JEHOVAH’S
WITNESSES
More than 11 years revealing secrets because there is no excuse for secrecy in religion – w1997 June 1; Dan 2:47; Matt 10:26; Mark 4:22; Luke 12:2; Acts 4:19, 20.
JEHOVAH’S
WITNESSES
More than 11 years revealing secrets because there is no excuse for secrecy in religion – w1997 June 1; Dan 2:47; Matt 10:26; Mark 4:22; Luke 12:2; Acts 4:19, 20.
Written by Lester Somrah and Miss Usato, Last updated October 1st, 2025
New York – The Jehovah’s Witnesses, a religious group often criticized in the media for its extreme practices on shunning ex-members, has in a surprising and unannounced move, quietly deleted instructional videos that provided explicit guidelines on how adherents should shun family members who leave the organization. This development comes amidst mounting media criticism, governmental investigations, and high-profile court cases in countries such as Norway, Japan, and Denmark, each raising concerns about the cult’s practices.
Mounting Global Pressure
This article releases the videos and short descriptions of their content on the realities of how Jehovah’s Witnesses are taught to shun members, even their own family. These videos were all deleted from their site, but not before they were captured by Avoidjw.org.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses are infamous for their comprehensive materials that instruct members on handling the emotional and social complexities of shunning former members, particularly close family members who choose or are forced to leave. Over the years, at conventions, congregation meetings, and through highly descriptive video content, leaders of the group outlined responses, gestures, and even specific language for any interaction with “wayward” family, friends, or acquaintances. Many adherents considered these videos a core part of their religious observance, and they became a pillar of the organization’s teachings on loyalty.
In the past few years, however, shunning-related videos were quietly removed from the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ digital library without explanation. No formal announcement or guidance accompanied the removal, and members and former members are left questioning the organization’s rationale as leaders remain silent on the matter.
This potential shift comes at a time when the Jehovah’s Witnesses face increasing global scrutiny. In Denmark, for instance, government officials have voiced concerns about the cult’s impact on family dynamics and mental health and whether the practice is lawful. In Japan, high-profile media outlets have investigated the cult’s practices, with special attention to its treatment of children, sparking a national conversation about the organization’s influence and control over its members. Meanwhile, Norway has recently seen court cases where the group is challenging the government’s response to its extreme practices of shunning a particular impact on children’s mental and emotional well-being.
Such international attention has led many to wonder whether the sudden removal of the shunning-related videos is a reactionary attempt to soften the group’s public image or a response to potential legal ramifications abroad.
“A Confusing Shift in Policy”
Adherents within the organization are reportedly feeling confused and uneasy following the removal. “We were always taught that shunning disfellowshipped and disassociated ones was an essential part of our faith,” said one member who spoke on condition of anonymity. “It’s been drilled into us for years, and now it’s just gone without a word. I am not sure what to think, or if this means anything at all.”
The Jehovah’s Witnesses have a history of modifying or quietly rescinding teachings, but former members note that it is highly unusual for content that relates to major doctrine to disappear without official commentary. Experts on high-control religious groups suggest that the move may be a calculated response to protect the cult from further criticism and investigation.
Damage Control or a Legal Strategy?
One former member who has been involved in various court cases relating to Jehovah’s Witnesses noted that “the timing is likely not coincidental. Removing the videos could be an attempt to present a more acceptable public face or pre-empt further legal repercussions. However, without an official communication to members, it leaves a lot of confusion, especially among those who have sacrificed relationships based on these teachings.”
The Jehovah’s Witnesses have, understandably, faced intensifying backlash from mental health professionals and cult awareness organizations across Europe and Asia, many of whom argue that the cult’s policies are damaging to mental well-being and family structure. In Norway, the cult’s methods have resulted in their loss of grants worth millions, while in Denmark, the government is investigating whether the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ shunning policies breach the law. Meanwhile, in Japan, there is an effort by former members to have laws changed that could set precedents on the responsibilities of religious organizations in cases of emotional and psychological harm.
While most members of Jehovah’s Witnesses may not be aware of the sudden disappearance of these shunning resources, former members are. “I hope this is a step toward something different,” said one father, whose son remains a devoted member. “Maybe there’s a chance for Jehovah’s Witnesses to shed some of their more extreme practices. My cynical side believes the videos were only deleted because they use the now-defunct word, ‘disfellowshipped’ instead of the new term, ‘removed’.”
