Transcription
SamMORMONISM–SHADOW or REALITY?By Jerald and Sandra TannerFifth EditionReformattedple
MORMONISM–SHADOW or REALITY?By Jerald and Sandra TannerFifth Edition1987Reformatted2008
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Contents1. A Marvelous Work?.1Miraculous Claims—The Only True Church?—The BestPeople?—Updated Material2. Change, Censorship and Suppression.5Changing Doctrines—Rebaptism—Censorship—ChangingAn Article of Faith—Key to Theology—Journal ofDiscourses—Lucy Smith’s Book—Book Burning—Suppressing the Records—Dr. Nibley Refused—Apostles’Threats—Mormons Protest Suppression—Updated Material3. Changes in the Revelations.14Book of Commandments—Not For Reproduction—OtherChanges—Study of Changes—Important Changes—Unthinkable?—Updated Material4. Joseph Smith and Money-Digging.32Joseph Smith’s 1826 Trial—Importance of Discovery—ACommon Practice—Peep Stones—Book of Mormon FromStone—Embarrassed Over Stone—Relationship to Bookof Mormon—Working with the Rod—Affidavits andStatements—The Treasure Hunt Revelation—UpdatedMaterial5. The Book of Mormon.50The Witnesses—Character of Witnesses—Apostasy—Strang and McLellin—Unreliable Witnesses—MartinHarris—Oliver Cowdery—David Whitmer—Angels andGold Plates—Too Much Excitement—Harris’ ShakerBook— Ancient Or Modern?—Fits Smith’s Environment—Revivals—Infant Baptism—Church of Christ—Ministers andMoney—Westminster Confession—Masonic Influence—Bible Influence—The Apocrypha—Old Testament—NewTestament—List Of Parallels—A Real Dilemma—Alpha andOmega—Origin of Indians— “Wonders of Nature”—“NoTraveller Returns”—Vapor of Darkness—Not Unique—“AnIgnominious Death”—Joseph Smith’s Father’s Dream—Smith Probably Qualified—Changes in the Book ofMormon—Lost Book of Lehi—Making Up Names—BibleProphecy—Beyond the Book of Mormon—Updated Material6. Archaeology and the Book of Mormon.97A Pagan People—A Lost Civilization—Mormon ScholarsFace the Truth—Nephite Coins and Chariots—AnthonTranscript—“Deformed English”—Bat Creek Stone—Fraudulent Inscriptions—Kinderhook Plates—Falsificationof History— “Childish Forgeries”—Newark Stones—Treeof Life Stone—Lehi, Sariah and Nephi?—Geography—HillCumorah—Compared With Bible Archaeology—UpdatedMaterial7. Changes in Joseph Smith’s History.126Written By Joseph Smith?—New Discoveries—FilmSupplies New Evidence—Over 60% After Smith’s Death—Rocky Mountain Prophecy—Selected Changes—Conclusion—Updated Material8. The First Vision.143Vision Criticized—“Strange” Accounts—An ImportantChange—Revision Required—First History—Too ManyStories—Doctrinal Change—Source of Confusion—AnEvolving Story—No Revival in 1820—Lane and Stockton—Moving the Revival—A Changing Story—Joseph aMethodist—Joseph Changed His Mind—Clandestine’sErrors—Professor Hill’s Speech9. The Godhead.163From One to Many—The Heavenly Mother—Serious Changes—Removing the ands Or Wings?—A ChangeableGod—The Holy Ghost—No Real Answers—UpdatedMaterial10. The Adam-God Doctrine.173Falling Upward— “Our Father And Our God”—Confusionand Strife—Updated Material11. The Priesthood.179Added Later—Aaronic Priesthood—MelchizedekPriesthood—High Priests—First Presidency—Age ofOrdination12. The Arm of Flesh.183Thinking a Sin?