| It all began in late summer 1972, with my twin brother Joe
being contacted at the door by a full time minister of Jehovah's
Witnesses. This encounter resulted in some written information being
left for him to read which he found to be most thought provoking. We
both were still living home at the time and upon return visits of the
Witnesses, which I did my best to avoid, in fact there were times when I
would hide behind something to avoid speaking with them my brother was
pretty much convinced that he had found "THE TRUTH." Of course
the first one he wanted to share this information with was me. I in time
eventually did listened to him and actually believed what he was telling
me, it made so much sense. I was just to busy and at that point in time
not willing to commit myself. My brother was now going to meetings and
truly enjoying the experience. I must say his new found knowledge did
create quite a stir in the home, with some pretty heated discussions
with the rest of the family and myself totally agreeing with him,
actually defending what he was saying. I did get a chance to meet some
of the Witnesses that my brother was associating with and really enjoyed
speaking with them. It was just a matter of time in which I also began
to attend the meetings and accept the Witnesses views, which even to
this day I still want to believe some of what they say as being true. It
didn't take long for my brother and I to get baptized to Jehovah which
is a far cry from being baptized into the Watchtower Organization, this
was April of 1973. The more I attended the meetings the guiltier I felt
for not devoting more time and energy to the witnessing activity, so it
was just a matter of time that I decided to quit my full time job and
launch forth into the full time ministry this was in May of 1976. I can
truly say I loved what I was doing, meeting people having Bible studies
was a terrific experience and I don't regret it at all. I had the
opportunity to study the Bible with hundreds of people and influenced
twenty or more people to become Witnesses directly and another twenty or
so indirectly. With all of this activity I still wanted to do more in
regard to helping people. Normally a person devoting the time and energy
to the organization as I was, would be a welcomed sight to the brothers
and also be used more in terms of more responsibilities in the
congregation but I noticed that this didn't happen with me. The reason
being I wasn't afraid to speak my mind on how things that bothered me..
The elders didn't like this quality of mine and did their best to hold
me back from being used in the congregation. I also noticed that to
disagree with the elders on any issue, most definitely would be used
against me, even if what I said was true. The elders views were
considered God's views, ( you know the holy spirit thing). The brothers
who played the "game" were moved along in regard to
congregation responsibilities more quickly even if their life styles
were not so exemplary. So to sum up what I saw, there was a lot of
politics (hallitics) in the Kingdom Hall and to question any of it was
not the thing to do. There was one elder in our hall that seem to have
the most influence and was the one who seem to abuse his position of
elder more than anyone. The things he would get away with was
incredible, being that he lived in an apartment downstairs in the
Kingdom Hall with his wife he came to the conclusion that he owned the
place. Now mind you the apartment was to be for a couple who devoted
their full time to the ministry, and for this sacrifice they were
charged a very reasonable rent. Eventually his wife dropped her full
time status so only the brother was full time in the ministry, yet the
rent for this apartment stayed the same even though his wife took on a
job where their income grew. The rent that this brother was paying was
only $125.00 a month including utilities. The apartment utilities were
all electric and on an average month consumed at least $100.00 a month
in electricity charges. So as you can see this brother was practically
getting his apartment for free and we the members of the Kingdom Hall
were footing the bill. Considering that Jehovah's Witnesses don't have a
paid clergy and will make boast of that claim, we seem to have a
contradiction of terms here. Not only was this brother getting dirt
cheap rent he also deducted his rent as a charitable contribution on his
income taxes. He also claimed a full time minister status which entitled
him to some good deductions on his income tax even though he legally
didn't qualify because to qualify you have to be a salaried full time
minister. Jehovah's Witnesses don't get paid for their work in the
ministry. So to say he was ripping off the IRS is an understatement. It
was brought to his attention but he had his own way of justifying what
he was doing. He claimed he was being paid by the literature he placed
at the doors. Considering that the magazines were twenty five cents and
the books were fifty cents to one dollar he would have had to sell
20,000 magazines and 5000 books just to make $10,000.00 something that
the whole congregation couldn't do in twenty years. Oh did I mention
that this brother also deducted 20,000 miles a year for traveling in his
car, not bad since he very rarely used his car in the ministry, he
usually got others to drive him around. That's equal to 500 mile per
week or 70 miles per day, which would be technically impossible to do
going door to door in a suburban setting. Maybe he threw magazines out
the window as he drove around for two hours. He was a very conniving and
dishonest man. Yet he came off as being a humble and meek person. We
actually named him Don the Con, it fit his lifestyle perfectly. So it
was this situation that started me to question the integrity of these
people, particularly those in that took the lead. Eventually I got the
other brothers to see what was going on and it was agreed that his rent
would be increased to $250.00 and a separate electric meter was
installed, so now things were on more of an even keel and we wouldn't be
paying for his electric bill. Considering that for over fifteen years
this brother got away with paying this low rent you can imagine the
money saved by this brother at our expense. It was soon after that this
brother seeing that we were on to him, was transferred to another
congregation in another town most likely at his request, but believe it
