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Part of a series on: Jehovah's Witnesses >
Baptized JW's
Serena Williams- tennis player ; 8 Grand Slam champion. Her "baptized" status is disputed since she has never been disfellowshipped for having a baby out of wedlock with Drake or her publicly nude photographs. Let's just say she is now the most famous celebrity who CLAIMS to be one.
Venus Williams - tennis player ; 5 time Grand Slam champion
Damon Wayans - TV and Film Comedy Star. Part of "The Wayans Brothers" TV show back in the 1990's. - Their father was a JW (someone mentioned even Anointed)
Michael Jackson (deceased)
Michael Jackson's Children and Mother Katherine Jackson
Rebbie Jackson - Singer, daughter of Katherine Jackson
Prince Rogers Nelson (deceased)
Marques Houston - Singer and former member of the kid group "Immature" (and his manager)
Coco Rocha - International Fashion Model
Terrence Howard - actor; Ray, Hustle & Flow, etc. Children and brother are JWs. Studied when he was 17 years old. (not himself a JW)
Bria Valente - Prince's Ex-GF back in 2007 - She has since remarried to another brother
George Benson - Musician / singer (see also: George Benson and Friends - Sing Praises to Jehovah)
"El General" - Panamanian singer
Bobby Martin - Grammy winning producer.
Mateo - African Musician
Aoife Ní Thuairisg - Irish Television Presenter
Tulsi Giri - Prime Minister of Nepal
Bill Underwood - Reporter for the Phoenix Times Examiner
Alexander P. Stewart - US Civil War Confederate General
Allison Lozz - Mexican Actress (former). recently left novelas (soap operas) to be a more active in the ministry
Maurizio Bianchi - Musician
Ivana Brkic - Croatian Musician
Angelo Palego - Leader of team searching for Noah's Ark
Firpo Carr - Historian, author of Germany's Black Holocaust: 1890-1945; Wicked Words: Poisoned Minds - Racism in the Dictionary; founder: Scholar Technological Institute of Research, Inc. (STIR)
Henry Carr - Olympian and NFL player (deceased)
Herman Pizzanelli - Leading Uruguayan concert guitarist in the 1960s (convert to JWs)
Willie Wise - NBA professional basketball player for Seattle Super Sonics and Denver Nuggets
Dave Meyers - Professional basketball player (Los Angeles Lakers in 1970s)
Mark McCumber - Professional golfer
Dave Pear - NFL professional football player for Colts, Buccaneers, and Raiders (convert)
Kid Gavilan - welterweight champion boxer; elected to boxing Hall of Fame in 1990 (convert to JWs)
Jorge Påez "El Maromero" - Boxing World Champion
Pele Reid - Boxing Champion
Shont'e Peoples - professional football player (Saskatchewan Roughriders); convert to JWs
La Lupe - Cuban salsa singer (convert)
Janis Gill - ex wife of country music superstar, Vince Gill, is one of Jehovah's Witnesses. Vince Gill is NOT a Witness. He is strongly and violently opposed.
Fedor Chistyakov - Russian Singer
Richard Cameron - Dutch Musician
Valerie Campbell - Mother of Naomi Campbell
Tom Edur - Former NHL ice hockey player
Mrs.Ida Eisenhower - (Mother of President Dwight D Eisenhower)
Leopold Engleitner - Buchenwald concentration camp survivor and centenarian
Mickey Spillane - Novelist
Larry Graham - Sly & the Family Stone
Danny Granger - Indiana Pacers small forward; Professional Basketball Player Teresa Graves - Reputedly the first black woman to play the lead in a police movie, also a singer
Gary Gygax - Co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons
Scott Johnson - Actor
Phillip Landry - Musican
Maher Shalal Hash Baz - Japanese musician, name comes from the Book of Isaiah
Margaret Keane - "Big Eyes" artist who said converting "changed her life."
Peter Knowles - Famous soccer player in England who quit his football career in 1970 aged 24 to join the Jehovah's Witnesses
Brian Locking - Bass guitarist with The Shadows for eighteen months, but left to Jehovah's Witnesses activities.
Hank Marvin - Lead guitarist for The Shadows
Bohumil Müller - Czech survivor of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp and underground religious leader under Communism.
Viv Nicholson - famous London lottery winner in 1961. She then became a devout JW. The musical Spend, Spend, Spend was based on her story.
Evelyn Ntoko (first wife of Nelson Mandela)
Lieby Piliso - Nelson Mandela's younger sister
Ken Richmond - The man who banged the gong in the Rank Organisation film logo from 1955 onward.
