Why I Left - Former Elder & Pioneer 

What a revelation, right? Talk about irony :)

607 is one thing, but making up a prophecy out of thin air in Daniel chap 4. Daniel tells Nebucadnezzar the entire prophecy, but the JWs take it further 2000 years into the future throwing in some shady math equations that they pulled out of their ass from no way, hell I could spin all kind of prophecies out of thin air...

Why did you ever believe such obvious bullshit??

@@stevem7945 I wish I knew the answer to that question.

@Greg Jacques you like your own comments desperate to score points

I feel for you, bud. For what it's worth, hang in there. Pretending for so long was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I hope you manage to step down with trouble and can quietly slip away...or however you chose to eventually leave. Wishing you the very best on the journey. My thoughts are with you!

@@TheExjwFamily Thanks. I have a lot of support on the Discord server for PIMO and ex elders. You're always welcome to join.

if you're afraid of repercussions, it's a cult.

I am so sorry 🥺

Thanks for sharing your story, John. So happy you and your family escaped so long ago. We've got a lot of catching up to do, but we're getting there. Hearing you on being creeped out...that's a REALLY good way of putting it :) Appreciate the kind words!

@@vusimngomezulu2500 The "Followers of the Way", the "Nazarene", which has always been within the h-eart of all who heed the Revelation 18: 4, of getting out of it all! Which you don't get yet. But is sincere, you will, join the club of all the real truth seekers and lovers on eart-h. Until then, shalom

@@vusimngomezulu2500 since i told you before and you didn't listen... i leave you in His capable hands sir... ask Him. He will be more than happy to show you so that you can accept the fact that He truly dwells within the h-eart of all who love His Way. His living Truth. We are one, cause HE is One!

@@vusimngomezulu2500 that's all we live for. Can't you tell already!?

@@vusimngomezulu2500 You just don't get it! There are other faiths preaching around the world. Why waste your time condemning those who left your particular faith and move on!

💯 % agree Stephen. The problem with those ExJWs that get on RU-vid before letting go is they often feed into the mentally deranged apostate stereotype and might drive newly awakened folks away. I think faith is something some people have and some people don't, even while they are in the cult. In other words, a lot of people in there don't actually have faith, so when they leave, they stop pretending they do have faith. This isn't the case for everyone of course, but just an observation we've made.

Unfortunately many ex jws believe that criticism of WTBTS is the same as apostasy, heresy is speaking out against a religions teaching good example would be Martin Luther and the Catholic church, Galileo was a Heretic because he taught that the earth was not the centre of the universe, so in fact the vast majority of jws are decent people who see through the WT. If only these people could realise you can believe or worship God without an organisation setting all the rules over your own lives.

To be honest, I never thought of that. I shall keep it in mind if we ever speak to anyone thinking of DAing in the future. In our case, we did speak to the people we cared about and gave them a heads up. That was a strange week when a lot of strange visits and phone calls were made.

Thanks for the advice, really clever.

@@TheExjwFamily Do you know if others you have spoken to want to leave too?

That actually sounds like a pretty good strategy.

As a 'faded' baptised person which I wish to remain as my dad is an elderly strong believer and MS, isn't disassociation really just the same as disfellowshipping? I always thought such ones are treated the same way.

Thank you for the kind words, Rachelle. I might be a little jealous that you woke up and smelt the coffee so young :) I'm sure that was really tough though, going through that as a teen. I'm glad you're parents eventually woke up too. So happy to hear your kids led lives free of the cult. Our little monsters will never set foot in a Kingdom Hall again if we can help it! Thanks for sharing your inspiring story. Happy Holidays to you and your family too! :)

Rachelle you sound like an intelligent person, I'm a little bit jealous as my wife of nearly 60 years married is still in, I've been out for some 3 years, I'm 81 years young and hope my 4 generations will wake up, but as you realise everyone has to find the TRUTH for themselves. PS. You look beautiful in your picture. Happy new year from Australia.

