Church of Christ with the Elijah message

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The Church of Christ With the Elijah Message (English: "The Church of Christ with the Elijah Message") as the basis of faith, the Bible , "Report of the Nephites' (name of the Church for the Book of Mormon ) and 120 messages which the resurrected John the Baptist as an angel is said to have brought the apostles Otto Fetting (from 1871 to 1933) and WA Draves (from 1912 to 1994) between 1927 and 1994. According to this Church, Joseph Smith was originally commissioned by God, but fell away from God and his Word in his later years. All other writings and revelations of Smith are also rejected. This also applies to the additional doctrines and prophecies of Smith's successors within the LDS Church. The Church of Christ with the Elijah message does not consider itself a Mormon denomination.

In 1994 and 2003 the Church was divided.

Main differences from the largest Mormon church

  • The Book of Mormon is known as "The Record of the Nephites", only the text of the first version, the so-called Palmyra edition of 1830, is recognized and published. For more information on this publication, see "Literature".
  • The self-designation of the members is "Christian" and not "Saint".
  • The church has no president or chief prophet at its head, but sees Christ as the head of the church. A college of apostles made up of equal members without a dominant “chief apostle” is responsible for the care and administration of the church.
  • There are no spiritual marriages for eternity.
  • A Genealogy and the resulting dead baptisms missing.
  • Secret temple rituals and consecrations do not take place.
  • The constant advancement of God to an ever higher being - d. H. also the teaching that God was what we are now - is completely rejected.

Main doctrinal difference to all other Christian communities

In addition to the Bible and the " Report of the Nephites " are 120 messages with the title "the Lord The word" (English: "The Word of the Lord" ) as an additional source of revelation. According to these messages, the apostles Otto Fetting and WA Draves repeatedly saw the risen John the Baptist as an angel in the form of a tangible and materialized being. Message 97, verse 21 of June 2, 1978 says: "I am John the Baptist, a resurrected being. I am body, flesh and bone as you see me." In the opinion of the Church, these messages were dictated verbatim in English between 1927 and 1994 to Apostles Otto Fetting and WA Draves. Fetting is said to have received a total of 30 messages between 1927 and 1933. Draves received the other messages from 1937 until shortly before his death in 1994. The messenger is said not to have appeared since then. However, the Church awaits his further coming.

The renewed coming and working of John the Baptist in the power of the Old Testament prophet Elijah again now in the end times is intended to prepare the way for the second coming of Jesus, just as this preparation of the way through John the Baptist also happened before the first coming of Jesus. This is justified with Mal 3,1-4 and 23-24  EU , Mt 17,10-13  EU and Lk 1,17 and 76  EU . According to this church, John the Baptist is the "Elijah" who is to come.

According to Mal 3, 4  EU , when Jesus comes, the sacrifice in Judah and Jerusalem is pleasing to the Lord and gives him joy. Since this was not the case at the first coming of Jesus, the Church believes that the Elijah message refers to Mal 3, 4 more to the second than to the first. John the Baptist is then again to be the messenger who, with the power and strength of Elijah, prepares the way for Jesus for his second coming and prepares the coming of Jesus.

The fact that in Lk 1.76 in the Greek basic text there is the plural “ways” also speaks for the return of John, as for example also in the Elberfeld translation and in the concordant New Testament . Accordingly, the coming of John the Baptist was not just a one-off event before the first coming of Jesus. Just as Jesus comes a second time, John the Baptist also has to come a second time to prepare the “ways” for Jesus. This second coming of "Elijah" is divided into the 120 known visits to Fetting and Draves and into future visits that are still expected.

This messenger of Jesus gave the two apostles of the Church in these 120 messages instructions such as comprehensive information on the construction of the temple on Temple Square in Independence , Missouri, as well as words of comfort, warnings and prophecies for the people in the decades before the second coming of Jesus. It also contains a large number of words addressed personally to recipients and instructions on personnel decisions within the Church.

For more information on the English edition of 2005 and the German translations, see "Literature" and "Weblinks".

Historical development

The Church of Christ with the Elijah message emerged from the Church of Christ (Fettingiten) , which in turn emerged from the Church of Christ (Temple Lot) . Both churches continue to exist independently to this day, but are significantly smaller than the church of Christ with the Elias message. The Church of Christ (Temple Lot), in turn, grew out of early followers of Joseph Smith's original Church of Christ, founded in 1830, who had accepted the Book of Mormon and Smith's early prophecies about the establishment of a New Zion in Missouri, Smith's later teachings, which increasingly deviated from traditional Christianity, no longer accepted.

The historical development of the Elias Message Church is inextricably linked with the two message recipients and church founders Otto Fetting and WA Draves.

Divisions in the Church

In 1994 some of the apostles did not accept the last three angels' messages in which some members were removed from the office of the priesthood. Some of these dismissed priests, however, refused to accept this and split off from the Church. Among them, Howard Leighton-Floyd and James E. Parker played a very large and special role in this split. This small split-off stole the house keys of the then headquarters and has since refused to hand them over, so that the then address 608 Lacy Road had to be changed for the part of the church that accepts the last three messages and provides and provides almost all members. This small split continues the church's original name "The Church of Christ with the Elijah Message - Established Anew 1929" to this day.

