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59-539: Most adherents of the Latter Day Saint movement regard the Book of Mormon as a translation of a genuinely historical text from the ancient Americas (a belief that mainstream academic archaeology does not corroborate). Some adherents have speculated about where Zarahemla would have been located or attempted to find archaeological evidence of it. Such attempts have been unsuccessful. The Book of Mormon , published in 1830,

118-501: A Great Apostasy began in Christianity not long after the ascension of Jesus , marked with the corruption of Christian doctrine by Greek and other philosophies, and followers dividing into different ideological groups. Additionally, Latter Day Saints claim the martyrdom of the apostles led to a loss of priesthood authority to administer the church and its ordinances . According to Latter Day Saint churches, God re-established

177-581: A Pale Horse and for its visualization of Zarahemla from archaeological illustrations, including a Maya stelae resembling one from Quiriguála. The horses, chariot, clouds, and fleeing crowd also resemble those of Nicolas Poussin 's paintings The Conversion of St. Paul and The Death of Hippolytus . It was published in December 1888 as an illustration in The Story of the Book of Mormon . Latter Day Saint movement The Latter Day Saint movement (also called

236-465: A Rigdon supporter, to assume leadership and the surviving members of Smith's immediate family remained unaffiliated with any larger body until 1860, when they formed the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints with Joseph's eldest son Joseph Smith III as prophet. These various groups are sometimes referred to under two geographical headings: "Prairie Saints" (those that remained in

295-412: A complex theological, historical, and sociological relationship. Mormons express the doctrines of Mormonism using standard biblical terminology, and claim to have similar views about the nature of Jesus ' atonement , resurrection , and Second Coming as traditional Christianity . Nevertheless, Mormons agree with non-Mormons that their view of God is significantly different from the trinitarian view of

354-524: A genealogical theme throughout Omni and identified three of its purposes. She suggests that the purposes of keeping the genealogy in allows the plates to be passed down, preserves teachings of the prophets, and demonstrates the larger influence of genealogy. Terryl Givens claims that Omni wrote in a manner that suggests he believed the Nephites would eventually die out. Adopting Robyn Warhol's term, professor of English at Vermont University Elizabeth Fenton calls

413-456: A group from Jerusalem, guided by God, to the same new continent as the Nephites. When the Nephite king Mosiah leads a group of Nephite refugees, in response to divine direction, out from the land of Nephi and into the land of Zarahemla, encountering the people of Zarahemla, they and the Nephites unite their societies, and Mosiah becomes king of them all. Zarahemla becomes the second capital city of

472-694: A means to salvation. However, beginning with his accounts of the First Vision in the 1830s and 1840s, Smith—who said that Christ had told him not to join any existing church—departed significantly from traditional Christianity, claiming all churches of his day were part of a Great Apostasy that had lost the authority to direct Christ's church. Mormonism does not characterize itself as a Protestant religion, as Smith taught that he had received revelation direct from Christ to restore his original church. Mormons believe that God, through Smith and his successors, restored these truths and doctrinal clarifications, and, initiating

531-625: A new heavenly dispensation, restored the original church and Christianity taught by Jesus. For example, Smith rejected the Nicene doctrine of the Trinity as of one body and substance, with no "body, parts, or passions", and instead taught that the Godhead included God, the Eternal Father, also known as Elohim ; his only-begotten son in the flesh, Jesus Christ, also known as Jehovah , the savior and redeemer of

590-467: A revelation from God that officially changed the name to the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints". In 1844, William Law and several other Latter Day Saints in church leadership positions publicly denounced Smith's secret practice of polygamy in the Nauvoo Expositor , and formed their own church . The city council of Nauvoo, Illinois , led by Smith, subsequently had the printing press of

649-594: Is found in the Book of Ether . He also speculates that Mosiah translated the stone with a Urim and Thummim . Amaleki proceeds to say that when Mosiah died his son, Benjamin , became king. There was a war between the Nephites and the Lamanites in which the Nephites were led by Benjamin. Amaleki further describes how some of the Nephites wished to return to the land of Nephi, apparently in an attempt to reclaim it. Two different companies set out in search of Nephi. The first attempt

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708-538: Is named after the city from the Book of Mormon. The second book in author Gary Stewart's Gabe Utley detective series, published in 1986, is titled The Zarahemla Vision . Its narrative is set in Salt Lake City and involves the apparent kidnapping of the LDS Church president. As part of appropriating Mormon themes of revelation and ideas about indigenous resurgence, Kanaka Maoli author Matthew Kaopio's 2005 novel Written in

