HOW TO AWAKEN AND EXTRACT YOUR FAMILY
From the Clutches of the Watchtower Cult
IF you are a male in a Jehovah’s Witness household, rest assured, you have incredible power. For one thing, if you are smart and motivated, you can use the “Family Worship” program to get your wife and children on board an ‘underground railway’ to freedom. If you are a female and your children are of a certain age, your authority as a parent mandates the natural stewardship in cultivating their proper development spiritually. The remaining question, then, is: How do you do it?
Start at the beginning, by visualizing the outcome you most desire: awakening your family to the truth about “the Truth” is your goal; equipping each family member to handle the delicate transition away from absolute thinking into personal skeptical inquiry is the strategy; planning an incremental escape while avoiding confrontation and detection is your tactical route.
HOW TO BEGIN
You start by orienting where you are emotionally, intellectually, and loyally. You achieve this through a process I’ll call “map reading.” Determine exactly where each of your family members stands in regard to belief, conviction, and rational thinking. You’ve seen those maps in the mall that say: “YOU ARE HERE.” Well, same principle.
What do you do next?
Well, you find where you want to go. Next? You take the first step, then the next step, and so-on-and-so-forth. Easy peasy…
So, what is the most natural way to determine where your family members are in your journey? Well, what better and safer context is there for asking questions than during your “Family Worship” program? As the head of the family, or the presiding parent, it is your duty to determine the status of each member’s “spiritual health,” right? Yes! Now, carefully craft non-threatening easy questions as to where they (think) they stand in regard to “the truth.” Like what?
Here are some examples of probing questions:
- Raise the question of self-awareness. Are they selfless to their own detriment? Fearful?
- Why is it important to give thoughtful responses to questions rather than automatic ones?
- Formulate questions about “why” rather than “what.” The idea is to create a path away from “herd-mentality” (“groupthink”).
- Give practical examples of other religious groups’ brain-washed thinking (this should be easy for them to see), and then ask why such thinking is dangerous and self-destructive.
- Explain the difference between making claims and testing claims. Define the process of active mental participation rather than passive acceptance.
- First inquire about what makes something “true.” Then, determine what changes, flip-flops, and backtracks signal about the veracity of said truth. In other words, why would something that is “true” later contradict itself?
- Discuss the difference between scientific methods and divine revelation. Science tests its hypotheses by trying to falsify outcomes (testing whether it is so). Divine revelation of “truth,” on the other hand, would be perfect from the start, not needing adjustment, change or enhancement.
- How could we detect whether any statement is opinion rather than divine? Would not the fact that it is self-contradictory be a clue?
EXAMPLE QUESTIONS FOR THINKING WITNESSES
Ask your family member what a mediator is and who the mediator between us and Jehovah is? Does a mediator need a mediator? Your family member will not immediately appreciate how the Governing Body has wedged itself between the worshiper and Jesus, that is, by removing Jesus’ importance and substituting their own.
Proceed to 1 Timothy 2:5, 6:
“For there is […] one mediator between God and men, a man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a corresponding ransom for all.” [Italics mine]
Now, read what the organization says concerning the Jesus’ mediatorship:
“So in this strict Biblical sense Jesus is the ‘mediator’ only for anointed Christians.”[1] [Italics mine]
Ask them to tell you the difference between the Bible‘s version and the organization’s version. Having already discussed how other religions trick their members into believing false teachings, that is, by getting them to trust men and show loyalty to leaders who are men, you have laid a “contrast-and-compare” template before them to invoke.
Equally important, do not tell them what to think. Instead, activate the necessity for evidence and logic in reaching each step of their conclusions. (This is a Detective’s role in solving a crime. A crime of blasphemy has been committed by the WatchTower organization and you must demonstrate how the crime was committed before placing the guilty party before a judge and jury).
Ask your family member what the word ‘worship‘ means? (A human’s natural, spontaneous reaction to an encounter with the living God). Discuss “spontaneous admiration” and “awe” for their natural emotional components. Ask why seeing and meeting somebody incredibly talented makes them admirable automatically. Ask them what meeting Jesus face-to-face would feel like. In so doing, you are detecting the capacity to answer emotionally, enthusiastically, spontaneously rather than a dull intellectual response.
