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← The Friday Column: Governing Body Issues Apology to Abuse Victims, Announces Radical Policy Changes
The Friday Column: The Annual Jehovah’s Witness Convention: a Pseudo-utopia →
 
The Friday Column: Watchtower facing financial stormwaters?
Posted on April 8, 2016
 
JWMazeI honestly thought it was a joke.
When I first saw the image opposite being circulated online, I felt that it had to be a piece of satirical art, created by an Ex-JW. I mean, I knew Watchtower had been increasingly stooping to lower and lower standards with increasing desperation to wring every last penny out of their increasingly impoverished flock, but…come on!
Surely not even Watchtower could be so crass and unsubtle as to create a child’s game where the whole object of the game was to donate money to them!
Turns out, I was wrong.
The puzzle was a genuine piece of Watchtower art, although I was rather amused when former Jehovah’s Witnesses Tony Brock posted a slightly altered version of the game onto Facebook, to present his own suggestion of where the child’s donation might ACTUALLY be going if it made it through the maze:
1934537_1610083935981221_8189571102036436519_n
 
Even active and faithful Jehovah’s Witnesses will be aware of the truth of much of this cartoon. The Governing Body have increasingly been flaunting their jewellery, expensive suits and designer watches on their JW Broadcasting appearances, and the extravagance of the new Watchtower headquarters with it’s remote control lake is hardly a secret.
Yet the last item on the list; the increasingly painful legal damages that Watchtower is having to pay, mostly centred around Child Abuse policies, that one that will be unfamiliar to many Witnesses.
Ironically, this unknown and hidden aspect of Watchtower’s financial outgoings might be the one that increasingly comes to dominate their fortunes. According to the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Watchtower’s policies and doctrines come together in a “perfect storm” to create an environment for sexual predetors to molest children, undetected and unreported.
The thing with storms is this;
Storms are expensive, y’all.
Storm Damage
Branch committee coordinator Terrence O'Brien was accused of intentionally trying to mislead the Commission
Branch committee coordinator Terrence O’Brien

Day 7 of the Australian Royal Commission investigation into Watchtower saw this exchange between the Head of Watchtower Australia Terrance O’Brien and Justice Peter McClellan about the issue of financial recompense.

McClellan:You know that the Commission’s been looking at the issue of redress, I assume?
O’Brien: I do, yes.
McClellan: And it is fairly clear that the Commission will be recommending a response which brings together all of the institutions where there may have been problems, to contribute their fair share ‐ you understand that?
O’Brien: I recall that from the closed hearing we had with yourself.
Financial Redress has been a key area for the ARC. It’s hard to argue that organisations who failed in their duty of care and exposed children to sexual abuse should not be required to give some measure of financial compensation; not only to address the significant medical costs involved in treating the physical and mental damage suffered, but also to show recognition of the wrong done. The ARC has discussed this idea in detail, even presenting models as to how it might work:

“…relevant criteria could be severity of abuse – 40 per cent, impact of abuse – 40 per cent and distinctive institutional factors – 20 per cent. Other approaches are possible. Average payments of $50,000, $65,000 and $80,000 are modelled.”
In other words, this model suggests that the severity, the impact of the abuse, and the degree of specific failings of the Institution should be taken into account. It then suggests some average payments.

