Originally published on e-watchman.com in September, 2002
In recent months, the news media has brought to the public's attention shocking stories of child sexual abuse within the families and congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses. As horrendous and heart breaking as child abuse is, the most disturbing aspect of such revelations is the apparent failure on the part of local elders and the Watchtower Society's leadership to deal appropriately with the accused and especially their victims.
In all fairness, if such cases of mishandled child abuse were isolated, we might be justified in coming to the conclusion that a few elders simply lacked proper judgment - certainly that would be bad enough. But, apparently there are literally thousands of cases of abuse on file at the Watchtower headquarters and a pattern has definitely been established as to how such cases are handled - or mishandled, as the case may be.
Given the secretive nature of the judicial process in the congregations, most of Jehovah's Witnesses have been kept in the dark as to the extent of the problem. But now that the victims of sexual abuse have been given a voice through the public media, and courageous abuse advocates have also stepped forward from within Jehovah's Witnesses to speak for them and verify their stories; they all tell a very similar tale. It goes something like this: A trusted brother in the congregation, sometimes a family member, abuses the victims over a period of time. The victim finally musters the courage to go to the elders and report the crime. The Watchtower's Legal department is contacted. A committee of elders is formed to handle the case. Typically, the accused denies the charges and the elders tell the victim that their hands are tied because there are not two witnesses to the crime. Sometimes the police are notified and other times they are not - depending upon local legal requirements.
One would think that such cases could be handled straightforwardly, especially by elders who presumably have Christ's mind on matters and who appreciate their responsibility to plead the legal case of the afflicted one. We might call to mind the apostle Paul's clear-headed judgment of a moral offense in the first century Corinthian congregation, which involved a scandalous case of immorality between a man and his father's wife. At 1st Corinthians 5:3-4, Paul told the brothers that even though he was personally absent in the flesh, he was present in the spirit and had judged the case already. His judgment was that the immoral man should be put out of the congregation. It was an open and shut case as far as the apostle was concerned. Paul told the Corinthian congregation that their cause for boasting was not proper. His words apply to us with equal force: "And are you puffed up, and did you not rather mourn, in order that the man that committed this deed should be taken away from your midst?"
How might Paul judge those men today who abuse or rape children? We cannot imagine Christ or Paul turning away an abused child who came to them for justice. How must Jehovah view the shepherds who fail to render justice to the disadvantaged and afflicted ones? Really, what must the God of righteousness think when his dear sheep are skinned and abused and they go to the appointed shepherds for protection and justice and the shepherds turn them away? How must God judge his shepherds? If the shepherds shove aside the legal claim of the abused, such elders have unquestionably abused their power and reproached their Creator.
To the shame of all of Jehovah's Witnesses, and a reproach to Jehovah God himself, the pattern that has emerged indicates that sexual abuse has not been the only form of abuse that has taken place in the organization. In addition to the scourge of sexual abuse, we must add abuse of power to the charge against the Watchtower and the congregations' appointed shepherds. Most sobering is that this accusation is not from those who might be described as opposers of the truth, but from God himself.
According to the Watchtower's official policy, in the absence of an outright confession of guilt on the part of the accused, no judicial action can be taken against any accused molester unless there happen to be at least two witnesses to the crime.
Ancient Biblical law expressly forbade the judges from acting upon the accusations of a single accuser, so, according to the Watchtower, the very law of God prevents our elders from rendering justice to the afflicted one! But how can that be? Doesn't God's law specifically caution his judges that under no circumstances are they to shove aside the legal claims of fatherless boys and widows? Yet isn't that exactly what we have done, even using God's own law as a pretext for doing so? If there were some doubt as to how God's law should be applied today, wouldn't it be better for God-fearing elders to err on the side of the abused rather than the accused?
When Christ instructed his disciples to be quick about settling matters of dispute by taking "along one or two witnesses, so that at the mouth of two or three witnesses every matter may be established," surely we are mistaken in applying that legal precept to cases of child abuse. After all, the first step in the process that Jesus outlined instructs the offended party to "go lay bare his fault between you and him alone." Surely, though, it is absurd and outrageous to expect an abused child to confront their adult abuser in private. No sane or reasonable person would suggest such a course of action be taken. Would Jesus Christ advise one of his battered lambs to go in private to confront the wolf that had just devoured them? Of course not!
