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October 2017
I just finished listening to your podcast on the Mormon podcast community. I found it so fascinating and couldn’t stop listening to your story. I immediately recognized you because I worked at ________ bank and used to see your Utah lighthouse checks come in all the time. . . . I remember being curious what it was and looked it up online and was so offended that you were “anti Mormon” that I am afraid I was very judgmental and not as friendly as I should have been. I didn’t understand at that time why someone would “attack” the church.
It is amazing how much I have evolved since then and the wool has been lifted from my eyes. It’s been a long and difficult journey but I now think of you as a heroine and admire the courage it took to expose the Mormon church against so much opposition. Thank you for devoting your life to such a worthy cause.
I am sorry for the judgmental person that I was. I no longer work at that bank but I wish I did so that next time I saw you I could get the chance to be a friendlier person to you and get to know you a little better. . . . anyway, God Bless.
October 2017
I love being LDS
November 2017
You inspired me to find Christ. I have been a Christian for several years. I was living in Florida When the Wilders Son found Christ and brought the rest of his family in. You are a True pioneer . . . thank You for your courage. It gave me courage to make the choice to become a Christian. I love Jesus and I love Sandra and Gerald Tanner.
P.S. I called you 10 years ago at my darkest hour in my faith Crisis. You talked through to a place where I could choose and be happy . . . you have made such a difference.
November 2017
Yesterday, I finally came full circle in a story that began over 40 years ago while serving my mission as a young zone leader in the western suburbs of Sydney, Australia. A family that my companion and I were teaching expressed interest in the church but said that they had come across some questions that gave them pause and they hoped that we would be able to resolve these questions for them during our discussions appointments.
Being young, fully converted and never doubting that the church was everything that it claimed to be and also unknowingly being very naïve . . . we assured this family that there was not a question that could not be answered to their full and complete satisfaction. The father then handed me a book, Mormonism: Shadow or Reality by Gerald and Sandra Tanner. We promised to read the book and return with answers.
Despite being raised in an active LDS family, being completely devout and graduating from 4 years of seminary and a missionary preparation class at the local Institute of Religion, nothing had prepared me for this book.
Upon returning to our flat, aka apartment, I began to browse through the book. It didn’t take me long to realize that nothing in my previous 20 years of life had prepared me for what I was reading. Joseph’s compete disregard for living the word of wisdom such as riding his horse down the streets of Nauvoo while smoking his cigar, multiple changes and additions to the Doctrine and Covenants, Nephi being the name of the angel that appeared to Joseph instead of Moroni were just a few of the earth shattering revelations that rocked what I had thought was a firm unshakable testimony.
Needless to say I didn’t get very far in the book before I realized that were I to continue to read further, what testimony I had left would be torn to shreds, so devastating were the seemingly credible claims I was reading.
It’s hard to describe the depth of the spiritual pain I fell in, . . .
I approached God as a broken, devastated missionary and pleaded with Him to give me answers. I remember pouring out my heart and with tears flowing down my face, sharing my fears in what the consequences of these new revelations would mean. . . . [after an unusual event that he took to mean the church was true, he put our book aside] I went on with my mission becoming even more committed and dedicated than I had been before. I believed that God had personally intervened in my life and answered my prayer in a very real and direct manner.
Following my mission my life followed a very traditional Mormon path, dedication to the church, temple wedding, leadership positions etc. But somewhere buried deep within me, lying dormant, were those seeds of doubt that had been planted from reading the Tanner book. . . . In the many years since my mission, other doubts creped in, with a emergence of DNA, questions on why a people that are claimed to have filled the whole of America could [be] real and yet leave no trace of their existence. Of learning of the anachronisms in the Book of Mormon, discovering that Joseph would make things up and pass his stories off as factual truth . . . such as the Book of Abraham and the story of Zelph and many, many more which I won’t go into.
As my many doubts accumulated and as I tried to cling to belief, I would always hold to the experience of my miracle while on my mission to keep me going. But eventually my shelf became too heavy and one day I realized that all of these issues simply disappeared if I accepted the conclusion that the church simply wasn’t what it claimed to be.
Yes making this conclusion caused me to have to reinterpret this and other seeming miracles in my life as just random circumstances instead of a God taking a personal interest in me and interceding in my life.
For years I have known that the Tanner’s Lighthouse ministry bookstore is located on West Temple across from the Salt Lake Bee’s Baseball Field. I have driven past the building many times over the years, thinking someday I need to go in there and share my missionary experience with the Tanner’s but never have. Early on it would have been to go and testify to the lies that they were spewing but in recent years it would have been to share the story of how their book was instrumental in planting the seeds that would eventually lead me out of Mormonism.
Yesterday, as I was driving along West Temple, I passed the store and I thought today is the day. . . . I’m going to go in there. Upon entering, I asked if Sandra was available and was quickly introduced to a kind, gentle grandmotherly woman. After introducing myself, I proceeded to share my story.
