Being True to Jehovah

Being True to Jehovah

Note: This is now a legacy web page. See end.

Some time ago I ran across a sort of JW ministry site run by someone calling themselves Apostate Chick, real name Stephanie. Anyway she had left the organisation and was trying to help other people who may have been having trouble with the organisation, or just plain trying to help people out of the organisation. And there appear to be quite a few sites offering help and information for people who are trying to decide where they should be with respect to the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society [WBTS].

But some of these sites appear to be very anti-God, anti-Bible, and anti-Christian. And the question is Why? Well when people become disillusioned with an organisation that has been giving them very questionable information and has had a very strong controlling influence in their lives and if they believe that the WBTS beliefs have all come from the Bible, then the obvious conclusion would be to reject all things Bible related and this of course means God, or Jehovah also.

Right? Sounds reasonable? It does but there is a big problem here.

The facts are that JWs only constitute approximately 0.3% of the Christian population on this planet. There are a LOT of different Christian groups and denominations on this planet! Here's an approximate breakdown:

 8.5M Jehovah's Witnesses listed under Restorationism and Non-
      Trinitarianism

List of Christian denominations by number of members
1303M Catholicism [including Independent]
 835M Protestantism [not including Anglicanism]
 270M Eastern Orthodoxy
  86M Oriental Orthodoxy
  85M Anglicanism
  35M Restorationism and Non-Trinitarianism [JWs are in this group]
 0.6M Church of the East
0.35M Messianic Judaism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_denominations_by
_number_of_members
Total approx 2615 million = 2.615 billion
[as of Aug 2018]

And that means that JWs only constitute approximately 0.3% of all Christian denominations on this planet!

Or another way to think of this is that there are approximately 2.6065 billion Christians on this planet who DO NOT believe what the WBTS teaches!!

That's an awful lot of Christians who do not believe in the WBTS!!

Or you could think of this division in the general Christian population this way:

JWs and the rest = 100% OR

0.3% + 99.7% = 100% OR

8.5 million + 2.6065 billion = 100% OR

8.5 million + 2606.5 million = 2615 million = 2.615 billion

Any way you want to think about this it is a very interesting division. So now we come to someone disillusioned with the organisation. So we reject God, the Bible, and the rest of Christians. Wait a minute. That's an awful lot of Christians. And they don't believe in the WBTS! Maybe they know something we don't!! Perhaps we had better have a look at what they have to say before we toss the lot!!

And that could be a long road of discovery. So what's a person struggling with the organisation supposed to do?

Actually the answer to this question is ridiculously simple. You have to make this decision and it is not a decision to be taken lightly! You can't really afford to let some group guiding you out of the organisation make this decision for you. Remember you have just had a big struggle with an organisation that has had a large controlling influence on your life and beliefs. You can't really afford to hand that over to another group even if they profess a keen interest in helping you.

The first and foremost thing on your list is sorting yourself out with the organisation. That comes first. Then and only after this has been resolved are you in a better position to make a general decision about God and the Bible.

And remember if a site is focusing a lot of attention on other things like debunking the Bible and Christianity for example, then they are not actually giving their full attention to the WBTS and that is really your main point of interest at this point in time!

And here's another good reason not to reject the Bible and God:

Suppose you do decide to toss God or Jehovah and the Bible. And just why are you doing this? Well you suspect that the WBTS has not been truthful to you and since you believe they are Jehovah's mouthpiece in this world then you may as well reject Jehovah and the Bible also.

And there it is. The logic here is hopelessly flawed! If the WBTS has not been truthful then they are most definitely NOT Jehovah's mouthpiece in this world! That being the case, if there is a chance that Jehovah exists, He would most definitely NOT be happy with this organisation! No need to reject Him or the Bible at all! This guy is on your side! He is not against you!

Or to play with a line from a recent movie...

THIS DEITY IS NOT OUR ENEMY!

So what's the plan here? There are many sites with information about the organisation that people making decisions would find very helpful. But a small number of these sites appear to be anti-God or anti-Bible or anti-Christian. It is my plan to give a list of reviewed sites with a rating showing whether each one is safe or it should be avoided due to pushing their own views on God and the Bible, mainly negative.

Since each review is looking to see if a site is friendly toward Christianity and the Bible, and the sites are supposedly relating to the Jehovah's Witnesses organization, I have decided to call the rating for each site a "Jehovah" rating. That is, if the site is actually friendly toward Jehovah or not.

In short, our approach here is to be true to Jehovah. Remember if the organisation has caused you a lot of trouble, chances are that the true Jehovah of the Bible is not happy with what has happened to you and your family either!

So let's look at the list and this will no doubt be a work in progress. There are many and as I run across them will add here. Also if I miss any bad points or good points let me know and I will make any necessary adjustments. But more than likely if I have found bad points with a site this is probably unlikely to change.

It is more probable that I have searched a site and didn't find any bad points and gave the all-clear. But there could be some problems there somewhere. So if anyone finds problems with any site I have cleared let me know and I will review it and adjust it's rating accordingly.

More on this. Since starting down this road it has become very obvious that rating a site can sometimes be far from simple. A site that is obviously friendly toward God, the Bible, and Christianity is very easy to rate. Similarly for a site that is very negative toward God, the Bible, and Christianity.

But there appear to be quite a few that are shades inbetween. And there are a couple that I have really struggled with. JW Podcast is a good example. I started that one with a Good rating and have had to adjust it a bit over time.

So just how do you rate a site? For any close to the middle but slightly negative, I will just give them a not endorsed rating. They will still be listed along with the generally reviewed sites with comments, just not endorsed.

Those dead in the centre showing no bias either way of course get a Good rating as they are not displaying any negative direction.

Those not close to the middle will get a stronger rating. Feel free to disagree but this is basically the best approach I have been able to come up with after grappling with a couple of these sites.

Not Approved / Not Endorsed: I use a Not Endorsed rating but the following pic has Dislikes, Not approved, and Avoid. That was just for getting the point across. Avoid and Not Endorsed are in my reviewed sites list but Not Approved is not.

What's the difference? Not Approved would be stronger and the same as Avoid. Not Endorsed is not. Not Endorsed means just that but not necessarily to be avoided. It's a subtle difference but very distinct. So anyone puzzled with the pic ratings—the Jehovah side is all avoid. And there are two ratings used for that.

The review ratings can be categorized as follows:

Rating	Meaning, How applied
Definitely Avoid	Has very strong negative bias, rabidly anti-God or anti-Bible or anti-Christian. Placed on Sites to Avoid list. Technically the main negative rating was just going to be Avoid. But there was one site so bad this rating was created just for it. And only two sites have garnered this rating so far. Now 3. The 3rd one was for slightly different reasons.
Avoid	Has negative bias, anti-God or anti-Bible or anti-Christian. Agenda may be hidden. Placed on Sites to Avoid list.
Not Endorsed	May be slightly negative but not openly pushing views. Not placed on Sites to Avoid list. But not on Approved Sites either.
Good	No obvious bias in either direction. Placed on Approved Sites list.
Very Good	Has some positive bias to openly being supportive of God, the Bible, and Christianity. Placed on Approved Sites list.

Definitely Avoid

Has very strong negative bias, rabidly anti-God or anti-Bible or anti-Christian. Placed on Sites to Avoid list. Technically the main negative rating was just going to be Avoid. But there was one site so bad this rating was created just for it. And only two sites have garnered this rating so far.
Now 3. The 3rd one was for slightly different reasons.

Avoid

Has negative bias, anti-God or anti-Bible or anti-Christian. Agenda may be hidden. Placed on Sites to Avoid list.

Not Endorsed

May be slightly negative but not openly pushing views. Not placed on Sites to Avoid list. But not on Approved Sites either.

Good

No obvious bias in either direction. Placed on Approved Sites list.

Very Good

Has some positive bias to openly being supportive of God, the Bible, and Christianity. Placed on Approved Sites list.

My list of reviewed information sites for Jehovah's Witnesses

Mainly for those querying their reasons for being where they are.

On October 2, 1914, Charles Taze Russell, founder of the Watch Tower, announced that "The Gentile Times have ended!"
None of his expectations about 1914 came true, but Jehovah's Witnesses have continually accepted updates to the "1914 doctrine" which have allowed them to cling to the date for 100 years. ...
The site will also present information and resources so that "1914" believers can think about what they're clinging onto. Now is the opportune time for Jehovah's Witnesses to "make sure of all things; hold fast to what is fine." (1 Thess. 5:21)
http://ad1914.com/site-announcement-barbara/

Jehovah rating: Good.

4Jehovah http://4jehovah.org/ "Ex-Jehovah's Witnesses for Jehovah God"
"Living for Jehovah God - Serving in Freedom!"

Many who are in the process of leaving the Watchtower organization or are thinking of leaving may not want to think about religion. In fact, many who leave have totally rejected religion. Our 4jehovah.org website is affiliated with the Christian ministry Witnesses for Jesus Inc. We are not a religion. Although we are a non-profit Christian ministry committed to sharing a biblical perspective on Jehovah's Witness beliefs and practices, we do not endorse a specific church or religious denomination.
http://www.4jehovah.org/about-us/

I think these guys have hit it dead on!

Jehovah rating: Very Good.

4Witness http://4witness.org/ "For Christian Witness to Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons"

We are a Christian ministry dedicated to sharing the good news of the eternal salvation in Jesus Christ. Our area of special focus is reaching the hearts and minds of Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons (Latter-day Saints or LDS). Whether you're currently involved in either one of these groups or you have friends or relatives involved, our website is for you!
http://www.4witness.org/

OK I was really scratching my head on this one going backwards and forwards between these two sites [4Jehovah] noting an awful lot of similarities pics etc. Problem solved. They are linked...

Witnesses for Jesus, Inc is a non-profit Christian ministry that is dedicated to sharing the good news of the eternal salvation in Jesus Christ with Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons ("Latter-day Saints" or "LDS"). Whether you're currently involved in either one of these groups or you have friends or relatives involved, our ministry is for you!
http://www.4witness.org/home/about-us/

So take your pick. But for a straight forward JW approach probably 4Jehovah may be the better choice.

Jehovah rating: Very Good.

Advocates for Awareness of Watchtower Abuses http://aawa.co/

ADVOCATES for AWARENESS of WATCHTOWER ABUSES (AAWA) is an international not-for-profit educational organization, with 501 (c) (3) tax exempt status, dedicated to raising awareness about policies of the Watch Tower Society that violate basic human rights. AAWA is also committed to offering help and support to those who are mentally and emotionally afflicted by the Society's teachings and practices.

AAWA is a religiously-neutral organization. In other words, we do not promote or endorse any religious or philosophical belief systems.

AAWA's goal is to shine a bright light on harmful Watchtower policies, identify the methods of undue influence Watchtower uses to break down the resistance and resolve of anyone who tries to leave, and provide assistance and education for thinking Jehovah's Witnesses who want to break free from Watchtower's clutches.
http://aawa.co/about-aawa/

According to this should be no bias so will go with a good rating.

Jehovah rating: Good.

Apostapod
http://www.apostapod.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Apostapod-310642172792049/
"The brand-new Jehovah's Witness podcast"

Aug 2018
main site currently showing difficulties, can't find, can't connect etc. In short it looks dead.

Facebook page dates from Feb 2018.
Earlier in year:
main site still being constructed.
No info on this one yet but is mentioned on JW Podcast by a very excited Jaymes Payten. So no brownie points for guessing what the rating for this one is going to be.

For Jaymes Payten see JW Podcast and also Jehovah's Witness Blog
Jehovah rating: not rated yet but pretty clear where this one's going.

Apostate Awake
https://www.facebook.com/Apostate-Awake-520018241426790/
see Watchtower & Awakening

Apostate Chick
http://www.apostatechick.com/
and various pages on youtube.

Some examples:

"You're right. I can't fool Jehovah. Because he doesn't exist."
The Mind of ApostateChick
http://jehovahs-witness-cult-control.blogspot.com.au/

"God ... doesn't freaking exist."
Why Are You Praying for Malaysian Flight MH370? video presentation page
Note: the above comment is from the text intro. The actual audio uses the F word [4:08].

Oh you Christians are just so adorable
spewing hatred, venom, lies
hurling insults left and right at me
praying for my demise
...
So Christians keep on staying cute
you give me material I must admit
But if worshiping God means being like you
let me say, f*** that sh*t.
An Atheist's Ode To Christians

Stephanie's problems were with the Jehovah's Witnesses group [approx 8M people].

But her poem [An Atheist's Ode to Christians] makes no distinction with all the other Christian groups on this planet.

And as a result Christians in general are puzzled how to respond to this poem. It's not hard to figure out why. The poem is all over the place with no mention of JWs at all.

And this point is not completely lost on Christians who visit her pages. One person has responded:

"when you criticize JW's for sending hate messages to you and then you go and send hate messages to Christians, that's called hypocrisy"

The majority of ex-JW sites are actually supportive of Christianity showing that the bulk of JWs leaving the organization most likely join a different Christian group and do not become atheists. Only a very small number of ex-JW sites are atheistic and Stephanie is one of them.

See also JW Podcast

Does God exist?
The Building that Moved The Building that Moved The Mysterious Rider on PG-16 The Mysterious Rider on PG-16 Ben Carson's Dream Ben Carson's Dream The Bushman's Story The Bushman's Story The Day the Banks Crashed The Day the Banks Crashed The Man Who Died Twice The Man Who Died Twice The Boat That Wouldn't Burn! The Boat That Wouldn't Burn!
And for Apostate Chick?
Jehovah rating: Definitely Avoid.

