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September 2018
I just wanted to thank Sandra for her videos on youtube. I am an ex-Mormon. I taught seminary for 2 years to teenagers and found it difficult to teach some of the things. I was advised by some good friends to leave it out if I didn’t agree with anything.
I was a member for about 3 years in total and as a single female who was low down in the patriarchal system, I was usually very uncomfortable even very angry about being excluded from so many things unless I was married. . . . I just wanted to thank you for your knowledge and for explaining so much about the church to us so clearly.
September 2018
Hello Mrs Tanner: . . . you won’t remember me but over 28 years ago you helped my wife and I come to know the Lord . . . I am . . . from New Zealand now coming back to USA.
September 2018
I was an LDS missionary serving in Fallon, NV in the spring/summer of 2000 and I nervously placed a mail order for ‘Shadow or Reality.’ I remember enclosing a note asking that the packaging not give any indication as to its contents since it would be passing through my Mission Office (as if it would come with a giant CONTAINS ANTI-MORMON LITERATURE stamped across the box or something—not sure what I was worried about lol).
I received the book a short time later (a beautiful hardcover when I’m pretty sure I had only ordered a paperback) with an invoice marked “NO CHARGE.”
The book, of course, changed my life, but it was the gesture that touched me and has stayed with me all these years. Not sure who made the call back then to hook up a scared, broke missionary in such a kind way, but here’s a heartfelt THANK YOU eighteen years later.
The Tanners and UTLM have done a lot of good for a lot of people. I’m one of them.
October 2018
I am a convert member of the lds church. I moved to Utah in august of 2017 . . . I have come across some peculiar information, mostly through your website as i try and read the journal of discourse concerning early church doctrine.
I am on a search for truth. I highly value salvation and its importance. If i am incorrect, i would rather be told so, than to slip myself to hell.
October 2018
Section 132 in D&C . . . gave me a lot of anxiety and devastation in my teens and 20’s, and even 30’s. It never felt like something Heavenly Father or Christ would say . . . yet the scripture said so, so I believed it had to be true . . . right? Well, I have been learning a lot over the past months, and I’ve found that my faith and confidence in Christ’s character and how He has always treated and spoken to me is so much more important—and probably more correct than words men wrote in a book. I can lose confidence in men, but not in Christ.
In May of this year, I had just discovered that on the day my great (4 greats) grandmother Mary Ann Bradford was to marry Archibald Gardner, Brigham Young asked Archibald Gardner to also marry her mother. I found that very disturbing and perverse.
In researching Brigham Young’s wives, I came across utlm.org and it mentioned Wife No. 19, Ann Eliza Young’s book. I stayed up reading that book one night until it was light, and that morning, I felt the horror of that thing on my “shelf”—polygamy—that thing that always ate at me no matter how I tried to avoid it and trust it would be explained later, leave. I knew Christ could not be the author of such horror. I felt immense peace, love, and gratitude.
In the past month, I enjoyed your Mormon Stories interview and discovered that utlm.org is your website! Ha! There is a lot I do not yet know and I feel like I have been studying constantly for 6 months! But, I feel closer to Christ than ever.
November 2018
Sandra Tanner is not a very nice person she is the devil . . .
Old nag lol.
November 2018
You saw me through my darkest hour and you don’t even know it. One day, I will stop in at your bookstore and personally praise Jesus with you. Thanks sweet sister. You are doing God’s work.
November 2018
Sandra, may you have a special Thanksgiving spent with family and those you love. Thank you so much for all the hard work you and Jerald did for so many years. God bless you for helping me to realize the falsehoods of Mormonism and how it lead me to the true Jesus Christ.
November 2018
Starting just a few months ago my eyes have been opened to the world outside of Utah and the LdS church. I haven’t been able to put down you tube and podcasts. Thank you most to the Tanners and Mormon stories for helping me through my journey.
November 2018
Still is nasty as ever. I hope it’s worth it, sucks to be you after this life.
December 2018
Years ago, I was a teenage convert to Mormonism. Needless to say, the missionaries did not tell me the whole story. When I started college, I met people with other worldviews and somehow I ended up receiving material from the Tanners. This was nearly 40 years ago and in my memory, I believe Sandra herself may have sent the tracts and a copy of the Book of Mormon with 3,000 errors which I requested. So, when I decided to look the Tanners up on the internet I found your site. I don’t know the status of Mrs. Tanner but if possible I would like to say thank you and wish her well.
