My story on how I discovered this site takes me back to earlier years. I was raised a Catholic by my mother. During grade school, I attended Catholic school once a week on Wednesday evenings and mass on Sundays. The Wednesday classes were always fun. The teachers used slide films to show many pictures of people who names were in the Bible along with some scriptures from the Bible.
After finishing high school, I lost interest in the Catholic Church and very rarely attended their church. I never understood much of what the Catholic priest was talking about and I was usually bored to sleep during their repetitive masses.
Later in my late twenties I began a search for God and purchased a used Bible and began reading it. While reading the book of Genesis, I was amazed on what I have discovered. Adam the first man lived for 930 years. I never knew that anyone had lived for such a long period of time!!! And then there was the Nephilim—giants that were a cross bread of humans and angels.
After reading Genesis and Exodus I ended up losing interest in the following chapters of the Hebrew text; they seemed much more difficult to understand. I then decided to read the New Testament; for the most part, I read the entire New Testament.
Tears came to my eyes when I read the books of Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John and sometimes I even had to stop reading because I could not even see the words anymore. I then realized the Catholic religion did not teach its members much about the Bible. In fact, I never had a bible when I was a regular Catholic.
Finally, I came to the last book of the Bible—the Book or Revelation. I found this book real interesting; though I didn't understand much about what was being talked about, I wanted to know more. A few weeks went by, and then I found a book in a second store that was titled, “Babylon the Great Has Fallen and God’s Kingdom Rules.” I remembered that the name Babylon from the book of Revelation; after reading some of the pages, I discovered that this book seemed to explain the mysteries in the book of Revelation.
A few weeks went by and then two older Jehovah Witnesses came “knocking” on my door. After talking with them, I decided to have a bible study with them. More weeks went by and then I began to attend their Kingdom Hall. After I finished their book called “Knowledge That Leads to Everlasting Life”, I was encouraged to consider becoming an un-baptized publisher for both brother and sister pointed out in the book of Mathew, “Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the holy spirit, teaching them all things I have commanded you.” They explained to me that this was a command from Jesus and that I should obey it. My first request for becoming an un-baptized publisher was denied because I voted a few weeks earlier. About a month and a half later, I was encouraged to make another request and did so; my request was accepted and I became an un-baptized publisher.
Going out in service was quite an experience. I found myself knocking on many doors and placing many Watchtower and Awake magazines and sometimes Watchtower books. Some people would accept the Society’s magazines and others would not.
Though I was reading and studying the Watchtower articles and looking the verses up in the Bible, I stopped my daily Bible reading. It took so much time to prepare for the meetings at the Kingdom hall. The time that I once used for reading the bible was now going towards the Watchtower and Awake magazines, the weekly book study, and the Thursday night meetings. I was on my way to be baptized.
However, I also had doubts that were planted within me before I ever studied with Jehovah’s Witnesses. My grandmother—from my mom’s side-- always believed that they were a “cult.” She told me to be careful for they have been preaching for many decades about the end of the world and will “mess up” anyone’s mind if given the chance. Also, a few people that my dad knew also warned me about them. They told me to stay far away from them and that they were a dangerous cult.
As I progressed, I began to question some of the Watchtower’s teachings. At first it did not bother me too much. Some of the older Jehovah Witnesses explained to me that the Society’s teachings are updated as the years go by and others are completely done away with—such as Russell’s teaching of the great pyramid of Gizeh being God’s "stone witness." I was told that this is because Jehovah gives the “slave class” new “light” from time to time. This “light” is passed on to the great crowd as spiritual food. It is like being on a life boat going down a river. If you get off, you will spiritually die.
The brothers and sisters seem to accept everything that the “slave class” gave them. I tried to do the same but it was difficult—some biblical verses seemed to mean something different than what the Society taught. Such as Mathew 24:36 that stated, “Concerning that day and hour nobody knows neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father.” This verse was always a “stumbling bock” for me and eventually caused me to question their 1914 doctrine. I asked the brother and sister that brought me in the truth about this more than once. Finally, they told me that to question the faithful and discrete slave was the same as questioning Jehovah God and that this is something that I must not do.
