My parents joined the LDS Church when I was three years old, in 1959. Despite my young age, I can readily remember the immediate difference it made in our home. The air cleared up from the constant cigarette smoke in the house. We started going to church meetings regularly, and the various church activities provided much social and spiritual growth. I enjoyed it immensely from the beginning.
As I grew older, I felt very strong and sure of the church. I always defended it in the face of critics. Yet, as I studied the history of the church, I often yearned in my heart for those days when the church embraced so much more. I yearned to live consecration. I desired to live plural marriage, particularly as I witnessed so many cases of women who were left alone in a divorced state, or without ever an opportunity for marriage for one reason or another. I knew that plural marriage was designed to take care of “the widows and the fatherless,” and I thought it was interesting how this important principle had been given to Israel not just during times when the fullness of the gospel was established, but also during periods of preparatory law. It existed even when the Law of Moses was in effect. I pondered why this would be so, and came to realize it was for the protection of the women and children, so that they would always be adequately provided for both spiritually and temporally.
The more I read the discourses given by the early general authorities (such as those found in the Journal of Discourses), the more I came to realize, by comparison, that the current authorities were greatly lacking in the Spirit of the early prophets. I always felt disappointed when attending general conferences, as there seemed to be no greater insight, no greater teaching presented, than that which one might expect from the Pope or other mainstream Christian religious leaders. Yet, when I would read the discourses of Brigham Young, for instance, who always spoke without notes or planning, I always came away feeling nourished. These are the experiences that gradually brought me around to the point of full recognition that the LDS church had fallen away from her original calling and commission for establishing Zion.
For many years, I kept these observations and feelings quiet, except to express my concerns occasionally to my bishops, stake presidents, and to my older brother, my dad and a few others who I expected might be able to throw some insight and help me overcome my objections. I did not want to cause disharmony in the church, but at the same time I wanted to have my questions answered and my conscience satisfied.
Then one summer while living in Ogden, I got to know a neighbor woman who was from a polygamist family. She was the second wife of a man who was part of the Allred organization. I met her husband one day while shopping in a nearby store. As I shook his hand, I felt a warmth from him, and I noted that he did not seem to carry an evil spirit with him. So I asked if he would come to my home and give me an opportunity to question him. I went home and prepared for his visit by organizing my thoughts, trying to come up with all the teaching and logic I had been brought up with to defend the LDS position on plural marriage. But I found this man was able to confound all my previous understanding; for he was truly able to show supporting scripture for every teaching that he gave. I soon came to realize that the scriptures given through the Prophet Joseph Smith are ample evidence against many of the current justifications used by the LDS church against plural marriage and other aspects of the gospel which she has abandoned.
I investigated the Allred group. Because I felt it to be a step upward, I asked for baptism. But I found an immediate hindrance to this desire. It felt to me as if most of the leading brethren lacked the Spirit. They would speak with no greater power than the LDS general authorities. Owen Allred, the head of the group, seemed to possess more of the spirit than most the rest of them, but I sensed that the rest of them were somewhat irritated with Owen. I was interviewed, but never baptized. Had I not found the TLC, I probably would have been baptized into the Allred group. But, when I witnessed the power of utterance, I knew Jim Harmston was a veritable prophet of the Lord. Like Joseph and Brigham, he could speak for five or ten hours at a time, without notes or planning, and keep me enthralled with eternal perspectives. No other man had come anywhere close to the spiritual power this man manifested on a consistent basis.
I have ever since witnessed, time after time, this same gift manifested by the leadership of the TLC. The heavens truly have been opened to them, and to us as a people. The fruits make it obvious. I testify that there was never any greater gifts or fruits manifested by the Prophet Joseph Smith than those which are manifested by the current leadership of the TLC. I have personally partaken of those gifts, and enjoyed an steady increase of insight and spiritual power on a personal level as well.
I know that this is the work of Joseph Smith. He is the one directing this work. He possesses the keys of this dispensation, and is doing as he always said he would. The prophecies are answered and fulfilled in the things that are going on here. We are the remnant of Israel who will close up the work, establish Zion, and receive the Savior. I know this to be true, for there is no other organization that compares to this one in teaching, insight, or priesthood power. All others fade in the light of this work. The power of God is manifested here, and will not go unnoticed or unrecognized by those who are pure in heart. I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ.