Belonging to somewhere.

About twenty years have passed. In this time, from the day I first came to know the Witnesses until today, I have felt compelled to learn a great many things. Actually, I had already believed in the existence of God in the very early parts of the Holy Scriptures. And more than anything else, I had come to love that God. Beginning with Adam and Eve, then Noah’s flood and Abraham, the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Joseph being sold into Egypt as a slave—all of these are dealt with in the very first book of the Holy Scriptures, which is made up of 66 booklets. With these subjects, treated in the book called “Genesis”—or by its newer Turkish name “Creation”—it had not been at all hard for me to believe in God and to love Him. Through my eyes at the time, this was also a sufficient faith for me. But for some reason people have a need to belong to somewhere. And if that place one absolutely must belong to is not having a good relationship with God Himself, then unfortunately this need is sought to be met by becoming a slave to human institutions, organizations, and whatever else is furthest from God, under that name and label. And this is a situation that is the exact opposite of the message given in those holy books. While people walk in that path they belong to, after a certain time they most certainly become aware of something. And that is that in those institutions they belong to, there exist many things and sanctions that are displeasing to God. Those institutions, being aware of this, have already made their preparations in advance. They continually teach, “We too are flawed and mistaken, so let us be forgiving.” This is a way of proceeding that fits the proverb, “He who steals the minaret prepares its cover in advance.” After all, these institutions, religions, and organizations know that their members are not blind.

A person who enters a religion or a sect cannot even find the chance first to look at himself, to deal with his own shortcomings—let alone, with that inadequate knowledge and experience, be able to pass a correct judgment about this religion or organization that has come before him. Generally those feelings at the very beginning are quite sincere, but just as much they are naive. By this I of course mean people who are genuinely sincere. Another truth is that whatever the religion and organization may be, the one who steps into it has, hidden in his mind and heart, in fact a whole host of other expectations, goals, and dreams that are far from God or from the aim of that organization. From wanting to marry a girl there, to a refugee for whom that religion can be a pretext for staying in that country—such a person does not hesitate in the least to become a member of this religion. Some, in order to take on a role in this religion and rise to the very top, to make everyone listen to them, and to satisfy a host of other feelings stemming from an inferiority complex, can even go so far as to build a career in that religion. Some choose this path in order to escape loneliness, strangeness, being without kin. And though countless more reasons could be listed, here I want to make my subject only those who have a desire to draw near to God sincerely.

People who come sincerely and with their whole heart, only because they love God, are unfortunately very, very terribly few. Let me not be presumptuous if I say this proportion could be something like 1 or 1.5 percent. Because in the end, only God knows who is what. I say this based on the experience I have gained observing people and on my own point of view. I do not mean to say, “This proportion is an unchanging law.” I also believe that sometimes this proportion is not even 1 in a thousand. If these proportions of mine are mistaken, then did wise Solomon make the same mistakes too? He touches on this subject in Ecclesiastes 7:28, through the spirit he received from God. Again, please open it and read it in its place.

Yes, let us speak of these sincere people. Let our subject be their feelings—while seeking God—of absolutely having to belong to somewhere. Because someone who is crooked, once he wants to, keeps doing his crookedness wherever he is. They are only harmful, parasitic types. They always say “give, give” and say nothing else. Their own troubles and problems are always in the foreground. For hours, for days, for years, even for a lifetime, you only listen to their troubles, and they make you listen to them. No matter what you do, not only are those people not satisfied, they never even know the meaning of showing appreciation. Only their own advantages and interests are in the foreground. They are always full of lies, deceit, and fraud. Sometimes they do not even hear what you say. Only if it concerns their own interest—that is the exception. As I said, rather than making my subject the destruction, existence, salvation, or ruin of such types of people, I want to write about the people who are valuable. They need to be helped. Only they can appreciate and understand the worth of such things.

