There is a new Governing Body update released today that reverses a policy dating way back to when I was a young man. In Governing Body Update #2, Gerrit Lösch informed Jehovah’s Witnesses that the longstanding prohibition against accepting a blood transfusion using one’s own blood—stored in anticipation of a medical procedure—has been lifted. It is now a matter of personal conscience.
This is not a cosmetic adjustment, such as whether a man may wear a beard or a woman may wear pants to the Kingdom Hall. This concerns a prohibition that, when obeyed, had the potential to result in death.
The Governing Body claims to serve as Jehovah’s channel for training and teaching His people today—namely, the worldwide congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses. So, what are we to make of this? Did Jehovah suddenly decide it was time to instruct the Governing Body to lift this prohibition? And if so, did He also direct them to implement it in the first place?
Is God responsible for both the original rule and its reversal? If that is the case, what does that imply about His role in policies that may have led to loss of life? Is Jehovah to be seen as responsible here? Because the Governing Body certainly does not appear to be accepting any responsibility.
This ruling overturns a position that the Organization has maintained since at least 1959.
“Consequently, the removal of one’s blood, storing it and later putting it back into the same person would be a violation of the Scriptural principles that govern the handling of blood.—Gen. 9:4-6.”
“Again, if one’s own blood would have to be withdrawn at intervals and stored until a sufficient amount had accumulated to set a machine in operation, this too would fall under Scriptural prohibition.” (w59 10/15 p. 640 Questions From Readers)
Notice how rigid and absolute the policy was. You could not even use your own blood to prime the machine that would circulate it during heart surgery or kidney dialysis treatments.
Now, suddenly, after 67 years, it is merely a matter of conscience?! How foolish do they think Jehovah’s Witnesses are? Are we really to believe it took them nearly seven decades to realize they were wrong about a rule involving life-and-death decisions?
If that is the case, then we are left to conclude that they were either profoundly mistaken, seriously inept, or—most troubling of all—indifferent to the consequences.
And unless one is willing to place the responsibility on God, it becomes difficult to maintain that they are being directed by Jehovah.
So why continue to listen to them?
I cannot say with certainty why this change is happening now, though I have my suspicions—and they have little to do with a sudden awakening of conscience among those making these decisions. Other pressures are likely influencing those overseeing the many multinational corporations operating under the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society umbrella. If that is so, we may be on the verge of further changes. Could it be that the entire “no blood” doctrine will eventually be reduced to a matter of personal conscience?
I once believed such a shift would never occur. Now, however, I wonder whether concerns about potential litigation over past deaths linked to their policy may outweigh the risks of future legal challenges. It does appear that the Governing Body may be preparing Jehovah’s Witnesses for more significant—and perhaps unsettling—changes ahead.
In August, Jehovah’s Witnesses will study an article from the June 2026 Watchtower Study Edition titled, “How to Remain Loyal When We Face Tests of Faith.”
In this article, the Governing Body draws what could be seen as a startling—even controversial—parallel between themselves and Jesus Christ.
The opening paragraph reads:
“THIS speech is shocking; who can listen to it?” (John 6:60) That is the way that many of Jesus’ disciples reacted to statements Jesus made while he was teaching in Capernaum. Jesus had said: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves.” And he continued: “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has everlasting life, and I will resurrect him on the last day.”—John 6:53, 54.
Jesus was introducing something new to them—a truth they were not expecting. It was a difficult teaching to accept, and as a result, many stopped following him.
But it is important to recognize that this was not a “truth” that later required adjustment. Bible truth is unchanging; it does not need to be revised or corrected. The Jehovah’s Witness concept of “new truth” is therefore unscriptural.
This was a genuine test of faith. Jesus could have explained matters gradually, building toward his conclusion in a way that might have made the teaching easier to accept. Instead, he chose to present it in a manner that directly tested their faith. Many failed that test, but those who remained with him did not.
Paragraph 3 of the study accurately explains why some did not abandon Jesus:
The apostles reacted differently to Jesus’ words. When Jesus asked them if they wanted to leave him as well, Peter answered: “Lord, whom shall we go away to? You have sayings of everlasting life. We have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:68, 69)
Notice that Peter did not respond, “Lord, where shall we go?” but rather, “to whom shall we go?” The issue was not a place, but a person. Keep that distinction in mind as we continue.
Paragraph 4 then engages in a subtle sleight of hand—one I likely would not have noticed 20 years ago, but now, jumps off the page for me.
“Our loyalty to Jehovah can be tested in a number of ways.”
Up to this point, the context has focused entirely on faith in and loyalty to Jesus. Yet suddenly, the discussion shifts to Jehovah. Why?
Because, in the framework of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jehovah and the Organization are treated as synonymous. Loyalty to the Organization is equated with loyalty to Jehovah. The Governing Body shifts the focus from Jesus to Jehovah, because the Organization is Jehovah and as we’ll see soon. Jesus is now the Governing Body. Oh, they don’t say that, but it is their works that we need to judge.
