Comment by 5555624
3 years ago
All members of the LDS are Mormons; but, not all Mormons are members of the LDS. In addition to the LDS, there is also the the Fundamentalist Church of (Jesus Christ of) Latter-day Saints and the Community of Christ.
CNN's web site had a piece on this yesterday: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/29/us/mormon-beliefs-explained-c...
I think there are over 40 churches descended from the teachings of Joseph Smith now (someone knowledgeable once told me this, I don't have a source). Most of them are very small.
An initial split occurred before leaving Missouri with a large number of followers including Joseph Smith's mother and other family members (as I recall) choosing to follow James Strang to Beaver Island instead of Brigham Young to Utah.
That settlement was forcibly broken up, but it's an interesting story. You can google James Strang, (The King of Beaver Island) to read more on it. That church is still around as well and claim to be the true inheritors of the teachings of Smith.
https://www.ldsstrangite.com/
> Fundamentalist Church of (Jesus Christ of) Latter-day Saints
The correct abbreviation is FLDS I think.