Don't you find it detestable when someone you esteemed as trustworthy turns out to be a liar? How about the feeling you get when you discover you've been the victim of decades of gaslighting?
Gaslighting is a pattern of manipulation that causes someone to question their own perception of reality.
The second study article in the October 2026 Watchtower does this in several specific ways.
The title sets the stage: "Treasure Your Share in Modern-Day Miracles." The theme text is "By this all will know that you are my disciples." — John 13:35.
This will cause the unsuspecting — or simply the credulous — to conclude that the modern-day miracles the article is about to reveal are proof that Jehovah's Witnesses are the true disciples of Jesus.
But that theme text isn’t a text at all. It’s just a few words cut out of the full thought that Jesus was imparting. Why censor Jesus’ words and teaching? Here it is in full:
It would only take one extra line of text to complete the thought Jesus was sharing with us and reveal it has nothing to do with miracles. Here it is, from the New World Translation:
“I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples—if you have love among yourselves.”” (John 13:34, 35)
Jesus wasn’t giving us a new miracle. He was giving us a new commandment. Obedience to his commandment—to love one another the way that he has loved us—serves as a credential that even the world can be witness to. A true follower of Jesus doesn’t need miracles to convince themselves they are on the right path. The rebellious Israelites needed miracles, and even then, they still built the golden calf, but we shouldn’t need such things to be sure we’re worshipping in spirit and truth. Evidently, the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses feels that Jehovah’s Witnesses need the reassurance of miracles to prove to themselves they are on the right path. Unfortunately, there are no such miracles and so they have to invent them and that is the purpose of this article.
But as with pretty much everything the modern organization is doing to hold on to their flock, this is a pathetic attempt which will only work with the most indoctrinated. Gaslighting is only effective for a short time.
Paragraph 2 of the article starts off by defining what a miracle is.
A miracle can be defined as something that is beyond the ability of man to accomplish or even to understand fully. It is something that Jehovah brings about by his power. In this article, we will examine three miracles that Jehovah is accomplishing within his organization today. We can call them miracles because only Jehovah is able to cause them to happen.
Thank you very much, Watchtower, because you’ve given us a measuring rod. Let’s see if your three modern-day miracles measure up.
By the way, the only measuring rod Jesus gave by which the world would be able to identify his true followers—not followers in name only, but those of whom he would approve—was what we just read in John 13:34, 35. But we’ll come to that in a moment. For now, let’s look at miracle number one—“Miraculous Growth”.
Paragraph 3 starts off by claiming:
“Long ago, the prophet Isaiah foretold the increase that God’s servants would experience in our day. (Read Isaiah 60:22)”
If you take the time to read the context of Isaiah chapter 60, you’ll see that Isaiah is writing about the restoration and glorification of Jehovah's covenant people in the messianic age. Applying it to the membership statistics of a New York corporation founded in the 19th century requires a level of eisegesis that the article does not even attempt to justify.
I mean, how can they so brazenly apply Isaiah’s prophecy to Jehovah’s Witnesses?
Jehovah’s Witnesses, by their own doctrinal teachings, cannot be God’s covenant people because the covenant, the New Covenant, is between Jehovah and spirit-anointed Christians with Jesus as their mediator. The millions of JW other sheep are not spirit anointed, do not have Jesus as their mediator, and so are not in the new covenant.
The Insight book makes this clear.
Those for Whom Christ Is Mediator….He mediates the new covenant between God and those taken into the new covenant, the congregation of spiritual Israel….those who are to be brought into the new covenant to be ‘adopted’ into Jehovah’s household of sons; these eventually will be in heaven as Christ’s brothers, becoming a part with him of the seed of Abraham….The total number of those who are finally and permanently sealed is revealed in Revelation 7:4-8 as 144,000.
(it-2 “Mediator” par. 13)
Not only does Isaiah’s prophecy not prove they have miraculous growth, but using it actually shows how dense they are. You see, how could “the small one become a mighty nation” when its number is limited to a literal 144,000? Once again, they’ve given us proof that the number in Revelation chapter 7 is to be taken symbolically and that the number of anointed will far surpass anything they’ve contemplated. This just provides more proof to what Paul wrote to the Galatians showing that the number cannot be a literal 144,000.