Atheist and Messianic at lunch
Image:Atheist and Messianic at lunch

Atheist Geek News
http://www.atheistgeeknews.com/
"Created by an ex-Jehovah's Witnesses turned atheist; Atheist Geek News is both funny and mildly informative"

We really can't endorse this site because of it's atheist leanings. With articles like:

Is Christian Evangelism Really As Selfless As Evangelists Would Have Us Believe? ...
it isn't just the behavior of evangelists that I take issue with. It's also about the motives that Christian evangelism promotes in those who preach it to others. ...
As we shall see, I also think that the bad behavior so often exhibited by evangelists is very telling.
http://www.atheistgeeknews.com/is-christian-evangelism-really-as-selfless-as-evangelists-would-have-us-believe/123

http://www.atheistgeeknews.com/

However, the site doesn't appear to be rabidly anti-God, or anti-Bible, but with a little bit of humour. And the monkey holding the Armageddon magazine? Puzzling, as Armageddon is a Bible belief even if the JWs have it a bit skewed. So an atheist not liking a Bible belief? Possibly funny but for who?

Anyway I feel that if a lot of other atheist sites were like this one the world would be a happier place.
No I'm not saying we need more atheist sites. Just if a lot of the others were more like this one.
But we still can't endorse this site.

And in closing...

Found the following pic on the site:

Image:This pamphlet is blank. We're atheists.

http://www.atheistgeeknews.com/about-2

Jehovah rating: Avoid.

Avoid Jehovah's Witnesses http://avoidjw.org/ "Free Yourself. Your Family. Your Friends."

This site offers publications relating to the Watchtower Society, videos about JWs from around the world, interesting snippets from Watchtower literature, Stories of individuals affected by Watchtower doctrines, and the usual sort of links to other JW related websites.

And on their article Is Jesus God? ...

This brings us back to the question: Is Jesus God?

Really, there is One God, but three entities that make up God: Jehovah, the Father, Jesus, the Son & the Holy Spirit. To truly submit to God, one needs to be baptised in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. - Matthew 28:19.

Getting baptised in the name of anything else (i.e. some sort of made up spirit anointed organization) is blasphemy and belittles the authority of God.
http://avoidjw.org/2014/12/is-jesus-god/

Sounds good.

Jehovah rating: Very Good.

The Jehovah's Witnesses http://thejehovahswitnesses.org/ "EX-JW's Talk About The Truth"

"It is not religious persecution for an informed person to expose publicly a certain religion as being false. ... To make a public exposure of false religion is ... a public service." Watchtower magazine, Nov 15, 1963, Article: "Execution of Divine Judgment upon False Religion", par 3
http://thejehovahswitnesses.org/

God's Way Is Love.
Disfellowshipping and shunning people who disobey the Watchtower causes JW's to lose their family, friends, and loved ones because they put God first. All are punished, - those who leave and those who remain loyal to the Watchtower. Millions have lost parents, brothers, sisters, children, and other family members because of Watchtower control.

In spite of the cost, millions have left the Watchtower to the give God ALL the glory. Luke 10:25-37. They have reclaimed their freedom and direct relationship with God without Watchtower interference. God is now their only authority. Matthew 28:18,19
http://thejehovahswitnesses.org/about-us.php

Sounds good.

Jehovah rating: Very Good.

Carelinks Network For Former Jehovah's Witnesses http://www.exjw.org.uk/

The Lord Jesus Christ ... He was as He was, and individuals followed Him and perceived in Him the Son of God and eternal Saviour of all those who believed in Him. And in essence, that's who He continues to be today. Of course, we must ensure that we are understanding Him correctly, for we can't have a good relationship with someone we misunderstand or grossly misinterpret. The sad example of mainstream Christianity, and the glaring contradictions between it and the Bible (both practically and theologically) have left many people open to the approach of the Watchtower. For they come into our lives with an appeal to get back to the Bible alone, to search for truth and fearlessly reject human traditions... and that in itself is no bad approach.

But... then we find ourselves asked to take on board a whole package of teaching which tends to make us a slave to an organization, and our initial hunger for truth becomes replaced by obedience to a human group. ... And then, sooner or later, serious inconsistencies appear between the beliefs and practices of our fellow Jehovah's Witnesses, and what we know the Bible to teach. ... It's most definitely not our purpose to give you another "religion" to throw yourself into.

We're here to provide you with material which will help you decide what's good and what's bad about the beliefs you picked up from the WTBS. Only you can make that set of decisions. All we urge you to do is to not give up! For there is God, there is His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for you; and the Bible really is God's word. God's Kingdom really will come on earth, the Lord Jesus really will return, there is the hope of eternal life in Christ.
http://www.exjw.org.uk/

Their approach seems quite good and we are definitely giving this site a good rating. But there are a couple of theological points I found curious and would like to state that there are alternative views. It would be good to see a group actually acknowledge and allow for this.

Jehovah rating: Very Good.

CULT101
https://cult101.com/
Formerly
TAZE
http://taze.co/
JW Alumni
http://jwalumni.org/
Main site appears dead but facebook page still open:
https://www.facebook.com/cult101dotcom/

The following info is for the old main site dating before 19 Oct 2017 and should still be relevant:

Hi, I'm Misha Verollet, I live in Vienna (Austria), and I'm a business consultant for a digital agency as well as a freelance writer and cult expert. I am the author of the book Goodbye, Jehova! which was published under the pseudonym of Misha Anouk.

On CULT101, I aim to share my experiences with cults and the extensive research on this subject. Some of the content you find here is taken from my former projects JW Alumni and Taze.

After extensive Bible studies and research, I came to the conclusion that the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses is a religious scam and it is not for me. Therefore, active Jehovah's Witnesses would probably consider me an apostate. I bear no grudge against Jehovah's Witnesses on an individual basis. But I believe that any religion should be open to scrutiny and criticism to incite to reform. I have acquired extensive knowledge about cults and religious control groups and aim to share this knowledge here.

Technically, anybody who believes in Jehovah but may disagree with interpretations of the "faithful and discreet slave", no matter how minor the disagreement may be, is an apostate. ... I like to think of myself as an Alumnus of the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, on account of the fact that I have graduated to a new, self-determined life beyond the Watchtower. ... I am exerting the free will and power of choice that was bestowed upon me - either by a God Creator or by Evolution, depending on what you believe in now.

Personally, I prefer to view myself as an alumnus: an Ex-Jehovah's Witness.
https://cult101.com/about/

"either by a God Creator or by Evolution, depending on what you believe in now"
Sounds like no bias either way? Not quite. Articles on the site are pretty much supportive of Evolution and the view that religion is pretty bad. For example the book page recommendation has

ESSENTIAL READING FOR CULT SURVIVORS

God Is Not Great:
How Religion Poisons Everything
by Christopher Hitchens
https://cult101.com/essential-reading-for-cult-survivors/

Now granted this site supposedly is about helping people caught up in cults so maybe we could excuse Misha for listing books like this but nevertheless a title like this suggests little or no support for God or any religion at all. So we definitely could not support this site. But should it be completely avoided? The following answers this question.

Opening taze.co, Misha's previous site, gives the following information:

Say Goodbye to Taze. And Hello to CULT101.

We're moving. Thank you for your support. You will find a selection of our content at the new website www.cult101.com.

Do you know our atheist web comic series Rectangled? Check it out here!
http://taze.co/

So Misha is clearly pushing atheism and by that conclusion CULT101 gets an Avoid rating. Someone may say but Stephen they are trying to help people.^* There are many other sites that are doing that without pushing atheism.
* I question this below.

And I have found the following...

Sadly, one encounters a lot of logical fallacies in Jehovah's Witness' publications. A very popular one is the Strawman Argument, which we encountered recently in the February 2015 issue of Awake, in which Watchtower asked: How did life begin? Through Evolution or Creation? The fallacy: Misleading their readers to believe Evolution attempts to explain the origin of life. But that simply isn't true. Evolution provides an answer to the diversity of life, whereas Abiogenesis explains life's origin. A perfect example for a Strawman Argument. A great knowledge base for the beginning skeptic.
"7 Knowledge Resources Free-Thinking And Former Jehovah's Witnesses (JW.org) Should Try"
Posted on August 29, 2016 by xxx
https://cult101.com/2016/08/29/7-knowledge-resources-free-thinking-and-former-jehovahs-witnesses-jw-org-should-try/
Previously posted on TAZE, 21 January 2015.
article originally found following a link from
http://jwalumni.org/tag/lloyd-evans/
which was a tag JW Alumni had for Lloyd Evans.

And I had to admit I was stumped as to what abiogenesis is:

Abiogenesis (AY-by-oh-JEN-e-siss]) or biopoiesis is the natural process of life arising from non-living matter such as simple organic compounds.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiogenesis

Well it's obviously not Biblical creation. The view being put forward here is for "the beginning skeptic."

And some more...

ARE WE LIVING IN THE LAST DAYS?
In conclusion:
The numbers are in and they leave no doubt: The world has never been a better place to live in. The so-called prophecies Jehovah's Witnesses base their claim on are one size fits all: You could apply them to any century in human existence and get it right. Data tells us there has been no significant increase in events described in biblical prophecy. Rather, most of the numbers have been steadily declining since 1914. There is absolutely no evidence that we are living in the Last Days.
Posted on August 29, 2016 by xxx
https://cult101.com/2016/08/29/are-we-living-in-the-last-days/

If you had a close look at the last article some of the graphs were rates. For example, homicides per hundred-thousand per year but the years given are from 1300 to 2010. The world population growth from 1300 to 2010 may suggest another story. So you have to be very careful with articles like this.

A closer analysis of this document reveals some disturbing points. There are two main problems and they are reasonably serious.

Problem 1. Misha builds his conclusion from the belief that there needs to be a growing trend since 1914 for us to believe we are living in the Last Days according to JW teachings. Most Christians probably believe we are living in the Last Days anyway but one Christian group date the time of the end according to the Book of Daniel [Chapter 12] as starting at the closing of the 1260 year prophecy as at 1798 when the Pope was taken prisoner and some view this as the church of the middle ages receiving a deadly wound. This deadly wound was healed with the Lateran Treaty in 1929 but Misha trying to build a case from 1914 seems to me like shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic. If we've been in the time of the end since 1798 then looking for a lot of trends from 1914 really may not be answering the question properly. And if as Misha suggests the JW view is for increasing through this period then does them being wrong make the Bible wrong? It's definitely a straw man approach.
Not all Christians believe this but see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_and_the_Catholic_Church#Attack_on_Pius_VI
http://biblelight.net/wound.htm

Problem 2. Misha claims that the numbers are now in and they leave no doubt. "Data tells us there has been no significant increase in events described in biblical prophecy." But this may be a little questionable. Some of the graphs showed rates and not actual numbers at all. So this may not have been completely honest with the statistics.

Problem 1 looks like a straw man approach. Build a false case and then knock it down.
Problem 2 shows some possible mishandling of the data.

Then using these "results" claiming that "There is absolutely no evidence that we are living in the Last Days" is definitely questionable. It could also be dangerous especially considering that if the warnings in the Bible are true we really need to take heed else we will have no excuse when the prophesied times of trouble do come upon this world.

Considering these points it does put a bit of a shadow over what Misha is trying to do. And even though his main plan is to help people, using documents like the one mentioned above is not really supportive of that. And also having an agenda of pushing atheism shows a very biased approach where it really should be as unbiased as possible. Overall this does sound reasonably serious and I feel that anyone struggling with any cult may be better off steering well clear of this site. And with this thought I have no choice but to downgrade his rating from Avoid to Definitely Avoid.

But what about Evolution and stuff like that? For a Christian who wants to believe in a young earth created no so long ago by God it's not that easy. But nor is it simple for the evolutionists either.

Christians can say by faith we believe in God and the Bible. And evolutionists may rubbish the Bible story of Adam and Eve and a seven day creation week but it's just not that simple.

Science [with evolution] attempts to explain the natural world. But science cannot explain the supernatural world. The Bible is a spiritual book and it does explain the spiritual or supernatural world. And before Misha jumps in and says this is all bunk he should consider the following quotations:

The real UFO story must encompass all of the many manifestations being observed. It is a story of ghosts and phantoms and strange mental abberations; of an invisible world which surrounds us and occasionally engulfs us; of prophets and prophecies, and gods and demons. It is a world of illusion and hallucination where the unreal seems very real, and where reality itself is distorted by strange forces which can seemingly manipulate space, time, and physical matter—forces which are almost entirely beyond our powers of comprehension. John Keel, UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse, p.46.

Recently the U.S. Government Printing Office issued a publication compiled by the Library of Congress for the Air Force Office of Scientific Research: UFOs and Related Subjects: An Annotated Bibliography. In preparing this work, the senior bibliographer, Miss Lynn E. Catoe, actually read thousands of UFO articles, books, and publications. In her preface to this 400-page book she states:

"A large part of the available UFO literature is closely linked with mysticism and the metaphysical. It deals with subjects like mental telepathy, automatic writing, and invisible entities, as well as phenomena like poltergeist manifestations and possession. … Many of the UFO reports now being published in the popular press recount alleged incidents that are strikingly similar to demoniac possession and psychic phenomena which has long been known to theologians and parapsychologists."
John Keel, pp. 44, 45.

Thousands of mediums, psychics, and UFO contactees have been receiving mountains of messages from "Ashtar" in recent years. Mr. Ashtar represents himself as a leader in the great intergalactic councils which hold regular meetings on Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, and many planets unknown to us. But Ashtar is not a new arrival. Variations of this name, such as Ashtaroth, Ashar, Asharoth, etc., appear in demonological literature throughout history, both in the Orient and the Occident. Mr. Ashtar has been around a very long time, posing as assorted gods and demons and now, in the modern phase, as another glorious spaceman.
John Keel, p.230.

The endless messages from the space people would now fill a library, and while the communicators claim to represent some other world, the contents of those messages are identical to the messages long received by mediums and mystics. p. 183.

Meanwhile, mediums, telepaths, sensitives, and UFO contactees throughout the world were all reporting identical messages. There was definitely going to be an unprecedented event on December 24, 1967. Ashtar was talking through Ouija boards to people who had never before heard the name. Another busy entity named Orlon was spreading the word. The curious thing about these messages was that they were all phrased in the same manner, no matter what language was being used. They all carried the same warning. p. 282.

