Ban on Vaccinations?

Vaccinations

The Golden Age February 4,1931 p. 293 “Vaccination is a direct violation of the everlasting covenant that God made with Noah after the flood.”

The Watchtower December 15,1952 p. 764 “Is vaccination a violation of God’s law forbidding the taking of blood into the system? After consideration of the matter, it does not appear to us to be in violation of the everlasting covenant made with Noah, as set down in Genesis 9:4, nor contrary to God’s related commandment at Leviticus 17:10-14 Hence all objection to vaccination on Scriptural grounds seems to be lacking.”

The Watchtower November 1,1961 p. 670 “Since the Bible forbids the eating of blood, how are Christians to view the use of serums and vaccines? Has the Society changed its viewpoint on this?” However, vaccination is a virtually unavoidable practice in many segments of modern society, and the Christian may find some comfortunder the circumstances in the fact that this use is not in actuality a feeding or nourishing process, which was specifically forbidden when God said that man was not to eat blood, but it is a contamination of the human system.”

Awake August 22,1965 p. 20 “There can be little doubt that vaccinations appear to have caused a marked decrease in the number of people contracting certain contagious diseases.”

The Watchtower, October 1, 1994, p. 31 “Would it be proper to accept a vaccination or some other medical injection containing albumin derived from human blood? Witnesses have long realized that this is a matter for private decision in accord with each one’s Bible-trained conscience. Some Christians who feel that they can in good conscience accept such injections have noted that antibodies from the blood of a pregnant woman cross into the blood of the baby in her womb.”

There have been cases where Jehovah’s Witnesses would have sympathetic Doctors burn a child’s arm with acid to make it appear that the child had been vaccinated so they could attend public school. Its sad that anyone would consider their ban on blood transfusions with the track record they have in medical doctrines.

Doctrinal Flip-Flops

Since their inception, the Watchtower has flip-flopped on many of their doctrines. These doctrines were not some small issues. These are doctrines that many Jehovah’s Witnesses paid the ultimate price for. They remained blind instead of getting an cornea transplant and died of kidney failure instead of having a kidney transplant. People were put at risk of smallpox and other infectious deceases after being told they could not have any vaccinations.

Then 20 years later they have decided that it is ok to have a transplant or vaccine and actually contradict themselves on waht they previously taught.

I can’t understand how anyone can say they are “God’s Organization” and his sole “channel of communication” with the record they hold with their medical doctrines. Lets just think about this for a moment. So God told them something was forbidden and their followers were to avoid it at all cost. Then God told them that he made a mistake and it was ok after all. How ludicrous is that? You will never find God telling his people to do something that may cost them their life and then contradicting himself later. Who is this god they say they are speaking for? This is not the God of the Bible.

Based on this constent flip flop of doctrines and the leaders poor interpretation, should a Jehovah’s Witness now trust their child’s life or even their own life to medical doctrines that are still on the books like blood transfusions? Looking at their track record on their medical doctrines they show no reliabilty at all.

I think it’s important to point out something. The Jehovah’s Witness quickly did an about face when these bans were lifted. They immediately began to have organ transplants and vaccinations. So the question is this. Where they following what the Bible said or what the Watchtower told them it was saying? Where they following God or Man? Is this a God made organization as they want you to believe or a man made organization?

Gods Organization?

One of the core doctrines to the Jehovah’s Witness is the belief that they are “Gods Organization”. This doctrine brings with it a certain connotation that God is running the organization and should you choose not to believe, listen, or do something the organization tells you to do, it would be paramount to telling God no. This in itself can be a fearful thought, but one that holds the Jehovah’s Witness in bondage to the Watchtower’s bidding.

Let’s take a look at how this doctrine of being “God’s Organization” and it’s “channel of communication” actually came full circle from the beginning of the Watchtower and its teaching.

Get a copy of the Watchtower’s refrenced below by Clicking Here>>>GODS ORGANIZATION.PDF

The Watchtower Reprints, March 1883, p. 458 “We believe that a visible organization and the adopting of some particular name, would end to increase our numbers and make us appear more respectable in the estimation of he world €¦ We always refuse to be called by any other name that that of our Head - Christians - continually claiming that there can be no division among those continually led by his Spirit and example as made known through his Word.”

