The Governing Body Engages in More Outrageous Deception to Keep You from Leaving Them

In this video we will continue our analysis of the gaslighting methods used by the Governing Body to induce a hypnotic grip on the hearts and minds of Jehovah’s Witnesses. This time we’ll be covering a talk delivered by Gage Fleegle on JW.org called “Jehovah Organizes His People”.

This will be a long video, but a very important one to absorb, because the entire justification of the religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses is that you cannot worship God on your own, you have to do so through an organization, because they claim that is Jehovah’s way. There has to be some organization.  So, if you want to leave, where can you go? Well, we’ll answer that by the end of this video. For now, I’m going to play just the first 44 seconds of the video to get us rolling.

Then, we’ll break it down into manageable chunks of outrageous deception so that we can see that the Governing Body, like all charlatans before them, is only engaging in projection by accusing others of what they themselves practice.

Have you ever heard someone say, I’m not religious, but I am spiritual, or, I don’t need to belong to a religion. I worship God in my own way. Many people believe that they don’t need to be associated with a specific religious organization, that it’s good enough simply to have a personal relationship with God. It’s not surprising that they feel that way. Many religious promoted false worship. They’ve mistreated their followers or demanded large sums of money from them, and tolerated or even promoted conduct that the Bible condemns.

It makes you wonder what goes on in the mind of the members of the Governing Body, and everyone else at headquarters who is in the know. The sheer, unabashed hypocrisy is overwhelming. The first time I saw this clip, my reaction was, “Oh, my God. Do they not hear themselves?”

James writes about such men in his letter:

“However, become doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves with false reasoning. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, this one is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, and he goes away and immediately forgets what sort of person he is. But the one who peers into the perfect law that belongs to freedom and continues in it has become, not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work; and he will be happy in what he does.” (James 1:22-25)

I don’t see these men as doers of the word. Do you?

Okay, let’s get into it. Gage’s main point is that it’s not good enough to have a personal relationship with God.

Many people believe that they don’t need to be associated with a specific religious organization, that it’s good enough simply to have a personal relationship with God.

According to Gage, your salvation depends on belonging to some organized religion. A personal relationship with the Almighty Creator of the Universe just won’t cut it.

Yet, Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) But I guess we need to rethink that, eh? Perhaps it should read, “Organized religion is the way and the truth and the life.”

Oh, but not just any organized religion will do. To make that clear, Gage engages in what I would call, “Institutional Projection”. That’s a psychological term that describes “the mental process by which people attribute to others what is in their own minds.” You might know it by a more common term: “Hypocrisy.”

It’s not surprising that they feel that way. Many religious organizations have promoted false worship.

False worship, you say? Like what, Gage? Like false prophetic announcements that the end would come in 1925 or 1975? Or like promoting false doctrines such as an invisible presence of Christ in 1914? A heavenly resurrection in 1918? Or that Jesus named you guys to be his faithful and discreet slave in 1919? And how about your most disgraceful teaching? The false hope you preach for the other sheep which includes denying Christ as their mediator, blocking them from being anointed with holy spirit, and requiring that they support the Governing Body for their salvation? Is that the kind of false worship you’re referring to, Gage, old boy?

They’ve mistreated their followers.

“Mistreated their followers”? How, Gage? By forcing them to shun family and friends who leave the religion? How many people have suffered enormous emotional trauma because of the unscriptural shunning policy of your Organization, Gage? How many have committed suicide due to this harsh and unscriptural mistreatment?  Hundreds? Thousands??

Or demanded large sums of money from them.

The Organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses has never demanded large sums of money from its followers, has it, Gage?

For instance, I remember not that long ago that a congregation here in Canada had $80,000 in reserve funds. The Circuit Overseer told the elders that all excess funds in all congregations in Canada were to be turned over to the Branch office. But he wasn’t making a demand, was he?  It was just a loving suggestion.

