.:TESTIMONIES OF FORMER JEHOVAH'S
WITNESSES (EX-JWS)
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Ashton (On WFJ Ministry
Team) – She was born and raised a third generation Jehovah’s Witness. Her adoptive father was an elder for 17 years and her mother was considered one of the anointed. She went door-to-door full time, but to get out of an abusive situation in her home, at 23 years old, she moved in with her boyfriend and was disfellowshipped. Lost and lonely, she turned to the Word of God and found the “Truth” in a personal relationship with Jesus. Read Ashton’s Story out of Jehovah’s Witnesses. |
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Stephen (On WFJ Ministry Team) – Born and raised Jehovah’s Witness, Stephen was tired of being “different” from the rest of the kids at school. Acting out at school and rebelling at home, Stephen was kicked out of the house and disfellowshipped from the Kingdom Hall at 18 years of age. Losing his Jehovah’s Witness family, he turned to drugs, sex and alcohol, had 2 children out of wedlock, one dying from SIDS before he was 21 years of age. Divorced and remarried at 25, Stephen was reinstated as a Witness, but continued to engage in sinful behavior behind the “Brothers’” backs. Life was a mess and he knew he needed God in his life, so he turned to Jesus Christ and found unexplainable joy and peace! Read Stephen’s Story Out of Jehovah’s Witnesses. |
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Pam (On WFJ Ministry Team) - Growing up as a Jehovah's Witness in a broken home, all Pam ever knew was rejection. An absent father, a distraught mother who said she “regretted” the day she was born, disfellowshiped, Pam felt alone and that even God had rejected her! No one seemed to care, and what's worse, Armageddon was due to come in 1975. She sought reinstatement, but the shunning was too much for her. When the end didn't come, she wondered what else they had lied to her about. Pam thought, “I need to find out the truth!” In 1978, Pam found true salvation in Jesus and began a clown ministry. God took the little girl who was never allowed to celebrate anything and made her into a clown who gets to celebrate everything all the time! Read Pam's Story out of Jehovah's Witnesses. |
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Chris (On
WFJ Ministry Team) - Growing up as
one of Jehovah's Witnesses, Chris aspired to
serve at the Canadian Watchtower Branch headquarters,
but in an attempt to solidify his faith as a
devout Jehovah's Witness, Chris researched the
history and doctrines of the Watchtower only
to find major discrepancies between the Society's
claims and the Bible. Loosing his family and
the only friends he had to the Watchtower, where
was he to go? Through the help of TRUE Christian
friends, Chris found love, acceptance and eternal
assurance in Christ. Read Chris' Story out of Jehovah's Witnesses.
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Julie (On WFJ Ministry
Team) - As a convert to Jehovah’s Witnesses, Julie believed she had found “the Truth,” but when she was mocked for reporting a “wolf” in sheep’s clothing in the congregation and told that “those verses” about wolves were “only for first century” Christians, not for Jehovah’s Organization today, she knew something was desperately wrong! At that instance when Julie saw the way elders are trained to cover-up their failures to make the organization look good, her faith in the Society was broken. She was “disfellowshipped” for “apostasy” when she refused to trust the organization over Jesus as her ONLY mediator, and today, Julie is freely to serving the REAL Jehovah God in joy and truth! Read Julie's Story out of Jehovah's Witnesses. |
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Trish (On WFJ Ministry
Team) - Born and raised Jehovah's Witness
for 42 years, she experienced first-hand the hypocrisy
that exists in the legalistic environment of the
Watchtower organization. After suffering years of
abuse in her Jehovah's Witness marriage and failing