But the question arises; if we do not require the victim to observe the first part of Christ's mandate, why then do we insist that the second aspect of that directive, in regard to the need for two witnesses, must be scrupulously observed? Are we so unreasonable as to imagine Christ demands that abused children produce another witness before they can obtain some sort of justice from the elders?
Even human law recognizes that children are vulnerable and therefore warrant special legal protection. That's why there are child protection agencies and laws that protect the rights of infants and minors. Jehovah himself is the primary advocate of the defenseless and afflicted. Yet, the Watchtower's policy makes no distinction between the judicial claim of an abused child and that of an adult. By so doing, the Watchtower's legal department has made it unscriptural for elders to advocate the lawful and God-given rights of abused children!
Jesus Christ condemned the Pharisees for their hypocrisy because they scrupulously observed relatively minor aspects of the Law, but disregarded the weightier matters having to do with justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Likewise, we have devoted ourselves to faithfully engaging in field service and regularly attending meetings, we have even proclaimed that we abhor child abuse, yet by our organizational policies we are denying justice and mercy to thousands of sexually abused children in our congregations! And do we imagine that Jehovah God shall be an accomplice to such atrocities? How could God possibly condone what is taking place among Jehovah's Witnesses?
Does not the prophecy of Isaiah accuse the leaders of God's people of the very thing that has taken place in the Watchtower Society? Isaiah 10:1-2 pronounces God's judicial decision in this regard, saying: "Woe to those who are enacting harmful regulations and those who, constantly writing, have written out sheer trouble, in order to push away the lowly ones from a legal case and to wrest away justice from the afflicted ones of my people, for the widows to become their spoil, and that they may plunder even the fatherless boys!"
It seems that the Watchtower has provided a timely example of what God is talking about of "those who, constantly writing, have written out sheer trouble," in that the above-linked press release admits that the Watchtower's legal experts are continually tinkering with their organizational policy. Here is a direct quote: "Our procedures have been refined over time. Over the years, as we have noted areas where our policies could be strengthened, we have followed through. We are continuing to refine them."
This is mere double-speak and legalese, because even as the press release notes, it remains the Watchtower's official policy to disallow the uncollaborated legitimate claim of an abused child. Indeed, the lawyers continue writing out sheer trouble for themselves and have brought the entire congregation under Jehovah's adverse judgment by their wicked reasonings! Is it not clear that it is wrong for the Watchtower to use biblical law in order to disregard the legal claim of sexually abused children? Surely the devising of such organizational policies is exactly what the prophecy foretold as to "enacting harmful regulations."
Jehovah's rhetorical question directed to the corrupt judges of his people in the next verse of Isaiah should give all God-fearing people a reason to shudder: "And what will you men do at the day of being given attention and at the ruin, when it comes from far away? Toward whom will you men flee for assistance, and where will you leave your glory?"
Jeremiah explains how this horrible miscarriage of justice has come about. He writes: "For among my people there have been found wicked men. They keep peering, as when birdcatchers crouch down. They have set a ruinous trap. It is men that they catch. As a cage is full of flying creatures, so their houses are full of deception. That is why they have become great and gained riches." (Jeremiah 5:26-27)
Typically, the Watchtower interprets God's unflattering and adverse judgments as applying to Christendom. Notice, though, that God locates such wicked men as being among his own people. Because wicked men use deception to set a trap for innocent, trusting ones, it makes it hard to detect such treacherous trappers. But, in view of the unrighteous and ruinous policies promoted by some among the Watchtower's leading men, and if we truly believe we are God's people, then we must accept the hard fact that God is speaking about his own organization as being victimized from within by wicked men.
In the next verses of Jeremiah, Jehovah accuses these wicked men of not pleading the legal case of the afflicted ones. It reads: "No legal case have they pleaded, even the legal case of the fatherless boy, that they may gain success; and the judgment of the poor ones they have not taken up...An astonishing situation, even a horrible thing, has been brought to be in the land."
Surely, the Watchtower's unwillingness to plead the legal case of our own abused children is perfectly described in Scripture as "an astonishing situation, even a horrible thing."
"THEY HAVE GONE DEEP IN BRINGING RUIN"
The reason that Jehovah's ancient judicial rulings are relevant for our modern world is because, even though cultures have changed since Bible times, human nature has remained the same. That's why the apostle could say that all the things that were recorded aforetime were actually written for those who would be living at a much later date, during the period of the judgment. One of the things written aforetime that is especially relevant to the present situation has to do with a shocking sex crime that took place during the period when Israel was ruled by the judges. The account takes up three whole chapters in the book of Judges.