Paul referred to fleshly Israel as the children of the slave girl, Hagar, who Abraham married to produce his first child, Ishmael. Spiritual Israel came through Sarah, who was barren, the desolate woman. Paul wrote:
“. . .for the children of the desolate woman [Sarah] are more numerous than [those] of her [Hagar] who has the husband.”” (Galatians 4:27)
That means that spiritual Israel would number in the millions—the small one will become a mighty nation.
When you lie about something, you have to keep building on the lie to try to try to keep it alive until eventually, you get so tangled up in your lies that you can’t keep them straight anymore.
But back to the article’s claim that they’ve had miraculous growth.
There are several problems in claiming that the growth in numbers of the organization constitutes a miracle from God that confirms that Jehovah’s Witnesses are God’s people. The first is that nowhere in the Bible is growth in numbers given as proof of divine backing. If so, then we’d have to consider the Mormons and the Seventh-Day Adventists to have experienced an even bigger miracle from God than the Witnesses.
Since 1914, Mormons have grown in number from 400,000 members to 17,000,000, and that given that they only preach as missionaries for two years. As for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, they went from 100,000 in 1914 to 24,000,000 today. And they don’t engage in the door-to-door preaching work like Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Growth is not proof of God’s backing.
But it gets worse, because they are not even being honest about the growth they have experienced. Notice the chart on page 13 of this issue.
As you can see there is a constant uptrend. No downturns at all.
But the truth, reported in their own publications, tells a very different story.
In 1958, the organization published this book: Your Will Be Done on Earth.
On page 337 of that publication we read the following report:
During this time, Jehovah God helped his people to wait or endure, carrying on his Kingdom preaching on a widening scale. This resulted in bringing into the sanctuary many more to be members of this remnant consecrated by Jehovah. This was evident from the increasing attendance at the annual celebrations of the Lord's evening meal, 32,661 participating in 1922; 42,000 in 1923; 62,696 in 1924; and 90,434 in 1925. Evidently, however, there were some who did not wait until the end of the announced time for in 1926 there was a reported decrease in the attendance on March 27th at the Lord's evening meal to 89,278. The year 1925 especially proved to be a year of great trial to many of Jehovah's people. Some stopped waiting and went with the world. (yw p. 337 par. 22)
Remember that last sentence, “Some stopped waiting and went with the world,” because we’ll come back to it. Now we move to another publication of the Watchtower which came out in 1959, one year after the Your Will Be Done book: Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Divine Purpose.
This chart, taken from pages 312 and 313 of that book shows that the memorial attendance in 1928 dropped from that 1925 high of over 90,000 to a paltry 17,380. That’s a decrease of 73,000, an 81% drop.
Why doesn’t the chart reflect that? What are they hiding? Did those 73,000 all stop waiting and just go into the world as the Your Will Be Done book claims?
What stands out about 1925?
That was the time of the campaign from Rutherford proclaiming that “Millions Now Living Will Never Die.” They expected the resurrection of the ancient worthies, men like Abraham, Daniel, and Isaiah, to occur in that year. Rutherford even bought a 10-room mansion in San Diego to house them.
They expected that year to be the beginning of the great tribulation. When that failed, the majority of the Bible student groups associated with Rutherford’s Watchtower Society broke away. They didn't return to the world. They returned instead to Bible study. They no longer accepted J.F. Rutherford as the prophet he purported to be.
But that kind of dip on their chart would not look good. It would raise embarrassing questions from the JW other sheep.
What about the next miracle they claim?
The subtitle for paragraph 9 is “miraculous unity”.
The article presents the organization's global unity as miraculous—all members following the same spiritual program, sharing the same beliefs, working together across cultures. But this unity is achieved through a highly centralized, top-down organizational structure that enforces doctrinal conformity through judicial committees, disfellowshipping, and shunning. Unity produced by institutional coercion and social pressure is not miraculous. It is organizational control. The article presents the effect without acknowledging the mechanism that produces it.
There is nothing miraculous about their unity, because it is in fact enforced conformity, and therefore comes not from God, but from man.
Finally, they speak of “miraculous love” from paragraph 13 on. As I read these paragraphs, I felt anger well up in me. It’s hard not to feel it once you see it for that it is: a con job.