This disease of absolutely having to belong to somewhere gives people confidence. At the same time it also satisfies them. I understand the feeling of being satisfied, but the feeling of confidence is a bit doubtful. Come, let us first dwell on this feeling of satisfaction. A person sees a confirmation of the things he has learned and believed, and this is why he enters into a group. In everyday life he cannot randomly find those subjects out on the street. Finding it in the place he belongs to or will belong to becomes proof that this person is not crazy, not alone with what he believes, not someone who has lost his mind. Because on account of the things he has researched, read, and believed about God, his very closest circle is showing him these reactions. His dearest ones begin to say, “Alas, alas, this son or daughter of ours is going mad.” These are the traits of sincerely seeking God. These traits are pinned on those who step outside custom, order, and society. If a person is living in a Muslim society, and he acquires knowledge about God, goes to the mosque, and even advances there, they generally do not show much reaction to this. But those within the family of course want that person to work in a valid profession, earn money, and become rich much more. Or if he is living in a Christian society, that person taking on a duty in a church and always wanting to live there is regarded as normal, just as in Muslim societies. Again, these reactions can change according to people’s means and the environment they are in. For example, if someone studying at a medical faculty says, “I am going to become a hafiz,” and leaves the faculty as well, he may even be thrown out of the house. Among Christians the situation is no different. If children who go to university in a branch related to medicine or engineering leave those schools saying, “I am going to become a priest,” this is met with great reaction in the family. That is, in the same event they too show the same reaction. All these places of belonging I have mentioned were the religions that those societies received automatically from birth, rooted and bound to their own beliefs. And if this place to belong to is under an entirely different name, then all hell breaks loose. For example, this could be Jehovah’s Witnesses. There are a whole host of other sects, but I have been giving one example from the beginning. You change those names and labels in your imaginations yourselves. Do not worry, it will fit exactly the subject I am going to relate.

After this, whether from the family or from the surroundings, a bombardment about this religion now begins. And that person is forced into a position of only defending himself against these very fanatical oppositions—which are baseless and most often ignorant. The situation advances so rapidly that the affair can in an instant turn into that story of the sun and the wind that I described in those primary-school books. As they blow like the wind, the person clings all the more to those things. The wind becomes a storm, and he too exerts that much more counter-force against this situation. And if the storm worsens and takes on an even more terrifying form, then, as in the story, the person looks for a shelter, a cave, a hollow for himself. It is not at all hard to guess who this shelter will be. Of course the Witnesses extend their hands to that person. The person is bewildered anyway. He has suffered great disappointment from the people he was together with for years. He has even either fled to save his life or been driven out. No one has understood him. And that person does not yet have the ability either to weigh or to measure events. As we said, he is naive. And organizations love such naive ones very, very much. The finest donkeys come out of these. Whatever you load onto its back, it does not say “no”; it carries it. How could it say “no”? No home, no family, where are the friends and loved ones? None of them, only the Witnesses. In fact it has been both groups that pushed and pulled that person into donkeyhood. Both his family and his relatives, and the Witnesses and the organization—or whatever label they now bear.

This “absolutely having to belong to somewhere” approach generally happens, more or less, in a way resembling this. Those who supposedly love that person have done everything they can to save him. Yet thanks to their foolish attitude, that person has become a Witness and has had the saddle strapped onto his back like a donkey. Going back to the very start of the affair, that person perhaps would never have gone in among them and become one of them at all. Just for the sake of conversation, or to feel out the pulse, the subjects he occasionally brought up drew such a great reaction that it astonished him. And the subjects he brought up are no different from a topic about a film on the way back from the cinema, or from the nonsense his friends got up to at a get-together with friends. In fact, about the cigarettes and alcohol he secretly consumed, which came to light, and other minor unlawful, immoral things, he had not received all that much reaction from the family. But the moment that person inclined his heart to God and began to speak about these things, he had never, ever reckoned with encountering a terrifying reaction. The person has entered into a situation that seems meaningless to him. These things being done to him are an injustice. Why is he now seeing, over drawing near to God, this reaction he never saw over all the bad things he did in the past? While he feels pain or guilt in his conscience over those bad things he did, why are these people now opposing him precisely on a path that is right? And besides, does not the very God whom they say they believe in also want all these things? Actually his family and relatives who are striving to save that person are, on the contrary, destroying him. They themselves either have very little knowledge about these subjects or are wholly in ignorance and lack of learning. There is a saying, “A half doctor makes a man lose his life, and a half preacher makes a man lose his faith”—their help too has been like these half men. With such reactions the person has in fact been forced into that hollow, that cave.