Many predictions of the December twenty-fourth disaster had been documented well in advance of that date. These messages came through in many different countries, from people who had no knowledge of or communication with one another. The UFO contactees received the same identical messages as the trance mediums communing with spirits. A link had been established. It was now clear (to me anyway) that all of these people were tuned into a central source. My earlier speculations seemed true—the UFO entities and the spirit entities were part of the same gigantic system. ... Some of the entities were evil liars. p. 283.

John Alva Keel, born Alva John Kiehle (March 25, 1930 - July 3, 2009) was an American journalist and influential UFOlogist who is best known as author of The Mothman Prophecies.

In 1967, Keel popularized the term "Men In Black" in an article for the men's adventure magazine Saga, entitled "UFO Agents of Terror". According to Keel, he initially sought to explain UFOs as extraterrestrial visitations, but later abandoned this hypothesis. His third book, UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse published in 1970, linked UFOs to supernatural concepts such as monsters, ghosts and demons. Keel used the term "ultraterrestrials" to describe UFO occupants he believed to be non-human entities capable of taking on whatever form they want.

His 1975 book, The Mothman Prophecies was Keel's account of his investigation into alleged sightings in West Virginia of a huge, winged creature called the "Mothman." The book combines Keel's account of receiving strange phone calls with reports of mutilated pets and culminates with the December 15, 1967, collapse of the Silver Bridge across the Ohio River. The book was widely popularized as the basis of a 2002 film of the same name starring Richard Gere.

Prolific and imaginative, Keel was considered a significant influence within the UFO and Fortean genre.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keel

The Mothman Prophecies is a 2002 psychological thriller film directed by Mark Pellington, based on the 1975 book of the same name by parapsychologist and Fortean author John Keel. ... The film stars Richard Gere as John Klein, a reporter who researches the legend of the Mothman.
The film claims to be based on actual events that occurred between November 1966 and December 1967 in Point Pleasant, West Virginia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mothman_Prophecies_(film)

A gigantic spiritual system that is communicating to this world through ouija board messages, mediums, telepaths, UFO contactees and so on? And just who is this Ashtar guy?

Science gives no answer to this.

The Bible gives us all the answers.

And hardened skeptic that he was, John Keel made an amazing statement towards the end of his book about the UFO phenomenon:

The Bible warns us that during "the last days" this planet will be overrun with wonders in the sky and false prophets and performers of miracles.
John Keel, UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse, p.306.

Could anyone else have said it any better?

And for CULT101?
Jehovah rating: Definitely Avoid.

Doc Bob's Blog http://www.docbob.org/ "Information for and about Jehovah's Witnesses"

This is a blog. Categories on left hand column:
Changes, Civil Rights, Culture, Doctrine, Documents, General, History, Inconsistencies, Letters, News, Organisation, Research Notes

If you are one of Jehovah's Witnesses, please consider the contents of this site carefully. Yes, this site does take a critical look at the teachings and practices of the leadership of Jehovah's Witnesses. But they have invited that critical look at themselves.

I realize that presentation and discussion of the similarities and differences between Jehovah's Witnesses and "Christendom" may often become adversarial and combative. Talking about Jehovah's Witness related issues such as blood transfusions, child molestation, disfellowshipping and failed prophecies may seem to be unnecessarily critical and negative.

I have tried to present the information on this site as objectively, accurately and honestly as possible.
http://www.docbob.org/

Now, the purpose of this site has evolved from just being a place for me to record my thoughts to the following:
To honor God
To reach out to Jehovah's Witnesses
To provide support to present, exiting and former Jehovah's Witnesses
To educate, equip and encourage Christians to witness to Jehovah's Witnesses
http://www.docbob.org/wordpress/about-this-site

I have found that there is not only life after being a Jehovah's Witness, but there is "abundant life" in Christ.
http://www.docbob.org/wordpress/about-doc-bob

Jehovah rating: Very Good.

Ex Jehovahs Witnesses United in Christ http://www.exjws-united.com/ "You are not alone"

Probably more audio and video here [music] than doctrinal studies. But beautifully done.

Founder of Ex JWs-United in Christ, Mike Ellis PhD who has a doctorate in Psychology and Social Work set up and ran the charity National Society for Children and Family Contact (NSCFC) for over a decade and is well versed in the help and support of those in need.

Ex JWs-United in Christ are located in the United Kingdom and here to support those who have left or are thinking of leaving the WBTS yet still have a great love of Christ and want to serve Him in Spirit and truth.

Ex JWs-United in Christ also aims to promote and encourage Home Worship as practised by the early Christians, with our Lord Jesus Christ as Head in accordance with His teaching in Matthew 18:20.
http://www.exjws-united.com/about.htm

Jehovah rating: Very Good.

Facts About Jehovah's Witnesses main site http://www.jwfacts.com/ "JWfacts makes it as simple as possible to determine if Jehovah's Witnesses have 'the truth.'"

This site concentrates on three areas:
With a history of significant errors and changes, can God be directing the Watchtower Society?
Is the Watchtower honest when quoting secular sources and presenting its history?
Are current Watchtower doctrine and practices justified Biblically?
http://www.jwfacts.com/

The first step is to understand the truth about the Watchtower Society and the difference between following Jesus and following a self promoted organization. Life becomes a wonderful journey as the Bible and spirituality start to reveal themselves.
http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/about-jwfacts.php

Freedom comes from belonging to Jesus, not an organization; otherwise a person is no freer than the Israelites that were enslaved to the legislation of the Pharisees. Likewise, salvation is only through Jesus
http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/where-else.php

Jehovah rating: Very Good.

Facts About Jehovah's Witnesses mobile site http://jwfacts.mobi/ Looks like a mobile-devices version of the main site. Narrower view [screen size, not doctrinal]. Text not identical but opens similarly with:

This site shows whether Jehovah's Witnesses have the "truth" by concentrating on three areas:
With a history of significant errors and changes, is God directing the Watchtower Society?
Is the Watchtower honest when quoting secular sources and presenting its history?
Are current Watchtower doctrine and practices justified Biblically?
http://jwfacts.mobi/

So rating as for main site.

Jehovah rating: Very Good.

Inside the Watchtower http://insidethewatchtower.com/ "Reading between the lines...
Discover the real truth about 'The Truth'"

"Inside the Watchtower" is dedicated to promote intellectual honesty, freedom of expression, and human rights for everyone - including Jehovah's Witnesses. Our intent is to expose the facts about high control religious groups who enslave their adherents with unsupported claims of acquired power from some "higher authority."

Our goal is to expose the facts, uncover hidden history, and comment on current affairs in an honest and sincere effort to educate the public about what life is like for Jehovah's Witnesses. We also want to make available documentary resources and online support to anyone who is considering joining the Watchtower's religious organization.

This web site does not promote any specific religious belief. It exists not to convert its readers to any particular dogma, creed, or organization, but only to provide information and resources to allow its readers to make those educated decisions for themselves.

This website espouses Christian ethics, but not any theology. We feel that the so-called "Golden Rule" should apply to all of us - no matter what our culture, ethnicity, or personal beliefs might be. ...

Or you could simply paraphrase Jesus and say, "Love your neighbor as yourself." We think that sums up everything very nicely.
http://insidethewatchtower.com/about-this-site/

Jehovah rating: Very Good.

Institute for Religious Research
https://irr.org/ "Investigating today's religious claims in light of history, science and the Bible"

The main two beliefs being looked at [investigated/compared] are Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses. Some other religions are looked at also but those two appear to be the main ones of focus. Site also very supportive of Christianity.

The Institute for Religious Research (IRR) is a nondenominational, evangelical Christian ministry of apologetics and discernment.

We desire to promote – in a thoughtful and gracious manner – the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, as revealed in the Bible. For more information about what we believe, please read our Statement of Faith.
https://irr.org/who-we-are

Bible: We believe that the sixty-six books of the Bible as originally given are in their entirety the Word of God, that they are unique and final, and that they are therefore the supreme authority for faith and life (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21). We believe that God has providentially preserved the integrity of these biblical scriptures down through the ages so that they remain reliable today (Matthew 5:18).
https://irr.org/statement-of-faith

Jehovah rating: Very Good.

Jehovah.net.au
http://www.jehovah.net.au/

About Jehovah.net.au
This site is a condensed version of jwfacts.com.
I spent 7 years in full-time service, both as a regular pioneer, and serving at the Australian Bethel Branch. I was a family friend of Geoffrey Jackson from the Governing Body, and my father spent 20 years as a Circuit Overseer. Coming to the realisation this is not the truth was difficult and traumatic, and my hope is this site helps others avoid the years of confusion I underwent prior to finally leaving.
http://www.jehovah.net.au/

I posted jwfacts.com, wanting to assist people find objective and factual information in an easy to follow format, in the hope of helping other Witnesses avoid the confusion I felt for the 10 years prior to leaving. ...
Originally, jwfacts.com was anonymous, but about 6 months after my last meeting and the site going live the elders found out about it. ... I was to attend a meeting on the charges of apostasy. ... This meeting was traumatic and eye-opening. In my request for annulment were a number of points outlining why I could not accept Jehovah's Witnesses taught truth, but throughout the meeting, they refused to discuss a single issue raised. It was readily apparent that there was no concern about whether I still believed the Bible or God, rather "did I accept the Watchtower Society to be Jehovah's Organization?"
http://www.jehovah.net.au/of-interest/paul-grundy-story-of-the-author

Since a condensed version, rating as for jwfacts.com.

Jehovah rating: Very Good.

JEHOVAH'S TRUMPET
https://jehovahstrumpet.com/
"Watching the Watchtower World"

Site's down. Again. Previously it looked like these nutcases were possibly rebuilding their site. One search stated they were "in the middle of a quick build".
2020 March update: site now showing Parked and for sale message.

Anyway I think the monkey says it all. Read my following comments. For the site when there was some activity:

https://jehovahstrumpet.com/evolution-a-satanic-theory/

If you are looking for a site to find the truth about the Jehovah's Witnesses organization, keep looking. This is not it. This is a very dark satirical site and I would not recommend it for any beginning investigators. Maybe not even anybody.

***********************************************
WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING
Some of the comments from this site are extremely
derogatory of Jehovah and definitely not supported
by the Bible. We only give them here to show you
what this site is like. A lot of the humour is
extremely dark. Very, very dark. But some of it
is also very funny. Very, very funny.
We give you both.
Note: the comments on this site are not a true
reflection of Jehovah or the Bible. That is, the
true Jehovah of the Bible.
***********************************************

Admittedly I had actually been aware of this site for something like half a year before adding it to this list of rated sites. Why? Simply because when I did originally see it I was mainly looking for links and checking their links page showed a list of links that I would have expected to see on a standard JW site.

So I thought this was a site that was supportive of the organization and moved on. But about six months later I noticed a comment about this site on one of the others that stated that this was actually a satirical site. Satirical? So this site was not really supportive of the JW organization? OK then I thought I had better have a closer look at it. And this is what I found...

About us
Friends, we have been accused of satire, and we need to address this issue. ...
Friends, accusations are very serious things. We know how Jehovah feels about a false accuser, so care must be taken when we accuse others. We are just like you. We love Jehovah. We anxiously await the bloody slaughter of seven billion men, women, children and babies.
http://jehovahstrumpet.com/about-us/

About witnessing to muslims

Friends, Jehovah has tasked us with preaching his word to all people, regardless of race, nationality, or religion. As we scour the earth searching for those with the right heart condition, we are likely to bump into some radical Muslims. ...

If, after some conversation, you determine that they are radical, the next step would be to find common ground with them. This should not be difficult. ...

Compliment them on their wholehearted dedication to God. Like Phinehas, they display courage and obedience in bravely slaughtering wrong doers, ...
However, explain that in our present day, God has asked us to now leave righteous massacre in his capable hands.

Introduce them to shunning as metaphorical stoning to help ease the disappointment they may feel over learning this. ...
While stoning is carried out against one sinner at a time, shunning can be carried out against an unlimited number of sinners simultaneously. Show how shunning can be an alternative to honor killing. Share with them your own personal story, and tell them how many of your children you are shunning at this moment. Likely, this will tug at their hearts, and they will hear the ring of Truth.

... imagine the future joy both you and a right-hearted one can experience when you stand shoulder to shoulder and witness, not twelve, not hundreds, not thousands, but over seven billion infidels slaughtered all at once! We pray it comes soon.
"Witnessing to Radical Muslims"
22 January 2015.
http://jehovahstrumpet.com/witnessing-to-radical-muslims/

It's hard to give this one a title

Friends, we all yearn for the day when we can truly be happy. We also know that before that day can arrive, Jehovah must destroy the rebellious. We gleefully and longingly await the slaughter so that we no longer have to deal with our everyday problems. ...

So we know that Jehovah will massacre 7,145,908,810 people to secure our happy future. That's a lot of fat and happy birds. May it come soon! ...

This leaves us with a very low estimate of 630,498,958 babies slated for destruction. Jehovah, in his wisdom, understands that these children must be slaughtered in order for us to enter an age where death and suffering will be no more. Only then will be spared the grief of babies dying ...

Worldly people wrongly assume that providing vaccinations, clean water, malaria nets, and nutrition will solve humanity's problems. We know that their efforts are a huge waste of time and resources that should be spent handing out magazines. ...
We know that soon, very soon, those babies will be slaughtered, ...

No longer will we have to tolerate a world where anyone disagrees with us. This earth will be cleansed of all wickedness, including over a half billion babies. ...

