IN THE FIFTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT IN AND FOR COUNTY OF SAN PETE, STATE OF UTAH


KAZIAH MAY HANCOCK,
and, CINDY SUE STEWERT
Plaintiff

vs

JAMES D. HARMSTON,
THE TRUE AND LIVING CHURCH
OF JESUS CHRIST OF SAINTS
OF THE LAST DAYS, ET. AL.

    The above four day action was tried in Manti, Utah between Jan. 22-25, 2002. The jury did not return a verdict until Monday, Jan. 28, 2002 at which time they awarded plaintiff, Hancock, $270,000.00, and plaintiff Stewert, $20,000.00. Kaziah Hancock said that by the time the interest is computed, the total judgment will be close to a half million.
    According to one spectator, James D. Harmston and his fellow TLC defendants were stunned. Harmston shook his head and was heard to say, "What happened?"
     The details are summarized below:
San Pete County is an egg-shaped, rural valley surrounded by high, snow packed mountains. Manti is the county seat and location of one of the first Mormon Temples erected by the pioneers. San Pete, named after the Indians that inhabited the valley, is sheep and turkey country.

The Red Brick Store, office Building of the TLC located in the center of downtown Manti.

       There has been little growth in this section of Utah in the last forty years. Manti, with a population of about 2500, is the second largest town in the county.
       The True & Living Church is a Mormon fundamentalist sect that settled at Manti in 1994. The core doctrines of the "TLC" as it is affectionately called, are plural marriage and "consecration." The TLC teaches that Manti is the center of Zion and protected by an invisible ring called "shekena." Adherents of this doctrine are commanded to gather at Manti, inside the protective ring. Presently, there are approximately 200 TLC members who live in and around Manti. Converts come and go like a revolving door, which has included disenchanted members of Jim's hierarchy, like the rotund, bearded Randy Maudsly who has alleged to converts that he has literally seen Jesus Christ.
      Everything about the TLC evolves around its leader and prophet, James D. Harmston. In organizing and establishing the temporal kingdom of the TLC, Jim has attempted to duplicate or copy those things done by his alter-self, Joseph Smith. Jim Harmston is a short, stout sixty-one year old man with arms that hang at his side like parenthesis marks.        

The dwelling where Harmston spends most of his nights. See the Mormon Manti Temple in the background and the sign reading "Holiness to the Lord".

      While portraying the epitome of humility and innocence, he testified in court that he has been transported across the veil where the Father and the Son laid their hands on his head. He also testified that he was the reincarnated Joseph Smith Jr., founder of the Mormon religion. Of the many Mormon prophets that come and go in Utah, Jim Harmston is one of the most innovative. He has added two new doctrines to the Mormon concept that have served him and his followers well. They are Multiple Mortal Probation and the Doctrine of Rescue. He claims these doctrines were taught by Joseph Smith Jr., and of course he should know in as much as "he was Joseph Smith Jr."
      Multiple Mortal Probation is another term for reincarnation. One of  Jim's apostles, Phil Savage, who is also a defendant in the caption law suit, is the TLC patriarch. Phil reveals in his blessing to the TLC members, who they were in former lives [probations]. In studying the recipients of these blessing there appears to be a direct correlation between how much money and property the convert will consecrate, and the importance of his previous life. 
     For example, Kaziah Hancock's former
husband, Doug Jordan, who consecrated $250,000.00 of Kaziah's money, was told he was the brother of Adam and Nephi. Mormon fundamentalists believe Adam is the God of this world. That makes Doug a real important guy and he takes it seriously. Before he found out who he really was, he was a nobody, now he is somebody. Kaziah was told she was one of the wives of the Savior.

Kaziah Nay Hancock working in her portrait of Princess Diana. Kaziah is a talented and accomplished artist. Her work is on display at Artist Hand Gallery in Salt Lake City and Freedom Gallery in Provo, Utah. For more information concerning Kaziah's artwork .

