Before the release of his blockbuster album Thriller Michael Jackson used to walk the blocks going door-to-door as one of “Jehovah’s Witnesses.” He has since separated himself from his family religion and it seems most recently decided to embrace Islam.
Jackson is now hanging his hat and glove in Bahrain, courtesy of the ruler’s son, and the star reportedly plans to build a mosque to honor his newfound faith reports Web India.com.
The planned 98-foot edifice would be built on land adjoining the royal compound.
But could this be a mere stunt to please his generous hosts?
“Michael is looking to give something back
to the country that has welcomed him so openly,” Jackson’s spokeswoman said. The singer has been in Bahrain since June, moving there shortly after he was acquitted of child molestation charges in California.
Michael Jackson’s spiritual journey has included his childhood Witness faith, a stint exploring Scientology with ex-wife Lisa Marie Presley and then a turn with Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam in the midst of his criminal prosecution as an alleged pedophile.
Arguably, religion for Jackson seems to spring forth more as a pragmatic response to his circumstances rather than through any personal revelation.
Once the “King of Pop” Jackson is now the beggar of kings according to Roger Friedman of Fox News who says he is “Bahrain’s most famous celeb freeloader.”
“Neverland may no longer be insured, the zoo animals are looking for a new home and staff remains unpaid” reports Friedman. And Jackson’s ex-wife Deborah Rowe has been waging a legal battle against the singer along with a growing line of litigants trying to get at whatever is left of the star’s assets.
Even his lawyer Thomas Mesereau Jr. dumped Jackson amidst rumors that he is behind on his legal bills.
So it appears it’s a good time to get religion, which might buy the “Gloved One” more time as a special guest in Bahrain.
But the former “Peter Pan” of Neverland better be careful in the Arab emirate. Islamic law is harsh when it comes to pedophiles. And homosexual acts are a crime “punished by 10 years of imprisonment maximum. When the victim is under 14 years of age…punishable even with the consent of the victim” cites Sodomy Laws.org. The same Web site reports that in 2002 Bahrain deported 2,000 gays.
Jackson has been spotted dressed in Arab drag shopping; one salesman thought he was a “wealthy Saudi woman” reports Associated Press. “I looked at the person’s shoes and found they were men’s shoes. That’s when I guessed it was Michael Jackson,” he said.
The former superstar may find things increasingly difficult in his newfound homeland.
“He should keep his concerts and his effeminate manners away from us,” said Bahrain lawmaker Adel al-Maawda, one of the country’s most conservative clerics.
So regardless of whatever religious epiphany Jackson claims to have experienced lately, he better watch his step.
Q.What turned Michael Jackson into the freakish ‘wacko Jacko’ in the first place?
I have been following MJ’s bio since his baptism in the 1970’s as a Jehovah’s Witness.MJ and I are the same age and I can identify with the disastrously dysfunctional oppressive fundamentalist ‘freak’ upbringing of Jehovah’s Witnesses children.
Like MJ I had a wonderful life that was ruined by a destructive cult.
There are a Million Messed up Jehovah’s Witnesses kids out there just like us.
God have Mercy!
Compare:My Repressed Sex Life in the Jehovah’s Witnesses true story. http://www.dannyhaszard.com/colitis.htm#repressed -Danny Haszard born Jehovah’s Witness 1957 ‘i was in the cult and now i’m out’
I wish I could save every Jehovah’s Witness child from the oppression and emotional/physical abuse I endured as a JW child. My childhood was pure bliss until the age of nine, when Jehovah’s Witnesses knocked on my mother’s door and converted our family to their cult. As a result, I’ve lost my mother, sister, brother, 4 nephews and niece to this awful religion. They haven’t spoken to me in 25 years simply because I left. Michael’s search for acceptance and unconditional love from someone–anyone–is obvious by his lifestyle over the years and erratic/dysfunctional behavior. I too went through major dysfunction before I found my way free.
Brenda Lee, author: “Out of the Cocoon: A Young Woman’s Courageous Flight from the Grip of a Religious Cult” http://www.outofthecocoon.net
boo hoo! poor me! it is my parents fault that i stuck my pee pee in a little kid!
it is my parents fault that i am a 40 year old loser! Get over it! Accept some personal responsability. My mom was an drunk and a tramp. My dad,a physically and mentally abusive, and also a drunk and a tramp! If we had $5.00 when I was growing up, did i get food? No, my dad got drunk. I moved out when i was 16, and like you two crybabies, blamed everyone else for all the badness in my life. I got hooked on Meth and Crack. Then one day I had an epiphany; none of the adults that watched my dad hit me, nor my mother, nor my teachers that treated me like crap because i had problems, nor the kids at school that were so mean, nor my GOD, not even my father who caused the abuse could make me hurt myself. Now i could spend my life, crying about how wrong it was that those who were intrusted with my care abused me. But i find myself way too busy, raising my five children and loving my wife, working hard at my job for my employer, trying to emprove my own personality and conform to God’s will, way too busy to worry about the wrongs that others commit. True Christians forgive, they look forward, not back. Get over yourselves.