to live up to every expectation of the Watchtower,
Trish divorced her JW husband, telling him that
he could have custody of the religion, and she was
keeping the kids! Living in limbo with no religious
affiliation to claim, God in His mercy and grace
opened Trish's eyes to the Truth of Who Jesus really
is! Surrendering all to Him, she found the peace
and joy she had been looking for all her life, and
He even blessed her with a gentle and loving Christian
husband to care for her. Read Trish's Story out of Jehovah's Witnesses. |
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Jason (On WFJ Ministry Team) - How God Rescued Me and My Family - The Watchtower theology of living forever on earth was most appealing to Jason. He and his wife Jenny were baptized as Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1994 and proceeded to raise their four children in the strict treadmill of Watchtower activity. Witnessing many injustices meted out by the elders upon congregation members, Jason and Jenny began to see the absolute control the organization has over its members. In the midst of the pressure, Jason pondered Jesus’ words at Matthew 11:28 and asked, “What is wrong with me? I don’t feel this refreshment that Jesus promised.” Seeking answers, they turned to the Bible and the testimonies of Ex-Witnesses. Finding true freedom in Christ, Jason, Jenny and their four children are now free at last! Read Jason's Story out of Jehovah's Witnesses. |
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David (On WFJ Ministry
Team) - Raised as Jehovah's
Witnesses in England and spending 49 years as
Watchtower captives, David and his wife Christine
left to find true freedom in Christ. Going where
the "need was great," David had served
in a number of leadership capacities within the
organisation, only to find his efforts rewarded
with unjustified shunning and a genuine "lack
of love" among the "brothers" and
"sisters" of the congregation. Only
in a personal relationship with the Jesus, did
they find what they had been longing for all their
lives. - Read Dave's Story out of Jehovah's Witnesses. |
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Christine ( On WFJ Ministry Team) - Despite the sexual abuse and lack of love and acceptance she experienced when she was growing up in the Jehovah's Witnesses, Christine still believed that the Jehovah's Witness religion was "the Truth" and served as a Regular Pioneer. But deep inside, she felt unworthy, guilty and fearful of what would happen to her at Armageddon. Finally, she cried out in desperation: “Jesus said, ‘Take my load for it is kindly and light,’ but Jehovah it’s not light! It’s more like concrete!” When Jehovah opened her eyes to Jesus her true Shepherd, she found the love, grace and security she had longed for all her life. Read Christine's Story Out of Jehovah's Witnesses. |
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Tammie (On WFJ Ministry
Team) - Raised by Jehovah's Witness parents
(her father an elder), Tammie was confident she
was in the only true religion. Pioneering in her
30's (spending at least 90 hours per month), she
reported an average of 10 "Bible studies"
and placed 100's of Watchtower magazines and books
monthly. As a skilled debator, Tammie gave frequent
"talks" and "demonstrations"
at Theocratic Ministry School from age 7. She was
considered the model "Witness" by her
family and friends, until the conditional love she
had embraced failed and everything in her life fell
apart. Only in Christ, did Tammie find what she
had been looking for. Read Tammie's Story out of Jehovah's Witnesses. |
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Anne Marie (On Ministry Team) -
You might have seen her in the Kingdom Hall.
You know that young, pretty sister with “all
those kids.” The one who struggled to
raise her children “in the truth” alone. The one who was rarely
considered as “wife material” because
she was “damaged goods.” Disfellowshipped
for being raped, Anne Marie finally felt free...
