Law of Succession

The Law of Succession asks a precise question: how does presiding authority pass in the higher Priesthood and Kingdom order restored through Joseph Smith?

The summary below points to the detailed publication Priesthood and the Law of Succession and the related Priesthood-line materials. The central point is that succession in the Church of the Firstborn is Patriarchal. It is bound to birthright, adoption, legitimate bestowal, and the lawful transmission of Priesthood keys; it cannot be claimed arbitrarily, by ambition, or by unauthorized self-appointment.

Do Not Collapse the Categories

The succession materials distinguish several things that are often blurred together:

  • ordinary Church administration,
  • apostolic presidency through the Quorum of the Twelve,
  • the Patriarchal Priesthood and birthright order,
  • the Kingdom of God / Council of Fifty, and
  • the Church of the Firstborn as the Father’s Family Order.

Confusion begins when one of these is treated as if it automatically exhausts all the others. Apostolic administration, for example, may preserve and govern an outward Church, but the Father’s Family Order turns on Patriarchal right, sealing, birthright, and lawful transmission in the higher Priesthood.

Succession Is Patriarchal

The succession claim is not merely institutional. Joseph Smith’s work restored fathers, sons, kingdoms, and the promises of Abraham. Within that order, authority is transmitted by covenantal right: father to son, birthright to heir, or lawful adoption and bestowal under one who actually holds the keys.

This is why succession cannot be reduced to public office alone. A man may hold visible office and yet not stand as the birthright heir in the higher Patriarchal Order. Conversely, a birthright claim still requires lawful Priesthood bestowal and divine legitimacy. Both the family line and the Priesthood commission matter.

Authorization, Not Ambition

The law therefore guards against unauthorized claims. No one becomes the presiding Patriarchal heir of the Church of the Firstborn by preference, publicity, possession of papers, or the ability to gather followers. The claim must rest on a legitimate line, a lawful bestowal, and the Spirit of God confirming the order.

The present public summary of that claimed line is given on The Priesthood Line: Joseph Smith → Benjamin F. Johnson → Alma Dayer LeBaron → Ross Wesley LeBaron → Fred C. Collier. The detailed historical argument belongs in the cited publications.

Related Pages

Primary Study

Begin with Priesthood and the Law of Succession, then read The Priesthood Line for the present summary of the claimed line. For Brother Collier’s treatment of independent Fundamentalist claims to Priesthood fulness, see Independent Fundamentalists and Their Claims to the Fulness of the Priesthood.