With global media, governments, and courts scrutinizing the cult, the Jehovah’s Witnesses may face increasing pressure to justify, clarify, or even reverse a long-standing policy. Below are the videos that were removed from their site.
Click the Images below to watch and download the removed videos
2023 Convention Removed Shunning Videos -Jehovah’s Witness Elsa and her Disfellowshipped mother
As Jehovah’s Witnesses kicked off their 2023 Regional Convention season, something very odd took place. Two videos intended for the Witnesses’ online version of the convention have been deleted from the streaming versions of the assembly program, with no explanation. But not before they were captured by Avoidjw.org.
The video dramas and reenactments are interspersed between and within the speeches given by higher-ranking members of the Church. The shunning videos were originally slated to be embedded into the Saturday Afternoon session during the speech titled: “Better to Be Patient Than to be Haughty in Spirit: Imitate Abel, Not Adam.” The focus of this particular talk is on the benefits of enforcing the shunning of close family members who are disfellowshipped, with a special emphasis on parent-child relationships. The speaker chosen for the streaming speech was Corey Wadlington, announced as a member of the Wallkill New York, Headquarters facility.
Court documents cited by AvoidJW identify Wadlington as a Service Secretary in Jehovah’s Witnesses’ influential Service Department—effectively second-in-command to a Deskman. These officials handle sensitive internal matters, including disfellowshipping and child abuse cases deemed too complex for local elders. Using coded identifiers, they communicate with congregations while concealing their identities. Internal files show Wadlington’s code “SST” was linked to multiple abuse cases as of 2021.
It is fitting, then, that he was chosen to deliver a speech defending the Witnesses’ shunning policy, stressing loyalty to organizational directives over family bonds.
Notably, the videos dramatizing this policy were quietly removed soon after the UK documentary Rebekah Vardy: Jehovah’s Witnesses and Me exposed the devastating effects of shunning and child abuse. The issue has drawn global scrutiny, with Norway recently revoking the Witnesses’ registration partly over the treatment of disfellowshipped minors.
Though reasons for the removal remain unclear, the timing suggests damage control. The videos provided rare, unambiguous proof of how Witnesses are expected to cut ties—even with close relatives. Wadlington reinforced this in his conclusion:
“If a member of our family is disfellowshipped, our affection for them should not be greater than our affection for Jehovah.”
Jehovah’s Witnesses have, for years, produced videos and articles teaching strict “disfellowshipping” (shunning) practices, where family members and friends cut off almost all contact with someone who leaves or is expelled from the religion. These videos often show harsh scenarios, like parents refusing to answer a phone call from a “disfellowshipped” child, or vice versa. The deleted videos from 2023, shown below, portray a disfellowshipped mother attempting to reach her single, Jehovah’s Witness daughter by phone, but is rejected by her daughter, who struggles with the decision to shun her own mother.
The first video above takes place at Elsa’s (A Jehovah’s Witness) Kitchen table. Her phone rings, and she stares at it as we hear her torn thoughts about missing her disfellowshipped mother.
The second video takes place inside a mock Kingdom Hall, where it breaks into the speaker mid-sentence: “Abel was essentially a spiritual orphan. But regardless of what his parents chose, he listened to Jehovah and patiently waited for him to fulfill his promises.” Elsa thinks, “I never thought of it that way. What has Jehovah promised me if I patiently wait?” She then slowly turns her gaze to the left as her thoughts continue: “Spiritual Brothers…” she muses as the camera pans to two creepy-looking single males seated on the left side of the auditorium. “Sisters…” she continues, as she looks to her left at three JW women sitting close to each other. “And mothers…” she thinks, as she is greeted by the smile of an Asian Jehovah’s Witness woman who will assume the place of her biological mother.
In the next scene, Elsa is once again phoned by her nameless biological mother, and again, she rejects her mom’s call. Elsa consults her silver Bible and tablet computer to reinforce the policy to cut her mother completely from her life. “If I focus on what I do have and wait patiently, someday, what I don’t have may even come back to Jehovah.”
The conclusion of the second video leaves the viewer with the distinct impression that Elsa’s mother is a nameless disfellowshipped quantity, a dead lump of flesh described by the writers as “what” instead of “who.”
