President Rulon Jeffs

My paternal parents came from Gloucestershire in England -- Samuel Jeffs. His son, William Y. Jeffs, was born there, too. I don't recall who emigrated to the United States first. Samuel Jeffs abided this Celestial Law, plural marriage, receiving four wives, three of whom were sealed to him shortly after he came to Utah. He died a couple of years later. My maternal parents were John W. Timpson. He was born in Nottinghamshire in England in the area next to Wales, where the family of Christ came in Avalon when they were set to drift upon the sea and finally arrived in the British Isles. My mother was the oldest daughter of John W. Timpson and Nettie Timpson. Nettie Timpson was an adopted daughter of my grandfather, William Yemm Jeffs. They were both in Iona, Idaho, both of those families, at the time my mother began working for father in his building business. Mother worked in the building supply store in Iona.

My father's first wife was Mother Phoebe Woolley, daughter of Samuel W. Woolley, who was a brother to John W. Woolley. So I am tied in with the Woolleys back there. Mother Phoebe had a dream that my mother should be married to her husband, and father had been, through Lorin Woolley, appointed with the work that was going on in continuing Celestial Marriage, which we now know is the work that was given to John W. Woolley and Lorin and those around them at that time. So my father, agreeing with mother that they should marry, sent my mother down to Salt Lake area. They had to be in hiding.

Mother stayed with the Emery family, a plural family on the west side, part of the year that transpired between then and the time they were married. She stayed at the home of John W. Taylor, whose wife, Nettie, was a sister of Mother Phoebe, staying there in hiding. So father was well acquainted with John W. Taylor and with Matthias F. Cowley, who were dropped from the Quorum in about 1906, the Quorum of the Twelve, for their activities in perpetuating Celestial and Plural Marriage. They were brought together finally through the work of John W. Taylor and Matthias Cowley.

Patriarch Judson Tolman of Davis County had been set apart by those brethren working together to seal marriages as they were prepared for them for him to take care of. Judson Tolman sealed Mother Phoebe to my father in 1901. He sealed my mother to my father on March 2, 1909. Judson Tolman is the one that Heber J. Grant spoke derogatory of in his day, and in speaking derogatory of the new "polygamists" as they were called at that time. I was born December 6, 1909 at 1478 South West Temple, in hiding. Horace Kowlton's mother was a midwife. She delivered me. Brother Knowlton, you know, is married to the Clarks, who are connected with Newel and Woodruff Steed. See how we all got together?

I don't remember my earliest years, but my name was Rulon Jennings in hiding, until I was about ten years old. Then I was told about my beginnings. Father had not been going to the Church meetings in all those years. But when that time came, over on the west side, father sat me down and told me the story of Joseph Smith, and I leaped for joy in my heart. We started going to the 34th Ward on the west side, active in the Church. Father moved his family around a good deal.

The next day after my mother was sealed to father, Florence Rice was sealed to my father. She died about a year later. Mother Phoebe, along the way, separated herself, so I did not know about her until much later.

I finally got enrolled in High School to the LDS High School up on North Temple and Main, between Main and State, and went through the High School course there. The graduating class of 1928, they asked me to be valedictorian at the graduation exercises, which were held in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. My knees knocked together like they are now with this dizzy problem I have.

After graduating from High School in 1928, I went to work for the LDS College for about two years and was called on a mission and left on June 1, 1930. June 1, 1934 is when my wife Zola was married to me. I went to the British Isles, was in London and London District, and wound up in three months in the Mission Headquarters as assistant secretary of the mission. I finally became secretary, returning home August of 1932, in the midst of the Great Depression.

My wife was Zola Brown, daughter of Hugh. B. Brown and Zina Young Card. Zina Young Card was a granddaughter of Brigham Young, by Zina Huntington Young. Grandmother Card kind of shepherded Zola while I was on a mission, told her not to faint. We hadn't agreed to be married before I went on the mission, but Grandmother Card gave me a mother's blessing. Have you ever heard of those before? It was beautiful. So she kept Zola in tow and she was very faithful. Upon my return in 1932, I proposed marriage to her. By the way, she asked me for the first date, [Laughter] after I had graduated from High School.

