QUESTION: Dear Robert, how is it that that sex offenders out in the world have to go on a sex registry that lets parents know of child molesters living in their neighborhood, that secular law prohibits sex offenders from living within range of a school or park… and yet a sex offender could be sitting next to you and your young child in a Watchtower meeting, and you’d have no idea whatsoever. How is it that worldly people have better protection than the brothers and sisters in our congregations?
ANSWER: That is an important question. And there is only one acceptable answer.
The reason the Watchtowerâs policies provide cover for child predators and recklessly expose children to them, thereby repudiating Christianity itself and Heavenâs mandate to defend the weak and vulnerable, is because the leadership of the organization has been infiltrated and subtly influenced by wicked men. In other words, the truth not withstanding, the leadership of Jehovahâs Witnesses has been successfully over-reached by Satan, the Devil. There is no other satisfactory explanation.
This is exactly what happened to Israel and Judah on numerous occasions, and the first century Christian society too; so it is not some unique happening.
Jehovah long ago spoke to this very situation in the 82nd Psalm, which relates how God comes to pass judgment upon those whom he has entrusted to oversee his people and endowed with godlike powers to judicially determine right from wrong. The opening words of the Psalm set the stage: âGod takes his place in the divine assembly; in the middle of the gods he judges: âHow long will you continue to judge with injustice and show partiality to the wicked? Defend the lowly and the fatherless. Render justice to the helpless and destitute. Rescue the lowly and the poor; Save them out of the hand of the wicked.â
The Christian writer of the letter of James reiterates Godâs standard for Christians at James 1:26: âThe form of worship that is clean and undefiled from the standpoint of our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their tribulation, and to keep oneself without spot from the world.â
Keep in mind that the branch office, not the local body of elders, determines whether one who has sexually abused a child is considered a known child molester.  – Watchtower letter to the elders And the case can be made that the children of Jehovahâs Witnesses are especially vulnerable. That is because in a congregational setting children are in close association with a lot of men. And children and adults are even encouraged to mingle and âassociateâ with each other. And all are trained to respect the elders and ministerial servants, since they have been appointed by holy spirit. It is well known that child predators slyly groom their intended victims over a period of time  in order to win the trust of both the parent(s) and the child. It seems that the congregations of Jehovahâs Witnesses are an ideal setting for pedophiles to operate. But the environment is made even worse by the Watchtowerâs policy of secrecy. As Bill Bowen of Silent Lambs put it some years ago: The organization is a pedophilesâ paradise. While most men are not sexual predators, if there is just one animalistic individual among the flock all the lambs are in peril. And if Bethel knowingly allows a pedophile to lurk without alerting parents in the congregations, then that is a huge problem and a gross breech of their fiduciary responsibility. The question really comes down to this: How valuable is the life and wellbeing of a single child? What do you suppose Jesus Christ would say in answer to that question? Returning to the 82nd Psalm, Jehovah says of those in the âdivine assemblyâ: âThey do not know, nor do they understand; they are walking about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are being shaken.â As the rationale for their policy of secrecy the Watchtower claims that their primary concern is to protect Jehovahâs name from reproach. Truly, they do not understand. They are in darkness. Obviously the Watchtowerâs now-public record of mishandling of child abuse has brought tremendous reproach on the name of God âfar more reproach than the actual crimes committed by the pedophiles. After all, God places the weight of responsibility to protect his flock on the shepherds, not the sheep. So, when the lawyers representing the Christian Congregation of Jehovahâs Witnesses go on public record to say that Christian elders have no fiduciary duty to protect children from the crimes of a congregant; or when Bethel informs the bodies of elders that it reserves to itself the right to appoint men to the office of overseer who may seem upright but whom they know have committed crimes against children, they have reproached the name of God in a way that no one else can. What does it mean that they have caused the foundations of earth to be shaken? All human societies on earth are founded upon basic concepts of justice. Certainly Christianity is founded upon the very justice of God, in that, he gave his only Son as a ransom to pay the sin of Adam. As the questioner noted, communities throughout the United States have sex offender registries. There is even a national sex offender registry (NSOPW) run by the United States Department of Justice. It is truly shocking that those who bear the name of Jehovah before the world have used their godlike powers to pervert justice and oppress those whom God has charged them to protect.Their outrageous contempt for Godâs law has indeed caused the very foundations of the âearthâ to be shaken. Returning to the 82nd Psalm the concluding verse read: âI have said, âYou are gods, all of you are sons of the Most High. But you will die just as men do; and like any other prince you will fall!â Rise up, O God, and judge the earth, for all the nations belong to you.