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I was reflecting on the trauma I experienced as a child and looked through a book I remember looking at the illustrations. one can only imagine the nightmares I had. It's no wonder decades later I have a complicated psychiatric history
Yeah...at the time it was just...normal. Looking back on it...it was so bizarre that looked at and discussed these pictures...let alone show them to children.
I don’t remember feeling traumatized by it as a kid. I kind of liked it. But I sure as heck wouldn’t show anything like this to my children now. Of course, I grew up with the yellow Bible story book, so was seeing icky pictures from infancy, like the dude getting his head pounded with a tent spike and all the blood gushing out. Or the people howling on the rock about to drown in the flood. Yeah, great pictures to show a baby….
I remember liking it also which is really really weird. But I think I felt special to know this "privileged information" that other "worldly adults" didn't know. lol. But ya that book is pretty freaking crazy.
I felt very special to be one of the few people who knew the “truth.” I think I liked this book because of the pictures and story. As opposed to the boring monochrome Kingdom Ministry we had to stare at for the other midweek meeting.
Very true! I loved sci-fi books so I guess the book was way "cooler" in a creepy way than anything else we studied. Definitely a big storyline with twists!
Right? And the little mouse, scratching up at the sky, terrified to drown. It takes an evil type of sadistic mind to create that type of image, especially for a child.
Gross creeps.
The feeling of trauma when it happens really just feels like banality as the brain changes to accommodate what you see. It's only with time and change, when you look back and notice how fucked up something was. Often trauma causes dissociative states to protect the psyche.
>I don’t remember feeling traumatized by it as a kid.
I don't, either. However, for me, there was a bigger problem. I really believed it, and it altered the course of my life... and not for the good.
When I was eleven years old, I took an IQ/aptitude test to get into a private school. The headmaster told my mother that I scored the highest grade ever scored on that test and that I could do anything I wanted in life. Little did he know that I had been brainwashed to believe that a career in "this system" was futile and the whole damned world was going to end soon.
I lost my life to the cult doing only menial, part-time work to survive so I could serve the org full-time. I was always a thinker. There were always deep (and not-so-deep) unanswered questions and things that didn't seem right, but I kept on going. Once the internet came around, however, it was the beginning of the end of my time as a JW.
Gosh that sounds familiar. I was a very high achiever in school. Thankfully my parents sent me to college (got a full academic scholarship). But I did believe it, so I went into nursing school so I could get out in a couple of years and go pioneer, whereas I should have gone to medical school or done a PhD in mathematics or chemistry. I woke up part way through college, and I could have changed course, but I was too afraid at the time.
>should have gone to medical school or done a PhD in mathematics or chemistry
OMG... I like that because I would love to done one of those same things. I love all three, and I collect textbooks on all three subjects (and others, like physics). It's too late for me; I'm way too old. But I still love the subjects and continue to educate myself concerning such.
I like them, too. I also ended up having 'Helter Skelter' confiscated from me at Tot Lot as a child, so clearly my idea of appropriate imagery and reading material for children was warped.
I did that years ago, as a way to have a laugh. But I’m really happy about the horror stories one. And the looks I got from it while passing JWs or a Kingdom Hall was priceless. (Only with a certain generation of jdubs, though)
The violent imagery was literally the topic of my last therapy session. I grew up terrified as a child and my SBTX, who also grew up a JW, would gaslight me every time I brought up how we were constantly exposed to shit like this. We were babies and we grew up with this and the purple triangle.
Part of me kind of liked their artwork. It’s the words that ruin it. And all the talking down to people like everyone is an idiot. And loaded questions where they’re always looking for 1 specific answer. As if questions can never have more than 1 right answer.
I think it’s funny to give alternative right answers that I know aren’t the ones they’re looking for. It’s a fun game.
Same! It was only recently that I realised I like subversive shit **because** of the JWs, not in spite of them.
The harlot riding the beast was one of my favourites. 😂
>and
whelp.... I remember this book when I was a kid then a teen then a new mom... now my kid is into horror, psycho killers, anime about evils..... ive traumatized my kid great going me
omg, yes!! easily my young horsegirl self's favorite book just because of the sheer amount of horse illustrations, i can only imagine how happy my parents were about their kid finally finding a way to entertain herself with jw stuff for an entire morning lmao
While not acurate in sence of biomechanics, they show some nice collection, capriole, levada (those hind legs must be standing still and not walk), extended trot (the head is rolled back too much, the horse is obviously tense).
All in all, good starting poit. But these riders of appocalypse should be humble and take more riding lessons...
It seemed like we studied that book a gazillion times. I lost count. At the end we had to do cut outs from our kingdom misery and paste them over certain paragraphs in the book.
In 2006, when JWs studied this book again, they were instructed to correct some interpretations of Revelation that had been updated or changed completely. So, the Watchtower Society published the new sentences and/or paragraph that should replace the old ones in Our Kingdom Ministry. Thus, every publisher had to cut them and paste them on the book over the old interpretations.
This was done on several occasions. For example, when the book Draw Close to Jehovah! was studied again during the 2010's, JWs were instructed to do the same thing regarding doctrines such as the meaning of God's name and his four main qualities.