Proceed reading the following excerpt from The Watchtower:
“Jehovah God commands all to worship Christ Jesus because Christ Jesus is the express image of his Father, Jehovah, and because he is the Executive Officer of Jehovah always carrying out Jehovah’s purpose (Heb.:3-6).”[2] [Bold mine]
Point out the fact that WatchTower’s second president, J.F. Rutherford, was the “Executive Officer” of the organization (1916-1942) when this statement was published.
Now, time-travel to the period and administration of WatchTower’s third president, Nathan Knorr (1942-1977), and quote the following Watchtower:
“Now, at Christ’s coming to reign as king in Jehovah’s capital organization Zion, to bring in a righteous new world, Jehovah makes him infinitely higher than the godly angels or messengers and accordingly commands them to worship him. Since Jehovah God now reigns as King by means of his capital organization Zion, then whosoever would worship Him must also worship and bow down to Jehovah’s Chief One in that capital organization, namely, Christ Jesus, his Co-regent on the throne of The Theocracy.”[3] [Bold mine]
Discuss what a corporation’s mission statement, or charter, means by way of highlighting the purpose of its existence. Then, have your family member read Watchtower’s original charter, out loud.[4]

The original charter of the organization outlining its purpose, which includes the worship of Jesus. – Yearbook (1945) page 32.
Emphasize the meaning of this charter in regard to Jesus Christ. Then, ask why this should ever need to be changed if it is a “true” statement of their intentions.
Next, discuss this thought-provoking quote by the organization’s founder, Charles Taze Russell:
“Beware of ‘organization.’ It is wholly unnecessary. The Bible rules will be the only rules you will need. Do not seek to bind others’ consciences, and do not permit others to bind yours. Believe and obey so far as you can understand God’s word today, and so continue growing in grace and knowledge and love day by day.”[5] [Italics mine]

Zion’s Watch Tower – September 15, 1895 p.1866.
What is the warning contained in this cautionary statement? Why would the person who founded the WatchTower organization feel the need to say this?
Next, consider 1 Corinthians 3:21:
“Hence let no one be boasting in men; for all things belong to YOU, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things now here or things to come, all things belong to YOU; in turn YOU belong to Christ; Christ, in turn, belongs to God.” [Italics mine]
What is meant by “boasting in men”? Why, what does an “organization” consist of but men? Moreover, who really is the organization? When Witnesses say (as they often do): “The organization says…” whom, in fact, are they referring to (as having “said” those things)? Is it not, in fact, a group of men, namely, the Governing Body?
Have your family member read the following excerpt from The Watchtower:
“Ask yourself now, Did Christ Jesus, who set our example and told us to follow his example to gain life, join any church organization in his day? No, God does not require us to do that, but he requires us to worship him… We have the Bible to show us the right way. Certainly it is not necessary for a person to become a member of a church to gain everlasting life.” [6] [Italics mine]
Point out how a huge change took place in the WatchTower organization between 1953 and 1954. Suddenly Jesus was removed from “Jehovah’s organization,” and to worship him was forbidden. In fact, the Society called it “idolatry.” Now, idolatry, as we know, is the worship of a ‘false god.’ Yet, in John 1:1, the New World Translation reads: “…and the Word [Jesus] was a god.”
Now, ask if Jesus is a “true” god or not. If Jesus isn’t the “only true god” would that mean he is a false god?
Proceed to reading John 17:3:
“This means everlasting life, their coming to know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.”[7] [Italics mine]
At this point, you need to ask your family member what Christianity precisely is without worship of Christ. This moment in your study is the crucial dividing-line between thinking, feeling, and blind obedience. Can they see the difference, and, more importantly, does it make a difference?
The objective here is to use the headship authority in mandated “Family Worship” to jar family awareness that the organization did something Antichrist in 1954 and has never recovered from that “hijacking.”
Again, what is Christianity without worship of Christ? Why call it Christianity? Wouldn’t Jehovah’s Witnesses be more accurate in calling their religion “Jehovah-anity?” And, then, why did the “organization” (the “Governing Body”) insert itself between the only mediator, Jesus Christ, and members of the Witness community?
