When you read Doctrine and Covenants, Section 49 and 50, it helps to have the rest of the story.

Why should you care about Lehman Copley or the Shakers and wants this talk about false spirits?

We will have some fun and give you the context today.

Hello, we're Scott and Maureen Proctor and welcome to Meridian Magazine's Come Follow Me podcast,

where today we will study Doctrine in Covenant, section 49 and 50, in a lesson called

That Which is of God is Light.

Transcripts for these podcasts are at Latterday Saintmag.com forward slash podcast so that you can read anything again that we

mention. Do us a favor and please tell your friends about this podcast. Spread the word.

Lehman Copley joined the newly formed Church of Christ, as the church was then called, in the spring of

1831.

He was the prosperous owner of a 700-acre farm in Thompson, Ohio, a few miles northeast of

Kirtland.

He had previously been a member of the Shakers, so-called because of their ecstatic dancing and behavior

during worship service, and perhaps had been drawn to the

restored gospel because of some similarities. Both groups believed in a general apostasy,

modern revelation, and communal living. But their beliefs also differed broadly. The Shakers believed

in a second coming, which had already

happened in the form of Mother Anne Lee, an early member of their church. Many were vegetarian,

and in marriage and sexual relations, they espoused celibacy. Since Lehman Copley was married,

the shaker leader, Ashbell Kitchitchell chided Copley that he had

taken up with Mormonism as the easier plan. This is not a recipe for growth of any religion, and in fact,

Wikipedia lists the number of shakers left today as only three.

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