For Ross Wesley LeBaron, the history of Mormonism could be divided into three periods of 60 years each. He believed to be living during the last period, presided by “the LeBaron keys’, holding the same priesthood that existed during the days of Adam. In this excerpt of his radio show on KSXX, from the late 1980’s, Ross LeBaron also explains his understanding of the three orders of the priesthood and the restoration of the Adamic priesthood in the Nauvoo temple.
Listen to the audio file or read the transcript below.
Transcript
I’m here with the purpose to bring about the future prophecies that prophesy about the Mormon episode. It’s divided in three sections. From 1830 April 6th to 1890 April 6th was under Joseph Smith and his Twelve Apostles. From 1890 to 1950, [a] sixty-year period, was under the keys of Hyrum’s line and these keys were operated through the Fundamentalist movement. These keys and the authority of that period ended April 6th 1950. The LeBaron keys are from April 7th 1950 to April 6th 2010. I’m what is spoken of in prophecy as Zion’s deliverer, the mighty and strong, one like unto Moses and my business is to teach the priesthood so people can understand the priesthood. And once they understand the priesthood, they can put the prophecies together, they can understand who has authority and who doesn’t have authority.
The priesthood was divided in three basic orders[1]: the Holy Order of God, the holy priesthood after the Order of the Son of God and the Holy Order of… or the Order of the Holy Ghost. Now these three characters are Adam, Christ and Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the keys of the priesthood after the Order of the Holy Ghost and the keys of the priesthood after the Order of the Son of God. The keys of God the Father or the Holy Order of God were restored in the Nauvoo temple under Adam’s authority – Adam being there in person with his under [other?] Gods—these were given to Benjamin F. Johnson who was the patriarchal heir of Ephraim.
John the Beloved was the patriarchal heir of Ephraim in the dispensation of Christ or time of Christ. Benjamin F. Johnson was the patriarchal heir of John the Beloved, hence his name is “John Son”. The keys of the Nauvoo temple [were] restored after the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum and these keys are not subject to the dispensation of the Prophet Joseph. These keys are only subject to the head of the dispensation. I am the heir of the Gods and from two lines—from Adam through Seth, and from Adam through Christ. Adam is God, the father of Jesus Christ.
The patriarchal keys of Oliver Cowdery went to Hyrum. Then after Hyrum was martyred Brigham Young had the keys that Joseph and Hyrum held, and they went to Brigham Young. Brigham Young conferred upon John Smith, the son of Hyrum, the same keys that Oliver Cowdery and Hyrum held. These keys went to the Fundamentalist movement.
I hold two higher orders of keys. In the dispensation of times all keys were to be gathered into one person. My father is the first person on this earth since back in ancient patriarchal times that held all keys of the priesthood in one person. My father conferred upon me the patriarchal keys. He conferred upon my brother Joel the sealing power but he did not understand it. Joel conferred upon me, when we organized the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times, September 21st 1955 Joel conferred upon me all the keys he held and I conferred upon him the patriarchal keys over his own house.
We incorporated the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times then Joel decided he wanted to steal it all. So he went to Mexico and he stole the church. So I reincorporated then The Church of the First-Born, without the ”Fulness of Times” added onto it. Now at the present time, my brothers are trying to steal the title “Church of the Firstborn” and the news people that have been talking to my brother Alma in Mexico, they call that movement in Mexico the Church of the Firstborn. Well, it used to be the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times.[2]
I held the highest office in the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times and when they decided to take over, they didn’t even blown [?] me out. So I’m still Patriarch of the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times, as well as Patriarch of the Church of the First-Born.
So now the prophecy shows that there are certain things kept secret at the time of the Prophet Joseph Smith but they are now to go to forth unto all flesh and they will go forth under the keys I hold, which are the keys of the dispensation of Adam.
The same priesthood had in the beginning is to be had at the end. And the end means from 1950 April 7th to 2010 April 6th. I hold the keys of this dispensation. Most people do not know that there is an eighth dispensation or that there would be. But in one sentence Joseph Smith said, he told them twice in one sentence there would be an eighth dispensation. [3] Now next week when I come on the air I’ll have things in a way that I can make tape recordings and every thing so they come out accurate. It takes a long time to learn and I am slow to learn. But these things were not to go forth until now. And I’ll show many things in the Doctrine & Covenants and the scriptures relating to this period of time (…). The big event of this time is that Adam will come and that He will set up a political kingdom as spoken of in Daniel. Although there has been many people who held the keys of the kingdom in the past, it never did consonate [sic], it just fell away.
