This is my letter to apeal the decision to disfellowship.
David Wiltshire 06/20/01
Sunnyvale, CA
Email> [email protected]
To the Sunnyvale East congregation (California)
I formally make and appeal for a retrial on the basis set forth below, please give it your careful consideration.
Baptism
*** w70 5/15 309 Your Conscience Toward Jehovah ***
(1) Have you recognized yourself as a sinner and needing salvation from Jehovah God? And have you acknowledged that this salvation proceeds from him and through his ransomer, Christ Jesus?
(2) On the basis of this faith in God and in his provision for redemption have you dedicated yourself unreservedly to Jehovah God, to do his will henceforth as that will is revealed to you through Christ Jesus and through God’s Word as his holy spirit makes it plain?
These were my baptism questions that I answered yes to!!
I was not baptized after 1985(11/04/72) with the new questions that in effect makes your baptism not just in the name of the Father and the Son but in the name of the Watchtower also. See question for baptism below.
*** w85 6/1 30 Subjecting Ourselves to Jehovah by Dedication ***
The first question is:
On the basis of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, have you repented of your sins and dedicated yourself to Jehovah to do his will?
The second is:
Do you understand that your dedication and baptism identify you as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in association with God’s spirit-directed organization?
Maybe we should rewrite Matt. 28:19b to say “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and God’s spirit directed organization”
I ask you would Paul even think of doing such as thing as the WT has done here????? see scripture below
*** Rbi8 1 Corinthians 1:13-16 ***
13 The Christ exists divided. Paul was not impaled for YOU, was he? Or were YOU baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I am thankful I baptized none of YOU except Cris'pus and Ga'ius, 15 so that no one may say that YOU were baptized in my name. 16 Yes, I also baptized the household of Steph'a·nas. As for the rest, I do not know whether I baptized anybody else
Secret trials (where injustice can be carried out with little fear of appearing before others as being Hypocrites see awake article below
*** g81 1/22 16-17 Searching Out Legal Roots ***
Searching Out Legal Roots
“Speedy and Public Trial”
Guidelines for judicial procedure in the United States are found in the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution. “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial . . . to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him.” Did justice in Bible times employ these guidelines?(what about the WT)
Indeed it did. Criminal trials were doubtless much speedier in Israel than they are at present in countries such as the United States, where clogged courts and elaborate procedure give rise to many delays. Since the local court was situated at the city gates, there was no question about the trial being public! (Deut. 16:18-20) No doubt the public trials helped influence the judges toward carefulness and justice, qualities that sometimes vanish in secret star-chamber hearings. What about witnesses?
Witnesses in Bible times were required to testify publicly. For this reason they were warned not to be influenced in their testimony by the pressure of public opinion “so as to turn aside with the crowd in order to pervert justice.” Perjury was not punished with a jail term, but with whatever punishment the false witness had sought to bring upon the defendant—even death!—Ex. 23:2; Deut. 19:15-21.
I was not allowed any legal representation, nor was I allowed to tape record the proceedings, but the committee was allowed to have 5 members and one was taking notes the whole time.
If this Judicial meeting were to be shown on television what do you think all fair-minded people would think? O boy I can’t wait to be one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. What a reproach it would be. And think of how you would feel if it were made public in this way.
I was also told that there would be only 3 brothers on the committee (Larry Casto, John Pickering, and Don Pickering)
Instead there were 5 (2 additional Greg Castile, and Michael Earley).
When asked to meet with you brothers by Larry Casto I agreed to meet Monday (6/11/01) at 6pm. On Thursday after the service meeting I was approached by brothers Don Pickering and Larry Casto, and was told that they wanted to talk to me now. I said to wait till our mutually agreed time. But I agreed on the condition that we not make it private but to ask any questions in public, which they reluctantly agreed to.
After I answered their questions directly, I was told by Larry Casto that Monday would now be a Judicial meeting with me.
I asked Larry if I would be allowed to bring legal representation he said that it would be allowed.
Larry clearly did not follow proper theocratic procedure. Since when does one elder decide to form a committee? It is the body of elders and not one man who decides to form a committee, unless there is some change in procedure I am unaware of, and the society is going backwards and not tacking forward.
Friday morning (6/8/01) Larry Casto and John Pickering came to my work place to inform me that I would not be allowed any legal representation. I asked them what specifically were the charges for this Judicial hearing. They would not answer me directly as to what the charges were.
Instead every time I asked him what the charges were John would ask me “What do you think the charges are ????”
I asked them not to keep double-talking me but to just come out and say what the charges are. Finally they came up with “speaking against the Organization”
I then proceeded to write on a piece of paper the charge of speaking against the organization and ask them to sign it. They would not, I ask them several times to just sign the paper stating the charge, and every time the refused.
We proceeded to agree to have the Judicial hearing (secret star-chamber hearing) on Friday 06\15\01.