Friends, when you are praying for an end to this wicked system, an end to violent people, murderers, thieves, swindlers, doctors and judges that save our children with court-ordered blood transfusions, teachers that encourage our children to fulfill their potential, and godless humanitarians who put their efforts into saving lives rather than putting their faith in Jehovah, don't forget the babies. Hundreds of millions of them stand between us and true happiness, and we pray for God's Kingdom to wipe them away with the rest of this wicked system soon.
"Half A Billion Babies In The Way!"
15 December 2014.
http://jehovahstrumpet.com/half-a-billion-babies-in-the-way/

Article on Evolution

If they can convince themselves that humans are genetically related to monkeys, this liberates them to throw feces at each other. Yes, Friends, feces. ...
While the Theory of Evolution emboldens these wicked ones to throw feces at each other, it also encourages them to fornicate like bonobos. ...

Image:Richard Dawkins, arguably the most rabid defender of the Theory of Evolution, admits in his book, 'The Greatest Show On Earth: The Evidence For Evolution' that

Richard Dawkins, arguably the most rabid defender of the Theory of Evolution, admits in his book, The Greatest Show On Earth: The Evidence For Evolution that "Genesis ... must be said ... to be ... fact" (pages 29,30,59,82).
"Evolution: A Satanic Theory"
8 July 2014.
http://jehovahstrumpet.com/evolution-a-satanic-theory/

And a really good comment summing up this site? I'm going to adjust a review for a film that someone gave on the IMDb site. It's pretty good and fits this site really well. Really, really well:

This is "satire" at the level of the Carry On films- when a site uses throwing feces and fornicating like bonobos for supposed comedic effect, you know your time is wasted on it. ... If you want to read comedy, satire, or even a discussion about the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, there is surely better stuff than this.
with apologies to user 1825343
See their review for Dogma at:
http://www.imdb.com/user/ur1825343/

https://jehovahstrumpet.com/evolution-a-satanic-theory/

And for JEHOVAH'S TRUMPET?
Jehovah rating: Avoid.

Jehovah's Witness Blog
http://www.jehovahswitnessblog.com/
Currently showing an advert for the site by the domain provider. Possibly meaning it looks dead so will also put this info on my Dead Sites page.

And The facebook page now appears to have been removed.
https://www.facebook.com/JehovahsWitnessBlog/

My last gathered info for the old main site follows...

"Denouncing Jehovah's Kingdom"

Possibly a clue in their subtitle?

This is Jaymes Payten's site–he's the founder and one of the original presenters on JW Podcast. See my review.

Welcome to JWB (Jehovah's Witness Blog), where we denounce Jehovah's kingdom and take a look at the funny side of being a Witness. JWB is designed to help people make up their mind about joining or leaving the Jehovah's Witnesses.
We take an in depth look at their beliefs and analyse the history of Jehovah's Witnesses and expose the truth about this group, including the bits they don't want you to know.
http://www.jehovahswitnessblog.com/

Sounds good? I thought so too until I looked at their [not small] area on Bible Prophecy. These are not part of the blog but a large section showing at the bottom of the opening page and every page. Note: not WBTS Prophecy, but Bible Prophecy.

On the virgin birth:

This botched sign of a false prophecy cannot honestly be used as a prophecy about Jesus. ...
As for this being a prophecy that Jesus fulfilled: on a scale of 1-10 I think you'll agree that I'm being generous in giving it a zero.
http://www.jehovahswitnessblog.com/bible-prophecy/jesus-christ/

When Jesus Christ was born:

So, having our hero born in Bethlehem does not fulfil a prophecy about the messiah being of the clan of Bethlehem. ... But there is no record that Jesus was of the clan of Bethlehem or that he was born in Bethlehem or anywhere else. ...
Just as in the first "proof-text" of the supposed prophecies fulfilled by Jesus, this second on when Jesus Christ was born has been a complete disappointment, and has just served to reveal still more errors in the Bible.
http://www.jehovahswitnessblog.com/bible-prophecy/jesus-christ-born/

Blogs are difficult to rate as anything can happen. Posts can change on a daily basis and one day be supportive and another day not. But the posts showing of course would be at the discretion of the person[s] running the site. That being the case some of the articles here I have seen are very derogatory of Christianity. Some examples:

Zombie Jesus - The Untold Story
Submitted by Jaymes on April 12, 2015 - 1:24 pm
Has small drawing of Jesus looking like a zombie in a zombie type of walk with title He Hath Risen!
"I saw him come back to life, but the man I saw rise seemed altered, different in a strange way. I could tell it was him, but his face had changed. Was his flesh rotting? Was his heart beating? I cannot answer these questions, what I do know is that this man was returned to the world, but he was no man, rather a shadow of a man that once was. In an earlier vision, I saw him commanding other men to eat his flesh and drink his blood, then saw visions of these men changing too."
http://www.jehovahswitnessblog.com/christian-beliefs/zombie-jesus/

Eve and The Snake - Part One
Submitted by Jaymes on April 22, 2015 - 10:53 pm
"Adam is again off somewhere. God knows where. ...
I had fought off the light beings when I was younger. They let me blossom before coming for me, and they came. At first, they came alone. I begged my husband, yet he did nothing. They then came after me in packs until I couldn't fight them any longer.
Azazel was the one that continued to hunt me. Gabriel and the others didn't care much for me after they had their way with me, but Azazel was different. He enjoyed being inside me. ... As he threw me onto my stomach, he lent in, pulling my hair back whilst he placed himself in me."
http://www.jehovahswitnessblog.com/bible/eve-and-the-snake-part-one/

Bible "Family Values"
Submitted by Steve on July 19, 2015 - 9:38 pm
This is point number 3:
Need God to help you out with some overwhelming task? Offer to burn your daughter as a sacrifice to God and he'll be sure to help you.

And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord: "If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering."
http://www.jehovahswitnessblog.com/bible/bible-family-values/

The first two articles here are Jaymes' and show his thoughts on Christianity and the Bible pretty clearly. And the article by Steve, obviously supported by Jaymes, shows the general trend of this site and also fits in well with the large section on Bible prophecy. These articles are very insulting of Christianity and the Bible hence the rating.

JWB claims to take an in depth look at JW beliefs and analyse the history of Jehovah's Witnesses but a large part of this site appears to be a direct attack on the Bible and Christianity.

So no matter how good the actual JW articles are, this site gets a strong definitely avoid rating.

See also JW Podcast

Jehovah rating: Definitely Avoid.

Jehovah's Witness Report
http://jehovahswitnessreport.com/ "Worldwide News and Commentary About Jehovah's Witnesses and the Watchtower Society"

Looks like a straight information site. No obvious hidden motives.
But you may have to be careful of any off-site links. For example a very informative article about the launch of JW Podcast gives links to the supporting team one of whom is Stephanie - AKA Apostate Chick. See Jehovah rating for Apostate Chick.

Jehovah rating: Good.

JW Alumni
http://jwalumni.org/
"Jehovah's Witnesses News"

This site was relaunched as TAZE and now they have moved on to CULT101

I was in the movement twenty years and have firsthand personal experience and that of working with hundreds of other JWS while I was a ministerial servant and since leaving. ...
The Watchtower filled your mind with fear. Time and again you were told God would destroy those that would oppose or leave the spiritual ark. This is was a ploy to keep you from ever seeking the love and freedom that comes from having a personal relationship directly with God. God in his infinite love and mercy does not destroy nor castigate those that are pure of heart and seek his loving direction. ...
Pray and have faith that God has not abandoned you, he many be leading you towards your destiny if you let him guide you. ...
Be grateful and don't give up! Thank 'Heavens' you get to be here at all, to ask, to seek, to find, and to be nearer to the Spirit of Truth that can prove itself more and more to be oh so true!
http://www.jwfiles.com/wt_professional_look_at_jws/ten_step.htm

Jehovah rating: Very Good.

JW Info http://www.jwinfo.org/ "Jehovah's Witnesses From a Christian Perspective"

Opens with Doctrinal Differences selection with a heading: Differences Between the Watchtower and Christianity.
2 main columns showing comparisons between the Watchtower and Christianity. Looks good. There is some variation among Christian groups with beliefs but what's showing here looks pretty representative. Shows strong support for God and the Bible.

Jehovah rating: Very Good.

JW Leaks https://jwleaks.wordpress.com/ is back again! And they also have a facebook presence:
https://www.facebook.com/jwleaks/

This is a strange site but does somehow seem to belong in this list. Looks like a bunch of ex-JWs and current JWs who are trying to take a complete transparency stand by making available links to documents about any hot or embarrassing topics or general news that the main group would prefer the public or members not be aware of. That's a pretty loose summary but probably what this site is about.

IS JW LEAKS AN APOSTATE WEB SITE?
No. This web site is not an "apostate" web site or blog.
None of the people involved in the administration of JW Leaks are recognized as apostates by either the Church of Jehovah's Witnesses or the Watch Tower Society.

WHO ARE YOU?
The individuals who contribute to the content or links on our web site comprise former and current members of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

HAS THE WATCH TOWER SOCIETY OR JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES EVER COMMENCED LEGAL ACTION AGAINST JW LEAKS?
Yes. For example, Over the past 18 months, attorneys for the Watch Tower Society and Jehovah's Witnesses have filed numerous 'alleged' copyright infringements against JW Leaks, on the basis of links we have published on our web site. However such claims are baseless under law.

WHAT DOES YOUR MISSION STATEMENT MEAN?
The JW Leaks mission statement, "Subverting the wicked ones to their calamity", is a quote taken from the Holy Bible, Proverbs 27:12. It means what it says.
https://jwleaks.wordpress.com/faq/

LEGAL NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER
This web site is maintained by supporters of "Religious Watch" none of whom are "apostates" by definition of the Church of Jehovah's Witnesses or the Watch Tower Society corporation. ...
JW Leaks and Religious Watch Int'l are not associated with, nor aligned with any third-party, organization, group, or collective.
https://jwleaks.wordpress.com/about/

and the last line on the page just above the JW Leaks home link:

RELIGION IS A SNARE AND A RACKET
JW Leaks · Jehovah's Witnesses | jw.org | jwleaks.org

To rate, this one is really tricky. Their Mission Statement refers to the Holy Bible, not just the Bible, or bible. So you could possibly conclude that they are not being unsupportive of The Bible. They also claim they are not associated or aligned with any organization or group etc so no obvious church related link. But what about Christianity in general? It appears to be mainly a document information site. And mainly documents relating to the Jehovah's Witnesses organization.

However, there is a very strong anti-religion comment at the very bottom of their home page. And it's generic. It appears to be showing on EVERY page of theirs:

RELIGION IS A SNARE AND A RACKET

Well that's not exactly supportive of Christianity. And it's on EVERY page. At this point it looks like being not Jehovah-friendly. It's not even a hidden agenda. It's up-front even if it's at the bottom of every page.

However, there may be more to this than meets the eye! Apparently this may be referring to a direct quote from Judge Rutherford!

"Religion is a Snare and a Racket," lecture by Judge J.F. Rutherford (1939). Rutherford was president of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (Jehovah's Witnesses). This lecture was played on a portable record player in people's homes.
https://archive.org/details/ReligionIsASnareAndARacket

But it is not being presented as a quote from Rutherford on this site. And that's a shame as this would have an incredibly strong impact and not necessarily be construed as possibly being an anti-Christian stand as it does look at this point in time.

So taking all this into account, we are going to consider this as possibly a non-negative quote and go with a Good rating.

Jehovah rating: Good.

JW Lies http://jwlies.com/

"Jehovah's Witnesses, all information found on this website has been taken from your own Watchtower publications! There are NO 'APOSTATE' MATERIALS posted here. All examples are freely available and can be easily verified. Please review everything carefully for yourself to see if what is being said is true or not. There is absolutely no reason to be fearful about looking at this information.

We are told multiple times in the Bible not to be deceived (eg. Colossians 2:8, 2 Timothy 3:13, 1 John 4:1, Matthew 7:21-23). So it is extremely important that you don't simply accept whatever some person, religion, or corporation says. All claims need to be backed by the Bible. If you think this website is false and you have the truth, prove it to yourself. Jehovah cannot get mad at you for doing so if he told us multiple times not to be deceived and to test everything. Jehovah's Witnesses, take the challenge and prove it to yourself that you are not being deceived!"
http://jwlies.com/

and a sample of their study topics:

Proof Jesus Is God Almighty
New World Translation is Biased
The WatchTower Is Deceptive!

Questions For Jehovah's Witnesses
I left the WatchTower. Now what?
Jesus Died On A Cross

Jehovah = God's Name. Really???
Proof Holy Spirit Is God
Concept Of Trinity In NWT

Invalid JW Arguments
Jesus Was Physically Resurrected
Jesus Was Never Recreated

Jehovah rating: Very Good.

JW Podcast
https://www.jwpodcast.org/
http://jwpodcastshow.podbean.com/
OK the main org site is currently displaying a blank index page. And it did disappear previously for a year or two. The facebook page appears to have been removed so this is not boding well for the group. And looks like the YouTube page is now gone also. They still get some search mentionings so will leave here but also add to my Dead Sites page. They could be having a break as the last video showing on the podbean site is for Nov 2018. The following info is for early in 2018. Enjoy.

JW Podcast is dedicated to revealing the truth about the Watchtower Organisation and the practices of its members, the Jehovah's Witnesses. It's the aim of the JW Podcast team to bring everyone up to speed on the teachings of the Watchtower in a fun and entertaining way.
Our podcast covers current JW events and news, looks at older, hilarious Watchtower teachings, and we interview guests, all within a biweekly show. As we love to laugh, we bring an element of humour into the mix too.
http://www.jwpodcast.org/ old site 2014

This was the original spiel for the group but there was a subtle atheist flavour to the podcasts with most or all of the guest speakers not being supportive of the Bible. Jaymes is now back with a new style of podcasts but looking at the first couple they are showing a strong anti-Bible atheistic trend and much stronger and more vitriolic than any of the earlier podcasts.