Apart from the Witnesses I knew who were born and raised in it, and those who had a major relative who was a Witness, 95 percent of all the others became Witnesses by passing through this and similar experiences. As I said, the number of those who walk there freely, without being under influence, by their own steps, only because they love God, is not even 1 percent. And such a person, one day the Witnesses will most certainly, most certainly either cast out from among them, or he goes of his own accord. That is, if the person has, from the very beginning, made only God his goal and has not gone astray along the way, of course. Generally, because these are nameless heroes, no one knows their names or what they were. And no one takes an interest in wanting to know. These matters are kept terrifyingly secret. Like every dirty business, this too is done under secrecy. This casting-out or separation business can sometimes take 20, sometimes 40 years, and even longer. One of the most important qualities that gets that person cast out and drives him away from that organization is a person’s own ability to make decisions. I will speak of this subject in the next piece of writing.

All of this was for those who drew reaction within the family. There are also those who draw no reaction. The whole family, for whatever reasons, has broken away from the society it was in. When such a thought enters into such a family, no one first listens before showing a reaction. That family, for whatever reasons, is already sore from the pressure of society. And especially if the thing being offered is a belief that society does not accept, they gladly embrace it at once. Among the subjects mentioned are God’s justice, that one day He will take revenge, paradise, and a new earth. And this family has had injustice done to it—that is, they are in need of justice; they were unable to do anything, they are in favor of revenge being taken; they also do not have much, so paradise is the most suitable place for them. And these things are promised not only by the Witnesses but by all religions. If you noticed, in all of this there is no love of God at all. They see God only as a giant that will help their own aims, that is all. In any case, whether it is the Witnesses or other religions, knowing how much someone loves or does not love God does not concern anyone all that much! While such inflated words about the love of God pass around, everyone nods their head and says “uh-huh,” that is, yes, and that is all. Actually this is a feeling whose meaning they never know, never feel.

Even within such families, not all of them may say yes to this situation right away. Then the pressure comes from the exact opposite direction—that is, from that religion or from the Witnesses. Now the gatherings are always held in that home; research, talks, and meetings are done in that home. That individual in the family who does not accept these situations, even if he does not oppose them, does not take to it inside either, but he feels an uneasiness. Perhaps he himself does not know the reason. Sometimes he is the most sincere and open one among them. Besides, that person does not want to break his fast out of spite at the infidel. If the society he is in did injustice to him or to his family, what—with everything, yes—does that have to do with God? Loving God and serving Him is one thing; protesting against society, taking revenge, isolating oneself from them is another thing. Whether that person thinks in exactly these words I do not know, but somehow his stomach just cannot take it. There are and can be other reasons too, of course. But this person is not left free. In that home where he lives, night and day only these subjects are spoken of. Such people are always coming to the house, such books are read. Now, before or after every meal, prayer must be said. With meetings, conventions, and preaching activities, an intense life now begins in that home. That person who does not say yes to them right away, even if he tries to keep out of sight of those who come, most certainly appears from time to time. His well-being is inquired after and he is pressed. Now this depends on that person’s rank and means within the family. Even if he is the father of the house, if he has no work and livelihood, and moreover has to look to the hands of the children of that house, that man is now in the position of the last latch of the last door of the house. Even though those in that family consider the words “Honor your mother and your father”—which God commanded through Moses—for every father and mother, they do not consider it for that father! And his wife—whatever every woman feels toward the same man she has been with for years, generally that woman too feels those feelings toward her husband. That is, the man is left with no branch to hold on to. If the man makes a fuss and understands, or senses, the hypocrisy of these people through his experiences, that family, with the full backing of the Witnesses too, puts this man on the blacklist. Most certainly, most certainly, that man will one day burst under this situation. He has no other choice. He will either say amen to what they say, or he will say no. And if he says “no,” this means, for that person, flying out of that home he lived in for years. Whoever he may be, whatever he may be to that home. Whether father, mother, or child, the outcome is the same. In fact, I have even known some families who embraced this religion solely in order to fly that one member out of the home. Only one situation is an exception. And that is: whoever that person saying no is, all the financial income and livelihood comes about through him and with him. Even if there are 20 people in that home, their neediness for this one person makes it necessary to count on that person. And they show respect and honor not because God commanded it, but because of their own interests. Otherwise God is always the same God and His commands do not change either. It is man who is changeable and a turncoat. And because the Witnesses catch this air right away, they now never leave off the table the command God gave through Moses—that no matter what, be honorable toward your mother and father!

I most often liken organizations to vermin. Under every situation and condition they manage to survive. And according to those situations and conditions they take shape and change. Just so long as in the end there is always the benefit and interest of that organization.

