Something that is rarely mentioned today,
but he was very open about is Michael Jackson in his entrenched faith.
Raised as a devout Jehovah's Witness, Michael was very active in his religion
for many years, meeting attendance and even going door
to door preaching the word during the heady heights of his incredible fame.
However, his pop superstar success often
caused friction between him and his religious elders,
who continually condemned his so called 'corrupting behavior' and sought to control
his creative output, until the performer was publicly and explicitly forced out
of the denomination in 1987, to the dismay of Jackson and his immediate family.
But what exactly were their reasons in doing so?
Did it cause Jackson to question his faith in a higher power?
And what other conflicts did his faith cause him personally and professionally?
Here's the detail.
Raised as a Christian, Katherine,
Michael Jackson's mother, was baptized into the Jehovah's Witness
sect in 1963 after she was converted by a door to door preacher.
Katherine for years seemed to have been
in search of her own spirituality, having previously been a Baptist and then
a Lutheran, but turned away from both faiths for the same reason. When she
discovered that the ministers were having extramarital affairs.
The Jackson matriarch didn't require her family to convert
as she did, with Michael's father, Joseph, never adopting the religion himself.
But some took an interest,
in particular her oldest daughter, Rebbie, middle daughter, La Toya, and Michael,
who were active in meeting attendance and preaching.
Michael's sister, La Toya, writing quote,
Michael and I were very active in the Jehovah's Witness faith.
Five days a week, the two of us and mother
studied the Bible at home and attended the Kingdom Hall.
It is not difficult to understand the unusual enigma that Michael Jackson
became when considering the extremes of his upbringing.
On one hand, he had a violent, materialistic, philandering father.
On the other hand, there was a loving mother attempting
to indoctrinate him into her equally skewed belief system.
At an early age, Michael received mixed signals about sex.
The message from Katherine was loud and clear with her strong faith as
a Jehovah's Witness. That lust in thought or in deed was considered sinful.
Therefore, physical intimacy was reserved for marriage.
However, from his father, Joseph,
the boys received a message that came more from his actions than from his words.
The Jackson patriarch had his sons perform
in seedy nightclubs and as an opening act for the night's strip tease performers.
Of course, when the Jackson boys were
on the road, Katherine remained at home with the younger children.
Her absence gave Joseph carte blanche
to date other women, mostly groupies. An open secret, Michael and his brothers
were made very much aware of. Years later, stating he was revolted by the thought
of whatever was occurring in Joseph's room with his girlfriends.
Therefore, Michael must have been
conflicted, having an overly rigid, puritanical view of the world from his
mother and an overly promiscuous example from his father and show business.
It's apparent that Michael and his
brothers often put aside their religious beliefs when it came to their music
career, which included releasing a bestselling Christmas album.
Even though they never celebrated the holiday as it wasn't permitted
as Jehovah's witness. Michael never hid his entrenched faith
quote, each day I take time out to study the Bible, no matter where I am.
The teachings of the Bible have added a new dimension to my life.
It, somehow, makes me whole.
Michael Jackson said when interviewed for Black Star magazine as a teenager.
Despite his tremendous fame and great
fortune, by the early 1980s, Michael Jackson still continued door
to door proselytizing for the Jehovah's Witness faith.
Quote, twice a week, maybe for an hour or two,
according to his mother, when he was in town,
he would also attend meetings at Kingdom Hall with his mother four times a week.
Michael Jackson was known for his masterful disguises.
Many believe they were used to escape fans and
the press, but it was also to allow him to continue spreading Jehovah's Word door
to door, a requirement as part of his religion.
An example of a typical day of pioneering,
he would be wearing a disguise, a mustache, hat and glasses,
and a tie and sweater, and holding a copy of The Watchtower.
Michael would then stand at the door of an apartment in a suburb of Los Angeles.
Hi, I'm here to talk to you about
God's Word, he would tell a young girl who answered the door.
She would slam the door in his face and so he would go to the next apartment.
This humbling experience was in stark contrast to the applauding audiences
and screaming fans Michael Jackson was used to.
He described it as a way of reconnecting
to an ordinary world outside of show business.
Quote I continued my pioneering work for years and years
after my career had been launched.
I would dawn my disguise of a fat suit,
wig, beard and glasses and head off to live in the land of everyday America,
visiting shopping plazas and tracked homes in the suburbs.
After the release of his 'Thriller' album
in 1982, the music and their accompanying videos caused a stir amongst his
religion's elders. The first being 'Billie Jean',
where in its lyrics Michael openly discusses premarital lust with sexual
overtones and appeared getting into bed with a woman during a scene in its video.
Sources within Michael's congregation claim he was publicly reprimanded
for the 'Billie Jean' video as well as his live performance of the track. After he
appeared on Motown 25 and moonwalked for the first time while performing
'Billie Jean'. Michael Jackson claims he was told by his
church that he was doing burlesque dancing.
It was dirty.
He must stop immediately.
Quote you can never dance like that again.
I said, 99% of dancing is moving the waist.
They said, we don't want you to do it.
