Are Jehovah’s Witnesses God’s Organization?

Organize, now that’s the verb we can all get behind. But then there’s the noun, entities known as organizations. They’re hit or miss. Just because you have people all formed to achieve unified goals, doesn’t mean they’re in the right. Some are legitimate, some aren’t, and how organized you are, doesn’t mean anything.

Let’s say there is a charity whose mission is to feed the homeless. They have clean offices in every country, everything is labeled, everyone has a job and title, including near perfect financial records. Sounds nice, but if they’re feeding the homeless cyanide laced soup, it doesn’t really matter how tidy their supply closets are.

Jehovah’s Witnesses are all about their organized organizations. For them, the religion isn’t just an assembly of people, or a gathering of believers. They believe Jehovah God uses only one organization to fulfill his purpose, which just so happens to be them. It’s a faith and an organization, combined into one, and structured like most modern corporations. There’s membership, titles, main offices, branch offices, managers,(aka elders), upper management and a group of presidents known as the governing body. They have goals, websites, updates to policies, a law team, production and printing capabilities and much. To truly be a Jehovah’s Witness and serve Jehovah God, means you’re an active member of that theocratic organization.

This is a really big deal, as hundreds of teaching hours focus on the importance of being an active member of Jehovah’s organization. The sounds bizarre to most Christians, and those in the secular world, and rightly so. Jehovah’s Witness leadership knows this doesn’t fit into the narrative of scripture or even common sense. To fix the perception, they claim it’s Biblical, ordinary, and God has always used an organization to accomplish his will. This requires examination to the claim.

Does God have an organization?

It all comes down to one question. Does God have an organization? If you’re a committed Jehovah’s Witness, the answer is in the affirmative. To be fair, If God does have an organization, that would mean he’s used one in the past, and he would probably want his followers to join the aforementioned organization. If association is a requirement as Witnesses claim, the Bible should be very explicit on this topic, since our eternity hangs in the balance.

Jehovah’s Witnesses have a list of evidence they use to support the doctrine. However, as you’ll see, it isn’t proof, just semantics, faulty logic and doctrines strictly from the minds of men.

Argument #1: Israel was an organization.

The first argument they stand on is this idea that God has always used an organization to accomplish his purpose. Jehovah’s Witnesses will make a comparison to the ancient nation of Israel. To quote the Watchtower reasoning goes, “Jehovah God used Moses to organize the Israelites for true worship…While it is true that Moses was a talented leader, success or failure depended, not on his leadership skills, but on his loyalty to God’s organization. [Watchtower June 2011 pg.13] You can see this is word games. Moses was organized; therefore, it was an organization. This thinking is faulty. One could just as easily claim “Moses was assembled by God, therefore it was an assembly.” Also worth noting, there’s a big difference between a nation and what Jehovah’s Witnesses having put together.

Nations encompass land masses with borders, organizations don’t. You’re born into a nation, not an organization. When living in a nation, you have one ruler and one set of laws. Yet organizations, while they have leaders and their own laws, they’re still subject to the rules of the country they precede in. It’s mainly important to see, while witnesses claim association with the “Org” is imperative, this isn’t how ancient Israel functioned.

One could be pleasing to God, and not be in the nation, or a part of it. Look at Naaman the Aramaic, from 2 Kings 5:1. He was neither Jewish or part of Israel, though the fact remains, he received favor from God. The prophet Daniel, not in Israel or in an organization, but living in Babylon under the laws of the king. Though this be the case, he was yet arguably one of the greatest prophets. There’s story of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego, also comes to mind, as does Job. Some Jehovah’s Witnesses may argue that Daniel was a Jew, therefore part of an organization. This is absurd, is race now a factor on whether God accepts you?

Interesting enough, ancient Israel was also a theocracy, meaning God was in charge of the state.

JW leadership claims they’re under a theocracy today, but this is logically false. You can’t be subject to secular government’s laws and regulation in a theocracy. God, or God’s appointed, would have full control over the government. For Jehovah’s Witnesses to be a theocracy, they would need their own separate country, ruled by the governing body. There are countries that claim to be theocracies today, like Iran, North Korea and technically the Vatican. However, last I checked, Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t have their own country.

God used people throughout the Old Testament. Sometimes groups, sometimes individuals, sometimes kings, sometimes peasants, but the emphasis is usually about the individual God is working through. Jehovah’s Witnesses have created this deceptive comparison to try and justify the control and power of the group. As well as giving the allure of equal relevance and important as Israel.

