Testimony Time: Jennica Brough

 “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony” Revelation 12:11

Hello reader,

My name is Jennica Brough. My family and I came to Christ in 2020 during the height of the pandemic.

To truly show you the restorative power of Christ and what He has done in our lives, it is essential to show you where we were before we met Him.

Our Journey In Deception

My husband Stephen and I grew up in the Mormon religion from the moment we were born. 

Stephen left the LDS faith as a teenager because it did not resonate in his heart. At 18, through deep struggle, he let his family know he did not want to serve an LDS mission. It was then that Stephen started studying eastern philosophy and Buddhism.

On the other hand, I grew up as a Latter-Day Saint and put my whole heart into the faith. I truly desired to follow the god of the Mormon religion. I attended BYU Idaho, married in the Mormon temple, received my temple endowments, and served many callings in the church. I quickly became a mom of 4 small children, as many newly married Mormon couples do. 

In my most profound attempt to follow the doctrine and teachings of Joseph Smith, I told myself that the life I believed I deserved would come as a blessing to my obedience to the principles of the LDS faith.

But my soul craved more, and I answered that craving with more obedience and actions. The Mormon religion is work-based. You work your way to salvation.

So when my soul longed for truth and peace, my head and heart would tell me it was because I was not righteous enough. I needed to work harder and become more obedient. This mentality and belief left me more broken and confused, hindering my stamina to keep going.

As my unhealthy marriage of 7 years began to deteriorate, I began to contemplate divorce. But, I believed that if I broke my temple sealing, I would not be able to be with my family in heaven. This belief put such a burden of heaviness on my soul.

I came to the end of my faith repeatedly and finally left my marriage despite knowing I was risking my salvation.

Into New Age

Two weeks after leaving my marriage, I met my current husband, Stephen. It was a moment that was an act of God. He was deep into the Law of Attraction and New Age beliefs when I met him. I found this new belief system so enticing and so powerful.

In New Age, you believe that your thoughts and beliefs make up your reality, and when you vibrationally align with what you want, The Universe will provide you with your desire. This belief is beautiful and sounds terrific, but it is far from the truth.

Stephen and I poured our lives into New Age for six years.

I dedicated all my time to reading tarot, meditating, working on my energy, carrying crystals, and aligning vibrationally with the life I desperately desired. I would dedicate hours daily to learning and starting a tarot business on Etsy. I spent afternoons at my kitchen table with tarot decks and crystals, asking the Universe for knowledge.

But just like the Mormon faith, it left me empty and broken upon dedication. New Age is just another works-based religion, except you worship the creation and not the Creator. Like my Mormon faith, I believed it was my fault that my life wasn’t showing up as it was supposed to. I needed to put more work in to change the outcome of my experience. And again, I would pick myself back up off the floor where I shed many tears of defeat and tell myself, “You’re not doing enough. Get up and go after what you desire.”

Despite the despair and loneliness, I had to find the motivation to move forward. I was so tired of my life not working. I wanted to curl into a ball and never try again. 

A Deep Darkness

2020 was the year deep darkness fell on our home. We were suddenly faced with the reality that life wasn't what it seemed. This intensely dark experience washed over our family so heavily that we did not know where to turn. Our New Age beliefs gave us no emotional or spiritual relief, leaving us with a deep sense of hopelessness.

Every day for years, Stephen woke up with a heaviness of fear and anxiety. And this new darkness that manifested into our experience put him over the edge. Our situation defeated his spirit, and our New Age beliefs did not reconcile our deep pain. In this moment of complete despair, Stephen realized that evil was all around us. 

And that’s when Stephen made a divine connection.

If evil and darkness were natural parts of this life, then Satan must be real.

And if Satan was real— then God was real.

Stephen let the reality of this new divine knowledge sink in. Tears began to stream down his face. At that moment, Stephen fell to his knees in complete and utter surrender to the Lord. And for the first time in Stephen’s adult life, he prayed to the Creator of the universe.

He poured out his heart to the Lord. He told Him he could no longer do this life without Him. In that moment of complete surrender, the Lord encountered him with His magnificent love, instantly lifting Stephen’s anxiety.

