True and Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days

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The True and Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days (TLC) is a breakaway sect of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It is headquartered in Manti, Utah, United States, where it maintains a small and somewhat closed-off membership. The church maintains the Red Brick Store^[1] and a meetinghouse in downtown Manti.

Contents 1 Establishment 2 TLC doctrines and teachings 3 Lawsuit 4 Media coverage 5 Terminology and relationship within the Latter Day Saint movement 6 Notes 7 References

[edit] Establishment

The church was organized on May 3, 1994, in response to a perceived apostasy in the LDS Church. The TLC belief in a perceived LDS Church apostasy include the idea that Brigham Young (and subsequent presidents of the LDS Church) scattered—rather than gathered—the LDS Church membership, discontinued the practice of plural marriage which the LDS Church believes is an abrogation ^[2] rather than apostasy from God's early commandments and revelations, changed ordinance and temple-related doctrines and principles, and have increasingly moved toward a more "watered-down" approach to church doctrine.

The TLC began as a study group and Priesthood Council in the early 1990s, where people from both the LDS Church and Mormon fundamentalist churches met together to discuss doctrine. In 1994, the leader of the study group, James Dee Harmston, (born November 1940) graduated from Weber High School in 1959[2], served a mission to Nauvoo shortly thereafter, in November 1990 claimed to have had a revelation in which the ancient Biblical Patriarchs Enoch, Noah, Abraham and Moses laid their hands on his head and conferred upon him the keys of the Melchizedek priesthood. Following this event, he organized the church and collected his revelations in the Manti Revelation Book. He formally organized a hierarchy consisting of himself as President of the High Priesthood, a Presiding Patriarch, a First Presidency and a Quorum of Twelve Apostles.

The TLC also has a strong youth program heavily involved in Scouting. They have recently adopted the Venturing Scout program which allows participation of both young men and young women.

[edit] TLC doctrines and teachings

Early in the church organization, Harmston taught a number of semi-private seminars known as "the Models," where he taught about the necessity of following early Mormon doctrines. Besides the doctrines of plural marriage and the Law of Consecration, they also teach a doctrine considered false by the LDS Church (ie Mormon Church) and some fundamentalist groups, known as "Multiple Mortal Probations", which is a form of reincarnation, though limited to the scope of gender; men return to mortality as men and women as women.

The TLC also teaches a doctrine, familiar to early Mormonism, known as "the gathering," which is referred to in numerous places in Latter Day Saint scripture. The idea is that all the "elect" of Israel should gather to one place Sanpete County, Utah, primarily in Manti.

While proselytizing was heavily pursued during the infancy of TLC, all missionary work ceased by March 2000. It was at this time the TLC experienced shifting changes and a reorganization of its hierarchy. This was in part due to a revelation and promise by James Harmston that Christ would appear on March 25th 2000 and perform the ordinance of deliverance and begin the terrestrial order or Millennium. This promise was given conditional upon the faith of the members, but was nonetheless perceived as a failure on Harmston's part to give accurate prophecy. This precipitated the subsequent apostasy of several members of the First Presidency and Quorum of Twelve Apostles(Randy Maudsley, Jeff Hanks, Kent Braddy, Bart Malstrom and John Harper all either left or were excommunicated). The Quorum of the Twelve in the TLC has since been reorganized, along with a new First Presidency. One of its better proselytizing tools, its website, shut down completely a short time later after revelation was given declaring the day of the Gentile (which involved preaching to those not of the Kingdom of Israel) had ended. Though an offline CD-ROM version of the TLC website has continued to be mailed out to investigators, the TLC has chosen not to publish this website online.

The affirmation regarding the day of the Gentile was based on revelations, particularly in the Doctrine and Covenants, that the gospel of Jesus Christ would first go to the Gentiles and then to the Jews, or House of Israel. These assertions have effectively discontinued the TLC's policy of open missionary work or attempts at conversion; those seriously seeking knowledge or membership have been directed at times to attend meetings or research further doctrine and other information from the time period of the early Latter Day Saint movement. While the TLC has claimed many early LDS Church doctrines as its own, it has been noted that the TLC itself has changed some of its doctrinal interpretation since its formation. The TLC's response is that, while only its perception of original doctrines have changed, the actual foundational material the LDS Church originally built on remains the same.

While the TLC has decided to remain offline in regards to their public missionary work, discussion forums do exist with former members,^[3] and cached archives of TLC website material is available on the internet.^[4]

[edit] Lawsuit

An early setback for the church occurred in 1998 when two disaffected members accused Harmston of racketeering and fraud when they failed to see Jesus.^[5] In 2002, a court granted $300,000 to the two former members. While this suit was overturned, an appeals court in 2005 granted the two former members the right to a new trial.^[6]

[edit] Media coverage

The TLC was heavily profiled in a A&E Network documentary called Inside Polygamy; various other documentaries and interviews have been conducted with TLC, its leadership and its membership over the years.

[edit] Terminology and relationship within the Latter Day Saint movement

The term "Mormon fundamentalist" appears to have been coined in the 1940s by LDS Church Apostle Mark E. Petersen.^[7] While Mormon fundamentalists, including members of TLC, call themselves Mormon,^[8] the LDS Church considers the designation to apply only to its members and not to members of other sects of the Latter Day Saint movement. The LDS Church therefore claims that there is no such thing as a "Mormon fundamentalist", nor that there are any "Mormon sects". The LDS Church suggests that the correct term to describe these splinter groups is "polygamist sects".^[9] The LDS Church has repeatedly emphasized that it is not affiliated with Mormon fundamentalists.^[10] If members of the LDS Church engage in polygamy, they are excommunicated.

The TLC may also be distinguished from historical Mormon fundamentalism which traces priesthood lineage either through the 1886 Revelation (John W. Woolley line) or those who believe Benjamin F. Johnson's claims (the LeBaron family line). Though the TLC does teach that John Taylor actually did have a meeting with Joseph Smith, Jr. and Jesus Christ (the 1886 revelation is included in the TLC edition of the Doctrine and Covenants), it has not been made clear how it doctrinally understands the existence of a resurrected Joseph Smith, since James Harmston is believed to be the same person embodied today.

The TLC is a re-restorationist movement, in that the original keys passed down from Smith went into apostasy at some point, and a second restoration of priesthood keys was believed to be necessary.

The TLC also shares much doctrinal common ground with some of the new religious movements, such as Edgar Cayce, The Summit Lighthouse and others.

Some doctrinal distinctions also exist between Mormon fundamentalism and TLC teachings. For example, while the TLC does claim to offer the original endowment Joseph Smith restored, it is understood that a "living endowment"—or administration of keys not all at the same time, but possibly during separate sessions—is necessary for the living, while endowments for the dead are performed in the same manner the LDS Church and others do for the endowment. It is also claimed that temple ordinances exist beyond what Joseph Smith restored up to 1844 when he was martyred.

The TLC has reinterpreted the Word of Wisdom in line with a raw foods interpretation, along with some gleanings of the "Eat Right 4 Your Type" books by Dr. Peter D'Adamo.

The TLC at one point had an endowment house in Fairview, Utah, but this was lost when the property owner (also a member of the church's First Presidency) left the TLC. The TLC has since dedicated a temple to perform ordinances. (Historically, a doctrinal distinction in Mormonism has existed in that ordinances for living people could be performed in endowment houses whereas ordinances for the dead required a temple.)

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Becky Johns, "The Manti Mormons: The Rise of the Latest Mormon Church", Sunstone, June 1996, p. 30.