They start by showing how first-century Christians exemplified the love Jesus referred to in John 13:34, 35.
Jesus said that his followers would be identified by their love for one another. (Read John 13:35.) Such love was central in the lives of first-century Christians. For example, they shared their belongings with those in need. (Acts 2:44, 45) They supported those who were persecuted. (Acts 12:5) They cared for orphans and widows. (Jas. 1:27) And despite their own poverty, they sent relief aid to other Christians. (2 Cor. 8:1-4) Second-century writer Tertullian quoted what others said about the early Christians: “See . . . how they love one another [and] how they are ready even to die for one another.” (par. 13)
In the following paragraphs of this Watchtower article, they claim to measure up to this first-century standard, and that it is Jehovah who is miraculously making this possible.
It’s a crock.
I’ll prove it by going through each statement they make in the following paragraphs:
Like first-century Christians, God’s people today have strong love for one another.
The love Jesus displayed was termed agape. It is a Greek word, one of four that are translated as “love” in English. But agape is not just a warm, fuzzy feeling, nor is it the joy of camaraderie, or family love. It is a love that always seeks what is best for the loved one. As we go forward, we’ll see if the people behind this organization display that type of love.
We extend our love even to those outside the congregation through our preaching work.
This picture from the article is supposed to convey evidence of that love, but since agape always looks for what is best, is it truly loving to preach a false hope based on repeated failed misapplications of Bible prophecy?
To support that work, we contribute financially. No one begs or coerces us to do so; nor are we required to tithe.” (par. 14)
The claim is that “No one begs or coerces congregation members to contribute and that Witnesses are not required to tithe.”
Hmm, True or False? You decide.
At one time, in my 60 years in the organization, I would have believed this. But serving as an elder for 40 years in three different countries — Colombia, Ecuador, and Canada — and working closely with the branches in those countries slowly showed me that the organization I once loved and respected has changed dramatically and not for the better.
What is that scripture? Oh, yes:
“But wicked men and impostors will advance from bad to worse, misleading and being misled.” (2 Timothy 3:13)
Am I misapplying that? You be the judge.
A letter dated March 29, 2014 arrived at all the congregations announcing that all outstanding Kingdom Hall loans were being cancelled. How wonderful. How loving.
NOT!
Imagine your bank manager tells you that the bank has cancelled your mortgage. You no longer have to pay your mortgage. That would be great, wouldn’t it? Ah, but there’s a catch. You no longer have the deed to your house. The bank now owns your house. And whatever you already paid for your mortgage isn’t going to be returned to you. But no worries, you can continue to live in your home. But at any point in time, the bank reserves the right to sell it out from under you without any prior notification. Oh, and you have to pay rent. Your neighbour gets the same notification, but they never had a mortgage with that bank. They built their own home with their own hands and paid for it with their own funds, but the bank still demands they hand over the deed and that they pay rent. And if they don’t, the bank has the means to evict them from their home, and force the community to treat them like a pariah, shunning them.
Now that’s a nightmare scenario, isn’t it? What we’re describing is racketeering of the worst sort.
Well, that March 2014 letter was introducing just such a scenario on a global scale.
In Alliston, the Kingdom Hall where I served as the coordinator of the body of elders, we had sold our old hall for half a million dollars, and used the funds to buy land and build a new hall ourselves. The new hall ended up costing 1.1 million dollars, but brothers and sisters donated thousands of dollars and thousands of hours building it. We were left with a loan from the Watchtower Society of about $400,000. We were paying it off at about $1,800 a month. Then came the letter.
By this point in time, I’d woken up and was no longer serving as an elder, but I got access to the letter nonetheless.
It was a four-page letter, but only the first page of the letter was to be shared with the congregation. There was a three-page PostScript to the letter addressed to the congregation elders.
Here’s the salient part of it:
The elders in congregations currently making loan repayments would likely propose a resolution that is at least the same amount as the current monthly loan repayment, keeping in mind that donations will no longer be received from the "Kingdom Hall Construction Worldwide" contribution box. The elders in congregations without loans or those having standing resolutions to support Kingdom Hall construction worldwide should take a confidential survey of all publishers to determine the amount of the new resolution.
