In reply to the article of Friday the 17th of May 2002 by Donald D'Haene of Canada, who takes great delight in vilifying his father some 28 years after the fact. It is extremely difficult to defend yourself to statements made in a book of which one has not read or seen a copy.

Reading some of the statements made in your Newspaper, I can see that some things have been exaggerated to make my past as a member of the Jehovah’s Witness Cult even worse than it was in reality. I am not in any way trying to whitewash my past sins, for I hate my past just as much as anyone. What my son failed to mention is the very fact that my life was totally changed and that the reason it was brought to trial was not for the sins committed, but because I was actively engaged in exposing the realities and facts of the Jehovah’s Witness cult. Had I remained a Jehovah’s Witness, it would have never have been revealed to the world, or brought to trial, and the family would have been united and never broken up. Yes, indeed; Jehovah’s Witnesses do keep criminal activities, or sexual wrongdoings under wraps, as long as you remain within their circle!

As my oldest Son Ronny well knows, and expressed to me personally, that even murderers who are Jehovah’s Witnesses are under their protection. Donald was driven by the Jehovah’s Witness elders, Circuit and District Servants or leaders of Jehovah’s Witnesses to expose me and have me prosecuted. The Police Inspector’s wife was Jehovah’s Witness as well, so if you have any intelligence at all, you will readily see the main reason behind my having been exposed. I like to emphasize once again that the reason of the family breakup and “flight” was not to get away from abuse, as stated, but to “protect them from a person who had discarded all erroneous beliefs and Doctrines of the Jehovah’s Witness cult, put his full and complete trust in the Lord Jesus Christ who as the great healer had cleaned up his life and forgiven him of sins that were indeed grievous. You have to keep in mind, that the Jehovah’s Witnesses brand everyone except themselves to be of Satan, worthy of destruction at Armageddon, and those who disassociate themselves from their “New Society within Society” are to be avoided and regarded as ones who associate with demons. My leaving the Jehovah’s Witness cult was considered more terrible or sinful, then sexual sins that had been committed. Wife swapping and sex parties were going on amongst the Jehovah’s Witnesses in large numbers, but when discovered by Toronto headquarters, the Circuit Servant was just removed from the area and assigned to another circuit, with a reprimand.

A congregation overseer of the Kingdom Hall that I attended was simply removed from his position, and put on probation. The outside world was simply not aware of the sexual immorality prevalent amongst the members of Jehovah’s Witnesses. It was all covered up, as it would destroy the holier than thou image projected to the outside world. At numerous occasions as a Jehovah’s Witness I cried out for help with my problems, but since Psychiatrists and Psychologists were of Satan the devil, and being in fear of running counter to the “instructions of Jehovah’s Theocratic Organization” which was equal to disobeying Jehovah God Himself, I was really sinking in deeper despair and mental illness. As Psychiatrist and Psychologist well know, mental illness is 85 percent higher among Jehovah’s Witnesses than the population as a whole. However, when a Jehovah’s Witness is admitted to a mental hospital he or she are warned by the Watchtower Society never to reveal in the admission forms that they are Jehovah’s Witnesses. Why? The Watchtower leaders would find that devastating to their statement that Jehovah’s Witnesses are the happiest people on earth. That is what Jehovah’s Witnesses say about themselves. But in reality; they are the most miserable people in the world. Their every move is controlled and monitored and they are constantly brainwashed to walk in step as robots controlled by their masters. You might ask, what has all of this to do with your tragic and sinful past as a member of Jehovah’s Witnesses? The answer to that question is twofold:

As a child growing up in the devastation of the second World War in poverty, hunger and deprivation; being looked upon by the Ultra Rich, Middle Class, well to do or better off working class as a subhuman species, being beaten black and blue by school teachers, on account of not understanding a math question, sitting in front of the class with knees in wooden shoes (Klompen), hands outstretched above the head with palms turned up and several books piled on each hand. Then, when the arms and hands grew painful and due to fatigue lowering them slightly, being hit on the knuckles with a stick, being brutally pulled by either the hair or ears and being called a “stupid donkey” by the same teacher in front of the students. This being repeated day after day, week after week, month after month, and then as if that wasn’t quite enough punishment, getting beatings at home by mother with leather strap or sticks, for having been a “bad boy” at school. No wonder that I had developed an inferiority complex through my childhood and on into adulthood! At age 13 molested by a Catholic monk in Courtrais West-Flanders and being told that this was natural behaviour by both animal and human species. Oh how I wish that things had been different for me in the past!

