Supposedly the Jehovah's Witness (JW) publication "The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life" was the inspiration behind the song by The Shondells called Crystal Blue Persuasion.
It was a very persuasive book by the JWs back in the day and it's where they got the term "the truth" when referring to their religion and the term is used to this day. The supposed truth was that millions now living [in the era of 1914] would never die but simply walk into a perfect paradise on earth.
Pretty interesting that a religious movement spawned by the Freemason tenets, beliefs, rituals and practices claims to have the one and only truth about mankind, our future, and that everyone must be a baptized JW or die by God's hand at the upcoming global destruction of all mankind save for a few unbaptized JW children and people studying to become a JW when God's patience runs out and destroys all humans on this planet since they refused to come into "the truth".
I still get asked that question about why I left "the truth", well I left because it was not the truth but I was living a lie and stuck on a treadmill going nowhere. The Truth Book, as it was called, was the main study publication when my mother came into the organization and was used to get the new recruits baptized as soon as possible and become trapped for life inside of a cage running on a mouse wheel that never stops, never progresses, and goes nowhere until you tire out and drop into a lifeless mass of nothing.
Since officially walking out of a Kingdom Hall in 2006 and making a vow to myself to never return, I have faced the fact that half of my life was wasted on a treadmill going nowhere. Trapped in a stagnate life with no hope of any change, you get depressed and despondent with your only bright spot is the hope of an impending destruction by God of all non-JWs on earth. That is the sick place you end up when realizing you were born into a doomsday cult or were persuaded to join as an adult.
I started blogging to get my thoughts in print, to hopefully have my story told and to not keep silent about the abuses suffered being raised in a doomsday cult. I hope this blog somehow survives for many years to come and maybe someone stumbles upon it and sees that they are not alone in their awakening process and that there is light at the end of that long dark tunnel that is your life as a JW.
As I have talked about on this blog, I was born to a devout JW mother and a Catholic father with my first year of school spent inside a very strict, private Catholic school before my father became fully indoctrinated and baptized as a JW. He accepted a bible study that my mother arranged with an Elder in the congregation. When he was baptized, he was forced by the congregation Elders to send a disassociation letter to the Catholic church to delete his name and my name from their official records [I was baptized as an infant at a Catholic church in New York]. My father then enrolled me in a public school where I had to be taught by my JW parents to not salute the American flag, to tell the teacher I could not draw that Santa Claus or learn to write Valentine's Day cards in a classroom project, or participate in Halloween or any holiday decorating at school functions.
The damage to a child's psyche within the JW organization is not quantifiable. As I matured the indoctrination became stronger as I had difficulty communicating with any person not a JW, oh but I had "the truth" and no one else did. As I have stated many times, the only truth in this world is what we can feel, see, taste, touch, smell, see the effects of, so forth, and most truths in this world can be proven, but not the truth of the JW religion where they think only they are slated for eternal life on a paradise earth and no one else. Many extreme religious movements believe the same way whether they worship a Christian god or other gods.
However, my love of riding horses was my only outlet and I believe saved me from being a total shut-in and an introverted basket case. Then, when I began competing in horse shows it helped build my confidence level and self-esteem while my parents shunned me on and off throughout this "worldly" behavior of wanting to spend more and more time at the stables. They had to disavow any knowledge of my actions and never condoned it for fear my father would be deleted as a congregation Elder. They never fully stopped me from riding because my parents liked that reward and punishment mouse wheel they had me on. I did make it to all of the JWs meetings or I would be kicked out of house with no place to live. Yet, the shunning practice on and off inside the home was fun for them since the JW religion fosters sadism and not support, understanding, or meaningful communication between parents and children. So, I would sometimes eat my meals in silence as my parents spoke only with each other. Then the ban would be lifted and they would talk to me again and we would sometimes take trips together and engage in normal family activities.