Gevorg Petrosyanm -The Georgian-Armenian “Caruso,” who drives a taxi, but dreams of the stage
Miu Sakamoto - Japanese Singer, a Daughter of Ryuichi Sakamoto and Akiko Yano
Damo Suzuki (Converted in the 1970s, current membership status uncertain)
Bobby Tambling - English footballer
Phil Terry - member of the 60's R&B group The Intruders.
David Thomas - Avant-garde rocker, "Jehovah's Kingdom come"[2][3]
Jean Terrell - Replaced Diana Ross in the Supremes in 1970.
Akira Toriyama - Japanese Mangaka(Cartoonist), Author of Dragon Ball(Manga)
Yoshito Usui - Japanese Mangaka, Author of Crayon Shin-chan
Reena Virk - Canadian child murder victim
Lark Voorhies - actress, Saved By The Bell
Lou Whitaker - Former MLB baseball player for the Detroit Tigers.
Chet Lemon - played with the Detroit Tigers along with Lou Whitaker
Akiko Yano - Japanese Singer, Former wife of Ryuichi Sakamoto
Solveig Romero - Mexico and Switzerland, Actress and wife of Martin Campbell, the director of James Bond Casino Royale
Chuck Winfield - Former Trumpet player for Blood, Sweat, and Tears.
Rosalia Valdez - Former actress who left fame in Mexico to become a witness, daughter of famous Tin Tan Valdez.
Carmina Villarroel - Filipino actress
Patience Dlaminh - a weather forecast reporter in South Africa / Regional 'celebrity'
Red Shea - Guitarist for Gordon Lightfoot (passed away in 2008)
Tom Reynolds - He was one of the singers in the late 60's early 70's band 'Hamilton, Joe,Frank, & Reynolds.
Toun Oni - Nigerian actress (featured in the TV drama 'fuji house of commotion') She was an active witness before her death a few months ago. In fact, she died of heart problems during the Lekki assembly hall construction work.
Paul i.k Dairo (used to be one of Nigeria's top musicians); Last i heard of him, he is one of Jehovah witnesses.
Wolf-Ekkehard Lonnig - a scientist from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Germany
Hayden Covington - leading attorney for the Jehovah's Witnesses, Watchtower Society; won multiple U.S. Supreme Court cases; represented Muhammad Ali in court [not sure if he left eventually or not?]
Chappel Fisher - Country Music DJ in Florida, USA
Michael Worilds - NFL Player
Tony Garcia - Artist, DJ, Producer, Re-mixer, Arranger, Composer,Writer of Dance Music EDM, Funk Melody Freestyle Music Owner of High Power Records
Honorable B. Dwight Goains - US Federal Judge
Micaiah and Tabitha Bethune - Owners of the Fashion Industry "The Wild Life Reserve" out of New Orleans
Alex Rance - Soccer Star
Pavel Pavlov & Aleksandr Kryukov - Ukrainian YouTube Stars
Minh Hung Godenzi - Miss Hong Kong 1984
Danny Collision - NBA Player currently in California
Clarion Chukwurah - Nollywood Actress
Irina Bohr - Russian singer
Alisson Euler de Freitas Castro - Brazilian Footballer
Carlos Gonzaga - Brazilian Singer
Andriy Mykolayovych Nesmachniy (Ukrainian: Андрій Миколайович Несмачний)
PC-One - Star of Slam in Haiti
Jacy Brean - Author
Mina Godenzi - Actress, Model and Miss Hong Kong
Phillip Ingram - Musician
Ramón Gómez Valdés de Castillo aka "Don Ramón" - Famous Mexican Actor
Kenya Moore - not sure as to her current status though.
