[Camera clicks] [Groans] Youtube gurus like to- [Clears throat] Youtube gurus often target smaller channels
with promises of exponential channel growth. [Skype ringtone]
Who even uses Skype anymore? What?... Hello? Hello? Is this thing working? Hey! Hey, don’t hang up – I’m you from the
future. …k. You see, I found this ancient artifact that
lets- wait, you believe me? Yeah, why not. Oh… okay well, without giving away too much,
things don’t work out so well for us here in the future, so, when are you? Uh it’s Summer 2021, I was just getting
ready to film the Life Coaches video. Ah forget that one, it’s like an 8 out of
10. Really? Yeah, it’s not worth it, so, have you already
made the Mormon video? Yeah, that was a big one. Dangit, I’m too late… Okay, umm, you remember that blooper where
you were interrupted by two missionaries? [Flashback music] [Knock on the door] Hi! Hello, how are you doing? I’m fine. We’re just sharing our thoughts on the Bible
with people. I’m a little- I’m a little busy right
now, I’m sorry. I’m actually filming something, that’s
why… Oh, thank you. … Mormons. Yeah. You alright? You spaced out there for a second. Yeah, I was just- Yes, I remember the blooper. Okay well, you were wrong, those weren’t
Mormons. So, I need you to make that video again, but
this time about Jehovah’s Witnesses. What? But... I dunno man, religion videos always do a number
on my mental health. It takes weeks to deprogram their code words
from my brain and from what I remember, Jehovah’s Witnesses are really big on language control. Right, make sure you say that in the video. Can’t you just tell me what I do wrong in
the future so I can correct it? Yeah. What do you think I’m doing right now?! [Skype hangup sound]
Man… [Sighs] Like I had a friend back in… [Sighs]
So I know a little but… give me a second. Right, so apparently all of this traces back
to a guy named William Miller, this f-. I don’t even know how many times I’ve
talked about this guy lately. I’m starting to piece together why the event
he’s most known for is called the Great Disappointment. In the 1840s, he was so convinced that the
world was going to end that people sold their land, their houses, and gave away all of their
possessions to help spread the good news. Because who needs it, the world is going to
end on October 22, 1844. Why October 22, 1844? Okay so, do you have a calculator? Because you’re going to need a calculator. I’m serious, for like, the whole video – just
keep it with you. At least get a pencil and paper, because,
apparently, this is a math channel now. [Distorted intro music] This video was brought to you by One Day University. Oh this is a lot… man, this is gonna be
even longer than my Mormon video. You better be right about this. So, just like every religion we’ve talked
about recently, it all starts with one guy… in this case, Charles Taze Russell, born in
Allegheny, Pennsylvania in 1852. You’ll note that 1852 is after 1844 so,
that prediction obviously didn’t come true – we’ll get to the math in a second. Growing up in the aftermath of the Second
Great Awakening, Charles was brought up in a number of different denominations. He was a Presbyterian, a Calvinist, a Congregationalist,
and then he had a complete crisis of faith at the age of sixteen. I think it’s fairly common for seemingly
average boys and girls to have what is called a personal fable, where you’re secretly
the most important person on the planet. Just wait everyone, you’ll see. A lot of personal fables today are modeled
after Harry Potter or Luke Skywalker. “Oh, you thought you were just some average
school or farm-boy? Well, you’re actually a wizard!… or a
space wizard!” Anyway, back in the day, there weren’t a
lot of book series or movie franchises to keep people entertained, so most people just
read the Bible. And some people were so into it, they came
up with religious personal fables. The difference between people like William
Miller, Joseph Smith, Charles Taze Russell and the rest of us is that we usually grow
out of it. We don’t try to convince other people that
we’re actually a wizard or a prophet – which is just the Christian form of a wizard. Russell overheard a speech by a Second Adventist
preacher and decided that he was going to be the one to decipher the Bible and figure
out when the world was going to end. He started hanging out with people like George
Storrs, who was a follower of William Miller. To come up with Miller’s end-times prediction,
you take 457 BCE, because that’s when someone decreed that Jerusalem should be rebuilt,
and then you add 2300 days, because that’s from the prophecy in Daniel 8. The verse itself isn’t actually predicting
anything; two angels just casually say that number. But you also have to take into account the
line from Second Peter, “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand
years are like a day.” This is known as the Day-Year Principle, we’re
going to see this a lot. So, you take negative 457 and you add 2300
years, and since the year zero didn’t happen, you add one more, and you get 1844. The people who came up with this math are
now teaching Russell. This is when he hears about the two-stage
advent, a foundational concept which comes from a guy named Manuel Lacunza in the 1790s. The first stage being that Christ will invisibly
take the throne in heaven. The Seventh Day Adventists, another group
which can trace their roots back to William Miller, still believe that the invisible part
began in 1844. Guy’s been dead for 170 years and people
are still using his calculations. After Christ’s invisible return, other events
which are described in the Book of Revelation would occur over a period of years or even
decades… Culminating in the Battle of Armageddon. Charles starts hanging out with a guy named
Nelson Barbour, another former Millerite who started his own magazine called the Herald
of the Morning. Barbour predicted that Christ’s Invisible
Return would happen in 1874. Why 1874? Well, because Adam was created in the year
4126 BCE, and since there were six days of creation before God’s final day of rest,
you add 6000, because of the day-year principle. That will begin God’s final day of rest,
because Jesus will be taking over for a thousand years, obviously. But when 1874 didn’t happen, you know- we
don’t exactly know when Adam was created, when you use the Bible to create a timeline
that long, you’re going to be off by a few months or years. We need another measurement to be more precise. Since Christ’s First Advent ended when he
died in 33 AD, and that was eighteen hundred and forty-five years after Jacob, you add
eighteen hundred and forty-five. Christ’s Invisible Return will definitely
happen in 1878. Charles Taze Russell adopted that chronology
to write his 1876 book, The End of the Gentile Times, which is when he began using the Daniel
4 “seven times” prophecy, which is just… I hope you’re not burned out on the math
yet, there’s only a few more to go, and this is by far the most important one. So, in the Book of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar
has a prophetic dream where he sees a tree get cut down and it takes seven “times”
for it to start to grow again. He then goes to Daniel, who interprets the
dream for him. The typical understanding of this story is
that it only applies to Nebuchadnezzar, because according to the Bible, he went crazy, and
it took seven years for his mind to be restored. It’s not a prophecy about Christ’s Second
Coming. But since Nebuchadnezzar was the king who
destroyed Jerusalem, Charles Taze Russell takes this to mean that Jerusalem will be
restored after a period of seven “times.” The obvious assumption to make is that a “time”
is just a year. But, since it was years in the prophecy, that
makes it a prophetic year, which means you use the Jewish calendar, where a year is only
360 days long. But since day means year, 360 years. Jerusalem was destroyed in 606 BCE, so you
take negative 606 and then you add seven times 360, which comes out to 2520, and you get
1914. So, 1914 will be the end of the Gentile Times. There are other calculations which connect
to this date, like the removal of the Papacy in 1799, which began the Last Days. Another method involves measuring the pyramid
in inches. I don’t know why so many people believe
the pyramids hold some special prophetic meaning, whether it’s from aliens or God. Russell referred to the pyramid as “God’s
Stone Witness and Prophet.” At this point, Russell and Barbour still believed
that Christ would begin his Invisible Reign in 1878. But since it’s invisible, they began predicting
other events. When Christ takes the throne, exactly 144,000
