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Jehovah’s Witness guilty of strangling children for sexual gratification
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Posted on January 3, 2016

Warwick Crown Court, where Ian Pheasey was sentenced to five years
Warwick Crown Court, where Ian Pheasey was sentenced to five years

Once again, Jehovah’s Witnesses hit the headlines regarding the covering up of child sex abuse.
This most recent case concerns Ian Pheasey, who was a member of a congregation in Warwick. The court was told how Pheasey attacked a 7-year-old girl while working as a volunteer librarian at the Kingdom Hall in the 1990s. He was charged with offenses that occurred between 1989 and 1994, and he pleaded guilty to 3 offenses.
Pheasey’s offenses are unusual in nature as he obtained sexual gratification from strangling children. His first victim was a 7-year-old girl who had gone to get a book from the library in the Kingdom Hall. His second victim was a 14-year-old girl who he grabbed around the neck and threw to the floor where he straddled her and squeezed her neck.
The poor girl fell unconscious twice and was crying out, “Jehovah help me.” Pheasey told the girl he would kill her if she told anyone, and he also said if she ever had daughters he would rape them as well.
She ran home screaming and crying to her mother, but sadly her mother told her to clean herself up. She was taken to the hospital for the bruising to her neck, but was told by her parents that she must never say anything about it. Furthermore, the matter was “swept under the carpet” by the congregation, according to the prosecutor.
Ian Pheasey, who admitted fantasizing about young girls
Ian Pheasey, who admitted fantasizing about young girls

Pheasey admitted fantasizing about strangling the girl, and that he had lured her over with the intention of strangling her and becoming sexually aroused.
His third victim was only 6 years old when he was carrying out some work at her parents’ house. As the little girl sat in his van, he got in and started tickling her and then moved his hand up her skirt. He only stopped when she kicked out and screamed.
Nicholas Taplow, prosecuting, stated: ”He was a man who had a particular sexual fascination with the act of strangulation. He derived sexual gratification from strangling children, and many children were strangled in this way by him during what he described as horseplay.”
Pheasey was jailed for 5 years after he pleaded guilty to assaulting one girl, causing her actual bodily harm, and indecently assaulting 2 others.
A spokesman for the Jehovah’s Witnesses said the church deplored Pheasey’s behavior and denied it was involved in a cover up of his crimes. The spokesman said, “Jehovah’s Witnesses abhor child abuse, and view it as a serious crime and sin. The safety of our children is of the utmost importance. Any suggestion that Jehovah’s Witnesses cover up child abuse is absolutely false. We are committed to doing all we can to prevent child abuse and to provide spiritual comfort to any who have suffered from this terrible sin and crime.”
This case is particularly shocking as some of the offenses happened at the Kingdom Hall. Not only is the nature of the crimes particularly disturbing, but also the reactions from the parents and the congregation. Sadly, this is a common occurrence, and one we are becoming all too familiar with. What I found particularly interesting in this case was the statement released by the Jehovah’s Witness spokesman.
In two sentences within the statement, they mention child abuse as a sin and a crime. It baffles me that they still can’t seem to understand that if something can be described as a “crime,” this far outweighs whether or not it is perceived as a “sin.” Have you ever heard Witnesses describing murder, kidnapping or burglary as a sin? Of course not, because they are crimes. As an abuse victim myself, I find it offensive that they effectively minimize the seriousness of the crime of child sex abuse in this way.
The other interesting point is that they claim to provide “spiritual comfort” to any who have suffered child abuse. I would love to know what this comfort consists of. I imagine it to involve three old men sitting with a victim reading scriptures from the bible.
Although in my case, both myself and the other victims didn’t even get that! When will the Governing Body realize that victims don’t want “spiritual comfort.” They want to be believed and supported. They want to know that if they report the matter to police, the elders will be right by their side. They want to know that others in the congregation are going to be protected because of their bravery in coming forward.
Sadly this is not the case. In case after case we are seeing more support for the abuser and their family than for the victim. I don’t know the victims in this case, but in case they read this article I want to just say this:
What you have done has taken great bravery and determination. I know what it’s like to live with something for over 25 years and feel like you will never get justice. I can only imagine what you went through with elders at the time, and maybe even recently, but you are not alone. There is a huge, loving community out there full of ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses who all understand how you feel. Each brave person who comes forward shines another light on to the organization and its unwillingness to protect children.
 
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Further reading…
◾Mirror article
◾Metro article
◾Daily Mail article
◾Telegraph article
◾The Sun article
◾Stratford Herald article
◾JWsurvey articles on child abuse


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139 Responses to Jehovah’s Witness guilty of strangling children for sexual gratification


Newer Comments →
 
 HAKIZIMANA Jean de Dieu says:

 January 3, 2016 at 4:03 am
 
I think the organization uses child use as a weapon to hold the victims in the cult as elders will play their shoulder to cry on:
How JWs hypocritically seem, in their publication, to advacate for children protection and act differently?
 *** g94 5/8 p. 29 Watching the World ***
 About 29 percent of the children murdered by a father, an uncle, a brother, or a stepfather were raped before dying. O Estado de S. Paulo reports that in Brazil about 90 percent of all cases of domestic violence against children go unreported.
Why are they judge the world before their judge themselves?
*** g93 11/8 p. 29 Watching the World ***
 The Dublin Rape Crisis Center says that the number of reported cases of sexual child abuse in Ireland has risen from 408 in 1984 to 2,000 in 1992. A brutal case of incest there has sparked a national furor. A father, addicted to a hard liquor called poteen, raped and assaulted his daughter repeatedly over a 16-year period and fathered a child by her. He blinded her in one eye by beating her with a stick. As is not uncommon in such cases, the victim’s mother knew of the incest but lied to the police to protect her husband; neighbors likewise knew of the girl’s plight but did nothing. Although the man pleaded guilty to charges of rape, incest, and assault, the judge considered the matter to be incest. The father was sentenced to seven years in prison, the maximum for incest, and he could be released after four. Outraged over the case, many Irish Catholics are calling on their church to make a specific pronouncement against incest.
They are “Watching the World” the world!!
Reply
 
 
 Idontknowhatodo says:

 January 3, 2016 at 4:08 am
 
Well said Karen Morgan…how do they keep getting this so horribly wrong? I still find it amazing as part of a congregation of Jehovahs Withesess that I would be allowed to have contact with a ‘repentant’ abuser but not with his disfellowshipped victim… I have awoken pretty abruptly over the last two years after a life time of lies…pretty devastating at 57… I sometimes want to take the easy way and just give in…my entire family would shun me if I left dramatically… your article reminds me of why Im fading… I hope you have found some peace after your ordeals…thank you
Reply
 
 Johnshipl says:

 January 3, 2016 at 4:23 am
 
I am in exactly same position fading so as not to loose family. What beats me is 1993 awake march or may article on what to do if raped. First thing CALL THE POLICE second GET MEDICAL HELP preseve the evidence .get the victim to place of safety. Almost last on the list call the elders. WHY OH WHY dont they follow their own advice ???
Reply
 
 Johnshipl says:

 January 3, 2016 at 4:41 am
 
That was march 8 awake page 9 .its all there good advice .what went wrong ?? It just makes me so angry .they have ” two sets of stone weights “
Reply
 
 
 
 Karen morgan says:

 January 3, 2016 at 10:41 am
 
I have found peace. Of sorts. I have started a new job which I love and I left all EX JW Facebook groups. I rejoined 1 group 2 days ago as my Mum has recently woken up and left the religion and I wanted to support her. Once my Mum is settled in with everyone I will probably leave again. I find I’m much better when I’m completely away from it all. Thank you for your concern xxxxx
Reply
 
 
 Jeffreycanning says:

 January 3, 2016 at 2:30 pm
 
Just tell them they are following a fictitious God and get shunned… It hurts to lose family as i know too well, but worth it to not live a lie. .
Reply
 
 
 
 Darlene Alexander says:

 January 3, 2016 at 4:21 am
 
He only got 5 years? THAT is a crime.
Reply
 
 
 Straw Heart says:

 January 3, 2016 at 4:43 am
 
And that’s the one who got caught!
 What about all the ones who’ve got away with these heinous crimes?
 These elders dealing with these incidences are supposed to be elected by Jehovah!!!!! What a total lie.
 It’s elders with privilege in the congregations who also do these disposable acts on vulnerable children etc., disgusting.
 I believe the amount of Paedophiles in the congregations of JWs worldwide, is approximately, 30,000.
 So glad I’m out of this false prophet religion.
Reply
 
 
 Merice Marshall says:

 January 3, 2016 at 4:49 am
 
Great write up Karen …
Reply
 
 
 Garrett says:

 January 3, 2016 at 4:58 am
 
He wouldnt survive prison here in America. Any crime against a child here and the inmate is usually found dead….and rightfully so.
Would you ever put someone like that back on the streets
…after 5 years?
…ever?
Reply
 
 
 ktmmadbrit says:

 January 3, 2016 at 6:00 am
 
This thug needs a proper lesson. But our UK courts are so soft as to be useless. Wish our prisons were like that Garrett!
 What upset me was that little girl crying to ‘Jehovah’ for help! Where was the bolt of lightning? He doesn’t exist. Poor child.
Reply
 
 Chiafade says:

 January 3, 2016 at 10:21 am
 
That upset me too. “Jehovah help me” and how does he respond to this child’s desperate plea for help?….He ignores her and turns his attention to the young couple who wants to pioneer and blesses THEM with the perfect part-time job. The child can wait for a future time when jah will wipe their memory of all abuses and of the times her pleas were ignored. By God and his org. Isn’t that wonderful?
Reply
 
 JJ says:

 January 3, 2016 at 10:42 am
 
I believe it was Christopher Hitchens who said that a God who won’t help, or can’t help, is as worthless as no God at all.
I agree with the other commenters and I was always disturbed by Jehovah’s Witnesses who bragged that God blessed them with a new house, car or vacation while someone else was dying of cancer.
It just doesn’t make any sense at all.
Reply
 
 Jeffreycanning says:

 January 3, 2016 at 2:33 pm
 
Just tell them they are following a fictitious God and get shunned… It hurts to lose family as i know too well, but worth it to not live a lie. .
Reply
 
 
 
 Jeffreycanning says:

 January 3, 2016 at 2:38 pm
 
Did ‘Rhonda’ help the beach boys…?
Reply
 
 
 
 Meredith J says:

 January 4, 2016 at 2:50 pm
 
One would have to ask themselves “Who really is Jehovah?” The answer is obvious. If he was the real God then certainly He would have sorted this problem out with “His” people. There is the true God but it appears not to be ‘Jehovah’.
Reply
 
 
 
 D. Charles Pyle says:

 January 3, 2016 at 6:03 am
 
It’s things like this that seem to me to warrant the death penalty to put such ones out of their misery. The rate of recidivism is so high for such people that it is a crime to put most of them back out onto the streets after five years, or ever.
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 3, 2016 at 4:56 pm
 
Excellent point. And who’s to say, down the line, their crimes won’t become even MORE violent, leading to actual murder. It happens. A lot. If not fry them, at least lock them up for LIFE.
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 3, 2016 at 4:57 pm
 
They can enjoy a lifetime of free sex in prison.
Reply
 
 
 
 
 Sarah says:

 January 3, 2016 at 6:23 am
 
The elders’ crime is that they silence the victims. Stating they do not cover up crime in this way is a lie. Parents are taught to believe elders know best and thus will downplay the child’s hurt.
 The problem is the belief that if there is only one witness, that witness is considered a slanderer is he tells anyone else. Thus abused persons are not able to warn others. This dreadful belief must be exposed for being devastatingly harmful and wrong.
 So sorry for all victims and I’m working hard to try to expose other secret, unlawful, activity of the organisation.
Reply
 
 i sawthe light says:

 January 3, 2016 at 12:39 pm
 
Lets stop playing the watchtowers game. We act like nothing can be done-We should just all walk out from this crap.Why do we stay in a cult religion? Call an ace an ace. It is a wicked cult and it is a book selling company. No more playing the watchtower game. If this is the truth then I want no part of the so called truth. The whole chain of command is wicked and self serving. Those little window washers walk around like a rooster and a brief case in their hand they feel like they are so important. Important? Tell me one thing that is important about them. Give a window washer a little authority and they go nuts. I want no part of this crap- Its all a game and they have 8 million zombies world wide that that goes along with it. As for me I am free.No more of this crap–I am gone.
Reply
 
 Jeffreycanning says:

 January 3, 2016 at 2:41 pm
 
Right on!!!
Reply
 
 
 
 
 Roman Castañeda says:

 January 3, 2016 at 6:48 am
 
I can’t imagine this guy being at a kingdom hall strangling little girls and no one noticing. If the girls were there, shouldn’t their parents be there as well? How did the people react when they saw a girl passed out on the floor in front of the literature cabinet? That is simply disturbing.
Reply
 
 Karen morgan says:

 January 3, 2016 at 10:42 am
 
I thought the exact same thing
Reply
 
 
 
 Caltanzee says:

 January 3, 2016 at 6:59 am
 
Well what did Christ said about the selfrihgteous Pharisees.He called them white washed graves full of every sort of plunder and lawlessness. Such is the organization.with them its all about the white wash of purity while beneath the surface lies piles of vile and disgusting things.men who stymied their conscience to retain egotistical power and prestige to the detriment of the flock.
Reply
 
 
 Mr. Bee says:

 January 3, 2016 at 7:16 am
 
I, too, was raised as a witness. I left about 3 yrs. ago. Fading is what I’m doing, as I also have a brother, sister and daughter that are still in. My wife knows about my feelings and, metaphorically speaking, puts her hands over her ears and goes “la la la la la la la”…. I can’t help but think that the reason the girl was told by her mother to downplay it was to “not bring reproach on Jehovah’s name”. I told my wife that this brings more reproach than if it was immediately reported to the police. Most people in “the world” would respect the congregation for taking it to the authorities right away.
And that whole Australian Commission totally blew my mind!!
Reply
 
 Idontknowhatodo says:

 January 3, 2016 at 7:28 am
 
The Royal Australian Commission was the final nail in the coffin for me…. I didnt believe any more so felt mentally free and hadnt been on door to door preaching for some time …. after listenibg to all the Australian Commission hearings I realised not only was this religion false…it was sick…sick to its bootstraps…. I have not been to a meeting for 3 months and have not put in a report last month for the first time in my life… its hard as my spouse is totally entrenched as are my children and their partners… they are in fact the only reason I dont disassociate… I love my partner and cant imagine life wthout him… his feelings would change towards me and I dont know if I could take that at the moment… Im coping but its hard sometimes to walk the path Iv chosen… but at least I have chosen it.
Reply
 
 Holy Connoli says:

 January 3, 2016 at 10:57 am
 
@idon’tknowwhatodo.
I had the same situation and I slowly faded. My 2 boys faded also and they are upset over many things the WT has done and still do but at least they were young when faded. I have faded over 20 years now. Will never go back. EVER! It is a religion of pain and mental torture.My wife is 110% brainwashed and aythng they do is “Progressive Revelation” as she likes to call it. I call it Progressive BS and flip flopping every few months.She left me a few months ago after over 35 years and never working a day in her life and robbed the savings account on the way out. Oh yea, I talked to her elders about it and they well, we counseled her not to leave but you know she is a stubborn woman? OH yea, but she continues to pioneer and represent the WT!.
Hang in there and go at your own pace. Things will work out. It may not be perfect but will work out.
Reply
 
 
 Johnshipl says:

 January 3, 2016 at 2:41 pm
 
I am on same position as you with my wife we had a long talk aboit shunning with her yesterday .i told her i may soon walk away .she says she would not shun me . Have to see. .yes its heartbreaking when partner cant think properly .
Reply
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 3, 2016 at 5:05 pm
 
Keep walking that tightrope. It leads to Freedom.
:)
Reply
 
 
 MimiLove says:

 January 4, 2016 at 7:02 am
 
Same boat with my husband. Also the Royal Commission was final blow for me. My family refused to listen to it which really upset me. I’m having a hard time holding my tongue which starts great battles between me and my husband. I quit turning in time 6 months ago and thankfully no sheparding calls yet, doubt I could play it cool. I wish there was someone close by to talk to about this but fear of being shunned keeps our mouths shut. Take care
Reply
 
 
 
 Johnshipl says:

 January 3, 2016 at 2:36 pm
 
My wife is the same i try to reason but she says i will never leave jehovah. She wont hear a word agains THE GB its like the mind control has destroyed somthing in thier brain and the cant reason. Im fading out after 50 years .id walk away tomorow but have wife amd most family in . However i am doing what i can by keeping on at the elders about the ARC .they dong like it .its got to burst at some point .there is so much information against the gb
Reply
 
 
 
 mel says:

 January 3, 2016 at 7:18 am
 
“The spokesman said, “Jehovah’s Witnesses abhor child abuse, and view it as a serious crime and sin. The safety of our children is of the utmost importance.”
Forgive me if I am wrong, but this sounds like the same routine quote said by all the JW Spokespeople published in various media outlets.
Reply
 
 Chiafade says:

 January 3, 2016 at 10:14 am
 
You are not wrong. They have been parroting that phrase ever since Tony Morris used it in the July broadcast. The witnesses don’t know that you can’t say you abhor it while at the same time cover it up.
The org wants to put a pretty Persian rug on top of a pile of turds.
Reply
 
 Covert Fade says:

 January 3, 2016 at 4:52 pm
 
Yep, it’s the same damn routine statement that they dribble out every time, that never actually seeks to address the specifics of the case, even if those specifics actively discredit every line of their statement, as they do in this one. It’s either a sign that they do not care about this issue, or that they are genuinely clueless about how to address it. I tend towards the later, but I’m actually starting to wonder at this point.
Reply
 
 Chiafade says:

 January 3, 2016 at 10:42 pm
 
Knowing the witnesses and their concern for keeping Jahs name clean there is a conundrum that they may be having difficulty with.
 In their deluded minds they’re probably thinking “how do we admit that we have a problem and still come out squeaky clean?”
Bro A.Kisser says :How about we just say that we need to improve our policy? “Absolutely not! That would drag Jehovahs name through the mud”.
In a more likely scenario this is what actually happened in my opinion. ” How do we make this go away?”
 “Let’s just write more articles on lying or persecution and tell the drones that they should ignore this”.
No matter the scenario the organization is backed into a corner. These stories are getting them a lot of unwanted attention. None of them help their cause in countries where they are still trying to get a foothold. Like Russia for example.
Reply
 
 
 
 
 
 Tara says:

 January 3, 2016 at 8:35 am
 
I was invited to brunch at a ‘sisters’ house yesterday… it was nice in the fact that others there are not so ‘witnessy’… one, an elders daughter asked me if there was any more news from the ‘Australian thing’. I smiled about this because it was her Dad whom i first made a comment to… obviously it is a topic in their home. I told her the commission had published its findings and that the WT had responded in as much as they wanted everything ‘struck’ from it. She made the comment that she was thankful that non of this happens now as the WT ‘is on top of all this stuff’… I just looked at her in amazement. How gullible can you be.
A couple of off topic things she said….
I mentioned the toxic waste at Warwick – she had no idea but said ‘wow that is going to cost in medical bills in the future’.
She mentioned about me not coming to meetings etc ‘You took it way to seriously when your daughter was df’d’.
Too seriously! the shunning, the labeling of my grandbaby being born in sin! The marking talk being given from the platform….
There is no point in talking to a brick wall.
Reply
 
 Chiafade says:

 January 3, 2016 at 10:09 am
 
“Talking to a brick wall” is right. The fully entrenched witnesses will defend their abuser no matter what they do. Then in true cult fashion when a fully legitimate complaint is made rather than pay heed to it they turn their attention to the complainer.
When I brought up the Jose Lopez case in California one of the elders I spoke to said “that lawyer said that Jehovahs witnesses were the most arrogant people he’s dealt with” “someone is feeding him that information! That doesn’t have the ring of truth, you know that’s not true”.
So, true to form without even thinking about it he took the side of the abuser. At the same time he ignored Gerrit Losch’ letter to refuse to appear in court costing watchtower 13 million dollars. After that interchange I decided that I would not back down or refrain from bringing these serious issues up when someone is talking about how ” wonderful Jahs org is”. ESPECIALLY when someone said this religion or that religion is terrible. I never let that fly without a response.
Reply
 
 
 
 Winston Smith says:

 January 3, 2016 at 10:43 am
 
I have looked up about 5 or 6 articles on this case and they all basically say the same thing: ‘The church swept it under the carpet.’ However there are no details given as to what action the congregation took or failed to take in this regard. My assumption, based on other cases, is that when the one girl told her parents what happened they in turn contacted the elders. There was a minor investigation, the perpetrator lied through his teeth, and received a slap on the wrist. It would be nice to know if my assumptions are correct, but unless a court transcript like that of the ARC is made available, we will probably never know the exact details.
Someone made the point earlier that if the Organization reported the incidents when they occurred, there would be far less reproach on the ‘divine name’ than in cases where they hide these issues and get caught later. That is so true.
Besides trying to avoid negative press, I think that there is another reason elders do not report: They have been deluded into thinking that they are being led by Holy Spirit and therefore are better able to handle the situation than those who have specific training to deal with such cases. They need to come to terms with their own limitations and realize that they are not receiving any special divine guidance.
WS
Reply
 
 Simon Kestral says:

 January 3, 2016 at 11:38 am
 
“They need to … realize that they are not receiving any special divine guidance.”
Won’t happen. They like that lie. It makes them feel good. Expecting them to reform is wishful thinking. The only productive hope is, leave and don’t look back.
Reply
 
 Winston Smith says:

 January 3, 2016 at 12:29 pm
 
@Simon
 I agree with you. As long as there exists a system that perpetuates this lie, there will always be weak-minded men willing to fill the role.
WS
Reply
 
 
 
 Caltanzee says:

 January 3, 2016 at 8:29 pm
 
That elders are appointed by and under the guidance of holy spirit is the greatest delusion of all.That’s the thing that keeps the rank n file in morbid fear of speaking up.They look up to these egomaniacal phonies as if their are Jesus himself.These men have become false Christ.Their are just puppets on a string controlled by the Gb to conceal and polish up the falacies. Certainly God and Christ would not be party to delusions such as this. Hope many more wake up and do as my wife and I did. Get up, dust yourself off, put on your running shoes and run away!! Run out of her my people, if you don’t want to participate in her sins and receive her deadly plagues!!!
Reply
 
 
 
 M. Rhodes says:

 January 3, 2016 at 11:16 am
 
As per usual, the Society says they abhor child abuse, but then do nothing nothing to protect children. No warning to parents, no warning to members or congregations, no reporting to authorities so the criminal can be dealt with using the legal channels. One has to ask, how does this show an abhorrence for child abuse?
Next they claim the safety of their children is of utmost importance. Hmm… so let’s get this straight: the criminal isn’t reported to authorities, no warnings are issued to protect young ones, the matter is hushed up. One can see a predator going after the same child again and again, as well as other children, just as happened in this case.
It would be interesting if parents sued The Society if action WASN’T taken with a first incidence, which exposed their children to additional incidents, that could have been avoided if the matter had actually been dealt with, rather than swept under the carpet.
The third claim is outright misleading. They DO cover up child abuse, as over 1000 cases went unreported in Australia.
Their failure to show concern for their victims, instead of concern for their public image, does nothing to convince those in the know that they are doing “all that they can.”
Reply
 