—No Revelation—Updated Material13. False Prophecy.186The Canadian Revelation—The Lord’s Coming—A Templein Zion—The Civil War—The Gathering—Joseph’s Boys—Other Prophecies—Updated Material14. The Hereafter.196Universalists—Joseph Changes His Mind—MormonPurgatory—Degrees Of Glory—Dissolved and ReorganizedSpirits15. The Missionary System.20016. Plural Marriage.202Reason For Revelation—Breaking the Law—ContradictsBook of Mormon—Contradicts the Bible—Threatenedwith Destruction—Wives Before the Revelation—LeadersPuzzled—Sorrows of Polygamy—Discord in Joseph’sHome—Lived With His Wives—Number of Wives—TakingOther Men’s Wives—Polygamy or Promiscuity?—John C.Bennett—Sarah Pratt Affair—Martha Brotherton—NancyRigdon—Strange Marriages—Polygamy and Courtship—Only 2%—One-Wife System Condemned—Adam aPolygamist—God and Christ Polygamists—Essential toSalvation—Updated Material17. The Manifesto.231After the Manifesto—“Manifesto A Deception”—Polygamyin Utah Today—Taylor’s 1886 Revelation—The Dilemma—Updated Material18. Mormonism and Truth.245The Mormon Battalion—Making God a Liar—Conclusion19. Joseph Smith.252A Fighting Prophet—General Smith—“The GreatestEgotist”—Mixing Politics And Revelation—Destruction ofthe Expositor—Like a Lamb?
20. The Virgin Birth.260Conclusion21. The Negro in Mormon Theology.262Black Skin—Pre-Existence—Sons of Cain—Through theFlood—One Drop Disqualifies—Negroes in the Priesthood—Negroes Unhappy—Objections To Doctrine—For Cain’sSins—Negroes and the Gospel—Nigerian Mission—Rootedin Prejudice—Slavery in Utah—Civil Rights—The GenesisGroup—Athletes Protest—A Serious Situation—ChurchRejects g Issue—A New Revelation?—Joseph FieldingSmith—An Honest Solution—Conclusion—UpdatedMaterial22. Fall of the Book of Abraham.294The Papyri Rediscovered— “Caught Flat-Footed”—Historyof Papyri—Deciphering Egyptian—Spalding’s Attack—“Dr. Webb”—Tragic Neglect—Not Out Of Date—ASuspicious Discovery—Other Papyri Suppressed—No Giftto Translate—Nibley Not An Egyptologist—Dr. Nelson?—Source of Book of Abraham—Book of Breathings—Writtenin Hieratic—Finding the Key—Three Witnesses AgainstBook—Dr. Nibley Confused—Nibley Reverses HisPosition—Abraham’s Signature—A False Translation—Basis For Anti-Black Doctrine—From a Hole in thePapyrus—An Unfinished Work—Complete Confusion—Justa Memory Device?— “Bushels of Nonsense”—Facing theTruth—The Facsimiles—Facsimile No. 2—FalsificationProven—Part A—Part B—Part C—Part D—Part E—PartF—Part G—Part H—Part I—Parts J and K—Joseph SmithResponsible— “Cannot Be Revealed”—A Pagan Object—Facsimile No. 1—Unfamiliar Writing?