McCellan: Would you recommend that the church join in such a scheme?
O’Brien: I don’t know whether I would recommend that the church join in with other organisations, but certainly that we have some redress scheme of our own to care for victims who are Jehovah’s Witnesses.  I would agree with that.
McClellan: Why wouldn’t you recommend that you join with others so that there is a uniform response across the country?
O’Brien: If I may just indulge, your Honour, when we had the closed meeting with yourself and others, that was a matter that I think it was almost universally felt as a last option by those who were assembled, for a variety of reasons.  I think some may feel that ‐ would it be fair on smaller organisations and unfair on the ‐ or, rather, unfair on smaller ones, fairer on the larger ones?  To manage it I would see it as a much greater difficulty than for the individual organisation to provide their own scheme.
McClellan: You must have a different recollection to me.
This is part of a longer exchange which demonstrated how Watchtower is frantically trying to pour water on the concept of a financial redress scheme administered by an outside authority, with agreed and standardised amounts for victims.
Why would Watchtower be so afraid of a system like that becoming law, as is very possible in the next couple of years in Australia?
Well, remember what O’Brien said: Would it be “fair” on the smaller organisations?
That sounds like a reasonable concern until one realises that Watchtower is a “smaller” organisation unlike any other the Commission have investigated.
Watchtower: A unique stormfront
sex-abuse-survivorUnlike an organisation that simply reports to the police as soon as it becomes aware of an allegation of child sexual abuse, Watchtower policy not only refuses to do this unless legally required, but also requires the elders to start investigating the allegation themselves to determine guilt in a bronze-age religious court, thus opening themselves up to far greater liability than a regular church or group.
Additionally, it’s been clearly demonstrated during the ARC hearings that the process the elders are mandated to use is virtually guaranteed to cause further needless trauma to the survivor.
Therefore, it’s significantly more probable that cases linked to Watchtower (such as the 1,006 Witness molesters the ARC has already identified) will be eligible for compensation when compared to cases from other organisations of a similar size.
Keep that in mind as we craft a theoretical scenario that admittedly makes a lot of assumptions, some of which will fall in Watchtower’s favour for the sake of fairness.
Lets assume only one victim per abuser (and not, say the four victims involved in the case of BCG, who gave testimony at the Royal Commission). That gives us 1,006 potential claims identified by the Royal Commission.
Now assume that out of those 1,006 potential claims, only half of the victims are found to be eligible for compensation and in a position to claim.
Now assume that only half of those survivors are found to have directly experienced additional trauma due to Watchtowers’s policies, and qualify for a higher sum than a default of $65,000. Lets say the higher figure is $80,000.
So you’ve got 250 times 65,000 = 16,250,000 and 250 times 80,000 = 20,000,000
Now add those two figures together and what do you get?
An eye watering $36,250,000!
And remember, this scenario is making some assumptions that are significantly more favourable to Watchtower than the evidence suggests is reasonable.
Recurring Storms: No end in sight.
Angus Stewart, senior council at the Royal Commission, has delivered damning summary findings detailing Watchtower's mishandling of child abuse
Angus Stewart, senior council at the Royal Commission, has delivered damning summary findings detailing Watchtower’s mishandling of child abuse

But we’re not done yet, because another fascinating glimpse under the hood of Watchtower Australia was given on Day 7 when Watchtower Lawyer Vince Toole admitted under questioning the following statistic about his role at the Watchtower Australia Legal Desk, taking reports of child sexual abuse from congregations across the country.

Angus Stewart SC: You say you’ve done this exclusively for, did you say, two years or two and a half years?
Vince Toole: Yeah, approximately two years, I’ve been taking the calls myself.
Stewart: These are calls about allegations of child sexual abuse?
Toole: Yes.
Stewart: And how many such calls have you taken in that period, would you estimate?
Toole: I couldn’t tell you, but we probably get three, sometimes four, a month.
Again, let’s be generous to Watchtower. Let’s assume four new cases of abuse a month, but say that each of those reports involve only one abuse survivor, and that of those four survivors a month, only two are eligible for and desirous of compensation. Again, lets assume that the $65,000 default sum is the one decided upon every time because by some miracle Watchtower managed not to exacerbate suffering when they indulged in their demonstrably flawed judicial process.
So 2 victims a month is 24 victims a year.
So that’s 24 times 65,000…
…$1,560,000 per year!
Now, there are around 80,000 witnesses in Australia. Remember, that figure will include people who are fading or who have faded, and thus do not donate, as well as rank and file JW’s who are either very poor or simply forget to donate a lot of the time. But assume for argument’s sake that every single one of the 80,000 donates money of around $20 a month.
Divide the arguably conservative sum of $1,560,000 by the arguably generous figure of 80,000 publishers.
$19.5 dollars, right?
That means that if a witness donates $20 a month, almost 1/12 of his entire yearly donation will go simply to paying the annual child abuse bill.
That’s AFTER they spend around two years paying off the initial lump sum of  $36,250,000.
Granted, these figures are theoretical, using models and sums yet to be agreed and passed into law. Much could happen between then and now.
Nonetheless, the scenarios are plausible, and it’s clear if you read between the lines of O’Brien’s testimony that Watchtower also thinks they are plausible, and are very worried as a result.
Which is probably one of the reasons why I strongly suspect that the crazy maze at the top of this article won’t be the last piece of low-brow piggy-bank shaking we will see from an increasingly beleaguered Watchtower.
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← The Friday Column: Governing Body Issues Apology to Abuse Victims, Announces Radical Policy Changes
The Friday Column: The Annual Jehovah’s Witness Convention: a Pseudo-utopia →
 
