The 1954 Court Records of the Jehovah's Witnesses

The 1954 Court Records of the Jehovah's Witnesses

After getting to know the Witnesses, a sensible person learns to keep away from all religions and sects. For, as I said, if you want to know someone well, you will listen about him not only from his friend but also from his enemy, so that you may acquire impartial knowledge. As true as what the Witnesses write about the Christian churches is, just as true is what the churches that oppose them write about the Witnesses. There is a great difference between the eye of one who looks at any event from outside and the viewpoint of a biased eye on the inside. And especially when one looks impartially at each one of all these religions, a person certainly sees the existence of a common spirit that is the same in all of them. Let us not do this by separating them only as Witness, Protestant, Catholic, Muslim. In fact they are a part of this spirit that has filled the whole earth. And it is certain that this is not God's spirit. The reason that pushes us to think this way about all of them is the lessons we have taken from past times. It is that no religion or sect has carried on, or has been able to carry on, its function according to God's will. They have only become a stain, a shame, and finally a hatred upon God's name. There are always individual persons, individuals, who do God's will. Or very small groups; at certain times they appeared for a short time and disappeared. They either died, or themselves turned back from this path they started, or were deceived. For instance, like Christianity's becoming, in the third century after Jesus, a religion that the state too accepted. While they saw this as a blessing, on the other hand, without being aware, they sold themselves into the dominion of that state.

All the Holy Writings which we believe to be God's word (Torah, Psalms, Gospel, Quran) never give anyone the right to dominate a person or people's faith. The apostle Paul, in 2 Corinthians 1:24, clearly:

“Not that we dominate your faith, but we work together for your joy,” he says.

Humanity, however, in order always to fulfill its aims, has defended standing on the side of being organized. At first glance this thought may seem both correct and logical.

If God is on the side of being organized — which He is not — who, what religion or sect can organize better than God!? One must not confuse concepts such as education, covenant with organizations. On this subject I will try to treat detailed information, even if a little, in the very next 3rd section, in the subject under the name “Organization and God.” I certainly recommend that you read it carefully.

In the past God had arranged the people of Israel, whom He chose as “my own nation,” in a way no human could do. As a result of this, what happened? When we look at the vast history of the Holy Scripture, we read that Israel always lived disloyalty toward God and many shameful, inhuman events. And in the end those people killed Jesus the Messiah, who is God's son in a spiritual sense! (Let us understand this matter of “son” here neither with the madness in the Christian churches until now, nor with the absurdity in the ignorance and lack of understanding of the Muslims. Let our understanding be only in a way in the light of the Holy Scripture and the Quran, without adding and without subtracting!)

Israel's such bad and faithless behaviors do not mean that God gave them a wrong education. In the light of all these events God gives a message that all nations, tongues and peoples, in short all humanity, must certainly understand.

Except for love, whatever law, whatever pressure, whatever force we use, none of these brings us closer to God or makes us love Him. (Galatians 3:10-14) Among these the nation of Israel was only an example. We, all nations and humanity, are no better than those Israelites mentioned in the holy writings.

In Galatians 3:23-25 it is written thus:

Before faith came, we were imprisoned under the Law (the sharia), prisoners of the Law until the coming faith was revealed. That is, the Law became our tutor until the coming of the Messiah, so that we might be justified by faith. But since faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of (any) law (or tutor).

If it were not so, God would not have abolished the sharia. Here again we are obliged to make a small explanation. Islam and the Quran are presented as the return of the Sharia. In fact, from beginning to end in the Quran you will not find such a thing as a return to the sharia. Things like women's clothing, the case of making a written agreement when selling, buying, or for any reason, that if suitable all Muslims should visit Mecca at least once in their lives, fasting, not lying, not stealing, etc. and similar things are written in the Gospel too. For instance, that women dress chastely, that a person's word will be invalid without at least two or three witnesses, do not forsake your gatherings, not eating blood, that those who love Jesus (in the comparison he is called the bridegroom) will fast after he is taken from among them — such words are clearly written in the Gospel too. These can never be compared with the sharia laws that God gave through Moses. The aim of those laws was to prepare humanity and Israel for the coming Messiah. They were laws showing God's justice, mercy, power. The Muslims' customs, made-up traditions; for instance men's being circumcised, forms of worship, many meaningless rules, religious feasts as the Christians too do, are not God's command written in the Quran. Many of their practices are either inspirations from the Torah, with the influence of the Jews too, or men's commands and their customs.

