The Watchtower Society and Medical Quackery
By Ken Raines
From the JW Research Journal, fall, 1996, pp. 3-8. Revised July, 2021.
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The Watchtower Society was heavily involved in occult, psychic and quack medical procedures throughout much of the of the 20th Century. Like their current ban on blood transfusions for its members, this quackery has put the lives of millions unnecessarily at risk. This article gives an overview of the Society’s strange history of medical quackery and occultism which will be examined in more detail in coming issues of the JW Research Journal.
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One of the most recognizable aspects of Jehovah’s Witnesses to the general public is not their theology, but one of their medical positions: their refusal to accept blood transfusions. Many have read or heard reports of JWs refusing a blood transfusion for themselves or their child, with the result being the tragic death of the person who refused a transfusion, perhaps while a frustrated and helpless doctor stood by.
Unknown to most outside Jehovah’s Witnesses – and in many cases JWs themselves – is their long history of quack medical endorsements which also put the health of thousands of their followers at risk.
The Watchtower Society has even endorsed some of the most notorious medical quacks of the twentieth century such as Albert Abrams, George Starr White, Charles Betts and others. They have endorsed numerous occult, psychic, and pseudoscience nostrums and cures, even inventing, promoting and selling quack medical gadgets to their followers in their official publication The Golden Age and Consolation.
The Watchtower sponsored such exotic and bizarre quackery as medical radiesthesia, radionics, the Radio-Solar Pad (a worthless and perhaps harmful device containing Radium which was worn by no less than “Judge” Rutherford, the Society’s second president), Zone Therapy, Iridiagnosis, The Biological Blood Wash, The Radio Disease Killer, The Electronic Radio Biola (invented by a JW), The Grape Cure, Ensign Remedies and much more.
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Anti AMA Stance
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The Golden Age magazine
The Watchtower Society rarely published anything favorable to orthodox or scientific medicine until recently. This was especially true of The Golden Age magazine (Changed to Consolation in 1937 and to its current name Awake! in 1946). This magazine by the Society, unlike The Watchtower, was not primarily concerned with Biblical interpretation and theology. It was a news and information magazine for the general public and JWs. Numerous articles were published on the subject of health and medicine, documenting the Society’s views on the subject.
Their view of conventional medicine was extremely critical and condemnatory until the 1960s when they became more accepting. Here’s a typical example from a Golden Age article which extolled the virtues of Eugenics:
We do well to bear in mind that among the drugs, serums, vaccines, surgical operations, etc., of the medical profession, there is nothing of value save an occasional surgical procedure. Their whole so-called “science” grew out of Egyptian black magic and has not lost its demonological character…. we shall be in a sad plight when we place the welfare of the race in their hands.
– The Golden Age, Aug. 5, 1931, p. 727.
Golden Age cartoon: The Golden Age, Sept. 8, 1937, p. 771.
They not only demonized the medical profession, but the prominent individuals within the movement such as Dr. Morris Fishbein, the past president of the American Medical Association and former editor of its two periodicals, Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and Hygeia. In one Golden Age they favorably quoted a quack medical Journal that said:
The Journal of the A. M. A. is the vilest sheet that passes the United States mail…. Nothing new and useful in therapeutics escapes its unqualified condemnation. Its attacks are generally ad hominem. Its editorial columns are largely devoted to character assassination…. Its editor [Morris Fishbien] is of the type of Jew that crucified Jesus Christ.
– The Golden Age, September 26, 1934, p. 807.
Just say no to drugs
The Watchtower Society condemned the use of drugs for the most part from Aspirin to Morphine until fairly recently. Aspirin they said (ironically) caused heart disease and other maladies. (The Golden Age, Feb. 27, 1935, pp. 343, 344; The Golden Age, Sept. 23, 1936, p. 822; Consolation, Oct. 5, 1938, p. 7.)
In one early Golden Age though they claimed that intravenous drug use would be common during the Millennium and that this would be used by The Christ (the 144,000 and Jesus) to help mankind become perfect, free of all diseases! (The Golden Age, March 17, 1920, p. 408.)
Vaccination hysteria
Many are aware that the Watchtower Society campaigned against vaccinations for decades. They claimed it was “a direct violation of the everlasting covenant” and Witnesses were expected not to have one. Vaccines were said to cause all kinds of disease:
Thinking people would rather have smallpox than vaccination, because the latter sows the seed of syphilis, cancers, escema, erysipelas, scrofula, consumption, even leprosy and many other loathsome affections. Hence the practice of vaccination is a crime, an outrage and a delusion.
– The Golden Age, May 1, 1929, p. 502.
