The Journey Home- 2013-06-10 - Lou Everett - former Jehovah's Witness

good evening and welcome to the journey home I'm Marcus Grodi your host for this program every week for a lot of years now I've had this opportunity to bring into your homes the stories of men and women who in their love for our Lord Jesus Christ found their hearts and minds open to the beauty of the church and often for many of the guests it was the last thing they ever thought would happen to them and I'm wondering if that might be true for our guest tonight we often have many guests from similar denominational backgrounds you'll see often a lot of Baptists maybe a former Anglicans former Lutheran's former Presbyterians on this program over the years but there are a few traditions that we end up just having a few from and maybe for good reasons and we might talk about that or maybe not as a good reasons but for understandable reasons and tonight is that case our guest tonight is Lou Everett he's a former Jehovah Witness and we haven't had that many former job witnesses on the program so it's always good to have someone from that tradition talk about the beauty of coming home to the sorcerer's thank you so Lou it's great to have you join us on the program and I would guess probably I was right in that becoming Catholic was not something you thought would probably happen to you when you were young no not at all wasn't even an inkling in my mind now were you brought up Joe witness at the age of 9 my parents decided to be baptized as Javas witnesses previous to that they did study so okay well I'll back you up even farther I'll go back to sure your what kind of family traditions that you bring into your walk of faith right well my family should my mom and dad both are cradle Catholics okay initially and their foundation that was in a military and my mom was always a very religious type of person so the foundation of Christ and being Christian was always a big part of our family life growing up now we didn't have the prayer before meals and things like that but we had values you know and up until that that age of nine when we our family made a big transition but that value was still there we you were traveled a lot so were you hitting Mass every Sunday or no unfortunately my parents didn't go to Mass okay even though they were cradle Catholics they have fallen away later in life and never really went to church so as a young person and as a child never had an experience with with going to account search at all and probably very little religious training correct yeah I mean they just said they're the values right that will continue on at least for a generation or two after people quit practicing that's right their faith it's still there as the culture of your youth but so let's say before you your Jehovah Witness stage where was God in your life well I always had a power there it was felt like I had a spiritual charge if you if you will what was called at that age I would have had no idea but I always was drawn to something spiritual I give a lot of credit to my mom for that she was she had that spirituality essence center but nothing structural all right all right but I felt it but then age 9 how'd that happen yeah they are not mean what happened yeah it was well it was a period of time I think I mean being that we I doubt mom and dad we moved a round of law a lot because dad being in a military in each place that we went to other B we went to Hawaii and other different states in the country there was times that they were approached by Jehovah's Witnesses and throughout those times they would study with them my mom was had that long for spirituality and so they were there when she had that longing you know and so they they were studied on and off through all the different places we went to and then in Indianapolis my dad was stationed in Fort Benjamin Harrison and it was at that time when they seemed to become a little bit more aware of the need for that spiritual essence in the family and having God first in the family and that's when they made that decision to fully give themselves to the organization known as a job as witnesses can you identify what it was about a Jehovah Witness witness their witness there their message that was convincing enough to your parents that they would give up their Catholic roots and make that jump and you what was it jovis witnesses are very giving there are very honest people and and that's there they are a Christian at its base they do have a Christian way about them they want to serve God in the right way be Christians act as Christ acted they would give up anything to help somebody and at that moment of spiritual crisis they were there and there were times that they had helped my mom and helped my parents be able to come to some realization of their spirituality and just being a friend and it was that Christian attitude that really drew my family into that faith because of the fact that we felt that we were seeing a real Christian because there's a real and I've not had that that much personal involves your job witnesses admit Lee but yet the one thing I do know about you they're always there at your door I mean they're coming to you they're evangelizing they're bringing they're showing they care they want to be there they want they want you to be involved in the church that's right that is correct and that's a major focus of our faith as Jehovah's Witnesses when I was a Jehovah's Witness that's what we were taught to do we were trained on how to do that our meetings were focused on teaching and evangelizing our faith to those that may have been spiritually sick did did you very freely yourself then at what age 9 you said became a part of this you liked it well it was it was it was a turning point because you know mind you the the religious portion of it to have Jesus Christ and and loving God that was something that was felt natural for me yeah at a nine year old the nun natural things about it were sacrificing some of the holidays that I was so used to such as Christmas and Halloween which aren't really a major impact on an adult but for a child I was confused but was open obviously nine years old and I was what mom and dad said to do we going to do it and I have no regrets at all but and that's so it was it was a very interesting transition but I could feel the spirit working leaving at 9:00 yeah well you know we and we did go door-to-door we went out you know we call it in-service we go out and service on Saturdays