Category: Mormon Leadership
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Revelations, Policies, Doctrines, and Decrees
Different categories of pronouncements by LDS leadership ideally reflect different levels of ‘official-ness,’ but they also provide convenient room for denying the same.
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“A Major Victory for Satan”: Nicknames Pronounced Blasphemous by President Nelson
Russell M. Nelson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said that God personally revealed to him how “LDS,” “Mormon,” “Mormonism,” and other nicknames referring to the church are offensive to God.
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LDS Priesthood — Invention or Restoration?
By Sandra Tanner One of the major claims of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that it is the only true church, with the only authority to act in God’s name. Mormonism has a lay priesthood, its leaders are not trained in theology or biblical languages, but are usually businessmen advanced due…
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Apostles and Seventies Disciplined Since 1900
By Sandra Tanner John W. Taylor: Ordained apostle, age 25, 1884, resigned 1905, excommunicated 1911, died 1916, blessings restored posthumously 1965. Taylor was the son of LDS President John Taylor, third president of the LDS Church. Both Taylor and Matthias F. Cowley were forced to resign in 1905 due to their continued practice and support…
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Who Will Be the Next President?
The history of LDS leadership is quite varied. With no clear instructions as to a successor after Joseph Smith’s death, many laid claim to the title due to either importance of their particular office or special ordination.
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Three New LDS Apostles: All From Utah
Following the death of three of the fifteen top leaders of the LDS Church, new apostles were appointed in 2015, all of whom were white men from Utah.
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Give Brother Joseph a Break?
Over two years, LDS essays addressed Joseph Smith’s controversies—stone in hat, polygamy, failed translations—sparking doubt.
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Problems in the LDS Essays on Plural Marriage
By Sandra Tanner The startling headline in the New York Times read “It’s Official: Mormon Founder Had Up to 40 Wives.” The article explained: Mormon leaders have acknowledged for the first time that the church’s founder and prophet, Joseph Smith, portrayed in church materials as a loyal partner to his loving spouse Emma, took as…
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The RLDS Offshoot of Nauvoo Mormonism
Doris Hanson and Sandra Tanner tell how Joseph Smith’s legacy as a self-styled prophet opened the door for even his own followers to enact the same pattern: claiming that former prophecy and scripture can’t be trusted, and announcing themselves as the new “one true prophet,” which has produced over 200 splinter groups within Mormonism.
