Chapter Seven

As the year 1974 faded into history and 1975
began, there was a heightening climate of anticipa-
tion among Jehovah's Witnesses. The Watchtower's
publications had been pointing toward the Autumn
of 1975 as the time of Armageddon and Christ's
cleansing of all the wicked from the earth before
restoring it to a paradise condition. It was almost as
if everyone was holding their breath, waiting for that
first worldwide, earthshaking event that would signal
the beginning of the end. The Watchtower had been
telling us that world political leaders would turn on
organized religion and there would be worldwide
anarchy.

In addition, there appeared to be a "speeding up"
of the separating work taking place, as Jehovah's
"sheeplike ones" clamored to join the organization.
There was a phenomenal growth taking place, with
people reportedly being baptized in unprecedented
numbers. This was further proof to us that Arma
geddon was just months away and God's Kingdom
would soon reign.

We had heard and read about brothers and sisters
all over the world selling their homes and quitting
their jobs so they could "pioneer" for the organization
during the short time remaining in this old system of
things. The Society commended them in their pub
lications and stated that these faithful "pioneers"
were setting a fine example for the rest of us. Also,
we had heard locally of Witnesses doing other things
in anticipation of the end of this system. Some were
using up their savings, cashing in insurance policies,
and going into debt unnecessarily. Others we knew
had put off decisions concerning marriage, having
children, buying homes, and having needed surgery
performed. I am sure there were many other impor
tant decisions that the Witnesses made which were
duly influenced by the coming world's end.

I remember wondering, several years prior to 1975,
why we were planning to build a new Kingdom Hall
on Aubry Prow Road. After all, I reasoned, Armaged
don is just a year or so away. Weren't we running
the risk that the product of all our expense and hard
labor might be destroyed with the rest of this old
wicked system? When I mentioned my misgivings to
one of the elders in the congregation, he looked at me
like one might look at a ten-year-old who had just
asked a very foolish question. The elder then matter-
of-factly informed me that, "Jehovah wouldn't de
stroy one of His own buildings." I felt embarrassed
at asking such an obviously idiotic question, so I
simply shrugged and smiled, then replied, "I guess I
didn't think of that."

As the prophetically marked year of 1975 faded
into history and 1976 began, everything seemed to
be "business as usual." The foretold great event had
not occurred, and I was feeling disillusioned and
betrayed by the Watchtower Society. As time passed,
with no immediate explanation from Jehovah's
organization and sole channel of communication, my
disillusionment turned to anger. At that time I quit
going out in service altogether and only attended the
meetings with my family sporadically. It wasn't long
until the Society started making excuses for their
failed prophecy, and ironically they put the blame on
their followers. They stated that some of the
brothers, in their enthusiasm for God's Kingdom to
be established, misinterpreted statements made by
the Watchtower Society. The organization also indi
cated that this may very well have been Jehovah's
way of testing his followers' loyalty to see if they were
truly sincere or were simply serving God to a specific
date. That was "it" for me. I wasn't buying into their
excuses. I had enough, and I was though with the
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society and Jehovah's
Witnesses. However, as it later turned out, they
weren't through with me.

Sometime in 1976, I made a conscious decision to
leave the organization, just as I heard numerous
others were doing. I didn't write them a formal letter,
notifying them of my decision; I simply stopped
attending the meetings, and I had already ceased my
door-to-door witnessing activity. However, my wife
Linnie loyally continued, seemingly undaunted by
the Society's false prediction. Linnie seemed to over
look the Watchtower's shortcomings concerning 1975
by accepting another of their standard excuses: that
they were just imperfect human beings and, as such,
were subject to error. I, on the other hand, had lost
my faith in the Bible, in the Watchtower organiza
tion, and in Almighty God himself, and I was back to
my old attitude of "eat, drink, and make merry, for
tomorrow we die."

