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In the beginning, the teachings were mild. They told about a wonderful paradise earth. Sickness and death would be eliminated. Poverty, hunger, war and all of the other things that make life miserable would be a thing of the past.

They made it sound like this could be the only way to live. To live in the real world, the one controlled by Satan, was one to be avoided. After all, if a kind and loving God created all such great things with such potential, an evil being must have brought it all to ruin. Thus, you have the first drift from reality, good versus evil. Although very subtle in nature at this point, it is still clear, you are either on God's side or on Satan's side. Satan equals death and all that is bad in the world. God equals life and the promise for a better world.

They move slowly up the division of who is secretly ruling this evil world to the message of urgency. You are now living in the end times and must make your choice for good or evil now. We don't have much time left. Will you do what it takes to show God that you love Him and only Him?

First big assembly. The people are all happy and smiling. Women leave their purses on their seats. Children play quietly, tethered to the mother. During the four hours of morning meetings, everyone is taking notes and listening intently to the speakers ramble on the JW philosophy, prophecy, and general pep rally. Amazingly, the children were all still and well behaved. What an impression this made on mom. That meeting was like a preview to the new world. Everyone was nice, happy, well behaved, polite and everyone loved God. But of course, by this point, God was now Jehovah, the name of God in the Old Testaments, or as the Jehovah's Witnesses called it, The Hebrew Scriptures.

After the lunch break, four more hours of brainwashing, then to the hotel to relax. This means looking over your notes with the person conducting your Bible study and seeing if you have any questions. This goes on for five more days, then you go home totally numb. A complete zombie who is fully prepared to do the work of Jehovah. Even as a study, you can now overlook the fact that your "Bible study" was done entirely in books published by the New York elite, The Governing Body. You will do anything the GB says since they are the official mouthpiece of Jehovah. They were among the few special ones of the 144,000 who would go to heaven to rule with Jesus. All the rest of us lowly ones, if we were worthy of Jehovah's love, might be spared from a horrible fate at Armeggeddon which was coming soon.

This is about the point of my mom's study that I start to become aware of what is going on. The scare tactics begin.