When the Mormon people signed the Manifesto in 1890, the government wasn’t after polygamy, it was after the kingdom ‘cause the Mormons claimed authority of a kingdom within the United States government. They wanted the Mormons to sign a document which would put the kingdom under the United States government. Now it says “the little horn” – the United States – will make war with the “saints” – the Mormons – and prevailed against them until the Ancient of Days sits – or Adam – then the saints will possess the kingdom. [4]
Notes
1. Ross LeBaron expands the teachings of Joseph Smith on the “three grand orders of priesthood” relating each order to a member of the Godhead. Preaching on Hebrews chapter 7, Smith stated, according to the notes taken by Williard Richards: “3 grand orders of pri[e]sthood referred to there . . .1st. King of Shiloam.— power & authority over that of Abraham holding the key of the power of endless life.—— angels desire to loock into it. but they have set up to many stakes. god cursed the chldrn [children] of Israel because they would not receive the last law from Moses. by the offering of Isaac.— if a man would attain— he must sacrific[e] all to attain. to the keys of the kingdom of an endless life what was the power of Melchisedick twas not. P[riesthood] of Aaron— &c— a king and a pri[e]st to the most high Good [God]. a perfect law of Theocracy— <holding keys of powe[r] & bless[in]gs>stood as God to give laws to the people. administer[i]ng endless lives to the sons and daughte[r]s of Adam, kingly powe[r]s. of ano[i]nting.— Abram says Melchsidek.— away I have a pr[i]esthood.”
Journal, December 1842–June 1844; Book 3, 15 July 1843–29 February 1844,” p. [73], The Joseph Smith Papers, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/journal-december-1842-june-1844-book-3-15-july-1843-29-february-1844/79
In his Priesthood Expounded, LeBaron detalied a more complex view of the three orders.
2. Scholars of Mormonism in recent years have also mistakenly used “Church of the Firstborn” to refer to The Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of the Times. See, for example, Anne Wilde. Fundamentalist Mormonism: Its History, Diversity and Stereotypes 1886-present. Book chapter in Scattering Of The Saints: Schism Within Mormonism. Independence, John Whitmer Books, 2007, pp. 281-282; W. Paul Reeve, Ardis E. Parshall (ed.) Mormonism: A Historical Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, ABC-CLIO, 2010, p. 242.
3. LeBaron might be referring to a statement by Joseph Smith in which he spoke of the return of the prophet Elijah “before the last dispensation”: “Elijah was the last Prophet that held the Keys of this Priesthood, and who will before the last dispensation, restore the authority and deliver the Keys of this Priesthood, in order that all the ordinances may be attended to in righteousness— It is true that the Savior had authority and power to bestow this blessing, but the Sons of Levi were too prejudiced.— And I will send Elijah the Prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord &c &c Why send Elijah? because he holds the keys of the authority to administer in all the ordinances of the Priesthood and without the authority is given, the ordinances could not be administered in righteousness.” [Emphasis added]
History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 [2 November 1838–31 July 1842] [addenda],” p. 18 [addenda], The Joseph Smith Papers, http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-c-1-2-november-1838-31-july-1842/553
4. A reference to the vision in the Book of Daniel.
Ross LeBaron, the Holy Order and the Church of the Firstborn 
There is information available today that shows that the LeBaron claim on the keys of the priesthood is actually out of harmony with the law of the succession of this mantle of authority. I hope those following him and his claims will be willing to reconsider their alignments.
The law I am referring to is found in D&C 43:3-5. This states that whoever is the successor to Joseph Smith, Jr., should have their appointment to this by God in his own words through Joseph. Even if Joseph was “taken” he would still at least retain the capacity to receive a revelation appointing his successor to the keys of the Priesthood.
D&C 43
3 And this ye shall know assuredly–that there is none other appointed unto you to receive commandments and revelations until he be taken, if he abide in me.
4 But verily, verily, I say unto you, that none else shall be appointed unto this gift except it be THROUGH HIM; for if it be taken from him he shall not have power except to appoint another in his stead.
