It was in 1991 that I met Jehovah's Witnesses outside my door. One of them asked me a question about the Bible: The Bible offers us a wonderful hope, that of a secure future for our families. Sir, who do you think could bring peace to the world? It is God who will stop wars, I replied, I have believed in God since I was 7 years old. Very well sir, that is the correct answer! He then quotes me a Bible verse in Micah 4: 3: 4, “There will be no more aggression of one nation against another, there will be no more training in war ...”. When he showed me this I was very happy: “... no more war, each one will cultivate his vineyard and his fig trees in peace”. Then he showed me a book with the title: “You can live forever on a land that will become a paradise” and opens it on page 20, letting me see through the illustration the beautiful paradise that I have dreamed of for a long time. From that point on, I started going to their meetings. At the Kingdom Hall, I meet sincere, very kind, smiling people with good handshakes. I was very happy to have found the truth!
My painful story.
Now let me tell my storypainful! Suffering from deafness, 80% hard of hearing, I had difficulty understanding the speeches, I was in the front row to read the lips of the speaker who was very difficult to understand and I wanted at all costs to know what Jehovah was saying. It was all very trying to me; my eyes were tired from all the attention it demanded of me. That's why I sometimes missed meetings. So an elder came to see me, surprised by my absences. I told him about my difficulties in following the teachings. He said to me: “It's true, but you have to come back to the Kingdom hall because it is Satan who is trying to discourage you”. - “No,” I replied, “it has nothing to do with Satan, it's my handicap”. Seeing my irregularity in meetings, a Jehovah's Witness sister said to me: “You are not worthy of Jehovah!” This word really shocked me. I was offered to learn sign language and attend meetings adapted for the hearing impaired in a location further away from my home; 60 km round trip, 3 times a week. It was a lot, I didn't have a lot of money, but I was happy to do it for Jehovah. Every 6 months, a supervisor comes to give a public speech and control the organization and attendance at meetings.
But I couldn't come because my wife had just given birth to our little Diego. For them, that did not justify my absence, while I was always out to the Kingdom hall or in door-to-door preaching, leaving my wife always alone with the two elders. 60 km round trip, 3 times a week. It was a lot, I didn't have a lot of money, but I was happy to do it for Jehovah. Every 6 months, a supervisor comes to give a public speech and control the organization and attendance at meetings. But I couldn't come because my wife had just given birth to our little Diego. For them, this did not justify my absence, while I was always out to the Kingdom hall or in door-to-door preaching, leaving my wife always alone with the two elders. 60 km round trip, 3 times a week. It was a lot, I didn't have a lot of money, but I was happy to do it for Jehovah.
Every 6 months, a supervisor comes to give a public speech and control the organization and attendance at meetings. But I couldn't come because my wife had just given birth to our little Diego. For them, that did not justify my absence, while I was always out to the Kingdom hall or in door-to-door preaching, leaving my wife always alone with the two elders. But I couldn't come because my wife had just given birth to our little Diego. For them, that did not justify my absence, while I was always out to the Kingdom hall or in door-to-door preaching, leaving my wife always alone with the two elders. But I couldn't come because my wife had just given birth to our little Diego. For them, this did not justify my absence, while I was always out to the Kingdom hall or in door-to-door preaching, leaving my wife always alone with the two elders.
The doubt.
One day while my wife came to fetch me, a brother told her that her husband, if he persevered to the end would be saved, while she, if she did not come to the meetings, would be destroyed in “Armageddon” c that is to say at the end of time. It upset me! So I was crying and begging my wife to come to the meetings, but she said “no!” To me. The thought that she would be wiped out made me very unhappy. It was then that doubt began to rise in my heart.
One day when we were going door to door with a brother, a very old woman opens her door. Standing with difficulty with her canes, she told us: - “Have mercy on me, I have nothing to give you”. - “We have come to bring you good news: we want to talk to you about the problem of insecurity ...” - “Have mercy, I am not interested, I am tired”. And the woman closed the door. So I asked this brother, "Will this woman be saved?" - “No, it will be destroyed because it did not listen to our message”. So I took pity on this woman, thinking that she would be destroyed like my own wife! I wondered then: "Is God really a God of Love to destroy all men EXCEPT Jehovah's Witnesses?"