Whether in this first example I gave or the second, people are in fact so far from God and His will. For them the most important desire is to belong to somewhere. Let the person enter into somewhere—whether it suits his taste exactly or does not, it makes no difference—but let him belong to somewhere. Is there any shortage of colors on our earth! If we were to liken these religions and sects to colors, our world is colorful. Satan has also made these to everyone’s taste. You don’t like it there? Come to this color. Is it a bit dark? Never mind, there’s a light one too. But this one didn’t suit you? Never mind, dear, choose the one that suits you. Whatever tone you want, it’s there. Just so long as you come and belong to one of these! In these examples, while on one side pain is felt because someone in the minority is being crushed, on the other side that same person, when he is in the majority, grants no chance of life to those around him. In both situations, when interest is at stake, people and religions stand two steps back in respect toward the one who says “no.” And the funny part is that sometimes people themselves do not even know this. It is only while events are unfolding, whatever event the person is in, that he behaves in that manner. That is, in the decisions taken, in fact who is who and what has not been fully weighed.

Sometimes do not let the label deceive you. With the label of being a Witness, those people are no different from other religions and sects. People resemble one another very much. But thanks to the education one has received and one’s conscience, some have a well-working brake belonging to their ego and they brake their own feelings, while some cannot manage this. The difference is here—that is, in the education and discipline received. While events unfold, both of them get angry, or become happy. Some brake these feelings, some reveal them without hesitation. It cannot be denied that organizations play a great role in disciplining people. There are many religions that see revealing one’s feelings thoughtlessly and at once as foolishness. Such disciplined people, because they can hide their feelings, may come across to us as trustworthy and believable. When you look at the inside of the matter, as I said, these people have no relation, near or far, with the love of God or of man. Their going door to door to fill up the hours is not out of love of God but out of fear of man, out of a host of other pressures we cannot count, and out of their own expectations. The point that drew my attention in my relationship with the Witnesses was that the subject of God was handled like a job, a duty, like a piece-worker fulfilling his task. Meetings, underlined stock answers, conventions, preaching activities—all of it ended with these. Someone who spoke about God with joy, who conversed about these subjects out of his inner self, from his heart—I perhaps never came across such a person at all. If I put it this way I will have described it better: these people did this work not spiritually, but from outward appearance and in a soulless manner. Exactly like forced labor, like a duty done under compulsion. Whereas God’s apostle counts the fruits of the spirit in this way:

On the other hand, the fruitage of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.

I would like you to read all of these verses I have written above. In the Gospel, in the section going up to Galatians 5:19-26, both the works of the flesh and the things that are the fruitage of the spirit are written. Please open it and read it in its place. I said that the spirit in keeping with the verse above is in none of these organizations. Again, as I said, even if at the beginning this spirit appears temporarily in individual persons, that organization will in a very short time destroy this joy of the person. And Satan expects only this to be achieved from the organizations. Their real mission, that is, their duty—whether they know it or not—is to destroy people’s joy toward God.

We must also accept the existence of those who have entered into such organizations sincerely. And that with belief and with all their heart. Before anything else, let me state this: if a person has the spirit of “long live the snake that does not bite me,” it is impossible for such people to see the truth. But this too must not be forgotten: if there is a snake around and it is moving about, one day it will come and bite that person too. Whoever it may be, a person must most certainly have love of neighbor—that is, love of man—in keeping with God’s command. If he does not, the person must most certainly develop this. If he is a genuinely upright person, thirsting for justice, and if he is always doing something for his spiritual hunger and striving to stay on his feet, then his seeing the filth of the organization he is in is only a matter of time. However much they cry, “We are nakâmil,” that is, flawed, and ask for mercy, the person will in time see that this mercy is to be used only for that organization and to its benefit. When one of their own members says “no” to the smallest thing, and gets kicked out mercilessly, without any mercy shown, and those around begin to turn a blind eye in fear, these people should not forget that from that moment on they resemble a prostitute who has sold herself. Just like Israel, which once forsook God. Through the prophet Ezekiel, God, using a parable, likens Israel to two sisters and relates their betrayal of Him. In the verses mentioned here, one sister represents the two-tribe Jerusalem, and the other sister represents the ten-tribe people of Israel whom Assyria carried into exile. (Ezekiel 23:4) And the prostitute called Babylon the Great that appears in the book of Revelation refers to all the religious institutions and organizations on the whole earth. Among these Jehovah’s Witnesses are especially included! (the whole of Ezekiel chapter 23; the whole of Revelation chapters 17 and 18) Let us not necessarily understand the word prostitute as a woman who sells herself for money. The dictionary meaning of prostitute is also “one who sells the values she possesses.” It is not necessarily required that she receive a material recompense. Sometimes this is done for pleasure, sometimes it is done only out of fear. Again, sometimes a benefit is obtained from this business, and sometimes the person does it by giving something of himself. Just as God wrote, through the prophet Ezekiel, in the example of Israel. There the two sisters committing prostitution did this business by even giving their lovers money and jewels. And their lovers were the pagan nations and their gods.