107 Responses to The Friday Column: Watchtower facing financial stormwaters?


Newer Comments →
 
 pj wilcox says:

 April 8, 2016 at 12:49 pm
 
Thank You, great reporting.I appreciate your updates each week.
Reply
 
 
 AAzevedo says:

 April 8, 2016 at 1:05 pm
 
It boggles my mind that WTBS refuses to change their stand on this..I served as an elder for 10 years and remember recieving their guidelines for Child abuse…as secretary I was the second one to recieve the correspondence…I remember reading this letter at home after the meeting and telling myself that I did not want any part of this…I questioned the legality of it all but more important the MORALITY of adhering to these orders being barked from head office. I told myself that this is NOT something I would do….at one point in time we must ask ourselves if we are showing the love unto others the way we should be but keeping quiet on child molestation and not helping the real victims and their families. this is the first time i have written on this blog..and I am disgusted to read that after being 10 years removed from the “TRUTH” that things are still the same if not worse as they now hold kangaroo courts and with hunts on the victims and their families! I tend to wonder what Jesus would do…Hmmmm… I think we know how he would ! God bless the victims and families.
Reply
 
 Mama Joy says:

 April 8, 2016 at 2:00 pm
 
Thank you for speaking out on this injustice against children.
Reply
 
 
 ScotWm says:

 April 8, 2016 at 7:02 pm
 
Regarding: “It boggles my mind that WTBS refuses to change their stand on this…” (Pedophile Protection Policies.)
If the Governing Body changed the Watchtower PPP, it would be an admission of wrongdoing which could result in even more lawsuits and unfavorable judgments. The Watchtower Governing Body members have proclaimed themselves to be Guardians Of Doctrine (GOD). It is unlikely they will change any doctrine that will expose them to additional lawsuits.
Reply
 
 
 Eric Arthur Blair says:

 April 8, 2016 at 9:46 pm
 
This is perhaps the ultimate proof that it is not God’s organisation. They are in a no win situation. If Jesus really had been directing them all this time, why would he have let it get to this point? Wouldn’t he have anticipated this years ago and “refined” the organisation and its policies ahead of time?
If they were to admit now that they have had the child abuse policy wrong all this time and were to adjust it (rather than become more entrenched in their faulty position and strengthen their resolve to fight efforts at reform like they are actually doing) it could very well bankrupt them. The same goes for shunning, false predictions, faulty medical advice and other false teachings and practices. An apology and an admission of guilt and culpability now would only open the floodgates of litigation even further. Instead they are trying to slow down that litigation pipeline as much as possible, by any means, compounding their mistakes with more lies and deceptions, in order to make sure the bank balance doesn’t run out before the settlements do.
The fact that these are all unchristian practices goes without saying, but it also proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that God has not blessed or backed this organisation for the simple reason that if this was really “the truth”, all of these issues would have been anticipated and resolved decades ago.
Instead they now find themselves in a position where they can’t go backwards without going bankrupt, and can only go forward by persisting in false, damaging and unchristian practices and policies which are becoming increasingly untenable and self-destructive.
This is further evidenced by their attempts to appeal to those who have walked away to “return to Jehovah”. The stats show that it is getting harder to make new converts in the modern era where Watchtower is easily exposed for what they are by that powerful truth serum, the Internet. Anybody contacted today only needs to Google JWs and discover the WHOLE truth about them. So instead they are trying to recall those who still have some emotional attachment to the organisation; perhaps through family and friends, personal history, sentimentality, fear, guilt, or all of the above. This smacks of desperation, but it is also evidence that they are losing the battle. Instead of reforming they are trying to tighten their grip. Either way, it is clear that God is certainly not backing, let alone “speeding up” this work.
In fact, if this really was God’s organisation, JWs would have set the benchmark on all these issues long ago, especially child abuse, and this really would differentiate them from “the world” and all the other “false religions” they condem so vehemently. Instead of now treading the same legal path of all those they have persecuted, they should have been head and shoulders above them all (especially the head!)
Reply
 
