CONTENT
Prelude
How did it all begin?
"The Faithful and Discreet Slave"
"The Governing Body"
Terminology Issues
Traveling Overseers
Pioneers
Legal Committees
God's Name
"Commandments of men"
Let's start with 1914
Invisible Presence
"The Great Crowd"
Michael the Archangel
Blood transfusion
Attending Congregation Meetings
A little about honesty
UN Membership
"The Bible of Macarius"
Disinformation
"Ministry of Truth"
Statistics
Some conclusions
Instead of a conclusion
Prelude
Everyone thinks about God. This happens throughout his life. This happens differently for everyone. Everyone seeks God and tries to find the "one and only" religion. The only question is that this "one and only" does not become the first one that comes across, which very often happens. And since the activity of some religious organizations in our country is very high, the probability of accepting their teachings as truth is directly proportional to their activity and the number of publications containing their ideas are distributed. Such are, for example, Jehovah's Witnesses.
For more than 10 years, I have been an active member of this religious organization. I now serve as an elder in one of the congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses. I have chosen to write this article to help my brothers and sisters in the faith realistically look at the teachings of our organization in the light of Bible truth. Objectively and impartially. Of course, it is much easier to pretend that everything is normal and we are on the right track, but then the same thing can happen to millions of good and hardworking people in our country, when they believed for 70 years in the absurd, albeit very attractive, idea of a communist paradise under the leadership of the Communist Party. I do not want to draw any analogies, but at the same time I do not want to lose sight of the obvious similarities with what is already history.
My feelings can be expressed in the words of the Apostle Paul, which he addressed to the representatives of the people of Israel in his letter to the Romans in verses 10-4: "Brethren! the desire of my heart and prayer to God for Israel for salvation. For I testify to them that they have zeal for God, but not for reasoning. For, not understanding the righteousness of God, and striving to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to the righteousness of God, because the end of the law is Christ, to the righteousness of everyone who believes." These words of the Apostle very well express the essence of the religious life of the entire organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, since in its midst there are people who wholeheartedly strive to believe in God and trust in His Word, but who have built all their faith on human teachings that are spread by the so-called "faithful and discreet slave" in the person of a very small group of similar Jehovah's Witnesses, with the only difference: that they are with the management of the organization. These people were able to impose their human teachings on millions of fellow believers, "striving to set their own righteousness" rather than the righteousness of God. In fact, the entire structure of the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses closely resembles the structure of religious authority that the Pharisees created. More than that, Jehovah's Witnesses are the direct successors of their "work" because they have failed to heed the clear words of the Bible at Romans 10:1-4 and continue to live by creating many different laws to regulate people's religious lives, instead of accepting the freedom that Christ's atoning sacrifice gave "to the righteousness of every believer." They publish these laws mainly in their main written "Talmud," the Watchtower Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom.
I want to say more: over the many years of my stay in the organization, I have become convinced that the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses is not really a religious organization, but it is a kind of party operating under the guise of religion, which has its own Central Committee (called the Governing Body), an extensive structure of representative offices (Branches), a staff of inspectors of the Central Committee (traveling overseers), a system of monetary contributions (voluntary donations), and so on.
If we look at it from another point of view, then Jehovah's Witnesses are a non-governmental organization that can operate on the territory of a state, as on the territory of an enemy. Let me explain this with an example: the Kingdom Ministry School was recently held in Russia, the name of a two-day seminar for elders of Jehovah's Witnesses, at which, for example, specific instructions were given on how to act if you are summoned to the FSB. Instructions were given not to say anything, but to immediately report everything to the Administrative Center of the religious organization "Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia" in St. Petersburg, and then "wait for further instructions." This is very reminiscent of "actions behind enemy lines", something like the game "Stirlitz under the hood of Müller". It just amazed me, because I felt involved in some kind of conspiracy against a state that was just about to do something, but was already "bad". But all this is in direct contradiction with Romans 13:1-4: "Let every soul be subject to the superior authorities, for there is no authority except from God; but the existing authorities are established by God. Therefore he who resists authority resists God's decree. And those who resist will bring condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are feared not for good works, but for evil ones. Do you want not to be afraid of the authorities? Do good, and you will receive praise from her, for [the ruler] is God's servant, for your good. But if you do evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain: he is God's servant, the avenger of him who does evil." What should we be afraid of if we do not do any evil, and why turn the citizens of some country against their own state. Set up in advance, without thinking about the consequences, because these instructions should not be disclosed, in addition, we were even advised not to write them down, but to memorize them. Why such secrecy? For me personally, as for a law-abiding citizen, this is unacceptable. I also believe that my brothers and sisters have the right to know about this policy of the organization they are a part of.