July 14, 2025 • 43 mins
What do you do if you're a group of false prophets over a doomsday cult, and you have to keep changing your doctrines or rules? You blame God for changing, and give it the warm and fuzzy name: NEW LIGHT!
What is really going on? Does that raise any doubts and questions in you? Well, it should!
#EXJW #exJehovahsWitnesses #exJehovahsWitnessesSupport #JW #JehovahsWitnessesGoverningBody
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Episode Transcript
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UNKNOWN (00:00):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (00:32):
Hello and welcome to Mitch the XJW.
I'm glad you're here.
What am I going to be talkingabout today?
Let's talk about New Light.
And I think we're all familiarwith it.
(00:57):
Being in the JW world.
Every time the governing bodycame up with something, a change
in particular is what I'mgetting at.
They said it was new light.
And what are they talking about?
They're saying Jehovah hashelped them to come to a new
(01:24):
understanding of a particulartruth or reality.
a man-made rule that they pushedon us.
And I started questioning whenthey would do things like this
(01:45):
back when I was like a teenager.
And as the years progressed, Ijust kept on.
I had questions in my mind.
I had doubts.
It's like when When I was young,they pushed that that generation
that was alive in 1914.
(02:06):
Like they would see theconclusion of the system of
things.
And so, you know, when you'reall in and when you're a
witness, you all know it's it'slike that's what we're taught,
that's what we believe is likeindoctrinated in us.
And so.
You know, when I'm an adult.
(02:30):
And I get a change on somethingthat has just been something
that we've stood on.
Like, you know, whether it's outin the ministry, workmate,
excuse me, schoolmate, relative.
It's like we are standing onthat generation thought that we
(02:53):
had.
So imagine my surprise.
you know, as an adult, when theychanged it, and he laid out this
whole, like, diagram on, youknow, where they got the word
from, and, oh, look, if we takethe context around that word, we
(03:16):
come to this conclusion now,that generations can overlap.
Most, you know, most...
People talking to them after themeeting, you know, they're in
awe.
You know, they hold thegoverning body like they put
them on a pedestal.
They elevate them.
(03:37):
And so they were happy.
Me, on the other hand, like Isaid, it just put that doubt in
my head again.
Hold on.
Sorry, I was making suresomething was on.
(03:59):
But it reiterated those doubtsthat I had.
And now as an adult, andthinking more critically, like,
you know, it may have made youfeel, it just made me feel
weird.
And they would, I even have avideo of this on my TikTok.
It's like two different clipsput together, but the first
(04:23):
clip, is like one of the helpersto the governing body giving a
service talk.
And he's saying how we have tohave humility.
And when we make a mistake, weadmit it because that's what
true Christians do.
Then it fades to the othervideo.
This is a governing body memberpretty much blaming Jehovah.
(04:44):
He said when they get thingswrong and they have to adjust
the understanding, they don'tneed to apologize.
They don't need to explain it.
Like, it was pretty blunt.
Pretty much saying you all aresupposed to accept what we tell
you and just go with it.
(05:05):
Live your lives accordingly.
And, you know, just hearing thatvideo, he went on to say the way
he blamed Jehovah, he saidJehovah is the one that keeps
making the light brighter.
And So when he changes, we gotoo.
(05:27):
And you know what?
That made me mad.
That infuriated me because weknow God does not change.
Principles that we base our lifeon in the Bible, they don't
change.
Humans change.
And so to have the audacity tosay pretty much blame Jehovah is
(05:52):
his fault He makes the lightbrighter progressively.
When we say things and we get itwrong, we don't need to
apologize.
Like, how can someone listen tothat and honestly go with it,
(06:16):
accept it?
Like, that doesn't touch yousomewhere in here when you hear
that.
And I know, like I said, that wewere I was a witness for over 50
years.
I know how it is when you're onthat side and you're in the
organization.
You know, you just don't want tothink ill of the organization.
(06:39):
You don't want to think they cando anything wrong.
And trust me, as I started mydeconstruction of the mindset I
had in the organization, like,When you're on the outside
looking in and you'redeconstructing what's been
ingrained in you, you reallystart to open your eyes and see
(07:01):
everything for what it was.
Certain parts, I feel, are asham.
It's a front.
Not truthful.
And that's the part dealing withhumans and, you know, the
(07:26):
governing body and the helperswho share in doing what they do.
The part of it, because someoneasked me this, what I gave, I
did a post about me as a17-year-old and things I was
doing and progressing even inwork, and they asked me, do you
(07:46):
think that the truth hadanything to do with it?
And by all means, it did.
They are scam artists, but theyhave to base it on truth.
So they taught, for the mostpart, things in the Bible.
(08:09):
And like I said earlier, Goddoesn't change.
So we were learning principlesand ways to live.
that God accepts.
And so that part of it, yeah,I'm appreciative.
(08:30):
It helped make me, uh, you know,the person I am instill morals
in me, but the part that I don'tunderstand how someone can just
sit there is like the constantchanges.
I just gave you one example.
The, uh, the viewpoint ongenerations that they adjusted,
(08:53):
so we had to adjust.
I mean, you know the changesthere's been.
Brothers can wear beards.
If you're not on the platform orhave some other assignment, you
may not need to wear a jacket ora necktie.
(09:13):
The females and wear slacks orpants if they want to.
Now, if you're thinkingcritically, if it's not
something directly in the Biblethat it would go against God,
(09:36):
you have to think, why werethese the rules for so long?
some of them even a stumblingone to not even want to be
associated with the organizationanymore.
(09:56):
Like that doesn't make youquestion things.
And then all of a sudden it'sokay.
Like, did it make you askyourself why, why is it okay now
that I can wear a beard?
Like the thing that got me to,with the beard part was it was
(10:18):
acceptable in certain areas ofthe world but like where I live
in the United States it wasalways so strict clean shaven
and you know I remember we movedfrom the north part of the
country down south so up norththe brothers at the time you
(10:39):
know you gotta think this is the70s early 80s some of the
brothers had these thicksideburns, and they said, you
know, as long as you don't dropthem below the earlobes, you
would still look presentable.
Okay.
Moved down south to a southernstate, and you know, my father,
(11:00):
he had his sideburns, and theywere like, oh, yeah, here, it
needs to be this part of theear.