A warm covering of peace came over his entire body. At that moment, the Lord made Himself known to us both.

Spiritual Warfare is Real

Our journey out of New Age and into the arms of Christ was swift and disorienting.

The Lord began to reveal that we had many demonic and occult objects in our home from all our years in New Age. We gathered our tarot decks, crystals, buddha statues, dream catchers, etc., and burned them in our firepit outside.

The moment we began to declare that we were on the side of the Lord intense demonic warfare broke out in our home. The demonic attacks happened almost nightly for about a year. Wicked spirits terrorized our five-year-old daughter Gracie in her dreams and room. We eventually brought her mattress into our bedroom because she was so scared to sleep alone.

I was constantly attacked at night as well. Our bed would begin to shake randomly and wake me from sleep. Terrifying demonic activity would happen in my dreams. Our Alexa device would start playing music at total volume in the middle of the night. Smoke alarms would randomly go off at 4 am. Gracie was seeing demonic beings in our room at night. The supernatural haunted us relentlessly.

We were dealing with things we could not explain and needed help navigating this new supernatural landscape.

Introduction to The Pletcher Family

When Stephen and I first came to Christ, one of the biggest mistakes we made was not plugging into the body of Christ—immediately. We were wary of finding a church because we committed to two false belief systems and did not want to be deceived again. We didn’t want to follow a congregation that did not align with Christ and His word.

We shared with the members of one church in the valley of our demonic attacks at night and got looks of complete confusion. We realized that we needed a church that understood the supernatural. We attended several churches, and the Holy Spirit spoke to our discernment that the churches we did attend were not where we needed to be.

As Stephen and I began to study the word and learn how to hear the Lord—one of the things we heard Him speak was to put Gracie into a private Christian school. We found Intermountain Christian School, and God moved so powerfully. We could not deny that she was supposed to go to this school.

A week before Thanksgiving, Gracie’s class was putting on a Kindergarten show for all the parents to attend. After the show, parents were encouraged to mingle in the kid’s classroom for snacks and coffee. We divinely met the lead pastor of Antioch SLC, Chris, and his wife, Arlina. Their twin boys were in the same class as Gracie. We began sharing our journey with the Lord; they were so encouraging and loving. 

At the end of our hour-and-a-half-long conversation, they invited us for Thanksgiving to share a meal with them and their friends and family. The abundant love we felt from this family deeply moved us.

In their home, during our thanksgiving meal, we revealed to Chris that we were dealing with intense spiritual attacks. Without hesitation, Chris introduced us to Murray, who has experience in spiritual warfare.

They immediately validated our experiences and provided us with spirit-led encouragement that we were not crazy and that we have authority in Christ.

This moment was such a pivotal time for us. We knew we needed to attend Antioch and see if this was where the Lord called us to be.


Antioch Salt Lake City

The September before meeting the Pletcher’s the Lord brought Jana Robertson and Laken Watts into my life. We all volunteered to chaperone for an ICS Kindergarten field trip to Wheeler Farm.

There, I shared my testimony of finding Christ with Laken and Jana. They kindly listened with wide eyes and genuine interest. They were the first people to show me the incredible power of one’s testimony. They encouraged me to keep going and said what we had endured thus far was inspiring.

Then a few weeks later, I attended Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) as a plus one with a woman I met at Risen Life Church. It was there that I met Grace Staley. Little did I know that the Lord was stitching people into my life who would soon become family.

The Sunday after Thanksgiving, we attended Antioch SLC for the first time. As we witnessed and experienced spirit-filled worship for the first time, Grace Staley recognized me and gave me a welcoming hug. I also realized Jana Robertson went to Antioch that evening. I was thrilled they went to this church and quickly realized that God was preparing the way through the divine meeting of all of these women.

Throughout the entire service, God was moving in our hearts. The message was powerful and aligned with the word of God. During the response worship that night Arlina Pletcher prayed over us. 