 Hakizimana Jean de Dieu says:

 April 10, 2016 at 2:45 am
 
You are missing the point! By the way, what is the truth? Do you think you are more intelligent than the GB is? You are not teaching them as they know very well what they do? False predictions, they know better than you!
Things are simple: “Victory” is more important than “truth”! Consider what they wrote about America back in 1955:
*** w55 5/1 p. 275 Vacuum in Ideals? ***
 […] It believes that you can’t fool all the people all the time—but that you have to respect the politicians and promoters who manage to do so most of the time.”
Reply
 
 
 Big B says:

 April 10, 2016 at 8:44 am
 
Eric:
Everything you mentioned in your comments is absolutely true. This has been nothing but a evangelical Adventist “Millerite” throw-back from its inception. Just as the Millerite movement died out during the “Great Disappointment” back in the mid-1800’s so the Watchtower Adventism is now in its convulsive death throws.
It can’t apologize and say they were wrong because it would prove that they never had “God’s backing” much less be “His spirit directed organization”. They cannot retreat from their current position and lose all credibility. It’s now their policy to quote Admiral Farragut at Mobile Bay, “damn the torpedoes – full speed ahead”.
As the entire “Organization” crumbles around them they, like the Nazi hierarchy in Berlin, have taken a “bunker mentality” grasping at any fantasy (read:New Light) to pull themselves out of the jaws of certain oblivion. Their unreliable “credibility” and spiritual bankruptcy is now evident for the entire world to see. All one need do is, as you said, check out the internet.
Reply
 
 
 ScotWm says:

 April 10, 2016 at 11:34 am
 
Eric Arthur Blair says: “An apology and an admission of guilt and culpability now would only open the floodgates of litigation even further.”
It appears that the Watchtower’s current strategy is to stall the lawsuits by filing legal appeals and motions. The Watchtower accounting department has probably analyzed the costs involved in posting bonds for legal judgments and the ultimate payment of these judgments.
These projected payouts are then weighed against the Watchtower’s multi-billion dollar portfolio of real estate investment properties, contributions and other investments. At this time, the Watchtower legal and accounting departments have likely determined that slowly liquidating Watchtower assets will allow them to remain solvent for many years.
However, the one thing that can totally destroy the Watchtower’s positive financial position would be the loss of its tax exempt status. And with the number of government investigations underway, this tax exempt status may be threatened.
At this time, there is probably major disagreement among Watchtower leaders. Those who are totally deluded may actually believe that Jehovah’s earthly organization will never be destroyed by governmental forces. The leaders who know that the Watchtower is a total scam may be running scared, knowing that their days are numbered.
Accountants and lawyers are in a perfect position to steal the Watchtower’s ill gotten loot. Will those running scared embezzle millions in Watchtower assets as the walls come tumbling down?
Reply
 
 Will says:

 April 11, 2016 at 6:34 am
 
I think the Watchtower saw this coming a few years ago. The old “light” was that false religion would be destroyed and somehow Jehovah’s people would be saved and eventually the government’s would go after them. Now, it’s all fair game. I believe it was a 2013 WT that brought that out. So now that their tax status in question and if they lose it, WT will say it’s persecution and will reference the 2013 WT and will say they predicted it and all Witnesses will say the end is coming because the governments are going after them. I could be wrong about the new-ish light, but that’s what I recall.
Reply
 
 dee2 says:

 April 11, 2016 at 1:24 pm
 
According to WT theology the governments/UN will go after the JWs LAST – God will put it into the hearts of the governments/UN to destroy all other religions first and leave the JWs standing. The JWs must be the only religion left standing in order for Armageddon to strike.
It seems however, that God has got his schedule mixed up based on the punitive actions which may be taken against the JWs. God seems to be suffering from amnesia – he has forgotten that he should put his thought into the hearts of the governments to destroy the JWs LAST instead of first………lol.