December 2018
Mrs. Tanner, thank so you so much for all of your hard work over these many years. I’m a Baptist Pastor in ________ Fl, but my family has a long history of LDS roots in England and Ireland. Thankfully, my grandmother realized the church wasn’t true and the Book of Mormon was a clever attempt to deceive the massive by Joseph Smith. I can’t tell you how helpful your books, articles, and interviews have been to me as I’ve witnessed and cared for Mormon people. Thank you so much!
In Christ, Rev. M. H.
December 2018
I discovered this website in my research of how to help my Mormon friends see the Light of Jesus. All I can really say is thank you. Thank you for making this website. Thank you for providing everyone with this knowledge.
December 2018
Thanks so much for your lifelong effort to reveal the falsehood of Mormonism. I resigned my membership Oct. 6, 2018 – 42 yrs after my baptism in Ogden, UT.
I have so enjoyed the interviews you have done — John Dehlin, Ancient Paths, etc. I had never heard of you before this year.
God bless you and keep you in His tender care. You are a lovely lady. Wish I had met you a long time ago.
December 2018
Sandra,
My Bride and I are so very thankful that God used you to influence our Daughter from joining the LDS and being unequally yoked. Jesus is everything, the cross is enough, Jesus plus nothing!
January 2019
I want to thank you for your years and years of work. I found my faith in the lds church failing in 1992 after attending the temple ceremony. I read everything I could to help me get to a better understanding. You and your husbands work was paramount to me! THANK YOU!
January 2019
I have watched many of Sandra’s interviews and read many of her articles. It is hard to believe that intelligent people could be so misled. I have been impressed by her and her late husband’s research to help people like myself (an uninformed Christian) become informed that I might better share with my Mormon friends. Also, I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
January 2019
IT IS TOO LATE FOR JERALD. BUT THERE IS STILL A CHANCE FOR YOU! REPENT!
Do not PROCRASTINATE the day of your repentence (Alma 34:33- 35). You and your spouse have been leading thousands to Sprit Prison. Some of them are with him and many of them are in Paradise. Their eyes have been opened and they no longer believe your lies. He seems to be on the way to OUTER DARKNESS. YOU WILL JOIN HIM UNLESS YOU REPENT.
You are following the steps of KORIHOR. He preached and had success like You and Jerald. You follow another False Jesus (Jesus” brother, Satan) and fight against The True Jesus and His True Church, the LDS Church or Mormons as most Gentiles call them by.
You call your anti-Christ teachings the Utah Lighthouse Ministry. Well, I went to your store and it was a DARKHOUSE!!! I do not want to go back there again.
There is an evil spirit in that house. One day, all your halftruths and lies will all be exposed. I can debunk most of them even now. After this, I don”t want to waste my time reading your trash; and the satan’s alive for the FALSE JESUS THE DEVIL. . . .
I WISH YOU WELL. Even though you have been LED ASTRAY, IT IS NOT TO LATE FOR YOU. COME BACK TO THE TRUE CHURCH. TAKE DOWN YOUR WEBSITE, CLOSE YOUR STORE AND RECYCLE ALL YOUR WRITINGS, TO START WITH. MARRY A FAITHFUL LATTER-DAY SAINT IN THE TEMPLE TO REPLACE JERALD.
OTHERWISE, I’m sorry for you, very, very sorry. Jerald wasted the days of his probation. Do not be another Korihor. Leave Jerald to his fate. Do not follow his bad example.
With Love,
Joseph Smith’s Close Cousin
January 2019
Around 40 years ago your name was circulated around the area where I was growing up, as some kind of evil apostate. As you and I have the same first name, it caught my attention. Yet the “information age” had not quite dawned yet, so I was not able to get more information until about 15 years ago when a never-Mormon lent me “anti” books. Of course your “Shadow or Reality” book came as quite an enlightening read to me!
Well of course now your lectures and talks are easily available to watch and I have seen them all I suppose. Anyway, before the option is unavailable, I wanted to thank you. As a Mormon member for 40+ years and a direct descendant of Joe Smith and Brigham Young, etc. I was very conflicted about what I could clearly see as problems with the truth claims and fickle doctrines of the church and yet under blood oaths never to discuss my misgivings. The conflicts in my heart and mind drove me to seriously think of ending my own life.