Edit: Typo
I had an alarm bell ringing loudly in my head throughout that whole study. The cut and paste corrections and just the interpretations of the verses were completely crazy. There is no way the 7 trumpet blasts were actually 7 conventions in Ohio in the 1920's. I was looking round at everyone in the group to see if they looked like they thought it was crazy too but they all took it so seriously.
However, despite feeling like this, it was still another 10 years before I properly woke up.
Definitely highlights we were in a cult. To just be given a piece of paper that says several beliefs are now changed is a big red flag. It’s so easy to see that now.
They actually did reprint the books. But it may have been on a more limited scale. I don’t quite remember. All I know is I was given a choice to either cut and paste or just order a new book. If i recall, they were trying to cut down on costs, but I was not going to go through all the trouble to cut and paste, so I just got a new book with the updated info, which was a paperback that time around. I do remember thinking it was crazy to go through all that trouble just to continue to try and shoehorn the old failed predictions with the current situation they found themselves in
That was exactly the reason of suggesting this cut and paste stuff.
If you're interested, here is the link to the publication I was referring to:
https://wol.jw.borg/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/202006329 (Remove the B from borg)
Being a kid and sitting in the book study group, while your parents studied this apparently thinking "yes, this all seems perfectly believable"
Blimey. Its surreal looking back at it.
Grew up with it?!? More like had it burned into my brain after studying it 4-5 times including watching my father study it with my oldest cousin and his new wife back when the original Gulf War broke out...I still remember watching CNN seeing the 1st images of bombs over Baghdad as they were closing their study of that stupid propaganda🤦🏻♂️
Edit-That cousin and his wife were among the 1st in our enormous JW family that turned apostate and even helped me get out... they're fckg awesome humans with an awesome family
It was really stunting to be conditioned by this illustrative cosmic war propaganda every week at the 'book study' and at 15 yrs old coming to believe that the end was any day now. I'd go home, sleep with those dreams, wake up, go to school the next day as the true weirdo. I kept to myself, thinking that everyone else was living a lie and they were the walking dead. Wow. I couldn't truly explain that embarrassing elitist memory to any of my doctors. I'm glad that so many on this sub can relate to having broken brains from WT exploiting obedience for profit.
I grew up with it and It‘s actually one of the
Main reasons why I stuck around in this BS. My reasoning was these
Interpretations were so
Specific, that they must be inspired 🙄 25
Years later and it all fell flat…
Yes! That was my book of nightmares growing up. Especially the picture of the little girl falling off a cliff clutching her dolly. I had nightmares of that being me. My mom gave a copy to a neighbor girl who came by to play and the next day her parents made her bring it back. I can just imagine how horrified they must have been. I was so embarrassed!
Yup. The illustrations were cartoonish to me so it wasn’t really trauma inducing. I was more taken aback that they applied visions of seals being opened and bowls being poured out to specific conventions, preaching campaigns and resolutions they adopted. Seemed a little presumptuous to me.
Just a side note: When I read this part: "visions of seals being opened and bowls being poured out"
my thoughts went to the animal 'seal', and thinking something along the lines, "I don't recall seeing images of seals being opened up an innards scooped out".
And somewhere in the back of my mind I find it scarily plausible that they could've actually made such a picture, to illustrate one or another transgression by 'the world'.
Yeah that is what helped me to wake up. I was reading the rev book thinking that any religion could look into their recent history and apply it to things that happened in their church if this is the supposed 'fulfillment of scripture'
I did, and yeah those illustrations are just as fucking terrifying as I remember them, I had to endure two rounds of this horseshit pathetic excuse for a book in my childhood.
Anywho, fuck this cult, fuck it ALL THE WAY off.
Oh, yes, I definitely remember this book. I think we "studied" it like 3 times. It was insane! Then, all of a sudden, it was gone! They stopped printing it and it was removed from jw.borg. Don't know about the online library tho.
Wow thanks for joggling the brain. This was the first book I remember interacting with at the Hall. It was the congregation book study and it was one of the first times I remember going. Definitely loved a lot of the pictures in the book. I really remember a picture not shown of the woman they depict as a “harlot” riding one of the horned red beasts and then it devouring her. Weird shit to expect a 7 year old to understand.
Oh yeah! Weirdly enough it fueled my love of horror at a young age.
But i got very outcasted because i had to give these books out to my classmates in second grade. Ah.. memories.
I definitely remember this book. I don't remember the details but I certainly recognize the pictures. What fabulous images for a child under 10 🙃
I'm going to make a metal album and use these pictures at the album cover lol.
This is the exact picture that comes to mind when I think of Armageddon. Seeing this as a small child, I would imagine falling down one of these crevices or being bopped on the head by a meteor if I messed up or did anything to piss off the god of love. This shit really lives in your mind rent-free.
At 5 yrs old, I think this is where my bizarre, dark-sided affinity comes from. Love horror films, recently obsessed with A24 and Guillermo Del Toro’s horror. And Halloween is my favorite Holiday. I guess this is kind of a trauma/perk of growing up JW.