—Not Unique—TheInterpretation—Changes nn Facsimile—Facsimile No. 3—Dressed Like Women—A Common Scene—Not Abraham’sDrawings—Book Of Joseph—Joseph’s Egyptian Alphabet—“Mere Imagination”—Nibley Repudiates Grammar—Master Of All Languages—Possible Sources—ImitationGenesis—Other Sources—The Moment of Truth—TheBrowns’ Attack—Nibley’s New Book—More on the GodMin—Return to Old Facsimiles23. Old Testament Practices.370Wine And Curses—Animal Sacrifice24. Mormon Scriptures and the Bible.373Paine’s Influence—Evidence Compared—Dead SeaScrolls—Isaiah Text—Evidence For New Testament—Papyri Finds—“130,000 Different Readings”—“InspiredRevisions”—Weak Points—Beyond the Text—“DrasticallyChanged”—Revising the Revisions—Conclusion—UpdatedMaterial25. Blood Atonement.398Capital Crimes—Was It Actually Practiced?—UpdatedMaterial26. The Word of Wisdom.405Origin Of Revelation—Joseph’s Example—Joseph’s Bar—Young’s Distillery—Wine and Visions—Hypocrisy27. The Mormon Kingdom.414Council of Fifty—Joseph Made King—Joseph ForPresident—Brigham Young As King—Church and StateOne—No Democratic Elections—Moses Thatcher—Attackon America—Decline of the Kingdom—Conclusion—Updated Material28. The Danites.428Attempted Explanations—Origin of the Danites—JosephSmith to Blame—Stealing from the Gentiles—CuttingThroats—“War of Extermination”—Mormon Crimes—Joseph Surrenders—Trouble in Illinois—Using the MeanDevils—Bill Hickman—Orrin Porter Rockwell29. Temple Work.451Baptism for the Dead—Endless Genealogies—Elijah theProphet—All in Vain?—Temple Marriage—Connected WithPolygamy—Sealing in Spite of Sin—A Secret Ceremony—Updated Material30. The Temple Ceremony .462By a Temple Worker31. Changes in the Temple Ceremony.474Bloody Oaths—Oath of Vengeance—Other Changes—Testimony on Ceremony—Sealing Men to Men—Conclusion32. The Temple Ceremony and Masonry.484Joseph Becomes a Mason—Masonry in Temple Ritual—OnlyOne Explanation—Embarrassing Questions—Conclusion33. The Mountain Meadows Massacre.493The Utah War—The Massacre—After the Massacre—Lee’sExcommunication—Trial and Execution—ResponsibilityFor Massacre—Church Opposes Study34. Mormonism and Money.516Church Funds For Private Gain—Young Becomes Rich—Joseph F. Smith’s Testimony—Over 1,000,000 a Day—TaxProblems—Control of News Media—No Paid Ministry?—Church or Business—Updated Material35. Speculation, Illegal Banking.528and CounterfeitingSpeculation—The Kirtland Bank—Disaster—Bankruptcy—Fraudulent Acts—Counterfeiting—Apostles Indicted—“Bogus Brigham”—The Whittlers—GovernmentRecords—A Rapid Exodus—Bogus Makers Go West36. Blood Flows in Utah.545Killing the Thieves—Parrish Murders—Young Indicted forMurder—No Protection in Utah37. Miscellaneous History and Doctrine.560Birth Control—Compressed Spirits—Vegetable Spirits—AYear’s Supply of Food—John Whitmer’s History—TheLiving Earth—Changing the Blood38. Facing Reality.563Exalts the Pride of Man—Church Not Lost—Our OwnTestimony—Mormonism A ShadowAppendix—Questions About Our Work .5701. How did you begin this work?2. Is your work effective in reaching Mormons?3. Is there any opposition to your work?4. What is the purpose of your work and what do you hopeto accomplish?5. Is it true that you were excommunicated from the LDSChurch?6. How do you feel about the Mormon people?7. Is it true that you have stolen films from the ChurchHistorian’s Office?