How could this be? Had she not been taught since
age five that the Watchtower organization was
“the Truth”? Finally, she found
the real truth behind “the truth”
and found joy in Christ that she had longed
for all her life. Read Anne Marie's Story out of Jehovah's Witnesses. |
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Nancy - Her husband Kurt was only 32 years old, in excellent health and the father of four children, when a work-related accident burned 75% of his body. For five weeks as his red blood count dropped from the average 48% to only 5%, he struggled to survive in the hospital burn unit without the needed blood transfusion to carry oxygen to his organs. Doctors and medical reports confirm that he would have survived if he had received the transfusion. Was his death in vain? Read Nancy’s Story - How The Watchtower’s Policy On No Blood Transfusions Impacted My Family. |
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Kevin - At a young age, Kevin knew he was different from other boys. When his mother called him a “BEAST” and tried to kill him, his feelings of rejection were confirmed. “Where are these homosexual feelings coming from? Was I born this way?” Kevin wondered. Seeking help from a Jehovah’s Witness elder, he was given a Watchtower book to read to fix his feelings, but nothing worked! After 15 years of gay relationships with over 100 men, Kevin cried out to God for deliverance and experienced the supernatural, life-transforming power of Jesus Christ’s forgiveness that healed him from homosexuality and freed him from the deception of Jehovah’s Witness ideology. Read Kevin's Story out of Jehovah's Witnesses and Homosexuality |
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Grace - For
25 Years, Grace thought she was serving the
only TRUE God - Jehovah, but when Watchtower
leaders made it mandatory for all followers
to believe in 1914 as the date of Christ's presence,
Grace was "kicked" out of the "Ark"
(Watchtower organization) because she could
not accept this doctrine. She was devastated!
But Jehovah had not left her. He picked her
up and brought her to Jesus--the Way, the TRUTH,
and the Life!! Read Grace's Story out of Jehovah's Witnesses.
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Doug G. - Born
and raised one of Jehovah's Witnesses, Doug
fell away from the organization as he could
not live up to its standards. In desperation,
he cried out to God. There were just so many religions that he didn't know where to turn. Finally, he found hope in Jesus and supernatural
strength to overcome his struggles in the grace
and power of the Holy Spirit. - Read Doug's Story out of Jehovah's Witnesses.
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Patty - Born and raised as a Christian, but she was never grounded in the Word of God. This left Patty vulnerable to the deceptive doctrines of the Watchtower. For twenty-four years, she labored heartily for the organization, but nothing could shake the dreadful feeling of not being "good enough" for Jehovah. In desperation, Patty left Jehovah's Witnesses to find true peace, joy and security in Jesus. - Read Patty's Story out of Jehovah's Witnesses.
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Frank - Raised as a Jehovah's
Witness, Frank questioned the rigid legalism and
hypocrisy he witnessed in the Watchtower organization.
As he sought to perform according to Watchtower
standards, he felt as though he was serving man.
Thanks to the conviction of the Holy Spirit and
the loving support of Christian family members outside
of the Watchtower, Frank found the REAL Jesus and
is experiencing true spiritual freedom daily in
the Word of God. Read Frank's Story out of Jehovah's Witnesses. |
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Tressa - Growing up in a Catholic home, all Tressa wanted was for someone to teach her the Bible. So, when Jehovah’s Witnesses knocked on her door, she thought it an answer to her prayers and raised her five children in the organization. Disfellowshipped for divorcing her abusive husband, Tressa was working hard to be reinstated when Jesus found her! Read Tressa's Story out of Jehovah's Witnesses.
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Dennis - Growing
up as a Jehovah's Witness, the biggest fear
that drove Dennis to conform to Watchtower standards
was the fear that God's battle of "Armageddon"
would come and destroy him if he wasn't faithful
enough. Years of striving to make himself acceptable
to God and serving in many leadership roles
in the organization left Dennis feeling like
a hypocrite. His conscience simply would not
permit him to support the unloving policies
he was witnessing in the Watchtower organization.
How could he continue to wear the façade
of being a loyal Jehovah's Witness when he was
not one in his heart? Leaving his leadership
position in the Watchtower, Dennis turned to
God and found true love in a Christian community
where people are accepted, not because of their
performance, but because of the ransom sacrifice
Jesus Christ applied to all who place their
trust in Him alone for eternal life. Read Dennis' Story out of Jehovah's Witnesses.
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Renee - Growing
up as a Jehovah's Witness was not easy for Renee
as she was hated by her small town peers and
had no friends. Marrying a Jehovah's Witness
man and engaging in full-time door-to-door activity,
Renee worked hard for Jehovah God's approval
only to find her dreams dashed to pieces when
her Jehovah's Witness husband left her for another
man and the Watchtower responded by disfellowshipping
her along with her ex-husband on "hearsay"
accusations alone! "How could You do this
to me?" Renee cried out to God. His answer
came in the most unexpected way. She now glorifies
God for the marvelous way He freed her in Christ! Read Renee's Story out of Jehovah's Witnesses.