For years I have thought about what this day might be like and I must admit that the years of my Mormon indoctrination did kick in which had taught me to fear this woman and what she represented, but those fears quickly vanish as I shared my story. We had a nice friendly conversation, one not unlike the many she must have on a weekly bases from others who have also discovered that the church is not what it claims to be. After sharing my story of how her book had been a real miracle in my life, I thanked her and left. The seed that she had help[ed] plant over 40 years ago had finally grown into a full tree and born fruit, the fruit of truth and knowledge.
November 2017
I have experienced many emotions as I have come to the realization that Joseph was not only a false prophet but also an Antichrist, in my opinion. I feel angry and betrayed. I live here in Utah. My family genealogy goes back to the beginning of the formation of the LDS church and on both sides of my family. I was raised in a polygamist family to later become LDS. It scares me to know how deeply this religion is embedded into our very fibers of our body. Once the greatest truth and now I just see another cult. My heart does break and yet I rejoice to come to this knowledge. I am so thankful for you and others like you who made the sacrifice to embrace the truth and then labor continually for people like me. I cry tears of relief and thankfulness to God and to you who serve him, thank you, thank you and may God bless you forever for your work.
December 2017
I am a family law attorney (married 29 years) and father of four. . . . I am a returned missionary and have been an active tithe paying member throughout my life.
My doubts about LDS truth claims began when watching the PBS special “The Mormons” in about 2008. For the first time, I learned that Joseph Smith “translated” the Book of Mormon using a seer stone.
Since that time, I have undertaken a deep study of LDS history. About six months ago, my proverbial “shelf” then collapsed. I have learned and clearly understand that Joseph Smith was deceptive and that he engaged in a pattern of making repeated grandiose and untrue claims.
The good news is that my faith in Christ is stronger than ever. I am excited that I can now follow Christ free from the clutter and distraction of Joseph Smith’s incorrect ideas. (Though, I have also taken many good things with me.) I have started to attend a non-denominational Christian Church. . .
All of that said, I must now socially operate within a strong LDS family, neighborhood, and social network.
December 2017
Thank you for helping people like me out of Mormonism. Your documents have been enlightening and I treasure this new, free relationship I have come to know with Christ. Continue the good work!
January 2018
Sandra tanner is a joke
January 2018
I am so shocked to find that the one true church isn’t as true as it claims. After 56 years of devotion and donating I’m angry. My husband seems to think that only Mormons tell the truth while everyone else makes up lies. I feel so lost and alone.
February 2018
Your Darkhouse will soon join Jerald in his darkhouse. I think he is with the evil spirits and you soon will join him in Outer Darkness. I think you both are son/daughter of perdicion. You have accepted the antichrist as your savior, Satan/
February 2018
I read No Man Knows My History and No Ma’am That’s Not History. Fawn Brodie? A fraud. Knows how to twist facts quite nicely.
Sandra Tanner? Good candidate for the Missionary Alliance Church, whatever man-made group of teachings that may be. Sandra would crucify the Saviour all over again if He tried to teach her the truth. Very strange.
Trinity? Oh yeah. That’s a word found in the Bible. Right, Sandra. Oh. Maybe not. But we should believe this Catholic innovation. Because . . . Always fun to read your ramblings.
March 2018
I recently came to the Lighthouse Bookstore with my missions team Evangelical Mormon Interactions from Biola University. I was able to listen to Sandra tell some of her story and tell of her ministry. I just wanted to say that I found out after my trip to Utah that it was bcause of Sandra and Jerald Tanner’s book, The Changing World of Mormonism, that my mom decided to finally leave the Mormon church when she was 20 years old. From there she raised me and my brother to be evangelical Christians. It certainly is wonderful to see how God works in families’ lives.
March 2018
Sandra, when was the last time that you prayed and asked the Lord to forgive your sins?
Acts 3:19 “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.”
If you are not repenting of your sins then Satan has deceived you into a false sense of complacency, and as a result of this deception and the accumulation of sin in your life, you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven . . . worlds without end.
March 2018
[My family and] I drove out to the Mountain Meadows Massacre site. They were vaguely aware of the atrocity but knew nothing about it. Now they do know about it, not only as a historical curiosity in the distant past, but also as an evil event in the history of the Mormon Church. Good enough.
I have begun reading Mormon Enigma and am hoping I will be able to recommend it to my wife. From what I have read so far, I think I will be able to without causing any stress or hurt feelings. My goal is to avoid rude bashing of the faith, but instead to make available or gently reveal historical facts that are not known . . .
As for myself . . . it is by reason that I am a firm believer in an intelligent creator. It is by faith that I believe he is good in the Judeo/Christian sense of things. The idea of atheism just makes no sense to me whatsoever and I’ve listened to both sides of that discussion by some of the best thinkers.