Now let us come again to our real subject. That is, to the religions, those organized religions. While all this is so, those religions still say, shouting: “Does it not write, ‘Do not forsake your gatherings’? Was there not, in the time of the apostles too, the service of eldership in the congregations? God's organization was always present on earth. And did Jesus not say: ‘Whenever two people gather in my name, I am the third among them’?”

With these and similar words taken from the holy writings, over their members they show themselves either as Moses, or as the high priest Aaron, sometimes as Jesus the Messiah, even insidiously as if they were a reflection of God. Before thousands of people, without even their faces reddening, and officially at that, they say that they are God's spokesman and that this task was given only to them! Unfortunately those members too, upon these words, hold them in a rain of applause!

Again I want to give as an example one of the most famous of these religions and sects. About how they developed themselves in the last century. Among thousands of religions, sects, this is only one example.

By its old name the “Watch Tower Organization,” by its present new Turkish name the “Watchman Tower Organization,” known as the Jehovah's Witnesses, the founder of this religion is the American Charles Taze Russell.

This is how they began!

As will be understood from the basic warnings clearly seen in Russell's writings of that time, his book about attachment to a religious organization, in English “Thy Kingdom Come,” came out in 1909. Its German translation was printed under the name «Dein Königreich Komme» (Thy Kingdom Come) in 1914, and on pages 177-179 Russell, the founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses, wrote there exactly thus (translated from German):

Within the “Christian sects” of Babylon there are many different degrees of slavery. While some are freed from total personal slavery and the bondage of not making decisions; on the other hand, in a way required by Romanism (the Christian religion bound to the regime of the old Roman empire), they bind themselves to Protestant sects under another name resembling the same dogmatic (unchanging, foundationalized religious beliefs) principles, and strive to bind others too willingly to the same belief. If the truth must be accepted, by the change he makes in passing to a sect in the Protestant church, he lightens the heavy chains of the medieval Roman church. … But why should he necessarily carry human chains? Why should we enslave our conscience? Why should we not stand in the freedom with which the Messiah freed us? Why should we permit men to enslave our consciences and throw aside the freedom of research? We see that this business of slavery is attempted not only in the old ages, but in our time too, by people called enlightened, innovative! Why do we not decide to have the freedom of faith of the apostles of the old time? To be free; in order to grow both in understanding and in mercy and love, because of the magnificent plan that He will reveal “in the times God appoints.”

Whoever binds himself to any organization knows that it is to adopt its basic belief and in no way, little or much, to go outside that belief. But later, although they willingly accepted slavery, beginning to think for themselves too, because of the light they receive from other sources, because of the truths they acquire, pushing aside the pleasure of sectarianism, he will either, with hypocrisy and secrecy, show himself as if walking on that path, or take a stance sincerely for the sake of his faith. To do this requires effort, and at the same time the comfortable situation he has is disturbed. To the person who, not thinking of this comfort of his, throws it aside, who sincerely seeks the truth, that religion or sect, with senseless accusations, as if he were betraying the sect he belongs to, shows him as “someone who does not know where he is going,” etc... For if a person makes himself belong to a sect, he is now expected to belong not entirely to himself but to that sect. After this, that sect makes decisions about what is wrong and what is right concerning that person. And he too, alongside this, must be a trustworthy and faithful member to that sect. For this to be possible, he must accept all the decisions that sect has taken as belief. Moreover, not only must he ignore his own thought, he must also do no research. Otherwise that person, growing in understanding, would separate from that sect and become a loss for the sect.

All these bonds of bondage, too, these sects see not as a rusty chain but as a necklace of jewels, and perceive as a character personality under the identity of a medal. They went so far in deceiving themselves that, by accusing many of God's servants, because of their freedom, with words like “you chose the easy way,” they try to create a feeling of guilt within those people. And those who wish to free themselves from this slavery, unfortunately, since they see belonging only to God's Messiah as a shame, find it more correct to say that they belong to slavery in the direction of a sect's belief.