Argument #2: The Early Church was an organization.

Witnesses will also insist Jesus and the apostles were an organization as well. This is factually untrue. What disproves this is Mark 9:38-40.

Here, there is a man casting out demons in the name of Jesus, who isn’t with the disciples. They ask, should we stop him? Jesus says tells them no, let him be. Jesus approved, yet clearly wasn’t a part of the disciple’s organization. 

Now a common go to their assertion the early church was an organization. However, in no early writings, is found such a structure, directions, or anything even resembling a central body that controls everyone. A read of Acts 15, the context being a newly converted Jews were claiming circumcision and following the law of Moses was essential to salvation. This is commonly known as the Counsil at Jerusalem. It might appear that there was a body of leaders, who ultimately decided on a matter. On the contrary, a closer read of Acts 15:22-23 shows us the elders and the body of believers also came to the conclusion.

This proves there was no one with absolute power. Paul’s directive here, isn’t his own interpretation, (As the current JW governing body operates) just the plain reading of what the gospel message was. One is saved by the grace of Christ, apart from any work, including circumcision. He didn’t update anything, he reminded the church of the foundation, and not to go beyond and add to the Good News message.

Argument #3: God is using an organization today.

Back to the crux of the argument, Is God using an organization today to accomplish his will on earth? They list the evidence that apparently identifies them as the true theocratic organization, they are as follows.

“True Christians are organized to accomplish a work. Jesus commanded his followers to preach the Kingdom good news to all nations, a task that would be impossible without an international organization.” – Watchtower June 2011 pg.14

This is factually untrue. First, and most importantly, the Good News message was already preached to the world. Consider, the first missionaries to Hawaii were in 1820, just one example of thousands, how the gospel message was already across the globe long before Charles Taze Russel.

What Witnesses are really saying, is their specific “Good News of the Kingdom” message requires an organization. This is a big red flag, as the Bible plainly presents the Good News message followers of Christ are to announce. Jesus died for your sins, and rose from the grave, and anyone who believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. You honestly, don’t need an organization to spread that news, as the Bible is sufficient. However, the Jehovah’s Witness Good News is different, you would never get it from the Bible, it needs to be filtered through the leaders, controlled, updated, strategically implanted.

The Watchtower then uses an analogy that reads.

“To illustrate, you can easily feed one person on your own, but if you have to feed many thousands, even millions, you will need a well-organized group of people whose efforts are coordinated.” –Watchtower June 2011 pg.14

This is a bad example. That’s like claiming, “people around the world are hungry, the only way for them to get food, is Mcdonalds. One restaurant isn’t enough, you need a chain with 30,000 locations across the world. Otherwise, how would people eat?” The logic doesn’t work, as world was fed long before Mcdonalds started selling their heart attack inducing burgers and addicting French Fries. The goes with Christianity, there were already worldwide, and didn’t require a central organization to fulfill the role, that was the job of the Holy Spirit. Their next evidence says.

“True Christians are organized to support and encourage one another.” – Watchtower June 2011 pg.15

To be blunt, why do you require an organization for that? Is that not what families do? How about co-workers, small groups, just good friends. You certainly don’t need an organization for this? What’s said here is crafty, as they’re really talking about indoctrination. They write just a few sentences later:

“Where would one go to be instructed in Jehovah’s ways if there were no organized Christian meetings for instruction and worship? – Watchtower June 2011 pg.15

The Bible? Why isn’t that sufficient? For the Christian, it’s more than enough, but for the Jehovah’s Witness Organization, they need to tell you what the Bible “really” says. However, their supposed evidence doesn’t stop there.

“Christians are organized to serve God in unity.” –Watchtower June 2011 pg.15

In unity, not uniformity. Jehovah’s Witnesses aren’t just focused on a goal together as unity suggests, they are told what to think, and all must align. Failure to do so is an apostate offense. They claim this is unity, however, to use sports example with a bunch of fans at a game. Unity says, “Hey guys, a reminder, we all want the same team to win, let’s cheer em’ on.” Uniformity says, “Hey guys, we all want the same team to win, also you have to all like the same players, and wear the same jersey, and hat, and must sit together, and clap in unison.”

The Jehovah’s Witness evidence is severely lacking.  It doesn’t matter if they brag about their printing capabilities, their website, or the number of missionaries they have. It might be impressive, but doesn’t make it true, or require divine intervention. Far more fetes have been achieved by man, without claiming it was God at work. Even when they say claim they’ve printed their bible in so many languages, it’s an easy refutation to say, they weren’t the first people to print the Bible in that language, Christians already did. Their argument is their specific Bible, (much like their good news) has been put in other languages. This ignores the fact that the ESV means English Standard Version, and isn’t printed in Chinese, because it’s for the English language.