    Jim's flock of true believers consist of cast-off fundamentalists from other polygamist cults and the frustrated ranks of the LDS Church. For example, apostates tell us that Jim has taken the wives of the deceased, mass murderer, Ervil LeBaron, and wives of the convicted polygamist and child molester, Alvin Shreeve, who is doing time in the Utah State Prison. And like Joseph Smith, it is alleged that he has taken for himself the wives of his bishops and apostles which according to informants has more than anything else caused these cuckolded husbands to defect. Oh, there have been a few idealistic, intellectually bright individuals who have converted, but they didn't stay long. When these unfortunate men recused themselves, they not only left without wives but left behind their wealth, at the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
     The Doctrine of Rescue is another form of polyandry, which was practiced in Joseph Smith's time. [See polygamy past and present on this website.] Rescue is a matrimonial system where a women can go from family to family as long as the priesthood is greater. And of course, no one has priesthood greater than Jim Harmston. There has been so much rescuing going on in the TLC that it would be dizzy business to trace it accurately. According to plaintiff Cindy Stewart who was married to two TLC apostles, when a new family was converted, if a wife was wealthy or attractive, Jim and his apostles would discuss among themselves the need for her to be rescued.
     The crux of the law suit, which turned out not to be much of a problem, is whether or not consecrations made by plaintiff's Hancock and Stewert were donations [free and clear] or contracts [donations with a stipulation]. Ms. Hancock sold land and house and along with her then husband, Doug Jordan, jointly consecrated approximately $250,000.00 contingent upon the fulfillment of the following promises: (1) a stewardship of land and animals, (2) membership in the "higher," Church of the Firstborn, (3) Calling and Election [an endowment ordinance in the Church of the Firstborn, (4) white temple apron [an item of clothing worn by worthy acolytes during a temple ceremony, the LDS apron is green], (5) a literal face to face meeting with the resurrected Jesus Christ at a specific time and place.

TLC Assembly Hall. Kaziah Hancock's money went towards the purchase and remodeling of this building.