 JBob says:

 January 3, 2016 at 3:28 pm
 
@M Rhodes – it is telling that often at assemblies there were warnings not to leave valued items unattended [presumably “outsiders” could drift in, rob and drift out], but a lack of general warnings to parents about how to train children to be cautious and aware of interaction with adults–whether authority figures or not–would be revolting.
But, on the other hand, if a group had repeated failures to hit the side of a big red barn with its predictions, would that group want 2nd or 3rd generations hanging around to bring up the “past”? Children are a “thorn in the side” of the Watchtower as each successive [note correct use of the English term] generation is a highlight of egrecious predictions of “the end” and culmination of “last days” as predicted. The group is built on independence from offspring because of the recruiting engine built-in–a revolving door. It always depends on there being more of “the lowest common denominator” disenfranchised, fringe individuals (maybe not fitting into the traditional church community) willing to turn their lives around by surrenduring control to the group.
Unfortunately, that means bringing in risky individuals subject to lapses into former behaviors–along with those who may not be compulsive and risky. What Karen’s article and several others highlighting abuse issues have not covered is the challenging issues facing JW’s and other denominations with balancing redemption, trust, fellowship, forgiveness, healing and self-preservation (protecting self and offspring from compulsive predators who have attempted to modify their behaviors yet remain a risk) in building a religious community.
Child abuse and victimization within religious groups is not limited to JW’s, and an expanded discussion or constructive dialogue referencing preventive measures or how groups built on wide-acceptance, trust and affirmation of individuals can include more robust safeguards and procedures for addressing grievances while maintaining those critical paramenters.
Reply
 
 JBob says:

 January 3, 2016 at 4:41 pm
 
..nice to have. and, “egrecious” s/b egregious..
Reply
 
 
 
 Meredith J says:

 January 4, 2016 at 3:25 pm
 
To M.Rhodes, remember the 1006 that were not reported to police were 1006 pedophiles, not 1006 cases. The amount of cases is unknown. One male was known to have abused 40 children.
Reply
 
 
 
 Juli says:

 January 3, 2016 at 11:22 am
 
Thank you so much for this article. We have to keep to keep putting this information out there to help the silenced victims.
Reply
 
 
 Simon Kestral says:

 January 3, 2016 at 12:27 pm
 
@JJ
Evil does not disprove God. No, on the contrary, it proves that God does not contradict himself.
Philosophers may be perplexed by evil, but the explanation is simple.
Free will is the greatest endowment of man. It permits man to choose good or evil; to be truly free, it MUST include the possibility of evil.
God gave man free will. He does not intervene when a man abuses the gift by choosing evil. If he did, free will would not be truly “free.” God is timeless and true. He does not contradict himself.
Will there ever be justice for the victims of evil? For those who have faith, the Bible says God loves justice. And God is timeless and true.
Of course without faith, bitterness and disbelief ensue.
Reply
 
 
 EDWARD GUZMAN says:

 January 3, 2016 at 2:17 pm
 
MY COUSIN’S 2 SONS FROM A PREVIOUS MARRIAGE WERE MOLESTED BY THEIR JW STEPFATHER. SHE TOOK HIM BEFORE THE ELDERS. WHEN THEY DID NOTHING. SHE WENT TO THE POLICE. HER HUSBAND WENT BEFORE A JUDGE AND HE WAS SENTENCED TO 15 TEARS IN JAIL.WHAT IS REALLY IRONIC, IS THAT HE IS GIVING BIBLE STUDIES TO THE OTHER PRISONERS. IN THE 25 YEARS THAT I WAS A JW I WAS A MEMBER OF 3 CONGREGATIONS. THERE WAS AT LEAST ONE SEX OFFENDER IN EACH CONGREGATION. THERE ARE 1.5 BILLION CATHOLICS AND 8 MILLION JWS IN THE WORLD. THERE ARE IN PROPORTION MORE JW MINISTER CHILD MOLESTERS IN THE WORLD THAN THERE ARE CATHOLIC PRIEST CHILD MOLESTERS. THE NUMBERS DON’T LIE.
Reply
 
 Searcher says:

 January 4, 2016 at 10:31 am
 
Good point. BTW, just an etiquette note: Using all capital letters in a blog, letter, email, etc is the same a verbally yelling at the receiver. I don’t think you actually meant to yell at us.
Reply
 
 EDWARD GUZMAN says:

 January 6, 2016 at 4:59 pm
 
Thank you for the correction. I appreciate your advice. I will apply it.
Reply
 
 
 
 
 Pow says:

 January 3, 2016 at 2:23 pm
 
When a corporation produces a defective product, say maybe a car, drug or medical device and this in time results in harm or even death(s). Of, course they are disturbed at the resulting ramifications, however, the huge difference between being on the hook for civil damages and being criminally culpable is the degree in which the company knew of the problems and obstructed inquiries into the scope of the problem. Today, the watchtower’s position is we didn’t know or we did everything possible to remedy the situation. Unfortunately neither of those statements are any where near true.
 The fact is this: Nothing bad ever happens here, no matter what the facts are…so shut up and put up. The all mighty God of this organization with it’s great temple on earth is : JW.org @warwick and they hold the patent on Yahweh. And if a prophet from among us rises up to proclaim truth and decries injustice, the modern day Sanhedrin will sentence you to slow death by shunning.
Reply
 
 
 ruthlee says:

 January 3, 2016 at 2:43 pm
 
Such seriously sad and damning news YET AGAIN. This faecal matter hitting the fan must be very distasteful now to the guys in the ivory tower. If there is a god running the shop, then to all intents and purposes the whole elder body should be on their knees praising and thanking the lord that at last he is cleaning house, and exposing all the terrible things that have played on their sullied consciences all these years. Just think folks all those holy appointed men who knew of the little people who had been raped and damaged in their watchcare and seen grow up,screwed and bu**ered up for life. All those ones they daily prayed for but couldn’t quite just muster up the decency to go to the police , because they would be the grass. Such relief that now it is all going to be exposed and the shepherds can rest easy because it will all be shiny and new now won’t it? No vicarious liability, no damages for them, no wounded conscience because this is gods work after all any such expose of the criminal behaviour and dereliction of duty will all be put right. Ha you may say I live in my delusion. two things, 1 Jehovah’s witnesses hate children full stop or they would not expect them to preach to potential paedos. 2 this is not God’s holy run org, it is a corrupt sect that saves face and now that pock marked face is shown to the world. It lies, lives lies and tells more lies, but the ugly face is showing now . The world will expose this travesty of justice not god he does not need to .Bring it on. ruthlee
Reply
 
 
 Anonymous says:

 January 3, 2016 at 2:57 pm
 
@Roman It boggles the mind, too, that parents and other victimized JW’s would not report these criminal acts.
It isn’t described how this KH operated its library because most KH’s are closed/locked when meetings are not in session. This differs from most churches that are accessible with rooms or libraries available during the week where rooms or facilities are available to participants for support groups, counseling, and even social activities. Thus, a shadow of a doubt on the first story.
It also seems outrageous that parents would be so negligent to send a child off alone, or to leave a child unattended in the presence of another adult–whether trusted, or not. But, in the case of one child, it seems the parents did instruct her to repudiate “bad touch” from anyone. Thus, I have another doubt on the second story, and would think that the parents should also be charged with child-neglect.
Reply
 
 Winston Smith says:

 January 3, 2016 at 5:00 pm
 
This whole Church Librarian title sounded odd. I was wondering if this guy worked behind the literature counter and “Librarian” is how this position was described by the court.
WS
Reply
 
 
 
 enlightened now says:

 January 3, 2016 at 3:50 pm
 
A congregation male member raped a young girl in the congregation getting her pregnant (she lost the child). The elders had said not to say anything to the authorities (as usual).The member was eventfully disfellowshiped and a few years later the girl/young woman decided to talk and it came to court. He had good lawyers and as the elders would not testify against him – they knew what he had done, but they refused to testify because of the confidentiality issue (All were told they could not!) and so she lost the case!! She went through hell and still is.
Reply
 
 EverydayExplorer says:

 January 5, 2016 at 5:52 am
 
Enlightened now, please let the young woman in question know that she is not alone in understanding that justice was not served in her case; my heart, and many others’ hearts reading this, goes out to her.
She is obviously a person of great bravery and I am absolutely sure that her courage and her integrity will lead her to a better place in her life. Tell her to keep on knocking on doors to get help (doctors, counselling, therapy, etc) and to believe in her strong sane self and her right to a fulfilled life.
Thank you for being there for her and raising her story on this platform.
Reply
 
 
 
 Alexandria R says:

 January 3, 2016 at 4:59 pm
 
I’m inactive. Twice the elders have asked to meet with me and I’ve said NO. I choose to be inactive and not DF’D for a good reason. My brother used to be an elder and is an active JW. If I was DF’D or disassociated I wouldn’t have been able to visit him. His daughter lives with him. I called C.P.S. because she was giving her nine month old baby way to much alcohol to drink. I also called 911 because my neaphew-in-law was threatening suicide. I’m around for my family. I talked to the elders and they did nothing.
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 3, 2016 at 5:22 pm
 
That’s all they’re TRULY capable of – NOTHING.
Reply
 
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 3, 2016 at 5:38 pm
 
Someone commented that JW World appeals to “lowest common denominator” types, the “disenfranchised, fringe” types who can’t fit in with mainstream religious communities, etc. I’m beginning to really believe that. It seems most hardcore, lifetime JW’s are nothing more than socially (and mentally) clumsy misfits who have found a ‘home’. Then they get a little power and ‘go nuts’, as someone else put it. And this is not just social awkwardness, or some small mental deficiency, like a low IQ or a learning disability. U can feel sorry for someone like that. THIS is DIFFERENT. This betrays a SERIOUS character flaw, a MORAL and ETHICAL deficiency. A serious PERSONALITY ‘malfunction’. Call it psychopathy, sociopathy, narcissism, I prefer the more old-fashioned term, evil. I know that’s a naughty word in this, our Great Age of Enlightenment, where we’re supposed to be ‘beyond’ such primitive concepts as Good and Evil, but that’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it. I think the evidence is there, in the ultimate fruition of the whole JW Philosophy and Watchtower Structure. Anyone who can’t see that raping children is evil, needs to be put into a rocketship and blasted out into oblivion.
Reply
 
 
 Wanderer says:

 January 3, 2016 at 5:51 pm
 
What would you call an organisation that uses phrases like “don’t bring reproach on Jehovahs name” when it comes to child abuse. But if an individual member says they are not sure if the GB is correct in their teaching, or gods only channel on earth it is automatic disfellowshipping?
The don’t bring reproach on Jehovahs name and the 2 witness rule make a safe haven for child molesters.
 If I saw brother X smoking or coming out of a brothel and I reported it to my local elders would that need the 2 witness rule too?
Reply
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 3, 2016 at 5:59 pm
 
I can see the whole dysfunctional, narcissistic thing going on in my own family. They are a pack of eccentric, arrogant nobodies who crave constant attention and admiration, and have found it within JW World. They have no real interests or passions, no clue whatsoever. Their conversations (which I am fortunately no longer subjected to) usually revolve around OTHER JW’s and THEIR boring lives. I mean, they talk about other JWs like they’re movie stars or something. “You know, brother so-and-so did this. Sister so-and-so went there.” WGAS? I don’t even give a flying rat’s a** about REAL movie stars! I don’t go on Twitter to see what Angelina Jolie had for breakfast, or what Brad Pitt’s morning bowel movement looked like. These people are a joke.
Reply
 
 
 Twmack says:

 January 3, 2016 at 6:19 pm
 
Twmack. Nice try Simon Kestrel. Attributing evil to free will.
 But where is the choice when it comes to the evils of Cancer,
 Altzheimer’s , Birth deformities ( Twins joined at the head, just
 one brain between them..) etc, etc, a thousand times over.
If such a being existed who would inflict such random and
 purposeless horrors on weaker, helpless. creatures of his own
 design and creation. Then the universe is in the hands of a
 psychopathic monster.
Sorry Karen and to all for digressing.
Reply
 
 Simon Kestral says:

 January 3, 2016 at 8:05 pm
 
To those with faith, the explanation is again simple. Those conditions are also the result of choice. The victims are the descendants of Adam, who brought sin and death into the world.
It’s not God’s fault. He warned against the consequences of sin. Mankind is the victim of Adam’s evil choice and the way human reproduction works. Bad DNA is the result of original sin.
As explained earlier, the essence of free will obligates God to let human evil choices play out, to their natural conclusion. But conclude they will; there is a time limit for the sins of men, and after that, judgement.
God will act in his due time. Some people are unhappy because they want solutions right now. But that’s not how God works. Faith and patience are required.
Reply
 
 Janice Gilbert says:

 January 3, 2016 at 8:15 pm
 
And so is police action. CRIMES REQUIRE GOING TO THE POLICE!:
Reply
 
 Simon Kestral says:

 January 3, 2016 at 8:25 pm
 
Yes, by all means. Get justice as quickly as the human justice system can provide it.
But the police can’t solve all crimes and earthly courts don’t give justice to all plaintiffs.
Use the system, but when it fails, have faith in God.
Reply
 
 
 
 Frederick says:

 January 3, 2016 at 9:00 pm
 
Simon, there are a few flaws with your reasoning. Gods warning to Adam and eve was that if they ate from the tree of knowledge they would die in that very same day. If you believe the garden of eden actually happened then humanity should have ended with Adam and eve. It makes zero sense that these perfect individuals committed a sin deserving of death but were allowd to live 900 years and fill the planet with doomed sinful imperfect offspring. How you can read the bible and think it’s gods inspired words has always been baffling to me. But that’s just my humble opinion
Reply
 
 Simon Kestral says:

 January 3, 2016 at 9:38 pm
 
Zero sense?
As the priest in Boondock Saints said, “the laws of God are higher than the laws of man”
Not that I can recommend that film, the profanity and violence are stupendous.
Reply
 
 Frederick says:

 January 3, 2016 at 9:42 pm
 
How do you reconcile gods warning of death in “that very day” with Adam living 900 years? I’m confused

 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 3, 2016 at 10:05 pm
 
I loved Boondock Saints. Lots of funny black humor too.

 
 
 
 
 
 Meredith J says:

 January 5, 2016 at 3:17 am
 
Simon Kestral, are you aware just how long this has been going on and how many people have suffered unspeakably by it? I don’t think you do. These people are suffering, children and grownups who were children, robbed of their childhood and right to happiness because of an evil child abuser. The abusers in this cult are a product of Watchtower’s policies and nothing less. That is evil. The Governing Body knew many years ago just how bad it was and they have chosen to ignore it because they choose to prevent any “reproach upon Jehovah’s name”. This is an evil situation. When Jesus took the little children to himself and talked to them, He demonstrated where He stands on the matter. He wants to care for them and love them and He will eventually heal all of them. Where does that leave the Watchtower? An enemy of Jesus because it compounds their pain and actively tries to prevent justice for these ones. Stick up for them if you like but sometime we all have to show whose side we are on.
Reply
 
 
 
 Doc Obvious says:

 January 3, 2016 at 6:19 pm
 
Jehovah’s Witnesses and Children. Not a good combination. First, we have a G.B. that talks about tight pants on people. Then, we have a plethora of court cases around the world involving JW child abusers. These people are fixated on the wrong things. Jesus Christ was about taking care of people, not this type of bad behavior. I hope the governments will finally take control of these religious institutions that cannot handle themselves.
Reply
 
 Searcher says:

 January 4, 2016 at 10:51 am
 
Doc Obvious,
You are so correct in the ‘obvious’ conclusion; these people (JW’s) are focused on the wrong thing. They are hyper-fixated on biblical law as they see it, instead of the ‘spirit’ of Jesus Christ’s life and principles. They aren’t concerned with taking care of people. The reason? They are concerned only with distributing literature, recruiting new blood into the organization, and filling their greedy leader’s pockets. Anything else to the contrary to that goal is not to be considered. The child abuse cases coming to light are just one product of that evil, self-serving mission.
Reply
 
 
 
 Janice Gilbert says:

 January 3, 2016 at 8:12 pm
 
I saw this on the internet before it was talked about here. I am glad you’re talking about it.
Reply
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 3, 2016 at 10:11 pm
 
Watchtower Corporation is stuck in quicksand now. The more they struggle and squirm, the deeper they sink.
Reply
 
 
 Kat says:

 January 4, 2016 at 12:36 am
 
The play spiritual warfare on the flock, they simply do not want the r/f file to know that their is a big problem.
As the delusion of this spiritual paradise will be in doubt and to many questions and donations would be affected.
The elders obey the GB the GB take advice from the legal department, all come down to one thing protection of the organization and its donations above anything else, people may say we are protecting Gods name that is disgusting to even insinuate that Gods name needs to be protected by lies and at the expense of innocent children.
They will have their day in the higher court.
Reply
 
 
 susanna says:

 January 4, 2016 at 12:52 am
 
If the JW did all they can to give “spirutal comfort” and are doing all they can to protect child abuse why have I never read any experience of a victim that got help from that…I´ve read and heard about silenced victim who didn´t get help that tried suicied and got disfellowshipped when the couldn´t wait för Jehovah. If they would be succesful in abhoring child abuse and helping the victims shouldn´t it be testimonys of that???
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 4, 2016 at 1:17 pm
 
Good point. Maybe, if WT ever recounted an experience where a victim was actually helped, it is only when the abuser was a “worldly” person!!!
Reply
 
 
 
 Mich says:

 January 4, 2016 at 3:15 am
 
I don’t think u are truthful here, cus no religion will smile or support such wicked act like child abuse. Y are u lying wickedly now? There is God ooo… Gosh!
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 4, 2016 at 1:23 pm
 
If you are saying that the stories of child abuse are false because no religion would condone it, I say 2 things to you:
 1. Look into the DOCUMENTED history of child abuse in the Catholic Church. The Pope even apologized for it.
 2. The Watchtower is NOT a religion. It is a CULT by EVERY definition.
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 4, 2016 at 1:29 pm
 
Also, I don’t believe any of the pedophile priests in the Catholic Church were properly punished with jail time. They were merely discharged or transferred around. So obviously, the Church, with all its power, had a hand in protecting those criminals!
Reply
 
 
 
 
 Kat says:

 January 4, 2016 at 3:35 am
 
The proof is in what they are doing to protect the children, of course religions will say they abhor child sexual abuse they are just words, lets see their actions, and clearly the GB of JW show only words but no actions, unless the courts make them, then if they are Christians that are suppose to be guided by their conscience then they shouldn’t have to pushed by the law to do the right thing.
Point in question is they do not report child sexual abuse in states that do not require by law to do so.
When push comes to shove if it appears they could lose their charity status they will do whatever, then bring in their lawyers to try and protect them form lawsuits.
They are a business.
Reply
 
 
 Twmack says:

 January 4, 2016 at 4:04 am
 
So the little girl calls out to God for help when attacked by
 this pervert, but the “gift” of free will favours the perv, And
 the victims cries for help are ignored. Prayer then is useless
 when the free will of others is causing misery. God must be
 consistent, must be perfect.
And the bad DNA passed on from Adam, That’s got to be
 allowed to take its course unhindered, So when some
 distressing sickness or condition affects you or your family,
 All the prayers and entreaties in the world are not going to
 effect a cure. But human compassion and ingenuity might.
Reply
 
 Winston Smith says:

 January 4, 2016 at 4:35 am
 
@Twmack,
 I understand your reasoning, but let’s not make this about atheism vs theism vs deism. Let’s keep focused on the issue: an Organization who’s policies allow perverts the freedom to victimize children. We all want the same thing: To wake up people enslaved to a system that is unduly controlling them. Let’s not get distracted by philosophical differences amongst us.
WS
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 4, 2016 at 1:34 pm
 
I totally agree. I just need to put in my 2 cents’ worth real quick. I sure hope no one is trying to suggest that evildoers do not have free will, because that’s ludicrous.
 Thanx
Reply
 
 
 
 
 Kat says:

 January 4, 2016 at 4:15 am
 
well said Twmack!
Reply
 
 
 Twmack says:

 January 4, 2016 at 7:26 am
 
Winstone smith, Your advice is sound and taken
 to heart. But believe me, I’m not trying to win a
 philosophical debate. I’m hoping in my own
 limited way to deal with the root cause of undue
 influence in religion. That is belief in a deity who
 meets out terrible punishment for disobedience.
In this case it’s what controls elders and forces
 them into silence when cases of child abuse come
 to their attention. And as we have seen, even the
 victims are sometimes afraid to speak out.
In all religions, It’s just a few elite individuals who
 claim intimate contact with the deity and exclusive
 knowledge of his will. The gb are relentless and
 overpowering in the claim of their exclusive position.
Once you accept their authority. Your vulnerable
 to exploitation. Control, and corruption. Thanks
 again Winstone. Next time I’ll try to be more direct
 and not go round the houses.
Reply
 
 Alexandria R says:

 January 4, 2016 at 7:42 am
 
Twmack You are right the reasoning used about free will is very flawed. I laugh because the story makes it sound like God and Satan are in a pissing contest. God is a bad parent. I’m being sarcastic. I don’t believe in the bible.
Reply
 
 
 
 Alexandria R says:

 January 4, 2016 at 7:47 am
 
I watched a movie about vampire bats that turned people into zombies when they got bit. The first to go was the police officer. I kept comparing the bats to the org.
Reply
 
 
 Average Joe says:

 January 4, 2016 at 7:48 am
 
Here’s a link to the Daily Telegraph article for you to share with JWs who are afraid of reading “apostate” material. This is the story direct from the horse’s mouth and from a respectable paper too (not like “The Sun” et al!):
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/12073247/Jehovahs-Witnesses-accused-of-covering-up-historic-sex-abuse.html
Reply
 
 

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← How the Watchtower Stole Christmas
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Jehovah’s Witness guilty of strangling children for sexual gratification
avatar 
Posted on January 3, 2016

Warwick Crown Court, where Ian Pheasey was sentenced to five years
Warwick Crown Court, where Ian Pheasey was sentenced to five years

Once again, Jehovah’s Witnesses hit the headlines regarding the covering up of child sex abuse.
This most recent case concerns Ian Pheasey, who was a member of a congregation in Warwick. The court was told how Pheasey attacked a 7-year-old girl while working as a volunteer librarian at the Kingdom Hall in the 1990s. He was charged with offenses that occurred between 1989 and 1994, and he pleaded guilty to 3 offenses.
Pheasey’s offenses are unusual in nature as he obtained sexual gratification from strangling children. His first victim was a 7-year-old girl who had gone to get a book from the library in the Kingdom Hall. His second victim was a 14-year-old girl who he grabbed around the neck and threw to the floor where he straddled her and squeezed her neck.
The poor girl fell unconscious twice and was crying out, “Jehovah help me.” Pheasey told the girl he would kill her if she told anyone, and he also said if she ever had daughters he would rape them as well.
She ran home screaming and crying to her mother, but sadly her mother told her to clean herself up. She was taken to the hospital for the bruising to her neck, but was told by her parents that she must never say anything about it. Furthermore, the matter was “swept under the carpet” by the congregation, according to the prosecutor.
Ian Pheasey, who admitted fantasizing about young girls
Ian Pheasey, who admitted fantasizing about young girls

