A. Mormonism
1. Joseph Smith lived in Palmyra, New York, and claimed that the angel Moroni appeared to him in 1827.
2. The angel directed him to dig up a stone box that contained some golden plates.
3. Smith translated these over the next three years and published them as the Book of Mormon in 1830.
4. This book professes to be an account of God's people in the Americas.
5. The Mormons moved to Ohio in 1831 and then to Nauvoo, Illinois in 1840.
6. Smith's teaching on polygamy caused much opposition and eventually led to his arrest and death.
7. After the death of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young took over the majority of the Mormons who were left and moved them to Salt Lake City, Utah.
8. Peculiar teachings of the Mormons include: the Adam/God doctrine, baptism for the dead, pre-existence of souls, and three gods in the godhead.
B. Adventists
1. William Miller was a farmer and Baptist lay preacher from New England who predicted that Jesus would return around March 21, 1843.
2. He began preaching this message as early as 1831.
3. He became fairly famous as a result of his prediction.
4. When the date came and went, more calculations were done that gave October 24, 1844, as the new date for Christ's return.
5. This also came and went and caused many to leave the church.
6. However, many still looked forward to an immediate return of Jesus Christ and they became known as Adventists.
7. One group, the Seventh Day Adventists, split off from the main group, maintaining that Saturday was the Sabbath.
8. This group was led by Ellen G. White.
C. Spiritualism
1. Spiritualism in America is often attributed to the Fox sisters, Margaret and Kate, and their claim to have communicated with the dead in 1848.
2. They held seances that attracted many who were famous in that day.
3. They both later revealed it was all a hoax, but people still believed it.
D. Christian Science
1. Mary Baker Eddy founded the Church of Christ, Scientist, in 1866, in Boston.
2. She believed she had been healed of injury by reading the Bible.
3. Christian Scientists believe that all sin and misery are an illusion and that only spiritual things are real.
E. Jehovah's Witnesses
1. Charles Taze Russell began to attract large audiences with his sermons on the Second Coming in 1872.
2. He established the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society to publish his writings.
3. He predicted that Jesus would return in 1914.
4. Jehovah's Witnesses do not salute the flag or celebrate birthdays or holidays or take blood transfusions.
5. They believe that Jesus is created and that souls are annihilated instead of spending an eternity in hell.
F. Division over Slavery
1. As cotton became more and more profitable, slavery was viewed to be more and more necessary.
2. People like Wendell Phillips, John Greenleaf Whittier, and William Lloyd Garrison began to agitate for the abolition of slavery.
3. In 1845, the Baptists and Methodists began to split into different groups.
4. The Presbyterians and Episcopalians separated in 1861.
5.All of these churches eventually reunited except the Baptists.
G. Dwight Moody
1.Dwight Moody was born in Massachusetts, but began his ministry in Chicago.
2.He was president of the Chicago YMCA after the Civil War.
3.He began to travel as an evangelist in the 1870s, accompanied by Ira Sankey, a trumpet player.
4.He traveled all over the country and to England preaching a simple gospel.
5.Moody's work set the standard for later preachers like Billy Sunday and Billy Graham.
6.Moody died in 1899.