The Watchtower  Reprints, September 1, 1893, p. 1572 “The endeavor to compel all men to think alike on all subjects, culminated in the great apostasy and the development of the great Papal system.”

The Watchtower Reprints, September 1, 1893,p. 1573 “There is no organization today clothed with such divine authority to imperiously command mankind. There is no organization doing this today; though we are well aware that many of them in theory claim that they ought to be permitted to do so.”

The Watchtower reprints, December 1, 1894, p. 1743 “In view of these facts and also of the nature of the harvest work, and the additional fact that each one so gathered is expected to enter into the harvest work as a reaper, and will do so to the extent of his ability and opportunity, it is plain that the forming of a visible organization of such gathered out ones would be out of harmony with the spirit of the divine plan.”

The Watchtower Reprints, September 15, 1895, p. 1866 “Beware of €˜organization’ It is wholly unnecessary.”

The Watchtower, January 15, 1917 p. 6033  “The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society is the greatest corporation in the world, because from the time of its organization until now the Lord has used it as his cahnnel through which to make know the glad tidings”

The Watchtower, April 1, 1919, p. 6414 “Is not the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society the one and only channel which the Lord has used in dispensing his truth continually since the beginning of the harvest period.”

The Watchtower, May 1, 1938, p. 169 “Jehovah’s organization has a visible part on earth which represents the Lord and is under his direct supervision.”

The Watchtower, May 1, 1957, p. 274 “The world is full of Bibles, which Book contains the commandments of God. Why, then,  do the people not know which way to go? Because they do not also have the teaching or law of the mother, which is light…If we are to walk in the light of truth we must recognize not only Jehovah God as our Father but his organization as our mother.”

The Watchtower, October 1, 1967, p. 587 “Thus the Bible is an organizational book and belongs to the Christian congregation as an organization, not to individuals, regardless of how sincerely they may believe that they can interpret the Bible. For this reason the Bible cannot be properly understood without Jehovah’s visible organization in mind.”

The Watchtower, July 1, 1973, p. 402 “Jehovah’s organization alone, in all the earth, is directed by God’s holy spirit or active force.”

The Watchtower December 1,1981, p. 27 “unless we are in touch with this channel of communication that God uses, we will not progress along the road of life, no matter how much Bible reading we do.”

The Watchtower, February 15, 1983, p. 12 “What does God require of those who will reside forever upon his Paradise earth?…requirement is that we be associated with God’s channel, his organization…To receive everlasting life in the earthly Paradise we must identify that organization and serve God as part of it.”

The Watchtower, June 1, 1985 p.19  “We must not lose sight of the fact that God is directing his organization.”

The Watchtower, June 1, 1985, p. 20 “Although walking with confidence in Jehovah’s leadership may not be easy at times…To turn away from Jehovah and his organization, to spurn the direction of the €˜faithful and discreet slave,’ and to rely simply on personal Bible reading and interpretation is to become like a solitary tree in a parched land.”

Just looking at the way this doctrine has developed should make one ask themselves, is this truly God’s Organization and channel of communication? Would God first communicate one thing and then years later say the exact opposite?  Who are people being told to turn to for answers? Does this point to the Bible or God? It is also interesting to notice that in earlier Wachtower publication they used the word “Lord” as God’s name. This was another flip flop change when they used the name “Jehovah” for God and not Lord. This is just another way to keep their members in control.

Mind Control - Brainwashing

I think it’s important to understand mind control / brainwashing and how the Watchtower uses this to control a Jehovah’s Witness.

Steven Hassan is an author and exit counselor to people who leave the cults. In his book Combating Cult Mind Control, He focuses mainly on the Moonies, but list the Jehovah’s Witnesses among the cults. Chapter 2 of this book breaks down the B.I.T.E method of mind control. This is a non religious book, so there is no bias to non Jehovah’s Witnesses. Please take careful note of the steps in each category because you will see these items over and over again in the Watchtower literature. Once you know them, you will be able to quickly identify what they are doing.

