Jehovah's Witness community mourns Whitney Heichel

Sunday was the first day since Whitney Heichel disappeared that her congregation gathered for a formal meeting at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses in Gresham.

The gathering included references to scriptures that might lend comfort in a time of crisis, said a congregational elder, but wasn't materially different from a regular service.

It was Saturday that emotions ran high, when the congregation mourned for Heichel at an impromptu gathering at the hall. Jehovah's Witnesses from Gresham, Portland, Sandy, and Washington met there, said Jim Vaughn, a family spokesman and one of nine elders who lead Heichel's congregation.

"Local elders shared scripture and reminded friends that God doesn't stop bad things from happening, but good can come from the bad," Vaughn said.

He noted how Gresham police worked around the clock to search for Heichel. The way her and her husband's families took food to search parties during cold and rainy days last week. The way the city mourned for the family, with 350 people attending a vigil for Heichel on Saturday. The way Gresham businesses have come forward to offer fundraisers and donations in support of the family, such as the Portland and Gresham Dutch Bros. Coffee shops donating half their sales Monday to the Heichel family.

"They didn't know her, and we've had an overwhelming response," Vaughn said.

Her husband, Clint, is devastated by his loss and did not attend the meetings, Vaughn said.

On Friday, Heichel's body was discovered on Larch Mountain in Multnomah County and a neighbor in her apartment complex, Jonathan D. Holt, 24, was arrested and accused of her murder.

Early Sunday morning Holt was transferred to jail in Clackamas County, where police believe he killed Heichel.

Holt is being held without bail on three charges of aggravated murder. He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday afternoon in Clackamas County Circuit Court.

Police would not elaborate on means or motive, said Laura Bridges-Shepard, city communications director. Nor would they release the Multnomah County medical examiner's autopsy report, which was completed Saturday afternoon.

Vaughn declined to comment on accusations against Holt, who is a Jehovah's Witness and was acquainted with both the Heichels, possibly through Jehovah's Witness gatherings, investigators said. Several small congregations of around 100 people each meet at different times in the same Kingdom Hall.

The Gresham community was shaken by the four-day search for Heichel. It was a topic of discussion from beauty shops to candidate forums, with people who didn't know her lamenting the loss of a young woman who, by all accounts, was devoted to her religion and family.

Saturday at the gathering, a man who didn't know Heichel read a comforting scripture to the group. It turned out to be Whitney Heichel's favorite:

"Who will separate us from the love of the Christ? Will tribulation or distress or persecution or hunger or nakedness or danger or sword? To the contrary, in all these things we are coming off completely victorious through him that loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor governments nor things now here nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other creation will be able to separate us from God's love that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

At that moment, Vaughn said, "There weren't too many dry eyes."

http://www.oregonlive.com/gresham/index.ssf/2012/10/jehovahs_witness_community_mou.html

Ex-bethelite's skull found

He apparently committed suicide in October 2010…

ex-bethelite's skull found near beach in Delaware

So tragic…Delaware City, Del. —

The skull found near Pea Patch Island June 24 has been identified as belonging to Timothy Finamore, 53.

Finamore, of Newark, was last seen alive Oct. 15, 2010 at the time of his disappearance.

A man swimming in the water found the skull in the area between the high and low tide beach of Pea Patch Island near Delaware City at around 6 p.m. June 24.

Police believe that Finamore jumped from the Delaware Memorial Bridge.

His obituary was published Oct. 27, 2010 in the Delaware News Journal.

Finamore served for 11 years at the world headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses in New York and then ran his own business, Aftermarket Restylers, according to the obituary.

The Delaware’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said that the skull was degraded and had been in the water for more than six months. Forensic identification positively established the skull’s identity. The New Jersey man who found the skull told police he had taken his boat to Pea Patch Island to swim with his daughter and friends. He took the skull back to Carney’s Point, N.J., and then notified the Delaware State Police.