anointed king-priests will be called to serve alongside him; any of those people who are
currently dead will be resurrected, and anyone currently living will be raptured. These events are known as the Resurrection
of the Ancient Worthies and the Rapture of the Saints. When nothing visibly happened in 1878, Russell
and Barbour had a falling out because Nelson Barbour no longer believed. On July 1, 1879, Russell began publishing
his own magazine, Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence. He still wrote that Christ’s Invisible Presence
and the Resurrection of the Ancient Worthies began in 1878 but the rapture of any anointed
people still living on Earth wouldn’t begin until 1881. He also continued to insist that the end would
occur in 1914. You have to remember that unlike mainstream
Christians, Charles Taze Russell believed that the Second Advent would occur over a
period of years, rather than all at once. Remember that Christ’s First Advent lasted
33 years . So, he’s setting dates for different events that aren’t necessarily the end,
they’re just part of the biblical Last Days. But you’ll note that the only ones he sticks
to in the past are the invisible ones. Followers of Charles Taze Russell and the
Watch Tower magazine began to organize themselves into what eventually became known as the Bible
Student Movement. Bible Students, and therefore Jehovah’s
Witnesses, do not consider themselves to be a denomination of wider Christianity. They are the only true Christians; all of
the other churches are false, part of the Harlot of Babylon mentioned in the Book of
Revelation. Witnesses are best described as a sect, because
they are completely separate. Bible Students and Witnesses are not unique
in their beliefs, for any one of their doctrines, you can find several other religions which
believe the same thing. They’re unique for their particular combination
of different beliefs. You can think of Jehovah’s Witnesses as
a pick-n-mix religion, built out of doctrines and ideas from multiple sources and denominations. Just like Charles Taze Russell himself in
his early years. For example, unlike most Christians, they
reject the Trinity and believe that Jesus is the first creation of God, but not God
or even part of God. Jesus is subordinate to God, not co-eternal
with God. In the Old Testament, God’s name is represented
by the Tetragrammaton, YHWH, typically pronounced in Hebrew as Yahweh. But we actually don’t know what the vowel
sounds should be, it could be Yoohoo Woohoo for all we know. That said, the King James Bible, and therefore
most of western Christendom, has changed the Y to a J and the W to a V, giving us Jehovah. Bible Students and Witnesses place a lot of
importance on using Jehovah’s actual name. Oh, you’re in a personal relationship with
Jesus Christ? Well, I’m on a first-name basis with Jehovah
God. Jesus was sent to Earth by God as a ransom
sacrifice to buy back humanity’s salvation from the devil. We currently live in Satan’s wicked system
of things – ever since Adam failed to read the Apple Terms and Conditions, we’ve been
doomed to an imperfect life of suffering. We’ve been permitted to govern ourselves
this entire time and… look what happened. Jesus was a perfect being who had to sacrifice
himself in order to buy back perfection for the rest of humanity. Imagine a duffel bag full of money nailed
to the cross. Now stop imagining it, because Jehovah’s
Witnesses believe that Jesus died on a “torture stake” – not a cross. The cross is a pagan symbol used by false
religions. And Jesus was not physically resurrected after
spending three days in that cave, he was only spiritually resurrected. Anything he did on Earth after the resurrection
was through other people. They hold a Millenarian view of the end of
the world, meaning that the current system of things will be destroyed and renewed before
Christ’s Millennium. Under this New System, everyone will be resurrected
and judged. You do not have an immortal soul and you are
not guaranteed ever-lasting life, those things can only be gained through Christ as a gift
from God. This is known as Conditionalism and doesn’t
necessarily track with what is said in the Bible. If you are deemed unworthy, you simply cease
to exist, there is no hellfire or eternal damnation. Which actually does track with the Bible. Hell and Purgatory were invented by the Catholics
hundreds of years after the time of Jesus and Jehovah’s Witnesses despise the Catholic
Church in particular. Witnesses do not pass around a collection
plate like the Catholics. They don’t do tithing either, instead, at
least until recently, the organization made money through the sale of books and tracts. Tracts are those little pamphlets that Witnesses
are known for handing out. In 1881, Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society
was formed as a publishing arm for the Bible Student Movement. A year later, Russell was elected Pastor of
the entire movement. Over the next few years, he published six
books which would come to be known as Studies in the Scriptures, which he viewed as the
Bible, reorganized by topic. You could not fully understand the Bible without
his companion volumes. You see, the Bible is an instruction manual
for life, while Studies in the Scriptures and Watch Tower publications are like… strategy
guides. Full of developer’s code that will help
you figure out how to play the game. Bible Student classes were then restructured
to primarily focus on Watch Tower publications, rather than the Bible itself. This is the same basic structure as Jehovah’s
Witness meetings today. Let’s prepare a short comment! Step one, what is the question? Step two, find the answer in the paragraph. Witnesses don’t attend mass or church, they
go to meetings, because Russell denied ever being a denomination, sect, or even a religion. It was just a grassroots movement of Christians
studying the Bible together. And that may have been true at first, but
as time went on, the growing Bible Student Movement became much more structured and organized. In 1896, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
of Pennsylvania was officially incorporated. In 1909, the People’s Pulpit Association
was founded in New York, and the headquarters of the movement was relocated to Brooklyn. Where it would remain for the next hundred
years until it was moved to Warwick. Charles Taze Russell and his wife finalized
their divorce in 1906 after a decade-long separation initiated by her. He was failing to render his marriage dues,
and… I’m not talking about money here. She suspected he was having an affair, which
he likely was, he treated her less like a wife and more like a publishing assistant
or stenographer. You see, his wife was a suffragette and feminist. While Russell himself was a traditionalist,
believing that no woman should be in a position of authority over any man. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that women are
weaker spiritual vessels. Sisters are not allowed to conduct a sermon,
teach a class, or hold any leadership position at any level. The husband is the head of the family and
the wife is to remain silent. Russell even said that his followers should
never be in a closed room alone with a woman, except for immediate family members. So, when it comes to interactions between
the sexes, Bible Students and Witnesses are to the right of this guy. Unsurprisingly, sex outside of marriage, pornography,
and masturbation are all strictly forbidden in Witness culture. Russell had no sex drive, so you shouldn’t
either. By this time, large, international Bible Student
conventions had become frequent, and Charles Taze Russell was calling himself the “faithful
and wise servant” from Matthew 24. Specifically chosen by Jehovah to dispense
spiritual food in due season. In 1907, he contradicted one of his prior
articles and rather than admit the error or correct the mistake, he began referring to
the updated doctrine as New Light. This is called Progressive Revelation and
this is not the first time we’ve seen it. But unlike the Mormons, who will say the old
teaching was correct for that time, Witnesses either don’t know or will deny that the
old teaching ever existed. In many cases, Witnesses were told to destroy
publications which were deemed Old Light. During these years, colporteurs were selling
Watch Tower publications door-to-door and pilgrims were travelling the country delivering
sermons about the impending end of the world. Russell suggested calling the movement the
International Bible Students Association and the name stuck. In 1914, the IBSA was incorporated in the
United Kingdom and… Oh yeah, World War I began. All of the sudden, everyone wanted to be a
