Personal Testimony: Adrian and Lynn (Dudley, UK)

Firstly we would like to say we are not here to attack anyone as a person, your religion is your choice. Myself and family however are here to show you the true nature of a certain religion / cult, the one we were formerly part of, the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

I WOULD LIKE TO TELL ALL THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED BY THESE PEOPLE:

THERE IS HOPE!!!

I know you may feel there is no one and nowhere to turn, but there are many in your situation, God is not going to strike you with
lightning or leprosy because you leave the JW’s !!!

Whilst there are many sites devoted to attacking and refuting their teachings we must remember the reason why we or any person became a JW. We / they were, or are, searching for God, possibly distressed by the state of this world, realizing things are not currently the way God intended. My family and I were in this situation at the time we were (as they would have you believe ) *called* . I was raised a JW until we moved out to South Africa then for a few years mother was still involved with them. Later on in life all the family *drifted away*. In later life my friend started a so called Bible study ( I say "so called" for this reason: To study the bible all one needs is as you probably guessed THE BIBLE, not Watchtower literature).

If someone knocks your door or stops you and needs more than the Bible to teach you the glorious news of our God and His Savior, they are giving you their teachings. God's teachings are His word and therefore are to be found in the Holy Scriptures.

So my friend started this study and got interested and excited about what the JW’s were telling him, he spoke to me and was shocked to find that I was fully aware of their teachings. I explained to him my previous life, which again sparked an interest in me for God in my life. ( At this stage I was using steroids, smoking drugs and drinking heavily daily ). So time moved on and my family also become indoctrinated in the Witness way. I will say this from a JW point of view, I never seemed to really conquer any addictive bad habit, it was always lurking to consume me again. But since I have truly studied God's word with an open mind,I have conquered those things and do not even bring to consideration my former way of life ( I am by no means stating I am perfect ). Myself and my family plodded along in the *truth*. I started reading from the platform and helping some more experienced brothers with their talks, which I found somewhat confusing, surely they should have been helping me!!

I was doing well by their standards, studying everything they printed at the time, going door to door for many hours each week. There was a slight flaw in my character however, from their point of view: I wanted knowledge of God more and more. This led me to the congregation library, to research the Watchtower's history from the beginning. I actually tracked down all their literature from the beginning to the present day. This started to prove unpopular at study groups as I would have comments that
were of the *old light* and since then they had *new light*. I would like to invite any Witness reading this to reflect at this point; Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Let God be true and every man a liar. Jesus is the true light that is already shining, therefore there is no new light !!!! Furthermore no lie can be of the truth. I was told not to read too much or I would confuse myself, and they referred to both their books and the Bible!!

It was then we encountered specific problems with an elder, his timekeeping was terrible, his family disruptive, he would just be a no show at meetings / talks etc. So I spoke to him concerning these things, all of which after repeated efforts came to no avail, I was then to find out he had been this way for years, by this point I was having doubts and quite depressed about many things especially the way I was being treated because I spoke out against the ill doing elder, who was quick to correct others but slack
concerning himself and family. All the elders kept telling me to leave it and that God would sort it out in due time ( basically be complacent and leave it alone ) my big problem with this was that the elders are ( according to witness doctrine ) there to shepherd the flock with love and care. But how many shepherds allow a wolf among the flock????

This all lead to some serious research into all the JW claims and doctrine. To sum these things up ( of which I will type some articles – but more so will point you to books already written, whereby the research is already done ). The Watchtower's "Daniel" book and its eschatology is merely a product of the Millerite movement , God’s "organization" is not mentioned in
the Bible as the JW’s claim. The NWT is completely twisted in the renderings of many scriptures. The name Jehovah is not God's name and even the JW’s own attempted rendering of the emphatic Diaglott text ( the new Greek interlinear ) explains this in the notes. Nowhere in scripture is the idea of going from door to door mentioned. Elders as presented in the JW’s are not the same as elders are presented in the New Testament. The name Jehovah has been falsely applied throughout the NT when it does not appear in the oldest texts; the words "Jehovah God" have been added to certain verses in the book of Revelation, when John strictly warns that he who adds or takes away from the words of this scroll shall be removed from the book of life. This and more lead me out from them with a single typed letter and evidence that much of their doctrine was borrowed from other religious groups whom they call apostates and Babylon the great (1).

What I want to tell you after all this unfortunate experience is this, if you are a Witness seeking to leave or have recently left, or indeed feel trapped or even if you need help leaving, we are here for you to guide you to read God's word with a clear mind and a new refreshed heart. When we left them, we lost all our friends, our life, everything. With God's help we have rebuilt our lives; we have a ministry to the homeless and to you.

God will give you all you need by means of wisdom, love and comfort, all these things are provided in our wonderful Lord Jesus Christ. If you would like to contact us, please feel free to email us.

Note

(1) For exampple, the JW ideas about prophecy and their early illustrations of it were borrowed from Adventist William Miller. You can compare Miller's diagram of Daniel's prophecies with Watchtower material about Daniel [click on the image to enlarge].