Anneliese Zelina - Model
Nicolas King - Singer
Rob Richie - Major league baseball player with the Detroit Tigers
Darren Collison
Raised as one of Jehovah's Witnesses
President Dwight D. Eisenhower - WWII General and 34th President of the United States (1953–1961)
Luke Evans - Actor
Toni Braxton - Singer Michael Sam - First Gay NFL football player
Nathan Day, frontman of grunge / Britpop group Darlia - "I grew up with a family whose parents were Jehovah’s Witnesses, so I felt very isolated." Kia Kahlo - Witness to rap
Jacqueline Woodson
Meg Myers - Musician / Singer
Nathan Haines - Saxophonist
Shushila Takao - Actress in New Zealand show "Filthy Rich"
Kim Holland - Dutch Porn Actress
Little Scream - Montreal musician
Kelsey Lu - Fashion model
Rebekah Vardy - I'm a Celeb star
Alex Avery - Comedian in Portland, OR
List of former Jehovah's Witnesses
Michelle Rodriguez - actress, raised by mother
Donald Glover - (aka Childish Gambino)
Gregg Alexander - The New Radicals' lead singer; raised by mother
Carol M. Swain - political scientist; professor at Vanderbilt University; author of Black Faces, Black Interests and The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration; left the Witnesses at the age of 20, in 1975 (Ms. Swain was born in 1954 into an extremely poor household in rural Virginia, not far from Roanoke. She grew up with 11 brothers and sisters, dropped out of school in the ninth grade and married at age 16 -- in part, she says, because she saw no need to plan for a lengthy future. She was a Jehovah's Witness, and she believed that Armageddon would begin in 1975)
Peter Andre - Singer raised in Australia, presently living in London with wife pin up model *Jordan
Naomi Campbell- Supermodel; Raised by mother
Geri Halliwell - Singer (Spice Girls); Raised as a Jehovah's Witness[verification needed]
Barbara Grizzuti Harrison - American writer of Visions of Glory: A History and a Memory of Jehovah's Witnesses(converted to Catholicism)
Nancy Garrido - the now infamous kidnapper of Jaycee Dugard
Latoya Jackson
Michael Jackson - Michael became a Jehovah's Witness but disassociated himself shortly after his hit album, Thriller
Olin R. Moyle - Former Watchtower Chief Attorney
Dave Mustaine - Guitarist (ex-Metallica; Megadeth; ex- MD .45)
Miki Nakatani - JapaneseActress, Raised as a Jehovah's Witness
Gloria Naylor - novelist, author of The Women of Brewster Place (1982, American Book Award)
Patti Smith - Singer and poet
Leo Volpe
Jill Scott-Singer; raised as one of Jehovah's Witness
Hinano Yoshikawa - Japanese Fashion model and actress, Raised as a Jehovah's Witness
K-os - Canadian R&B artist ; Raised Jehovah's Witness
Rene Montes de Oca Martija - dissident human-rights activist in Cuba (son of JW)
Selena Quintanilla Perez - Tejano singer ; raised as one of Jehovah's Witnesses
Sherri Shepherd from The View. Her father is an elder in his congregation.
Jill Scott - a singer,poet & actress from USA, she played in the movie - 'why did i get married'
Maureen Mwanawasa, wife of late Zambian president, though she disassociated herself, but she still attends meetings. the late president was also studying with JWs, his mother was a JW. his children also attend meetings, i think one is a publisher.
Thandiwe Banda our current Zambian first lady who was a JW until recently when she disassociated herself. Reportedly a former pioneer.
Mamontha Modise was a JW. travels all over the world to report current news 2 South Africans.
Ja Rule - Rapper - raised a jehovahs witness and is no longer one, in an interview he said his mother was disfellowshipped
Jaywon; currently a musician, was raised a witness, later decided to follow a way of life thats suits him.
Rick Haynes - Musician
Travis Scott - NFL football player for Rams (raised JW)
Scott Cheshire - Gotham City Writers
Eddie Griffin - Comedian
Leaders of the music band Shakespeare's Unit
Rumors of:
Eddie Murphy - Not verified yet
Josh Groban - We don't know what to think yet.. ? Some have suspicions....
Omarion - I believe he is only "studying"
Jackie Chan - (I still don't believe the photo)
Please Read
Some people have wondered if we have listed people who simply studied briefly with Jehovah's Witnesses. As far as we know, this is not the case. Anybody can sit down and meet with Jehovah's Witnesses to study their beliefs. In no way would we consider that grounds for identifying somebody as a Jehovah's Witness. All of the people listed on our page have actually been considered Jehovah's Witnesses or considered themselves adherents of the faith, either by way of having been raised in the faith or because they were an active convert to the faith. Of course no insult is meant to Jehovah's Witnesses or anybody else by hosting this list. Personally, reading the biographies and faith statements of many famous Jehovah's Witnesses has helped tear down some stereotypes for me. It simply isn't true, for example, that this faith necessarily stifles creativity or achievement. Clearly, many adherents to the faith (including people raised in it as well as converts who chose to become Witnesses as adults) have been very famous creative people or have been very successful, as measured by worldly standards. Regardless of the obvious tensions between the pressures of worldly fame, versus remaining active in a religious faith which expects all of its members to live according to the highest Biblical standards of ethics and morality, there are indeed many "famous" adherents who have strived to remain faithful. Even for those who have failed to balance fame and success with the demands of their faith, the teachings and values they were raised with or embraced at some point as an adult remain forever an influence in their lives. Were this not true, these individuals would not be listed here at all. This list is based on what famous people themselves have said to interviewers and to the public. We have no access to actual Jehovah's Witness membership or attendance records. If a celebrity or famous person doesn't talk publicly about their experiences as a Jehovah's Witness, we would have no way of knowing about this part of their lives. The actions of a single individual should never be used to judge an entire group of people, and I believe most people realize this. Anybody who does try to condemn Jehovah's Witnesses by the behavior of their "worst" lapsed members or former members will stand instantly condemned themselves. This is because the cumulative behavior of the famous (and infamous) members of the group the accuser belongs to is far worse than anything they will be able to dig up relating to people who have been Jehovah's Witnesses. This is true of essentially any sufficiently large religious group. It is true also of anti-religious people, who are nearly always wise enough to avoid condemning entire groups by the actions of individuals, lest they be asked to answer for the hundreds of millions of murders perpetrated by Lenin, Pol Pot, Stalin, Adolph Hitler, Mao, Mussolini, Nicolae Ceausescu, Joseph Goebbels, Maximillien Robespierre, etc.
