Lord's Evening Meal

On Saturday, March 31, the Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs) will have their annual celebration and memorial of the death of Jesus Christ. They give a special talk on that night and pass around emblems representing Jesus' body and blood. As many may know, only a select few of "anointed" ones are allowed to partake of the emblems. There are no written rules on who may be deemed anointed by God to partake of the emblems but it is a secret society of men who will determine this. Mostly, it is based on those from long ago who are now dead, who were prophets and disciples of Christ and in recent years, only a select clique are truly considered anointed. 

Yes, it is a vague arrangement, as an honest and sincere JW may believe they are anointed by God and Christ and go ahead and partake of the emblems passed around the Kingdom Hall that memorial night. You may or may not be given a pass on this. Generally speaking, if you are under the age of 60 [excluding Governing Body member Mark Sanderson who is the youngest and believed to not yet be 50 years old], you most likely will not be considered anointed and may face a JW Judicial Committee to determine your state of mind. If they deem you as unstable, they may let it pass and just put up with you, but in some cases you will be disfellowshipped and expelled from the congregation for not following the lead of the Elder Body.

Most, if not all, Bible translations state that all must partake of the body and blood of the Christ if they want to be saved, and Jesus is the bread of life and it's available to all, not just a select few. But really, it is up to the individual to make that choice for themselves. God doesn't want you to partake as a matter of obligation or without feeling or understanding of the sacrifice Jesus made for all of us. He made that sacrifice so all persons may be saved from inherited sin and everlasting death and destruction. However, the JWs believe that only their anointed membership who are still on this earth, the remnant, are slated for heaven and can partake of the emblems while everyone else is slated for everlasting life on earth and cannot partake of the emblems. However, the Bible really doesn't state this, that there are two groups of "saved" people.

The facts of the Scriptures are really lost on indoctrinated JWs and they will most likely glaze over if you try and point out that all may partake of the emblems of the body and blood of Christ, it is a personal choice.

JWs also believe it is a sin to pass over their passover celebration, ha. So if you decide to not attend one of their bizarre rituals of simply passing the bread and wine to each person in attendance with just about no one partaking, you will be marked for destruction when God kills you at Armageddon. Again, this is not a Bible-based belief. If you decide to go to the JW memorial celebration, you will see a lot of disgruntled people forced to be there, whether it's an unbelieving mate or a "worldly" relative. They are slumped in their seat and forced to touch that glass of wine and plate of unleavened bread and pass it along to the person beside them, down each row, and getting everyone to touch the glass and plate, even babies, so they will all be saved at the time of the end in which we are living.

Some religions do this passover celebration every Sunday so as to get everyone in attendance to be involved and acknowledge the sacrifice of the Christ. Since many people don't regularly attend church or may show up one time to see what's it's about, or maybe are traveling and just don't have knowledge of the original passover meal instituted by Christ, they hold the memorial each Sunday and anyone there can participate if they want to, and partake of the emblems. I don't see the harm in this but the JWs get all upset that the "worldly" religions do this memorial celebration wrong. Well, they are wrong in their belief that only a select few can partake of the emblems.

This year's JW memorial invitation features very bizarre artwork and they even feature a Masonic handshake this year. It seems this religious sect is getting more open about their Masonic roots, and nothing much has changed. Some of the Masonic sects and rituals involve tricking Christians into thinking they follow the Christ when they follow Lucifer. The JWs trick you the same way, their memorial death mass has little to do with Jesus, but a lot to do with hailing their God Jehovah and doing a sales pitch to get people to agree to a home Bible study consisting of studying only JW literature, with the Bible as a symbol only, pushed aside with random, unrelated scriptures cited now and then in their publications.

These images are of the official 2018 JW Memorial Invitation obtained from their official website, JW.org:

This is the Masonic handshake, where you curve and press your thumb into the hand of the other person.

Some people have suggested that the overly-long thumb cupped in the
other man's hand at the angle depicted, is another lewd image placed
there by the Watchtower artists.

Example of a Masonic handshake:

Some people suggest that there are hidden Masonic and lewd symbols and images in Watchtower literature, both past and present. Many examples are available with a quick Google search and may be worth your time to check it out. Here is one strange part of the painting from the JW Memorial Invitation:

Whatever you decide to do on Saturday is your choice. But I would skip the JW death mass where they give Christ a brief mention once a year and then proceed to honor Jehovah and try and guilt-trip you into attending all of their meetings and have you become a fully indoctrinated drone of the organization. Seek your own path in life and you won't go wrong.