and Sundays after we went to the Kingdom Hall and so we did things like that as a family so as a family we brought each other together and that really appealed to me as a child because it didn't seem that we were that close together up until that point as a family most of us who have not had Jehovah Witness involvement have no idea what happens in the kingdom all mm-hmm so there you are as a young nine year old how long did it take before your parents were entrusted with the responsibility to go out and and witness he said very quickly well not really there there is a process that you go through as a jobless witness which makes sense and I think that that's a that's a very good thing for any any faith really to just and trust somebody with or the faith to gotten teach until you really understand it and my mom and dad went through a process of going to their meetings and being learning about the the Doctrine of the Faith and learning our history of Jehovah's Witnesses learning how to preach and you can pin before you're baptized you can still go out and preach so they teach you this first and they go through a period of questioning in a way where you learn two things that you need to learn and when you feel comfortable enough and when the elders the congregation feel you have a grasp on it then then you're able to become what they call it unbaptized publisher or one who can go out and evangelize with with the remainder of the group okay and they were able to do that so what's the baptism phase the baptism phase is comes depends on the person sometimes it's a something like my mom and dad were adults it could take a person six months it could take them a year two years depending on how their life was and how they've been able to conform and change a life to become a Christian and so for my parents it's a quite a few years from the time they began studying when I was younger younger up until I was nine or ten years old when they were baptized so and that's the baptism phase that go through questions about their faith and they be able to be able to defend their faith before they can take that step very much like the RCIA program in our church you know you and Bill feel like you can defend the faith and understand if and that's what they needed to do and once they did that they were able to go on ahead and they felt this was the way to raise the family this was the way to give us that foundation his baptism an entrance into the church then or as seen as a spiritual rejuvenation as a conversion it's both the it's an entrance into the church in a way where you're able to gain more responsibilities in the church the things that you can do in the kingdom Hall things that you can do far as responsibility is like go on full-time evangelize or different responsibilities you can take on baptism was the main first move that shows publicly that you have decided that this is the faith that you want to follow that you want to be but the old way behind you and focus on being one of Java's witnesses the preaching aspect of it however is the primary that was first before the baptism understanding and learning how to evangelize was before we actually made that step to be baptized I did the same thing I know like my parents gave that to me so as a 9 10 year old I was out with them and we were evangelizing and talking to our friends at school and that was a big part of us as Javas witnesses is evangelizing and showing people where the what we call the truth is now is the meeting at the java witness is it a worship mating or is analogic more of an educational training meeting that's a very good question and that's a it's they call them meetings and I think validly there's not really a worship service in a kingdom hall a lot of its teaching now it's not to say that there's that people don't worship while they're there but there's no kneeling there's no you know any kind of that moment where you and God have that quiet time it's you open with prayer and a song and then there's the teaching aspect of the meeting whether we're going over a publication at the Watchtower Bible and tract Society put out and usually they'll be like a book study or their watchtower on a Sunday and then there might be a public talk on a Sunday as well where it'll be a sermon type of an hour but most of its teaching it's it's about an awareness of the world around us but there's not really a worship service that that really has takes place like we do energy convention it was about the watchtower so is that meeting then in a way equipping the people to take that watchtower than go out that's correct and that's and that's exactly what it is is our focus as a jehovah's witness was to teach other people what we believe so we need to understand a fullness of our faith and our doctrine before we can teach somebody else and save them and that's what all those meetings were the watchtower it was sometimes we come up with family issues so we that study was about family but we would take that knowledge and utilize that to build a lot in the ministry and preach the good news to others and that was that was the goal really was to go out and you got another question if I might oh boy what was it there the okay well further you're buying all this as a young man sure sure up to a point I know what it was in some of those preparations is there distinct apologetic training in the distinctions between the joy of witness doctrines and nandi home witness doctor absolutely publication after publication that we utilize constantly to be able to understand man's religions and different religions on the earth we have publication about men's religions and there was a years ago there was a book there's different ones now but years ago when I was younger it was a book called reasoning from the scriptures and that was a very common book that we utilized in the ministry to be able to say somebody says well I'm Catholic why is it that you don't do the sign of the Cross while we were able to take that book utilize that information along with the scriptural references as an apologetic standpoint and preach to that individual and show them and back up and stand up for our faith okay using the scriptures using the skies the cloud as it was presented yeah all right that's correct and there you were as a young man and the training to be one of these leaders right that's correct that's correct my goal was to be a full-time pioneer they called it a full-time minister and be 90 plus hours in the field ministry