In October of 2001, the Guardian newspaper in London broke the story that the Watchtower had been secretly operating as a registered NGO. Evidently aware that the story was about to hit the wire in a few days, the Watchtower quietly withdrew its membership from the United Nations.  To this day the vast majority of Jehovah's Witnesses remain unaware of the secret 10-year relationship and the unceremonious dissolution of it. (For more information see essay: The Watchtower as an NGO.)

The explanation given for the bizarre and unseemly alliance by Paul Gillies, the Watchtower's official spokesman in the London branch office, was that the Watchtower merely wanted "a library card" so as to have access to UN library materials; and so that's why the Governing Body registered every year as a NGO with the UN's Department of Public Information (DPI).

But is that reason even credible? If for instance, one of Jehovah's Witnesses were known to regularly sleep over at the house of a prostitute, how likely is it that an investigative committee of elders would accept his excuse that he and the prostitute were merely holding all-night Bible study sessions together? What elder would so naïve to believe such a thing? Essentially that is what the Watchtower is asking us to believe in their case.

But if it is true that the researchers at Bethel supposedly needed access to UN documents that were not otherwise available, which seems dubious, the question then becomes: How could the leading officers of the Watchtower Society be that stupid so as to innocently affiliate themselves with an institution they themselves recognize as a tool of Satan?

Besides, what documents could they possibly have that would be of any concern to Jehovah's Witnesses? The Watchtower is supposed to be devoted to Bible education. Are the Dead Sea Scrolls archived in the UN's library? Or are the hand-written copies of the gospel secretly stashed in the UN headquarters on the East River?

We can all understand the situation of some drunken fool who runs off and joins the army and then sobers up and realizes his folly; but how can the men who are looked upon by Jehovah's Witnesses as leading lights, the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, join the UN as an NGO not knowing what it was all about? It is an incredible claim. And if the NGO relationship was as innocent as claimed, then why secretly terminate it?

But giving the brothers the benefit of the doubt for their indiscretion, what then accounts for the insidious way the Watchtower has tirelessly propagandized in behalf of the United Nations organization these many years?

Some of Jehovah's Witnesses may feel that is an unfair and even slanderous accusation for e-watchman to make! The purpose of this essay is to lay before the public the facts. The record below speaks volumes—literally!

The publishers of the Awake and Watchtower claim to be politically neutral. Every Awake Magazine says in its forward: "This journal…probes beneath the surface and points to the real meaning behind current events, yet it always stays politically neutral…"

But is the Watchtower Society really "politically neutral"? By no means are they politically neutral! The Watchtower is demonstrably, unabashedly pro UN! But rather than making baseless accusations, let us examine the Watchtower's claims of political neutrality in the light of the facts before us.

First though, let us examine NGOs themselves. Just what is an NGO anyway?

There are several different types of NGOs. The World Bank gives a detailed definition of each classification. But, generally, an NGO is any organization that agrees to cooperate with the United Nations to promote any number of objectives.

According to the ngo.org web site, an NGO coordinating network, the purpose of their work "is to help promote collaborations between NGOs throughout the world, so that together we can more effectively partner with the United Nations and each other to create a more peaceful, just, equitable and sustainable world for this and future generations."

So, organizations that are accepted as affiliate NGOs are recognized as being in partnership and collaboration with the United Nations to create a better world. It should be evident that no NGO can truthfully make the claim of being politically neutral and at the same time partner with the United Nations to achieve a common political goal.

There are many ways that NGOs go about cooperating with the political and social aims of the United Nations. Here is a link to the United Nations website that explains the duties and obligations of NGOs associated with DPI. The segment below is taken from the UN's website explaining the duties on NGOS.

Now a few questions: Has the Watchtower lived up to its obligation as an NGO "by drawing attention to issues, suggesting ideas and programmes, disseminating information and mobilizing public opinion in support of the UN and its Specialized Agencies"?

The evidence presented below is overwhelming that the Watchtower was most conscientious in disseminating information and mobilizing public opinion; and they still are even after dissolving their official NGO relationship!

Another question: As is expected from NGOs, did the Watchtower "devote a portion of their information programmes to promoting knowledge of the United Nations' principles and activities"?

The answer is yes!

One more question: Did the Watchtower live up to its contractual obligation as an NGO by keeping the Department of Public Information "abreast of their activities by regularly providing samples of their information materials relating to the work of the UN"?

Again, the answer is absolutely yes.

Here is a link to a UN related website that lists an Awake article that shamelessly praises the United Nations Commission of Human Rights.

Jehovah's Witnesses who may already be familiar with the NGO relationship, though, may not thoroughly grasp the extent to which the Watchtower Society has actually gone in promoting the United Nations and globalism. Even long time readers of the Awake Magazine may only vaguely realize just how frequently the magazine refers to the UN, not in the context of Bible prophecy, but simply reporting on the UN's worldly affairs.

