They knock your door. You open it and see two attractive, nicely dressed people. You don’t even get the chance to ask who they are when one of them says: “Hello, we are here to tell you about the authority figure which will bring heaven to earth.” Until you get a chance to say a word, the other quickly recites something from the Bible which he has memorized and suggests getting acquainted with some topics. Since you are confused, you take the brochures offered to you and after a short while, you personal data has made their way to the Brooklyn Corporation’s computer data base. For many, this is the beginning of the road leading towards….
Perhaps many already know what we are talking about- of course- “Jehovah’s Witnesses”.
Why did I decide to write an article on this? The U.S. State Department’s 2005 report on the situation of religious freedom states, that although the church and state are separate by law, the Apostolic Church is recognized as the national church. Despite the fact that all religious organizations have equal rights, the church has some privileges. The report states that a positive step taken is the “Jehovah’s Witnesses” organization.
Who are “Jehovah’s Witnesses”?
Although there are many religious organizations registered in Armenia and carry out their functions, the worst case was when the Jehovah witnesses got registered as an organization. Why? Today, it is hard to find one person whose door they have not knocked on. For normal people, talking with the Jehovah’s witnesses for two minutes is enough to be filled with hatred towards the two-faced members of that organization and their fanaticism. Many were against registering them as an organization, believing that this would make them more active. According to state department experts, this negative attitude is due to evading military service. I must mention the fact that Jehovah’s witnesses believe that the people can tolerate their actions. During a conversation with us, secretary of the “Jehovah’s witnesses” organization claimed that the mass media treat the organization poorly. However, there are more serious problems and by going deep into them, many specialists can classify the “Jehovah’s witnesses” as the so-called totalitarian sects. Let’s recall that the totalitarian sect is the religious group that sets control on human mentality, feelings and on society by making the people depend on the sect. But let’s start from the beginning.
19th century “prophet”
So, let’s find out how the “Jehovah’s Witnesses” organization was founded? Charles Russel was the one who founded the organization back in 1870 in the U.S. He founded a biblical group when he was 18 years of age. Despite not having any biblical education and no general education for that matter, he considered himself to be the “new founder of the church” and said: “It is better to not read the Bible at all than to neglect what I have to say about the Bible”. He started to publish his literature, which is called “Zion’s Watchtower”. This is where the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ organization name comes from. Russel died in 1916 just two years after the date that he had foreseen for the end of the world (Armageddon). There is one interesting thing about his life: when Russel sued his “cheater and fake teacher” J. Rossi, it became clear in court that the person who claimed himself to be the “prophet” of biblical languages did not know any of the languages. This is the ideology which has attracted millions of followers and they still believe in it.
What do the Jehovah’s Witnesses preach?
Although I am not religious or a theologian, however, I tried to find out what the witnesses wanted to say by looking through different sources. The organization is also called “Watchtower”, and according to the members of the organization, the name “Jehovah’s Witnesses” is connected to their belief that they have been called on to verify Jehovah’s existence. Their beliefs are based on the New and Holy Scriptures. They deny Christ’s reincarnation, they neither believe in hell nor the immortality of the soul. They consider their religion to be the only right Christian religion, although representatives of the Christian church claim that they are mixing up the Bible and interpreting it another way. The witnesses believe that Satan is the imaginary ruler of the world; they consider all Christian trends as satanic and the Christian cross as a symbol of evil. They think that it is possible to obey only the laws which do not contradict the truth about the Bible through their point of views. This is the reason why they don’t respect the country’s flag; they don’t serve in the army, etc. There are also other interesting facts which I will reflect upon in the context of the article. Jehovah’s Witnesses have even gone all the way to try and predict when the world will come to an end (however, they now try to deny that). These are the years that they have come up with: 1872, 1874, 1914, 1925, 1975. According to this, we would not be where we are today, but as we can see we have the total opposite…
Church or Corporation?
Today, “Jehovah’s Witnesses” represent a strong, propagandizing structure which unites 100 filial around the world. The main body is located in Brooklyn and this is where we get the “Brooklyn Corporation” name. V. Chinel, who left “Jehovah’s Witnesses” and who presided for 30 years in the Brooklyn Corporation, says: “We lose our minds by being under the influence of propaganda, we find ourselves in a trance. By being on the verge of the “death of the evil system” (end of the World), many people were selling their property or handing it over to the organization, and the organization in its turn was involved in acquiring more and more property and typographical equipment.” (Schell W. Dresig, Jahre Sklave der Wachttrum, Berlin, 1970). “Watchtower” is pretty solid when we talk about organizational skills. The top administrative staff is the president of the organization and its representatives are the ones governing the filial.