For this reason, advancing slowly in knowledge, these honest people thirsty for the truth suppose they are advancing by passing from one sect or religion to another — Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Adventist, etc. etc. But after these experiences, perhaps, by drawing away from all human organizations, that person will wish to see himself, benefiting from the freedom the Messiah provided, bound only henceforth to God and His holy ones with a soft but strong bond of love. Growing in knowledge and understanding, as in the time of the apostles in the first century. 1 Cor. 6:15,17; Eph. 4:15-16

Would that those people had done as Russell says here. How many people show this wisdom, this courage and this manner of behavior? Again, as I indicated above, Russell is the founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses. The astonishing aspect is that this organization whose founding he did, that is, the Jehovah's Witnesses, turning into a state far more terrible than the religions and sects Russell made that criticism of, does not take long at all. We will see whether this is so by reading both Russell's writings and the court record. In his writings below Russell continues again:

If a person lives without being bound to the chains of a religion, he generally feels insecurity. This feeling too stems from a wrong thought. And this thought first came out of the Pope, and emphasized that, for people to be saved and to win God's approval, they must necessarily be a member of a human organization.

These different, humanly organized groups, very different from the brotherhood community in the time of the apostles, are generally accepted by Christian people as a heaven insurance company. … But no organization in the world can give a ticket that will take one to heaven. That being a member of a sect or religion is absolutely no guarantee of receiving eternal life, even the most fanatical supporter of that religion will accept. That membership in the true church (in the sense of God's house) is made not on earth but in heaven, everyone too must willy-nilly accept. These people, however, deceive the public by claiming that to be able to be a part of the Messiah's body, that is, of the true church, being a member of a religion is a condition. Although the Lord has never withheld from anyone the membership of those who come to Him through a sect, and has never rejected those who sincerely seek the truth, He still, without consulting such obstacles, directly encourages “come to me”! He calls us, “Come to me! And take on my yoke and take my burden, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Would that we had listened to His voice earlier; then we would have been spared, protected from the many heavy burdens of sectarianism, the swamp of skepticism, the temptations of pride and worldly thought.

“These words Russell used at that time are so full of sincerity, wisdom, and contain the truth. In keeping with the knowledge we have acquired from God's words, I too support the same thought. Freedom — we leave the freedom God gave to people (even though we do not deserve it) and enslave ourselves to people in God's name. But it does not take such a long time at all for the Watchman Tower Organization, organizing themselves in such a way that Russell opposed, to turn onto an entirely different course.

And yet Russell, the founder of this organization, from the beginning not only was against every kind of Organization, Religion, Sect, but in other words even hated “having a label.” How they followed a course later, and in a very short time at that, we read from the writings below, from the 1954 court records in England. I do not want to make a comment about these. Please read them yourselves, decide yourselves, and tell me the difference between the attitudes of the medieval Inquisition Church and the Watchman Tower Organization. There is only one difference, and that is that the Witnesses did not have the power of the church behind those Inquisition courts of that time. By this they are neither in a better nor a worse situation than them.

These thoughts we read above were the views and explanations possessed formerly. Well, why this different attitude, so striking and still the same in our day, and turning onto a completely opposite course?” writes in his book Raymond Franz, formerly a member of the governing body of the Watchman Tower Organization.

And This Is How They Became!

*The court record exists only in English. We tried to translate into Turkish from Raymond's book translated into German. And Raymond Franz continues:

I myself, vouching on this matter, wish to emphasize that the Watchman Tower Organization's seeing itself as the only channel God uses on earth is a very serious claim. To be the only channel God represents on earth. Perhaps these explanations made by the Watchman Tower representatives are the clearest statements so far. Upon this, this case in 1954, which all humanity awaited, an answer to their message, was heard in England. This case is known as the «Walsh case». Again this case is one that a cleric who is among the Jehovah's Witnesses opened against England in order to possess the rights of the clerics in the same church. As far as I remember, I had heard from my uncle in person (Fred Franz, who was later the Watchman Tower President until his death, 22 December 1992) what kind of role he played in this case. But until a short time ago, I understood exactly what the content of the subject was, from the Witnesses' statements in court, only when I read the records.

