Best The Mennonite And Everence Podcasts (2024)

1
Would You Like To Help Others? – Announcing ExJwHelp Day 2024 15:32

14m ago15:32

15:32

To participate by donating to the cause, you can donate here (I will personally match the first $200 dollar for dollar): https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/shunnedrecovery You can also Venmo to @michael-shemwell-1 (last four digits of phone are 3279 if needed) To learn more about this day and how you can go out and participate on your own visit: https…

1
Episode 185 – It’s Too Bad, So Wrong, So Long – Jason is shunned by Jehovah’s Witnesses 2:56:54

2h ago2:56:54

2:56:54

Jason describes his life like a cult version of the Nickleback song Too Bad and the accompanying video. The house was a bad day away from being condemned. Home was a place where his parents hated each other. His dad had an affair, got disfellowshipped, and took off. Mom was working at a cafe. Jason had to go fend for himself, and eventually his 15 …

1
Episode 184 – Announcing Becoming Jehovah – A NEW Free ExJW Book 15:08

3d ago15:08

15:08

It all started in 2017 when I first told my story as the podcast This JW Life, the podcast that kicked off everything that has happened since, including this channel. Now, years later, that podcast has been turned into the book Becoming Jehovah, a book that can be read online at https://becomingjehovah.com/ in both English and Spanish. In this epis…

1
183 – Black Sheep – The Worst Judicial Committee Ever? – NOBODY Should Be Treated Like This 2:29:20

24d ago2:29:20

2:29:20

Shayna was a person that stood up to bullies in school that were hurting other kids, but unfortunately the biggest bullies were the adults in charge of her care in life. A mother that left her with her alcoholic dad and that took the other kids when they split is just a small glimpse into what she was facing at home. But the later judicial committe…

1
182 – Layers Of Shame – Hali is shunned by Jehovah’s Witnesses 1:51:24

1M ago1:51:24

1:51:24

Hali grew up in the cult of Jehovah’s Witnesses, but also in what was thought to be a trap house. One of her first memories, at just 5 years of age, was a SWAT team breaking into her house, taking everyone out, and holding her father at gunpoint to arrest him. So she experienced the shame of being one of Jehovah’s Witnesses and having to be differe…

1
181 – Trojan Horse ExJW Activism – Engaging Active Jehovah’s Witnesses 16:23

1M ago16:23

16:23

I have created a website with a trivia quiz to help reach Jehovah’s Witnesses online. The goal of the quiz is to get them sharing, talking, and above all, thinking. Through carefully crafted questions and answers, where even the wrong answer can introduce a person to something that they never knew, my hope is to help people have fun while learning …

1
180 – How DARE You Make Me Look Bad – Daisy and Jehovah’s Witnesses 2:53:34

2M ago2:53:34

2:53:34

In the cult of Jehovah’s Witnesses, appearance means everything. It is your credibility, your social status, even your standing before god in their congregations. So when Daisy had moments that mirrored the pain she felt inside that manifested in a way that could be seen outwardly, her mother took that very personally. In fact, time and time again …

1
Takeaways & Tips From My 2024 One Man Protest – Evansville Indiana Convention Of Jehovah’s Witnesses 52:59

2M ago52:59

52:59

I decided to go out this year to test some new ideas for activism and protest at conventions of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Evansville Indiana. I wanted this to be a one man protest and planned to go alone. The goal was to give a voice to the voiceless, to create cognitive dissonance in people that wish to ignore actual truth in favor of “The Truth”, an…

1
178 – A Cult Blind To Abuse – Felicity is shunned by Jehovah’s Witnesses 2:44:13

2M ago2:44:13

2:44:13

When Felicity’s father left when she was just eight years old, life took a sudden turn as her mother fell into the cult of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Struggling with her own mental and emotional health, her mother is described as a wild animal, hurling objects and abuse at her young daughter. Concerned outsiders could see what was going on at times, but …

1
177 – Hypocrisy – Greg is shunned by Jehovah’s Witnesses 2:46:37

3M ago2:46:37

2:46:37

Throughout Greg’s life in the cult of Jehovah’s Witnesses, he observed the hypocrisy and lack of love in the congregation. People were appointed to positions based on who they knew. They were dealt with judicially, with determinations of their fates being based on who they knew as well. Eventually Greg would have to leave his life as one of Jehovah…

1
176 – How Jehovah’s Witnesses Use Gaslighting For Control – Controlling Your Relationships 16:43