So I went around trying to dance for a long time without moving this part
of my body. Jackson revealed in a private conversation many years later.
Despite Michael Jackson's transparent
devotion to God and commitment to his Jehovah's Witness faith,
no doubt having donated large sums to the religion, the church's elders were
continually by the superstar's musical and visual output.
In another popular video, 'Thriller', the sect leaders took issue
with the performer, transforming first into a werecat
creature and then a dancing zombie monster.
Quote, when I made 'Thriller' with all
the ghouls and ghosts, they said that it was demonic and part
of the occult and that brother Jackson can't do it.
Pained and upset, he then called his lawyer in tears,
telling him to cancel its release and to destroy the video.
His lawyer was eventually able to reason with him and they came up with somewhat
of a solution that his religious elders could live with.
Evidently not wanting viewers to conclude that it promoted spiritism.
The film begins with a disclaimer quote
due to my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress this film in no way
endorses a belief in the occult, Michael Jackson.
However, what would become a major critical and commercial success,
many viewing Thriller as the greatest music video of all time,
it would also fill Michael Jackson with much pain and regret.
Quote I would never do it again,
Michael told the Jehovah's Witness magazine 'Awake!' in 1984.
Quote, I just intended to do a good, fun short film, not to purposely bring
to the screen something to scare people or to do anything bad.
I want to do what's right.
I would never do anything like that again.
I realize now that it wasn't a good idea.
I'll never do a video like that again.
He continued, quote in fact,
I have blocked further distribution of the film over which I have control,
including its release in some other countries.
There are all kinds of promotional stuff
being proposed on Thriller, but I tell them, no, no, no.
I don't want to do anything on Thriller.
No more Thriller.
It was at the height of his 'Thriller' success that more than ever before,
Michael considered himself a strict Jehovah's Witness.
He didn't believe in blood transfusions,
Easter and Christmas, or the celebration of his own birthday.
Michael telling his vocal coach,
Seth Riggs, quote it is a big part of being a Jehovah's Witness.
We do not celebrate holidays or birthdays.
We believe that we should honor
and celebrate these things daily and not have just one day.
On August 29th, Michael would end up working. All backstage crew and his fans would wish
him happy birthday and give him little presents.
He smiled and graciously accepted them.
However, according to his vocal coach,
once in private, he would put the gifts down and look at them.
Quote, I wish people wouldn't do that.
Please promise me, don't ever say happy birthday to me.
However, despite his public apology
and willingness to effectively represent his faith.
Tensions continued to grow between Michael and his church's elders.
Michael was taught that much of what his career had developed into and he himself
personally stood for was now wrong or even evil.
When considering the following Watchtower
concepts that ambition and the pursuit of fame is wrong, love of money is evil,
the idolizing of human stars is unchristian and the vast majority
of modern music and media is inheritably corrupt.
Michael Jackson had become,
in the eyes of his religious leaders and members of the Jehovah's Witness
faith, the embodiment of what is wrong and unholy in modern secular culture.
When Michael Jackson was awarded a record breaking eight honors at the 1984
Grammy Awards the very next morning, an elder issued him an ultimatum
that the singer must choose between music and the Jehovah's Witness religion.
Because Michael diligently studied the Bible, he could usually cite chapter
and verse supporting his contention that entertaining people was not wrong.
Quote, I'm still living according to the Watchtower Society's teachings he
pointed out as he'd done so many times before.
Quote, I still go door to door wherever I am, even if I'm on a tour.
I can't help it if people hang up
my poster on their wall or tear my picture out of a magazine.
I don't ask them to idolize me.
I only want them to enjoy my music.
It is worth noting that at this time, Michael Jackson made sure to switch focus
from himself and his accomplishments while being interviewed or accepting an award,
thanking God and embracing the gifts he has been given by him.
Undoubtedly a method used by the pop performer to mitigate any accusations
of inciting idol worship that his congregation continue to place on him.
When you go about writing what happens? Songs come at the strangest times.
I could be walking in a park or something and then it'll just hit you.
Where do you think the gift came from?
God.
Although this was a strongly held belief of his as Michael Jackson expressed in his
1988 autobiography, Moonwalk, quote Sundays were sacred for two other reasons
as I was growing up, they were both the day that I attended
church and the day that I spent rehearsing my hardest.
This may seem against the idea of rest on the Sabbath, but it was the most sacred
way I could spend my time developing the talents that God gave me.
The best way I can imagine to show
my thanks is to make the very most of the gift that God gave me.
While on the Jackson's Victory Tour,
Michael participated in door to door witnessing in both Dallas and Birmingham,
and even hired someone whose sole task was to locate a Kingdom Hall in each town so
that Michael wouldn't miss a single meeting.
Many Jehovah's Witnesses used to congregate outside their local
Kingdom Hall hoping to catch a glimpse of the pop superstar,
knowing full well this kind of adulation was forbidden. Michael did everything
humanly possible to demonstrate his dedication, mourning the loss of his
ability to worship like anyone else in his religion.