The Jehovah's Witness Atheist Comedy Podcast Show
Rubbishing the Bible and Jehovah
Catering to approximately 11% of the ex-JW community
Not the official title but a few lines that I feel give a reasonable description of the flavour of the podcasts.
The 11% is a rough approximation using the world demographics of atheism. The current info from wikipedia suggests this is lower and could even be as low as 3%. And the actual proportion leaving a religious population may be even lower.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_atheism

2018 March 3: is back!

https://www.jwpodcast.org/

Very short analysis

JW Podcast was founded in 2014 by Jaymes Payten. After a couple of seasons the site closed down in 2016. Though still closed some of the bunch decided to return and do some more podcasts making these available on other sites listed above. Jaymes was not involved in these new additions. Late 2017 or early 2018, due to some creative differences, Jaymes decided to take back control and resurrect the old site. As of 3 March 2018 the site is back and up and running though still being reconstructed in parts.

The flavour of the early podcasts was atheistic with Jaymes being an avowed atheist and antagonistic towards the Bible, Jehovah, and Christianity in general. Lloyd Evans, one of the cofounders of JW Podcast, an agnostic, and unashamed supporter of Evolution, was also one of the annnouncers, along with some other people, including a guest speaker some weeks.

Jaymes' new podcast outlines a specific format: some questions from listeners, then the hot topic of the week, and finally his new section he's calling Doctrine Debate or double D. Though there doesn't appear to be any debate here. It's more a rubbishing of the Bible. And Lloyd, though professing to be an agnostic, just seems to go along with any atheistic comments that Jaymes makes on these podcasts.

If you are just after information, the podcasts are very entertaining, and discuss current events and problems within the JW community.
But if you are after an analysis of current JW problems with a Bible perspective and correct Biblical view answering these problems you won't find it.

There is no support for the Bible here. Jaymes is more interested in rubbishing the Bible and Jehovah.
In short, if you are not just after some information but also seeking some spiritual food, you will have to look elsewhere.

And A Short Reflection On Jaymes' Doctrine Debate Section

This new section takes the podcast straight out of the general information stuff about the JW community to something completely different.
Debunking the Bible.
Jaymes is an atheist. Lloyd claims to be an agnostic though he talks like an atheist.
Lloyd says he clearly doesn't understand the Bible. The book of Revelation doesn't make any sense to him. Jaymes thinks it's all rubbish. What possible advice could these two people give?
And they certainly don't have the answers.

Here's an example. From JW Podcast Mouse Droid March 23 2018. Talking about the firmament:

"If there was this firmament out there, do you know what would happen to the pressure on Earth? We would all be pancakes." 41:30

Interesting. I read on the internet that the average thunderstorm cloud contains approximately 275 million gallons of water. And around 1,800 thunderstorms occur across our planet every day. 1 gallon of water weighs approx 3.785 kg*. That gives the average thunderstorm carrying about 1 billion kg or 1 million tonnes of water. Hmm the last time I had this amount of water passing overhead I didn't really feel much pressure or anything like a flattened pancake.
* 3.785 kg
Technically kgs are a measure of mass. One solution is to write 3.785 kg wt to avoid this confusion. Note: the weight of the water depends on gravity so this measurement [kg wt] is probably meant to be at sea level. On Earth. Go to the Moon and the water is still 3.785 kg mass but now would weigh about one sixth its weight on Earth.

And on these two struggling with 2 different perspectives from the early chapters of Genesis: How are they going to cope with the Gospels?
4 different books. 4 [or more] different writers. 4 different views. 4 different perspectives.
If they are struggling with 2 different perspectives now how would they handle the four Gospels?

There are some things that are difficult to understand in the Bible and I may not have all the answers but I'm pretty sure that these two certainly don't have them. The JW community information stuff is very interesting and they should just stick with that.

end of short analysis

A much longer and deeper look

The old main site
http://www.jwpodcast.org/
had been gone for a while but is now back in action. And yes, Jaymes has beaten the great tribulation, this time.

Sounds like the atheist trend is still there [but have only checked the first 5 in season 3 so far] so will leave my added subheadings above as is. I have removed the 50-67% [see below] as there are new speakers. Yeah it's still there--I have had a look at Episode 60. See below.

Here's some old news:
Some time after 30 April 2016 the site went dead for a while with no activity whatsoever. Then...
17 Dec 2016: The old site http://www.jwpodcast.org/ was currently redirecting to JWsurvey, which is Lloyd Evans' [a.k.a. John Cedars] site. Lloyd is one of the original JW Podcast speakers and a co-founder. see below for more info. This was a hopeful sign that the old site was going to be brought back into action. And only time would tell!

21 Feb 2018 really big breaking news!! The old site was showing:

https://www.jwpodcast.org/

And a really great message from Jaymes... [which does look very promising]

Hi guys,

It's Jaymes here - the founder of JW Podcast all those years ago.

I've now taken back control of the podcast as it was sort of verring off into a direction that I had never envisioned it to. For instance, when I launched JW Podcast, I never wanted it to be a platform where we throw other ex-Jehovah's Witnesses under the bus, but rather a podcast that current and ex-Jehovah's Witnesses could listen to and relate to the things they were listening to.

From this point on, we're going to be looking forward and getting back to the fun stuff!

We'll be recording the new show soon, so stay tuned!

Cheers,
Jaymes

February 18, 2018
JW Podcast - Going Back To Its Roots
http://jwpodcastshow.podbean.com/

Also the claim "The new website will be here before the great tribulation" was quite safe. Does this mean the new podcast team will be more amenable to prophecies in the Bible? Probably not but the new website claim was a safe bet. But Daniel 12:1 one day will come to pass and probation for this world will close. An interesting thought and one Bible topic they should look into.

The "new" direction of JW Podcast

Some sad news. Yes I have had a peek at the new episode JW Podcast - Episode 60 - Violins and Pillows dated Feb 23 2018 on the podbean site. The download version comes down as Episode 61. Take your pick. The main topic is a very curious mess that will be of more interest to JWs. On reflection I found Jaymes' new section of more importance as it changes the Jehovah rating for JW Podcast. From Not Endorsed/Avoid [a mixed rating] to straight Avoid. Here's why....

Jaymes introduces the podcast as first some questions from listeners, then the hot topic of the week, "then we have Doctrine Debate, can we call that double D?" Jaymes then asks will someone write in and complain? And Lloyd replies if someone doesn't complain he will. Bit of humor there but sadly it would be better labelled as Doctrine Debunking as Jaymes starts with the opening verses of Genesis and rubbishes them. Lloyd's closing comments on this section are "that a lot of the stuff that you took really really seriously you really shouldn't have been taking seriously at all." Talking about the Bible. So this changes the rating for JW Podcast to Avoid. Definitely. [and more below]

And another point before continuing on...

Debate? There is no debate here. The Dictionary Definition [2Ds?] for Debate suggests "opposing arguments are put forward" or discussing "pros and cons". There is no support for the Bible here. It is all one sided. There is no pro here, it is all con. [Interestingly also a very subtle comment].

So Jaymes and Lloyd are discussing a label for his doctrinal section. Perhaps some more fitting labels may be
Jaymes' Doctrinal Drivel Section, or
Jaymes' Doctrinally Disappointing Section, and so on.
Best:
Jaymes' Doctrineless Debateless Section

If you are an ex-JW searching for spiritual nourishment to fill the void left by the main organization, sadly you won't find it here.

So here we have a completely astounding situation. The old JW Podcast site is coming back into operation and Jaymes Payten, the original founder, is no doubt spearheading the operation. In short, JW Podcast is at the cross-roads of destiny. Will it bounce back, pushing its old atheist views, catering to only a small percentage of the ex-JW population? Or will it be more tolerant of Christianity, and give more helpful information to a people who are starved of spiritual nourishment, which the JW organization may have failed to supply?
Note: the first two new podcasts suggest they are going with the small percentage of the ex-JW population direction.

If JW Podcast does not fill this need, be sure of one thing, people looking for spiritual food will find it. Just not here.

In fact, let's give the podcast team a little help in this direction. Jaymes is starting up a doctrinal discussion section for the podcasts. So here is a short list of suggested topics they could discuss that might help feed any ex-JWs who may be looking for some spiritual nourishment.

Stephen's list of fascinating topics for the podcast team to consider

1. Funds for Babylon. Jehovah says of Babylon "it shall be no more inhabited for ever" Jeremiah 50:39. Why haven't all the atheists in the world started a fund to rebuild Babylon for habitation as a city and prove Jehovah wrong?
2. 500 year message. The prophet Daniel spoke of a period of time the Jews were to wait for the Messiah to appear. A period of approximately 490 years. Daniel 9:24-27. The correct dating of this prophecy does lead to the actual baptism of Jesus at about 27 AD and His death at about 31 AD.
3. Who moved the stone? The stone had a Roman seal and a Roman guard was placed watching the tomb. Yet Sunday morning the stone had been moved and the body was not there. Who moved the stone?--which would have been done on pain of death, maybe even crucifixion itself.
4. Jesus was dead on the cross. Why? The cross did not kill Him. What did?
5. Why didn't any Christians die in the destruction of Jerusalem 70 AD? What warning were they given and how did they escape?
6. Julian, Emperor of Rome decided to rebuild the temple and prove Jesus a liar. "While Alypius ... urged .. the execution of the work, horrible balls of fire breaking out near the foundations, with frequent and reiterated attacks, rendered the place, from time to time, inaccessible ... the undertaking was abandoned." Chapter XXIII, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon. What's going on here? Even a Roman Emperor couldn't break prophecy.
7. Isaiah 53. Just who is the man of sorrows mentioned in this chapter?
8. Satan claims to be one billion years old. This is a message one person received using a Ouija board. Can we believe him?

Unfortunately thinking about this a little more it doesn't bode well. Jaymes Payten founded JW Podcast in 2014 and Lloyd was there from the beginning, with his claim of agnosticism, but going along with all of Jaymes' atheistic comments on the show. As of 2018 basically nothing had changed. 4 years on and these two people sound pretty much the same as they did when JW Podcast started.

And on the Phil Collins podcast dated 2018 March 9 I would now say they sound worse. The negative Bible comments on this one podcast are stronger than any of the ones I heard from the early days of JW Podcast:

"an ancient confused muddled scroll of dubious origins"
"widely discredited and fanciful and PTSD inducing account" about Creation [30:58]
"Genesis ... it reads like a fairy story and there's no real meaning to it ... the writings of Paul and some of his rants about sin and blood and sacrifice and that kind of thing" [37:29]
"you get to the last book Revelation which is just this kind of LSD kind of trip from beginning to end" [38:17]
Lloyd Evans speaking about the Bible
JW Podcast - Phil Collins
2018-03-09

So can any good come out of these podcasts for ex-JWs? There is one approach that may work.

The questions and answers section should be interesting. And the hot topic should also be interesting. When you get to Jaymes' Doctrinally Dismal Section, if he starts rubbishing the Bible or Jehovah, just turn the podcast off. That's probably the best advice I could give anyone at this point in time. But things might improve. Only time will tell.

Considering that the atheist trend is still very strongly there I will leave the following info here for the old site [2014-2016]:

The Jehovah's Witness 50-67% Atheist Comedy Podcast Show
Catering to approximately 11% of the ex-JW community
My last gathered info for the old main site from 30 April 2016 follows:

Apparently the group had called it quits and all moved on. Here's a brief rundown...

The Jehovah's Witness Podcast Show

JW Podcast is a show for current and former Jehovah's Witnesses that first aired in October 2014 and continued for two seasons. In total 28 shows were produced covering a range of topics ...

Nineteen of the first twenty episodes were hosted by co-founder Jaymes Payten, the final eight episodes were hosted by Patricia Russell, and one episode was hosted by co-founder Lloyd Evans. ...

Sadly, in March 2016 the show ended, and the remaining hosts Patricia Russell, Louise Goode and Lloyd Evans decided to go their own separate ways. ...

There are currently no plans to resurrect JW Podcast, and the hosts are no longer collectively represented anywhere on social media ... However, this website will remain for the foreseeable future in tribute to the show.
http://www.jwpodcast.org/

Over the course of time there were 5 different presenters, Jaymes Payten, Patricia Russell, Lloyd Evans (a.k.a. John Cedars), Louise, a.k.a. Katie Kitten, and Stephanie Hammond (a.k.a. ApostateChick), with them all being listed now as Former presenters of JW Podcast on the site.

Jaymes Payten was the founder and main presenter for all of season 1 and stepped down early in season 2 passing the reins over to Patricia Russell. Lloyd and Louise appear to have been there for most of the podcasts along with Stephanie who likewise dropped off early in season 2.

So what were the presentations about anyway? An earlier page gave the following info:

"everyone"??

The presentations were very entertaining with plenty of interesting topics. And they no doubt are going to be sadly missed by many people [but good news... they're back! See above].

But there did seem to be a strong underlying atheistic feel with guest speakers like Steve Wels, the author of The Skeptics Annotated Bible. And though some of the presenters were openly atheistic, not all of them were. However the trend of the podcasts did appear to be strongly atheistic. As an example, the podcast "Life After God", certainly supports that premise.

JW Podcast S02E09 "Life After God"
Ryan Bell pastored an SDA church in Hollywood for 8 years before leaving after struggling with gays and lesbians comprising a small part of his congregation and their involvement in the church. After leaving he spent some time visiting other churches, SDA and various Christian faiths, and after puzzling over various beliefs and worship styles decided to take a year off to confront his biases, and by the end of 2014 decided that people had created God and not the other way around, became an atheist, a humanist, with a pragmatic relationship with religion, and finally decided not to participate in it anymore.

Definitely an unhappy run. But not everyone may have taken the same course of action.

In all of this he appears to have lost his faith and belief in the Investigative Judgment and the cleansing of the sanctuary because on this podcast he just willingly agrees with Louise that Jesus was just washing his hair in 1844:

Louise: I know what He was doing. He was just washing His hair. In 1844.

Ryan: That's right. Yeah. And now we know that that's what that was about.

It is a curious question to ask if the podcast team would have welcomed Ryan with open arms like they obviously have here if he had remained a Christian and taken a completely different approach to the problems he encountered.

