Swamp Man Logging

Swamp Man Logging

There is a curious item you might be interested to know.  A program on television called “AX Men” features various logging operations in different parts of the country basically cutting down trees.  One of the persons featured is a guy called “Swamp Man” named Shelby Stanga.  Shelby Stanga has lived in the swamps north of New Orleans since he was nine years old, and he has been logging in the area for 37 years. He recovers abandoned logs from the nearby waterways with an ever-evolving cast of sidekicks—his dog Willy; his friends Earl, Bob, and DaVi; his cousins Jarvis and Belinda; his nieces Cheyenne and Stephanie; and his wife Donna. Stanga is a colorful personality that is kind of crazy.  He carries a forty-five long barrel revolver in his waistband and regularly shoots it off whether in the house or elsewhere.  To give an example of his spontaneity, in one early episode of the program when he was diving for logs, every time he came to the surface the camera was in his face much to his irritation.  About the fourth time it happened he pulled his pistol and shot the lens off the camera.  His retort was, “I told you not to do that!”…

So why is this colorful person curious? Apparently Shelby has been married to a sweet little woman named Donna for the past 14 years, and while he jokes about shooting her between the eyes, they appear to be a lovely couple. Donna is a Jehovah’s Witness.  On April 10, 2011 Shelby took his wife with him on a log run and made the off hand statement, “My little Jehovah’s Witness wife.”  This was curious as she was using profanity and appeared to be smoking, both considered sins for JWs.  Since that one occurrence nothing more has been said in that regard about her background other that a comment apparently from a life long friend in a blog.  Note what was said below;

·  Chuck Andrews, on January 7th, 2013 at 6:53 am

When Shelby said, “My JEHOVAH’S WITNESS WIFE” in the episode that aired on Jaunary 6, 2012 was he making an accurate statement? Jehovah’s Witnesses do come from all walks of life. Donna is not near as “rough around the edges” as those 2 women he took logging with him. Does the presence of the camera crew prevent any Hanky Panky between Shelby and those 2 women he logs with? Shelby has a very shapely wife, even if she is a sister who praises Jehovah.

·  Sue Sider, on February 2nd, 2013 at 5:48 pm

Chuck,
Donna is indeed a witness, and has been for quite some time. She and I go back as far as high school, and she is a great person. She is not rough around the edges…born & raised in Metairie.. nothing as you see on the show. She was a wild child in the 60′s & 70′s & we had some great times with mutual friends back in the day. I will always remember those days fondly…she was & is a sincere person & friend!

It appears this person knows her well and has a positive opinion of her.  In another episode Shelby says she only spends the weekends with him as she cannot live with him day to day and actually lives in Mississippi in a home there.  On another episode this description was given about their fourteenth anniversary;

Shelby Stanga has officially won my heart. He takes two days off from logging the Louisiana swamps to try to catch some crawfish for his bride, Donna. He explains to Cousin Belinda that the next day is their 14th anniversary and Donna really loves crawfish. So the two bait some traps with six-month-old rotten fish that you can smell right through the television set and they set off through the darkest, deepest part of the swamp. They find ferocious alligators and spiders the size of dinner plates, but not a single crawfish. Undaunted, Shelby picks 14 mysterious swamp flowers and proceeds to lay a table on top of his old barge with a naked lamp, cheese-and-ham sandwiches (Donna doesn't eat bread), and a few of the flowers in an old bottle. Oh, and he lifts Donna up onto the barge on the forks of his tractor. How sweet is that? The flowers turn out to be poisonous, and Donna is warned not to touch her food with the hand that touched a flower. But she is completely besotted. The best part? Donna reveals that it's not their anniversary at all - "just another day in paradise." Gotta love those two!         

Jehovah’s Witness are a very strict religion and do not tolerate certain conduct.  They also do not like the lime light when it comes to highlighting their religion outside of their rigid lifestyle.  It appears Shelby was heavily reprimanded by his wife on no uncertain terms and told to never say that again.  While she has appeared in later episodes nothing has been said since in that regard.   

