It was about five years later that I (as a local elder and Circuit News Service Overseer) was called into the back room by a Circuit Overseer who had high connections at Bethel’s Service Department and a reputation as an inquisitor who was searching for apostates (he had already decimated our circuit’s ranks of elders).

The reason why he wanted to meet with me was because he said that he was very concerned because I had recently attended a fine gathering of brothers. He told me that get-togethers were not condoned by the Society or the Watchtower. However, I pointed out that his views and conclusions were incorrect, because the gathering I attended was well directed and within the Society's written guidelines.

Well, this was said, then that, but in his letter to the Society he wrote that I was an apostate. And because no further action was taken by them, he then set out with trumped-up charges (having nothing to do with apostasy) to have me removed as an elder on his next visit. In fact, he threatened all the local elders with removal if they didn’t recommend my removal, and I was removed, as everyone sat there visibly shaking.

Looking back (although the action destroyed me at the time), it was the best thing that could have happened, and I see it as Jehovah's direction. So, I’m no longer hurt or angry, for it did start me into an advanced study of the Scriptures to find out what was happening and why.

The interesting thing that I found is how seldom the words apostate, apostates, and apostasy are found in the Bible only eighteen times, which is far less than the Society’s annual use of these words. Of course, Job was called an apostate, as was Paul. And in every case, the word refers not to someone who disagrees with teachings or doctrines, but to someone who has left the way of life of worship of Jehovah.

The word apostate is derived from two Greek words, apo (meaning from) and state (meaning state, position, or standing). So, doctrine is not implied. The word refers to changing one’s way of life and going back into a worldly lifestyle. As in the case of Paul, he was accused by brothers of an apostasy against Moses, because he appeared (to some) as no longer following a Jewish lifestyle. So, the Society’s use of the word is simply wrong.

1975

When I first learned of the highly publicized apostasies mentioned above I wondered what would happen if apostates were ever successful in taking over the organization, and if they did, how we would know it. For even as a child I recognized that the strong rules and rulership of the Society would make it almost impossible to question wrong leadership and doctrine. And then things started to change.

It took me a long time to realize it, but 1975 was the year when this change started. Oh, many point to that year laughingly as the one when the Society strongly inferred that Armageddon was coming. I have no problem with that, because at least they were wide-awake and looking for Jesus’ coming. But then they started denying their role in the wrong prediction and beating the sheep for believing them... that was wrong.

Then came the disfellowshiping of Ray Franz, one of the Society’s true Bible scholars, followed by several years of inquisition that I somehow got tangled in. I don’t know anything about Mr. Franz or his teachings, but the way that things started to change after his removal has caused me to wonder who the apostates actually are. What was starting to change? Somewhere along the line, meat in due season evaporated and the Watchtower became a magazine more dedicated to political correctness and self-preservation than to hard-hitting Bible truths.

What am I talking about? Well, to give you an example, I recently had a phone call from a dear sister who has spent her past thirty years as a full-time pioneer, and I happened to mention my disappointment in the lack of the organization’s spiritual growth recently. Well, she became very indignant and asked what I was talking about. So I asked her, "What new Bible truth have you learned in the past year."?

She thought a while, and then came up with the answer, "I found out that Jehovah loves me."

Hmmm! I wonder what motivated her before she learned that.

Accusations of Apostasy at the Top

More recently, I’ve seen accusations of apostasy at the top of the Society’s governing body on internet web sites. In particular, there is the scandal involving the Society’s joining a United Nations educational group, which was certainly out of character and wrong. Yet, I don’t personally think that this was as much of a wrongdoing as it was just sheer foolishness and stupidity. For I have been told that the former leaders were so involved in looking for yes-men that they overlooked the need to select thoughtful and wise future leaders and prophets.

One of the things that has recently proven the lack of spiritual and intellectual depth at the top of the organization is the fact that we now find the old term New World starting to appear in the Society’s publications again. Of course, that term is still loved and used by many old-timers, but the Society stopped using it back during the 1950s, because it just isn’t scriptural. You see, the Bible word world is translated from the Greek word cosmos, which means arrangement or system of things. And it probably refers to the arrangement that started with man’s sin in Eden.

In the Bible, we read that "the world is passing away and so is its desire", and that "the Devil is the ruler of this world". So, the Bible doesn’t actually speak of a new world, it speaks of a new heavens and a new earth. Yet, in a recent talk by a Circuit Overseer we were told, "The Bible doesn’t actually speak of a new earth, it speaks of a new world". I wonder which Bible he was reading.

The Dilemma

So, have I concluded that apostates have finally taken over the governing body of Jehovah's Witnesses? No, it appears as though there are some bumbling good-old boys at the top who have secure lifetime positions, as long as they don’t blow it. But blowing it is too easy to do if they come up with any changes in accepted doctrine and they have the example of what happened to Ray Franz to look at.

Let’s say that one of them (or any of the Society's excellent writers) should come up with an important new truth. By even mentioning it they would automatically become suspect as apostates because they would be questioning doctrine as it was handed down to them by greater men (the anointed and the faithful and discreet slave). And built into the Society’s framework is the powerful Service Department, which serves as their Curia for investigating any apostasy. As the result, the organization is currently spiritually dead and devoid of spiritual food, because almost everyone there is afraid to do serious Bible research.

Can It Change?

So, what are the options? Check around and you’ll find no credible alternatives in any other religious organization. Yet, we all need some spiritual association and spiritual discussions to remain spiritually alert and sound. Some have argued against this, but I can testify that although I have a strong relationship with Jehovah and Jesus, I miss my brotherhood.

Others argue that we should simply continue to attend meetings and say nothing to avoid being removed as apostates. But is that honest, and is it even moral?

Still others have sought out local religious groups that are prone to accept right teachings, but are they truly not a part of Babylon the Great, and are they free from the mark of the beast?

And there are many more that are searching for truth and fellowship on the internet, but if that's Jehovah’s way, then why hasn’t he provided computers and internet access to everyone?

The fact is, we need a righteous and powerful organization to provide topics for spiritual discussions, leadership, and association and Jehovah’s Witnesses have so much potential to be that organization. Yet, there is also so much wrong with them. Like the Pharisees, they’ve gone beyond Bible Law and made their own laws of right and wrong from what they perceive as principles. Their views of people who may not agree with everything they teach (right and wrong) are far from what the Bible (and reasonableness) tells us. Their views on disfellowshiping have gone far beyond the Bible’s instructions. And most seriously, they are misleading all their followers by claiming that only a select few are part of the New Covenant.

So, change is needed, and what I want to do is to urge all to pray fervently for Jehovah to bring the needed change. For, while it won’t come from the hands of men, it will come if we all pray and beg for it. Jehovah has promised us that.

Jim Wheeler, editor 2001 Translation