@@justinthyme5382 😊Thank you! I’m always excited to hear when someone has woken up! So congratulations! But it must be very difficult for you to have your wife still believing. And then four generations of family as well?! But you’re right! Each person has to wake up in their own time. At least now there’s an abundance of resources available at the click of the internet! My hope is that the more the governing body tries to convince them not to look, the more curiosity will take over! And for my youngest sister, (the last of my family still in the org), I just hope by showing her unconditional love that she will begin to see the conditional love around her! In the meantime, we need to enjoy life as much as possible! I hope you have a Happy New Year as well! (From Arizona ☀️🌴)

It's so true! And it's a wonder we even laster 2 years. Thank goodness we woke up and smelt the 607 coffee :D

Tell your husband we said hell from Antrim. Glad you escaped the cult and have your husband. He sounds awesome :) All the best to you guys too!

I am Catholic too

Hopefully your loved ones will one day see reason. We still have people in. For now, we've chosen to move on. But if they should ever leave, we'll be there for them :) Who knows what the future might hold?

Yeah, it's pity we were conditioned to be kind to other JWs...and to only show kindness to others when you had an ulterior motive...aka to convert them.

I have to say, I agree with your husband. Best thing I've ever done for sure :)

I love your story. Thanks for sharing it. So happy you left and found love and built a family! That makes me really happy. No regrets on leaving with us either. Life is wonderful outside the JWs :)

@@TheExjwFamily thank you I am fortunate in that I have no family who are JWS so never really experienced shunning. Ironic thing is I often see JW and she says hi to me I often wonder if she would treat me different if she knew I was no longer a JW.

Glad it wasn't just me :D I do think we're a little special people tucked away in the corner of the Atlantic. But then I might be biased haha. Love your Celtic-inspired username! It's great what you can be proud of once the veil is lifted.

@@TheExjwFamily Indeed! Boadicea was a badass. :-) Great to hear your story Brother! I agree with you and your wife's observation, that JWs hate kids. I'm so glad I didn't listen to that rhetoric and had a housefull. Their awakening led to mine and hubby's.

She truly was a badass. I had an artist's rendition of her as my desktop screen for so long. She's one of my inspiration. I was obsessed with the song Enya did about here for a long time ha! Here's to our children! :)

I'm glad the younger Irish are now moving away from Catholicism just a little bit more with each passing year

Boadicea - St. Patrick's Day is coming up, the Irish do have a reputation as fun-loving people.

That means a lot to us, thanks Jexit :) Appreciate your encouragement!

@@TheExjwFamily How are you preaching that Jehovah exist in a world that completely ignores him? How do you think your helping talking wrong against the only ones preaching he exist? You guys are against Jehovah himself, you guys are in a dark trap.

@@meyou5736 You JWs are so ignorant. Claiming that you are the only ones preaching. What a load of bullshit. Christianity has spread to all nations through preaching and started way before the JWs even existed.

@@NeatoboyAus so ignorant that we will be saved from judgement. John 5:24

Who is the Liar & the Antichrist according to John and Jesus? 1 JOHN 2:21 (..) and because no lie originates with THE TRUTH. 22 Who is the LIAR but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ?.. This is the antichrist, THE ONE WHO DENIES.. the Father (JAH JEHOVAH YHWH).. and the Son (JESUS YESHUA). PROVERBS 30:4 Who has ascended to heaven and then descended? (..) Who has established all the ends of the earth? - WHAT IS HIS NAME - & - THE NAME OF HIS' SON -if you know? 6 Add nothing to his words, Or he will reprove you, And you will be proved a LIAR. Who TRULY have the son, according to the son Jesus himself? JOHN 14:24 Jesus said: Whoever does not love me does not observe my words. The word that you are hearing IS.. NOT.. MINE.., but BELONGS.. to the Father.. WHO SENT ME. John 5:24 Most truly I say to you, whoever HEARS my word and BELIEVES THE ONE WHO.. SENT.. ME (JAH YHWH) has everlasting life, and he DOES NOT COME INTO JUDGEMENT but has passed over from death to life.