Now this year Shelby has his on show called “Shelby the Swamp Man”.  To date with the new show no reference has been made to his wife nor has she appeared on the program with no references made to her at all.  It looks like they have either cut her out of the show or they may not be together.  There is nothing on the internet that clarifies what their status is other than that they are still married.  So it will be interesting to see if Donna stays away due to pressure from her congregation elders or if she goes a different direction in the episodes to come. 

Jehovah’s Witnesses are extremely rigid with regular members and practice desfellowshipping or excommunication to control their actions.  When a member is expelled they are viewed as dead and family member will not acknowledge their existence.  Yet when members attain wealth or fame and make large donations to the religion, administration tends to look the other way and ignore violations of church protocol and sins.  In recent years the William sisters who are recognized as JWs have openly flaunted church rules with no penalties.  Michael Jackson, his mother, Prince and others who claimed the faith likewise often live lives that members would never be allowed to do while claiming good standing with the organization.  It appears as long as the donation money is coming in that it buys the freedom to do and say as you want without sanction.

For Donna Stanga, her best bet is to get more famous make a lot of money and then offer large donations to ‘Watchtower’ (home office of JWs) and then she will be free to follow whatever type of conduct she wishes without penalty.  It is just another example of how power and money has little to do with God and everything associated with hypocritical religion.     

You Tube Video of Donna and Shelby

 

For information on custody issues and Jehovah's Witnesses see jwchildcustody.com    

The Silent War that Kills Families

Today we hear of many conflicts being fought around the world that claim the
lives of many innocents.  The most insidious part of any war is when the lives of
innocent children are at stake.  In any society the most precious commodity is
the protection of future generations from harm in their childhood.  In America
there is a war that is destroying the lives of thousands of children each day.  No
one seems to care as it is a silent war of mind control.  Why would mind control
be considered the destruction of a child?  A child mind is impressionable and
they respond to the environment around them and act accordingly.  Especially
when a parent is involved makes the control much stronger.   

There are approximately one thousand court battles fought each year over child
custody involving Jehovah’s Witnesses.  They are a doomsday sect that
believes the end of the world is coming at any second in which God will
exterminate every human on the face of the earth with the exception of
exceptional Jehovah’s Witnesses.  What makes a Jehovah’s Witness?  

Jehovah’s Witnesses make up one of the wealthiest publishing corporations in
the world known as the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. The “Watchtower”
takes in over one billion dollars in tax exempt dollars, pays no salaries, and tells
members if they do not distribute literature every single month, God will surely
exterminate them at Armageddon.  This type of mind control creates a slave
labor mentality in which to receive salvation you must “preach the good news of
the kingdom” or in other words sell books or God kills you.  According to
Church theology you cannot start quick enough and children are indoctrinated
from childbirth that as early as age four they must start selling book for God to
give them mercy.  

This doctrine also requires that the child forgo having a normal life.  You see,
anything outside the religion is going to be destroyed by God so all non
members including family must be avoided as “bad association”.  Children are
told the world is ruled by Satan and they are to be no part of the world that is
soon to be eradicated by God on judgment day.  So friendships are to be
avoided with anyone outside the religion.  In addition, no holidays, birthdays,
school sports. Clubs, boy scouts, FFA, or anything that puts the child in contact
with anyone outside the religion must be avoided.  Higher education is viewed a
more bad association that is displeasing to God. As a result most JW children
are encouraged to drop out of school to have more time to sell books and few
achieve having a high school diploma.  

Jehovah’s Witnesses are also anti government, teaching that the governments
are controlled by Satan and not to be trusted so any activity associated with
nationalism is strictly avoided.  This would include joining the military, ROTC,
Scouts, Saluting the flag, participation in any political affair.  This makes the
child in fear of anything to do with the government.   

Finally there is the issue of medical care.  Jehovah’s Witnesses interpret the
Bible to say any blood transfusion is a sin in which God will kill you.  As a result
hundreds of thousands of Jehovah’s Witnesses have needlessly died due to
following this edict.  The same rule applies to children and no parent who is a
member would willfully take action to save their child’s life if blood transfusion
was the answer.  They teach it would be better to allow the child to die as they
will be resurrected into a paradise earth as a favor for being faithful.  