The Witnesses cast out from among them those who say “no” to them, for whatever reason—so I think, if need be, they even kill them without blinking. This depends on how much the person knows and the danger he could cause. People who know a great deal and could be dangerous have very little chance of survival. Who understands, please tell me, when a sudden death that seems natural comes upon one of them? And that, in such secrecy and in a place lived under the same roof. Who would want an autopsy performed on that person’s behalf? These people, in the best-organized way that would never even cross a human being’s mind, would pull the mafia bosses out of their pockets. Such things do not come out openly, but it is only a matter of time. And they work under very tight secrecy, which is why it is not heard. People like Raymond Franz whom they cast out from among them survived because they did not know much that could harm them. What they knew was only general information. Who knows about the fortunes of the Witnesses? How and by whom those fortunes are directed? It is certain that a person who was among them for more than 40 years, spending only about ten years of it serving as a member of the governing body, did not know. How would an ordinary member know? Where money—and a great deal of money—is at stake, what things do not go on! I can never say that an organization working under this much secrecy could be trusted. Moreover, to such an institution—and it is plain as day whose institution the organizations are—and to those who believe they are from God, I say, “the blind who do not want to see, the deaf who do not want to hear.”

Such claims, as long as they are not proven, are characterized as baseless. And I too, if I am making a claim, say, “Looking at the path they follow, this conclusion emerges.” As a principle, the Witnesses really do work in the manner of mafia organizations. Information secretly gathered about persons they do not like, the investigation about him, and finally the decision taken about him—with these, suddenly moving in on that person, and the result generally ends with being cast out from among them. Their elders’ committee meeting, their courts under the name of a committee meeting, are only a show. The decision has already been taken beforehand. And the person being tried has no defender, no witness, no relative admitted there. More precisely, no one at all is admitted inside. Oh! Think about what a comfortable court this is for that organization, far from justice. If that person gave 40 years of labor to these people, all of it comes to an end there in an instant. And that for absurd, nonsensical reasons. Someone has said: “I do not believe everything the governing body says,” or “The year 1914 is a date I too have doubts about,” or “Actually they are making a mistake on the matter of blood”—such words mean the end for a person in that organization. And if there is one thing that is certain, to whom and where these words are said is also very important. Among them there are also many people of the Iscariot type—who long to be police, who take excitement and pleasure in denouncing one another, like the one who betrayed Jesus. In such a community, these conversations mentioned—pardon me—are not tolerated.

Alongside this, an asylum-seeker they take in among them—with however many lies, deceit, fraud, and with a way of life plainly evident in all his doings, for the aid he receives from the state—no one says to him: “What are you doing, friend? You are defrauding the state by lying, you are deceiving the health insurance by lying, by lying you are deceiving those who approach you in friendship in order to obtain every kind of advantage for yourself; and on top of that you say you are a Witness of God?” On the contrary, the man has hundreds of thousands of marks of money under his pillow, and they let him fill out for these people the documents for the free underwear, food, and money he will receive from the state. Do they not know? And even when they do know, they say nothing. In a very short time that man opens a business worth fifty to a hundred thousand marks, and even runs it into the ground. Not only does no one come to him and condescend even to an inquiry like, “Didn’t you just recently have me fill out documents so you could get free underwear from the state? Where did this money come from too?”—as I said, they even help with such frauds. But over the tiniest word against and in opposition to the organization, they split hairs. Through the prophet Micah, God says the following to such people or institutions:

The day will come when they cry out to the LORD. But He will not answer, He will hide His face from them. Because they did evil. The LORD says, “O prophets who lead My people astray, To those who feed you, you wish peace, But against those who do not feed you, you declare war.