Pheasey admitted fantasizing about strangling the girl, and that he had lured her over with the intention of strangling her and becoming sexually aroused.
His third victim was only 6 years old when he was carrying out some work at her parents’ house. As the little girl sat in his van, he got in and started tickling her and then moved his hand up her skirt. He only stopped when she kicked out and screamed.
Nicholas Taplow, prosecuting, stated: ”He was a man who had a particular sexual fascination with the act of strangulation. He derived sexual gratification from strangling children, and many children were strangled in this way by him during what he described as horseplay.”
Pheasey was jailed for 5 years after he pleaded guilty to assaulting one girl, causing her actual bodily harm, and indecently assaulting 2 others.
A spokesman for the Jehovah’s Witnesses said the church deplored Pheasey’s behavior and denied it was involved in a cover up of his crimes. The spokesman said, “Jehovah’s Witnesses abhor child abuse, and view it as a serious crime and sin. The safety of our children is of the utmost importance. Any suggestion that Jehovah’s Witnesses cover up child abuse is absolutely false. We are committed to doing all we can to prevent child abuse and to provide spiritual comfort to any who have suffered from this terrible sin and crime.”
This case is particularly shocking as some of the offenses happened at the Kingdom Hall. Not only is the nature of the crimes particularly disturbing, but also the reactions from the parents and the congregation. Sadly, this is a common occurrence, and one we are becoming all too familiar with. What I found particularly interesting in this case was the statement released by the Jehovah’s Witness spokesman.
In two sentences within the statement, they mention child abuse as a sin and a crime. It baffles me that they still can’t seem to understand that if something can be described as a “crime,” this far outweighs whether or not it is perceived as a “sin.” Have you ever heard Witnesses describing murder, kidnapping or burglary as a sin? Of course not, because they are crimes. As an abuse victim myself, I find it offensive that they effectively minimize the seriousness of the crime of child sex abuse in this way.
The other interesting point is that they claim to provide “spiritual comfort” to any who have suffered child abuse. I would love to know what this comfort consists of. I imagine it to involve three old men sitting with a victim reading scriptures from the bible.
Although in my case, both myself and the other victims didn’t even get that! When will the Governing Body realize that victims don’t want “spiritual comfort.” They want to be believed and supported. They want to know that if they report the matter to police, the elders will be right by their side. They want to know that others in the congregation are going to be protected because of their bravery in coming forward.
Sadly this is not the case. In case after case we are seeing more support for the abuser and their family than for the victim. I don’t know the victims in this case, but in case they read this article I want to just say this:
What you have done has taken great bravery and determination. I know what it’s like to live with something for over 25 years and feel like you will never get justice. I can only imagine what you went through with elders at the time, and maybe even recently, but you are not alone. There is a huge, loving community out there full of ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses who all understand how you feel. Each brave person who comes forward shines another light on to the organization and its unwillingness to protect children.
 
new-karen-signature2
 
 
 
 
 
 
Further reading…
◾Mirror article
◾Metro article
◾Daily Mail article
◾Telegraph article
◾The Sun article
◾Stratford Herald article
◾JWsurvey articles on child abuse


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139 Responses to Jehovah’s Witness guilty of strangling children for sexual gratification

← Older Comments
 
 Searcher says:

 January 4, 2016 at 10:58 am
 
Choking a child to get sexual satisfaction?! I’ve heard of all kinds of disgusting things coming from the JW child abusers, but this raises the bar on disgusting and evil acts. To sweep something like this under the rug saying that ‘it will bring reproach on Jehovah’s name…” is absolutely absurd.
This again is more proof of these IDIOTS running the show are not God’s one and only channel. I’m so glad I am not having anything to do with this evil organization. Shunning me? NO. I’m shunning them!!!
Reply
 
 
 Doc Obvious says:

 January 4, 2016 at 1:14 pm
 
Watchtower’s (a.k.a Jehovah’s Witnesses) political involvement is one that will surprise many people. An organization that should be no part of Satan’s political system is involved in politics.
The Apostle Paul outlined what are involvement in this world should be. In 1 Corinthians 10:21-22 it states the following: “You cannot be drinking the cup of Jehovah and the cup of demons; you cannot be partaking of “the table of Jehovah” and the table of demons. Or ‘are we inciting Jehovah to jealousy’? We are not stronger than he is, are we?”
The United States Legislature creates the laws that lawyers use as a basis for their situation. Does the United States Legislature use the Bible as a basis? I do not think so. In addition, whose laws have stand the test of time, Jehovah God’s laws found in the bible (1,900 plus years) or that of the United States Government that has only been around for under 300 years?
Watchtower has paid for the education of certain men to be lawyers. They have invested thousands of dollars into a couple of men’s legal career. The law books that are being used in Watchtower’s legal department. Do they address the Bible at all? Are they not from the “table of demons”?
For example, their involvement with the United Nations as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Associate Member is extremely hypocritical. Especially, if they claim to be “no part of the world” as Jesus Christ was. A pure example of eating at the “table of demons”.
Watchtower Babble and Tract Society is trying to get the best of both worlds by having a legal department at their World Headquarters. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 tells us that we cannot have both. How would you feel if you wrote laws that were a million times better and someone decided not to follow those laws and follow a set of laws that are inferior? I would tell that someone, are not my laws better than the ones you are considering?
None of Jesus Christ’s Apostles were lawyers. Jesus did not choose one lawyer as one of his Apostles. Not one. Watchtower may state that lawyers were not around in Jesus time. That would be a false statement. Lawyers have been around during the Greek Empire which is before Jesus’ time on earth.
I believe the reason we have child abuse in the Jehovah’s Witnesses is because the organization knows that they have an in-house legal department to hide behind when confronted with the issues of child abuse.
That is one of the main reasons I do not donate money to the Watchtower Babble and Tract Society. I feel having in-house lawyers is a huge conflict of interest.
Reply
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 4, 2016 at 1:47 pm
 
I think I finally understand the “free will” discussion that’s been going on. It’s not about individual free will to do good or evil. It’s the biblical argument that yahweh “needs” to allow the consequences of Man’s exercise of Free Will to play out before he intervenes, in spite of all the ensuing misery. Finally got it. Thanx. And I agree, that is a STUPID concept. Why should millions suffer, just to make a political statement? I like the analogy someone made, to it being like a ‘pissing contest’ between yahweh and satan. LOL
Reply
 
 Winston Smith says:

 January 4, 2016 at 3:07 pm
 
@A4
 My thoughts on the posts up to this point on this topic…
As a deist, I tend to stand between two diametrically opposed views (and please forgive me for generalizing):
 To the atheist – ‘because there is suffering there is no God’
To the theist – ‘God is responsible for all suffering’ (either he allows it to prove “the issue” or causes it as a form of punishment)
To the deist, the marvels of the universe indicate a cause & purpose, but the idea of whether this cause is a personality or a force or something else all together is left open-ended. The deist often identifies with the watchmaker analogy: once the watchmaker (God if you will) creates the watch and winds it up, it then starts running according to plan and does not require the watchmaker’s further intervention.
As some have stated in other comments, when people believe that a few elites are receiving divine instruction, it empowers those elites to unduly influence them. I agree. Even for those who accept that there is some grand issue running its course between God and the Devil, for either one of them (God or the Devil, that is) to intervene would be to skew the issue and thus nothing would truly be settled. Either way humankind are on their own to exercise their free will.
I hope I have not strayed too far off topic, but I wanted to clarify my position on this. As per my earlier post, we shouldn’t get hung up on who on this site is a Christian, or an Atheist, or believes in the Bible, or doesn’t. Our common purpose is to bring to light the negative effects of an organization that has entirely too much influence over the lives of its followers. It’s great to share opposing points of view as ‘food for thought” but it can also become a distraction if we become too caught up in ‘proving our point.’
WS
Reply
 
 Simon Kestral says:

 January 4, 2016 at 5:33 pm
 
Free will is not a contest between God and Satan. God does not need to prove anything, or settle any “issue.” That’s not why he lets free will play out.
God could create a universe without any evil or suffering. But that would mean there is no free will. We would act as God commands, all the time. Like puppets.
The freedom to choose good or evil is a great gift; profound, really. But it does not exempt us from God’s laws. We are responsible for our own choices; they will determine our final outcome.
God will rightfully judge us on the basis of free will and how we use it. That’s why he lets free will play out. To see what we really are.
Reply
 
 
 
 redpilltwice says:

 January 4, 2016 at 4:17 pm
 
Amen anomymous4! The concequences of free will are much less attractive to me now, during my current fading, as they were during my defending talks on stage and field service. I see it this way now: Machines are man made and can do impressive things, but we don’t want them to do other, unexpected things. It could even scare us and we would not appreciate such “freedom”, for it could cause serious danger and discomfort. We rely on and benefit from their programmed tasks and expect nothing else. Animals can also do all kinds of beautiful, funny and impressive things, but are not held responsible for their acts because they are driven by instinct. If men would have been created with some more intrinsic and automatic discomfort with evil and disobedience, would men have known the difference in comparison with the higher degree of free will that God actually gave Adam and Eve? No, I truly think not. You see, animals would not have been criticised by Adam and Eve for being lower than men and having instinct. At the same time, hyper intelligent angels and their more divine free will would have been invisible for men’s eye to observe most of the time, so…we would be happy as we were, but just more able to avoid diabolic masterminds such as the original snake. But somehow, that probably wouldn’t have fit Jehovah’s standard for being worshipped by creatures with reason. So now I’m more and more struggling with the idea that Jehovah could have warned Adam and Eve about the true intentions of the snake BEFORE his first act as satan. Wouldn’t Adam and Eve be grateful to Jehovah, being a shield against such an overwhelming powerful evil force, but therefor also realizing they still had very much to learn about appreciation and loyal love, but without the price of losing their lives by slowly dying and leaving such a horrible heritage to mankind? I can only imagine how strong my own feelings would be as a father. I would never put my daughter to such a test, with the potential risk that she would fall prey to a twisted, evil, fallen pervert who would love to see her get sick and die, even if she had been disobedient or completely ignored my FAIR, CLEAR warning/instructions of what to do or do not. 6’000+ years of death, torture, cancer, leprosy, bubonic plague, flesh eating bacteria, necrotic diseases, ebola etc. is a HUGE, HUGE price for one guy and one gal misusing free will while it was Jehovah that agreed on and allowed this option in their mental matrix! I know I’m nothing and God is everything but I wonder, in all sincerity…would every man, woman, child feel like an unhappy robot because he could not hold his hands into fire? No! Under normal circumstances, it is driven by reflexes, not free will, to take your hands back within a fraction of a second. For 20 years as a JW, I had no problem with God given free will, but now I’m really struggling with it. When I project this concept to this article, I’m displeased with the reality that only positive experiences are given as proof of JHWH’s blessing, while ignoring the filth that is taking place, even INSIDE the KH, is burying defenseless “little flock” under the cold, hard reality of abuse. Isn’t that also proof that the HS is much less active as every devoted witness would like to believe? It could awaken people to other “facts” regarding 1914 or the overlapping-generation. Regarding sexual abuse, “Jehovah will take care of it” or “Leave it to the elders” is so easily said by people who’s lives are not damaged or destroyed by gruesome acts of abuse within the Christian congregations or by those in denial. New people are always so impressed by the love-bombing and the so called “spiritual paradise”, that they become blinded for any potential risk for their kids. Unless they are informed and cautious people of course…and visit websites like these :-) Bedtime in Europe now.
Reply
 
 Winston Smith says:

 January 4, 2016 at 8:55 pm
 
@redpilltwice:
 I don’t want to go too far down this rabbit hole, but have you ever considered that the Adam & Eve account may not actually be historical?
Although the JWs and a number of other fundamentalist churches insist on a literal, historical interpretation, many more progressive Christian churches have suggested it may really be allegorical. Combine such reasoning with the fact that archeologists have found human remains that are tens of thousands of years old. Our choice becomes to either dismiss the science and try to explain it away or to accept it and reassess the garden of Eden story. If we look at it as allegorical with a lesson to be learned, a lot of the struggles you suggest as to comprehending how a loving God could act that way are cleared up.
WS
Reply
 
 redpilltwice says:

 January 5, 2016 at 5:21 am
 
Thanks for your reply Winston and don’t worry, you can go as far down the rabbit hole as you want! I was just reasoning from a JW point of view, because every argument can be posed against a counterargument. Of course I’ve reconsidered all the biblical stories regarding their true meaning. My oldest teenage daughter even declared herself agnostic after we as parents stopped going to meetings (brave girl, never baptized, free as a bird now) :-) But my mind still needs to complete a certain circle of logic (if possible) before piece of mind sets in. In order to grasp the logic of how and why things went so horribly wrong in Eden and why so many have to suffer for it, one might find its simply beyond any logic or even too elusive to grasp, and consider the event as being not historical. The counterargument from a bible reading Christian would be “Why would Jesus refer to Adam and Eve as an act of direct creation (Matthew 19:4) and teach moral lessons if it wasn’t meant literal? Again, the new argument against that counter argument could be that other lessons (such as the prodigal son) also are illustrations, not literal accounts. Or, that it’s not quite certain how, when and what parts of the bible came to us in its modern form, in comparison to the original manucripts. Or, like you said, that archeology seems to indicate an older age for mankind. So, I’m not saying we need to take the account literal, but I’m always interested in arguments from different sides. I certainly disagree with “Free will” as a satisfying explanation for how this still could happen among God’s “spirit-directed” people. It should never be a free-card to leave matters to Jehovah and sweep abuse under the carpet. I wonder if my country, The Netherlands, will also see some sort of Royal Commission. RC church was spanked in public in 2011, when Deetman reports came out, but at least their pope made apologies. Unfortunately (as far as I can see), most JW’s over here are ignorant or in denial of current events such as in Australia or this sick JW strangler. May justice revail!
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 5, 2016 at 11:56 am
 
What if Jesus never really existed? Or was not really the Son of God, but just another charismatic preacher of the Day? Check out JWB (JW Blog) – article “Did Jesus Exist?”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 4, 2016 at 2:01 pm
 
Why is WT Corp full of perverts, obsessed with tight pants, sex, what is and is not permissible in the marriage bed, who can have sex and who can’t? Well, let me put forth a theory. When someone is hungry, what’s on their mind? Food! When someone is thirsty, what’s on their mind? Water! When someone is poor, what’s on their mind? Money! When someone’s NATURAL, NORMAL, HEALTHY sexual appetites are suppressed, they will be thinking about it a lot more, and there will be those who find unhealthy, perverted ways to satisfy those appetites.
 Whatever happened to the Sexual Liberation movement of the 60’s and 70’s? Those folks weren’t going around molesting children!
 Another problem is out-of-control greed. Women discovered that sex can be very materially profitable. Now you practically need to be Donald Trump to get laid. No offence to the ladies, but I ‘calls ’em as I sees ’em’.
Reply
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 4, 2016 at 2:14 pm
 
I get annoyed when I hear JW’s described as “nice people”. U know what? The world is FULL of NICE people. I’ll bet Charles Manson was a ‘nice guy’. In person, Hitler was a helluva guy. Saddam Hussein always had a great big smile for the cameras. I’m sure Kim-Jong-Un is one crrrrrazy Party Animal. And what the heck, u know, in a couple of interviews I saw on YouTube, with serial killer Ted Bundy, he seemed like a perfect gentleman. Same goes for Jeffrey Dahmer. I wish the world would just get over this “nice” illusion / delusion. Doesn’t the bible itself say that the Devil appears as an Angel of Light? “Nice” is useless. “Nice” is bullsh*t.
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 5, 2016 at 3:13 am
 
Speaking of Kim-Jong-un, if u want a good laugh, check out The Interview (2014), if u haven’t already seen it. & even though it’s a comedy, it does an AMAZING job of showing how a person can put up a completely false front!!
Reply
 
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 4, 2016 at 2:19 pm
 
“The fanatic is always concealing a secret doubt.”
 — Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, 2011 (currently on Netflix)
Reply
 
 ruthlee says:

 January 5, 2016 at 7:50 am
 
I saw that! anon 4 and immediately thought of the j dubs how interesting you connected the dots too ruthlee
Reply
 
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 4, 2016 at 2:27 pm
 
“Men like you can play God all you want, but it will always be a peasant who digs your grave.”
 — Outpost III: Rise of the Spetsnaz, 2013
Reply
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 4, 2016 at 2:38 pm
 
Not sure if this was in the main article or one of the comments, too lazy to check & my computer goes wonky whenever I do anything, but someone mentioned a JW Ped who went to jail and started conducting bible studies with other inmates. lol How is it that all these guys find Jesus AFTER they get pinched? I’m beginning to wonder if Jesus doesn’t live in prison. :)
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 4, 2016 at 2:52 pm
 
At least I have the comfort of knowing that if I ever piss off the “powers-that-be” with all my anti-Establishment, anti-New World Order talk, and end up in the can, Jesus will be there waiting for me. :)
Reply
 
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 4, 2016 at 2:45 pm
 
@ Doc Obvious
U got it! Watchtower wants to keep EVERYTHING “in-house”.
Reply
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 4, 2016 at 2:57 pm
 
Q: What’s the difference between a catfish and a Watchtower lawyer?
 A: One is a scum-sucking bottom feeder. The other is a fish.
Reply
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 4, 2016 at 3:41 pm
 
@ Winston Smith
I like ur ‘watchmaker’ analogy. I personally feel like God created the Universe (perhaps thru’ Big Bang, Evolution, whatever) and let it go its merry way. No need to overanalyze the issue, pick it apart, or beat it to death. Who cares, anyway? Fact is, WE’RE HERE. Let’s DEAL with the situation and all the problems and challenges that come with it, instead of wondering what tribe we came from, and whether or not there’s a Magic Kingdom somewhere in our future. If there is, we can all celebrate when we get there. For now, I’m a firm believer in the Problem-Solving Mindset, and it’s not like there’s any shortage of problems in THIS world, here & now. And I agree, this Site exists to expose a corrupt, controlling, out-of-control organization, and provide an outlet and comfort for those who have, or are in the process, of escaping said twisted organization, not to discuss Philosophy. So I’ll shut up now.
Reply
 
 Winston Smith says:

 January 4, 2016 at 8:59 pm
 
@A4
“Fact is, WE’RE HERE. Let’s DEAL with the situation and all the problems and challenges”
Amen!
It always bothered me that the JWs wanted to leave all the world’s problems in “God’s hands” rather than taking action to make the world a better place.
WS
Reply
 
 Victor says:

 January 5, 2016 at 2:04 am
 
“Those who believe they can help the starving do not understand at all the message of the Bible”. These are the exact words of a indoctrinated JW, when I asked him why JWs not have support or charity facilities.
Reply
 
 Wanderer says:

 January 5, 2016 at 5:07 am
 
Are the JWs the only religion that don’t have a charity for the needy/poor/malnourished/underprivileged? Every religion I can think of has a charity where they can help these people.
 How do the JWs continue to get charitable status when they only get their followers to donate their money and time to only the JWs?
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 5, 2016 at 6:04 am
 
They claim they are doing ‘spiritual’ bible-teaching work in the community, or something bogus like that. They have really pulled the wool over the naive government. How is waking people up on Saturday mornings to shove the “Watchtower” down their throats, charitable work??!

 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 5, 2016 at 6:09 am
 
…Unless the governments are in cahoots with these jerks, which wouldn’t surprise me. Remember, Watchtower is a NGO member of the United Nations!!!!!!!!!!!!

 
 
 
 
 ruthlee says:

 January 5, 2016 at 7:52 am
 
That’s because they are lazy minded Winston. The pioneers are notorious for being work shy especially the career ones ruthlee
Reply
 
 Winston Smith says:

 January 5, 2016 at 11:19 am
 
@ruthlee
 Good point! I recall a number of pioneers who seemed exceptionally lazy (and ignorant) in the other aspects of their lives, but still managed to hold on to that pioneer status. I think they particularly enjoyed driving around all day, drinking coffee, and occasionally telling someone that they had all of life’s answers.
I’m reminded of 1 Timothy 5:13: “At the same time, they also learn to be idle, going from house to house; they are not only idle, but are also gossips and busybodies, saying things they shouldn’t say.”
WS
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 5, 2016 at 11:38 am
 
All too true. With all the $$$ floating around the Borg, these Bums usually don’t have a problem garnering physical support from friends & family. I never knew any who worked in a factory or dug ditches to support themselves. If anything, they are usually given cushy, high-paying jobs by other “brothers”. In fact, I’ve known Bethelites & pioneers who vacation regularly in exotic locales like Costa Rica, or take trips back home to places like South Korea, all paid for by some well-to-do JW benefactor, while I myself have been involved in many occupations involving back-breaking physical labor for chicken-feed wages, having to stare out the window at all the ice & snow during winter off-hours. LOL

 
 
 
 JJ says:

 January 6, 2016 at 3:18 am
 
So true!
 My parents always warned me that ‘pioneers’ we’re just lazy. Then I got sucked in and totally believed all of these ‘full-time servants’ were the hardest working, biggest sacrifices, in line for the most blessings, people in the organization.
 Mostly they are a bunch of loud-mouthed, lazy-bums, and you’d be better off to stay well clear of them before they try and guilt you into giving them something.
 There will be an army of freeloaders wondering what happened when this organization comes crashing down!
Reply
 
 Winston Smith says:

 January 6, 2016 at 5:36 pm
 
@JJ
 I appreciate your blunt comments in this regard. After all, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck…
WS

 
 
 Tara says:

 January 8, 2016 at 9:04 am
 
We were always giving our ‘roll up to win’ free coffee strips to the pioneers. Some weeks I was taking bottles to the dpot to get enough money for milk etc but felt guilted into giving to our pioneers.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 Big B says:

 January 4, 2016 at 4:39 pm
 
Another eye opener article Karen.
Is it no wonder that the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society is in so much trouble? This is absolutely a pedophiles paradise if there ever was one. Where can a pedophile go to practice his vile acts and be completely protected by the church with a two witness rule? What’s worst of all, even if he is disfellowshipped he will still not be reported to the proper authorities in order to protect the community or those at the Kingdom Hall.
What is especially heinous is that the recidivist rate of pedophiles “child molesters had a 13% reconviction rate for sexual offenses and a 37% reconviction rate for new, non-sex offenses over a five year period” and “another study found reconviction rates for child molesters to be 20% and for rapists to be approximately 23% (Quinsey, Rice, and Harris, 1995)”. http://www.csom.org/pubs/mythsfacts.html
So according to the standing policy of “the Organization” these deviates can
• be reinstated if disfellowshipped,
• be appointed as ministerial servants and elders to “shepherd the flock” after reinstatement,
• be completely forgiven for past sins, their files sealed from the authorities and the congregation and finally
• once again be allowed access to further sheep to molest.
Anyone who thinks, for a New York second, that Jehovah God would support an Organization with his Holy Spirit that allows this travesty is a lunatic. Anyone who says “leave matters in Jehovah’s hands” is completely deluded. It is Orwellian speak for “do nothing”. The elders have the power (by sacred scripture) to warn the congregation of sexual predators (by name) and remove the predators (forever) in order to keep the congregation clean. It is everyone’s duty to report crimes or suspected crimes to the proper authorities –publishers as well as elders. These sexual acts of depravity perpetrated against the youth are a crime… the act and the cover up. These ‘sheeple’ won’t report because all of them are coerced by fear of the “Un-faithful and indiscreet slave” and the trepidation of losing their precious positions as Watchtower stooges
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 4, 2016 at 6:43 pm
 
