Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Father tells young daughter not to worry about sexual abuse as ‘Jehovah sees everything and will sort it out,’ court hears

http://www.news.com.au/national/south-australia/father-tells-young-daughter-not-to-worry-about-sexual-abuse-as-jehovah-sees-everything-and-will-sort-it-out-court-hears/story-fnii5yv4-1227038869989

Father tells young daughter not to worry about sexual abuse as ‘Jehovah sees everything and will sort it out,’ court hears

Henricus Stephanus Landmeter outside the District Court.
Henricus Stephanus Landmeter outside the District Court. Source: News Limited
THE religious father of a young girl who complained about being sexually abused by a fellow devotee told his daughter not to worry because “Jehovah sees everything, he will sort it out”, a court has heard.
Henricus Stephanus Landmeter, 77, of Para Hills West, had been found guilty of the persistent sexual exploitation of a child between 1992 and 1998.

The District Court today heard the girl was abused on more than 100 occasions between the ages of seven and 13 by Landmeter, who remains in “defiant denial” of his crimes.

In her victim impact statement read to the court, the woman, who now has children of her own, says Landmeter preyed on her while she was “young, innocent and impressionable” and used his religion to mask his crimes.

“You ... took advantage of a little girl who parents were, and still are, blinded by their faith and you found religion to be a very effective means to get away with your vile behaviour,” she said.
She said she was left confused and numb as the first attack occurred.

“I didn’t know any better, Jehovah's Witnesses grow up being told all fellow Jehovah's Witnesses are to be trusted — even more so than your blood relatives.

“I thought I was being silly, I thought I was overacting whereas my father said: ‘Jehovah sees everything, he will sort it out’.”

The woman said she had come to court to tell Landmeter he could not hide from his crimes anymore.
“I'm here to stand up and represent every little girl you have potentially stolen from and to make sure you steal no more.”

She said Landmeter had shown no remorse and she doubted he thought what he did to her was wrong.
“This is what is most disturbing to me,’’ she said.

“It frightens me to see the contempt on you and your wife’s faces each time I cross your paths.
“I take comfort that when I leave here today I will never think of either of you again.”

Trevor Wedding, for Landmeter, asked the court to suspend any sentence imposed due to his client’s age and deteriorating health.

But prosecutor Jeff Powell said Landmeter had shown no remorse for his crimes, they were committed over a long time, and only stopped when the victim was old enough to remove herself from danger.

He said these factors outweighed any possibility of suspending Landmeter’s sentence.
Judge Julie McIntyre remanded him on continuing bail to be sentenced later this week.
Originally published as Sex abuse victim confronts Jehovah’s Witness

Friday, August 22, 2014

For 46 years Jehovah's Witnesses compromised their worship in Mexico



For 46 years Jehovah's Witnesses  compromised their worship in Mexico to retain ownership of material property .

1995 Yearbook p.211-213 states that from 1932-1943 the Watchtower was registered as a religious organization. However the government required that all property used for religious purposes become federal property. For that reason the Society changed their registration to a "Cultural Society" that educates. This meant that the brothers can no longer sing, pray and use the Bible in their "cultural" meetings. This way they sacrificed the worship of Jehovah, singing praises to him and using the Bible because owning their property and assets was much more important than praying, singing & using the Bible. They made the Government believe that they just educated people culturally and were NOT IN ANY WAY a religious organization.

99.9% of Mexican Witnesses today don't realize that the Governing Body CHOSE to do away with public worship in order to keep their assets. Even traveling overseers believe the evil demonic Mexican Government opposed their worship when in actuality it was deliberately CHOSEN BY THE GOVERNING BODY.

They could've kept praying, singing and using the Bible at meetings but they would have to surrender their Kingdom Halls, Branch facilities, Assembly Halls to the Federal Government. When the laws changed (late 80's early 90's) and religious organizations were allowed to keep their own property, the Governing Body changed their registration as they were no longer a Cultural Society and the brothers were told they can now sing, pray & use the Bible at their meetings.

The naive sheep of course saw this as Jehovah's blessing and shed tears of joy when they were told the news. All along it was the Governing Body that compromised the worship of God for their own benefit.





Here's the quote from the 1995 Year Book of Jehovah's Witnesses
La Torre del Vigía de México—A Cultural Society
You will recall that back in 1932 La Torre del Vigía de México had been authorized by the government. However, there were obstacles because of the restrictions that the law imposed on all religions. Objections were raised to the house-to-house activity of the Witnesses, since the law stipulated that ‘every religious act of public worship must be held inside the temples.’ For the same reason, objections were raised to our conventions in public places. This was a problem, because these conventions were constantly getting larger. Owning property also presented problems, because the law required that every building used for religious purposes had to become federal property.
For these and other reasons, the Society decided that it would be wise to reorganize, with a view to giving greater emphasis to the educational nature of our work. Therefore, on June 10, 1943, application was made to the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs to register La Torre del Vigía as a civil society, and this was approved on June 15, 1943.
With this rearrangement, singing at our meetings was discontinued, and the meeting places became known as Halls for Cultural Studies. No audible prayers were said at meetings, though nothing could prevent a person from saying an earnest prayer silently in his heart. Every appearance of a religious service was avoided, and truly our meetings are designed for education. When Witnesses in other lands began to call their local groups “congregations,” the Witnesses in Mexico kept on using the term “companies.” House-to-house visits by the Witnesses continued, and with even more zeal; but direct use of the Bible at doors was avoided. Instead, publishers learned the texts by heart so that they could quote them. They also made good use of the book “Make Sure of All Things,” which is a compilation of Scripture quotations on many subjects. Only on return visits and on studies (which were termed “cultural” instead of “Bible”) was the Bible itself used.
The principal work of Jehovah’s Witnesses remained the same, namely, preaching the good news of God’s Kingdom.

