One former member calls it the “number one killer cult,” and says it has been responsible for more premature deaths than the horror of Jonestown. Its members, nicely dressed, go door to door offering literature and an invitation to “be in the truth.” They hardly look dangerous.
But William Cetnar, once a highly placed official, believes they are. Cetnar left the Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) in 1962 and has since devoted much effort to leading others out of the sect. A Pennsylvania stockbroker, he now spends only about 5 percent of his time on that job—occupying the rest with conferences and lectures about JW and other cults.
Last month he was host to the third annual National Convention of Ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses, held in New Ringgold, Pennsylvania. At an interview before the conference, Cetnar said he believed the JW would continue as an unorthodox cult even after younger charges take over the leadership. Frederick Franz, JW president, is now 87.
Cetnar, who probably watches the organization more closely than any other person outside Watchtower headquarters in Brooklyn, believes it will stay an unorthodox cult “because a wolf cannot become a sheep.” He does, however, believe some substantial changes are forthcoming:
• The controversial ban on receiving blood transfusions will probably be lifted after Franz’s death, Cetnar thinks.
• A new date for the end of the world (JWs have previously predicted Christ’s return seven times) is likely to be announced, possibly 1988.
• By sheer mathematical necessity, some change will have to be made in the JW doctrine that Christ will return before an elect 144,000 Witnesses have died. The 144,000 places were filled by those living in 1914 and few remain alive today. But Christ is supposed to return before the entire generation has died.
The blood transfusion prohibition is an especially sore spot with Cetnar. Accepting the American Red Cross statistic that about 100 persons in every 1,000 need transfusions to survive at one time or another, Cetnar believes thousands of JWs have refused transfusions and entered early graves. “That’s bigger than Jim Jones,” he said.
Cetnar spent eight years in the Watchtower headquarters. Personally acquainted with Franz and other leaders, he left with the impression that many of Franz’s potential successors disagree with the transfusion ban. He said Colon Quackenbush, a writer for JW publications, Milton Henschel, and A.D. Schroeder (both translators of the JW version of the Bible, called the New World Translation) all believed blood transfusions were not forbidden by Scripture. (The doctrine is based on divine instructions to Noah in Genesis 9:4 that he not eat the blood of animals.) Cetnar said the influence of these three men will be sufficient to alter the doctrine after Franz—who favors it—dies.
Setting dates for the end of time is not new for the Watchtower. That has proven an effective recruiting device, with baptisms shooting up after each announcement of doom. In 1966, when the JW growth rate was especially slow, 1975 was set as the year of Christ’s return. Substantial growth followed until 1976, when the number of baptisms declined by a third.
Not many have left because of the failure of such quirky JW predictions as the 1943 pronouncement that rockets or airplanes could never penetrate the “air envelope which is about our earthly globe.” But Cetnar said altering the ban on blood transfusions will produce a backlash.
Cetnar said the organization loses converts out the back door almost as soon as they get in the front door. Tremendous amounts of energy are spent on proselytizing: for each person baptized in 1976, Witnesses visited 740 homes and distributed 1,650 copies ofjw magazines. Cetnar has consulted JW yearbooks on the number of baptisms and the number of active JWs. Since there are twice as many baptisms listed as active Witnesses, he believes there are more ex-JWs than present ones. It is difficult to determine just how many JWs there are because of the way records are kept. Estimates run around 5 million worldwide.
Leaving the sect may not be too difficult, but being “disfellowshiped,” or excommunicated, is. JWs who are believed to be leading others astray are disfellowshiped, then become nonpersons in the eyes of Witnesses. No JW will speak to a disfellowshiped Witness.
When family and friends actually pretend the disfellowshiped person does not even exist, the emotional pain can be great. Cetnar’s mother would not speak to him after he was excommunicated in 1962, and before she died, she requested a closed casket so her apostate son would not see her.
That is part of the reason for the ex-JWs banding together. They are encouraged to meet others who are in the same situation as they. At last month’s conference, the therapy was almost visible as one former Witness related her unhappy years in the sect. “1 hated every minute, every hour of being a Witness. But I thought it was the only way to survive Armageddon and live on paradise earth,” said Toni Jean Meneses of Kent, Washington.