Bible Student! I mean, if ever there was a war that would
escalate into the Battle of Armageddon, the “Great War” would be it. That obviously didn’t happen in 1914 but,
you know… any day now. Russell shifted the date back twice before
deciding that Armageddon would happen in 1918… but then he died in 1916, so he didn’t get
to see if that would come true. Two months later, Joseph Franklin Rutherford
was elected as his successor. Just like Brigham Young with the Mormons,
David Miscavige with the Scientologists, and Marshall Applewhite with Heaven’s Gate… It’s always the second-in-command that you
have to keep your eye on. We’ve seen this pattern so many times now
that I’m starting to think it’s a necessary filter – we don’t hear about the hundreds
of religions that fall apart after the death of their founder. If there isn’t a strong-willed personality
able to take charge and pick up the pieces, they just sort of fade away into history. How did the Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses,
and Scientologists survive their respective Great Awakenings, when so many others did
not? Because they had a second leader capable of
changing the message to account for the death of their first leader. While Charles Taze Russell started the Bible
Student movement, JF Rutherford made them into the Jehovah’s Witnesses we know today. Though, like the other religions, it was a
messy process. In 1917, a seventh volume of Studies in the
Scriptures was released, which was originally sold as being written by Russell, but was
actually written by followers of Rutherford. Rutherford portrayed this as “the penny”
from Matthew 20, making him the new faithful and wise servant. This was supposed to legitimize Rutherford’s
succession, but several Bible Student groups disagreed and split off to form their own
organizations – some of which still exist today. While Jehovah’s Witnesses are by far the
largest surviving group of Bible Students, they’re not the only. Both Russell and Rutherford taught that Bible
Students should conduct themselves as foreigners and temporary residents in this world. They weren’t pacifists, but they were conscientious
objectors. As the First World War continued to spread
and countries enacted drafts, Bible Student publications which spoke out against military
service were seen as seditious. Canada banned their literature in 1918. When the United States joined the war that
same year, JF Rutherford and several other ranking members of the movement were put in
federal prison to stop them from spreading their message. They were released after the war ended, but
this was a rather formative experience. Even though the First World War had ended,
the End Times had clearly begun, so Rutherford proclaimed that Millions Now Living Will Never
Die in his 1920 book by the same name. Anyone who lived through 1914 was part of
the last generation – this is important, so remember that. Using incorrect dates for the Jewish Jubilee,
Rutherford calculated that the Resurrection and Rapture would occur in 1925. So, any remaining Bible Students were urged
to give everything to the preaching work. Colporteurs, which were later renamed publishers,
were required to report how many hours they spent distributing publications door-to-door
to the Watch Tower Society. Your average Jehovah’s Witness today is
a “publisher” who spends a few hours on the weekends going door-to-door. It’s a lot like Herbalife, you’re not
a member or customer, you’re a distributor, and in much the same way, the more time you
devote in service to Jehovah, the more you move up in the ranks. Pilgrims were renamed Pioneers, and they distribute
literature full-time – many of them give up having a worldly job entirely. If they go door-to-door for 50 hours a month,
they’re an auxiliary pioneer; if they preach for 70 hours, they’re a regular pioneer;
and if they devote 130 hours a month to the Ministry, they’re considered a special pioneer. In the beginning, Jehovah’s Witnesses were
basically a book publishing MLM. People sold their land, their houses, and
gave away all of their possessions to help spread the good news that the world was going
to end in 1925. … Just had some déjà vu there. Anyway, it’s a lot like that famous Nickelback
song, “if today was your last day and tomorrow was too late… would you live each moment
like your last… donate every dime you had… [Skype Ringtone] What? You don’t want to be quoting Nickelback. Why not? They’re a really popular band- Not in this timeline they’re not, if you do that, that’s all the comments will be
about. How could you possibly know that? I’m from the future! When are you calling me from? I can’t tell you that. Why not? Look, I’m doing what you said, I’m making
the video. You’re not really giving me a lot of information
to work with, like, how does the future not work out for us? Are the Witnesses actually right? I can’t- look, if I told you too much, you’d
live each moment like it was your l- Okay, you said you were in 2021? Yeah. Okay, I’m not, but if I told you I was calling
from 2023, you’d spend all of 2022 acting like a jackass. Driving like a moron, eating all of the junk
food and candy you want, and doing risky things like sky diving – because you know you’re
going to make it until at least 2023. Nuh uh… I mean I would never go sky diving, that’s
just stupid. Oh my- [Skype hang up sound] Okay so, point is, farmers refused to seed their crops and people gave away their life
savings, because they were so convinced that 1925 was going to be the end. And then, you know… it wasn’t. In the years that followed, the Watch Tower
labeled the seventh volume of Studies in the Scriptures, the one that legitimized Rutherford’s
succession, as Old Light. There are only six volumes of the Studies
now. Then Rutherford declared that the Great Pyramid,
God’s Stone Witness, was actually built by Satan, nullifying all of Russell’s measurements
and calculations. This allowed Rutherford and the Watch Tower
to come up with a new chronology. Since World War 1 definitely began in 1914,
that became the fixed date to which all other dates must connect. The beginning of the Last Days was changed
from 1799 to 1914. Christ’s Invisible Reign was also changed
to 1914, that’s now the year Jesus hurled Satan and all of his followers down to Earth
and took the throne in Heaven. The Resurrection of the Ancient Worthies and
Rapture of the Saints was shifted back to 1918. And in 1919, Christ inspected all of the world’s
religions and selected the Watch Tower as God’s organization, the only true religion. Because that’s the year Rutherford was let
out of prison. These dates, particularly 1914 and 1919, are
still taught to Jehovah’s Witnesses today as important events that were predicted decades
in advance. Jehovah’s Witnesses are not taught about
1925, 1878, or any of the other failed dates. Russell died thinking Christ took the throne
in 1878 – these weren’t predictions made years beforehand, they were set by Rutherford
and the Watch Tower after the fact. These changes didn’t sit well with some
Bible Students, and there was yet another schism. To differentiate God’s organization from
all of the independent Bible Student groups, Rutherford changed the name of the movement
to the Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1931. We now interrupt today’s math class with
a vocab lesson. Nobody is a Jehovah’s Witness; they are
one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, as opposed to the rest of us, which are referred to as Worldly
People. Worldly does not mean cultured or well-travelled. It means anyone who is not one of Jehovah’s
Witnesses; someone who is part of Satan’s system of things, who will not be saved at
Armageddon unless they accept the true religion. The religion itself is known as the Truth. Which is guided by the Watch Tower Society,
sometimes referred to as Watchtower, the Society, or the Organization. Watch Tower, two words, refers to the corporation
in Pennsylvania. Watchtower, one word, refers to the People’s
Pulpit Association, the headquarters branch, which was renamed the Watchtower Bible and
Tract Society of New York in 1956. Yes, the difference matters, do you see why
this video is so long now? They publish a magazine which outlines the
content of Witness meetings and dispenses spiritual food known as The Watchtower, one
word. It went through a number of name changes over
the years, but in 1939, they settled on The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. They also publish a lifestyle magazine known
as Awake!, originally named The Golden Age, which began publication in 1919. It’s through these publications that Rutherford
