Splinter Groups: Church of Christ Elijah Message Part 2

Mormonism 101 for Teens is a valuable resource for anyone wanting a simplified view of the Mormon religion from a Christian perspective. Mormonism 101 for Teens is available at the Utah Lighthouse Bookstore in Salt Lake City or mrm.org. And now, your host for today's Viewpoint on Mormonism. Welcome to this edition of Viewpoint on Mormonism. I'm your host, Bill McKeever, founder and director of Mormonism Research Ministry, and with me today is Eric Johnson, my colleague at MRM. Yesterday we began looking at a smaller group of what is known as the Restoration Movement. It's called the Church of Christ with the Elijah message. And the reason why we're looking at some of these smaller groups that claim that Joseph Smith is the head of their church, and some of them even claim to be the only true church, despite the fact that other groups within the Restoration Movement hold to that same position, this one certainly does feel it is the only true church on earth. And so we're looking at a bit of the background and history of it. How did it get started and such? And yesterday we mentioned a man by the name of Otto Fetting. He's really the one who's responsible for organizing this group.

He was born on November 20th, 1871, and he died on January 30th, 1933. And as we mentioned yesterday, Eric, they use mainly the King James Version of the Bible, as well as what they call the Record of the Nephites. The Record of the Nephites, folks, is just another title for the Book of Mormon.

They claim to use an 1836 edition, even though the book itself claims it's from the 1830 edition. They are very much into hearing the voice, not so much of God the Father or even Jesus Christ, but the voice of John the Baptist. Yeah, and this is a religion that very clearly teaches that there's direct communication from God to the leaders today.

They've had 129 messages that took place from the time of Fetting until 1994, and then they started again in 2018. But I want to talk about the main places of this faith. It's found mainly in Africa, Europe, United States, India, and the Philippines. And we talked yesterday that I thought about 12,500 would be an estimated number, but one of the apostles that I talked to said that, no, they have more than that. But it's hard to find out what those numbers are, and they even admit that they have fewer than 2,000 people in the United States, which is where this religion started.

So that's pretty unique to have so few in the United States and so many supposedly in other lands. Now, normally they, like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have 12 apostles, but as of this recording, there are only 10 apostles in this church. And I asked one of the apostles, Terry Laws, why they only have 10 when they're supposed to have 12.

And he says, well, a couple of guys died. We just haven't gotten around to filling those spots. So they can have as many as 12, but they're not as paranoid as the LDS church they're going to at the next general conference do their best to fill that spot back again, because 12 is the number. Also, just so we understand, this is one of the three religions we're talking about that's based in Independence, Missouri. The church world headquarters, they call it, are based there, and someday they would like to have the temple lot to be able to build a temple, and they believe they will get to build that temple either just before Jesus returns or just after, and the millennium starts. But they will have a chance to build a temple that won't be anything like LDS temples, because no work for the dead will be done. And I'm not even quite sure what they want to do inside of the temple, but they hold firmly that that temple will be there someday. In your study of this group, did you find anything that told you how they felt they were going to get that property from the group that owns it right now, the temple lot group? Because the temple lot group was pretty tenacious and even went to court in order to fight over that lot, because they do believe that is the lot that Joseph Smith dedicated for the building of this temple.

Do you find it difficult that this group is going to be able to secure the land to build the temple that they want to build? I don't really think they're that concerned about it, because in fact, what I read, it seems like they're more thinking that they'll get that after Jesus returns. They do believe we've been in the tribulation since 1990 or so, so it's not a seven-year tribulation, but we are in the midst of the tribulation, but we have a millennium that's going to happen when Jesus returns, and they're completely satisfied waiting until Jesus returns, because how are the temple lot leaders not going to allow Jesus to take over the temple when he says we need this land so that we can build the temple that was promised by Joseph Smith in 1831?

And I guess if that was to happen, the way they predict, that would prove that they are the only true church and the temple lot group cannot possibly be, as they believe now. They do like to use Bible verses, and so that's something, if you ever get to talk to somebody in this group, that's a positive thing. They really do believe in the King James Version. They hardly ever quote the record of the Nephites, nor do they quote from the messages that are direct revelations from John the Baptist to their leaders. And I want to read the introductory page of the website and just give you an idea of some of the verses they use.

This is what they write. We are the Church of Christ with the Elijah message, and we proclaim the midnight cry spoken of in Matthew chapter 25. Matthew chapter 25, Bill, is talking about the ten versions. Verse 6 talks about this midnight cry that the virgins were supposed to be waiting patiently for the coming of Jesus. And then it goes on and says, our church has been established of God to proclaim the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Have you heard that before? Yeah, it sounds very similar to what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims. It also has the fullness of the gospel, but yet when you compare what they think the gospel is to this group, certainly that fullness contains different messages. Yeah, so they're here to proclaim the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ and to warn the world that the second coming of Christ is near at hand. As we mentioned yesterday, this group is very eschatological-minded.