The largest group of the original church therefore removed the subtitle "Established Anew 1929" from their church name to avoid confusion.

In this last-named largest group, there was again a split in the church in 2003 due to differences of opinion within the apostles regarding a revelation for further ordinations by the apostle Mervyn Johnson.

The apostles and that part of this church that believed the revelation, etc. A. Draves son Leonard Draves, founded "The Church of Christ with the Elijah Message - The Assured Way of the Lord, Inc."

The part that did not recognize the revelation and provided and provides the majority of the members remained in the existing church and organization.

All three groups see themselves as the same church, make the same claim and use the same name, albeit with different names or the largest group without the addition of a subtitle.

Headquarters and distribution areas

Headquarters of "The Church of Christ with the Elijah Message" and "The Church of Christ with the Elijah Message - The Assured Way of the Lord, Inc." are Independence in the US state of Missouri .

In 1989, The Church of Christ with the Elijah Message had around 12,500 members worldwide, making it the third largest of the denominations going back to Joseph Smith, but the Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonites) has only a slightly lower number of 12,136. Outside the USA, they are mainly found in Kenya , Uganda , India and the Philippines, and in Europe, especially in England , Belgium and the Netherlands . The mission center for Germany and Europe was in Rottweil until 1990 . The leadership was led by the German Martin Huonker (from 1896 to 1990), who was ordained an apostle by the church , which is comparable to a bishop in other churches. Martin Huonker also published numerous writings.

Up to now there are also members in Germany, ordained as elders, evangelists and disciples, who are authorized to baptize with authority.

literature

  • The word of the Lord - brought to humanity through His angel. The Church of Christ with the Elijah Message; World headquarters 608 Lacy Road, Independence, Missouri, 64050 USA (former headquarters, currently address out of date and address of a third very small faction).
  • Georg Schmid et al. (Ed.): Churches, sects, religions. Religious communities, ideological groups and psycho-organizations in the German-speaking area. A manual. 7th edition, founded by Oswald Eggenberger, Theologischer Verlag, Zurich 2003, pp. 196–198.

Main publications of the religious community

  • The word of the Lord with all 120 messages in German with foreword, introduction and the principles of faith ( full text as PDF file ). Original English title The Word of the Lord - Brought to Mankind by an Angel. - The Authorized Version of The Church of Christ, Independence (Missouri), 2005. It contains the 120 messages to Otto Fetting and WA Draves . The 2005 edition comprises over 170 A4 pages (of which almost 40 pages are concordance). Messages 1 to 93 from the years 1927 to 1974 were published in German translation under the title “The word of the Lord, brought to mankind through His Angel” in 1974 by Martin Huonker as a book that was published by Wegweiser-Verlag Wannweil . This edition is now out of print. Another translator and editor published messages 91-103 from 1972-1987 under the title “The Word of the Lord. Brought to mankind by an angel ”. In the meantime, the messages from the English language have been translated completely and some in part into several foreign languages ​​such as German, French , Polish , Spanish and Russian , and are known in many parts of the world. We are currently working on the translation into the Greek language .
  • The record of the Nephites : The Record of the Nephites. Original Palmyra Edition, Published in 1830, The Restored Palmyra Edition, Independence (Missouri), 2004. - The Church has published since 1957 - the last edition from 2004 on almost 650 A4 pages, of which over 200 pages were a detailed index - “The Record of the Nephites ”with the text of the first edition of the Book of Mormon from 1830. However, the later division of the LDS Church into chapters and verses has since been adopted. This work is only available in English.
  • The Voice of Joy. - is a 20-page monthly magazine in A4 format that will also appear on the Church's website from the December 2002 issue. In each issue, around three pages are devoted to the messages, with an entire message being printed and all text passages from the entire messages relating to a particular term being listed. What is noticeable in many of the contributions is the Christ-centric, evangelical and edifying-awakening orientation. Most of the articles could just as easily be found in magazines from other evangelical churches.

Further publications of the religious community

  • Living in Victory through Hungering for Righteousness.
  • The Coming Forth of the Record of the Nephites. - About the origins and transmission of the Book of Mormon
  • The Elijah Message. Sent to Prepare the Way for Christ's Return.
  • We are not Mormons.
  • What Must I Do to Be Saved in the Kingdom of God?

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.elijahmessage.net/files/message118.html
  2. ↑ Georg Schmid et al. (Ed.): Churches, sects, religions. Religious communities, ideological groups and psycho-organizations in the German-speaking area. A manual. 7th edition, Zurich 2003, p. 198.
  3. ↑ http://www.elijahmessage.com
  4. ↑ http://johnhebaptist.info/Das%20Wort%20des%20Herrn%20(Deutsch).pdf
  5. ↑ http://www.elijahmessage.net/french/Mess_index1-30_fr.html
  6. ↑ http://ancientofdays.org/WOL_Book_Spanish.pdf
  7. ↑ http://johnhebaptist.info/Russian%20The%20Word%20of%20the%20Lord.pdf

Web links