from http://www.exjws.net/pioneers/pioneers.htm
Anthony O. Munoz
and his disassociation letter after 50 years in the WT
Dear Randy,
For a number of years now I have read your publication "Free Minds Journal" and I applaud you for your efforts to bring encouragement to those that are leaving, or thinking about leaving, or have left the WT Org.
For a number of years now I myself left the WT, just faded away. But, since the "Dateline" program about pedophilias among JWs I have felt the urge to write a letter of disassociation to them. So I did it. I have dated my letter December 7, 2002. The reason is that I was baptized December 7, 1952 in Chile, S.A. So officially one could say that I was a JW for 50 years. Now isn't that interesting? In the old Law Covenant 50 years was a Jubilee. Time to set the slaves free! Symbolically speaking that is how I feel. Liberated from the WT Org.
I enclose a copy of my letter. If you feel it appropriate you may use it for whatever purpose you wish.
Keep up your good work. Sincerely in Christ,
Anthony 0 Munoz
December 11, 2002
Watchtower Bible & Tract Soc. of New York, Inc.
25 Columbia Heights
Brooklyn, NY 11201-2483
There are times in the life of a person when an irresistible force impels one to take a step that reveals one's true grit.
This is one of those moments.- I saw the `Dateline" Program where Jehovah's Witnesses are accused of harboring (protecting) pedophiles. How can an organization protect such individuals? Especially those claiming to serve the God of the Bible, be Catholics, Protestants or Jehovah's Witnesses.
In my estimation there are few crimes that are more despicable than that of pedophilia. I am a 70-year-old person. I have studied the Bible since I was 18 years old, and I have concluded that one way one can recognize Evil is by the way one treats children.
God tells us that children are an inheritance from him; therefore crimes committed against children are in reality crimes committed against God. (Ps 127:3 NKJ.)
I personally know of three cases of pedophilia. In one case the mother brought to your attention the molestation of one of her children even directly to you, but you dismissed the accusation, choosing instead to believe the perpetrator.
Your stance that unless there are 2 or more witnesses you cannot believe the child is just a convenient cop-out to avoid the bad publicity that this crime would bring to the reputation of the WT organization and it's misapplication of the Scriptures.
"On the testimony of two or three witnesses a man shall be put to death, but no one shall be put to death an the testimony of only one witness " Deu 17:6 NIV.
The Scripture here is dealing with a case of capital punishment, where in order to put somebody to death at least two witnesses are required. And today even that might not be sufficient because in numerous instances witnesses have been wrong, thus we have dozens of innocent people condemned to death that have been proven innocent because of forensic evidence such as DNA. And then we have also false witnesses. Thus, it is naive to say that unless we have two witnesses nothing can be done. There are many other ways to prove the veracity of an accusation. And in the interest of justice all avenues should be explored. Or is it more important to protect the organization rather than the child? As if perpetrators of pedophilia or rape would commit their crime where others would see them!
You have claimed many times in your publications that the Catholic Church is part of Babylon the Great. I cannot help but think that in many respects you yourself are a miniature imitation of them. You both have hierarchical structures; where you protect those at the top and favor them with many privileges, be Elders, Circuit Overseers, District Overseers or members of the Governing Body. Thus you have a caste system with centralized power.
It seems to me that your aim is to build an empire and amass as much wealth as you can and by all means possible, for example:
1. By selling of books and magazines produced with slave labor at your factories, just for food and lodging, like slaves in the U.S. were given food and lodging to keep them alive, before the Civil War freed them. For over a hundred years you sold your publications, but now the government has stopped you from selling your publications and you only beg for a "contribution".
2. You beg for money and pray that parents leave the inheritance that rightfully should be left to their children, to you. Contrary to what the scriptures say:
"... Children are not expected to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. " 2Cor 12:14 NJB
"...for the children ought not to lay up for [their] parents, but parents for [their] children. " 2 Cor 12:14 MY!
3. You ask for donations to construct Kingdom Halls where the brothers do not have sufficient funds to do so, and then instead of giving the money, you loan it to those brothers and on top of that you charge them interest and to top it all take title to the property. What an amazing scheme! All this contrary to what the Scriptures say. See Exodus 22:25 and Luke 6:35. When are you going to give away that money? Or will it always be in your possession? How many billions of dollars are enough?
