Chinks in the Armor

Here we are in a new year while many Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs) are having a crisis over saying Happy New Year to someone who wishes them the same thing as this is the kind of nonsense the Watchtower corporation has its membership obsessed with. 

When I was a JW, I would fret over someone wishing me a happy holiday and new year, gosh, would God strike me dead if I wished the same happy greeting to a worldly person? But, maybe it will open a door for me to preach to them and try and snag them into a religion with no exit door. 

That was how we were forced to think around the stressful holidays. Stressful not because we were caught up in the excitement of the season or searching for a nice gift for a loved one. No, it was because we had to remain separate from the world or die at the battle of Armageddon that would happen any day now, even though many religious people believe that is a spiritual war and that we are saved by the Grace of God and the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

So many YouTube channels have popped up by those claiming to be ex-JWs when it is obvious they are following an easy script and dialogue since many were only barely affiliated with the JW religion, if at all. One prominent YouTuber found a way to personal freedom via his Scientology affiliations and was featured in a Leah Remini/Mike Rinder cable TV show about cults. He used a survey format for his blog which is a common tactic of the Scientologists. They practically invented that marketing ploy. This is called a chink in the armor. Not all people are what they claim to be.  

Watchtower has a chink in their armor too. They claim to not celebrate any worldly holidays since they are based in paganism, and have roots in worshiping Lucifer. Even Christmas lights outside of a home is to beckon Lucifer to your home. In the old days before electricity, people would have candles burning in their windows for the Yuletide festival from December 21 - January 1. 

Watchtower bans anything relating to the worship of Lucifer yet demand a blood sacrifice from their membership on an altar [a hospital bed or operating table] by denying blood transfusions for medical reasons to save a life. Watchtower demands you have no contact with anyone who was a baptized JW and decides to leave. You may say that is really not a chink in their armor, but think about it, they view you as a follower of Satan the Devil, Lucifer, if you leave the Watchtower corporation. Is that a warped view of matters? Yes, in most cases, unless you were ousted from the JWs because you were a crook or preyed upon the congregation abusing your position as a Elder via sexting the girls and women in your Hall looking to hook up while married. I know, sometimes Watchtower gets it right.

The confusion with the JWs comes with their teaching to shun the Devil and anyone who leaves the organization [since they are now following the Devil just by their leaving], they shun all pagan holidays yet demand a blood sacrifice. Even their annual death mass to remember the death of Jesus Christ is a chink in their armor. Only those anointed by God can partake of the emblems when the Bible says anyone can, it depends on their heart condition at the time. The JWs also do not celebrate the resurrection of the Christ, only remember his death because they worship Jehovah and Christ is pushed off to one side.

I hope this year brings more clarity into your life as you take a second look at who you are following on YouTube who claim to be ex-JWs or who claim prominence as an authority when they were kicked out at about 25 years old and pretended to turn in their resignation letter to the Body of Elders since they thought it would make good copy for their online survey site or their YouTube channel. 

I hope you gain clarity with the fact that you can leave the Watchtower corporation and you can begin a life for yourself no matter what your age or economic status. Do not simply turn on the TV and expect salvation. Do not simply tune in to the Internet and expect salvation. It starts with you. Think about where you are right now and where you want to be by the end of 2019. How will this year read for you? Did you take that class you wanted to at the community college? Did you decide to take that job in another town or country? Did you decide to devote more time to personal development, picking up books about spirituality?

So funny about one ex-JW woman who frequently phones into a weekly Saturday Internet livestream program dealing with leaving the Watchtower. She claims to not care that her elderly JW mom is leaving millions of dollars of her estate to the Watchtower corporation; oh, it's not about the money! Just that she wished her mom would not be so devoted to a corporation that is all about the money and thinking you can pay for your eternal salvation.

Come to find out this was a deception, a chink in this self-righteous ex-JW's armor. She revealed on another online YouTube channel, that she called Social Services to report elder abuse by her JW brother-in-law that is married to her sister, and they are taking care of this million dollar mom. Social Services denied her claim. The brother-in-law stands to inherit a chunk of that money, with a portion going to the Watchtower corporation. This woman also stated that her siblings are JWs and she is not, so they all want her to come up with a legal loophole to get the money away from mom before she dies, or to contest the will. 

Watch out who you are following on YouTube, on the Internet, on any site where they claim to not care about the money. Oh, it's about wanting people out of the Watchtower corporation. No it's not. It really is all about the money. This same woman who frequently cries online about how Watchtower treated her, she was an adult when joining and an adult when leaving. She was not born in and raised in this cult like me and so many others were, who had no choice and our minds warped with the JW mindset and world view.

This same woman claims that the second this online weekly show begins talking about God, she slams down her phone. Yes, I know, it's because many who leave the Watchtower become Luciferian. They cannot stand anyone bringing up the Bible, God or Christ, it is a physical reaction and one I find extremely bizarre. I can talk about most subjects unless they are particularly gross or low class, but I can entertain discussions on the Bible, atheism, spirituality, mythology, and all other kinds of topics. I do not fear any discussions and it doesn't turn my stomach to bring up mainstream religion or talk about God or Christ. Again, this is a chink is someone's armor. It is a red flag.