5 And THIS SHALL BE A LAW unto you, that ye receive not the teachings of any that shall come before you as revelations or commandments;
6 And this I give unto you that you may not be deceived, that you may know THEY ARE NOT OF ME.
Therefore, anyone claiming to be the successor to Joseph Smith, Jr., as the Lord’s Anointed Prophet must show in a revelation from God through him that he is the lawfully appointed successor.
There are a significant number of “thus saith the Lord” revelations through Joseph Smith, Jr., that touch upon the keys of the priesthood, which is the mantle of the Lord’s Anointed Prophet. This is also referred to as the oracles, which is the gift to receive the oracles of God. The primary duty of the School of the Prophets (the Priesthood) is to receive and publish the word of the Lord. This is who is referred to in D&C 132:7 as the medium of the Lord’s Anointed. This is who has the power to deliver the “more sure word of prophecy” in order to ratify people’s sealings. Without this there are no valid eternal marriages or inheritances established.
The immediate successor to Joseph Smith, Jr., that was appointed in harmony with this law is the Church. We see this in D&C 90:4 where the Lord says:
D&C 90
4 Nevertheless, THROUGH you shall the [gift to receive the] oracles be given to another, yea, even unto the church.
This appointment was affirmed by what the Lord revealed to Apostle Orson Hyde in April 1846 when the Lord said:
“Let My saints gather up with all consistent speed and remove westward, except such as are counseled to tarry and must needs remain to settle their business according to the counsel of My servant Joseph Smith, in the day that he was with you in the flesh. And also according to the counsel of My servants the Twelve, WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN, and who have abode in Me.”
This appointment is also affirmed by the Lord in several other revelations such as the 1880 oracle to Apostle Wilford Woodruff, which says:
“Again, hear ye the word of the LORD, O ye Mine apostles WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN in these last days to bear record of My name, and to lead My people Israel until the coming of the Son of Man;”
What is interesting is in the oracle received by Apostle Woodruff the successor of the Church is declared to be the Son of Man. This means that the Church will have the keys of the priesthood until the time that the Son of Man comes. And, as most LDS know, the Son of Man was prophesied to come on or before December 23rd 1890. Unfortunately, people didn’t seem to know or recognize that the Son of Man did in fact come according to prophecy. However, he came as a thief in the night.
This who pattern and playing out is also foreshadowed symbolically in prophecy. Revelation chapter 12, and particularly the Joseph Smith Inspired Translation, reveals to us that the “woman” who gives birth to the “man child” (Son of Man) is the Church of God. She is who becomes “clothed with the sun”, which is the mantle of the keys of the Priesthood. She is the bride of Michael-Adam and is the Eve of the new world here in America. When you understand that the School of the Prophets and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints organizations are the flesh-and-bone bodies of the Adam and Eve of the new world here in America, then it really opens up your eyes of understanding to see what is going on here.
Upon the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum the Quorum of the Twelve were all that remained to preside over the whole Church. This is why the woman who was clothed with the sun also had a crown on her head with 12 stars on it. These stars are the apostles. Therefore, people need to realize that Brigham Young was the presiding star upon the head of the woman spoken of in Revelation chapter 12. We should also take into consideration the prophecy that Adam and Eve would become a body of “one flesh”. This is prophesied or alluded to by the Apostle Paul when he explains the great mystery of what a body of flesh and bone is and indicates that this applies to Christ and his bride the Church.
Ephesians 5
30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
So it wasn’t so much that Eve received Priesthood, it was that Adam and Eve became a flesh-and-bone body of “one flesh”. This meant that Brigham Young and the Twelve also held the keys in common to receive the oracles of God and to administer in all of the laws and ordinances of exaltation. This is affirmed in the oracle received by Apostle Woodruff in 1880 which says:
“And while My servant John Taylor is your President, I wish to ask the rest of My servants of the apostles the question: Although you have one to preside over your Quorum, and over the church, which is the order of God in all generations, do you not, all of you, hold the Apostleship, which is the highest authority ever given to man on the earth? You do. Therefore, YOU HOLD IN COMMON THE KEYS of the kingdom of God in all the world. You, each of you, have power to unlock the veil of eternity, and hold converse with God the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ, and to have the ministration of angels. It is your right, privilege, and duty to inquire of the LORD as to His mind and will concerning yourselves, and the inhabitants of Zion and their interests. And whenever any one of you receives the Word of the LORD, let it be written, and presented in your councils. And whatever by a UNITED CONSENT you deem wisdom to be presented unto the people, let it be presented by the President, My servant John Taylor, as the word of the LORD. In this way you will uphold him, and strengthen his hands, as all the burden should not rest upon one man.”