The elders decided not to respond to his loving suggestion. The next time he came around, he repeated his increasingly loving suggestion. But the elders wanted to use the funds to repave their packing lot, so they said ‘no’. On the circuit overseer’s final visit, he lovingly suggested that all the elders would be removed if they didn’t comply by turning over the funds to the branch office. So, I guess that technically, you couldn’t call that a demand. There’s another term for that. It’s on the tip of my tongue. Ah, it’ll come to me in a moment.

It wasn’t long after that when you guys started to assume ownership of all the kingdom hall properties formerly owned by the local congregations. There were properties and buildings that had been purchased with donated funds made by the local congregation members. If any congregation dared to object, I’m sure you’d have patted them on the back and said, “That’s okay. We understand. I guess we’ll just have to remove the elder body and dissolve the congregation.” Of course, that would again not technically be qualified as demanding large sums of money.  Again, there’s that other term that escapes me.  Starts with an “R”.  For some reason it makes me think of the game of tennis.

And tolerated or even promoted conduct that the Bible condemns.

As a member of the Governing Body, Gage must know that the Organization is being sued in country after country for its abysmal mishandling of child sexual abuse cases. They’ve kept a database of sex offenders numbering at last count over 20,000 abusers and still they refuse to turn it over to the authorities even when they are fined by the courts for failing to do so. Would that qualify as tolerating conduct that the Bible condemns?

And doesn’t the Bible condemn teaching false doctrine? Doesn’t it condemn making false prophecies? Doesn’t it condemn creature worship? About that, my late wife was very upset when they released the “Proclaimers” book in 1990, because it showed portrait photos of all Governing Body members. She said that was creature worship. I thought she was being overly sensitive, but I see now she was being prescient. In the forty years from 1950 to the publication of the Proclaimers book in 1990, the term “creature worship” appeared in the Watchtower 53 times, but in the last 34 years, it has only appeared once. They now claim to speak with the voice of Jesus. Could it be that they don’t want Witnesses to think to much about the sin of idolizing men.

We’re only forty-four seconds into this pious speech and we’re left scratching our heads wondering: Does this man not hear himself? Is he so out of touch with the reality that while condemning other religious organizations, he doesn’t realize he’s also condemning his own?

And what about this blasphemous notion that a personal relationship with God is not enough?

Of course, it’s the fruitage of those organizations that’s bad, not the fact that they are organized.

Wrong again, Gage. It is the fact they are organized. Organized religion will always produce bad fruitage because it is organized by men. Men who impose their own interpretation on Scripture, which they must do because they have to promote their own brand of Christianity to stand out from their competitors. Has Gage never read what Jeremiah says?

“Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land.” (Jeremiah 17:5, 6 NLT)

This is where Jehovah says you will end up if you belong to an organized religion instead of to Christ. You will be spiritually stunted and forfeit your salvation.

Of course, the agenda of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses is the same agenda of any organized religion on the face of the earth, be it of Christendom, of Islam, or of pagan origin. The agenda is always the same. The leaders of each religion, the men in charge, want their followers to obey them, support them, and enrich them.

To achieve that, they have to get their followers to believe that they alone possess access to the hidden treasures of the knowledge of God. That they alone speak for God. Gage Fleegle wants his listeners to believe that salvation depends on being part of an organization, so he must convince you that it has always been God’s way to have an organization run by men at some central post. His problem is that there is no support in the Bible for that. The Governing Body loves to point to the nation of Israel as an example of organization. Of course, they overlook the fact that for 3000 years from the time of Adam down to the days of Moses and the 10 Commandments, there was no organized form of worship.

The same can be said for the approximately four centuries that passed from the time Israel entered into the promised land and to the appointment of the first king of Israel, King Saul. During those 400 years, there was no centralized governing authority, as the Scriptures inform us.