â The âdivine assemblyâ before Jehovah is the anointed congregation, concerning which Paul wrote to the Ephesians, are sitting in heavenly places. That is why they are called âsons of the Most Highâ â having been adopted as his sons. In Revelation Jesus is said to walk among seven lamp stands, which symbolize the congregations. But within some of those congregations are wicked individuals. Balaam and Jezebel are named as corrupting influences. There is also a sect of Nicolaus, which Jesus hates. The coming judgment of God will commence within this âdivine assembly.â As an expression of Godâs disapproval all the sons of God, referred to as âprinces,â will fall. God will remove his spirit so that they die, spiritually â ultimately, some quite literally in the second death. The eighth chapter of Daniel speaks to this, where it says with respect to the last king: âIt grew so great that it reached all the way to the army of the heavens, and it caused some of the army and some of the stars to fall to the earth, and it trampled them down. It exalted itself even against the Prince of the army, and from him the constant feature was taken away, and the established place of his sanctuary was thrown down.â In keeping with the aforementioned, the âstarsâ of the “army of the heavens” represent the anointed who have a place in heaven. The “sanctuary” is Christâs congregation â the âdivine assembly.â The prophecy of Zephaniah, which finds its ultimate fulfillment during the fiery day of Jehovah, similarly indicates that God operates within a grouping of men who are princes and priests, but who do violence to the law, ultimately betraying him and proving unfaithful. Zephaniah 3:3-5 states: “Her princes within her are roaring lions. Her judges are wolves in the night; they do not leave even a bone to gnaw until morning. Her prophets are insolent, treacherous men. Her priests defile what is holy; they do violence to the law. Jehovah is righteous in her midst; he does no wrong. Morning by morning he makes known his judgments, as unfailing as the daylight. But the unrighteous one knows no shame.” When the Watchtower makes abused children their adversaries at law, can it not rightly be said of them that they “know no shame”? Isaiah also foretells the judgment of the princes under the Prince of princes, where God says: âYour first forefather sinned, and your own spokesmen have rebelled against me. So I will profane the princes of the holy place, and I will give Jacob over to destruction and subject Israel to insulting words.â – Isaiah 43 Certainly, we have a recent demonstration of one of âyour own spokesmenâ lying before the Australian Royal Commission. Here is an excerpt taken from the Daily Commentary from August 21, 2015. Like their ancient counterparts â Israel and Judah â the Watchtower organization simply refuses to acknowledge any error or make amends for the damage that it has wrought. If anything the leadership of the organization is becoming more entrenched, devious and stubborn. That was painfully evident in the testimony a representative of the Governing Body recently gave to the Australian Royal Commission public inquiry into the Watchtowerâs child abuse policies. Under oath Goffrey Jackson told the Commission that it would be much easier if Australia would just simply pass a law requiring ministers to report crimes against children, because Jackson claimed that Christian elders are bound by the Scriptures not to overstep their authority in such private matters. He was implying, though, that if there was a law in place that required them to report such crimes, that would solve their âspiritual dilemma,â as he called it. If compelled by law then elders could then set aside the scriptural principles that they claimed prevented them from reporting a crime committed against a child by one of Jehovahâs Witnesses. (To read the transcript of the Governing Body memberâs testimony download PDF â Transcript-(Day-155) Of course, Jackson was lying. For one thing, elders do not make the decision. Since the late 80âs all elders are under strict orders by Bethel that whenever a report of child abuse comes to their attention they are to do one thing and one thing only: They are to pick up a telephone and dial Bethelâs Legal Department hotline. The Watchtowerâs lawyers will then advise the elders whether to report the crime or not. And their determination is apparently based upon whether or not the legal authorities in that particular jurisdiction require it. If no law requires them to report, then Bethel forbids elders from reporting crimes committed against the children of Jehovahâs Witnesses. That is why of the 1,006 crimes the WT has on their records not one was reported to the police, because Australia does not require it. So, contrary to what Goffrey Jackson told the Royal Commission of inquiry, Jehovahâs Witnesses elders are not restrained from reporting crimes because of their adherence to Bible principles. They are prevented from doing so by the Watchtowerâs Legal Department. To be clear, if an elder neglected to obey the guidelines of the lawyers and acted upon his own in notifying the police, he would more or less be immediately removed from serving as an elder. While the Australian Royal Commission may be bamboozled by such flimflam, we may be sure that Jehovah is not. Just as there is a penalty in the human realm for lying under oath, there are also consequences for playing false to God. While it is unclear if Jackson will be charged with perjury, not that it would matter in the universal scheme of things, we may expect Jehovahâs heavenly court to address such matters in the near future when this present system implodes. “ALL THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE EARTH ARE BEING SHAKEN”