Argument #4: Joining the Jehovah’s Witness Organization is essential for salvation.

This goes into the real issue with this argument. It’s one problem to say God is using your org, but it’s another when you start preaching membership is essential for your relationship with God. Just to reiterate, Witnesses are very clear, you must be a part of the organization to be saved. If you’ve read the Bible from any amount of time, you’d quickly know that this is never taught in scripture.

But that doesn’t stop JW’s from printing unbiblical directives such as these.

“As Jehovah’s dedicated Witnesses, all of us must be loyal to him and to his organization.” – Watchtower Nov 1992 pg.20

“Of course, Bible students are not the only ones who need to learn to trust in Jehovah and to trust in his organization. – Watchtower Feb 2022 pg.2

“To receive everlasting life in the earthly Paradise we must identify that organization and serve God as part of it.” – Watchtower Nov 1983 pg.12

Not only untrue, but more than enough evidence showing how demonic and evil the watchtower can be. This is the spirit of the Anti-Christ. It’s presenting a false savior and claiming the only way to know God is through your own efforts, how well you are behaved, and how loyal and trusting you are with certain men. This is in complete opposition to what Scripture teaches.

The leaders know full well this was never taught in Scripture. Viewing these from the Watchtower or JW.org, you’ll notice there is no scriptural backing, no no verses were given.

   A common come back to witnesses is Hebrews 10:25 not forsaking our meeting together. This is reading into the text. It’s obvious that Christians should desire to associate with others, but that’s separate from the saving work of Christ. If this was a direction, the writer would have listed how often you’re to meet for God’s approval. This text reminds the people of the importance of the church, and how it helps us grow, and offers encouragement and aid. But, the body of believers has no power to save you, they’re the ones needing the saving.

Another is using Matthew 24:38, comparing the organization to Noah and the ark. However, but this is reading one’s own ideas into the text. Given the context of the what’s happening, Jesus is explaining how people weren’t prepared, and the solution is to be ready. He gives a parable about the servants and uses Noah as an example. The theme is about not being ready, paying attention or being oblivious, and it being too late once the event occurs. Same with Noah, the people had no idea what was about to happen, until it was too late. Jesus isn’t saying that salvation was found in the boat, otherwise he would have mentioned it.

The interpretation is self-authenticating, meaning the leaders will tell members what this means, which is apparently, you must follow them to be saved. You could take this even further. Why not claim that only one family will be saved, since only Noah’s direct family survived. Also are we to assume Noah was a failed preacher, as he wasn’t able to rescue anyone from the floor besides his family? It’s a good tactic, when someone uses a wild interpretation, just take it further, add another absurdity and see what happens.

 Bottom line, there no place in scripture that talks about the need people joining an organization if they are to have a relationship with God and be saved. The Bible is very direct how one comes to know God, and this Jehovah’s Witness doctrine is one of the worst. The leaders have gone so far as making the organization synonymous with God, they are the way, the Truth, and the only place to find life. Leaving the organization, is leaving Jehovah, but this concept isn’t found anywhere in the 66 books of God’s word. It’s purely invented, to accomplish one goal, control. All high control groups will seat themselves as King, savior, and as close to God as possible. They will put Christ off to the side, while inserting themselves as the way, the truth and the life instead.

It’s true the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization is filled with clean and nice people. Everyone has a title, there’s lots of outreach, and the amount of content and magazines they’re able to print is nothing to wave a hand at. However, much like our cyanide charity, they’re spreading poison. Groups like this is something the Bible warns us about.

God doesn’t need an organization, he has his word, his Holy Spirit and his absolute sovereign will. God cares about each of us individually, and his desire for all is to come to repentance, not come to a group. A saving relationship with God is between you, and him, only with the creator. You don’t have to join any group to be approved, you need only to put all your trust in what Christ did for you, taking your sin nailing it to the cross.

Jesus said repeatedly, come to me, follow me, trust me, and he’ll give you life. He never once suggesting association with a special group was essential. As Peter said to Jesus in John 6:68, “to whom else should we go, you have the words of eternal life.” That comes from one source alone, and his Word is meant for everyone. Jesus couldn’t have made it easier, you need only go to him. Certainly not a group of false prophets, preaching you must trust in them to be saved.

DH from LOD Ministry

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