 
 
 Grace says:

 April 11, 2016 at 4:34 pm
 
And now they are apparently saying that the tribulation is happening now. The naive follower will see the tribulation of the WT & will bury themselves deep into cult loyalty. Hopefully, they won’t be as silly as the Heavens Gates Cult & wait for the mother ship to save them.

 
 
 Covert Fade says:

 April 12, 2016 at 12:02 am
 
Hi Grace.
 Have they actually said that in print, or was it a talk? I’ve not heard that reported yet.

 
 
 
 Big B says:

 April 12, 2016 at 7:54 am
 
Can anyone say, “offshore accounts” or secret “Swiss bank accounts”. I think you are correct in thinking so ScotWm. I can believe these scoundrels would do exactly that if they haven’t already absconded the monies. After all, who is watching the Watchtower, has anyone seen a copy of their accounts reports?
Pleading poverty and begging for more funds while building their new multi-million dollar compound at Walkill, NY and purchasing more property in Florida hardly proves hardship to me. Just hiding the funds from the abuse victims and if that’s the case, failing miserably.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/281355/florida-gold-coast-latest-watchtower-real-estate?page=1
Reply
 
 Grace says:

 April 12, 2016 at 1:22 pm
 
Covert Fade,
No print, just hearsay from the Australian Zone visit.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 Chiafade says:

 April 8, 2016 at 1:08 pm
 
Watchtower is paranoid and greedy. Since they are being backed into a corner I think they will take desperate measures to insulate themselves. Such as closing the Australia branch and moving their funds to some other country where it can’t be touched. They are a slippery bunch.
Reply
 
 ScotWm says:

 April 8, 2016 at 8:30 pm
 
The Watchtower could decide to leave Australia due to the increased “persecution” they are currently experiencing. The only problem is that the Watchtower cult might have its real estate assets seized by the government as collateral on unpaid court judgments.
Reply
 
 isawthelight says:

 April 9, 2016 at 2:23 pm
 
These old 8 roosters are only respected by the flock who would not believe anything negative about that gb. But I am sure that justice will triumph. And if justice does not triumph then how can we really believe in an almighty God? The watchtower must fall. I have more respect for Isis than I do them. I know Isis is a killer and they boast about it.But the watchtower tries to put on a show of being righteous but they are just a dam group of men using religion as a front.That means they are more wicked than Isis. I also have more respect for the mob than I do Jehovah witnesses.
Reply
 
 Bad Penny says:

 April 14, 2016 at 6:04 am
 
8 Roosters! – Did Donald Trump really join the GB??
 His son-in-law has apparently purchased some Brooklyn estate for a considerable sum, maybe a connection there?
Reply
 
 
 
 
 
 Johnship says:

 April 8, 2016 at 1:26 pm
 
As one who has been in this org 50 years and seeing the made push to do everything on line with the blue square .i think they will separate from the watchtower completly and be just jw .org. already on the mags and any leaflets the WT logo is getting smaller and smaller. Soon there will be new light and they will come out with some “scripural reason ” to separate and avoid responsibility for the pay outs …
Reply
 
 Jan Hoekstra says:

 April 8, 2016 at 1:36 pm
 
Sinking ship it is. Only in 2014 i started to see all ‘mistakes’ , manipulations and mankind religion. Nothing to do with Jesus or Jehovah God. But all religions are in the same, only mankind
Reply
 
 
 Big B says:

 April 12, 2016 at 8:08 am
 
Johnship:
Bingo!
It is now and has always “been about the money”. Just like the Vatican, monies in and bs* policy (read: doctrine) out. The Watchtower attorney has said it outright “we’re just like the Catholic Church”. A very successful “extortion business” if there ever was one. Between the pedophilia cover ups, racketeering and extorting contributions from their adherents for over 1,000 years what more successful business plan could the Society follow?
Reply
 