767-417: Is one of the books that make up the Book of Mormon , a text that the Latter Day Saint movement regards as scripture. The book is written as the combined composition of several authors, the first of whom, Omni , provides the name of the book. According to the narrative, the book covers more than two centuries of Nephite history within one chapter of text. It refers to wars between the Nephites and Lamanites,

826-668: Is one of the central scriptures of Mormonism , also called the Latter Day Saint movement . Founder Joseph Smith said that an angel of the Christian God directed him to uncover metal plates inscribed with the history of a Christian people in the ancient Americas and that by miraculous means he translated them, producing the Book of Mormon. Most in the Latter Day Saint movement regard the Book of Mormon as being genuinely ancient and historical. Mainstream academic archaeology considers Book of Mormon historicity implausible and unproven. In

885-448: Is that Mormonism is a form of Christianity, but is distinct enough from traditional Christianity so as to form a new religious tradition, much as Christianity has roots in but is a distinct religion from Judaism. The Mormonism that originated with Smith in the 1820s shared strong similarities with some elements of 19th-century Protestant Christianity including the necessity of baptism, emphasis on family, and central doctrine on Christ as

944-501: The Book of Mormon , which he published in 1830 as a complement to the Bible . Based on the teachings of this book and other revelations, Smith founded a Christian primitivist church, called the "Church of Christ ". The Book of Mormon attracted hundreds of early followers, who later became known as " Mormons ", "Latter Day Saints", or just "Saints". In 1831, Smith moved the church headquarters to Kirtland, Ohio , and in 1838 changed its name to

1003-646: The Expositor destroyed. In spite of Smith's later offer to pay damages for destroyed property, critics of Smith and the church considered the destruction heavy-handed. Some called for the Latter Day Saints to be either expelled or destroyed. Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum, the Assistant President of the Church , were both killed by a mob while in a Carthage, Illinois jail , and several individuals within

1062-617: The LDS movement , LDS restorationist movement , or Smith–Rigdon movement ) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by Joseph Smith in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 17 million nominal members, including over 17 million belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), 250,000 in Community of Christ , and several other denominations with memberships generally ranging in

1121-736: The Midwest United States ); and "Rocky Mountain Saints" (those who followed Young to what would later become the state of Utah). Today, the vast majority (over 98 percent) of Latter Day Saints belong to the LDS Church, which reports over 16 million members worldwide. The second-largest denomination is the Missouri-based Community of Christ, which reports 252,000 members. Small denominations that trace their origins to Rigdon, James Strang , or other associates of Smith's still exist, and several fundamentalist sects which separated from

1180-519: The Nephite Mosiah and his followers "discovered that the people of Zarahemla came out from Jerusalem at the time that Zedekiah king of Judah, was carried away captive into Babylon" (about 587 B.C.). The people descended from a group led by Mulek, a son of the biblical king Zedekiah, who left Jerusalem at the time of the Babylonian conquest and also crossed the ocean and arrived at the same continent as

1239-633: The Nicene Creed of the 4th century. Mormons consider the Bible as scripture and have also adopted additional scriptures. These include the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants , and Pearl of Great Price , although not all denominations use all books as part of their scriptures. Mormons not only practice baptism and celebrate the eucharist but also participate in religious rituals not practiced in traditional Christianity. Focusing on differences, some Christians consider Mormonism "non-Christian"; members of

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1298-534: The Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints , which supports lineal succession of leadership from Smith's descendants, and the more controversial Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints , which defends the practice of polygamy . The movement began in western New York during the Second Great Awakening when Smith said that he received visions revealing a new sacred text,

1357-1055: The early Christian church as found in the New Testament through Joseph Smith. In particular, Latter Day Saints believe that angels such as Peter , James , John , and John the Baptist appeared to Smith and others and bestowed various priesthood authorities on them. Thus, Smith and his successors are considered modern prophets who receive revelation from God to guide the church.     * ^  Membership worldwide; generally church-reported; with an occasional exception     ^ Once larger [REDACTED] Media related to Latter Day Saints at Wikimedia Commons [REDACTED] The dictionary definition of Latter-Day Saint at Wiktionary [REDACTED] Works related to Category:Mormons at Wikisource [REDACTED] Quotations related to Category:Latter Day Saints at Wikiquote Book of Omni The Book of Omni ( / ˈ ɒ m n aɪ / )

1416-447: The "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints". After the church in Ohio collapsed due to a financial crisis and dissensions, in 1838, Smith and the body of the church moved to Missouri. However, they were persecuted and the Latter Day Saints fled to Illinois. After Smith was killed in 1844, a succession crisis led to the organization splitting into several groups. The largest of these,

