It is important to understand the psychological hold the Watchtower organization has in the life of the average Jehovah’s Witness. The Watchtower organization is the guide, the teacher, and the expounder of correct doctrine. The average Jehovah’s Witness attends several meetings each week where he is repeatedly indoctrinated to believe Watchtower doctrines. Every Jehovah’s Witness thinks very much alike and has the same standard answers because they read from the same sources and are conditioned into the same way of thinking: the Watchtower way. So, if you’ve witnessed to one Jehovah’s Witness, you’ve heard the same arguments they all will use.

In opposition to the Watchtower, according to the Bible, Jesus is the mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5). He alone is the one who reveals truth (John 1:17) and not the Watchtower organization. As you will read in these quotes, the Watchtower organization subtly takes the place of Jesus. Though it claims to bear witness of Him and point to Him, in reality it takes His place. This is typical for a cult. Here’s what they teach:

1. The Watchtower Organization is God’s organization on earth.
   1. “It should be expected that the Lord would have a means of communication to his people on the earth, and he has clearly shown that the magazine called The Watchtower is used for that purpose,” (1939 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses, p. 85).
   2. “Make haste to identify the visible theocratic organization of God that represents his king, Jesus Christ. It is essential for life. Doing so, be complete in accepting its every aspect,” (Watchtower, Oct. 1, 1967, p. 591).
   3. “We cannot claim to love God, yet deny his word and channel of communication,” (Watchtower, Oct. 1, 1967, p. 591).
   4. “No matter where we may live on earth, God’s Word continues to serve as a light to our path and a lamp to our roadway as to our conduct and beliefs. (Ps. 119:105) But Jehovah God has also provided his visible organization, his “faithful and discreet slave,” made up of spirit anointed ones, to help Christians in all nations to understand and apply properly the Bible in their lives. Unless we are in touch with this channel of communication that God is using, we will not progress along the road to life, no matter how much Bible reading we do,” (Watchtower, Dec. 1, 1981, p. 27).
2. The Watchtower Organization is the only way to understand the Bible.
   1. “Only this organization functions for Jehovah’s purpose and to his praise. To it alone God’s Sacred Word, the Bible, is not a sealed book,” (Watchtower, July 1, 1973, p. 402).
   2. “We all need help to understand the Bible, and we cannot find the Scriptural guidance we need outside the ‘faithful and discreet slave’ organization,” (Watchtower, Feb. 15, 1981).
   3. ” . . . people cannot see the Divine Plan in studying the Bible by itself . . . if he then lays them [Scripture Studies] aside and ignores them and goes to the bible alone, though he has understood his Bible for ten years, our experience shows that within two years he goes into darkness. On the other hand, if he had merely read the Scripture Studies with their references, and had not read a page of the Bible, as such, he would be in the light at the end of the two years, because he would have the light of the Scriptures,” (Watchtower, Sept. 15, 1910, p. 298).
   4. “Thus the Bible is an organizational book and belongs to the Christian congregation as an organization, not to individuals, regardless of how sincerely they may believe that they can interpret the Bible,” (Watchtower, Oct. 1, 1967, p. 587).
   5. “The world is full of Bibles, which Book contains the commandments of God. Why, then, do the people not know which way to go? Because they do not also have the teaching or law of the mother, which is light. Jehovah God has provided his holy written Word for all mankind and it contains all the information that is needed for men in taking a course leading to life. But God has not arranged for that Word to speak independently or to shine forth life-giving truths by itself. His Word says: “Light is sown for the righteous.” (Ps. 97:11) It is through his organization that God provides this light that the proverb says is the teaching or law of the mother. If we are to walk in the light of truth we must recognize not only Jehovah God as our Father but his organization as our mother,” (Watchtower, May 1, 1957, p. 274).
   6. “Channel to understanding the Bible . . . 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,” (Watchtower, Oct. 1, 1994, p. 8).
3. Individual thinking discouraged by Watchtower Organization.
   1. “From time to time, there have arisen from among the ranks of Jehovah’s people those, who, like the original Satan, have adopted an independent, faultfinding attitude…They say that it is sufficient to read the Bible exclusively, either alone or in small groups at home. But, strangely, through such ‘Bible reading,’ they have reverted right back to the apostate doctrines that commentaries by Christendom’s clergy were teaching 100 years ago . . . ” (Watchtower, Aug. 15, 1981).
   2. “We should eat and digest and assimilate what is set before us, without shying away from parts of the food because it may not suit the fancy of our mental taste . . . We should meekly go along with the Lord’s theocratic organization and wait for further clarification, rather than balk at the first mention of a thought unpalatable to us and proceed to quibble and mouth our criticisms and opinions as though they were worth more than the slave’s provision of spiritual food. Theocratic ones will appreciate the Lord’s visible organization and not be so foolish as to put against Jehovah’s channel their own human reasoning and sentiment and personal feelings,” (Watchtower, Feb. 1, 1952, p. 79-80).
   3. “After being nourished to our present spiritual strength and maturity, do we suddenly become smarter than our former provider and forsake the enlightening guidance of the organization that mothers us? ‘Forsake not the law of thy mother’ (Prov. 6:20-23),” (Watchtower, Feb. 1, 1952, p. 80).
4. Regarding Salvation.
   1. There are four requirements for the Jehovah’s Witnesses to be able to live forever on Paradise earth according to the Watchtower, Feb. 15, 1983, p. 12. One of them deals with the Watchtower organization.
      1. “Jesus Christ identified a first requirement when he said in prayer to his Father: “This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.” (John 17:3) Knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ includes knowledge of God’s purposes regarding the earth and of Christ’s role as earth’s new King. Will you take in such knowledge by studying the Bible?
      2. “Many have found the second requirement more difficult. It is to obey God’s laws, yes, to conform one’s life to the moral requirements set out in the Bible. This includes refraining from a debauched, immoral way of life.” 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10; 1 Peter 4:3, 4.
         1. [“Accepting the message of salvation and devoting ourselves to God through Christ and being baptized in water is only the beginning of our exercise of faith. It is only the beginning of our obedience to God. It sets us on the way to everlasting life, but it does not mean our final salvation,” (This Means Everlasting Life, p. 181).]
      3. “A third requirement is that we be associated with God’s channel, his organization. God has always used an organization. For example, only those in the ark in Noah’s day survived the Flood, and only those associated with the Christian congregation in the first century had God’s favor. (Acts 4:12) Similarly, Jehovah is using only one organization today to accomplish his will. To receive everlasting life in the earthly Paradise we must identify that organization and serve God as part of it.
      4. “The fourth requirement is connected with loyalty. God requires that prospective subjects of his Kingdom support his government by loyally advocating his Kingdom rule to others. Jesus Christ explained: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth,” (Matthew 24:14) Will you meet this requirement by telling others about God’s Kingdom?