My Testimony
By UnDisfellowshipped ( [email protected] )
I was born and raised by my parents to believe in the beliefs of the Jehovah's Witnesses Organization. My parents were "Inactive Witnesses" for all 18+ years that I believed in the teachings of the Jehovah's Witnesses religion. Thankfully, I never had to preach the "Good News" of the Jehovah's Witnesses to anyone.
My parents and I went to Jehovah's Witnesses Meetings occasionally, and for a couple of years, we went regularly.
I pretty much believed what I was taught to believe.
At different times I was afraid that Armageddon would come, and since my parents and I were "Inactive", I worried that Jehovah God would destroy my family and I for not going to enough Meetings or putting in enough hours in Service.
I believed that everyone who was not a Jehovah's Witness who was putting in enough hours, or going to enough Meetings, was going to be destroyed by God at Armageddon.
Sometimes, I was also scared of demons doing harm to my family and I. I was afraid that they would possess my parents or me.
Quite often, I had a bad, rude, grumpy, and mean attitude towards my parents, and others -- basically I was a jerk.
When I sinned, I was scared that Jehovah would not forgive me.
I never felt much true love from most of the Jehovah's Witnesses. I was depressed a lot, and I didn't feel much love for other people, especially "worldy people" [Non-Jehovah's Witnesses].
I never really felt a desire to preach the Jehovah's Witnesses "Good News" to others.
I did have one family of close friends who were Jehovah's Witnesses.
However, then, due to some rather odd and strange circumstances involving family members who were Jehovah's Witnesses (and also had connections with the Freemasons), my parents went to 4 or 5 different Elders trying to get help, and when they did not receive any help, they finally went to a Circuit Overseer.
When the Circuit Overseer completely ignored my parents, and told them to "call back after a few months when I get back from another city", then my parents and I started having major doubts about the Jehovah's Witnesses Organization.
After this series of events, all of the Jehovah's Witnesses started treating my parents and I like we were Disfellowshipped, even though we had never been accused of any sins.
Then, that one family of close friends started treating us rudely and strangely, and basically treated us like we were Disfellowshipped.
Then, even more doubts came up after I read the 1996 and 1998 Watchtower Articles about Alternative Civilian/Military Service being allowed now, and that the individual Jehovah's Witnesses who had made "their own personal decisions" to refuse Civilian Service in previous times were "too strict".
I then found out that the Watchtower Society had forbade Jehovah's Witnesses from accepting Civilian Service for over 50 years, or they would have been Disfellowshipped or Disassociated. It most certainly was not a "personal decision" for the individual Jehovah's Witnesses.
Then, after I first got a Computer and Internet Access, I started visiting Ex-Jehovah's Witnesses Websites, as well as Christian Ministry Websites, but for some reason, I just put the information in the back of my mind for a couple of years.
Then, after I got the 1997 Watchtower Library CD-ROM, I started reading the New World Translation everyday on the CD-ROM. I then started seeing that Jesus Christ deserves far more honor and glory than the Jehovah's Witnesses give Him. I was reading about how all of the Apostles and Disciples spoke of Jesus as being their Only Lord and Only Savior. I even read where the Discples prayed TO Jesus Christ!
I then started praying to Jehovah AND Jesus Christ in my private prayers -- and I started feeling better, I started feeling more love and compassion for people, including "worldly people" and I felt much closer to Jehovah and Jesus.
Soon, I started looking at those Ex-Jehovah's Witnesses Websites again -- and then Jesus Christ opened my eyes and I found out the real truth about the Watchtower Society!
I started learning about all of the Watchtower's false prophecies (1874, 1878, 1914, 1918, 1925, World War II, 1975, 1984, 1994, 2000), and all of their flip-flop teachings (Organ Transplants, Vaccinations, Blood Transfusions, Rape Policy, Sodom and Gomorroh, and much more).
I learned that Jesus Christ is NOT some created angel, who is inferior to The Father -- Jesus IS GOD, Equal to The Father, and that He deserves Equal Honor, Worship, and Praise with The Father!
I learned that NO ONE can be Saved by doing any amount of "Good Works", such as preaching, or going to Meetings, or being baptized, or participating in the Lord's Evening Meal -- NO GOOD WORKS CAN SAVE ANYONE!
I learned that God chooses the people He wants to Save, and then by His undeserved kindness and favor He causes them to be Born Again and Saved if they put all of their faith, trust, hope, and belief in Jesus Christ as Lord, God, and Savior, and in His Sacrifice, Shed Blood, and Resurrection -- then The Holy Spirit comes into your heart and regenerates you and comforts you.
I learned that everyone who truly believes in the True Jesus Christ will go to Heaven -- I now look forward to going to Heaven, and the number one most important reason I want to go to Heaven is to be with Jesus Christ, and to worship and praise and serve Jesus Christ for Eternity!