And it's like all these littlebyproducts Of the rules we
already have.
Or in effect.
Depending apparently where youlived in the country.
(11:21):
And.
It's like why.
Is it okay now.
It could have always been okay.
Sisters.
Man like.
These sisters I'm gettingpictures from like.
Houston and Atlanta where I usedto live.
And.
Sisters where I'm living now.
And they look like.
(11:41):
Coming in with some nice.
like pantsuits and lookingpresentable.
And I'm like, they could havebeen doing this.
It's accepted in the businessworld.
That's what they said.
As a matter of fact, when theywere giving us the okay to do
it, you know, and now it's the,the toasting or saying cheers.
(12:08):
And that one bothers me too.
for two different reasons, butone is like, okay, I haven't
talked to anyone.
I'm gonna, like, I'm pretty damnsure I have never talked to a
witness and they were like, youknow what, I wish we could
(12:30):
toast.
I have never talked to a witnessabout that.
I've talked to brothers who arelike, man, I wish we could have
beards.
Like, it would be neat and trim,but We can do it.
You can do it, but you wouldn'tbe able to have any privileges
within the congregation.
(12:50):
And so it's like things likethat just make me think.
And now that I'm in the ex-JWgroups, it's like so many others
had these questions and hadthese doubts.
The huge reason they don't wantus to get online that much
(13:12):
because They know we would findeach other, those of us who have
decided to leave.
And then I think about, too, thePIMOs, acronym for physically
(13:34):
in, mentally out.
They still associate with theorganization, go to meetings for
whatever reason.
I have heard so many.
like valid reasons.
And, you know, I think aboutthem, they don't even want to be
there and they have to, uh, putup with all this crap firsthand.
(13:56):
And, you know, you have to bethere listening to members of
the congregation, justifyanother governing body, uh,
change.
And, uh, That's just too muchemphasis on rules and power and
(14:21):
control.
You know, I don't know about youall, but I didn't like to feel
like I was being controlled.
Like, I give respect andhumility where it's due.
So, like, you know, I have noproblem with God or anything,
but when it came to a human...
(14:42):
I have a problem for someonejust having so much control.
I did a couple of videos thisweek about that too on my TikTok
and Instagram about how much ofa high control organization
slash cult the Jehovah'sWitnesses live in.
(15:04):
The
SPEAKER_00 (15:08):
other part about the...
SPEAKER_01 (15:13):
the toasting.
Because I said it was two thingsthat bothered me.
That was one.
The second thing is, and I'veposted some, others have posted
some, but it's like articlesthat they have written about
toasting.
And they were very, veryadamant.
(15:35):
You know, it has paganbackgrounds and You could be
doing this with the demons orletting them in when you do
that.
And they were very adamant aboutnot toasting.
And here we are in 2025 witheverything that's going on in
that organization and againstthat organization.
(15:57):
So many things that they couldaddress and be addressing and
making right.
And all they do is givepermission to clink glasses.
That showed me where theirpriorities are and how much
control they want, how muchcontrol they have.
(16:20):
They have a little bit over 8million people hypnotized, ready
to do anything.
They said, you need to be soobedient to us, even if you
don't understand something or itsounds strange, you still obey
us.
and that's what they have.
(16:40):
They have so much mind control,and they can pretty much do and
say what they want, adjust whatthey want, and the sheep just
take it.
The majority of the people inthat organization just take it
(17:04):
and adjust, and There are thoseof us that, you know, we do a
lot of critical thinking.
We ask questions.
We do what they said in a lot oftheir assembly parts and
convention parts and watchtowerlessons.
(17:27):
You know, they say we have toput our faith to the test or, in
other words, sometimes we mightneed to question ourselves.
Why are we doing this?
Do I really believe what I'mhearing?
They used to tell us to do that,but as soon as you do, and I'm
(17:50):
talking to a lot ofex-witnesses, the same thing
happened to me.
It's like when you have too manyquestions, they take it as
you're causing ripples.
I've heard elders say, I knowit's a couple of people in
congregations I've been inwho've had doubts and questions,
(18:12):
and they ask, well, why do wehave to do it like this, or why
is that a rule?
And you know what the elderslabel them?
And I've heard them talkingamongst each other, and a few
have even said it to me.
They call those troublepublishers.
(18:34):
Yeah.
And when I first heard that, itmade me feel some type of way.
But yeah, they take it as youare causing ripples.
You're being unfaithful and thatyou may contaminate other
(18:55):
members of the congregation withyour crazy talk.
All things I've heard firsthandfrom elders, but Yeah, they
consider those who think a lotand question.
A lot of elders label them as atrouble publisher, meaning you
(19:19):
give elders headaches.
I quickly learned that justfrom, you know, hanging around
different elders.
And so it's discouraged.
They say one thing.
from the platform, but inreality, in real life, they
discourage critical thinking.
(19:40):
They discourage when youquestion and doubt.
I remember when, oh man, thiswas in the 90s, and one sister
doing a watchtower lesson, shewas very sincere.
(20:02):
Wasn't trying to be an ass oranything.
And she raised her hand after acouple of people had commented.
And she said, I just don't quiteunderstand this point.
Brother, can you please explainit to me?
Like, I don't really agree withwhat it's saying.
Oh, my goodness.
(20:22):
I thought his ears, they turnedso red.
I thought they were going tolike explode and pop off the
sides of his head.
But.
Yeah, he just looked at her andhe was like, sister, we'll talk
after the meeting.
And the mic was still at her andshe's like, I didn't mean any
disrespect, but I honestly wantto know, sister, we'll talk
after the meeting.
(20:43):
And, yeah.
But even if that may have beenthe wrong time for her to ask
that, she could have waitedafter the meeting and approached
an elder.
Even though, in my opinion, hecould have been nicer.
(21:07):
And so that's a great question.
I'd be happy to talk with youafter the meeting about it.
But see, he shut her down.
And what do you think that mayhave done?
In my opinion, what if it'ssomebody visiting?
Because there's a public meetingon Sunday.
What if someone is visiting astudy?
Or what if it's others like us?
