Watchtower Says the 'World is NOT Spiraling Out of Control'???

A recruitment video currently sitting on the homepage of JW.org has a Jehovah's Witness say something that contradicts almost everything Watchtower has told its own members for the past 150 years: that the world is not spiraling out of control.

That line is worth pulling apart on its own. But the video around it — nearly a decade old, still being pushed to newcomers in 2026 — is worth pulling apart too, because it's a case study in how Watchtower recruits people using claims it doesn't apply to the people already inside.

"Not Spiraling Out of Control"? Watchtower Says Otherwise Everywhere Else

The line comes from a man in the video, talking about what studying the Bible taught him:

People lose hope. They've lost everything. And by studying the Bible, you learn why there is suffering, why people die. You learn that this whole world is not spiraling out of control.

I had to rewatch that and check the official subtitles to be sure I wasn't hearing it wrong, because it doesn't square with anything Watchtower has told its own members. An Awake! cover from 2017 asked "Is the World Out of Control?" A 2023 Watchtower article described "an increasingly confused and chaotic world." One from March of this year invoked the "critical times, hard to deal with" language. Governing body updates have said the same thing. Here's a line from one of those updates:

I think it's one of the most heartwarming privileges I've ever had to see how that Jehovah's organization can take care of needs whereas the world around us is falling apart.

The man speaking there isn't a governing body member, but that line was approved for a governing body update. And here's governing body member Kenneth Cook, from the broadcast released this month:

As we face our own challenges in these last days, including the fast approaching great tribulation, let's draw lessons from such examples, and remain steadfast in our faith, confident in Jehovah's promises and guidance.

So the world is falling apart, the great tribulation is fast approaching, we live in critical times, hard to deal with, and the world is out of control — that's the consistent message to existing members. Then a recruitment video has a man on screen saying it's not spiraling out of control. I'll get to Watchtower's actual answer to that contradiction later, because it does have one. First, some context on why that video says what it says.

A Video Still on the Homepage, Nine Years Later

The video is short, and it's built around a man the captions call Tom — a former Catholic seminarian with a psychology background who eventually joined Jehovah's Witnesses. It was first released in September 2015. As of this writing, it's still on the homepage of JW.org, which means Watchtower is still actively promoting it.

I have nothing against Tom personally. He's an indoctrinated rank-and-file Jehovah's Witness like I used to be, and I'd be a hypocrite to hold that against him. What I'm going after here is the corporate entity that made this video and the men who run it — not Tom, not the witness he studied with, not any rank-and-file member.

Tom explains in the video why he left the Catholic Church. He wanted to be a priest, went to seminary at 18, and left angry because, as he put it, everyone was "going through the motions of ritual" with "no authenticity." He later worked as a counselor-in-training at a monastery, in a program for alcoholic priests, and that experience broke something in him:

I felt everything I had believed in had been a lie.

Those are legitimate reasons to leave an institution. Going through empty ritual, discovering that a church hides its damaged clergy instead of dealing with them, feeling like everything you believed was a lie — I'd shake his hand for walking away from that.

The Ritual He Left Looks a Lot Like the One He Joined

Here's the problem: a Jehovah's Witness meeting is one of the most scripted religious services you'll find anywhere. An elder stands at the front, someone reads a paragraph or plays a video, and the audience follows along with printed questions that have the expected answers already fed to them. Someone raises a hand, gives the answer that was already given to them, and the process repeats until the material is finished — in every Kingdom Hall in the world, in hundreds of languages, with the same songs and the same closing prayers, twice a week, for as long as you stay.

If empty ritual is why Tom left the Catholic Church, and Watchtower is endorsing that reasoning by putting it in a recruitment video, then that same standard should disqualify the organization that made the video. I've visited dozens of churches since leaving the religion, and I haven't found a more scripted service than a Kingdom Hall meeting.

The Alcohol Watchtower Doesn't Talk About

Tom also said the big secret at the monastery was that it's where all the troubled priests go. While we're on the subject of alcohol and religion, here's JT, from the channel XJW Critical Thinker, describing what it was like arriving at Bethel, the Jehovah's Witness world headquarters:

But you know, alcohol at Bethel is not anything new. Anyone who is familiar with other presidents of the organization, alcohol has been a very strong feature. I know, basically when you come in as what is referred to as a new boy in your entrance school classes, that is one of the things that they stress, because that's one of the things that you get introduced to very quickly. I grew up at a time when you could actually drink at 18 — the law had not changed over to 21. So when you get called to Bethel at 19, everybody can drink, and for a lot of brothers that was an issue. I remember one of the first gatherings I went to — I was invited over to a Bethelite's room, and it was a Monday night after the Watchtower study. He was watching the Monday night game, and having beer was no big thing, or having liquor was no big thing. And so one of the guys asked, "Where's the beer?" And he said, "It's in the bathroom." And so I go in the bathroom and I pull back the curtain, and there is a tub of ice with a keg buried in it. And the reason why — because Bethel used to buy the keg.