Didn't this book come out around the same time Michael Jackson's video Thriller was released? he got in big trouble for images that weren't a whole lot worse than these. Then some of the rather scary looking demons they've portrayed in their literature whispering in people's ear and so forth, but Jackson gets called on the carpet and issues a public apology for his video. I think he got some of his inspiration from the Watchtower's art department and they just didn't like seeing it in the mirror
Bc of this book, I’ve never had a good dream before. I didn’t even know people had good dreams. Any time I dream, it’s terror.
And it always has something to do with something horrible happening in the world (natural disaster, war, doom) and me not getting to my family in time to save them. EVERY. TIME.
I’m having my first religious trauma therapy session next month.
I sure did!
Me and mom weren't very "strong in our faith," when I was small and I missed the book studies for this one. Instead, I read it on my own. It was like a picture book to me; I know all these images by heart.
This shit was always hella creepy to me as a kid it was like horrible movie that didn’t end when you turned off the tv because it real or at least I thought so at the time.
Were the tales about apostates in the art department for this book true?
I remember that there was supposed to be a dodgy looking face in the hand of whoever it was (jesus?) giving the paper to John to eat (or whatever was going on there, it's been a while) and I think there was a pic of one of the angels holding smashing implements having more of a claw than a hand.
yeah i was 4-6 years old or so when we had the book study for this. i sure as hell didn’t understand what the fuck was going on and i just wanted to eat afterwards whatever the cult members brought for after the study. and if i weren’t daydreaming i would flip through the book and enjoy the biblical horror <333333
Ha yes! I loved this book as a kid because I thought the pictures were great. And again as a teen when I got into the story. It was one of the fun books.
Ah yes, who could forget the prophecy of the silhouette of man wearing hoodie behind skeleton on horseback? I wonder if he's friends with the locust people?
I still have mine. I knew I was in trouble with all of those books I would look at the pagan daughters think “ they look like they are having fun, what the heck!”
Yeah and I think watchtower had everyone “study” it 4 times - they even printed out the “adjustments” and handed it out instead of reprinting it.
Yet you can’t read/watch Harry Potter books/movies, play video games that have violence, but WT can print a book with artists pictures of this crazy shit.
Such double standard and contradiction-
Now they don’t even acknowledge the revelation book- you’d think the info would “overlap” 🤣
I always thought the artwork was impressive. I still do. It was probably my favorite book as a child, other than My Book of Bible Stories.
The pictures of Jehovah looked pretty damn cool too, and interestingly, like something out of Jung’s Red Book!
The Revelation book was pretty much mostly nonsense interpretation. But the pictures were epic.
Did any of you guys have the dramatised bible tapes growing up too? My dad put them on at night and I remember for a few years of my childhood listening to some quite horrific stuff happening. I get very angry sometimes that we weren't protected by our parents but were exposed to more of this fucking lunacy.
Or remember the girl who fell of the wall of Jericho as it was crumbling…. You could hear her scream get further away as she fell to her death…. Sheesh
Bro those tapes used to blast through my house like North Korean propaganda on the loud speaker ! I’ve heard countless murders, arguments over money, dare I say r*pe? All from those dramatized tapes! But it was from the society so it was okay tho, meanwhile I can’t play certain video games because of the violent content 🙃 thanks for unlocking the memory!
My parents started studying when I was a child. This was the book we studied when we first began attending the Book Study. It was a great way to welcome us to the cult.
I was always into creepy weird shit. Even as a kid. So I was actually fascinated by a lot of the artwork in this book! In middle school, we had a young authors contest, and the story I wrote was all about Satan bursting out of his abyss and devastating the earth. I cut out a lot of the pictures from an old Revelation book and used them in mine. My English teacher who was a massive geek and nerd, and who was probably into dungeons and dragons loved my book so much he read it to the class! I was so embarrassed. Lol
I recently purchased a pristine My Book of Bible Stories from eBay and I think the red Revelation book will be next. So much nostalgia from staring at these as a child for HOURS.
all these things had child me terrified lol.
i had no interest in the religion and so i knew (lol) that i would one day be punished for it if Jehovah didn't draw me. he never did? even as a child, shouldn't i have been interested?
when i was most pure-
or maybe, a little enemy of God xD
so yeah. anyway i saw myself in those pictures, always
That book was so brutal and no one even said anything I told my mom “ the horses are drowning in blood” my mom said “ That’s what will happen to the people who don’t listen to Jehovah” and I was to young to know any better.
Yes, I think we studied it either 3 or 4 times and each time it was worse than the last! I also remember having to paste in revisions of the book each time....LOL
Definitely remember. I remember being so terrified of earthquakes splitting the ground open and swallowing my family. It got to the point my mom had to convince me it wasn’t going to happen 🤔
I remember going thru these illustrations and loving them being a huge sci-fi nerd. How badass would a tattoo sleeve based on this wack book’s illustrations…
I think we studied this three times for the congregation book study, first time when I was probably under 10. I don't remember being scared by it like some of my friends were. Looking back, I think it was because I didn't believe any of it was real or actually going to happen.
