Chapter Nine

It was June of 1992, and it was once again time
for the annual District Assembly of Jehovah's
Witnesses held in Louisville, Kentucky. Linnie and I
had been making plans for several months now,
having made hotel reservations well in advance to
ensure we would be able to get a room. There would
be thousands of Jehovah's Witnesses assembled at
one of the sports areas, to receive spiritually uplifting
information and enlightenment. The program usual
ly consisted of the releasing of a new book produced
by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, as well as
public talks on a variety of Bible topics. They also
customarily enacted dramas or plays, depicting
various Bible characters acting out different stories.

I had been to assemblies a number of times in the
past and I really didn't like attending them. Among
other things, the seats were usually uncomfortable,
the food served was atrocious, and I had an aversion
to crowds. As the time for the assembly drew nearer,
I began to dread attending, more and more.

One evening after our Tuesday night study, I
inquired of the elder conducting the meeting, why we
were required to attend all those assemblies. My
questioning came as a result of the earlier proud
announcement by of one of the sisters in attendance,
that she had quit her job when her employer
informed her that she couldn't be absent from work
on the days the assembly was scheduled. The elder
had commended the sister for her steadfast loyalty to
Jehovah and the organization.

In an effort to reason with the elder, concerning
the mandatory attendance of the assemblies, I stated
that everything that takes place at the gatherings is
recorded and published in subsequent issues of the
Watchtower magazine. Therefore, if you're not able
or don't want to attend, you really don't miss any
thing. The elder advised me the Scriptures clearly
admonish Christians not to forsake the gathering of
themselves together, as some have the custom of
doing. Then, in an obvious effort to further intimi-
date me and those others listening, the elder stated
that under the Hebrew Law those who failed to
attend certain meetings were put to death. "That's
just how serious the matter is."

This comparison with the ancient Mosaic Law and
our possible failure to attend an assembly, in my
opinion was ridiculous. I retorted to the elder's
comment that, inasmuch as we gather ourselves at
the five meetings every week, I failed to see how we
could possibly be lacking in "gathering together." I
then facetiously inquired of the elder, "Just who
decides how much gathering we're supposed to do?"

Obviously failing to see any irony in my question, the
elder staunchly replied, "The Faithful and Discreet
Slave, of course," meaning the Governing Body of
Jehovah's Witnesses. Once again, I could see that
my questions and comments were irritating our
Study Conductor to the point of anger, so I just
dropped the subject. After a number of other
encounters with the elders concerning questions that
I had about the teachings of the organization, I began
protesting to my wife that there was something very
wrong with the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society
of Jehovah's Witnesses. I couldn't put my finger on
it yet, I informed her, but it was really bothering me.

It was like an itch that you couldn't scratch, and I
was beginning to become very disturbed over the
feelings I was experiencing. On one occasion, when I
admitted to the elder studying with us that I
sometimes had questions and doubts concerning
some of the organization's beliefs, he advised me to
just set my questions aside for a while. The elder
assured me that, eventually, Jehovah would grant
me understanding of those things, and that we all
had doubts occasionally. I had been attempting to
comply with the elder's suggestion. However, my
questions and doubts had reached the point that I
could no longer set them aside. I remembered that I
had never had this problem before, when we had
studied with the Witnesses years go. I had simply
accepted what the Society had taught me, without
question, and I wondered why this time it was so
different.

Certainly I was older and more
experienced, and perhaps all my years as a police
officer caused me to be suspicious and not to accept
things at face value. Whatever the reason for my
misgivings, it was beginning to take its toll on my
faith in the Watchtower organization. The time of the
assembly in Louisville arrived, and even though I had
no desire to attend, my wife and I dutifully made the
long journey east to the big city. When we arrived at
our hotel and checked in, we were very disappointed
with our accommodations arranged for us by the
Society.

In addition to the linen on our king-size bed
being soiled, the carpet was full of cigarette burns
and didn't appear as though it had ever been
cleaned. The lamp hanging from the ceiling was
dangling by one wire and wouldn't light when you
turned on the switch. However, the worst of it was
that the air conditioner was malfunctioning and
wouldn't blow cold air. My wife and I would have
preferred to try to find another hotel room. However,
unfortunately because of the assembly being held in
town, finding a vacancy elsewhere was not very
likely, so we decided we would just have to make the
best of a bad situation. That evening, while eating
dinner in the hotel restaurant, we encountered a
number of Witnesses from the Madisonville congre-
gation, and many of them were also very unhappy
with their accommodations.

The next morning, we
arose bright and early. The assembly was scheduled
to start at 9:00 a.m., and we wanted to get there in
advance of the crowd, to enable us to obtain seats --
preferably close to the front due to my hearing
disability. Unfortunately, everyone else seemed to
have the same idea. We had to park our car, what
seemed like miles from the stadium, necessitating a
long hot walk to the entrance. When we finally got
inside, the only seats still available were high up in
the bleacher section. I grumbled to my wife as we
trekked up the steep ramps, that if I had known we
were going to have to sit so far from where the
program was taking place, I would have brought my
binoculars. We finally found two seats together and,
after squeezing our torsos into them, I mused to
myself about how some of the overweight brothers
and sisters were going to fare in these very small
seats constructed so close together. I was glad when
the meeting finally got underway and my attention
was diverted from the already intense heat and our
cramped and uncomfortable surroundings. As I
recall, the program started off with a public talk.