Therefore night without vision will fall upon you. From the darkness you will not be able to divine. O prophets, your sun will set, your day will grow dark. The seers* will be put to shame. The diviners will be disgraced. They will cover their faces from shame. Because there will be no answer from God.” Micah 3:4-7 (*Seer: a prophet too was called a seer, and here the false prophets must be meant.)

These things I have related were a method applied to those who are against them, who rebel. Those who have committed ordinary crimes are treated differently. For example, theft has been committed, adultery has been done with another’s wife or husband; someone has fooled around with little girls, or has watched pornographic films, etc. Such criminals are informed beforehand of what they are accused of. And if that person generally says “pardon,” they carry on as if nothing had happened. Or, as a formality, his ties with the congregation are cut for a year or two. They throw him out the front door and take him back in through the back door. For example, you will see someone in the same congregation who raped an 8-year-old girl, a few years later sitting as a brother in the same congregation, in the same rows, and even one or two rows next to that very girl! There are many such incidents. Especially of those who say they never commit adultery, very little of what they get up to with one another is heard. Raymond Franz writes in his book “Christliche Freiheit” that at their headquarters building in New York, a missionary’s wife was caught in a room doing I-don’t-know-what with, if I am not mistaken, another missionary. In fact they even caught one with a street woman in his room in the building. Stinginess is so ingrained in their blood that even while doing that business, so as to be cheap and be spared the hotel fee, he brings the woman he hired into the building he lives and works in! In such crimes, that person is openly given the opportunity to prepare his defense. The event is evident, the crime is in the open. Toward such people they even behave quite mercifully and with understanding! They are even ashamed to state his crime to his face.

Is it to enter in among these that we feel within us the desire to absolutely belong to somewhere? The majority of what I have written in this book has been about Jehovah’s Witnesses; if we were to set out to write about the other religions too, would they fit into books? And what I have written here is this much through the eyes of someone looking from the outside. If we were also to see these things with the eye with which God sees, down to their most hidden aspects, who knows how much we would retch. Even now our stomach cannot take it.

Toward one who is against their own interests, against the benefit of the organization, they show no mercy and understanding at all, just as in the mafias. The person cannot even understand what has happened, what has befallen him. Yet was Raymond Franz not a member of the governing body? Was there anyone greater than these members in that organization? The number of these members worldwide at that time was made up of 15-17 people. Who decides on that man’s being cast out, without his even being aware of it? So there are also those above that body, working behind the curtain. No one knows who these are. In any case, the most important subject is the subject of money, and this is settled between two, at most three people. And because they are afraid of people like Raymond becoming boils on their heads, these matters are done very secretly. It is also certain that there is no love at all within them toward such people. Once the organization enters into the matter, these people even denounce their mother, their father, their own child. In that situation, what is love!

Whereas when we look at the apostles, at the time the Gospel was being written, we see that they followed an entirely different path. The apostle Paul sees that the apostle Peter is being a hypocrite, and he says this openly, to his face, right there. He does not resort to a way of getting rid of this man from among them through plans, programs, and intrigues. There he rebukes Peter, and the matter is closed right there.

What knowledge those apostles had in discerning spirits—come, let us read it in its place:

Who is wise (possessing wisdom) and understanding among you? Let him show out of his fine conduct his works with a mildness that belongs to wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and contentiousness in your hearts, do not be boasting and lying against the truth.

This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, of the flesh, of the demons. For where jealousy and contentiousness are, there disorder and every vile thing are.

But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, and reasonable. It is full of mercy and good fruits. It makes no favoritism and is not hypocritical…James 3:13-18

In line with these verses, it is not at all hard to guess where the spirit that comes to this organization stems from. From an organization possessing this spirit, every kind of horror and ugliness can be expected. This is how I saw it and how I believe. And that its fruits are like this is proven by the very book they call holy in their hands. Do you now understand the reason I say, about these people who—only for the benefit of the organization—sell one another, their characters, their beliefs, what they know, the truth, and if need be everything, “these people would even kill one another if need be”? Even though my saying about just one subject—that is, “they would even kill one who does not suit their purposes if need be”—may seem to be a claim without proof for today, do not be surprised if in a very short time you hear all over the world that it is true. As they say, “Just watch what will happen.” The Vatican is the father of these people; those who go to bed there perfectly healthy at night come out dead in the morning. To them such things are everyday events. And these people are the children and grandchildren of those who follow in their forefathers’ footsteps.