Vaccinations were useless:
Vaccination has never saved a human life. It does not prevent smallpox.
– The Golden Age, Feb. 4, 1931, p. 294.
In addition to diseases, vaccinations were responsible for the spread of “demonism” and sexual immorality (The Golden Age, Feb. 4, 1931 p. 293). Vaccination was a “cruel hoax” on mankind that makes Satan laugh (Consolation, May 31, 1939, p. 3.). They carried on their crusade for decades after the medical community demonstrated the value of vaccinations in preventing certain contagious diseases. No one knows what effect this ban on vaccinations had on JWs, but one assumes many lives were at least put unnecessarily at risk.
Golden Age vaccination cartoon: The Golden Age, March 30, 1932, p. 409.
Aluminum hysteria
The Watchtower Society also carried on an irrational campaign against aluminum cooking ware. This was another “demonic” or Satanically inspired curse on mankind that they tried valiantly to stop. Aluminum cookware was believed by the Society to cause all manner of ailments and disease from athlete’s foot to cancer. This campaign was also carried on decades after aluminum cookware was shown to be harmless for the general population.
See Aluminum: Satan’s Metal and Killer of Millions? The Watchtower’s Incredible Crusade Against Aluminum, Jerry Bergman, Ph.D.
Germs vs. constipation
The Golden Age and its successor Consolation contained several articles against the germ theory of disease. They believed the medical profession and scientific communities that held that certain germs caused disease were wrong. They believed that the germs associated with certain diseases followed the arrival of the diseases. Instead of germs causing diseases, they believed diseases caused germs. The diseases themselves were actually caused by improper diet and constipation. If one had less than two bowel movements a day, one would get any number of diseases in short order.
Again, long after bacteria and viruses proved to be the cause of some diseases, The Golden Age was saying that not a single disease was caused by germs, that Pasteur was a “fake” and that Hydrophobia or Rabies was simply a “mental hoax”. For this reason, The Golden Ageand Consolation magazines advised not to drink pasteurized milk, but to drink it raw to get the benefits of nutrients destroyed during pasteurization. Not very good medical advice.
Since they didn’t believe bacteria caused food poisoning, they thought it must be the aluminum food was cooked in. Since germs didn’t cause diseases such as smallpox, having a vaccination was viewed as putting “filthy pus” into ones veins. The real culprit in disease causation was constipation!
See The Watchtower’s Half-Century Crusade Against the Germ Theory, Jerry Bergman, Ph.D.
Alternative Medicine
The Watchtower Society rejected orthodox medicine until fairly recently. It has instead promoted “alternative” medical philosophies and procedures much more vigorously. The Golden Age, Consolation, and Awake! magazine articles on health were almost exclusively from an anti orthodox and pro alternative medical position. Most articles written on health in those magazines were written by alternative medical doctors, including Naturopaths, Homeopaths, Chiropractors and Osteopaths. These alternative systems of healing have had completely different ideas on the cause and cure of diseases and have given rise to numerous quacks and quackeries – at least at the time of the Society’s endorsement of them in the 20th Century.
Alternative medicine has come a long way since the early 20th Century, but at the time, these spawned and promoted numerous, sometimes wacky quack cures and treatments, which was thus promoted by the Jehovah’s Witnesses: The Biological Blood Wash; The Grape Cure; Iridiagnosis; Zone Therapy and more. This embracing of quackery was due to them (and JWs) having the tendency to accept anything and everything opposed to orthodox medicine. MDs used “unnatural” substances (vaccines, serums, drugs, etc.) to cure which went counter to Naturopathic philosophy of “natural cures”. This was the reason for their (and thus JWs) futile crusades against such things as vaccinations and drugs. [1]
Quack Cures and Food Fads
In rejecting scientifically based medicine and embracing “alternative” philosophies and the anecdotes and testimonies of laymen, the Watchtower Society promoted one quackery after the other during this time. Most of the craziest theories and procedures of Naturopaths, Osteopaths and Chiropractors were also promoted by the Society.
Russell and Medicine
Under Russell, their first president, the Watchtower Society didn’t publish much on the subject of health. The Watch Tower magazine was primarily concerned with theology, but when commenting on medical matters Russell had some strange things to say. In the Jan. 15, 1912, Watch Tower he announced a cure for appendicitis which he said was caused by “biting worms near the junction of the transverse colon with the small intestines, low down on the right side of the abdomen.” The remedy, he said, was also good for typhoid fever “which is also a biting worm disease.”( Watch Tower Reprints, p. 4963.) This announcement was carried just below an announcement for “Millennial Beans” which were especially prodigious beans discovered by a “Sister” in the “truth”.