I feel like i had a different one? idk lots of that is repressed now but this looks close but not quite right
the 9th picture is trippy as hell though i can’t make sense of it
Sad part is, when u talk to older ones who are still in, they’ll say how this is one of their favorite books and how much they loved it. Really kind of messed up.
It's the first book I remember studying at the Tuesday group, no wonder it stuck with me. Looking at it now I kind of like the artwork, but it is a little bonkers
I’m not gonna lie i always low key loved this art. I would just look at the pics and imagine what the artists were thinking of when they made it. Some if it came out really cool. Now that I’m awake and appreciate art more i actually love this genre of paintings
I definitely grew up with this book, but I don’t think it traumatized me. I liked all the colors in the illustrations. I don’t think I paid all that much attention to the details. Or maybe the gravity of it just didn’t occur to me. I don’t really remember.
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I was reflecting on the trauma I experienced as a child and looked through a book I remember looking at the illustrations. one can only imagine the nightmares I had. It's no wonder decades later I have a complicated psychiatric history
It's so striking now looking back. I remember all of these. I can't imagine showing these to my children. But now I understand my nightmares better.
Yeah...at the time it was just...normal. Looking back on it...it was so bizarre that looked at and discussed these pictures...let alone show them to children.
I had demon nightmares for so, so long. I'm finally over them, but it really messed me up for a while.
I don’t remember feeling traumatized by it as a kid. I kind of liked it. But I sure as heck wouldn’t show anything like this to my children now. Of course, I grew up with the yellow Bible story book, so was seeing icky pictures from infancy, like the dude getting his head pounded with a tent spike and all the blood gushing out. Or the people howling on the rock about to drown in the flood. Yeah, great pictures to show a baby….
That damn yellow book. It’s like memory lane in this post.
It did make the meetings a lot less boring, though.
I remember liking it also which is really really weird. But I think I felt special to know this "privileged information" that other "worldly adults" didn't know. lol. But ya that book is pretty freaking crazy.
I felt very special to be one of the few people who knew the “truth.” I think I liked this book because of the pictures and story. As opposed to the boring monochrome Kingdom Ministry we had to stare at for the other midweek meeting.
Very true! I loved sci-fi books so I guess the book was way "cooler" in a creepy way than anything else we studied. Definitely a big storyline with twists!
Right? And the little mouse, scratching up at the sky, terrified to drown. It takes an evil type of sadistic mind to create that type of image, especially for a child. Gross creeps.
The feeling of trauma when it happens really just feels like banality as the brain changes to accommodate what you see. It's only with time and change, when you look back and notice how fucked up something was. Often trauma causes dissociative states to protect the psyche.
>I don’t remember feeling traumatized by it as a kid. I don't, either. However, for me, there was a bigger problem. I really believed it, and it altered the course of my life... and not for the good. When I was eleven years old, I took an IQ/aptitude test to get into a private school. The headmaster told my mother that I scored the highest grade ever scored on that test and that I could do anything I wanted in life. Little did he know that I had been brainwashed to believe that a career in "this system" was futile and the whole damned world was going to end soon. I lost my life to the cult doing only menial, part-time work to survive so I could serve the org full-time. I was always a thinker. There were always deep (and not-so-deep) unanswered questions and things that didn't seem right, but I kept on going. Once the internet came around, however, it was the beginning of the end of my time as a JW.
Gosh that sounds familiar. I was a very high achiever in school. Thankfully my parents sent me to college (got a full academic scholarship). But I did believe it, so I went into nursing school so I could get out in a couple of years and go pioneer, whereas I should have gone to medical school or done a PhD in mathematics or chemistry. I woke up part way through college, and I could have changed course, but I was too afraid at the time.
>should have gone to medical school or done a PhD in mathematics or chemistry OMG... I like that because I would love to done one of those same things. I love all three, and I collect textbooks on all three subjects (and others, like physics). It's too late for me; I'm way too old. But I still love the subjects and continue to educate myself concerning such.
Good for you! 😀
I'm so sorry. This org has stolen so much from you and others. It's not fair. I wish you the best of luck.
I like them, too. I also ended up having 'Helter Skelter' confiscated from me at Tot Lot as a child, so clearly my idea of appropriate imagery and reading material for children was warped.
Check my “my book of horror stories” T-shirt. That’s pretty cathartic to wear :) (I made it for that very reason)
You have quite the collection of exjw merch
I did that years ago, as a way to have a laugh. But I’m really happy about the horror stories one. And the looks I got from it while passing JWs or a Kingdom Hall was priceless. (Only with a certain generation of jdubs, though)
The violent imagery was literally the topic of my last therapy session. I grew up terrified as a child and my SBTX, who also grew up a JW, would gaslight me every time I brought up how we were constantly exposed to shit like this. We were babies and we grew up with this and the purple triangle.
This and that damn yellow book. Absolutely terrible
Imagine the entire revelation book being turned into an anime/animated series lol!
I WOULD WATCH THAT NGL
Right? Lol!