But, if any of Jehovah's Witnesses care to research the topic using the Society's CD-ROM, simply enter in the words "United Nations" into the search feature.  The results are positively staggering.  

It is absolutely incredible, but true: The Awake magazine devotes much more space and explains more about the United Nations and their many programs and policies to fix the word's social ills than they dedicate to explaining the kingdom of God. As a matter of fact, the words "United Nations" are just as prevalent in the Awake as the phrase "God's kingdom."

It seems that the Awake Magazine has become a UN publication that occasionally makes off-handed reference to Jehovah's kingdom. Indeed, given the amount of information published over the years, it seems that Jehovah's Witnesses and the non-Witness readers of the Awake Magazine should be far more informed about the doings of the United Nations than with God's kingdom.

But, the Awake Magazine is not the sole channel for disseminating UN propaganda. The Watchtower Magazine also propagandizes in behalf of world government. Below is a Watchtower article published in October 1st, 1995, on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the UN.  

While the Watchtower cleverly designs its pro-UN propaganda to appear as a backdrop for a lead-in to a discussion of Christ's kingdom, we should rightly be wary of their techniques. For one thing, the reader needs to be cautious of the opinion manipulation at work in even pointing out the UN's shortcomings. The little snippets of quotes harshly critical of the UN's failures do not necessarily reflect the opinions of those who want to disband the UN. On the contrary, the UN's harshest critics are those who feel the UN needs more power; that the reason for its many failures is the fault of uncooperative nations and the media!

In reality, the Watchtower is not contrasting the UN with God's government as much as it is advocating doing away with nationalism. By its relentless propagandizing in behalf of the United Nations, lending it more and more credibility as a legitimate world government, the Watchtower slyly and subtly reinforces the call for the abolition of independent national sovereignties, which is the role NGOs are supposed to play in conditioning people under their influence to accept global government.  That can hardly be described as political neutrality!

At first consideration it might appear as if the Watchtower article above is an unbiased reporting of the facts. But be careful! Ask yourself the following question: How often has the Watchtower commemorated the anniversary of an independent nation state? For example, why has the Watchtower or Awake never acknowledged the establishment of the United States on its anniversary or praised the Declaration of Independence or the American Bill of Rights? Are they not also noble documents, like the UN's Declaration of Human Rights? Nearly the entire 11-22 Awake was devoted to the UN's Declaration of Human Rights. Why the obvious bias? 

Japan, for instance, gives tens of billions of dollars to aid developing nations. So, why not praise Japanese generosity and the contributions it and other countries have made? Why the fixation on UNESCO and other UN aid agencies, as if they were doing something unique in the world?

Another example: Through the Peace Corps program, thousands of volunteers from the United States have been sent to assist in Third World countries; yet, the Watchtower has not so much as once even acknowledged the selfless contributions of the American Peace Corp to the betterment of mankind.  In fact, the only reference the Watchtower has ever made to the Peace Corp was negative. (Other than when it is mentioned in reference to an individual's personal experiences.) Yet there are literally hundreds of quotes in Awake and Watchtower magazines from various UN bureaucrats and reports citing their humanitarian efforts.

Why is that? How can the Awake claim to be "politically neutral" when it falls all over itself to lavish praise upon the United Nations and its myriad agencies and programs and ignores other organizations and institutions that do similar things? 

Perhaps the most revealing example of the Awake's bias against nationalism is their quoting of George Soros in the November 8th, 2001 issue.

Decrying economic inequities in the world the Awake asks: What is the solution? Can human agencies solve the deep economic inequalities through international cooperation? "We do not have adequate international institutions," says Soros, "for the protection of individual freedoms, human rights, and the environment, or for the promotion of social justice—not to mention the preservation of peace. Most of the institutions we do have are associations of states, and states usually put their own interests ahead of the common interest. The United Nations is constitutionally incapable of fulfilling the promises contained in the preamble of its charter."

The Awake quotes Soros as an expert in the field, but just who is George Soros anyway? According to Soros' bio he is the world's most gracious philanthropist. But, there is another side to Mr. Soros that has a direct bearing upon the topic at hand here. George Soros is reputed to have collaborated with the Nazis during WWII and is one of the most rapacious money-changers in the world. He was personally responsible for creating the so-called Asian Tigers financial crisis a few years back. He was called to account by the president of Malaysia, Mohammed Mahathir, for working to destroy the economic sovereignty of the nations of Southeast Asia and Indonesia. It is recognized now that the capital controls Mahathir imposed to prevent currency traders from wreaking havoc on Malaysia's sovereign currency resulted in that nation's being spared the worst effects of the Asian financial crisis. As a consequence Soros called for the removal of Mahathir, a sovereign head-of-state, presumably in order to proceed with his raid on the nation's currency. Soros is also the leading force for dope legalization and euthanasia. He typifies the mindset of the financier oligarchs today who are determined to destroy the nation-state system and return the world back under the yoke of a feudalistic empire.