(21:30):
who have critical thinking anddoubts, and to see an elder shut
her down like that, coldly andflat, move on, some might think,
huh, maybe she was right.
And so to me, it was justhandled wrong.
But it just, again, reiteratedto me that they don't like you
(21:56):
to ask too many questions.
I gave him headaches when Iwas...
Because one of the things I hadthe privilege of was being over
the attendance at the KingdomHall.
And if it was something that Ihad a question about or wasn't
(22:20):
comfortable about, didn't like,or put one of the brothers in a
bad situation, I'm always up inthe...
the elder's face, like trying towork it out.
And it was so much because,okay, we moved to having three
(22:42):
different attendants, one in theauditorium, one was in the
foyer, and then we had anentrance attendant to watch the
door that stayed locked duringmeetings.
And so...
You know, I'm working with allthese brothers, all these
different personalities, andsometimes the elders would have
(23:02):
these...
Camille was just like two.
It was like the Colby and thesecretary.
And they had these littlequirks.
And I always had to keep mybinder with our instructions
from the branch that every elderhad.
I had to keep it in a binderthat I used to carry around with
me.
(23:23):
And...
Sometimes I would get theseelders and they come with their
little quirks.
And I'm just, you know, I'm aministerial servant, so I'm very
respectful.
And I just show them, you know,to remind them that we can't
start shooting off these littledifferent man-made rules over
our guidelines that we have fromthe branch.
(23:46):
And some would thank me.
And thank me for beingrespectful, because I was always
respectful to the elders.
And some, you could tell, like,it bothered them.
Like, you know, I was justsupposed to do what they said.
And, you know, thinking foryourself, even if it's trying to
(24:12):
do what's right and to take upfor other friends, is, yeah,
frowned upon.
It's an intimidation thingthat's taught.
They always say, you know,everything, whether at work or
congregation, is only as good asthe people at the top.
(24:37):
And so the Governing Bodiesstart all that, you know,
fear-mongering and making youfeel like you need, you need,
need, need.
One of my friends make a videoHe made a video and it was like
a bunch of, you know, from thebroadcast and those morning
(25:00):
talks.
And as the brothers, whoever wasgiving it, it was just a bunch
of negative words that they sayover and over and over.
Anxiety.
Pressed.
Fearful.
It's like all kind of negativewords like that.
(25:21):
And he spliced the clip togetherfor like 30 seconds.
And it just boggled your mind.
But they try to keep you down,but lift you up just enough with
what you're studying and goingover in the meetings.
But then they're also making youdependent on them.
(25:45):
And making it so...
you feel more comfortableconforming than you do asking a
question.
And, you know, when you're inthat mindset, you don't even
want to give any suspicion thatyou have any doubts of any kind.
(26:05):
And so that mindset tricklesdown, you know, to the circuit
overseers and to the body ofelders.
And, you know, they just don'tlike that much resistance.
They take it as you're a problempublisher or a problem pioneer.
(26:25):
Just being the son of an elderand just watching and listening.
Sometimes one or two elderswouldn't mesh with the body.
(26:50):
And they always wanted, youknow, just different things.
What I was talking aboutearlier, the quirks and bringing
personal, like, additions torules and guidelines.
It would be those, like, goingagainst the grain of the body.
And it would just cause all kindof problems.
(27:11):
And that's just how it is inthat organization.
Especially the control part.
Because Again, using thetoasting new light as an
illustration.
What did he say, Brother Lit?
You know, therefore, we've cameto the conclusion, and you know,
(27:35):
blah, blah, blah, about theclinking and the toasting.
Should have stopped there.
But what did he do?
Do you remember?
He had to add that essence ofcontrol into it.
Because what he had said so far,you know, friends, okay, we can
(27:56):
toast and cheer.
Okay, okay.
And then he came with the bigbutt.
And he was like, would everyoccasion be appropriate to toast
or cheer?
And, you know, he was like, ofcourse not.
So that puts that littlecontrol.
And you know what that'll do?
That'll give congregations evenmore who have a division because
(28:23):
you know it's always in myexperience that when you had a
congregation gathering you wouldhave a majority okay with a lot
of things like the music playingbut then you might have one or
two people that lose their shitor a certain song because of an
artist And I remember, you know,I'm at one gathering, and I
(28:48):
think they played, they startedto play Beat It by Michael
Jackson.
And it was about, you could justsee him in the crowd.
He had turned, looking at thestereo system.
And, yeah, they ran up there.
Don't take him off.
That's Michael Jackson.
(29:08):
We don't listen to him.
And they got into it, about it.
And so...
Can you imagine those...
Excuse me.
Excuse me.
Can you imagine those type offriends?
You're at an event and say thereis the toasting, the clinking,
(29:35):
and the cheering.
And you're going to have thatone or two brother zealot And
he's going to be like, this wastotally not the right occasion
to have that go on.
You know how they talk.
They always sound like they owna damn drum at the convention.
(29:57):
And so it's like, I see thathappening.
That is going to cause division
SPEAKER_00 (30:10):
and
SPEAKER_01 (30:14):
People like.
You know one group saying it wasokay.
Another group saying it wasn't.
I just think it's going to bemore trouble.
Just because.
He added that little caveat.
I think.
But that's what they do.
(30:34):
They're big on that control.
And it trickles down.
But yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (30:40):
The new like.
SPEAKER_01 (30:43):
It's.
a glorified way to say, hey, wemessed up again.
Or, as myself and a lot of theother ex-witnesses feel, you
(31:03):
feel that they just want tothrow something out there, like
throw a bone out because of allthe CSA cases.
that they're losing you know andlike it that upsets us because
(31:26):
you have all these victims thathave fallen prey to predators
within congregations and a lotof these the elders know what
type of person this is but theydon't tell anyone so this person
is still free to mingle with thecongregation even is, and they
(31:48):
are losing court cases.
You know, if you're a witness onhere and you don't believe me,
please look it up.
The internet is a wonderfulthing when you use it right.
All public records,Pennsylvania, Australia,
Montana, California, to name afew, But there are a lot of
(32:11):
cases in governments wanting thenames of these predators that
the elders and the branch andthe governing body know.
They have a database atheadquarters with these names,
but they won't hand it over.
They're saying it's privileged.