3M ago16:43

16:43

Whether it is aligning people against you, telling you that you can’t trust people on the outside, or trying to convince you that you’re crazy, a person that is gaslighting you can wreak havoc on your relationships. When that person isn’t just one person but an entire cult of Jehovah’s Witnesses and it is everyone that you know, you don’t stand a c…

1
175 – An Overseer Found Dead, Secret Memos, CSA Exposed, & A Brave Couple – Meet The 2x2s 2:52:47

4M ago2:52:47

2:52:47

In this episode we meet Kyle and Kari, a brave couple that has been a support (along with others) to their community of religious disaffiliates as they have been awakened to the realities of their group in shocking ways. What group are we talking about? Meet the Two By Twos, at times referred to as “the no name church”, a group that doesn’t necessa…

1
174 – How Jehovah’s Witnesses Use Gaslighting For Control Part 5 – Patterns, Positivity & Projection 12:41

4M ago12:41

12:41

Gaslighting isn’t just a one time event, it is a pattern expressed over time, and Jehovah’s Witnesses use it with regularity in the cult. Love bombing, brainwashing, projecting what they’re doing onto others, hypocrisy, etc. are all a part of the experience. This is the fifth in a series where I’ll break down the ways that the cult of Jehovah’s Wit…

1
173 – Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places – Catherine is shunned by Jehovah’s Witnesses 3:07:09

4M ago3:07:09

3:07:09

Catherine wasn’t born into the cult of Jehovah’s Witnesses. There was a lot of abuse and bullying that went on in her home, both parental and from her siblings. Her family was lacking love, and one day she thought that she found it when she met a young man. That young man ended up bringing her to Jehovah’s Witnesses, and she took to what she though…

1
172 – How Jehovah’s Witnesses Use Gaslighting For Control – Part 4 – “The Truth” Creates Liars 19:19

4M ago19:19

19:19

Lying is integral to gaslighting, pushing the false realities that create confusion and lead to controlling behaviors. “The Truth”, as Jehovah’s Witnesses refer to their religious cult, is full of lies. The organization conveniently bends truth to create narratives to support and excuse their own behavior. The constant pressure to conform creates s…

1
171 – Child Custody – Waking Up In Court On The Witness Stand – Darrin is shunned 2:09:45

5M ago2:09:45

2:09:45

Waking up to the realities of life in the cult of Jehovah’s Witnesses is hard enough to do even in the best of circumstances. But what if you were an active JW, and what if you were fighting another active JW for custody of your child? And what if, in doing so, your eyes were opened to the reality of everything that you were involved in through the…

1
170 – How Jehovah’s Witnesses Use Gaslighting For Control – Part 3 – Weaponizing Your Desires 17:30

5M ago17:30

17:30

One hallmark of gaslighting is using what is near and dear to a person as ammunition against them. Jehovah’s Witnesses weaponize their relationships with you, your normal and natural desires, the expression of those desire, and more. They use shame to make you feel like a bad person for daring to want something outside of the approved list of perso…

1
169 – There’s Nothing That Jehovah’s Witnesses Can’t Make Worse – Cherie Is Shunned 3:26:06

5M ago3:26:06

3:26:06

Life happens, both for the better and for the worse. Being a kid is hard, especially as it relates to school. Families fight. Relationships come and go. Individuals have their own internal struggles. There are amazing people in this world that seek to uplift others, and also people that prey on others and hope to take them down. Cherie’s story high…

1
168 – How Jehovah’s Witnesses Use Gaslighting For Control – Part 2 – The Denial 12:37

5M ago12:37

12:37

One hallmark of gaslighting is the denial of what happened, even in the face of proof. Jehovah’s Witnesses are masters of spin, from the organization itself to the individual members of the cult. When you hold something dear and you call it “The Truth”, you need it to be true no matter the cost. Whether it is the denial of their systematic shunning…

1
167 – Between Two Worlds – Abuse, Trauma; Jess is shunned by Jehovah’s Witnesses 1:30:41

5M ago1:30:41

1:30:41

Jess grew up between two worlds, the one at her father’s house and the one at her mother’s. Both involved abuse and created much trauma for her, and as a child she would have to choose which home to stay at. That often meant staying at one home until she could no longer tolerate it, and then moving to the next. Add in bullying at school, by other f…

1
166 - What They REALLY Said - The 2024 Governing Body Update #2 - An ExJW Reenactment 22:33

6M ago22:33

22:33

On March 15, 2024, Mark Sanderson of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses gave an update to his cult followers. This comes on the heels of a country like Norway taking the cult to task for their shunning policies, something that most Jehovah's Witnesses likely won't even know happened, and a court case that the JWs lost. As a result, funding w…