every single month which is what I wanted to do that's what I was good to do I had a desire to to work with children work with young people at my age understand the difficulties that we're all going through and to preach the good news that's what I wanted to do and so we were definitely trained to do that and I was a passion of mine and your parents were both sold out my method I had to use that phrase I don't really mean they were admitted to that's correct our family was a strongly dedicated family and as one of Jones witnesses our family was a Christian family that lived the faith they were obviously every family has their their bonds and ends that happen at home but we lived our faith at home and we said prayer at dinner time we ate dinner as a family we did everything we could have a Bible study as a family we you know we did all those things that that would not just live out our faith all were at the meeting would live out her faith at home and during the day as Christians so yeah my parents were sold on it this was our way of life okay this was us maybe just a clarification because you use the word Christian so as a Jehovah Witness you didn't so much call yourselves Jehovah Witnesses as Christians and the rest were man's religions well the a very good point and in we call our main calling was we are one of Jehovah's Witnesses and as a Java's witness the belief is is that's God's name is Jehovah Jesus is separate than God and Jesus was the son of God but they were separate but we as job as witnesses are the true Christians while others claim to be Christians and they may show that they're Christians Chavez witnesses are the true Christians are the ones that if you're not one of Java's witnesses then you're not a true Christian okay at some point we're going to have to clarify what were the unique Jehovah Witness believes versus Catholic believes I'm not sure now's the time sure or do you want to go later I mean what would be well that's going to be that's up to you we could certainly hit a couple points here and there if you like so talking as a Java witness because that's where the stage you're at sure what would you say are the key unique doctrines of the Java witness that would set it apart from Catholic Christians and then non Catholic Christians sure well what sets what sets show is when this is a part at this moment is that a couple of things it's ran by what we call a governing body of Java's witnesses and Watchtower Bible and tract Society is that governing organization that kind of spearheads and continues the the Java's witness's organization moving there the publishing entity and there's also what's called a governing body which are a group of men who have been chosen to make the major decisions and influence on the rest of the organization that's where the publishing of the watchtower comes from and the publishing of some of the books and some of the changing of doctrine over time comes from and with that there's no questioning we take something that we read and we're not too sure if it matches biblically we're not supposed to question so whatever comes either printed in the watchtower that's it so it's the group in what New York correct that they're the ones whoever's there decides the truth of what then is disseminated through all the different Kingdom models are replicas that's correct that's correct and that's a and that's a one major difference that the questioning and it doesn't happen we can't really question our faith okay which is common in some faiths on a basic level on our Christianity level the major difference between Jehovah's Witnesses and us as Catholics is that Jesus Christ and God are not the same person we as Catholics understand and realize the divinity of Christ without it we don't have our faith Java's witness is calling one divinity and that's Jehovah Jesus is separate the father and the son are separate which we as Catholics believe that they are separate 3% exactly the Trinity is something that they utilize to teach against Catholicism because Jehovah's Witnesses are not in any way shape or form a believer in the Trinity there are not Trinitarian at all as a matter of fact they utilize that with their understanding of Scripture to show that Catholicism and any other Trinitarian religion is completely aside from true Christianity so they're not even adoption as a sense of taking a human man and and divin izing him correct in that heresy that's great they would not even see Jesus have been given divinized at all that's correct just a good prophet a good teacher the son of God the Son of God and someone who came to sacrifice his life for us and it set an example for us almost like a brother that's where it stands and to set an example and give us that outline so with that it's very similar to us as Catholics we know that that example he gave us is what should be the basis of our faith but to then that's where it ends resurrection there is a resurrection but on the earth the the resurrection in heaven is only for a very small group of people Revelation talks about 144,000 divided from all the different 12 tribes of Israel they take the number 144,000 as a literal number of those chosen of only jehovah's witnesses that are going to go to heaven that's their heavenly reward the rest are going to have their reward here on the earth when the earth is turned into a paradise so there's a big difference there as well the heavenly reward is very limited there's almost like a cut-off so we go to Mass every Sunday we get to enjoy absorbing the body and blood of Christ you and I as brothers we can do that as a one of Jehovah's Witnesses once a year we have what's called a memorial or a memorialize the event of Jesus death and resurrection and while we sit there the plate of the bread is passed and the wine is passed none of which of us can take it only those who have deciphered on their own throughout years of deciphering that they are part of that 144,000 unwanted group they're the only ones that have the ability to take it oh I didn't I didn't I've not heard put this way before so it isn't one of the leaders of the of the kingdom hall that determines you're one of the hundred forty four it's a person themself personing themselves generally would do that and if and if there's a lot of times there's a lot of questioning involved because when I was baptized at thirteen I made my profession at thirteen as a Jehovah's Witness and I was baptized soon thereafter I felt I felt the desire to partake