Like when a person confesses,since they're considered
(32:34):
ministers or religious leaders,they're not obligated to tell
the authorities.
Like I said, they're losingcourt cases left and right and
settling out of court withvictims.
So we think, me and my friendsthink it was just like, you
(32:55):
know, here's a little treat.
Leave us alone.
Take the attention off ofeverything.
Because you know when witnessesget rules lifted, it's like big
celebrations.
The new light It sucked.
You know, hearing it in aWatchtower study or an
(33:20):
announcement that's made or theysay it like they did on the
broadcast now.
They like to do it on updates.
And it will always leave a badtaste in my mouth.
And the first thing people willsay, these aren't perfect men.
(33:40):
You act like they're perfect.
And that's not even a validargument point because everyone
knows they're imperfect.
The governing body even alwayssay they're imperfect.
That's not even a valid arguingpoint.
But that's what they like toyell out.
(34:02):
No one ever said that thegoverning body was perfect.
That's not even a point.
A lot of people deflect fromwhat's really going on.
And it is just a huge scam.
It's like different generations,and you can look back, different
(34:27):
generations, they had focalpoints that was going to be the
end.
And that's what these groupswere working towards, that end.
You know, they thought the endwas coming in 1914.
And that's what those Biblestudents was working towards.
And when nothing happens, ifyou're one of the leaders or the
(34:49):
leaders, what do you do?
You have to make amendments.
Oh, we have new light.
The end wasn't coming in 1914.
It was a war in heaven.
And now Jesus is king.
That's what was going to happen.
Jehovah changed it on us.
(35:10):
And so, you know, differentgenerations in the organization
have different focal points thatthey were looking towards.
You know, 1975 was another year.
In the 90s was another.
And now, it's just been allabout right around the corner.
(35:33):
We're in the last days.
We're in the final part of thelast days.
They have to keep the gimmickgoing.
And people, you know, they keepfalling for it.
But there are a lot of peoplewaking up.
Somebody was showing me thestatistics, and it is more
(35:57):
ex-witnesses for whateverreason.
Whether you walked away, whetheryou got disfellowshipped,
disapproved, For whateverreason, there are more of us
than there are active witnesses.
And that tells you something.
(36:17):
A lot of people wake up.
Some that I'm talking to, theywere young when they woke up.
Some late teens, some early 20s,some in their 30s, and they have
a family and the whole familyagree and walk away.
(36:38):
People are waking up.
People are tired of being duped.
For anyone, they always wonder,and I'm always clear about this
in my videos, but I didn't losefaith in God.
I have nothing against God,nothing against Christ.
(37:03):
My whole The reason I do what Ido daily on all my accounts and
the podcast is I'm not agreeingwith the governing body, their
helpers, or some elders incongregations that knowingly
(37:24):
hide predators or let them, theydon't call the authorities when
the authorities need to beinvolved.
And so that's what I'm goingagainst.
I'm not even, Like witnesses, Idon't care if a person chooses
to be a Jehovah's Witness.
(37:45):
I talk to them daily when theypop up on my posts, even though
they're not supposed to.
I still talk to them.
If they're respectful, we have anice conversation.
They want to know why I do whatI do.
I answer them.
And I refer them to videos theycan look at that's pinned.
(38:09):
on the top of my TikTok accountwhere I explain in three videos
why.
You know?
Some who say, well, I loveJehovah.
I will never stop serving him.
I'm always loyal to Jehovah.
And you know what I told them?
I was like, I applaud you forhaving a conviction for
something.
(38:30):
Like, I'm not against Jehovah'sWitnesses.
I feel bad for all of them.
I want all of them to wake up Iknow they won't, but I'm just
trying to do my part to havepeople think, to plant a seed of
reason.
But I'm not telling people,like, they come on our counts
(38:54):
telling us we need to stop.
You need to come back toJehovah.
Like, I don't operate like that.
I don't tell people what to do.
I'm just presenting facts to youand reasoning with people.
And like I tell everybody, dowith that what you will.
Some, it goes right over theirhead.
(39:15):
Some could care less.
You know, everyone's different.
I'm just trying to reach thosethat might start thinking
critically or, you know, theyhave doubts.
you know, they may put someaction behind that.
(39:38):
If they hear the right thingfrom one of us, uh, extra was
witnesses that's online.
So yeah, that's why I do what Ido and daily.
And I'm, I just want to bringawareness to people.
And that was what I, that's whatwas on my mind, um, this
(40:00):
evening, just that new lightscam.
UNKNOWN (40:03):
Um,
SPEAKER_01 (40:05):
Jehovah doesn't change like that.
Jehovah communicates with no oneon earth.
It just doesn't happen.
They say they gather together ina room and they pray and they
(40:27):
pray and they read and they readand they pray and they pray and
that's God's spirit guiding themto come up with this new light.
It doesn't work like that.
The Bible's been the same.
You interpret it to us this way.
And then when that way doesn'twork out for you or your
(40:50):
purposes, whatever they may beat the time, you switch up and
you go another direction andlabel it new light.
So, yeah, new light does not flywith me.
I would love to hear you all'sthoughts about it.
Y'all always leave me greatcomments.
under my videos and we havediscussions there.
(41:11):
Uh, if you want to email me for,uh, feel free to do that.
X J dub one.
Let's eat X J D U B.
The number one at gmail.com.
Um, you can reach me on, um,Facebook, Instagram, Tik TOK.
(41:32):
Tik TOK is the most active andthe largest community I have.
Um, of ex-Jehovah's Witnesses.
But for all of those, just lookme up for exjdub, E-X-J-D-U-B on
Instagram, TikTok, Facebook.
(41:55):
I'm on Reddit also.
So, yeah, look me up.
Join the conversation.
Join the community.
Thousands of ex-Jehovah'sWitnesses that are friendly,
nice, very personable, and weall have our own unique,
(42:20):
interesting stories.
Some of them come with a lot ofpain, but we're there for each
other to keep one another liftedup.
So, yeah, join me or stay hereand communicate with me here.
Like I said, I enjoy all thecomments and responding.
So, yeah, let me know what youthink about New Light.
(42:43):
What's your take on New Light?
Do you buy it?
Did you not buy it?