I then learned about the pedophile cover-up, which is absolutely sickening -- NO TRUE CHRISTIAN could allow pedophiles to go freely through the Congregations and molest and rape children.
I was Born Again and Saved by Jesus Christ in July 2001, after I read some very helpful information and Scriptures at http://www.cuttingedge.org -- then The Holy Spirit, who is Truly God, came into my heart and He has been comforting me and teaching me about the Bible ever since.
I then downloaded the completely free Bible Software Program "e-Sword" from http://www.e-sword.net and I have been reading the Bible almost everyday using that Software ever since the end of 2001.
I have also been praying to the Father and Jesus Christ everyday, and just telling Them everything -- The Father and Jesus already know everything I do and everything I need, but I just love talking to the Them -- it is awe-inspiring to think that the Almighty Supreme Sovereign Being listens to what I say.
I started praying to Jehovah as "Father", because I feel so much closer to Him now. I now know that when I pray to God and ask for forgiveness based on the Shed Blood of Christ, that God forgives me instantly and eternally.
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There are several reasons why I believe that the Bible is true and that it is the Inspired Word of God:
1: Fulfilled Prophecy (for example the prophecy about Cyrus, and especially the 300+ Messianic prophecies that were fulfilled by Jesus)
2: There is proof that the Old Testament has remained basically unchanged through over 2000 years (when you compare the modern Translations with the Dead Sea Scrolls)
3: There are things in the Bible which no human could have known without Divine Revelation:
* The Bible, written thousands of years ago, said that springs and valleys exist on the ocean floor (Job 38:16 written around 1900 B.C.; and Genesis 7:11 & Genesis 8:2 written around 1400 B.C.; and 2nd Samuel 22:16 written around 900 B.C.), however human scientists did not discover this until a few decades ago.
* The Bible described the process by which clouds are formed, rain is produced and ground water is replenished (Job 36:27-28 written around 1900 B.C. and Ecclesiastes 1:6-7 written around 900 B.C.). Humans made the same discovery in the 1600's, thousands of years after these Bible Passages were written.
* The Bible said that the stars cannot be counted (Jeremiah 33:22 written around 600 B.C.). For centuries, astronomers thought they could count the precise number of stars in the sky. however, the number of stars in the sky remains a great unknown. Eventually, scientists concluded that the stars could not be numbered, just as the Bible always claimed. Discussing the number of stars in the Milky Way alone, astronomer William Keel claims that there are "about as many as the number of hamburgers sold by McDonald's." Then he elaborates, "The usual way to determine the number of stars in the universe is to consider how many stars there are in the Milky Way, and then to multiply that number by our best estimate at the number of galaxies in the universe. This suggests there are probably about 400 billion stars in the Milky Way. The number of galaxies in the universe is an entirely different mathematical puzzle. Other estimates range from more than 200 billion stars in our galaxy to 3 thousand million billion stars (3 followed by 16 zeroes), in the universe. On a NASA Web Page, they state there are zillions of uncountable stars.
* The Bible said that the Earth is "hanging upon nothing" or "suspended in empty space". (Job 26:7 written around 1900 B.C.)
4: The Overall Theme of the Bible: The Two Comings of The Messiah (Over thousands of years, from Genesis through Revelation, The Messiah is the main theme of all of the Bible Books, in one way or the other).
5: The internal harmony of the Bible Books -- when I do research, I start finding that the apparent contradictions are not actually contradictions at all. The Bible interprets itself. If I can't understand what something means, I read other parts of the Bible and most of the time it clears it up for me. I also pray to The Holy Spirit to help me understand what a certain Scripture means, and most of the time He reveals what it means.
6: The most important reason why I believe in the Bible is the teachings and life of Jesus Christ. When I read the 4 Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), something inside of me KNOWS that Jesus Christ truly exists and that He is God. Just look at Jesus Christ's teachings: Love your neighbor as yourself; Do to others what you want them to do to you; Love the people who persecute you and treat you bad, mean, or rude; If anyone hurts children, they would be better off being thrown into the sea with a giant rock around their necks; Women and Children should be treated just like Jesus treated them; Love God with your entire heart, entire mind, entire soul, entire body, entire spirit, and entire strength.
If everyone on Earth followed the teachings of Jesus Christ, there would be no wars, no terrorists, no famines, no murders, no rape, no molestation, no wife-beating, no child abuse, no kidnapping, no adultery, no stealing, no lying, no evil.
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Since I put all my faith in Jesus Christ, I no longer fear Armageddon, I am no longer scared that God will destroy me, I am no longer afraid of demons. I am no longer trapped inside of their false beliefs -- such as their Blood Transfusion Policy, Rape Policy, Child Molestation Policy, and all of their other horrid distortions of the Bible. It is sickening to think about all of the people whose lives have been ruined by the Watchtower Society -- in the Name of Jesus!