Destructive mind control can be understood in terms of four basic components, which form the acronym BITE:
I. Behavior Control
II. Information Control
III. Thought Control
IV. Emotional Control

It is important to understand that destructive mind control can be determined when the overall effect of these four components promotes dependency and obedience to some leader or cause. It is not necessary for every single item on the list to be present. Mind controlled cult members can live in their own apartments, have nine-to-five jobs, be married with children, and still be unable to think for themselves and act independently.

I. Behavior Control
1. Regulation of individual’s physical reality
a. Where, how and with whom the member lives and associates with
b. What clothes, colors, hairstyles the person wears
c. What food the person eats, drinks, adopts, and rejects
d. How much sleep the person is able to have
e. Financial dependence
f. Little or no time spent on leisure, entertainment, vacations
2. Major time commitment required for indoctrination sessions and group rituals
3. Need to ask permission for major decisions
4. Need to report thoughts, feelings and activities to superiors
5. Rewards and punishments (behavior modification techniques- positive and negative).
6. Individualism discouraged; group think prevails
7. Rigid rules and regulations
8. Need for obedience and dependency

II. Information Control
1. Use of deception
a. Deliberately holding back information
b. Distorting information to make it acceptable
c. Outright lying
2. Access to non-cult sources of information minimized or discouraged
a. Books, articles, newspapers, magazines, TV, radio
b. Critical information
c. Former members
d. Keep members so busy they don’t have time to think
3. Compartmentalization of information; Outsider vs. Insider doctrines
a. Information is not freely accessible
b. Information varies at different levels and missions within pyramid
c. Leadership decides who “needs to know” what
4. Spying on other members is encouraged
a. Pairing up with “buddy” system to monitor and control
b. Reporting deviant thoughts, feelings, and actions to leadership
5. Extensive use of cult generated information and propaganda
a. Newsletters, magazines, journals, audio tapes, videotapes, etc.
b. Misquotations, statements taken out of context from non-cult sources
6. Unethical use of confession
a. Information about “sins” used to abolish identity boundaries
b. Past “sins” used to manipulate and control; no forgiveness or absolution

III. Thought Control
1. Need to internalize the group’s doctrine as “Truth”
a. Map = Reality
b. Black and White thinking
c. Good vs. evil
d. Us vs. them (inside vs. outside)
2. Adopt “loaded” language (characterized by “thought-terminating clichés”). Words are the tools we use to think with. These “special” words constrict rather than expand understanding. They function to reduce complexities of experience into trite, platitudinous “buzz words”.
3. Only “good” and “proper” thoughts are encouraged.
4. Thought-stopping techniques (to shut down “reality testing” by stopping “negative” thoughts and allowing only “good” thoughts); rejection of rational analysis, critical thinking, constructive criticism.
a. Denial, rationalization, justification, wishful thinking
b. Chanting
c. Meditating
d. Praying
e. Speaking in “tongues”
f. Singing or humming
5. No critical questions about leader, doctrine, or policy seen as legitimate
6. No alternative belief systems viewed as legitimate, good, or useful

IV. Emotional Control
1. Manipulate and narrow the range of a person’s feelings.
2. Make the person feel like if there are ever any problems it is always their fault, never the leader’s or the group’s.
3. Excessive use of guilt
a. Identity guilt
1. Who you are (not living up to your potential)
2. Your family
3. Your past
4. Your affiliations
5. Your thoughts, feelings, actions
b. Social guilt
c. Historical guilt
4. Excessive use of fear
a. Fear of thinking independently
b. Fear of the “outside” world
c. Fear of enemies
d. Fear of losing one’s “salvation”
e. Fear of leaving the group or being shunned by group
f. Fear of disapproval
5. Extremes of emotional highs and lows.
6. Ritual and often public confession of “sins”.
7. Phobia indoctrination : programming of irrational fears of ever leaving the group or even questioning the leader’s authority. The person under mind control cannot visualize a positive, fulfilled future without being in the group.
a. No happiness or fulfillment “outside”of the group
b. Terrible consequences will take place if you leave: “hell”; “demon possession”; “incurable diseases”; “accidents”; “suicide”; “insanity”; “10,000 reincarnations”; etc.
c. Shunning of leave takers. Fear of being rejected by friends, peers, and family.
d. Never a legitimate reason to leave. From the group’s perspective, people who leave are: “weak;” “undisciplined;” “unspiritual;” “worldly;” “brainwashed by family, counselors;” seduced by money, sex, rock and roll.