of the blood and Body of Christ I just had this desire and I felt that if that's the case I must be part of this anointed group if I'm drawn to to take part in this the sacrifice so I would I approach the elders of my congregation and say I'm really like this is what I'm drawn to this and unfortunately they con us as well maybe might be too young to decipher that maybe you're just too young for that there's most of them have already been chosen those kinds of things were so I didn't want to I didn't want to confuse other people and you're doing it in public so if you make that profession people know about it and becomes a talk and so I didn't want to really offend anybody either and so I I just took that as it was but that memorial once a year that's another huge difference is that sacrifice that you and I serve at our mass every day I did not have that you know didn't have the ability to even touch it were there very many and your local that my congregation in Indianapolis at the time at that point there was one in our congregation that I knew of and you know he was he's known her for years and I talked to him about it yeah and he just knew he said and so he had that drawing too you know and I really to this day I believe that that drawing in drawing into the body of Christ has nothing to do with your faith and religion it has everything to do with the Holy Spirit saying this is where it's at now the the hope Jehovah Witnesses are also kind of an Adventist group right I mean end of the world yes perspective correct how was that as a part of you yes and that's a that's also a major parts like a lot of things there's a beginning and there's an end and and as job as witnesses the Watchtower Bible and tract society for years has been attempted to predict that Great Tribulation the Revelation talks about an Armageddon and what are the signs and there's been a multiple multiple predictions over the years from other faiths but Jehovah's Witnesses in particular years that just 1914 was a big one and that's a big culmination is in the organization of Jo's witnesses they use that day as a very significant date in history to determine an awful lot of their beliefs and 1914 was a predicted day predicting a year of the end of the world so the idea is is that when the end of the world comes God is going to say if you're not one of Jehovah's Witnesses then you haven't you're not in my good graces you're gone dead dead forever no hell there is no hell your dad dead forever it's tough because there's not a lot of forgiveness at that point it doesn't seem but that's there definitely an end of the world and those that end up in heaven or on this earth or dead it's determined by membership in the society is determined by a life of works or is it God's chosen grace you know just selecting it's it's a it's chosen works it's all about works is what you do job witnesses is a very Sola scriptura only scripture type of religion they say but they only base everything they believe on if it's not in the Bible we can't believe it and that interpretation comes from the Watchtower Bible and tract Society so what they translate it is what it means so that is kind of decided based on what you're a part of it's all about your works here are you out preaching are you evangelizing are you a Christian in your own everyday life which has value works is a major part of us as Christians and so that value they're really instilled into me that that was part of the value but again as you say you as a young man your parents in their local Kingdom Hall when that Jehovah Witness the watchtowers read and it's infallible right correct the the people who are writing that are at some office in New York City I think correct who determines who gets into that group of folk that decide you get a say at the local church or are they considered voted at some point or are they hired or yeah they're if there's a process now the deep deep process I'm not aware of but they're it's a it's an elected in there they're asked to be part of that governing body and they need to be part of that anointed group of that are ones going to heaven okay so those that are going to heaven or the anointed and so those there's selected chosen few of those anointed that are part of that governing body including the president of the Watchtower Bible and tract Society is also one of those chosen anointed ones aside from the other 144,000 over the since the beginning of time you know that have been selected supposedly now we're going to take a break in just a second but so most of what you've taught us about Jehovah Witnesses the majority of Jehovah Witnesses wouldn't know or is there also a sense of which at different levels as you grow in the organization you get more information about how the organization works well the majority of what I talk about they'll know okay and but as you of course as you are as you grow in any faith you learn more but the the things that I talked about are things that you will learn before you're baptized generally these are things we need to know and understand that this is the group we're going to be a part of this is how God works this is who Java is all the basic part of our makeup as one of Java's witnesses is taught before we make that public declaration okay lits time for a break we'll come back and we'll probably hear about now how you how your eyes are open in a different way just see about the need okay to come home so you put you back rip back in a moment see you welcome back to the journey home I'm Marcus Grodi our host and our guest this evening is lou everett former java witness let me tell you a couple things first of all he has a website WWF light conversion comm in case you want to ask them some questions and also to mention if you go to the coming home network's website CH network dot orgy your conversion story is written out there in case someone wants is it on your website too i believe i have linked it i've linked it to yours ok rabbit so that way in case the audience wants a more have more details about your journey sure that yes absolutely because time always flies on the journey yes so we've had a good time in the first half to go into more detail about the java with his experience all right what happened a lot there's a lot that happened at that point i i continued on in my job as witness faith and at age of 18 I decided I wanted to be the full-time minister of Jehovah's Witnesses so a full-time pioneer and that's which entails ninety hours plus a