or not, he still lived in the apartment in the our Kingdom Hall while
commuting to his new assignment to the the other congregation some
fifteen miles away. Usually when a transfer like this happens the person
must give up their apartment and move to the area where he is now
located, but do to the power and influence of this elder he was able to
live in his still affordable $250.00 a month apartment which was still
$200.00 cheaper than the going rents outside the area. If it was you or
me living in that apartment we most likely would of been asked to move
out. My time in this congregation was limited due to the fact that my
wife and I purchased a home 15 miles away and would be eventually moving
out of the area, and attending a new Kingdom Hall. It was at this point
in time that I was very happy, serving as a full time pioneer,
eventually being appointed and elder (after 15 years of full time
pioneering the elders ran out of excuses, that's another story). I
really thought this was as good as it gets, but I was wrong. My brother
Joe got involved in a situation with this elder (the same one living in
the Kingdom Hall, Don the Con ) that would be the beginning of the end
for him. I won't get into the details but if you are interested you
might want to read the account in the article entitled The Ultimate Rape
by JoRiz he can be reached by email Joriz@aol.com, he has more of the
details that explains what happened to him. This elder has done a lot of
mental damage to many people by abusing his power, and covering up wrong
doing of the friends that "worshipped" him, very few have had
the guts to stand up against him and you will see why. Well anyway, my
brother brought this elder up on charges of lying and his covering up of
the sexual misconduct of another brother. The case was a closed and shut
case but that's not how it turned out. We thought that this elder by his
actions would be exposed for his lies and reprimanded or even removed as
an elder but we were wrong. This elder actually persuaded the other
elders to see things his way and was believed. I actually testified on
my brothers behalf against this elder only to have my testimony
dismissed. Believe it or not, my brother was the one disfellowshipped,
for LYING. What was the lie you say? Good question to this day we still
don't know. To be disfellowshipped in the WT organization you would have
to be an unrepentant practicer of sin. So for my brother to be disfellowshipped
for lying my brother would have to been a practicer of lying, so the
question is what were all the lies? And over how long a period of time
was he lying? Who witnessed these so called lies? When asked what the
lies were the response from the elders was " NO COMMENT". The
elders on this case were actually guilty of covering up another brothers
deviate sexual behaviors in a case that would have ended up in court as
a civil matter against this deviate "brother, but like everything
else it was swept under the rug. Now you can see why it was covered up,
because the elders themselves could have civil charges brought against
them also. The organization that I looked up to just went along with
this kangaroo court and covered it up. To say it was a big let down for
me is an understatement. I figured that there was nothing that I could
do about it and being that I was moving shortly, I thought I would leave
it all behind and in Jehovah's hands as the saying goes and get on with
my life, I moved out of the area, ready and willing to get on with the
witnessing work in August 1989.
A New Start
I must say it all started out great, I was most welcomed and used in my
new congregation, more so than I even expected but it would soon be
short lived. After about six months the circuit overseer came and
normally the appointments of elders and servants in the congregation
followed. When the time came to announce the appointments I was informed
a week prior, that the elders felt that it was best to hold back the
appointment, but not only hold back, but demote me to a ministerial
servant! If I didn't accept I would be have no responsibilities at all!
Talk about being knocked of your horse. The reasons given were so
ridiculous that I almost started to laugh. ( It's good to have a good
sense of humor when dealing with elders) The reasons against me centered
around how I handled myself at the doors, some felt that I was too
strong at the doors. Even so, I was very successful at the doors and in
the first two years that I was there I started at least ten Bible
studies, and here they were criticizing me on my strongest asset. So as
you can see there was no scriptural reason not to appoint me as an
elder. The elders even admitted that this was not the normal procedure
and quite unusual and since I didn't ask to many questions, they were
most likely relieved. They didn't have to give me any straight forward
answers. There definitely was something fishy going on here. So I
dropped the issue even though my being not appointed was a topic of
conversation with the rest of brothers and sisters for a while. I
figured this would give me some time to work with the congregation and
they would get to know me better. So another six months go by and the
time has come again for appointments and again no appointment. What is
going on here? I said to myself. Here I was in my 15th year in the full
time ministry, already appointed an elder in another congregation, with
a good recommendation coming from that congregation. Went to Bethel two
or three times a year to help with the construction projects there. What
more could I do? What is wrong? This time I decided to take the elders
up on it, I met with the whole body of them wanting some reasonable
answers. There were no reasonable answers, they were mad that I had the
meeting called in the first place. This cat and mouse game went on a few
more times, you can see what was going on, they were not going to
appoint me and were looking for any excuse not to. In time I noticed I
even lost some responsibilities that I had in the congregation and again
no reason why, no one was talking. I still was used to give public talks
and conduct a book study for the time being. This was now starting to
have a demoralizing effect on myself and my wife. I started thinking is
there something wrong with me. My answer would soon come. Finally the
"TRUTH". One day while working in the ministry with an elder
who recently moved into the congregation I asked him what was going on.