Brain washing has somewhat similar steps.

1. Repetitive instruction with books, magazines and meetings all saying the same thing over and over again.
The JW are told not to read anything but what they publish and go so far as to call it “religious pornography”. If caught reading anything other than what they publish, they risk being disfellowshipped.

2. New members are told to break ties with outside friends and limit fellowship with non-member relatives.
This is slow process for new JW’s. First they are told to talk to their friends and family about truth, but when they get any real resistances they are told to avoid contact with them if possible. They are then encourage to make JW friends.

3. Banning the reading of anything the criticizes them.
See explanation in number 1.

4. The denunciation and shunning of ex-members.
We are going to have a chapter on shunning and disfellowshipping, but basically it is when other members never talk with a person who leaves the Jehovah’s Witness. This includes mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, children. Sinful is what that is!

5. Verbal attacks undermining the authority of all outside institutions  “ religious, educational, medical, governmental.”
Over and over again you will see these attacks by the watchtower on all of these systems of authority. Usually they refer to them as from Satan.

6. They have a unique vocabulary with loaded language reinforcing the sect’s rules.
For instance they use “new light” and “Gods Organization” to name a couple.

7. They orchestrate superiority / inferiority-guilt complex

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Their False Prophecies

Since the very beginning of the Watchtower, there have been references to Armageddon and the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of course none of their prophecies ever came true, so it is important to see what the Bible has to say on the subject.

 In Deuteronomy 18: 20-22 we read,

“But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.” 21 And if you say in your heart, “How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken” 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.”

Over and over again the Watchtower has claimed to be God’s prophet on earth or that Charles Taze Russell was a prophet. These are some of the claims the Watchtower has published over the years;

The Watchtower of May 15, 1917, p.609″Truly there lived among us in these last days a prophet of the Lord; and although now he has passed from human sight, his works remain an enduring witness to his wisdom and his faithfulness!” They were speaking here of Charles Taze Russell.
The Watchtower, January 15, 1959, p. 40-41″Whom has God actually used as his prophet?…Jehovah’s witnesses are deeply grateful today that the plain facts show that God has been pleased to use them.”
The Watchtower, June 15, 1964, p. 365 “As Jehovah revealed his truths by means of the first-century Christian congregation so he does today by means of the present-day Christian congregation. Through this agency he is having carried out prophesying on an intensified and unparalleled scale.”

By its own admission, all false prophets will be exposed by God in due time. Taking a look at one of their books, Paradise Restored to Mankind - By Theocracy published by the Watchtower in 1972, page 353 & 354 states that “Jehovah will put all false prophets to shame either by not fulfilling the false prediction of such self assuming prophets or by having His own prophecies fulfilled in a way opposite to that predicted by the false prophets”.
As the years have gone by, damage control was the name when it came to putting the past behind them. If asked directly, many of the Jehovah’s Witness will refuse to admit that the past false predictions mean they are a false prophet. It always amazed me that despite the evidence they are given, they will never admit when they are wrong.
In the other post we listed, you will see how the systematically went from one date to another making predictions of Christ return, the return of Biblical men such as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob from the dead and the end of the world.

Charles Taze Russell

Charles Taze Russell was born in 1852 and died on October 31, 1916. He started the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society in the late 1800’s with the first publication of the Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence being printed in 1874.
Depending on what you read, Mr. Russell started the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society for various reasons. Although he grew up in a Presbyterian home, most of his tutelage came from Adventist teachers when he was an editor of the Herald of the Morning.
There were a few Christian doctrines that lead him to leave his Presbyterian roots to start the Zion’s Watch Tower. His spiritually dangerous teachings grew from his refusal to accept or believe in the idea of Hell, the bodily resurrection of Christ, the deity of Christ and the Trinity.
The Watchtower December 16, 1916 had this to say about their leader.