This, here, is an intellectual “detonation” of self-awareness vs. automatic organizational loyalty.
Finally, then, confront your family member by asking a direct question: “Whom are you really giving loyalty to?”
INVITE THEM TO DO SINCERE RESEARCH
This is where the rubber meets the road. Give them research to do on their own; the idea is to get them to apply their minds to the facts. Consider the issue of baptism by quoting The Watchtower:
“A Christian, therefore, cannot be baptized in the name of the one actually doing the immersing or in the name of any man, nor in the name of any organization, but in the name of the Father, the Son and the holy spirit.”[8] [Italics mine]
Then, “contrast-and-compare” the following change that was made to the above policy, regarding baptism:
The first question is:
On the basis of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, have you repented of your sins and dedicated yourself to Jehovah to do his will?The second is:
Do you understand that your dedication and baptism identify you as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in association with God’s spirit-directed organization?Having answered yes to these questions, candidates are in a right heart condition to undergo Christian baptism.”[9] [Italics mine]

Remind your family how “noble-minded” the Bereans were in examining the scriptures to “see if these things were so.” (Act 17:10, 11) Invite them to espouse to that level of “nobility.”
CONCLUSION
The timing of these questions and the emotional tone have to be discretionary choices. Your family will be automatically “threatened” by interior fear through the conditioning they’ve been subjected to, to put loyalty (to “God“) before authentic feelings.
PRAY WITH THEM before the study, during the study and after the study, so they can see that you are not jumping ship as a “renegade” Witness. Be keenly aware that this attempt to awaken your family from the hypnotic spell of WatchTower loyalty can only work if it is a break for freedom to be a real person – a thinking, feeling individual – rather than a robotic servo-mechanism plugged into Watchtower’s control mainframe.
Remember, you are the engineer on this “underground railroad.” Now is the best time to get your family aboard, on the tracks to freedom.
#ThinkingWitnesses
[1] The Watchtower April 1, 1979 p.31.
[2] The Watchtower November 15, 1939 p.339. [PDF]
[3] The Watchtower October 15, 1945 p.313.
[4] Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses (1945) p. 32.
[5] Zion’s Watch Tower, September 13, 1895 p. 1866.
[6] The Watchtower March 1, 1953 p.143.
[7] New World Translation (2013).
[8] The Watchtower July 1, 1955 p.411; read more at: http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/baptism.php.
[9] The Watchtower June 1, 1985 p.30.
Comments (14)
Thank you Terry! What an incredibly helpful article on how to extract ones family or friends for that matter. Very insightful – I’ll be sharing this everywhere I can.
On the various Facebook groups devoted to ex-JW’s, Asiza, I see the question posted constantly, “How can I help my family come to an awakening?”
If I can help just one family, I’ll feel wonderful. People such as yourself, who set aside time to make a difference, know how personally rewarding it is to know you’ve made a difference.
Terry you is a three-jump cowboy! Good article !
Terry,
A thought-provoking article this. But I do have a question or two.
You say: “…a huge change took place in the organization between 1953 and 1954. Suddenly Jesus was removed from ‘Jehovah’s organization,” and to worship him was forbidden.”
I need clarity on this. What “huge change” are you referring to here? Are you referring to the “organisation” thing or the “worship” thing? Can you give me some references for what you say about 1953 and 1954 — which publications lend support to what you say (I don’t see a footnote for that).
Thanks.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Se4knHb_KED5EDaOBC-lxDJqSuOWq-sHE2d6JrGwUso/edit?usp=sharing
Okay, I’ll attempt to summarise your “thesis” of a response, just to make sure I’m on the same page as you (not to mention, for the sake of this generation of lazy readers). [laughing]
1. Historical disunity about the nature of Christ existed among the masses (Matthew 16:13-16).
2. Catholicism (“Katholikos”) (an idea/term coined by Ignatius of Antioch circa 101 C.E.) was an adopted name that was geared towards bringing to conformity all these divergent views into one “universal church” that was unified by the acceptance of redemption by Jesus as the Christ.
3. Eventually, beliefs “about” Jesus morphed into beliefs “in” Jesus.
4. However, various little groups (of which the Witnesses form part) protested, showed insubordination, towards the Universal Church – an act of “heresy” effectively; showing a spirit of “disunity.”