While I was working in that office, I got a letter addressed to Zola of Beaver, put it on the bulletin board. This girl who was in the same ward, Highland Park Ward, with me, came to the window, gave me her name. She said, "I'm not from Beaver, but I'm Zola." So we got acquainted in the Ward, and she asked me for the first date in a girls' dance. We had our ups and downs before we were finally married June 1, 1934.

In 1938, on September 25, my mother was over on the west coast visiting with her brothers. I took father to dinner on his birthday. David William Ward Jeffs was his name. Grandfather, William Y. Jeffs, was a Patriarch. My father was a Patriarch in the last few years of his life, in this work. I'm sure some of you remember him.

Father handed me a copy of the Truth Magazine on the evening we had dinner together. By the way, I was Ward Clerk when I got back from the mission, secretary of everything I went into. Anyway, after I got this Truth Magazine, I asked father, "What is this?" He told me it was a publication put out by Joseph W. Musser. I said, "By what authority?" So he told me, and he took me to see Brother Musser. Brother Musser received me like a father into the work, and I got well acquainted with him.

When I was told about the Priesthood Council, I said, "Father, who is the head man?" "Well, he has to be in kind of hiding." I said, "I want to see him." So I finally got to see Uncle John over on 809 East, 700 South, met him in his home there. My heart leaped for joy finding the Prophet. I guess I know why now, but I didn't then know why John and Joseph had me be on the Board of Trustees of the United Effort Plan, which was put together and filed November 9, 1942.

We had some great times in those days in cottage meetings. On one trip, John and Joseph took me and Guy into Idaho. (By the way, on February 14, 1942, Joseph gave me my wife Kathleen Jessop.) In 1943, in the fall, we took this trip to Idaho, and at a cottage meeting at Brother Carl Holm, Sen.'s, in Ammon, Idaho, Uncle John was not well. During the meeting, he stepped to the door from the bedroom where he had been laying, and he said, "We are here, folks, to help Brother Jeffs and Brother Musser get additional family, in preparation for blessings to come."

So that trip resulted in taking me up to meet my wife LaRue at Davis Hunter's place in northeastern Idaho. So that brings us down to 1944, when the raid came. I then had three lovely ladies. I had been working up in Idaho in 1943, 1944, and worked around until the spring of 1945, working my way down permanently to come back to Salt Lake. I had been commuting to go up there to work, and had my wife Kathleen, Kay, up there with me. But I was alone on this occasion on the way back, the 19th of April of 1945. I got a phone call from my father. He said, "Rulon, it is important that you see Joseph Musser first when you come to town. Joseph wants you to see him before you see anyone else," the first thing the next morning. I knew what it was. The Spirit told me. And I said to myself right then and there, "Why not the head?" I knew it was for the ordination.

So I appeared at the home of John Y. Barlow early in the morning, first thing in the morning about 8:00 at Lincoln Street, 2157 Lincoln Street. When I arrived he was not available, so I sat there praying in that front room in the office where Guy Musser later had his office. I had my head bowed and praying, and I looked up and Uncle John stood in the archway between the dining room and the front room there. He was covered with light. He said, "Brother Rulon, step into my office." And he then and there ordained me an Apostle and Patriarch, and designated me a member of the Church of the Firstborn.

Later on that day, I went up to see Joseph, and he was obviously disappointed. But he congratulated me and rejoiced with me. That was a critical occasion in my life, as we see from the events that have transpired since then.

I thank God for the way He, as it were, held me in the palm of His hand, coming down through to the present time. I desire to be a faithful and a valiant servant to God. I must say, I want it said and understood, Leroy Johnson took me under his wing. How I love that man. I love John Y. Barlow.

The Lord has given me a testimony that has been borne out as to who and what Leroy Sunderland Johnson is. One thing that has made me grieve over the years is how lightly we have taken this great man. I grieved at how Uncle John Y. Barlow was treated and considered, and he is another great man in the scheme of things in this last dispensation.

In coming into this work, brothers and sisters, I was led into it by my father, who knew Joseph Musser back in the 1890's. They were both on a mission in Tennessee for the Church. Father met Joseph on the street, and he handed father a copy of the Truth Magazine. I had taken father out to dinner for his birthday, and he told me when I inquired about this, after I had asked him, "By what authority is this done?" So he told me the story of his knowing Joseph, and he had learned some months before about this work. He took me to Joseph. I had a wonderful conversation with him.

