Funny. I had an interesting discussion this morning with an older guy in our little town. So the stocker in the market is very outgoing and friendly to everyone. So when he found out that I was originally from AZ, he got all excited because he's from Globe. So anyway, every since then, he calls me his AZ sister and hugs me. So he knew what we've been going thru with trying to leave the JW's quietly and fade away. He also knew that my family is shunning us for no reason, just because we want to walk away. So he asked me how things were going and if it was still bad with our JW family and I said "the same. They won't talk to us". So he tells me there is an Ex-JW right here in town. I said 'really' and he said that guy right over there with the long white beard.
So I went up and introduced myself and asked if he really was an exJW and he said yeah, but how did you know and I pointed to my AZ buddy. He introduced himself as Thomas and said yeah, about as JW you can get. Why do you want to know? suspiciously. I told him about us recently leaving, etc. He said "I was born-in. All my family is staunch JW's. He received an art scholarship to go to college, but since he was under 18 his parents said no and ripped up the paperwork. He was heart broken but decided to listen to his parents and became a gardener, pioneer and MS. One of his best friends [Tuttle] had gone away to bethel at 18, and came back with horror stories, depression and all kinds of mental problems and he said he would never talk about it in detail but Tuttle had just told him that he had been abused physically, verbally & sexually at Bethel by brothers in position. Everyone in the cong. was told that Tuttle had a breakdown at Bethel because he couldn't handle it and had accused a brother in good standing for the abuse. So you really don't know if its true or not. [Yeah right]. So he goes on...I'm from the 1975 generation, but when Jan 1976 came around I wrote to the society and announced to our elders that they all owed everyone a big apology for the problems their prophecy caused. They all said we never said that. [You know the typical JW denial] So they kicked him out for you guessed it, apostasy. His brother was told that he could no longer wear his bolo tie to the KH and had to wear a 'real' tie so he told the elders no, you can go sit on a big stick and rotate. So his brother Mike left also. So when Thomas was found out the elders tried to take his kids away and encouraged his wife to take the kids and leave. But the entire family thankfully fled the area in the middle of the night and he said that he bribed the Uhaul place, gas stations etc, each a $100 to say that if anyone came by looking for them to say they went to Oregon. He said it took his JW family & elders 8 yrs to find him. But they finally did and he told them, 'You guys have enough problems of your own without having to harass me and my family, get out of here." So years later he became a Mason and worked his way up to Grand Master in his lodge, but he could see the same thing as JW's. Imperfect men dictating how others should live, abuse of power, embezzlers, etc. So he walked away from the Mason's and said that ALL man made org. are the same, just different names and beliefs. But he did ask if I knew where Russell, who started the JW's was buried. I said 'Yep, right beside a big pyramid and in front of the Mason temple." He goes. "Yep. Russell was a 33rd degree Mason" and he said 'I researched the Mason's library while I was with them and Russell had to be a highly respected Mason to get that burial plot and pyramid built for him. Joseph Smith who started the LDS church was also a 33rd degree Mason. All your major religions that started in that time period were started by Masons. Even the Boy Scout org." I asked him if he ever seen any of the Mason symbols and artwork in the JW literature and he said "Oh heck yeah. It's full of those ancient symbols and has been from the beginning. Russell's 'Study in the Scriptures' has Mason symbols all thru it" He was very glad to hear that the 'Conscience Class' are leaving by thousands and was very happy to hear about everything that is available for us now on the internet. He said that he wished he had it back in the 70's & 80's when he was leaving. So he is happy and has been free of the JW's for 25 yrs now and encouraged me to learn and study everything I can because he believed the end was getting close and it's not what JW's are expecting.
