As a baptized Jehovah's Witness, I have been tested over the years by those very ones who claim they are entrusted with my soul. My mind has run the gamut of theories as to why those at the Watchtower seem to set themselves up as superior to all other religions, then publicly knock themselves down in committing major acts of hypocrisy?
I'll digress a moment to state that one strong theory that has deeply troubled me over the years, centers around their transformation over a century into a caricaturistic representation of Christendom. (Refer definition of caricature at http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=caricature for clarification.)
I remember back on H2O when a JW, I believe it was "Goldie", compared the mystery of the Watchtower and its Governing Body members to a complicated jigsaw puzzle. She asked the rhetorical question about what the picture on the puzzle would look like if anyone was diligent enough to finish the puzzle? She asked, after placing the last piece to the finished puzzle into place, would the puzzle show the picture of a demon?
Her remarks triggered a thought. I had recently been in touch with someone who showed me evidence the Watchtower had used a spiritist, Johannes Greber, to write one of its Bible translations back in the 1960's or thereabouts. There has been a lot of dabbling in spiritism by the Governing Body members over the past century, with ties to the famous magician Allastair McClain (spelling?). I had done some research on this magician to discover he was a Satan worshiper. I could not shake the idea that the Governing Body members over the past century were involved in secret rituals, much like the rituals practiced in secret by the Mormons and Masons.
Goldie's allegory suddenly hit me with a very disturbing thought. Suppose the Watchtower, in its "bowels" deep inside Bethel, is involved not only in spiritism but Satanism? Suppose the process of educating and baptizing each JW is considered a rite of passage for that individual toward ultimately demoralizing them, and thus causing them to lose their very eternal soul? Afterall, many Satanic rituals work along these lines.
Recently the eleven year association with the United Nations brought back these troubling suspicions. The organization has reached over 6 million, with billions of dollars in yearly revenues. Any larger and it runs the risk of losing control over the rank and file. If my theory is correct, suppose they used this association with the United Nations on multiple levels.
Aside from any economic benefits, the idea is to shake the Watchtower tree. Those who belong to the true God of the Bible will recognize the gross sin they have committed and leave. Those who are not pure at heart, will continue believing the lie, perhaps believing they were "accidentally" part of the United Nations for over 10 years, or rationalize their association.
Along this train of thought, the Watchtower could accomplish several objectives. Many tens of thousands will be stumbled and lose faith in God. This could be considered as one of several "sacrifices" to the god of this system, if there is Satanism practiced in Bethel at the organization's core. Some will leave to serve God elsewhere. These are the sheep "that got away."
Finally, those who stay will have seared their consciences. They will, by their refusal to face the bitter truth about the Watchtower, thus condone an organization that by its own teachings has committed the ultimate act of religious hypocrisy. Those in charge of the Watchtower have committed intercourse with "the beast" described in the book of Revelation.
I'm thinking outloud, and have yet to draw any final conclusions.
In case some might not know where I'm going with this, perhaps I should spell it out. I'm concerned about a pattern that is emerging where the Watchtower promotes teachings from the Bible to the congregations, and then acts in direct opposition to those teachings. The end-effect is first to recruit millions who are willing to place the Watchtower above Christ in importance. Thus by the Watchtower's own definition of idolatry, many look to it idolatrously as being the final authority in their lives. Second, to cause spiritual desolation in the lives of millions of others, who weak willed people who relied on the Watchtower as a crutch, because they are unable to make up their own minds and hearts as to the truth. These are the ones who are "stumbled" when learning about the Watchtower's membership in the United Nations. It's not even that membership in the peace promoting United Nations is wrong in itself. Rather it's the Watchtower's demonizing the UN through its teachings, then hopping into bed with it. The UN was a convenient effigy for the Watchtower. Could it have been demonized for the sole purpose of later stumbling and demoralizing millions? Did the Watchtower essentially say "this organization belongs to Satan" in preparation for it later hopping into bed with "Satan"?
Simply getting involved with the United Nations was political, and becoming a part of this world. By demonizing the UN as being Satanic in its very nature, however, did the Watchtower get more mileage out of its membership by demoralizing over 6 million people who would eventually learn of this involvement? Was the intended result to cull out those who really came to know God through the Bible by disgusting them into disassociation, while corrupting the souls of the Judas-like individuals whose hearts did not belong to God? Many others would stumble, believing the Watchtower's hypocrisy was evidence that God does not exist, and leaving the organization to serve God but to live the very empty superficial lives the Watchtower taught them was worldly. Then of course there would be smatterings of those who leave to become "good people" whom, although not believing in God, still lead moral lives. They once were baptized as Christians, but turned away from Christianity.
What would motivate a few at the core of the Watchtower to cause all this spiritual mayhem? Is the motive too simple and basic to accept as possible fact? Is this just another variation of the practices by a Satanic "cult" which, rather than animal or human sacrifices, treats the mass spiritual demoralization of millions of human souls -- the shattering of their faith in a living God -- as a "worthy sacrifice" to their god?
Again, I go back to the connections of spiritism in the organization. I think about the spiritistic undertones surround the grave of Charles Taze Russell with its pyramid that is maintained by Watchtower funds. I think about the past ties to spiritists like Johannes Greber and Alastair McClain, the latter who worshiped Satan in the belief that he derived great supernatural powers from "the god of this system of things." I think of the possible foundation of this entire religion in Masonry. I think of the possible ties of this religion to Mormonism, and theories that the Watchtower is secretly a subsidiary of the Mormon Church.
The bottomline is that the Watchtower is bearing rotten fruits. The shocking epidemic of child molestation chronicled at Silent Lambs site http://www.silentlambs.org/ and decade-long association with an organization that is condemned in many Watchtower publications, is but two of many examples. Can anyone deny the logic of my suspicions that, possibly, the Watchtower's real intent is to set-up and then knock-down people it recruits?
Set them up. Then knock them down? Set them up by baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as I was in the mid-1970's wasn't good enough. Too many sheep were getting processed in and out of this organization through a technically correct baptism, only to serve God elsewhere. They needed to do a little pre-screening. For example, I would have never been baptized under their post-1985 baptism questions! You see? They could have saved the expense of me coming in, actually reading the Bible and applying it to my life, and leaving as someone who believes in and worships God. So, did they changed the questions to cull out the incorrigibly faithful? Good people would still get through the screening process but not as many. A higher ratio of those who were in it for selfish reasons, to live in luxury in paradise on Earth, would be represented in the number of JWs worldwide after 1985. That year was critical in helping to weed out the truly good hearted ones.
Then came 1990. This next phase was probably considered a 10-20 year plan to weed out those remaining who really believe in and love God. With the baptism questions and now the knowledge the organization fornicated with the "beast," a specific type of person who becomes a JW in the future will emerge. A higher level of quality control now exists in the organization, just perhaps?
You tell me, if you are one of JWs who are reading this, why I should remain affiliated with this quasi-religious organization: (1) considering those baptism questions drop the Holy Spirit as one of those in whose name Jesus commanded his followers to get baptized, thus preventing many sheep from getting baptized since 1985; and (2) with new knowledge the Watchtower has by its own teachings "fornicated" for over 10 years with a worldly organization it teaches is an instrument of Satan? If apostates joined them in 1990 they would have found out long before now! There is no excuse on their part. So, will you tell me?
Derrick