By Jerald and Sandra Tanner
There are three main groups of people that provide most of the support for this ministry:
- Mormons who are very disturbed with the changes and cover-ups which have plagued their church. While they do not desire to leave Mormonism, they feel that our work is having a good effect upon the church.
- Ex-Mormons who desire to bring their friends to a knowledge of the truth. Three, Christians who have never been Mormons but have a concern for LDS people and desire to win them to the Lord. These people make it possible for us to carry on this important work.
Since we want a large number of people to read the books and come to the truth, we try to provide them at the lowest possible cost to our readers. Consequently, the money we receive from our books and tapes only covers about half the cost of running Utah Lighthouse Ministry. If it were not for those who provide donations to our ministry, we would be in serious trouble! We consider these people to be a vital part of our team. They are, in fact, making an important investment in the souls of people who have been misled with falsified information furnished by the LDS Church.
Lately, the Lord has really been blessing the work. Mormons are calling us on the phone, coming into the bookstore or writing to us concerning their doubts about the church, and many of these people are turning to the Lord. For example, the following appears in a letter we recently received:
I wanted you to know . . . that my wife, children and myself have, in essence, left the Mormon Church. I am now writing a letter to my bishop that explains our decision. . . . I plan to send copies of that letter to our friends who are still in the Mormon Church . . . In addition to this, each member of my family has accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior . . . we recognize that each of us owe the both of you and your ministry a great deal for getting us to that point. . . . In my opinion, your publications stand as an historically accurate and objectively based factual presentation . . . We . . . are grateful to have found the truth about the Mormon Church and most certainly, the love that Jesus Christ has for each of us. I have often seen your names and publications labeled as anti-Mormon. In actuality, a more appropriate designation for your work is pro-truth. (Letter from Florida, dated March 4, 1991)
While we have been very pleased with the progress that has been made within the last few years, we look forward to the future with even greater expectations. The Mormons seem to be far more receptive to the message than at any time we can remember. Over a year ago we were surprised to learn that a woman who had left the Mormon Church many years ago had died and left us a good deal of money. She gave this gift because she appreciated the work we had done. We were able to use this money to obtain some very good printing equipment. We can now print almost twice as fast as we could on our old press. In addition, after the pages are printed we now have a sorter which automatically gathers them into books. The pages were previously collated by hand. This was a slow and difficult process. We thank God for this new equipment.
The Mormons are more open to the truth than ever before, and we now have the capability to disseminate the material they need in larger quantities. The Lord willing, we are prepared to move ahead with the work at an accelerated pace. Our readers can have a part in this important work in two different ways: They can remember the ministry in their prayers, and they can also help by providing donations which will help us to reach many more people.