Quote, when circumstances made it
increasingly complex for me to attend, I was comforted by the belief that God
exists in my heart and in music and in beauty, not only in a building,
but I still missed the sense of community that I felt there.
I missed the friends and the people who treated me like I was simply one
of them, simply human, sharing a day with God.
During the creation of his next LP,
his Jehovah's Witness elders began pressuring Michael once again.
They felt strongly that the publicity Jackson generated as their most high
profile member was doing them great damage.
Michael was severely and publicly criticized for what is known in the church
as 'worldly', meaning behavior that mirrors non believers or sinners, behaviors.
Because of this,
Michael was becoming disenchanted by the church's elders by this time,
mostly because since leaving the Jacksons and the influence his father had on his
life and career, he no longer wanted to be told what to do.
What's more, he couldn't reconcile his
lifestyle and career with a religion's strict tenets.
In truth, it's almost impossible to be
a Jehovah's Witness and be a mainstream entertainer.
Quote, certain things that I did as
an artist in my music I didn't realize I was crossing a line with them.
And when they chastised me, it really hurt me.
It almost destroyed me.
While shooting his video for the track
Smooth Criminal in early 1987, special weapons and an ammunition team
briefed Michael on how to hold a machine gun and fire it for a scene.
It was the last scene of the evening and Michael was having fun with it.
Like a little boy playing army.
He took a strong stance and fired.
As the cameras roll. The next morning,
his personal makeup artist, Karen Faye, remembers Michael walked
in their trailer, distraught, quote, his eyes welled up with tears.
Mother called me last night.
The church called her and told her that I held and fired a gun.
Yesterday they ordered that I have to make a decision.
I must leave the church or leave the entertainment industry.
He was weeping as he uttered those words.
When Karen asked Michael what his mother advised him to do,
he told her that she was horrified, but ultimately the decision was up to him.
On May 19th, 1987, Michael withdrew from the Jehovah's Witness faith.
A letter from the Jehovah's Witness
headquarters sent as a press release stated that the organization, quote,
no longer considers Michael Jackson to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Gary Bodding, author of The Orwellian World
of Jehovah's Witness and a Witness himself, said that leaving the religion
is, quote, worse than being disfellowshipped or kicked out.
He observed, quote if you willfully reject God's holy organization on earth,
that's the unforgivable sin, the sin against the Holy Spirit.
Michael's decision to leave the church caused his mother great despair.
There was now no discussing of spiritual
matters with him, as it was strictly prohibited
for a witness to discuss matters of faith with ex members, even if they are family.
Katherine said that she has never asked
Michael what happened, and she never intends to ask such questions.
Quote I was not required to shun my son,
but we can't talk about matters of faith any longer, which is a shame.
Even after Michael's disassociation
with the Jehovah Witness faith, he likely didn't stop believing their
teachings and still suffered greatly from guilt. In years to come,
he would give gifts to loved ones around
their birth date, but couldn't bring himself to acknowledge
the occasion by wishing them a happy birthday.
In 1993, Elizabeth Taylor organized Michael's first Christmas celebration.
The following home video shows Michael's excitement, but also he discusses his
guilt, feeling what he was doing was wrong.
Yeah, at the same time, it's exciting.
I felt guilty too.
At the same time,
I remember going in the bathroom crying later because I felt I had done something
wrong, because I was raised not to ever celebrate it.
Years later, Michael began the tradition of celebrating birthdays and would always
openly give gifts and throw parties for the birthdays of his children.
When it came to his children,
Michael still taught them values of the Jehovah's Witness faith,
even though he hadn't been a member of a congregation for years.
His son, Prince, reflected on his father's
faith and religious upbringing in a 2012 interview.
Quote he believed in a higher power.
He believed in Jehovah, or whatever God
your religion is, but he didn't believe in a lot of the religious stuff,
saying that you can't do this and you can't do that, or something like that.
But he respected all religions, no matter what your God was.
In his later years,
Michael Jackson appeared to explore religion outside of Christianity,
valuing the wisdom of spiritual leaders from a number of faiths.
It was reported that shortly before his untimely death, Michael Jackson,
like his brother Jermaine did years before, may have even converted to Islam.
Although this claim has never been
verified by any member of his family. Due to his religious convictions
and having disassociated from Jehovah's Witnesses,
Watchtower regulation dictated that he could not have a Watchtower funeral.
However, the Jackson family did hold what
reporters have described as a Witness ceremony.
On the Tuesday morning of his funeral, the family had a quick breakfast and then
got into their vehicles for the convoy to the 30 to 40 minutes private service.
About 70 relatives gathered at Forest Lawn, where Jackson's cousin,
Wendell Hawkins, conducted a Jehovah's Witness service.
The ceremony was described as spoken
in a way that their belief is that God is going to be back on this earth.
Wendell Hawkins addressed guests and said
he was glad that Michael was connected with Jehovah in life and now in death.
Thanks for watching the detail.
If you enjoyed this video, then check out our other videos
chronicling the friendships, relationships and rivalries of Michael Jackson.
We'll see you next time.