A few weeks ago author Joe B. Hewitt (
Rescuing Slaves of the Watchtower) talked with Mark Taylor on
Crosspoint about the book and about Jehovah's Witnesses. You can now listen to the interview
here.
In a spellbinding look at the Watchtower Society, Joe B. Hewitt, formerly a third-generation Jehovah's Witness who was indoctrinated by his mother and grandfather with Watchtower teachings, pulls back the curtain of mystery and exposes lies, the mind control, and the glaring contradictions of biblical truth behind the organization that has sent those smiling faces to your front door. His book contains heartbreaking stories of former adherents, including himself, who were betrayed by the JW's.
Joe says instead of evangelizing others, the Witnesses themselves need to be rescued from the cult-like organization. The book describes how people who know the real truth of Christ's love can rescue the Watchtower's slaves from intellectual and emotional bondage.
Formerly a third-generation Jehovah's Witness, Joe B. Hewitt has dedicated himself to exposing the Watchtower's false teachings and to help Jehovah's Witnesses ascend from mental bondage into Christian liberty.
Well....maybe. But I suspect the most significant words of this post are "including himself" regarding those that were "betrayed" by JWs.
ReplyDeleteDr. Lonnie D. Kliever (1932 – 2004), Professor of Religious Studies of the Southern Methodist University in his paper The Reliability of Apostate Testimony about New Religious Movements that he wrote upon request for Scientology, claims that the overwhelming majority of people who disengage from non-conforming religions harbor no lasting ill-will toward their past religious associations and activities, but that there is a much smaller number of apostates who are deeply invested and engaged in discrediting, and performing actions designed to destroy the religious communities that once claimed their loyalties. He asserts that these dedicated opponents present a distorted view of the new religions and cannot be regarded as reliable informants by responsible journalists, scholars, or jurists. He claims that the lack of reliability of apostates is due to the traumatic nature of disaffiliation, that he compares to a divorce, but also due to the influence of the anti-cult movement, even on those apostates who were not deprogrammed or did not receive exit counseling. (Kliever 1995 Kliever. Lonnie D, Ph.D. The Reliability of Apostate Testimony About New Religious Movements, 1995.)
From Joe B. Hewitt:
ReplyDelete"Dr. Kliever throws that word "apostates" around rather recklessly. An apostate is one who once claimed to be a Christian but has become an enemy of Christianity. Apparently the Scientologists have taken use of the word to describe former scientologists, just as the Mormons and the Watchtower Society have done to describe former adherents. The Watchtower society calls any former JW an apostate, regardless of how godly he is. I was a JW who became a Christian and then became a pastor. Then I was declared "apostate" by the Watchtower Society. I was preaching the Gospel, and ministering to hurting people, yet the WTS called me "apostate" because I had escaped its domination. I wouldn't call Jehovah's Witnesses apostates because they are slaves doing what the Watchtower dictates. JWs are victims in need of rescue. It is the Bible that indicts the WTS. Because of their claiming piety while refusing to do acts of kindness, Christ will tell them to depart from him, that they are accursed, and will be cast into Gehenna. The WTS denies that Christ is coming in the flesh, so they are Antichrist. They deny that Jesus Christ is LORD (the I AM, Jehovah)so the Bible brands them Antichrist. It's not that I am sore at Jehovah's Witnesses and want to do them harm. Rather I have compassion on them because of their mental and spiritual bondage. The purpose of the book is to rescue them, to convince them to believe in the real truth, Jesus Christ the LORD, and to experience the free gift that he wants to give them. Ex-JWs who have become Christians are the most happy and fulfilled people I know, while those who remain JWs are just the opposite. I have hundreds of friends who are Ex-JWs who love Jehovah and serve him. They knock on doors, not to earn their salvation but share their faith with others because of love and compassion. Just as one who has been locked up in jail can appreciate bright sunlight, blue skies, and happy children, one who has been locked up in a cult can enjoy Christian liberty, even though the cultists call him apostate."