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Shereen - Raised in the ridged
environment of an abusive Jehovah's Witness home,
Shereen never experienced the freedom to grow as
a child in the arms of loving parents. Hours and
hours of meetings and door-to-door activity, along
with harsh beatings at home over failing to live
up to smallest expectation of her parents left Shereen
with no hope of surviving. After a failed attempt
at suicide, Shereen finally found help in the hands
of a trained counselor. Although she is currently
out of the Watchtower organization, her journey
for physical, emotional and spiritual healing is
far from complete. - Read Shereen's Story out of Jehovah's Witnesses. |
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Hazel -
In the midst of an abusive home life, the Jehovah’s
Witness message of a promised paradise earth gave
Hazel hope that maybe Jehovah really did care
about her, but as her activities in the Watchtower
increased, so did the abuse at home. Believing
she was being persecuted for “righteousness
sake,” Hazel turned to Internet chat rooms
for support. The Christian friends she met on
the Internet challenged her faith and as she began
to question what she had been taught, Hazel found
her Jehovah’s Witness friends unable to
answer her questions from the Bible. This is when
God got a hold of her heart and she learned what
salvation in the grace of Jesus Christ is all
about. Read Hazel's Story out of Jehovah's Witnesses. |
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Leo - Born
and Raised as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, Leo
was a loyal, auxiliary pioneer who left the Watchtower
to join Jehovah's Heavenly Organization found
in an intimate, personal relationship with the
real "Truth" - Jesus Christ - Read Leo's Story out of Jehovah's Witnesses. |
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Brenda - It seemed as if Brenda's
nine-year old world collapsed over night. Those
seemingly harmless Jehovah's Witnesses had succeeded
in convincing Brenda's mother that holidays, birthday
celebrations and all association with non-Jehovah's
Witnesses had to be avoided. Brenda's life which
up until then consisted of school and play-time
with her non-Jehovah's Witness friends and relatives
was immediately altered. She lost all her friends
and spent the next nine years of her life in utter
conflict--trying to be true to her inside identity--while
portraying the Jehovah's Witness "cult"
image her mom required of her. Nearly becoming an
agnostic from her experience in the Watchtower,
Brenda has come back to acknowledging God's existence,
though her spiritual journey is in progress. Read Brenda's Story out of Jehovah's Witnesses. |
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Aaron - From the week he was born, he attended meetings at the Kingdom Hall, and gave his first "talk" at 5 years old. Aaron's family is deeply involved in the Watchtower organization. His grandfather is a Circuit Overseer and his uncles are Presiding Overseers. When his religious faith in the Watchtower crumbled, Aaron turned to Jesus and found the loving God he had searched for all of his life. Read Aaron's Story out of Jehovah's Witnesses. |
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Midge - For 16 years, Midge was a strong Jehovah’s Witness. Despite the questions she had from time to time, she never doubted that the Witnesses had the “Truth.” But when an elder and friend was disfellowshipped without a hearing, combined with the events that followed, she found herself seeing the Organization in a new light. The last meeting she attended, the words of Jesus came to mind, “You will know my people by the love they have among themselves.” She realized then, “There’s no love here.” And that was the moment she knew it was over for her. She left and never looked back. Read Midge’s
Story out of Jehovah’s Witnesses. |
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Frank M – Growing up in a perverse family of pedophiles, Frank’s Jehovah’s Witness childhood was riddled with sex abuse and spiritual confusion. As a child, Frank had dreams of pleasing Jehovah and ruling with Christ, but these dreams were quickly squelched by rejection from his father and the religious hypocrisy he experienced in the Jehovah’s Witnesses. By nineteen, Frank had enough, and he left the organization. Although Frank’s spiritual journey is far from complete, he is happy to be free from the dictates of religious oppression in the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Read Frank’s Story out of Jehovah’s Witnesses. |
