A Shift in Perspective
Your friends and family will certainly notice these changes in your
lifestyle and demeanor. They may applaud the positive changes (including
your happier attitude, if you feel you have finally discovered the true
religion). However, people resist change in themselves and their friends.
Even the positive improvements may be criticized (not to mention the
restrictions on your freedom and self-determination).
Your study conductor will warn you that this opposition comes directly
from Satan, who does not want you to learn "the truth". This revelation
may give you a certain sense of pride, as you suddenly seem to be
embroiled in the ultimate struggle between good and evil. You may also be
impressed by your teacher's apparent knowledge -- and ability to predict
-- Satan's tricks.
At another level, though, something sinister is going on. You are being
taught to see your friends and family as a means through which the Devil
can "get you". If your dearest friends suggest that you think twice before
joining the Witnesses, you may question their motives: are they really
concerned about my welfare, or is this just another of Satan's tricks?
Once you start thinking this way, the world begins to separate into two
sides: the good people (i.e. the Witnesses) and the bad people (i.e.
non-Witnesses). This change in attitude is barely noticeable at first, but
its very subtlety is what makes it so dangerous.
This, alas, is precisely what the Witnesses want. They need to drive a
wedge between the "old" you and the "new" you. Once you have become
immersed in their phantasmal view of the universe, you will see hidden
motives and veiled perils everywhere. Satan is waiting just around the
next corner! He's lurking in the walls!
You may find it hard to imagine that you could ever change so much.
However, once the Witnesses have caused you to doubt the good intentions
of your friends and family, you gradually move into an empty place. The
only ones who can fill that emptiness are Jehovah's Witnesses.
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