Theology lecturer George D. Chryssideswrites that the initial Gilead syllabus was “described as the Advanced Course in Theocratic Ministry”; within months the program led to “similar training” in congregations as the Theocratic Ministry School.^[28] Female Witnesses could enroll in Gilead school and present talks since its inception in 1943, but could not enroll in congregation schools until 1959.^[29][30]

The school is held twice each year and lasts about five months.^[31] Students are selected by invitation, and are usually married couples in their thirties who have been involved in missionary work in their home countries for a number of years.^[32] After graduation, they are assigned mainly to Africa, South America, Asia and islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Gilead School’s main textbook is the Bible. Lectures and student presentations focus on a verse-by-verse study of each book of the Bible, alternating between the Old and New Testaments, which they refer to as the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures. The curriculum is based on Jehovah’s Witnesses’ New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, although other reference material, including other Bible translations are used.^[33][34] Students are also taught about changes in culture and language as well as techniques for conducting meetings and Bible classes. Some students receive additional practical training for translation and literature production.^[35]

In 1942, Nathan H. Knorr, then president of the Watchtower Society, proposed the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead as an opportunity to expand their global preaching efforts.^[6]Originally intended as a temporary program,^[7]the first class began on February 1, 1943. No tuition was to be charged. Five months later, graduating students began to move out to their assignments in nine Latin-American countries, including Cuba.^[8] As early as 1956, graduates were serving “in about a hundred different lands”.^[9]

Gilead School has held classes at several of the facilities operated by the Watchtower Society:

As of 2014, Gilead has trained 136 classes.^[13] In 2008, Gilead School surpassed 8000 students.^[14][15][16] Encyclopædia Britannica notes that Gilead was intended to train “missionaries and leaders”;^[17] two current members of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses are Gilead graduates,^[18][19] as were four deceased members.^{[20][21][22][23]}

In 1987, an ancillary 8½ week Bible School for Single Brothers was introduced for single elders and ministerial servants (their term for deacons).^[24][25][26] A similar Bible School for Christian Coupleswas introduced in 2010 for wives to attend with their husbands.^[27]

In February 1992, Jehovah’s Witnesses’ New York corporation, the Watchtower Society, was granted association as a non-governmental organisation (NGO) of the United Nations Department of Public Information (UN/DPI). The Watchtower Society requested termination of the association in October 2001, and the DPI disassociated the NGO on 9 October^[12] after the matter was reported in The Guardian.^[13][14] A UN/DPI letter dated March 4, 2004, states, “The principal purpose of association of non-governmental organizations with the United Nations Department of Public Information is the redissemination of information in order to increase public understanding of the principles, activities and achievements of the United Nations and its Agencies.”^[15] The letter explained that “[b]y accepting association with DPI, the organization agreed to meet criteria for association, including support and respect of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and commitment and means to conduct effective information programmes with its constituents and to a broader audience about UN activities.”^[15] The official site further notes that association with the UN/DPI “does not constitute their incorporation into the United Nations system, nor does it entitle associated organizations or their staff to any kind of privileges, immunities or special status.”^[16]

Jehovah’s Witnesses have appealed to the United Nations Human Rights Committee about sanctions against their members’ activities. Between April 2013 and early April 2016, Jehovah’s Witnesses submitted 48 appeals to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, complaining that punishments for sharing faith violate the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.^[17]

Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that the United Nations is the “image of the wild beast” referred to in Revelation 13:1-18 and the fulfillment of the “disgusting thing that causes desolation” from Matthew 24:15.^[7][8] Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that God will use the United Nations to destroy “false religion”, wherein all institutionalized religions except Jehovah’s Witnesses will be destroyed. They further believe that after all other religions are destroyed, “a coalition of nations” will then turn against Jehovah’s Witnesses to destroy them, but Jehovah will intervene and destroy all political elements.^[9] They believe this act of divine intervention will be Armageddon, the final part of the Great Tribulation.^[10][11]

In practice, Jehovah’s Witnesses “view the United Nations organization as they do other governmental bodies of the world,” as “superior authorities” that “exist by God’s permission,” based on their interpretation of Romans 13:1-2. They believe “this Scriptural position does not condone any form of disrespect toward governments or their officials,” to which they are to “render due respect,” and they “obey them as long as such obedience does not require that they sin against God.”^[8]

At a convention of Bible Students held in September 1919, the local press reported J. F. Rutherford’s comments on the League of Nations: “He declared a League of Nations formed by the political and economic forces, moved by a desire to better mankind by establishment of peace and plenty would accomplish great good, and then asserted that the Lord’s displeasure is certain to be visited upon the League, because the clergy–Catholic and Protestant–have abandoned his plan and endorsed the League of Nations, hailing it as the political expression of Christ’s kingdom on earth.”^[1] Rutherford’s view was similarly held by other pre-millennialist expositors of that era.^[2]

The Bible Student magazine Golden Age referred to the “professional politician” and the “financial powers” and the “clergy” as an “unholy trinity” in support of the League of Nations and predicted its demise: “Since these two classes [politicians and financial] are presumed to be worldly men who never claimed to have made a covenant with God, he might not interfere with them for a time, but chiefly because of the other member of the unholy trinity—the clergy—God indicates that he will not permit the League of Nations and league of churches to endure.”^[3] In 1930, Rutherford published the booklet Prohibition and the League of Nations—Born of God or the Devil, Which? The Bible Proof which concluded: “Here is the positive and unqualified statement from Jehovah God that neither the League of Nations nor any other combination of men and governments shall have anything to do with the setting up of his kingdom and establishing peace and righteousness. It is God’s kingdom, and not man’s; and for men to assume to do what God has declared he will do is a gross, presumptuous sin. The nation organization that attempts to run ahead of God and presumptuously attempts to set up a rule or organization and call it God’s kingdom will suffer severe punishment.”^[4]

In a speech given on 20 September 1942, Nathan Knorr, the Society’s third president, claimed the newly formed United Nations was the scarlet-colored wild beast of Revelation that would be ridden by the woman “Babylon”, which Knorr identified as “the religious organization with headquarters at Vatican City”.^[5]

In 1963 Jehovah’s Witnesses adopted a resolution establishing the official view of the United Nations. The resolution was published in the November 15, 1963 issue of Watchtower. At 24 assemblies held throughout the year, a total of 454,977 convention attendees adopted the resolution.^[6]

Regarding the United Nations, paragraph 5 of that resolution states, “the nations further refused the surrender of their sovereignty to God’s Messianic kingdom by setting up … the United Nations, … This international organization stands for world sovereignty by political men. For years men without faith in God’s kingdom have endeavored to get all people to worship this international image of human political sovereignty as the best hope for earthly peace and security, in fact, the last hope for humanity. To date 111 nations have given worship to this political image by becoming members of it. However, we, as witnesses of the Sovereign God Jehovah, will continue refusing to engage in such idolatrous worship.”^[6]