Watchtower, October 15, 2012

In the latest October 15th 2012 Watchtower (page 13)... "Because of what they perceive as defects in the elders, some individuals who engage in serious wrongdoing in the congregation have refused to appear before a committee of elders assigned to help them. This could be likened to a patient who loses out on the benefits of a treatment because he does not like something about the doctor." Sounds like they're now trying to stigmatize those who try to avoid judicial action. Of course, it's also supremely ironic that they talk about declining medical treatment in a negative way, but encourage people to do precisely this when it comes to treatment using blood transfusions! Furthermore, they are equating the skills of a physician who trains for decades for his job with a part time, inadequately trained, more than likely uneducated, congregation elder.

Changes in Coventions Startung 2013

Starting service year 2013 - 2 day District Conventions. We all saw this coming. This year at the Convention we had streamlined talks (almost manuscripts now) with the introductions picked out, illustrations picked out, exact interviews, etc. No extra off-the-cuff comments from Bethel speakers, COs or DOs is being allowed. If you don't comply, no more parts or you are moved to the South or backwoods.

BREAKING WATCHTOWER NEWS

Cynthia Hampton, one of the main players in the Candace Conti case (and a close friend of 28 years), just informed me of a further, far more powerful move by the state of California against the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.

By order of the Superior Court of the State of California - County of Alameda (see documents below), until the Watch Tower's appeal, which won't begin until August 13th and will take up to TWO YEARS to settle due to due process of law, has forbidden the Watch Tower to sell any more of its $1 BILLION in assets in the Borough of Brooklyn until the appeals case is finished, to assure they won't shelter their monies in the light of this most huge and devastating sexual abuse scandal ever to hit the Watch Tower Society, and perhaps any other single-victim lawsuit.

The several Watchtower attorneys must have shite in their pants yesterday evening. The HUGE corporate assets in the Watch Tower Society, centered in real estate (largely in Brooklyn), cannot sell any of their properties until the case is settled. This will likely take up to TWO YEARS.

My guess is that this may be the final canonball that will sink the Watch Tower's plans to recover from their slump permanently. This may be the biggest news since the beginnings of Charles Taze Russell, and may bring them to their knees.

We are now not just talking about the likelihood of the Watch Tower losing $28 million (damages split among the Watch Tower, congregation leaders, and the perpetrator of the crimes), but we are talking about the equivalent of freezing most of Iran's bank accounts, and it cannot be settled for at least two years.

What does that mean? A fate worse than death to the Watch Tower. Their reputation, their future plans of recovery and building huge facilities in upstate New York that can be easily converted to secular property and eventually sold for a large profit, will most likely all BE PUT ON HOLD FOR TWO YEARS.

A lot can happen in two years. Their greatest fear, that of sectarian splits, is in my opinion, about to begin.

There are many good men and women in the Watchtower organization - millions of them - and a lot of them are elders.

Many will no longer want to be disgraced by calling themselves a Jehovah's Witness. Many will be furious that they suddenly open up their eyes to all the things that have been going on these last years.... from the warnings about listening to certain "anointed ones" drawing the flock away, to giving all their allegiance to the Governing Body and no one else, and the restrictions and dangerous legal position they are putting upon their thousands of elders this last two years.

Since the Watch Tower is almost certainly having major cash flow problems by the observation of their attempts to obtain money from the publishers via credit cards, cutting back on services, cutting magazine circulation practically in half, shutting down branches, consolidating ASSEMBLIES and former "necessary" services, eliminating meetings, dropping the Gilead School, ejecting older volunteer couples who have worked at Bethel for years (to avoid paying out so much cash), and engineering ways to completely own all Kingdom Halls in the world outright, this will be a major blow to almost every move they have planned to avoid the current slump they are in. The money may simply be about to DRY UP.

It is their WORST NIGHTMARE COME TRUE.

