(A note for the Catholic reader: Paul Blizard is now the pastor of an evangelical church; notwithstanding some passages of an “evangelical” cast, the Catholic reader will find a vibrant testimony of the sufferings that belonging to the sect caused the author, and the “deliverance” that God had prepared for them, by ways that only He knows. We thank the author for having sent us this text)
For the average Christian, the name “Jehovah’s Witnesses” brings to mind a group of neatly dressed people who go from house to house through the neighborhood selling The Watchtower magazine, or perhaps some book. However, when I think of Jehovah’s Witnesses, what comes to my mind is a long slavery to a cult which I served for the first 28 years of my life. My grandfather became a member of the Watchtower Society in the early 1900s. My parents were active Jehovah’s Witnesses. My father is still a presiding elder in the local Kingdom Hall.
I was taught that Jehovah’s Witnesses have the only true religion, a religion governed from the world headquarters of the Watchtower Society in Brooklyn, N.Y. The governing body has control of 3.2 million people. I use the word “control” because Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that everything written in The Watchtower comes from God and must not be questioned. They believe that the governing body receives “new light” from the angels, which explains everything about the Bible. They believe that the Watchtower is the only channel God is using. For that reason, they believe that apart from the Watchtower organization, people have no hope whatsoever. They believe that they are the only ones who have the truth, that they are the only ones who will be saved, and that all other people will be destroyed by Jehovah God at the battle of Armageddon.
I began my full-time service in the Watchtower in 1971, after dropping out of high school. As a missionary worker I went from house to house trying to convince people that they should become Jehovah’s Witnesses in order to please God and thus, perhaps, receive salvation.
I say “perhaps” because Jehovah’s Witnesses are not sure of their salvation. The Watchtower’s way of salvation is based on works, and not on the saving grace of the blood of Jesus Christ, which we receive freely through faith.
The Watchtower’s works system of selling books puts the Jehovah’s Witness in the position of being saved only if he is faithful to the organization and does everything it tells him. Faithfulness to the organization involves obedience to a host of rules and regulations, which the Watchtower elders enforce with great zeal.
The violation of any of these rules established by the governing body of the Watchtower Society can result in punishment and restrictions, depending on the offense committed. The elders have the power to take away salvation, restrict one’s prayer life, cut off communication between family members, or do anything else they believe may bring the wavering Witness to repentance.
Jehovah’s Witnesses must report to the elders the time they devote to the Society’s work. The elders in turn record the information in a file. A file is kept for every member of the congregation.
This file also contains information about any serious sin the Witness may commit. All the information related to the Witness’s private life is kept in the Society’s master files in New York. They are never destroyed.
Since I had lived in this system all my life, I knew what was expected of me. I had to follow the rules in order to earn salvation. I had gone from house to house since I was a small child. So it was easy for me to adapt to full-time service.
I continued in that service for several years, but the satisfaction I received was very little. The pressure of keeping up with the monthly quotas of 100 hours a month, as well as selling a minimum of 100 magazines and 40 books a month, began to discourage me. All that work is voluntary, and no salary whatsoever is received for it. Witnesses have to find employment that will support them in this work.
In 1973 I received the invitation to go to the World Headquarters in Brooklyn as part of a vast staff of workers who produce the literature. In a letter from the president of the Watchtower Society, Nathan H. Knorr, I was given the assurance that “four years at the world headquarters were far better than any secular education one could receive anywhere else.”
Eagerly I boarded the plane that would take me to New York City. While I was on the plane I remembered the envy all my friends had felt, because I was going to live with the members of the governing body, and how wonderful it would be to be at the center of activity of a worldwide work. The brothers held farewell parties for me and gave me gifts, and they commended my proud parents for raising me in the organization in such a way that they could now see their son go to such a wonderful place.
Shortly after arriving in New York that illusion began to fade when I was assigned to work in the factory. The “education” I received at the Watchtower’s world headquarters consisted of working hard and observing the organization’s methods from the inside.
Space does not permit me to give the details of what I experienced while working long hours in the bindery department. There I fed machines for “God’s organization.” I remember the mental pressure produced by the tremendous number of rules and regulations that had to be obeyed. The master plan of the Watchtower leaders controlled where I went, what I did, and how I did it.
After spending three years at the world headquarters, without any money to start out in the world (our pay was $14.00 a month), I learned the hard reality of trying to earn a living without having any trade or training. Jehovah’s Witnesses are not allowed to go to college.
I married a good Jehovah’s Witness, and we set out to try to please God in the best way we knew. That is to say, we were good Jehovah’s Witnesses and followed all the rules and laws. My wife Pat had been a missionary for eight years. She had been sent to various parts of the United States in her work, under the direction of the Watchtower Society.
After returning with a “clean file” from the New York office, the local elders used me extensively to teach from the platform. Most Jehovah’s Witnesses agree that anyone who has spent some time at the world headquarters is deserving of greater responsibilities in the local congregation.
