I WAS BRAINWASHED BY THE
JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES
by James M. Aiken
| grew up in a Baptist church in central Florida. I was deeply in terested ih Christianity and in my early teens I held offices in our Sunday School classes. I learned about Christ the Saviour and the Bible as God’s revelation, but I didn’t make them a real part of my life. Instead, I chose to ride the “middle of the road,” not being too bad, not being too good. I eventually turned away from friends who were serious about the Christian life. I wanted to run with the crowd. Entering military service, I went from bad to worse. I didn’t darken the door of any church for over a year. After leaving the service, I wished many times that I could re turn to church life, but I had the feeling that I had gone too far away to get back. My wife, Esther, one day bought a book brought to our door by repre sentatives of the Watch Tower So ciety, or Jehovah’s Witnesses. She put the book on the table in our liv ing room, and we forgot about it. A week later, two Watch Tower women returned and asked if we had read any of the book or had any points we cared to discuss. We ad mitted we had only glanced at the book and could not discuss it. They asked if it would be all right for their husbands to drop by to dis cuss the book with us. Being toler ant toward all religions, we agreed to a return visit. About a week later our phone rang, and a man asked if he could
drop by one evening that week. I con sented, and an appointment was set for 7 :30. Promptly on schedule, two representatives showed up. It was a pleasant evening as they kept assur ing me that we were completely in harmony in our religious beliefs. Not once did we argue about doc trines. They convinced me that all they wanted was to have a Bible study in our home. We agreed, and every week after that for two and one- half years, except for four or five oc casions, W a tch T ow e r “ B ib le studies” were held in our home. Little by little the admiration I held as a boy for the faithful ones of the church turned to suspicion and criticism. I was taught that the church preached a host of lies. Among them were: ►The Trinity doctrine is a lie of Satan; ► The doctrine of hell, or eternal torment, is a libelous lie; ► There is no divine soul or spirit within man that lives forever; ► Hope of entering heaven is sealed to only 144,000 persons, and these have already been selected; ► An individual is saved by work done for Jehovah—the need of a me diator is not essential; ► The use of the Cross in Christen dom is a carry-over from pagan wor ship; ► Jesus Christ is never to return visibly but did return unseen in 1914; ► All Christendom is the antichrist,
and the clergy are Satan’s tools. I became an ardent subscriber and reader of the organization’s m agazines, The Watchtower and Awake. These became our study ma terial in the Kingdom Hall on Sun day evenings. Printed questions and answers guaranteed that I and the other ministers - in - training would never think for ourselves; we were completely brainwashed. I began to pride myself on the way that my training could make the average church-going Christian appear foolish in his attempts to de fend his faith. But after two years of this, I did not feel satisfied. In stead o f love, joy, peace, and gentle ness in my heart, I was filled with suspicion, distrust, contempt, and nervous frustration. Life and death heed no m ean ing for me, and Christ was nothing more to me than another angel created by a phantom- type God. I began to grow disinterested. The leaders pressed down by advising me to put in more time on the or ganization and its work. But I did not thrive on debating and arguing religious points with others. I de cided I had either to give the organ ization everything, meaning full time service, or completely give it up, which they said was turning one’s back on God’s only true organ ization. I usually carried organizational books to my brother’s house to en gage him in arguments, but one eve ning at his home he asked me to
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TH E KING'S BUSINESS
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