Beware everyone. Especially those with young children. These are in public toilets everywhere at the moment but not many people realise the menace they represent. They appear to be safe enough but it's only when you start to use them the danger is apparent. I fell victim to one today and felt I should let people know. The problem is when you start urinating into it a fan starts and blows the wee everywhere. I got it on my shoes and trousers and in my face. The fans are really powerful.!!Completely unfit for purpose.
Don't be caught out.!!
Jehovah's Witnesses asked to hide a one-million-euro entrepreneurial hole at a Northern Spain supply firm. The cult appealed to the "peace" of the congregation to pressure the co-owners of the firm and prevent them from reporting the case to ordinary justice.
The case concerns a well-known construction supplies company based in a large northern city. The company, founded in 1975, belongs to a family that has been a member of the Witnesses since it was born.
When one of the parents died in 2014, one of the daughters inherited a share in society. The rest of the capital remained in the hands of his relatives.
"ONE MILLION EUROS"
When the citizen received the shareholding inheritance, she discovered a remarkable puff in the firm in what seemed a solvent company, according to the documents to which this newspaper has been able to access.
According to the documents in the hands of several congregations of Witnesses in the northern area, the partner would have discovered the suspicious sale of an industrial warehouse and diversion of funds.
Likewise, the creation of a very similar company with a similar name emerged, a redirected web portal and an identical telephone. With this stratagem, the parallel merchant would have taken the goodwill, the merchandise and the clientele.
The complainant estimates that the loss caused by the alleged unfair administration totals one million euros, 400,000 euros in diverted funds and 600,000 in goods transferred to society B.
THE WITNESSES SUGGEST TO BE SILENT
As a Jehovah's Witness by birth, the neighbor came to the internal justice of the millenarian cult. Its first complaint of 2014, to which this newspaper was able to accede, suggested that its partners had committed fraud, unfair competition and irregular administration.
The response of the head office of the denomination in Spanish Bethel was very clear. "We want to encourage you to apply the biblical principles in all your decisions and not to be carried away by the emotions," says the letter.
SECOND COMPLAINT
Not content with the answer, the affected ones took another step. They sent an official letter to the headquarters of the Witnesses in which they insisted on indications of fraud. In addition, they called for the creation of an internal committee to investigate what happened.
Again, the leadership of the cult responded ( letter enclosed ) calling on the family to avoid ordinary justice. "Is the money and the rights, or the peace and family unity of the congregation more important to us?" asks a passage from the response letter.
"We are sure," continues the letter, "that as Christians who wish to do things in Jehovah 's way you will strive to follow these and other advice."
PRESSURES
In the rest of the documentation, the affected people emphasize the pressures received.
As the documents read, the businesswoman is affiliated with the denomination's internal justice administration circuit that has been relentless with her even though she would have delivered money to the family society when she needed it.
According to the latest communication with Spanish Bethel, the citizen has now turned to the Witnesses legal department at the world headquarters in the United States to try to reopen the investigation.
JESUS DIDN'T JUST SAVE OUR LIFE - HE MADE OUR LIFE WORTH SAVING!
To benefit from God’s promises, though, we must understand the role Jesus Christ plays in our salvation and exercise faith in him. Jesus himself said: “God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
Pointing to the central role of Jesus Christ in this matter, the apostle Peter said: “There is no salvation in anyone else, for there is not another name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must get saved.” (Acts 4:12)
The apostle Paul and his associate Silas urged a sincere inquirer: “Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will get saved, you and your household.”—(Acts 16:30, 31)
Yes, Jesus Christ is “the Chief Agent of life,” and salvation is possible only through him. (Acts 3:15) But how can one man be such a key figure in saving us? Having a clear understanding of his role in this regard should strengthen our hope of salvation.