In an effort to replace the lost spirituality in my
life, I turned to secularism and became totally
dedicated to my police work. With the appointment
of a new Police Chief and a subsequent reorganiza
tion of the department, I was promoted to Detective
Sergeant. I was assigned to work on dangerous drug
and narcotic cases for the newly formed Investigation
Division, working long hours on surveillance and
development of drug informants.

It was now sometime in the Fall of 1979, and I was
getting dressed to go to work on the three-to-eleven
shift at the Police Department. My wife Linnie came
into our bedroom and informed me that there were
two elders from the Kingdom Hall in the living room,
and that they wanted to speak to me. I asked Linnie
if she knew what they wanted. My wife had a very
puzzled look on her face and replied that she didn't
know. I couldn't imagine why they would want to see
me. I had not attended a meeting in several years
and only had occasional contact with the Witnesses,
usually when they came to the house to visit with
Linnie or when I met one of them on the street.
I walked into the living room and greeted our
visitors. After they had introduced themselves, we
shook hands and I invited them to sit down on the
couch, opposite me. Both men were dressed in
business suits and ties, wearing overcoats, and
appeared to be thirty to forty years of age. One of the
men was tall and slender looking, and the other man
was of medium height and stocky build and had
several scars on his face. I remember thinking they
looked more like Mafia hit-men than elders of Jeho
vah's Witnesses. Their ominous appearance and
nervousness, coupled with the fact that I didn't
recognize them as members of the local congregation,
concerned me.

When I asked the two men what I could do for
them, they informed me that they had been sent
from California to Madisonville by the Watchtower
Bible and Tract Society. They further stated that Je
hovah's Spirit was being hindered here in Madison
ville, as evidenced by the fact that there had been no
growth in the congregation for some time. Their job,
they informed me, was to determine what the prob
lem was and to take whatever action was necessary
to correct it. The men further related that they felt
that perhaps there were people in the congregation
that were involved in wrongdoing which was grieving
God's Holy Spirit. At that point, I asked the scar
faced man doing most of the talking what that had to
do with me. The man replied that it had been
brought to their attention by members of the
congregation that I had been seen smoking. The
scarfaced man then brazenly informed me that, even
though I was inactive, I was still considered to be one
of Jehovah's Witnesses. If the report about my
smoking was true, I would be given a short period of
time in which to correct the problem and, if I refused,
I would be disfellowshipped (excommunicated).

I felt humiliated and embarrassed by these
complete strangers' accusation, and I could feel my
face growing flushed as the resentment welled up
inside of me. I had willingly "kicked" the cigarette
habit back in 1973, when the Society had ordered all
of their followers to stop using tobacco in any form.
The organization had determined it was an "unclean
habit" that was injurious to people's health and
therefore a sin to use it. I had started smoking again
in 1976, when I stopped attending meetings and
going out in service. However, I really didn't think
that these two coarse looking characters from the
Watchtower Society had any right to come into my
home and dictate to me how to live my life.

Looking at the two men with the hardest, coldest
stare I could muster, I reached into my inside coat
pocket and pulled out a cigar. As I lit up and puffed
several times to get it started, the two men abruptly
stood. The man with the scars on his face angrily
stated, "Well, I guess you've made your decision." I
calmly retorted, "I certainly have, and now it's time
for you to leave." I got out of my chair and followed
the two men as they quickly walked to the front door
and exited our house.

After the elders' sudden departure my wife came
out of the bedroom where she had been waiting and
asked me, "What happened?" After I informed Linnie
what had transpired, she became very annoyed with
me, contending that I had treated the elders badly.
One of the reasons the elders' visit and domineering
attitude upset me so greatly was that, just a year or
so before, Linnie and I had had the worst altercation
of our entire marriage. It was so serious that it
resulted in my moving out of the house for a short
period of time. The quarrel and resulting temporary
separation was over a Watchtower magazine article
that dictated what sort of contact was proper
between husband and wife in the marriage bed.