There are more than 100 staff workers at the central home headquarters. Professionals in the field of education are the ones that govern the local communities and spread the propaganda. The average Jehovah’s witnesses must be involved in preaching during some hours of the day and must present a day’s report of activities. We can summarize all of this by stating that according to 2001 statistics, the “Jehovah’s Witnesses” organization had 186 million dollars worth in property only in New York and the year-round money circulation exceeded 1.5 billion dollars. The organization has two monthlies- “Watchtower” and “Awake!”-which are published two times a month, 21 and 18 million publications respectively in 140 languages. Books, visual and audiovisual cassettes and compact discs are also sold in large copies. What can we say, this is pretty impressive…
What is the aim?
It is hard to say what the Jehovah’s witnesses’ aim is. I am not talking about the average witnesses, but rather the authorities. Different people have different opinions. Let’s state a few: According to the Christian church, the witnesses are satanic forces that are fighting amongst themselves. Nationalists present a different view: they believe that some forces try to destroy the image of humanity and turn humans into slaves and take them on their path and they do this by taking advantage of the sects and hiding under the veil of freedom and democracy. Basically, they take control of human mentality and plan on ruling the world. There are also others that think that all these forces, including “Jehovah’s Witnesses” are directed by special services abroad. In other words, they are spies and don’t even know about it. I will stay neutral and not talk about things which I have no idea about. However, the fact remains that the organization members are also trying to insist us Armenians to accept that they exist by different freedoms and rights. Many are convinced that Jehovah’s Witnesses are dangerous.
Worrisome facts
“There was court case in Khabarovsk which was one of a kind. A woman had lost a large quantity of blood while giving birth to a child and her situation was critical. The husband was pleading the doctors to save her life and they succeeded in doing that. After recuperating, the wife, who was a Jehovah’s Witness, sued the doctors for injecting someone else’s blood in her body…”
Did this surprise you? This was the information given by “Ria-Novosti news agency. Fortunately, the court did not recognize the doctors as criminals. I say fortunately because they were able to save the child’s life as well; in contrast to some cases when everything ends in a tragedy and these kinds of events have taken place in Armenia. The Jehovah’s witnesses deny that kind of ban and claim that their followers decide whether to agree or not. They also claim that it is not obligatory to make a legal injection and it is done with the consent of the person being cured. The witnesses even try to explain the danger from the medical point of view; however, the denial has to do with their propaganda.
Another example: I am presenting you with a message seen on the Jehovah’s Witnesses web site.
“The UN, in its human rights declaration, has announced that children have the right to be helped and taken care of…Words are not enough for improving children’s conditions….The day will come when our God Jehovah will come and be involved in our lives simply because he is the king. Whoever abuses others will be punished…People would live so happily if there was no poverty, drug addiction, sale of children, family feuds…”
They are so humanitarian…Now let’s take a look at the information given by the “REGNUM” agency:
“In early April 2005, Vladimir Korzhavin had tried to kill his 8 year old child by hitting him with rocks on the staircase…Korzhavin was arrested on April 8th. He had immediately confessed and told the investigator that he had heard some celestial voices which were telling him to kill his child. Korzhavin was attending the sect meetings and reading religious literature given by the “Jehovah’s Witnesses”.
The facts follow one another….”On October 13, 2003, 13 year old Yakov Rustamov committed suicide in Penza by hanging himself. Investigators found religious literature in the child’s room, especially books published by the Jehovah’s Witnesses. According to the investigator, the only thing that motivated the child to commit suicide was the sect’s influence.”
According to many specialists, conversations regarding the end of the world have a major influence on the child whose conscience has not fully developed. The child starts getting afraid and wishes to not see that day when the world will come to an end because the Jehovah’s Witnesses present that day as the “Day when God will come down to Earth” and there will be many horrible things happening. With this in mind, the child either commits suicide or in the best scenario, his psychology becomes distorted. Generally, children are the ones that suffer the most: parents fill the child with hatred towards non-Jehovah’s witnesses from an early age, the child doesn’t participate in any celebrations (New Year, birthdays, etc.), the child is forbidden to play with non-Jehovah’s witnesses. He is cut off from society, isolates himself and turns into someone with no personal mentality and who listens to what the religious group leader has to say, the one who he can trust. What happened to the children’s rights, the love and care for them which the “Jehovah’s Witnesses” talk about?
In 2001, upon the request of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, an investigation was conducted. According to the topics published in the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ official monthlies, specialists have come to the following conclusions: “Jehovah’s Witnesses” instill hatred towards religion, defame representatives of other believers, propagandize intolerance and dictatorship, make a psychological impact on people, pervert the words stated in the Bible and leave people in a trance.
This and other types of conclusions continue to be written and you can read about them on our newspaper website.
In our next edition, we will present people with their point of views and what Jehovah’s Witnesses themselves have to say about all this.
To be continued