My attitude, personality, and outlook on life have changed dramatically since I was Born Again. I have love for everyone and I try to nice and loving and kind towards everyone, and I want to tell everyone about what Jesus Christ has done for me.
When I found out the real truth about the Jehovah's Witnesses, I could have just gone on with my life, but instead, The Holy Spirit who lives inside of me, guided and directed me to start posting on JWD and other Ex-JW Websites, and to help the SilentLambs, and to help anyone else who needs help.
I still have some problems about shyness and talking with people in person, probably due to the way I was raised in the Jehovah's Witnesses, but with the Lord's help, I will overcome those problems.
I still sin several times a day (most of the time not intentionally, quite often without realizing it), however, the Lord Jesus has helped me so much to not sin as much as I did when I was a Jehovah's Witness, and also, when I do sin, I KNOW that Jesus forgives me when I repent because I believe in His Sacrifice and Shed Blood.
I KNOW that when I die (or when the Rapture occurs, whichever comes first) I am going to Heaven to be with Jesus my Lord and my God all because of Jesus Christ's Shed Blood on the Cross about 2000 years ago.
Are You Saved? If you were to die tonight are you 100% sure that you are going to Heaven?
Please read below to find out if you are Saved or not:
An important fact to consider is that the thief on the Cross next to Jesus was Saved without doing ANY of the following things:
1. Being Baptized in Water
2. Partaking of the Lord's Supper
3. Going to Church
4. Participating in any Religious Ceremonies
5. Doing any "Good Works"
6. Going Door-To-Door Preaching.
Because of Adam's original sin (eating the forbidden fruit)....
You are a sinner. I am a sinner. Everyone is a sinner.
We all sin many, many times each day, quite often without even knowing it.
Unfortunately, I sin a lot.
Just what is sin?
As one example, sin is any time that you do anything that is not lawful under the 10 Commandments.
That includes even lusting after a woman (or man) in your heart, and it also includes thinking bad or mean thoughts against someone else.
Sin also includes all of the times when you should have done something, but you did not.
According to God's absolute perfect Justice, the punishment for just one sin is DEATH and ETERNAL SEPARATION FROM GOD.
So, each and every human being on Earth is under a Death Sentence from God Himself.
This doesn't sound like "good news", does it?
So, are we all doomed?
NO!
Now, here comes the GOOD NEWS!
Jesus Christ, God Almighty Himself, who created all of us, willingly decided to come to Earth and Sacrifice His own Life to make a "Once-For-All-Time" Atonement to God the Father!
When Jesus Christ died a humiliating, painful death on the Cross, God the Father transferred ALL of the sins of every human who has ever existed and ever will exist (who puts their faith in Jesus) onto Jesus Christ.
Jesus had ALL of your sins placed on Him (even the sins that you have not yet committed), and Jesus willingly received your punishment of death that you deserved!
If YOU were the ONLY person on Earth that needed to be saved, Jesus loves YOU so much, that He would have come to Earth to die for YOU ALONE!
Then, after 3 days, Jesus rose from the dead and went to Heaven to be with the Father!
Now, if someone who puts their faith in Jesus Christ sins, God the Father immediately applies the Blood of Christ to your sin and blots that sin out (if you are repentant) and declares you righteous, because 2,000 years ago, that sin was already paid for by Jesus Christ on the Cross!
Does that mean that all people are saved?
NO!
The Bible makes it clear that ONLY those who believe in and put all their trust in Jesus Christ as Savior, Lord, and Son of God, and His Sacrifice, will be saved!
Who is Good?
Romans 3:10: according as it has been written, "There is not a righteous one, not even one!"
Who has Sinned?
Romans 3:23: for all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God
Where did Sin came from?
Romans 5:12: Because of this, even as sin entered the world through one man (Adam), and death through sin, so also death passed to all men, inasmuch as all sinned.
God's Punishment for Sin
Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death...
Who Paid The Price and Who Suffered the Punishment instead of us?
Romans 5:8: but God commends His love to us in this, that we being yet sinners, Christ died for us.
The Only Way Out of Receiving the Punishment of Death and Eternal Separation from God:
Romans 10:9-10: Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses unto salvation.
Romans 10:13: For everyone, "whoever may call on the Name of the Lord will be saved."
I truly hope that you will take God at His Word and claim His promise for your Salvation -- If you truly, sincerely, absolutely believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, Pray to God and Repent of your sins, ask God for forgiveness, and tell Jesus Christ that you believe in Him and His Sacrifice, and ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart and to be the Lord of your life!