and Watchtower made changes to the doctrine. Though it’s important to point out that
a lot of their beliefs aren’t the result of the Watchtower just making a random announcement
apropos of nothing. They’re usually responding to a question
that someone sent in. In 1921, the Watchtower came out as anti-vaccine,
saying that Satan was trying to cause as much damage as he could just before the end. Thankfully that teaching was declared Old
Light in 1993. They said that you should stop chewing gum,
because your body needs that saliva to digest food and that you should sleep with your head
pointed north to align with the Earth’s magnetic field. Tobacco is bad for you, but alcohol is fine. Along with providing dubious medical advice,
it was during these years that they began depicting Jesus as dying on a stake rather
than a cross, declaring it a pagan symbol. Jehovah’s Witnesses are the only Christians
who believe that. This is based on a mistranslation of the Greek
word stauros; Witnesses think the word means upright pole or stake – everyone else thinks
it means cross. This was part of a larger move against interfaith
symbols and activities. Since Jehovah’s Witnesses believe they are
the only true religion, they won’t join interfaith organizations like the YMCA or
participate in pagan holidays like Christmas. In 1927, the Watchtower called for an end
to Christmas celebrations. Ever since then, Jehovah’s Witnesses do
not observe Christmas as the day Jesus was born and… they’re actually kind of right
about that one. It was the Winter Solstice long before it
was Jesus’ birthday. Since Witnesses do not believe that Christ
was physically resurrected, there is no special meaning to Easter, so they don’t celebrate
that either. Instead, they observe the Memorial of Christ’s
Death – or just Memorial for short. According to them, this is the only holiday
the Bible allows, and it’s observed on the supposed day of the Last Supper. It coincides with the Jewish Passover and
moves around every year, but it typically comes before Easter. And it’s commemorated in much the same way,
this is the big event that everyone comes to – even the inactive publishers who don’t
go to every meeting. It’s also open to non-Witness family members
and the general public. This is the one time a year when Witnesses
pass around the bread and wine that are typically associated with communion. But they don’t believe that these are literally
the body and blood of Christ. They understand these to be symbols, which
only the anointed 144,000 can take, since they have the Heavenly Hope. The average Witness does not get to partake
of the emblems. By the 1930s, there were more than 144,000
Jehovah’s Witnesses and it started to become obvious that not all of them were going to
get into Heaven. So, Rutherford began receiving Progressive
Revelation on the matter. Up until that point, they believed that the
Jews would be converted prior to Armageddon and they would join the relatively small number
of Witnesses at the time to serve with Christ in Heaven. But like many White Anglo-Saxon Protestants
at the time, Rutherford wasn’t a big fan of the Jews. So, they abandoned the teaching from Revelation
that 12,000 people from each of the twelve tribes of Israel would be chosen by God to
serve – it would just be the anointed Jehovah’s Witnesses now, known as Spiritual Israel or
the “little flock.” And importantly, the door to that higher calling
was closed in 1935. Since there were more than 144,000 Witnesses,
they came up with a second group who won’t join Christ in Heaven but will instead gain
everlasting life on a Paradise Earth. This group is known as the Great Crowd of
Other Sheep… does that sound familiar? They reference the same Bible verse that Mormons
use to justify Christians living in America during Jesus’ time to say that there are
actually two hopes in the afterlife. The Heavenly Hope and the Earthly Hope. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that after Armageddon,
the dead will be resurrected and those with the Earthly Hope will be judged by Christ
during his Millennium. At the end of his thousand-year reign, Satan
will be released once more to tempt as many people as he can. After this Second Temptation, the wicked will
be purged, and the Earth will be restored to its Eden-like Paradise. Those who are still found worthy will live
forever and everyone will get a pet panda! You see, everything will be perfect, so all
animals will be friendly, if you’re old, you’ll be young, if you had asthma, now
you won’t. And if you’re gay, you’ll no longer have
those feelings… weren’t expecting that twist, were you? If you haven’t seen this horrible cartoon
from 2016, there’s a link in the sources below. The lesson of this video is that the little
girl should tell her classmate that her two moms won’t get into Paradise if they keep
being lesbians. But I want everyone to get to Paradise! So does Jehovah! And you know what? People can change! That’s why we share his message. So, what can you say to Carrie? Well, I can tell her about the Paradise, I
can tell her about the animals and the resurrection! That’s awesome! Let’s practice. This video is part of a series called Caleb
and Sophia, which is designed to teach Witness children about their basic beliefs. Like how you shouldn’t celebrate birthdays. Jehovah’s Witnesses stopped celebrating
birthdays in 1951, do you want to know why? Ask me why! Really? The one time I want to be interrupted and
you- fine. It’s because there are only two birthday
celebrations in the Bible and someone dies at both of them – this is clearly a sign
from God. Jehovah’s Witnesses are kind of superstitious
when it comes to stuff like that. So, they don’t celebrate any holidays, not
religious ones like Christmas or Easter, not personal ones like birthdays, and not even
Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, or New Year’s. They’re especially not allowed to celebrate
national holidays like July 4th. After the way Jehovah’s Witnesses were treated
during the First World War, Rutherford denounced all secular governments as being part of Satan’s
wicked system of things. They had no divine authority and thus, should
not be trusted. He also had a particular disdain for the League
of Nations, which he viewed as the worldwide government mentioned in Revelation. Witnesses still feel that way about the United
Nations today. As Hitler began to take power in the 30s,
German Witnesses refused to salute the man or any of his pagan symbols. This was kind of a big deal to the Nazi party. To avoid being banned in Germany, Rutherford
made a public statement saying that while Witnesses are politically neutral, they agree
with the Nazis that the Catholics and the Jews are evil. This Declaration of Facts was written and
mailed to Hitler in 1933. By 1935, Witnesses around the world were refusing
to salute the flag or stand for any national anthems. This became a major problem in the United
States. This was when schools began requiring students
to say the Pledge of Allegiance and the Star-Spangled Banner was first being played at sporting
events. We didn’t have an official national anthem
until 1931. So, it was immediately obvious to crowds at
baseball stadiums that some people weren’t participating in this new tradition… What are you, a commie?! Crowds regularly assaulted Witnesses who refused
to participate. In the 1940s, the Jehovah’s Witnesses took
the issue to the Supreme Court multiple times and won. They are the reason you can sit out the pledge
and anthem to this day. That didn’t stop the harassment though,
as this newfound national patriotism swept through the country as a direct result of
the Great Depression and World War 2. Which were just more signs that the end was
near. Just as the Depression began in 1929, the
Watchtower bought a ten-bedroom mansion in San Diego specifically to house the Ancient
Worthies that would be resurrected any day now. Until then, Rutherford got to live there and
named it Beth Sarim. He was living a life of luxury while the rest
of his followers were rubbing pennies together, selling books door-to-door, and occasionally
being beaten by angry mobs. When World War 2 began, things didn’t get
much better for the average Witness. Their refusal to participate in the draft
became an issue again, so the entire country of Canada banned the religion in 1943. This was yet another sign of the coming Armageddon. In the lead up to the final battle, during
a period known as the Great Tribulation, all religion will be banned and the new worldwide
government will hunt down any remaining believers. [Door Open] Do you see anything? Do you see any Witnesses? Where are they? Check the basement!