Judges 17:6 tells us that “in those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.” (NLT)

Eventually, however, there was a centralized governing authority, but it was not Jehovah that instituted it. No, it was done at the insistence of the people who wanted to have a human King rule over them. God warned them against this telling them that it would go very bad for them. And that is exactly what happened. That fact didn’t change when Christ came. The only king that would benefit us is the one that religious authorities always seek to replace, Jesus Christ.

Of course, Gage and the other members of the Governing Body don’t want Jehovah’s Witnesses to come to that realization. Therefore, they fabricate the basis for a modern-day governing body based on one single incident involving the congregation in the first century.

Let’s listen in to Gage Fleegle’s reasoning and see if you can pick out the flaw in it.

But we might still ask, does Jehovah want his people to be organized? What does his word say? The Bible reveals that the early Christians were organized.

The problem isn’t with being organized, Gage. There’s nothing wrong with arranging things in an orderly way. Everything in our lives involves organization. But what happens when men use that reasoning to justify organizing people to obey them over Christ? Answer: You get the leaven of the Pharisees. Jesus warned his disciples, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” (Matthew 16:6 ESV)

The Bible reveals that the early Christians were organized. Consider what’s recorded in Acts 15. An issue arose, an issue involving doctrine or belief that caused disagreement among those in the congregation. How would they settle that issue?

The Governing Body doesn’t want you to have a one-on-one personal relationship with God. Any relationship with God you can have must go through the Organization, otherwise your salvation won’t depend on them, and they will lose their hold over you. Of course, Gage can’t come right out and say that blatantly, so he is trying to find some Bible basis to support his idea. Only by misapplying some Bible passage and getting you to buy into the deception, believing it to be truth, can he convince you to stick with the Governing Body. But first he has to do a little more gaslighting. See if you can spot it.

Did they conclude that it was enough for each Christian to have his own relationship with God and for each person to believe what he personally wanted?

We can agree that for each person to believe whatever he or she personally wants to believe would only produce chaos and division in a congregation. But what has that got to do with having a personal relationship with God? Nothing at all. He’s speaking nonsense, but he’s hoping that his listeners won’t notice they are being skillfully manipulated.

Gage doesn’t want you to have a personal relationship with God. He wants to deny you of your God-given right. That’s one of the reasons the Governing Body teaches the unscriptural doctrine that the other sheep are only God’s friends, not his children. They want you to belong to the Organization. So, they want you to believe that having personal beliefs is the same as having a personal relationship. But those are two every different things. Having personal beliefs focuses on you, the individual, believing whatever the heck you want to believe. But having a personal relationship with God means focusing on Him as a loving Father, and believing what he wants you to believe.  Remember what Jesus said:

“Not everyone saying to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but the one doing the will of My Father in the heavens.” (Matthew 7:21 BLB)

Now I ask you, besides the Governing Body, who else wants to break up the relationship between God and his children? Answer: Every other group of religious leaders. And whose biding are they all doing? Who’s been waging a war against the Children of God since he failed to tempt God’s Son to sin?

“And the dragon was angry at the woman and declared war against the rest of her children—all who keep God’s commandments and maintain their testimony for Jesus.” (Revelation 12:17 NLT)

Gage is next going to try to justify the existence of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses from another angle. He will now slyly misapply the incident involving the dispute over circumcision that arose in Galatia, as explained by Paul.

“Some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”” (Acts 15:1 BSB)

You’ll notice that the Bible doesn’t even call these men, believers or brothers. They are just “some men from Judea”.

At Acts 15:2, we read, But after quite a bit of dissension and disputing by Paul and Barnabas with them, it was arranged for Paul, Barnabas, and some of the others to go up to the Apostles and elders in Jerusalem regarding this issue. The Apostles and elders in Jerusalem made a decision that resolved the issue. Thereafter, they made their decision known to the congregations. This helped to restore peace and unity.