A person who claims to serve God must, before anything else, be open to freedom and to every idea. Until you enter into them, it is these religions most of all that defend freedom. And after you enter into them, it is again these religions and organizations most of all that oppose freedom. Every kind of book, publication, magazine, film, and subject that will oppose them is severely forbidden. Even if it is not against them, many things that cannot pass their censorship are also forbidden. And all these prohibitions they shamelessly try to prove from the Holy Scriptures. It is written that in the Gospel, after the death of Jesus, in the time of the apostles, the believers burned many books related to sorcery and spiritism that had great material value. Even though these books were not burned by the compulsion or command of those apostles—those people did this of their own free will. Compulsion and prohibition were never a method used by the apostles of that time. Besides this, in the Gospel there is no subject at all of destruction written against books and publications. As I said, there is this one, and that too is something they did of their own free will. Not because it was a law, a rule, a prohibition. There is nothing at all to the effect that “Burning those books was a condition of faith, otherwise they would not be accepted into that belief.” (Acts 19:19)

And just consider this: at one time, a religion that was most opposed and drew the most reaction was the Witnesses themselves. How can such an organization set a limit on the freedom to read and forbid books? Did those members who came to them not come by reading? Were the Witnesses’ publications not publications that opposed the person’s religion at the time? But when those against the Witnesses put pressure on those who read their publications, they belonged to Satan! When they themselves put the same pressure on other publications, what do they become? How many Witnesses read this book I have written? Or it would be more correct if I said, read it openly. Merely reading this book openly is a sufficient reason for his being cast out of there. In the Middle Ages, writing a book required very great courage. Because all books first had to be approved by the church authority. If something displeasing to these people was written in that book, it could even bring about the end of the one who wrote it. Europeans speak of the barbarity of the Ottoman Empire and its destruction of cultures. In the beginning it was because the Ottomans gave the greatest freedom, and value to art and the artist, that they advanced and Europe fell behind. Not taking a lesson from the example of these religionists who took Europe backward, when the Ottoman too, on its own, made its religionist partisans of the organization into commanders and officials and gave them authority, it did not take very long for them to revert to Europe’s state in the Middle Ages.

I wonder why the Ottoman committed such a foolishness? Did the Ottoman, seeing how the marauders in those crusades blindly went to their deaths, also get influenced by this? At the command of the sextons and priests at their head, all of Europe went to its death without asking a single question. I wonder, did the Ottoman also want to possess in his own country the very same model of this donkey! History shows that it was so. In a manner opposed to every kind of innovation, the Ottoman too takes the same decisions taken by the Roman Catholic church. He too, saying of everything that does not suit his purpose: “This is Satan’s work.” They place prohibitions on everything that does not suit their own interests, heads, and knowledge. The Witnesses now, in the 21st century, apply this rule—and moreover, setting aside America and Europe, even in Japan, which passes for clever. You decide how much humanity has advanced! The thing that surprised me about the Japanese is that nearly half of every Japanese who is a Witness there does pioneering. And this means those persons go door to door preaching for at least 70 hours a month. As I said, for many years this was 90 hours. Even then they had the same proportion of pioneers. On the other hand, this situation should not surprise us at all. The Japanese too, in practicing their culture and beliefs, work in a complete organizational manner. Does an organization teach what human freedom is? Whether the organizational model of Jehovah’s Witnesses coming out of America seemed more likable to them than the Japanese’s own organizational models is not known. The Japanese cut a thread into an iron the thickness of a hair and even insert a screw into it. My word! Well, have they also heard of the thing called the spiritual freedom that ought to be given to people? We say advancement, but we do not ask, toward where? I give these examples not in the sense that I am only against the Japanese. On the contrary, I mean, considering their intelligence and industriousness in technique, but in spiritual matters, in their belief toward their true creator, in freedom, how lazily and foolishly they behave. Again, in a way, like the people of every country.

