Early 1960's - Ripe for expansion!

The headlines in 1960 read like an invitation to edge-water Christian sectarianism. The cold-war between the East and Western blocs of nations is hard underway. Americans fear nuclear attack, Kruschev is threatening the UN, and tension is growing in Asian politics, a precursor to America's longest foreign engagement in Vietnam.

Back at Watchtower headquarters this does not go unnoticed. Beginning in November of 1958 and concluding in June of 1960, the Watchtower organization published in it's primary magazine called the Watchtower, a 40 part series entitled " Your Will Be Done on Earth". This series was a replication of the hard-bound book of the same name that had been released to Jehovah's Witnesses in the summer of 1958. The publication was filled with repeated references to 'the King of the North' and the 'King of the South', and contained many pages of text that began to settle Jehovah's Witnesses into a mindset that would make them eager to preach the message that only 'God's Kingdom', as of course endorsed only by Jehovah's Witnesses properly, would bring about a solution to all this world trouble. The UN was cited often in this publication as having significant impact on the outworking of God's purposes. Great urgency was given to the 'work at hand' - that work of preaching door to door and making converts to the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses.

While the world at large was preparing for a possible nuclear confrontation, those extreme religious bodies who were in the perpetual business of declaring that the Kingdom was about to show itself on the earth, like Jehovah's Witnesses, were busy selling the idea that all of mankind was about to face annihilation, not from nuclear bombs, but from God himself, for failing to come to his side [which is of course Jehovah's Witnesses side]. This was no new message for Jehovah's Witnesses of course. Beginning in the 1870's, they had delivered a steady diet of the same message, changed as the times required, saying that they had the 'truth', all the 'world' was destined to be destroyed soon, and only those who found themselves serving God with them would survive.

In the late 50's and early 60's, this message began to sell very well. Modern society was entering a new era. For the first time in history, man had weapons at hand that could virtually destroy mankind in a matter of hours. It is no wonder that many people began to put confidence in what this organization began to teach, when it made statements like this:


"The most serious obstacles to total disarmament are humanly irremovable. All international efforts, with or without the United Nations, are therefore doomed to failure. Happily, however, God’s Word, the Holy Bible, does not leave us hopeless. It enlightens, cheers and guides us with this reliable information: Universal disarmament, followed by a warless new world of righteousness, will come by the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of the God of heaven." - Watchtower 4/15/1960 page 241

While past efforts to recruit may have at times been mounted on the horns of a false dilemma, this historical moment was fraught with uncertainty, and the dilemma of potential world-war was indeed significant. The organization began to sink it's teeth deeply into this advantage. Between my birth in 1955, and the beginning of my school days in 1960, the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses had grown from around 650,000 to very near a million, a significant milestone that would be passed in 1964.

New Light - Superior Authorities 1962

Had I been older, a significant doctrinal shift in 1962 would have been significant. But I was only eight years old at the time, and much more concerned with other non-doctrinal matters. By this time I was in third grade, facing pressures that are certain for witness kids in school. I was dodging the flag salute, finding excuses to not stand out when I refused to celebrate the holidays, and trying to make cognitive sense of how a child was to avoid any friendships in school, associate with only witness children, when there were no other witness children in my small town.

In the November 15 issue of the Watchtower for that year the Watchtower rescinded it's long held view that the 'Superior Authorities' mentioned in Romans chapter 13 represented Jesus and Jehovah. They now admitted what most 12 year olds could have easily seen by reading the text in context, that these 'superior authorities' are the nations of the earth ruling over the people of the earth. I was likely in my late 20's when I was moved to take a look at this 'new light' doctrine more closely. I recall thinking at the time; "How could they have ever had this wrong? It is so simply stated. So clear as a bell. " My examination of the matter revealed that my religion had taught that the superior authorities were God and His son since 1929, and before that they had taught, like they were teaching now, that the superior authorities were the governments of the earth.

I recall wondering why Jehovah would turn on the 'new light' of understanding in 1929, then turn it back off in 1962? Surely, if it could be understood correctly before 1929, why would Jehovah change it? Why indeed? Of course this reflection took place long after the change - I had seen other doctrinal flip-flops in the meantime, and was heavily invested by the time I examined this one. There was simply too much to loose by my admission that this 'new light' stance uncovered a significant flaw - that flaw being that if God was influencing doctrine in order to move the organization closer to 'truth' - He had either missed it the first time, or had missed the second time. Why was this light-switch going on and off - wrong light being a doctrinal lock for 33 years? At the time of my reflection, this problem of cognitive dissonance made an impression, but was overruled by the concept that God had a single organization that represented Him in all the earth. This doctrinal change became a touch-tone to my eventual awareness that I resided in an organization that was far more similar to any other religion than I was willing to admit at the time. I wanted to believe it was the 'Truth' with a Capital "T". So I shelved this significant evidence in my mind.

As time streamed forward to the mid-1960's the organization would begin to orchestrate it's largest effort at recruiting ever undertaken. At the heart of this push would be a year that would go down in infamy for them - 1975. The years were drawing closer to doctrinal shifts that would highlight that year above all others within my lifetime. It would also be the spring to the trap that would hold me captive for almost 30 years after.

Stay tuned!