1475-791: The "Heartland model", a belief among certain Mormons that the events of the Book of Mormon took place specifically in the Heartland of the United States, the emergence of which coincided with growth in LDS Church membership in Central and South America. Religion Dispatches reports that the Heartland model movement rests on American nationalism and espouses white supremacy and Euro-American colonialism. George M. Ottinger 's oil painting Destruction of Zarahemla took cues for its composition from Benjamin West 's Death on

1534-488: The "latter days", before the Second Coming of Christ , and is used to distinguish the members of the church, which considers itself the restoration of the ancient Christian church. Members are therefore often referred to as " Latter-day Saints " or "LDS", and among themselves, "saints". The Latter Day Saint movement classifies itself within Christianity, but as a distinct restored dispensation . Latter Day Saints hold that

1593-413: The Book of Mormon, the "land of Zarahemla" is populated by the "people of Zarahemla", so called for Zarahemla, their ruler at the time of the Nephites' encounter with them. Zarahemla is identified as a descendant of Mulek , who according to the Book of Mormon is a son of the biblical king Zedekiah . 350 years earlier, around the same time as the Nephites' ancestor Lehi's flight from Jerusalem, Mulek had led

1652-490: The LDS Church after it rejected plural marriage in 1890 claim tens of thousands of members. Most members of Latter Day Saint churches are adherents to Mormonism , a theology based on Joseph Smith's later teachings and further developed by Brigham Young, James Strang and others who claimed to be Smith's successors. The term Mormon derives from the Book of Mormon , and most of these adherents refer to themselves as Latter Day Saints or Mormons. Mormonism and Christianity have

1711-505: The LDS Church, focusing on similarities, are offended at being so characterized. Mormons do not accept non-Mormon baptism. Mormons regularly proselytize individuals actually or nominally within the Christian tradition, and some Christians, especially evangelicals , proselytize Mormons. The LDS Church has a formal missionary program with nearly 70,000 missionaries, with 15 training centers and 407 missions worldwide. A prominent scholarly view

1770-641: The LDS Church, migrated under the leadership of Brigham Young to the Great Basin (now Utah ) and became known for its 19th-century practice of polygamy . The LDS Church officially renounced this practice in 1890 and gradually discontinued it, resulting in Utah Territory becoming a U.S. state . This change resulted in the formation of several small sects that sought to maintain polygamy and other 19th-century doctrines and practices, now referred to as " Mormon fundamentalism ". Other groups originating within

1829-549: The Latter Day Saint movement followed different paths in Missouri , Illinois , Michigan , and Pennsylvania . For the most part, these groups rejected plural marriage and some of Smith's later teachings. The largest of these, Community of Christ (known previously as the "Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints"), was formed in Illinois in 1860 by several groups uniting around Smith's son, Joseph Smith III . The founder of

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1888-474: The Latter Day Saint movement was Joseph Smith, and to a lesser extent, during the movement's first two years, Oliver Cowdery . Throughout his life, Smith told of an experience he had as a boy having seen God the Father and Jesus Christ as two separate beings, who told him that the true church of Jesus Christ had been lost and would be restored through him, and that he would be given the authority to organize and lead

1947-399: The Nephite king Mosiah leads Nephite refugees, in response to divine direction, out from the land of Nephi, they encounter a city inhabited by a people called the "people of Zarahemla", the name of their ruler, in a place called the "land of Zarahemla". Zarahemla is identified as a descendant of Mulek, narrated to be a son of the biblical king Zedekiah; Mulek According to the Book of Mormon,

2006-404: The Nephites and the Lamanites and says he killed some Lamanites. He states that he doesn't know of any additional spiritual teachings that were presented during his life. The next narrator is Amaleki, the son of Abinadom. He speaks of Mosiah, who was king at the time of his birth. Mosiah, he explains, led a number of Nephites out of the land of Nephi and into the wilderness, where they discovered

2065-445: The Nephites. Literary scholar Jared Hickman calls it "the Nephite home base for the rest of the narrative" after the Nephites migrate there. The Nephites who remain in the land of Nephi, rather than follow Mosiah to the land of Zarahemla, never reappear in the Book of Mormon, and the land of Nephi becomes Lamanite territory. A temple features in the narrative as the apparent geographic, ceremonial, and societal center of Zarahemla. When

2124-483: The Sky invokes the name Zarahemla to allude to the Book of Mormon. One of the novel's characters, Dr. Owlfeathers, is from the nonexistent Zarahemla University. Responding to their belief in the Book of Mormon's ancient historicity, Latter-day Saints throughout the nineteenth century believed archaeological evidence would emerge to corroborate the Book of Mormon; many regarded scholarship on the ancient Americas as vindication of