Another “stumbling block” for me was the Society’s teachings to the identity of modern-day Elijah. I tried to fully accept that the modern-day slave class was Elijah but it was difficult. It seemed to me that the Bible was clear on this issue and that Elijah would be an individual person that would come shortly before the fear-inspiring day of Jehovah. and not as a group of people. I based this reasoning on Malachi 4:5.
A few years went by and sadly, I still was not baptized. I rarely attended their meetings anymore. I felt that I was being pushed towards being baptized in a religion that I was not sure of; my doubts with some of their teachings caused a stumbling block for me.
Later, there were some deaths in my family. After my dad passed away from cancer, I began attending Kingdom Hall meetings regularly again; it helped to take my mind of losing loved ones. Before one Thursday night meeting, I asked a ministerial servant if there were any older publications available that I could read such as the Finished Mystery and the two books of Light. I was interested in them because some Watchtower Magazine articles referred back to these older publications. Strangely, I was warned not to read any for they would be too confusing.
Shortly later, I began searching about the Watchtower on the internet. I was searching for the [complete] truth about the Bible. I felt that Jehovah Witness had more understanding about God than anyone else but I wanted more. I first found Jehovah Witnesses web sites that seemed to be apostate in nature. After reading their articles, it seemed that they were brothers and sisters that were spiritually hurt by the Watchtower Society and I “felt” for them—it made me feel sad. These people were really hurt by the Watchtower Society. Many posted their stories for others to read and perhaps learn from their painful experience with the Watchtower Society.
Some internet sites stated that the Watchtower Society changed many of their dates including the 1914 date. Eventually I wanted some concrete proof about these date issues. So, I purchased some older Watchtower publications on Ebay.
An advertised book that caught my attention on Ebay was a book called [u[The Time Is At Hand 1912 edition[/u]; I purchased this book and read many of its pages. Interesting page 99 read, “we consider it an established truth, that the final end of the kingdoms of this world, and the full establishment of the kingdom of God will be established by A.D. 1914.” Later, I purchased a 1913 edition of this book that used the date of 1915 on page 99 instead of the well known accepted date of 1914.
All of this information gave me great concern and I began skipping Kingdom Hall meetings once again but I continued my search for the truth on the internet. I even discovered a site that revealed that the Watchtower Society was secretly involved with the United Nations—a couple of years later this information helped me to see the truth about the Watchtower Society. As Revelation 18:4 warns, “Get out of her, my people, if you do not want to share with her in her sins, and if you do not want to receive part of her plaques.”
Then, I found e-Watchman’s web site. This site made sense for it seemed to explain many of my questions of the teachings of the Governing Body. I printed all of his articles on paper and carefully studied them. I also participated in e-Watchman’s letter writing campaign in regards to the Watchtower’s NGO involvement.
I also linked over to one of his recommended sites—Pathways. I studied this site much and that is where I learned how to install and use Paltalk. After having discussions with the site’s moderator, the hold that the Watchtower Society had over me was finally broken. I now believed that there was more to pleasing Jehovah than just being a member of the Watchtower Society.
Later, Pathways went offline for awhile. So, I began using other JW rooms on Paltalk. I prayed to Jehovah and searched many rooms to find a very special one—one that had Jehovah’s blessing with the Divine Truth. Eventually my prayers were answered. I discovered a chat room that lead me to livingwaters and the mds and this is where I found the Divine Truth.
I am so grateful that Jehovah help guide me to livingwaters. “It will not be day, neither will it be night; and it must occur [that] at evening time it will become light. 8 And it must occur in that day [that] living waters will go forth from Jerusalem” Zechariah 14:7-8
I am presently enjoying reading the Bible from cover to cover. I am learning much from meditating on the word of God on a daily basis. In addition, I am studying the book “The Report.” As Ezekiel 21:6-7 reads "And as for you, O son of man , sigh with shaking hips. Even with bitterness you should sigh before their eyes. And it must occur that, in case they say to you, 'On account of what are you sighing?' you must say, 'At a report.' For it will certainly come, and every heart must melt and all hands must drop down and every spirit must become dejected and all knees themselves will drip with water.”
Hopefully, you too will take part of this exciting movement—a movement from just having a “framework of the truth” to obtaining the Divine Truth that will lead you to pure worship of Jehovah God. -- Romans 2:20
Patrick