[Foot steps] Check that door! This has given Witnesses quite the persecution
complex. And it’s not entirely without merit. Despite Rutherford’s best efforts to curry
favor with Hitler with his Declaration of Facts, Jehovah’s Witnesses were put in concentration
camps right alongside the Jews. Rather than yellow stars, they wore purple
triangles. Witnesses kind of view this as a point of
pride, they talk about it all the time as a way to say “See! It happened to us too!” But there’s a difference in scale and purpose
here. There were only 20,000 Witnesses in Germany
at the time, 10,000 of which were put into the camps, and of that, around 1100 of them
died. Which comes out to about 5%. Meanwhile, there were over ten million Jews
in Europe, over six million of which had been executed during the war – something like
60%. Witnesses were imprisoned for their beliefs,
not their ethnicity. All they had to do to get out of the camps
was sign a form renouncing their faith. To their credit, most of them did not, which
you could view as an act of bravery. But given the Watchtower’s later views on
lying to secular governments, it was an entirely unnecessary one. In 1942, just after America joined World War
2, JF Rutherford died and Nathan Knorr was elected as his successor. This really sets things up for the present
day. Watchtower abandoned a number of Rutherford’s
beliefs, like that the Rapture and Resurrection began in 1918 and that the selection of the
anointed had ended in 1935. They also sold Beth Sarim, which had become
more of a PR nightmare than it was worth. But most importantly, Knorr decided that from
now on, Watchtower articles would be published anonymously – meaning that they would no
longer include an author’s name. This caused all kinds of problems over the
next few years. Since articles had no author, the Watchtower
couldn’t go back and say that that specific person was wrong, since every article was
written by “the Watchtower.” So, every contradiction or correction became
New Light. In 1961, the Watchtower described organ transplants
as a wonder of modern science. In 1967, they were denounced as a form of
cannibalism. And in 1980, transplants were declared a conscience
matter, which means it’s up to the individual Witness to decide for themselves whether God
will punish them for it. That means Jehovah explicitly forbade organ
transplants for exactly 13 years. In 1945, Watchtower declared another wonder
of science to be off-limits – blood transfusions. They cite a number of different biblical verses
to show that God is against the taking of blood, but you’ll note that all of these
are specifically talking about eating blood. Which yeah, don’t eat blood. If you’re not a vampire, it’ll probably
make you sick. But beyond that, Witnesses believe that blood
is your life force, since you don’t have an immortal soul, per se. Accepting a blood transfusion is like polluting
your life force. They’re not even allowed to store their
own blood for future use, because once it has left the body, it’s supposed to be poured
on to the ground and covered with dirt. Untold thousands have died from this prohibition. To this day, Witnesses must refuse blood transfusions,
and blood fractions like plasma, or risk being kicked out. You might be thinking, “So what, I’ve
never needed a blood transfusion” …at least not yet anyway! Blood transfusions aren’t just for emergencies
when you’re bleeding out, they’re pretty much a necessity if you’re undergoing any
kind of major surgery, like an organ transplant. Most hospitals will refuse to do surgery if
they can’t also give you blood, it’s just way too risky without it. There are a few doctors and hospitals who
specialize in bloodless surgery – which isn’t really bloodless – but it’s cost
prohibitive and still incredibly dangerous. To the point that Jehovah’s Witnesses are
pretty much the only customers in that market. Here’s the thing, if you need a blood transfusion,
you need one, there is no substitute, like, we haven’t invented TruBlood yet, which-
Am I the only one who remembers that show? Everyone talks about The Sopranos and Game
of Thrones like there was nothing in between; but it was actually their most popular show
at the time. I guess it got overshadowed by Twilight…
anyway! Remember when we did the calculation to figure
out that the world was going to- I’m sorry, that Jesus would invisibly take the throne
in 1914? Well, I’m guessing that none of you noticed
that we forgot to carry the one. We took 606 BCE and added the twenty-five
hundred and twenty years from the Daniel 4 prophecy to it, giving us 1914, but both Barbour
and Russell forgot that the year zero didn’t happen. The Watchtower didn’t notice that mistake
until 1943. But at that point, World War I had happened,
so 1914 remained the fixed date while they quietly shifted the destruction of Jerusalem
back by a year to 607 BCE. Here’s the correction as found in the book
Revelation: Its Grand Climax at Hand! “Providentially, those Bible Students had
not realized that there is no zero year between BC and AD. Later, when research made it necessary to
adjust BC 606 to 607 BCE, the year zero was also eliminated, so that the prediction held
good at AD 1914.” Now the math checks out – and nobody can
question it. Nathan Knorr established closed-door judicial
committees, giving congregational Elders the authority to disfellowship members for apostasy. This is the Witness version of shunning, sometimes
referred to as being DFed. Questioning any of the teachings or speaking
out against the Watchtower can get you disfellowshipped, which means nobody in your congregation will
talk to you anymore. The only way to get reinstated is to show
repentance during shepherding visits with Elders and to continue attending meetings. They have a specially closed off penalty box
in the back of the room specifically for disfellowshipped people, since nobody is allowed to interact
with you. It can take months or even years to be reinstated. And a surprising amount of people are willing
to go through that effort. Since Jehovah’s Witnesses are supposed to
live “as aliens and temporary residents with respect to the conduct of this generation,”
they don’t really have any outside friends. Because you’re all going to die at Armageddon,
why bother? So, if you are disfellowshipped, you’re
cut off from all of your brothers and sisters – which is just what they call other Witnesses. Before you ask, blood relatives are referred
to as fleshly brothers and sisters. All of whom are supposed to shun you if you
are DFed – your congregation, your friends, your family – even if they live with you. And your coworkers, unless you happen to have
a worldly job. The only time you’re supposed to voluntarily
engage with worldly people is when you’re trying to preach. Ever since Rutherford’s time, the preaching
work has been the main focus. Always be selling, it doesn’t matter whether
you’re in school or on a coffee break at work. If I may, there’s some things in the scriptures
I think… I still thought I could give a witness and
actually teach them something about Jehovah. Honey, it doesn’t work like that. But what could you do? You worked with them every day… and you
were able to give a witness sometimes. But I had let it turn into regular, unnecessary
association that was spoiling my useful habits. During World War 2 and the decade that followed,
Jehovah’s Witnesses were involved in dozens of First Amendment cases in the Supreme Court,
mostly to defend their right to preach in public. A few cities passed laws banning door-to-door
proselytizing. So, the Witness pioneers started driving around
in cars like this - retrofitted with giant speakers to broadcast speeches to the entire
neighborhood. As you can imagine, people didn’t like that
either. Thankfully, after the Supreme Court overturned
those laws in 1943, they just went back to knocking on doors. That same year, Watchtower established Theocratic
Ministry Schools in every congregation to train publishers and pioneers to go out in
service to Jehovah. And they opened the Watchtower Bible School
of Gilead to train foreign missionaries. As the Cold War was kicking off, a lot of
people in America started turning to religion, because you know… the world could end at
any moment. This period is now known as the Fourth Great
Awakening. It’s during this era that we saw the rise
of Evangelical preachers like Billy Graham, who spoke to over 100,000 people in Yankee
Stadium in 1957. But you don’t often hear about the Jehovah’s
Witness conventions that were happening at the same time. In 1950, they also filled Yankee Stadium with
123,707 people. In 1953, they flooded New Market, New Jersey
with 215,000 people. And in 1958, they sold out Yankee Stadium
and the nearby Polo Grounds with 253,922 people. That’s more than double the amount of people
who saw Billy Graham the year before. It’s at this point that city officials started
to complain, even for New York City, there just aren’t enough hotels and campgrounds
to hold a quarter million visitors all at once. The Watchtower agreed and that was the last
national convention to ever take place. They still hold smaller regional conventions
where they introduce new books, like in 1961, when they unveiled their own translation of
the… [Skype ringtone] Oh for f- What is it now? Yeah, you can’t use that one, it’s too
old. Too old? What do you mean?
