Hi Refiner's Fire,
I do think that the Watchtower Society uses "mystical manipulation" on new recruits. Most R&F JWs doing the leg work aren't aware that they are manipulating people and the techniques are very subtle, quite effectively masquerading as an "intellectual" approach. In many ways the Watchtower cult preys upon modern people's inclination toword skepticism/intellectualism. As young recruits I remember my parents becoming very self confident in their new found "knowledge" about the Bible.
My parents were very young, poor, and had just High School educations so I think the JWs business dress and pseudo-intellectual style really appealed to them on a subconscious level saying, "hey these people really have it together and they are so smart and confident that I want to be a part of this too." Most future JWs are already predisposed to listen to the Society's spiel due to their being submerged in a Christian culture and already having a respect for the Bible but they are coming from religions which DO NOT preport to have a rational approach to the Bible or worshiping God.
The JWs are somewhat unique in that they attempt to view the Bible rationally due to Russel's grounding in the rationalistic America of the late 19th century, thus his hatred/rejection of older traditional organized religions and Hell Fire. This rational approach is of course completely incompatable with the myths and nonsense in the Bible but Russel lived in an age where these could still be melded into some symbolence of a belief system since scientific advancements were still very slow to seap into the popular culture.
This JW ability to "answer" every question and to appear rational while constructing elaborate explainations of the Bible's mysteries are contrasted with traditional Christianity which gave up on reconciling faith and secular knowledge years before Russel arrived on the scene. Older and wiser religious leaders knew that Christianity is, by its very nature, a mystical and irrational mystery which relies on faith and not reason in the believer's mind. JWs reject traditional Christian beliefs like Hell Fire and the Trinity because these seem irrational and contradictory. In essence, the Watchtower Cult is a transition religion trapped between the age of reason and the traditional myths of Western Culture. Ultimately, however, this reason applied to religion approach is an illusion because its very basis cannot be rational. The Bible is not a rational scientific document. It is instead an ancient book about supernatural events and beings which are inexplicable, unprovable, and totally dependant upon the believer's faith since no evidence for these is possible.
Once a recruit is fully intigrated into the Watchtower Society they are confronted with the reality that this relgion is also irrational, contradictory, anti-scientific, faith based, and has questions which must not be asked because they cannot be answered. The Watchtower World is a realm of irrational fears of Satan and his demons all the way up to the mighty and psychotic Jehovah and His genocidal wars. If a fear of invisible beings and the inability to ask questions because the answers are "the deep things of God" is not mystical then I don't know what is. The Society has manipulated its followers by decieving them with the lie that they will gain deep knowledge of the scriptures and will be equipped to answer any question. In reality, most JWs, even the top leaders, have a very superficial Bible knowledge, cannot explain their own complex timelines and prophecy interpretations, nor can they answer basic scientific questions about the Flood or Creation posed by a knowledgable opponent. This deception is a manipulation.