1
165 – Looking Back – Cancer, Autism & Jehovah’s Witnesses – Jacob is shunned 1:41:16

6M ago1:41:16

1:41:16

Young Jacob was diagnosed with cancer at just 5 years of age and suddenly found himself in different environments that garnered attention. However, as he would move on throughout his life, Jacob would find himself on the outside looking in, trying to be good enough to qualify to do the things that he saw other Jehovah’s Witnesses doing around him. …

1
164 – How Jehovah’s Witnesses Use Gaslighting For Control – Part 1 – The Setup 15:37

7M ago15:37

15:37

Through gaslighting, one person or one group of people can become the reality check for an individual, whether that person wanted that reality check or not. A person is systematically broken down, detaching from themselves and attaching to the one doing the gaslighting. Cults often employ gaslighting to get oneness of mind, unity, sameness. Jehovah…

1
163 – What The Hell Did I Just Do? – Justin and Jehovah’s Witnesses 3:19:44

7M ago3:19:44

3:19:44

Getting baptized as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses is a forever contract with a cult. In Justin’s case, that decision to get dunked in a pool of water was made as a young man, a young man that knew he was gay. Because of that, ultimately he would never be able to be what they wanted him to be. He realized that if he were ever to be disfellowshipped fro…

1
162 – How Covid Changed The Face Of Jehovah’s Witnesses (Well, Some Of Them) 12:18

7M ago12:18

12:18

The Covid-19 pandemic brought a lot of change to the world. Many started to wear masks for protection. But for many Jehovah’s Witnesses, their facial freedom was about to be granted as a result of something that is seemingly totally unrelated. Will these bearded brothers continue to grow their beards bred in captivity, or will they eventually becom…

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1
Would You Like To Help Others? – Announcing ExJwHelp Day 2024 15:32

1
Episode 185 – It’s Too Bad, So Wrong, So Long – Jason is shunned by Jehovah’s Witnesses 2:56:54

1
Episode 184 – Announcing Becoming Jehovah – A NEW Free ExJW Book 15:08

1
183 – Black Sheep – The Worst Judicial Committee Ever? – NOBODY Should Be Treated Like This 2:29:20

1
182 – Layers Of Shame – Hali is shunned by Jehovah’s Witnesses 1:51:24

1
181 – Trojan Horse ExJW Activism – Engaging Active Jehovah’s Witnesses 16:23

1
180 – How DARE You Make Me Look Bad – Daisy and Jehovah’s Witnesses 2:53:34

1
Takeaways & Tips From My 2024 One Man Protest – Evansville Indiana Convention Of Jehovah’s Witnesses 52:59

1
178 – A Cult Blind To Abuse – Felicity is shunned by Jehovah’s Witnesses 2:44:13

1
177 – Hypocrisy – Greg is shunned by Jehovah’s Witnesses 2:46:37

1
176 – How Jehovah’s Witnesses Use Gaslighting For Control – Controlling Your Relationships 16:43

1
175 – An Overseer Found Dead, Secret Memos, CSA Exposed, & A Brave Couple – Meet The 2x2s 2:52:47

1
174 – How Jehovah’s Witnesses Use Gaslighting For Control Part 5 – Patterns, Positivity & Projection 12:41

1
173 – Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places – Catherine is shunned by Jehovah’s Witnesses 3:07:09

1
172 – How Jehovah’s Witnesses Use Gaslighting For Control – Part 4 – “The Truth” Creates Liars 19:19

1
171 – Child Custody – Waking Up In Court On The Witness Stand – Darrin is shunned 2:09:45

1
170 – How Jehovah’s Witnesses Use Gaslighting For Control – Part 3 – Weaponizing Your Desires 17:30

1
169 – There’s Nothing That Jehovah’s Witnesses Can’t Make Worse – Cherie Is Shunned 3:26:06

1
168 – How Jehovah’s Witnesses Use Gaslighting For Control – Part 2 – The Denial 12:37

1
167 – Between Two Worlds – Abuse, Trauma; Jess is shunned by Jehovah’s Witnesses 1:30:41

1
166 - What They REALLY Said - The 2024 Governing Body Update #2 - An ExJW Reenactment 22:33

1
165 – Looking Back – Cancer, Autism & Jehovah’s Witnesses – Jacob is shunned 1:41:16

1
164 – How Jehovah’s Witnesses Use Gaslighting For Control – Part 1 – The Setup 15:37

1
163 – What The Hell Did I Just Do? – Justin and Jehovah’s Witnesses 3:19:44

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162 – How Covid Changed The Face Of Jehovah’s Witnesses (Well, Some Of Them) 12:18

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