My friend gave me this just a few- If you use that one that’s all the
comments will be about, trust me. They came out with a new version in 2013,
you need to get yourself this one, it’s silver. How am I supposed to find that specific one? Do you not understand how time travel works? Whatever one you get will eventually be this
one. Ah… well still, can’t you just tell me
where you got that and make it easy for me? Oh my- lazy!
[Skype hang up sound] Man… [Keys jingling] [Door slam] [Fast forward music] [Door opens] Probably on some list
now, thanks a lot. Unless that was the point somehow… hmm. Anyway, in 1961 the New World Translation
of the Holy Scriptures was released. They finally had their own version of the
Bible. Before this, whenever the Watchtower was citing
scripture, they were quote-mining from whatever translation said what they wanted to say. Which can cause problems if you care about
the specific order of events. It’s a lot like Star Wars, did Han shoot
first? Well, that kind of depends on what version
you’re looking at – and which ones you consider canon. In the New Testament, nobody ever says the
name Jehovah or uses the tetragrammaton. So, Watchtower went through and did a find/replace
on words like Lord, God, and Father and swapped them out for Jehovah. Which changes the meaning of several passages. Turn with me to Romans Chapter 10, Verse 9. I’ll be using the New International Version,
but feel free to check this against whatever you have. If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is
Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe
and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes
in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and
Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone
who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord,
who is the Lord? Jesus is Lord, it’s right there in the same
paragraph, easy. Now let’s look at the same passage in the
Jehovah’s Witness version… For if you publicly declare with your mouth
that Jesus is Lord, and exercise faith in your heart that God raised him up from the
dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one exercises faith for
righteousness, but with the mouth one makes public declaration for salvation. For the scripture says: “No one who rests
his faith on him will be disappointed.” For there is no distinction between Jew and
Greek. There is the same Lord over all, who is rich
toward all those calling on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah
will be saved.” Everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah? That’s not what Jesus meant. And since Witnesses don’t believe in the
trinity, that’s a completely different person. Who am I supposed to call?! I’m trying to get saved over here! Because of issues like this, nobody outside
of the Jehovah’s Witnesses views this as a valid translation of the Bible. Some have even gone so far as to call it a
mistranslation. A few years after completing their Bible,
a committee was established to restructure the religion after what was described in the
scripture. This set up the Watchtower organization as
it exists today. We’ve already talked about the congregation,
which is made up of brothers and sisters, who can be publishers or pioneers. They meet in a building referred to as a Kingdom
Hall and they are led by a Body of Elders. Depending on the size of the congregation,
there can be anywhere from three to a dozen of them. They’re often helped by Ministerial Servants,
who are support leaders or Elders-in-training. Twenty congregations makes up a circuit, which
is managed by a travelling Circuit Overseer. This is the first paid position in the Watchtower
hierarchy. They receive a small travel stipend and spend
a week visiting each Kingdom Hall and organize semi-annual circuit conventions. Twenty circuits make up a district, which
is likewise managed by a District Overseer. The main function of a district is to hold
large, annual conventions, often at stadiums. This is where they show those morality videos
I was sampling earlier as well as perform mass baptisms. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that baptisms
are performed by full immersion underwater, like many other religions. There is no set age, they typically wait until
your early teens, but it’s not uncommon for an 8- or 9-year-old to be baptized. Once you rise from the water, you are committed
to the faith and the preaching work for the rest of your life. Above the district is the Branch Office, which
is typically associated with a country or region and overseen by a Branch Committee. It’s at this level that Hospital Liaison
Committees will work with Witnesses and hospitals to make sure nobody accidentally receives
a blood transfusion. They will keep your Advanced Medical Directive
on file and will provide legal counsel if necessary. There are currently about 85 branch offices
around the world. The one for the United States is located in
Warwick, New York and oversees 13,000 congregations. This also happens to be the world headquarters
of the Jehovah’s Witnesses – a compound known as Bethel which opened in 2009. While every branch office is also technically
a Bethel, this is the Bethel. The people who live and work here are known
as Bethelites. They’re expected to be extremely pious and
follow a strict grooming and appearance standard – no bowl cuts or tight pants here. Perhaps the most consequential recommendation
of the committee was the establishment of the Governing Body in 1971, which had taken
over control of the organization within a few years. The Watchtower Society, its president, and
all of the other corporations are now subordinate to the Governing Body. There is no set number for the body, but it’s
currently made up of eight men, all of whom must be part of the anointed 144,000. They are now the Faithful and Discreet Slave,
which is how Witnesses rebranded the “faithful and wise servant” from Matthew 24 following
the release of their own Bible translation. You may have noticed that this organizational
structure bears a lot of similarities to the Catholic Church, the only difference being
that the Pope is above the College of Cardinals. How could that happen if Witnesses specifically
denounce the Church of Rome? Watchtower was basing their organization off
of what they found in the New Testament of the Bible – which is exactly what the Catholics
did. This is a genuine case of inadvertent parallel
creation… [Skype Ringtone]
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you do. Okay, now you can go back to making the video. Seriously? I don’t even know what I was talking about
anymore, you threw off my whole groove. You were just about to talk about 1975. [Skype hang up sound] In 1966, the Watchtower announced that the year
1975 would mark 6000 years since Adam. I know some people thought that back in 1874,
but they were wrong, it’s 1975. People sold their land, their houses, and gave away all of their possessions to help
spread the good… How many times has this happened now? The Stay Alive til ’75 campaign had an added
twist since the baby boomers were coming of age and started going to college in record
numbers. You don’t need to build up a career in this
dying world! We aren’t going to need doctors and lawyers
in the New System, because everything will be perfect. To this day, Witnesses are discouraged from
attending higher education or seeking a career. If you absolutely must have a job, you should
take a humble, manual labor position, such as a janitor or window cleaner. Why would you reach any higher than that in
this wicked system of things? Just make sure you aren’t employed by the
government, the military, or any contractors which might work for them indirectly. Obviously, the New System did not arrive in
1975… Witnesses were understandably annoyed and
those that questioned Watchtower found themselves in front of judicial committees. To maintain the “cleanliness of the congregation”
Elders were disfellowshipping anyone with doubts. The Watchtower again acted as if the prediction
never happened and began discouraging any critical thinking or independent thought. How did I not see this?! I guess I just thought… And that’s the problem, relying on my own
thinking… One such independent thinker was Carl Olof
Jonsson, a Witness who decided to look into biblical chronology and published a book called
The Gentile Times Reconsidered. He discovered some inconsistencies with the
1914 calculation. You see, the Babylonians were meticulous record
keepers, and Jerusalem was not destroyed in 607 BCE, it was twenty years later, in 587
BCE. Which would put the end in the 1930s somewhere. Jonsson showed that evidence to the Governing
Body, along with the fact that literally every other scholar says it was 587, and they ignored