 
 
 Jan Hoekstra says:

 April 8, 2016 at 1:33 pm
 
There are some millionaires who claim to be a JW. So persons like ‘Prince” who have A. Morris III design clothes and shoes can easy pay …….They have properties enough the GB world-wide and should sell. People can have the meetings at home they go to tell. In Tbilisi , Georgia they sack 30 persons from the local ‘Bethel’ branch. No work, no house , no money. And people are afraid to speak about such unmorality.
Reply
 
 
 Susan says:

 April 8, 2016 at 1:34 pm
 
Excellent article as always. The redress amounts you mentioned are definitely plausible – no wonder the organization is so money crazy these days!
Reply
 
 
 J goodman says:

 April 8, 2016 at 1:39 pm
 
Sadly, the long standing JWcult has entrenched itself worldwide and like cockroaches won’t be killed off easily.
 If only governments would wake up to the fact that this
“charity” is a sham.
 They should NOT be tax exempt because they do nothing but enrich their own bloated corporation, amassing more and more wealth.
 JW>ORG is psychologically and emotionally abusive ruling their duped members through fear, shame and guilt. Unfortunately, they are masters at emotional manipulation and must hire the same advertising people who produce drug ads for TV. Their videos are shameless and sickening and like any good drug commercial it attempts to gloss over the negative.
 This fabulous drug “Jehovia” will relieve you of any ability to think or act clearly. You will feel compelled to empty your bank account and donate to our cause…namely fighting child abuse lawsuits.
 It you are plagued with a logical, thinking mind please take Jehovia as directed.
 Sadly, using children is nothing new as they care very little about the welfare of children as their stone age policies clearly show.
 I would love to see them bankrupt but their followers are blind, deaf and dumb.
 As the late circus tycoon Barnum said: “There’s a sucker born every minute.” And they’ve got close to 8 million suckers.
Reply
 
 
 Andrew Haas says:

 April 8, 2016 at 1:55 pm
 
Had a discussion with a Witness a month ago. As I’m disfellowshipped and considered an apostate this Witness was not following Organisational guidelines. This Witness was kind and loving to me and keen to know how I and my family were going. There was no condemnation or preaching just a genuine interest. I was thinking how nice it would be if there was a policy that allowed a loving exchange. Anyway during the discussion the Witness was saying that at almost every meeting there is a scripture read and an appeal for more money to support the worldwide work. As a result this Witness said that he has not contributed for months and there is murmuring in the congregation about “what are they doing with the money”? The rank and file are stirring. There will be a mass exodus. I planted a seed and explained to him that there is a need for money to pay compensation to child abuse victims. He had not heard of this so it’s obvious that there is a huge Information filter in every Kingdom Hall. It’s just a matter of time. I made my way from JW to Christian and absolutely love my freedom in Christ. Peace to all.
Reply
 
 
 Eeee says:

 April 8, 2016 at 1:55 pm
 
On the issue of money, being that I have been following the current trends on the organization. We attended a circuit assembly on Sunday, in Nigeria, one of south south state . Before the morning session was concluded, the circuit account servant came over to announce the circuit account. We were about 3800 in attendance. He announced about the deficit the circuit had before the convention, the announce the surplus as a result of contributions during the convention and then said something I expected him to say. That based on per capital income, based the total number in the audience, the contribution that they expected from us should be over a million naira. Most of the people in attendance laugh and sincerely, I know that they didn’t understand what that meant or what the Watchtower was actually doing. I believe something similar has been done in other circuit.
 I remember telling the person next to me that they are indirectly telling us that we have not contributed enough.
I know what the organization has turned to, and really from they history, they weren’t that good. But they are really turning into something else.
Reply
 
 dee2 says:

 April 8, 2016 at 6:51 pm
 
Eeee,
The following information may be of interest regarding the Circuit Assembly deficit and contributions:
– Why is there always a Deficit at the Circuit Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses:https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=share&v=APb1RpfjCrA
– Circuit Accounts Servants Confesses how the SCAM WORKS:http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/62001/circuit-accounts-servants-confesses-how-scam-works?page=1&size=20
Reply
 