month door-to-door Bible studying which I thoroughly enjoyed I worked with a lot of the deaf individuals of our community so I did a lot of interpreting and sign language Bible studies with with the Deaf and that was a rewarding for me to teach somebody the truth of what I believed so I did that and then one after high school I continued on and I met a I met a girl who I married was also at one of Jehovah's Witnesses and we got married and we were full-time ministers together at the age of 20 to 21 we were pregnant with our first child my son and that was a major changing point in my life because now I had a not just people I was teaching but now I had a child that I had to teach and give him the foundation of faith as well and when he was born I wasn't sure this is what I wanted to teach my son I started having questions that maybe my son would have and but I've always been interested in different ideas behind religion in faith so it just drew it out having my son there so an over time I was going to say that it isn't uncommon because even in the Catholic Church often it's when the couple has their first children that they start coming back to church yes that's understanding yeah it's a change exactly it's something that changes your life for many ways so at that point I had questions that and as I mentioned before you don't really question what you're taught is a jobless witness it's looked down upon really it's look if you question too much it looks as if you're trying to apostatize against the church against the faith so I never did that but at this point I was time for me to get answers to things that I had like the divinity of Christ like the why is it that the Bible shows the worship of Jesus Christ but we as Jehovah's Witnesses show something different and yet quote some of those scriptures and leave some out and those are questions that I had and I brought to the elders of my congregation of which I was told it was very interesting questions and had the Bible folded up and give it back to me and said hold on to those questions never got answers to those things from inside the kingdom hall or inside the Watchtower Bible and tract Society so I decided to take a break I need to find out for myself now at this point I'm a full time pioneer I'm also a ministerial servant in the congregation where I serve which is very similar to a deacon serves the elders but I needed to take a break to find out where my spirituality needed to go it was something missing I didn't feel that to have fullness there was something there was a hole that I had felt for a long time but finally being able to question it so I took a break from faith I wanted to take the Bible and do my studying and do my research so I went out and I got the strongest concordance of the Bible and I've got the books here and books there and trying to understand the different translations of the Bible so I began because as a Jehovah's Witness Chevron translation it's the New World Translation then it is it is quite different on some things and other things it's the foundations there so I begin to do all this research and study on my own and I just got to the point where I was just unsure of where my faith was and while I was on that was gonna seem part of that problem is that the Bible alone regardless of a translation if you're not guided there are hundreds of verses and I could take you in a hundred different direction yes that's exactly right and that's what it was doing that's exactly what it was doing it was taking me in all different directions and I just didn't know which direction to go and I knew that there was a right direction but what was it I had no idea and at that point is when during that break I was contacted by one of the elders of the congregation that I was supposed to be going to that said hey you know because I had moved and so I said hey I know that you're an area and wanted to come see again and as a friend of mine he had married me and my current wife at the time and so he's a real close friend almost like a father figure at that point is and so I had him come over we had coffee in and he says hey and why don't we talk about the questions you have I'm like this is a great opportunity I felt almost like a weight was lifted off my shoulders and I can now maybe get some answers so I shared with him all the questions that I had the divinity of Christ the value of Mary the the you know the difference between Jehovah and the god of Christianity what is all these things how are they how are they going to blend with what I'm believing what I think and what was missing what is it that I was missing about this whole thing so I laid it all out for him and he says you know those are great questions maybe we should just start doing Bible studies together again so I felt this is great I can start over I can regenerate my spirituality and so he left and I gave him a hug as I brother did and a couple days later I get a call from elders at the Watchtower Bible and tract Society mind you there at Bethel they call it that were from that local congregation and they had called me and said based on my conversation with this brother it was obvious that I didn't no longer want it to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses and that they had to disassociate me from the organization so at that point it was critical now I had nothing the fishing line was pulled out had nothing so now I've been removed from an organization and all I've known since I was nine the only religious foundation I've had and if you don't know anything about the Watchtower Bible and tract Society and in one of Java's witnesses when they when they choose to leave the organization or they're pushed out there's fellowshipped as soon as they pushed out but some people do things they shouldn't do but if they're disfellowshipped or disassociated by them you're shunned nobody talks to you you're not supposed to mingle with people that are doing those things supposedly and so that included my parents included my brother and my sister and anybody I knew from the time I was 9 years old really so anyone that I was associated with as a Jehovah's Witness no longer was an acquaintance of mine at that exact moment in time hmm so waking up the next day not having any friends was difficult so they took it seriously your parents very much so wife my wife at the time she was she was kind of on my side there a little bit she was iffy she understood the questions but she kind of took a back seat