This organization is rotten to the core. I don’t think even the Catholic Church went as far, in actually creating POLICY to cover up these kinds of heinous crimes. The Watchtower Society is entertaining and protecting all these “wolves in sheep’s clothing”, practically rolling out the Red Carpet with a big neon sign that reads “Pedophile’s Paradise”. The so-called “Spiritual Paradise” is dead and buried, if it ever existed at all. I’m sure word of this organization is spreading like wildfire among the pedophile underground. What a nightmare.
Reply
 
 Winston Smith says:

 January 4, 2016 at 9:16 pm
 
Not only is this organization a haven for pedophiles, but also for abusive men of all sorts. Over the years, I became aware of a number of men who were physically and/or verbally abusive to their wives and children and yet still held positions of authority in the congregation.
WS
Reply
 
 
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 4, 2016 at 6:55 pm
 
Jehovah’s Witnesses are supposed to be peaceful worshippers of a loving god. Yet, he is constantly referred to in their scriptures as “Jehovah of Armies”. Sounds quite aggressive and militaristic to me. Why not “Jehovah of Hospitals”, “Jehovah of Day Care Centers”, “Jehovah of Farms”, “Jehovah of Temples and Monuments”, “Jehovah of Hosts”, “Jehovah of Masses”,”Jehovah the Protector”, “Jehovah of Security”,or even “Jehovah the Fighter” or “Jehovah of Forces”, etc, etc, etc? Interesting choice.
Reply
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 4, 2016 at 7:17 pm
 
Sorry to those who still ‘believe’, but in regard to the whole Garden of Eden story, Why would God need or even bother to “test” Man (& Woman)? Why not just say, “OK, these are the rules, Don’t murder, Don’t steal, Don’t litter, etc. — If you break the rules, you’re out.”? Why all the Drama??
Reply
 
 redpilltwice says:

 January 5, 2016 at 5:28 am
 
In case you were referring to me…don’t worry, I’m okay. Just reconsidering things I have believed for 20 years. Willing to let go. Awakening can be a crazy process sometimes, but it feels really good :-)
Reply
 
 
 
 Alexandria R says:

 January 5, 2016 at 4:54 am
 
The JW religion teaches it’s people to be powerless that’s why it’s bad for kids. When I was six years old my father took me to a door. The house holder asked my father a question about the flag. The house holder got mad at my dad’s answer and when he spit at my father the spit got on my dress. My parents wiped the spit off my dress but I remember I could still see the outline of the spit on my dress. I wish people would try to help JWs wake up rather than be hurtful. I wish I could break that man’s nose. The JW’s are taught to be powerless and not take action in order to not ‘make waves’ My father fealt like doing something but he didn’t. It isn’t a religion good for protecting kids.
Reply
 
 GEM says:

 January 5, 2016 at 7:19 am
 
Absolutely agree, Alexandria:
I was out in field service, aged 16 and accompanied a youngster about 11 years old.
We knocked on a door which was sheet glass top to bottom, in a wood frame. When the man opened the door and I introduced who we were, we were told in no uncertain terms where to get off and he slammed the door.
The glass shattered in thousands of little pieces over the young lad accompanying me (he too would end up in Bethel in later life).
Horrid. Inhuman. How would you ever convince someone they were wrong if you react like that? But, there again, I am always told I am too sensitive….(yeh, right)
Reply
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 6, 2016 at 7:28 pm
 
All too true. Jehovah’s Witnesses are brainwashed to be passive, just like sheep.
Reply
 
 
 
 EverydayExplorer says:

 January 5, 2016 at 5:42 am
 
Karen, thank you for this article — and I respect very much your loving message of support to other survivors of sexual abuse within Watchtower and outside it.
It’s very encouraging that this case in particular seems to be getting a lot more UK media attention. I see JW.survey has most of the links at the bottom of your article. Here’s a link to a new one:
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/484952/UK-Jehovahs-Witnesses-sex-abuse-cover-up
Like the Daily Telegraph report, this article does a very good job of joining the dots for readers not familiar with the near-imploding systemic cover up of sex abuse within Watchtower.
The message is getting out there — at last. There is more and more chance of children and vulnerable people being protected and supported — at last. Let’s keep up the pressure in all (legal) ways that make use of our individual talents!
Reply
 
 
 Big B says:

 January 5, 2016 at 7:53 am
 
The link from Meredith J on December 30, 2015 at 2:43 am on the Friday Column: “Everyone makes mistakes except Jehovah’s Witnesses”; concerning a letter that went out to elders to destroy evidence. Is it safe to say that this letter went out only to the brothers in the U.K. or did it go out to all congregations world-wide?
I find this absolutely repugnant as the ARC cornered elders with their own handwritten notes describing in full what measures were taken, if any, vis-a vis child molestation claims in the congregations.
Reply
 
 
 GulfCoaster says:

 January 5, 2016 at 8:33 am
 
When I was in the JW cult, I remember constantly hearing how we were the best. Other religions were always sneered at and viewed contemptuously. I don’t know how many times I heard we were “the nicest, most loving people” and how the “world” was slandered as debauched, Satan-controlled and just plain bad.
It’s ingrained in JWs. It’s part of their programming. They’re the best, nothing is wrong with their cult or its followers, they will live forever in paradise, blah blah blah.
Along comes a monster in their midst and their brainwashed minds can’t handle it. So they cover it up because they don’t want to shatter their delusion. Nor do they want the world to see any flaws as it might discourage more recruits, and therefore more money into the corporation’s coffers.
It’s horrifying to know that thousands of children’s lives were damaged and destroyed and the cult swept them under the carpet while protecting the monsters. I’m glad this issue is coming to light. I just hope the US wakes up to it and starts investigating them. That will hit the cult hardest.
Reply
 
 Winston Smith says:

 January 5, 2016 at 11:29 am
 
@GulfCoaster
“I just hope the US wakes up to it and starts investigating them. That will hit the cult the hardest.”
Amen!
 I think this organization’s ‘waters are drying up’ a bit quicker in Europe & Australia than here in the States. Could be wrong, that’s just my perception. To hit them here at their home base would be significant.
WS
Reply
 
 
 redpilltwice says:

 January 5, 2016 at 1:07 pm
 
Within time the whole world needs to wake up. If not, I would feel discouraged.
Reply
 
 
 
 Bad Penny says:

 January 5, 2016 at 8:02 pm
 
Thanks for the article Karen –
My son knows a sister who used to be in Pheasey’s congregation. She said he was a disgusting man. We are trying to find out if he has been disfellowshipped or not.
 To read that the parents of his victim did nothing amazes me. If it had been a child of mine I don’t think he would have walked very well after!
 Five years is not enough. He will be released, probably reinstated in the cong, and no-one will be any the wiser.
 These sort of predators do not reform. He will do it again and I dread to think of the consequences.
 As for the Borg protecting children from abuse MY A..E!
Reply
 
 Winston Smith says:

 January 5, 2016 at 9:44 pm
 
I personally knew an inactive JW who was convicted of over 100 counts of sexual assault against children (he liked young boys). He did 7 years in prison. Now I hear he is out and a very active member of the local congregation. And as suggested, I am sure no one there is any the wiser. Protect your kids: keep them away from the KH.
WS
Reply
 
 ruthlee says:

 January 8, 2016 at 10:22 am
 
This fills me with horror! truly satanic old nick and his demons are getting such a kick out of the slaughter of the innocents. ruthlee
Reply
 
 
 
 
 Meredith J says:

 January 6, 2016 at 1:23 am
 
Thank you Karen Morgan for your article. It is good to hear the voice of a Watchtower abuse victim speaking up. You and others are very courageous. Those of us who have left are standing with you. You are not alone anymore. Enjoyed your article and wish you all the best with your future plans.
Reply
 
 
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← Jehovah’s Witness guilty of strangling children for sexual gratification
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Does Jehovah control the weather?
avatar 
Posted on January 5, 2016

Watchtower is increasingly crediting Jehovah with manipulating the weather in their favor
Watchtower is increasingly crediting Jehovah with manipulating the weather in their favor

“How many of our brothers have been affected?” During my years as a Jehovah’s Witness, that was usually the first question on the lips of friends and family whenever reports came through of a catastrophic natural disaster.
Watchtower literature frequently acknowledges that Witnesses are by no means immune from natural disasters, even hinting that such calamities are proof that we are living in the last days.
One scripture often referred to when disaster strikes is Ecclesiastes 9:11, in which King Solomon laments that “time and unexpected events” befall everyone.
I recall this bible verse being one of the few that made sense to me growing up as a believer, and especially in the wake of my mother’s death from cancer. The writer was essentially saying: “Shit happens, get used to it.”
I left the Witnesses in December 2013, but if I were still a believing member of the organization, I would struggle to reconcile the words in Ecclesiastes with the increasingly superstitious rhetoric of Watchtower and its leaders, who seem to leap on any fortuitous incident as evidence of “Jehovah’s hand.”
A perfect example can be found in the January 2016 episode of JW Broadcasting in which Travis Brooks, a design and construction worker for Watchtower, credits Jehovah with delivering sand needed for a kingdom hall build by means of a typhoon. (Skip to 04:25 in the video below to see Brooks interviewed.)


[Edit: The typhoon most likely referred to was Typhoon Maysak, which killed four people, injured ten, and caused $8.5 million worth of damage to property.]
No thought is given to the possibility that this was merely a fortunate coincidence. In the mind of Brooks, divine manipulation of the weather was the only answer for sand becoming readily available, thus enabling the success of a building renovation. And the Governing Body clearly ratified the “miracle,” because they signed off on the episode in which this experience is related.
But if you were one of the relatives of the 33 Jehovah’s Witnesses who perished on November 8th when Typhoon Haiyan ploughed into the Eastern seaboard of the Philippines, you might be less endeared by the sand story.
How could Jehovah use one typhoon near the island of Yap to deliver sand for building a kingdom hall, while allowing another in the Philippines to kill 33 of his worshipers – 22 of whom were huddled together seeking shelter in, you guessed it, a kingdom hall? Either Jehovah had no hand whatsoever in delivering the sand for the building project, or he DID have a hand but has woeful prioritization skills in how and when he chooses to tinker with the isobars.
But the sand story was no one off. As recently as October 2013 (a month before Haiyan) Geoffrey Jackson climbed on the stage of the Jersey City Assembly Hall (the Stanley Theater) and told the gathered throngs that Jehovah was responsible for engineering a cooler summer so that more copies of the latest New World Translation edition could be printed.
Perhaps it’s just me, but at no point during my Witness upbringing do I recall Watchtower’s leaders, either directly or in their publications, claiming that Jehovah was manipulating natural forces to their benefit. Perhaps an over-enthusiastic elder might give some ill-advised anecdote in a congregation talk in which divine intervention was hinted at, but there was always plausible deniability as far as Watchtower itself was concerned.
But all that has now changed. Over the last three years, despite Typhoon Haiyan furnishing the most grisly evidence that Witnesses are NOT immune from natural forces, the caution and sobriety of past leaders has melted away. Today’s Governing Body are deluded enough to insist that Jehovah DOES control the weather, even if it is only to assist their building and printing endeavors.
I can only hope these increasingly outrageous claims will register with thinking Witnesses, causing them to ponder which is more likely: (1) that Jehovah uses the weather to bulldoze some kingdom halls but to provide building materials for others, or (2) that the men who claim to represent him are actually deluded, narrow-minded narcissists who are detached from reality and utterly unworthy of respect and credibility.
 
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Further reading…
◾The Friendly Atheist: Jehovah’s Witnesses Say God Used a Typhoon to Deliver Sand for the Building of a New Kingdom Hall
◾Why the Governing Body owes an explanation for what happened in the Philippines
◾“We have truly seen Jehovah’s hand” – the shocking side of Watchtower propaganda


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← Jehovah’s Witness guilty of strangling children for sexual gratification
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117 Responses to Does Jehovah control the weather?


Newer Comments →
 
 Bart says:

 January 5, 2016 at 10:49 am
 
The use of “Jehovah’s hand” makes me sick. And all the more so to say that his hand gave them free sand from a storm!! It’s sickening to think of the logical repercussions that has, and more so to think that JW’s around the world are eating this up. Cult much?
Reply
 
 
 Reader says:

 January 5, 2016 at 10:53 am
 
Funny, when you mentioned ‘caution and sobriety of former leaders,’ Rutherford immediately popped into mind.
Reply
 
 
 airborne says:

 January 5, 2016 at 11:04 am
 
Interesting article Cedars. Thanks.
Reply
 
 
 krazykarl says:

 January 5, 2016 at 11:06 am
 
About 15 years ago there was a guy from bethel that gave the dedication talk at a kingdom hall and as a part of that talk he went through a number of historical events that made it possible for JWs to flourish (the gist of it was that Jah created the US with freedom of religion and that allowed JWs to become what they are today). In this talk one of the factors that he mentioned was the destruction of the spanish armada by severe storms in the 1500s. It was no mere hint that this was a literal act of god.
In some ways it seems that there may have been an uptick in claims of divine intervention like this, but I think what’s really going on is that they’ve always been careful to keep their more insane stuff reserved for talks/conventions/etc and out of print. When it’s not in print and searchable, it’s much easier for it to simply leave an impression in someone’s mind and they can later claim that they never said something or that it was misunderstood because there’s no official record (why do you think they don’t want people making recordings of conventions available online?)
I think they’re still getting used to this internet thing where everything they do is immediately and indefinitely preserved, regardless of what form it takes.
Reply
 
 Chiafade says:

 January 5, 2016 at 12:01 pm
 
“During the flood of Noah’s day Jehovah separated the continents. The position of each continent allowed for the development of today’s governmental super powers. Hence Jehovah preparing for the fulfillment of prophecy.”
That’s a quote from a talk I heard given by a member of the writing committee. Anything goes when you’re trying to convince people that you have access to secret knowledge.
Reply
 
 redpilltwice says:

 January 5, 2016 at 12:51 pm
 
Fascinating stuff by the writing committee, their overactive imagination knows no boundaries! Maybe Atlantis was paradise lost after all :-) lol
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 5, 2016 at 1:00 pm
 
It’s like freakin’ Harry Potter.
Reply
 
 
 David says:

 January 6, 2016 at 9:52 am
 
They even said that the Pleiadi were God’s home. They are God’s only spokesman so who can contradict them? The mother of fools is always pregnant.
Reply
 
 
 
 Pow says:

 January 5, 2016 at 2:58 pm
 
So, the garden of eden was located on the super continent Pangea, so it could possably be in Jackson County Missouri, so both the Mormons and jws would then agree. Maybe the 4 rivers were the Mississippi, Missouri, ohio and the Wabash, As for the other sheep that started in American too. (another Mormon belief), not to far from the jwdub version.
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 5, 2016 at 8:24 pm
 
Someone should make a Board Game of all this. They’ll make millions! lol
Reply
 
 
 
 Sebastian M says:

 January 6, 2016 at 5:18 am
 
Are there any audio recordings of this talk? Nowadays some of the more “progessive” JWs are even saying that the flood was a local event. They should be confronted with the fact that some of the governing body members believe in such bullshit!
Reply
 
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 5, 2016 at 12:04 pm
 
Nice point about talks vs print. Never thought of that. Maybe they’re not quite as dumb as they look. :)
Reply
 
 
 
 Malachi Sawyer says:

 January 5, 2016 at 11:26 am
 
I couldn’t help but notice that the wording was very carefully phrased so that the entire statement was credited to the ignorant yokels in the Micronesia branch and not originating in NY. Bet they didn’t see that bus coming.
Reply
 
 anon12 says:

 January 6, 2016 at 9:21 am
 
Excellent observation. You will notice, in most cases, any time a claim has even a slight amount of superstition, WT will go through lengths to absolve itself of potential blame. Read the articles, watch the broadcasts, and you will see how riddled they are with phrases like, “You no doubt believe that…”, or “Many feel that…”, or “He or she is confident that…”. All of these are ways of shifting the actual belief onto another person, instead of the author/writer/host.
Reply
 
 
 
 KL says:

 January 5, 2016 at 11:39 am
 
Haha! This complete arbitrary use of the Holy Spirit has always driven me nuts! It’s complete superstition ! It is however engrained in witnesses to talk like that. I guess subconciously they feel it shows a high degree of piousness when you attribute everything to divine intervention. Years ago, one brother in our congregation mentioned in one of his talks that he had financial trouble and couldn’t afford groceries. A couple of days earlier someone had anonymously dropped a bag of food in front of his door! “How Jehovah was looking after him so well””. That exact same week, about an hours drive away, a group of witnesses on a bus accidently drove of a cliff on their way to a ski trip. 20 dead! Bad luck I guess?? Jehovah must have been too busy looking for groceries, because that’s what’s important! Lol
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 5, 2016 at 12:08 pm
 
How dare you invoke the God of Luck! LOL :) :) :)
Reply
 
 
 Chiafade says:

 January 5, 2016 at 12:15 pm
 
That’s exactly what I say about the whole child molestation scandal. A pioneer couple cries out “please jah help us pioneer, we need a part-time job with benefits”. Somehow the org finds this mystery couple and prints their life story.
 In a similar manner a child cries out ” Jehovah save me from this child molester!” And…nothing. We never hear an experience where Jehovah intervened on behalf of this child.
BTW unfortunately your story about the brother receiving groceries sounds like something I would have said a few years ago
 Same thing happened to me only it was someone who over heard me saying I had no food. It happened maybe twice that’s it. I was still a broke pioneer unable to pay my bills or repair my car. I guess I ran out of my blessing stipend for the year.
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 5, 2016 at 12:44 pm
 
O u faithless one! Do u not realize it was JEHOVAH who placed that individual there at that moment, to overhear u. :) RFLMAO
Reply
 
 Chiafade says:

 January 5, 2016 at 5:22 pm
 
Silly me! No coincidence’s in JW land.
Reply
 
 
 
 Peggy says:

 January 6, 2016 at 2:46 pm
 
Over the years I also hear tell of Jah’s interventions. Many from elders, CO’s in their talks. It was always the same theme. Pioneers out in service. Low on gas, no money. The they find $20 on the street. So, they can carry on the work. No thinking person could stand for it. Everyone could use some magic money appearing for bills. And why if god has this magic power for money, and weather doesn’t he use it all the time. Stupid stupid stuff.
Reply
 
 Holy Connoli says:

 January 7, 2016 at 4:57 am
 
@Peggy. $20 never got you to far! If Jah could have them find $20 why not send $100k right? I mean the scriptures say all the Gold and silver belong to him. I knew a brother who used to smoke a lot of Marijuana before he became a Witness. One day on his way to an assembly he found a bag of Marijuana. Well, he gave in and took it home, missed the assembly and smoked it all weekend! True story.
 Does that mean Jah divinely gave him the MJ? The Rastafarians call God Jah and they smoke a lot of dope. Maybe Jah did send that bag of weed to him.
Reply
 
 
 
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 5, 2016 at 12:11 pm
 
Nice article.
 I think I’ll go with Conclusion #2. :)
Reply
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 5, 2016 at 12:19 pm
 
I distinctly remember being taught that ALL miracle-working ended with the death of the last apostle. Yet ANOTHER contradiction by WT. Just throw it on the pile.
Reply
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 5, 2016 at 12:25 pm
 
@redpilltwice
I posted this as a reply on the previous page, just making sure u see it — Re ur reference to Jesus referring to the Eden story as proof it really happened:
 What if Jesus himself never existed?
 Or what if he was not actually the Son of God, but just another charismatic preacher of the Day?
 Check out JW Blog (JWB) – “Did Jesus Exist?”
It’s an eye-opener!
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 5, 2016 at 12:34 pm
 
P.S. It seems you need to type “jwblog” as 1 word to get to that specific site.
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 5, 2016 at 12:38 pm
 
…or not
Reply
 
 redpilltwice says:

 January 6, 2016 at 6:15 am
 
It did anonymous, it did. I prayed to find it and…voila!… :-) it worked! Proof that the Lord…no, seriously, let’s go to the article you mentioned. It was quite good actually. After 20 years of brainwashing it’s so refreshing to reconsider arguments for and against without fear of theocratic inquisition tactics by the shepherds. It was a shock to read that secular quotes referring to Christ of Christians by Josephus and Tacitus might as well be forgeries. The Wt always embraced such secular quotes as means to persuade the final sceptics! To quote Mclintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia of Theological Literature: “Enough of the writings of [these] authors remain to form a library. Yet in this mass of Jewish and Pagan literature, aside from two forged passages in the works of a Jewish author, and two disputed passages in the works of Roman writers, there is to be found no mention of Jesus Christ.”
So, thanks for the info!
Reply
 
 dee says:

 January 6, 2016 at 9:06 am
 
Some historians have come to the conclusion that the historical Jesus is not the same as the theological/legendary Jesus:http://oyc.yale.edu/religious-studies/rlst-152,
 for example.

 
 
 Cedars says:

 January 6, 2016 at 9:08 am
 
Could someone explain to me what this has to do with the article?

