LIGHTHOUSE Jerald & Sandra Tanner

Review by Dale Brown

The subtitle reads “The Despised and Beloved Critics of Mormonism” written by Ronald V. Huggins.

Few Christian apologists or evangelists have not heard of the Tanners. In the early 1980’s I was exposed to their work and purchased a copy of the book Mormonism Shadow or Reality which had been in print in various forms for over a decade. These two ex-Mormons had been shaking up the world of Mormonism since the early 60’s, and laying a foundation of research for many other authors to follow. When Ronald Huggins decided to take on the task of writing the Tanners story he knew what a challenge he was in for, and I believe he has done an amazing job.

Both Jerald and Sandra come from a long line of Mormon ancestors, so for them as newlyweds in 1959, only an ex-Mormon could appreciate the pressure they would have experienced as they began to question the history and reliability of the church and it’s prophet Joseph Smith. Moving from California to Salt Lake in 1960 they soon met a barber named James D. Wardle who had been plowing through Latter-day Saints church archives and exposing what he found to the light of day. Soon the Tanners and a few other like minded people became aware of various splinter groups off of the mainline Salt Lake church and they began comparing notes. Some of these groups go back to when Joseph Smith was shot at the jail in Illinois and their views about Joseph Smith varied. Some evolved into modalism which rejects the Trinity in favor of the Father becoming the Son. The Tanners continued exploring church archives until the church leaders became aware that they were not simply there doing genealogical research as is the church tradition. With the help of a mimeograph machine they bought from Sears they were copying damaging historical documents and distributing them far and wide. The BYU library became a gold mine of early source microfilm. The Mormon leaders worked hard to debunk what was coming to light.

In 1964 the Tanners began to focus on the problems with the Book of Abraham which the church claimed had been translated by Joseph Smith from some Egyptian papyri purchased from Michael Chandler in 1835. Scholars of the Egyptian language had been pointing out that Joseph Smith had no clue was he was looking at for some time. Wardle the barber found early microfilm of copies of the Book of Abraham which confirmed what critics of the church had been saying all along. The barber’s postman, Stuart Heward became interested in the topic and was soon studying Egyptian Grammar and Alphabet which lead to him and his wife leaving the church.

While all of this going on the Tanners are trying to pay the bills and raise a family. Their journey and their sacrifice has become a valuable resource for those questioning their Mormon roots, as well as Christians who are trying to reach Mormons with the gospel. It can be a long and painful journey but as the Tanners have proclaimed the reward is worth it.

You will read about the sometimes rocky relationship the Tanners had with Walter Martin (of Kingdom of the Cults), Ed Decker (of the movie The God Makers), John L. Smith, Chuck Sacket, and many others. You will see how evil the LDS church can be with lawsuits aimed at shutting down criticism.

This book is a must for bible students, church historians and those wishing to win Mormons to Christ. And we must thank author Ronald V. Huggins for taking on the task of putting this all together. It would make quite a movie.