Church of Christ with the Elijah Message

The Church of Christ with the Elijah Message
Church of Christ "With the Elijah Message" meetinghouse in Independence, Missouri
Classification	Latter Day Saint movement
Orientation	Latter Day Saints
Polity	Church conference
Moderator	None; all members of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles are equal
Region	United States
Founder	William Draves
Origin	1943
Separated from	Church of Christ (Fettingite)
Separations	Church of Christ with the Elijah Message (The Assured Way of the Lord)
Members	c. 12,500 worldwide as of 1987

The Church of Christ with the Elijah Message, also known as The Church of Christ With the Elijah Message, Established Anew 1929, is a denomination of the Latter Day Saint movement, headquartered in Jackson County, Missouri. It split from the Church of Christ (informally referred to as the "Fettingites") in 1943 in a dispute over claimed revelations given to its founder William A. Draves. Draves, an elder in the Fettingite group, claimed to be receiving messages from an angelic being who identified himself as John the Baptist—the same person who had allegedly appeared to Fettingite founder Otto Fetting, a former apostle of the Temple Lot Church of Christ. While many Fettingites accepted these new missives, some did not, leading Draves to form his own church. His adherents claim it to be the sole legitimate continuation of Fetting's organization, as well as that of the Temple Lot church. As of 1987, the church had approximately 12,500 adherents spread between Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas.

The church's name originates in the alleged visitations of John the Baptist to Otto Fetting and William Draves. In Matthew 11:14, Jesus Christ identifies John with the prophet Elijah in the Book of Malachi; hence the use of "Elijah Message". Malachi 4:5-6 says: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And He shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers; lest I come and smite the land with a curse". Members believe that the purported visits of this "messenger" fulfill Malachi's prophecy, as well as others found in Revelation 14:6, Malachi 3:1, Deuteronomy 18:15-19, and Daniel 7:9-10.

Otto Fetting was born on 20 November 1871 in Casco, St. Clair County, Michigan. Making his home in Port Huron, Michigan, he was baptised into the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on February 9, 1891, and ordained to its priesthood in 1899. In 1925, dismayed by the "Supreme Directional Control" controversy within the RLDS church, Fetting switched his allegiance to the Temple Lot Church of Christ (also informally known as "Hedrickites"). At the time, this did not require rebaptism or reordination, as each group accepted the priesthood and sacraments of the other. In the spring of 1926, he was among seven men ordained to be Apostles in the Church of Christ.