Here we will publish the Witnesses' statements, with the permission of the Keeper of the Records of Scotland, some sections of the official court records. One of these three persons kept there is Fred Franz, who at that time was vice-president in the Organization. First his statement and then the statement of some Witnesses who follow him are set down in the records, with «Q» in the sense of question and «A» in the sense of answer. (The one asking the question is the Crown Prosecutor of England, and those giving the answer are those in the Watchman Tower Organization.)

Q: Do you work in the business of printing and distributing religious-content brochures and books that are regularly printed and from time to time put on the market? A: Yes. Q: Will you also say this: the aim of these religious publications, the publications that come out every 15 days, is to talk about the teachings within them? A: Yes. Q: Are the teachings in these publications a measure within your society? A: Yes. Q: Is it free to accept these measures; or is everyone who is and wishes to remain a member of this society obliged to accept it? A: They are obliged.

With this statement of Fred Franz, the vice-president of the Watchman Tower Organization, he clearly says that henceforth everyone who is and wishes to remain a Jehovah's Witness must accept the explanations in all the publications of the Watchman Tower Organization, without any alternative and freedom of choice. This is an “obligation.” We will see its consequence from the later statements:

Q: That is, in practice the aim is to bring about a new human society, is that so? A: Yes. There will be a new world society under a new heavens, because the previous heaven and the previous earth will be destroyed in the war of Armageddon. Q: Then let us come to the people of the new world. Will there be only Jehovah's Witnesses there? A: In the beginning there will be only Jehovah's Witnesses. The remaining chosen ones* (the 144 thousand persons who will live in the heavens and now consist only of Jehovah's Witnesses) will be on earth for a short time, because they must remain faithful unto death in their task on earth. But those consisting of other sheep* (those who will live on earth) will be able to live forever on earth, if they always obey God's will.

To accept this situation means a matter of life and death. Because, since those who will remain alive in the war of Armageddon will be “only Jehovah's Witnesses”! Well, if a member of the society cannot, because of his conscience, accept a certain teaching of the organization, and cannot find these teachings of theirs as a confirming proof from the holy writings either, will that person be cut off from the society for this reason? Well, what is the situation of those who are cut off from the society and do not accept being taken back again? This viewpoint is explained in the Witnesses' statements exactly thus:

Q: If the situation develops in this way, is this disciplinary penalty (that is, expulsion from among you) really applied? A: Yes. Q: I will not ask you many more questions about this subject, but are there hopeless situations that seem so grave that you, seeing yourselves as right, cut off relations and would never accept the person again to take him back? A: Yes. In fact such a cutting off of relations leads the person in question to destruction by remaining outside the society; if the person never repents and corrects his own way. For him there is no longer a hope of life in the new world. There are certain chains of sin that cause a cutting off of relations, one of which is blaspheming the Holy Spirit, a sin so great that it can never be taken back.

The British Crown Prosecutor then draws attention to certain teachings, teachings that the Watchman Tower Organization later changed and abandoned. Some of these are those related to clearly visible historical teachings. If a person understood the error in this then-widespread teaching and did not accept it, what will happen? What stance will the Organization take toward people in this situation? As an explanation, the Witnesses' statement:

Q: Is it true that Pastor Russell determined the year 1874? A: No. Q: But is it true that he accepted that this time would be before 1914? A: Yes. Q: What time does he set? A: He said the time of the nations would be fulfilled in 1914. Q: Did he not see 1874 as a determined time rather than any other time? A: 1874 was generally understood as Jesus' second coming in spirit. Q: Did you say it was generally understood? A: That is true. Q: And this too was proclaimed as truth, and all Jehovah's Witnesses were obliged to accept it. A: Yes. Q: But now this is not accepted, is it? A: No. Q: When Pastor Russell reached this conclusion, he basically took up the book of Daniel and interpreted it that way, is that not so? A: Partly. Q: And especially Daniel chapter 7 verse 7 and Daniel chapter 12 verse 12. A: Daniel 7:7 and 12:12? what did you say, on what basis had he built it? Q: The time of 1874 that he determined was the date pointing to the second coming of Jesus the Messiah. A: No. Q: You had said what he set that date as? I took these from what you said. Then I must have misunderstood you. A: He did not bind these verses to 1874. Q: Did he understand these verses according to the entry of the eastern kingdom into the plan in the year 539? A: Yes. 539 was a date he used when calculating. But 1874 was not built upon this understanding. Q: But these calculations are no longer accepted by the governing body of the Society, are they? A: That is true. Q: Then I am right, my effort is to bring out the Society's stance. That is, to accept these erroneous calculations was the duty and task of the Witnesses? A: Yes. Q: Must the Society accept that perhaps a few years later, they will then accept as “wrong” what they now proclaim as truth? A: Then we will have to wait. Q: In this intervening time all Jehovah's Witnesses will have followed an error? A: They will have followed what is written in the books but which we understood wrongly. Q: It may be, an error.

Again it is asked how great the authority of the Watchman Tower Organization is concerning the publications that come out. Yet, clinging again to the expression of the organization's vice-president somewhere that “these teachings are not made to be accepted by the person under obligation,” as will be seen, the questioning continues thus:

A: To be an ordained (orderly, organized) servant, that person must certainly have an understanding about these books. Q: But does a person not reach the state of an orderly servant through baptism? A: Yes. Q: Then the person must know these books at baptism. A: The person must understand the purpose of God told from the books. Q: And what is told from these books is the interpretation of the Holy Scripture? (the organization's publications are meant) A: They present the interpretation of the Holy Scripture or of the statements made from within it; and people, by reading first the interpretation and then the verses, see that these interpretations are based on the verses in the Holy Writings. The apostles say: “Examine everything, hold fast to what is right.” Q: From your situation I understood this — If I make a mistake, please correct me — A member of the Jehovah's Witnesses must accept whatever is written in the books I showed them, in a way like the Holy Scripture and as the true interpretation. A: But he does not do this under obligation; the person is given the right, as a Christian, to research from the holy writings, until he sees the proof of the knowledge he has from the Holy Scripture. Q: Well, and if that person does not see what is written in the holy writings in the teaching given, or the opposite, then what will he do? A: The publications that come out come out so that they may support the statements in the verses, and within it they are presented there. Q: If a person sees that there is a difference between the Holy Writings and the publications that come out, what should he do? A: You need to bring me someone who can show me that this is so; only then can I answer this question, or that person does it. Q: With this are you saying that each of your members individually has the right, after reading the publications and the Holy Scripture, to have a thought of their own about which interpretation is more in keeping with the Holy Scripture? A: He will come--- Q: Are you saying yes or no, and will you explain the reason? A: No. Must I also say the reason for this? Q: Yes, if you wish. A: The verses are given for the purpose of supporting what is told. If a person opens and looks at the verses, he will see that the explanation between what is said and the material given is supported; after this he will have, about the material, a viewpoint in keeping with the verses, an understanding in keeping with the verses. Exactly as in Acts of the Apostles chapter 17 verse 11, it says there thus: These (the Bereans) were more understanding than those in Thessalonica and accepted the word with all their heart, researching the scriptures every day to see whether all these things were so. We too give instructions so that they may walk in the way of superior quality like those Bereans, that they may research the verses to see whether these things are so. Q: With this it means that a Witness in fact has no alternative but to accept what is written, whether in the Watchman Tower publications or in the Awake! magazines. Must he accept all this as a measure and also follow it? A: He must accept it. Q: Is there a hope of salvation for people who live in places your publications cannot reach, if they read only the Holy Scripture? A: They read the Holy Scripture. Q: Can they make a correct interpretation of the Holy Scripture? A: No. Q: I do not want us to use verses against one another, but did Jesus not say: “Whoever believes in me will live”? (John 11:25) A: Yes

This Witness's statement means this: For people to reach an understanding of the Holy Scripture in the 20th century, only the publications of the Watchman Tower Organization, God's channel, are the good news and the way. Those who do not accept the content of their publications lose God's favor and are even condemned to death. This was the statement of only one Witness, that is, Fred Franz, the vice-president of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Two more representatives of the headquarters came to England to give their statements. I wonder, do their statements support the vice-president's statement? The next Witness is the Society's legal counsel, Hayden C. Covington. Now we will see the explanations in his statement:

Q: Is it not necessary always to speak the truth in religious matters? A: Yes, certainly. Q: In your view, should changes from time to time be made in a religion about the interpretations in the Holy Writings? A: Yes, and there are many reasons, as we see, in the interpretations about the Holy Writings. Our viewpoint is becoming clearer and clearer, because we see this in time with the fulfillment of prophecies. Q: But you — I apologize for what I am going to say — made a false prophecy? A: We, I do not believe that we proclaimed a false prophecy; there were some explanations, they were erroneous; more accurately, it would be more correct to say untimely and out of place. Q: If the second coming of the Messiah is in question, in today's world this is a very important prophecy, a viewpoint, is it not? A: It is; the thing we proclaim with effort is anyway that we possess the truth. We cannot expect to possess a flawless knowledge in order to show, in the material we have, the best possibility we rely on. If we do that, then we can say nothing. Q: Let us dwell on this subject in more detail. Was not the news that the Messiah would come a second time in 1874 the news the Jehovah's Witnesses believingly spread? A: I have no knowledge about this. You are talking about things I have no knowledge of. Q: Do you not know Mr. Franz's statement? A: I am aware of Mr. Franz's statement, but I have no knowledge of the subjects he told. You heard what he said. So I cannot answer about this subject as in your place. Q: Please do not put me in the matter. A: The only source I know is the things I heard here in the courtroom. Q: You did research of their actions. A: Yes, but not all. I have not read the 7 books related to the explanations of the verses, nor the 1874 you now mentioned. I have no knowledge at all about this subject. Q: Then take it from me on hearing. It was proclaimed by the Society that the year 1874 would be the second coming of the Messiah. A: Let us assume it is so; then this too is only a supposition. Q: A false prophecy proclaimed. A: A false announcement, or an erroneous, unfulfilled prophecy; an error or mistake was made. Q: And this too had to be accepted by all Jehovah's Witnesses? A: Yes, understand that we must be in unity; we cannot have a corrupted unity, we cannot permit a multitude of people to go in different ways. A military army too is expected to move in the same order. Q: Do you perhaps believe in an authority given to a worldwide army? A: We believe in God's Christian army. Q: Then do you believe in the authority of worldwide armies? A: We cannot proclaim such a thing. We do not preach against them either; we, since we see the military armies of this world as a part of Satan's Organization, have no share with them. We do not preach against war either. We only want to be free of them by demanding our legal right, that is all. Q: Let us come to the real point. That a false prophecy was proclaimed? A: I accept it. Q: That prophecy had to be accepted by the Jehovah's Witnesses? A: Very true. Q: If a member of the Witnesses reaches a conclusion on his own and thinks and says that this prophecy is wrong, his relations were at once naturally cut off? A: Yes, if he says it and continues to create unrest too. If a whole organization believes something, even if it is wrong, and after that someone comes out and begins to bring his own thoughts among the public, then disagreements and unrest begin. It must come from the right source, from the organization's administration, from the governing body, not from the bottom upward. Otherwise everyone has such suppositions and the organization splits into pieces and goes in thousands of different ways. Our aim is to be in unity. Q: Unity, at whatever cost? A: Unity, at whatever cost. Because we believe and are sure that Jehovah God uses our organization through the governing body. Even if errors are made from time to time. Q: And unity, by forcibly making a false prophecy accepted? A: I accept this. Q: And the person, when he defends his own views, the one you call wrong, who is cut off from relations, has he gone against the covenant, although he has been baptized? A: That is true. Q: Does he, as you said yesterday, become worthy of death? A: I believe so. Q: Do you say yes or no? A: I definitely say yes, and without any hesitation at that. Q: Do you characterize yourselves as a “religion”? A: Of course, so. Q: Do you call this Christianity (following Jesus)? A: Certainly. Q: If we take into account all together your errors too, in fact, with a full cross-examination, the differences of view, perhaps these are the measures you have shown about the writings you have published since the founding of the society, and by this I mean, you too confirmed, that there are differences. A: Yes. Q: Again you freely add that the person must reckon with being cut off from the society because he did not accept your prophetic views about time, even though it is known that this will perhaps bring, for that person, consequences full of spiritual distress. A: Yes, I said these things and once more I understood that these things are so.