Hey Gigio. I appreciate your kind words. Also, I love your name! :)

Thanks Ed. I really appreciate the kind words and support! :)

I am truly sorry that you’ve lost everyone. It’s a hard path to travel. But, I am glad to hear of your freedom. We’re here for you. Peace and love right back at you friend :)

Thank you Danielle :)

Thanks, Gary. I don't consider myself a good speaker currently. It's been a long time since I've practiced, so I appreciate that. I'm glad you got some use out of our videos. It they help folks even just a tiny bit, that makes us very happy. Thanks for sharing :)

Thank you, Kelly. We're getting there :)

Thank you, Fran. And the same to you :)

Thanks, Matt. Hope you're keeping well!

100% I was fortunate to work with mainly nice elders, but there were definitely a few nut jobs in the mix. Got some serious stories about those, that's for sure. Most men can't handle that kind of power. Either they keep it in a box or it goes to their heads.

Many are just as you say egotistical. After 25 years serving I noticed if you had a problem with one eventually you had a problem with all. They will never admit to your being righteous.It is very much a breeding ground for narcissistic men who overlook their own sins while judging others harshly for theirs.HIPPOCRITES!!!!!

This is such a kind comment, thank you 🙂

Thank you, and God bless you too!

Thank you for watching them, Peter.

So true. It was soul destroying. But glad to leave that and the cult in the past :)

I used to wonder this too. One of my friends who is still in the cult is one of the smartest people I've ever known. But then I remember, it has nothing to do with intelligence. You can try reasoning with these people all day long but even the best logic will get you nowhere. You have to strike them on an emotional level because that's where they're being controlled. We've got a video planned on how to wake people up and it discusses this in some detail. But it won't be ready for while. The so few JW in Ireland being Irish thing always baffled me when I was in the cult.

A lot of JWs, myself included, were born into it so your whole ideological and social framework was built into your mind at a young age. It can take a lot to break through that. It sometimes reminds me of the Matrix movie but it’s tougher than just taking a red pill.

Yeah because atheists don’t have no BS. LoL. Too funny

Same way you believe the fairy tale that a frog turns into a prince.

Thanks for being here, bud!

Haha, thanks buddy! We do seem to be few and far between :)

@@TheExjwFamily Amen And Amen ❤

Thank you for watching, bud.

Haha it's all those years of beard suppression! :D

@@TheExjwFamily - Maybe it is like being the classic " Wise Man " who sports a beard & live up on a hill - who everyone seeks for advice!

Yeah, Like EVERY SINGLE Bible character in the magazines. Search out why we (they)stopped. Because we used too. 🤣🤣🤣

Which to me is such a stupid rule. It always felt so totalitarian to me and it was the beginning of my doubts because it was so stupid. How can it be bad if that's how Jehovah MADE men!? Stupid

I had a beautiful beard before I left . I still do

Definitely. And it's very dangerous to let any group hold that kind of power over you.

Thank you, Wendi. Welcome to you too :)

Thank you, Lily. We will try :)

That's very kind, thank you :)

Insincere. That's one way of putting it. And so true about the English elders coming to sort out the paddies ha! That was very much the feel when I was still in and I'm sure things haven't changed much...apart from all the special pioneers no longer getting paid and moving back to wherever they came from.

@@TheExjwFamily Maybe we could do a Zoom meeting sometime

I'm very happy, thank you :)

@@TheExjwFamily ---- I'm HAPPY too! . Luke 6:22-23 HAPPY are YOU whenever men hate YOU, and whenever they exclude YOU and reproach YOU and cast out YOUR name as wicked for the sake of the Son of man. 23 Rejoice in that day . [NAME OF PERSON] is no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses ---->> cast out YOUR NAME as wicked . What Jesus Christ said would happen, is really happening! . .

Reminds me of that Happy music video the bethalites at Brooklyn and Watchower farms created. If only JWs really were that happy. Take care, buddy.

Did you here of the punch drunk oriental who's Father suffered with dysentery, HE WAS A SLAP HAPPY JAPPY, WITH A CRAP HAPPY PAPPY. keep smiling folks.

Thanks for sharing your experience Maria, and your mother's story. We have heard many similar stories. Putting one's foot in the door was often worn as a badge of pride. How arrogant and rude, though! Glad you're out :)

Your exactly right Fear and Manipulation..Im glad I left over 40 years ago Stayed in it for 10 years .I have so many regrets even going down that path .but with God's helped I moved along I didn't let this organization shake my faith.