 
 
 
 
 
 Deep Thinker says:

 January 6, 2016 at 7:48 am
 
If you want to really understand where Jesus came from, I recommend this site.
It is not finished (probably never will be) and he has been working on it for years, but it gives a very good overview of how Jesus came about.
http://pocm.info/index.html
Reply
 
 
 Peggy says:

 January 6, 2016 at 2:49 pm
 
I opened up my mind after reading the book Zealot, by Reza Aslan. The Life and times of Jesus of Nazareth. Excellent research!
Reply
 
 J says:

 January 6, 2016 at 9:40 pm
 
Why are these comments still on display. Off topic or what!?
Reply
 
 
 
 
 Fnord Prefect says:

 January 5, 2016 at 12:36 pm
 
Wasn’t this the same Jehovah who wasn’t able to proofread the first print run of the 2013 NWT bible, despite changing the weather to quicken it’s production, resulting in an embarrassing typo at the top of page 267?
Reply
 
 
 KTMmadbrit says:

 January 5, 2016 at 12:39 pm
 
The WTB&TS is rather like the people dumb enough to read their daily horoscope. (Aaahhh -from Satan!) You only take the positive events ignoring all contradictory events. I think that’s called superstition.
 I also saw your vlog about the ‘Generation’ explanation.
 Is it just me or is David Spleen really Howdy Doody?
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 5, 2016 at 12:49 pm
 
Howdy Doody makes more sense.
Reply
 
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 5, 2016 at 12:56 pm
 
So now WT Corp is basically saying that THEY, thru yahweh, vicariously control the weather. When it helps accomplish THEIR goals, which of course, they claim, are HIS goals. Talk…about…control…FREAKS.
Reply
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 5, 2016 at 1:15 pm
 
“Watchtower”, May 2018:
“Brothers, since the asteroid that struck the Moon last month has altered its orbit around Earth, the oceans’ tidal patterns have changed, allowing us to obtain some previously unavailable beachfront property, on which to build a much-needed translation office. Can we not clearly see Jehovah’s hand in this? What a blessing!”
P.S. In no way am I insinuating that WT will last until 2018.
Reply
 
 
 Searcher says:

 January 5, 2016 at 1:16 pm
 
Great article. I am a statistician by profession. Any form of ‘good luck’ is basically the antithesis of ‘bad luck’ in a equally distributed probability density. In this case, the JW’s always say “Jehovah has blessed us with…” on the fortunate event and “Satan is working against us on …” Funny. This is really two sides of the same coin, so to speak. We all have fortunate and unfortunate things that happen to us. These rubes just try to associate it with supernatural causes rather than random chances.
Reply
 
 Searcher says:

 January 5, 2016 at 1:24 pm
 
I have to add: Yes, I do try to hedge my odds for fortunate events as much as I can by preparation. I also appreciate when people help me and I can help them. I try to learn from the unfortunate events so that I don’t end up in the same situation. If I thought numbly that all good events come from one side and all bad events come from another side, not paying much attention to the lessons learned, then I’m pretty much doomed to repeat the unfortunate events over and over and over.
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 5, 2016 at 1:26 pm
 
“Those who fail to learn from History are doomed to repeat it.”
Reply
 
 
 
 
 SIRIUS says:

 January 5, 2016 at 2:13 pm
 
For those that follow the hype, “end is near”!
In the news, Al Gore’s ARMAGEDDON CLOCK About To Hit ZERO
It’s the final countdown.
It’s only 23 days and change until human civilization burns into cinders under the death shroud that is “climate change.”
Ten years ago, Al Gore made a nightmarish prediction that by this month, the world would end. Here’s how CBS reported it:
“The former vice president came to town for the premiere of “An Inconvenient Truth,” a documentary chronicling what has become his crusade since losing the 2000 presidential election: Educating the masses that global warming is about to toast our ecology and our way of life.
Gore has been saying it for decades, since a college class in the 1960s convinced him that greenhouse gases from oil, coal and other carbon emissions were trapping the sun’s heat in the atmosphere, resulting in a glacial meltdown that could flood much of the planet.
Americans have been hearing it for decades, wavering between belief and skepticism that it all may just be a natural part of Earth’s cyclical warming and cooling phases.
And politicians and corporations have been ignoring the issue for decades, to the point that unless drastic measures to reduce greenhouse gases are taken within the next 10 years, the world will reach a point of no return, Gore said.
He sees the situation as “a true planetary emergency.”
“If you accept the truth of that, then nothing else really matters that much,” Gore said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We have to organize quickly to come up with a coherent and really strong response, and that’s what I’m devoting myself to.”
in part & credit to http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/us/al-gores-armageddon-clock-about-to-hit-zero
Well, it’s been ten years. Have we reached “planetary emergency levels?”
Loser’s like Al Gore reminds me of those revolving doors at the casino. BTW, is AL Gore a JW?
IMHO
dogstar
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 5, 2016 at 2:56 pm
 
Will I need an umbrella?
Reply
 
 
 redpilltwice says:

 January 6, 2016 at 6:24 am
 
@ SIRIUS
 You wrote: “is AL Gore a JW?”
Could be. One that takes the overlapping-generation concept to a complete new, refreshing level. After all, he IS a proclaimer of “soon” since 2006, isn’t he?
Reply
 
 
 Searcher says:

 January 6, 2016 at 6:52 am
 
People believe what they want to believe. Al Gore believes that the world and nature cannot bounce back or adapt to changing conditions, good or bad. True science proves that no matter what man or nature can throw at it, it will change and adapt. Of course, I’m not saying we should pollute and not take care of what we have. We should be better stewards of our environment. My point here is, the JW’s believe what they want to believe, even if it flies in the face of facts and reality. Just like Gore and the doomsdayers. They want to believe there is a doomsday coming to reinforce their neurotic beliefs. I tell people that start worrying about anything that seems to them the world will come to an end, “The sun will rise in the east, it will set in the west, and the wheels on the bus will keep going round and round.”
Reply
 
 
 
 Daniel Plainview says:

 January 5, 2016 at 2:27 pm
 
In the business world it is much more cost efficient to keep an existing client as opposed to trying to sign a new client. In that same line of thought, I wonder if you can reason with a JW about these two different natural disasters. Does it make sense that a loving God would create a natural disaster to demolish a Kingdom Hall and kill 22 of his “existing clients”. OR does it make sense that a loving God would create a typhoon to provide sand to help build a Kingdom Hall in hopes of “signing new clients” ….. if the latter is the case then maybe God should go back to business school!
Reply
 
 
 Daniel Plainview says:

 January 5, 2016 at 2:35 pm
 
In the business world it is much more cost efficient to keep an existing client as opposed to trying to sign a new client. In that same line of thought, I wonder if you can reason with a JW about these two different natural disasters. Does it make sense that a loving God would create a natural disaster to demolish a Kingdom Hall and kill 22 of his “existing clients” and then use a typhoon to provide sand to help build a Kingdom Hall in hopes of “signing new clients”. If this is the case …..then maybe God should go back to business school!
Reply
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 5, 2016 at 3:09 pm
 
I was just going over the parts of ARC I watched, in my head, and, I’m sure I’m not the only one who sees this, but anyway, in hindsight, it seems the Aussie officials there were ‘putting up’ with Geoffrey Jackson. I bet they were thinking to themselves, “What the hell is wrong with this guy?” I think it didn’t take long for them to realize they were dealing with a dimwit. Then they just ‘sat on their hands’ and waited for him to shut the f*ck up and maybe start cooperating a little by actually answering 1 or 2 of their questions. It’s like, Hey, Bonzo, do you have a clue where you are? This is an Inquiry – an Inquisition – an Interrogation. And YOU are on the Hot Seat. You are not the Star of this show.
Reply
 
 redpilltwice says:

 January 6, 2016 at 6:45 am
 
a4 —> “You are not the Star of this show.”
Well, certainly not according to glorious, powerful spirit-directed WT standards, but to me Jackson actually WAS the star of the show by saying:
“Ah, that I think would seem to be quite presumptuous to say that we are the only spokesperson god is using.”
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 6, 2016 at 1:24 pm
 
People tell other people to go f*** themselves, all the time. Jackson did it to himself, good & proper, without any encouragement whatsoever. LOL
Reply
 
 
 
 Tara says:

 January 6, 2016 at 7:28 am
 
Don’t you think Jackson’s father was ill due to divine intervention so that Jackson himself could be in Australia to give his wonderful witness for all to see?…..
You know I’m being sarcastic, right?
Reply
 
 
 
 Pow says:

 January 5, 2016 at 3:10 pm
 
On a separate note, concerning the January broadcast, is Lett the new official poster child for panhandling for the org.? ….notice the pinkie rings came off…hard to beg for money with too much jewelry on..
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 5, 2016 at 3:36 pm
 
It’s the Kindly, Grandfatherly Image. Only instead of giving the kids $, he’s asking for it.
Reply
 
 
 
 redundant briefcases says:

 January 5, 2016 at 4:25 pm
 
I’m on holiday in south West England at the moment….do the wt have a weather channel or app for my phone so I can plan for tomorrow?
 seriously the more I hear the more I laugh!
 I can only say this:
 my wife and I were saying only the other day that perhaps having two rebellious kids ( now in their mid twenties) probably saved us from a life sentence to the Wt organisation. ..
 because we never got so involved socially into the hub of the congregation and therefore never developed really close friendships with that many .
 this made drifting away easier…..I’m so glad we were so balanced in our decisions in allowing our kids to choose to follow or not…
once 13/14..their intelligence is developed enough to decide whether to believe or not…
thanks children for being naughty!
 you saved us !
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 5, 2016 at 8:36 pm
 
Ur kids were wise beyond their years. I wish I had been more ‘rebellious’ when I was that age. No worries though, I’m more than making up for it now. 😉
Reply
 
 
 redpilltwice says:

 January 6, 2016 at 7:20 am
 
As soon as we stopped attending the meetings, my oldest 14 year old daughter declared herself agnostic. Thank god for her honesty, and she doesn’t even blame us for our years of theocratic devotion! She had her own non-religious mindset all the time but, like so many others, simply didn’t want to disappoint us and others. I’m so glad she has her own life now.
Reply
 
 
 
 RickRod says:

 January 5, 2016 at 5:18 pm
 
Love your blog, keep up the good work.
Reply
 
 
 Bandit says:

 January 5, 2016 at 5:52 pm
 
Funny because i always hear “Thank Jehovah” after everything. When I was looking for a job, they urged me to “talk to Jehovah”. I never once did and now i have 3 jobs. My dad is a retired firefighter because he got hurt. He always asks me do I pray that he get’s it. Honestly I hate that. It defames God. You use his so called name-which ironically isn’t his real name-whenever something good happens. But the minute disaster strikes you all claim he isn’t to blame. If according to witnesses he’s going to kill more than 5 billion people because they aren’t Jehovah’s Witnesses then what makes you think an earthquake here or a tornado there isn’t him. It’s scary how they reason.
Reply
 
 
 Fabio says:

 January 5, 2016 at 8:15 pm
 
Cedars and friends, happy 2016. Jehovah’s Witnesses are not real people living in the real world, everything is possible in a surreal world.
Reply
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 5, 2016 at 8:45 pm
 
“Surreal” – Characterized by fantastic & incongruous imagery. If u see a goldfish fly out of a melting clock & offer u tango lessons, u’re having a surreal experience. Either that or u’re asleep & dreaming. Or on drugs.
 I’m beginning to wonder if there’s ANY limit to what the JW R&F are willing to accept.
Reply
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 5, 2016 at 9:10 pm
 
Jehovah’s Witnesses: Wake up from ur dreamlike state, come out of that ‘purple haze’, & realize the life u’re leading is ABNORMAL. No one else on Planet Earth lives like that. And that is NOT a compliment!!!
Reply
 
 
 Winston Smith says:

 January 5, 2016 at 9:33 pm
 
Great article!
If anyone would like to send me a check for $20, I have some magic beans I can sell you – kidding of course, but that seems to be the gist of it, eh?
When I see these claims of so-called miracles or divine intervention, I’m reminded of something Michael Shermer of Skeptic Magazine once said: ‘In science, we cannot solely focus on the hits, we also have to keep track of the misses.’
I think with all the failed predictions becoming more and more obvious – e.g. 1914, ‘this generation,’ the nearness of Armageddon, etc., the GB is grasping at anything they can to bolster the faith (credulity) of the rank & file masses.
WS
Reply
 
 Deep Thinker says:

 January 6, 2016 at 8:52 am
 
Michael Shermer is not a true sceptic. He is a tool of the establishment and heaven forbid anyone who goes against what the establishment and peer review articles decree.
See the following link on a rebuttal of him.https://www.thunderbolts.info/wp/2015/10/05/comments-on-michael-shermers-article-in-sci-american/
Reply
 
 Winston Smith says:

 January 7, 2016 at 2:05 pm
 
@Deep Thinker
 Thanks for he info. It’s good to keep abreast of both sides of the issues. I certainly have read other things from Shermer that I do not agree with. However, I believe that his points about the hits and the misses is valid.
WS
Reply
 
 
 
 
 Alexandria R says:

 January 5, 2016 at 10:06 pm
 
Many of the claims they make must be Rhetoric talk. I have a funny feeling they don’t really believe what they are saying. Sometimes I think they are trying to be cute? It’s hard to take them seriously when they say some of the things they say. And So insulting to the families who lost loved ones to natural disasters.
Reply
 
 
 Jarred Booth says:

 January 5, 2016 at 11:06 pm
 
I’m curious to know which of the typhoons Jehovah used to “bless” the Yap congregation? Was it Typhoon Maysak, which killed 5 and caused extensive damage? Was it Typhoon Parma, with 500 deaths and over $600 million damage? Typhoon Noul, with 2 fatalities, $100,000 damage to Yap and $23 million damage overall? Interesting how the date of the KH extension was left out of the story, so no one could look up the cost of human life and financial damage it took for Jehovah to get his people some sand.
Reply
 
 Winston Smith says:

 January 6, 2016 at 4:18 am
 
@Jarred Booth
 It all goes to their attitude that so-called “worldly” people don’t really matter. God is going to destroy them all soon anyway. So as long as no JWs die it can be considered a blessing. And if God happens to kill someone who might potentially have been a JW convert, he can just resurrect them later. Never mind their suffering or that of their surviving family. How sick and dehumanizing!
WS
Reply
 
 
 
 Eric Arthur Blair says:

 January 6, 2016 at 4:46 am
 
I wonder how Watchtower would explain the fortuitous timing of Geoffrey Jackson’s presence in Australia during the ARC? Was it Holy Spirit that timed his father’s illness with the ARC so they could subpoena him? I would like to think so, for the purpose of finally taking action against those who have brought more reproach to his name than any other man-made organisation in history. Hope springs eternal, but I think I’m going have to chalk that one up to Ecclesiastes 9:11 too. Sigh…
Reply
 
 
 Free Thinker says:

 January 6, 2016 at 7:21 am
 
Yet another proof to what extent things are going downhill with those 7 jokers at the helm. Only Lett The Face with his saucer-eyes, his dancing eyebrows, his full body tourette and fist-clenching may act like a (bad) teller of bedside stories (I wouldn’t hire HIM for my kids!) – but all 7 are spinners of yarns. They seriously believe the nonsense they babble. There’s no class anymore – everything in JW.ORG gets dumbed down massively. Soon, they’ll replace the Bible by LOTR, telling us this is what really happened. “More proof for 1914 than for wind and electricity.” Oh yeah, and the earth is flat, and the moon landing never happened, suuuure. JW.ORG-“Theology” and the whole shebang surrounding it has become nothing but a big fat joke.
Reply
 
 Searcher says:

 January 6, 2016 at 10:05 am
 
Relieve my ignorance here. What is LOTR?
Reply
 
 Free Thinker says:

 January 6, 2016 at 12:40 pm
 
Sure. LOTR = the commonly used acronym for “Lord Of The Rings”. The saga of Middle Earth. Hobbits. Elves. Orks. Wizards. Gandalf. Sauron. Dragons. Balrogs. Trolls. Gollum. Mordor. All real. Just as real as “More proof for 1914 than for electricity and wind”-nonsense, the “Overlapping Generation”-hypothesis, the “The End is coming SOOOOON”-eternal promise, “Only the 7 in BRK are the fadS”-delusion.
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 6, 2016 at 1:08 pm
 
I was just going to say that we have finally left the domain of religion and are now entering the domain of Harry Potter.
Reply
 
 
 
 
 
 Hand says:

 January 6, 2016 at 7:33 am
 
People, have you all gone blind? Can’t you see the hand working? I mean we have villages after vilages refusing to sell thier sand and the only one that was willing to sell couldn’t deliver. So there was a thypon just minding it’s own bussines and the hand decides to dump some sand. Can’t you see the hand doing a handy work. I just want to find out whose hand it was so I can give it a handshake. It is all n the hand and we all know hands have been in the handling bussiness. Now if we good olny get the hand to drop food fro the hungry, Clothes for the naked and medcine to the sick it would all be handy dandy. But as they say the hand giveth and the hand takes away. So dear hand us se handy things so we can all handle wha ever it is on hand.
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 6, 2016 at 1:03 pm
 
Sounds like that typhoon was quite a hand job.
Reply
 
 
 
 Patricia says:

 January 6, 2016 at 8:04 am
 
JW’s are stewards of Jehovah God, a loving God. He is loving when it works in his favor. So I guess the 33 that died were no longer obeying him…
Reply
 
 Ejecting to Sanity says:

 January 6, 2016 at 11:05 am
 
Exactly..they probably were super-bad..perhaps had coffee with a coworker, wore denim to meeting, grew a scruff on vacation, or, God forbid. Actually made an original comment at the theocratic review meeting.
Reply
 
 
 
 ruthlee says:

 January 6, 2016 at 9:20 am
 
Oh you silly people of course god controls the weather. Did you not read that there are store houses of snow. Thats for those in lala land to make snow men and snow angels and when they have had their fun the earth is stored up for fire so they can have a jolly good bbq. I have decided to reinterpret those weather scriptures because anything daft they say I’m sure I can come up with something dafter and more plausible. Ha ha ha. I kid you not an old timer said to me we should thank god personally when we have a particular nice tasting bit of fruit as it is from him. What about the billions who don’t eat much if at all obviously god’s rain and sun on them is not to produce anything for them they must be so unjdub. Jws really do believe in their modern miracles but are hard pressed to believe the Bible they claim to follow. I say it again jehovah’s witnesses do not read their bible or they would not come out with such nonsense and if their religion was real they would not be so brutal in the dismissal of the rest of mankind who are not branded through with jw.org. Such silly people.such wormy fruit. ruthlee
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 6, 2016 at 1:01 pm
 
‘branded with jw.org’ — The Mark of the Beast
Reply
 
 
 
 David says:

 January 6, 2016 at 9:47 am
 
According to Geoffrey Jackson the Creator would control the weather to print a Bible with a different cover and very few verses changes instead of intervene to save people’s lives.
 Bibles are available everywhere, you can download even electronic copies. So God is so capricious to print a Bible with sleeker cover rather than save a child life?
 I think this is proof that the governing body are just a bunch of superstitious individuals.
 All this is done to redirect all people’s attention to the golden calf, the organisation.
Reply
 
 
 Pow says:

 January 6, 2016 at 10:03 am
 
Oh, you with little faith. ..let me tell you how great my faith is!!! I planned a ski trip to Vail, we prayed for good condition, no wait. We asked for 20″ of fresh powder. …you guessed it, we got it….2 weeks later another group of elders and a c.o. went, but it rained on them.
 Moral of the story,, I got the power…Vegas here we come, baby….
For the u.s. following, shades of Jim and Tammy, and Jimmy Swaggat (who the society secretly supported in his losing supreme Court case).
Reply
 
 
 Alexandria R says:

 January 6, 2016 at 11:57 am
 
The GB and many JW’s make outrageous claims because they think they are God’s chosen people. They are very arrogant about that.
Reply
 
 
 Big B says:

 January 6, 2016 at 1:07 pm
 
Great article and very tongue-in-cheek commentary; thanks again Lloyd!
Nothing that comes from the minds and mouths of the seven mental dwarfs inhabiting cloud cuckoo land (Watchtower H.Q.) surprises me anymore. Referring to this mindless indoctrination and idiocy as part of a “cult” is, in my humble opinion, being too kind.
This is a little off subject however, I had an interesting experience of attending a funeral of a brother who was in the truth during the Presidency of ‘Judge’ Rutherford. This brother served as a pioneer and elder for more than six decades. His father, a very wealthy farmer in Massachusetts, U.S.A., had enough financial wherewith-all to send him to Harvard University. He refused the college opportunity and choose house painting and pioneering. This was related to me by this brother on more than on occasion.
Because of his embitterment at a life wasted for absolutely no reward his funeral was pretty sparse. In other words, no flowers, no songs and no funeral discourse. It was a prayer followed by a reading of his obituary and a closing prayer. The absolute silence, at the Kingdom Hall afterward, was deafening. If that wasn’t a wake-up call to all “in the truth” who knew him than I don’t know what would be.
Reply
 
 dee says:

 January 6, 2016 at 5:10 pm
 
I’m sure the JWs at that kingdom hall will shortly hear a talk about why they shouldn’t serve Jehovah with a date in mind.
Reply
 
 dee says:

 January 6, 2016 at 10:04 pm
 
…………but nevertheless Armageddon is coming real soon!
Reply
 
 
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 6, 2016 at 1:44 pm
 
Jehovah’s on his way. Put on ur raincoats.
Reply
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 6, 2016 at 1:54 pm
 
U know, I don’t have a lot of disposable income right now, & the movies that r out there don’t really appeal to me (now that the Hobbit trilogy is done), but I am getting sooooo much entertainment, & laughs, from all the wacky antics of the Watchtower Corporation – the ones, of course, that are not tragic. Their constant bumbling and foot-in-the-mouth statements & assertions remind me of the Keystone Kops, or Abbott & Costello. “Who’s on First? What’s on Second?…” :)
Reply
 
 
 Renee' says:

 January 6, 2016 at 3:37 pm
 
Lloyd, thank you for such a thought provoking article. This website has helped me to dispel many of my long held beliefs. I appreciate your hard work.
 ~Nee’
Reply
 
 

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← Jehovah’s Witness guilty of strangling children for sexual gratification
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Does Jehovah control the weather?
avatar 
Posted on January 5, 2016

Watchtower is increasingly crediting Jehovah with manipulating the weather in their favor
Watchtower is increasingly crediting Jehovah with manipulating the weather in their favor

“How many of our brothers have been affected?” During my years as a Jehovah’s Witness, that was usually the first question on the lips of friends and family whenever reports came through of a catastrophic natural disaster.
Watchtower literature frequently acknowledges that Witnesses are by no means immune from natural disasters, even hinting that such calamities are proof that we are living in the last days.
One scripture often referred to when disaster strikes is Ecclesiastes 9:11, in which King Solomon laments that “time and unexpected events” befall everyone.
I recall this bible verse being one of the few that made sense to me growing up as a believer, and especially in the wake of my mother’s death from cancer. The writer was essentially saying: “Shit happens, get used to it.”
I left the Witnesses in December 2013, but if I were still a believing member of the organization, I would struggle to reconcile the words in Ecclesiastes with the increasingly superstitious rhetoric of Watchtower and its leaders, who seem to leap on any fortuitous incident as evidence of “Jehovah’s hand.”
A perfect example can be found in the January 2016 episode of JW Broadcasting in which Travis Brooks, a design and construction worker for Watchtower, credits Jehovah with delivering sand needed for a kingdom hall build by means of a typhoon. (Skip to 04:25 in the video below to see Brooks interviewed.)


[Edit: The typhoon most likely referred to was Typhoon Maysak, which killed four people, injured ten, and caused $8.5 million worth of damage to property.]
No thought is given to the possibility that this was merely a fortunate coincidence. In the mind of Brooks, divine manipulation of the weather was the only answer for sand becoming readily available, thus enabling the success of a building renovation. And the Governing Body clearly ratified the “miracle,” because they signed off on the episode in which this experience is related.
But if you were one of the relatives of the 33 Jehovah’s Witnesses who perished on November 8th when Typhoon Haiyan ploughed into the Eastern seaboard of the Philippines, you might be less endeared by the sand story.
How could Jehovah use one typhoon near the island of Yap to deliver sand for building a kingdom hall, while allowing another in the Philippines to kill 33 of his worshipers – 22 of whom were huddled together seeking shelter in, you guessed it, a kingdom hall? Either Jehovah had no hand whatsoever in delivering the sand for the building project, or he DID have a hand but has woeful prioritization skills in how and when he chooses to tinker with the isobars.
But the sand story was no one off. As recently as October 2013 (a month before Haiyan) Geoffrey Jackson climbed on the stage of the Jersey City Assembly Hall (the Stanley Theater) and told the gathered throngs that Jehovah was responsible for engineering a cooler summer so that more copies of the latest New World Translation edition could be printed.
Perhaps it’s just me, but at no point during my Witness upbringing do I recall Watchtower’s leaders, either directly or in their publications, claiming that Jehovah was manipulating natural forces to their benefit. Perhaps an over-enthusiastic elder might give some ill-advised anecdote in a congregation talk in which divine intervention was hinted at, but there was always plausible deniability as far as Watchtower itself was concerned.
But all that has now changed. Over the last three years, despite Typhoon Haiyan furnishing the most grisly evidence that Witnesses are NOT immune from natural forces, the caution and sobriety of past leaders has melted away. Today’s Governing Body are deluded enough to insist that Jehovah DOES control the weather, even if it is only to assist their building and printing endeavors.
I can only hope these increasingly outrageous claims will register with thinking Witnesses, causing them to ponder which is more likely: (1) that Jehovah uses the weather to bulldoze some kingdom halls but to provide building materials for others, or (2) that the men who claim to represent him are actually deluded, narrow-minded narcissists who are detached from reality and utterly unworthy of respect and credibility.
 
