. We will see some of the contributions of other leaders as we examine the rest of the information.

** For more detail on this historical section see Martin's Kingdom of the Cults, pp. 169-177.

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