The separated ones

Of all the people Jesus encountered it seems he had a particular dislike for the ways of the Pharisees; the elite or separated ones. Whilst occupying the seat of Moses, guardians of all the doctrines, laws, rules of the faith, meticulous in their rituals and beliefs; sadly they missed the point entirely. 

They have returned and are recruiting! 

I was invited to attend an International leadership meeting; I couldn’t really understand why but the offer seemed genuine, the person was charming, a faithful Catholic, and had all his ‘ducks in a row’ so I dispensed with the usual discernment process and accepted. 

One area of expertise I do have was about to come in handy; I know how cults operate. And so as the meeting began I was unexpectedly prepared and sufficiently detached to watch things unfold from that vantage point. 

Within 30 seconds of meeting the facilitator, a short, bearded man who gave me a similar reception to the one experienced by Zelensky in the ambush in the oval office by Donald Trump’s ill-mannered assistant; the alarm bells were ringing.  I quickly realised that many of the people in the room, although an international event, were very well acquainted, they had their own in-language, and I strongly felt were part of the same organisation. This was a ‘front’ for something else entirely. 

Whilst all were Catholic, it became evident that many were ‘Starbucks Catholics’ meaning not content with the regular Sunday Mass; they customised it to their own taste; some favoured the Latin, others the Byzantium Rites ( I had to google some of them later). 

Many discussed (triumphantly) their ascetic practices, from cold showers, to fasting, (not charity though interestingly) and at this point I regretted not having continued with my studies in music (after mastering 3 blind mice on the recorder) so that I could have announced each new speaker with a few good blasts on the trumpet ! although that would probably have been too subtle to be understood. 

One younger attendee, with wild eyes, and the enthusiasm of a Mormon recruited by ISIS,  tried out his evangelising skills on me; he was clearly in the early stages of being brainwashed himself, something I could only sympathise with silently and pray for later. 

After 3 hours I realised that nothing of any real substance had been discussed, even God hadn’t been mentioned, and certainly none of the invited (non-group members) had said anything at all. The groups behind it were carefully concealed but are Catholic with dubious founders if I am not mistaken and coercive techniques, some of which were clearly displayed. 

These are dark days; the assault on Christianity and all that is good is intense and perhaps extreme orthodoxy is envisioned as a remedy or push-back against it, a worldly attempt to regain the upper hand through earthly power and positioning, influence and perhaps financial muscle but despite the outward appearance of religion, it’s a godless distortion, empty and devoid of any real supernatural power or authority and indeed of any love or compassion that I could see. Sometimes the devil works both sides of the street. The Neo Pharisees are among us!

Escape to Victory...(an extract) ..a story from England

I was baptised as a Jehovah's Witness on January 6th. 1972. I had already been going out on the door-to-door ministry that Jehovah's Witnesses are known for, very difficult to do when you are a shy person. I wont go into what they do deeply just that you have to attended 5 meetings a week, 2 of which are 2 hours long, go on field ministry regularly and put a report in at the end of each month saying how many hours you had done.

In July 1974 I got married to a Jehovah's Witness girl, by October 1975 we had a son, eventually we had 7 children. It was a very routine way of life. I was working, attending meetings etc everything centred around the Jehovah's Witness way of life. The Jehovah's Witness is centred on the organization. The view is that the Watchtower is God's only means of communication to man the only true religion on earth, God's only means of salvation on earth if you are not in the Watchtower then you will die at Armageddon! To question the organisation is to question Jehovah himself and no one did that or you where out. In time I started to feel something feel something was wrong. At meetings when scripture was used I began to realise that many of them just did not fit what was being said from the platform. Scriptures taken out of context made to fit the Jehovah's Witness teaching. I would read the surrounding verses and realise that sometimes they were saying the opposite of what was being taught. Also the Jehovah's Witness teaching sidelines Jesus Christ, Jehovah's Witness teaching is that Jesus is the archangel Michael not part of a Trinity which they see as a pagan teaching. But in my reading of scripture all I saw was Jesus Christ by who we were saved and not being part of an organisation and doing the works it said we had to do to be saved. Only fear kept me in the Jehovah's Witnesses. 

Now by 1995 I was struggling at home to make ends meet, having 7 children, a home and the expense of all that started to prove to much. My job was not paying all that much so I started using credit cards and a loan to pay for everything and got deeper and deeper into debt. By April 1996 I didn't know where to turn and suffered a breakdown. I went to the Lake District via Blackpool, spent about a week there just walking over the hills. Then decided to kill myself, so I took about 30 tablets, paracetamol, aspirin and drank a bottle of brandy. This was in the evening sitting on a hill overlooking the valley at Windermere, thinking how beautiful it was. I gradually lost consciousness, and then woke up next morning feeling awful... Later spending 6 weeks in hospital no Elder would spend time with me. They may bring my wife but did not want to stay and talk., but I saw the ministers of other patients visiting them. Eventually I was put on anti-depressants and sent home. This is now May 1996. I was very rarely visited by anyone except Elders, the rest of the congregation would be advised to stay away, I was a danger. Their answer to my problem consisted of I should go out on the door-to-door work more and attending the meetings. People I had known for years stopped speaking to me. (Then he left JW) I still wanted to worship God but didn't know where to go or what to do. As a Jehovah's Witness you are taught that all other religions are apostate, satanic, demonic etc. (Then He found a Christian church) The place was so alive and everyone so friendly. The singing was marvelous such joy in the songs and the congregation singing them. Though the shouts of Hallelujah and Amen and speaking in tongues was a bit unnerving at first. I couldn't believe the amount of prayer also, but it was so heartfelt with feeling. The sermon bowled me over. I thought Yes that's how the word of God should be spoken its alive! (he was later baptized) The Lord through the Pastor has told me not to worry about the rest of the family He will deal with them in time. 

(the elders, even turned his family against him, couldn't see his own wife and children anymore.)

By their fruits you will know them !