A new Mormon offshoot movement is growing, but can it last? | Religion News Service

Don’t call Denver Snuffer Jr. a prophet and don’t view his Remnant movement as a church.

Of course, it was his account about a face-to-face meeting with Jesus that branded him a prophetic figure in the first place. And his 2013 excommunication from the LDS Church for “apostasy” — arguing that after the death of Joseph Smith in 1844, the faith he founded no longer had the exclusive truth or divine authority — seems to have made Snuffer more popular with segments of dissatisfied Mormons.

Before long, hundreds of like-minded seekers traveled to hear Snuffer speak  — in St. George, Phoenix and Boise — and poured out of their respective LDS pews to form “fellowships,” or small groups, usually gathering in houses and yearning for, well, something more.

They were mostly super-Mormons, zealots who gave their all to the faith. They taught in the LDS Church Educational System or worked at church-owned Brigham Young University. They served in temples. They dissected the scriptures looking for potent but hidden clues to Jesus’ Second Coming or keys to salvation.

A new Mormon offshoot movement is growing, but can it last? | Religion News Service