What that all means to me in the eternal scheme of things is something I seem to be constantly considering. But I have concluded that from evidence that I have read (some of it thanks to you and your husband’s efforts), I have discarded the idea that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and, instead, consider him to be a grand fraud. And if he was a fraud, everything that came after him that uses him as a base of faith must also be wrong at best and a fraud at worst.
I grew up [attending Christian churches] . . . [I] became involved with the Mormon Church in my senior year in high school. I joined the Mormon Church shortly thereafter and had an enthusiasm for it that only a young convert can have. I look back on that time now with a certain amount of embarrassment at my zeal. . . . Based on the You Tube videos I have watched of you (some several times) as well as your seeing me at a time convenient for me, I hold you in very high regard.
April 2018
When our lives are over we will NEVER enter the kingdom of heaven unless and until we have repented of our sins.
When are you going to HUMBLE YOURSELF, Sandra, and kneel down and ask your Father in Heaven to forgive your sins? Pride is a killer, pride is a deceiver, and pride is a destroyer. Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
April 2018
I’ve followed this ministry since the late 70’s, and live in the heart of Mormon Country in Montana. I so appreciate your work and continuing education on behalf of the lost LDS. God has used the Tanners as pioneers leading Mormons out of bondage into to liberty in Christ—I have numerous LDS friends and it is heartbreaking to see how hard their lives are and to observe the fear they live in if they even question their teachings. We need to be going to battle daily for our LDS friends and family! Invite Missionaries in to your home and love on them . . . God has allowed you to be home when they called, for a reason! Bare your testimony of what God has done for you . . . they cannot argue that. God bless your work!
April 2018
I just finished reading Mormon Enigma and enjoyed it very much. I was able to share a few things with my wife. Nothing that she would consider faith shattering but things she did not know, nonetheless. I told her that the first few chapters were written in a faith promoting manner but soon delved into area’s that were shocking, even to me.
She asked me how the authors knew so much and I told her that they relied on journals and published accounts of the day. I also told her that the book was well received as being an accurate account of Emma Smith’s life by many in and out of the church.
I also told her that this second edition was modified from the first due to the discoveries of Mark Hoffman’s forgeries. I invited her to read the book, but she complained about the lack of time to do so, which is actually true. Interestingly, a lady at work knows who you are and is fairly well informed about Mormon history. She has even ordered books from your store.
When she saw that I was reading Mormon Enigma she asked if she could read it when I was finished. It now sits on her desk. My next book I have just started is Grant Palmer’s An Insider’s View . . . . Following that will be Charles Larson’s book on the papyri. I will save . . . your [Mormonism—] Shadow or Reality for last as I think that one is going to take some time to get through.
April 2018
One of the best moments of my transition from Mormonism was the chance to sit down and talk to Sandra for a couple of hours. She kindly asked about “my story,” we talked doctrine, and most importantly grace in Jesus Christ. Oh, and I got to apologize for harboring the bad feelings I held for she and Jerald because they had indirectly made my life as a Mormon missionary a refiners fire! You two are pioneers in your own right, and have my admiration and gratitude.
April 2018
Sandra Tanner has a large resource of published works and YouTube videos that allowed me to start to examine why the Mormon church is false and what is the truth.
I began my exploration when I woke up and asked what happened to the gold plates and found out they had conveniently been taken into heaven. Mormonism is burdensome to women, not just lacking power and equality, but in wanting to maintain family ties. There are so many broken family lines and those who do not believe, that the church cannot be true. When the absurd facts about Joseph Smith fall into place, it is a great relief to know that through Sandra Tanner I was able to see it for what it was and let it go. Polygamy is dreaded by church women and they fear being subject to it in the “next life.” Thank you Sandra Tanner. Access to your works continue to keep me mindful of the truth.
May 2018
I was born into the Mormon Church and my family dates back to 1848 when my ancestors were “sealed” in the temple. I always felt guilty because I could never keep all the laws and commandments they required so I would try, fail, give up and rebel. It was a vicious cycle.
. . . [years later] I started to perform my own research. I noticed the Bible taught a completely different Gospel and I trusted the Bible over the Church due to the overwhelming evidence. . . . I was still living in the world and was selfish. . . . I fell on my knees and worshiped Jesus as my personal savior, I surrendered my life to Him and was Changed at that moment. My whole view of Grace was completely WRONG. I was baptized shortly after and I have been sharing the good news with everyone I run into. There was a major change due to faith, fear of the Lord, and gratitude for Grace. I was mormon for 25 years and have been born again (praise God) for 1 year.
Originally appeared in:
“Excerpts from Letters and Emails,” Salt Lake City Messenger, no. 130, June 2018, 20-22.