Jehovah's Witnesses. Cult through and through. They deny the deity of Jesus Christ and have many other serious doctrinal errors that contradict the Bible and their own incredibly inaccurate version of the Bible known as the New World Translation. They enforce extremely strong mind control on their members. Known for door knocking in order to recruit new members – something they have to do to be saved (they have to do the door knocking, not necessarily the recruiting). If you happen to talk to some at your door, note that (as a generalisation) they think it's OK to lie to you since they do not consider you, as an outsider, worth the truth. (For an explanation see Why Witnesses Lie in Court.) Founded by Charles Taze Russell (b 1852, d 1916) in 1879 and renamed to Jehovah's Witnesses in 1931, with the name coming from a spirit guide. Under the banner of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society they publish Awake! and Watchtower magazines and many other books, magazines, brochures and pamphlets. Branch meeting buildings are called Kingdom Halls. Notwithstanding the above, please note that most Jehovah's Witnesses are very genuine people, what you might call model citizens, and are very sincere in what they believe. They believe they are doing the right thing. For more information see the Closeup on Jehovah's Witnesses (including some downloadable pamphlets) or Institute for Religious Research's JW listing.

	Danger: The group/person or belief/practice is considered dangerous due to mind control or particularly bad doctrine. These groups (or people) have a strong tendency to damage their members/followers.
	Hot Topic: The group/person or belief/practice has recently featured in the secular news media, has generated notable correspondence, is a popular conversation topic, etc. Note that this rating has nothing to do with the "cultishness" of a group.

Printed on 18 December 2019 at www.cults.co.nz.
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