If these things of a demeaning and shameful destructive nature could be wiped off like chalk on a blackboard; if the harm done could have been prevented by Psychiatric help and therapy. However, The Lord Jesus Christ accomplished more in my life than all human wisdom ever could. Children in the schools today are not subjected to either physical or mental abuse as I was, and even people of very poor families are treated with respect and dignity. While some rich people still persist in thinking themselves better humans than what they consider the “lower classes” things have drastically changed in the past few years for the better. While sexual matters could not be discussed with children in the past, and considered taboo, today, sex education accomplishes and work towards the prevention of molestation. My advise to children is to report any and all acts of sexual deviation to their parents right away, or to the police!

My behaviour of the past does not reflect my lifestyle, since stepping away from the Jehovah’s Witnesses. My Son’s mentioning my fifth wife in your Newspaper is the result of his and others constant efforts to destroy the harmony of subsequent marriages, which they managed to destroy. Great efforts were made to destroy even the fifth one, but they were unable to do so. In 1999 my fourth wife approached me and apologized for having permitted the children of my first marriage to undermine and destroy us. She acknowledged to my present wife and myself in tears that she had made a terrible mistake in allowing them to do their dirty work. But the harm had been done, and could not be reversed. She fought hard in preventing the breakup of my present marriage and advised my wife to pay no attention to what they are doing or saying, “Daniel is no longer the person that he was as a member of Jehovah’s Witnesses; his life is far different from what he once was.” She said also, “During our marriage Daniel was never unfaithful to me, and we always went out together to whatever Christian activity he was engaged in, and other activities as well.” She further stated: “Even on his way to work and back, we kept in contact by radio (Citizen band) all the way.” And, “He consumed no alcohol or go to drinkfests with his workmates; he was a very loving and kind husband to me!” My present wife asked her, “why was the marriage broken up then?” She replied, “I let myself be influenced by his first wife and the children.” How many ex-wives do you know of, that say anything but good things about their ex-husbands?

In 1984 while having lunch at a restaurant in London, Ontario I was approached by my Daughter Marina, who I had not seen since 1976. She came and sat at my table. After I apologized for my former way of life she expressed herself I this way: “Dad, I am no longer a virgin, as I had sex with a black man.” She continued while looking up to me in this manner: “Dad, I am gay!” I reacted in this way: “Marina, I am no longer the person you once knew, and my life has been drastically changed. I love you very much as my daughter, with fatherly love. I am totally against your being a lesbian, and God as you should know condemns those who engage in this practice, unless you turn away from it and refrain from living this way.” She had without a doubt expected that I would approve of her homosexuality, which I didn’t.

In 1992 the Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigated me fully as to my life since release from a provincial Correctional hospital, and exonerated me by granting me a full pardon. No longer could anyone accuse me of any wrongdoing as in the past as a member of Jehovah’s Witnesses! Canadian law also provides protection from assassination of character. So Donald is quite aware of the fact that I can bring him to court for this. He seems to forget that I am a Canadian Citizen and that I can travel to my country when I choose to do so, and start legal proceedings against him, and the publishers of the book. He thinks that I am afraid of the complaint selling more books and more people reading it. Does he not realize that I can have the book banned as well?