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Further reading…
◾The Friendly Atheist: Jehovah’s Witnesses Say God Used a Typhoon to Deliver Sand for the Building of a New Kingdom Hall
◾Why the Governing Body owes an explanation for what happened in the Philippines
◾“We have truly seen Jehovah’s hand” – the shocking side of Watchtower propaganda


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117 Responses to Does Jehovah control the weather?

← Older Comments
 
 Bad Penny says:

 January 6, 2016 at 5:13 pm
 
Loved the video Lloyd –
The snow looks really pretty there, you are so blessed! Tee hee!
 I remember being at a convention during a drama. The weather was appalling as usual and the ‘actors’ were out there in the pouring rain. Then an amazing thing happened – just as ‘Star performing brother’ raised his hands to the heavens a massive thundercrack occurred.
 The masses burst out in laughter and appreciation for this ‘hand of God’ in the performance.
 This whole attitude of ‘I’m alright Jack’, we have God’s blessing, bugger the rest of the world makes me sick.
 I hope that one day ‘God’ will produce enough sand to bury them, not just their heads, which they are succeeding in doing on their own.
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 6, 2016 at 7:10 pm
 
Interesting coincidence with the thundercrack. Some enterprising individual could have started a whole new religion just based on that 1 event.
Reply
 
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 6, 2016 at 7:01 pm
 
I used to naively believe there was a way to get thru to stupid people. I was WRONG. U can’t fix stupid. Stupid people just don’t get it . They NEVER will. Stupid is hopeless.
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 6, 2016 at 7:14 pm
 
Judge Judy said it best: “Beauty fades. Dumb is forever.”
Reply
 
 
 
 J says:

 January 6, 2016 at 9:38 pm
 
2
Reply
 
 
 J says:

 January 6, 2016 at 9:43 pm
 
If everyone on the site could please take the time to write to the governing body and tell them just how insensitive these sort of comments are and that they should be vetoed when ever made that would be good. I’m going to.
Reply
 
 
 Kat says:

 January 7, 2016 at 2:51 am
 
krazykarl said
“About 15 years ago there was a guy from bethel that gave the dedication talk at a kingdom hall and as a part of that talk he went through a number of historical events that made it possible for JWs to flourish (the gist of it was that Jah created the US with freedom of religion and that allowed JWs to become what they are today). In this talk one of the factors that he mentioned was the destruction of the spanish armada by severe storms in the 1500s. It was no mere hint that this was a literal act of god.
 In some ways it seems that there may have been an uptick in claims of divine intervention like this, but I think what’s really going on is that they’ve always been careful to keep their more insane stuff reserved for talks/conventions/etc and out of print. When it’s not in print and searchable, it’s much easier for it to simply leave an impression in someone’s mind and they can later claim that they never said something or that it was misunderstood because there’s no official record (why do you think they don’t want people making recordings of conventions available online?)
 I think they’re still getting used to this internet thing where everything they do is immediately and indefinitely preserved, regardless of what form it takes.”
—
Excellent post and I agree some of the things said at the conventions and in public talks would not be printed, but intestingly those giving talks are suppose to follow a specific outline and not to add their own personal opinions.
 I recall a few years ago at a DC a speaker said Jehovah will protect those going to the meetings.
Reply
 
 Holy Connoli says:

 January 7, 2016 at 4:38 am
 
@Kat. I also remember some years ago at a special talk in SF California one of the GB was there. This was around 1982 or earlier. The speaker..maybe Brother Barr? was giving a talk about WW2 and Germany and the concentration camps and how the JW’s were starving in the snow etc and no food. One day this brother was near death in the camp and he was by himself and a unknown person tapped him on the should er and he turned around and the “person” gave him some bread. That bread he said saved his life and that bread was from JEHOVAHS ANGEL! the crowd gasped..including myself. It was moving at the time to hear him say that and everybody went AWWWW! and they clapped etc. It was almost like a Pentecostal revival tent meeting.I personally was moved buy it.I thought wow, Jehovah came through. I never ever heard that again and never saw it in print and never hear it come up in discussions. It seems h e did it for dramatic effect. We will never read that in the WT especially bc the official teaching is there are no “MODERN DAY MIRACLES”.
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 7, 2016 at 1:09 pm
 
It’s obvious the Watchtower Bigwigs make up these fairy tales as they go along. Frankly, I’m even a little skeptical of all the stories of “unshakeable” faith in the Concentration Camps and so many other nasty situations since then. Even the U.S. Military & Intelligence services like the C.I.A. acknowledge that, under abuse, torture, and interrogation, EVERYONE breaks at some point. And EVERYONE will talk, reveal some secret(s), at some point, under those conditions, even TRAINED, BATTLE-HARDENED, PROFESSIONAL SOLDIERS!!! That’s why Intelligence Agencies, like CIA, AND Military Units, like Navy SEALS, give their operatives SPECIALIZED training in resistance to torture & interrogation (SERE – Survival/Evasion/Resistance/Escape), with the basic idea of holding out as long as possible, telling stories & plausible lies, before you finally crack, then start slowly giving out snippets of truth, etc., etc. And like I said, we’re not talking about average Joe & Jane here. These are specially-selected, intensively, EXCRUCIATINGLY trained personnel. And even THEY need this additional training, because, guess what? – they’re only human too. There is NO such person as Rambo or James Bond. I don’t know whom the Witnesses are trying to fool. I remember “armchair generals” in the KH during WT study, giving “authoritative” comments on ancient Israelite military Tactics & Strategy, who were too timid to go Indoor rock-climbing with me! So don’t believe WT’s Bull. The U.S. is very open about their troops’ experiences as captive POWs. In fact, they developed many of their Resistance strategies from the experiences of downed Airmen during the Vietnam War, kept and tortured within the North Vietnamese prison-dungeon coined the “Hanoi Hilton”. They even made movies about it (When Hell Was in Session, 1979 (on YouTube), Faith of My Fathers, 2005). Contrary to the entertaining antics of Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer we enjoyed in “Top Gun”, Military Pilot Training (which, of course, includes Boot Camp) is extremely tough and unforgiving. Marine fighter pilots are even expected to complete Infantry training before they are even considered for flight school. And yet, I’m sure many of us remember, back in 1991, during the 1st Gulf War (“Desert Storm”), those Iraqi TV videos of U.S., U.K., and Aussie pilots who ‘broke’, and made negative comments about their respective governments & leaders, and apologized for their own involvement in “attacking the peace-loving people of Iraq” (1 example on YouTube – “Gulf War – Desert Farewell”). So, like I said, after years of eating that stuff up with a spoon, I now am VERY skeptical of all those heroic persecution accounts, fairy tales, and “Rambo” stories.
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 7, 2016 at 1:31 pm
 
I meant, “…after years of eating that SH*T up with a spoon…”
Reply
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 7, 2016 at 3:05 pm
 
To specify, those “negative” comments the pilots made, were not voluntary or genuine. They were merely scripted statements, composed by the Iraqi authorities, which the airmen agreed to read, under torture.
Reply
 
 
 
 
 
 Baby says:

 January 7, 2016 at 4:39 am
 
You are in the most I’ve error never see. the Bible says
 God does not control this world. Neither the climate but the devil is the god of this system of 2 Corinthians 4: 4 and
“The whole world is in the power of the wicked.” (1 John 5:19.)
For the weather is not in contrôle
 In the days of Paul, when a storm rose, the salvation of the passengers and the ship depended not only on the skill of the crew, but also the resistance of the boat. It was the same when figurative storms as the apostle lived. Paul had experienced physical deprivation, imprisonment and torture, but the events that are most threatened her spiritual and emotional balance and the sustainability of his love came to it from the Christian congregation.
Such thinks to erlier christians, it can today too.
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 7, 2016 at 1:47 pm
 
U are so right!!! The Watchtower Corporation is VERY MUCH IN ERROR by claiming that Jehovah controls the weather! As u point out, they are contradicting THEIR OWN Bible!!!
Reply
 
 
 
 Caroline says:

 January 7, 2016 at 4:41 am
 
Many years ago, there was a pioneer couple in our congregation and they related how when they didn’t have any food for supper one day and they were driving home from service, they hit a pheasant and it was their supper, it was Jehovah who provided that pheasant that they hit with their car and so Jehovah “provides” when you put his service first in your life but once when my husband and I were driving to the book study, we also hit a pheasant but that pheasant caused $200 worth of damage to our radiator.
It never occurred to us that it was Jehovah who caused that pheasant to fly in front of our car and we didn’t blame Satan for it either. We both felt bad that we killed that bird. Once I hit a deer on the way home from the Thursday night meeting and I didn’t hop out and slit the throat of that deer and use it for food. That accident caused my car to be totaled but it was the deer that I was bawling my head over because I felt so bad about hitting it and it wasn’t dead but hurt real bad. I didn’t look at it from either Jehovah’s blessing or Satan’s persecution. It was just an accident.
If Jehovah intervenes in anything in our lives or the weather, then he has the power to intervene in anything else too. Why doesn’t he answer prayers like taking away cancers and babies starving to death or tornadoes or floods and why doesn’t he restore limbs?
The jwbroadcasting episodes can have in the very same show, a man thinking Jehovah showed a man a leak in his plumbing so he goes to a meeting the next day and comes into the “truth” because he thinks Jehovah has listened to his prayer, to a man working at Bethel going to a service meeting and the driver being killed in an auto accident and the brother having a broken neck for the rest of his life and not get the connection.
When I saw that part of the January jwbroadcasting about the sand, I thought of how Jesus said that a wise person doesn’t start a project unless they count the cost first and that is what those people did not do in that renovation project. They should have thought of how they were going to get the sand first BEFORE starting the project.
If Jehovah hadn’t brought about that typhoon, how would they have finished? They had to say it was provided by Jehovah because if the typhoon hadn’t provided that sand, it would have shown that they were foolish for not counting the cost first. What about Samuel Herd’s announcement about all the projects being put on hold or halted in midstream because they don’t have the funds?
This latest jwbroadcasting is all about “donating”. That is what I am seeing in all the jwbroadcasting episodes. They are no different than any other huckster religion, using the Bible to make money and build up their real estate empire and using the ignorant and gullible to accomplish their means to an end.
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 7, 2016 at 3:16 pm
 
No more hunting or grocery-shopping! Just a quick prayer to Jehovah & hop in ur car! LOL
Reply
 
 
 
 Baby says:

 January 7, 2016 at 4:43 am
 
these things happened in the past they can arrive in our time that prouv we are living in the last days.
Reply
 
 Searcher says:

 January 7, 2016 at 6:40 am
 
@Baby,
OK. I’ll bite.
I have always marveled at how the headlines of the Awake and public version of the Watchtower constantly say, “We’re living in the last days because….” They bring up this disaster and that disaster as evidence. They constantly state that the frequency of these events are greater, so we must be in the last days. On and on it goes. Why?
 So they can stir emotion in the reader, namely fear. Fear of the end and anxiety are their weapon to recruit new members and keep the rank and file focused to do their recruiting.
You say that the weather was a factor in the days of Paul. Of course! It has been there since the earth formed and will be there until the solar system no longer exists. The issue that makes JW’s and other doomsdayers THINK this is the end, is because they hear of it more. Why? Because of media and their aim to get people anxious to watch, read, or listen to their reports. This makes them more money. We hear more and more about shootings, terror attacks, etc. which are man-made disasters. Why? Because of media. Also, because there are more people on the earth than ever before, making the likelihood of crazy people greater and the likelihood of victims greater.
If you just drop back and think about what you just said, “these things happened in the past they can arrive in our time… “, then you can actually come to the opposite conclusion. A person could say to themselves, “Well, that’s life! We have to deal with the situation at hand in the best way possible.” When someone can say that, then that person is not cowering to terrorist, fearing God by natural disasters, or allowing themselves to be manipulated by doomsdayers like the WTS. The person can deal with and learn about these problems to better prepare or avoid the problems in the future.
Don’t stop having a good conscience or good outlook on life. We all have to deal with problems. It’s just part of life. Just don’t allow yourself to be duped and manipulated by these 7 god want-to-be’s in New York, keeping people anxious to do their bidding.
Reply
 
 Winston Smith says:

 January 7, 2016 at 2:20 pm
 
@Searcher
 To add to your comment, in developed lands when disasters strike they have significantly less casualties than in years past. Even with the increased population of today. This is because we have gotten better at designing structures that withstand the stresses of storms and earthquakes and have other safety advantages. In the last 50 years the world has gotten safer, not more dangerous. Hardly supports the idea of these being the “last days.”
WS
Reply
 
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 7, 2016 at 2:14 pm
 
Baby, if u mean that miracles (like typhoons) indicate we’re in the last days, remember, according to Watchtower teaching, miracles ended with the death of the last apostle!
Reply
 
 
 
 Deep Thinker says:

 January 7, 2016 at 7:23 am
 
If there was any time in history where you thought the end of the world was coming and that God was going to destroy the earth it is not now but in the 1300 – 1400’s C.E.
That is when the Little Ice Age hit the world.
 Plague was rampant (and not just in Europe).
 There were endless wars around the world and not just Europe. You could say the world was truly at war.
 If you lived to old age, you were lucky because if plague, wars, starvation didn’t kill you then you had a very good chance of being murdered.
It was not a good time to live. Makes you wonder what happened to make everything go crazy.
Our weather, even though it seems extreme is very benign compared to then.
Maybe The End came then and we didn’t make it and are in Purgatory.
Reply
 
 
 Free Thinker says:

 January 7, 2016 at 9:02 am
 
As was said before, the WTS/JW.ORG (henceforth referred to by the pronouns “She/Her(self)”) is “ENSO”:
– Egocentric. She is at the center of the universe, or of all multiverses; everything revolves solely and exclusively around herself. She is a the very epicenter of the Almighty’s attention and love; He only loves her, and only pays attention to her.
– Narcissistic. She is enamored, or in love with herself; she worships herself, deeming herself as the most beautiful, the most efficient and excelling, the best, the most surpassing, the most to be revered thing there is.
– Solipsistic. Nothing exists besides her; she is the only “real thing”, the only “real deal”.
– Omphaloskeptic (from Greek “omphalós”, navel). She is “navel-gazing”, being fixated on herself, staring only at herself, being obsessed with herself. Whatever she does, it matters to herself, is of extreme importance to herself.
Anyone cares to enlarge/expand/amend this list and the resulting acronym?
Reply
 
 Free Thinker says:

 January 7, 2016 at 1:39 pm
 
I got 2 more:
– Megalomaniac;
– Arrogant.
Which brings our acronym to “ENSOMA”, which works well, bec. it sounds like a sickness, or disease:
The JW.ORG suffers from ENSOMA.
More, anybody?
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 7, 2016 at 2:04 pm
 
LOL
 Not from me, I think that sums it up perfectly.
Reply
 
 
 
 
 Dk757 says:

 January 7, 2016 at 9:25 am
 
My thoughts exactly with the January broadcast. Funny how Watchtower claim divine intervention to bring sand to a build while 9 million children die every year before the age of 5. They are so diluted.
Reply
 
 Free Thinker says:

 January 7, 2016 at 10:29 am
 
“Diluted” – I would have said “DELUDED”, but “Diluted” is not bad either. They are intellectually “diluted”; there’s not much substance to what they are fabricating. Their “spiritual food’s” nutrinional value is minus infinite. They are “diluting” (if not to say distorting, twisting, violating, tearing apart) biblical truths to a degree that it becomes unrecognizable and false. All they feed is styrofoam, cardboard and hot air. “Infinitely diluted” indeed.
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 7, 2016 at 2:09 pm
 
Right on!…Spiritual JUNK Food!!!
— TOXIC WASTE, POISON
 -It should come with a WARNING label.
Reply
 
 
 
 
 John Walsh says:

 January 8, 2016 at 2:10 am
 
I also remember the extremist commentary sometimes coming from elders regarding Jehovah’s interventions, but as you say Lloyd, the leaders at the time were a bit more cautious. It would appear they are becoming a little more keen to jump on the extreme these days.
 However they did step out there at times with their dooms day predictions over the decades, so I think the potential has always been there.
Reply
 
 
 Vidiot says:

 January 8, 2016 at 10:35 am
 
“Today’s Governing Body are deluded enough to insist that Jehovah DOES control the weather, even if it is only to assist their building and printing endeavors.”
An easy habit to fall into when you surround yourself solely with people who are never allowed to disagree with you.
Reply
 
 
 Winston Smith says:

 January 8, 2016 at 11:26 am
 
When I read this article and think about the miraculous sand delivery (should I simply call it “magic sand”?), I can’t help but think of this line from the movie “The American President” (not sure if they were quoting someone else):
Presidential Aide: “They want leadership. They’re so thirsty for it they’ll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there’s no water, they’ll drink the sand.”
The President: “People don’t drink the sand ’cause they’re thirsty. They drink the sand ’cause they don’t know the difference.”
That’s what this Organization offers: a mirage of “life-giving water” that is nothing more than sand. And the rank and file lap it up as if it were the real thing ’cause they don’t know the difference.’
WS
Reply
 
 
 Faded says:

 January 8, 2016 at 1:23 pm
 
Craziest thing I’ve ever heard. My gosh!!! Ugh!!!
Reply
 
 
 dee says:

 January 8, 2016 at 4:10 pm
 
A couple of years ago while I was still in, the wife of an elder said to me: don’t you notice how all the floods, tsumanis, earthquakes and disasters are taking place in countries where they worship false gods?
I was rather shocked by this and exclaimed to myself: “What?!” as I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I of course kept my thoughts to myself as I didn’t want an elder’s wife to feel stupid about her absurd/ridiculous comment.
Reply
 
 
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← Does Jehovah control the weather?
The Friday Column: Questions Young People Ask – Answers That Don’t Work →
 
Spotlight: The movie every Jehovah’s Witness simply MUST watch
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Posted on January 7, 2016

The film "Spotlight" tells the story of Boston Globe journalists who uncovered widespread child abuse in the Catholic Church
The film “Spotlight” tells the story of Boston Globe journalists who uncovered widespread child abuse in the Catholic Church

Last night my wife and I were able to watch an exceptional movie – one of those rare cinematic experiences that combines gripping performances with a compelling story-line and a powerful message.
And it is a message that ALL Jehovah’s Witnesses must hear sooner or later.
Directed by Tom McCarthy, “Spotlight” tells the story of a group of reporters at the Boston Globe whose exceptional Pullitzer prize-winning journalism blew the lid off the widespread abuse of children by priests in the Boston area, leading to a wave of similar exposés across America and the world.
The dedication, conscientiousness and tenacity of those journalists back in 2001, when little was known about institutional child abuse, is perfectly portrayed by Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams and Liev Schreiber, who all put in riveting performances.


Stanley Tucci also excels in the role of a lawyer who is fiercely protective of his clients who are victims of abuse – a role reminiscent of Irwin Zalkin or Rick Simons, both of whom were tasked with representing abuse victims from an equally-negligent religious hierarchy: the Watch Tower Society.
Indeed, the similarities to Watchtower’s lies, subterfuge and cover-ups regarding child molestation come thick and fast. Those like me who are familiar with the torrent of cases that have come to light since the 2012 Candace Conti verdict will easily register the parallels – especially the tangible distress of those whose lives are forever scarred by sadistic predators in positions of trust.
It could be that a film this brilliant will one day tell the story of Watchtower’s mishandling of child molestation. But in a way, I think Spotlight would still be a more powerful tool for alerting believing Jehovah’s Witnesses to the scourge of molestation within their faith, because it delivers its message without referencing Watchtower once.
Of course, I would never expect an indoctrinated Witness family member to immediately notice the similarities, or leap out of their chair yelling “eureka” because they finally understand the ease with which child abuse can be hidden, and the difficulty in uncovering it.
But the beauty of films like Spotlight, Alex Gibney’s multiple Emmy Award-winning Going Clear, Meet the Mormons and Louis Theroux’s two excellent documentaries on the Westboro Baptist Church (available on iTunes) is that they hold the promise of clearing some of the fog in the cult victim’s mind.
The effect might not be immediate. It may take many years for the penny to drop. But these compelling films ask all the right questions, and can forge cerebral connections where previously there were none.
There is no magic bullet when it comes to dissolving years, or even decades, of layered cult indoctrination. But movies like Spotlight offer a unique and subtle means of planting seeds that might just ease the process of awakening your indoctrinated loved one further down the line.
There’s certainly nothing to lose by trying.
 