so she and she did wasn't going either we took a break so at that time she wasn't going either but my family took very seriously so a couple years went by my parents wouldn't talk to me and I didn't have lot of contact with them which that's what they believed and I give him a lot of props for that that's their faith and they but to fast-forward a tad the throughout that I was got myself involved in things that I shouldn't have because I gave up on faith that kind of shot me down a little bit it gave me a stab right in the heart with I'd Here I am talking and praying to God trying to do the right thing trying to find my path and someone just hoard away from me so I get into a spiral of you know maybe Christianity is just wrong maybe I'm just this is just not the right way so I began to dabble in things like Wicca and Buddhism and Hinduism and paganism things outside the Christian faith all the way around and every single time I still have that whole there was still something missing still had there was still something I was drawn to that I didn't have and didn't know where to go and that was just not fulfilling enough for me and at the same time because of how I was feeling my family starts falling apart you don't have God in the center of your family your family starts falling apart you know I was involved involved in metal rock bands I was I was a band got involved in that atmosphere and dabbled in drugs and marijuana use alcohol and it's just that wasn't the only reason but that helped with failing of that marriage and I end up getting a divorce ten years into that marriage though so that was another pivotal point of my journey was that divorce so when that happened you weren't involved with any churches none at all all right I was out flying around doing nothing in matter of fact had a very distaste very strong hatred against Christianity and the Catholic Church and Jobos witnesses started anti Javas Witness websites and things that I'm not necessarily proud of because I don't think that it's advantageous yeah but but yet it sounds like you were still dabbling in spiritual things yes still the recognition of something that longing was there yeah there's a whole like it just it just got bigger and bigger and it just matter what I did I couldn't fill it and you know and then after a couple years a year or so after my divorce I met a woman named sherry who I married who's my wife now who was cradle Catholic and that seeing her spirituality and how strong attached she was to her church really had an impact on me and during that time we had gone out and got married within a couple of years she want to get married in the church I loved her so I'm going to get married in the church I was kind of hesitant about this whole getting bearing the Catholic Church thing being from a jobless witness perspective anti-catholic pretty much and so he went sat down with the the priest father to me I'll have to say his name because he was just major pivotal person might in my life at that time helped us with our pre-wedding counseling very mile priest listen to me I was able to get everything off my chest about all my questions about faith and religion and he understood them all no judging no judgmental they didn't have the answer he said I don't know I'll find out so saying I don't notice something is okay and I and that finally was that moment where I says you know I don't have to know everything it's okay not to have an answer we're never going to fully understand so that that there brought us then to the wedding we got married and at a wonderful wedding father to me just made a beautiful wedding for us and that inspired us my family came to that so by this point my parents have kind of come around to accept the fact that I'm no longer a job is witness and they come around to be able to accept affected okay this is your choice would respect it so I was able to talk to them and repair that relationship a little bit so that was a blessing from God being able that be able to happen were you active in faith at all yet no I was a reader I've ever read or always been an avid reader I would read anything somebody gave me if it was about Mormonism I'd read it if it was about Buddhism I'd read it I was very open to spirituality I was a so the spirituality was something that always a part of my life and my wife was a big influence on that because she talked about her faith but not in a way that made me feel inferior or it didn't feel forced and and I was not calming so couple years into our marriage well I guess I should back up a tad the priest that married I said one day he says I got a gift for you I should have fur for our little meeting I said okay hands me the book it's teachings of Christ and it was the adult catechism for adults I said all righty listen I don't expect you to read it or anything there's no expectation so just take it I want to give it to you so we gave it to me and I went home and I shoved it my nightstand and buried it like I did anything I didn't really want to read a couple years after we were married I was out partying with some friends and and my wife and I were out and I had drank too much which was a commonality of mine at the time anyone that knows me at that time knows that's what I did and so I drank myself into an oblivion and passed out standing up walking to my car ended up with a grade three concussion the next day and not remembering the whole day at all realizing that I have just upset my wife she was panicked I couldn't remember anything and home doctor said I should have been in a coma and I didn't know what to do with that I didn't know what to do with that but I couldn't work for two weeks he said at they come off to deal with this concussion so I'm gonna tie them off what am I gonna do I've read everything in my house but then I remembered this book that was given to me my father two years previously three years previously the teachings of Christ the adult catechism for adults I pulled that out and I started reading it by topic because a great thing about the Catechism it doesn't have to be boring this book was created on topics the topics that were concerning of mine from my upbringing as a Jehovah's Witness I can look at it and say oh the divinity of Christ well where's of words to say about that and I can read it and ponder on it so I took that book and I dissected it and then in the meantime EWTN I started watching your program and other UW watching Mass every day every morning but I didn't know how