And apart from possibly a couple of interesting short questions and answers there's really not much here that would be much use for anyone--SDAs or JWs.
[any shunning like in JWs, and can SDAs do yoga--JWs are not allowed]

There doesn't appear to be any deep digging in any direction. And there is a fair bit of laughing about any beliefs.

Pretty much a podcast put together by some atheists for some other atheists.

And the Investigative Judgment? It didn't get investigated.

The second half of the podcast is listening and responding to some of the voicemails received over the previous few weeks, and some other stuff. Those segments will probably be of more interest to JWs. Haven't listened to them yet. Probably don't have to. My response is pretty much what I wanted to say above.

Sadly, this is not really surprising since JW Podcast was launched by Jaymes Payten in 2014. Jaymes Payten appears to be very unsupportive of the Bible and Christianity, with a large part of his main site Jehovah's Witness Blog being a direct attack on the Bible and Christianity. And it did show through the podcasts, even though after 5 years of JW activism he handed the reins over to Patricia Russell.

I did find Jaymes to be an excellent presenter and very easy to listen to, even though his atheistic comments were at times a bit disappointing. And the atheistic trend in the podcasts must have been disappointing to the majority of ex-JWs who have left the organisation. And this is puzzling.

The 2015 poll results for the demographics of atheism gave 11%!!

Studies on the demographics of atheism have concluded that self-identified atheists comprise anywhere from 2% to 13% of the world's population, whereas people without a religion comprise anywhere from 10% to 22% of the world's population. Several polls have been conducted by Gallup International: in their 2012 poll of 57 countries, 13% of respondents were 'convinced atheists' and in their 2015 poll of 65 countries 11% were 'convinced atheists'.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_atheism

If you think about this it is pretty clear that any group coming out of a religious organisation is likely to have a much smaller proportion than the world demographic proportion. So let's call this atheistic group coming out of the JW organisation the 11-minus group and the non-atheist or religious proportion that will obviously go into main-stream Christianity [or other religions] the 89-plus group.

So it is pretty clear that JW Podcast is catering to the 11-minus group or less than 11% of the ex-JW community. Either the JW Podcast team are not aware of this or they just don't care. Is this a problem? Not really. The majority of anti-JW information sites are actually supportive of God, the Bible, and Christianity, or at least non-negative. So there are plenty of sites for the ex-JW 89-plus group to go to. JW Podcast is in the small minority that are negative to God etc. Not really anything to worry about.

Notes
Why 50-67%? It depends how you do the split. There were roughly 4 presenters in the first season with Jaymes being replaced by Patricia for the majority of the second season and Stephanie also not being there dropping the number to 3. All the presenters sound pretty atheistic, but Lloyd claims he is an agnostic/deist so he is not an atheist. So for the majority of the second season that leaves 2 out of 3 or as I have above approximately 67%. And if you add Stephanie into the mix for the first season that makes it out of 4. But although Stephanie claims she is an atheist she actually fails a test for being one. That leaves 2 out of 4, or as I have above–50%. And putting these results together I have listed this as possibly 50-67%.

On Stephanie's 'Defy Gravity, Fly Above...' video presentation she makes the statement
'Yes you can be spiritual and not be religious.'
and is no doubt claiming to be a spiritual person without being religious. Unfortunately for her this negates her claim to being an atheist according to a quote from wikipedia:

With respect to the range of phenomena being rejected, atheism may counter anything from the existence of a deity, to the existence of any spiritual, supernatural, or transcendental concepts,..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism#Definitions_and_distinctions

Further info...

For Stephanie see Apostate Chick
For Jaymes Payten see Jehovah's Witness Blog and also Apostapod
For Lloyd Evans (a.k.a. John Cedars) see JWsurvey and also CULT101

"Lastly, always allow yourself to think critically!"
Certainly with what they are presenting, this is pretty good advice!

And for JW Podcast?
Jehovah rating: Avoid.

JWStruggle http://www.jwstruggle.com/ This is a blog, but looks like a lot of interesting articles.

I was baptized almost 30 years ago, and was raised "in the truth". I had many assignments over the years- regular pioneer, full-time Bethel service at Brooklyn, circuit and district talks as a servant and elder for about 20 of those years.

Due to reasons of conscience I stepped down and have discontinued meeting attendance and the formal door-to-door field ministry. I did this not because I hated these activities- quite the opposite! Going in service, giving public talks and other parts had been an enjoyable and honored pursuit of mine for many years. But how could I go out and tell others something that I deep down in my heart feel is in error? Things such as Jesus invisibly "coming" in 1914 to take Kingdom power, or that Jesus is not actually our mediator cannot be correct in my view, nor supported by Scripture. I cannot teach or advocate something that I have come to believe through many hours of deep study and prayer is wrong. Virtual worship of a Governing Body of eight imperfect men also bothers me greatly. Notice what Mankind's Search for God says about Martin Luther:

When pressed once again to recant [and stop disobeying the Catholic Church], Luther made his famous statement: "Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason . . . , I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen." (Mankind's Search for God, pages 316-317 par. 23. Bracketed words added for clarity.)
http://www.jwstruggle.com/about/

Jehovah rating: Very Good.

Doug's scribblings
http://www.jwstudies.com/
This is not an easy site to rate. It appears to be Doug's scribblings about Christianity [with a reasonable section on JWs]. Here's a smattering:

He will come
There is no doubt that Jesus is coming. Never does Scripture question that. Equally as emphatically, man does not know nor cannot tell when it will happen. For the sake of Faith, this is as it should be.

Man is unable to call on any form of divination to determine the time of the Coming. Indeed, Jesus is coming at exactly the time when he will be least expected. Whether there is peace or war, sunshine or flood, these are irrelevant. Jesus is coming when God determines. Live in Faith, not by sight.
http://www.jwstudies.com/The_Lesson_of_History.pdf

What happened to watching? [see Mark 13:33-37] And there is some really weird stuff here. I found the following...

Yahweh was unknown to the patriarchs of the Hebrews. Rather, they worshiped the Canaanite god, El. He is the chief of the deities, the father of the pantheon. The multiplicity of deities sitting together in council is taken for granted in the Hebrew Bible. El names and titles proliferate in the older patriarchal narratives.

Yahweh himself does not appear to have been a Canaanite god in origin; he had his origins outside the land of Israel to the south, in the area of Midian.

Yahweh was incorporated into the older figure of El. Yahweh and El were identified at an early stage and ultimately Yahweh became the supreme deity. El as a separate god disappeared.

The goddess Asherah, the chief goddess of the Canaanite pantheon, was El's consort. When Yahweh was assimilated into El, Asherah became Yahweh's consort. Asherah was the earliest female deity worshiped by the Children of Israel.
http://www.jwstudies.com/GOD_in_the_beginning.pdf

Well that's a bit of a stretch. And there is of course a section on Jehovah's Witnesses:

Jehovah's Witnesses
Babylonian Captivity
Blood
Kingdom of God
New World Translation

Ordinarily a site that is supportive of Christianity will attract a Good rating but I think with this one Not Endorsed will be safer. Though the odd material possibly pushes this perilously close to an Avoid rating.
Best advice? Don't wander outside the JW section.

Jehovah rating: Not Endorsed

JWsurvey
http://jwsurvey.org/
"giving a voice to the silent majority"

This is John Cedars' site–he's one of the presenters on JW Podcast. See my review.

This website is religiously-neutral and has been set up as an indoctrination-free sanctuary.
http://jwsurvey.org/welcome

This website has been launched to give voice to millions of Jehovah's Witnesses around the world who would not normally have the opportunity to say what they really think about the Watch Tower Society, or the teachings and practices of the Governing Body.

If you are a Jehovah's Witness, or a former Witness, you will be aware that the opinions of rank and file publishers (and even elders) are rarely sought by the Society.

This website seeks to redress that balance by means of an annual survey that is conducted anonymously throughout the world.

We adopt a strictly non-religious viewpoint, meaning that we refuse to promote any belief structure in particular. For this reason, we cannot be accused of trying to "draw off followers." We are merely interested in garnering the views of ordinary Witnesses and reporting on the facts.

My name is Lloyd Evans, and I am the founder of this website. I set it up in October 2011 with the help of a fellow activist while I was still one of Jehovah's Witnesses, writing under the pseudonym "John Cedars." Eventually, I left the organization for conscientious reasons.
http://jwsurvey.org/about-jw-survey

But in an article about Evolution we find the following:

Though I am personally agnostic/deist (open to the existence of a creator of the universe but doubtful that he, or it, takes an interest in human affairs), my aim is to avoid offending any individual, especially on the issue of whether they believe in God or not.

I unashamedly embrace the theory of evolution as, not just theory, but proven fact. The evidence is, from where I stand, all around us if we will only look at it.

I know this article will not meet with universal approval from my readers, but I cannot apologise for defending scientifically established fact. Whether you are a believer or not, I'm afraid evolution is here to stay. Those like Watchtower who insist on denouncing it and/or replacing it with their own half-baked unsupported pseudo-science will only become more isolated and discredited as human knowledge continues its relentless advance.
"Why Watchtower has no place criticizing other Christian faiths as unscientific"
Posted on December 28, 2013
http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/why-watchtower-has-no-place-criticizing-other-christian-faiths-as-unscientific

"This website is religiously-neutral and has been set up as an indoctrination-free sanctuary"
"we refuse to promote any belief structure in particular"
Considering that many Christians would view Evolution as an alternative "belief structure" there would appear to be an inconsistency in the claims of this site. And though there are many Christians who do believe in Evolution it does not sit very well with the Bible at all.

This may not exactly be a hidden agenda but we couldn't really endorse this as Jehovah friendly.

But I'm not saying this site should be completely avoided. John does have some good stuff here. For example, on shunning:

Jesus identified mercy as playing a crucial role in the extent to which laws and principles should be enforced. Many do not think it is merciful that older teenagers, many of whom were baptized at an extremely young age, are forced out of their homes by their parents and then cruelly shunned, often for the rest of their lives, through a mistaken and abhorrent interpretation of the Apostle Paul's advice.
Subheading: An unmerciful practice
http://jwsurvey.org/about-jw-survey

So, not necessarily to avoid, but just not endorsed.

See also JW Podcast, and also CULT101

Jehovah rating: Not Endorsed

K&K Ministries http://www.kevinquick.com/kkministries/

K&K Ministries is my contribution to the field of Christian counter-cult apologetics, specifically as they apply to Jehovah's Witnesses. It is my desire and prayer that my experiences and research during my involvement with Jehovah's Witnesses in the early 1980's will be of help to many who are currently struggling with the claims of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. It is my wish that they may understand the excellence of historical, Biblical Christianity, and that they may find eternal life and peace by placing their trust in the Biblical Jesus.
http://www.kevinquick.com/kkministries/

Jehovah rating: Very Good.

Mike & Kim
http://www.watchtower.exposed/ "Exposing Watchtower One Brick At A Time!"
"Using God's word the Bible as it was meant to be; a message of
freedom and hope and NOT captivity, enslavement & FEAR."

They had a youtube page which appears to have been taken out by the WBTS.

Our goal & sincere wish, is to help our Brothers & Sisters come to the realization that the

Watchtower & Bible Tract Society

Through the decades, has changed religious doctrine as it pertains to Jehovah's Witnesses

That has caused unsurmountable damage to the human family.

Also to educate the general public as to the dangers behind the organization now re-identifying itself as JW.org

On this website, we hope to have articles, news items, videos, personal experiences and hope to use God's word the Bible as it was meant to be; a message of freedom and hope and NOT captivity, enslavement & FEAR.
http://www.watchtower.exposed/

Reasoning from the Scriptures Review "Cross"

The accounts at Matthew 27:26, 31-37, Mark 15:14-26, Luke 23:26-38, and John 19:1-22 all show that Jesus was forced to follow the practice of carrying the stauron to Golgotha. As seen from Dionysius quoted later, it was a Roman practice for the victim to carry the crossbeam, or patibulum to site of execution. There the patibulum was affixed to an upright stake. ...
Jesus was crucified with two nails, one in each hand, not a single nail through the wrist. That separate nails were in each hand is made clear by the use of the word 'nails' not 'nail'. This suggests that Jesus had his arms separated on a cross, not together on a stake as represented in Watchtower publications. Matthew 27:37 also supports the idea of a cross rather than a stake when it says; "Above his head they had put the charge against him in writing: 'THIS IS JESUS, KING OF THE JEWS' ".

Finally, the chapter attempts to prove that Christians idolize the Cross, and why would one want to make a replica of the instrument of execution?
Yes we can agree with the verse sited for this, 1 Corinthians 10:14, that we should flee from idolatry, but as we factually know Christians over the world believe intrinsically that the cross as purely a holy symbolic of what Jesus did for us and that he also asks us to carry our "cross" as a way to explain that we need to "die in our old selves" and be renewed in Christ. So it is more about the cross representing a spiritual approach toward Christ and his work of salvation.

This review only covers the key areas in brief, but there is exhaustive evidence to support that Christ was executed on a cross, so you have to ask yourself, taking into account all of the above and the total evidence that is readily available, why do Jehovah's Witnesses stick to their belief of the Stake?
For me, I can only conclude that it is both deliberate, and divisive, to try and find another way to discredit all other beliefs where possible, so that it can somewhere strengthen their case that they are the only true religion. Sadly here, it simply does not hold up and I hope the evidence provided will help you to demonstrate the real truth in the cross.
http://www.watchtower.exposed/articles/

Jehovah rating: Very Good.

Reasoning With Jehovah's Witnesses
http://www.reasoningwithjehovahswitnesses.com/ "Help for Jehovah's Witnesses"

This website is designed for Jehovah's Witnesses (JW's) who are questioning or have questioned some of the teachings of the Watchtower organization.
http://www.reasoningwithjehovahswitnesses.com/about/

I was baptized as a Jehovah's Witness (JW) along with my wife in May of 1996. ...
I resigned as an elder and immediately stopped going to the meetings in the Spring of 2006. As of November 2009 I am no longer associated with the JW's. ...
While I believe that they are misled in several areas, I also believe they are serving God and Jesus with a sincere heart. (Acts 17:30)
http://www.reasoningwithjehovahswitnesses.com/
Note: this last text is from a side column which showed on opening one of the studies but I could not get it to display later.