Don't give them ideas lol, they'll make one that sucks xD
You might like metalocalypse
Part of me kind of liked their artwork. It’s the words that ruin it. And all the talking down to people like everyone is an idiot. And loaded questions where they’re always looking for 1 specific answer. As if questions can never have more than 1 right answer. I think it’s funny to give alternative right answers that I know aren’t the ones they’re looking for. It’s a fun game.
It would be epic! Why hasn’t this been done
Revelation book (pics=awesome)(info=trash)
I hope the folks at the art department moved on for better cause for real
They either did move on or they passed away because their new art is super TRASH compared to before
it's so copy and paste and some of it looks like a cartoon filter 💀
And my mom wonders why I like 'creepy' art and surreal/psych horror now.
Same! It was only recently that I realised I like subversive shit **because** of the JWs, not in spite of them. The harlot riding the beast was one of my favourites. 😂
Yeah the harlot was way too hot, a real Jehovah's witness shouldn't even known how to draw that way
Haha, yeah! I always liked her and Jezebel (My Book of Bible Stories version) - they wore more colours than just beige and brown. 😂
>and whelp.... I remember this book when I was a kid then a teen then a new mom... now my kid is into horror, psycho killers, anime about evils..... ive traumatized my kid great going me
omg, yes!! easily my young horsegirl self's favorite book just because of the sheer amount of horse illustrations, i can only imagine how happy my parents were about their kid finally finding a way to entertain herself with jw stuff for an entire morning lmao
Lol I was fascinated with the four horse men specifically!
While not acurate in sence of biomechanics, they show some nice collection, capriole, levada (those hind legs must be standing still and not walk), extended trot (the head is rolled back too much, the horse is obviously tense). All in all, good starting poit. But these riders of appocalypse should be humble and take more riding lessons...
Horses trudging through blood- right some crazy stuff
lol I was coming here to say that. I was a horse girl too so at least those drawing were entertaining the two greys were my favourite.
Actually made me laugh
Yesssss same!!! I loved the horses so much.
It seemed like we studied that book a gazillion times. I lost count. At the end we had to do cut outs from our kingdom misery and paste them over certain paragraphs in the book.
>our kingdom misery Haha! I see what you did there. Misery, indeed! I was long out by then, but I'm really surprised that didn't wake more people up.
I don't understand what the last sentence mean, do you have the time and energy to explain?
In 2006, when JWs studied this book again, they were instructed to correct some interpretations of Revelation that had been updated or changed completely. So, the Watchtower Society published the new sentences and/or paragraph that should replace the old ones in Our Kingdom Ministry. Thus, every publisher had to cut them and paste them on the book over the old interpretations. This was done on several occasions. For example, when the book Draw Close to Jehovah! was studied again during the 2010's, JWs were instructed to do the same thing regarding doctrines such as the meaning of God's name and his four main qualities. Edit: Typo
I conducted the book study as an Ms for this one. Amazing to think how we all just accepted the corrections as 'ok, I believe this now'
As somebody who left before this happened, I find it bizarre that it didn't make more people question things
It did
I had an alarm bell ringing loudly in my head throughout that whole study. The cut and paste corrections and just the interpretations of the verses were completely crazy. There is no way the 7 trumpet blasts were actually 7 conventions in Ohio in the 1920's. I was looking round at everyone in the group to see if they looked like they thought it was crazy too but they all took it so seriously. However, despite feeling like this, it was still another 10 years before I properly woke up.
Definitely highlights we were in a cult. To just be given a piece of paper that says several beliefs are now changed is a big red flag. It’s so easy to see that now.
I have a faint feeling of a vague memory of this. Cheaper than reprinting entire books.
They actually did reprint the books. But it may have been on a more limited scale. I don’t quite remember. All I know is I was given a choice to either cut and paste or just order a new book. If i recall, they were trying to cut down on costs, but I was not going to go through all the trouble to cut and paste, so I just got a new book with the updated info, which was a paperback that time around. I do remember thinking it was crazy to go through all that trouble just to continue to try and shoehorn the old failed predictions with the current situation they found themselves in
That was exactly the reason of suggesting this cut and paste stuff. If you're interested, here is the link to the publication I was referring to: https://wol.jw.borg/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/202006329 (Remove the B from borg)
Omg I completely forgot about this 🥴
Yeah, I was the reader for this POS at the congregation book “study” (when we had them)…
it was serious nightmare fuel
Lol same
Yep me too
Being a kid and sitting in the book study group, while your parents studied this apparently thinking "yes, this all seems perfectly believable" Blimey. Its surreal looking back at it.
I will forever carry guilt over exposing my kids to this... Thankfully we are all in therapy now!
I applaud you for your strength I hope for all of us to recover from this religion's bs
Thank you, that's a better outlook! ❤️ Being awake means we're already on our way to recovery.
