It’s no secret that people love to talk about who their ancestors were, especially if they were somebody famous, or heroic. There is some kind of pride that comes with knowing that courage, integrity, and talent is a part of our own gene pool, and it gives us a little boost in our own confidence to believe that we too can become something great.
Since nobody knows for sure, just how or if the reincarnation thing works, (or if it even exists), the focus of finding out who our roots are has usually been on searching out names and stories from within the family tree, but since these are mostly mundane reports of general goodness, and not known for producing direct links to celebrity greatness, we are left to wonder and worry about our own potential. But all this is fast changing.
The religious belief of reincarnation has been around for a long time, but until recently there has been little scientific evidence to quantify the belief. Some would have us return as animals, others as ourselves to face another round of challenges. I personally like the idea of having more than one shot at life, and even if it is not true, the idea of it helps to take away the anxiety of not being in the right place at the right time, or the hopeless feeling of getting old. With the advent of the computer age, there are more and more pieces of evidence coming to light that help convince me that reincarnation is in fact, part of life. Among all the near death experiences and hypnotic regressions, there is a consensus growing that we are older than we think we are. I especially like this one particular FOX News report done on an eight year old boy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWCUjx4nI98&feature=share
But with the arrival of this new hope, there comes a serious threat to one’s emotional health and welfare. There are predators in our community, who understand perfectly the natural attraction we have to look deeper into ourselves to discover who we are and who we have always been, and these types will jump at the opportunity to help you to know who you are. Some are self-help gurus, or hypnotists, who stand to make a lot of money off of your curiosity and need. If they are successful in making you feel better about yourself, you might wish to thank them with a reasonable payment, or even retain them for their services for years.
But these types are relatively harmless compared to the ones who know how to use your religion or your beliefs in an ever-present, unseen God or Guide against you. One of these is James Harmstrom, who is a practicing polygamist with an ego that is so huge that it is considered rare. He is the prophet for the True and Living Church (TLC) based in Manti, Utah. Jim says that he has a personal relationship with his God, who sends him revelations pertaining to the restoration of the honest-to-God-real-truth upon the face of the earth. TLC is an offshoot of Joseph Smith’s creation, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Jim teaches his followers and friends that the mainstream LDS Church is corrupt, so he has been chosen to set the record straight and his movement is poised to take its rightful place as the only source of real truth on the face of the earth, (you know, once the mighty LDS Church is destroyed). Since there are many who can notice that the LDS church is quite different from the One Joseph Smith organized, the playing ground for a glorious restoration is quite fertile.
One of the most powerful cards that Jim has discovered in his deck of cards, is the “Reincarnation Card”. At first, he used his favorite hole card to establish his own authority, saying that he was Joseph Smith reborn. It would only be a matter of time before he discovered that if he told his counselors who they had been in a former lifetime, their heads would swell, their personal sacrifice and generosity would increase, and they would remain fiercely loyal to him. Soon Jim had a whole Quorum of former biblical greats as his lieutenants and Apostles and the TLC Church grew rapidly. The members were thrilled to know that they were related to, or married to, or serving with such great and noble spirits, which included Ancient prophets and former disciples of Christ from the New Testament, as well as noble and greats from the early LDS Church and the Book of Mormon. These identities were always revealed in strict confidence, with instructions to keep the information private, so as to not cause undue hurt or jealousy among the general membership. This information was the source of tremendous outpouring of spirit, and unspeakable joy.
But then one day, either the patriarch Savage (or maybe it was Jim himself) made a grave mistake. The story is told that he unwittingly identified a man as having the exact same spirit that was Brigham Young’s. Everything was fine until this new Brigham Young, (who was undoubtedly dying to share his excitement with someone), broke down and confessed to his best friend who he was. As fate would have it, his friend was not thrilled at the news, for he had been keeping the secret that he himself was the reincarnated Brigham Young for many years.
Needless to say, the two men confronted Jim with the development, and try as they might, the joy they had once felt would not return. Soon other men began to question their own beliefs and began to talk. Within just a relatively short period of time, anger and frustration got the best of many, and people began resigning from their positions and the glory of being somebody important from another dispensation got boring, and the prestige of being a member of TLC was reduced to a joke. It was at this time that (spiritually speaking), the Church took a turn for the worse, one that it has never recovered from.
