Enjoy Life on Earth Forever, 1982, page 28
Those desiring to please Jehovah, therefore, destroy their spiritistic paraphernalia, as did ancient Christians in Ephesus. –Awake!, April 8, 1986, page 27.

A Watchtower Double Standard

The Watchtower Society has on many occasions stressed the necessity of destroying any books or other objects associated with "spiritism". Notice:

In harmony with the example recorded at Acts 19:19, it is also important to destroy or properly dispose of all objects in one's possession that relate to spiritism.Reasoning from the Scriptures, 1989, page 389.view
Those desiring to please Jehovah, therefore, destroy their spiritistic paraphernalia, as did ancient Christians in Ephesus.Awake!, April 8, 1986, page 27.
In imitation of those who became Christ's followers at Ephesus, if you have objects in your possession that are directly related to spiritism the wise course is to destroy them no matter how costly they are.You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, 1982, page 98.view
The Witness who came to study the Bible with me advised me to destroy everything I had that was connected with spiritism.The Watchtower, March 1, 1979, page 28.

The last quote above was published by the Watchtower Society in 1979. Another article published by the Society in the same year, under the heading "Resist Wicked Spirit Forces", had the following to say:

To Christians in Ephesus, the apostle Paul wrote: "Put on the complete suit of armor from God...because we have a wrestling, not against blood and flesh, but against...the wicked spirit forces in the heavenly places." (Eph. 6:11, 12) If a Christian were to consult such forces through a spirit medium, could it be said that he was fighting them? No, indeed. Rather, would he not have to destroy any objects associated with such spiritistic communication, following the example of those first-century believers in Ephesus who burned even the books that dealt with occultism?The Watchtower, February 15, 1979, page 8.

According to the Society, the Christian course would be to "destroy any objects associated with such spiritistic communication". But what of the Watchtower Society themselves? What course would the Society take, should they find themselves in possession of objects associated with "spiritistic communication"? Would the Society "destroy their spiritistic paraphernalia" as do those "desiring to please Jehovah"? Would the Society imitate "those who became Christ's followers at Ephesus"? Would they act "in harmony with the example recorded at Acts 19:19"?

To answer these questions, consider the following letter sent by the Watchtower Society to the Johannes Greber Memorial Foundation upon receipt of two books by Johannes Greber, a spiritist.1 This letter - dated 1980 - was sent the very next year after the Society's 1979 article wherein they stated a Christian would "have to destroy any objects associated with such spiritistic communication":

(A scan of the actual letter may be viewed here.)

Gentlemen:
This is to acknowledge receipt of the two books you recently sent to us, The New Testament translated by Johannes Greber, and his book "Communication with the Spirit World of God."
We appreciate your sending these volumes on to us. For some years we have been aware of the translation by Johannes Greber and have on occasion even quoted it. Copies of the translation, though, have been hard to obtain. Since we have four libraries in our headquarters facilities consulted by the members of our staff, including the writers for our journals and books, we wonder about the possibility of obtaining a few additional copies of The New Testament.
Please direct any communication about the above request to the Writing Department, Desk EG.
Sincerely,
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.

Huh?

How about "thanks but no thanks"?  How about "we destroyed your spiritistic books"?  How about "go read Deuteronomy 18:10-12"?

Upon receipt of two books associated with "spiritistic communication" from the Johannes Greber Foundation, the response of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society was to request more copies!  It appears the Society wanted to ensure that all their staff - "including the writers for [their] journals and books" - would have access to Greber's spiritistic book.

As the Society stated in their letter, "for some years we have been aware of the translation by Johannes Greber and have on occasion even quoted it". Indeed for many years the Watchtower Society had knowingly used Greber's spiritistic translation to support certain obscure renderings found in their own New Testament translation.2 That the Watchtower Society knew Johannes Greber was a spiritist, and that his New Testament translation was "directly related to spiritism", is seen from the following statements printed by the Watchtower Society in 1955 and 1956:

It comes as no surprise that one Johannes Greber, a former Catholic clergyman, has become a spiritualist and has published the book entitled 'Communication With the Spirit World, Its Laws and Its Purpose.'The Watchtower, October 1, 1955, page 603.
Says Johannes Greber in the introduction of his translation of The New Testament, copyrighted in 1937: "I myself was a Catholic priest, and...never as much believed in the possibility of communicating with the world of God's spirits. The day came, however, when I involuntarily took my first step toward such communication... My experiences are related in a book that has appeared in both German and English and bears the title, Communication with the Spirit-World: Its Laws and Its Purpose."... Very plainly the spirits in which ex-priest Greber believes helped him in his translation.The Watchtower, February 15, 1956, page 110,111.view view

Not only did the Watchtower Society knowingly make use of Greber's spiritism for 20 years,3 but when presented with additional copies of Greber's "spiritistic communication" in 1980 (the very year after counselling Jehovah's Witnesses to destroy any objects associated with spiritistic communication), rather than destroying these books "directly related to spiritism" as "those desiring to please Jehovah" do, the Society instead expressed their sincere appreciation and requested even more copies.

Hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs–beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity.4

For another look at Johannes Greber and the Watchtower Society, look here.

Footnotes

1. The letter was made available by the Johannes Greber Memorial Foundation.

2. The New Testament by Johannes Greber was cited or quoted by the Watchtower Society in a show of supposed "scholarly" support for obscure renderings in the Watchtower's own New World Translation in the following Watchtower publications: The Word-Who Is He According to John, 1962, page 5; The Watchtower, September 15, 1962, page 554; Make Sure of all Things, 1965, page 489; Aid to Bible Understanding, 1971, page 1669; The Watchtower, January 1, 1961, page 30; Aid to Bible Understanding, 1971, page 1134; The Watchtower, October 15, 1975, page 640; The Watchtower, April 15, 1976, page 231.

3. Cf. note 2.

4. Matthew 23:27 (NLT).

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