Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite)

The Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite) is a denomination of the Latter Day Saint movement headquartered in Independence, Missouri, United States. The church derives its epithet from its founder, Alpheus Cutler, "Terms used in the LDS Restorationist movement". a member of the Nauvoo High Council and of Joseph Smith's Council of Fifty. Cutler justified his establishment of an independent church organization by asserting that God had "rejected" Smith's organization—but not his priesthood—following Smith's death, but that Smith had named Cutler to a singular "Quorum of Seven" in anticipation of this event, with a unique prerogative to reorganize the church that no one beyond this group possessed. Hence, Cutler's organization claims to be the only legitimate Latter Day Saint church in the world today. Currently, it has only one branch, located in Independence. The Cutlerite church retains an endowment ceremony believed to date to the Nauvoo period, practices the United Order of Enoch, and accepts baptism for the dead, but not eternal marriage or polygamy.

History

Alpheus Cutler

Alpheus Cutler was a Latter Day Saint leader and contemporary of Joseph Smith who converted to Smith's Church of Christ in January 1833, being baptized in western New York by David W. Patten.Fletcher, pp. 12-13. Cutler attended Smith's School of the Prophets in Kirtland, Ohio, and assisted in the construction of the Kirtland Temple there.Fletcher, pp. 15-16. In 1838, during the dedication of cornerstones for the (never-built) Far West Temple, Cutler was named by Smith as "chief architect and master workman of all God's holy houses".Fletcher, p. 25. See also Jorgensen, Danny L., Conflict in the Camps of Israel: The 1853 Cutlerite Schism , Journal of Mormon History, vol. 21, issue 1, pp. 25-64. Cutler was later appointed a member of the Nauvoo Temple construction committee, after enduring the expulsion of the Latter Day Saints from Missouri. In Nauvoo, he served on the High Council,Doctrine and Covenants 124:132. All references are to the LDS Church edition of this work. and was named to Smith's Council of Fifty. Prior to Smith's murder in 1844, Cutler was called on a mission to the "Lamanites" (as Native Americans were often called by the Saints). However, he had not yet departed when Smith was assassinated on June 27 at the jail in Carthage, Illinois.

Smith's death produced a profound leadership crisis in his movement, with members torn between competing claimants for Smith's prophetic mantle. These included Smith's Quorum of the Twelve, led by Brigham Young; James Strang, a newly baptized convert; and Sidney Rigdon, who had served as Smith's First Counselor in the First Presidency. At first, Cutler threw in his lot with the Twelve. He continued to work on the Nauvoo Temple,Fletcher, pp. 36-41. where he was allegedly "sealed" to his spouse Lois on February 14, 1846,Johnson, G. Vaughn, Alpheus Cutler, p. 2. Cutlerites deny that this event ever took place, asserting that records of this alleged occurrence were created later in an effort to destroy Cutler's reputation. having received his endowment on October 12, 1843,Saints Without Halos: Alpheus Cutler. Retrieved on August 11, 2009. prior to Smith's death. LDS Church records indicate that Cutler was sealed to six other women during this timeframe, but members of his church adamantly deny this or any assertion that Cutler—or Smith, for that matter—approved of or practiced plural marriage.Fletcher, pp. 44-45, 247-58. Cutlerites tend to assert that these records were forged by individuals bent upon discrediting Cutler, after he founded his own organization. Cutlerites also deny the efficacy of eternal marriages as well, including those contracted in the Nauvoo Temple. The names of Cutler's alleged wives, together with the LDS Church sources listing them, may be found at Saints Without Halos: Alpheus Cutler. Cutler would later insist that the temple had not been finished by the "sufficient time" given in the revelation authorizing its construction;Fletcher, pp. 36-37. The revelation referred to is Doctrine and Covenants 124:31-32 (see below). this proved pivotal for his own claims to legitimacy when he chose to start his own church organization.

Breaking with the Twelve When Brigham Young decided to commence the Saints' trek to the Salt Lake Valley, he appointed Cutler as Captain of "Emigrating Company No. 3," one of twenty-five such travelling units into which the Mormon pioneers were organized.Fletcher, pp. 40-41. Cutler established Cutler's Park, Nebraska in 1846, and was appointed presiding member of the municipal High Council on August 9 of that year.Saints Without Halos. Barely one month later, he was asked to find a new location for a settlement; on September 11, he selected the site that would become Winter Quarters.Saints Without Halos; see also Johnson, G. Vaughn, Alpheus Cutler, pg. 2.