The studies look very interesting but I did run into the following:

You will see from the Bible that God is NOT a trinity, that Jesus is not "co-equal" nor is He "co-eternal" with the Father. However, He does share an equality with the Father. You will see clear Biblical proof that Jesus is in fact the Divine Son of God, NOT created but begotten.
http://www.reasoningwithjehovahswitnesses.com/category/son-of-god/

There are many variant views on various topics within the Christian community and we should allow for that. But just be aware of this. So will still go with a v.good rating for this site.

Jehovah rating: Very Good.

Six Screens of the Watchtower
http://sixscreensofthewatchtower.com/ COUNTING DOWN THE "LAST DAYS" OF THE WATCHTOWER ORGANIZATION

Our mission is to expose the real truth behind the destructive cult known as the Jehovah's Witnesses. Active Witnesses are discovering the real "truth" and are now realizing that there is life after The Watchtower.

Six Screens of the Watchtower-
What Are They?

As you know by now, the Watchtower Organization is nothing more than a dangerous and destructive cult masquerading as a religion. Through the cheap tricks and outright deceit within this multi-million dollar corporation, it is imperative to break things down into their simplest form. We have categorized the world of the Jehovah's Witnesses into "six screens".

Watchtower dogma presents emotional and physical damage to all who apply these non-Biblical teachings. We encourage Jehovah's Witnesses and those who are not to examine the information critically. The underlying theme is transparent here; the information fed from the Watchtower Society is not from Jehovah, rather from a group of wealthy men in Brooklyn New York.
http://www.sixscreensofthewatchtower.com/critical-info/six-screens.php

Most former Jehovah's Witnesses who choose to expose the erroneous teachings of the Watchtower are trying to help those who are trapped in an organization which they believe is their only conduit to God. These ex Jehovah's Witnesses are exposing this critical information to help family members and friends recognize that the Watchtower Organization is nothing more than a business, using loyal followers as sales people.
http://www.sixscreensofthewatchtower.com/critical-info/message-for-jws.php

How to Witness to Jehovah's Witnesses

The following video will display a Jehovah's Witness encounter with a born-again Christian. As you will witness, it does not really matter what the Bible says, Jehovah's Witnesses have the mind set that they are correct, regardless of sheer logic. It takes much time and effort to get a Witness to listen, but if you can plant just one wedge of doubt, the possibilities are endless.
[I couldn't see this video displayed but there are heaps of others on the site--Stephen]
http://www.sixscreensofthewatchtower.com/critical-info/witness-to-witness.php

Christian Corner
From London England "Christian Corner" with former Jehovah's Witness Ray Aldredge, his unique, simple teaching techniques make it easy for interested ones to connect with TRUTH . Ray is our Christian associate in the UK. and would love to meet doubting and former Witnesses ..... you can contact him for a personal spiritual discussion.
http://www.sixscreensofthewatchtower.com/telenetwork/christian-corner.php

Jehovah rating: Very Good.

TAZE
http://taze.co/
Formerly
JW Alumni
http://jwalumni.org/
"Jehovah's Witnesses, Cults, Religion, Life, Apostate Gossip Blog"

This was Misha Anouk's re-imaging of his JW Alumni site and has now moved on to CULT101.

TowerWatch Ministries
http://www.towerwatch.com/ "Helping Christians Reach Jehovah's Witnesses
with the Gospel of Our Savior Jesus Christ"

I served as an Elder for over 20 of my 35 years as a Jehovah's Witness. Jehovah's Witnesses do not have any clergy and the Elders serve as the teachers in the congregation. For over 17 years I taught one of the main meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses, the Theocratic Ministry School. ...

For 35 years our family life revolved entirely around what we called "The Truth". We thought we were among God's chosen people.

From the time I began studying with Jehovah's Witnesses they claimed that the generation that saw the events of 1914 would be alive when God ushered the New World. They would use Psalms to show that a generation was 70 or 80 years. Add 80 to 1914 and you get 1994 and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society had yet another failed prophecy. In 1995 the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society changed their view of the term generation. ...

To me it had become obvious the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society was not God's channel of communication. ...

The teachings of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society are very works oriented, it is a "work harder work faster" organization. Followers are controlled by being consistently told they must work harder because the end is so close. Looking back over those 35 years I do not see how I could have done more as a Jehovah's Witness and still have provided for my family, and yet there was not one day that I felt sure of my salvation. I regularly prayed to God to not let the end come to soon because I was sure I was not doing enough to survive.

Since leaving that organization I have accepted Christ as my savior and I now know that I am a sinner saved not by my works but by the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
http://www.towerwatch.com/Testimonies/cal_lehman.htm

TowerWatch Ministries is dedicated to helping Christians reach Jehovah's Witnesses with the gospel of Jesus Christ, enlightening current and would-be Jehovah's Witnesses and helping ex-Jehovah's Witnesses through the recovery process
http://www.towerwatch.com/

Didn't look like much here except a large resource of material which is for sale. Can't really comment on it as I have no JW background but it could be a veritable treasure trove.

Anyway, there is heaps of stuff here. Just check the site map which should be accessible from the very bottom of the page [the very bottom line before the copyright statement for the page--and probably showing on every page].
Or you can get it from the top left menu on the About TowerWatch page. Steps following...
From the Home page top left menu select "About TowerWatch"
Skip the Intro
Now on the top left menu the "Site Map" should be listed. Select it. Enjoy.

Jehovah rating: Very Good.

Watch the Tower
http://watchthetower.net/ "Official Web Site of Ex-Jehovah's Witnesses
Who Believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ"

May have some links not working.

Love has to be your motive when witnessing to the Witness at your door. Keep in mind that the real fault lies not with the Jehovah's Witness at your door, but in the organization which has deceived him.

Prayer is the most effective weapon used in your dealing with the Jehovah's Witnesses. Pray that the Holy Spirit will guide you, giving you the words to say, and also to convict the Witness of the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Always use a recognized translation of the Bible, keeping in mind that their translation (The New World Translation) is a corrupted form of Scripture. A few recognized versions are: the King James Version, the New International Version, the New American Standard Version, and the Revised Standard Version.
"TIPS ON WITNESSING TO JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES"
http://www.watchthetower.net/wit.html

Jehovah rating: Very Good.

Watchtower & Awakening
http://www.watchtowerandawakening.com/
Looks like this bunch have moved to facebook.
see
https://www.facebook.com/Watchtower-Awakening-520018241426790/
Also looks like they're now calling themselves Apostate Awake
with new url
https://www.facebook.com/Apostate-Awake-520018241426790/
Note numbers the same so I thought I'd try something silly like fred smith:
https://www.facebook.com/fred-smith-520018241426790/
and actually works! Must be a facebook thing. cool.

Main site appears to be dead but they still have an internet presence, facebook page, podcasts etc. Checking the main site does show a page but apparently this is just an advert from the domain provider and has nothing to do with Watchtower & Awakening.

About Apostate Awake
Podcast & videos based primarily but not exclusively on atheism, agnosticism and reason.
https://www.facebook.com/Apostate-Awake-520018241426790/info/?tab=page_info

Since this is the same bunch we will keep the information from the old site as it is still relevant.

My last gathered info dated before 16 Apr 2016 on the main site follows:

An Apostate's Blog On Atheism, Agnosticism and Reason
[well there's a pretty big clue--Stephen]

This blog is a venting of creative steam that will manifest the whirlwind in my mind and commit it to a website for the benefit of either

those that have gone (or are going) through a de-conversion
people curious about atheism, agnosticism and reason
readers with genuine disagreement who would like to open a dialogue

An Atheist at Christmas
As an atheist, apostate and skeptic, I am asked the same question every year.

Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. [this was a quote--Stephen]

Jehovah's Blessing
To an atheist, there are many strange and unsubstantiated claims we hear regularly. One of the most prevalent is the confirmation bias of attributing good things as 'God's blessings' and bad things as either 'Satan' or just 'life'.

and so on and so on and so on...
Admittedly looking at this site the atheistic push seems to be forefront to any investigation of the WBTS.

Jehovah rating: Avoid.

Barbara Anderson's Watchtower Documents
http://watchtowerdocuments.org/ Information site with menu items:
Articles / Latest News, Documents, Child Abuse Cases, Contact, Contents, Contributed, Media, Research

A Former Jehovah's Witness Insider Who Was an Eyewitness to Deceit

Barbara Anderson was a member of Jehovah's Witnesses from 1954 to 1997. She worked at Watchtower's headquarters in Brooklyn, NY, from 1982 to 1992 where during her last three years there, she researched the movement's official history (published in 1993) and did research as well as wrote a number of articles for their Awake! magazine. Barbara has done extensive research on issues related to child sexual abuse in the religion leading to interviews on major TV and radio programs as an outspoken critic of Jehovah's Witnesses sexual abuse policies.
http://watchtowerdocuments.org/life-discoveries-barbara-anderson/

There are some documents here that are not really supportive of Bible prophecy, or some people's attempt at it–though a completely negative view is not being openly promoted. So will not consider this a hidden anti-Bible agenda. But just be aware of this. The main agenda on this site appears to be about sexual abuse.

Jehovah rating: Good.

The Watchtower Files
http://thewatchtowerfiles.com/ "A Blog For Jehovah's Witnesses And Those Who Love Them"

According to wikipedia a blog is a discussion or information site consisting of posted discrete entries typically displayed in reverse chronological order (the most recent post appears first).

Doug Shields is an activist against religious oppression, control and abuse. He has a tremendous amount of experience dealing with these issues because he was an active Jehovah's Witness himself for over twenty-three years.

On this site, Doug thoroughly examines, and successfully challenges, the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses from a Christian perspective using nothing but their own writings, history and the Holy Bible.

Doug has been privileged to help elders, ministerial servants, full time pioneers and even a circuit overseer to find the strength and clarity to face the painful truth about the Watchtower and leave it behind with their dignity and faith in God intact.
http://thewatchtowerfiles.com/jehovahs-witnesses-worst-thing/

This blog is designed as a "cafeteria". Take what you like and leave the rest. There is truly something here for everyone who has been involved in the Jehovah's Witnesses or is currently dealing with leaving the group.
http://thewatchtowerfiles.com/jehovahs-witnesses-use-blog/

Learn to love yourself as God loves you and always has. Learn to embrace your own value as a child of God. Act as if God is working in your life every single moment because He can and will if you let Him. Learn to love others with the same love you receive from God, freely and without judgment. Learn to accept and forgive your own faults and those of others, just as God does.
http://thewatchtowerfiles.com/jehovahs-witnesses-worst-thing/

Sounds good!

Jehovah rating: Very Good.

Watchtower Investigated UK
https://watchtowerinvestigated.wordpress.com/ Formerly
https://watchtowerinvestigated.co.uk/

"Another Blog from UK Partnerships for Christ (www.upfc.org.uk)"

Welcome to Watchtower Investigated UK, this blog seeks to educate Christians about the beliefs and difficulties within The Jehovah's Witness faith both biblically and historically, and seeks to engage with members of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (WBTS) with respectful discussion but also seeking to challenge them lovingly with the Biblical gospel.
https://watchtowerinvestigated.wordpress.com/about/

Sounds good.

Jehovah rating: Very Good.

Watchtower Lies
https://www.watchtowerlies.com/jehovahs_witnesses.html
"Jehovah's Witnesses and the Watchtower"

Looks like a site with a massive amount of information. Unfortunately we also find the following...

The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society pretends that the bible "really is God's inspired Word" -The Watchtower March 1, 2010 p. 4-7. But is it true? If god has inspired the bible, how come the bible doesn't mention many important things? It doesn't mention species evolution which is today an undeniable truth, nor cataclysms of the past such as the asteroid that destroyed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. No mention of the dinosaurs either. No mention of the other planets of our solar system, nor the fact that our sun is nothing but another star among many. No details about the formation or the death of stars. No mention of galaxies. No mention of the beginning or age of the universe. No mention of the existence of molecules, atoms, fundamental particles or fundamental forces of the universe. Jesus "declared all foods clean."-Mark 7:19. It's wrong! Some foods from plants or animals are toxic to human beings. In addition, some people have food intolerances or alergies. No mention of pathogenic viruses and bacteria as the cause of many diseases. Why god didn't tell us how to make soap or antibiotics to fight pathogenic microorganisms? Also no mention of the causes of other diseases or the means to cure them. Jesus said that the mustard seed is "the tiniest of all the seeds that are on the earth" -Mark 4:31, which is false. There's no evidence of any worldwide flood as mentioned in the book of Genesis. The story of Noah is ridiculous. How specimens of all the animals on the whole planet could enter in the ark? There wasn't enough room and how could they reach the ark from the Australian and American continent while oceans separated them? Miracles never happened since they were impossible. To these things the Watchtower will answer that "the bible is not a science textbook"-The Watchtower April 1, 1998 p.15-16. But if the bible were truly inspired by god, he who is supposed to know everything, wouldn't he make sure that the bible be scientifically accurate? Shouldn't he reveal to us fundamental scientific truths that would have given us the proof that he really inspired it? On the contrary, the bible is a book that is scientifically wrong most of the time. The bible is not inspired by god, but it is inspired by the ignorance and folly of some men.
https://www.watchtowerlies.com/is_the_bible_really_god_s_inspired_word.html

This is a hidden anti-Bible agenda.
Note: this is embarassingly something the WBTS actually has got right in this quote. Jehovah never meant the Bible to be a scientific textbook. It is a spiritual book that outlines a spiritual path for His people to travel on their walk to heaven and eternity.