You for the most part ruin the life of your members. You told them that the End of this World would come in 1914 and for 40 years prior to that you told your members that the most important thing was to preach the kingdom of God and discouraged them from pursuing activities that would improve their lives, not to marry, not to have children, not to go to College. But to work for the interest of the Kingdom as misrepresented by the WT, so in other words, so that the organization could prosper.
We well know that the End of the World did not come in 1914. But you did not learn your lesson and repeated again that then the End would come with the resurrection of Abraham and others by 1925. That didn't happen. So then you said that the End would come in 1975. During my lifetime! That didn't happen. I don't know how many times this ruse to stir the people has to be repeated to convince one that you are false prophets and that God is not with you. I know the End will come someday but nobody knows the day or the hour. Mark 13:32. You are just using God for your own benefit.
I give thanks to the Father that through Jesus Christ his Son and with the help of the Holy Spirit I have been able to escape the clutches of your organization. He tells us to escape Babylon the Great, not touch it. Rev. 18: 4. And since I view you as part of Babylon the Great, I have left you now for a number of years, but I still feel contaminated and to make it clear to whomever knew me as a Jehovah's Witness that I am now no part whatsoever of your organization, I am writing this letter of disassociation. I apologize from the bottom of my heart that I raised my children as Jehovah's Witnesses and for the damage that I did to their lives. But at least I am grateful to God that all of them have left the Watchtower as well.
Generations upon generations of Jehovah's Witnesses have been disillusioned for the last 100 years. Many would like to leave the Organization but they are afraid to do so, because not always all the members of the family leave as well and the price to pay for that step is great. If one leaves, the policy of the WT is to label one an apostate and prohibit its members to have anything to do with you under punishment that they themselves will be disfellowshipped for not following WT policy. So, at the point of a gun so to speak, the WT keeps its members penned in.
One of the things that really opened my eyes was to hear the WT say that we must restrict our reading only to the WT publications. When going door to door we offered the WT publications for the public to read but we were not to accept their publications. What was the WT afraid of that we might learn? Were the teachings of the WT so weak that our beliefs as taught by the WT were in danger? Or was it that they were afraid that we might learn the truth about the WT? I found out that the latter was the case. This led me to conclude that the WT was a cult and the more I learned about the traits of a cult the more it fitted them. I know that the WT has its own self-serving definition of what a cult is. And naturally what else would you expect but to absolve themselves.
The most brilliant means of communication is the Internet, and it is practically free. At the fingertips of anyone there is a universe of information available to all inquiring minds. Yet true to form the WT admonishes their members not to spend time searching the Internet. It is so easy now to find information about Jehovah's Witnesses that you are afraid for your members to find out the truth about your organization. You, seems to me, want to suppress the freedom of information, Yet one of the cornerstones of this country is the freedom of expression. In totalitarian countries they are afraid of what people might learn by hearing other ideas. They try to co ntrol the mind of the people by controlling what they can read or hear. Isolation is imperative to keep the people in the dark.
The WT points to their increase in membership as proof that they have God's blessing, yet there are other organizations that have greater increases than they. For example, the Mormon Church, so then under this criteria who is the true religion? I could write a book about why Jehovah's Witnesses are not true Christians, but to the wise, what I have already said should be sufficient. I have not even touched on many of your false doctrines, such as the "generation" that was alive in 1914 would see the end of the world. Or that the kingdom of Christ was established in 1914 invisibly in the heavens, how convenient to say something that nobody can prove and contrary to the Scriptures that indicate that those asleep in death and those alive together at the same time would be taken to heaven, not one ahead of the other. I Thess. 4:16,17.
Some may wonder and ask: Where are you going to go after you leave the WT Org.? But they miss the whole point of being a Christian. It is not a matter of "where" but to "whom"
"Therefore Jesus said to the twelve: "You do not want to go also do You? " Simon Peter answered him: "Lord, whom shall we go away to? You have sayings of everlasting life; " John 6:67,68 1VWT (Emphasis added.)
The Father has made it possible for me to see the real Jesus and I chose to follow him and not an organization. He alone has the sayings of everlasting life. He died for us. He is our intermediary between God and men not an organization. It is presumptuous for the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses to say that we need them for salvation, to act as an intermediary between Jesus and us. The only intermediary between God and men is Jesus. 1 Tim 2:5.
Sincerely,
Anthony O. Munoz
December 7, 2002
Cc: Yale Cong., Tulsa, OK