I like this story for two reasons. 1). It’s a rags-to riches-to rags story that teaches a very important lesson covering many subjects; the least of which are pride and ego. 2). Jim Harmstrom made a name for himself by using deception to get personal gain, and in so doing, Jim gave Utah legislators the heads up that their laws needed to be expanded to account for his type of abuse to society. Hence the existing laws in at least 5 states, (including Idaho and Utah)relative to undue influence are in the process of being expanded to include the works of these more slippery predators, and the sentences for this type of fraud and manipulation is expected to be increased by more than double. Once these laws are approved, a convicted perpe[traitor]can expect to pay the fine and serve a minimum of 5 years in prison and a maximum of 10 for each offense, just for playing the “Reincarnation Card”.
Though Jim Harmstrom may not have been the one to invent the “Reincarnation Card”, he certainly had some fun with it. Another man who I know personally, Christopher Nemelka, has taken the “reincarnation” game to an all new level, and were it not for Jim getting caught with an Ace up his sleeve, (card playing is a favorite pastime among several fundamentalist groups), I may have never come to realize that I was a victim of the same exact card game. It’s pretty obvious to me, that had Nemelka never discovered the power that comes by playing the “Reincarnation Card”, the prophet Christopher Nemelka with his own latter-day movement to expose the same so-called corruption within the LDS Church and establish his own the “real’” real truth would have never made it beyond the first buck out of the chute.
Christopher, who cowardly heads up his own version of the True and Living Church, (he calls his A Marvelous Work and a Wonder, or MWAW) has announced that in a former lifetime he was Joseph Smith’s older brother Hyrum . (There is a tombstone in SLC City Cemetery with both his incarnates listed on the same stone to prove it).
Christopher’s story suggests that Jim Harmstrom is a liar and that he can’t be Joseph Smith, because according to everyone in the True and Living MWAW, Joseph is Christopher’s good friend and mentor, (a resurrected Being), who frequently bends space between his planet and ours to visit with him.
When Christopher was first trying on his prophet robes, he stuck to just making up “new” names for people in his life, a clever play on the Temple Endowment ceremony where people first discover the mystique of a having another identity and it worked so well that before long, the window for aliases in his own life opened right up. First he took for himself the Hebrew name of Adam Ben Eli, and used it as his pen name on a few writings. He told Stephen Dark that after his brush with angry polygamists (1992) he was able to get Mormon Apostle David B. Haight (conveniently deceased in July of 2004) to pull strings and get him a fake ID, (supposedly for his own protection from murderous people in the Fundamentalist community who he admits that he lied to) which bore the name of Christopher Abraham Stohl. In late 2000, Christopher revealed to his spiritual wife, Christine Marie, that her “new” name was “Selah”. His third legal wife Sheri Johansen, an apparent co-conspirator in his scheme to defraud Christine Marie and humiliate her for having faith in the LDS Church , was assigned the name “Marihala”, which later became the same name for Christopher’s own Mother in Heaven (according to his Sealed Portion). A legal document from Montana dated 1991 shows him as Christopher A. Stoll, (So many names to choose from…so little time…)
The seriousness of this little mind game quickly rises from the level of just a prank to the level of a felony as soon as one person who is taken in, is suckered out of more than $500.00. Christopher Nemelka has seen hundreds of thousands of dollars being transferred from the bank accounts of people who believe that in another lifetime, they were somebody googleable in this one. But that is not all. Being the hopelessly insecure individual that he is, Christopher soon discovered that being Hyrum Smith was not glorious enough for him. After all, Hyrum was never the front man, always in the shadows. He even died before Joseph did, and got cheated out of being the rightful heir to the throne by two minutes. So it was as natural as breathing for Christopher to realize that if he had lived ONCE before, then why couldn’t he have lived ONCE before that! Or maybe TWICE before that! … no wait… why not ONE HUNDRED times before that?!?!
Oh yeah baby, Christopher has had quite a history, (even before he started making things up…) but its not the one he tells… once he learned how to shed his conscience, then he really got creative.