He informed me through hearsay that the circuit overseer was behind my
not being appointed an elder. As far as I could see this circuit
overseer actually lied to the elders in my congregation about some
things he said I said. His influence was so great on this body of elders
that they actually changed their whole view of me based on his false
testimony of me. I finally found the truth! For three years I've been
waiting for this day, Not one of the original elders involved in the
case to this very day has admitted what happened. You would think that
the elders would of asked me for my side of the story when this all
began but that was not the case. You see, this circuit overseer was the
one who I had to give my testimony to in behalf of my brother when he
was about to be disfellowshipped, so now you can see why he had it in
for me. This is the way he got back at me for telling the truth while
testifying in behalf my brother. So needless to say the hand writing was
on the wall for what I would do next. The next fiasco occurred when my
brother implicated me in a letter he wrote to a former friend of his in
another congregation. Remember Joe is disfellowshipped at this point in
time, This person, Joe wrote to turned the letter over to he elders in
my previous congregation. I already had made arrangements to meet with
the elders in my congregation to talk to them about some things that
bothered me, and I figured I would speak to them about the letter also.
This was all set for Sunday Feb. 14 1993. On Friday Feb 12 I spoke to
one of the elders (a good friend of mine and my partner in my business)
in my previous congregation ( who was also involved in this case) and
told him what I was going to do, he told me that he would not speak to
the elders in my congregation about the situation but would let me speak
to them first. He then proceed to call the circuit overseer that night
and was told to go to my elders with the information first, ( he just
told me he would let me go and talk to them first) as you can see the
circuit overseer has a lot of influence on people, (incidentally this
was not the same circuit overseer that lied about me it was his
replacement) the circuit overseer actually persuaded my friend and work
partner to go back on his word to me. So that Saturday the 13th he came
up to my new congregation to speak to the elders in my congregation
about me and the letter. It was by chance that I spoke to him that night
(Sat.) and I was then informed by him on what he had done. As you can
imagine I was not a happy camper, and my wife was even more upset, of
course he had his excuses why he went back on his word to me, it didn't
matter, he was a coward and he would have to answer for what he did. In
fact this brother broke down and cried as he spoke to me later on,
knowing that he had betrayed my trust in him. That Sunday Feb 14th 1993
I wrote my letter of resignation as a ministerial servant and full time
pioneer. I was still on the record as a member of the congregation but I
didn't attend the meetings. Within the last two years I've read former
Governing Body member Ray Franz's book "Crises of Conscience"
and his other book "I Search of Christian Freedom" which have
been very helpful in my recovery from the Watchtower organization. What
happened to him makes what happened to me pale in comparisons. It's sad
the friends don't read his books, I know they would greatly benefit from
them. If you want to understand how the WT thinks and comes to the
decisions they do then these books are a must reading. In 1995 I was
marked as bad association, imagine being bad association for telling the
truth, and May 6th 1996 I was disfellowshipped for " LOOSE
CONDUCT" which had nothing to do with sexual issues (in my case)
but to mean " A WANTON DISREGARD FOR AUTHORITY". Or in other
words I disagreed with the elders. So for all the Jehovah's Witnesses
out there, be careful about disagreeing with the elders it will be a
means for them to disfellowship you because their word is the word of
God. So here I am disfellowshipped for a charge that makes no sense at
all. I did appeal the Disfellowshipping just to see what was going to
happen and true to my words nothing happened, the new body of elders
from Springfield Massachusetts upheld the first elders Disfellowshipping
of me. Talk about a kangaroo court. It was very interesting, The elders
never answered any of my questions. I was able to tape the meeting and
we made a transcript of the dialogue which I've posted on the web. I was
hooked up with a wireless mike and my brother Joe was outside in his car
with the recorder. I felt like I was in my own "MISSION
IMPOSSIBLE" movie! So I have 50 minutes of discussion which just
shows how the elders lie and the " TRUTH". For the whole
transcript of this meeting with the elders go to http://home.powertech.no/festus/jim/jim.shtml
This is a perfect example of religious corruption at it's best.
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