I was a faithful and zealous Jehovah's
Witness for 35 years, I served as congregation elder for over 20 years
and was the Theocratic Ministry School Overseer in my local congregation
for 17 years. I accepted every teaching of the Watchtower Bible and
Tract Society as coming from Jehovah through His Faithful and Discreet
Slave. I was convinced I was part of the one true religion in the world.
In 1990 my 95-year-old
grandmother came to live with us after an extended hospital
stay, she needed around the clock care. My wife Jean and I began
alternating meetings in order to care for her. Being the
Theocratic School Overseer and a book study conductor I went to
our meetings on Tuesday and Thursday and my wife would attend
the Sunday meetings. We also alternated our field service time
on weekends. Before long the other elders began to pressure me
to get to all the meetings. Of course this was not possible
short of hiring someone to stay with my grandmother 3 nights a
week. When their attempts to pressure me into getting to all the
meetings failed they began to pressure me to give up my
assignment as school overseer an assignment I had for the past
17 years. My pleas for help with my assignments fell on deaf
ears. Soon I resigned as a book study conductor, later as school
overseer and eventually I resigned my assignment as an elder.
Without the responsibilities of an elder in the congregation I
stayed home to care for grandma more and more and let my wife go
to all of the meetings, she was after all my grandmother and my
responsibility. I found a great deal of joy in the freedom of
staying at home evenings and weekends as it gave me a great deal
of time for personal Bible reading. The more Bible reading I did
(without Watchtower publications to steer my thinking) the more
errors I began to see in the teachings of the Watchtower. Soon I
began to doubt that they were the one true religion as they
claimed. I would occasionally attend a meeting but I told God
that I would not go back out in the door to door work unless He
showed me very clearly that that was what I was to do. He never
did and I never again went door to door as a Jehovah's Witness.
My grandmother passed away in 1994 but I did not return to the
meetings, I had simply found too many errors in their teachings,
past and present.
When the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society admitted in the November 1,
1995 Watchtower that they were wrong about the end of this system coming
before the generation of 1914 passed away I began
to investigate their real history, not just the Watchtower's version. I began to read information on the
Internet that the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society forbids their members
to read. The more research I did the more I realized why the Watchtower
Bible and Tract Society forbids their members to research their past. The
facts I discovered were very disturbing and I came to the realization
that the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society is not the one true religion
as they claim and as
I had believed all those years.
It was the most life altering decision I made in my life but in 1999 I
decided to leave the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society because of what
I found by reading God's word the Bible without the influence of
Watchtower publications and I wrote a
letter of dissociation to my local congregation.
I invite you to
examine the 200+ pages of information on my web site
I invite you to browse through the 200 or so
pages of information I have compiled on Jehovah's Witnesses and the
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. I have
information on the many different teachings and beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses, if you don't
find what you are looking for on our web site try our many links or email me I will try to find the
information for you.
About Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's
Witnesses believe that the Heavenly Kingdom took effect in 1914 with the
invisible enthronement of Christ as King. A little flock or Anointed
Class of about 135,300 people currently occupies it. All were selected
after Christ's ascension into heaven at Pentecost (33 AD) and during
subsequent centuries. The selection of the full complement of 144,000
was completed in 1935. Some 8,700 are still living on earth. They will
spend eternity as spirit creatures in heaven with God and Christ and
will rule over the other Jehovah�s Witnesses who remain on earth. Those
spending eternity on earth are what Jehovah�s Witnesses call the Great
Crowd or Other Sheep.
Pure Grace
Growing up in the Watchtower Society as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, I thought Grace was some lady who lived down the road. In the old days when we used the King James or the American Standard versions, the Watchtower rarely quoted scriptures with the word "grace" in them. The Watchtower Society removed the word grace from their New World Translation, removing God's greatest gift from the Bible. They replaced it with the term "undeserved kindness."
This term does not describe grace. You might show me kindness that I do not deserve, so even humans can show undeserved kindness. But grace is much more. The word grace (in Hebrew, chen; in Greek, charis) appears 166 times in the pure Word of God. It is basically charity, a free gift of benefit, favor, and blessing.
A Ministry of Misery
Depression. What are some of the problems the Witnesses have? All kinds of mental diseases could be listed. Essentially, the main problems are depression, feeling of helplessness, worry, doubt, and conflicts in the congregation. The elders try to enforce extremely rigid rules. For a few years wire-rimmed glasses were condemned. If a person came into a Kingdom Hall with wire rims, that individual would have to sit down for a conference. He would be told, "We notice you are wearing wire rims. You are falling out of the truth. We are concerned about this. We think you need help." It becomes absurd after a while. And as you can imagine, trying to enforce this much rigidity and this much conformity, creates problems. When one really believes the Watchtower is God's organization, the elder becomes God's representative. In a sense, what he says is almost like God saying it. Therefore, if an elder says a person is immature because of wearing wire-rimmed glasses, that is like God saying you are immature because you wear wire-rimmed glasses! This causes people to feel depressed and to say, "I'm a bad person! I'm terrible!" And naturally they feel guilt, worry and doubt.
Book a Seminar for Your Church or Study
Group
Comprehensive seminars that we can
bring to your church or Bible study group designed to help Christians
reach Jehovah's Witnesses with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
"A
dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God's
Truth is attacked and yet remained silent without giving the
sound."
John Calvin
"...I am sending you to them to open
their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the
power of Satan to God..." Acts 26:17 and 18 NIV
TowerWatch Ministries is dedicated to helping Christians reach Jehovah's Witnesses with the gospel of Jesus
Christ, enlightening current and would-be Jehovah's Witnesses and helping ex-Jehovah's Witnesses through the recovery process
TowerWatch Ministries is not affiliated with the Watchtower
Bible and Tract Society
This site
created and maintained by former Jehovah's Witness Cal Lehman
Established June 16, 2003 -
Last updated
Sunday February 10, 2019
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