him. After he published his book in 1977, they
disfellowshipped him. That same year, Nathan Knorr died, and Frederick
Franz was elected as the fourth president of the Watchtower Society. Though at this point, the president was just
a figurehead position, and the Governing Body was in control. Frederick’s nephew, Raymond Franz was an
anointed member of the Governing Body who voluntarily left the religion after noticing
too many inconsistencies. When it’s voluntary like this, it’s referred
to as disassociating. The shunning policy only applied to people
who had been disfellowshipped, so the Governing Body was worried that Raymond might start
stumbling other Witnesses. Stumbling is when you make someone question
their faith, it’s something you do to other people. So, in 1981, the Watchtower declared that
disassociation was to be treated the same as disfellowshipping, meaning you also had
to shun people who voluntarily left the religion. Ever since then, there has been no way out
of the Jehovah’s Witnesses without losing everything. Whether you’re kicked out or you leave,
your friends, your family, and your coworkers won’t associate with you anymore. And since you didn’t go to college, your
future career options are… limited. Since you don’t have any worldly friends
or financial savings to get you started, it’s no wonder why so many Witnesses end up faking
it to stay in. Hello all of my PIMO viewers. In response to these high-profile departures,
the Governing Body told Witnesses not to consult any secular sources when researching their
religion – in fact, don’t do any independent research. The Watchtower is God’s only channel for
information. So, unlike my Mormon video, it is incredibly
unlikely that any practicing Witnesses have kept watching – if you’ve made it this
far, you’re either an ex-Witness or soon will be… Perhaps not even by choice if you’re caught. Since I’m talking about the old doctrine
and former calculations, I’m not just a secular source, I’m an apostate one – which
doesn’t mean what you think it means. Just like every other word, Jehovah’s Witnesses
have a private definition. An apostate isn’t just someone who has abandoned
religion, they are being influenced by Satan specifically to stumble Witnesses. They’ll say anything – they’ll lie about
doctrine, make up numbers, whatever it takes. So, when Raymond Franz published a book airing
all of the Governing Body’s dirty laundry in 1983, most Witnesses completely avoided
it. It was appropriately titled Crisis of Conscience. In the book, he describes how the Governing
Body voted on the doctrine, which doesn’t make a lot of sense if they’re receiving
progressive revelation from Jehovah. He also exposed a number of inconsistencies
which were getting people killed. In the 1960s, military service was mandatory
in Mexico, everyone was required to carry a cartilla proving they had completed the
required training. Or you could just bribe a government official
for one. Since every government is part of Satan’s
wicked system of things, Witnesses are allowed to engage in Theocratic Warfare against them. Which includes openly lying, if necessary. At the same time, Malawi was a one-party government
which required everyone to carry a party identification card. Easy, just buy a fake one, right? Wrong! For some reason, Malawian Witnesses were told
to just tough it out and ended up being murdered in the streets by police. Tens of thousands of Witnesses fled the country
as a result. The same year Crisis of Conscience was released
and this information became public, the Jehovah’s Witnesses had another PR nightmare to deal
with – Michael Jackson. And not for the reason you’re thinking! In 1983, he released the music video for Thriller,
where he turns into a werewolf and dances around as an undead zombie. Michael Jackson was raised as one of Jehovah’s
Witnesses. To avoid being shunned, he included this disclaimer
at the start of the video, stating that this is not an endorsement of the occult. Because Witnesses are not allowed to consume
any spiritistic media. Hmm, it doesn’t look that bad. But I know Jehovah hates spiritism… and
I want to hate what Jehovah hates. That includes anything with zombies, werewolves,
vampires, or ghosts – which makes video games like Pac-man off-limits. Disney movies with talking animals are not
allowed. Neither are trolls, Smurfs, witches, or wizards
– even the Jedi and the force are questionable. So, no Luke Skywalker, no Harry Potter, and
no Michael Jackson. The disclaimer didn’t work, and he was publicly
reproved in 1984 before voluntarily disassociating. A public reproof is a form of punishment through
shame. As long as you show repentance and correct
the behavior, you can still attend meetings without being disfellowshipped or shunned. This is in contrast to Marking, which is a
form of soft shunning. If it comes out that you like reviewing violent
or spiritistic movies on YouTube, an Elder might give a sermon about how everyone should
distance themselves from anyone who engages in that behavior. And without saying it, everyone will know
he’s talking about you. When you are marked, you are essentially shunned
by everyone outside of the Kingdom Hall because you are considered “Bad Association.” Even if you stop the behavior, it can take
years for that mark to fade. In 1992, Frederick Franz died, which is fairly
normal for someone who is 99 years old. Except when you’re supposed to be part of
the last generation. Up until this point, Watchtower was still
teaching that the generation which saw Christ take the throne in 1914 would live to see
Armageddon and thus, never die. Members of that generation never expected
to be 80 or 90 years old. They didn’t save for retirement; they were
told there was no need for a nest egg because the New System would arrive any day now. Remember the 144,000 specially anointed Witnesses
that are going to get into Heaven? Well, the organization keeps track of how
many people partake of the emblems every year. The door to that higher calling was supposed
to be closed in 1935, but they quietly abandoned that teaching as Old Light after Rutherford
died. For decades, this wasn’t a problem, but
then the number started to grow. As of 2020, over 21,000 Witnesses claimed
to be anointed and partook of the emblems. The selection process for the higher calling
was supposed to be evenly spread out across all of human history, it seems really strange
that God would cram 15% of the anointed into the final few years. So, what would’ve caused that increase? In 1995, the Governing Body changed the Generations
teaching – “the last generation” was no longer the people who were alive in 1914,
it was anyone who lived at the same time as that generation. If you were alive at the same time as Frederick
Franz, you are a contemporary, your generation overlaps with his generation. They saw the beginning of the prophetic signs
and this generation will see the end. So, “this generation” carries about as
much meaning as being a “90s kid”. Anyone who grew up during the 90s? That could mean you’re Gen X, a Millennial,
or a Zoomer – Who knows, generations are meaningless. Except when you’re trying to tell people
that this generation will see Armageddon. Suddenly, people began searching their souls
and deciding for themselves whether they had the Earthly Hope or the Heavenly Hope. There is no external way of knowing if you’ve
been chosen. So, young Witnesses who were not part of that
original generation started claiming that higher calling for themselves. That is why the number of anointed Witnesses
continues to grow. In the last decade or two, there has been
a shift away from door-to-door preaching, because, to the surprise of nobody – it
doesn’t work. It takes well over 7000 hours of Ministry
work to get one baptism. It would take a Regular Pioneer working 70
hours a month over eight years to get a single person, most Witnesses never get anybody at
all. The Watchtower publishes those numbers, they
know that the door-to-door preaching work is ineffective. But they keep doing it because conversion
is no longer the primary goal, they mostly do it so that Witnesses will see worldly people
as angry and dangerous. So, keep that in mind the next time you slam
your door in their face. Nowadays, pioneers prefer to do what is called
Cart Witnessing, when they stand on street corners with their pamphlets and let curious
people come up to them. They still get harassed, but at least it’s
less frequent. Watchtower has also begun shifting towards
video and the internet for proselytizing, despite having denounced televangelists in
the past. You might’ve noticed that all of their branding
points towards their website – JW.org. This is where you can see all of those “Dhar
