Jehovah's witnesses are very strongly cultic in both doctrine and behaviour, thus fitting both categories of false doctrine and mind control.

What they will tell you:

Jehovah's Witnesses are Christians (although this varies - some JWs will not say this).

What they won't tell you:

They believe that all true Christian churches are of the devil.

They believe Jesus is not God, but is the Archangel Michael - the first being created by God.

They deny that God is a Trinity.

They believe Jesus died on a stake, rather than a cross.

They deny that Jesus rose bodily from the dead.

They believe that ony 144,000 Jehovah's Witnesses will go to heaven. The rest will live forever in a paradise on Earth, never meeting the person who died for them - Jesus Christ.

They believe that salvation is impossible outside of the Watchtower.

They are not allowed to question the Watchtower leadership or teaching.

They claim you need to read the Watchtower's magazines and other material in order to understand the Bible correctly. If you don't read the Watchtower's books, you will "fall into darkness" - what they call reverting to normal Christianity.

They have falsely predicted the end of the world five times.

They have just changed a major Watchtower prediction that the end of the world would come before the generation of Witnesses born before 1914 died.

"This cartoon is from the Watchtower publication Golden Age of March 30, 1932, page 409, and is typical of similar pictures or Watchtower cartoons of the era."

They used to forbid any vaccinations or organ transplants, even to save lives.

They are not allowed to have blood transfusions, even to save a child's life. Note that at the meeting of the European Commission of Human Rights (Strasbourg, Monday 2 March - Friday 13 March 1998) http://194.250.50.201/eng/E276INFO.148.html under "II.Reports adopted" the Jehovah's Witnesses agreed to radically alter this position. In practice (as outlined in a letter which can be read at Comments from the Friends), the Jehovah's Witnesses do not acknowledge that they need to change their control methods.

"The applicant [Christian Association Jehovah's Witnesses in Bulgaria] undertook with regard to its stance on blood transfusions to draft a statement for inclusion in its statute providing that members should have free choice in the matter for themselves and their children, without any control or sanction on the part of the association."

– European Commission of Human Rights, March 1998.

"The phrasing that is to be incorporated into the statutes of the Christian Association of Jehovah's Witnesses in Bulgaria describes the manner in which Jehovah's Witnesses have traditionally handled these matters."

"Before a person becomes one of Jehovah's Witnesses, the Bible standards are clearly explained. Of course, if someone as a baptized member of Jehovah's Witnesses engages in conduct that falls outside of those Bible standards, efforts are made in a kindly manner to help the erring one recover spiritually. If one refuses such assistance and refuses to uphold Bible standards, including Bible standards regarding the misuse of blood, then this may at times lead to the Scriptural action of disfellowshipping.-1 Corinthians 5:11-13."

– Watchtower letter, August 1998.

They are encouraged to visit homes for at least 10 hours per month distributing Watchtower materials.

They use their own special translation of the Bible which mistranslates the original texts.

They are well known to disown, shun, and ignore any friends and family leaving the cult.

They discourage tertiary education.

They are not allowed to be in the army or wear crosses.

They are not allowed to celebrate birthdays.

They are not allowed to celebrate Christmas - the date we celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ.

All this they will not tell you, and yet they still claim that "Before a person becomes one of Jehovah's Witnesses, the Bible standards are clearly explained."

CULTWATCH recommends the following Web Sites for research regarding this group…