The Day the Ceiling Shattered

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Assembly Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses

“For years, I lived in the shadow of a power that felt absolute. As a Jehovah’s Witness, the threat of shunning wasn’t just a policy; it was a ghost that haunted every relationship. By 1991, that ghost had moved into my guest room. I was shunning my own father, a choice that felt like a slow-motion car crash of the soul.

I remember the weight of it when I approached Rebbie Jackson. Her sister LaToya’s book had just been released in February of that year, and the atmosphere was electric with tension and “apostate” labels. Michael had been disassociated years earlier — announced in the May 1987 Awake! — and the “truth” of his status was a maze of rumors. Was he baptized at Dodger Stadium as LaToya claimed, or was he never truly “in” as some elders suggested?

I didn’t ask her for gossip. I asked because I was drowning.…