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Copyright 1993 by the Christian Research Institute.
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“Jehovah’s Witnesses, A Name I Was Barely Acquainted With”
(an article from the Christian Research Newsletter, Volume 1:
Number 3, 1988)
    The editor of the Christian Research Newsletter is Ron Rhodes.

From the TESTIMONY column:
The story of Bob and Debbie Rush and their exodus from the
Jehovah’s Witnesses.
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  When Bob and I were first married, we decided to find a church
in which to worship. I myself had always felt a drawing towards
Jesus Christ, but never knew anything about being “born again.” Bob
and I attended a movie sponsored by Billy Graham, and we both went
forward afterwards. We met a nice couple and they invited us to
their church. We were very disappointed after attending for there
was no mention of Jesus Christ, nor was the Bible even used. We
later attended another church, but did not feel welcome since most
of the people seemed in a higher class than us. As more time went
by we still had not found a local church to attend.
  My in-laws had been visited by two women who were Jehovah’s
Witnesses, a name I was barely acquainted with. We asked Bob’s
parents to tell them we wanted to talk with them. They seemed to be
sincere people, and offered to have a free Bible study with us. We
thought, “There must be a catch to this.”
  We began to study their books along with the Bible and we
studied with them for several months. It seemed as if we were
always digressing from the actual book study, since we were so full
of questions. As we looked ahead in their book _The Truth That
Leads To Eternal Life_ we saw that they did not celebrate Christmas
or accept blood transfusions. These were ideas on the Bible that we
had never heard before, but everything was explained in a way that
seemed logical.
  We soon were baptized as JWs, and I can remember wondering if
I would be one of the 144,000 in the “Heavenly Class.” My friends
asked me if I felt any different as I read the Bible, and I said
“no.” They told me that I was not one of the 144,000 and that I
would stay here on the Paradise earth. I was disappointed, but I
understood the idea and went on to be the best JW I could be.
  Our family began to attend meetings around five times a week.
We became very dedicated to the Society and were able to go to
district and national conferences three to four times a year. We
regularly went out in the service of going door to door witnessing.
It was very important to us to be active and continue in good
standing. After a few years Bob was appointed a Ministerial
Servant, and I also joined the Ministerial School.
  Bob received a job offer in California. We wrote to the Society
to get their approval to move there, since they taught that we
should go to where the “need is greater.” They said we were needed
more where we were in Indiana, but we had always wanted to live in
California so we decided to move. After arriving in California, the
job that Bob had lined up fell through. It wasn’t long before our
savings were depleted and we had to go home.
  After going back to our old Kingdom Hall, things seemed
different. It was implied that things didn’t work out because we
had gone against the organization’s will. Bob was relieved of his
Ministerial Servant position, and from then on it was all downhill.
We gradually started going to meetings less frequently, until
finally we didn’t go all year, except for the annual Memorial
Service. We still believed that the JWs had the truth, but thought
the problem was with our Kingdom Hall. Only a few people took the
time to find out why our family stopped attending. One of those
visits was by a sister insisting that I go out in service preaching
door to door. She didn’t show a concern for me or the difficulties
we were having.
  Later that year, Bob decided to run for a local public office.
He thought this would be all right since another brother in good
standing took a position with the city requiring political
affiliation and was not disfellowshiped. Needless to say, Bob was
disfellowshiped immediately. As time went by, we continued to
follow the rules of the Watchtower Society, but we seldom prayed or
thought of God.
  It was then that our youngest son became seriously ill and had
to be hospitalized. An elderly lady in the hospital said she would
pray for him and even crocheted him a small cross. I appreciated
this, but I felt she was one of the lost that would be destroyed at
Armageddon. Through this difficulty I realized that I needed God
for strength. I began praying for God to give me guidance, and even
asked Him to show me if the JWs did not really have the truth.
  While at home one evening, my husband accidentally ran across
a television program called _The John Ankerberg Show,_ which had
some ex-JWs on it. We were shocked to hear about the false
prophecies that the JWs have made, including predictions of the
world’s end in 1914, 1918, 1925, and 1975, and how they had used
Johannes Greber (a spirit medium) to back up their teachings. We
also were shown what the Bible teaches about false prophets in
Deuteronomy 18.
  We began reading our Bible and discovered in John 14:6 that
Jesus was the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus was the truth
that we had previously been seeking in an organization.
  *With much help from ex-JWs and Dr. Walter Martin’s books, we
have both come to find the real truth in Jesus Christ. We are now
in our own ministry of helping JWs and those who have left the
Society who do not know where to turn.* We want to help alert
others to their false doctrines, and encourage Christians to study
the cults, so that they can lead others to the true Jesus Christ
for salvation.

End of document, CRN0001A.TXT (original CRI file name),
“Jehovah’s Witnesses, a name I was barely acquainted with”
release A, March 9, 1993
R. Poll, CRI

(A special note of thanks to Bob and Pat Hunter for their help in
the preparation of this ASCII file for BBS circulation.)
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