The Book of New Covenants is a branch-specific scripture associated with Ervil LeBaron and the Church of the First Born of the Lamb of God, a violent Mormon fundamentalist group that separated from larger fundamentalist Mormon currents.

Ervil LeBaron came out of a Mormon fundamentalist background shaped by disputes over priesthood authority, plural marriage, prophetic succession, and claims to continuing revelation after Joseph Smith. His family had connections to the LeBaron fundamentalist movement in northern Mexico, where competing claims of authority became a major source of division.

The Church of the First Born of the Lamb of God was one of the groups that formed around Ervil LeBaron’s claims. LeBaron presented himself as a divinely appointed leader and used revelation, priesthood claims, and apocalyptic language to justify his authority over followers. The Book of New Covenants was tied to those leadership claims and circulated within his movement.

The text functioned less like a broad Restoration scripture and more like an internal revelation and authority document. It helped define who held authority, what covenants bound the group, and how followers were expected to understand LeBaron’s role. Within that setting, scripture was not only devotional. It was also organizational, disciplinary, and political.

The Book of New Covenants was not part of the LDS Church’s standard works, Community of Christ scripture, or the canons of the larger Restoration branches. It belonged to a narrow and highly specific Mormon fundamentalist context.

Because of its association with Ervil LeBaron, the text is also tied to one of the darkest chapters in Mormon fundamentalist history. LeBaron’s movement became connected with violence, coercion, and murders carried out under religious justification.

Used by: Church of the First Born of the Lamb of God.