Eyewitnesses tell about the difficult atmosphere of universal earphones and denunciation in this top of the "world theocracy". Most employees strive to forget at least for a while and switch off from this rat lifestyle. In Bethel there is heavy unrestrained drunkenness and other things that in the Soviet party committees (surprisingly similar to the Jehovist upper circle) were called by the capacious word "immorality": "... We drank a lot there. I learned to drink at Bethel. If you go there not drinking, then by the time you leave, you will be drinking." [136]

Alcohol abuse is generally a big problem for "witnesses" of various levels: "Life under the close supervision of the elders devastated me; Nothing and no one, not even my children, who brought me so much joy, could make my life complete. Often my wife and I drank excessively, looking for at least some relief. But it all ended in one emptiness." [138]

This theocracy, scattered throughout the world, has about 6 million subjects[139] who are active members of the sect. Subjects regularly pay contributions that are very much higher than the taxes paid by citizens of any secular state. This gives an idea of the income of the Governing Corporation. Its expenditures are incomparably less than those of any government.

The main press organ of the Jehovah's Witnesses is the Watchtower magazine, and the second organ is the Awake! magazine. The Watchtower is published twice a month with a circulation of more than 23 million copies[140] (that is, more than 46 million copies per month) in 139 languages. Between 1920 and 1996, more than 9 billion copies of books, magazines and brochures were published and distributed worldwide in more than 200 languages. In 1986-1992 alone, the total circulation of Jehovah's Witness literature amounted to about 2 billion 715 million copies. About 5 million copies of various Jehovah's Witnesses and magazines are published annually in Russian.

The printing center serving Russia is located in Germany. From a professional printing point of view, the publications look great: catchy, bright illustrations, high-quality paper; Magazines and brochures inspire confidence and catch the eye. Members of the sect are obliged to distribute these publications. They buy them back with their own money, and then distribute or sell them. Thus, for the Governing Corporation, the publication of magazines and books is not only an absolutely win-win business, but also brings fabulous profits: each book of multi-million copies is sold out even before it is published. Until recently, sectarians were instructed to buy every new book and magazine for each member of their family, not to mention copies for distribution. Now in a number of countries this procedure has been somewhat changed: sectarians on a weekly basis on a "voluntary-compulsory" basis donate money that at least covers, or even significantly exceeds the cost of the magazines distributed in Brooklyn.

In this sense, Jehovah's Witnesses can be viewed as a commercial cult or a commercial and financial pyramid with an ideological and pseudo-religious superstructure, existing for the sake of distributing the written and printed products of the publishing house. We compose, illustrate, publish, and deliver non-competitive products around the world, which cannot be sold without strong ideological support: no one can buy them in an ordinary kiosk. And accordingly, everything must be done to ensure the sell-out, from which the organization receives hundreds of millions of dollars of net income.

That is why in the overwhelming majority of European countries, Jehovah's Witnesses have never been considered a religious organization at all. In early 1999, the sect was stripped of its religious status in France. The French authorities have ordered the Witnesses to pay more than $50 million in taxes over the past few years. Until then, all the property of the sect in France has been seized.

The distribution of books and magazines and propaganda work is called a testimony that every member of the sect is obliged to fulfill. The minimum allowable number of certificates is 10 hours per month. But in order to be in good standing in the sect, you need to "witness" much more – 50, 60, 80 or more hours a month.

A special category of Witnesses are pioneers (who preach at least 90 hours per month) and special pioneers (who preach at least 140 hours per month). In 1997, about 700,000 of the 5,900,000 Witnesses were pioneers, or one in eight. [141]

The September 1996 issue of Our Kingdom Ministry, a Jehovah's Witness magazine for internal use, contains detailed instructions on recruitment, including a requirement to know the name, address, and phone number of a person who has shown even the slightest interest in the conversation. The guide "How to start and continue a conversation on a biblical topic" (1994) examines options for drawing visiting residents into a conversation, including the use of direct lies about one's confessional affiliation. In this manual, the lie that sectarians do not need money is also recognized as permissible (this is despite the fact that in another manual the methods of extortion are very frankly described[142]). All the results of the conversations are recorded in special cards - "Records of the service from house to house", where the addresses of the houses and apartments visited are indicated. If possible, the names and surnames of the residents are recorded, as well as their reaction to the sectarians pestering them and the literature donated to them. Thanks to such painstaking work, a total record of all residents of the areas in which the sect operates is kept. At the same time, information is also collected about residents, the time when they can be found at home, their health, interests. The degree of activity of the "witness" and, consequently, his desire for salvation is evaluated by the leadership of the Jehovah's Witnesses according to the data of these cards. There is no other word than "recruitment" for all this activity.

But Jehovah's Witnesses constantly emphasize "the high moral standard of their organization. Is this true? "Society" uses a very peculiar understanding of lying, different from the generally accepted one. It is due to the fact that a special policy is being pursued in relation to non-members of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization. Those who doubt the essence of their teachings are perceived as opponents[143] and treated as such. The OSB teaches Jehovah's Witnesses to literally keep silent about certain facts or lie about them. This tactic is called the "strategy of theocratic warfare." The Society urges the "witnesses" to remember that: "As a soldier of Christ, he is constantly in a state of theocratic war and must be very careful when dealing with God's enemies. Thus, it is clear from the Scriptures that in order to protect the interests of God's cause, the truth must be concealed from God's enemies." [144] Accordingly, the entire literature of the OSB is filled with distortions of facts and outright deceptions. In the book Help in Understanding the Bible, we read: "Lying is usually understood to mean a lie told to someone who has a right to know the truth." [145] Of course, the Brooklyn theocracy makes the decision about who and when is worthy of knowing the truth.

2. "The God of the priesthood is... the ancient pagan deity, overgrown with centuries of iniquity, is Baal, this is the Devil himself"

Divine services among Jehovah's Witnesses are based on the Watchtower magazine. It takes place in the "kingdom halls"; in Moscow, for example, in 1996 there were about 60 such halls. Jehovah's Witnesses either rent premises for these purposes, or (in other countries or in rural areas) build such halls, and they try to do it in a minimum time (preferably in one day), gathering the maximum number of people for this. Their worship is the same as their buildings – incredibly boring. The absence of professional clergy in the localities contributes to the officialdom and dead boredom that reigns at meetings. Theoretically, every man over 20 years old can be a leader. However, in reality, everything is led by activists appointed from above - "elders". This guarantees a complete absence of initiative from below and any surprises, which is a matter of special pride for Jehovah's Witnesses. A characteristic quotation: "The God of the priesthood is quite obviously not Jehovah, it is an ancient pagan deity overgrown with centuries of iniquity, it is Baal, it is the Devil himself" [146] (the last word in Jehovist texts is always written with a capital letter). That is, the presence of the clergy for them is a criterion of devil worship. However, as we have seen, this does not prevent the Jehovah's Witnesses from donating money for the maintenance of their "pioneers" and "overseers."

Jehovah's Witnesses must attend a special book study meeting once a week and visit a "kingdom hall" twice a week. In addition, there is also a large summer convention and several smaller ones throughout the rest of the year. In the field, there are branches of the central (Pennsylvania) "Gilead Theocratic Ministry School," in which sectarians are taught to preach and defend the point of view of the "Society" with the help of literature. The school curriculum provides for intensive five-month indoctrination and preparation for recruitment activities.