So in this twisted world of mind control children live in terror on a day to day
basis.  Fear of being killed by God for making any kind of mistake on all the
guidelines above would be difficult if both parents were active members.  But
what happens if the parents split over religious differences and divorce?  The
child is then put into a meat grinder mentally and emotionally.  While the non
member parent may just want to raise the child with a normal life that most
children have, the Jehovah’s Witnesses believe this is the equivalent of putting
the child before a firing squad and certain death at the hands of the vindictive
God they are taught to believe.  So for the member parent it literally becomes a
matter of life and death in which if they lose custody they think they have killed
their child to Satan’s World.  

As a result Jehovah’s Witnesses have at their home office a formidable legal
team of fourteen lawyers on staff to deal primarily with custody battles.  They
take a vow of poverty to go to any court in which a custody issue is raised and
teach members how to follow yet another doctrine they use called “Theocratic
Warfare Strategy”.  TWS is a fairly simple formula that states “the truth is only
given to those that are entitled to know”.  That means going to court is a holy
war in which misinformation, and outright perjury will be used extensively to
distort what is in the best interests of the child and prevent the non member
parent from having primary custody.  With the child under the control of the
member parent they will be taught to follow the doctrine that all things outside
the religion are part of Satan including the non member parent and thus not to
be trusted in any way.  Any involvement in any activity outside the JW religion is
viewed as association with Satan’s World that is doomed to destruction.  

To show how this is reinforced an article written in the 12/1/12 issue of the
Watchtower (monthly magazine of Jehovah’s Witnesses) on pages 30-31 under
the Subtitle, “Teach Your Children” it shows how children are riddled with guilt
if they in any way support the non member parent. The article tells the story of
Uzziah that was punished by God by being stricken with Leprosy and of his son
Jotham that remained faithful to God.  Do you see where they are going with
this?  The article has sections that required the member parent to stop and ask
the child a question.  For example; Do you know what Jothem did them? What if
your father or mother stopped serving Jehovah?  That would make it very hard
for you, wouldn't’t it? What about you would you keep serving Jehovah if your
father or mother did not?   Who do you think wants you to quit serving
Jehovah? Do we need to be afraid of Satan?.  

Each of these questions is designed to program the child to oppose at all costs
any efforts of the non member parent to help the child have a more normal life
that most children do.  The child is riddled with fear and guilt, fear of serving
Satan and guilt for not pleasing Jehovah and becoming a book distributor for
the corporation.  

In the article they quote a scripture Psalm 27:10. David wrote here: “In case my
own father and my own mother did leave me, even Jehovah himself would take
me up.”

The thought from the scripture is if David was abandoned by his parents then
God would still be with him.  Yet in the article the following statement is made;
“Think about
this: What the Bible is saying is that if David’s father, Jesse, or his mother
should stop serving Jehovah, David would keep on serving Him.”    This is a
complete turning of the scripture to fit their agenda of turning a child against its
non member parent.  Even more insidious is the question following to ask the
child. “What about you would you keep serving Jehovah if your father or mother
did not?”  

How would you feel if you knew your ex husband or wife was reading this article
to your child about you?  Yet this goes on as a practice within Jehovah’s
Witnesses on a regular basis.  It puts the child in the middle of being torn apart
emotionally while the religion uses God as a club to beat them away from
sharing their life with the non member parent.  

In the article to demonize the situation even further it shows a picture of a non
member parent smoking a cigarette (a disfellowshipping (excommunication)
offense in JWs) and watching violence in television while his child is shown
turning away and reading a Jehovah’s Witness publication.  

Click here to see pic  

Can you now understand why there are over 1,000 custody cases fought with
Jehovah’s witnesses each year.  Sadly in most cases the non member parent
loses unless they employ a careful strategy to show what is being done to the
child and what is really in the child’s best interests to have a normal life.

I hope this information is helpful to understand this silent war that has
destroyed thousands of families around the Jehovah’s Witnesses.  Education
and understanding is the only way to help those facing this type of situation and
perhaps to save the life of a child being faced with this.  If you would like further
information see www.jwchildcustody.com to learn more about how to help kids.