1. Rise and Development

The religious fellowship of the Mormons, which calls itself the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was founded by Joseph Smith (1805–44) in April 1830 in Fayette, New York. Beginning in 1820, Smith had a series of remarkable experiences and visions. In his youth Father God and Jesus Christ once appeared to Smith and told him, in answer to a question, that all the confessions of faith of all the churches, including the free chur…