iPrefacePrefaceThis book was first published in mimeographed form in 1963.Although a large publishing company predicted that there wouldonly be “250 to 300 people in the U.S. who would be sufficientlyinterested in a work of this kind to buy it,” it was an immediatesuccess and thousands of copies were sold. Finally, in 1980 MoodyPress brought out a condensed version of Mormonism—Shadowor Reality? under the title of The Changing World of Mormonism.As we prepare this Preface for the fifth edition, we are pleasedto announce that about 65,000 copies of these publications havebeen distributed throughout the world. In the Introduction to TheChanging World of Mormonism, Wesley P. Walters, ContributingEditor for the Journal of Pastoral Practice, wrote the following:“Oh, this stuff is dynamite!” exclaimed a prestigious director of aMormon Institute of Religion. “I tell you, though you may not believeit, I have seen people get utterly crushed, almost devastated with someof the material that the Tanners have reproduced.”“I will tell you,” he continues, “there was an Institute teacher here,not long ago . . . who lost his testimony and went out of the churchon the basis of this stuff.”That description of the effects of Jerald and Sandra Tanner’spublishing efforts to unmask Mormonism is hardly an overstatement.Their major work, Mormonism—Shadow or Reality?, has soldmore than thirty thousand copies without any advertising campaign,simply because it is the most definitive work in print on the fallaciesof Mormonism. This condensed version of that earlier work, thoughstill of necessity lengthy, sets forth the heart of their extensive research.Since Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? is critical of theMormon Church, one would expect that it would have a verylimited circulation among the Mormon people. We are happyto report, however, that a rather large percentage of the copieshave been sold directly to Mormons. Many of the books, in fact,have been sold in Salt Lake City, Utah, which is the center ofMormonism. The response by the Mormon people has been veryencouraging. Leroy Searle made this comment:This reviewer was reared a devout Mormon, for many years was afirm believer, and was the president of an LDS Seminary at GrangerHigh School. . . .The appearance of the Tanner’s book is certain to arouseconsiderable renewed controversy, . . . I am certain that this book willbecome a standard in scholarly work dealing with the history of Utahand Mormonism. . . . The overall result is a publication of tremendousinterest for both Mormon and non-Mormon, and a valuable collectionof selected quotations from rare early literature of Mormonism. . . .As a discussion of doctrinal history, the work is a real achievementin scholarship . . . a search for truth, no matter of what world, willcontinue. The Tanners are to be commended whether freely orreluctantly, for having had the courage to assist in that search. (Nova,A Newspaper of Opinion, Logan, Utah, January 11, 1965, p. 5)Another member of the Mormon Church made this commentin a letter:Perhaps by way of interest, I might mention that I had studieddeeply into our history and doctrine before coming upon yourmaterials, . . . It’s my opinion that your book, Mormonism—Shadowor Reality, if widely read by Mormon and Non-Mormon alike, woulddo more harm to the church than any other volume published in the last50 to 75 years. It could almost tear the Church apart. Your approach isnovel; you’ve used our own history and doctrine, and your quotationsare accurate (Letter from Arizona, dated July 28, 1965).In 1965 we received a visit from Wallace Turner, a correspondentfor the New York Times. He made these comments concerning ourwork in his book, The Mormon Establishment:Dr. Thomas F. O’Dea, . . . insists that the church is in the midst ofa crisis. . . . But in keeping with Dr. O’Dea’s theory of the sleepingcrisis, one of the most influential apostates of the 1960s has been ayoung machinist, who with his wife, left the church and now makesa living printing books and documents which contradict officialMormon pronouncements.His name is Jerald Tanner. His wife, Sandra, is a great-greatgranddaughter of Brigham Young . . . They lived in the summerof 1965 in an old house at 1350 S. West Temple Street . . . He andNathan Eldon Tanner, the high LDS official, are both descended, hethought, from John Tanner, the man who helped Joseph Smith in the1830s. Both the young man and his wife grew up in the LDS church.He drifted away first and she followed . . . the three of us sat in thehigh-ceilinged living room of the old house and discussed the generalquestion of how one feels on leaving the company of the Saints.“It was a long time before I could admit I didn’t believe the Bookof Mormon,” said Sandra Tanner, dandling Brigham Young’s greatgreat-great-grandchild on her knee. “It was weeks after that before Icould say it out loud.”