As my standing in the congregation grew, I began to receive training in the clandestine work of the elders. It was exciting to go out at night to trail members of the congregation who were under suspicion of committing some wrong. I was also given access to the congregation files, which reveal the confidential information of all the members of the congregation. They used me in the same kind of clandestine operations I had witnessed at the world headquarters, operations that controlled the workers who lived there.
During all that time I received no satisfaction, nor did I feel any peace. The pressure of trying to serve a vengeful and wrathful God is more than can be described. The organization has always painted Jehovah as a God ready to “pour out his vengeance.” All I knew was what I read in The Watchtower. Yes, we read the Bible, but we were told that if we read it without the help of the Watchtower books to interpret it, we were bound to fall into error and apostasy.
About that time a friend showed me a book that had been written by a former Jehovah’s Witness entitled “Thirty Years a Watchtower Slave.” I knew that my duty as a good Witness was to turn my friend in to the elders, for we were forbidden to read material that was against the Witnesses.
But out of rebelliousness, I read the book. It disturbed me greatly, for the author had worked at the world headquarters, and I could sympathize with many of the things he said in the book. Many of the things I had tried to erase from my memory resurfaced, and the doubts the book raised about the authority of the Watchtower left me very nervous. The author mentioned that he had found spiritual truth by studying the Bible apart from the Watchtower publications.
During all that time the Holy Spirit was calling me to study the Word of God. Although we had our own New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (translated by the Watchtower Society, which according to scholars of the Hebrew and Greek languages is a very biased translation), I bought a copy of the New American Standard Bible. In secret my wife and I would study our new Bible until late at night, discovering that many of the main doctrines for which we had been willing to die were false. At last, I confronted my father with some of these questions. Since he was an elder, he realized that I was questioning some of the main teachings of the Watchtower, and he reported me and my wife to the elders, and they put us on trial for apostasy.
After a long trial in which we shed many tears, we repented of doubting the Watchtower Society and were allowed to remain Jehovah’s Witnesses, but all my responsibilities in the congregation were taken away from me. I would have to be watched for a certain period of time before I could serve again in any position in the congregation.
A job change to another town brought me a very welcome measure of relief. I was excited by the idea of going to another congregation and having a fresh start. But I was soon disappointed when I remembered that my trial would be in my file and that it would follow me wherever I went for the rest of my life.
Of course, the elders of the new congregation received my file shortly after I began attending the meetings. They told me they would be watching me for some time to make sure that my apostate ideas would not resurface. They warned me that if I tried to share those ideas with any member of the congregation they would disfellowship me. I promised loyalty to the organization and said I would not read or talk again about anything that differed from the Watchtower’s position on the Scriptures.
Two years went by. Being under the scrutiny of the elders left me very empty. Nothing, not even my children, who had brought me so much joy, gave my life fullness. I needed something, but I did not know what it was. My wife and I often drank to excess trying to find some kind of joy. But it left us empty.
Since we had two little boys, we longed for a girl to be born, and we hoped that having a little daughter would complete the happiness that was missing in our family. On August 10, 1980, Jenny Leigh Blizard was born. We were thrilled. But tragedy struck us. At five weeks of age, it was discovered that Jenny suffered from a very rare blood disease.
The local doctors sent us to San Antonio, Texas, to treat Jenny’s condition. We took her to the doctors at the Santa Rosa Medical Center, a hospital for the special care of infants, in search of the treatment that would restore Jenny’s health. Why was Jenny bleeding internally? Why wouldn’t her blood clot? The doctors spent several days trying to reach a conclusion.
Finally the doctors notified us that in order to save Jenny’s life it was necessary to give her a blood transfusion. This was a very difficult problem for us because Watchtower law does not allow any Jehovah’s Witness to receive blood in any form. Jehovah’s Witnesses carry cards stating that under no circumstances will they receive blood.
I asked the doctors to leave the room and told them I would give them an answer promptly. My wife and I prayed and cried out to God, asking Him to answer us. I remember thinking: “O Jehovah, how can you ask me to make a decision like this… a yes or a no as to whether Jenny lives or dies! What kind of God are you!” Finally my wife and I called the doctors and informed them that we had to obey God’s law and that we would have to let Jenny die.
The hospital officials contacted the Texas Child Welfare Department, and they brought suit against us for child abuse and neglect. The court issued an order to make sure that Jenny would receive the blood she needed to save her life. The sheriff of the Bexar County Department served my wife and me with summonses and warned the hospital staff not to allow us to take Jenny out of the hospital. Jehovah’s Witnesses have an extensive history of clandestinely removing patients from hospitals in order to avoid blood transfusions at all costs.
My wife and I felt a great secret relief, for we knew that in that way Jenny would receive the help she needed with the blood transfusion. I felt that I had done everything I could to try to prevent her from receiving the blood, without realizing that the court would intervene.