And that's why you're an ex-JW?
Let me know in the comments.
And please like and share thisvideo, please.
I appreciate it.
I'm growing and I want to keepon growing so I can get the word
(43:03):
out there.
All right.
So until next time, y'all staygood.
Alright.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (00:32):
Hello and welcome to Mitch the XJW.
I'm glad you're here.
What am I going to be talkingabout today?
Let's talk about New Light.
And I think we're all familiarwith it.
(00:57):
Being in the JW world.
Every time the governing bodycame up with something, a change
in particular is what I'mgetting at.
They said it was new light.
And what are they talking about?
They're saying Jehovah hashelped them to come to a new
(01:24):
understanding of a particulartruth or reality.
a man-made rule that they pushedon us.
And I started questioning whenthey would do things like this
(01:45):
back when I was like a teenager.
And as the years progressed, Ijust kept on.
I had questions in my mind.
I had doubts.
It's like when When I was young,they pushed that that generation
that was alive in 1914.
(02:06):
Like they would see theconclusion of the system of
things.
And so, you know, when you'reall in and when you're a
witness, you all know it's it'slike that's what we're taught,
that's what we believe is likeindoctrinated in us.
And so.
You know, when I'm an adult.
(02:30):
And I get a change on somethingthat has just been something
that we've stood on.
Like, you know, whether it's outin the ministry, workmate,
excuse me, schoolmate, relative.
It's like we are standing onthat generation thought that we
(02:53):
had.
So imagine my surprise.
you know, as an adult, when theychanged it, and he laid out this
whole, like, diagram on, youknow, where they got the word
from, and, oh, look, if we takethe context around that word, we
(03:16):
come to this conclusion now,that generations can overlap.
Most, you know, most...
People talking to them after themeeting, you know, they're in
awe.
You know, they hold thegoverning body like they put
them on a pedestal.
They elevate them.
(03:37):
And so they were happy.
Me, on the other hand, like Isaid, it just put that doubt in
my head again.
Hold on.
Sorry, I was making suresomething was on.
(03:59):
But it reiterated those doubtsthat I had.
And now as an adult, andthinking more critically, like,
you know, it may have made youfeel, it just made me feel
weird.
And they would, I even have avideo of this on my TikTok.
It's like two different clipsput together, but the first
(04:23):
clip, is like one of the helpersto the governing body giving a
service talk.
And he's saying how we have tohave humility.
And when we make a mistake, weadmit it because that's what
true Christians do.
Then it fades to the othervideo.
This is a governing body memberpretty much blaming Jehovah.
(04:44):
He said when they get thingswrong and they have to adjust
the understanding, they don'tneed to apologize.
They don't need to explain it.
Like, it was pretty blunt.
Pretty much saying you all aresupposed to accept what we tell
you and just go with it.
(05:05):
Live your lives accordingly.
And, you know, just hearing thatvideo, he went on to say the way
he blamed Jehovah, he saidJehovah is the one that keeps
making the light brighter.
And So when he changes, we gotoo.
(05:27):
And you know what?
That made me mad.
That infuriated me because weknow God does not change.
Principles that we base our lifeon in the Bible, they don't
change.
Humans change.
And so to have the audacity tosay pretty much blame Jehovah is
(05:52):
his fault He makes the lightbrighter progressively.
When we say things and we get itwrong, we don't need to
apologize.
Like, how can someone listen tothat and honestly go with it,
(06:16):
accept it?
Like, that doesn't touch yousomewhere in here when you hear
that.
And I know, like I said, that wewere I was a witness for over 50
years.
I know how it is when you're onthat side and you're in the
organization.
You know, you just don't want tothink ill of the organization.
(06:39):
You don't want to think they cando anything wrong.
And trust me, as I started mydeconstruction of the mindset I
had in the organization, like,When you're on the outside
looking in and you'redeconstructing what's been
ingrained in you, you reallystart to open your eyes and see
(07:01):
everything for what it was.
Certain parts, I feel, are asham.
It's a front.
Not truthful.
And that's the part dealing withhumans and, you know, the
(07:26):
governing body and the helperswho share in doing what they do.
The part of it, because someoneasked me this, what I gave, I
did a post about me as a17-year-old and things I was
doing and progressing even inwork, and they asked me, do you
(07:46):
think that the truth hadanything to do with it?
And by all means, it did.
They are scam artists, but theyhave to base it on truth.
So they taught, for the mostpart, things in the Bible.
(08:09):
And like I said earlier, Goddoesn't change.
So we were learning principlesand ways to live.
that God accepts.
And so that part of it, yeah,I'm appreciative.
(08:30):
It helped make me, uh, you know,the person I am instill morals
in me, but the part that I don'tunderstand how someone can just
sit there is like the constantchanges.
I just gave you one example.
The, uh, the viewpoint ongenerations that they adjusted,
(08:53):
so we had to adjust.
I mean, you know the changesthere's been.
Brothers can wear beards.
If you're not on the platform orhave some other assignment, you
may not need to wear a jacket ora necktie.
(09:13):
The females and wear slacks orpants if they want to.
Now, if you're thinkingcritically, if it's not
something directly in the Biblethat it would go against God,
(09:36):
you have to think, why werethese the rules for so long?
some of them even a stumblingone to not even want to be
associated with the organizationanymore.
(09:56):
Like that doesn't make youquestion things.
And then all of a sudden it'sokay.
Like, did it make you askyourself why, why is it okay now
that I can wear a beard?
Like the thing that got me to,with the beard part was it was
(10:18):
acceptable in certain areas ofthe world but like where I live
in the United States it wasalways so strict clean shaven
and you know I remember we movedfrom the north part of the
country down south so up norththe brothers at the time you
(10:39):
know you gotta think this is the70s early 80s some of the
brothers had these thicksideburns, and they said, you
know, as long as you don't dropthem below the earlobes, you
would still look presentable.
Okay.
Moved down south to a southernstate, and you know, my father,
(11:00):
he had his sideburns, and theywere like, oh, yeah, here, it
needs to be this part of theear.
And it's like all these littlebyproducts Of the rules we
already have.
Or in effect.
Depending apparently where youlived in the country.
(11:21):
And.
It's like why.
Is it okay now.