. . .The Tanners operate as the Modern Microfilm Company. Theyspecialize in copying books and documents that are out of print, orhave been suppressed in one way or another, but that bear on thehistory and doctrine of the LDS church. When I talked with them,they had thirty-one titles for sale. The best seller was Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? prepared by them jointly . . . Near the end oftheir book attacking the LDS church and denouncing its doctrines theTanners have signed individual statements setting out their religiousexperience. Jerald Tanner wrote that he was born and reared in theMormon church, but that he was nineteen years old before he heardthe Word of Christ preached . . . He considers himself a Protestant, abeliever in Christ and in the doctrines of eternal salvation preachedby Protestants. However, he now refuses to accept any of the doctrinethat belongs exclusively to the LDS church. . . .Sandra Tanner’s statement shows that she had doubts about herreligion, but was generally able to contain them—until “I met Jeraldand we began studying the Bible and Mormonism together. As westudied I began to see the contradictions between the Bible and theteachings of the Mormon church.”As a child she had been taught to admire her ancestor,Brigham Young. This was the point at which Jerald Tanner
iiMormonism—Shadow or Reality?made his attack on her faith. He did it in Brigham Young’s own words.“Then Jerald had me read some of Brigham Young’s sermonsin the Journal of Discourses on Blood Atonement,” Mrs. Tannerwrote. “I was shocked! I knew what Brigham Young was sayingwas wrong but I couldn’t reconcile these sermons with the things Ihad always been taught concerning him. I knew these were not thewords of a Prophet of God.“As I studied I not only found errors in Mormonism, I also beganto comprehend there was something wrong in my own life. As Istudied God’s word I realized I was a sinful hypocrite.”That day as she talked in the living room of the old house acrossfrom the ballpark in Salt Lake City, she remembered her first meetingwith Jerald Tanner. She was visiting her grandmother.“I fell in love with him,” she said quite simply and withoutembarrassment. Then she used a typical Mormon analogy to explainwhat she thinks their present life purpose to be. “What we do is moreof a mission, you might say.”. . .There also is the demonstration by the Tanners that an apostatefrom the Mormon church generally takes with him their techniquesof indefatigable research and argument that he was taught whilein the church’s embrace. The Tanners’ masterwork, Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? is an intricate weaving of arguments from manysources against the fundamental precept of the Saints’ doctrine—thatJoseph Smith, Jr., was a prophet of God . . .With the Tanners the church today finds itself faced by its owntechniques of argument and its own words turned back against it tocreate doubts and uneasiness among some members. The campaignis effective, too, and of this there is no doubt. (The MormonEstablishment, by Wallace Turner, Boston, 1966, pp. 153-162)In between the time Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? wasfirst published and the revised edition appeared in 1972 manyimportant things happened. By far the most significant was therediscovery of the papyri from which Joseph Smith “translated”the Book of Abraham, for this papyri proves that the Book ofAbraham is the work of Joseph Smith’s own imagination. Anotherimportant discovery was that the Mormon Church had beensuppressing important accounts of Joseph Smith’s First Visionwhich differ from the account printed in the Pearl of Great Price.Wesley P. Walters made a number of significant contributionsto Mormon history. His most important being the discovery ofan original document which proves beyond all doubt that JosephSmith was a “glass looker” and that he was arrested, tried andfound guilty by a justice of the peace in Bainbridge, New York,in 1826. Mr. Walters also discovered that there was no revival inPalmyra, New York, in 1820 as the Mormon Church has alwaysmaintained. This discovery certainly casts a shadow of doubtupon Joseph Smith’s story of the First Vision.Many other important discoveries were also made since wefirst printed Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? In 1967 we beganpublishing our work The Case Against Mormonism. This was athree-volume study which dealt with many of the latest discoveries.Dr. Kenneth Kantzer, who was Dean of Trinity Evangelical DivinitySchool and now serves as Editor of Christianity Today, made thesestatements in a review of the first two volumes of this work:These books represent no ordinary polemic against Mormonism.This is the definitive, fully-documented, utterly