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Copyright 1993 by the Christian Research Institute.
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"Jehovah's Witnesses, A Name I Was Barely Acquainted With"
(an article from the Christian Research Newsletter, Volume 1:
Number 3, 1988)
The editor of the Christian Research Newsletter is Ron
Rhodes.
From the TESTIMONY column:
The story of Bob and Debbie Rush and their exodus from the
Jehovah's Witnesses.
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When Bob and I were first married, we decided to find a church
in which to worship. I myself had always felt a drawing towards
Jesus Christ, but never knew anything about being "born again."
Bob and I attended a movie sponsored by Billy Graham, and we both
went forward afterwards. We met a nice couple and they invited us
to their church. We were very disappointed after attending for
there was no mention of Jesus Christ, nor was the Bible even
used. We later attended another church, but did not feel welcome
since most of the people seemed in a higher class than us. As
more time went by we still had not found a local church to
attend.
My in-laws had been visited by two women who were Jehovah's
Witnesses, a name I was barely acquainted with. We asked Bob's
parents to tell them we wanted to talk with them. They seemed to
be sincere people, and offered to have a free Bible study with
us. We thought, "There must be a catch to this."
We began to study their books along with the Bible and we
studied with them for several months. It seemed as if we were
always digressing from the actual book study, since we were so
full of questions. As we looked ahead in their book _The Truth
That Leads To Eternal Life_ we saw that they did not celebrate
Christmas or accept blood transfusions. These were ideas on the
Bible that we had never heard before, but everything was
explained in a way that seemed logical.
We soon were baptized as JWs, and I can remember wondering if
I would be one of the 144,000 in the "Heavenly Class." My friends
asked me if I felt any different as I read the Bible, and I said
"no." They told me that I was not one of the 144,000 and that I
would stay here on the Paradise earth. I was disappointed, but I
understood the idea and went on to be the best JW I could be.
Our family began to attend meetings around five times a week.
We became very dedicated to the Society and were able to go to
district and national conferences three to four times a year. We
regularly went out in the service of going door to door
witnessing. It was very important to us to be active and
continue in good standing. After a few years Bob was appointed a
Ministerial Servant, and I also joined the Ministerial School.
Bob received a job offer in California. We wrote to the
Society to get their approval to move there, since they taught
that we should go to where the "need is greater." They said we
were needed more where we were in Indiana, but we had always
wanted to live in California so we decided to move. After
arriving in California, the job that Bob had lined up fell
through. It wasn't long before our savings were depleted and we
had to go home.
After going back to our old Kingdom Hall, things seemed
different. It was implied that things didn't work out because we
had gone against the organization's will. Bob was relieved of his
Ministerial Servant position, and from then on it was all
downhill. We gradually started going to meetings less
frequently, until finally we didn't go all year, except for the
annual Memorial Service. We still believed that the JWs had the
truth, but thought the problem was with our Kingdom Hall. Only a
few people took the time to find out why our family stopped
attending. One of those visits was by a sister insisting that I
go out in service preaching door to door. She didn't show a
concern for me or the difficulties we were having.
Later that year, Bob decided to run for a local public office.
He thought this would be all right since another brother in good
standing took a position with the city requiring political
affiliation and was not disfellowshiped. Needless to say, Bob was
disfellowshiped immediately. As time went by, we continued to
follow the rules of the Watchtower Society, but we seldom prayed
or thought of God.
It was then that our youngest son became seriously ill and had
to be hospitalized. An elderly lady in the hospital said she
would pray for him and even crocheted him a small cross. I
appreciated this, but I felt she was one of the lost that would
be destroyed at Armageddon. Through this difficulty I realized
that I needed God for strength. I began praying for God to give
me guidance, and even asked Him to show me if the JWs did not
really have the truth.
While at home one evening, my husband accidentally ran across
a television program called _The John Ankerberg Show,_ which had
some ex-JWs on it. We were shocked to hear about the false
prophecies that the JWs have made, including predictions of the
world's end in 1914, 1918, 1925, and 1975, and how they had used
Johannes Greber (a spirit medium) to back up their teachings. We
also were shown what the Bible teaches about false prophets in
Deuteronomy 18.
We began reading our Bible and discovered in John 14:6 that
Jesus was the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus was the truth
that we had previously been seeking in an organization.
*With much help from ex-JWs and Dr. Walter Martin's books, we
have both come to find the real truth in Jesus Christ. We are now
in our own ministry of helping JWs and those who have left the
Society who do not know where to turn.* We want to help alert
others to their false doctrines, and encourage Christians to
study the cults, so that they can lead others to the true Jesus
Christ for salvation. End of document, CRN0001A.TXT (original
CRI file name), "Jehovah's Witnesses, a name I was barely
acquainted with" release A, March 9, 1993 R. Poll, CRI (A special
note of thanks to Bob and Pat Hunter for their help in the
preparation of this ASCII file for BBS circulation.)
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