God appointed the mantle of Lord’s Anointed Prophet with the gift to receive the oracles of God to the Church as a whole and the apostles who preside over the whole Church held these keys jointly. This is how Eve was “clothed with the sun”.
And, now we also know that the legitimate heir to this special garment is the “man child” or the Son of Man who is Abel. But, we also know what happens to Abel. He is murdered by Cain. So who is Abel? This is the new priesthood body that God called upon John Taylor to organize in the revelation he received in 1883. God said that some things belong to the priesthood and more properly to the School of the Prophets. He also said “let the School of the Prophets be organized”. This Priesthood organization is where the keys of the Priesthood the Church held went once they entered into the Manifesto. This Priesthood organization as a flesh-and-bone body is the Son of Man. This is why the Fundamentalist Mormons claim their authority from this priesthood body, but yet today it is quite apparent that they are a dead body that the earth has refused to receive in burial. (See the Apocrypha for more details on Abel and Seth.) The FLDS are the dead body of righteous Abel. Their claim to the keys of the Priesthood were correct, but they seem to not understand that they are a spiritually murdered dead body by way of the systematic excommunications that were carried out against them because of the policy of the Second Manifesto. Therefore, we can easily identify the flesh-and-bone body of the Cain of the new world as the entity or organization that is beholden to the dragon making war upon the saints, which is the LDS Incorporated. It is beholden to the government and is putting it first before the celestial plan of the Father’s Kingdom.
The Cain of the new world continues to claim the keys of the priesthood and the mantle of Lord’s Anointed Prophet, but his claim is false. All mainstream LDS who still think these keys of the priesthood and the kingdom are with the Church are under strong delusion about this. Official Declaration 1 stated quite clearly that if the president of the Church goes contrary to the oracles of God that he shall be removed out of his place. When the Church accepted the Manifesto by common consent the Lord deemed them as going contrary to the oracles of God and so the Church was removed from its place as the Lord’s Anointed. This is when the full authority of the Priesthood to administer the laws and ordinances of exaltation were passed from the Church to the Son of Man.
With the murder of Abel we need to continue to investigate things to see who the successor to Abel was. This is a very easy matter when you consider the meaning behind the name of Seth. Seth means “appointed” because he is the appointed successor of Abel. This is who all should look to where the keys of the Priesthood went upon the demise of Abel. This also continues to apply to the law the Lord established that successors would be appointed through the word of the Lord.
We can find the new Seth of the new world rather easily. This is yet another advent of the Son of Man because Seth stands in Abel’s place as his kinsman redeemer, doing for him what he cannot do because of his death. We cannot know the day or the hour of the coming of the Son of Man, but we can know the year. This is why all prophesies about his coming do not give us any more accuracy than one year. Abel came in 1890, but when will Seth come? We learn that Seth was born when Adam was 130 years old. If we take April 6, 1830 as the time of the birth of the new Adam of the new world, we calculate that Seth should have been born sometime between April 6, 1960 and April 5, 1961.
The only group in Mormondom that matches this profile is the School of the Prophets founded by Robert Charles Crossfield (the Prophet Onias). He began receiving “thus saith the Lord” revelations in 1960 and his first published revelation was received February 9,1961. Unfortunately, Brother Crossfield lived his entire life not knowing the true significance of his station. He was a poor, lowly, and humble man who did his best to receive and publish his revelations to the world, but he was deemed of no value and shunned and cast out. He died surrounded by people who despised him and gave him no honor in his death.
If you read the Apocrypha it says that Seth went on a quest to secure the “oil of mercy” in order to heal his parents from their fallen state. In this quest he confronted the serpent and received a bite from it. Seth’s body was full of venom and on his deathbed, but it was miraculously healed and able to deliver the oil of mercy to heal his parents. And, unfortunately, we learn that Seth was the only surviving son who was begotten of the Father, meaning who overcame the second death from Adam’s fall. All of Adam’s other children remained under the second death and were begotten of another spirit than God’s.
Therefore, those who stay in groups other than the redeemed and sanctified LDS Church after it has received the healing and redemption from Seth are cut off and remain under the second death. What we need to do is come to a full understanding of this proper and lawful succession of the keys of the Priesthood and come into alignment with it.
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