Eventually you find out you no longer need to constantly obsess over other people's stories. You start to focus on your own life story and slowly you will see your own path unfolding before your eyes. Stop looking for external help. You can help yourself but it must start with a thought, a feeling, inside of you to better yourself. Now is the time to turn off the television, turn off other people's conversations, and take pen to paper and start a plan for 2019. You will never regret focusing on yourself for a change. Something the Watchtower corporation fears you will do. They love the constant YouTube chatter with everyone obsessing over their every move with the endless dumb commentary about their monthly videos that are on JW.org. 

Nope, that is not you this year. Do you want the Watchtower to crumble? Turn away from it and turn away from the phonies who pretend to want the JW religion to come to an end. It means the end of themselves too since they have built nothing since leaving the Watchtower. They have nothing, are empty inside, but this is not you. Start now searching for your own spiritual path.

#survey #scientology

#youtube

Not Everyone Escapes

You may remember the story about the ex-Jehovah's Witness (JW) named Lauren Stuart and her family, who were all JWs and had left the organization but Lauren never seemed to mentally leave the JWs. 

I blogged about her earlier this year and the link is here:

https://exjwquietactivism.blogspot.com/2018/02/its-sad-when-they-leave.html

I found through the YouTube Channel of Kim/Mikey, video dated November 19, 2018, that the TV show called Investigation Discovery actually covered Lauren's story and provided a reenactment of how the police and detectives believed the murder/suicide unfolded. In case there was any doubt at the time about the reason for Lauren killing her family, her dog, and then turning the gun on herself, is detailed in that TV show. Yes, she started having doubts about leaving the JWs and essentially believed they were right about the end times, that the Great Tribulation and Armageddon were right at her doorstep and about to happen at any time. She felt that the only way out of their predicament of being ousted from the JW organization was to take the lives of her family and herself, since then [according to JW rules], her family would have a chance for everlasting life. Her fate would be in the hands of their God Jehovah who most likely would take pity on her for what she had done. However, this is up in the air with the JWs since they leave that up to Jehovah but would not conduct any type of memorial service for that person who committed suicide, even if they were still an active member of the congregation.

The link to the YT channel is below where Lauren is talked about and a link to the TV program that covered her story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=641nA_HVvFw

https://vimeo.com/301515222

As we are now in the holiday season, many persons deal with depression and assessing their lives as we close out another year and move into the new year. Even active JWs suffer from depression and suicidal thoughts and many carry that out, my own cousin being one such victim of suicide as I have blogged about here before. He was born and raised a JW, went on to serve at Watchtower headquarters in New York called Bethel, where he had various positions until finally being assigned to the former Brooklyn headquarters as a tour guide. He came back to his home state, married, became an Elder and served for years before I found out much later that he suffered from depression and was deleted as an Elder. In 2017 he committed suicide and there was no JW memorial, nothing, he didn't exist in their eyes and I only found out about his suicide weeks after it happened. Since I am no longer a JW, I was not invited to his gravesite service just held by family members, no official memorial was held by his congregation.

Do not let the JWs steal your life now or your future. If you have finally made that decision to walk away from the JW religion, be proud you made that step to start thinking on your own. If you believe in the Bible, then that is your strength and resource. If you want to explore various spiritual paths, do that now. If you have anxiety around this holiday time of year, let that go now. Calm down and relax, you have no one pushing you to celebrate anything. Do not be intimidated by JW relatives or family that you need to return to Jehovah, but be kind in your responses. Tell them the JWs do not own "the truth", and that truth is found in Scriptures, not in any church of Christendom, which the JWs are a part of. All churches claiming to follow the teachings of Christ are a member of Christendom.

If you feel depression settling in, reach out to trusted non-JW friends, relatives or co-workers. Maybe join a gym, start a daily walk in the park or around your neighborhood and consider adopting a cat or dog to take the focus off of you and onto another living thing that needs your time and focus. Start writing down your feelings and impressions in a private journal that only you know about, maybe carry it in your backpack or keep it in your desk.

This is the time of year to take stock and think about planning a new path for yourself. Don't fall into bitterness or start thinking the JWs are right after all. They have been wrong for over 100 years of existence before they adopted the JW name and changed up the corporation that exists today that is very much involved in this system of things, their so-called Satan's world. Yes, the JWs are profiting off Satan's world and have amassed great fortune while the membership suffer and die, sometimes at their own hand.

If you feel you need to speak with someone, do not be shy about contacting your local suicide prevention center. Sometimes volunteering at a homeless shelter or animal shelter can help you put life in perspective and you will see how lucky you really are right now. You can and will be that person who escapes from the walls of the Watchtower corporation and you will be a success and inspiration to those around you. 