it's better to do it my time I wanted to see what it was about were they doing why are they kneeling here what is this all about and there everyone's taken the body and blood of Christ that is appealing to me so wait a minute everybody can do this you know and so those are the thoughts would started drawing me into understanding a little bit more that my whole was starting to become a little smaller and I didn't understand it and I was a little scared so I wanted to do things my way and I wasn't working so I told my wife it says you know I really want to start going to Mass with you you and I know that if she were to ask her she'd say that she didn't want to react but her mouth probably just mature opted the floor that's not something I would have ever done so we began going to Mass and that her found out about the RCIA program and our local parish and started going through that and that was an amazing journey during that journey though during that RCIA program there were so many questions that just keeps popping up because as one of Jehovah's Witnesses you're indoctrinated with so many ideas from the watchtower society that it governs your entire existence so when you're learning something contrary even if it's a statement that's contrary we've been taught before your knowing I can't be right no matter what evidence or what shows it and the realization that the Catholic Church has their tradition the capital T tradition which means a succession all of the succession between the apostles and us today that is what drew me into the church it made it really made me realize that there's not that gap anymore Java's witnesses and the Watchtower Bible and tract society along with many other faiths had a beginning and then that beginning was way after the apostles and the belief of what happened in between all that whereas where's all that stuff that happened and the idea that that's all were in the Bible just didn't make sense to me it couldn't all be there that was a case we'd have volumes and volumes and then I then I found that about the the forefathers the church the father isn't sure there are writings upon writings upon writings that fill walls and not begin reading those and that's the impressive part about our church is that connection to the Apostles and that's really what drew me in is that all those missing pieces started to kind of come together there's still some missing pieces we all go go through that but throughout that my wife was by me a hundred percent and and that's really what made it real to me that this is the true faith through all the things that I have done putting her through what I put her through with my drunken stupor and going through the you know concussion and the nights that I went out drinking and partying and she stuck with amazing how the Lord uses those kinds of crises so to get our attention yes I tell my wife you hit me upside the head literally although I had myself upside the head it was my fault well a couple of the doctrines or practices of the Catholic faith that you would have encountered in the in reading the dog catechism that would have been radically different than Jove witnesses for example would been confession yes and confession is very different the Catholic Church as it is as a jehovah's witness if you're one of Joan's witnesses and you knew your sin you are to confess to your elders but it's different you got water body of elders and you confess your sin and then they make a decision whether or not they believe that you are sorry for what you've done and they either disfellowship you or discipline you in some way so that we could be protect they can protect the rest of the congregation from you well in general then that would not be like a Catholic understanding of sin that you might go to the confession for on a weekly bi-weekly monthly basis this would be a major public sin and the Jove witnesses perspective in their perspective yes I mean there are some things as an example otherwise you wouldn't get the whole committee together right general and they're there they're quote unquote list of things that they don't do as a Chavez witness or very what we would consider in our church minor smoking celebrating Christmas because that's not part of a loved res getting a blood transfusion of you know doing it on purpose like knowing you're getting it accepting a blood transfusions because that's that is something that don't do so how was your transition that in the Catholic confession that was that for you it was hard because growing up as a jobless witness there were times that I had to go to the elders and say oh I've done something stupid and have had you know because I as a young high schooler I dabbled the things I shouldn't have a drugs and things they had to kind of correct me but this time was it was a more of a fear how am I gonna Cohen I can't talk to a priest about what I had done and but you know it came to realize when I realized the sacrament value behind it that there's something about you're not just confessing you're repairing there's a reconciliation happens between your relationship with God and you it's such as if you go and you disappoint my dad or your friend you go to them and you reconcile that relationship whether it's done on purpose or not that's a reconciliation and once I got a grasp of that I realize how much I needed it and how much of a healing power it has and might the priest that I talked to he's not the one that can forgive me God forgives me but he is the man I can talk to that God has given them that yeah that's that's a perfect beautiful example of a gift that our God has given to us you know and when I listen to your story LeWitt reminds us as I don't know it always comes across in a journey on program but one thing we recognize is especially when you come from a whole different world view as you would have as a Jehovah Witness everything heaven hell Earth future present who we are as people is such a radically different world view than the Catholic Church conversion doesn't happen overnight away it's a process part of it is a process of winnowing out the things of your past that you don't even see right are still with you and then it takes a while to discover the significance of things into Catholic worldview right but uniquely special compared to what it was before so it takes a while yes and in that light I want to again remind the audience that was at our conversion our Catholic conversion Tom our Catholic conversion com if you want