devastating caseagainst the divine authority and truthfulness of the foundationaldocuments upon which the Mormon religion is based. Everyevangelical pastor should have these books in his library and everyintelligent lay Christian should know about them and refer to them. . .It is difficult to see how the Mormon church can survive the devastatingdestruction of its foundations as presented in these volumes. Certainlyfor any Christian, disturbed by Mormon claims, these works areutterly convincing. (Evangelical Beacon, Minneapolis, Minn., vol. 42,no. 1, October 8, 1968, p. 7)At the time we were writing The Case Against Mormonism,we also completed a two-volume work entitled, The MormonKingdom. Besides these volumes we printed a number of otherbooks on Mormonism. The 1972 edition of Mormonism—Shadowor Reality? was actually a condensation of the best material fromall of our books.Since 1972 there have been a number of significantdevelopments. For instance, before June, 1978, the MormonChurch firmly maintained that blacks were to be “denied thepriesthood” and that they were “not equal with other races wherethe receipt of certain spiritual blessings are concerned . . .”(Mormon Doctrine, 1966, p. 527). On June 9, 1978, however, theMormon newspaper, Deseret News, announced that the Presidentof the Church had a revelation that the curse had been removedand that blacks could hold the priesthood. We deal with this matterin the updated material for Chapter 21 of this book.On May 3, 1980, the church’s Deseret News revealed thata paper had been discovered which contained the charactersJoseph Smith copied directly from the gold plates of the Bookof Mormon. This find was reported to have been made by MarkHofmann. Less than a year after this startling announcement wasmade, the church’s newspaper reported that the same man haddiscovered a blessing in which Joseph Smith designated his son,Joseph Smith III, as his successor. In 1983 we learned that MarkHofmann had a letter by Martin Harris which became known asthe White Salamander letter. We soon became suspicious of theauthenticity of the letter. After bombs killed two people in SaltLake City in 1985, an investigation disclosed that Hofmann’sdocuments were forgeries. Since the Mormon leaders boughtmany of the forgeries, the claim of inspired leadership appearsto be seriously shaken. The reader will find information on thisin the updated material for Chapters 6 and 13.In 1974 we were finally able to obtain a copy of Joseph Smith’ssuppressed 1831 polygamy revelation. This revelation commandedthe Mormons to marry the Indians so that “their posterity maybecome white, delightsome and just, . . .” (see the updated materialfor Chapter 16). In 1976 we were allowed to examine a microfilmcopy of Joseph Smith’s diaries. These diaries, which had beensuppressed for about 130 years, have provided some very importantevidence concerning the falsification of the published History ofthe Church (see updated material for Chapter 7).Since the question of women in the Mormon Church hasreceived so much attention since 1980, we included some helpfulinformation concerning their place in Mormon theology in the1982 edition of this book (see updated material for Chapter 9,p. 172-A). Another interesting question that we explore is thepossibility of a Mormon-CIA connection. We became interestedin this matter when we learned that the Mullen Company, whichhandled public relations for the Mormon Church, was usedas a cover for the CIA and that a CIA agent helped with thepublication of a book which was favorable to the church. Thecover arrangement for the Mullen Company was revealed after itwas discovered that some of the planning for the Watergate breakin took place in its offices (see updated material for Chapter 27).The case against Mormonism grows stronger every year, butthe size of this book precludes adding much new material. Ournewsletter, The Salt Lake City Messenger, is sent free to all thosewho wish to keep up to date. Our address is found on the titlepage of this book. On October 7, 1972, Dr. Jennings G. Olson,of the Department of Philosophy at Weber College, made thesecomments about Mormonism—Shadow or Reality?:. . . there is now in existence a book which every Mormona n d i n t e r e s t e d n o n - M o r m o n s h o u l d s t u d y a n d p o n d e r.The book is by Jerald and Sandra Tanner, and it is calledMormonism: Shadow or Reality? . . . it is tightly packed with