"*** yb95 pp. 211-213 Mexico ***

"In 1989, with the approval of the Governing Body, a letter was written to all the “companies” saying that as of April 1, we would be operating in Mexico as a religious organization."
yb95 p. 233 Mexico

 

During this same time period (1943 - 1989) the WT hypocritically printed:

*** w79 5/15 p. 21 par. 15 Prayer in These “Last Days” ***If we compromise in order to avoid persecution, then, of course, there would be no need to keep on praying. This would not only indicate a lack of faith, but would also result in our losing the evidence of being one of God’s Christian servants.

*** w74 4/1 p. 202 Does Fear of Neighbor Control Your Life? ***Those few of Jehovah’s witnesses who denied their faith while in the German concentration camps during World War II were held up to ridicule before the entire camp by the Nazi officers, reviled as hypocrites and cowards. Some of them were asked, “Now that you have denied your God Jehovah, what god will you serve?”

*** w70 4/1 p. 219 par. 16 When Building Disciples, Motivate the Heart *** (Malawi)When a Christian witness of Jehovah of Ntifinyire Village was beaten for refusing to purchase a political card, Banda’s youths took a knife and made cuts encircling his arms and then his legs and inflicted many cuts on his head. Other Witnesses had six-inch nails driven into their feet, bicycle spokes were forced through their legs and then these Christians were told to run. Still others were tortured with a burning stick placed against their arms, legs, head and entire body. Still these Witnesses refused to compromise their religious beliefs or deny their God Jehovah under such barbaric torture. You may be called upon someday to prove your faith. How will your faith stand up?

*** w57 8/15 p. 496 par. 11 Happy Are the Peaceable ***Though total support and worship is demanded by Satan’s organization today, true Christians follow the example of the faithful Hebrew men of old, who refused to compromise their worship, even though threatened with death.

*** w57 2/1 p. 75 Faith Conquers the World ***Christendom likes to sing hymns about “Dare to be a Daniel, dare to face the foe,” but by their course of action they show that they do not have the faith of Daniel. They see only some visible enemies and even with them they compromise.

*** w52 5/1 p. 264 par. 17 1914 a Marked Year! ***Thus in spite of Satan’s ironlike governments and their strong powers of persecution Jehovah’s people in all ages have stood apart and survived. It is only those who have shown a lack of faith and who compromised that would take themselves out from under God’s special care.

I'm sure that the prophet Daniel would be very proud of them for following his example of non-compromise.


Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Another current Jehovah's Witness goes to trial for Child Sex Abuse

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/child-abuse/282815/1/Accused-Rapist-Angela-Montgomery-a-JW-goes-to-trial-Sept-2-5-2014-in-Tennessee#.U_OjsWONAcU

Tuesday, August 5, 2014



Child protection expert on Jehovah's Witnesses policy
A Statement by David Clohessy of SNAP

For 25 years I’ve been the director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We have more than 15,000 members across the globe in all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. And we’ve helped victims, witnesses and whistleblowers in other institutional contexts too, like athletic programs and Scouting and summer camps.

I can’t recall ever seeing a policy anywhere that is more predator-friendly and self-serving than the Watchtower’s “two witnesses” rule. On its face, it is dangerous and callous. If any crime is likely to have no witnesses, it is child sexual abuse. If the law enforcement community adopted this rule only a handful of child predators would be charged, convicted and imprisoned every year.

One wonders if this rule means that Jehovah’s Witness officials do nothing even when they hear about another JW official admitting to molesting kids.

This policy endangers kids and invites predators. It protects only one small group – the Jehovah’s Witness hierarchy. Even then, it protects them only in the short-term. Thankfully, more victims are finding the strength to report child sex crimes, more police are investigating them, more prosecutors are prosecuting them, and more lawyers are suing them.

As Martin Luther King said “No lie lives forever” and “The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

This rule will be revoked someday. The only question is how much moral authority and members will the Jehovah’s Witnesses have squandered and alienated – and how many kids and families will be devastated in the meantime.

Outside of the Jehovah’s Witness hierarchy, virtually every other adult believes that we should all call police if we see or suspect child sex crimes. (Not everyone does this, of course. But nearly everyone believes this is the right course of action.) But the JW hierarchy is wrong on both fronts – policy and performance, belief and behavior.

The “two witnesses” rule is a stunningly heartless and reckless policy that is guaranteed to cause more heinous crimes against children.


About David Clohessy

Since 1991, David Clohessy has served as SNAP’s national director, setting up local support groups and doing thousands of interviews (including Oprah, Sixty Minutes, the Phil Donahue Show, Good Morning America). He’s been a community organizer in poor neighborhoods and provided political and public relations consulting. David is married and has two sons.
David Clohessy
Executive Director, SNAP
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
7234 Arsenal Street
St. Louis MO 63143
314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com