#Jehovahswitnesses #memorial

#christ #jehovah  #jesus

The Truth In Four Parts

The Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs) have what they call a scriptural reason for demanding that there be at least two witnesses to any wrongdoing to convict one of their brothers [or sisters], and one of those scriptures is found in Deuteronomy 19:15. However, what the JWs refuse to acknowledge, is that even if there are two witnesses to such an abhorrent crime as sexual abuse of a minor, no conviction will be sought against the perpetrator, even if that person confesses. This is the sneaky way the Watch Tower leadership avoid their own so-called Scriptural policy. The Watch Tower corporation's goal is to protect themselves from having their corporation's name smeared in the press, in the court systems, in the congregations, and protect their belief they have a clean religious order that was chosen by God himself about one hundred years ago.

As you may be aware, a small group of ex-JWs participated in their own form of activism at the JW headquarters in Warwick, New York. A quick YouTube search will bring up many of their own video diaries on that event that happened last November. What many may not be aware of, was that a Canadian news team followed them around and documented what happened on their quest to awaken people in the township of Warwick, and finally approached the Warwick headquarters and asked to speak to a member of the Governing Body [the top religious rulers of the JWs]. Of course, when they approached the guards at the compound gates, the police were summoned and the ex-JWs holding up signs and banners, had to congregate on the opposite side of the street from the actual compound because a guard at the gate stated that it was "private property".

The Canadian news team has released their four-part video series exposing the JWs for allegedly having a long history of covering up sexual abuse against minors and revealed the truth behind those Watch Tower walls at Warwick, that they are simply hiding behind a few scriptures so they don't have to deal with sexual predators within the congregations worldwide. If they are forced into the court system, the Watch Tower attorneys have a history of simply paying victims to go away and placing a gag order on all parties in the case, so nothing can be revealed in the press about the details of the matter.

As many of us who were born and raised in the JW organization, we know first hand that they throw the burden upon the members themselves, upon the victims, when dealing with any abuse and must suffer in silence. They tell victims to read a few benign Watchtower-published materials, or face being evicted and labeled as a trouble maker if you speak up and go to the Elders in the congregation and reveal what happened. Many victims are often forced to leave not only their own congregation, but the religious movement, since the alleged perpetrators rarely if ever are removed from the congregation. The victims have to run and hide and feel ashamed, while the alleged perpetrator can continue to be welcomed in the congregation. Sometimes, a perpetrator may confess, so what, they may be on what's called restriction for a short time, not able to engage in the door-to-door ministry work, or have duties within the congregation. All this is temporary, and they can be restored to having all their privileges back while the victim is there suffering in silence, and this is especially dangerous when the victim is their own child. The abuse will never stop.

There is no justice for the children inside the walls of the Kingdom Halls, masonic halls of injustice, non-Christian halls of stoic men and women who have their personalities and basic human emotions stripped from them as their God Jehovah demands that they be silent when facing crimes against minors. Even adult victims of abuse must suffer in silence, never taking that abuser to court unless the victim wants to be shunned and ousted from their congregation, and even from the religion itself.

I hope you take the time to click on the link below and watch this incredible broadcast from Canada about the JWs and their two-witness rule.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/sex-abuse-survivors-allege-coverup-by-jehovah-s-witnesses-for-failing-to-report-assaults-1.3854274

To see the series as one video without commercials, you may access it here at this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjatriVR0aQ

If you have suffered inside those Kingdom Halls and were abused, no matter if it was yesterday or 50 years ago, talk with a trusted non-JW friend, a non-JW relative, a counselor, your teacher, a supervisor at work, look online at various associations in your city and talk with someone. Many therapists offer low cost counseling services and it helps to just talk about it. No one is forcing you to speak publicly. You don't have to do a YouTube video, nothing is required. It is just helpful to talk to a licensed therapist, a physician, and perhaps when you are ready, you can take that next step and seek legal advice on how to proceed with bringing to justice the person(s) who victimized you. It is never to late to be happy. Your life is yours to live and you cannot be afraid of some God called Jehovah. No loving God will destroy you for seeking truth, justice, wisdom, and love. I hope that you can and will find the courage to take one small step and reach out and share your story with a friend, and perhaps it can lead you to finding lasting personal peace and happiness.

#jehovahswitnesses  #jw.org

#twowitnesses

#watchtower

Don't Wish It Were Easier, Wish You Were Better

Swimming upstream is never easy, but if you are a skilled and strong swimmer, you will conquer your goals.