JT, who along with Lady C was instrumental in helping me and my wife Beth after we left the religion, also documented former governing body member Anthony Morris being caught on camera buying loads of scotch on a Sunday morning when he was supposed to be at the Kingdom Hall. Here's a short clip of that exchange:

I see you're a fan of scotch. Do you know anything about Irish whiskey? — Yeah. — Not a lot. My wife likes it. Jameson's always popular. — Yeah.

Watchtower doesn't have anything like the monastery Tom described — no institution it sends struggling elders or members to. Its relief work is volunteers patching roofs after a hurricane. When a witness needs actual money, look at where the elders manual sends them. Here's the 2025 edition of Shepherd the Flock of God, the confidential manual rank-and-file members — especially women — aren't supposed to see, on what to do in a natural disaster:

Help publishers determine if they qualify for material assistance through government or social programs, personal insurance, or some other source. If a particular relief organization is in general of a religious nature but funded by the government, there is no objection to publishers accepting humanitarian aid as long as they are not also accepting membership in a religious organization.

So Watchtower directs elders to send witnesses to other charities and the government for help — including charities run by other churches, the very institutions Watchtower calls part of "Babylon the Great," ruled by Satan. You'll be shunned for attending another church's service, but it's fine to take their money and food. Watchtower doesn't help its own members with alcohol problems or other social issues; it sends them elsewhere.

Four Questions, Answered With Scripture Instead of Facts

Tom says the two things he cares about most are people thinking for themselves instead of being told what to believe, and organizations lying to people. Both of those should have been a serious problem for him as a Jehovah's Witness.

On thinking for yourself, here's the January 15, 1983 Watchtower, on the subject of questioning the organization's own changing teachings:

This is independent thinking. Why is it so dangerous? Such thinking is an evidence of pride.

And the February 15, 1981 issue, on questioning anything the organization gives you — what they call "spiritual food":

Jehovah is not pleased if we receive that food as though it might contain something harmful.

On organizations lying to people: here's governing body member Stephen Lett, from a 2015 morning worship talk, addressing the claim that the organization protects pedophiles:

Another way we can contribute to the oneness is rejecting false stories that are designed to separate us from Jehovah's organization. As an example, think about the apostate-driven lies and dishonesty that Jehovah's organization is permissive toward pedophiles. I mean, that is ridiculous, isn't it? If anybody takes action against someone who would threaten our young ones and takes action to protect our young ones, it's Jehovah's organization. We reject outright such lies.

The Australian Royal Commission found 1,006 alleged predators in Watchtower's own files, with at least 1,800 victims and 579 of the accused confessing. Not one was ever reported to the police by the organization. And here's governing body member Geoffrey Jackson, under oath at that same commission, asked whether Jehovah's Witnesses see themselves as God's spokespeople on earth:

— And do you see yourselves as Jehovah God's spokespeople on earth? — Uh, that I think would seem to be quite presumptuous to say that we are the only spokesperson that God is using.

Watchtower has taught in print since at least the 1950s that it is God's sole channel of communication on earth. One of its own leaders, under oath, called that claim presumptuous.

Now to Tom's actual study session. He describes being intimidated by the witness teaching him — not because of Tom's own seminary training, but because of the witness's job as "a professional in the secular world," a college teacher and psychologist. Tom brought a notebook of questions, and the man answered every one of them from scripture, which Tom found "revolutionary" — not some institution's opinion, but "the very authority of God." Here are the four questions, and what the scriptures he was given actually cover.

How Does Your Organization Handle Child Sexual Abuse?

Tom's video was released in September 2015. One month earlier, on August 14, 2015, Geoffrey Jackson testified at the Australian Royal Commission, which was actively investigating child abuse in Jehovah's Witness congregations at the time. Under the organization's policy, elders required two witnesses to abuse — or a confession — before acting, and the practice was to report to police only when required to do so by law, not automatically. Counsel Angus Stewart asked Jackson whether there was a scriptural basis for the two-witness rule. Jackson said:

Absolutely.

