The Word Became Flesh

When I was 20, I met a lady who became a daycare provider for my baby daughter. During that time, she was very loving to me and eventually invited me to church. I told her that if I ever went back to church, it would be to my parent’s church, the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Why I would respond that way, I don’t know, given the fact that I never believed in their teachings. Anyway, she popped right up and told me that she used to be a Jehovah’s Witness. Well I had never met someone who used to be a JW, so this was very surprising to me! She then went on to inform me that the reason she left was that she found that the JWs had changed the scriptures to fit their doctrine, and they were a cult. This was the first time I had heard that term applied to the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The first thing she showed me was how they changed the meaning of John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (NIV), by adding one extra word to this verse. The extra word was added in an attempt to change Christ from being God to being “a god”. As she took me through the first chapter of John, and explained who Jesus was, God made sense to me for the first time in my life! I can’t really explain how it happened, but I just knew in my heart it was true. After all those years of knowing in my gut that something didn’t add up, I finally understood why. At that same time, my friend also shared a little booklet with me called The Four Spiritual Laws, and told me that God loved me, and had a plan for my life. She explained that through faith in Jesus Christ I could be forgiven of all of my sins, have a relationship with God and receive eternal life. Then, she invited me to pray to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of my life. On one hand this was all very exciting news to me, yet on the other hand, I felt very uncomfortable and reluctant. However, I allowed her to lead me through the prayer. As I repeated the words of the little prayer, I got very emotional and cried and wanted to leave right away. My eyes had been opened, but I was scared to death.

Sunday School

When I was a young girl, I went to the Kingdom Hall every week with my family, sometimes 3 times a week. I didn’t listen much, but they were always saying how other religions were demonic and satanic, and we were to never go into another church building. One summer, my parents sent me to stay with my aunt. My aunt was not a Jehovah’s Witness. She was different, and her household didn’t seem as dysfunctional as ours. While I was there, she took me to their church, and I went to Sunday school with my cousin. This was the first time I ever felt God’s presence. In all the meetings, and bible studies and prayers around the dining room table, I never once felt God’s love. Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t have Sunday school for kids; they make them sit and listen to speakers telling them about the end of the world. After church that morning, I heard my aunt arguing with my dad about me going to a different church. I am so glad she went out on a limb for me. This one experience allowed a little glimmer of light into my life, an opportunity that many Jehovah’s Witness kids never get. Kids growing up in this cult are not allowed to go into other churches, go out for sports, get involved in extra curricular activities, have close friends outside the church, or go to college. Many of them drop out of high school, because they are told the end of the world is coming. (The JWs have proved to be false prophets numerous times.) One of the reasons I call the Jehovah’s Witnesses a cult, is because hundreds of thousands of people are under the complete control of just a few men.

I have been reluctant to start this, because I know as soon as I do, I could be cut-off from half of my family. I have eight brothers and sisters. Four of my siblings and my mother are still in the Jehovah's Witnesses organization. Although I was raised a Jehovah's Witness, I never believed the teachings, was never baptized and stopped going to the "meetings" as soon as I left home at the age of 18. Actually, the break was easy for me, because my parents divorced that same year and quit going at that time.

That was over 27 years ago. In the last few weeks, a series of events, conversations and prayer led me to creating this blog. I am writing to expose the false teachings and destructive nature of this cult, and to cut-off opportunity for Jehovah's Witnesses to lead people astray from the pure and simple gospel of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 11:1-15).