I was sick and tired of the Watchtower Bible and
Tract Society interfering in our personal lives, and I
told my wife that, since I was going to be disfellow
shipped by the organization anyway, Jehovah's Wit
nesses were no longer welcome in our house. Being
disfellowshipped by the Witnesses means that you
will be completely shunned by former friends and
associates and even family members not living in
your household. They will no longer speak or have
anything to do with you.

The Thursday night following my confrontation
with the elders, my wife and youngest son Chris, who
was now seven or eight years of age, attended the
Ministry School and Service Meeting at the Kingdom
Hall. When they returned home, my wife somberly
informed me that one of the elders had made the
formal announcement that I had been disfellow
shipped. I was disconcerted by this news. Not
because of being disfellowshipped; I was expecting
that. Rather, I was offended and annoyed by the way
the elders had vilified me in the presence of my
youngest son. I am sure that Chris was too young to
fully understand the proceedings and everything that
took place. However, I was equally sure that Chris
got the distinct impression that his "Daddy" had
done something very bad. According to my wife, the
elder making the announcement didn't state the
reason for my being disfellowshipped. That was left
to the imagination of the congregation, to figure out
what terrible sin I was guilty of.

After my being disfellowshipped, I had no further
contact with Jehovah's Witnesses for the next four or
five years. Even though my wife Linnie continued in
the organization as a member in good standing,
because of my being disfellowshipped none of the
Witnesses ever visited her in our home. I continued
my career with the Madisonville Police Department,
having been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant,
assigned as the Department's Crime Prevention and
Public Information Officer. Our two eldest sons,
Daniel and Scott, had grown into manhood and were
no longer active Witnesses. Only our youngest son
Chris, who was now a teenager, accompanied his
mother to the meetings at the Kingdom Hall.

It was October 1984, when the greatest tragedy
that had ever befallen our family occurred. Our
beloved first-born son Daniel was killed in an
automobile accident. Daniel was twenty-three years
old and had been married just over a year to a girl he
had known since they were teenagers in high school.
Daniel and Patricia had been blessed with a delight
ful baby girl, Catherine Michelle, who at the time of
our son's demise was only five months of age. Our
daughter-in-law, the former Patricia Sidman, and all
of her family were devout Catholics. As you might
imagine, this presented us with some problems that
had to be dealt with at a very difficult time.

Our daughter-in-law wanted her family's Catholic
priest to perform Daniel's funeral, and Linnie wanted
one of the elders of Jehovah's Witnesses to officiate
at the ceremony. Even though I had been disfellow
shipped by the Witnesses, I sided with my wife. I felt
that Daniel had been reared as a Jehovah's Witness,
so it seemed appropriate that he should be buried as
a Witness. However, I also believed that Daniel's
young wife and her religious preferences should be
taken into consideration.

In an effort to resolve the dispute, the funeral
home director suggested that the ceremonial pro
ceedings be split or shared by the Catholic priest and
the Witness elder. This seemed like a plausible
solution to the problem, and the Catholic priest was
willing to compromise. However, the Witness elder
asserted that he wouldn't participate at all, unless he
was permitted to conduct the entire funeral
ceremony. The elder further stated that the Society
wouldn't approve of his being a party to a joint
service of any kind with a teacher of false religion
who was a member of Satan's organization. Inas
much as Linnie was so adamant that the Witnesses
conduct our son's funeral, our daughter-in-law
reluctantly conceded, permitting the Witnesses to
take charge of the entire proceedings.

There were over three hundred people in
attendance at our son's funeral, with a great number
of them being Jehovah's Witnesses. As is customary,
after the funeral many of the people approached my
wife and me to express their condolences for our
tragic loss. Some shook our hands and others
hugged us. However, even though I was standing
next to my wife, the Witnesses completely ignored
me. Many of them I had been acquainted with for
years, and they treated me as though I wasn't even
there. Naturally, this hurt me a great deal, at a time
when I was extremely vulnerable, and only served to
add to my already deep feelings of grief and pain.