My son Donald mentions 5 wives, to make it look as if I am some kind of a terrible monster. To put the record straight about my first wife and I, the Jehovah’s Witness religion was not forced upon her by me, but she willingly and voluntarily accepted it through the efforts of (name withheld), a Jehovah’s Witness of Straffordville, Ontario, Canada, a Belgian, and (name withheld), of St. Thomas, Ontario, also a Belgian. Both Jeannette and myself were thus together persuaded to become Jehovah’s Witnesses, without beating or force. I have never abused my first wife Jeannette in any shape or form! Looking at the picture of Jeannette, as featured in your Newspaper with Donald, made me cry, because I loved her very much. When my life was cleaned up, and when I came home with the news that I had decided to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, and assuring her that my sexual problems were solved and would never be repeated again, fear was written in Jeannette’s eyes. Not because I assured her of my change as far as morality was concerned, but my leaving the Jehovah’s Witness religion!

Leaving this cult was what shocked her, as she was indoctrinated to believe (as I was at one time) that I was now an agent of Satan the Devil. That is what the “flight” away from me was all about!

She was aware of my problem for over three years, and remained with me, as long as I remained as a member of Jehovah’s Witnesses! Why is that fact missing from their statements? It takes a humble person to admit that he or she was wrong and sinful. Why is it that Jeannette for whom I have no hatred or resentment in my heart is not revealing the fact that she had a sexual affair with a Hungarian young man, starting in 1958 for quite some time, the possibility existing that I might not even be the natural father of Donald? Look at the facial features of Donald and the rest of my children. Can you see the difference? There is a saying in English, that those who live in glass houses should not throw stones! In the New Testament we find Jesus Christ saying something similar: [Flemish quoting, Mathew 7:1-5]. In other words, look at yourself in the mirror first, and at your own lifestyle, before you judge others for their sins.

Donald is a Homosexual, and as such, he has committed sodomy with a multitude of men, more than you could number, one of them a black man who contracted the Aids virus as he openly admitted in the London Free Press a while back.

Homosexuality, though so readily accepted in Society today is nevertheless a filthy, immoral lifestyle, that isn’t too different and is just as morally degrading, as the sexual deviation of my past. My comments on Tante [Aunt] Blanche saying, "Donald is een Sympathieke jongen," [Donald is a sympathetic young man] is very flattering to the ego of Donald, but the fact remains, that what Donald condemned of his father (and rightly so), he is actively practicing as an adult. Again, I repeat: If you live in glass houses, don't throw stones! I have been cleansed from these immoral practices of the past (Thank God), and I would be the first person to condemn it, and Donald continues to practice sexual deviation, calling it, Happiness and contentment. His mother too is tolerating his sexual deviation, and lives under the same roof with sodomites.

Doctor Daniel Cappon, A Canadian psychiatrist at the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada who has treated hundreds of homosexuals states “Homosexuality, by definition, is not healthy or wholesome…At worst, the homosexual person will die younger and suffer emotional, mental and physical illness more often than the normal person. The natural history of the homosexual person seems to be one of frigidity, impotence, broken personal relationships, Psychosomatic disorders, alcoholism, paranoia, and suicide.” Dillying in rectums and chewing on genitals is as good scientific proof of "psychosomatic disorder" as could ever be produced. Particularly in the age of AIDS, such practices are sheer insanity.

The first evolutionary step that follows the rejection of God is the mind goes morally crazy. As a Jehovah’s Witness I rejected the Divinity or Godship of Christ, with the disastrous results that brought me to the pits of dense darkness. Accepting Christ on the other hand resulted in cleansing and purification bodily, and morally. Yes, dear readers, relatives of mine, friends and former neighbours of mine in West-Flanders Belgium; I am very much ashamed of my past as a Jehovah’s Witness, but I am not ashamed of my present lifestyle. Let the forces of evil press on with the vilifying of my name and reputation; let them wallow in the dirt as much as their heart desires; let the newspapers sensationalize and by means of headlines in order to sell their publications. Yes, they can point to my past and be shocked by it. From it all, may they learn a valuable lesson in humanity. No one is free of sexual immorality, unless he lives by Godly principles and becomes a Christian not in name only, but in reality. Then they can rejoice with me and shout it on the highest hills: “Praise God for he has delivered me from darkness of sin, into truth, love and to this glorious light and salvation in Christ Jesus!”