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Allison - Growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness, Allie remembers having frightening nightmares about Armageddon. In her dreams, people were dying right in front of her and she never felt she was good enough for Jehovah. Her father, a Presiding Overseer, did not have time for his family. Rather, his children were made to perform in the organization to make him look good. Finding more love and acceptance among her friends outside the organization, she left to find a REAL family who loves her unconditionally. Read Allison’s Story out of Jehovah’s Witnesses. |
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Andrew - “I was never wrongly disfellowshipped, and I don’t have any hard feelings towards any Witnesses whatsoever. My choice to leave the organization was strictly based on what I found out about the history of the organization, the roots of its teachings and its contrast with historic Christianity. I guess there were times when I felt I was a model Jehovah’s Witness, but then there were times when I can say just the opposite. I hope to reach anyone who can identify with my story.” - Read Andrew's Story Out of Jehovah's Witnesses. |
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Angie – Growing up in a dysfunctional single-parent home, Angie longed for stability in her life. At first, she thought she found this in the belief system and home of her Jehovah’s Witness aunt, but when Angie found Scriptures that contradicted the beliefs she was taught as a Jehovah’s Witnesses, she was kicked out of her aunt’s home on a below zero January night without a single belonging because she believed the Bible over the Watchtower. What was Angie to do now? Read Angie’s Story out of Jehovah’s Witnesses. |
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Margery – As a Jehovah’s Witness, Romans 11:25-26 really opened Margery’s eyes. The fact that God still loves the Jews and has a plan to bring them into His salvation was the opposite of what she had been taught in the Watchtower. God opened her eyes to see that in preaching the Witnesses’ message door-to-door; she was persecuting the church, preaching judgment instead of grace, mercy, and salvation. Margery knew she had to leave the organization, even if it meant loosing the friends she held so dear. Read Margery’s Story out of Jehovah’s Witnesses. |
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Larry - The quality of Larry’s life was destroyed by the Jehovah’s Witness religion he was born and raised under. As a young man, Jehovah’s Witnesses told him that he would not grow old enough to need higher education to pursue “worldly” careers because Armageddon would come and bring in the new Paradise earth by the year 1975. Now, unemployed and nearing his 60’s, Larry regrets that he sacrificed 30 years of his life for the false prophecies of the Watchtower Society. Thankfully, he found the real truth in leaving the false “god” of the Watchtower for the true God. Read Larry’s Story out of Jehovah’s Witnesses. |
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Pamela - Raised as a Jehovah’s Witness from the age of four and looking after her baby sister at age ten, Pamela began to be terrified by the doomsday talks she heard at the Kingdom Hall about the Great Tribulation. They frightened her so much that she began to go to bed crying and wondering what would happen if her baby sister died at the end of the world. By sixteen, Pamela knew she had to get out of the Watchtower organization to preserve her mental sanity. Finding a personal relationship with Jesus and reading testimonies of Ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses, she knows that she is not alone. Read Pamela’s Story out of Jehovah’s Witnesses. |
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Sacha - Born in a very strict and active Jehovah's Witness home, Sacha truly believed she had “the truth” and served as a Regular Pioneer along with her Jehovah’s Witness husband. But when her husband (a Ministerial Servant) began to physically abuse her in unimaginable ways, she ran to her family and the elders for help only to be told that if the brutal beatings were reported to the police, it would “tarnish Jehovah’s name and put His people in a bad light.” Finally, Sacha had enough of the abuse. She filed for divorce and was disfellowshipped because the elders claimed she did not have Scriptural grounds for the divorce. Shunned by her family and friends, Sacha moved to a new town and met a Christian man who led her to Christ. Read Sacha’s Story Out of Jehovah’s Witnesses. |
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