 Winston Smith says:

 April 10, 2016 at 8:30 pm
 
100% correct on the circuit account scam. I used to work in accounting at the circuit assembly level. There are some expenses like electricity, upkeep, and maintenance to be sure, so there is some level of legitimacy. But also consider that since they are so strict as to what these buildings can be used for, you are paying to maintain a building that sits empty more than half the year.
WS
Reply
 
 
 
 Homer says:

 April 8, 2016 at 11:09 pm
 
Hey Eeee,
I’m from Nigeria too and a live in the same geographical region. I’m happy to know there’s someone like me here. Since I read Raymond Franz’s books, I have concluded this can’t be “Jehovah’s organization”. But that’s a tough act.
I’m still a ministerial servant, but I haven’t been out in field service since my questioning from elders came some months ago. And I was a regular pioneer and was planning to go to School for Kingdom Evangelizers, but I’ve realized that’s a shaky career…if at all it is a career, with all their financial woes.
I’m held captive by my family, as I’m a third generation witness. Can’t leave, at least not now. I’m on some sort of suspension and marking because of my questioning the elders — it’s been over six months since I last stepped on the platform. It’s tough for the witnesses here because I was always very active and they’re asking questions, at least since they’ve not heard about me being reproved or disfellowshipped as those are the people who don’t get to climb the platform (most times).
Not speaking from the platform is sweet relief for me. One elder gave a talk on the outline “How Can You Find The True Religion?” and he mentioned that witnesses have not been involved in child abuse cases, like Catholic Church has been, and have had to pay out millions of dollars and even close some parishes.
I turned to look at everyone…since I was standing near the notice board and it’s at the back of the hall. They all shook their heads in agreement. I couldn’t imagine preaching that from the platform with all I know, and I couldn’t help but think how Watchtower has kept us all ignorant, all these years, and people call it the “best education”, or “sumptuous spiritual food”.
It’s just sad how gullible people are. They believe the governing body cannot lie to them and keep boasting about how dynamic the organization is. And I realize it’s dynamic to them because that’s all they know and can see.
Sorry if I veered off topic. Have a lot to say that could fill up a book.
Reply
 
 
 
 Mama Joy says:

 April 8, 2016 at 1:56 pm
 
Is that a typo or are they serious, when they said “give money to JEHOVAH”????
Reply
 
 
 Markie says:

 April 8, 2016 at 2:25 pm
 
One thing I have to say is that those dudes on JW broadcasting are not wearing good suits. If you would notice how most of the suits drape over their chubby bodies it indicates that they are cheap fused suits and not more expensive canvassed ones. Also their ties look like they are from the 1990s. I would venture to say that none of them are wearing Brioni, Isaia or even Canalis. They are probably hand me downs from Joseph A Banks. I don’t think any of them would know what a good suit was anyhow.
Reply
 
 
 SwimmingWild says:

 April 8, 2016 at 2:28 pm
 
The insurer’s are covering the abuse compensation costs for the Chirch of England – so is this possibly the same for JW’s?
Is it possible that they are not directly paying for these claims?
SwimmingWild
Reply
 
 
 Keith Enno says:

 April 8, 2016 at 2:47 pm
 
Excellent work CovertFade
 from my post earlier this month..
 Today on 31 March 2016, it was reported that the Christian Brothers had resolved 205 claims of historical abuse in the last year alone, with payments exceeding $20 million.
 Now if we extend this average payout of AU$100,000.00 to the Watchtower Society’s perpetrator list of over one thousand documented pedophiles and assume they abuse five victims (possibly about average for a pedophile) then we have 5,000 victims and with an average payout as listed above this amounts to AU$500,000,000.00.
 Five Hundred Million Dollars.
 Now everyone knows why the WTS is shuffling (hiding) assets faster than the eye can see.
 Now everyone knows why the WTS is begging for cash.
 Perhaps instead of trying to escape their obligations they should imitate Christ by facing up to the overwhelming evidence and trying to do something for the victims, instead of denying, prevaricating, postponing, delaying, disputing etc., all tactics designed to wear down any claimants and let’s face it, the adverse mental health issues that are occurring because of all this denial & obfuscation are very real.
 So there we have it. FIVE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS in Australia alone. This would have to make the “two witness” rule the most expensive misapplication of all time.
It will be interesting to see what the effect will be when compensation is enshrined in the legislation the Royal Commission is proposing. We believe it will encourage many more to come forward as they will be able to do so confidentially and without threat or fear of the Watchtower Society as it will all be assessed by an independent and supportive body. Bring it on!It will be interesting to see what the effect will be when compensation is enshrined in the legislation the Royal Commission is proposing. We believe it will encourage many more to come forward as they will be able to do so confidentially and without threat or fear of the Watchtower Society as it will all be assessed by an independent and supportive body. Bring it on!
Reply
 