My parents were strong and most important HONEST. Thanks mom and dad, you were the best. I have never bought any of the BULLSHIT THAT RELIGION IS COMPOSED OFF. THANKS MOM AND DAD. I have grown up to be a good person, hard working, caring and loving and in love with my grandchildren. WHO NEEDS ANY GODS, GODS ARE WORTHLESS, PILES OF BULLSHIT.

Oh dear, that's terrible. Further proof that they prey on the vulnerable. Hopefully she wakes up one day. It's sad when folks loose so much of their life to the cult.

@@TheExjwFamily I try to steer her away from it, but she is at the ‘honeymoon’ phase, where she is receiving lots of apparent love and support from them. She shows me pamphlets occasionally. I have never read such puerile crap or seen such dreadful illustrations, and am astonished at the cheap paper they are printed on! I’ve known her for over 20 years and will always listen and be there for her when it all goes belly up. Which it will.

True. One might say it's even a picture of a carrot and not a real carrot. Thanks for the kind words :) Sometimes I wonder if folks can even understand the accent haha

Hey Summer! Great to hear from another Irish person :) We've lined up a few videos in the vein so they should be up in Jan some time :)

Wow, that is so recent Michelle. Well done on leaving and standing up for your beliefs. Good call sending a letter around to everyone beforehand to ensure at least some know your real reason for leaving. Someone mentioned this to us recently, and we hadn't thought about it when we disassociated. But we also didn't really care at that point. We were just happy to leave after having to put up with so much for so long. Happy freedom to you all!

And thank YOU! :)

♥️♥️

Thanks bud. We'd be happy to live stream at some point. Things are a bit mad at the minute in the early new year, but let's do something when the dust settles.

@@TheExjwFamily sounds amazing let me know

If JWs respect why people leave, then why are they treated as dead and shunned? What a disgusting Cult you are part of!

I think a little bit of understanding goes a long way when curious eyes "stumble upon" your videos.

Millions Now Living Will Never Die . You positively will not die . The operation of Satan! . 2 Thessalonians 2:11 So that is why God lets an operation of error go to them, that they may get to believing THE LIE. . But hey, all those millions are now dead! . Isaiah 28:18 And YOUR covenant with Death will certainly be dissolved, and that vision of YOURS with She´ol will not stand. . .

I'm glad you could join the apostates on this channel, brother. Keep up the good work!

They are the ones whose minds have somehow been corrupted by Satan! . 2 Corinthians 11:3 But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent seduced Eve by its cunning, YOUR MINDS MIGHT BE CORRUPTED away from the sincerity and the chastity that are due the Christ. . Millions Now Living Will Never Die . You positively will not die. . With the overlapping generation doctrine they are now simply carrying on with THE LIE. . Revelation 21:27 But anything not sacred and anyone that carries on a disgusting thing ** AND A LIE ** will in no way enter into it; . .

Projection at its finest.

Haha I like your style, Clayton. Cheers. Paddy :)

Sorry to hear, Marv. A lot of people think the same about us. For what it's worth, you're not alone.

@@TheExjwFamily thank you. I appreciate it.

You are certainly not alone. ❤️

My mum thinks same about me for taking a walk, a former examplary and zealous Ministerial Servant. Just hope one day I'll sum up the courage to do a youtube video of my experience.

@@adigboloja so sorry to hear that. it's so hard when family just doesn't see your perspective

Sorry to hear your wife is still in, brother. It can be a real tug of war. I hope she wakes up one day soon. We've planned a video on how to wake up loved ones up. Not that we're experts, but maybe some of it will resonate with people and help them wake folks up. Good luck on your journey. Our thoughts are with you, for what it's worth.

