R. C. Evans
Richard Charles Evans (October 20, 1861 – January 18, 1921) was a Canadian
Biography
Evans was born in St. Andrews in Argenteuil County, Province of Canada, in present-day Quebec. On November 5, 1876, at the age of 15, Evans was baptized in the Thames River in Ontario by RLDS Church preacher J. J. Cornish. In 1882, Evans became a priest in the church, and in 1884 and 1886 he became an elder and a seventy, respectively.
On April 12, 1897, at a
In 1918, Evans broke with the RLDS Church. Evans had complained about Prophet–President Frederick M. Smith's administrative style and the church's continuing denials that
In 1920, Evans published a book explaining why he left the RLDS Church. He wrote that while the "Reorganized 'Mormon Church' does not teach or practice polygamy", the "great sin" of the church "is in denying that Joseph Smith, their prophet, seer and revelator, received revelations commanding the church to enter into that God dishonoring and woman debasing doctrine under pain of eternal damnation".[2] Faced with these facts, Evans concluded that he "could no longer believe that God and Christ visited and conversed with Smith" and that he must have been a false prophet.[2] Although it was not central to his reasoning, Evans opined that Frederick M. Smith was "neither a prophet, seer, revelator nor God's mouth-piece to the church, but is an autocrat, cruel and tricky, and selfish in his methods."[3]
Evans died in Toronto from pneumonia.
Publications
- R.C. Evans (1909). Autobiography of Bishop R.C. Evans of the RLDS Church (Lamoni, Iowa: Herald Publishing House)
- —— (1912). Sermons (London, Ontario. advertiser job print). 420 pp. Weekly Sunday evening sermons delivered in 1911, some from his Soho Street church and the rest from the Princess Theatre. Originally appeared as columns in the Toronto Sunday World
- —— (1920). Forty Years in the Mormon Church: Why I Left It! (Toronto: R.C. Evans)
See also
Notes
- ^ a b Roger D. Launius, “Pretender to the Throne? R. C. Evans and the Problem of Presidential Succession in the Reorganization”, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought vol. 30, no. 2 (Summer 1997) pp. 81–102.
- ^ a b R.C. Evans (1920). Forty Years in the Mormon Church: Why I Left It! (Toronto: R.C. Evans) p. 4.
- ^ R.C. Evans (1920). Forty Years in the Mormon Church: Why I Left It! (Toronto: R.C. Evans) p. 80.
References
- JWHA Journal3 (1983): 40–50
- ——, “Pretender to the Throne? R. C. Evans and the Problem of Presidential Succession in the Reorganization”, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought vol. 30, no. 2 (Summer 1997) pp. 81–102
- W. Grant McMurray, "'His Reward is Sure': The Search for R.C. Evans", Restoration Trail Forum vol. 11, no. 2 (May 1985) pp. 5–6
- Elbert A. Smith, "The Death of R.C. Evans", Saints' Herald vol. 68 (1921-01-26) p. 76
- Frederick M. Smith, “R.C. Evans Leaves the Church.” Saints' Herald vol. 65 (1918-06-19) p. 589.