It could have always been okay.
Sisters.
Man like.
These sisters I'm gettingpictures from like.
Houston and Atlanta where I usedto live.
And.
Sisters where I'm living now.
And they look like.
(11:41):
Coming in with some nice.
like pantsuits and lookingpresentable.
And I'm like, they could havebeen doing this.
It's accepted in the businessworld.
That's what they said.
As a matter of fact, when theywere giving us the okay to do
it, you know, and now it's the,the toasting or saying cheers.
(12:08):
And that one bothers me too.
for two different reasons, butone is like, okay, I haven't
talked to anyone.
I'm gonna, like, I'm pretty damnsure I have never talked to a
witness and they were like, youknow what, I wish we could
(12:30):
toast.
I have never talked to a witnessabout that.
I've talked to brothers who arelike, man, I wish we could have
beards.
Like, it would be neat and trim,but We can do it.
You can do it, but you wouldn'tbe able to have any privileges
within the congregation.
(12:50):
And so it's like things likethat just make me think.
And now that I'm in the ex-JWgroups, it's like so many others
had these questions and hadthese doubts.
The huge reason they don't wantus to get online that much
(13:12):
because They know we would findeach other, those of us who have
decided to leave.
And then I think about, too, thePIMOs, acronym for physically
(13:34):
in, mentally out.
They still associate with theorganization, go to meetings for
whatever reason.
I have heard so many.
like valid reasons.
And, you know, I think aboutthem, they don't even want to be
there and they have to, uh, putup with all this crap firsthand.
(13:56):
And, you know, you have to bethere listening to members of
the congregation, justifyanother governing body, uh,
change.
And, uh, That's just too muchemphasis on rules and power and
(14:21):
control.
You know, I don't know about youall, but I didn't like to feel
like I was being controlled.
Like, I give respect andhumility where it's due.
So, like, you know, I have noproblem with God or anything,
but when it came to a human...
(14:42):
I have a problem for someonejust having so much control.
I did a couple of videos thisweek about that too on my TikTok
and Instagram about how much ofa high control organization
slash cult the Jehovah'sWitnesses live in.
(15:04):
The
SPEAKER_00 (15:08):
other part about the...
SPEAKER_01 (15:13):
the toasting.
Because I said it was two thingsthat bothered me.
That was one.
The second thing is, and I'veposted some, others have posted
some, but it's like articlesthat they have written about
toasting.
And they were very, veryadamant.
(15:35):
You know, it has paganbackgrounds and You could be
doing this with the demons orletting them in when you do
that.
And they were very adamant aboutnot toasting.
And here we are in 2025 witheverything that's going on in
that organization and againstthat organization.
(15:57):
So many things that they couldaddress and be addressing and
making right.
And all they do is givepermission to clink glasses.
That showed me where theirpriorities are and how much
control they want, how muchcontrol they have.
(16:20):
They have a little bit over 8million people hypnotized, ready
to do anything.
They said, you need to be soobedient to us, even if you
don't understand something or itsounds strange, you still obey
us.
and that's what they have.
(16:40):
They have so much mind control,and they can pretty much do and
say what they want, adjust whatthey want, and the sheep just
take it.
The majority of the people inthat organization just take it
(17:04):
and adjust, and There are thoseof us that, you know, we do a
lot of critical thinking.
We ask questions.
We do what they said in a lot oftheir assembly parts and
convention parts and watchtowerlessons.
(17:27):
You know, they say we have toput our faith to the test or, in
other words, sometimes we mightneed to question ourselves.
Why are we doing this?
Do I really believe what I'mhearing?
They used to tell us to do that,but as soon as you do, and I'm
(17:50):
talking to a lot ofex-witnesses, the same thing
happened to me.
It's like when you have too manyquestions, they take it as
you're causing ripples.
I've heard elders say, I knowit's a couple of people in
congregations I've been inwho've had doubts and questions,
(18:12):
and they ask, well, why do wehave to do it like this, or why
is that a rule?
And you know what the elderslabel them?
And I've heard them talkingamongst each other, and a few
have even said it to me.
They call those troublepublishers.
(18:34):
Yeah.
And when I first heard that, itmade me feel some type of way.
But yeah, they take it as youare causing ripples.
You're being unfaithful and thatyou may contaminate other
(18:55):
members of the congregation withyour crazy talk.
All things I've heard firsthandfrom elders, but Yeah, they
consider those who think a lotand question.
A lot of elders label them as atrouble publisher, meaning you
(19:19):
give elders headaches.
I quickly learned that justfrom, you know, hanging around
different elders.
And so it's discouraged.
They say one thing.
from the platform, but inreality, in real life, they
discourage critical thinking.
(19:40):
They discourage when youquestion and doubt.
I remember when, oh man, thiswas in the 90s, and one sister
doing a watchtower lesson, shewas very sincere.
(20:02):
Wasn't trying to be an ass oranything.
And she raised her hand after acouple of people had commented.
And she said, I just don't quiteunderstand this point.
Brother, can you please explainit to me?
Like, I don't really agree withwhat it's saying.
Oh, my goodness.
(20:22):
I thought his ears, they turnedso red.
I thought they were going tolike explode and pop off the
sides of his head.
But.
Yeah, he just looked at her andhe was like, sister, we'll talk
after the meeting.
And the mic was still at her andshe's like, I didn't mean any
disrespect, but I honestly wantto know, sister, we'll talk
after the meeting.
(20:43):
And, yeah.
But even if that may have beenthe wrong time for her to ask
that, she could have waitedafter the meeting and approached
an elder.
Even though, in my opinion, hecould have been nicer.
(21:07):
And so that's a great question.
I'd be happy to talk with youafter the meeting about it.
But see, he shut her down.
And what do you think that mayhave done?
In my opinion, what if it'ssomebody visiting?
Because there's a public meetingon Sunday.
What if someone is visiting astudy?
Or what if it's others like us?
(21:30):
who have critical thinking anddoubts, and to see an elder shut
her down like that, coldly andflat, move on, some might think,
huh, maybe she was right.
And so to me, it was justhandled wrong.
But it just, again, reiteratedto me that they don't like you
(21:56):
to ask too many questions.
I gave him headaches when Iwas...