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My friends at the barn where I rode had no clue of the deep sadness
and depression I suffered since I could never pursue
my dreams of working in the horse industry. I was forced to cut
off all friendships outside of my limited time spent at the barn until
financial difficulties forced me into a dead end job that people
like me with only a HS diploma are normally stuck with for life. |
As I have stated, my father was raised as a Catholic by Italian immigrant parents [my paternal grandparents] who I loved dearly and have many good memories of my time with them, which was about the first six years of my life. We moved across country so we could be near my mother's side of the family, all JWs and fully entrenched in its beliefs, policies, and teachings and strict adherence to its rules, mainly, they did anything that was in direct opposition of the Catholic church.
That is really a large portion of the history of the JW movement, was to just be contrary to Catholicism with other mainstream religions following close behind since the JWs believe they have the one and only true religion on this planet earth, thus they are in "the truth" and everyone else is living a lie. This is a lofty position for themselves when this so-called one true religion mandates you kill yourself or your infant or child by refusing potentially life-saving medical treatments involving the use of whole blood.
The other factor is that this so-called true religion mandates that there be two witnesses to any accusations of child molestation and to any other abusive activities against even the adult members of a congregation. If a victim or their family wishes to report the incident to the police, the Elders in the JW congregation will advise them that they are on their own and to tread carefully since they are going against Jehovah and should leave matters in his hands.
However, they must bring their accusation to the man or woman who was the abuser, if that person denies it then you are stuck with dealing with it in silence. If that person admits to it, then you are stuck with dealing with it in silence since a confession mandates forgiveness and that the perpetrator is working on the problem and hopes to rectify it and most likely will only be under a brief probationary period where he is still a fully accepted member in the congregation but maybe can't go out in the door to door ministry for a certain time period.
All the JW policies protect the alleged criminal, not the alleged victims in any matter whether it's as serious as child molestation or something minor like a business investment that goes sour and you feel you were taken advantage of by a "brother" in the congregation. Victims have no recourse but to pack up and move out of the area with perpetrators operating freely to prey on more innocent people residing in the congregation.
But wait, what about Bible doctrine? Aren't the JWs right about everything else? Hey, they don't celebrate Christmas, a holiday based in non-Christian customs. Gee, does that excuse the fact that they mandate live human sacrifices on a modern day altar of a hospital bed or on an operating table? Well, they think it is heinous for a woman to intentionally abort her baby but wait, if that same woman has a medical emergency and doctors can save the child via a blood-transfusion but she refuses it, then the unborn baby dies. So again, what are the JWs really doing to its rank and file membership? They are mandating they kill themselves or their children, born or unborn to satisfy the bloodthirsty leadership called the Governing Body of JWs that reside in their posh new resort in upstate New York. The blood-letting ritual and death practices are based on the dark history of human existence, when children were sacrificed on the altars of false gods in past times long gone.
If you take some time to do a simple Internet search of the history of the JW movement, you find it has little to do with scriptures and a lot to do with the rituals of the Freemasons and the non-Christian roots of world history when certain pagan customs mandated human sacrifice to satisfy their gods. The JWs have a very dark history. Well, you will get the reply that everything is in the past, it is now a clean organization and you've got to serve Jehovah, right? Wrong, since they refuse to change their policies of blood transfusions for medical reasons and the two-witness rule for heinous crimes of abuse against victims young and old.
As I have already blogged about, there are the upper ruling class membership of the JW organization. Do not be mistaken. Do not be misled. There are separate policies for the ruling class meaning the Governing Body, the men directly under them who serve them and support and enforce the policies, and then the stockholders, lawyers, medical personnel, investors, stock brokers, the top 10 percent or so of this organization are millionaires. Then you have the class of the average yet wealthy JW. All of these upper classes are NOT and I repeat NOT sacrificing their own lives or the lives of their children by supporting any ban on whole blood transfusions to save a life. No dear reader, be aware, the suicidal and murderous polices of the JWs only apply to the bottom three quarters of this pyramid scheme, the rank and file, the ones that are scared to death of not surviving a fantasy Armageddon, end times destruction when Jehovah destroys all non-JWs as is taught in their mountains of books they have published for a 100 years and counting.