It is difficult to even think about leaving the Jehovah's Witness (JW) organization, especially if you are already a baptized member of its society and vowed to be devoted to the top ruling class called the Governing Body (GB). Funny how their terminology always involves the body. As in the Elder Body, the group of men who run each congregation of JWs. Why the body? Because you, the rank and file are the members of that body. You do all the work while the body stays fixed. Without your arms and legs, you would be immobile. You could not feed yourself, earn a living, or get about on your own, you would be disabled and have to rely on other people to keep you alive.

The GB and the Elder Body are the same way. They need you to keep them alive by using your money, time, and resources to keep them very wealthy and thriving for years to come while you suffer and toil and never reach the end of that swim upstream. It is never easy to leave the JWs, and if anyone tells you it is, they are lying to you or were never really "in" the faith, as they say. They could not care less, perhaps they married a JW and fell into the organization and don't have any real emotional ties to it and can walk away at anytime. That's fine. But many of us were born and raised in the religious movement, and simply walking out those Kingdom Hall doors was a major, life-shattering moment.

Yes, I did it on my own. I conducted online research of the history of the JW religious movement with my only outlet being the JW message board where I could talk freely under a different name, and express my viewpoints and ask questions. The message board is still in existence, at: https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/

You need some sort of outlet when you are planning your escape from the BODY. You also need that one moment that will push you out the door for good, and yes, sometimes you have to leave someone behind. The JWs love to say how they are not a cult, yet they behave like one, so what's the difference. There isn't one. 

Perhaps this is your one issue that will get you to become a better person, to step up to the plate and take a stand by finding that courage to leave the JWs. Below is an excerpt from an article in The Guardian online newspaper. Click on the title for the complete story.

Child sexual abuse inquiry considers Jehovah's Witnesses UK investigation: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse says there have been 'a considerable number' of complaints

Excerpt: Louise Goode, a former Jehovah's Witness, says she left the faith because of its responses to allegations of child sexual abuse. "Since leaving ... I have become an activist and my aim is to ensure that all abuse cases or suspected safeguarding issues are reported immediately to the police rather than being dealt with in a secretive way in house by three elders who have had no safeguarding training."

Louise Goode did form her own group called JW Support Foundation, and that was her way to becoming "better" when leaving the JWs. However, please do not think there are any rules for leaving, no one way is the right way, it's your way that is the right way.  I am not saying you have to form a group or organization, or do anything you are not ready for. Do not rush the process of leaving the JWs. But you can become a better person for taking on that difficult challenge of leaving the JW organization forever.

Blogging helped me to get my story out there since that was the best way for me to communicate. Other people have their own style, but doing nothing is fine too. Your simply walking out of those Kingdom Hall doors and never returning is a major step, and is by no means considered doing nothing. That is doing a lot, it's a huge first step. A point to remember is to work on the person inside of you first, seek out self-help books and videos, some suggestions are in the footer of this blog. Don't just crowd your mind with religious doctrines, think about your entire lifestyle. Are you eating well, sleeping well, and doing well on your job? Focus forward and become a better person inside, and the rest will fall into place.

No, it is not easy, but you can do it with a little time and planning. Share only your most deep inner thoughts with a trusted non-JW friend [I emphasize that]. I am sorry to tell you this, but even if you believe you have the best JW friend in the world, even if they are your spouse, they will turn on you. Why? It's their indoctrination into that JW religion who pretends to not be a cult. No one religious or political group has all the answers in this life. Life's purpose is the journey, not being stagnate waiting for "the end" of this system of things like JWs have you believe. They have all the answers so there is no need for further research, learning, or study. That is one major red flag right there. No one should tell you to only read their literature and only believe what they tell you to believe.

What are the JW Leadership willing to tolerate? Every crime imaginable.
They sweep its worst offenses under the carpet, even allowing
certain members of the Elder Body to walk out of the congregation,
"forced" [ha ha] to write a disassociation letter,
and never facing a real court of law.

Explore the world around you without limitations. Perhaps look to non-JW co-workers and ask what groups they belong to, maybe get a gym membership or join a running club, something that gets you out of your head and into the...what? Into the BODY, your own body, and those walls inside of your brain will finally fall away and you can see life for what it means for you, individually.

Do what makes you happy. Harm no one on your journey.

#exJW

#theguardian

#freeyourselfnow