Originally posted July, 2007.

Updated July 10, 2012.

Q: Are you a disfellowshipped JW or are you still in good standing in a congregation? If so, are you active - that is do you regularly attend meetings and conventions? Do you engage in the public preaching?
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A: No, I am not disfellowshipped! At least not yet!  :)

Jesus warned that his true followers will be persecuted within their own congregation, yes, even expelled, when he said: “I have spoken these things to YOU that YOU may not be stumbled. Men will expel YOU from the synagogue. In fact, the hour is coming when everyone that kills YOU will imagine he has rendered a sacred service to God. But they will do these things because they have not come to know either the Father or me. Nevertheless, I have spoken these things to YOU that, when the hour for them arrives, YOU may remember I told them to YOU." (John 16:1-4; NWT) Jesus further stated: "If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also." We may ask: Who does the persecuting? It comes, not from the world in general, but from God's own people. (Matt. 5:11,12) They are the ones Jesus is talking about when he said: "But they will do all these things against you on account of my name, because they do not know him that sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin." (John 15:20-24) Jesus came to preach to the Jews, not people of the nations. (Matt. 15:24) When someone professes to worship Jehovah, and yet at the same time hinders anyone from obeying God and Jesus, they have no excuse for doing so. They show that they do not really know God, nor are they doing his will. Jesus' words at Matthew 7:21-23 applies to such ones! The man Diotrephes, mentioned by the apostle John in his short Third Letter, is an example that such things do exist within our congregations. Likewise, Jude wrote his letter to exhort the brothers "to put up a hard fight for the faith that was once for all time delivered to the holy ones. My reason is that certain men have slipped in who have long ago been appointed by the Scriptures to this judgment, ungodly men, turning the undeserved kindness of our God into an excuse for loose conduct and proving false to our only Owner and Lord, Jesus Christ." (3 John 9; Jude 3-24)

Today, Jehovah has revealed to us that a "man of lawlessness" has seated and elevated himself above everyone right within his temple (God's household), and who is showing himself to be a "god" but sitting in opposition to true worship. And no wonder, for "his presence is according to the operation of Satan." (2 Thess. 2:3-12) This should not surprise or stumble us, for this must take place in order for the Scriptures to be fulfilled! (Matt. 26:54) For that reason, lovers of truth within God's house, who refuse to submit to this "son of destruction" (as Paul also calls him), can expect to be "dealt with," and even expelled from their congregation. But this is no different from the situation that existed in Jesus' day when the Sanhedrin, the governing body of the Jews, threatened anyone with expulsion who exercised faith in Jesus. (John 12:42,43; 7:47-49) If we want God's approval, it is still true that "we must obey God as ruler rather than men." (Acts 5:29; 4:19) Being obedient to God as ruler becomes more of a challenge when the elders in our congregations zealously enforce submission to the man of lawlessness, which includes accepting their "inspired expressions of error." (1 John 4:1, 6; Luke 12:45-48) "They will do these things because they have not come to know either the Father or [Jesus]." Yet, in spite of having become slaves of men, we can still render sacred service to God under such circumstances, although more difficult; and when that happens we can take comfort in knowing that Jesus is not putting upon us any other burden except to hold fast to our integrity and obedience to God, until he comes and "breaks the bars of [our] yoke." (Ezek. 34:27b; Isaiah 26:13; Matt. 11:28-30; 1 Cor. 7:23; Rev. 2:24,25)

I keep a low profile in the congregation, not making an issue over things that Jehovah has up to the present allowed; also keeping in mind Jesus' words, "prove yourselves cautious as serpents and yet innocent as doves. Be on your guard against men..." It says much about the situation within God's household when we have to apply Jesus' words to our own brothers in our own congregations. (Matt. 10:16,17, 21,22; 24:48-51; compare 1 Sam. 21:10-15) I recognize that the congregation belongs to Jehovah, and that Jesus is the head. I still do what I can although my activity has been greatly reduced from what it used to be, but that is also due to my health. Since 1998, when I became sick, I have been troubled with sleeplessness (which I find is not that uncommon nowadays), getting by with an average of only two to three hours of sleep. Some nights I get no sleep at all, although I may doze off during the day, being able to do that now that I am retired. (2 Cor. 11:30; 12:8,9) In 2002 I was under a doctor's care for three months, but that was of no help. On the positive side, all this sleeplessness affords me much time to occupy my mind with spiritual matters. I often get up at night to write notes to consider during the day, when I may feel up to it.

Of course, I am not able to live up to what the congregation expects from a supposed mature brother. I have not been an elder for many years, and that makes it easier for me to stay in the background. When our former Circuit Overseer was assigned to my younger brother's circuit, he told my brother that he is very concerned about my spiritual health, because of my reduced activity and missing of some meetings. He did not consider my health situation. My brother, who is an elder in his congregation, told him that he has nothing to worry about for when it comes to spiritual health I am "doing very well indeed." In fact, he told the CO that I had helped bring some balance into his spiritual life, but, of course, without enlarging on what he meant by that. (Up till now, my brother has not turned me in to the elders for having this website.) My situation has helped me understand more fully just how much emphasis we put on performance and that we are judged accordingly by men. It keeps us humble when we realize the brothers look down on us. But it has at the same time also made me more empathetic towards others who would like to do more in the way of sacred service, but are unable due to their own circumstances.

We should keep in mind that if we are expelled from the congregation because of our loyalty to Jehovah and our love of the truth, that neither Jehovah nor Jesus have disfellowshiped us. We continue to be members of God's household, and we still belong to God, for there is no power in heaven or on earth that can come between Jehovah and us. Paul assures us: "If God is for us, who will be against us?" (Rom. 8:31, 35-39; 14:8; Jude 21) Furthermore, we have reason to rejoice when we are proving faithful under test, because this "tested quality of [our] faith works out endurance." (James 1:2-4) Paul, who suffered a great deal, even on account of false brothers, and superfine apostles, encourages us to "exult while in tribulations, since we know that tribulation produces endurance; endurance, in turn, an approved condition; the approved condition, in turn, hope, and the hope does not lead to disappointment; because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy spirit, which was given us." (Rom. 5:3-5; Matt. 10:22; 2 Cor. 11:5, 26)
 

 

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