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You will have to check what your local options are for watching Spotlight either at the cinema or using an “on demand” service. But you can pre-order a copy of the DVD by clicking here.
Further reading…
◾Search Comparing cults – the most effective way to wake up a loved one?
◾JWsurvey articles on child abuse


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← Does Jehovah control the weather?
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42 Responses to Spotlight: The movie every Jehovah’s Witness simply MUST watch

 GEM says:

 January 7, 2016 at 7:38 am
 
If only some investigative journalist could link up with a film maker to expose the hypocritical attitude of the Watchtower in this gut-wrenching and sickening crime.
Personally, I believe that one of the best ways to get over a message is via Satire….
One of those films that has you clenching your buttocks with uneasy embarrassment whilst the laugh results from the sheer awkwardness of the subject material.
The information would stick for a long time as it eats its way through the apathetic chancre of Superciliousness, (Heb: looking down at the nose at), that exists in the brains of religiously self-righteous.
Thank you for the thought provoking article, Lloyd
Reply
 
 
 ruthlee says:

 January 7, 2016 at 7:44 am
 
Hope to see this soon but I know it will trawl up trauma. Nevertheless all these corrupt institutions need to be exposed. its just a matter of time and taking turns. Bring it on and everyone shall see how rotten this organisation is and contains to be. We put our name to this cowboy outfit for many years which was foolish and shameful, at least we woke up and hope to help others. This dirty organisation WILL reap what they have sown. You may want to block my next comment but its just an observation. I think it’s good that they hardly refer to jesus much anymore because he would not associate with liars, he associated with sinners and ones who could say sorry. Also they don’t believe in heaven , good they don’t qualify, they can keep their organisation and leave heaven to those who want it.(just to be clear I am talking about the watchtower babbleand squeak society) ruthlee
Reply
 
 
 Shorty Hawkins says:

 January 7, 2016 at 7:44 am
 
It’s r rated. That will be a tough sell indeed. I however had never heard of this movie, as I didn’t know there were any other movies in 2015 that didn’t begin with “star”. Looking forward to watching it.
Reply
 
 
 Chris Higgins says:

 January 7, 2016 at 8:03 am
 
Brilliant film to watch is Worlds Apart by the same director who directed Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. In Danish but with subtitles if you buy the English version covers forbidden love with a worldly boy and shunning. Very well made film and emotionally gripping. Perfect for a JW. Set completely around a JW family.
Reply
 
 
 EverydayExplorer says:

 January 7, 2016 at 9:15 am
 
“Movies like Spotlight offer a unique and subtle means of planting seeds that might just ease the process of awakening your indoctrinated loved one further down the line.
There’s certainly nothing to lose by trying.”
Absolutely! Looking forward to watching the film and then passing it on to JW family members. Some of whom, I’m glad to say, now know they cannot convince us that the systemic cover up of sex abuse within Watchtower is ‘all lies/apostate-manufactured/etc, etc’. Thanks to the internet, the proof we have and can share with them is non-negotiable.
We love those family members and it is so much more sane and healthy for us and for them to be able to talk openly about the tragic injustices still being suffered by children and vulnerable people in Watchtower. But it’s been a long journey — bumpy to the point of bruising — and no doubt further relationship jolts and shocks will erupt as we continue to assert our right to state and prove the facts about the Watchtower’s heinous lack of safeguarding of children.
So thanks for the heads-up on Spotlight. And I will also source the Danish film Worlds Apart mentioned by Chris Higgins. We’ve got some demanding screen time coming up, I see!
Reply
 
 
 John Baptist says:

 January 7, 2016 at 10:04 am
 
Just this past weekend I was with friends who are x JW’S as well. A discussion ensured about the 1914 Doctrine and I was trying to help a friend who was thinking about going back since she is under the watchtowers radar for recruitment through their “return to Jehovah” (really the watchtower for further re-recruiting of former members to counteract their diminishing ranks).
 I made quotes from Steve Hassan’s book “Combating cult mind control”
“Perhaps the biggest problem faced by people who have left destructive cults is the disruption of their own authentic identity. There is a very good reason: they have lived for years inside an “artificial” identity given to them by the cult. While cult mind control can be talked about and defined in many different ways, I believe it is best understood as a system that disrupts an individual’s healthy identity development. An identity is made up of elements such as beliefs, behavior, thought processes and emotions that constitute a definite pattern. Under the influence of mind control, a person’s authentic identity given at birth, and as later formed by family, education, friendships, and most importantly that person’s own free choices, becomes replaced with another identity, often one that they would not have chosen for themself without tremendous social pressure”
So I asked are you ready to once again give away your own true Authenticy only to be replaced by this false religions mind control mindset?
 Is it worth giving yourself away to think that what their saying is true?
 Hasn’t the record shown through the years that they are truly a false prophet in sheeps clothing?
 Clear valid questions that can be put to the test and yeild real and true evidence as to what the true answers are.
Reply
 
 Will says:

 January 7, 2016 at 10:37 am
 
OMG, I highlighted that on Kindle. That is a great quote!!!
Reply
 
 
 Holy Connoli says:

 January 7, 2016 at 11:02 am
 
@ John the Baptist. Good job on reasoning with her. I am surprised she is hanging out with you X JW’s and thinking of going back? I have a friend who is A JW and agrees with me on most of the
 things I bring out about the WT and how it is like a Cult and, dictator and child abuse and shunning etc. She tells me YES, but Jehovah knows all and will straighten it all out and you need to have a relationship with Jehovah. I tell her Yes, Any human can have a relationship with Jehovah and Jesus Christ but you do not have to be a JW or believe in the certain ever changing flip flopping doctrines of theirs.
Just a side question? In reading the history of JW and the WT over the years do you guys think the WT was a cult say back in the 1940’s and 1950’s?
It seems to me as time went on they became more and more cultish and controlling and especially in the last 10-15 years. My JW wife used to tell me like 10 years ago we are no longer against Higher education? it is an individual choice etc? I almost fell for it and I think they let up on it a little bit and then maybe a lot of JW started going to college and thinking for themselves and then they put the hammer down again on it. What do you think?
Reply
 
 Will says:

 January 7, 2016 at 12:33 pm
 
@ Holy Connoli
The Org is still very much against higher education. I do think some witness parents are letting their kids do college, because they know the Society’s position is unreasonable, but I’m sure that will be a “local,circuit or district needs” part, if it hasn’t already. I hope you don’t mind me putting my 2 cents in.
Reply
 
 
 Pow says:

 January 7, 2016 at 2:23 pm
 
I would add to that, and only in an anadotal way…that in the 60s, that probably 99.9% were absolutely convinced. ..starting with the committee that gathered information for the aid to bible understanding nagging questions started to be quietly asked. By 1980 the organization was being divided at the top, but r &f had no idea,,indeed in the years since we have seen the rise of our own mini inquisition. .
Reply
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 7, 2016 at 2:33 pm
 
I would say it probably fit most of the criteria of a cult back then, but if not, they were definitely laying the foundation.
Reply
 
 
 Bad Penny says:

 January 7, 2016 at 3:29 pm
 
Holy Connoli – Re: the cult question –
The JWs have always been a cult. I think the difference now is that the GB have come to the fore. Years ago we would not know the names or faces of most of them. These days however, they have become like the Pope and other religious leaders, basking in the limelight. This has led to a certain amount of adoration from the masses. They have become ‘gods’. The minions hang onto their every word and do ‘just so’. A very dangerous situation has developed in that witnesses are now discouraged from thinking for themselves. This cultish mindset means that they will stand up for their leaders and could even be prepared to die for them.
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 7, 2016 at 7:48 pm
 
It’s definitely getting worse by the minute.
Reply
 
 
 
 Winston Smith says:

 January 7, 2016 at 9:51 pm
 
@Holy Connoli
 I’d say the cult-behavior started with Rutherford and his ultra-high control doctrines in the 1920’s and 30’s. Knorr continued the cult indoctrination and it has not improved any since that time (probably has gotten worse).
From the mid 90’s to the mid 2000’s they did ease up on bashing a college education, but returned to their prior course shortly thereafter. Probably thought they were loosing too many publishers due to their newly acquired critical thinking skills.
WS
Reply
 
 
 
 Bright Lightbulb says:

 January 7, 2016 at 1:38 pm
 
What was her reply to you?
Reply
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 7, 2016 at 2:38 pm
 
@ John Baptist
Yes, that Hassan quote is awesome.
Reply
 
 
 James Broughton says:

 January 8, 2016 at 6:30 am
 
Thank you JB for that helpful information. Happy New Year to those of you on the other side of the pond.
Reply
 
 
 
 Lesley HUmphreys-Jones says:

 January 7, 2016 at 2:02 pm
 
Lesley says:
 Jan 7th 20.20
I have just woken up these last few weeks and have
 the huge problem of my only child being married to
 a very devout brother, I have no blood relatives to
 speak of, I mentioned today the toxic dump in London
 and the mess the GB have made, and she jumped down my throat and we ended up in an argument, we are not speaking at present. I have a very dark childhood and am sickened by the cover up and lies on the lives of young children being ruined by sexual abuse. These people are loathsome liars and I pray that at least some end up in prison. I have asked several sisters not to give anymore donations to these people, citing that it is only going to pay towards court costs and damages etc. As far as I know one sister has reduced her payments so far. Being a witness has been amongst the loneliest of my life which is saying something considering the life I had to endure before becoming a witness 20yrs ago. I am currently being treated for PTSD and have received no help off the elders and despite being missing at the meetings, I am offered no visits. I find very little Christianity at the halls, and much gossip and nastiness, which I have always detested, the elders wives are amongst the worse. The emotional abuse from certain elders has been soul destroying at the very least. I unfortunately married an abusive and violent brother and was encouraged to stay and work at my marriage to the detriment of
 my daughter and myself I eventually left with the help of the Domestic Violence unit, out of a congregation of over a 100 only one sister came to my aid. I have never know such self centred shallow people in my life. They go out preaching to people but don’t treat the ones they have already got in a kind way, I have been inactive for a couple of years now and have no desire to lie to people about how lovely it is in “the truth” because it has been horrendous. This enforced lonelyness is going to end for me as I explore my options, but sadly I will be frowned upon and judged by my daughter and others as I quietly fade away. Thank’s for reading this. Much love from Les
Reply
 
 MimiLove says:

 January 7, 2016 at 2:37 pm
 
I feel such pain reading your story….I thought I had it bad. Hopefully you can find some things in your life now that bring you joy and surely you daughter will come around.
Reply
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 7, 2016 at 2:45 pm
 
Many have gone down the path u’re now on, SUCCESSFULLY. Hang in there. It’s great that u realize u DO have options to explore. More than u know. Most of all, every minute, relish ur Freedom. :) :) :)
Reply
 
 
 Bad Penny says:

 January 7, 2016 at 4:30 pm
 
Dear Lesley – My heart goes out to you, I wish I could give you a big hug.
 The hurt that you feel now has been felt by many of us on this site. We are all ‘spiritual lepers’.
I stopped associating back in 2013, six months after my husband. The last few meetings I attended were very difficult. I was being shunned by most ‘brothers’ even then because I was becoming a little outspoken on matters.
 I have had no ‘shepherding calls’. No loving kindness shown by any sisters except two who called to try and find out what was going on.
 I was a witness for 30 years, but once I found out about the lies and deception there was no going back.
 Our only son, baptised but inactive, has been somewhat sceptical as to our actions, but has finally come to the conclusion that we were right and has nothing to do with them anymore. He had to make his own mind up. We did not want to push him away by being too dogmatic. The same may work for your daughter – Leave her be. If you become confrontational it will make matters worse. I would say to try and keep the lines of communication open. She will probably not want to discuss ‘spiritual’ things with you. Bide your time, build your relationship back up with her as a loved daughter. One day she may be agreeable to your reasoning. Maybe take her to see this movie!
 Meanwhile you have friends here. Lol.
Reply
 
 
 Tara says:

 January 7, 2016 at 7:04 pm
 
Hey Les.
 You are not alone hun. You have many, many friends on here. I can honestly say with my hand on my heart that the love on here is real. I too have PTSD and the basic answer to it from our ‘loving spiritual family’ is ‘get over it’. I haven’t been to a meeting now since before Christmas. I have had three people from the hall contact me… one to say the annual christmas day even was on, another to say she missed me at that event and another to make arrangements to go see Star Wars…… Nothing spiritual lol. I haven’t been in service for months now… can’t remember the last time I went out. I have constant scenarios going through my head as to what I will say to anyone who asks me questions or confronts me… since the last time the elders paid me a shepherding call…. that was a ruse to ask why I went to my df’d sons wedding. No one has asked me anything. However, non witness friends have been kind and loving showing compassion and support as I fade.
Reply
 
 Wanderer says:

 January 8, 2016 at 1:53 am
 
One of the hardest things I can remember are the emotions I had when I started fading. I didn’t consider myself “worldly” yet, but as soon as my meeting attendance and field service dropped off, my “friends” in the congregation stopped associating with me. The feeling that my friends in the “truth” were so conditional, that they would drop me like a hot potato, and that I had no worldly friends was a very depressing and scary thought.
 When I thought about it though, it shows how conditional and judgemental JW’s are.
 Looking back leaving is the best thing we have ever done, we have real unconditional friends and I am so glad our children won’t be raised by that deluded life.
Reply
 
 
 
 Caroline says:

 January 8, 2016 at 4:46 am
 
Dear Lesley, I also feel your pain and can relate 100% to your story about how your life was in the religion. As long as we don’t say anything back when we hear abusive speech either to ourselves or ugly gossip about others, we “get along” with them. There are probably nice people in every congregation but even “nice” people will say ugly things when they are in a bunch of ugly gossipers when left on their own would never say such things.
It takes a really strong person to stand up against such speech and then when a person like that does say something against speech like that, it’s the person who spoke up, is the one left feeling bad about themselves because we were always told how we are all imperfect and if we can’t forgive others’ imperfections, than how could God forgive us our imperfections?
As long as we don’t rock the boat, we will probably fit in with those so-called “friends” but once we stand up to them, we will be shunned.
The Society makes us outcasts among our former friends and relatives right away when we start studying (if we came in as adults) by telling us that the only ones we can associate with are other Witnesses so the Watchtower has it’s ducks all in a row when it comes to our trying to leave because if we try and get out, we won’t have any support outside the Organization.
The Society knows exactly what they are doing when they put in the study books right away in the first few chapters about how all our friends and relatives will try and turn us away from studying and the world is “Satanic” and against God and Satan will try and use our friends and relatives to not study. It worked on me and it works on most studies and children.
The religion is set up so that anybody and everybody (no matter how mean they are) is acceptable as long as they put money in the contribution boxes and answer at the meetings and go in service so people who would not fit in in regular association out in the “world” will have “friends” in the Kingdom Hall because of that doctrine of “forgiving” our “imperfections”, no matter whether the religion is built upon lies or not.
That is one of the reasons nobody is allowed to speak out against the lies of the Society because even if the Society makes “mistakes” in Bible teachings, they are only “imperfect” men after all and we can’t hold that against them. That is how all Witnesses are taught to believe.
The problem is that it isn’t honest “mistakes” that the Society is pulling on the rank and file. It’s outright lies and the Society knows it and I can’t support such a system either and promote it to others either.
You are not alone. We all support you, even if it’s unseen.
Reply
 
 
 Idontknowhatodo says:

 January 8, 2016 at 6:00 am
 
We are with you Lesley…all my close family…grown up children included are deeply entrenched in this cult…I blame myself…I woke up just over 2 years ago after a lifetime of pushing doubts aside and believing lies… its a hard mental and emotional challenge… my only advice to you is that alongside your fading build a life outside this organization..its not easy…you go through so many conflicting feelings..I still am…I have not attended meetings for 6 months and recently stopped reporting… even that took courage… but I will say the reward is mental freedom and the slow discovery at 57 of my true authentic self… Im fading because I cant face shunning from my kids so we have very much the same reasons…keep going…you are not alone….happy fading.
Reply
 
 
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 7, 2016 at 2:49 pm
 
Great article!
 There is hope!
 The time has come to shine the SPOTLIGHT on the cockroaches!
Reply
 
 
 Meredith J says:

 January 7, 2016 at 3:27 pm
 
That movie looks very powerful and the actors look very convincing in their roles. I wish I could get my Witness family to see it. My last efforts at speaking to them about this has caused my son to never be able to speak to me without the presence of his wife. At least that is what I have figured out. Anyway, my appetite has been whet to see more of it. Thanks for the article Cedars.
Reply
 
 
 Alexandria R says:

 January 7, 2016 at 10:35 pm
 
Fully indoctrinated people wont get the connection between this movie and their own JW religion. They will apply it to every other religion but there own. They choose to be blind. There’s an old saying; don’t argue with ignorance, it will make you feel like standing on your head, you’ll go bald and hurt your brain out of frustration. I remember my sister’s friend called her one time and during the conversation she said to my sister “You know they were lieing to us the whole time.” My sister said “who was lieing?” Her friend said “the society.” My sister hung up on her.
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 8, 2016 at 2:30 pm
 
Good point. Don’t argue with a mad dog. U’ll just get tired, & piss him off.
Reply
 
 
 
 Arlis Scott says:

 January 7, 2016 at 11:39 pm
 
Glad that movies like this are being made. Yes the cover-ups and lies about child abuse are being exposed. It’s about time.
Who will go to see this movie? Those who are concerned about children, those who want to see justice served, and those who want to see great actors portray actual events that has happened. But those who have been abused, not too sure. Those with PTSD, this might be a challenge to see.
Great movie to recommend to anyone who will listen. Especially witness families that you know. Just remember that more than likely any witness family that you know of has experienced some sort of child abuse, as it has in my family, or knows of some sort of abuse. And if there is any amount of thinking on the Society’s part that this is a persecution on them, they will recommend their followers not to watch it, like they did with the Royal Commision Child Abuse trials in Australia
 .
Reply
 
 
 James Broughton says:

 January 8, 2016 at 6:36 am
 
Lloyd, thank you for the article. Yes, there are some great films about which are quite heart-breaking. Happy New Year to you and the family.
Reply
 
 
 Jarred Booth says:

 January 8, 2016 at 9:49 am
 
Can’t believe it’s been 14 years now. I was 18 and at a friends house when the story broke on the news. The first words from my friend’s mom were: “I wonder if this will lead to the attack on Babylon the Great.” Of course I and many others thought the same thing.
Imagine if the Boston Globe team had believed that religion was going to be brought down by the United Nations. They may never have done all the work they did, because God was going to take care of it soon anyway. So: “Unbelievers” who saw a problem in the world and did something about it, point one. “Believers” who sat around waiting for some prophecy to be fulfilled and did nothing except talk about some vague concept of God’s Kingdom, point zero. (I include myself in that, as I did it for years.)
I give the movie 5 stars.
Reply
 
 
 ruthlee says:

 January 8, 2016 at 10:13 am
 
hi things I noticed that Spotlight is up for a BAFTA in feb, I think its the “sleeper” film. I do hope it gets the recognition it deserves and we need because some will join the dots. 2ndly Welcome Lesley we are in various states of waking up but generally there is great mutual respect on this site that you will find reassuring. If you have not read earlier articles , if you have time they give great points and the comments, insightful and entertaining. The regulars here have watched some of us grow out of the chaos and anger and have given many helpful points of view. We all think differently and will come to our own conclusions about belief and choices. We all are the walking wounded from watchtower but not zombies of it. I hope you find your path. I’m a fence sitter right now but my friends here have been so kind and understanding so that gives me hope that when I jump or d/a at least there are some humans out there who would have kind words for me. Blessings Lesley welcome to the ride peace ruthlee.
Reply
 
 
 TJ Curioso says:

 January 8, 2016 at 11:11 am
 
Great review! Just translated do portuguese on my website. 😉
http://desperta.weebly.com/notiacutecias/spotlight-o-filme-que-toda-a-testemunha-de-jeova-deveria-assistir
Reply
 
 
 Lesley HUmphreys-Jones says:

 January 8, 2016 at 12:42 pm
 
Thank you for all your lovely comments above, no going back now, not that I would want to.using imperfection as an excuse is the biggest cop out of them all, it allows nasty sisters and bro’s to try and excuse their behaviour, well no it doesn’t and never will.
Reply
 
 
 Doc Obvious says:

 January 8, 2016 at 12:52 pm
 
Spotlight sounds like a great movie to see. Hopefully the lawmakers of every country should see this movie and introduce laws that protect children from heinous institutions. Regardless if they are commercial or religious institutions.
Regarding the practice of shunning. Shunning of family members is against my religion. I wish Watchtower would stop offending my religious rights that are afforded to me by the United States Constitution.
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 8, 2016 at 2:39 pm
 
Amen! In regard to religious persecution, with the JWs, it’s a 1-Way Street. Persecuting THEM is a NO-NO. But they have the freedom to persecute whoever they want, whenever they want, however they want.
Reply
 
 
 
 Lesley HUmphreys-Jones says:

 January 8, 2016 at 12:57 pm
 
Thanks, I am an older sister too.The thought of going into older age feeling so lonely was scary but that fear is fading as the possibilities are endless now. Take care. Xx
Reply
 
 
 Justin says:

 January 8, 2016 at 1:36 pm
 
The Washington Post, one of the largest and most well respected news agencies of the USA, wrote a great article on the JW’s with the Australian Commission.
Myself and many others on John Cedar’s Facebook page wrote the editor of the Post and his response at the time (to me via email) was that he “would look into it”…and he did…a few weeks later this article came out and it’s fantastic. His team of investigative journalists did a great job.
Millions of subscribers, both in print and online read this article. I wonder how many JW’s saw it…or those at Bethel or Warwick? lol
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/jehovahs-witnesses-face-child-sex-abuse-investigation-in-australia/2015/08/14/d8a58eda-406e-11e5-9561-4b3dc93e3b9a_story.html
Reply
 
 
 Garrett says:

 January 8, 2016 at 2:58 pm
 
I don’t understand why the Watchtower society isn’t getting slammed by the American media for all its sins and molestation coverup a. Can someone explain this to me ?
 The Catholic scandal was massive. When do the Governing Body cockroaches get them time under the spot light?
Reply
 
 Justin says:

 January 8, 2016 at 3:39 pm
 
Unfortunately it’s a matter of size…the Roman Catholics have over 1.2 Billion members world-wide and the JW’s have 8 million world-wide.
People should start an email or letter writing campaign to the American media outlets. If enough people start drawing attention to the WBTS then maybe that will result in more news coverage.
Reply
 
 
 
 dee says:

 January 8, 2016 at 3:10 pm
 
@Holi Connoli:
Apparently there was a reason behind the org’s temporary let up regarding the pursuit of higher education. I have read comments were persons felt that the temporary let up was because the Society needed computer and tech-competent Bethelites and had very few because, of course, postsecondary education had been virtually forbidden up until that time.
Apparently the temporary let up was more about the org’s needs than the welfare of the rank & file JWs.
Reply
 
 
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← Spotlight: The movie every Jehovah’s Witness simply MUST watch
 
The Friday Column: Questions Young People Ask – Answers That Don’t Work
avatar 
Posted on January 8, 2016

Since 1989, the Young People Ask series of books has been failing multiple generations of Witness adolescents
Since 1989, the Young People Ask series of books has been failing multiple generations of Witness adolescents

Growing up a Jehovah’s Witness is an experience that has shaped me in innumerable ways. To be fair, Watchtower’s influence on my young life did give me some benefit. Through my studies I developed reading skills and a genuine love of language at a young age.
I wasn’t afraid to speak in front of my class or to strangers, because I’d been doing talks at the Kingdom Hall and presentations in the field ministry for years. I even formed a few friendships that have lasted throughout my lifetime with peers I met at meetings. Aside from those few things though, I believe Watchtower’s teachings and policies did very little to prepare me for my adult life.
In 1989, Watchtower released the first edition of the book Questions Young People Ask Answers That Work, or the “YPA” book. I still remember being 7 years old and getting my copy at the District Convention. I was so excited to have a book “just for kids” that I could read.
Per my usual methods, I started perusing the book as soon as we got in the car – the pictures and chapter titles getting my attention straight away. There were chapters on parental conflict, time management, and even the great taboo of masturbation, all written with children and adolescents in mind. Though some of the topics were embarrassing, at that time I really believed the book would be able to help me answer any questions I had.
Instead, the opposite turned out to be true. The book was nothing but a propaganda piece with contents that did nothing but attempt to bolster my paranoia of the outside world.
All it did was sweep any real problems I might be having under the rug by offering the one-size-fits-all answer of prayer and guidance from elders for each and every one of them. Though it lacked any true substance, the YPA book soon became the go-to parenting guide at my house – a convenient tool for my parents to turn to when I was going through my teenage years, and a collection of often foolish advice that offered me no real support.
Looking back, I can see how Watchtower’s suggestions in this book and from the podium failed me in my life. The biggest problems for me lay in the areas of dating and marriage. By following the admonition to date with the intention of marriage and constantly using a chaperone, both in person and over the phone, at age 18 I found myself wed to a virtual stranger.
The truth is, though we had the blessing of congregation elders and our parents, my husband and I had never been allowed the time or privacy to get to know each other. At such a young age, frustration with real-life issues mixed with twisted Witness views on male headship, and the clashing of our personalities, led to the relationship becoming physically violent.
After a few attempts at fixing it, including getting some bad advice from the elders, and a situation requiring police intervention and a stay at a battered women’s shelter, I left Watchtower at age 19. Disfellowshipping and shunning soon followed.
The answers didn’t work.
My life experience and that of many of my peers leads me to wonder: Does Watchtower really care about kids?
I recently became aware of a second volume to the book of my youth, and decided to read the PDF download from JW.org. In it I find more of the same misguided nonsense that I grew up with: Witness children being counseled to avoid the world and follow Watchtower’s advice at all costs. Boys groomed to be family heads, while girls are encouraged to take a lesser role.
Reading the bible, praying and speaking to the elders are not the answers to every problem life throws at you
Reading the bible, praying and speaking to the elders are not the answers to every problem life throws at you

