My comments in red
The cult is authoritarian in its power structure. The leader is regarded as the supreme authority. He or she may delegate certain power to a few subordinates for the purpose of seeing that members adhere to the leader's wishes and roles. There is no appeal outside of his or her system to greater systems of justice. For example, if a school teacher feels unjustly treated by a principal, appeals can be made. In a cult, the leader claims to have the only and final ruling on all matters.
In the WTS the Governing Body (GB) is the final authority on all WTS matters. All members are to look to them for direction. If a member tries to appeal to Headquarters or the GB on any matter concerning the relders in their congregation the matter is always referred back to the congregation itself and to the literature dispensed by the GB. Scripture is used to prevent members from going to outside sources to deal with internal problems even to the point of legal issues regarding suing another member or reporting criminal activity to the legal authorities.
While most organizations have ethical standards and arrangements for the reporting of unethical behavior, the WTS has no such avenue for people to report unwanted or undesired bahavior by those in authority over them.
The cult's leaders tend to be charismatic, determined, and domineering. They persuade followers to drop their families, jobs, careers, and friends to follow them. They (not the individual) then take over control of their followers' possessions, money, lives.During the indoctrination process individuals are slowly conditioned to change behaviors that are unacceptable to the group. The stated reason for the needed changes are always so that the person can please God and be acceptable to God. A person is "encourages" to examine every aspect of their lives to find the areas where they need to make these changes. And they are told that anyone who disagrees with these changes is an oppeser of God and therefore an enemy and should be avioded. As non-JW family and friends begin to see some of the changes they begin to question the reason for the changes. This is most often interpreted as opposition and "proof" that the person is an opponent of God and should be avoided. Prospective members are encourages to change jobs, quit school, give up friends and family or anything else that might interfere with their new life within the organization. Over time members may sell their homes to work "where the need was great" ? far from home often leaving the remaining contacts with non-JW friends and family. The cult's leaders are self-appointed, messianic persons who claim to have a special mission in life. For example, the flying saucer cult leaders claim that people from outer space have commissioned them to lead people to special places to await a space ship.
Amongst JWs it is a mystery how or why a person claims to be of the "anointed" class. They are presumably anointed with Holy Spirit, unlike the average JW. It is a small group of "anointed" men who have taken it upon themselves to lead the organization. Although no one understands or can explain the process of anointing, those who do claim this status are looked up to as a special class of people with a divine mission to take authority over the entire membership. While they are known as "fallible men", every word they publish or speak is to be obeyed without question.
The cult's leaders center the veneration of members upon themselves. Priests, rabbis, ministers, democratic leaders, and leaders of genuinely altruistic movements keep the veneration of adherents focused on God, abstract principles, and group purposes. Cult leaders, in contrast, keep the focus of love, devotion, and allegiance on themselves.
The WTS has managed to place itself in the position of God. Many JWs are more afraid of bringing shame on the organization than they are of bringing shame on God. More people are afraid of the elders than of any justice God may hand out to them. In fact many think if the worst God will do is kill them with no hellfire and torment, just everlasting sleep then being Dfed in this world is a much worse punishment. Fear of losing family, friends and community winds up being far worse than losing life.
The cult tends to be totalitarian in its control of the behavior of its members. Cults are likely to dictate in great detail what members wear, eat, when and where they work, sleep, and bathe-as well as what to believe, think, and say.
Unwritten rules about every facet of life dictate the life of the JW. Although the published works state that there are no such controls all JWs are fully aware of directions from the platform and from the elders of conforming to a wide range of rules.
The cult tends to have a double set of ethics. Members are urged to be open and honest within the group, and confess all to the leaders. On the other hand, they are encouraged to deceive and manipulate outsiders or nonmembers. Established religions teach members to be honest and truthful to all, and to abide by one set of ethics.
The concept of Theocratic Warfare is well known to JWs. While honesty and confession to the elders is expected the WTS itself participates in this Theocratic Warfare against its own members when they determine the membership has no right to know what the leadership is doing. The redefinition of what is "true" becomes "Truth is only what we decide others have a right to know".
The cult has basically only two purposes, recruiting new members and fund-raising. Established religions and altruistic movements may also recruit and raise funds. However, their sole purpose is not to grow larger; such groups have the goals to better the lives of their members and mankind in general. The cults may claim to make social
contributions, but in actuality these remain mere claims, or gestures. Their focus is always dominated by recruiting new members and fund-raising.
Little consideration is given to the betterment of the membership. People are told to "go to meetings, pray and go in service more" regardless of the problems they may face. Oh and "Leave it to Jehovah". No humanistic endeavors are partaken except recruitment and fund-raising.
The cult appears to be innovative and exclusive. The leader claims to be breaking with tradition, offering something novel, and instituting the only viable system for change that will solve life's problems or the world's ills. While claiming this, the cult then surreptitiously uses systems of psychological coercion on its members to inhibit their ability to examine the actual validity of the claims of the leader and the cult.
The WTS claims to be the only organization seving God on earth today. They have classed all other religions as Satanic thereby making them an exclusive organization. They have created new definitions to enforce the exclusionary nature of their organization. The constant publication of reading materials seems to enforce the idea that the members are being spiritually fed but the spiritual food consists of starvation rations. Rules about remaining clean and avoiding anything that comes from the Satanic organizations outside of the WTS prevent people from searching from information. Threats of disciline scare most JWs into refraining from reading the "Satanic" material.