2017 Removed Shunning Video “Loyally Uphold Jehovah’s Judgments: Shun Unrepentant Wrongdoers” – Sonya Erikson disfellowshipped
In 2024, we noticed that a 2017 Video, “Loyally Uphold Jehovah’s Judgments: Shun Unrepentant Wrongdoers”, and part two, “Be forgiving,” were randomly removed from their site, again, with no explanation. This is an older video, yet it took about a year for the Organization to make it disappear like the 2023 Shunning video. Active and former Jehovah’s Witnesses know this script all too well, because we have lived it. It’s been heavily criticized by former Witnesses about the damaging and harmful consequences of shunning family, as depicted in the videos above and below, causing long-term issues to a person’s mental health and lifestyle.
The first video you see is about a young Baptized Jehovah’s Witness, Sonya Erikson, who was disfellowshipped for “Not having a hatred for what’s bad” and sleeping with someone of the opposite sex. She was announced as having been disfellowshipped in her congregation, and she walked out of the hall with a sense of guilt, while her parents and siblings looked away from her in disappointment. Sonya was then told by her parents that she could not remain in the home while disfellowshipped because she had a negative effect on her siblings. Sonya had to leave her home and stayed away for many years. The narrative brings into the biblical account of Erin, where God had struck his 2 unrepentant children down, and was told not to mourn for them, so it showed loyalty to Jehovah’s decisions. Sonya’s parents avoided contact with her, ignoring her phone calls, teaching her the lesson that the dose of association would be bad for her and them, and then there would be no hope that she would come back. This highlights the emotional cost of obedience to organizational rules.
In the second Video, Sonya Erikson came back as a Jehovah’s Witness after 15 years, with her children. She reflects on how she crushed her family when she was disfellowshipped, and that she deserved the silence from her family for that long. To be able to talk to her family again, she had to be reinstated, and she comments that “It could have made me think there was no need to return to Jehovah,” but since her parents shunned her, she did.
Evidence that these videos caused harm to the Organization
There is no doubt that the video’s disappearance, along with the recent changes, came as governments, courts, and media investigations increasingly highlighted shunning as a form of social isolation and coercion, with cases such as Norway’s deregistration of the religion underscoring the potential human rights concerns tied to the practice.
In the 2024 Norway Trial, Watchtowers Defense Ryssdal commented to the courts that the videos have since been taken down, attempting to mitigate the impact of the practices the Organization employs on their family members, including children.
On October 24th, 2024, they even went as far as sending a letter to the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs stating that there was a “worldwide adjustment in our religious practice in this area.” The new changes were that minors in the Organization who were removed from their congregation (shunned) could continue a relationship with their family, instead of being fully ostracized. Another change was that the removed/disfellowshipped persons could be greeted at meetings, and possibly reinstated within a few months if they demonstrate “genuine repentance.” You can find the letters in Norwegian here; you just need to translate:
Letter to the Norwegian Government about adjustments in the Organization
On November 11th, 2024, the Ministry responded that the request was not granted and expressed why. You can also see this document here:
Norwegians’ response to Jehovah’s Witnesses: Request denied
Quoted from the ministry’s reasons for denying the request:
“We assume that it is still the case that:
The practice of exclusion violates children’s rights, cf. the assessments in the state administrator’s
and the ministry’s decisions.
-The decisions in the case are based on evidence – mainly the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ own texts – which support the following understanding of the practice: The members should not normally have general social contact with excluded and deregistered family members who do not live in the same household, including children and siblings. As soon as a child who has either been excluded or has himself withdrawn from Jehovah’s Witnesses becomes of age, and moves on his own, it is expected that the parents and any siblings who are members of Jehovah’s Witnesses will no longer have regular social contact with him.”
These changes sparked a lot of controversy in the organization for followers who have been deeply affected by the practices. Was this change for the greater good of their followers? Or so that they could be portrayed as less toxic and controlling to the Norwegian Government, to become eligible for state subsidies?
Lester Somrah writes about the beliefs and practices of Jehovah’s Witnesses on his social media platforms and was baptized as a member in 1998.
Aiding Transparency to Watchtowers teachings. If you have additional information about this topic or would like to reach the author- Please email [email protected]