The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Kingdom of God is a

Mormon fundamentalist Mormon fundamentalism (also called fundamentalist Mormonism) is a belief in the validity of selected fundamental aspects of Mormonism as taught and practiced in the nineteenth century, particularly during the administrations of Joseph Smith, ...

church in the

Latter Day Saint movement The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by J ...

. The sect was founded by Frank Naylor and Ivan Nielsen, who split from the

Centennial Park group The Centennial Park group is a fundamentalist Mormon group, with approximately 1,500 members that is headquartered in Centennial Park, Arizona. The Centennial Park group broke with Leroy S. Johnson, leader and senior member of the Priesthood Co ...

, another fundamentalist church. The church is estimated to have 200–300 members,Utah Attorney General’s Office and Arizona Attorney General's Office
The Primer, Helping Victims of Domestic Violence and Child Abuse in Polygamous Communities
. Updated June 2006. Page 21. most of whom reside in the Salt Lake Valley. The group is also known as the Third Ward or the Naylor group, after Frank Naylor.

Polygamist roots

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Kingdom of God's claims of authority are based around the accounts of

John Wickersham Woolley John Wickersham Woolley (December 30, 1831 – December 13, 1928) was an American Latter Day Saint and one of the founders of the Mormon fundamentalism movement. Most Mormon fundamentalist groups trace their origin directly or indirectly to Woolle ...

, Lorin Calvin Woolley and others, of a meeting in September 1886 between

LDS Church The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The c ...

President John Taylor, the Woolleys, and others. Prior to the meeting, Taylor is said to have met with

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

and the deceased church founder,

Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, ...

, and to have received a revelation commanding that plural marriage should not cease, but be kept alive by a group separate from the LDS Church. The following day, the Woolleys, as well as Taylor's counselor, George Q. Cannon, and others, were said to have been set apart to keep "the principle" alive.

Split from the Centennial Park group

The Centennial Park group is a polygamist sect based in the

Arizona Strip The Arizona Strip is the part of Arizona lying north of the Colorado River. Despite being larger in area than several U.S. states, the entire region has a population of fewer than 10,000 people. Consisting of northeastern Mohave County and ...

. This group is itself a split from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church). The Centennial Park group refers to itself as the "Second Ward" and refers to the FLDS Church as the "First Ward". When Alma A. Timpson became leader of the Second Ward in 1988, he appointed Frank Naylor as

apostle An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to send off". The purpose of such sending ...

and Ivan Nielsen as high priest and later as

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

. Naylor and Nielsen disagreed with Timpson's leadership and they split from the Second Ward in 1990 to form the "Third Ward" with Naylor as leader.

The new church

Naylor and Nielsen were able to gather a number of followers from both the Centennial Park group and the FLDS Church. Most of the members of the new group migrated north to the Salt Lake Valley in Utah where they have built a meeting house. They continue to practice polygamy as well as other fundamentalist doctrines such as the

Adam–God doctrine The Adam–God doctrine (or Adam–God theory) was a theological idea taught in mid-19th century Mormonism by Brigham Young, a president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Although the doctrine is rejected by the LDS Ch ...

. The church has also formed a close relationship with the Church of Jesus Christ (Original Doctrine) Inc., an FLDS Church-offshoot based in Bountiful, British Columbia.

Polygamist roots

Split from the Centennial Park group

The new church

See also

References

Further reading