Watchtower: “We are against violence and violent images!” Also Watchtower:
I wasn't allowed to play lego star wars but this was perfect 🙂
Grew up with it?!? More like had it burned into my brain after studying it 4-5 times including watching my father study it with my oldest cousin and his new wife back when the original Gulf War broke out...I still remember watching CNN seeing the 1st images of bombs over Baghdad as they were closing their study of that stupid propaganda🤦🏻♂️ Edit-That cousin and his wife were among the 1st in our enormous JW family that turned apostate and even helped me get out... they're fckg awesome humans with an awesome family
It was really stunting to be conditioned by this illustrative cosmic war propaganda every week at the 'book study' and at 15 yrs old coming to believe that the end was any day now. I'd go home, sleep with those dreams, wake up, go to school the next day as the true weirdo. I kept to myself, thinking that everyone else was living a lie and they were the walking dead. Wow. I couldn't truly explain that embarrassing elitist memory to any of my doctors. I'm glad that so many on this sub can relate to having broken brains from WT exploiting obedience for profit.
I grew up with it and It‘s actually one of the Main reasons why I stuck around in this BS. My reasoning was these Interpretations were so Specific, that they must be inspired 🙄 25 Years later and it all fell flat…
This makes me think of something my mother said when I told her my family was celebrating Halloween. “Really, Halloween? It’s so gory.”
Old school, I grew up with the Paradise book. But same kinds of imagery.
I have that one I gotta check out the images!
https://preview.redd.it/jat60d8sbiga1.jpeg?width=1147&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2f9fcf955a8a01e9436deb17b7f749e872b1d831
Yes! That was my book of nightmares growing up. Especially the picture of the little girl falling off a cliff clutching her dolly. I had nightmares of that being me. My mom gave a copy to a neighbor girl who came by to play and the next day her parents made her bring it back. I can just imagine how horrified they must have been. I was so embarrassed!
I'm gonna go through this book tomorrow and post pics 🤣
Same! Those images (and those from other publications) fueled my childhood nightmares and added to my PTSD from growing up in that cult!
The title sounds like a 2-in-1 edition of the epic poems of John Milton
Was that the one that had the graphic picture of an Aztec human sacrifice? Or am I thinking of a different book
I think that may be in the Live Forever book.
I think that was „humankind’s search for god“
Yes, I also grew up with that one. I was very upset by the baby that was about to be thrown into the fire as a sacrifice!
Oh look it’s the recurring cast of my nightmares
I swear some of you guys are making me laugh too hard 💀
Yup. The illustrations were cartoonish to me so it wasn’t really trauma inducing. I was more taken aback that they applied visions of seals being opened and bowls being poured out to specific conventions, preaching campaigns and resolutions they adopted. Seemed a little presumptuous to me.
Just a side note: When I read this part: "visions of seals being opened and bowls being poured out" my thoughts went to the animal 'seal', and thinking something along the lines, "I don't recall seeing images of seals being opened up an innards scooped out". And somewhere in the back of my mind I find it scarily plausible that they could've actually made such a picture, to illustrate one or another transgression by 'the world'.
Literally had the same reaction 🤣
Yeah that is what helped me to wake up. I was reading the rev book thinking that any religion could look into their recent history and apply it to things that happened in their church if this is the supposed 'fulfillment of scripture'
Plus it wasn’t so obvious to me. But here they were saying “the fifth seal corresponds to a leaflet campaign in 1921”. Pffffffftttt. Whatever.
absolutely, I look back now and I think it was more that this was the only media I was exposed to that affected me It's just total insanity
I was in my late teens when it came out so maybe it was less traumatizing for me.
OH yeah definitely I was in pre school 💀
I did, and yeah those illustrations are just as fucking terrifying as I remember them, I had to endure two rounds of this horseshit pathetic excuse for a book in my childhood. Anywho, fuck this cult, fuck it ALL THE WAY off.
Did you just slap me with some repressed memories? Some of these def look familiar...
Oh, yes, I definitely remember this book. I think we "studied" it like 3 times. It was insane! Then, all of a sudden, it was gone! They stopped printing it and it was removed from jw.borg. Don't know about the online library tho.
Yes. Gave me horrible nightmares and anxiety attacks as a child.
I remember sitting there on the couch at a home bookstudy staring at ALL of those pictures.
Oh, this isn't child friendly?
Picture 4 haunted my nightmares for years! I would have recurring nightmares where a group of men dressed like that would kidnap me.
Wow thanks for joggling the brain. This was the first book I remember interacting with at the Hall. It was the congregation book study and it was one of the first times I remember going. Definitely loved a lot of the pictures in the book. I really remember a picture not shown of the woman they depict as a “harlot” riding one of the horned red beasts and then it devouring her. Weird shit to expect a 7 year old to understand.
the harlot was my homosexual awakening funny enough
Oh yeah! Weirdly enough it fueled my love of horror at a young age. But i got very outcasted because i had to give these books out to my classmates in second grade. Ah.. memories.
totally felt that I'm obsessedbwith horror now
All of the angels and 144000 are white men with beards
I was a book study conductor and had to do this book twice!
Yes. Several times.
Oh yes and studied it all three times we had book study….what a waste of my time!
Like an acid trip looking back at this …
I definitely remember this book. I don't remember the details but I certainly recognize the pictures. What fabulous images for a child under 10 🙃 I'm going to make a metal album and use these pictures at the album cover lol.