Prefaceserious, responsible research which no one can deny is the mostcomprehensive and thorough analysis and evaluation of Mormonismever produced in the history of the Church.Any Mormon of Elemental identification who wants to “answer”the Tanners will have his hands full for a long time to come becausethe Tanners have the microfilm sources from the early Mormon Churchwhich no one before has had in such abundance. . . . I seriously doubtDr. Nibley will take this new revised book on, because he is quotedoften enough in it to be identifiable as one of the major contributors toMormonism’s obfuscation of issues; and he has actually contributed(unknowingly perhaps) to the growing painful dilemmas now facingthe Elemental Mormonism I have previously identified . . . if Dr.Nibley or anyone else decides to “answer” the Tanner’s book pointfor point I certainly promise to study that book carefully and reviewit in public. In the mean time I will state publically [sic] this book ofthe Tanner’s is a major contribution in the search for integrity andtruth about Mormonism, and I shall quote it a number of times. (“TheUniqueness of Mormonism: An Evaluation,” by Jennings G. Olson,October 7, 1972, pp. 22-23)It has now been fourteen years since Dr. Jennings Olson issuedhis challenge, yet the Mormon Church has remained officiallysilent concerning Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? Robert L.Brown and his wife Rosemary privately published a book entitledThey Lie in Wait to Deceive. This book claims to answer some ofthe charges we made against the Book of Abraham, but Mr. Brownacknowledged he was “not a spokesman for the LDS church, norwas I ‘commissioned’ by them to do this work.” In any case, weanswered the Browns’ misrepresentations in our book Can TheBrowns Save Joseph Smith? Some information concerning theirbook is also found in Chapter 22 of this book.Ian Barber is another individual who attempted a rebuttal. Inthe Preface to his booklet, What Mormonism Isn’t: A Response tothe Research of Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Mr. Barber emphasizedthat he was “not in any way attempting to speak officially forthe Mormon Church, and neither have I been commissioned orinvolved with any group or organization in the research, planningand writing of this material.” In the Introduction to the samebooklet, Mr. Barber acknowledges that “The Church has notofficially responded to the claims of the Tanners.” Mr. Barberapparently felt that something had to be done because of the impactof our material in New Zealand:In recent months in Auckland some attention has been focused onthe publications and writings of former Mormons, Gerald and SandraTanner, . . . The recent attentions, however, have been precipitatedby the actions of two former L.D.S. Church members in Auckland.While involved with the L.D.S. Church, Ron and Roberta Reeshad built a very successful book-distribution business stocking titlesof special interest to other members throughout. During 1980 theRees’ acquired material originating from the Tanners’ research, andapparently became convinced as to the validity of the fundamentalthesis underlying such efforts. They voluntarily withdrew themselvesfrom formal affiliation with the L.D.S. Church as a result, and havenow converted their business, “Beehive Books,” into a distributionpoint for material from the Modern Microfilm Company. (WhatMormonism Isn’t, Introduction)On June 12, 1981, Mr. and Mrs. Rees reported to us in a letterthat “nearly 70 Mormons” had come out of the church:On May 17th we sent to every Mormon Church leader and everyMormon on our mailing list in New Zealand a copy of our mailer . . .The response has been amazing . . . The most wonderful thing isthat we have been able to assist nearly 70 Mormons out of Mormonismand many of them to the real Lord Jesus Christ. We have a MormonBishop, 5 returned missionaries and two stake high councilmen nowiiion our mailing list. Every day some one approaches us and we areable to show them that Mormon claims are false . . . It really touchesus when a returned missionary who has just been shown all theevidence in your books that we have in our shop says with tears inhis eyes “The Church is not true and I have wasted two years of mylife and all that money for nothing.” Two days later he accepted theLord and is being baptised at the end of this month. He is helping hismother and aunt out of the church. The aunt rang us earlier this weekand we sent her a library copy of “Mormonism Shadow or Reality?”She phoned us back yesterday to say she had read it (must be a speedreader) and she now knows that the church is not true. She is a thirdgeneration Mormon!Some people declare to us after seeing the truth and coming to knowthat Mormonism is not true . . . “it’s like getting out of a prison.” Oneyoung man who said those exact words has now accepted Christ andwas baptised earlier this week.A later report from ano
firm believer, and was the president of an LDS Seminary at Granger High School. . . . The appearance of the Tanner's book is certain to arouse considerable renewed controversy, . . . I am certain that this book will become a standard in scholarly work dealing with the history of Utah and Mormonism. . . .