Gage is leaving some important facts out. Why would he do that? Because when you’re cherry-picking a verse, you have to ignore the context because that might, you know, lead your listeners to the truth. He only quotes from verse 2 which only mentions the Apostles and older men, but if we look at the context, a very different picture is revealed. Verse 4 states: “And having come to Jerusalem, they were received by the assembly, and the apostles, and the elders, they declared also as many things as God did with them” (Acts 15:4 YLT)

The entire assembly or congregation received them and Paul and the Galatian delegation reports not just to the apostles and the older men, but to the whole assembly of holy ones. The whole congregation was involved in this decision, not just a tiny committee of men like we have at Warwick. Verse 22 says, “Then the apostles and the elders, together with the whole congregation, decided to send chosen men from among them to Antioch, along with Paul and Barnabas; they sent Judas who was called Barsabbas and Silas, who were leading men among the brothers.” (Acts 15:22)

Even the letter that Gage refers to was sent out not just from a small governing body, but from the entire congregation in Jerusalem.

“They wrote this letter by them: The apostles, the elders, and the brethren, To the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings.” (Acts 15:23 NKJV)

So, our dear brother, Gage Fleegle, desperately hoping you don’t read your bible for context, but just lazily listen to and trust in men, is about to exploit that hope by outright lying to you.

The Apostles and elders in Jerusalem consistently provided spiritual food, direction, and practical help for God’s people in the first century. They acted as a governing body.

No, they did not act as a first-century governing body, because Jesus was the one guiding the first-century congregation. If the apostles and older men in Jerusalem formed a governing body, then why were there miraculous gifts of the holy spirit poured out on individuals in the congregation. Why didn’t they just wait for letters from Jerusalem to tell them what to believe? Why did God give gifts to men and women, such as the gift of knowledge, the gift of prophecy, the gift of revelation, the gift of speaking in tongues, and the gift of interpreting what was said under inspiration?

Paul wrote about all this in his letter to the Corinthians: “What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God. Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.” (1 Corinthians 14:26-33 ESV)

Take note of that last verse, 33, “for God is not a God of confusion but of peace,” because Gage is going to exploit it with a little logical fallacy called “equivocation”.

But before we get to that, if anyone is still having doubts about whether or not there was a first-century governing body directing the work, ask yourself, did they appoint the apostle Paul or did Jesus? Did they send Paul with Barnabas on three missionary trips, or was it the Gentile congregation of Antioch that financed and sent them? Outside of the one incident in Acts 5 over the issue of circumcision, is there any other reference to the congregation in Jerusalem overseeing the preaching of the good news in the first century?

Let me answer that in one word: NO!

The only reason Jerusalem was involved is become some men from that congregation, acting like the Pharisees, were trying to force Gentiles to be circumcised to appease the Jews and avoid being persecuted. Men from that congregation caused the problem, so it fell to the congregation in Jerusalem to put things right. This fact was acknowledged in the letter they wrote to the gentile congregations:

“Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 15:24-26 ESV)

The Jerusalem congregation wanted to make it clear that the issue that had come from their ranks was not backed by the authority of the Apostles and the holy spirit, so they wrote a letter to be distributed to all the congregations, but they had no communication network of their own. They couldn’t run down to the local Roman post office, stick a stamp on a hundred different letters that had been run off their photocopier, and inform the congregations of their decision in a “Monthly Letter to the Body of Elders.” So, they used the only means they had. They gave a single letter to Paul and Barnabas to read out as they travelled on their missionary tours.

Does that sound like a Governing Body controlling and directing the worldwide work of the Roman world? No. Further evidence that they were not such a governing body as Gage   fervently wishes them to be.

This account from Acts is all Gage has to try to get you to believe that the JW Governing Body is authorized by Jehovah God. So, he’s going to summon up all the logical fallacies he can muster to convince you that he and his cohorts have the authority to tell you how to worship God.