In 1881 Russell wrote in favor of the “Faith Cottage” Pink Cure. (Reprints, p. 226) In 1915, he promoted Dr. Park’s cure for pneumonia which he said “seems to effect a cure every time.” (Reprints, p. 5691)
It wasn’t until the publication of the news magazine, The Golden Age in 1919, however, that the Society expressed in print their medical views. What they wrote is eye brow raising today. The Golden Age‘s health articles reads like a who’s who and a what’s what in twentieth century quackery. If one wants to research the twentieth century opposition to orthodox medicine and promotion of quackery and early “alternative” therapies, The Golden Age is a good, interesting and entertaining source.
The Grape Cure
One of the strange cures advocated in The Golden Age included The Grape Cure which was purported to cure cancer. It was a fasting diet favored by Naturopaths and others consisting solely of grapes. Grapes for breakfast, grapes for lunch and grapes for dinner for weeks. This was about all that was needed to cure your cancer. The philosophy and ideas behind it were strange, some would say occultic. The grape cure worked, according to its founder, Johanna Brandt, because grapes were “magnetic” and pepped up your mind with the sun’s healing “vibrations.” Needless to say, there are many cases of unfortunate individuals who tried this “cure” and died of cancer. How many of those included Jehovah’s Witnesses who followed The Golden Age‘s endorsement is anybody’s guess. (The Grape Cure, Johanna Brandt, 1928, The Watchtower and Demonism, Roy D. Goodrich, 1969)
Iridiagnosis
The Golden Age also promoted iridology or iridiagnosis. This is a medical theory and practice of diagnosing illnesses in the body by the appearance of the iris. Many “drugless” schools adopted this such as Naturopathy and Chiropractic (some to this day). As may be expected, no scientific evidence exists as to the general diagnostic value of the appearance of the iris, and most iridiagnosticians disagree amongst themselves what colors, specks and streaks mean what in a person’s eye. Never-the-less, it is experiencing something of a comeback in New Age/Alternative medical circles.[2]
Zone Therapy
The Watchtower vigorously promoted “zone therapy” (now called Reflexology) into the 1960s. This is another strange belief and procedure for diagnosing and even curing diseases and ailments. It states that extremities of the body such as fingers and toes control or at least represent and influence different “zones” or areas of the body. By manipulating a persons toes (by placing rubber bands on certain toes in certain places for example) one can alleviate pain, ailments and even diseases elsewhere in the body. Again, since this was a “natural” or “drugless” therapy many Naturopaths, Osteopaths, Chiropractors and thus JWs relied on this method for treatment. [3]
Zone Therapy, WM. H. Fitzgerald & Zone Therapy, George Starr White, Health Research, n.d., p. 69.
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The ERA
As documented before in this Journal, the Society for decades promoted the electronic reactions of Abrams or the ERA after scientific investigations found little to be said in favor of it. [22] A “radionic” machine is used to diagnose and cure patients sometimes at a distance from a handwriting sample, picture, blood sample or other personal item of the patient. One JW doctor even invented an ERA gadget and sold it to JWs in The Golden Age. This medical procedure is now viewed by the Watchtower Society as “spiritism”. [23]
Radium
The Golden Age promoted the medical use of Radium, a radioactive element which is still used occasionally to destroy cancer cells as a form of radiation therapy. The Society’s promotion of Radium went well beyond its use in destroying cancerous cells. The Golden Ageeven advertised the Radio-Solar Pad for sale. The Society’s second president, J.F. Rutherford wore the belt to help his pneumonia on the advice of his doctor, J.W. Coolidge in the early 1920s. The Golden Age printed an article on this by Coolidge, followed by an endorsement by the “Judge.” [24] An ad for the device was included at the back of the issue. [25]
The Golden Age even pointed out that apparently “honest” demons, speaking through mediums or Ouija Boards, were saying that in discovering Radium, mankind was getting close to the “secret” of life. The fact that “lying spirits” as they called them said this didn’t raise any red flags because, they said, “even liars will sometimes tell the truth.” [26 ]
After Radium “poisonings” from its radioactivity were widely reported in the popular press, the Society ended their endorsement of such things as the Radio–Solar Pad, despite its backing by “honest” demonic liars.
Strange medical statements
The Golden Age and other Society publications were so full of bizarre material on health that it’s hard to believe. Here’s a sampling of some of their statements which may give the reader an idea:
If the organs [of your body] are diseased, heal them by correcting your diet. Avoid the use of aluminum cooking utensils and alum baking powders as they are injurious to your health, poisoning your blood stream… Sleep on the right side or flat on your back, with the head toward the north so as to get benefit of the earth’s magnetic currents. Avoid serum inoculations as they pollute the blood stream with their filthy pus. (The Golden Age, Nov. 12, 1929, p. 107.)
