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Show 32 rfere perceived to be. While this was true of both sides in the conflict, ultimately, it was the singular aspects of Mormonism that precipitated the confrontation and forged the expedition to the White Mountains. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims by divine right the title of "the only true Church." It is not a splinter of any existing organization but a new dispensation of the same Church that was organized by Jesus Christ in the Meridian of Time. It is also called "the restored church" because it is avowed to be a restoration of Christ's church on earth. This restoration was accomplished, according to Joseph Smith, in I83O. Smith asserted that while residing in western New York State in 1820, he beheld a heavenly vision of Jesus Christ and God the Father who instructed him that if he remained faithful to the cause, he would be instrumental in bringing forth the true church at a future date.2 Eventually Joseph Smith received additional visions and visitations giving him further knowledge of his role in the new dispensation which was about to break forth upon the world. He was also alleged to have been given an ancient manuscript by a heavenly messenger, eventually translating it through the power of God. The Book of Mormon, first published in I83O, claims to be a secular and religious history of the early inhabitants of the Americas who were said to be descendants of a group of Israelites who fled Jerusalem in 600 B.C. It is considered by Church members to be of equal, if not more, value than the Bible. In addition to the new light and knowledge from the Book of Mormon, continuous revelation is a feature of the Mormon Church. For the restoration to be complete in all things, direct revelation from God was an essential component of the new dispensation. Joseph Smith became the first prophet of the Latter-day Saints, and his revelations concerning the millennium, the gathering of Israel, the political kingdom of God, and polygamy, while a |