Because one of the things I hadthe privilege of was being over
the attendance at the KingdomHall.
And if it was something that Ihad a question about or wasn't
(22:20):
comfortable about, didn't like,or put one of the brothers in a
bad situation, I'm always up inthe...
the elder's face, like trying towork it out.
And it was so much because,okay, we moved to having three
(22:42):
different attendants, one in theauditorium, one was in the
foyer, and then we had anentrance attendant to watch the
door that stayed locked duringmeetings.
And so...
You know, I'm working with allthese brothers, all these
different personalities, andsometimes the elders would have
(23:02):
these...
Camille was just like two.
It was like the Colby and thesecretary.
And they had these littlequirks.
And I always had to keep mybinder with our instructions
from the branch that every elderhad.
I had to keep it in a binderthat I used to carry around with
me.
(23:23):
And...
Sometimes I would get theseelders and they come with their
little quirks.
And I'm just, you know, I'm aministerial servant, so I'm very
respectful.
And I just show them, you know,to remind them that we can't
start shooting off these littledifferent man-made rules over
our guidelines that we have fromthe branch.
(23:46):
And some would thank me.
And thank me for beingrespectful, because I was always
respectful to the elders.
And some, you could tell, like,it bothered them.
Like, you know, I was justsupposed to do what they said.
And, you know, thinking foryourself, even if it's trying to
(24:12):
do what's right and to take upfor other friends, is, yeah,
frowned upon.
It's an intimidation thingthat's taught.
They always say, you know,everything, whether at work or
congregation, is only as good asthe people at the top.
(24:37):
And so the Governing Bodiesstart all that, you know,
fear-mongering and making youfeel like you need, you need,
need, need.
One of my friends make a videoHe made a video and it was like
a bunch of, you know, from thebroadcast and those morning
(25:00):
talks.
And as the brothers, whoever wasgiving it, it was just a bunch
of negative words that they sayover and over and over.
Anxiety.
Pressed.
Fearful.
It's like all kind of negativewords like that.
(25:21):
And he spliced the clip togetherfor like 30 seconds.
And it just boggled your mind.
But they try to keep you down,but lift you up just enough with
what you're studying and goingover in the meetings.
But then they're also making youdependent on them.
(25:45):
And making it so...
you feel more comfortableconforming than you do asking a
question.
And, you know, when you're inthat mindset, you don't even
want to give any suspicion thatyou have any doubts of any kind.
(26:05):
And so that mindset tricklesdown, you know, to the circuit
overseers and to the body ofelders.
And, you know, they just don'tlike that much resistance.
They take it as you're a problempublisher or a problem pioneer.
(26:25):
Just being the son of an elderand just watching and listening.
Sometimes one or two elderswouldn't mesh with the body.
(26:50):
And they always wanted, youknow, just different things.
What I was talking aboutearlier, the quirks and bringing
personal, like, additions torules and guidelines.
It would be those, like, goingagainst the grain of the body.
And it would just cause all kindof problems.
(27:11):
And that's just how it is inthat organization.
Especially the control part.
Because Again, using thetoasting new light as an
illustration.
What did he say, Brother Lit?
You know, therefore, we've cameto the conclusion, and you know,
(27:35):
blah, blah, blah, about theclinking and the toasting.
Should have stopped there.
But what did he do?
Do you remember?
He had to add that essence ofcontrol into it.
Because what he had said so far,you know, friends, okay, we can
(27:56):
toast and cheer.
Okay, okay.
And then he came with the bigbutt.
And he was like, would everyoccasion be appropriate to toast
or cheer?
And, you know, he was like, ofcourse not.
So that puts that littlecontrol.
And you know what that'll do?
That'll give congregations evenmore who have a division because
(28:23):
you know it's always in myexperience that when you had a
congregation gathering you wouldhave a majority okay with a lot
of things like the music playingbut then you might have one or
two people that lose their shitor a certain song because of an
artist And I remember, you know,I'm at one gathering, and I
(28:48):
think they played, they startedto play Beat It by Michael
Jackson.
And it was about, you could justsee him in the crowd.
He had turned, looking at thestereo system.
And, yeah, they ran up there.
Don't take him off.
That's Michael Jackson.
(29:08):
We don't listen to him.
And they got into it, about it.
And so...
Can you imagine those...
Excuse me.
Excuse me.
Can you imagine those type offriends?
You're at an event and say thereis the toasting, the clinking,
(29:35):
and the cheering.
And you're going to have thatone or two brother zealot And
he's going to be like, this wastotally not the right occasion
to have that go on.
You know how they talk.
They always sound like they owna damn drum at the convention.
(29:57):
And so it's like, I see thathappening.
That is going to cause division
SPEAKER_00 (30:10):
and
SPEAKER_01 (30:14):
People like.
You know one group saying it wasokay.
Another group saying it wasn't.
I just think it's going to bemore trouble.
Just because.
He added that little caveat.
I think.
But that's what they do.
(30:34):
They're big on that control.
And it trickles down.
But yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (30:40):
The new like.
SPEAKER_01 (30:43):
It's.
a glorified way to say, hey, wemessed up again.
Or, as myself and a lot of theother ex-witnesses feel, you
(31:03):
feel that they just want tothrow something out there, like
throw a bone out because of allthe CSA cases.
that they're losing you know andlike it that upsets us because
(31:26):
you have all these victims thathave fallen prey to predators
within congregations and a lotof these the elders know what
type of person this is but theydon't tell anyone so this person
is still free to mingle with thecongregation even is, and they
(31:48):
are losing court cases.
You know, if you're a witness onhere and you don't believe me,
please look it up.
The internet is a wonderfulthing when you use it right.
All public records,Pennsylvania, Australia,
Montana, California, to name afew, But there are a lot of
(32:11):
cases in governments wanting thenames of these predators that
the elders and the branch andthe governing body know.
They have a database atheadquarters with these names,
but they won't hand it over.
They're saying it's privileged.
Like when a person confesses,since they're considered
(32:34):
ministers or religious leaders,they're not obligated to tell
the authorities.
Like I said, they're losingcourt cases left and right and
settling out of court withvictims.
So we think, me and my friendsthink it was just like, you
(32:55):
know, here's a little treat.
