The Cutlerite church retains an endowment ceremony believed to date to the Nauvoo period, practices the United Order of Enoch, and accepts baptism for the dead, but not eternal marriage or polygamy.

[5] In 1838, during the dedication of cornerstones for the (never-built) Far West Temple, Cutler was named by Smith as "chief architect and master workman of all God's holy houses".

He continued to work on the Nauvoo Temple,[8] where he was allegedly "sealed" to his spouse Lois on February 14, 1846,[9] having received his endowment on October 12, 1843,[10] prior to Smith's death.

[11] Cutler would later insist that the temple had not been finished by the "sufficient time" given in the revelation authorizing its construction;[12] this proved pivotal for his own claims to legitimacy when he chose to start his own church organization.

When Brigham Young decided to commence the Saints' trek to the Salt Lake Valley, he appointed Cutler as Captain of "Emigrating Company No.

In the fall of 1847, Young had sanctioned his request to conduct the mission work among the Indians to which Joseph Smith had assigned him, and Cutler had commenced his efforts with nearby tribes.

Cutler became the subject of lurid rumors concerning his Indian mission, with spurious reports indicating that he had been elected as the "Generalissimo" of a union of "thirty-seven nations".

[21] Young labored to bring Cutler back into the fold, writing of an ardent desire to see his old friend and promising him protection against any enemies he might have in the church.

Having been forced to abandon his mission in 1851 under pressure from local Indian Agents and government authorities,[23] Cutler and his followers relocated to Manti, Iowa, in the southwestern part of that state.

On August 10, 1864, shortly after Cutler's death, those members of his church who had remained loyal to him relocated to Clitherall and Freedhem, Minnesota, in response to an alleged vision.

In 1928, a portion of the Cutlerite remnant moved to Independence, where they built their present headquarters close to the Temple Lot and were gradually joined by nearly all of the other members.

The Minnesota congregation did not agree with the subsequent succession of Erle Whiting to the office of Church President, and selected Clyde Fletcher as their leader, instead.

Walton left that year and founded the Restored Church of Jesus Christ, which differs substantially with its parent organization on several points of doctrine.

This idea plays a very important role in Cutlerite conceptions of the Latter Day Saint movement, especially in the period immediately prior to and following the murder of Joseph Smith.

Cutlerites point to Doctrine and Covenants 124:31-32, which commands the building of a temple in Nauvoo, and also refers to a "sufficient time" being granted for its construction, followed by the threat of being "rejected as a church, with your dead" if the structure is not completed within the allotted period.

Foreseeing this development, the prophet had provided a means for selected priesthood holders to reorganize his church at an appropriate future time: a "Quorum of Seven.

Historian D. Michael Quinn has alleged that this Quorum of Seven might have existed as a subcommittee within the Council of Fifty,[41] but the Cutlerites have never advanced any such interpretation or otherwise addressed that particular subject.

[43] The Cutlerites are the only non-LDS Church-derived group of Latter Day Saints who practice the "endowment" ceremony that originated during the Nauvoo period of Mormon history.

These follow the pattern of the Nauvoo Temple, with a main-floor room for ordinary church services, a font beneath for baptisms of both the living and for the dead, and a second story above for the "priesthood ordinances", as they term them.

The Articles of Faith contained in the LDS Church's Pearl of Great Price are not officially canonized, though they do reflect basic Cutlerite beliefs.