But the dog-rabies-vaccine imposition is the latest…. Rabies! When it has been shown conclusively that there is no such thing as rabies! (The Golden Age, Jan. 1, 1923, p. 214.)
The earlier in the forenoon you take the sun bath, the greater will be the beneficial effect, because you get more of the ultra-violet rays, which are healing. (The Golden Age, Sept. 13, 1933, p. 777.)
It has never been proven that a single disease is due to germs. (The Golden Age, Jan. 16, 1924, p. 250.)
Quite likely there is some connection between the violation of human blood [vaccines] and the spread of demonism…. (The Golden Age, Feb. 4, 1931, p. 293.)
Milk is the greatest curative food known. (The Golden Age, Dec. 8, 1920, p. 146.)
The Electronic Radio Biola
I HAVE named this new discovery, which I believe will be epochal in the history of the treatment of disease, and which I am exclusively announcing in THE GOLDEN AGE prior to its general publication elsewhere, The Electronic Radio Biola, which means life renewed by radio waves or electrons. The Biola automatically diagnoses and treats diseases by the use of the electronic vibrations. The diagnosis is 100 percent correct, rendering better service in this respect than the most experienced diagnostician…. THE principle of operation of the Biola is the collection… of the disease vibrations…. the fluid containing the same waves or vibrations enters the body, meets the disease waves and destroys them…. This is a great step forward, marking the Biola as the most valuable treatment apparatus obtainable today, and well worthy of notice in the columns of a magazine like THE GOLDEN AGE… (The Golden Age, April 22, 1925, p. 454.Ad for the Electronic Radio Biola is on page 479.)
All human ailments have their start in the intestines. (The Golden Age, Nov. 28, 1928, p. 133.)
HOW many people know, I wonder, of the curative properties of olive oil. The word “cure” is a strong term…. I personally know of more than one being relieved of liver trouble, and even cured of gall stones, by the use of olive oil…. A friend who for years has suffered pain in the region of the appendix was entirely relieved by the oil treatments. (The Golden Age, July 5, 1935, p. 632.)
Cigarettes and Mental Instability
….Enfeebled constitutions, inherited from fashionable mothers, cannot stand up under tobacco… (The Golden Age, Oct. 25, 1933, p. 57.)
Serum Led to Desire to Kill
At Los Angeles a youth of 20 years was caught in the act of choking a woman of 75. Arrested, and suspected of three murders, he claims the urge to kill came as a result of serum inoculations… (Consolation, Dec. 1, 1937, p. 12.)
Even years ago it was known by some people that the use of pacifiers by babies is one of the chief causes of diseased and enlarged tonsils and adenoid growths, which results from the suction. (The Golden Age, Nov. 26, 1919, p. 153.)
Lemons and Kerosene
A subscriber…. finds a drop or two of kerosene excellent for quickly cleaning sinks and bathtubs; it cuts the dirt immediately and leaves no odor; and when applied to cuts the cuts heal sooner. Try it. (Consolation, Dec. 1, 1931, p. 12.)
No one knows how much unnecessary illness and death resulted among the Jehovah’s Witnesses from this endorsement of quackery and useless cures and remedies. Despite this though, the Watchtower Society still claims to be God’s organization on earth, His sole “channel of communication” through whom alone the truth is dispensed to mankind. All other religions are false, part of Satan’s organization, and soon to be destroyed by God at Armageddon.
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References and notes
1. See “Naturopathy and it’s Professors,” (Chapter IX) in Morris Fishbien, Fads and Quackery in Healing, (NewYork: Covici, Friede, Publishers), 1932, pp. 117-139 which lists some of the various quack promotions and ideas in Naturopathy up to 1932. See further, Dr. Robert A. Wood, “The Case for Naturopathy” and Joseph D. Wasserburg, M.D., “The Case Against Naturopathy,” American Mercury, May, 1950, pp. 542-556; Martin Gardner, Fads and Fallicies In The Name of Science (New York: Dover Publications), 1957, pp. 195-198.
2. Hugh Burroughs, “Iridology” in Alternative Healing (LaMesa, CA.: Halcyon Publishing); Raso, p. 197; Gardner, p. 193; Kurt Butler, “Iridology” in A Consumer’s Guide to “Alternative Medicine”(Buffalo, NY.: Prometheus Books), 1992, pp. 196-198.
3. Butler, pp. 103-4; Gardner, pp. 193-5; Awake!, Sept. 22, 1951, pp. 27-28.