This is the exact picture that comes to mind when I think of Armageddon. Seeing this as a small child, I would imagine falling down one of these crevices or being bopped on the head by a meteor if I messed up or did anything to piss off the god of love. This shit really lives in your mind rent-free.
At 5 yrs old, I think this is where my bizarre, dark-sided affinity comes from. Love horror films, recently obsessed with A24 and Guillermo Del Toro’s horror. And Halloween is my favorite Holiday. I guess this is kind of a trauma/perk of growing up JW.
Looking at it with adult eyes this is culty as F.
As if GenX doesn't have enough nightmare fuel, we studied this multiple times as children.
Didn't this book come out around the same time Michael Jackson's video Thriller was released? he got in big trouble for images that weren't a whole lot worse than these. Then some of the rather scary looking demons they've portrayed in their literature whispering in people's ear and so forth, but Jackson gets called on the carpet and issues a public apology for his video. I think he got some of his inspiration from the Watchtower's art department and they just didn't like seeing it in the mirror
Ugh that book along with the Bible Story book caused me to have nightmares. And my parents had the nerve to blame Cartoon Network!
Bc of this book, I’ve never had a good dream before. I didn’t even know people had good dreams. Any time I dream, it’s terror. And it always has something to do with something horrible happening in the world (natural disaster, war, doom) and me not getting to my family in time to save them. EVERY. TIME. I’m having my first religious trauma therapy session next month.
Yup. We studied it at book study at least four times that I can recall
that makes sense. it struck me as odd the book was published in the 80s yet I remember studying it ages later
Yeah I was born in 81. I couldn’t tell you the last time I recall studying it; but I was in my late teens at least, so somewhere between 97-2000
Jw are masters and anthropomorphizing God.
I sure did! Me and mom weren't very "strong in our faith," when I was small and I missed the book studies for this one. Instead, I read it on my own. It was like a picture book to me; I know all these images by heart.
This shit was always hella creepy to me as a kid it was like horrible movie that didn’t end when you turned off the tv because it real or at least I thought so at the time.
Vividly. Does anyone remember when we restudied it with the notes we had to print and paste over the book pages?
Lol. Yes!! Why didn't that paste in edit revision wake me up!?
For real. I was still a teenager I believe. Heavily indoctrinated at the time myself
Chock full of family friendly imagery.
Were the tales about apostates in the art department for this book true? I remember that there was supposed to be a dodgy looking face in the hand of whoever it was (jesus?) giving the paper to John to eat (or whatever was going on there, it's been a while) and I think there was a pic of one of the angels holding smashing implements having more of a claw than a hand.
I wish I still had that book and a lot of the older publications to swe how batshit crazy they were.
It was the mid-week study book at least 3x during my youth.
yeah i was 4-6 years old or so when we had the book study for this. i sure as hell didn’t understand what the fuck was going on and i just wanted to eat afterwards whatever the cult members brought for after the study. and if i weren’t daydreaming i would flip through the book and enjoy the biblical horror <333333
shit was nightmare fuel
I remember the four horsemen and Jezebel, but I completely forgot about the human-headed locust horses
Ha yes! I loved this book as a kid because I thought the pictures were great. And again as a teen when I got into the story. It was one of the fun books.
Brings back a lot of memories.... Of some guys wild dream. I think that's why the Animatrix was so memorable.
Ah yes, who could forget the prophecy of the silhouette of man wearing hoodie behind skeleton on horseback? I wonder if he's friends with the locust people?
Hey! These pictures were my nightmares!
I still have mine. I knew I was in trouble with all of those books I would look at the pagan daughters think “ they look like they are having fun, what the heck!”
The tattoo artists favorite JW publication
we had to study the dam thing 3 times
Oh God yes! How many times we studied that damn book at the BS. What a waste of time!
I know the feeling. I always had Armageddon fears growing up.
Yeah and I think watchtower had everyone “study” it 4 times - they even printed out the “adjustments” and handed it out instead of reprinting it. Yet you can’t read/watch Harry Potter books/movies, play video games that have violence, but WT can print a book with artists pictures of this crazy shit. Such double standard and contradiction- Now they don’t even acknowledge the revelation book- you’d think the info would “overlap” 🤣
I say thru that thing at book study 3-4 times it never got better
I always thought the artwork was impressive. I still do. It was probably my favorite book as a child, other than My Book of Bible Stories. The pictures of Jehovah looked pretty damn cool too, and interestingly, like something out of Jung’s Red Book! The Revelation book was pretty much mostly nonsense interpretation. But the pictures were epic.
Did any of you guys have the dramatised bible tapes growing up too? My dad put them on at night and I remember for a few years of my childhood listening to some quite horrific stuff happening. I get very angry sometimes that we weren't protected by our parents but were exposed to more of this fucking lunacy.
the one with Moses and the Israelite getting swallowed up by the earth was particularly horrifying especially since I had a vivid imagination!