During a large assembly in Lens, in front of the gate of the Kingdom hall, stood a small group of people demonstrating and shouting: “Give us back our children!” I did not understand this reaction because it did not seem to me that we, Jehovah's Witnesses, were closed. The next day, seeing in the newspaper the photo of the person in charge of this group, I contacted the ADF I (Association for the Defense of the Family and the Individual) in Lille. I was sent the testimonies of former Jehovah's Witnesses. Normally it is forbidden to read books of these “apostates”. Much like Nicodemus, who went to see Jesus at night, I too would go secretly and attend meetings that expose the lies of the society of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Inside shock I was marked by the testimony of Christelle, a blind lady, who denounced the prophesied dates that had not come true. Here are some of them: 1874 and 1914: “it will be the return of Christ and the end of the kingdoms of this world” 1918: “it will be the fall of Christendom” 1925: “it will be the resurrection of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac , Jacob ”This same lady sent me the book“ Jehovah's Witnesses Behind the Scenes ”written by Ken Guindon who was thirty years a slave to the“ Watchtower ”. It was a great inner shock to discover that everything I believed to be truth was based on a lie. As a verse in the Christian bible says: “If this prophet has spoken in the name of the Lord, and his word is without effect and is not fulfilled, then the Lord has not spoken that word. The prophet spoke with presumption. You don't have to fear it ”. Deuteronomy 18:22 (Jerusalem Bible).
Then I received other testimonies including that of Julien who sent me those of Jean-François Blanchet and Nicolas Hesse who wrote: “If Jehovah's Witnesses come to see you” No one else ... I received then a visit from a Jehovah's Witness, and I explained to him that Russell and Rutherford were false prophets and proved to him that the “New World” translation was falsified. He reacts as if he does not hear and understand, as the prophet Isaiah describes it. “Lord, who has believed our word, and the arm of the Lord, to whom has it been revealed? He blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts so that their eyes could not see, their hearts would not understand, they would not be converted, and I would not heal them. ” John 12:38 to 40.
This brother denounced me and an elder came to see me saying: “If you do not repent I will no longer shake your hand and no one will say hello to you anymore”. I replied: “How could I repent, if the Society is not inspired by the Holy Spirit since it has given so many false dates that do not come true?” Further you say that “If you realize that your religion teaches something wrong, you should turn away from it” (Watchtower July 1, 1958, page 289). And that's what I did ! And I showed him a verse from Saint Paul to the Corinthians (2Corinthians 17: 5): “Examine yourselves and see if you are in the faith, try yourselves”. Already in the days of the apostles, when they sought to know the day of the end of time, Jesus answered: “It is not for you to know the times and times which the Father has appointed by his sole authority.” Jehovah's Witnesses do not respect what Jesus asked for as they keep looking for dates (Acts of the Apostles 1: 6-7 and Mark 13:32).
I then saw his eyes become furious, his hands shaking with anger, he was beside himself! This other verse reinforced him in his confinement: "You search the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, and they are the ones who bear witness to me, and you do not want to come to me to have life!" (John. 5: 39-40). And I picked up that verse from John 12:38 to 40, “He blinded their eyes ...” He was no longer able to hear me. He jumped up and gave me a final handshake signifying the final farewell. I was alone with my Bible, confused. When I met Jehovah's Witness friends in town, no one would shake my hand and everyone would ignore me. Lord Jesus, have mercy on me.
And I was starting a depression. I no longer knew if it was me or them who were right. I was filled with great tension and worry. As soon as there was a thunderstorm, I was stressed, I was in anguish at the thought that it was Armageddon and that I was not saved. Fortunately, Christian and Pascale supported me in this ordeal. I was crying, screaming that I wanted to kill myself. So I started to pray, to cry out to God: “Lord Jesus, have mercy on me, help me, I am tired of my research”. Praying to Jesus was idolatry for Jehovah's Witnesses. Opening the Bible, I then read this verse from John 6:37: “Jesus said: Whoever comes to me, I will not throw out”.
So I understood that I had left the Society but not the Lord, my Savior! And little by little, I returned to the Church. I realized that Jehovah's Witnesses had broken my childhood faith. I was helped to regain my trust in God, finding out that I had a community that I could lean on. “It is the Lord who walks before you, it is He who will be with you; He will not forsake you and abandon you. Do not be afraid and do not be afraid ”Deuteronomy 31: 8.“ You will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free ”John 8:32. I end with this song which spoke to my heart!
No matter what country you come from, and how long it took you to find your way, It's the cry of your heart that matters to God, it's not the color of your skin, nor of your eyes. He was not on the good side the centurion of the Gospel in this country, in this city which he had the mission to occupy, but he knew how to make himself loved even in his place of officer and to savehis servant, he gave himself with all his heart. So the gods of the centurion did not live in the same story but he changed his memory when he discovered the other horizon because he knew how to say to Jesus, when all seemed lost: If you want it, from today, your servant will be cured. We remember the centurion who said: “I am not worthy to dare to give him a sign and welcome him to my house” but others will come like him from all sides, from all countries, because it is up to the people. around the world as the news broke. Jean-Claude (Pas-de-Calais).
Former publisher of Jehovah's Witnesses.
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