2183-638: The ancestors of indigenous Mexicans, and he superimposed Zarahemla onto the region north of Panama, somewhere in Guatemala, Honduras, or southern Mexico. In 2021, a group of Mormons called the Heartland Research Group believed they had found the location of Zarahemla outside Montrose, Iowa and searched the soil for evidence of human habitation using lidar . They also took core samples with the aim of using carbon dating to identify evidence of fires. The Heartland Research Group holds to what has been called

2242-439: The book after possessing the small plates for 38 years and is succeeded in the narrative by Amaron. Amaron says that many of the wicked Nephites were killed in war. but also mentions that the "righteous" Nephites were protected from their enemies. The next author is Chemish, who explains that he received the plates from his brother Amoron and saw him write his last words. Next, Abinadom, the son of Chemish, recounts wars between

2301-536: The book. There has been no actual archaeological discovery of Zarahemla. In 1842, Latter-day Saint newspaper the Times and Seasons associated Zarahemla with the ruins of Quiriguá . Artist George M. Ottinger opined that the Maya city-state Palenque was one and the same as Zarahemla. In an elaborate geography constructed from the Book of Mormon's text, Latter-day Saints George Reynolds and Janne M. Sjödahl supposed Zarahemla

2360-632: The church claimed to be the senior surviving authority and appointed successors. These various claims resulted in a succession crisis. Many supported Brigham Young, the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles ; others Sidney Rigdon , the senior surviving member of the First Presidency . Emma Hale Smith failed to persuade William Marks , the president of the Presiding High Council and

2419-532: The city of Zarahemla in Colombia, in accord with Reynolds and Sjödahl's proposed geography. Six of the group reached the Magdalena, but they turned back after learning that civil conflict had destabilized the region, ending their expedition. Margarito Bautista in his 1936 La evolución de Mexico: sus verdaderos progenitores y su origen: el destino de America y Europa expressed his belief that Book of Mormon peoples were

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2478-573: The city of Zarahemla survived to be occupied by Lamanites after the destruction of the Nephite nation. In 1841, Joseph Smith dictated a revelation instructing Latter-day Saints in Iowa to establish a city across the Mississippi River from Nauvoo, Illinois and name it after Zarahemla. A settlement of Latter-day Saints, located across the Mississippi River from Nauvoo and south of Montrose, Iowa ,

2537-530: The close of the book that, having no descendants to carry on the record-keeping, he will give the records to King Benjamin. According to authors Fatimah Salleh and Margaret Hemming, Omni wrote in order to maintain a record of the genealogical line. His son Chemish, on the other hand, wrote out of obligation. Additionally, Grant Hardy suggests that the contributors to the Book of Omni treated record-keeping as "a genealogical responsibility rather than an opportunity for preaching or testifying." Sharon Harris noticed

2596-562: The distinctive theological developments they believe to have been developed later in Mormonism. The beliefs within the LDS Church with regard to saints are similar but not quite the same as the Protestant tradition. In the New Testament , saints are all those who have entered into the Christian covenant of baptism. The qualification "latter-day" refers to the doctrine that members are living in

2655-598: The earth ... 'because of their iniquity and abominations ... that great city Zarahemla have I burned with fire, and the inhabitants thereof ... I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God.'" (3 Nephi, 9: 1, 2, 3, 15.) The Book of Mormon indicates that "the great city of Zarahemla" was rebuilt sometime in the first century A.D. As his doomed nation retreated northward from their enemies, the 4th century prophet and historian Mormon recorded that Nephite "towns, and villages, and cities were burned with fire." The Book of Mormon does not indicate whether

2714-537: The land of Zarahemla inhabited by the Mulekites . Mosiah became king over both peoples and taught the Nephite language to the Mulekites. According to Amaleki, because Mosiah was a seer, the Mulekites asked him to interpret a stone their people found that tells the story of a Jaredite named Coriantumr . An early LDS scholar of the Book of Mormon, Sidney Sperry , identifies Coriantumr as the last Jaredite king, whose account

2773-458: The most important of which is that Christ is the savior of the world and that he suffered for the world's sins so that the penitent can return to live in heaven. A small fraction of Latter Day Saints, most notably those within Community of Christ, the second largest Latter Day Saint denomination, follow a traditional Protestant theology. Community of Christ views God in trinitarian terms, and reject

2832-480: The party led by Lehi. The book of Omni in the Book of Mormon tells how Zarahemla and his people came to settle the land of Zarahemla in the New World. Mosiah and his refugee people presumably united with the people of Zarahemla sometime between 279 and 130 B.C. "Mosiah was appointed to be their king." Mosiah thereafter presided in the land of Zarahemla over a people called collectively "the Nephites". The Land of Zarahemla

