Restored Church of Jesus Christ (founded in 1978 in Independence, Missouri, by Eugene O. Walton)
Statement of Belief:
1. We believe in the Godhead there
are two personages, God the Father and Christ the Son. They both dwell in
Celestial glory. Man was created, male and female, in the image (likeness) of
both the Father and the Son, by whom were all things created (Genesis 1:2, 29;
John 1:1, 10, 16 Inspired Version; 3 Nephi 4:44-49 (IND); Doctrine and
Covenants (IND) 17:4-5).
. . .
3. We believe in the Holy Ghost,
the Spirit of Truth, which is the life and power of God, to lead men into all
truth, and back into the likeness and image of God, to lead men into all truth,
and back into the likeness and image of God, even a life of holiness, which is
eternal life with God and the Christ (Genesis 6:59-65, 67-71 Inspired Version;
John 16:13-15; 3 Nephi 5:32-38 (IND); Doctrine and Covenants (IND) 32:3,
34:5b). (Steven L. Shields, Divergent
Paths of the Restoration: An Encyclopedia of the Smith-Rigdon Movement, 2
vols [5th ed.; Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2022], 2:172)
Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon (founded in
1986, Arvika, Sweden, by Christopher C. Warren)
The
church declares that the Holy Spirit, or Ruach haQodesh, is female in gender
and is identified as the Heavenly Mother. The Ruach haQodesh is seven persons,
or the seven Heavenly Mothers. (Steven L. Shields, Divergent Paths of the
Restoration: An Encyclopedia of the Smith-Rigdon Movement, 2 vols [5th ed.;
Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2022], 2:90)
Truthseekers (founded in 1988 in
Ludlow Falls, Ohio by Lloyd Brumbaugh)
The
group also believes that the Book of Mormon teaches Modalistic Monarchianism.
Such a teaching means that Yahweh, the Eternal Father, manifested himself in
human form as the New Testament Messiah. It is impossible that Joseph Smith Jr.
could have seen the “Father” and the “Son” as two separate personages.
Additional beliefs are: only Yahweh can grant life after death—He is the
savior, and there is no “second person in the Godhead” to do this . . . (Steven
L. Shields, Divergent Paths of the Restoration: An Encyclopedia of the
Smith-Rigdon Movement, 2 vols [5th ed.; Salt Lake City: Signature Books,
2022], 2:333])
Latter Day Church of Christ with
Signs and Wonders (founded in 2007 in Sullivan, Indiana by Abinadi Smith)
The
church’s history begins with the story of Joseph Smith Jr. and states that it
was the Angel Nephi (not Moroni) who appeared to Smith with the plates from
which the Book of Mormon was translated. (Steven L. Shields, Divergent Paths
of the Restoration: An Encyclopedia of the Smith-Rigdon Movement, 2 vols
[5th ed.; Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2022], 2:315)