Sometime prior to 1849, Cutler made a decision to withdraw from the main church body under the Twelve, and to go his own way. In the fall of 1847, Young had sanctioned his request to conduct the mission work among the Indians to which Joseph Smith had assigned him, and Cutler had commenced his efforts with nearby tribes.Jorgensen, p. 35. In addition to preaching, Cutler and his associates built a mill and farmed land among the Indians. Jorgensen, p. 38; Fletcher, p. 43. All seemed well at first. However, the arrival of apostle Orson Hyde at nearby Kanesville, Iowa in early 1848 changed the situation. Cutler became the subject of lurid rumors concerning his Indian mission, with spurious reports indicating that he had been elected as the "Generalissimo" of a union of "thirty-seven nations". Further tales of alleged disloyalty to the Twelve by Cutler among the "Lamanites" fueled the fire; a visit by Ezra T. Benson, George A. Smith and others to Cutler's mission only partially calmed the situation.Jorgensen, pp. 38-41. Although Young wrote to Cutler, offering him aid to move west, a house in Salt Lake City and a warm welcome once he arrived,Jorgensen, p. 51. Young signed the letter: "your sincere friend and brother in time & all eternity". the "Old Fox" (as Cutler was affectionately called) refused to go.Cutler did author a reply in which he promised to move to Utah after completing his work among the Indians, but he never followed through on it. Jorgensen, p. 53.

Hyde ultimately became convinced that Cutler considered himself to be a greater authority than the council over which he (Hyde) presided, and ordered his mission suspended.Jorgensen, p. 49. Young defended Cutler before the October LDS Church general conference, saying that Cutler was the victim of false rumors about his loyalty to the church. Jorgensen, p. 54. Insisting that Cutler had become an enemy to Young's organization, the Kanesville High Council excommunicated him on April 20, 1851.Jorgensen, p. 55. Young labored to bring Cutler back into the fold, writing of an ardent desire to see his old friend and promising him protection against any enemies he might have in the church. Even as late as 1856, long after Cutler had founded his own organization, Young indicated to LDS Church general authorities that he would forgive everything if Cutler would only come to Utah.Jorgensen, pp. 55-56.

Iowa and Minnesota But Cutler had no intention of going to Utah. Having broken with Young's organization, he set about creating his own. Having been forced to abandon his mission in 1851 under pressure from local Indian Agents and government authorities,Joregensen, p. 56. Cutler and his followers relocated to Manti, Iowa, in the southwestern part of that state. On September 19, 1853, Cutler organized The Church of Jesus Christ, claiming that he had seen a special celestial sign (two crescent-moons with their backs together) which Joseph Smith had allegedly told him to wait for before commencing this "reorganization" of the church.Fletcher, p. 47. This should not be confused with the "reorganization" effected by the founders of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. That was a separate event entirely, not involving Cutler or his followers in any way. From the beginning, Cutler claimed that Smith's church had been "rejected" by God for its alleged "trangrassions", and that only he possessed the power to reorganize it.Fletcher, pp. 47-55, 271-74. Thus, claimed Cutler, his new organization was the sole legitimate continuance of Smith's work.

According to Cutler, the misdeed that brought about the rejection of Smith's church was its failure to complete the Nauvoo Temple within the "sufficient time" mentioned in Doctrine and Covenants 124:31-32; Smith's church had accordingly ceased to exist as a legitimate entity.Fletcher, pp. 36-37, 154-55; Jorgensen, p. 57; "Letter of Alpheus Cutler to Zenos H. Gurley", January 29, 1856; reprinted in Fletcher, pp. 264-270. This did not mean that Smith's restored priesthood had been withdrawn from the earth, said Cutler, for he viewed the church and the priesthood as two separate things.Cutler to Gurley; Fletcher, pp. 51, 267-69. While the former had been rejected, said he, the latter had not, and now remained solely with him as the seventh and final member of a furtive "Quorum of Seven" appointed by Smith to carry on his authority independently of the rejected church.Jorgensen, p. 57; Fletcher, pp. 46-55. All previous members of this quorum had died or apostatized, said Cutler;Fletcher, p. 54. hence, he and he alone possessed power to "reorganize" Smith's church.

While in Manti, the Cutlerite church attained its highest membership figure: 183 persons.Fletcher, p. 56. The church endeavored to establish a United Order in Manti, but this attempt failed. Furthermore, Manti was being visited during this period by missionaries from the Reorganized Church, a rival group that accepted the leadership of Smith's eldest son, Joseph Smith III.This "New Organization" had organized in 1853, though Joseph Smith III waited until 1860 to accept leadership of it. The early Reorganization claimed a "rejection" of Joseph Smith's church—hence the name "Reorganized"—but differed as to who had authority to reconstitute it, as well as disagreeing with several other Cutlerite beliefs. Many Cutlerites chose to accept "young Joseph", and joined his organization; among them was Cutler's son, Thaddeus. On August 10, 1864, shortly after Cutler's death, those members of his church who had remained loyal to him relocated to Clitherall and Freedhem, Minnesota, in response to an alleged vision.Fletcher, p. 63. RLDS Church evangelists followed the Cutlerites to their new home and culled many more from their ranks, ultimately leaving Cutler's church with a mere three elders and a few members.Fletcher, p. 74. The remaining Cutlerites refused to give up, however, constructing a new church building in Clitherall and establishing a church corporation in 1912 to finally effect the ideals of Joseph Smith's United Order.

Moving to Independence and recent history