This becomes increasingly evident as we continue into paragraph 4.
For example, how do we react when we learn of an adjustment in the understanding of a Bible verse or of a change in the way that the disciple-making work is organized? Or how do we react when we find it hard to understand why Jehovah allows us to suffer some kind of tragedy?
They are drawing a direct comparison between hard truths revealed by our Lord Jesus Christ, and changes made by a different Lord, the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Notice how Gerrit Losch introduces this change to the No Blood doctrine.
“Therefore, after much prayer and consideration of the Scriptures, the Governing Body has decided to clarify our position on the use of a patients own blood in medical and surgical care. The clarification is this: Each Christian must decide for himself how his own blood will be used in all medical and surgical care.”
Stop right there. Clarify?! They are clarifying their position. They’re not clarifying anything. They are completely reversing their position. If one of Jehovah’s Witnesses had violated their law on blood as stated in that 1959 “Questions from Readers” that we just read, he would face a judicial committee and potentially be ousted from the congregation. Now, it’s just a matter of personal conscience?! They are so mealy mouthed. “A clarification”?! Give me a break.
But back to the key point: “The Governing Body has decided…”
Who gave them the right to decide anything in your life, let alone medical decisions of a life-or-death nature? If Jesus tells us something, then we obey. End of story. But the Governing Body?
Notice how they draw Jehovah into this. Paragraph 4 asks,
“Or how do we react when we find it hard to understand why Jehovah allows us to suffer some kind of tragedy?”
You mean like the kind of tragedy that is the loss of a mate or child because a loyal Jehovah’s Witness obeyed the rules of the Organization, rules that have now been clarified. Why did it take them almost 70 years to arrive at this clarification?
And whom do they blame for that? Apparently, based on this article, they put it all on Jehovah, Because “Jehovah allows us to suffer some kind of tragedy?” (w2026 June p. 4)
Yeah, that’s fine guys. Blame it on God. He could have “clarified” this seventy years ago, but chose to let the Governing Body bumble along all this time as a test of your faith?
I don’t know what changes are awaiting Jehovah’s Witnesses this year, but it would appear that they are already in the works and this magazine, to be studied in August of this year, is written in anticipation of more to come.
My question to you who may be listening to this video and are still somewhat in the Organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses is this: How much more of this are you going to put up with before you realize that you are not following God, but you are following men? That you are not obeying God, but you are obeying men?
The final article subheading, “Never Leave Jehovah,” contains some revealing statements that should not escape your notice:
“We live in critical times that are hard to deal with, so these last days will be difficult for all of us. (2 Tim. 3:1, 13) We may face other challenging situations. God’s organization might make decisions that we do not fully understand.” (w2026 June p. 17)
“As Peter said to Jesus, we too can say to Jehovah: “Whom shall we go away to? You have sayings of everlasting life.” (w2026 June p. 18)
If you’ve ever had any doubt that the Governing Body has been replacing Jesus with themselves as the authority to obey, this last statement should eliminate that. Remember, Jehovah isn’t publishing these changes, these adjustments, this so-called clarification. The Governing Body is. So, to render this last sentence to convey its true meaning:
“As Peter said to Jesus, we too can say to the Governing Body: “Whom shall we go away to? You have the sayings of everlasting life.”
This cannot help but to remind us of Paul’s warning to his fellow Christians, the children of God.
“Let no one seduce YOU in any manner, because it will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness gets revealed, the son of destruction. He is set in opposition and lifts himself up over everyone who is called “god” or an object of reverence, so that he sits down in the temple of The God, publicly showing himself to be a god. Do YOU not remember that, while I was yet with YOU, I used to tell YOU these things?
(2 Thessalonians 2:3-5 NWT)
That warning isn’t restricted to the leadership of Jehovah’s Witnesses, but to the leaders of all religions claiming to worship the Father and to obey the Son. But I grew up as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, so it is to them in particular that I make this appeal. To my former brothers and sisters, what more do you need? What more do you need? The evidence is before you, in black and white, printed on a page.
You don’t need a religion to worship God. In fact, you cannot properly worship God if you are part of any religion, because then you have to follow that religion’s rules which always come from men. A growing number of faithful men and women have come to recognize that. They’ve left religion altogether but continue to gather together in small groups to encourage one another and worship the Father through Christ as practiced in the first century in accord with Hebrews 10:24, 25.
These are the ones that the religions of the world call heretics and apostates and consider to be foolish and lost, because they refuse to obey men rather than God the Father. They will not engage in that which is idolatry.
That brings to mind a quote from the Hebrew Scriptures. We’ll close on that. Give it some serious thought, please.
“When Jehovah saw it, he rejected them
Because his sons and his daughters offended him.
So he said, ‘I will hide my face from them;
I will see what will become of them.
For they are a perverse generation,
Sons in whom there is no faithfulness.
They have incited me to fury with what is not a god;
They have offended me with their worthless idols.
So I will incite them to jealousy with what is not a people;
I will offend them with a foolish nation.” (Deuteronomy 32:19-21)