Though unintended, another of her statements was a poignant comment on the evangelical church. “Many times over the years I would have left if someone had only presented the gospel to me.”
Moon Pleads Not Guilty In Tax Case, Cites Discrimination
Sun Myung Moon, leader of thousands of so-called Moonies, pleaded not guilty to charges of filing false federal income tax returns, and later declared he would not have to face such charges if “my skin were white and my religion were Presbyterian.”
A 12-count indictment was handed down on Moon and an aide, Takeru Kamiyama, alleging Moon failed to report interest accumulated on a $1.6 million bank account and $70,000 in payment of stock to himself and his wife.
After pleading not guilty to the charges, Moon shook hands with the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Martin Flumenbaum, then wagged an admonishing finger at him.
Moon was freed on $250,000 personal recognizance bond, and required to hand over his passport and promise not to leave the country. The judge made an exception for a three-week conference in South Korea, scheduled to begin November 1 (with Moon’s bond then raised to $500,000).
While Moon was making his plea, supporters demonstrated across the street from New York City’s Foley Square courthouse. They carried placards claiming, “America needs Sun Myung Moon,” repeatedly sang the civil-rights song, “We Shall Overcome,” and heard speeches declaring Moon’s innocence.
Mose Durst, president of Moon’s Unification Church in the U.S., compared Moon to Christ, Socrates, and Martin Luther King, Jr. He alleged the indictment sprang from religious and racial discrimination, a statement echoed by Moon when he joined the demonstrators outside the courtroom.
“I am here today only because my skin is yellow and my religion is Unification Church,” Moon said in a 26-minute speech, his first public address in five years. But he added, “I have confidence in the judge and jurors who will work on this case.”
Deaths
Brooks Hays, 83, president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1957 to 1959, campaigner for racial integration, author, and confidant to Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson; October 11, at his home in Bethesda, Maryland, of natural causes.
Elsa Marty, 53, wife of theologian-author Martin E. Mary; September 28, at their home in Riverside, Illinois, of cancer.
North American Scene
Anti-Catholic crusader Jack Chick, whose comic books attacking the Roman church have angered numerous Catholics in America, continues to be a member of the Christian Booksellers Association (CBA). Chick’s possible expulsion from the association was not on the agenda of CBA’s October board meeting, although an official had said earlier it would be (CT, Oct. 23, p. 62). While it was not on the agenda, discussion of Chick arose at the meeting anyway. John T. Bass, executive vice-president of CBA, said the board voted to have a committee appointed to visit Chick. The committee will report back to the board by January 1 and “their report will be the basis of future action, if any, by the board,” Bass said. A CBA spokesman said expulsion is not a strong possibility.
God, according to a court decree, lives in Fresno, California. He was formerly Terrill Clark Williams, 42, a writer and broadcaster. Williams wanted to change his name to God because he believed “words are man’s most powerful tool, and by changing my name to God, I am demonstrating the power of God.” In the process of finding a court that would change his name to God, Williams lost his job, and had to sell his car and some furniture. Williams believes “the universe is God.”
“The Hour of Decision,” Billy Graham’s long-running radio broadcast, has shifted to a new format. The changes are intended to attract teen-agers and young adults to the program. Special features will include question-and-answer periods with evangelist Graham, missionary reports, reports on World Relief ministries, telephone interviews with Christians in a variety of ministries, and Graham’s messages. Graham assistant Cliff Barrows said traditional elements of the weekly broadcast will be retained to please Graham’s existing audience, and that the interviews and reports will “involve the listener in what is happening on the world scene of evangelism and missions.”
Abortions, a medical statistician believes, are on the increase, and the typical woman receiving them is young, white, and unmarried. Carl Tyler, Jr., assistant science director for the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, appeared before a Senate committee to testify on proposed constitutional amendments to restrict abortions. Tyler said there were 50 percent more abortions in the U.S. in 1978 than 1977. Abortion is proving to be one of the most popular methods of birth control; there are 30 to 35 million abortions performed annually worldwide.