Joseph rather fathered me in the work, and I had to know more. I said, "Who is the head man in this organization?" He said, "Well, he is pretty much in hiding to protect him." I said, "I want to know him and I want to see him." So I was finally taken on a visit to see John Y. Barlow at his home in Salt Lake. He was on 7th South and 8th East, where he later wrote me a letter when I was working in Ogden. I was thrilled at the spirit and the life of this great man.

I was given a Patriarchal blessing by Joseph Musser, and he conferred, prior to that, the Melchizedek Priesthood upon me. So I had a great deal to be thankful for in the teachings that I got from Brother Joseph.

There came a time when Uncle John and Joseph took Brother Guy and myself up to a series of cottage meetings in Idaho. It was in the home of Carl Holm, Sen., where we were having a meeting one afternoon. Uncle John was not well. He was in his bedroom adjoining. He came to the door and said, in the course of the meeting, that he and Joseph were engaged in qualifying Brother Guy and myself. We went on up north to Idaho, and they got me a second wife in this work, LaRue Hunter; later a third wife, when LaRue came down to be joined to me, Ruth Jessop.

Well, I had some inkling of what was coming, and about a year later, it was in April 1945, just before the brethren went into prison in May. I was working in Idaho, and working my way down to come home to stay, after I had been up there on an auditing and accounting job for my employer, auditing the accounts of expenditures by J. R. Simplock, a company who was making dried potatoes for the army during that time.

I had a call from my father when I was in a hotel in Pocatello, on the way down. Father said, "Rulon, Brother Joseph wants you to come and see him first when you come to town." He repeated that two or three times. I immediately knew what was in the offing. I said to myself, as I lay awake before going to sleep that night, "Why not the head?" So when I got down to Salt Lake the next morning, I was bright and early at the home of John Y. Barlow.

He was not immediately available there at Lincoln Street, in what was later the office of Guy Musser. As I sat in the chair, and opposite the archway into the next room, I had my head bowed and praying. I looked up and I saw John Y. Barlow in the archway with light for a covering. He said, "Brother Rulon, come into my office." He took me in there and ordained me to the Apostleship, and a Patriarch, and designated me a member of the Church of the Firstborn. I was on cloud nine. I did not hear everything that was said, but I know what happened.

I later went up to see Brother Joseph, in the afternoon. When I saw him, he seemed to be quite crestfallen when I told him what had happened that morning. Things were rather a little different between us from then on; not that I did not sustain him in his position, but I thank God that I received that great blessing at the hands of the Prophet, John Y. Barlow. It had a great influence on me in following Leroy S. Johnson, who succeeded him, who is the Keyholder, the Prophet, and Mouthpiece of God. Things were in great confusion at that time because of what had happened to Brother Joseph, and to Charles, and the other brethren.

It is my testimony to you that Leroy Sunderland Johnson was designated by John Y. Barlow to receive that position, and I have been busily engaged, since this split and this crisis that has come to this work, in trying to establish, as Brother Johnson told me I was to do; he said in the fall of 1979, "Brother Rulon, I and you must re-establish the one man rule in the holy Priesthood," referring to Section 132 verse 7. I have been busily engaged in doing just that ever since, and I hope to continue.

I love that man. The love of brethren is something that is hard for people to understand. The love of brethren in the bonds of the holy Priesthood transcends the love of man for woman. Heber C. Kimball said, "My will runs into the will of Brother Brigham, and his into mine, and I am a part of the vine of Brigham Young." He spoke of that in the sermon which he gave the parable of the vine, and how the life flows to its branches. If you want to read a beautiful sermon of Heber C. Kimball, it is page 276 of the Journal of Discourses, volume 4.

But I am happy that Uncle Roy considers me his "Heber". I was thrilled beyond words when it came from the mouth of one who was told it by Uncle Roy. I want to continue in that course, going down the road at his side. That road, I want to testify to you, brothers and sisters, is the journey that finally ends in the City of Zion, in Jackson County, Missouri. He is preparing a people here. This is the gathering place.