Briefly, what took place was that a man and his concubine were traveling and stopped over in the town of Gibeah for the night. Sex perverts surrounded the house where the couple were staying as guests and demanded that the male visitor be brought out that they might rape him. Instead, the men settled for the female concubine, whom they raped to death. News of the rape and murder was sent out to all the tribes. The 11 tribes gathered an army and came to the tribesmen of Benjamin and demanded that they hand over the guilty men so that they could be put to death, which is what the Law stipulated must be done in that case. However, the Benjaminites refused to hand the perpetrators over. War erupted and tens of thousands needlessly lost their lives. Gibeah and numerous other cities in Benjamin's territory were burned to the ground, and the tribe of Benjamin was almost entirely annihilated as a result of their foolish refusal to do justice.
What makes this historical account particularly relevant is that Jehovah referred to it years later through his prophet Hosea. Hosea 9:9 says: "They have gone down deep in bringing ruin, as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their error; he will give attention to their sins."
In the case of Gibeah, the account probably wouldn't even be recorded in the Bible had the men of Benjamin done the right thing. It was the fact that Benjamin tried to shield the guilty men from justice that caused such widespread ruination. Their refusal to do justice compounded the original sin many times over. That is no doubt why God said through Hosea that they had "gone down deep in bringing ruin."
Keeping in mind that the book of Judges is an historical account that may or may not have an exact parallel for our day; on the other hand, Hosea is a prophecy that does have application to the Christian congregation during the time of judgment. How do we know that? Because at 1 Corinthians 15:55, Paul quoted directly from Hosea, when he asked: "Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?" Indeed, up to this very moment death continues to be victorious over us. As Paul noted, it is not until the last trumpet sounds during Christ's presence that "death is swallowed up forever." That being the case, Hosea's prophecy has relevance for spiritual Israel up until the last members of that spiritual nation are granted immortality. The very last verse of Hosea challenges us to discern what Jehovah's judgments actually mean. It says: "Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Discreet that he may know them?"
Virtually every Hebrew prophet foretells of Jehovah's judgments against his spiritual nation that are to be accomplished during the period immediately preceding the final war of Armageddon. The prophets have also foretold that God's otherwise-discreet men would be blind to such judgments. As just one example of our blindness in this regard, consider the oft-referred-to attack of Gog of Magog in Ezekiel. What is important to keep in mind is that the attack of Gog is entirely prophetic. In other words, the prophecy of Gog had no application to any ancient nation such as Babylon .
What we have understood up to this point is that when the symbolic Gog and his crowd are annihilated, that that is the end of the world as it presently exists. What we have so far failed to grasp is that Jehovah sanctions the attack of Gog as a means of punishing his people for their sins. That's why Ezekiel 39:23 says: "And the nations will have to know that it was because of their error that they, the house of Israel, went into exile, on account of the fact that they behaved unfaithfully toward me, so that I concealed my face from them and gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they kept falling, all of them, by the sword. According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I did with them, and I kept concealing my face from them."
According to prophecy, Jehovah is going to judge and severely discipline his people for their unfaithfulness and transgressions. Clearly, Jehovah's judgment against his people for their transgressions was not fulfilled back in 1918-19 as we now suppose. Just what transgressions might we be punished for? Returning to the prophecy of Hosea, God's comparing the sin of his spiritual nation to the ruination brought about "in the days of Gibeah" must have reference to the present ruinous policies of the Watchtower that have shielded sexual predators and child molesters. Hosea 10:9 confirms that the sin of Gibeah was not merely the original sex crime, but the refusal of the older men of Benjamin to hand over the criminals. At Hosea 10:2, God indicts his people for becoming hypocrites. It reads: "Their heart has become hypocritical; now they will be found guilty."
Interestingly, Hosea makes mention of the fact that God's prophets will behave foolishly in the face of the coming judgment, and that as Jeremiah also described, birdcatchers will seek to lay traps among God's people. Hosea 9:7-8 reads as follows: "The days of being given attention must come; the days of the due payment must come. Those of Israel will know it. The prophet will be foolish, the man of inspired expression will be maddened on account of the abundance of your error, even animosity being abundant. The watchman of Ephraim was with my God. As regards a prophet, there is a trap of a birdcatcher on all his ways; there is animosity in the house of his God."
Certainly there is a growing animosity today among God's household due to the reproach that the organization has brought upon the sacred name of Jehovah, not to mention the many thousands who have already been stumbled in their faith due to such things as the Watchtower's NGO membership, false prophetic interpretations, and ruinous child abuse policies. The watchman, though, calls attention to Jehovah's coming judgment upon his house.