The super wealthy that are making money off the JWs via lucrative real estate deals, investments, and so on, are not in the news dying or killing a baby or its mother during childbirth due to refusing a potentially life-saving blood transfusion. No, that is for the rank and file who are the sacrificial lambs on the altar of Jehovah, the God of the JWs who push Jesus's ransom sacrifice for all mankind off to the side. They do not acknowledge Jesus as the one perfect sacrifice to save all mankind from any Biblical destruction. As you may be well aware, the JWs have their annual ritual of denying the death of Christ when no one is allowed to partake of the emblems of the bread and wine picturing the flesh and blood of Jesus's sacrifice. If you are not a pre-approved member of the ruling class that is authorized to partake of the emblems, you will be disfellowshipped and thrown out of the congregation and out of the religion. No part of this JW ritual is based in scriptures.
Well, why join any religious movement? It's your choice. That is the key word and don't let anyone make you feel inferior for walking away from this non-Christian religion of JWs. Some wealthy people join any religion if it means more clients. If a wealthy JW needs a life-saving blood transfusion they get it but just keep it secret or lie about it so they can continue to have good relationships within the congregation and with their JW family members. Do not be fooled. The uneducated rank and file are frightened because simple lack of knowledge and understanding of any situation will breed fear. They then hold your dead loved ones hostage by keeping you in the congregation for fear you will never see them again in the JW paradise on earth.
As you know, the JWs prohibit higher education, but for whom? The elite and wealthy membership? The ones who are the stockbrokers who have children? The wealthy lawyers and their children? Ummmm, no. The wealthy upper class of the JWs are indeed sending their kids to college, to business schools of the elite to gain not only wealth, but the important friends, colleagues and business partners that will serve them throughout their entire lives and help their kids and grandkids prosper.
I no longer serve any god from any of the mainstream religions and I lump the JWs right in there. However, I am not aware of any of the other religions requiring a human sacrifice to satisfy their God except the JWs. It is masquerading as a Christian religion. If you are asked why you don't want to be a JW anymore or to stop your Bible study with a JW, I would keep it very simple and say it is no longer your truth. Otherwise, you might not escape from their constant rhetoric, their constant preaching at you until you give in and keep studying with them or choose to go back to meetings and in their ministry work to recruit new members. If all else fails they will threaten you with death at Armageddon and no hope of any resurrection to any paradise [whether it be in heaven or on earth], no hope of seeing your dead loved ones again, and then they threaten you with ostracism where you will be shunned and treated as dead.
All the JWs have in their arsenal are threats of shunning and that Jehovah will kill you at Armageddon. If you die before Jehovah kills you, then you will be dead forever with no hope of a resurrection since you rejected the JW organization. A truly desperate society will resort to threats of death and dying since that's all they've got. They do not have a loving arrangement.
Stand firm in your quest for your own true path in life now. If there is a God in heaven, he is freely available to all who want to worship him and you don't need any organization to tell you how to think, act, feel or believe. If you feel you want to join a religious group, choose one that allows free expression and opinions and wants to teach you stories and lessons from the Bible. Not one that has strict rules of banning education for its rank and file membership, the ones that are expendable, the ones that are slaughtered like lambs on an altar to a false god.
Read books on the subject of religion, on the origins of man, on the origins of this universe. Don't limit yourself to only reading a Bible or feel you have to be forced or persuaded to join any religious movement. Don't be bullied by another religious movement once you decide to leave the JWs. You do have time, you do have the world before you to explore. If you believe in a grand creator, then we were meant to create here on earth. Don't be ashamed if you want to pursue your own dreams and to hopefully help others fulfill their dreams too. It is a lofty goal to seek your own truth, and one worth pursuing.
#exJW #jehovahswitnesses
#thetruthbook
#thetruththatleadstoeternallife
#shunning
I am honored to participate for the second year in a row since I started this blog in July 2016, in the Watchtower Victims Memorial Day observation which happens on July 26. 