According to the statement of this person, the Jehovah's Witness, the representative of the society, what is expected of a follower of the Messiah is that, whatever the thing he sees from God's word, believes, and accepts as true, he must accept it as wrong so that unity may not be broken. As long as he does not go outside the measures of the organization's teaching, whatever he reads from the Holy Scripture, without it being taken into account at all, he must not speak of and explain this at all. Therefore perhaps the things he reads from God's word can be seen clearly and plainly, but this is not enough. For a change to occur, that person must wait for this to come from the right source, the organization's administration, the governing body. That is, this business must be not from the bottom upward but from the top downward. Again, whatever the person reads from the Holy Scripture, waiting for the understanding to come from the right source, the Governing Body, he must believe and explain in the way they tell him, permit him. And making the defense of such an extraordinary expectation. Unity must be obligatory, at whatever cost. Even if it be “forcibly accepting teachings based on the foundation of a false prophecy.” To not accept this means being cut off from the society, and this means “being worthy of death.” Practically this means: «A person can read from the words the Lord had written, but that person still cannot accept these and behave according to what is written; if the so-called Slave of the Lord (the organization) says something else!»

The stance the Organization takes is understood here very simply and easily. A third Jehovah's Witness comes to give a statement. This person, the representative of the headquarters office, is the “secretary responsible for the treasury,” Grant Suiter; at the same time we will read the statement and explanations related to his task in the organization:

Q: In what kind of situation must a servant who will take up a task in the society be? A: As was talked over with him beforehand, he must have fulfilled the demands expected of him. He himself must be mature, sensible, and also possess spiritual understanding. At the same time he must have gone to the indicated Theocratic Ministry School. He must be able to lead in the field ministry (the work of preaching door to door), be qualified to teach, and have other qualifications indicated by the Holy Writings. You know, a person cannot set a rule that he can be expert about anything the Holy Writings do not indicate. Q: That is generally what is said. But when we come to the truth in practice... he must go to the theocratic ministry school (which you established), is that not so? A: Yes. Q: And there he finds a library? A: Yes. Q: Is it not asked of him to know the subjects related to the teachings the society has put out? A: Very true. Q: In the view of the Jehovah's Witnesses, can this person understand the Holy Writings without the Society's publications? A: No. Q: Can he have a correct understanding only through the publications? A: Yes. Q: Is this not a measure? A: No. Q: You heard the statements. Is it true that, having realized that the understanding about the year 1874 is wrong, that 1925 too was a wrong point of time? These two points: were put before all the Jehovah's Witnesses as truth and made to be accepted, and unconditionally at that. A: That is true. Q: Do you confirm that what is wrong had to be accepted? A: No, not exactly. That these points were wrong was because of our errors, but what is important is what came out in general. In the Jehovah's Witnesses' ministry for so many years, since their founding, the Pennsylvania Corporation continually approached people and gave to their hearts God's purpose and word and His basic justice. This too became a spiritual strength to them. Taking a stance in keeping with their knowledge, holding Jehovah's name supreme, they proclaimed His kingdom. For years this aim was tried to be driven into other people's heads by the Jehovah's Witnesses. One cannot compare the worship of Jehovah God, which is the meaning of the main subject, simply by looking at the corrected erroneous points in the side subjects.