They are looking forward to the coming of Jesus and establishment of the Millennium. We are a world church with local churches throughout the United States, Europe, Africa, India, and the Philippines. We claim the same holy priesthood authority as the Old Jerusalem Church of the New Testament. We proclaim to the world that the promise Elias has come as the Lord has promised, according to Malachi 3.1. So in saying that they claim the same holy priesthood authority as the Old Jerusalem Church of the New Testament, is that the priesthood of believers? Because that's what the New Testament speaks of. It does not speak of this notion such as the LDS Church has that there was an Aaronic priesthood or Melchizedek priesthood that was functioning in the early church. We don't see that in the New Testament. They do use a variety of other verses, but one that I wanted to point out was Revelation 14.6.

This is what it says. And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on earth and to every nation in kindred and tongue and people. This has been a verse used by LDS leaders to support the coming of the angel Moroni. I can't tell you how many times I've had Revelation 14.6 given to me as proof that there would be this Moroni who would bring the gold plates to Joseph Smith, that he'd be able to translate the Book of Mormon. But what's interesting is this group doesn't think it was Moroni, even though they hold to the record of the Nephites, they think that this is supporting John the Baptist's visits to one of three apostles who have lived since 1929. So an interesting idea that there would be a messenger, but they have a completely different idea than what the Mormons do. Now, before we look into the founder of this group, let's let's talk a little bit about what they believe regarding salvation in your chart that you have in your article. Eric, you say that they believe in faith, repentance, baptism and the laying on of hands, along with obedience.

Now, again, that sounds very similar to what we find in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. How do they define obedience? How many commandments must they obey? How often must they obey them?

And are they to hold strictly to this word obedience, or is there some wiggle room as they understand it? I had an hour-long conversation with one of the church's 10 apostles, Terry Laws. He's from Kansas, and it was a very cordial conversation on the phone.

I asked that question that you're asking right now. I said, okay, these are the things I have to do, and he made it a point. I had to be baptized by them, even though I have been baptized in a Christian church. He says, we have the true baptism. Okay, so they would hold to the same idea as the LDS people, that they alone have the authority to baptize. And when you believe that baptism is a salvific act, then naturally that becomes very important.

You better be baptized by the right guys. And then the obedience part is, he told me, Terry Laws said, you need to do the very best you can. I said, well, what if the very best I can do is not good enough for what God's standards are?

He says, God knows your heart, and as long as you're sincere, you just need to do the very best, and that's going to get you through. They do believe in a traditional heaven and a traditional hell. They do not believe in three kingdoms of glory at all. They reject that. That's what Mormons believe.

But the idea that the obedience is something you have to figure out. What I find most interesting, though, is if you don't know about this church, and you're a good person, you also get to go to heaven. But if you know about this church, and you reject what it has to say about truth, and you don't join this church, then you are culpable. And I even asked him, I said, before I had a chance to know about your church, I've done the research now, I didn't know anything. And now I know a lot. Am I subject to possibly going to hell?

And he said, you do have a possibility now that you know about us. That's very similar to the LDS Church. Well, at least I should say more specifically to something that Joseph Smith taught, that if you were to die not having any knowledge of the restored gospel, and when it's preached to you in the spirit world and you embraced it there, you have an opportunity to go to the celestial kingdom. However, if you knew about the restored gospel during your mortality and you rejected it, you didn't believe it or even fought against it, then the best you could ever hope to receive would be the second level of glory known as the terrestrial kingdom, only if you embraced it in the spirit world. We would look at that as a kind of second chance for salvation. Although as we've talked about many times on this program, it's not really true salvation according to Mormonism. True salvation is being exalted in the celestial kingdom, the top level of Mormon heaven. The best you could hope for if you embrace Mormonism after you die would be the terrestrial kingdom. You would not become a god.

You would not be with your family throughout eternity. You mentioned the phrase more traditional heaven. They don't look at heaven as being a place where you are a family unit, as the LDS people believe. They don't believe that you are going to become a god over your own world either. So their view of heaven would be very different than the LDS church headquartered in Salt Lake City. They do not accept anything that Joseph Smith said after 1836.

So the view of the temple, life in the three kingdoms of glory, etc., they're not going to believe in that. In tomorrow's show, we're going to continue looking more deeply into the Church of Christ with the Elijah message. When sharing your faith with a Latter-day Saint, it helps to know what their church has taught on several basic topics. For this reason, Mormonism Research Ministry has provided its Crash Course Mormonism. Crash Course Mormonism includes concise articles highlighting what LDS leaders and church manuals have taught on issues that will probably come up in a typical conversation. You can find these informative articles at CrashCourseMormonism.com That's CrashCourseMormonism.com