"Out of the Cocoon"-A Young Woman's Courageous Flight from the Grip of a Religious Cult"

Brenda Lee’s heart-wrenching, yet inspiring tale about her battle to escape from the Watchtower Jehovah Witness after enduring years of dysfunction and abuse.

The author begins by reliving the innocence of childhood as she nostalgically transports you back in time to a 100-year-old farm in rural Pennsylvania, where she filled her carefree days by swinging from vines, raising farm animals as pets, romping through the forests, and plunging from the hayloft. Once “The Friends” knock on the door, however, Brenda Lee’s childhood and innocence dramatically disappear.

But the author refuses to become a victim and, like a butterfly, she learns to change the world within her when her external world becomes unbearable. After surviving years of stifling oppression and isolation, she emerges from her cocoon and learns some startling things about her family, this “wicked world,” and herself. In time, she learns to forgive not only those who tormented her, but also the mother who disowned her.

Anyone who has experienced abuse, alcoholism, single parenthood, depression, or a parent’s rejection will identify with the author’s remarkable journey. Get out the tissues, because in one minute you will cry and in the next you will laugh aloud. Let Brenda Lee take you from the depths of despair to the highest mountain, cast you off, and show you how to spread your wings and fly.

For an autographed copy of this book, go to http://www.outofthecocoon.net





Link

I used to go to a gym that had a JW baby sitter. I was talking to her a lot about her faith and what she believed and why she believed it.

So she started asking questions of her elders because she didn't know the answers. Instead of providing her with the answers, they sent a large woman to work with her every day at the gym.

This woman would literally stand between me and the babysitter and not allow me to speak directly to her! The babysitter's dad owned the gym (but he wasn't JW).

I would walk in and the large woman would stand up and come toward me. I would say hi and leave my toddler to play then turn to speak to the babysitter, giving any pertinent info about my son. The large woman would stand two feet from me and mock my movements.

At first I didn't really pay attention to it, but then noticed she didn't ever get up when any of the other moms came in. Just me.

HAHA. Guess she intended to protect the babysitter from me. It was pitiful. I told her on more than one occasion to get out of my face. Then I did some internet research about why JW is so CORRUPT and started leaving little print outs about it all over the nursery..in the diaper bag, etc.

I don't know what happened to her because shortly after all this started I changed gyms because I moved.

I do know she was threatened to be kicked out if she spoke with me again. She did tell me that before the large woman came. She was petrified of being kicked out since she alienated her family to such an extent they didn't want her back....and she was a single mom with very litte income and relied on these "people" for help.

Well i was in since 1957 born a 3rd generation Jehovah's Witness to hard core fundy parents.
They are the 'control freaks with a mean streak'.

The 8 marks of a high control group [cult]
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Sacred Science-Loading the Language-Milieu Control-Mystical Manipulation & More..

Brainwashing has become almost a household word in the last two decades or so. In 1961, Robert J. Lifton wrote the definitive book on the subject, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, after studying the effects of mind control on American prisoners of war under the Communist Chinese. Lifton outlines eight major factors that can be used to identify whether a group is a destructive cult or not. Any authoritarian religion should be held up to the light in order to determine just how destructive their influence is on their members. Judge for yourselves.

(1) Milieu Control

"Milieu" is a French word meaning "surroundings; environment." Cults are able to control the environment around their recruits in a number of ways, but almost always using a form of isolation. Recruits can be physically separated from society, or they can be warned under threat of punishment to stay away from the world's educational media, especially when it might provoke critical thinking. Any books, movies or testimonies of ex-members of the group, or even anyone critical of the group in any way are to be avoided.

Information is carefully kept on each recruit by the mother organization. All are watched, lest they fall behind or get too far ahead of the thinking of the organization. Because it appears that the organization knows so much about everything and everyone, they appear omniscient in the eyes of the recruits.

(2) Mystical Manipulation

In religious cults, God is ever-present in the workings of the organization. If a person leaves for any reason, accidents or ill-will that may befall them are always attributed to God's punishment on them. For the faithful, the angels are always said to be working, and stories circulate about how God is truly doing marvelous things among them, because they are "the truth." The organization is therefore given a certain "mystique" that is quite alluring to the new recruit.

(3) Demand for Purity

The world is depicted as black and white, with little room for making personal decisions based on a trained conscience. One's conduct is modeled after the ideology of the group, as taught in its literature. People and organizations are pictured as either good or evil, depending on their relationship to the cult.

Universal tendencies of guilt and shame are used to control individuals, even after they leave. There is great difficulty in understanding the complexities of human morality, since everything is polarized and oversimplified. All things classified as evil are to be avoided, and purity is attainable through immersion into the cult's ideology.


4) The Cult of Confession (spilling your guts)

Serious sins (as defined by the organization) are to be confessed immediately. The members are to be reported if found walking contrary to the rules.

There is often a tendency to derive pleasure from self-degradation through confession. This occurs when all must confess their sins before each other regularly, creating an intense kind of "oneness" within the group. It also allows leaders from within to exercise authority over the weaker ones, using their "sins" as a whip to lead them on.


(5) The "Sacred Science"

The cult's ideology becomes the ultimate moral vision for the ordering of human existence. The ideology is too "sacred" to call into question, and a reverence is demanded for the leadership. The cult's ideology makes an exaggerated claim for possessing airtight logic, making it appear as absolute truth with no contradictions. Such an attractive system offers security.


(6) Loading the Language (biggie with JW's)

Lifton explains the prolific use of "thought-terminating cliches," expressions or words that are designed to end the conversation or controversy. We are all familiar with the use of the cliches "capitalist" and "imperialist," as used by antiwar demonstrators in the 60's. Such cliches are easily memorized and readily expressed. They are called the "language of non-thought," since the discussion is terminated, not allowing further consideration.

In the Watchtower, for instance, expressions such as "the truth", the "mother organization", the "new system", "apostates" and "worldly" carry with them a judgment on outsiders, leaving them unworthy of further consideration.

(7) Doctrine Over Person

Human experience is subordinated to doctrine, no matter how profound or contradictory such experiences seem. The history of the cult is altered to fit their doctrinal logic. The person is only valuable insomuch as they conform to the role models of the cult. Commonsense perceptions are disregarded if they are hostile to the cult's ideology.


(8) Dispensing of Existence

The cult decides who has the "right" to exist and who does not. They decide who will perish in the final battle of good over evil. The leaders decide which history books are accurate and which are biased. Families can be cut off and outsiders can be deceived, for they are not fit to exist!

by Randall Watters http://www.freeminds.org

I am an "ex" JW. I was young so I barely remember but I do remember not having Christmas and the long meetings held many times during the week. Brainwashing is a big part of that group.

Now knowing the scriptures as I do, the JW's do not come to my door. I imagine they have me marked down as a goat. I am not mean to them...I just know too much and they know this and don't want their people talking to me. There are really good verses in ISAIAH that they forgot to take out of their version of their bible that contradicts their belief system. I turn to this book and show them whenever I can that Jesus is truly God. When I say that the look of horror comes over their face and they back away almost like a vampire does when he sees a cross.