Leave us alone.
Take the attention off ofeverything.
Because you know when witnessesget rules lifted, it's like big
celebrations.
The new light It sucked.
You know, hearing it in aWatchtower study or an
(33:20):
announcement that's made or theysay it like they did on the
broadcast now.
They like to do it on updates.
And it will always leave a badtaste in my mouth.
And the first thing people willsay, these aren't perfect men.
(33:40):
You act like they're perfect.
And that's not even a validargument point because everyone
knows they're imperfect.
The governing body even alwayssay they're imperfect.
That's not even a valid arguingpoint.
But that's what they like toyell out.
(34:02):
No one ever said that thegoverning body was perfect.
That's not even a point.
A lot of people deflect fromwhat's really going on.
And it is just a huge scam.
It's like different generations,and you can look back, different
(34:27):
generations, they had focalpoints that was going to be the
end.
And that's what these groupswere working towards, that end.
You know, they thought the endwas coming in 1914.
And that's what those Biblestudents was working towards.
And when nothing happens, ifyou're one of the leaders or the
(34:49):
leaders, what do you do?
You have to make amendments.
Oh, we have new light.
The end wasn't coming in 1914.
It was a war in heaven.
And now Jesus is king.
That's what was going to happen.
Jehovah changed it on us.
(35:10):
And so, you know, differentgenerations in the organization
have different focal points thatthey were looking towards.
You know, 1975 was another year.
In the 90s was another.
And now, it's just been allabout right around the corner.
(35:33):
We're in the last days.
We're in the final part of thelast days.
They have to keep the gimmickgoing.
And people, you know, they keepfalling for it.
But there are a lot of peoplewaking up.
Somebody was showing me thestatistics, and it is more
(35:57):
ex-witnesses for whateverreason.
Whether you walked away, whetheryou got disfellowshipped,
disapproved, For whateverreason, there are more of us
than there are active witnesses.
And that tells you something.
(36:17):
A lot of people wake up.
Some that I'm talking to, theywere young when they woke up.
Some late teens, some early 20s,some in their 30s, and they have
a family and the whole familyagree and walk away.
(36:38):
People are waking up.
People are tired of being duped.
For anyone, they always wonder,and I'm always clear about this
in my videos, but I didn't losefaith in God.
I have nothing against God,nothing against Christ.
(37:03):
My whole The reason I do what Ido daily on all my accounts and
the podcast is I'm not agreeingwith the governing body, their
helpers, or some elders incongregations that knowingly
(37:24):
hide predators or let them, theydon't call the authorities when
the authorities need to beinvolved.
And so that's what I'm goingagainst.
I'm not even, Like witnesses, Idon't care if a person chooses
to be a Jehovah's Witness.
(37:45):
I talk to them daily when theypop up on my posts, even though
they're not supposed to.
I still talk to them.
If they're respectful, we have anice conversation.
They want to know why I do whatI do.
I answer them.
And I refer them to videos theycan look at that's pinned.
(38:09):
on the top of my TikTok accountwhere I explain in three videos
why.
You know?
Some who say, well, I loveJehovah.
I will never stop serving him.
I'm always loyal to Jehovah.
And you know what I told them?
I was like, I applaud you forhaving a conviction for
something.
(38:30):
Like, I'm not against Jehovah'sWitnesses.
I feel bad for all of them.
I want all of them to wake up Iknow they won't, but I'm just
trying to do my part to havepeople think, to plant a seed of
reason.
But I'm not telling people,like, they come on our counts
(38:54):
telling us we need to stop.
You need to come back toJehovah.
Like, I don't operate like that.
I don't tell people what to do.
I'm just presenting facts to youand reasoning with people.
And like I tell everybody, dowith that what you will.
Some, it goes right over theirhead.
(39:15):
Some could care less.
You know, everyone's different.
I'm just trying to reach thosethat might start thinking
critically or, you know, theyhave doubts.
you know, they may put someaction behind that.
(39:38):
If they hear the right thingfrom one of us, uh, extra was
witnesses that's online.
So yeah, that's why I do what Ido and daily.
And I'm, I just want to bringawareness to people.
And that was what I, that's whatwas on my mind, um, this
(40:00):
evening, just that new lightscam.
UNKNOWN (40:03):
Um,
SPEAKER_01 (40:05):
Jehovah doesn't change like that.
Jehovah communicates with no oneon earth.
It just doesn't happen.
They say they gather together ina room and they pray and they
(40:27):
pray and they read and they readand they pray and they pray and
that's God's spirit guiding themto come up with this new light.
It doesn't work like that.
The Bible's been the same.
You interpret it to us this way.
And then when that way doesn'twork out for you or your
(40:50):
purposes, whatever they may beat the time, you switch up and
you go another direction andlabel it new light.
So, yeah, new light does not flywith me.
I would love to hear you all'sthoughts about it.
Y'all always leave me greatcomments.
under my videos and we havediscussions there.
(41:11):
Uh, if you want to email me for,uh, feel free to do that.
X J dub one.
Let's eat X J D U B.
The number one at gmail.com.
Um, you can reach me on, um,Facebook, Instagram, Tik TOK.
(41:32):
Tik TOK is the most active andthe largest community I have.
Um, of ex-Jehovah's Witnesses.
But for all of those, just lookme up for exjdub, E-X-J-D-U-B on
Instagram, TikTok, Facebook.
(41:55):
I'm on Reddit also.
So, yeah, look me up.
Join the conversation.
Join the community.
Thousands of ex-Jehovah'sWitnesses that are friendly,
nice, very personable, and weall have our own unique,
(42:20):
interesting stories.
Some of them come with a lot ofpain, but we're there for each
other to keep one another liftedup.
So, yeah, join me or stay hereand communicate with me here.
Like I said, I enjoy all thecomments and responding.
So, yeah, let me know what youthink about New Light.
(42:43):
What's your take on New Light?
Do you buy it?
Did you not buy it?
And that's why you're an ex-JW?
Let me know in the comments.
And please like and share thisvideo, please.
I appreciate it.
I'm growing and I want to keepon growing so I can get the word
(43:03):
out there.
All right.
So until next time, y'all staygood.
Alright.
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