But we are no longer young and naïve.  We now know how to reason critically. We follow God’s direction when he warns us that “a gullible person believes anything, but a sensible person watches his step.” (Proverbs 14:15 GNT)

So, let’s take apart Gage’s logical fallacies. They are pretty transparent once you know how to look for them.

Sometime later, the apostle Paul and Timothy visited the congregations. What did they accomplish? Acts 16:4 says, As they traveled on through the cities, they would deliver to them for observance the decrees that had been decided on by the apostles and the elders who were in Jerusalem. The apostles and elders in Jerusalem consistently provided spiritual food, direction, and for God’s people in the first century. They acted as a governing body.

Gage is engaging in the logical fallacy of a false premise. Yes, Paul and Barnabas did deliver the decrees that had come from that one-time meeting. But to then say that

the Apostles and elders in Jerusalem consistently provided spiritual food, direction, and practical help for God’s people in the first century. They acted as a governing body.

is to just outright lie. It’s like pointing at a single tree in the middle of a field and saying, “See! A forest!”

What was the result of such organization? Note the next verse. It says, Then indeed, the congregations continued to be made firm in the faith and to increase in number day by day. That organization in the first century helped the early Christians to be united, productive, and happy.

The word “organization” doesn’t even appear in the Bible, yet Gage wants you to believe that all the growth and blessing from God was due to organized direction from Jerusalem, but that isn’t supported by Scripture. Again, he doesn’t want you to read the context. But the truth is right there in black and white. Let me read it from the Governing Body’s own Bible where he left off reading.

“Then, indeed, the congregations continued to be made firm in the faith and to increase in number day by day. Moreover, they traveled through Phrygia and the country of Galatia, because they were forbidden by the holy spirit to speak the word in the province of Asia. Further, when they came down to Mysia, they made efforts to go into Bithynia, but the spirit of Jesus did not permit them. So they passed by Mysia and came down to Troas. And during the night a vision appeared to Paul—a Macedonian man was standing there urging him and saying: “Step over into Macedonia and help us.” As soon as he had seen the vision, we tried to go into Macedonia, drawing the conclusion that God had summoned us to declare the good news to them.” (Acts 16:5-10 NWT)

Do you see any mention of a Jerusalem governing body being involved in organizing the work here? Gage is still playing mind games, seeking to deceive you.

And he’s not done yet. Remember that reference to 1 Corinthians 14:33 that we read earlier? Well, watch how he uses it next.

In like manner, Jehovah’s people today are organized. This reflects Jehovah’s personality. 1 Corinthians 14:33-40 says in part, God is a God not of disorder, but of peace. Let all things take place decently and by arrangement.

Gage is using the logical fallacy of equivocation, meaning that he’s taking one word and giving it a different meaning to support his argument.

“Organization” is not the same as “peace.” The Devil is organized.  He is not divided against himself. Jesus himself says so if you care to look it up at Matthew 12:24. Again, the context tells us that Paul was referring to a problem where everyone was talking at once, causing confusion, not peace. He was not speaking about being directed by a centralized governing body. That is how thin Gage’s argument is, and how much they are reaching, hoping you will only listen to one cherry-picked verse which doesn’t even contain the word “organization”. They’ve found a pebble and are trying to build on it like it was some vast foundation for their whole tottering organizational structure.

The noun “organization” and verb “organize” occur almost 30,000 times in Watch Tower Society publications going back to 1950. If you add in the number of times the average Jehovah’s Witness publisher hears the word spoken from the Kingdom Hall and the convention platform, the count would be well over a hundred thousand occurrences. If you say something over and over, it becomes true in the mind of your listeners. That’s how indoctrination works.

Sadly, Gage still isn’t done trying to convince his listeners to adhere to the direction of the Governing Body as the leaders of what he believes is Jehovah’s Organization. He has five points to share with us. They are all based on spurious reasoning as you’ll see.

His first point is that without an organization run by the Governing Body, we couldn’t meet together to worship God.

