by AK - Jeff 4 Replies latest jw friends
This group is out of Michigan I think. They started sending me some pamphlets. They use Yahweh instead of Jehovah. And Yahshewah[sp?] instead of Jesus.
The brochures sound eerily like witnesses to me. They harken back to the Jewish Festivals, they do not use the term God at all - just Yahweh. No holidays. Sounds a lot like some of the ideas that Russell had. Sounds like a very insolar group.
Anyone aware of them?
Jeff
I googled Yahweh's Assembly, and browsed one of the sites that came up. The reason. I think my brother in law is studing with some one with similar beliefs as what is spouted on there. He observes the sabbath. Stopped doing holidays. I think this is the group he hooked up with.
They normally gather every Saturday at his house to study the bible. He has been recruiting people in the family for a while, and managed to get my FIL & MIL to go. I don't worry much about them since they are older, but I do worry about his 4 kids. He has asked my wife and I to go just to check it out. He said maybe we can contribute some of out understanding of the bible ( he knows i grew up JW). I have turned him down politely everytime.
Just a few weeks back, my wifes nephew got married by the court, and we were supposed to all go to by BIL's house for a "reception" (at least that is what i was told ). Once we got there we knew something was up. It ended up being being a full marriage ceremony (preaching ceremony) to all that attended. It was the wierdest thing I've been to. BIL and elder all dressed up in drama type clothes (you know like the cheap ones they used at the assembly when trying to look like ancient isrealites). Singing songs to yahweh and Achua er.. jeshua... whatever. Full with the blowing some twisted horn to finalize the ceremony.
I tried my best to get the hell out, but wife wanted me to take one for the team. Once we excused ourselves, the elder came up and gave us a cd that had music they were singing, and some booklet, and envited us to come on a Saturday, and study with them . Told him thanks, but no thanks, and we left.
I've been looking for a while on the net about his beliefs ( wife wanted me to research to see if it was a danger to her parents) and had not found a link till today. Thanks for the help AK.
Funny thing... A while back my wifes Aunt was studing with JW's, and when my BIL found out about it, he printed up a bunch of stuff (negative) about JWs to show this Aunt what she was getting into. Well he never gave it to her, and she eventually got baptized as a JW (she's older no small kids, no big worry). Well she came to this same wedding recept er.. ceremony, and after BIL finished the service, he passes by us and sais, "where is Aunt, She and I have a lot to talk about, i need tell her about the real truth"..
Funny how cults like to throw that word out alot.
Texas -
I did the same thing as was amazed how many groups there seem to be that share similar belief systems. All use the 'divine name' - Yahweh for most. All use Yahshua for Jesus' name. Most do the Sabbath and have alot of the old hebrew festivals involved in their worship. Most are heavy into type/antitype thinking like the watchtower.
Do they all have common roots somewhere around the time of the Russellites start up? Most list no history or timeline to trace. Maybe they have alot to hide about the connections like the wt?
Jeff
They seem to have descended from the Church of God, Seventh Day groups (which were also the ancestor of Herbert W. Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God). A history written by members can be found at this web site.
I'm going back about 20-25 years ago. That was when I sometimes talked religion (JW of course) to a few workmates. Since there were 500 people in our shop working rotating shifts 24/7 (the Timken schedule), every couple of weeks there were new faces.
This one guy who I talked to a lot said his religion was New Testament Judaism. He would never go into detail about it but said they did not celebrate Christmas and some other holidays. I wonder if this is similar or is it perhaps something like messianic jews?
HappyDad