“Charles Taze Russell, thou hast, by the Lord, been crowned a king; and through the everlasting ages thou name shall be know amongst the people, and thy enemies shall come and worship at thy feet”.

Considering the Bible teaches that only God is to be worshipped, I think we should all take notice of what level he is being brought to.

The Watchtower November 1, 1917 said this;

“Hence our dear pastor, now in glory, is without a doubt, manifesting a keen interest in the harvest work, and is permitted by the Lord to exercise some strong influence thereupon.”

Once again the Watchtower puts Mr. Russell as some how influencing the Lord. Interestingly enough, the Jehovah’s Witness believe that you are none existent when you die, so how he would be doing anything goes against their own doctrine.
In a watchtower book entitled “The Finished Mystery “, on page 31 of the 1917 edition it said,

“The special messenger to the last age of the Church was Charles T Russell, born February 16, 1852. He has privately admitted his belief that he was chosen for his great work from before his birth”.

Later in a bid to flee from the past and distance themselves from what earlier Watchtowers had written about him, the Watchtower May 1, 1989 said this.

“In the early part of our 20th century prior to 1919, the Bible Students, as Jehovah’s Witnesses were then know, had to be released from a form of spiritual captivity to the ideas and practices of false religion - Some were exalting creatures, indulging in a personality cult that focused on Charles Taze Russell, the first president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. “

I don’t think a few apostates could have exalted this “cult” type action on their own. It is very evident from his writings that he himself was the driving force behind these writings.
According to the book, “Jehovah’s Witnesses in Divine Purpose”, page 62 and “The Laodicean Messenger” page 106, Russell preached over 30,000 sermons, authored 50,000 printed pages, and sold almost 20,000,000 copies of his books.
Later, Joseph Russell the second President renamed the group Jehovah’s Witness to distinguish it from the other Bible groups that split off from Charles Russell after his death. To this day when you speak about certain doctrines, a Jehovah’s Witness may say that they do not follow that or teach that and what you’re telling them came from the “Russellites”.

Welcome

It always seems to be the worst possible time. You’re hard at work on your Saturday morning project, rushing out the door to get the kids to baseball practice or you have just settled down to take some time to yourself and relax. That’s when the knock at the door interrupts your schedule.

You peer out the window and get this sinking feeling when you see the unmistakable look of the people at the door. Its not your neighbor bringing you a nice tray of cookies or the mailman with a package, it’s the Jehovah’s Witnesses coming to share with you some insight on the Bible.
If you’re a Christian, you don’t want to be rude so you turn the lights off and with a quick sshhhh to the family, you pretend your not home. Perhaps you nicely open the door and tell them that you’re not interested, while quickly closing it as they try to engage you in conversation. Maybe you even want to give them a peace of your mind so you throw open the door,  give them a few verses about hell and where they’re going and slam the door before you hear a peep.

Either way you want to put it, the Jehovah’s Witness just use this type of behavior to prove that they’re the true Christians and you’re not. As they shake the dust from their feet and walk off to the next house, you think to yourself that if you could just get through to them, maybe you wouldn’t have to act that way. Trying to justify our actions leaves us feeling guilty and wishing there was better way. We’re here to tell you that there is!
Most people act this way because at one time or another they’ve allowed a Jehovah’s Witness into their home. Once in the home, they have managed to have their own beliefs and knowledge of the Bible shuffled up like a deck of cards and then handed back to them until it resembles nothing of what they thought it was.
If not equipped to deal with the “facts” they lay before you, you can very easily start to question your own beliefs. This is precisely why this web site was started. It’s to equip you with the full armor of God. It is our desire to expose the false doctrines of the Jehovah’s Witness through true Biblical interpretation.  You do not need any other book to learn about God, his expectations or anything else for that matter. All you need to do is let the Bible interpret itself and that is what we hope to teach you to do.