Latter Day Church of Jesus Christ

The Latter Day Church of Jesus Christ is a small denomination within the Latter Day Saint movement. Formally organized on May 27 2007 in Derbyshire, England, the church is comprised primarily of former members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The leader of the church is Matthew Philip Gill, who is accepted by the church as a prophet, seer, revelator, and translator, which are some of the ecclesiastical titles held by Latter Day Saint movement founder Joseph Smith, Jr. As a former member of the LDS Church, Gill served as a full-time missionary in the Ireland Dublin Mission for a few months during 1999. [ [http://www.mission.net/ireland/dublin/alumnilist.php?uID=54667 Ireland Dublin Mission: Elder Matthew P Gill] , mission.net, accessed 2008-08-26.]

History and teachings

The members of the church began meeting informally in 2006 as "The Latter Day Church of Christ". The name of the church was changed at its formal organization. In July 2008, the church's official blog stated that the church had been experiencing apostasy. [ [http://thelatterdaychurchofchrist.blogspot.com/2008/07/church-has-gone-through-very-trying.html "The Latter Day Church of Jesus Christ"] , blogspot.com, accessed 2008-08-26.] It has been noted that recent baptismal videos of three new members have been removed from the church's video archive. [ [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LDSgroups/message/2074 "Latter Day Church of Jesus Christ - Kyle and Andrew Alverson"] , yahoo.com, accessed 2008-08-26.]

The church believes that Gill is the first legitimate successor to Joseph Smith since Smith's death in 1844. They believe that God's true church has not existed on the earth since that time. The church accepts the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible, the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon and the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants. They also accept the Book of Jeraneck as scripture. Gill's revelations from God are also being collected and printed as a book of scripture entitled the "Book of Prophecy and Revelation". The Church has also decided to include the following apocryphal books in their Bible (as of Feb. 26, 2007): [http://thelatterdaychurchofchrist.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html]

* The Gospel of Peter
* The Gospel of Mary
* The Gospel of Thomas
* The Gospel of Philip
* The Gospel of Truth
* The Gospel of the Apostle Paul
* The Sophia of Jesus Christ
* Acts of Peter and the Twelve
* Letter of Peter to Philip

The church rejects the practice of plural marriage and maintains that Smith never taught or practiced it. Although the church rejects all affiliation with the Utah-based LDS Church, it describes itself as a "Mormon organization".

Book of Jeraneck

The "Book of Jeraneck" is one of the sacred texts of The Latter Day Church of Jesus Christ. No other religious denomination accepts the 110-page book as scripture.

According to Gill, in 2006 he translated "Book of Jeraneck" from 24 brass plates that he received from God. The book purports to be a record of the former ancient inhabitants of the British Isles. Gill's followers claim his story has many parallels to the story of Joseph Smith, Jr.'s production of the Book of Mormon as a record of ancient inhabitants of the Americas. Among the claims of the "Book of Jeraneck" is that Stonehenge was a Christian "Temple of Light" of the prehistorical residents of England.

The book was published by the church in 2007.

Notes

References

* Steven L. Shields, "Divergent Paths of the Restoration" (5th ed.) (forthcoming, 2008).

External links

* [http://thelatterdaychurchofchrist.blogspot.com/ Official blog site of The Latter Day Church of Jesus Christ]
* [http://www.wrpf.org/matthew_testimony.doc Testimony of Matthew Philip Gill]
* [http://www.wrpf.org/book_of_jeraneck.doc "Book of Jeraneck"] (417 KB)