The scripture is Matthew 18:16, a courtroom rule from the Mosaic law for settling disputes between adults:

On the testimony of two or three witnesses, every matter may be established.

That's a rule for adult disputes, applied to a crime that by its nature has no witnesses. Asked about mandatory reporting, Jackson said this twice:

If the Australian government and all the states was to make mandatory reporting, it would make it so much easier for us.

Nothing stops Watchtower from adding a line to the elders manual on its own. The manual currently reads:

Two elders, if possible, should call the service department immediately in the following situations: the elders learn of an accusation of child abuse, abuse of the elderly, or abuse of the disabled.

Changing "call the service department" to "call the police" would solve the problem without waiting on any government. So when Tom asked how the organization handles child sexual abuse and was given a scripture, that scripture wasn't the real answer. The real answer — a two-witness policy and reporting only when legally compelled — was sitting in the elders manual, and had just been confirmed under oath weeks before the video was released.

How Does the Money Work?

There's no scripture that answers this one, because Watchtower doesn't publish financial statements in the US or in most countries where it operates. In the few countries that require at least some disclosure — the UK, Canada, and Australia — it does the legal minimum. By one conservative estimate, the organization is worth about $55 billion worldwide, though Watchtower has never published its own figures. The Canadian charity watchdog Charity Intelligence gives the Watchtower Society of Canada zero stars out of five for financial transparency and an F for results reporting; its reviewers found that the numbers Watchtower filed with Canadian tax authorities differ drastically from the numbers in its own financial statements, and that its reserves hit $161 million in 2022, up 67% in a single year — in a country where at least some transparency is legally required. Contrast that with the apostle Paul, who collected money for Jerusalem and sent it with named men, writing:

We are avoiding having any man find fault with us in connection with this liberal contribution.

Named men, open accounting, avoiding any appearance of impropriety with money — that's not what happens at Watchtower.

What's the Check and Balance?

Again, no scripture answers this. The governing body appoints itself and answers to no one. There's no formal grievance process for rank-and-file members, no independent judiciary that can overrule leadership decisions, and no way to vote anyone out — not ministerial servants, not elders, not circuit overseers, not governing body members. That's despite the organization printing in 2017 that the governing body can err in doctrinal matters or organizational direction. Rather than building in any way to catch or correct those errors, Watchtower tells members the opposite. Here's the November 15, 2013 Watchtower:

The life-saving direction that we receive from Jehovah's organization may not appear practical from a human standpoint. All of us must be ready to obey any instructions we may receive whether these appear sound from a strategic or human standpoint or not.

Where's the Transparency?

There's none here either. Nothing Watchtower publishes carries an author's name, including the New World Translation — all of its translators are anonymous, so there's no way to check anyone's credentials. Judicial committees, which decide whether to have a member shunned by everyone they know, are held behind closed doors; the elders manual says observers are generally not invited, that confidential conversations should never be recorded, and that the chairman should ensure personal notes are destroyed once the paperwork is filed. There's no transcript and no record a member can ever request. And Watchtower's own online library of past publications — despite the organization having material going back to 1879 — cuts off around 1950 for most publications, and even later for others.

Whatever scripture Tom was given for each of these four questions, it wasn't an answer to the actual policy question he asked. It just felt like one, because he was never shown the documents that contained the real answer: the Royal Commission testimony, the elders manual, the Charity Intelligence report.

"The Governing Body Has Decided"

For a sense of how the organization actually explains its own decisions to members, compare Tom's "revolutionary" experience of getting scripture to this, from official Watchtower media:

The governing body has decided... the governing body has decided... the governing body has decided to clarify our position on the youth.

Not "the Bible says." The governing body has decided.

Diversity Inside the Hall, Armageddon Outside It

Tom praises the diversity he found among Jehovah's Witnesses, and on that point he's right — walk into a Kingdom Hall in any major city and you'll see people of every culture, country, and color. But here's the September 1, 1989 Watchtower, on what happens to everyone else:

Only Jehovah's Witnesses, those of the anointed remnant and the great crowd as a united organization under the protection of the supreme organizer, have any scriptural hope of surviving the impending end of this doomed system dominated by the devil.

