By Jerald and Sandra Tanner

Several years ago we were sitting in the office of the Mormon Apostle LeGrand Richards, when he threatened us as follows:

I’m warning you! Don’t start anything against this church!

Since that time people have asked us such questions as: “Do you have a gun to protect yourself?” or “Do you have fire insurance on your equipment?” One man stated: “I would like to see you succeed, but I know they will burn you out.”

Fortunately, the Mormon leaders have not tried to destroy our press (as they did the Nauvoo Expositor), nor have they sent the Danites in the night (as Brigham Young used to do). Except for a few treats to sue or arrest us, and one man who threatened to punch Sandra “in the nose,” things have been rather peaceful. The Church has not used violence against us, as many people thought they would, but instead they have used silence as their chief weapon against us.

But why silence? It is our sincere belief that the Church leaders have no satisfactory answers to the charges of fraud and deceit that we have brought against them, and therefore they have used the “silent treatment” on us. This treatment seemed to work fairly well for the first few years, however, it is becoming less effective as time goes on. Many members of the Church are beginning to wonder why the Church leaders are so silent. Our mailing list is growing constantly, and there seems to be more interest than ever before. We are beginning to receive a great deal of help from members of the Church who are very disturbed with the way their leaders have used deceit to preserve the image of the Church. Some have offered to help us obtain microfilms and photocopies of rare documents, and others have given us information which will be very helpful to us.

One man spent a great deal of time trying to find an addressing machine to help us put out our mailing list faster. After finding the proper machine, he paid half the cost of it. This will be a great help to us.

We hope to receive many new names for our mailing list; the Messenger is sent free to those on our mailing list.

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