2891-468: The people of Zarahemla had discovered Coriantumr (not to be confused with the later Nephite dissenter of the same name). According to the Book of Mormon, Coriantumr was the last of a destroyed nation called the Jaredites . Coriantumr stayed with the people of Zarahemla "for the space of nine moons" ( Omni 1:21 ) before dying and being buried by them ( Omni 13:21 ). Benjamin succeeded his father Mosiah as

2950-484: The reign of Kings Mosiah and Benjamin , and their participation in the wars and journeys through the wilderness. The Book of Omni is narrated as a combined composition by five different authors, each of which contribute a varying amount of content. The first author, Omni , fought in wars against the Lamanites , but calls himself a wicked man, stating that he hasn't followed God's commandments. He narrates his section of

3009-466: The second Nephite king of Zarahemla. King Benjamin was victorious in driving Lamanites enemies from the Zarahemla region. At the time of the crucifixion of Christ , the Book of Mormon records that "there were exceedingly sharp lightnings, such as never had been known in all the land. And the city of Zarahemla did take fire." "And it came to pass that there was a voice heard among all the inhabitants of

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3068-552: The style of the Book of Omni "unnarration" due to a large lack of events while maintaining a "narrative voice." Out of all the narrators, Amoron is the only one who doesn't finish his account with "And I make an end." Throughout the Book of Omni, its narrators claim that God causes the righteous among their people to win wars and punishes the wicked by letting them die in war. Salleh and Hemming take issue with this idea, saying that whether or not someone dies in war does not determine personal righteousness. Sharon Harris points out that

3127-634: The thousands of members. The predominant theology of the churches in the movement is Mormonism , which sees itself as restoring again on Earth the early Christian church ; their members are most commonly known as Mormons . An additional doctrine of the church allows for prophets to receive and publish modern-day revelations . A minority of Latter Day Saint adherents, such as members of Community of Christ, have been influenced by Protestant theologies while maintaining certain distinctive beliefs and practices including continuing revelation , an open canon of scripture and building temples . Other groups include

3186-436: The true Church of Christ. The Latter Day Saint church was formed on April 6, 1830, consisting of a community of believers in the western New York towns of Fayette , Manchester , and Colesville . The church was formally organized under the name of the "Church of Christ". By 1834, the church was referred to as the "Church of the Latter Day Saints" in early church publications, and in 1838 Smith announced that he had received

3245-526: The world; and the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit, an individual personage of spirit whose influence can be felt in many places at once. Further, Smith taught that the essence of all humans is co-eternal with God and that humans, as the spirit offspring of God the Father, have the potential to become like God. The LDS Church, the largest Mormon denomination, while acknowledging its differences with mainstream Christianity, often focuses on its commonalities, which are many,

3304-691: Was called Zarahemla . The Zarahemla Stake in Iowa was abandoned in 1842. In the nineteenth century, Blanchardville, Wisconsin was called Zarahemla. In 1850, under the direction of Zenas H. Gurley , Latter Day Saints who lived there and were unaffiliated with Brigham Young 's Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints organized into the Yellowstone Branch. Zarahemla was the location of the Reorganization's first or second conference, held in 1853. The congregation at Zarahemla dissolved in 1860. Zarahemla, Utah

3363-642: Was located along the Magdalena River in Colombia . Classically trained, Sjödahl followed the "signature style of biblical archaeology", in the words of religious studies scholar Matthew Bowman, trying to corroborate Book of Mormon text with archaeological data, to draw his conclusions for associating Zarahemla with the Maya. Benjamin Cluff , then president of Brigham Young Academy, from 1900 to 1901 led an expedition, mostly comprising students, to try to discover evidence of

3422-488: Was the Nephite capital for many years. Notable Book of Mormon descendants of the leader Zarahemla include Ammon the venturer and Coriantumr the dissenter. Ammon led a quest in search of a colony that had left the land of Zarahemla in order to resettle a city named Lehi-Nephi. The dissenter Coriantumr led the Lamanites in battle against the Nephites in the first century B.C. At some point before Mosiah discovered Zarahemla,

3481-454: Was unsuccessful because the participants fought among themselves. After that, a second group set out. At the time Amaleki stops writing, he says that the second group has never been heard of again. Later, in the Book of Mosiah , it is revealed that the second group was led by a man named Zeniff . Amaleki closes with some words about Christ, asserting that his words are true and that it is his intent to help others come unto Christ. He states at

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