Yes, my mother was anointed in the mid 70's, and because she was a woman and not an elder, she was shunned for saying she was anointed. She was treated horribly by most of the members and friends we had at the time. She pertook of the bread and wine every memorial and she was looked down upon and riduculed by every elder in every congergation we ever went to. I spent my whole life defending her being one of the anointed. My dad suffered the torchers of the damned because he didn't want to lose his wife. Every memorial was so sad for our family. I and my father and I took it the hardest. He would actually stay in his room for 3 days after every memorial, crying his heart.
We grew up with the notion that she was going to die and leave us behind and go to heaven, however, she did always say that no matter what, she was going to do what Christ did and come back and visit us, just like he did with his apostles, so it made it easier on us. We were very young when she first got her calling.
In the early 90's, she DA'd herself due to changes in beliefs, as did the whole family. We now believe that there is not a set number who will go to heaven and leave their families behind, but that all who walk in Jesus' footsteps are to celebrate the Lord's Evening meal (Passover), which means we should all be taking "communion" as it is known in other religions. So, my entire family celebrates Passover and we break bread and drink wine just like Jesus did. We make the meal they made and we use unleavend bread and red wine and we say a prayer for each and we pass them around and we ALL take. We do make it solemn, but we enjoy ourselves because we don't have the sadness we had looming over our heads as we did then. posted about this subject in another thread, but I can't find the thread now.
The scripture that led us to this new belief and understanding is Mathew Chapter 28, the latter part where it says:
Mat 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Mat 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
This tells us to do what he had commanded the apostles, and part of that was to continue to celebrate passover and partake in the sacrements, which he added to the passover celebration on the night of Nisan 14. So, for the last 10+ years, every "memorial" (we no longer call it memorial, we call it passover celebration just as it was in Jesus' day), we have a wonderful feast of lamb, bitter herbs and unealvend bread, with other side dishes, of course. Remember, Jesus celebrated Passover his entire life. The screments were added on the night of his last Passover celebration when he broke the bread and wine and shared it with his apostles. He said to continue doing this in remembrance of me, and we are to do this today, all of us, each and every one of us, not a select few.
We do not follow the roman calendar, which is not accurate. Memorial is on March 23rd this year, not what the JW's say it is. The roman calender, the one we use every day, is wrong, Nisan 14 is accurate on the Jewish Calendar. If you can't find a jewish calendar, do a search for one on the net. The reason the roman calendar is wrong is because the jews did not go by that calendar, they went by their own and it still is used today to establish the date for Passover, each year.
Don't get me wrong, I have not converted to Judaism, we just celebrate that day the way it was in the bible because that is the most accurate way one should celebrate it on the right day.
I hope you take this as it was meant, to inform and to enlighten, and I hope that I am not stepping on anyone's toes.
Ash