All About Mormons

The story of Sidney Rigdon is an interesting one. He was an important leader in early church history. After Joseph Smith's death, he tried to take control of the LDS Church. When he was unable to do so, he formed his own Mormon break-off group and was excommunicated from the mainstream church. His Mormon group, called the "Rigdonites," eventually dissipated. I've never heard that he was opposed to the mainstream LDS Church, but that would make sense since Ridgon left the Church and was excommunicated from it.

While his actions in later life do not diminish the great contributions he made to the Church when he was still a member of it, his life serves as a valuable lesson. No man or woman is so strong that they cannot fall. We must never let our guard down but must always try our best to humbly learn God's will and to do it.

Just the same, in my opinion we should not be too critical of Sidney Rigdon. In 1832 he was tortured by anti-Mormons and suffered a head injury from which he never fully recovered. That injury may have had an impact on his behavior.

Sidney Rigdon did turn against the Church as well as the Prophet Joseph Smith. His split from the mainstream church was not over religious beliefs, but his belief that proper procedues had not been followed regarding the guardianship of the church immediately after the Prophet's death. However, by 1845 Rigdon's followers believed that Joseph had become a fallen prophet once he began practicing polygamy and the "Lord smote him for this thing — cut him off from the earth" (Messenger and Advocate of the Church of Christ, Jan. 1, 1845). This church is still in existence. After a period of decreasing membership and surge in membership following the subsequent renaming by Rigdon's successors, it currently has a worldwide membership of just over twelve thousand and is considered to be the fastest growing of the smaller LDS sects. Its beliefs are far different from other LDS sects, most notably in its rejection of celestial marriage, the nature of the priesthoods, and the doctrines and revelations of Joseph Smith whom they believe was not the chosen prophet spoken of in scripture. They do use their own version of the Book of Mormon as a sacred text, believing that when it was translated Joseph was acting as the Lord's revelator.

After the death of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Brigham Young was sustained as President of the Church. Rigdon and Young had disagreements concerning who should be the leader of the church, which led to Rigdon's excommunication.