I thought I was going crazy! My search for truths and the ideas by leaders that doing so was evil drove into my mind that I was completely full of darkness and unredeemable as a person. This ruined my marriage as well as poisoned my family relationships with siblings, parents, and my own children. Eventually I lost all my family, my home, and my birthright of Mormon faith. Just for seeking authentic truth outside the conflicting narrative LD$ leaders spoon fed us members.
Your research, books, lectures, and all your work saved me! I wish I had words to express what a treasure you have been to many of us who have suffered by ignorance and blind obedience to Mormon lies.
Thank you, again and again.
January 2019
My wife _______ and I were married in 1997, later sealed in 1998.
. . . Through a series of amazingly unlikely and absolutely God directed circumstances, [my wife] and I left the LDS church and found our faith in Christ in 2004 prior to ever stepping inside a Christian church. During an intense and very uncomfortable period of self-examination and questioning, pieces of your work found its way to me.
Thank you. I’ll never forget praying to God and telling Him that I wanted to know the truth. I didn’t care WHAT the truth was, but I just could not stand the possibility of being deceived concerning my relationship to Him. It was an older paper on the book of Abraham as I recall, which then lead me to some of your work on Church history and on and on to more of your work and the work of others.
In any case, God revealed His love and His grace to me and I was saved on my knees alone at a city park in May 2004, my wife found her way to Christ just a few short months later. Since then we have had the privilege of raising our family in a Christian home, been taught well in in healthy churches, enjoyed a God centered marriage, and been instrumental in helping many others as they struggle with Mormonism and the very real fears associated with leaving. We’ve been able to work with our own Pastor, and several others as a resource and an advocate to those who are leaving, or whom are still damaged by their time and experience in the LDS faith. It seems like anger is the biggest challenge for many. Standing by them, and allowing them to work through it with someone who understands is not particularly thrilling work, but it’s what God has us doing. I’m certain that you can relate. It’s on that note that I wanted to say a very overdue THANK YOU! You are respected and prayed for in our home.
March 2019
You cannot destroy the LDS church sweetheart it’s gods church and it’s here to stay good luck.
March 2019
I’m so grateful for all of research you and Jerald have done to outline the many changes to the church scriptures and the white-washed history of the Mormon church. I was able to mentally break from the church in 2014 and have never looked back. I will always be in your debt.
April 2019
It’s amazing how you lie all the time. God will punish you, mark my words, God will punish you.
April 2019
I stumbled upon your site after I encountered several Mormons . . . and I wanted to figure what Mormonism was all about, and why it was considered a cult (I had no idea).
Long story short, as I’ve begun to look into what they believe I’ve been shocked and saddened for the ways that they have been deceived, and just want to be more knowledgeable so that I know how to talk to them both about my faith, but also plant seeds of doubt about theirs.
I had begun some of my search by scouring through video after video, article after article, the official lds website, etc. I have been so overwhelmed with thankfulness as I’ve watched one video after another on youtube from Sandra Tanner. It has been such an incredible blessing to help me develop such a heart for the Mormon moms in my group, and their state of being lost. Mrs. Tanner is one of the best presenters of all the videos I’ve watched for sure.
April 2019
God help you after this life, you’re one hateful lady. And I’m so glad that the LDS church is driving you guys nuts, yeah baby.
May 2019
You seem like a person who needs attention, I love you do you need a hug? Is there something missing out your life that you have to bash the LDS church. You live a very sad life and I feel so sorry for you why do you care what the church does? Do we kill you, did we talk mean about you or what? you seem like a woman who is searching and I feel so sorry for you.
May 2019
Why don’t you go attack the Muslims who rape their kids or the Priest that molests little kids. By the way I am reporting you guys for slandering a religion.
May 2019
It was in the year of 2016, that I for the first time met LDS missionaries here in my hometown in Denmark. I was aware that Mormonism wasn’t Christian, but I had not studied it much. Even though I know much more now, I still feel that must study it more. Last week I met with three Mormon missionaries from the U.S. and we had a lengthy conversation about who God is and differences between their beliefs and my own as a Bible believing Christian. So in the conversation it was made quite clear, that we have very different beliefs.
May 2019
I’m trying to figure out why people hate the Mormons so much.
Originally appeared in:
“Excerpts from Letters and Emails,” Salt Lake City Messenger, no. 132, May 2019, 14-16.