If you pay to run a background check on Christopher (like I did), you don’t get to see who he was in another lifetime. In order to run “that” kind of a background check, you have to join the MWAW ranks, and then hang out in the “background” and listen while Christopher talks in circles. He is VERY careful not to openly admit he was anyone in another lifetime, aside from being Hyrum Smith, when new people (or Newspaper reporters) are within the sound of his voice. And why do you suppose that is the case? I mean hell, once you’ve crossed over into the waters of the unknown, there’s no safe return. You may as well own it. This leads me to believe that Christopher felt safe in his ability to discuss the life of Hyrum, but with all others he ran the risk of being exposed as a fraud.
At first glance, it appears that Christopher only wanted to be the harbinger of Christ, who was John the Baptist, as it would fit his calling now, which is to be the harbinger of Christ for his Second Coming. Maybe it was something that he imagined would be an easy sell to inexperienced transitioners.
Not to be outdone by anyone in the Fundamentalist community (who also receive revelations revealing that they were somebody grand), Christopher has implied that not only was he the locust eating John the Baptist, but he was Jonah, of whale Belly fame. Since in real life Christopher is known as a person with a reputation of shrinking from his responsibilities, he chose Jonah as one of his former incarnates, and then explained that all chosen prophets of God are rebels who tried to run from their callings at some point in their lives, even if history makes no mention of it. He has said that Abinadi (of Book of Mormon fame) was one of these, as was Samuel the Lamanite. Ask anyone in the True and Living MWAW who all Christopher was in his past lifetimes, and they will tell you that besides the ones I’ve mentioned, the long list also includes Zenos, Nephi’s little brother Jacob, who Joseph Smith decided was “born” in the wilderness, which is just as cool as being one “crying” in the wilderness.
It took a little while, but eventually Christopher learned the same lesson that Jim Harmstrom learned. “If you’re gonna get rich and stay rich, you gotta learn how to share the wealth.” Christopher hates sharing the glory with anyone else, but it was either that or lose respect. In the beginning, Christopher declared that he could tell which “estate” a person was from just by touching them, or shaking their hand. This is in line with the superpowers of Jesus Christ who some say knows who you “Are”… and what you’ve been up to… ‘worlds without end”.
Having that kind of power places you in a position above everyone else, which is exactly where people like Jim and Christopher feel the most comfortable. It wasn’t too long before Christopher began hinting that certain Biblical and Book of Mormon Characters were present, (i.e. “Nephi is in the room…” “Isaiah is on the earth, he just doesn’t remember who he is…” “Christopher’s eternal mate was not Kimberly Wallis, but Mary, the Mother of Jesus” who is upon the earth and does not know who she is, etc..) [In case you didn’t catch that--- John the Baptist is the eternal mate of the Virgin Mary… who knew?] Christopher would drop names, and people would try them on to see if they would fit. Those were some fun times for sure.
I remember John Roh decided that he was Nephi when he sliced the crown off of a watermelon with a butcher knife… because it reminded him of the time he lopped Laban’s head off… Kurt Smith became the prophet Job, because of his extreme patience and his wealth… (He also became Ubaid of Sealed Portion fame because Christopher was Pharaoh Ankhenton and Christopher told the group that Kurt had always been there for him). Because I was always quick with a metaphor, I myself was signaled out to be the reincarnated Isaiah and my wife and I gained instant friends. In Liberty Park, Christopher said that Joseph Smith’s brother Sam, was present. Christopher’s deceased Uncle Mark is reincarnated and is now a loyal Acolyte. Alma the younger is now Alma the older who got his identity revealed to him somehow after he escorted a drunk man away from a Park gathering. Reincarnated Esther lives in Layton. Eliza R. Snow is now a case study. When Christopher revealed that his eternal mate was part of the work, at least three of the women in the room began to wonder if they weren’t the Mother of Jesus in another life time. Julie Taggart was told that her eternal mate was one of Christopher’s Counselors… (what that means is Julie Taggart is a Celestial being). John Roh was told that he wasn’t Nephi, so he assumed he was Sam, nope… I was in the room at the Pat and Ron Fergusen’s when Christopher told us that John Roh was really Dr. Willard Richards reincarnated… yep, the personal Secretary and genuine suck-up of both Joseph Smith AND Brigham Young. I was also in the room at Monica Smith’s when Christopher told us that Ida Smith was a choice spirit who would reincarnate as the female who would be in charge of the WUF when the advanced Human Beings return in 2145. There were other cool revelations revealed too. Sheri Salcedo finally got to be identified as the Virgin Mary reincarnated right along with being the first spirit born to the family of spirits that pertain to our solar system, and it was revealed that Nathan Davis was the last one born in our batch, and if I’m not mistaken, he is the new Isaiah on duty. Of course NONE of these revelations are knowable facts, but that hardly matters. Like Jim Harmstrom before him, Christopher plays the “Reincarnation Card”, and then he grins and grins.
