Hi People!
Thanks for the welcome.Let me get straight to my story.First a bit of backgound.
I was born and raised in a little town in the south of South Africa.Dad was an Anglican and mother was an independant congregational church member.Dad was introduced to the JWs in 1972 and mom never really became interested.So my sisters and I were raised in a so-called "divided household''(JW talk).Dad used to take us kids along to the meetings and the JW seed was planted in me from childhood.His job,being in the construction industry,used to take him away from home quite often and on those occasions I was entrusted wth holding the family Bible study with my two younger sisters.My sisters never really took to the "truth" and discontinued meeting attendance after awhile.I guess this was partly due to mums influence and probably because they could see the false doctrines and unchristian teachings at that early age.
I got baptised at age 13 and was regular at meetings and field service.I started having my first doubts about the borg when the baptismal questions were changed,later with the generation issue and then with the lack of love experienced in the congregation my wife and I moved to.
I married my wife(also a childhood bred JW) in 1991 and we stayed in our hometown and the cong. for 4 more years.We then decided to relocate to a big city on the east coast of South Africa.The lack of love in the cong. we chose to attend was very evident.We have been living in this city for the past 10 years and I eventually stopped attending meetings after doing much research into the organisation and eventually finding out th real truth about the JWs.I showed my wife what I found but she was skeptical about some of the evidence.
Last week I decided to take some leave from work so we could take the kids down to our hometown to spend some time with their grandparents.Well,we have heard a few stories about the happenings in that hometown congregation but we were not prepared for what we were going to here and see down there.
My mother-in-law and sister-in-law in our hometown are still JWs.(Sis-in-law reinstated recently after da for years.).Unknown to me,my sis-in-law phoned my wife the week before and complained about the way a new elder in the cong.was treating her and her mum and everybody else for that matter.You see, this elder(I will call him elder E from here on) was transfered to the cong. to serve where the need is great and to "clean out" the cong.There has been no growth in the congregation for a number of years now.People have moved away and most have simply just faded.
Well we arrived in our hometown (900km drive) and naturally everybody was happy to see us.We stayed at my mum-in-laws house for the week.One evening friends and family came by for a visit and the topic of conversation moved to the doings of elder E.Since his arrival in that cong. 6 people have been disfellowshipped.Disfellowshipped people ,caring for their JW parents and still living with them or on the same property, are being told to move out.If this happens who will care for these people?Certainly not elder E or the borg.
Now friends listen to this.One brother was disfellowshipped while he was lying in his bed.Elder E kicked down the door to gain entry to his home and told him right there in his own bed "You are disfellowshipped and dont you dare appeal."Whatever this man says is law in the congregation.
Friends when I heard these stories, and they came not from one source,anger welled up in me.At one point I pulled my wife aside and said :"Now do you see what I have been talking about?".Even the presiding overseer said the way this elder E is going about doing things is not scriptural.The POs daughter mentioned to us that he is contemplating stepping down as an elder because of pressure from elder E.Well then elder E can rule with an iron fist.Everybody is so scared of this elder its pathetic.I am totally apalled at the way the people are treated by this man.Everybody who spoke to me about this could see how unhappy I was about the whole situation.After last weeks visit I hope my wife's eyes have opened even more to the deception and heartbreak this organisation causes.
I feel that I need to tell people the truth about this organisation.
This is my story for now.Watch this space for further developments.
Jakes
