Out of religion

[Craig]

Dear Ray,

I know first hand how it is to be accused of apostasy by religious leaders.
Born and raised in the Watchtower doctrines, I finally came to Christ in the year
2000.
2 Corinthians 3:14-16
"But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the
old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken
away. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now t he
Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."

While trying to help my dear friend see the importance of obedience to Christs' command
in regard to partaking of the emblems (bread and blood) of the Lord's supper observance,
( John 6:53)( 6:35) And the importance of coming to Christ; listening only to him.
I made the mistake of showing her a strange letter 'S 'on the skirt of a
character found in one of the Watchtowers' publications. Obvious, she wasn't ready to
see error in her belief system.
This obviously offended her and so she called one of the JW elders to report all the things
I'd said to her.
It wasn't long before I was contacted by one of the JW elders about a house visit.
(these meeting arrangements are to be carried out three times, the last at the
Kingdom Hall) While during the second meeting, the presiding elder told me,"T h e
Bible was not written for you, it was only written for the 144,000 and you are not one
of them." He assured me the heavenly door was closed in the year 1935 ( I believe that
was the date he gave to me) and said,"you belong to the 'other sheep class' not the
heavenly class."
(Christ is the door, how does anyone have the authority to shut him from God's people?
(John 10:2-9)
I was so appalled at his words that I searched out an old WT article with the title: "WHY
READ THE BIBLE.?" and and then covered all four margins with scriptures proving the
Bible was written for ANYONE who seeks God. At the next meeting, at the Kingdom
Hall where I knew they were going to give me the AXE, I handed the magazine to the
presiding elder. Also, I told him that I felt like a hypocrite for telling others at the door to
door minister to 'examine their religion; while all the while I had not examined mine,
and when I did examine it, let me tell you wh at I found!
And so I then proceeded to tell him about the past false predictions and too, how the WT touted the pyramid Geza; calling it God's Stone Witness while measuring it's hidden passages ways to confirm their 1914 date and other dates.
One of the elders sat up and objected and said, "I don't believe that!".
The presiding elder spoke up saying,"Yes, brother they did." I reminded them about
one of the WT' latest releases having admitting  this error and showed a picture of it in
one of it's pages. ( Jehovah's Witnesses in the twentieth Century)
Just after the elders began to change their countenance, straighting themselves, to announce their decision to dis-fellowship me, I handed over my disassociation letter.
(hoping some one would be curious enough to read it) They requested I sign it, so I did.

It was over. I haven't stepped foot into their Kingdom Hall since.
I called one of the elders and left a message on their message machine. Th e message
I left him said,"Who are Christ's brothers"? Matthew 12:50 Jesus said,"Anyone who
does the will of my father in heaven is the same my brother, sister and my mother."
You see, the WT teaches all the (so called) other sheep class are doing God's will, yet
at the same time, they are not Christ's brothers.' ( strange contradiction)
I haven't heard from any of them.
Even so, I asked my heavenly Father to forgive them.
Not long after I left, it was revealed to me the body of men at Brooklyn New York,
decided the 'door was open after all.' But I know that in order to qualify to be one of
these elite 144,000 members, one must dance to the Watchtower's tune.
Just as one must dance to the Catholic, Protestant, Mormon, etc etc tune in order to
be judged as one of the chosen elect of God.

God is my judge, what man can judge me?
Sound familiar?
1 Corinthians 4:3-4-
"But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's
judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self For I know nothing by myself; yet
am I not hereby justified: but he that judges me is the Lord.
John 12:48
Christ said:
"He that rejects me, and receives not my words, hath one that judges him: the word
that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." Acts 4:19

God gives his spirit to anyone who asks, seeks, knocks.
The body of Christ comes to God's Word to seek God.
They knock, he opens.

May our Father continue to bless your work in furthering his Kingdom,

Trudy


Thank you for your email and comments, Trudy. Very interesting.  It's great to be free from these controlling Pharisees.
God be with you,
Ray