“buildupnotteardown” is a practicing Jehovah’s Witnesses apologist troll.No matter what,they will shift the blame away from their watchtower cult.Jehovah’s Witnesses eat their young,wild animals don’t do that.
OK, so I’m a troll. Whatever. I am also a hard working family man that pays all his taxes and tries to do the best he can everyday. The bible has taught me how to be that. Maybe your problem was less “JW’s are animals” and more “I am too lazy and too proud to accept responsibilty for my own actions.”
Maybe not. I don’t know you. And you don’t know me. You say that your life is bad because of other people. Here is a secret; other people have no power over you unless you let them. As a child, you may have been hurt. But as an adult, to let your own hate control you is the same as letting someone else abuse you. That is both weak and disgusting. Please quit exposing everyone else to your perversion. It would be one thing if you were honestly concerned about other people. Maybe you are. I don’t know you. But if you are concerned that others are being hurt, there are so many ways to help them. But you seem bent on hate. You want someone to pay for your pain! That is very, very understandable. But don’t become what you claim to hate! Using an abusive tactic makes you an abuser. There is no way around that. Sorry.
Danny, I hate that you were hurt. I hate this world the way it is. My fifth child was born 2 days ago. She is a beautiful little girl. I know that my children are never safe. I am only human, there is only so much that I can do. There is only one human in this world that I trust unconditionally with my children and that is my wife. I do trust others, and I have many close friends. But I am keenly aware that this world is evil. If someone hurt my children, I may or may not be responsible, depending on the situation. But even if I was not watching out for my child, and someone hurt them, that person would still be responsible for their own actions. Not their parents, not their friends, not their banker and not their church. The individual. I can’t stand the injustice that goes on in this world. It IS disgusting! But I know that it is what it is. You tell me, what is the key to happiness. If, as you say, I am a troll, then help me. How can a person be Happy. Are you Happy? You don’t sound happy. If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, then there is a good chance that it is a duck. Someone that publishes hate is probably not happy.
Danny, go out and find the happiness that you deserve. Use your energy to build a happy life for yourself. You can’t give others what you don’t have. I believe that you want to do good. The people that hurt you don’t deserve your attention. Don’t give it to them. If they can be brought to Justice then by all means do it. If not, go on with your life.
The Watchtower organization through it’s members, Jehovah’s Witnesses, finds new recruits on a daily basis by going door to door (people don’t join cults; cults recruit people). Many former JWs are adament about educating the world because the abuse levied by this organization continues to affect new people every day. Every day some unsuspecting soul thinks, “Wow, they seem like such nice people. Maybe I’ll let them talk to me about their beliefs.” Knowledge is power and only through education can you protect yourself against predators. Just because someone tries to warn others about a cult or toxic organization doesn’t make them unhappy and spiteful, nor does it mean they are blaming their lives on their parents. I for one, am incredibly happy with my life, love my family and forgive them for their ignorance. I wouldn’t change a thing about my life. My book will testify to that fact. My goal is, however, to help educate others about the dangers of being ensnared in an oppressive, dictatorial organization such as the Watchtower. No family should have to endure what millions of JW families have had to endure over the last century; i.e., the pain of being psychologically forced to abandon all contact with certain ex-JW family members. It’s absolutely criminal and if I could sue the Watchtower for imprisoning my family (to get them to stop doing this to countless others), I would. Problem is, my family members are willing captives because they are under powerful mind control. Brenda Lee, “Out of the Cocoon: A Young Woman’s Courageous Flight from the Grip of a Religious Cult” http://www.outofthecocoon.net
Brenda,
Why not spend the same amount of energy publishing “how to have a happy life” instead of “how not to have a happy life”. I am almost sure that every human in this world has learned many ways “not” to be happy. All I am saying is, if someone is happy with what they believe, leave them alone. If you think that they are too dumb to decide for themselves, then offer them something better. This is just like everything else in life. At work for example, is it better to spend all your time crying that everyone else is lazy OR is keeping your mouth shut and working hard, setting a good example and earning a good reputation with your fellow workers and employers a better way to conduct yourself? Think what you want, but I think that I would rather have the latter person working for me. That is all I am saying. If you got something better, bring it. I am sorry that me, my family, your family, all my friends and millions of others are too dumb to realize that we are under mind control, as you see it. But if that is the case, what are you offering as an alternative. If there is a starving person standing in front of a plate of food, don’t tell him he can’t eat it because it has too much saturated fat, unless of course you have something to replace it with. Even in such a case, that person has the GOD given right to choose which plate he will eat from.
Your time would be better spent teaching why your food was good for the person, instead of teaching why the other was bad.
Acts Chapter 5 – [38] And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:
[39] But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God. KJV