So, when Soros decries that institutions associated with sovereign states pursue their own interests and that the UN just isn't strong enough, he is really denouncing the nation-state system and advocating world government—or more aptly—a world empire devoid of the hindrances (and protections) of democratic institutions.

The Watchtower is compliant in making the case for the same. The Awake's quoting of Soros is indicative of where their political sympathies really are. It would also appear to be a fulfillment of Daniel 11:32, which foretells that the king of the North will mislead anointed ones who apostatize against the kingdom covenant. It reads: "those who are acting wickedly against the covenant, he (the king of the north) will lead into apostasy by means of smooth words. But as regards the people who are knowing their God, they will prevail and act effectively"

Unless we have some insight into the world dynamics and the ongoing struggle between the forces of empire and the democratic states, symbolized in Daniel as the iron and the clay, it is impossible to discern the "smooth words" oozing from the pages of the Watchtower and Awake journals.

But most of Jehovah's Witnesses would likely protest, saying: "Isn't it taking things too far accusing the Watchtower of spiritual prostitution?"

Not according to the Watchtower. Consider the Watchtower's own indictment of Christendom in the following excerpt from the April 15, 1989 WT:

Has the Watchtower spiritually prostituted itself and the whole organization? Again, according to the Watchtower's own words in condemnation of Christendom, the answer is yes.

In the book The Nations Shall Know, the Society writes: "Christendom's perpetual friendliness with the politicians, and military forces and the big business profiteers of this world is a public scandal… The religious sects of Christendom have committed spiritual adultery also "with their dungy idols." One of the latest and biggest things to be idolized by her is the "image" of the symbolic wild beast of world politics, namely, the United Nations, to which most of the professedly Christian nations belong."

But isn't the Watchtower's illicit liaison with the United Nations as an NGO also a public scandal? It would seem to be even more scandalous in view of the fact that the Watchtower has been so vocal in boasting about its own supposed spiritual purity from such worldliness.

In what way has Christendom idolized the United Nations that the Watchtower has not? The Watchtower may not have blasphemously proclaimed the UN or League of Nations to be the political manifestation of the kingdom of God on earth, but their persistent doting on the UN's every utterance amounts to idolization. If the UN is really the "disgusting thing" of prophecy, does not constant attendance to it amount to glorifying a "dungy idol," as Jehovah called them?

The bottom line is that the Watchtower made an alliance with a political agency of Satan's world and as the facts below testify, they have subserviently carried out their obligation. In Jehovah's estimation, that amounts to idolatry.

The Watchtower is guilty of gross hypocrisy in this regard. At least the religions of the world are open and honest about being NGOs, whereas the Watchtower has behaved just like an immoral adulterer sneaking surreptitiously in the shadows and lying when found out.

As an example, in the November 22nd, 2000, Awake, dealing with the movement to remove the Vatican from its UN seat, the article shamelessly quotes an official who said: "the appropriate role for the Vatican is that of a NGO—the same as all the other NGOs representing Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Bahais and other religious organisations." We might naturally wonder if the Society would have used that quote had the author added Jehovah's Witnesses to the list of religions represented at the UN as NGOs.

When King David was confronted by the prophet Nathan over his secret adulterous affair with Bathsheba, after David unwittingly condemned himself, Nathan said: "You are the man!" Similarly, the March 15th, 1976 issue of the Watchtower in the article entitled "Loyalty to Marriage Covenant Moves God to Mercy," in reality pronounces sentence upon itself, saying:

The question is: If Christendom is to be held guilty before God for her spiritual harlotry, and she merely claims to be in a covenant with Jehovah, how much more reprehensible are they who actually are in a spiritual covenant with God, but who prove false to it?

Some may wonder why, why would the Watchtower prostitute itself in such a way? What was in it for them? Does the UN pay NGOs to do public relations work for them? In what way was the Watchtower benefited as an NGO? After all, a literal prostitute gets paid for her services!

Strangely, the Watchtower does not seem to have benefited at all directly from the United Nations. It seems to have been a one-way relationship. Fittingly, Jehovah's laser-like, penetrating vision seems to have foreseen even this aspect of the Watchtower's profitless acts of prostitution.

At Ezekiel 16:34-36 Jehovah takes his wayward wife-like organization to task, saying to her: "To all prostitutes they are accustomed to give a present, but you—you have given your presents to all those passionately loving you, and you offer a bribe to them to come in to you from all around in your acts of prostitution. And in your case the opposite thing takes place from that of other women in your acts of prostitution, and after your style no prostitution has been committed, even in your giving hire when no hire has been given to you, and so it occurs in the opposite way."

According to God's own law, a prostitute was to be stoned to death for her harlotry. Essentially, Jehovah enforced that law upon the entire nation of Israel.

Bethel, are you listening?

Further information and documented facts:
Awake! Magazine: The Facts