Just after they were leaving my shop I remembered something so I ran out to Larry and John who were just getting in their car. I asked them:
Why are Pedophiles treated better than someone who disagrees with the Organization?
I then related that there was a brother (in their congregation who’s name I will not mention) who committed grave acts of incest with a minor and was now a registered sex offender. He was just reproved, later moved to another congregation in Santa Cruz and now is being used there.
I then related what John Pickering himself had told me just before he got appointed Elder. Namely that an Elder who was on your body was back to his old tricks again and was fondling some of the very young sisters. John then proceeded to lie right to my face and denied he ever told me that. He lied before Jehovah, Larry, and myself, stating that, he never told me anything like that. But if you’re an elder I guess that makes it all right.
Side note for John:
John remember when we went to San Francisco and after visiting Alcatraz, and I was sitting at the water fountain in front of Giradelli’s chocolate store. You then came over to me as I was sitting alone, and out of the blue you told me about this Elder.
I said to make sure you tell the C.O.
John tell the body the truth!!! Come on John fess-up.
The point I am making is this:
How can a person who lied to me right to my face, and you brothers must know it is true, sit as a judge, he should be disqualified.
Sunday 06/10/01 After the WT study I approached John P. and asked again what are the charges. I wanted to be sure, so as to not have any spears being shot out of the fog at me.
At this time Larry, Don, and John met with me said the charge was apostasy, not the dictionary’s definition, but the WT own special definition found in the Reasoning book. They read me the Reasoning book’s definition.
I also asked who would be on the Judicial committee and was told that only Larry Casto, Don Pickering, and John Pickering would be on the committee. This later proved to be a lie, (or excuse me half- truth).
Friday 06/15/01 “The Judicial meeting”
The tone of the meeting was very weird to say the least.
At first I was asked to sit with 5 brothers (3 in front and 1 to each side of me). The first thing Larry asked was whether anybody was taping this meeting. I said they could search me if they liked they declined (my lawyer told me not to secretly tape the meeting).
Larry told me to sit down and asked me if I was nice and relaxed, I said “OK and that I was”.
First I was asked, what I think is a standard question, that I’m sure comes from the Society to convict a dissenter, and make it real easy to disassociate someone so as to avoid any legal red tape. I used to be an elder so I know some of those questions. I used them myself at the direction of the Society’s legal department. If you can’t answer anything but a unqualified yes to these questions you get booted out. That way the elder don’t have to go to Bible to prove the Society right and the dissenter wrong, which is very hard to do, because the Society’s claim to be God’s Organization is not based on facts. But solely on their own interpretation of the Bible (how does that prove anything).
And so the trial was extremely prejudicial, to convict but not to find what the truth is.
I was read with zeal the evidence that they had accumulated to convict me.
And when I asked questions of all the elders all I got were blank
stares and no answers. They were not acting like brave men, They were afraid to, it was a pathetic sight. The only one that even came close to answering my many questions was Larry Casto, and all he could say after every question I asked was “You tell us”, “you tell us” that’s it!!! Boy if it could only have been on TV!
It’s a real shame to see grown men in a Judicial capacity act so unmanly.
It seemed as if they were using some kind of mind control thought stopping technique and were afraid to listen to me.
Any way if you feel that this is justice then the 1981 Awake quoted in the beginning and again below, is just giving it lip service.
“Speedy and Public Trial”
“In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial . . . to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him.” Did justice in Bible times employ these guidelines?
Indeed it did. Criminal trials were doubtless much speedier in Israel than they are at present in countries such as the United States, where clogged courts and elaborate procedure give rise to many delays. Since the local court was situated at the city gates, there was no question about the trial being public! (Deut. 16:18-20) No doubt the public trials helped influence the judges toward carefulness and justice, qualities that sometimes vanish in secret star-chamber hearings. What about witnesses?
Witnesses in Bible times were required to testify publicly. For this reason they were warned not to be influenced in their testimony by the pressure of public opinion “so as to turn aside with the crowd in order to pervert justice.” Perjury was not punished with a jail term, but with whatever punishment the false witness had sought to bring upon the defendant—even death!—Ex. 23:2;
You have to live with yourself.
In the morning when you get up and you wash your face and look in the mirror what do you see? A brave man? A man who love’s the truth? Or a man that can’t even answer simple questions because they expose, what he can’t bring himself to face?
Jesus said “and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” John 8:32
Are you really free or are you enslaved to an Organization?
Can you really study the Bible and freely talk to others what you are finding in it’s pages.
Yes you can as long as you don’t say anything that different from what the Organization says. And if you do say something different the Org will smite you with disfellowshipping, and brand you as a demonized apostate. And make your family who are JW’s shun you or they will be DF’d too.
Wow is that the freedom Jesus meant?
Or could it be a form of mind control?
There are 7 pages to this document and I have mailed some copies to Headquarters.