Before answering the question of “Who’s Watching The Watchtower?”, we must first know a little bit about the history and present state of this organization. The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society has it’s international headquarters based in Brooklyn New York. This is the head office of the Jehovah’s Witness organization which produces literally billions of Watchtower and Awake magazines (1) and books teaching the organization’s (per)version of the Bible called The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.The Jehovah’s Witness movement began in 1884 when Charles Taze Russell began publishing The Watch Tower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom and founded Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society, now known as the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. Charles Russell departed from orthodoxy by denying the existence of hell, the Trinity and the Deity of Christ. With only a seventh grade education and no Bible College or Seminary training he knew “the truth” better than anyone else!

After Russell’s death in 1916, a Missouri lawyer named Joseph Franklin Rutherford took over the presidency of the organization. It was he who named the members “Jehovah’s Witnesses.” Now with a lawyer who members called “Judge Rutherford” in charge, they “for sure” knew that they had “the truth.” There were two more presidents after Rutherford before the organization adopted the Governing Body form of management which it has today. Not surprisingly, the names of the Governing Body are kept secret, even from their own members. This is explained by telling the members that they are humble men who wish no credit for themselves but want all the glory to go to Jehovah. You will not even find any names of authors in their books and magazines for the same reason. Of course what they are really doing is protecting themselves from taking blame for setting so many false dates for the end of the world with 1975 being the most recent (although they never put it in print, leaders have pointed to the year 2000 in meetings and since that has passed, it is now speculated to be 2005 or 2035).

In all the years since Russell founded the movement, succeeding leaders have held to Russell’s unorthodox beliefs and continued to add to them. Refusing blood transfusions, denying birthdays and holidays, and replacing the cross with a “torture stake,” were all added after Russell’s death.

So, what else do they believe? Jehovah’s Witnesses also believe that Jesus is Michael the Archangel, the first “thing” Jehovah created. They believe that all religions except their own are of Satan, and your Pastor is under the Devil’s control. And all Jehovah’s Witnesses today believe that when Christ failed to show up in 1914 He must have come — invisibly — of course. (2)

So What’s To Watch?

Right now there are just over six and half million active Jehovah’s Witnesses in the world which make up just over ninety-five thousand congregations. Canada is home to just over one hundred thousand Jehovah’s Witnesses. For a time in the late nineties it seemed that the numbers of Jehovah’s Witnesses were declining or at least remaining stagnant especially in North America but as a result of the worldwide fear of terrorism spawned by the terrorist attacks on the US on September 11, 2001, we have seen a marked increase, estimated at 3%, in converts to the Watchtower in North America since that fateful day. Canada saw just over two thousand new converts baptised into the Watchtower in 2002. (3)

Now let’s consider just one new convert to the Watchtower. Let us consider that it is safe to assume that this one person has two parents and possibly two siblings. So now we have four people who now all of a sudden have a relative in the Watchtower. Let’s also consider that this one new convert also has two, possibly four, but we’ll just say two living grandparents. So now we have six people who all of a sudden have a relative in the Watchtower. Add now to this number two Aunts, two Uncles and six cousins. Now we have a total of sixteen people who now all of a sudden have a relative in the Watchtower. Let’s just stop there and let alone the many other relatives and friends we could name. Sixteen times two thousand equals thirty-two thousand people who now all of a sudden have a relative in the Watchtower and this is only in Canada. This number may seem insignificant compared to our country’s population but it most certainly is not insignificant if you happen to be one of those new thirty-two thousand people related to someone in the Watchtower.

Consider this. We now have thirty-two thousand people who have a relative who will not accept blood transfusions, celebrate birthdays, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving or any other holiday that these families formally enjoyed together. Not only this but if any of these thirty-two thousand relatives express any concern over the new convert’s choice of religion, they will be labeled “an apostate” and shunned and ignored by this new convert. Not only is this new convert bowing to a false God and in danger of eternal damnation, but now this person’s friends and relatives must suffer a loss as well. If we think of all the relatives we have, even some who may not yet know the Lord, we would do well to keep in mind that at any time we could become just like one of those thirty-two thousand and all of a sudden have a relative in the Watchtower.

This is why it is so important to educate ourselves and others about the lies and deception of the Watchtower organization. We need to heed Peter’s words in 1 Peter 3:15, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.”

So Who Is Watching The Watchtower?

This past October I attended the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of The Witnesses Now For Jesus Convention at Blue Mountain Christian Retreat nestled in the scenic mountains of southern Pennsylvania. This event is hosted by Personal Freedom Outreach (www.pfo.org) founded by M. Kurt Goedelman in 1975. Bill Cetnar was the Pennsylvania Director of PFO and host of this convention from it’s beginnings in 1979 until his passing in 1991. Since his passing, his wife Joan Cetnar has picked up where he left off and continues to host this convention. Bill and Joan were both Jehovah’s Witnesses before coming to Christ.