One aspect of Jehovah's coming judgment will be the settling accounts with his shepherds. James cautioned Christian men that teachers would receive a heavier judgment. Paul also verified that overseers are "those who will render an account" to God. The 34th chapter of Ezekiel is the legal basis for God's judgment of his shepherds. Ezekiel 34:4 says: "The sickened ones you have not strengthened, and the ailing one you have not healed, and the broken one you have not bandaged, and the dispersed one you have not brought back, and the lost one you have not sought to find, but with harshness you have had them in subjection, even with tyranny."
Encouragingly, Ezekiel goes on to foretell that after God feeds his self-serving negligent shepherds with judgment, and relieves them from serving as shepherds of his people, that he will personally bring his lost sheep back to the fold and bind up their wounds and heal them. Jehovah's coming judgment means justice for the silent lambs who have been made to suffer, not only at the hands of their wicked abusers, but also by the shepherds who have so far failed to care for them properly.
Although no human, no matter how caring, can remove the emotional scars that victims of child abuse bear deep in their souls, Jehovah can and will provide complete healing. Although no counselor, no matter how skillful, can give back the lost innocence to those robbed of it, Jehovah can and will create an entirely new person. Although no elder, no matter how just and compassionate, can undo the horrible wrongs committed, Jehovah can and will provide perfect justice. Jehovah has the wisdom, the power, and most importantly, the desire to set all things right.
What we need within the congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses is not more lawyers fiddling with organizational policy. What we desperately need is Jehovah's judgment. The Watchtower has frequently advised victims of child abuse, as well as Jehovah's Witnesses in general, that we must "wait on Jehovah." Ironically, our waiting on Jehovah means that inevitably he is going to mete out some very harsh discipline upon those who probably imagine themselves to be least deserving of it. However, in regards to the so-called faithful slave, Christ Jesus stated a principle of accountability at Luke 12:48. It reads: "Indeed, everyone to whom much was given, much will be demanded of him; and the one whom people put in charge of much, they will demand more than usual of him."
Up to the present moment, the brothers have refused to take responsibility for any of the injustices that have taken place on their watch. It is not likely that they ever will, of their own accord. But Jesus assures us that there will be a settling of accounts with all of his servants. Jehovah proposes to bring the whole organization to its knees just as he did Israel on several occasions. Only when we acknowledge our error will Jehovah grant his people the blessings that we prayerfully anticipate.
In the concluding chapter of Hosea, Jehovah invites his chastised and humbled people to return to him. Verse one says: "Do come back, O Israel , to Jehovah your God, for you have stumbled in your error." Interestingly, the 3rd verse makes acknowledgement that it is by God "that a fatherless boy is shown mercy." This seems to indicate that part of the error that caused us to stumble had to do with our not showing mercy to the fatherless boy. (The fatherless boy can represent all of those who are disadvantaged, abused, and afflicted.) But, in spite of all of our stupidity and sins, like the loving and merciful Father that he is, Jehovah consolingly promises: "I shall heal their unfaithfulness. I shall love them of my own free will, because my anger has turned back from him."
Whether you are personally a victim of child abuse, or perhaps one of many who are disturbed and even stumbled by the evils that have occurred within the organization, hopefully by our consideration of a few prophecies that deal with how Jehovah purposes to rectify such things, your faith in God might be restored and strengthened. The apostle Paul described God's word as being "alive and sharper than any two-edged sword." How true that is! How reassuring to know that men are not in control. Jehovah verifies for us through his written word that he has already seen what has taken place in secret. His solution is just as certain.
So whether you are a modern-day silent lamb or one who is heart-sick and dejected by what has taken place in Jehovah's organization, take courage from the fact that the true shepherd is at the door and his promise is as follows: Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said to them: "Here I am, I myself, and I will certainly judge between a plump sheep and a lean sheep, For the reason that with the flank and with the shoulder you kept pushing And with your horns you kept shoving all the sickened ones until you had scattered them to the outside. And I will save my sheep, and they will no longer become something for plunder; And I will judge between a sheep and a sheep. And I will raise up over them one shepherd, and he must feed them, even my servant David. He himself will feed them, and he himself will become their shepherd. And I myself, Jehovah, will become their God, and my servant David a chieftain in the midst of them. I myself, Jehovah, have spoken." (Ezekiel 34:20-24)