Reporters from the newspapers The San Antonio Express/News and The San Antonio Light found out what had happened and published the story, although we refused to talk to the reporters. Looking back, I realize that what they did is worthy of praise.
Meanwhile, certain friends of ours contacted the elders of the local congregation, and they came to visit us promptly. The elders were relieved when they discovered that there was still time to take Jenny out of the hospital before the transfusion was given.
I explained to them that the matter was no longer in our hands and that under court order I could not take Jenny out of the hospital. This did not interest them in the least. Their only interest was to get her out of the hospital.
I knew that Jenny would die in a short time if I removed her from the machine that was keeping her alive, and that I would be charged with murder. I explained this to the elders. They answered me: “That is a risk you have to take! You cannot allow them to put blood into your daughter!”
Without further discussion, I asked them to leave, declaring that I could not let my daughter die that way. “If that is the God I serve, I want nothing more to do with Him.”
The elders left the hospital extremely irritated with me because I had not submitted to their dictates. One of them said to me as he left: “I hope the blood gives your daughter hepatitis! That way you will see how evil it is to accept blood!”
When we finally brought Jenny home, the Witnesses in our town had learned that although we had protested the transfusion, in the end we had allowed blood to be given to Jenny. Because of that we were like outcasts to the Witnesses, but they took no action to disfellowship us. The law requiring disfellowshipping would have applied to us only if we had freely consented to the transfusion.
At that moment God intervened in the matter. Our Christian neighbors would come to our house and help us with food and money and in anything else they could. The living testimony of those people affected my wife and me so much that we decided to resume our study of the Bible. Those months of intense secret Bible study led us to the conclusion that we had been living a lie. We had been enslaved to a system of interpreting the Scriptures that had crushed our free thinking. On the questions and doctrinal points with which I had had so much difficulty, the Bible was clear. I read the Bible in context, without the help of a book or magazine to instruct me.
The result of that study was that I found that we all need the salvation offered by our Lord Jesus Christ. We found that God is a God of Love and not a God of wrath.
One night my wife and I took each other by the hands and gave our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ. Suddenly we felt that our spirit had been unchained. That unchaining brought us deliverance, freedom, and salvation. We had been “born again.” I had never felt like that during all the thousands of hours of work I had spent trying to please God as a good Jehovah’s Witness. We knew we had been changed. We were a “new creation.” As the apostle John said: “that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13)
Of course, we were quickly expelled from Jehovah’s Witnesses. Under the disfellowshipping rules, we cannot have any contact whatsoever with our family and our former friends in the organization. Our own parents cannot even attend our funeral. According to Watchtower law, Witnesses must regard us as if we were dead. Any Witness found talking with us can be subjected to judicial action, and even expelled.
However, I must say that we are not dead, but very much alive. Yes, we are dead to our former way of life, but alive in Jesus Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit and power, saved by the blood of the Lamb.
In conclusion, our daughter’s condition was so serious that it could not be permanently corrected by a blood transfusion. The transfusions she was given as an infant prolonged her life, but on March 3, 1987, at six years of age, Jenny went home to be with the Lord.
We regard her as “God’s special messenger” for our lives. Through her illness and brief life, we came to recognize the deception of the Watchtower Society, we professed and received Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and we have shared the redeeming knowledge of the Savior with many Jehovah’s Witnesses throughout the country.
Moreover, during the final 39 days of Jenny’s life, at the Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, we spent much time praying and witnessing for Christ to the families of other children who were seriously or terminally ill in that hospital.
Finally, some of the details of Jenny’s funeral bear witness to the nature of the Watchtower Society and the control it has over its members.
At Jenny’s memorial, the first four rows of seats were reserved for members of the family (including grandparents, uncles and aunts, cousins, etc.). The rest of the rows of seats were available for the members of the church and for the people of the town. This latter part of the church was completely full. People from everywhere came to share our grief over the loss of our little daughter. However, the rows assigned to Jenny’s family were occupied by only five people… myself, Pat, Jenny’s two brothers, and her younger little sister. No other member of the family attended the funeral. The harshness the Watchtower Society showed in forbidding Jenny’s other relatives to attend her funeral is unbelievable. We pray that through our testimony, people who are trapped in captivity may awaken to the freedom that can only be found in Christ Jesus.
If you are a Jehovah’s Witness, you and I both know that you have been forbidden to read this information. If you are caught with this booklet, the Jehovah’s Witness elders will take judicial action against you. In the Watchtower organization there is no room for individual thinking. Nevertheless, since you have read this far, please take the step that will bring you the true satisfaction you have not been able to find. Meditate on the many hours you have invested working for the organization, which have resulted in a spiritual emptiness that cannot be filled by serving a man-made organization. Put your trust in Jesus Christ, who died for you, and you will discover that only He can provide the peace you are looking for. Set aside your Watchtower publications and read the Word of God, the Bible, and allow the Holy Spirit to guide you to salvation in Jesus Christ. What will this cost you? Eternal life is a free gift.
Author: Paul Blizard