The first five years after the initial Press Conference in San Diego, (the one that finally made Christopher’s 15 years of trying to write convincing Scripture worthwhile), were definitely the transition years for the members of the True and Living WUF. Some people never got to be anybody, but that is most likely because Christopher had no real use for them. He only shared the wealth of his eternal knowledge (the greater things) with people he could use…- like me. Once he began sharing the wealth of Who’s Who with people, he stopped making a big deal about needing to touch a person to know which estate they were destined to return to. When it became apparent that I was no longer going to support Christopher and his magic act, it was revealed that I wasn’t really the prophet Isaiah after all. It was revealed, and is still being spread far and wide that Christopher knew that I was HIS Judas from the beginning. After looking into his crystal ball, “The Great Who-ya-been-i” revealed on the now defunct MWAW discussion group that I was actually that old Mormon Apostate, William E. McClellan. I immediately lost all my super cool friends. Monica Smith, who I had spent a fair amount of time with and who I think is the epitome of a sycophant, is reported saying; “…and ya think ya know a guy…”
I am not kidding.
Christopher programs his followers’ brains, then he turns their brains on and off whenever he wants. … You can’t tell me that the “Reincarnation Card’ doesn’t work.
But let’s look at something that tells me that Christopher is the criminal sort who deserves respect, no trust, no loyalty, and no vote of confidence…
In the second interview with Stephen Dark, on December 20, 2010, Stephen asked Christopher the same question he had asked Ida Smith when he interviewed her. It was concerning her “special spirit” that is destined to return to the earth in her next incarnate to host the WUF. Please pay special attention to Christopher’s first response:
S: “Had you told Ida that when she dies and is reincarnated that she will sort of carry the torch forward for the Sealed Portion–that she will sort of be, I guess, kind of that, as reincarnated as a young girl she will carry the banner forward, is there any truth to that?
C: Did you ask Ida?
S: I did, and she, she, kind of just didn’t comment. She said, “No comment,” or “Ask Christopher”– one of the two.
If there was no truth to the rumor, then why didn’t either Ida or Christopher just say so? Why all the “no comment” bullshit run-around? I suspect that Ida didn’t want to say anything, because she wasn’t sure, but she obviously knew what Stephen was talking about, so she referred Stephen back to Christopher. Upon doing so, the first thing Christopher wanted to know is what Ida had to say about it, (if anything), so he would know how to answer the question. This behavior is sometimes called “covering your ass”. Now watch how a Cult leader who is guilty of all of the above (6 pages worth), innuendo action talks in circles when cross-examined on the witness stand by an investigator who does not know Christopher’s history of “leading people to believe things about themselves and others that are not knowable”.
C: Well the comment is, you got all these rumors going around out there, from enemies–from whomever. You got these people that think they know me, that they think they know this Work–like the Harry Dschaak, and the bullshit that goes on in that sealed portion discussion group with Dewey, and those other people–they’ve never met me, they’ve never talked to Ida. They don’t know one thing that’s going on. They don’t know anything about it.
What does the question have to do with me? Why didn’t Christopher just say yes or no? I DO know Christopher and I DO know how his works… I HAVE met Christopher and I HAVE met Ida Smith. I was IN THE ROOM WITH OTHER PEOPLE when Christopher told us that Ida Smith was going to reincarnate as the “female” who would find the work and embrace it and become it’s official spokesperson. That little fact is the only reason my name was the first one that came out of Christopher’s mouth. So how is it that this is “a rumor” going around? I was there! So WHAT if Ida is going to be the new and improved WUF wagger? Is that such a bad thing? Well it sure as hell is if it’s not true, and you can bet your ass Christopher knows it.