Every race and nationality is welcome inside the Kingdom Hall. Everyone outside it is slated for destruction at Armageddon, according to that teaching. And if a member ever leaves, the diversity doesn't survive either — the August 2024 Watchtower describes those who leave being "removed from the congregation," the rebrand of disfellowshipping, followed by shunning from every practicing Jehovah's Witness they know, family included. At least in the United States, about two out of three people born into the religion leave it as adults. If that pattern holds elsewhere, most of the people in Tom's "lot more pictures of people" will eventually be people he's required to shun.

Lost Hope, Failed Promises

Tom says that when people lose hope, they've lost everything, and I agree with him. Here's the May 22, 1969 Awake!, addressed to teenagers:

If you are a young person, you also need to face the fact that you will never grow old in this present system of things... You will never fulfill any career that this system offers.

The teenagers who read that are in their 70s now, if they're still alive. Many gave up college, careers, and savings because they were told none of it would matter before the end came. It didn't come. Here's what the organization prints for those same people now, from the August 2023 Watchtower:

What if our expectations about the end have not yet been fulfilled? Maybe we expected the end to come long ago. We may fear that we will not live long enough to see it.

Watchtower is the one who told them the end had come long ago — in 1914, when it said "the full end of the times of the Gentiles would be reached in A.D. 1914, and that date will see the disintegration of the rule of imperfect men"; in 1925, when it said "we may expect 1925 to witness the return of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob from the dead"; in 1975, when it said "the 6,000 years of human history will evidently finish in the autumn of the year 1975." It also taught that the generation alive in 1914 would not pass before the end came. They're all dead now. And then it blames the members for believing it — in 1975, and in the "millions now living will never die" generation before that.

So Is the World Spiraling Out of Control, or Not?

Back to the line I opened with. Here's Watchtower's actual answer, from the same December 2017 Awake! that ran the "Is the World Out of Control?" cover:

Those prophecies describe a world that some might say is spiraling out of control. In a sense, our world is indeed out of control — out of the control of humans.

So yes, out of human control, but God is still in control — that's not an unusual belief for a religious person to hold. But look at how that claim gets deployed differently depending on the audience. To the person Watchtower wants to recruit, in a video on JW.org, it's the calm version: the world isn't spiraling, God's got this. To existing members, in study magazines and broadcasts — including the one from this month — it's the opposite: the world is falling apart, chaotic, critical times, hard to deal with, the great tribulation fast approaching. Members are still told to get only the minimum education needed to work full-time for the organization, usually through pioneering. The calm gets people in the door. The fear keeps them in the room.

A Personal Relationship — With a Corporate Middleman

Tom describes what he found as a real, personal relationship with God. But remember that November 2013 quote: the "life-saving direction" comes from Jehovah's organization, and members are told to obey whatever instructions they receive whether those instructions appear sound or not. God doesn't talk to Tom directly in this arrangement — the organization talks to Tom, by way of the governing body, and tells him it's from God. It even teaches that Jesus isn't the mediator for more than 99.5% of Jehovah's Witnesses. Here's Worldwide Security Under the "Prince of Peace", from 1986:

Jesus Christ is not the mediator between Jehovah God and all mankind. He is the mediator between his heavenly Father, Jehovah God, and the nation of spiritual Israel, which is limited to 144,000 members.

The personal relationship has a corporate address.

Confidence in a Record of Being Wrong

Tom's closing line is that he has confidence in what he's learning — confidence that it's the truth. Here's what that organization has actually taught about itself. On dates: 1889 said the disintegration of the rule of imperfect men would come in 1914; 1920 said to expect the resurrection of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by 1925; 1968 said the 6,000 years of human history would finish in the autumn of 1975. And on its own authority, when pressed: 1883 said "we have not the gift of prophecy"; 1896 said it didn't want its writings "reverenced or regarded as infallible"; 1947 said "we leave it for the Pope of Vatican City to claim infallibility"; 1951 said, "unlike papal Rome, it makes no claims to infallibility"; 1981 said "the brothers preparing these publications are not infallible"; and 2017 said the organization is "neither inspired nor infallible." Its own index, Beliefs Clarified, lists 93 changes to what it has taught as truth — and that's only the ones it acknowledges. If a truth can change 93 times, it was never the truth. It was an opinion.

Tom said that everything he had believed in at the Catholic Church turned out to be a lie. He never got the chance to ask the same four questions of the organization he joined next and get real answers instead of scripture — because the only place he was ever pointed to for answers was Watchtower's own literature. The Royal Commission testimony, the elders manual, the charity watchdog reports: none of that was ever put in front of him. His questions were the right ones. He just never found out where the real answers were.