This convention has seen a growth from one hundred attendees in 1979 to some times up to three hundred to the present. Most attendees are former Jehovah’s Witnesses who have now become Christians but many are still Jehovah’s Witnesses in their hearts and minds even though they may have been disfellowshipped or disassociated themselves from the organization. This convention and the ministries which participate exist for just these kinds of lost sheep.

So besides PFO, who are these other ministries? One such ministry that is co-directed by Rev. Rafael Martinez is called Tennessee Valley Bible Students Association, a countercult outreach based in Tennessee (4). Rev. Martinez shared with those of us in attendance some of the shocking and disturbing testimonies of former JWs who were sexually abused as children by high ranking officials of the Watchtower and when they tried to speak out about it, they were disfellowshipped. There are literally hundreds of these cases with more coming out daily. Some of these stories have been exposed on national television networks such as the BBC, the CBC and CNN. There are several large class action lawsuits pending against the Watchtower in this regard. (5)

Silent Lambs is an organization set up by Bill Bowen to expose the Watchtower’s policies which protect pedophiles and further damage the victims of abuse. Although Silent Lambs is not a Christian organization, many Christians like Rev. Martinez have assisted Silent Lambs in exposing the errors of the Watchtower and in so doing have brought many former JWs to a saving knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Another such ministry that is watching the Watchtower is Midwestern Christian Outreach presided by Don Veinot in Illinois. Don and his wife Joy have shared a burden for those trapped in cults for many years and ten years ago they began a telephone line with recorded messages to reach out to JWs. Since then they have included a number of other phone lines and publish a quarterly Journal and numerous tracts and tapes to equip Christians to reach out to the cults.(6)

We also heard from Carol Hartman, a missionary to Russia for CFAR (7) directed by Paul Carden out of California. Carol Hartman had gone to the Ukraine to share apologetics materials with pastors there in their own language so that they would be equipped to protect their congregations from error and reach out to the JWs there as well. CFAR is also sending missionaries to Mozambique since many Pastors there are not Seminary trained and many were found who had Watchtower magazines on their pulpits to supplement their teaching! The need is great in these countries and CFAR is the only apologetics ministry dedicated to sending missionaries to equip these countries to reach out to JWs and others.

Of course I would be remiss if I did not include Canada’s own Keith and Lorri MacGregor of MacGregor Ministries Outreach Society (8) from Nelson BC.. Keith and Lorri have been in full time active ministry for over twenty five years reaching out to cultists and equipping Christians with the best mail order materials for reaching out to JWs and others who are trapped in various cult groups. Although MacGregor Ministries is based in Canada, because of the internet and mail order ministry, they reach and equip thousands around the world. They have recently teamed up with Richard and Cheryl Schatz who are based in Edmonton. Richard and his wife direct Media Ministries (9) and are producing video and DVD materials in English and also in other languages in cooperation with CFAR.

Lorri MacGregor was an active Jehovah’s Witness for fifteen years before leaving the Watchtower and accepting Christ. (10) Many of the speakers at this convention are former JWs who have come to Christ through the testimonies and witness of these folks in ministry and have followed their example by beginning their own ministries or joining existing ones to reach the lost in the Watchtower and other cults. (11)

So who’s watching the Watchtower? Lots of folks! And of course our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and God the Father are watching with grieved hearts and a love for the lost. May we, through the Holy Spirit and God’s Word, also have a heart for the lost and be equipped to reach those whom He has chosen. Will you be a “watcher” too? Contact MacGregor Ministries and find out how you too can be a missionary to the mission field at your doorstep.

David Upton
January 2004

Notes:
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1. The count for magazines published by the Watchtower as of October 22, 2003 was clocked at 2,173,893,600 according to the counter found at Real Time Gospel Clock

2. All of these unorthodox teachings of the Watchtower and many more have been documented with references being found at MacGregor Ministries

3. Statistics for the year 2002 can be found at http://www.jwic/stat.htm

4. Rev. Rafael Martinez, P.O. Box 5595, Cleveland, TN 37320 USA, email: Damianxray@aol.com web site: SpiritWatch.org

5. These stories can be found at Silentlambs.org .

6. L.L. (Don) Veinot can be reached by writing to Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc., P.O. Box 455, Lombard, IL. 60148 USA. or email Info@midwestoutreach.org web site: MidwestOutreach.org

7. Centers For Apologetics Research, TheCenters.org Directed by Paul Carden, CFAR, P.O. Box 1196, San Jaun Capistrano, CA 92693 USA

8. MacGregorMinistries.org
MacGregor Ministries, Box 294, Nelson, BC., V1L-5P9, CANADA

9. JWinfoline.com and MMoutreach.org

10. Listen to Lorri MacGregor’s testimony at www.jwinfoline.com/Page/audio

11. There are too many to list here. Check out all the ministry links at the MacGregor’s web site. (see note #8).

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