I cannot even begin to describe how the Pletcher’s love and devotion to the service of God’s people have profoundly affected our walk with Christ. They have been a constant source of encouragement and love throughout our journey. Their divine love for the Lord and willingness to help us navigate our journey in Christ have been profoundly impactful.

We left that service knowing we had found our spiritual home.


The Gift Of Grace

After plugging into Antioch SLC, our journey began to unfold slowly. We committed to the Lord by dedicating our lives through the obedience of marriage and baptism. The Lord, over time, began to shed old ideas and beliefs we were taught in the LDS faith.

I constantly tried to prove to Him that I deserved His love and that my obedience is what made me worthy to receive His goodness. Through this false belief, I was suddenly hyper-aware that I did not truly understand the power of the cross.

One day while sitting in my kitchen, I began to read the book of Galatians. I came across Galatians 2:20-21, which reads:

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”

This passage of scripture just about knocked me out of my seat. I could not believe what I was reading. I began to understand that there was NOTHING I could do to save myself from sin.  I did not need to be perfect to receive the Lord’s love. Perfection is impossible without Christ.

Jesus died so I could be set free. He took on the sins of the world. Through His blood, we are worthy to stand before a Holy God. I suddenly realized that if I believed I was saved through my own doing, Jesus died for no purpose. The true meaning of this incredible gift began to wash over me in waves.

The gift of His almighty grace was missing in Mormonism and New Age. Both of these belief systems lacked hope. You feel alone and in a constant cycle of self-criticism because you are the source of the outcome of your life experience and salvation.

The gift of His grace has been one of the most challenging things to comprehend coming out of Mormonism. But through fervent prayer and continued faith, the Lord has slowly restored our belief and understanding of the marvelous gift of the cross.


A Call To The People Of Christ

As a former member of 27 years of the LDS faith, one of the hardest things to understand coming out of this false religion is who God and Jesus genuinely are. Many of the beliefs we adopt from infancy are false about the character of the Godhead. Another tricky thing to understand is accepting that your worth to God is not determined by your works but through the blood of Jesus.

According to Wikipedia, 58% of members who leave the LDS church turn to no religion or become atheists.

Our duty as the people of Christ who live among a predominantly Mormon community is to prayerfully seek the Lord and find out how to bridge the gap from Mormonism to the true Gospel of the Bible.

As more and more information comes out about the discrepancies in the Mormon faith, more members are leaving.

The Lord has declared that our church body is in a season of fruitfulness, and as members of the LDS faith leave their religious beliefs, we must be ready to welcome them with open arms and help them to know the honest Christ of the Bible. We must be ready to receive His lost sheep through our devotion to the Lord.

May every lost soul in this valley learn of their ever-present and loving Redeemer.

Antioch SLC is a body where the spirit of the Lord resides. Our faith journey as a family has been redeemed and restored through the service and love of this body. All people are welcome, and all are loved. And it is through this love that we have found the biblical Christ.


Our Testimony

God has instilled a passion in me to share my testimony and set free the captives of the LDS faith and those in the new age. 

Since coming to Christ, Stephen and I have become new creations. We’ve been set free of addiction, and false beliefs, our financial well-being has improved tenfold, and we realize what a life in Christ looks and feels like.

As we continue to serve the Lord’s body at Antioch, He keeps redeeming all the broken parts that New Age and Mormonism could never fix.

The blood of the Lamb has fulfilled the hope we so desperately sought in our past. The profound goodness of the Lord has forever changed us. He has lovingly undone the false beliefs we adopted of who we thought He was and given us the truth of His everlasting glory.

If you find yourself with a void in your heart that you are desperate to fill, let me testify that God is the only one who can fill it. The God of the Bible has changed our lives forever, and the amount of clarity and happiness we feel, even in times of deep sorrow, is such a testament to the excellent nature of God.

Let our testimony prove His endless love and be evidence of the transformation one attains when surrendering your life to the living God.

Blaise Pascal said it best:

“There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.”

May the God-shaped hole in your heart be filled with the everlasting love of Jesus Christ. May you understand the gift of His almighty grace. And may your life be transformed by His goodness and light!

In Jesus’ mighty name,
Amen!