According to the Treasury-Secretary's insistent claim, while saying “a person cannot set a rule that he is qualified (has authority) about anything the Holy Writings do not indicate,” he still, as in the statements of the two representatives before him, says that everyone can acquire correct knowledge about the Holy Writings only and only through the publications of the Watchman Tower Organization. Although they produced false prophecies, it had then been loaded onto each Jehovah's Witness as “this is unconditional truth.” And this again had been told insistently as “correct” then. The Treasury Secretary, putting it forward, defends that “what comes out in general is important.” For this reason, saying that one should not pass bad judgments about the Organization, he continues, emphasizing that the proclaimed errors are “side points,” and that “the main matter, the worship of Jehovah God, was proclaimed.” He characterizes putting the main message and the errors into the same vessel in the same way as injustice. The Treasury Secretary also points out: “A person cannot compare these simply in this way.” There is such a correct aspect in this last demand of his. But, as shown in Suiter's own statement and in the statements of the other two persons too, while the organization wants to be treated fairly tolerantly when it is judged, it itself can pass judgments people do not accept, without showing any tolerance or leniency. It is understood that they want tolerance to be shown toward themselves. But about the wrong things they teach their own members, just as they accept no objection from anyone, opposing, they throw the one who does this out of the society as worthy of death. And this is done making no distinction at all. Without looking at how much the person accepts or does not accept the message related to the main subject, or how much sincerely he gives or does not give himself to Jehovah God. No, but that person must accept the whole message as it is, entirely, as the organization teaches, everything, on condition that the errors are within it too, all of it wholesale. The other option is to be thrown out! The organization, showing the errors it published as unimportant, looks at those publications as side things. But when these errors are not accepted and meet objection, they carry terribly great importance. So great an importance that it is enough to guarantee the person's expulsion. God, supposedly, looks with great wrath upon these people who do not accept the errors as they are, whoever they may be. For that person to say insistently, against God's envoy who bears His name: “A person must research everything and take only what is good and right, as it comes from the real God,” is, supposedly, never forgivable. God, supposedly, by his going outside the organization, does not see him as worthy of life. Although all this seems unbelievable, these people who give the statement find these explanations logical.

These bring to my mind these verses in the Proverbs of Solomon, which are a basic thought:

Two kinds of weighing-stone are an abomination to the LORD; and a deceitful balance is not good. (Proverbs of Solomon 20:23).

In fact, what here seems impossible to believe is this: how seriously God looks even at ordinary, daily commercial matters (whoever it may be, a dishonest person's knowingly using different weights, whether selling or buying). Let alone how much importance God does not give to the measures people use in things related to spiritual interest, concern. While people demand that a measure of tolerance, of leniency be shown toward them, do they not want the same toward others? God's true envoy Jesus the Messiah said thus in Matthew 7:2:

For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you measure, it will be measured to you.

Not only with the statements in this court, but rather the Watchman Tower Organization continually demands of the Jehovah's Witnesses and of everyone that they overlook their errors, look upon them with tolerance, weigh them covering them with their other good aspects. But they do not show these measures to the people they hold under their judgments. Even if these are not such important thoughts, if they do not conform to the teaching of the Watchman Tower Organization, this is not seen as a human error, something that will perhaps be corrected in time; on the contrary, according to the organization: “It is a basis for the cutting off of relations.” In fact, with a general appearance, even if those people are of a separate thought or view, the fact that they show the features of the Messiah's follower is for some reason never taken into consideration and all this is not counted. He must be of the same thought as the organization. Jesus the Messiah, with his words, clearly shows that he does not look with a good eye upon those who use such different measures. In the gravity of the subjects in question in this court in England, there is no reason for us to believe that these three persons giving statements represent only their personal views. And that too although, in their statements in this court, they aimed to be accepted by the state as a religious organization. Perhaps for this reason their statements were influenced, but still the “Lawmakers” reigning over them as a measure laid out the organization's true policy. The documents or cards of the past and the future show this. The experiences I myself made in the Governing Body only confirm these... says RAYMOND FRANZ.

This page was written with the help of the book of its author Raymond Franz (formerly a member of the governing body of the Watchman Tower Organization), “Auf der Suche nach der Christlichen Freiheit” (in German). I would like to thank him here for his valuable experiences, his sincerity and his efforts. His first book “Der Gewissenskonflikt” (its German name) can be obtained from almost any bookseller. His second book, “Auf der Suche nach der Christlichen Freiheit,” I would also like to recommend to everyone here. Those who wish to obtain it in German, both as a CD and as a book, can procure it in writing from the address below. Unfortunately the Turkish printings of these books and CDs do not yet exist.

Herbert Raab, Lübecker Straße 40, 45145 Essen-Germany Monday, 12 April 2004