I was glad, however, to see that Christopher goes to that sealed portion discussion group to read what “those people” have to say. This next sentence is a perfect example of someone “passing the buck” but to whom or what did it get passed? The scenario he referenced in the Book of Mormon does not exist, as there is no reference whatsoever to ‘reincarnation” in that book. The stuttering and stammering (“It’s written, it’s out there somewhere”) and talking in circles is a clue that Christopher is busted and he knows it. What’s more important, is that Christopher’s group of bobble-heads reincarnated also know that he lied, and is lying, and will always lie in order to protect “his” work and “his” own hide. (The yellow highlight is my doing).
C. Now whether Ida chooses… and here’s where that came from Stephen, so you understand: In the Book of Mormon it talks about our life before this earth; it talks about those who chose to help out, to help Christ out in his work; and that they would do so in different incarnates–and I’m not going to go into the whole thing. It’s written, it’s out there somewhere. So in the course of doing that, of course people are going to inquire in their own minds, “I wonder if I’ve been around before–am I going to help again?” It’s very well that I could have said at one time if we were in the course of a conversation–I could have said about anyone, not just Ida but anyone, “More than likely you will come back and help with this Work, if that’s what your desire, if that’s what you chose to do.” That’s how it went down. So based on that, you’re going to get all these people coming up with, “He said that I would do this, He said this–” bullshit!
Christopher admits that “of course people are going to inquire in their own minds” after they are presented with the possibility of things that he knows perfectly well are bullshit because that natural reaction is the one he depends on.
Christopher is a manipulator of people and a person who controls other people’s minds by way of the ‘Reincarnation Card’. He is careful not to tell the media the truth of the matter and because he openly denied that he ever led Ida Smith or anyone else to believe such a thing, it tells me that he knows perfectly well what he is doing. Notice how he quickly blamed the Book of Mormon, or some other source that’s out there, instead of owning up to the fact that he not only told people that Ida was coming back, and that she would have a significant role in the grand scheme of things, but he has told so many people so many things. I just spent the last six pages describing scores of incidents where Christopher deliberately led people to believe what he wanted them to if they would. None of the people in his group have ever stood up and said they know for a fact that they were a certain someone from another life time. ALL of the suggestions about who anyone may have been in a former lifetime were first introduced by Christopher himself, which includes each and every one of his own bullshit incarnates.
The crime is in taking their money, and their property rights. He has done it, and he thinks he is justified in doing it. We’ll see about that. All of them have been manipulated by Christopher and his crime is in abusing his power (look up undue influence) that he has been given by these people.
C. “So when you’re talking to my enemies you gotta first ask them, “How well do you know Christopher? Has he ever been to your house? Have you ever met him? What about those who have never met me Stephen? Come on, come on.”
I have a healthy reputation with Stephen Dark, because I am not complicated. I never offered one sentence to him in any of the more than a dozen conversations I had with him that I couldn’t back up with an e-mail or some other type of evidence that Christopher himself wrote. There is no point in talking to a person who assures you that he knows what he is talking about, but never provides a single piece of supporting evidence. Christopher makes bold claims that he can’t back up, and he refuses to acknowledge that his bold claims are just as ridiculous as those made by Jim Harmstrom and all of HIS imaginary friends.
The first question Stephen Dark asked me when he contacted me was if I would be interested in commenting on Christopher ‘s movement or Ida’s story… Stephen has never met me and he has never been to my house. I don’t play games with people’s mind. I didn’t have to record any conversations to keep Stephen honest. Everything that I sent to Stephen, I also sent to Christopher and Sue Kammerman, because the 4 of us were involved.
Christopher simply couldn’t handle the fact that I could back up my story or that I had any incriminating information on him and that I would send it just to help someone I didn’t know to become wise to somebody who I DO know.
Christopher refused to admit that the evidence I sent to him, Sue , and Stephen was relevant. He became jaded and promptly blocked my emails. (Covered his eyes and ears, but not his mouth).
As a result, Christopher still has to deal with me, but I don’t have to deal with him.
We’ll see each other in Court and we’ll have a look at those little Crystal balls of his,
…once and for all..