Can the Watchtower Organuzation Be Reformed

1. Teaching that true Christianity is an organization instead of a way of life

2. Claiming salvation is dependent upon belonging to the JW denomination

3. Claiming that the organization speaks for and is controlled by Jehovah, thereby equating the organization with God himself

4. Centralizing authority in an organization instead of letting Christ be the head of each Christian

5. Claiming that the “faithful and discreet slave” is the “anointed class” rather than each individual Christian who shows himself or herself to be responsible and obedient to Christ

6. Teaching that the early Christians were led by a governing body

7. Teaching that Jesus appointed the “anointed remnant” as his true church in 1919

8. Viewing the so-called “anointed” class (actually, the governing body) as God’s channel and prophet

9. Placing WT literature above the Bible

10. Frequently taking Bible texts out of context in order to build support for the organization’s man-made teachings and procedures

11. Teaching that Jesus returned in 1914 and is “invisibly present” since then

12. Teaching that Jerusalem was destroyed in 607 BCE when no historical records confirm this and the actual date is believed by nearly all historians to be 587 BCE

13. Falsifying the fact that Charles Russell predicted for 1914 the end of the world, not Christ’s return

14. Lying about a so-called “increase” in earthquakes, warfare, famines, persecution, etc., since 1914

15. Contradictorily condemning military organizations and frowning upon JWs who choose alternative service in lieu of military service while the headquarters organization at the same time owns stock in a military product organization (REGI)

16. Taking a conflicting stand with regard to the United Nations, claiming that it is the “wild beast” of Revelation that leads all nations in a fight against God and Christ at Armageddon, but signing on as an NGO member and publishing articles that present the UN in a favorable light

17. Teaching that it’s wrong to celebrate birthdays and all holidays

18. Teaching that Abraham and the faithful men and women of old are not among the holy ones who will rule with Christ in his Kingdom

19. Interpreting Jewish restoration prophecies as fulfilled in “the anointed remnant”

20. Teaching that the Scriptures are directly addressed only to “the remnant of anointed ones”

21. Teaching that only the “anointed” must be born again

22. Teaching that the “great crowd” are not begotten or anointed by the Holy Spirit

23. Teaching that the “great crowd” are God’s grandchildren and not his sons and daughters

24. Teaching that the “great crowd” are not members of the bride of Christ

25. Teaching that Jesus is not the mediator between God and the “great crowd” of Revelation chapter 7

26. Teaching that the resurrection of the “anointed” precedes the resurrection of the “other sheep” and that it has already begun

27. Teaching that only “anointed” JWs will receive immortality in the resurrection

28. Inviting only the “anointed” to partake at the memorial 29. Claiming that spiritual food comes from the “anointed” class whereas nearly all the writers of WT publications are members of the “other sheep” class

30. Creating a climate of fear by authoritarianism

31. Controlling what individual JWs may read of Bible-related publications that are not produced by the WT Society 32.

Arrogantly pretending that the JW organization maintains higher standards than any other religion and proclaiming publicly that all other churches are members of Babylon the Great

33. Forbidding attendance and participation at other churches

34. Class distinctions such as “governing body,” “anointed remnant” and “great crowd of other sheep”

35. Class distinctions such as publishers, auxiliary pioneers, regular pioneers, special pioneers, circuit overseers, district overseers, Bethelites, Governing Body, etc.

36. Prohibiting women from serving in any meaningful role in the congregation while expecting them to do the bulk of the work in “field service”

37. Constantly prodding the membership by means of literature, meetings and conventions to do ever more and more in the service of the organization, promoting an atmosphere where many feel their best is never good enough

38. Setting dates for Armageddon and thereby urging the membership to abandon normal living, this often resulting in the ruination of health and family life, as well as creating employment and financial hardships

39. Teachings that lead the members to believe righteousness and salvation can be earned by devoted and loyal support of the organization’s slavish programs

40. Keeping meeting attendance and field service records as a gauge of an individual’s spirituality

41. Organizationally requiring no blood transfusions instead of letting it be a matter of conscience, thereby cruelly informing all members that they will be shunned by the organization if they accept a transfusion that might restore health following a life-threatening accident or illness