The first step is to detach emotionally from the JWs, then work on the physical and plan your walk out of that Kingdom Hall and never return. They are wrong in their teachings, policies and beliefs. Convince yourself first, then introduce this concept to loved ones. But in the end, we can only save ourselves.

#laurenstuart  #jehovah  #JW

#activism  #society  #a&e #buddha

The Annual Tree Sacrifice

How many trees die for the Christmas celebrations each year? Christmas is almost a global celebration in this day and age, it's not just in Western culture but everywhere since it means corporations make a lot of money with making it almost a law that everyone celebrate Christmas and start buying tons of products and get them gift wrapped and placed under the mandatory Christmas tree each year.

Growing up as a Jehovah's Witness (JW), I only experienced Christmas when we lived near my "worldly" paternal grandparents who were devout Catholics, and Christmas meant midnight mass and having a devotion and reverence to Jesus Christ who died for all of us, that we may have everlasting life in a paradise. My grandparents had a beautiful large Christmas tree in their home that filled an entire corner of the living room where all the presents under that tree were mine. 

The adults didn't exchange gifts but they had lots of food and wine and I still have a memory of my grandfather giving me a taste of whiskey in a tiny glass. I always had a love of horses from birth and one year I have a particular memory of a gift that was a metal truck horse trailer filled with plastic horses, an arena I pieced together and tiny bales of hay. When we left the celebration and got back home, my present was placed in a closet and I never played with it again. My mother told me it was off limits and to not take it out of the box. For kids, time really means nothing so I don't know how long it was after that Christmas with my grandparents that we packed up and moved away from them and somehow that gift they gave me didn't make it into our boxes for the movers.

Since we were now alone without any worldly influences from non-JW family members, we were fully engulfed in the JW congregation we attended and had no friends or contact with any non-JW on a personal level. Any outsider was treated with cold detachment and politeness, but nothing else. Christmases came and went as I wondered if we would ever have a big Christmas tree in our home like my grandparents had. I never asked my parents about it, I just waited and wondered.

Actual photo of the annual Christmas tree
display at Union Square in San Francisco
that I remember seeing as a child.

My parents liked road trips to San Francisco since we lived in the country and I saw the biggest Christmas tree imaginable in a department store. The storefront was all glass leading up to the top floor, it was all open so you could see all the floors and the Christmas tree was on the ground floor reaching up to the top. I never saw anything more beautiful in my life. I told my mom I wanted to see it from the top and my mother said no, we don't celebrate Christmas. My father said nothing as we walked past the storefront and for some reason, it caused me deep embarrassment that I asked to see the tree top, since I wanted to see all the decorations and what was on the top of the tree. I don't know why I had that reaction but I felt cut to the heart. My mother's response was so cold and mean, like I had said something horrible that other people could hear.

Neiman Marcus, San Francisco, CA.

Now that I have left the JW organization, I have never had a Christmas tree in my own home. I still feel a detachment from the celebration. I don't mind that other people celebrate it and string lights around their homes, it can be very pretty, but I don't care about it. I do get a bit troubled by all the trees that are cut down for the holiday and then are thrown in the garbage like trash. I feel that people have no respect for nature and this annual tree sacrifice should stop, but then I stop and think, why? Why do I feel so upset about that? Why do I feel sorry for the trees? They are cut down and dragged into homes and then dumped in the street or in garbage bins like they were never living, beautiful things. 

I find it extremely humorous when I read about people so devoted to their non-belief in God, they believe in nothing, no Higher Power, no Grand Creator, nothing, not even in any sort of afterlife, yet some go nuts if they can't have that Christmas tree in their home whether they have JW family members or not who would object to such a display. Even some ex-JWs who have left God behind race out and buy that Christmas tree. I consider myself a spiritual person and do believe in a Creator of all this but not of the Christian God of the Bible, however, Christmas holds no special meaning for me, I can take it or leave it.

But then I wonder, well, I guess the Christians have adopted this time of year to celebrate the birth of Christ and it's really only a secular holiday to get you to separate your hard earned cash from your wallet and has little if anything to do with spirituality. So there are always two sides to every coin.

What am I doing this year? No, I still do not want a Christmas tree in my home, not even a small one, it holds no value or meaning of anything to me. It's just a tree sitting in my house that I have to clean up and haul it outside to be picked up by the garbage men come the New Year. I do enjoy the colors of the season, scented candles, and gathering with friends or taking a long trip to the snow and renting a cabin and enjoying hiking and sitting by the fireplace at night. 

I like this time of the year with the Winter coming and I cherish the memories I have of my paternal grandparents and of their honest and sincere kindness and religious devotion at Christmas and going to mass. I remember kneeling with my grandmother at her altar in her home with small porcelain idols of the Virgin Mary and tiny religious paintings of the Christ, as she taught me how to pray on the rosary with each bead a separate prayer and her love remains a strong memory that makes me smile to this day.

#christmas  #jehovahswitnesses

#jesuschrist  #holiday  #wintersolstice
#jehovahswitnessactivism