Homosexuals have the brilliance to use condoms before engaging in sodomy, but not enough sense to quit their filthy lifestyle. Such insane activity demonstrates how godless minds go beserk. “Fools make a mock of sin,” was never more obvious. In a venereal disease epidemic, prostitution, fornication, adultery and homosexual sex are forms of insanity. And there are some learned people who think our whole world as of late “is insane.” English novelist John Osbourne, for one, calls North America a “sexual nuthouse.”

It appears our godless, sex obsessed society is cracking up under the psychological pressures. Doctor P. A. Sorokin, the former professor of sociology at Harvard University, said, “The weakened physical, emotional, and spiritual condition of the sex glutton usually makes him incapable of resisting the accompanying pressures, and he eventually cracks under the weight. He often ends by becoming a psychoneurotic or a suicide.” (Quoted from Gay Community News, July 9, 1983) The mental effects of immorality, psychological as well as physiological, are scientifically provable! Doctor Jacques Leibowitch states that the average number of sex partners for American homosexuals is 78 a year, while the record reaches around a thousand per year. The sex-god has eroded our values, broken down our homes, rewritten our textbooks, corrupted the television and turned us to perversion. Sexual idolatry even has its martyrs. Two men tied themselves together at the waist and shared a final bottle of wine in a room decorated with freshly cut flowers. Then they jumped from the window of the thirty-fifth floor of their New York luxury apartment…..chose suicide over the slower agony of Aids that plagued them both. …….a neighbour …said, “…..was seriously ill, but he never disclosed at that time that he had Aids .   . . ., who’s apartment was just above the pavement where the two hit, called their suicides “a very violent statement. They could have done themselves in, in their own apartment. Obviously they were trying to say something.” What they were saying with the wine and flowers was it was “beautiful.” The rope declared “together to the death.” Their death said, “We are happy martyrs of the sex god we lived for.” Well may North America weep over her “perverted” ways that led many of her people into AIDS. And in turn other nations as well who inherited AIDS from the American gays who travelled there to her sex parties.

In closing I like to say how sorry I am that my relatives had to be shocked in this way. However, those with whom I have been in contact in Belgium on many trips there, can truthfully say with conviction, that since I left the Jehovah’s Witness cult I was no longer what I used to be as one of them. To my family in Belgium, I like to say this: As much as public exposure has shamed you on my account, can you forgive and forget? Can you pray the Lord's prayer in all honesty and still not forgive? As it reads in the Petrus Canisius Bible: [Belgian translation, Mathew 6:9-15]

With complete confidence, I look forward to the future, as life goes on and we must press on I faith, knowing, that Christ died on the cross for sinners such as myself and the rest of mankind. The world may laugh and poke fun with those who follow Jesus Christ, but in the end He is the final Judge.

I wrote this letter in English as I am after 46+ years more fluent in English than in Flemish. I trust that your Newspaper is not biased in favor to one side of the issue only. I challenge the Editor of De Krant van West-Vlaander to publish this letter in its entirety without editing it or altering its contents in any way. Print it as written in Flemish, and feel free to send a copy to my son Donald in Canada as well. [Translating from the Flemish article: “Everything in my book is the truth.” Donald also said in your paper, “He knows very well that if he sues me, more people will want the book and buy it.”]   To that I answer that Donald also knows full well that I could sue him in court for thousands of dollars, for defamation of character through the human rights commission in the province of Ontario, Canada. It all depends on the circumstances, whether I will pursue that course of action. There is an old saying in Flemish that goes something like this, [English translation: How more a man stirs shit, how more he stinks!”

Shall I as a Christian believer return evil for evil?

Jezus Christ says: [Belgian translation, Mathew 7:6,12]

Respectfully Yours,

Daniel Dhaene