Think about it. Organization really helps us to fulfill Jehovah’s requirements for true worship. Consider five examples. First, we must be organized to meet together for worship. How could we do so if we didn’t know one another, didn’t have designated places and times to gather together, and didn’t have a scheduled program for each meeting?

Is it good to be organized? Sure. It is good to make up a schedule for meeting together? Of course. Does that require a centralized governing body telling you have to live your life? No. Does that require you to belong to an organization? No. Here’s a web page with a schedule for people to meet online in a number of different languages. [http://beroeanmeetings/] It took a fair bit of organizing to make those arrangements, but does that make me into a Governing Body and give me the right to tell you how to live your life? No, “Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.” His true followers seek only to imitate him, not impose rules on others.

Gage’s next point, number 2, refers to being united in belief.

Second, we must be organized to be united in belief. All of us receive the same instruction at congregation meetings, assemblies, and conventions, and we’re helped to understand the scriptures through Bible-based publications and videos. These provisions require organization, and they help us to worship unitedly. And as 1 Corinthians 1:10 counsels us to speak in agreement.

You’ll notice that the picture he shows is of people from many different lands holding up, not the Bible, but Watch Tower publications. Yes, Gage, if your worldwide community of Watch Tower Witnesses is to be united, with one belief, speaking in agreement, they need your organization. But it’s your organization, not Christ’s.  They belong to you, not to Christ. They speak your message, not that of Jesus Christ. For instance, he commanded all of his followers figuratively to eat his flesh and drink his blood if they wanted to inherit eternal life, but you tell your followers to refuse the emblems, the bread and wine that represent his flesh and blood. Gage, you are demanding that Jehovah’s Witnesses disobey Jesus, and you are preventing them from being in a covenant relationship with our heavenly Father. You have achieved a forced uniformity, but at what cost? Jesus didn’t tell the Samaritan woman that his Father is looking for worshippers who worship “in spirit and in unity.” It’s “in spirit and in truth,” Gage, old chum.

For point 3, Gage believes that only by organization membership can the love of Christ be expressed.

Third, we must be organized to form a worldwide brotherhood. 1 Peter 2:17 reminds us that we belong to an association of brothers. If we weren’t organized, how could we even identify those who are truly part of our spiritual family?

Gage is misquoting 1 Peter 2:17. Peter doesn’t remind us that we belong to an association of brothers. What he wrote was:

“Honor all people, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the king.” (1 Peter 2:17 NET)

If you’re looking for a scripture that speaks of belonging, Gage, how about 1 Corinthians 3:21, 22?

“So don’t boast about following a particular human leader [or group of leaders like the GB]. For everything belongs to you—whether Paul or Apollos or Peter, or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.” (1 Corinthians 3:21-23)

Gage reasons: “If we weren’t organized, how could we even identify those who are truly part of our spiritual family?” Such fleshly thinking, he exhibits. Having left the Organization, having turned in my membership card, as it were, some 12 years ago, I have had no difficulty identifying both men and women who are part of my spiritual family. These followers of Christ do not label themselves as Baptists, Catholics, Lutherans, Jehovah’s Witnesses, or for that matter, Beroeans. We are disciples of Christ, members of the body of Christ. It’s just that simple. We identify each other as true worshippers because we follow the teachings of Christ as laid down in Scripture, guided to truth by the promised holy spirit.

Didn’t Jesus say that his Father is looking for individuals who “worship in spirit and in truth.” There is nothing in his words about belonging to some manmade organization. In fact, he told the Samaritan woman that true worshippers would abandon organized religion.

The Samaritan woman was asking Jesus which was the true religion: “So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?” (John 4:20 NLT)

In answer, Jesus foretold that it would not be through any form of organized worship, organized religion, that God would be accepting worship. He said:

“Believe Me, woman,” Jesus replied, “a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem…a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him.” (John 4:21, 23 BSB)

That isn’t the kind of worship that Gage Fleegle and the Governing Body want you to practice.

