Reborn LDS Church Conference

by John P. Pratt
28 Nov 2020, Firstfruits (Priest)

©2020 by John P. Pratt. All rights Reserved.

Index, Home

There is a new church in the United States which is centered in Brazil and claims to be the "reborn" version of the LDS Church.[1] They held their third world conference this last weekend in southern Brazil, which I attended as a member. This article summarizes some of the events of that conference as well as what was learned about the United Order which has been founded there and is well underway!

1. The "Reborn LDS Church"

Angel Moroni statue.

The Church of Christ was founded by the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1830, being the true restored version of the Church of Christ of the First Century. It began by being headed by two elders, Joseph Smith (First Elder) and Oliver Cowdery (Second Elder), who were also called apostles (D&C 20:38). When it was more fully organized in 1832, it was led by a First Presidency consisting of three high priests who had been ordained after the order of Melchizedek, which higher level of priesthood had been restored on Sat 4 June 1831.

After the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph, the Church split into many factions, each led by a man with a reasonable claim to head the Church. Sidney Rigdon started the Rigdonites because he held all of the keys of presidency, having been the first counselor in the First Presidency. The apostle Brigham Young, although he had never even been ordained to be a high priest, soon led the Brighamites, which eventually moved to Utah and became known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon, with "The" capitalized and a hyphen in "Latter-day"). James Strang started the Strangites, which still has the same name as given in 1838 (no hyphen in Latter Day). It has about 100 active members in Wisconsin. Later the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS) was also formed which has now split into various factions. All of these churches claim to be the true continuation of the church founded by Joseph Smith.

Sacrament service.

In 1998 the Angel Raphael appeared to a man named Mauricio Berger in Santa Maria, Brazil, and later on 6 Apr 2007 the Angel Moroni appeared to him. Eventually, after a decade of similar encounters, Angel Moroni gave the Plates of Mormon to him, along with the interpreter stones, to translate the first 42 plates of their sealed portion. When the first 19 plates were completed, which he translated into both Portuguese and English (which he does not speak), they were published as The Sealed Book on 26 Mar 2019. Due to litigation from the corporate LDS Church, the hard copy is not currently available, but the PDF version can be downloaded from the home page of this website.

Mauricio was instructed by the Angel Moroni not to found a new Church, but rather that he would head up the true continuation of the Church which Joseph Smith founded. Thus, the Church claims the founding date of Tue 6 Apr 1830. Moroni ordained Mauricio to be a high priest after the Order of Melchizedek, making him one of the only people on earth who held that sacred office.

I attended the First World Conference of this church last November 2019. There I was baptized and confirmed a member of this "reborn" version of the LDS Church. I also became one of the official witnesses of the Plates of Mormon,[4] possible because Mauricio was in the process of translating the next 23 plates at that time, so he had them still in his possession.

Until now, the Church in Brazil has only been partially organized. Mauricio Berger has been the President, and they also have a Patriarch (John Vendemiatti) and Presiding Bishop (Joni Batista). A branch of the Church was opened in Utah on Sat 11 Apr 2020, which date was recognized to be the official "rebirth" date of the Church. This has led to a nickname for the Church to also be called the "Reborn LDS Church".

2. Conference Summary

The conference hall.

The following report of the conference is my personal account of what I observed as I spent a week in Brazil both to attend the conference and to visit some of the enterprises of the United Order which began last May. It has not been officially approved by the Church, but every attempt has been made to have it be accurate.

The conference was held in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, not far from the city of Florianopolis, on Sat 21 Nov - Sun 22 Nov 2020. Steve Woodby (John Steven Woodby) and I attended and stayed with Mauricio Berger, the seer who leads the Church. Before the conference he said that he felt both of us had an important work to do, but he did not yet know what it was. He declared that the Lord would reveal our roles in "real time" as he spoke during the conference. He admitted that made him somewhat nervous, because this would be the first time that he would receive a revelation in front of the entire conference. When he received a long revelation last spring, it came to him in Portuguese about a week before the conference, which gave him time to have it translated into English to be read at the conference in both languages.[5]

Melva Cackler to
lead the women.

The Saturday session began at 10 am and Mauricio was the first speaker. Only seventy people were allowed to attend because of COVID-19 disease restrictions. I had been asked to translate the talks into English, but just before the meeting he told me not to translate his discourse because he did not want to expect the Lord to wait for me. There were only about ten English speakers in attendance.

The First Presidency: John Pratt, Steve Woodby, Mauricio Berger.

The most important part of the discourse was that it ended with the anticipated revelation from the Lord. It implied that the Presidency of the Church would now be organized, even as it was in the time of Joseph Smith with Sidney Rigdon as First Counselor and Jesse Gause as Second Counselor (D&C 81 Introduction).[7] At that point, the revelation switched over to be in English, during which Mauricio simply repeated the words which he heard but did not understand, as he later told me. The Lord named John Pratt (me) to be the First Counselor and Steve Woodby to be the Second Counselor in the new Church Presidency. It also spoke of the fulfillment of the prophecy given last March that Mauricio would anoint one whom He would raise up to be a Davidic servant, who accepts Mauricio's authority and The Sealed Book, and another to be one who is mighty and strong (verse 31).[8]

Ordinance of Washing of Feet.

On Sunday morning, the last session, confirmations and ordinations were done. The ordination of Bento de Almeida to be a high priest was preceded by the ordinance of the Washing of Feet in front of the congregation. It also included being anointed with consecrated oil, as well as the laying on of hands, by Mauricio. Then at the end of the conference, a sustaining vote was taken to ordain both John Pratt and Steve Woodby to be high priests and set them apart as the two counselors in the new First Presidency. After the meeting, both were ordained high priests, and anointed for special callings as stated in the revelation, and set apart as counselors in the new First Presidency.