Education still takes the backseat to the preaching work. Homosexuality and its urges are described as “wrong desires,” and compared to rage as something that can be quelled. Youths are told to avoid “double lives” by limiting contact with school friends. Only one small section is devoted to eating disorders. And much to my dismay, the dating advice is the same: never be alone together and only date with the intention to marry.
This new volume even includes a questionnaire for both sexes where the man is to evaluate how well his intended “shows submissiveness” when he is deciding to pursue her. There is very little mention of seeking professional or legal help for any issue. The overall solution being offered to all problems remains the same: prayer and reliance on the guidance of congregation elders.
With such counsel being given, is it any wonder that Witness children worldwide are leaving the religion in hoards?
According to a 2008 study from Pew Research, only 37% of people raised as Jehovah’s Witnesses continue with the religion as adults. When you consider the many (a number of whom I’ve privately corresponded with) who stay just to keep the community and familial ties intact, one has to wonder how many stay true believers from childhood on?
It turns out, Watchtower isn’t so good at “inculcating” children as Deuteronomy 6:6-8 instructs. Instead, the organization seem to be setting kids up for failure and their often-inevitable exit from the religion.
So, where does that leave current Jehovah’s Witness children and teens? Between indoctrinated parents and Watchtower offering so little in the way of true guidance, many find themselves feeling overwhelmed and alone.
Fortunately, times have changed, and there are now a variety of ways to get help and direction. In developed lands, everything from help with continuing education, to health services, is easier to access than ever before. A simple Google search can provide links to a number of resources.
Most schools have a counselor or administrator that is willing to listen and offer guidance for life issues. There are toll-free hot-lines and community health programs that can help answer questions or simply provide a confidential way to discuss problems that may be troubling you. And of course, anyone who feels their safety is in danger can always contact a law enforcement officer.
Of course, the answers are rarely easy, but for many Jehovah’s Witness youths, just knowing real guidance is available is important. To any young personreading this article, please know: there really is a possibility for happiness outside of Watchtower. The struggles of life can be overcome, and true freedom from Watchtower’s undue influence is attainable.
 
jeni-signature4
 
 
 
 
 
 
Helpful Links:

United States:
National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/find-help-support
1-800-931-2237
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)https://www.nami.org/#
 Helpline : 800-950-6264
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA)
National Helpline:1-800-662-HELP (4357)
 TTY: 1-800-487-4889
 Website: www.samhsa.gov/find-help/national-helpline
Suicide Prevention Lifeline
1-800-273-TALK (8255)
 TTY: 1-800-799-4889
 Website: www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org
US Department of Education
http://www.ed.gov/
United Kingdom:
Beat (Beating Eating Disorders)
https://www.b-eat.co.uk/
 Helpline 0345 634 1414 Youthline 0345 634 7650
SANE Mental Health Helpline
0300 304 7000http://www.sane.org.uk/what_we_do/support/helpline/
Student Finance
https://www.gov.uk/browse/education/student-finance
National Union of Students
http://www.nus.org.uk/en/advice/money-and-funding/can-i-get-higher-education-funding-in-the-uk/
References:
http://www.pewforum.org/2008/02/01/chapter-2-changes-in-americans-religious-affiliation/
https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/family/teenagers/young-people-ask-volume-2/#?insight[search_id]=acdd11fd-1927-4a2a-a8ce-3ab44e68aa12&insight[search_result_index]=1
https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/family/teenagers/young-people-ask-volume-1/#?insight[search_id]=70e41d46-f1ea-4443-9c15-1225cb05300d&insight[search_result_index]=2


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← Spotlight: The movie every Jehovah’s Witness simply MUST watch
 
12 Responses to The Friday Column: Questions Young People Ask – Answers That Don’t Work

 Scrubmaster says:

 January 8, 2016 at 1:12 pm
 
Jeni – well written and great points. The advice on marriage is spot on. Especially dating for marriage and dating in groups. For the most part a person will always act well in a group. I mean if a person can not act properly in a group setting….well we all know that is some one to run away from and not marry. But often times people only show who they really are in private one on one settings.
Reply
 
 
 Markie says:

 January 8, 2016 at 1:16 pm
 
Don’t mean to insult you but I always thought the youth book and the Family Life books were for simpletons. I always thought they were written by old men that hated women. Never read them and never had my kids read them. And yes I am still active.
Reply
 
 
 ruthlee says:

 January 8, 2016 at 1:29 pm
 
Yes I dutifully read the original red edition. Didn’t stop the suicide attempts. God help me I dutifully studied this garbage with my own offspring (sorry kids). No it didn’t work in my day and it does not work today. I think they hate kids anyway so delight in giving pontificating advice to dupe and breed paranoia. Such a simplistic world view makes the jdub youth inadequate for the real world .but then again they don’t live in the real world or have proper jobs so maybe the advice works. Unless a child grows up and squanders their youth in pointless pursuits for the borg they are labelled weak , evil, worldy blah blah . Children are never forgiven for being young and fresh and wonderful.Just for being young there is always pressure to perform.ruthlee
Reply
 
 
 ForestDaughter says:

 January 8, 2016 at 2:26 pm
 
I remember when that book came out and we read it at the study group. I didn’t really take too much notice of it tbh, as by then I was starting to have nagging doubts about the watchtower and their so-called advice. As an adult convert I used to eagerly await the ‘literature’ and devour everything, but it soon became obvious that every single problem all had exactly the same advice, exactly as you said…’prayer and reliance on the guidance of congregation elders’. I found myself groaning each time. I wish I’d have known the saying then that if you do the same thing every time you will always get the same result. Silly me for thinking that there’d be an actual gem of an answer.
I’m appalled about the questionnaire you mentioned that a young man should look for his intended’s submission, which begs the question how that affects the young women reading it. To be submissive to that extent sets up girls to be abused and ready to accept any kind of treatment, or at least be prepared to put up with an awful lot, as well as not learning how to have boundaries.
I’m only glad that a lot of youngsters are seeing through that, albeit onky because they were treated so badly like yourself Jeni. Great article. :)
Reply
 
 
 Tammy says:

 January 8, 2016 at 2:35 pm
 
I did not grow up in this religion but i was in it for 17 years. I was single for few years then navigated through dating / marriage for the rest of my JW life.
There was no resources for identifying abuse before and during marriage. There was no resources for how to deal with trauma after marriage.
As a result, I still suffer from trauma and PTSD.
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 8, 2016 at 3:09 pm
 
Very insightful article. I agree, all WT ever offers for any challenges in life is simple, mindless cookie-cutter advice. In fact, as far as PRACTICAL, REAL-LIFE wisdom goes, IMHO, 99.9% of the bible is useless. (Most people I know, who believe the bible is full of practical wisdom, have never read it.) Also, I remember a book study (not sure if it was YPA, maybe it was the previous “Your Youth” book) where 1 paragraph explained how sex works. I felt so embarrassed for the poor reader who had to get thru that paragraph. lol As far as that whole “male headship” principle goes (which of course is not unique to the JW cult), any man who needs to rely on that concept as some kind of “crutch”, is not a man. That dogma was created by, & for, p*ssies, idiots, cowards, & bullies who are incapable of participating in a 1-on-1, EQUAL relationship with another human being. More crappy, UNwise, destructive advice from WT!!!
Reply
 
 Markie says:

 January 8, 2016 at 5:00 pm
 
I think the men that wrote those books were or are latent homosexuals. I think they secretly hate women. I never understood how they could publish such crap.
Reply
 
 
 
 
 JBob says:

 January 8, 2016 at 2:42 pm
 
Very well researched and very well written, and this article shows examination not only of issues but also resolutions to assist in moving forward. No one can say this is “an axe to grind”; it’s a great post to assist acclimating to the world after Bethel or JW’s.
Reply
 
 
 Jarred Booth says:

 January 8, 2016 at 2:42 pm
 
Although I can’t throw all the blame on Watchtower, I think their advice ruined all my relationships on one level or another. Usually the problem wasn’t the woman I was dating, it was me. I just took the religion too seriously for any normal relationship to develop.
But I certainly wasn’t prepared for dating after I left, and this I can place most of the blame on the religion. For one, being a single brother, especially a ministerial servant and pioneer, it was a lot easier for me to find a girlfriend, because there were so many single sisters and fewer single brothers. After I left, I slowly came to the realization that I was no longer the big fish I used to be. As it turns out, the average woman isn’t all that interested in a grown man who never went to college because he was devoted to a brainwashing cult. (Who knew?) Especially in the college city I moved to.
But I’ve gradually removed all Watchtower teachings from my mind (including their advice on dating), gotten a real career in science, and am living a much happier life. Great article. One I never thought I’d read but rings so true.
Reply
 
 anonymous4 says:

 January 8, 2016 at 3:21 pm
 
ALL WT “advice” (READ: “propaganda”) is designed to alienate & isolate their members from the real world, thus consolidating their grip.
Reply
 
 
 
 Oubliette says:

 January 8, 2016 at 3:57 pm
 
Jeni, what a great article.
In particular, I appreciate that you end by acknowledging that many problems do not have easy, simple solutions and you followed up with practical suggestions. There are qualified people that CAN help young people navigate the oft treacherous teenage years, and they are rarely–if ever–found in the Kingdom Hall.
Well done!
Oubliette
Reply
 
 
 Pow says:

 January 8, 2016 at 4:11 pm
 
…I think most young witnesses are completely unprepared for marriage, and really life for that matter. And what woefully little statistics that have emerged attest to that fact.
Reply
 
 
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Videos

New videos are constantly being uploaded to the John Cedars YouTube channel.
Here is a playlist featuring the most recent uploads…
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16 Responses to Videos

 KtotheRAD "Konrad" says:

 August 25, 2013 at 6:55 pm
 
With every word they reveal and “impart” far more than they ever intended…
Reply
 
 
 george says:

 August 27, 2013 at 4:45 am
 
Sorry Cedars, I can only access the first video on my I pad. There are a lot of over sized play icons and they won’t work.
Reply
 
 
 Luke says:

 October 27, 2013 at 5:27 pm
 
Continue the good work on this site that expose what Watchtower Organization really are — a fanatic end-time driven cult that only serve interests of its leaders. I left this
 cult three years ago for good. My only regret is that I had not left the Watchtower Cult earlier! On Easter Sunday this year, I was baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit and received into Eastern Orthodox Church, apostolic Church that preserved the Faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
Cedar, you have my blessings of your work on this site that
 will yet help millions of JWs to see the truth of so-called ‘Truth’.
Reply
 
 
 Fred says:

 November 2, 2013 at 12:09 pm
 
Forget taking your numbers from a 1974 yearbook if you question the amount of those killed, interned, etc get the numbers from the Holocaust museum. You forgot to mention the ‘JEWS’ were and its quoted several times in the Watchtower publications as it is related in the bible, “ONCE GOD’S CHOSEN PEOPLE” but they did not remain that because of their actions. Your quotes from WT publications are based on the latter that they fell out of favour in God’s eyes. They therefor were NOT written in an anti-Semitic nature. Many Jews have become JW’s over the years are they lesser beings because they were of Jewish blood?…ABSOLUTELY NOT! All races are equal so this video in my opinion is twisted in its presentation. Not to mention the ridiculous claim of Rutherford’s so called love letter to Adolf Hitler. No blinders on here, I have checked the facts. Sorry but this video paints an untruthful twist of events and statements about the WT as regards the comments on the Nazi’s and Jews.
Reply
 
 
 Palma says:

 February 28, 2014 at 3:48 am
 
Hi everybody! Hi cedars!
 I found this article about a discovery in egypt that brings light to the origin of story of joseph in the bible.
 What do you think?http://www.davidovits.info/the-lost-fresco-and-the-bible-my-new-book-in-french/
Reply
 
 
 Idris says:

 March 27, 2014 at 8:12 am
 
Thank you for this page, it has been a great help to me, as I seek the truth of the word of God, however I noticed in the video ‘Does the Bible speak of ‘Paradise Earth’ the speaker quotes Luke 21v43 twice, regarding Jesus word on the cross, there should be a correction note as the verse he mentions is in Luke 23 v 43.
 Keep up the good work
Reply
 
 
 Julia Orwell says:

 July 17, 2014 at 3:47 am
 
Been to internationals before and this elaborate souvenir thing is entirely new. The last one I went to in 2009, the last ones they had, had nothing like this so it’s not a matter of you having not noticed it in the past, it’s a matter of it being a new phenomenon.
 I theorize that the wt motives for this involve keeping the masses busy and therefore obedient. Jws would volunteer to do this because there are no other legitimate outlets for creative expression. Armageddon being near has nothing to do with it: it’s about keeping the sheeple busy and happy. Making stupid trinkets is also a team building activity as it involves jws working together, thus reinforcing the herd mentality jws have.
Reply
 
 
 frankie fernandez says:

 February 27, 2015 at 4:44 pm
 
dear friends I was baptized in 1974. Thank God I am no longer a member of the WT. Free at last and oh what a relief it is. A member of my former congregation who I considerd my best friend molested a minor. There was a big argument amognst the elders on the judicial committee. One elder who was a maverick, wanted to notify the police. But, instead they followed the instuctions of the society. They kept this crime against the child, hush hush. So as not to tarnish the name of Jehovah. But in reality it was a coverup to protect the wt’s reputation. Meanwhile this poor child that was raped has to carry the heavy burden of a victim for the rest of thier lives without compensation and without justice. While the abuser has remaind a member in good standing. The congregation he is attending now has not been notified that he is a sexual preditor.
Reply
 
 Holy Connoli says:

 November 17, 2015 at 1:14 am
 
Frankie.If I were you I would turn him into the police now even though it may have been several years ago he committed this crime. Many sexual predators get turned in years later after the crime is reveled. At the very least he will be investigated and his Name will be mud for being a creep.
 He deserves it and so does the WT for its NON protection of the flock and not caring for the victim but only their phony reputation.
Reply
 
 
 
 Kirtley W. Burggraf says:

 March 11, 2015 at 11:16 am
 
Tell me, since governing body members are elected (replacing someone who dies) at what point do do they become “divinely inspired” or “spirit guided”? Were they always thus in the lower ranks or does this just “happen” the moment that they are appointed? What’s Watchtower’s take on this?
Reply
 
 
 Alone in MD says:

 March 31, 2015 at 6:00 pm
 
Regards your video on the Memorial Service. I am one of those “non believers” married to a baptized witness. I go to just keep the peace but I’ve made it known that I consider this service one of the worst religious ceremonies that I have ever been to. “Anointed What”. Also it was announced at last years meeting that “this may be the last memorial service”. They are at it again. Thanks for the great videos.
Reply
 
 
 frankie fernandez says:

 May 10, 2015 at 9:50 pm
 
IF CHRIST WAS ENTHRONGED IN 1914, WHY ARE THE WITNESES STILL CELEBRATING THE MEMORIAL? CHRIST SAID THAT AFTER HIS ARRIVAL NO ONE WAS TO CELEBRATE THE MEMORIAL .ALSO HE SAID THAT THE DAY OF HIS PRESENSE, IT WILL BE LIKE LIGHTNING FROM ONE POINT OF THE EARTH TO ANOTHER. LIGHTNING TRAVELS AT THE SPEED OF 3500 MILES PER SECOUND. SO IT WILL TRAVEL AROUND THE GLOBE IN LESS THAN A MINUTE. HE ALSO SAID THAT ALL EYES WILL SEE HIM. NOT LIKE THE WTS THAT SAYS WE ARE IN HIS INVISIBLE PRESENSE.
Reply
 
 
 pj wilcox says:

 July 31, 2015 at 3:21 am
 
I watched the latest video of the inept elder being questioned by the commission. Who prepared this man for testimony? You all are aware of the dentist who shot Cecil the lion in Kenya? Well his life is over. He is in hiding. What he did ,did not break laws in Kenya and his is in a world of trouble with public sentiment. But this elder being questioned is far worse. He covered deeds that drove people to think of killing themselves. Should he not go into hiding? Is his life over? Has he know conscience? Emotion, caring? You know the answer. Bet ya, damage control is working overtime on this.
Reply
 
 
 Adrian says:

 September 8, 2015 at 3:32 am
 
I think the Royal Commission videos demonstrate that fragility of the governance within the WT society. Yes, it’s an Australia branch issue but cross examination only points to the seat of control on which the governing body members sit. Everything starts and stops with the governing body, they set the policy but where are they? Sitting comfortably in NY watching from a distance ready to abdicate any responsibility whatsoever. A governing body governs and leads but I see no leadership I see the followers talking and being bashed around the head with questions, all too easy for the legal team.
However, it might just be me but does anyone else not see the lawyer’s gap in knowledge regarding the fundamental rationale for the WT society policies, they fall back in their comfort zone knowing that they can say ‘well we don’t have the authority to go beyond the bible.’
It’s this gap in knowledge of the legal representatives which the WT society exploit. I mean nobody is going to ask ‘ where actually did this translation come from anyway?’ What were the academic qualifications of the translators? Is there a possibility that you have interpreted things wrongly or even worse, translated things incorrectly? If there’s a possibility that your interpretation on how to deal with modern day child abuse cases in congregations may be flawed, then are you in agreement that your policies could result in lasting harm to victims of abuse? In my view that translation is the ‘elephant in the room’ every scholar knows it’s perverse but no one is holding this cult to account. So easy to say it’s all in the bible but should they really be saying it’s all in the NWT instead?
The WT society in the videos almost give of an innocence as if to say, ‘ but that’s what we understand from the scriptures’, and I think it works in their favor, but a savvy legal representative would do well to tease out the basis for the rendering of certain verses on which doctrine, policy and organisational decisions are based. So far the WT Society appears to be one step ahead because their authority is not a person but a book, which they are ‘only trying to understand and live by’. Expose the origin of the NWT and the basis for so many ridiculous uncaring decisions is called into question.
Reply
 
 
 Rick Viger says:

 November 10, 2015 at 3:26 pm
 
Thanks John for all you do with your videos.
 I’m an ex JW for 40 years now. I hope your videos reach some witnesses and make them think. For all of you that have left Watchtower remember you made the right decision.
Reply
 
 
 S.T. says:

 November 24, 2015 at 9:48 pm
 
I was wondering if anyone has heard that Jehovah’s witnesses are telling there congregations that the end of this system could have only hours left? My sister who is a Jehovah’s Witness said they are preaching this at the congregations. Has anyone else heard this?
Reply
 
 
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4h
 Lloyd Evans   @cedarsjwsurvey 
Jeni Lundblom gives a brilliant and scathing analysis of the dreaded "YPA book" in this week's Friday Column! http://wp.me/p1TWXJ-2ho



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7 Jan
 Lloyd Evans   @cedarsjwsurvey 
The Charlie Hebdo attacks - not forgotten. https://twitter.com/RoboHume/status/685133767862779904 …

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7 Jan
 Lloyd Evans   @cedarsjwsurvey 
Why Tom McCarthy's brilliant movie "Spotlight" is a must-watch for #jehovahswitnesses http://wp.me/p1TWXJ-2il



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6 Jan
 Lloyd Evans   @cedarsjwsurvey 
Thanks to @hemantmehta for helping spread the news of Jehovah's kindness in using a typhoon to deliver sand! http://tinyurl.com/jjgk75f

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6 Jan
 Hemant Mehta   @hemantmehta 
Jehovah’s Witnesses Say God Used a Typhoon to Deliver Sand for the Building of a New Kingdom Hall http://tinyurl.com/jjgk75f

Retweeted by Lloyd Evans
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5 Jan
 Susannah JW Reporter   @JWReport 
Another story by @reveal Court supports UK #Jehovahswitness survivors of abuse https://www.revealnews.org/blog/in-england-more-accusations-that-jehovahs-witnesses-hid-sex-abuse/ … @JWNewsHistory

Retweeted by Lloyd Evans
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6 Jan
 AvoidJW.org   @avoidjw_org 
God controls the weather to (1) provide sand for a kingdom hall & (2) to kill 33 of His Jehovah's Witnesses. #logic https://twitter.com/cedarsjwsurvey/status/684431413408612352 …

Retweeted by Lloyd Evans
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5 Jan
 Child-Friendly Faith   @chfriendlyfaith 
In England, more accusations that #JehovahsWitnesses hid sex abuse  http://ow.ly/WDCIM

Retweeted by Lloyd Evans
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5 Jan
 Lloyd Evans   @cedarsjwsurvey 
In my latest article I look at recent claims by Watchtower that Jehovah manipulates the weather in their favor... http://wp.me/p1TWXJ-2hV



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4 Jan
 Trey Bundy   @TreyBundy 
Jehovah's Witnesses in England are facing allegations of hiding child abuse. And another investigation @reveal https://www.revealnews.org/blog/in-england-more-accusations-that-jehovahs-witnesses-hid-sex-abuse/ …

Retweeted by Lloyd Evans
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4 Jan
 AvoidJW.org   @avoidjw_org 
Jehovah's Witnesses readily accept what their Governing Body says. That's a cult trait. https://youtu.be/ZpQCTUhmv08  #cult #fact

Retweeted by Lloyd Evans


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5 Jan
 Lloyd Evans   @cedarsjwsurvey 
It's wonderful to see @TreyBundy and @reveal keeping the heat on Watchtower for failing to protect children... http://bit.ly/1kHDt99

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3 Jan
 MericeEwartMarshall   @mericezfotoz 
Jehovah's Witness guilty of strangling children for sexual gratification http://jwsurvey.org/child-abuse-2/jehovahs-witness-guilty-of-strangling-children-for-sexual-gratification …

Retweeted by Lloyd Evans


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3 Jan
 Lloyd Evans   @cedarsjwsurvey 
JWsurvey's child abuse correspondent @karenmo25525183 gives her take on the prosecution of Ian Pheasey... http://wp.me/p1TWXJ-2hq



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31 Dec
 Lloyd Evans   @cedarsjwsurvey 
Happy New Year folks! Here's to more cult-bashing in 2016!

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31 Dec
 Reveal        ✔   @reveal 
Jehovah's Witnesses covered up child sex abuse and ousted a victim. Her story: http://ow.ly/WiMzG  pic.twitter.com/l0GAcaLPRu

Retweeted by Lloyd Evans
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30 Dec
 Janet Heimlich   @janetheimlich 
Jehovah's Witnesses accused of covering up historic #sexabuse http://ow.ly/Ws2vW

Retweeted by Lloyd Evans


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30 Dec
 Lloyd Evans   @cedarsjwsurvey 
#Watchtower is in the hot seat after excellent reporting by @reveal https://www.revealnews.org/article/how-investigative-reporting-can-lead-to-positive-change/ … via @reveal

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29 Dec
 Lloyd Evans   @cedarsjwsurvey 
Hard to argue against this logic! https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/681921403050962944 …

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29 Dec
 Masoud Banisadr   @MasoudBanisadr 
Jehovah's Witnesses accused of covering up historic sex abuse... http://fb.me/7KCxQHdqu

Retweeted by Lloyd Evans
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