Now we come to Gage’s fourth point, the preaching work.

Fourth, we must be organized to preach the good news to people of different nations, tribes, and languages. How could we possibly declare the Kingdom message thoroughly and effectively if we weren’t associated with an organization?

Gage is correct in claiming that it would be impossible for Jehovah’s Witnesses to preach their message in a united and effective way were they not strictly controlled by a worldwide organization. The problem is that it’s not the Good News of the Bible that they preach. They preach a false and perverted “good news” based on the teachings of the Governing Body. In this, they are like all other denominations of organized religion. They obey and preach the teachings of men.

Gage is showing a remarkable lack of faith. Does he not recall this incident?

“However, some of the Pharisees from the crowd said to him: “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” But in reply he said: “I tell you, if these remained silent, the stones would cry out.” (Luke 19:39, 40 NWT)

We don’t need to belong to an organization controlled by a central governing body to preach the good news. What we need is to be led by God’s holy spirit. And we don’t get that if we refuse to partake of the bread and wine, since that means we’re refusing the anointing of the holy spirit.

Now we come to Gage’s final point:

Fifth, we must be organized to provide disaster relief. Just as the early Christians had an arrangement to supply financial aid to their needy brothers and sisters in other lands, so we are organized to help our brothers and sisters as soon as possible after a disaster, disease outbreak, or other emergency.

Wow, the sheer hypocrisy of this claim is shocking. Gage references the first-century congregation’s arrangements to help the needy, but he doesn’t refer to specific examples. Of course not, because they do not support his argument.

1 Timothy chapter 5 reveals that there were specific arrangements made in the congregations to support the needy, specifically widows and fatherless children. There are no such arrangements in Gage’s organization. In fact, elders are discouraged from making such charitable arrangements at the local level.

As for disaster relief, Acts 11:27-30 speaks of how the holy spirit revealed there was going to be a famine in Judea, and so the congregation in the gentile city of Antioch arranged for disaster relief and sent it to the congregation in Jerusalem. So rather than disaster relief being organized by some alleged first-century governing body, it was the reverse that occurred.

Gage concludes his talk with these words:

As was the case in the first century, the governing body today provides spiritual food, direction, and practical help for God’s people around the world. Jesus has appointed that governing body to be the faithful and discrete slave. How grateful we are that Jehovah, through our leader Jesus Christ, has organized us so that we can do God’s will as a united brotherhood.

Do you buy his words? He claims there was a first-century governing body, but according to his fellow GB member, David Splane, those apostles and older men in Jerusalem were not a faithful and discreet slave. However, Gage contends that the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses has been named the faithful and discreet slave. How do we know that? Because they tell us so. Isn’t that circular reasoning? They bear witness about themselves. Jesus said, “If I alone bear witness about myself, my witness is not true.” (John 5:31 NWT)

Being a self-proclaimed Governing Body and a self-proclaimed faithful and discreet slave, just won’t cut it before God.

Do they feed their flock? Yes. But they feed them junk food, spiritual junk food, consisting of lies and false prophecies. We can’t stop them, but we can protect ourselves. How? The apostle John says: “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1 NIV)

And how do we test the spirits to see if they come from God? The apostle John says it beautifully: “So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.” (1 John 3:10 NLT)

If you lie to other believers, you do not love them. If you lord it over them, you do not love them. If you get them to shun their mother, father, son, or daughter because they decide not to obey your Governing Body anymore, you do not love them. All of that makes you a child of the devil.

I’ll leave you with that.

I said I was going to help you understand how you could worship God without an organization. Well, I’ll put a link at the end of this video to a video that discusses that very fact. Also, if you want to join with others worshipping freely and getting knowledge each week of what the Bible actually teaches, and enjoying just upbuilding fellowship, I’ll also put a link in the description of this video to our online Bible studies which I’ve already introduced earlier in the video.