“I was just a boy when Stalin exiled my family to Siberia merely because we were Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is sad and reprehensible that my children and grandchildren should be facing a similar fate. Never did I expect that we would again face the threat of religious persecution in modern Russia,” says Vasiliy Kalin, as Russia petitions the Supreme Court to ban Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Of course, it’s all going to go against us eventually in this system of things. When Jesus said his followers would be hailed before courts, it wasn’t so that they could receive ‘good citizenship’ plaques. When Jesus himself was dragged before Pilate, he didn’t sweet-talk his way out of it, did he?
It’s all the doings of the ‘house’ church. Many countries have house churches, who agree to be strictly subservient to the state. Russia, once officially atheist, found they could not stamp out the urge to worship, so they settled on the house church, which they seek to harness as a force for national unity. “What can we do for you?” they ask the house church. “Take out the competition,” is the reply.
Putin doesn’t care, most likely. It’s not his thing. “Give the house church what it wants,” he reasons. “That way I keep them out of my hair.” After all, he has a country to run. It was just that way with Pilate, who tried to get Jesus off, but in the end, gave in to fanatics.
‘What are they saying about me, here?’ said Paul to the Jewish leaders in Rome. ‘Are they digging up any dirt on me?’ But there was no internet in the first century, and snail mail was snail mail. “We have not received letters about you from Judea, nor have any of the brothers who came from there reported or spoken anything bad about you. But we think it proper to hear from you what your thought are, for truly as regards this sect, we know that it is spoken against everywhere,” they told him. (Acts 28:21-22)
It is a mark of true religion today. Depend upon it to be “spoken against everywhere.”
Surely, the house church make Russia look like utter fools on the world stage. You cannot view jw.org, banned in Russia and Russia alone, and think for one moment that it is extremist. One would think that ISIS would have taught the Russians what extremism is. Still, while we hate persecution and we pray for our Russian brothers under trial, persecution does often turn out for advancement of the good news. “Why are they making trouble for the Jehovahs?” some people ask. “They’re nice people.”
"In their literature, there are some very harsh statements and very insulting statements about other faiths," says Alexander Dvorkin, a former Russian Orthodox priest who now teaches the history of religion and cult studies at St. Tikhon University in Moscow. "Of course, every religion has the right to criticize other faiths, but that should be done in a non-insulting manner, especially if you are talking about [my faith] the faith of the majority." (brackets mine)
The reason you can and should criticize other faiths is that, as any non-religious person knows, religion has historically served as chief cheerleader of war and killing. That’s why a growing number of persons would like to ban it.
“Dvorkin says that the Jehovah's Witnesses are not Christian because they don't believe in the divinity of Christ.” (from NPR) Got it? It’s also violence at the hands of Trinitarians. A more intolerant bunch you will never see.
HEART TRANSPLANTATION IN JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES.....
According to Organ Procurement and Transplantation, only about 2,600 donor hearts are available each year. At any given time, about 4,000 people are on the waiting list for a heart transplant.
In the past, people with religious objections to blood transfusions refused this and other resuscitation procedures. But for many, surgery is now possible without conflict with faith.
Raoul Gibson, 35, received the heart of a donor at Duke Hospital on the last Valentine's Day. Normally, he would have had to refuse the transplant to save lives, due to a certain principle of his Jehovah's Witnesses faith.
"The fact that I was not going to accept blood, blood transfusions, or any whole blood product," Gibson said.
Ten years ago, Duke started his Center for Blood Conservation. They developed a process for any surgery involving transfusions to control bleeding. Dr. Mani Daneshmand said that they worked closely with representatives of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Gibson was hospitalized for more than a month, receiving a natural hormone to stimulate the production of red blood cells.
Later they are allowed to remove some of their blood, yet they remain true to a key principle.
"We actually keep the blood in continuity with its own blood, but we remove it so the blood can not bleed," Daneshmand said.
That more concentrated blood is replaced with other non-blood fluids, so a little bleeding will not present problems.
There is also a "cell protector" device.
"So any blood that is lost is absorbed immediately by that apparatus and returned to the bloodstream," Daneshmand said.
"They wash all the organs before they put them on me, so they would not be exposed to blood," Gibson said.
Gibson said he is anxious to return home and enjoy a more normal life.
"I'm looking forward to seeing how my new heart feels and how I'm going to be able to do new things," Gibson said. Http://www.wral.com/duke-makes-organ-transplants-possible
RUSSIA..... The Russian Supreme Court will rule in support of the Ministry of Justice next April 5. The Commemoration will be on April 11.
I can not imagine the wrath of Jehovah, if that government prevents 175,000 of his people from celebrating the Memorial in their halls.