Hi Justin, my name is just in time, you see I'm 81 years young, and was a jw for 46 years and woke up by research on the internet, ie. Child sex abuse cover ups, UN hypocrisy, I like you am married (60 years this year)and my wife and 4 generations are still in, I've never been disfellowshiped and obviously don't want to lose any of my family, but over the last 3 years I've slowly been able to open up my wife's eyes you of course know the challenges involved. So hopefully with my remaining time my family will SEE the TRUTH about the truth. I chose the name just in time as it seemed appropriate, PS I have tried to keep my sense of humour in this TIME OF THE END. Bye from Australia 😇😎🦘

Yeah, I think it's easy to forget that we were all Jehovah's Witnesses at one point...and the tendency to conflate the actions of the organization with the actions of its members is real. It is very tricky to disconnect those things since the members support the horrible directives of the organization whether that be through action or inaction. But the reality is, these people are indoctrinated. They are literally being mind controlled and they don't even know it. That does not make them bad people. It's challenging even for someone who gives this a great deal of thought to process the dichotomy. We still wrestle with it. In some ways, humans are a lot more complex than we would like to admit. Glad to hear that you're beginning to let go or some of the ties. It can be difficult!

Yeah, at least DF people can come back. DA people have sinned against the Holy Spirit and that's so much worse haha Like it makes any difference :)

So true buddy! And thank you :)

I might do that in a future video.

They do have a lot of double standards ha

Very true. I think we'll make a video on our decision to DA versus Fade some day. For us, we just wanted to cut all ties permanently. We didn't, and don't, care what anyone still inside thought. It has worked a charm :)

Someone else commented on this video that you should send disassociation letters to everyone in the congregation. I think that’s kind of a brilliant idea. It lets you control the narrative, not them.

@@schleprock000 I think that's an excellent idea I'm sure many have done that. I never thought I would say it's the most dishonest religion out there. The publishers are good people the leaders are wretched

It’s been a while for me, but I’ll try to give you the brief overview of what the significance of 607 is; 607 BC, as well as 1914, are cornerstone years for much of the Watchtower’s theology. Firstly , they claim that Jerusalem was destroyed to complete desolation in 607, which is unsupported by any historical evidence. Then they use the “Seven Times” mentioned in Daniel 4, not only as an end times prophecy, but to conclude that seven times is equal to 2520 years. They add that 2520 years to 607 to get to the year 1914. So 1914 was supposed to be Armageddon or the end of the world. This was later revised it to the “beginning of the end” times. And since the second coming of Christ didn’t happen as expected in 1914, they then claimed that Jesus returned invisibly in 1914. He also began ruling then and examining all the earth’s religions. And in 1918, Jesus chose the Watchtower Society/Jehovah’s Witnesses (actually called the Bible Students at the time) as the sole means of salvation when Armageddon finally comes. I don’t recall why it took 4 years to choose them though. Many years ago, I studied this in depth to try to make it make sense and I fact-checked their references used for 607 and all the historical records show that Jerusalem was destroyed in 587/586 BC. It was actually impressive to see how many records there are and how carefully detailed the historical records are from that time! All the way down to business/banking records that have no influence in deciphering biblical texts. And still, there’s nothing to point to 607. And then you can decide for yourself if the verses from Daniel are even meant to have meaning beyond what’s written to include end times prophecy. And then somehow connect it with the destruction of Jerusalem? It just didn’t add up for me. I hope this confusing explanation helps! LOL 😂 There’s an excellent article on jwfacts.com that explains it much better than I can! They also include all the references directly quoted from the Watchtower publications if you’re interested. ☺️

@@rachelle2032 that's an excellent summary, lovely job. This was the lynchpin in my waking up. And as you say, it's a cornerstone belief, so once that's gone much or the rest of it collapses too

I couldn't possibly say it any better than Rachelle. They way I look at it, Jehovah's Witnesses beliefs is like a three-legged stool. Take one of them away and the whole thing falls over. Doctrine is one of those legs. When I realized the truth about 607, that stool leg snapped.

I agree with Truth Seeker. Great summary. And gotta love jwfacts.com What a great site :)

@@rachelle2032 Wow perfect explanation. I don’t think most of jw can even explain about these, they just read from the book and think they understand it, and I was one of um! Ugh!

That is such an accurate quote!

Haha, I'm glad it resonate, Brother! We could write books for sure...and I probably will write several lol Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We truly appreciate your kinds words and the support :) Take care!

Thanks Shasha. We appreciate your support :)

It's sad but true.

Unfortunately the crunch comes so regularly.

It's strange but true :D

Agreed!