So the hall that we’d paid $700,000 of our own money and built with our own hands was being taken from us, and instead of making a monthly $1,800 loan repayment, we were required to make a monthly $1,800 contribution. Of course, a loan repayment eventually ends when the loan is paid, but a monthly resolution or pledge goes on forever.
And if they subsequently decided to sell that hall, the congregation would be required to go elsewhere for meetings and the money would go to headquarters never to be seen again.
Yes, that is miraculous love alright. Miraculous love of money.
Oh, but we’re not done yet. Paragraph 14 continues:
Love also moves us to help our brothers and sisters in times of need. (par. 14)
There’s a footnote to this statement reading:
For example, see on jw.org the article “Disaster Relief in 2023—‘We See Firsthand Jehovah’s Love.’ ”
Now I personally knew a number of my fellow Jehovah’s Witnesses who devoted much time and money to helping out in situations of disaster relief. I have nothing but high praise for their selflessness. But we’re not talking about individuals here. The Organization is claiming that this is possible only by means of the miraculous power of God.
What happened in the past when there was hurricane or flood relief in the United States is that brothers and sisters would take time off work, travel to the disaster area, and work at repairing the damaged homes. Many donated their money to help. Others donated building materials and used their own construction equipment.
Watchtower headquarters did not organize this. It was left to individual witnesses to do.
But when the government FEMA disaster relief funds arrived, or private insurance policies paid up, the homeowner was expected to send all that money into Watchtower Headquarters. So, brothers on their own did all the work and headquarters reaped the benefits in both a good Public Relations image and additional revenue.
Paragraph 14 concludes with this:
In addition to providing material support, we support one another spiritually and emotionally. This is in harmony with the apostle Paul’s admonition: “Speak consolingly to those who are depressed, support the weak, be patient toward all.” (1 Thess. 5:14) Jehovah has brought us into a worldwide family of brothers and sisters who show genuine love for one another and for neighbor.
Remember how in paragraph 13 the article cited James 1:27 that speaks of caring for widows and orphans in their tribulation?
The Organization that claims to belong to Jehovah does not do that. The first-century congregation had an organized arrangement to care for the needy. Even in its infancy, this need was taken care of by the congregation. In Acts 6, we read how some of the widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food, so the apostles appointed seven men to oversee the work of caring for the needy.
When I was serving as the coordinator of the body of elders in Alliston, a destitute family moved into the area and took up living in a broken-down trailer. A couple of brothers learned of their need and went to help them out financially and in refurbishing their rundown trailer, but they were bearing all the costs.
As the coordinator, I thought this would be a good opportunity to set up a fund so that all in the congregation could contribute to. But I was told by the circuit overseer to drop it. The organization does not approve of organizing charitable programs within the congregation. If the brothers wanted to contribute directly, that was up to them, but I was not to organize anything.
This is a policy of the organization and a direct repudiation of what James 1:27 says:
“The form of worship that is clean and undefiled from the standpoint of our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their tribulation, and to keep oneself without spot from the world.” (James 1:27)
Next, paragraph 15 blithely quotes from 2 Timothy 3:2-4 misapplying Paul’s words to the world at large, when verses 6 and 7 clearly indicate that Paul was referring to the Christian congregation in the last days.
Key phrases from Paul’s condemnation of counterfeit Christianity include:
For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, having no natural affection, not open to any agreement, slanderers, fierce, without love of goodness, betrayers, puffed up with pride, having an appearance of godliness but proving false to its power” (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
There are many good, loving people among Jehovah’s Witnesses just as there are many good and loving people in every religion that claims to be Christian. But this article isn’t extolling the virtues of individuals. It is boasting that Jehovah God has performed three miracles that makes the Watchtower Organization his special and holy nation, and the facts just don’t support that. It is a great deception and more and more sincere people, people who are seeking to worship God in spirit and truth, are waking up to the fact they’ve been misled by men who feign the appearance of godliness but increasingly are proving false to its power.
Paul tells us:
“From these, turn away.” (2 Timothy 3:5)
I truly hope this has been helpful to you.
Thank you for your support as we “fight the fine fight of the faith” (1 Timothy 6:12)