John W. Bryant (born 1946) was the founder and first leader of a Mormon fundamentalist sect that is today known as the Church of the New Covenant in Christ and is headquartered in Salem, Oregon.
Conversion to Mormonism
In 1964 Bryant was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). As a member of the LDS Church, he served as a missionary in Japan. In the early 1970s, Bryant became convinced that the LDS Church had unjustifiably abandoned plural marriage, and joined the Apostolic United Brethren (AUB) in Utah, led by Rulon C. Allred.
Leader of polygamous sect
Beginning in 1974, Bryant began to state that he was receiving revelations from Jesus. He claimed that "John the Beloved" had visited him as an angel and instructed him to form an "Order of the Ancients". In 1975 he was taken in vision to the City of Enoch, where AUB founder Joseph White Musser and Latter Day Saint movement founder Joseph Smith, Jr. ordained him to the presidency of the church and the high priesthood. Bryant was married to six wives.[1]
Reorganization of church
By the mid-1980s over 100 members of Bryant's church had moved into the Salem area. When the church attempted to convert a barn on the farm to a church building, it was blocked by neighborhood protests. Ultimately, Bryant left the church due to internal and external difficulties, and it soon disintegrated. However, in 1985 Bryant reorganized the church into the Church of the New Covenant in Christ, with a membership of approximately 120 families.
Notes
- ^ Richard S. Van Wagoner (1989, 2d ed.). Mormon Polygamy: A History (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books) pp. 214–216.
References
- Marsha King, "Changing beliefs led family to rearrange plural union", Seattle Times, 1985-10-13
- J. Gordon Melton (1996, 5th ed.). Encyclopedia of American Religions (Detroit, Mich.: Gale) p. 569
- Steven L. Shields (1990). Divergent Paths of the Restoration (Los Angeles: Restoration Press) p. 197