42. Allowing their own infants and children to die instead of allowing doctors to give them necessary blood transfusions

43. Teaching that the “congregation” of Matthew 18:17 is the body of elders

44. Holding heresy trials and disciplinary hearings in secrecy from the rest of the congregation

45. Withholding information that would be helpful to persons who have been accused of wrongdoing

46. Conducting heresy trials of members who have doubts or who think differently upon the Scriptures

47. Defining apostasy as against the organization instead of against God

48. Being quick to disfellowship instead of making efforts to restore persons who have done something wrong

49. Unnecessarily and abusively shunning members even for minor infractions such as smoking or not complying with the whimsical directives of elders, thereby causing personal and family turmoil that often results in immense guilt, shame, fear, depression, bitterness, hatred, murder and suicide

50. Prohibiting fellowship with disassociated persons who show no inclination toward causing dissension

51. Showing favoritism by advising innocent victims to “leave it to Jehovah” instead of the elders taking decisive action to deal with some members who have been accused of harmful wrongdoing.

52. Ignoring or minimizing clear evidence of child molestation and other abuses simply because only one witness is available to testify against the member accused of such serious wrongdoing

53. Covering over and hiding damaging facts about the JW organization

54. In many cases, neglecting the care of their own sick and elderly members who no longer have the strength and energy to attend all the meetings and to be regular in “field service” as they did for most of their lives

55. Blatantly lying to the public by declaring to news media that members may leave the organization at any time, of their own free will and without any repercussions from the organization

Observations From "Cedar" On Another Website

Hi everyone I've just finished an article for Randy over on freeminds.org, which I've submitted to him for review. Hopefully it should be online soon, so please keep checking! The article discusses the fact that the Watch Tower Society is ALREADY in decline, and suggests the year 2005 as the turning point. I'll briefly explain why... Each year when the worldwide reports come out, we are anxious to see whether there is any significant dip in publisher growth. As we all know, growth continues albeit at an extremely low rate. The growth percentage has hovered between 2 and 3% over the past six years, and has been on an overall downwards trend since the 80s. Most of the growth is driven by expansion in developing countries, which in turn is funded by publishers in wealthier lands where the growth is slower. This model is unsustainable in the longterm, and the effects are already being felt. It occurs to me that, in looking for a sign of the decline of the Society, we are looking in the wrong place. After all, the Watchtower Society is first-and-foremost a religiously-oriented publishing corporation, and always has been. Logically then, a good guage of how well it is doing can be seen in its printed output - which given the gradual increase in publishers and the supposed nearness of Armageddon should be increasing accordingly, right? Well, that's not what we see. Think about the actual number of printed pages per set of magazines, per month. At the start of 2005 we had 128 pages each per set of magazines, comprising... Watchtower, dated 1st (32 pages) Watchtower, dated 15th (32 pages) Awake, dated 8th (32 pages) Awake, dated 22nd (32 pages) By late 2005, this had fallen (for all magazines dated 2006) to 96 pages, comprising... Public Edition Watchtower, dated 1st (32 pages) Study Edition Watchtower, dated 15th (32 pages) Awake (32 pages) Later this year, the number will have plummeted to 64 pages, comprising... Public Edition Watchtower, dated 1st (16 pages) Study Edition Watchtower, dated 15th (32 pages) Awake (16 pages) Ignoring the marginal increase in printing demand through publisher growth, that's essentially a halving of monthly magazine printing commitments in only 7 years! ...and at a time when we should be needing MORE spiritual food, not less. I explain everything in more detail in the article, but I firmly believe the reduction in magazine printing commitments is telling. Added to the branch closures (Ireland, New Zealand..), the sale of Assembly Halls, the parceling off of Brooklyn real estate, the introduction of credit card facilities at assembly halls, and the attempts to leverage ownership of local kingdom halls - I believe all the evidence is there that the Society is already in decline, and is desperately slashing operational commitments and overheads wherever it can. The clever part is, nobody saw it - including me! Cedars