After several different subjects were expounded
upon, the speaker made a startling announcement
that really shocked my sensibilities. This declaration
he made brought about a turning point in my life
that would eventually lead my wife and me out of the
tangled and twisted web of Watchtower deceit for
ever. The speaker stated, "You brothers and sisters
who have friends outside the organization that you
have witnessed to, and they haven't accepted the
'Truth,' you should now completely disassociate
yourselves from these people." "After all," the speak
er continued, "bad associations, spoil useful habits."

That statement didn't surprise me too much, since
the Witnesses felt that everyone outside the organi
zation was being led by Satan and shouldn't be
associated with. However, then the speaker contin-
ued, "And you brothers and sisters who have family
members that you have thoroughly witnessed to, and
they haven't accepted the 'Truth,' you should now
spend as little time as possible with them also." The
speaker's statement almost caused me to stand in
protest, and I looked around me, expecting an outcry
from members of the audience. However, everyone
just sat there quietly, some busily fanning them-
selves due to the heat, and others with a bored
expression on their face. I couldn't believe the
speaker had made such an incredible statement.

I leaned over to my wife and asked in a whisper if she
had heard what the speaker had said, about spend-
ing as little time as possible with family members
outside the "Truth." Linnie replied that she had
heard and, sensing that the statement had annoyed
me, attempted to "soft pedal" what the speaker had
meant. Linnie clarified that the speaker's declaration
didn't mean for us to totally shun our family mem
bers. We needed only to limit our time with them to
necessary contact. My wife's interpreting for the
speaker irritated me even further, and I couldn't
believe that a person as intelligent and kind as my
wife couldn't see this for what it was.

I sat through the remainder of the program in
resolute silence, just waiting for the noon break for
lunch. As soon as we were dismissed, Linnie and I
returned to our hotel room to eat lunch and rest
before the afternoon session began. During the drive
to the hotel, I informed Linnie that I was outraged by
the speaker's assertion that we spend as little time
as possible with family members who were not
Jehovah's Witnesses. I asked Linnie if she realized
the full implications of what the speaker was
advocating, inasmuch as we were the only Witnesses
on either side of our family. It meant spending as
little time as possible with our now grown sons, our
beloved grandchildren, our parents, and all of our
brothers and sisters. I reminded Linnie that a great
deal of what was wrong in our society today was a
result of the disintegration of the family unit, and I
couldn't believe that any Christian organization
would attempt to further alienate its followers from
their families. After all, I further asserted, wasn't the
family arrangement ordained by God, for the benefit
of mankind? It also occurred to me -- and I related it
to my wife -- that this business of isolating people
from their families and friends outside of their
religious group was a favorite tactic used by religious
cults. With outside influences drastically limited, it
is easier to control people. I recalled that
"isolationism" was the same strategy used by the
infamous Jim Jones and the resulting tragic
Jonestown massacre.

After arriving at our hotel room I informed Linnie
that I had no intention of returning to the assembly,
and that I didn't want anything to do with a group or
organization that advocated separation of the family.

I further advised Linnie that, if she wanted to take
the car and return for the remainder of the assembly
after the noon break, she could. However, I would
wait at the hotel. Linnie advised me that she didn't
want to go back to the assembly alone, so we decided
to just pack up and drive home that afternoon.
While we packed, I once again adamantly asserted
my misgivings concerning the Watchtower Bible and
Tract Society and repeated my earlier statement to
my wife, that there was something terribly wrong
with their organization.

However, what I failed to recognize until sometime
later, was that this strategy of alienation of family
members outside the organization of Jehovah's Wit
nesses was not a new revelation or teaching, as I had
thought. I had not been exposed to the Watchtower
and their doctrines for some time, during my period
of disfellowshipping, and I had all but forgotten
about their "Us and Them" mentality. I also recalled
that this Watchtower policy had been more of an
attitude and, until the assembly in Louisville, I had
never heard it verbalized that I could remember.
That was apparently why no one else seemed to be
upset or offended by the statement, including my
wife.

When we arrived back home in Madisonville, I
informed my wife that I was going to undertake a
thorough study of the Holy Scriptures on my own. I
announced that I would no longer read or be
influenced by the Watchtower publications or their
teachings, in my search for the real 'Truth.' I then
surreptitiously purchased a copy of the New
International Version Study Bible and a Bible
dictionary from a local bookstore. I still wasn't
confident enough in my newly proclaimed
independence to venture into a Bible bookstore, as I
was still concerned about being seen by one of the
Witnesses and turned in to the elders.

I continued to accompany my wife to the public
talk at the Kingdom Hall on Sundays, and my
feelings of paranoia made me wonder if any of the
elders noticed that I was no longer carrying or using
the New World Translation Bible to look up the
scriptures referenced during the meeting. I knew
that eventually someone would notice the New
International Version Study Bible I was carrying, and
I would be confronted by the elders. However, before
the matter ever came to light, another very
unexpected tragedy befell our family. My elderly
stepmother, who lived in retirement in Port
Charlotte, Florida, fell suddenly ill. My wife and I
were required to travel there to be with her during
her serious illness and remained to take care of
family matters after her subsequent demise. It was
during our extended visit to Florida that God very
decisively intervened in our lives. The Lord took us
by the hand and very lovingly began to lead us out of
the darkness of Watchtower deception.