He is fulfilling the prophecy that the Lord gave me, that I bore here before on the 6th of May, 1979. After having been engaged with two of the brethren in administering to Uncle Roy, it was shown me that he would come through that illness stronger that ever to prepare a people to redeem Zion. I want to go down that road with him, and I desire it with all my heart and soul. I love him as Heber loved Brigham, and Brigham loved Heber. I don't know whether I should have told this in detail as I have, but I felt like doing it so you will know how I feel about President Johnson. I want to tell you a few things here, that have come to me.

19. And the Lord said unto me: These two facts do exist, that there are two spirits, one being more intelligent than the other; there shall be another more intelligent than they; I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all.

20. The Lord thy God sent his angel to deliver thee from the hands of the priest of Elkenah.

21. I dwell in the midst of them all; I now, therefore, have come down unto thee to deliver unto thee the works which my hands have made, wherein my wisdom excelleth them all, for I rule in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath, in all wisdom and prudence, over all the intelligences thine eyes have seen from the beginning; I came down in the beginning in the midst of all the intelligences thou hast seen.

22. Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones;

23. And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.

It is my testimony to you that Leroy Sunderland Johnson was one of them, those noble and great ones. He was ordained before he came, as Abraham was. And Joseph Smith tells us a very interesting thing:

The doctrine of eternal judgments belongs to the first principles of the Gospel, in the last days. In relation to the kingdom of God, the devil always sets up his kingdom at the very same time in opposition to God. Every man who has a calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world was ordained to that very purpose in the Grand Council of heaven before this world was. I suppose I was ordained to this very office in that grand council. It is the testimony that I want that I am God's servant, and this people His people.

I want to testify to you that in that Council, Leroy S. Johnson was ordained to come forth at this time and hold this great and mighty calling and do this great and mighty work. Brother Johnson in a sermon, volume 4 of his books, told about how the rulers were all chosen before they came down to the earth in their time. And these are rulers, these keyholders and heads of dispensations -- Moses, Abraham, Noah, Enoch, following down from Adam; and then Elijah, Peter, and then to Joseph in these last days. Brother Johnson stands in the same position to us that Joseph did to the saints in his time. And Joseph is at the elbow of Leroy S. Johnson.

We are looking forward to the time of the setting in order of the House of God, which I feel with all my soul will be done during the administration of President Leroy S. Johnson. So I cannot be grateful enough to the Lord for me and for you that we live at this great and glorious time in which we have been sent forth into the earth, the great and mighty events that are about to take place under the presidency of President Johnson.

We are living in that great and dreadful day, the great day of the Lord when all the prophecies will be fulfilled concerning the last days, the "dreadful day" because of the judgments that must come, and will come to try our people. They are coming upon the House of God first. It is already started, right in the Priesthood, and then this people. Then it is going to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, these judgments that began at the House of God; for President Johnson has said so, and I believe it. May we be prepared for these things, and bear true faith and allegiance and love for our Prophet, who has suffered for us. I am satisfied of that. He is a savior on Mount Zion.

Now, brothers and sisters, we need to take a review of our lives and find out where we stand. Are we making the necessary preparation for these things? We are told to prepare for these great judgments that will be visited upon the earth and upon the wicked. I pray that we will not be among the wicked, any of you. Brother Johnson loves you all more than you know, and he yearns over you. He yearns over all of us. And you do not know the love he bears for us. I know the love I bear for him.

God bless him and strengthen him to accomplish the work as he is called upon to do it, which he is doing and has done even from the beginning of his illness, and is continuing to do so. He is in the hands of God, and we cannot raise a hand against it. May we be humble and contrite, and meek and lowly in heart, and go forth with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, to repent and to prepare for the great day to come, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Salt Lake City
May 20th, 1942
Dear Bro. Rulon,

Your fine message just in hand and will say it filled my heart with joy and will say to you that God will bless you for the good desires of your heart and I bless you and will make you this promise that you and yours will never want for bread, for I know your heart. If we had ten men like you with us we would turn this world up side down, and may God's blessings ever be with you is the humble prayer of your Bro. in the cause of truth.

(Postmarked May 20, 1942, from Salt Lake City.)