People Who Are Becoming Jehovah’s Witnesses

IN FIVE years, more than 680,000 persons have been baptized by Jehovah’s witnesses. Last year alone over 163,000 were baptized, 15,512 at just the “Divine Rulership” Assemblies in the United States. Who are these people that are becoming Jehovah’s witnesses?

✔ Included are elderly persons. At the Santa Rosa, California, assembly a ninety-six-year-old man was baptized. He had on many occasions taken the Watchtower and Awake! magazines from the Witnesses. Then, two years ago, when a Witness offered to study the Bible with him, he accepted. Soon he became convinced that he had finally found the true religion.

✔ Also becoming Jehovah’s witnesses are former nuns. One of them served as a nun for seventeen years. In a letter to her pastor, dated May 1972, she explained: “This is to inform you that I want to be removed from the files of the Catholic Church. This may come as a shock to you . . . I know how you rejoiced with me when I entered Visitation seventeen years ago, when I thought being a Nun was the truly Christian way to live the truths of the Bible. Lonely and frustrated as I often felt, your annual visits were always a joy and encouragement to me . . .

“You know, so many of the Sisters have been disillusioned as we tried to update our sacred, favorite customs and traditions. No wonder so many are leaving the Convents when we found out the silly reasons for so many of the age-long celebrations!”

She then described to her pastor how one of Jehovah’s witnesses challenged her to examine her beliefs through a Bible study, observing: “I almost laughed because I knew I had all the answers. But to my surprise, what he showed me in black and white made me go to Catholic friends and Priests and Nuns to help me prove him wrong. . . . I was so shook up that I wrote, terminating my study, with no intention even to see one of Jehovah’s witnesses again.

“I discussed it with Catholic friends and family, who, by the way, were either not going to Church, were high on drugs or were living immoral lives. Each told me to ‘go home and just keep the faith.’ One even said: ‘I don’t care what the Bible says, in fact​—to hell with the damn Bible!’ I was so grieved that I said, ‘If that’s what your religion does to you, I don’t want any part of it!’ So humbly, I went back to my friend to admit that he had the truth taught in the Bible.

“Then I began to attend the meetings . . . I even joined their ministry school where I learned to discuss logically and prove all things true Biblically. I found great Christian friendship and practical brotherly love . . .

“I hope that you will allow yourself to be witnessed to by one of these thinking, loving believers of Jehovah’s Organization who are really living the teachings of the Bible.”

On August 5, 1972, at the Queens, New York city, “Divine Rulership” District Assembly this former nun was baptized and became one of Jehovah’s Christian witnesses.

✔ Others, who have lived extremely immoral lives, have made radical changes in their lives after learning the truth about God’s purposes. One young girl was placed in a Catholic school and home when her mother became incapacitated. Then at the age of eighteen she left and became a go-go dancer.

When sitting at the bar one day, she was told that a man would pay $20 to have sex relations with her. She had never done this before, but she consented. From that time, prostitution became her means of making a living.

Later she agreed to live with a man much older than herself. Two children resulted. Then in February of 1972 one of Jehovah’s witnesses called and arrangements were made for a Bible study. Shortly she began making remarkable changes to bring her life into harmony with God’s moral standards. In June she and the man with whom she had been living were married. In August at the Toledo, Ohio, “Divine Rulership” Assembly she was baptized.

✔ Quite a number of former drug users have also become Jehovah’s witnesses, including ones who had gained prominence as rock ’n’ roll musicians. One group, called “the Villagers,” appeared on nationwide television. After the group broke up, several of its members began studying the Bible, changed their way of life and became Jehovah’s witnesses. Some of these were baptized at the Columbia, South Carolina, “Divine Rulership” Assembly last summer.

✔ Some months back three members of a rock ’n’ roll band in Sonora, California, called the “Yowls” walked into a Kingdom Hall. They had long hair, beards, saggy clothing and were under the influence of drugs. One of them writes regarding the experience:

“Our first visit to a Kingdom Hall convinced us that this was a place where love was not just a word to use. There was real friendship shown and God’s Word was relied on. We agreed to have a Bible study, and shortly were keenly interested in sharing in the field ministry. However, we soon realized that our appearance was not correct or appropriate for ministers. So within just two weeks we cut our hair, shaved our beards and made a complete wardrobe change. My new course cost me my mother, who used to accompany me on ‘trips’ with drugs. But in her place I have many new ‘relatives’ to share my newfound joy.

“I’m happy to have been baptized with my wife at the ‘Divine Rulership’ Assembly in Pleasanton, California. One other member of our former band was baptized in Oakland, two more will be baptized at the coming assembly in Sonora, California, and twelve others are either studying or attending the Kingdom Hall.”

✔ In Southern California two young persons became engaged in a discussion of religion. They decided to phone Jehovah’s witnesses for help, and the Witnesses responded to their call. A discussion regarding God’s purpose to establish a righteous new system of things followed. The youths were thrilled by the things they heard. (2 Pet. 3:13) Soon they started attending congregation meetings of Jehovah’s witnesses. One of them said of his appearance at that time: “I had shoulder-length hair, a beard and overalls. I was, of course, involved in drugs.”

That was in the early part of 1972. Changes quickly followed, both in appearance and in conduct. Four months later the young man and his wife not only attended the “Divine Rulership” Assembly in Inglewood, California, but brought along four other young persons as well. He and his wife were baptized at that assembly!

✔ Often it is persons who are dissatisfied with this system of things who become Jehovah’s witnesses. A young Dayton, Ohio, man felt that he could no longer put up with today’s social injustices. Finally he wrote a letter to the president of the United States stating that if his demands were not met, three major cities would be destroyed. However, instead of having success in his demands, he received a visit from the FBI and was extensively questioned.

The young man began to realize that he could not change this unjust system. Then he started to study the Bible with Jehovah’s witnesses. As he studied, he was impressed with the way the Bible described today’s conditions, and yet showed the certain prospects of better conditions under the rule of God’s kingdom. Contented with this hope, he was baptized at the “Divine Rulership” Assembly in Toledo, Ohio, this past summer.

Really it is people of all kinds​—young and old, rich and poor, and from all walks of life—​who are becoming Jehovah’s witnesses. Many have made marvelous changes, bringing their thinking and course of life into harmony with God’s righteous standards.​—1 Cor. 6:9-11; 1 Pet. 4:1-3.