Mann”-esque convention videos and children’s content like Caleb and Sophia. You can also tune into JW Broadcasting to
see the Governing Body dispense New Light or hear about how Witnesses are being persecuted
in countries like Russia and China. That isn’t just propaganda, the Jehovah’s
Witnesses are entirely or partially banned in at least forty countries around the world. The reasons vary, some countries call them
heretics, others call them a high control group or cult, and some label them as antigovernment
extremists. Depending on your perspective, any of those
could be true. But this does also play into the Great Tribulation
narrative that just before Armageddon, world governments will ban religion. And the list of countries is likely to grow
as the Jehovah’s Witnesses have had a lot of bad press in recent years. Starting in 2012, there were several lawsuits
in the United States against the Watchtower Society for allegedly covering up child sex
abuse. In many of these cases, the victim went to
the Elders for help. After thoroughly investigating the matter,
judicial committees usually elected to handle the matter internally rather than go to the
police. But don’t they have a duty to report? Not if the crime is revealed during a religious
confessional to an ordained member of the clergy. This is referred to as Clergy-Penitent Privilege. As a result of that loophole, judicial hearings
and conversations with Elders are protected as confidential. Even if they determine that abuse occurred,
they still won’t go to the police. That would bring reproach on Jehovah’s name,
you can’t let it be publicly known that there was a child predator in the congregation. Besmirching God’s organization is tantamount
to besmirching God himself. But establishing that a crime even took place
is especially difficult in this situation because of the scripture Witnesses use to
determine guilt. No single witness may convict another for
any error or any sin that he may commit. On the testimony of two witnesses or on the
testimony of three witnesses the matter should be established. This should sound familiar to you, it’s
in the Bible multiple times, this is the same line the Mormons use to say that if three
people testify to it, that makes it true. The Witnesses view it from the other side
– at least two people must say it before it can be true. This is called the Two Witness rule and it
kind of makes sense, right? You can’t convict someone based on the word
of just one person. But that’s pretty much the only way child
abuse happens. One adult and one child; even if the child
works up the courage to go to the Elders, if the adult denies it, that’s only one
witness. On top of the fact that children aren’t
usually taken seriously as criminal witnesses. Let’s say there are two pioneers going door-to-door
and one of them decides to attack a worldly child who is home alone. That other pioneer is only one reliable witness. Even if you have more than two witnesses,
or even a confession, the worst that will happen to the guy is he’ll be disfellowshipped…
he’ll probably be reinstated after a few years. He probably won’t spend a single day in
prison. The Elders will not inform the congregation
that there’s a predator in their midst, they won’t tell the community, and they
definitely won’t tell the police. You know, for as much as they hate the Catholic
Church, they sure do a lot of the same stuff. Elders take detailed notes of everything that
is said during Judicial Hearings and that information is sent to the Watchtower Society
headquarters, where it is cataloged and stored forever. In a 2014 deposition, a Watchtower representative
let it slip that they have that database. There are different retention periods for
different documents. But anything that deals with child abuse is
marked “do not destroy” so it stays indefinitely in the congregation’s file. So, you could do a search for the term “do
not destroy?” Uhm, you could try to do a search for “do
not destroy” but you’d come up with child abuse, you’d come up with adulterous- adultery,
you’d come up with bigamous marriage, you’d come up with slander, fraud, murder, any abhorrent
sin. He just said on the record that the Watchtower
has a database full of known child predators and murderers! After hearing that, a federal judge ordered
them to turn it over. Rather than bring reproach on Jehovah’s
name, Watchtower paid $4000 a day in fines, when they finally settled the case, that ended
up totaling over two million dollars. In 2015, an Australian Royal Commission got
their hands on their portion of the database. All those hypotheticals I gave about the Two
Witness Rule and Elder Bodies covering up for criminals actually happened. There are about 70,000 Witnesses in Australia
and the Watchtower was protecting 1,006 known child predators. There are just over eight-and-a-half million
Jehovah’s Witnesses in the world, so if that ratio held true for every country, that
would be over a hundred thousand potential child abusers. Most Witnesses don’t know any of this. Any who do are leaving in record numbers. Two-thirds of all children born into the religion
eventually leave. When you combine that with the fact that the
preaching work isn’t as successful as it used to be – you find that 2020 was the
first year the Watchtower ever reported a decrease in the number of Witnesses. Wait… if they’re decreasing in number,
how could they possibly be a threat in the future… You better not have tricked me into doing
this. Those who remain as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses
do so because of a fear of missing out. The main message is that Armageddon could
happen at any moment. In fact, the process already started in 1914,
so you better attend every meeting and give up having a career in order to help in the
preaching work. Maybe put off getting married or having kids
until the New System. “This Generation” wants to see Armageddon
happen in their lifetime, because if they survive, not only will they not have to go
through the pain of dying – But they’ll be at the front of the line during Christ’s
Judgment. [Distorted Skype ringtone] Yes! It worked! Okay look, I didn’t trick my former self
into making this video just so I could warn you about the Jehovah’s Witnesses – I
know I’m lazy, but c’mon. There are only a million of them in America
and they specifically don’t vote. If you’re only concerned with religions
that you consider to be on the extreme fringe, like the Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons,
I think you’re missing the larger picture. There are over 100 million Americans that
want the world to end in their lifetime. You think I’d abuse time travel just so
I could point and say “Haha, look at the crazy cult?” No, it was to say… Look at the crazy cult! Jehovah’s Witnesses are not the only people
who believe this stuff, 49% of Americans think Climate Change is actually what the Bible
describes as the end times. 30-35% of America identifies as Evangelical
Christian. Of that, half of them specifically support
the state of Israel because they believe it fulfils the end times prophecy. The literal gathering of tribes mentioned
in the Book of Revelation. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe the end has
already started, think higher education is a waste of time, and that the government is
part of Satan’s wicked system of things. Mormons believe that the literal gathering
of Israel is a sign of the end times and that America will be the Holy Land. Many Evangelicals believe some version of
all of those things, and while they may not have a single founder, they sure have found
their modern charismatic leader. Which makes me worried about who their Brigham
Young or JF Rutherford will be – I mean, the guy is 75 years old. If history is any indication, we need to keep
our eye on the second in command, because- [Skype Ringtone]
What? [Ring continues] [Sigh] Hello? Hey – don’t hang up! You just finished the Jehovah’s Witness
video? Yeah… Okay, well, you were right, it all goes back
to that one guy from 1844. So, I need you to make this video again, but
this time for Seventh Day Adventists. Nope. Whoa, whoa wait! Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know
that the Nebula version of this video contains 2 minutes of additional content regarding
Creation and Evolution, check it out if you’re interested. I’d like to give a shout out to my newest
Golden Fork patrons – Kid Kaia, Bookworm, Jeremiah, and SneksAsAService. If you’d like to become a baptized publisher,
head on over to patreon.com/knowingbetter, or for a one-time donation, paypal.me/knowingbetter. Don’t forget to disfellowship that subscribe
button, or the join button if you’re a special pioneer. Check out the merch at knowingbetter.tv, follow
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