to find out more about Lu's journey go to there and you might have some questions for Lu what more details of your journey I do have an email here that I wanted to make sure you sure - Janet from California writes does Lu have any ideas for how Catholics can respond job witnesses who come knocking at our doors I feel bad not walking them to talk but I would be at a loss for what to say if I did sure that's a great question and I think that's something that even I as a former job as witness fight with that you know even though I know that and but I think Janet is at a very good at she's has a good advantage because being showing one of Joan's witnesses that you're Christian what would Christ do a lot of times Christ didn't talk he bring you in and you would sit and I think that just being a person of Christ and showing them that respect once they realize that you're there not that you're not going to be converted they're not going to force you on that conversion but you're going to prove to them against their popular belief that a Catholic is a Christian who firmly believes in what they what their faith is they live it and their evidence of it by just being a true Christian invite them in have some coffee with them listen to them talk have a discussion show your Catholic faith to them and the best thing to do a lot of times is to just be a Christian likes Christ would that's really the easiest way to be a witness you know I'm wondering from your perspective having had a foot in both camps because the world views are so radically different that the apologetic arguments are going to miss because they're coming from such a different perspective that what you're saying is the the qualities that that transcend the two worldviews are the virtues the virtues of charity its current virtual forgiveness the virtue of humility that's what we need to let them see that and catholic christian has these virtue that's right because they're going to say what are they doing with these virtues em hmm that's correct it's a hundred percent correct and and that's and that's what would carry somebody in that's what wilbur may not be at that moment but they'll remember that your plans attached another email jonah from Warwick writes our Jehovah Witnesses bothered at all by the lack of historical evidence for their faith what did they say about the huge gap between the Apostles in the job witnesses that's a good question too and that was one thing I fought with and that's why I am where I am today because of that gap but what they teach as that one of Jehovah's Witnesses you're taught that after the apostles and after they had passed on the between the apostles and Jehovah's Witnesses establishment of the Bible students by Charles Russell that there was a dissension and a just a mix-up mish-mosh so people floundering around trying to find the truth and there wasn't a truth there was they were going aside from the truth and going this way and that way and it wasn't until this day and time that this unity began again and we got back to the focus of faith back to the focus of truth so that was a learning experience and this is the truth now what we what do we talk about what goes on in there we don't know we have no connection there's nothing that we besides historical happenings wars dissensions of the church and we use that to show the infallibility of the Catholic Church by by teaching that all these dissensions happened and that's why it's not the truth I mean that was really a common idea there in the early in the 1800s because not only were many dissatisfied with where the Reformers had broke away from but they were all these different groups and so again wiping everything clean always going back to the Bible this is where it was and something's been lost very common right we've got a couple minutes of one more email from Nicky from Kansas whenever Joe of witnesses visit I always feel a bit of admiration for the devotion to their faith I really think Catholics need to do a better job of sharing our beliefs how can we be better Vangelis that's a great question and and and there's no better way to be evangelists and to do it what we're called to do as an example if your husband or wife if you're called to be a family person that's your Evangelization once you share and you become faithful and your family it's going to spread to your children etc in your parish and your church get involved in helping out with things like st. Vincent DePaul helping out the community helping out where it's necessary where people need it and not helping out because people see it but helping out because it helps and it's because it's being Christian unless you know that that's where I would say the parish is the way to start you start in the parish we serve our community and start in your calling whether it be in the religious life whether it be in your family life whether it be single life focus on that make that your ministry and on your job and on your living out the virtues in that little a mission field that you've been given the seeds that if plants are unbelievable alright thanks again Lou again your website is our Catholic conversion com correct and it's just getting started right it's just getting started I've had it up for a little bit it's its basic site but it has links to things that might assist to help with some apologetics for Java's witnesses it links to your to your sites as well I just think that it's a being part of a community it's fairly new but it's willing to grow so contact me up I wanted to share conversion stories on there as well all right well thank you thank you very much for coming on the program thank you talk about your journey and we do ask the Lord's blessing on your continued witness during my tenure and your family so thank you very much thank you and thank you for joining us on this episode of the journey home I mean lose witness reminds us that we never know when our life the virtues that we are called this year might be the seed for somebody in our life to discover the beauty of our faith and it may be that we are the one person that our Lord Jesus wants to use to bring them home to the church so let's be a witness each one of us keep each other in prayer look forward to seeing you again next week god bless you

Channel: EWTN

Views: 78,187

Rating: 4.798923 out of 5

Keywords: Catholic, EWTN, Christian, television, JHT01394

Id: HKJPOncjgv8

Length: 56min 36sec (3396 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 11 2013