     The only promises fulfilled were the membership to the Church of the Firstborn, Calling and Election and white apron. Cindy Stewert testified that at the request of Jim Harmston, she "loaned" him $12,000.00 from her IRA account. Harmston said it was a donation. It was her word against his. Who do you believe?   
      Elaine  Harmston, Jim's first wife, testified in court that Jim was the most holy man in the world. Would you believe the most holy man in the world, the man who is the exclusive mouthpiece of God, or an unimportant woman, an excommunicated apostate? The jury believed the apostate. Doug Jordan, Kaziah May Hancock's husband, divorced Kaziah after he was excommunicated from the TLC and she had given up her membership to be with him. Doug was excommunicated over a dispute as to whether or not Jim Harmston was Jesus Christ. It left Kaziah destitute and impoverished with very little to start over. The proceeds from the house and property that had come from Kaziah and was so generously given away by Doug Jordan, was all gone, used up by Jim Harmston and his apostles.         
         When Kaziah filed her law suit in 1997, Doug was a willing and loquacious co- plaintiff. However, after receiving a visit from Jim Harmston and two of his apostles, Jordan recused himself from the suit and joined forces with Harmston. Time after time he attempted to change his story to benefit Jim Harmston, even after the second time he testified in court. But the story the jury was the most interested in was the inflammatory, anti-TLC litany Doug Jordan uttered to investigators when he was a co-plaintiff, that story was tape recorded and played for the jury. 
     The bumbling attempts by Jordan to discredit his former wife and make Jim Harmston look like a saint, portrayed him
as a despicable, pathetic old man. Doug Jordan, who according to a reliable source, once thought of scamming Kaziah out of $30,000.00 by telling her he knew where the Book of Mormon "golden plates" were
hidden but needed the $30,000.00 to recover them, is how a pariah in the Manti community and TLC.
    The verdict of this law suit will set significant precedence for other cults merchandising plural wives and celestial exaltation. Jim chose to finance his livelihood and the building of a Zion kingdom with a mutant form of the Mormon doctrine of consecration. Tithing at ten percent wasn't quick enough. To induce people to consecrate, he tacked on the concept of stewardship. In Kaziah's case it was a stipulation.
     Mormon fundamentalist leaders frequently ignore the stipulations attached to donations. They know that donors will usually not protest out of fear of damnation, ostracization or blood atonement. Attempts to coerce Hancock and Stewert failed. One night Kaziah's little home was peppered with .22 bullets and the lug nuts one on wheel of her pickup were loosened, the rattling of the nuts in the hub cap may have saved her from a violent crash.           
      Verbal threats and warnings were likewise ineffective. Consequently, those two intrepid ladies will have the distinction of bringing down the great James D. Harmston.
One of Jim Harmston's most productive talents is plagiarism. Everything about his doctrines and ambitions he has copied or stolen from others and then mutilated hoping it won't be recognized.
     According to Fred Collier, much of Jim's esoteric doctrines were plagiarized from him. Collier and Tom Green pilfered the LDS Church archives of much of the doctrine Fred now rewrites and sells to make a living. Mormon fundamentalism is one of the most valuable illusions ever invented by the minds of conniving men. 
    The court room was packed with members of the TLC. They would come two and three hours early and save seats. There were many towns people who would like to have witnessed the proceedings but were prevented due to the tenacity of TLC members. At the beginning trial TLC members would make little disturbing scoffing sounds when something was said not to their liking by a plaintiff witnesses or Don Redd, the plaintiff's attorney. Jim Harmston was one of the worst. Judge Mower rightfully warned them to stop or they would be ejected from the court room.
     After the Judge's warning the chuckles and jeers subsided but then by the fourth day they resumed. During Don Redd's closing arguments Elaine and Jim Harmston chuckled freely as if to convey the ridiculousness of Don's premise. Judge Mower made capital of the moment and had the bailiff toss Jim and Elaine out of the court room. It was one of the
highlights of the trial.
    Jim's demeanor revealed that he was so full of pride that he could not see the damage his arrogance did to the jury. This is somewhat typical of Mormon fundamentalists who assume that all people see the world through their eyes.
     There is an eloquent historical parallel between Joseph Smith and James D. Harmston that deserves mention. In 1831 Joseph had a revelation that Jackson County Missouri was a sacred place, the location of Garden of Eden, and center of Zion. Joseph called the Saints to gather at Jackson County. God had given it to him as an inheritance, just as God had given Palestine to Moses and the sons of Abraham.
Jim Harmston allegedly had a revelation that Manti, Utah was the center of Zion and called the TLC members to gather there for God had given it to him as an inheritance. Manti and the surrounding verdant valley was his. 
      Like the Saints who invaded Jackson County, TLC apostates informed the inhabitants of Manti that the time was near when Jim predicted he and his gang would take over the town and the Temple on the hill. It is said by apostates that Jim was so sure that his prophecy would soon be fulfilled that he told his excited members to pick out the houses in town they wanted to occupy. And the foolish TLC members believed Him, that Jim induced serendipity would soon come to pass as sure as Joshua felled the walls of Jericho.
      The jubilant Saints in 1831 behaved the same way towards the gentiles of Missouri. They boasted that all of Jackson County would soon belong to the Mormons. This did not sit well with the Missourians. A few Saints even went so far as to help themselves to the property of the gentiles. The angry Missourians retaliated. Mormons raided gentile towns and gentiles raided Mormon towns. Eventually the Mormons were driven out.
      The irony of the parallel is that this law suit initiated by Hancock and Stewert has paved the way for Jim and his gang of TLC fanatics to be bankrupt and financially driven out of Manti, not by gentiles, but by Mormons, the offspring of the Saints who were driven out of Missouri. The weapons will not be guns and knives but writ and foreclosure. Once that is done, look out Mr. Owen A. Allred and Apostolic United Brethren, because your law suit is next.
    There is poetic justice in these two law suits. Both institutions, The True and Living Church and Apostolic United Brethren are polygamist orientated where women are held subservient. In both law suits the plaintiffs are women.