Also, as usual, these people are using wrong tests for proving / disproving the Bible. God has a very simple test for His people to accept His word:

And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.
And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place, you may believe.
And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.
John 14:29 KJV,RSV,NRSV.

The main discussion here was between Jesus and his close followers with the mentioning of Peter denying Him three times [John 13:38], which incidentally though vehemently rejected by Peter, did actually come to pass. Nevertheless this comment can also be applied to Bible prophecy generally. And many prophecies in the Bible have come to pass.

and for Watchtower Lies?
Jehovah rating: Avoid.

Watchtower Observer
http://watchtower-observer.org/ "Documenting 150 years of Jehovah's Witnesses' Beliefs and Practices"

General information site with main menu in left hand column and articles displaying on the right.
Menu column lists divisions as:
Article Subjects
Recent Articles
Report Directory
Archives by Year
Reader Comments
Subscribe via Email
Questions? Comments?

Kent Steinhaug, a former Jehovah's Witness in Norway, frequently posts documents embarrassing to the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society on his Watchtower Observer Web site.

It is telling of the secrecy, and frequently the hostility, with which the Watchtower Society handles its followers that drastic action was required to expose the Society's official justification and methodology for discipline. Kent Steinhaug's posting of Pay Attention. allows for an unprecedented look into the secret workings of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society and the ramifications of its actions in the lives of Jehovah's Witnesses.
http://watchtower-observer.org/kent-steinhaug-2/watchtower-observer-vs-watchtower-bible-tract-society/

Can't find any noticable bias here either way so will go with a good rating.

Jehovah rating: Good.

Watchtower Watch
http://watchtowerwatch.com/ Keeping constant watch on the "Faithful Slave" ...

Our goals do not include any attempts to lead our readers to any other faith or belief system, or to "draw off followers" to ourselves in any way. Unlike some other websites that are critical of Jehovah's Witnesses, we have no religious agenda and no creed we want to promote. We only seek to uncover genuine truth, however deeply it might be buried under the doctrinal rubble of decades of the Watchtower's organizational rules and traditions. We'll present factual information and qualified opinions, but we'll leave it to our readers to decide how they will act upon what they've learned here.
http://watchtowerwatch.com/blog/introducing-watchtower-watch

Q? - Why is this website called Watchtower Watch?
Because we primarily focus on issues relating to the Watchtower Society, its publications, and its adherents known as Jehovah's Witnesses. While we may include stories that are not specific to Jehovah's Witnesses, their beliefs, or culture, there will always be some relationship or other connection to them - even if somewhat remote.

We appreciate reader article submissions. If you look at the articles we've already published, you will see that about half are written by contributors. On occasion, the editor will see a well-written post on a public forum or see an excellent article published on another blog or website that he feels would fit well with the goals of this site.
http://watchtowerwatch.com/wtw-faqs

"we have no religious agenda and no creed we want to promote"
OK should be no bias according to this so will go with a Good rating until otherwise. But bear in mind that according to the above about half the articles are by contributors so anything could happen here.

Jehovah rating: Good.

Who was John Keel?

John Alva Keel, born Alva John Kiehle (March 25, 1930 - July 3, 2009) was an American journalist and influential UFOlogist who is best known as author of The Mothman Prophecies.

In 1967, Keel popularized the term "Men In Black" in an article for the men's adventure magazine Saga, entitled "UFO Agents of Terror". According to Keel, he initially sought to explain UFOs as extraterrestrial visitations, but later abandoned this hypothesis. His third book, UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse published in 1970, linked UFOs to supernatural concepts such as monsters, ghosts and demons. Keel used the term "ultraterrestrials" to describe UFO occupants he believed to be non-human entities capable of taking on whatever form they want.

His 1975 book, The Mothman Prophecies was Keel's account of his investigation into alleged sightings in West Virginia of a huge, winged creature called the "Mothman." The book combines Keel's account of receiving strange phone calls with reports of mutilated pets and culminates with the December 15, 1967, collapse of the Silver Bridge across the Ohio River. The book was widely popularized as the basis of a 2002 film of the same name starring Richard Gere.

Prolific and imaginative, Keel was considered a significant influence within the UFO and Fortean genre.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keel

Note: it is believed that the character Richard Gere plays in this movie, and actually named John, is loosely based on John Keel himself and his experiences in West Virginia. The movie also gives a fascinating insight into the workings and abilities of the ultraterrestrials.

The Mothman Prophecies is a 2002 psychological thriller film directed by Mark Pellington, based on the 1975 book of the same name by parapsychologist and Fortean author John Keel. ... The film stars Richard Gere as John Klein, a reporter who researches the legend of the Mothman.
The film claims to be based on actual events that occurred between November 1966 and December 1967 in Point Pleasant, West Virginia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mothman_Prophecies_(film)

Who was George Hunt Williamson?

George Hunt Williamson (December 9, 1926 - January 1986), aka Michael d'Obrenovic and Brother Philip, was one of the "four guys named George" among the mid-1950s contactees. The others were George Adamski, George King, and George Van Tassel. ...

Having read William Dudley Pelley's book Star Guests (1950), Williamson worked for a while for Pelley's cult organization, ...
Pelley had generated huge quantities of communications with "advanced intelligences" via automatic writing, and very clearly was an immediate inspiration to Williamson, who combined his fascination with the occult and with flying saucers by trying to contact flying saucer crews with a home-made Ouija board. ... Williamson and his wife, and fellow saucer believers Alfred and Betty Bailey, became regular visitors to Adamski's commune ...

The Williamsons and Baileys continued their Ouija-board sessions, getting their own personal revelations from the Space Brothers, which led to a drastic falling-out with Adamski.

In 1954, Williamson and Bailey published The Saucers Speak which emphasized supposed short-wave radio communications with friendly saucer pilots, but in fact depended for almost all its contents on the ouija-board sessions Bailey and Williamson held regularly from 1952 onward. ... Williamson also reveals that while most space aliens are helpful and good, there are some very bad ones hanging out near Orion and headed for earth in force, bent on conquest.

Williamson became a more obscure competitor to Adamski, eventually combining his own channelling and the beliefs of a small contactee cult ... to produce a series of books about the secret, ancient history of mankind: Other Tongues—Other Flesh (1957), Secret Places of the Lion (1958), UFOs Confidential with John McCoy (1958), Road in the Sky (1959) and Secret of the Andes (1961). These books, when not rewriting the Old and New Testaments to depict every important person as a reincarnation of one of only six or eight different "entities, ... and, according to Williamson, spacemen had also helped materially in the founding of the Jewish and Christian religions, impersonating "gods" and providing "miracles" when needed. Williamson spiced his books with additional Ouija-revelations to the effect that some South, Central and North American ancient civilizations actually began as colonies of human-appearing extraterrestrials. Williamson can be considered a more mystically-inclined forerunner of Erich von Däniken; Secret Places of the Lion also displays the clear and explicit influence of Immanuel Velikovsky.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Hunt_Williamson

Considering that John Keel has described these UFO entities as a bunch of evil liars and put-on artists it would do well for the general public to reject these suppositions especially the part about the group from Orion being very bad.

Further reflections on all of this:
Just about all of George Williamson's UFO communications appear to have come by ouija-board. The ouija-board is a tool that is well known to be used by mediums to communicate with the spirit world during a seance. It would appear that the UFO entities who were communicating with George Williamson were in reality just the plain old lying spirits that have been troubling the human race since the beginning of time. These supposed UFO entities are not space aliens visiting this planet in space craft as they would have us believe. In fact they are just the old lying spirits that are mentioned in the Bible and who spoke through people, just like in a seance. The Bible refers to these evil lying entities as spirits or demons or devils or fallen angels. Take your pick. And just like John Keel's "ultraterrestrials", they are non-human entities capable of taking on whatever form they want.

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Home Topics of Interest: WONDERFUL | IMPORTANT | CONTROVERSIAL Topics of Interest: WONDERFUL | IMPORTANT | CONTROVERSIAL

Stephen Buckley
E-mail: chodesh [at] duck.com
Last revised: 14 Mar 2020.
Construction: 25 Jan 2015.

Update Feb 2022:

This is now a legacy page. This is something that has been a long time coming. For some years I had been busy with other stuff and just did not have any spare time to spend on updating these pages.

Late 2020 things came to a head with a study I was doing into the problem with the dinosaurs. As I started constructing pages more and more information came in branching into Evolution and some other weird topics. I could only see this growing and it was beginning to take quite a lot of time. I was also trying to update a lot of my old pages and this was falling behind. And these pages here were way down at the very bottom of the list and so I could only see a legacy direction for them.

Simply put, I decided to leave these pages where they were but disconnect any links to them and at this point in time they are most likely never going to be updated. So they are still here for anyone to read [if they can find them] but as the years go by a lot of the information here is no doubt going to get pretty much out of date.

I did enjoy putting these pages together but time moves on and I have other things to pursue.
All the best for those that liked reading them.
I hope you found them helpful. Stephen

COVID-safe Dinosaurs
OR
Too Many Dinosaurs in the Early Jurassic!

Companion pages

Reviewed Sites Reviewed Sites for JWs searching for the truth about the WBTS.
This is my list of reviewed sites for Jehovah's Witnesses who are searching for the truth about the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. Basically the same list of reviewed sites as on my Being True to Jehovah page but as their own stand-alone page.

Approved sites Approved sites for JWs searching for the truth about the WBTS.
A small number of anti-JW information sites are atheistic, or anti-God, or anti-Bible. But there are actually many that do not have an anti-God or anti-Bible agenda. And some even have a positive bias. Here's a list of the good ones that I have found.

Sites to Avoid Sites to Avoid for JWs searching for the truth about the WBTS.
Though the majority of anti-JW information sites are supportive of God, the Bible, and Christianity, or non-negative, there is a small number that are atheistic, or anti-God, or anti-Bible. Here's a list of the negative ones that I have found. Avoid.

Dead Sites Dead Sites for JWs searching for the truth about the WBTS.
So where do sites go when they are dead or in the process thereof? And is a site really dead or just having problems? And if a site is dead have the bunch running it closed down or moved on and/or possibly opened another site somewhere else? If a site is under reconstruction and this stated they are not dead or here. Any others I have previously reviewed will be here and if they bounce back to activity be removed. The ratings here are from my reviewed sites page for these sites when they were active. Enjoy.

Fun Stuff
MISSING: 107 Million Atheists! Where did they go? MISSING: 107 Million Atheists! Where did they go? Using the 2012 and 2015 Gallup International poll results for the demographics of atheism suggested that as of 2015, 107 Million Atheists were missing. Where did they go?

Would we know the result of making void the law of God? The experiment has been tried. Terrible were the scenes enacted in France when atheism became the controlling power. It was then demonstrated to the world that to throw off the restraints which God has imposed is to accept the rule of the cruelest of tyrants.
The war against the Bible inaugurated an era which stands in the world's history as the Reign of Terror.
The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan p.584, 282.

Some Christians believe that the historical interpretation for the beast that ascended out of the bottomless pit in Revelation 11:7 is a reference to atheism attacking the Bible in France during the French Revolution. This is in the past. But Revelation 13:15 warns of another similar terrible time yet to come. Will atheism also have a hand in bringing about this future event? Only time will tell.

Hébert's and Chaumette's atheist movement initiated an antireligious campaign in order to dechristianise society. The program of dechristianisation waged against Catholicism, and also eventually against all forms of Christianity, included the deportation or execution of clergymen and women; the closing of churches; the rise of cults and the institution of a civic religion; the large scale destruction of religious monuments; the outlawing of public and private worship and religious education; the forced abjuration of priests of their vows and forced marriages of the clergy; the word "saint" being removed from street names; and the War in the Vendée.
Reign of Terror
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reign_of_Terror

Tens of thousands of civilians, Republican prisoners, and sympathizers with the revolution were massacred by both armies. ... the uprising was suppressed using draconian measures. ... historian François Furet concludes that the repression in the Vendée "not only revealed massacre and destruction on an unprecedented scale but also a zeal so violent that it has bestowed as its legacy much of the region's identity ...
War in the Vendée
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_the_Vend%C3%A9e

The enactment of a law on 21 October 1793 made all suspected priests and all persons who harbored them liable to summary execution. The climax was reached with the celebration of the goddess Reason in Notre Dame de Paris on 10 November. Because dissent was now regarded as counter-revolutionary, extremist enragés such as Hébert and moderate Montagnard indulgents such as Danton were guillotined in the spring of 1794.
Reign of Terror
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reign_of_Terror

The dictatorship imposed by the Committee of Public Safety during the Reign of Terror, from 1793 until 1794, established price controls on food and other items, abolished slavery in French colonies abroad, dechristianised society through the creation of a new calendar and the expulsion of religious figures, and secured the borders of the new republic from its enemies. Large numbers of civilians were executed by revolutionary tribunals during the Terror, with estimates ranging from 16,000 to 40,000.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution

Hanson notes, "The guillotine stands as the principal symbol of the Terror in the French Revolution." Invented by a physician during the Revolution as a quicker, more efficient and more distinctive form of execution, the guillotine became a part of popular culture and historic memory.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution#Guillotine

The new calendar that was created, "commonly called the French Revolutionary Calendar", "was designed in part to remove all religious and royalist influences." "There were twelve months, each divided into three ten-day weeks called décades. The tenth day, décadi, replaced Sunday as the day of rest and festivity." This was a direct attack by atheist France on God's construction of a seven day week from the Creation where the seventh day was set aside each week for worship. Atheism lost this battle and the current accepted week used around the world is still the seven day week following the Genesis construct. But this war is far from over and there have been other attempts since the French Revolution to bring in a different calendar. Atheism has not given up this struggle. And perhaps it will be a final attempt by the beast from the bottomless pit to overthrow God's seven-day week that will help usher in the terrible time referred to in Revelation 13:15. Something to think about.
see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_Calendar

A future view of the world under atheism?
Image:Future view of a world under atheism?
Nine emigrants are executed by guillotine, 1793
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reign_of_Terror