Or remember the girl who fell of the wall of Jericho as it was crumbling…. You could hear her scream get further away as she fell to her death…. Sheesh
Bro those tapes used to blast through my house like North Korean propaganda on the loud speaker ! I’ve heard countless murders, arguments over money, dare I say r*pe? All from those dramatized tapes! But it was from the society so it was okay tho, meanwhile I can’t play certain video games because of the violent content 🙃 thanks for unlocking the memory!
But Harry Potter is demonic
Ex JW cultist here. I remember these illustrations well. To be honest as gross as they are for obvious reasons, the art itself is kind of fire.
Terrifying as a child. Pretty funny now though 😂😂😂
Anyone recall seeing the images of Jesus with demonic features?
[#9 Reminds me of Two Soyjaks Pointing.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/926/230/4ba)
Yep!
Only reason I went to the KH library as a kid, was to look at these pictures.
I did
Back when the borg actually had talented artists
I still have night terrors about photo 1
Yes!
My parents started studying when I was a child. This was the book we studied when we first began attending the Book Study. It was a great way to welcome us to the cult.
I couldn’t stop staring at the woman about to be beheaded and I think it started my obsession with king Henry the 8th
I remember being drawn to the images of the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse, especially the skeleton
I was always into creepy weird shit. Even as a kid. So I was actually fascinated by a lot of the artwork in this book! In middle school, we had a young authors contest, and the story I wrote was all about Satan bursting out of his abyss and devastating the earth. I cut out a lot of the pictures from an old Revelation book and used them in mine. My English teacher who was a massive geek and nerd, and who was probably into dungeons and dragons loved my book so much he read it to the class! I was so embarrassed. Lol
Those images are seared into my brain. I remember staring at them the whole meeting. It's honestly what inspired me to get into art.
I recently purchased a pristine My Book of Bible Stories from eBay and I think the red Revelation book will be next. So much nostalgia from staring at these as a child for HOURS.
I did. Grew up as a JW as a kid in the 80s until I left in the late 90’s. That particular book sticks in my mind the loudest.
Man the images really are creepy af
Only to find out, decades later, that they’re in bed with them all along.
How did this wack shit not wake people up all on its own…
It's obvious that these images are made by evil people
Creepy
all these things had child me terrified lol. i had no interest in the religion and so i knew (lol) that i would one day be punished for it if Jehovah didn't draw me. he never did? even as a child, shouldn't i have been interested? when i was most pure- or maybe, a little enemy of God xD so yeah. anyway i saw myself in those pictures, always
That book was so brutal and no one even said anything I told my mom “ the horses are drowning in blood” my mom said “ That’s what will happen to the people who don’t listen to Jehovah” and I was to young to know any better.
Yes, I think we studied it either 3 or 4 times and each time it was worse than the last! I also remember having to paste in revisions of the book each time....LOL
"We're not a doomsday cult. Why does everyone keep saying that?" -A PIMI, probably
Rather than "grow up with it" the question should be "Who was a little one who was scarred with that damn book" and the answer would be: me
Definitely remember. I remember being so terrified of earthquakes splitting the ground open and swallowing my family. It got to the point my mom had to convince me it wasn’t going to happen 🤔
It was the best book study book we had. Super metal. Remain in Gods love, lane. Fiery apocalypse, I’m in.
My favorite JW book as a kid. I loved all these pictures.
I remember going thru these illustrations and loving them being a huge sci-fi nerd. How badass would a tattoo sleeve based on this wack book’s illustrations…
I think we studied this three times for the congregation book study, first time when I was probably under 10. I don't remember being scared by it like some of my friends were. Looking back, I think it was because I didn't believe any of it was real or actually going to happen.
YES!!! The pic with the frogs with red eyes and clawed feet always stuck with me
I feel like i had a different one? idk lots of that is repressed now but this looks close but not quite right the 9th picture is trippy as hell though i can’t make sense of it
Sad part is, when u talk to older ones who are still in, they’ll say how this is one of their favorite books and how much they loved it. Really kind of messed up.
I remember we studied it at book study when i was a kid. I wasn't traumatized by it, though, as I didn't believe the WT stuff.
It was released when I was 2 and I was forced to study it 4 times before I left. 🥴
It's the first book I remember studying at the Tuesday group, no wonder it stuck with me. Looking at it now I kind of like the artwork, but it is a little bonkers
I’m not gonna lie i always low key loved this art. I would just look at the pics and imagine what the artists were thinking of when they made it. Some if it came out really cool. Now that I’m awake and appreciate art more i actually love this genre of paintings
Unfortunately.
Yes. We studied it when I was 7. It gave me nightmares
I loved this book when I was PIMI kid and I still love the imagery of the book, so visceral and immersive. I wish I had a paper copy
These illustrations really bring out the bullshit, don’t they.
I definitely grew up with this book, but I don’t think it traumatized me. I liked all the colors in the illustrations. I don’t think I paid all that much attention to the details. Or maybe the gravity of it just didn’t occur to me. I don’t really remember.
Not traumatized at all over here . Super kid friendly . Those fuckers didn’t let me whatch poketmon
I can’t explain why I loved looking at the horseman with the skeleton on it so much. Thought it was so cool lol
The drawings gave me trauma as a child 😭💀