5. The Catholic Church was held together by this one central truth: Jesus being the redeemer and representation of the Divine.
6. In the absence of such agreement and/or of the worship of Jesus, there would be no “Christianity” to speak of, only sectarian opinions or superstitions.
7. The doctrine of the Trinity was a “compromise” aimed at curbing polytheism, in an effort to worship one entity.
This, you posit, is what historic Christianity is, namely, the worship of Jesus, who was deemed to be the expression of the real God.
8. In 1954, the Witnesses broke away (“reneged”) from the worship of Jesus (as your article demonstrates, contradicting their original charter), this is evidenced by the “Question from Readers” section from The Watchtower on both the January 1, 1954 p.30-31 and May 15, 1954 p.317-319.
9. This erosion from historic Christianity began with the adoption of the name “Jehovah’s Witnesses” (1931); the Watchtower magazine eventually moved away from being the “Herald of Christ’s Presence” to eventually “Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom” (1939). This was a preparatory move to minimise the person of Jesus and to eventually usurp his role as mediator.
10. Prior to the above-two 1954 articles, the organisation spawned their own version of the bible (a green bible). The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures (NWT), with its “overhauled” language was aimed at supporting their ideas about the nature of Christ. For example, the Greek word “proskyne´ō” – which is generally translated “worship” by bible scholars, was instead rendered “do obeisance” in the NWT such that Jesus was no longer worshiped but simply done obeisance to. (Hebrews 1:6).
(As far as the scholarship involved in the NWT, it’s interesting to read what Frederick Franz said while under oath in a Scottish trial back in November 1954: see Douglas Walsh v. The Right Honourable James Latham Clyde, MP, PC).
11. In 1979, the organisation introduced the idea that Jesus is the mediator “only for anointed Christians.” (The Watchtower April 1, 1979, p.31). The bible, however, says Christ is the mediator “for all.” 1 Timothy 2:5, 6. These “anointed” Christians served as the “Faithful and Discreet Slave.”
12. The Faithful and Discreet Slave was rendered “God’s channel.” The organisation said: “All who want to understand the bible should appreciate that the ‘greatly diversified wisdom of God’ can become known only through Jehovah’s channel of communication, the faithful and discreet slave.” (The Watchtower October 1, 1994 p. 8)
(This is not a new idea, however. Charles Russell – who was once thought to be the faithful and discreet slave – introduced a similar concept concerning his prized six volumes of Studies in the Scripture (“Millennial Dawn”) when he said: “…people cannot see the divine plan in studying the bible by itself… [if a person] lays the [SCRIPTURE STUDIES] aside and ignores them and goes to the Bible alone […] he goes into darkness.” – The Watch Tower September 15, 1910 p.4685).
13. The Witnesses state that in 1918, when Jesus came to earth to inspect those faithful to him, the comforter (the holy spirit) ceased to function, such that by 1919, when the faithful slave was selected, it was not the result of God’s spirit (Preservation 1932 p.193-194),but, instead, angels were employed. (ibid. p.151).
14. In 1979 (after the great disappointment of 1975), the organisation admitted that “this faithful and discreet slave was never inspired.” (The Watchtower March 1, 1979 p.23 para.15).
15. In 1987, said: “Christ used his authority by actively leading his congregation here on earth. He did this by means of the holy spirit, the angels and the governing body…” (The Watchtower August 1, 1987 p. 15).
16. However, in 1993 they said: “Those who make up the one true organisation today do not have angelic revelations or divine inspiration.” – Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom (1993) p. 708.
So, thus far, the Governing Body was not appointed by holy spirit, not directed by angels (“angelic revelation”) nor afforded divine inspiration.
17. The failures, setbacks, flip-flops, volte-faces, over the years all speak to the fact that this organisation is led by (self-appointed) men, who have disenfranchised, and, for all practical purposes, substituted Jesus (as mediators), while simultaneously claiming affiliation with him by operating the organisation under the “Christian” banner.