In my relationship with the Witnesses and with other religions over twenty years, I saw, lived, and heard these things. But these people all but whipped me into researching and acquiring knowledge. The other option was, either I would say amen to everything they said as it was, or, to be sure, I would always research. I have never regretted this knowledge I possess. Nor do I ever see it as time gone to waste. I always begged God that no one might come between me and my love for God, and I still beg Him. There are so many factors that want to steal a person from God. I believe like these words that pass between God and Satan in the Quran:

He (Satan) said: “My Lord! Since You have driven me from Your mercy, I too will show them the way on the earth; and truly I will strive to lead them all astray. Except only Your own devoted servants.”

(God) said: “This is the right way leading to Me. Surely over My servants you have no power at all. Except those who go astray and join you.” Al-Hijr, sura 15:39-42

Here even Satan speaks of there being a distinction. And that his power will not reach God’s servants. By no means see this situation, like so many, as a right or a privilege gained automatically. If this is a right or a privilege that comes from God, then we, with everything that passes through our whole heart, with the deeds we do, our words and our thoughts, must work until we die so as not to let it slip from our hands. When we are upright, pure and clean, and are striving to stay far from all filth and stains, from intrigues—which of course sinful man cannot achieve flawlessly; but if we strive to do the things I have listed with all our strength and mind, with our life and heart, then we can be sure that we will always find the Lord God at our side too. If He is with us, who can stand against us, who can defeat us? (Hebrews 13:5-6; Romans 8:31) The words Satan meant in those verses should be understood this way. On the other hand, if we forsake Him, He too will forsake us. Until now the first to forsake God has always been man himself. For this reason, even if we do commit sin—for the prophets committed it too—let us not strive, with the thought of “the fish is sunk, let it slide,” to plunge ever deeper into the bottom of sin, pleasure, and dissipation. This is a vulgar way of thinking. Let us go after virtuous, superior things. The prophet David committed sin too, but he repented. He did not say “the fish is sunk, let it slide” in order to enter into ever more sin. And God accepted his repentance. It was surely painful. Let us not forget this: everything has a price. There is nothing without a price. Because some are mistaken about the matter of timing in paying this price, they deceive themselves, thinking, “This business only befalls fools, and the clever ones pay no price.” If everything has a price—if even God, in return for our sins, wishes to send someone like Adam to the earth to be a sacrifice and be given up—it means He is drawing attention to the fact that our deeds too have a price. (the whole of Romans chapter 5; in the Quran: Al-Baqarah, sura 2:128; Al-Imran, sura 3:59; At-Tawbah, sura 9:111) By this God shows that Adam’s sin had a price, and that this price could only be paid this way. Yes, even if we ourselves do not pay the price of some things but receive them as a gift, let us at least show our appreciation with deeds worthy of these gifts. God bought us by paying a price. Both the Quran and the Gospel emphasize this belief, of course if we want to understand.

We had a Turkish teacher; I still have not forgotten his name, İmdat Hoca. I did not like some of his sides, most of all his resorting from time to time to unjust brute force. But he was the best-teaching Turkish and literature teacher I ever saw. He did his profession with love, or he strove to do his best in order to be an upright person. One day he explained to us the difference between “simple” and “original.” “Something that no one has done is called original,” he said. “But just because no one has done it, pulling down our underwear in the middle of the city and relieving ourselves is not original but a simple thing,” he said. “Yes, perhaps no one has done that either, but it is ugly, disgusting, and for this reason it is called simple,” he would say. Finally: “Do such things that no one has done but that are useful, beautiful, virtuous—that is what is called original”—his saying this I still cannot forget.

Do we absolutely want to belong to somewhere? Let that place be our Creator Himself. Let us see all the remaining people as our brothers. Whether they are good or bad. Whether they are foolish or clever. Whatever they may be, at least in the matter of God let us make none of them a master over our heads.

“They love being greeted in the marketplaces and being called ‘Rabbi’ by people. But you should not be called ‘Rabbi’ (teacher-instructor) by anyone. Because you have one teacher, and all of you are brothers.

And do not call anyone on earth ‘Father,’ for you have one Father, the heavenly Father.

Do not let anyone call you ‘leader,’ for you have one leader, the Messiah.

Let the greatest among you be the servant of the others. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees (the Jewish sect of that time), hypocrites! You shut the door of the Kingdom of the heavens in people’s faces; you yourselves do not go in, nor do you let those who want to go in enter!

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You travel over seas and continents to turn a single person to your religion. And when he becomes a convert to your religion, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.” Matthew 23:7-15

We should actually ask ourselves these things: