Why are there 100 separate restorationist groups all claiming their authority comes from the prophet Joseph Smith?
After the death of Joseph Smith, there was a significant amount of confusion as to just who was his proper successor. A number of people put forward claims of being his rightful successor. When the dust settled, the vast majority of the members had accepted that the Quorum of the Twelve with Brigham Young as its President was the rightful heir to the authority. (It would be about 3.5 years before Brigham Young would actually be set apart as President of the Church.) However, all of these other claimants did manage to convince some people to follow them instead. As a result of this, a number of splinter groups formed. The next big schism occurred when Wilford Woodruff declared that God had called for an end to the practice of polygamy. At this time, there were a number of people who, declaring that President Woodruff was a fallen prophet and broke away to form their own churches. When you get right down to it, through out most of the Church’s history, there have been groups of varying s
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