3. United Order Enterprises

United Order Restaurant.

The United Order has been started, being a financial brotherhood where members can choose to do more than pay tithing, which is 10% of one's surplus (not 10% of all income). When one joins the Order, one consecrates from 10%-100% of one's surplus to be used so that there be no more poor among us, and also for the Order to own businesses which generate revenue for this cause. On other days before and after the conference, both Steve and I were shown several of the enterprises which are either nearly ready or already functioning to earn money for the United Order. The businesses were impressive indeed.

I was shown the restaurant which was in the front of the building on the street, which will soon be operated by the Order. There we ate delicious omelettes. On the other side of the kitchen was a large room which was in the process of being converted into an even larger eating area, where very inexpensive meals were planned to be served to the poor and homeless. The normal cost in the USA for a restaurant meal at this time is from $8-$16, whereas the restaurants where I ate in Brazil cost about $5-$10. The projected cost for meals at this community restaurant would be about $0.50 (2 "royals" in Brazilian money). The food would not just be for members, but the poor of the entire community.

The 26-foot boat of the United Order.

The order also owns a boat which is being rented out nearly every day for tourists to be driven around a beautiful bay, where there are many vacation homes for rent. It brings in substantial funds all summer, which is just staring.

Here is list of the United Order Enterprises known to me so far, either fully operational or to be soon:

• United Order Restaurant (to open in January and later be expanded to also provide low cost meals to the community in a larger dining hall),
• Vendemiatti & Berger Assessoria (law office),
• Yess Marmitas Fit - Caseira Fit (a packaged meal enterprise, with healthy foods by Patricia Berger),
• Escola de Inglês (English lessons taught by Sarah Berger),
• Idumeya (natural cosmetics run by Kellen Vendemiatti),
• Facelinda (beauty salon, including a micropigmentation clinic run by Sonia Machado),
• Thrift Shop (used clothing and accessories run by Sister Adelisa),
• Tourist Vacation Boat Rides (by Captain Daniel),

We were taken to visit several of these enterprises, some of which are functional and some still in the process of being developed.

All of this was very impressive considering that the United Order was only begun last May!

4. Conclusion

United Order Beauty Salon.
(Click to enlarge.)

The third world conference last weekend in Brazil of the Reborn LDS Church was a huge success. All who attended strictly followed all of the health guidelines required to be allowed to hold such a conference for seventy people during these days of coronavirus restrictions.

The conference opened with a talk by the seer and President of the Church, Mauricio A. Berger. His talk included a revelation from the Lord given as he spoke. The Lord declared through him that it was time to select a First Presidency of the Church: Mauricio as President, John Pratt (me) as First Counselor, and J. Steven Woodby as Second Counselor. We were later sustained during the conference, ordained to be high priests, and set apart to those positions on Sun 22 Nov 2020, as well as anointed for other special callings.

The United Order has been functional since last May. Members are free to only pay tithing (10% of surplus) or to join the order consecrate between 10% to 100% of their surplus income, to be used to give the poor or for starting enterprises for generating revenue so that there will be no poor among them. The Order also has the goal of making the Church independent of all others.

All that was observed during my trip to Brazil bore a strong witness to me that this is indeed the Reborn Church of Jesus Christ!

Notes

1. Pratt, John P., "Notice of LDS Church Rebirth" (17 Apr 2020).
2. A high priest requires a higher level of priesthood than the original apostles, who were only elders (D&C 20:38). The date of the ordination of the first LDS high priests has been uncertain until this conference when it was revealed to Mauricio the Seer that it occurred on Sat 4 Jun 1831, which he stated in his discourse. That confirms the date proposed in my "Uniform Hebrew Calendar Witnesses Sacred Events" (2 Dec 2014) Section 2.4 High Priests.
3. Pratt, John P., "Changes to the LDS Church" (19 Sep 2020).
4. Pratt, John P., "Examining the Gold Plates" (11 Jan 2020).
5. Pratt, John P., "New Revelation Confirms Sealed Book" (4 Apr 2020).
6. See First Vision Video.
7. Jesse Gause was called in March 1832 and apparently was excommunicated the following December. In the text of D&C 81, Jesse's name was simply replaced with that of Frederick G. Williams, who was called to replace Jesse one year later in March 1833.
8. Pratt, John P., "New Revelation Confirms Sealed Book" (4 Apr 2020), verse 31. Addendum from 30 Nov 2020: the revelation portion of the revelation given by Mauricio at this November conference stated, "Blessed are ye, O remnant people of my Church, and ye who lead it as you have for such a noble cause, for, behold, my Day is at the doors and is rapidly approaching, who then may abide the Day of my coming? When I, Jesus Christ, draw my sword over all the inhabitants of the earth, having justice like battle armor upon my loins, and vengeance dripping from my eyes, like acts of judgments to be poured out on all nations, because the foundations of the earth will be shaken, and there will be no safe place to flee, except in Zion and its abodes, which is why I have encouraged you to build the United Order, like Noah's ark, to save you in the last days. Now I will make known the names of those that I revealed to you previously as being a Davidic Servant and One Mighty and Strong to sustain the arms of my servant Mauricio in the presidency of my Church in these last days, just as it was in the beginning of the restoration, when I the Lord appointed and called Sidney Rigdon and Jesse Gause as counselors to my servant Joseph, to establish the law of consecration among my people. [The rest was given in English.] Behold, I the Lord, will raise up a leader for my people in Utah, whose name is John Pratt, whom I have prepared since before the foundation of the world, to replace the one that behaves as Saul, in rejecting my prophet. John is like David in many ways, small in front of the giant, but I the Lord chose him for greatness of his heart. And, among them, I will raise up one man, which will be a Mighty and Strong in my work, whose name is Steve Woodby. Amen."