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He said that when
he did that and sat in the meetings as just a spectator, he began to see
a certain hypocrisy in the Elders. They said that they loved, but did
not do it. In 1983, we began to read the Bible with another sister after
the Watchtower study. We just read the New World Translation without using
a Watchtower book. As we read, we began to see scriptures in a different
light. When we got to Luke 11:11-13 we found out we could ask for Holy
Spirit. This was a new concept to us because the Watchtower says that
the "Other Sheep" cannot have Holy Spirit. That this is the anointing
that only the "Little Flock" can have. This scripture says: God will give
Holy Spirit to ANYONE asking.
Luke 11:11-13 NIV "Which of you fathers, if your
son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or
if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If
you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those
who ask him!"
The New World Translation
says: vs. 13: "Therefore if you although being wicked know how to give
good gifts to your children, how much more so will the Father in heaven
give holy spirit to those asking him!" When we read this, we believed
it.
An an article came
out in "People" Magazine about Ray Franz leaving the Watchtower. In it
he was telling what he believed that was different from Jehovah's Witnesses
and somewhere in the article it said that the "Great Crowd," which is
spoken about in Revelation chapter seven, was in heaven. We had known
Ray for many years. He was a close friend of Joe's brother, who had known
him in Bethel. I thought he had gone crazy. I believed that the Bible
taught (without any doubt) that the "Great Crowd" was on earth. I had
remembered that the Watchtower said that Brother Russell (the one who
started Jehovah's Witnesses) had prayed for Holy Spirit to guide him,
and now that I knew I could ask for Holy Spirit, I decided to find out
the truth for myself. I asked God to show me the truth about this doctrine
and started reading the Bible (the New World Translation). I read it three
times and found that without Watchtower explanation, there is no proof
that the "other sheep" or "great crowd" is on the earth. As a matter of
fact, the Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the New World Translation
shows that the "great crowd" is in heaven. In the English translation
under the Greek text, it says they are "in sight of the throne," in the
"divine habitation" of God. This was the beginning of Holy Spirit leading
us out of the Watchtower organization. We began to see that this was not
the only place where the Watchtower had changed words from the original
Greek to prove their doctrines. I began an intensive search of the scriptures,
with the aid of Strong's concordance, to find out the truth. I was still
using the New World Translation, especially the Kingdom Interlinear Translation.
It is still easier for me to find the scriptures in this translation because
we have used it since 1950. When I find them, then I go to other translations
to check them out for clarity and accuracy.
During this time
of intensive study, I was finding out that the 144,000 were said to be
from the 12 tribes of Israel, it did not say they were "spiritual" Israel.
I was beginning to understand that the "faithful and discreet slave" seemed
to be talking about an individual and not a "class." Things that I had
read a hundred times before began to be seen from a different perspective
and I could see that Holy Spirit was teaching me the truth.
There were many
other things that happened that were instrumental is leading us out of
the organization, but basically everything that happened was orchestrated,
I believe, by God's Holy Spirit.
I started missing
the meetings because of the things I was beginning to understand from
God's Word. My study, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, was revealing to
me that the organization that I had believed, from childhood, to be God’s
organization, was not teaching the truth of the Bible, but they were teaching
doctrines that they had made up and then used scriptures taken out of
context to try to prove them. After about three months, Joe asked me to
come to the Memorial. I went. This was the last meeting I ever went to.
After that Joe started missing meetings also. Many people stopped by and
asked why we were not going to the meetings. We told them that we had
questions about what they were teaching. Most of them went to the Elders
and told them. When some very close friends came to visit from out of
state, we discussed some of the things that we had doubts about. When
they got back to Montana, the wife wrote me a letter and said that I should
go to the Elders with our doubts. I wrote her back and said we had gone
to several and they had no answers for us and I cited several questions
that we had that they could not answer.
In December, 1983,
we received a call from the Elders in the congregation that we attended
telling us they wanted to meet with us on the grounds of "alleged apostasy."
Joe and I talked about it and asked ourselves, "Why should we go?" We knew already
they would not listen to us. But we decided to go to show them that we
would stand up for our belief in God. They did not bring any witnesses,
merely said that certain ones had told them what we had said, including
our friends from Montana. They said they had a letter from them accusing
us of apostasy, but could not, or would not, produce the letter. They
would not listen to any scriptures that we tried to show them. They said ,
"We are not here to discuss the Scriptures, we are here to see if you
are "apostates." We appealed their decision and came before a "judicial
committee" of six men who upheld the first committee’s recommendation
and we were disfellowshipped for apostasy on December 24, 1983.
Immediately, the
news was sent to all the congregations in the Sacramento Valley and we
were shunned by all the friends that we had made in our lifetime.
We have three daughters who are not
Witnesses, although we raised them as such. The only ones of our children
still Jehovah's Witnesses are our son and daughter-in-law and their children
and a great-grandson. I have a sister and her family that are still in
the organization also.
We know that God
had us in the Watchtower for a reason. Because we were there for so long,
we have a thorough knowledge of what the Watchtower organization teaches.
During that time, we also became well acquainted with our Bibles and how
to study and find scriptures. God is using us to minister to those who
are now leaving. No one can understand unless they have been there. We
found out that we could have a relationship with Jesus. That He loved
us. We could pray to Him and He would listen. When we invited Jesus into
our lives; we were literally born again. Our old life was over. Most of
our relatives and our friends that we had known all our lives were gone.
We had died to our old lives and everything was new. We are not bitter
or angry now, although at first we could not believe that our life, as
we knew it, was over. We love Jehovah's Witnesses and pray that all of
them will come to know Jesus as we do. Our loving Father has given us
a whole new life. We have people who love us unconditionally and the hope
of living forever with Jesus.
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