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Witnesses open convention
BY ED KEMMICK
Of The Gazette Staff
... <img src=" http://billingsgazette.com/rednews/2002/07/06/stories/local/images/64-witness.gif"/>;
Gilbert Ernst's eyes aren't what they used to be, so when he's
at home he prefers to use his big Bible with easy-to-read type.
But when he's out going door to door on behalf of the
Jehovah's Witnesses, he carries a much smaller, softbound Bible.
That was the Bible he was packing Friday on the opening day of
the church's district convention at the Metra in Billings.
Ernst, 75, of Lethbridge, Alberta, has had this particular
traveling Bible for only four years, but its pages are smudged
and wrinkled from use.
Talking about his 50 years of missionary work, Ernst quoted
from Scriptures repeatedly, from memory when he could, but
directly from the text when necessary. It never took him more
than a few moments to find the passage he was looking for.
He said he wouldn't even venture to guess how many doors he's
knocked on in 50 years, but he's never doubted he was doing
the right thing.
"Our mission really follows the pattern of what Jesus and his
disciples did," he said. "They went door to door."
Then he quoted Matthew 24:14, "And this gospel of the kingdom
will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all
nations."
Jesus warned his disciples that they would be arrested for
preaching in his name. Ernst suffered that fate, too. In the
1950s, during the reign of Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis,
Jehovah's Witnesses were routinely arrested for engaging in
missionary work.
Ernst said he was arrested 13 times in Quebec, but each time
he was bailed out almost immediately by a wealthy restaurant
owner and fellow Witness. Eventually, the Witnesses took their
case against the Quebec government all the way to the supreme
court of Canada, which ruled in the church's favor.
Ernst said the threat of arrest never bothered him, no more
than did the occasional confrontations with people who were
belligerent, drunk or on drugs.
"People sometimes just have a bad day," he said. "We respect
the wishes of people. ... That's their home. We don't force
ourselves on people. We're not peddlers of God's word. We're
not selling anything."
Ernst's family homesteaded in the Dotson area west of Malta
during World War I. That's also about the time Ernst's father,
attending chiropractic school in Chicago, first heard of the
Jehovah's Witnesses and became converted.
By the time Ernst was born, his family was living in Saskatchewan.
Ernst did his first mission work at 14, after his baptism.
Witnesses don't practice infant baptism, believing that only
those with a knowledge of God and the Bible should be baptized,
and only when they feel themselves ready.
All Witnesses are expected to do missionary work, but some,
like Ernst, engage in it "full-time" after intensive study
and preparation. Witnesses who do missionary work for at least
70 hours a month are considered full-time missionaries; when
Ernst was younger, the minimum was 150 hours a month.
That made for a busy life, since Witnesses aren't paid or even
subsidized in their missionary work. Ernst went door to door
all over eastern Canada and Newfoundland, and from 1969 to 1974
he and his late wife, Bonnie, and their two children lived in
Guatemala. He learned Spanish before going to Guatemala, having
already learned French during his years in Quebec.
It was never easy, he said, but people who don't waste their
time reading trashy books or watching a lot of television can
manage to make a living and still do missionary work. Often over
the years, Ernst would do "secular work" one or two days a week
he was a bush pilot in northern Saskatchewan for a few years and
spent the rest of the time spreading the word.
Ernst lived in Billings from 1985 to 1996, when he moved to
Lethbridge, Alberta, to take advantage of Canada's health-care
system. He still comes down every year for the Billings convention
so he can see his daughter, Janet Clark, and her family.
Back home, he still puts in at least 70 hours a month going door
to door. He figures he gets a chance to talk to 10 or 15 percent
of the people whose houses he visits, and he spends about 12 hours
a week doing Bible study with people who've allowed him into their
homes.
People are more receptive to the Witnesses' message now than at
any time in his 50 years of missionary work, Ernst said. Even at
the height of the Cold War, people weren't as worried about the
state of the world as they are today, he said, referring to the
"terrible times in the last days" mentioned in Second Timothy.
"People are wondering, and rightfully so, what the reason for it
is," he said.
That's what keeps him going - the knowledge that he can bring
answers to the people, answers straight from the Bible.
"I've never been discouraged," he said. "I enjoy it. Sometimes
you go out being tired, and you come back not tired at all
refreshed, really."
He said the Bible speaks of the disciples returning from their
missionary work and rejoicing.
"What made those people, those disciples, come back rejoicing?
"Ernst asked. "There were enough people that listened."
Ed Kemmick can be reached at 406-657-1293 or <a href="mailto: <a href="mailto: [email protected]"> [email protected]</a>"> <a href="mailto: [email protected]"> [email protected]</a></a>
Copyright The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises
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I wonder how much the watchtower has to pay a newspapers like The Billings Gazette, or Lee Enterprises to get them to print such a suck up article. What a snow job, "I've never been discouraged".
The Billings Gazette had printed the following on 5/20/02
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4 Jehovah's Witnesses may be expelled for comments over child molestations
Associated Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - As a pillar of his church, William Bowen sat in judgment of fellow Jehovah's Witnesses who went astray. On a few occasions, Bowen supported the ultimate punishment - expulsion from the tight-knit religious group.
But now the lifelong Jehovah's Witness awaits judgment himself from fellow members of the faith.
The 44-year-old former church elder is among four Jehovah's Witnesses threatened with excommunication - or disfellowship, as the denomination calls it - for sowing discord in the faith by speaking out against the church's handling of allegations of child molestation.
Bowen complains that child-sex allegations are generally not reported to secular authorities by the Jehovah's Witnesses because of the church's closed nature and its insistence on handling problems internally.
Bowen is to appear before a judicial committee Friday at his church in Draffenville, a small town in far western Kentucky.
Two others, Carl and Barbara Pandelo of Belmar, N.J., had their hearing this week and are awaiting a decision.
Barbara Anderson of Normandy, Tenn., has also been summoned to appear before a committee. Anderson has said she learned about the church's handling of abuse cases while she worked at its headquarters in New York City.
Like Bowen, the Pandelos say the real motivation is to silence them within the denomination, which claims about 6 million members worldwide, including about 1 million in the United States.
In a statement issued from their headquarters, the Jehovah's Witnesses said that church leaders are "required by the Holy Scriptures to see to it that the congregation remains clean and unified."
J.R. Brown, a spokesman for the denomination, said that parents are not punished by the church for going to the police first in cases of child molestation.
Copyright 2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises.
<p class="editedBy">Edited by - bajarama on 6 July 2002 13:41:44</p>
Edited by - bajarama on 6 July 2002 14:47:38