Phew!!! Did I capture your sentiments correctly? I hope so… (Point 8 speaks to my question). I shall have to file this “data” somewhere in the cabinets of my mind…
If, as the famous saying goes, “Brevity is the soul of wit”, then I am truly one of Jehovah’s Witless 🙂
Well done, old chap!
Q.E.D.
THE TESTIMONY OF JAY HESS
After 23 years as a dedicated Jehovah’s Witness, Jay Hess was disfellowshiped. He had been an active Witness apologist: debating critics, researching, and publishing answers to “opposers” of the movement. Two subjects that interested him the most were the charge that the Witnesses were false prophets and the doctrine of the Trinity. Concerning the latter he explains:
I tried to address every Trinitarian argument. One that captured my interest was whether Jesus was to be worshiped…. Through many hours of research, I came up with an explanation that said Jesus could be worshiped and yet he was not God. How good I felt to have an answer that, I thought, defended the Society’s position! Oddly enough, this is what eventually led to my being ejected from the Witnesses.52
During the week of 19 March 1990, in one of the Theocratic School meetings, it was “announced in all congregations that Jesus was not to be worshiped.”53
Soon after, the Society started to investigate me and my friend [with whom he had shared his view] about our claims that Jesus should be worshiped. A religious court (“special committee”) was set up and we were charged with “causing divisions” by telling JWs that we worshiped Jesus. We were both found guilty. The court punished my friend by announcing to the congregation that he was found guilty but would be allowed to stay in the organization. I appealed their decision…. I was found guilty again and disfellowshipped on February 3, 1992 .54
Hess concludes, “Continuing my Bible research has led to my understanding of the errors of the Watchtower teachings. Although I lost my family and my former culture, Jesus has opened my eyes and allowed me to see the One I was seeking to worship (John 9).”55 In a letter, Hess expresses his present faith: “I have made Jesus my Lord and my God (John 20:28).”56
Ironically, Jay Hess was disfellowshiped for believing a doctrine that had been taught by Russell and Rutherford, affirmed in subsequent Watch Tower publications, and included in the Watch Tower charter. Moreover, if Christ is God, not to worship Him is scripturally wrong. Church historian Philip Schaff states the historic position of the church: “Finally, Christ cannot be a proper object of worship, as he is represented in Scripture and has always been regarded in the Church, without being strictly divine. To worship a creature is idolatry.”57
Finally, since the worship of Christ Jesus was not rejected as unscriptural and as a form of idolatry until 1954, how can it be claimed that 1919 saw the “restoration of pure worship” in the movement?58 Furthermore, while still involved in such “idolatry,” why would Jehovah choose such an organization as his “sole visible channel, through whom alone spiritual instruction was to come”?
_________________The above is quoted from below___________
Is It Proper to Worship Jesus?
Article ID: DJ922 | By: Edmond C. Gruss and Jay Hess
Edmond C. Gruss has written several books and a number of articles on the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the cults, and the occult.
Oh, yes, Edmond Gruss, authour of “Apostles of Denial.”
‘Since the worship of Christ Jesus was not rejected as unscriptural and as a form of idolatry until 1954, how can it be claimed that 1919 saw the “restoration of pure worship” in the movement? Furthermore, while still involved in such “idolatry,” why would Jehovah choose such an organization as his “sole visible channel, through whom alone spiritual instruction was to come?” ‘
That, I do say, is a fair observation…
I thought it might broaden our appreciation for the specific arena in which Jesus worship and Christian definitions are wrought if I dropped in this quote from New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman’s Blog:
” I have been insisting that if one wants to say that “Jesus is God” according to an early Christian text, one has to ask “in what *sense*” is he God? Now is a good time for me to lay out how I understand ancient people understood the divine realm. It was very different from the way most people today – at least the people I run across – imagine the divine realm. As I pointed out earlier, people today think of God as completely Other than us humans. We are mortal and limited in every respect; he is immortal and unlimited. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and everywhere-present. We are by comparison weak, ignorant, and in one place at a time. He is infinite and eternal; we are finite and temporal. There is an unbridgeable gap between us and God. (Although in Christian theology, it is Jesus who bridges that gap by being a divine being who becomes human; in traditional theology, he did that so that we humans could then become divine) People in the ancient world did not think of the divine realm in that way. True, the major Gods were enormously powerful and knowing and were immortal (you couldn’t kill them, and they couldn’t kill each other! And they never died). But there were lots of different gods with lots of different power and knowledge. And many of the gods (nearly all of them) came into being at some point in the past. They haven’t always existed. Like us, they get born. And like us, gods have strengths and weaknesses, and rarely were gods imagined as all-knowing, and almost never as all-powerful. But there were gods and there were gods. I try to illustrate the divine realm to my students by speaking in terms of a divine pyramid. So, imagine a pyramid. At the very top (where it is narrowest) some ancient pagans located a single most powerful (all powerful? ) divinity – call him Zeus, or Jupiter, or an Unknown God, or something else. This God was far more powerful than we can possibly imagine. Possibly he is the source of all things. Below this single divine power, on the next rung of the pyramid, were the great gods known to us from Greek and Roman mythology: the Greek Zeus (if he’s not at the top), and Hera, and Ares, and Aphrodite – or their Roman equivalents Jupiter, Juno, Mars, and Venus, and all the rest, the gods of Mount Olympus. These gods by and large have little to do with us, as they have their own concerns. But occasionally they interact with us. They too are enormously powerful, immortal, and superhuman in every way (even though in the myths they appear to be all *too* human with their jealousies, and anger, and loves, and lusts, and other human emotions; but it’s not clear that most ancient people – and certainly not most educated ancient people – actually believed the myths as telling events that truly happened). On the next lower rung on the pyramid, below the Olympian gods, were other gods of a more local nature and purpose. There were, in fact, gods of virtually every locality and function. Gods who inhabited and were in charge of certain mountains and fields and forests and rivers and streams; gods of war, love, health, childbirth, weather; gods of the local cities and towns, gods of the home, gods of the hearth, gods of the family. The gods in this realm were far less powerful and ubiquitous than the great Gods. But they were also far more powerful that we mere mortals. On the next lower rung on the pyramid, was an even less powerful group (and more numerous) set of divine beings sometimes called DAIMONIA. It’s not helpful or accurate to translate this term as“demons” – even though that is the precise equivalent – because these were not necessarily divine entities that always did harm and were out to hurt people. Sometimes they were, but sometimes they were good too. These are the divine beings closer to us, who have more to do with our daily affairs. They can be fickle, and some are nasty, but others were not. I prefer calling these daimonia, rather than demons, since demons in the Christian tradition are always malevolent. And there is another rung even below these daimonia, which is made up of beings who are in some sense partially divine, either because they were born to the union of a god and a mortal (like Hercules or Dionysus), or because they were adopted by a divine being to be his son, or because they were so powerful or wise that it was hard to imagine them as merely mortal (such as the emperor, or a great philosopher like Plato). Below that level of the pyramid were humans, some of whom were more god-like than others. Like my first wife used to say many years into our marriage: “I married a Greek God, and now I’m married to a goddam Greek.” The point is that divinity was a kind of graded, graduated affair. To call the emperor “God” was not to say that he was the one on the top of the pyramid. Quite the contrary! He wasn’t even on the level of the daimonia. But he was God, *in some sense.* Some of you (I can hear you thinking as I type) are wondering if any of this has any relevance to Judaism. The answer is yes, in some ways, and I’ll deal with that question eventually. For now let me simply stress that when Christians were most forthright in calling Jesus “God” without qualification (as in “Jesus is God” – a statement you hardly ever [maybe once?] get in the NT, but start getting frequently in the second century) Christianity had by and large stopped being a primarily Jewish affair and was, rather, primarily a Gentile affair. That is, most of its adherents were converts from paganism, who brought their views of the divine realm with them into the new faith they adopted.”
Percolating…
I would appreciate any guidance as to where Watchtower reprints can be seen on the internet, particularly the 1953 quote regarding organisation. The JW online library only seems to go back as far as 2000 (too dangerous to go any further?). I have found a site that goes up to 1916 (http://www.mostholyfaith.com/Beta/bible/Reprints/index.asp), but nothing in between. Any help would be much appreciated.
This site has links to everything you’d need in the way of magazine reference:
http://avoidjw.org/magazines/
Try not to get nauseous!
Many thanks.