 
 Keith Enno says:

 April 8, 2016 at 2:51 pm
 
Obviously taking the extreme position here.
 The final result will lie somewhere between the two.
 Whatever the result it will be “eye watering”.
Reply
 
 
 rikos says:

 April 8, 2016 at 3:37 pm
 
let them taking ever their underweares because these people are useless they do nothing good only harming people. lets hope other countries wake up and do what australia did.
Reply
 
 
 Markie says:

 April 8, 2016 at 4:52 pm
 
Covert fade sorry but this is pretty flawed logic. Wishful thinking perhaps? If anybody really objectively analyzed what you wrote they would be able to see your assuming way too much to come to the conclusion you want.
Reply
 
 John Redwood says:

 April 8, 2016 at 6:39 pm
 
Markie
Which part of the logic do you feel is flawed? You make a bold statement about flawed logic and wishful thinking, but with zero specifics. If you want to counter argue a point, please be our guest – but make a point to your argument, or your statement is without any merit.
Cheers,
John R
Reply
 
 Markie says:

 April 9, 2016 at 1:16 pm
 
My point is not to draw an argument but to point out that your logic is not very sound. For example, you assume that 2 out of every three or four calls a month that the Society gets in Australia the Watchtower would be found culpable of some type of maleficence. What basis do you have to assume that? Or is that just wishful thinking? What if it was a false accusation, or the elders told the victim to go to the authorities? Or the case had simply nothing to do with congregation. From my experience it is very difficult if not impossible to prove that a third party should be held responsible for the actions of others.
 I do believe that the two witness rule is ridiculous in these cases for obvious reasons. But it is my understanding that the direction is now that victim can go to the authorities if they choose to do so. And I am not sure if that wasn’t always the case.
 And don’t get me wrong, I do believe that if the society is somehow culpable of some type of wrong doing in regards to child abuse they should be held responsible. I just don’t believe it is always the Societies fault. They are just the ones with deep pockets.
Ciao
Reply
 
 Covert Fade says:

 April 11, 2016 at 3:56 am
 
Markie, to your point on the 2 out of 4 calls a month being potentially liable for compensation:
I stated from the outset that was an assumption for the sake of argument. However, it believe it is a reasonable assumption based on the following facts:
1: The odds of a child making a false accusation are very low. Research it if you’re not aware of this.
2: It is safe to assume that any report being passed to Bethel will be processed according to Watchtower policy (Two Witness rule, non reporting unless legally binding, untrained elders interviewing a vulnerable victim etc)
3: These policies have been found by the ARC to unequivocally case additional harm to the abuse survivor.
You point about the victim still being able to report is addressed in the ARC: Some victims simply cannot report (a lone child living with her lone parent abuser, for one) or feel that they cannot do so due to pressure from others. Again, this was all demonstrated during the ARC hearings. And even if the victim DOES go to the police, they will still have been subjected to harmful Watchtower processes in the meantime which would qualify them for compensation under the proposed scheme.
Reply
 
 
 
 
 SIRIUS says:

 April 8, 2016 at 7:00 pm
 
@Markie
>>>this is pretty flawed logic.
An opinion piece is suddenly flawed? Seriously?
>>>If anybody really objectively analyzed what you wrote …
I am somebody! It’s objective and there’s enough due diligence to make the reasoning sound from Covert Fade perspective.
Now, what do you know the others don’t?
IMHO
dogstar
PS Great write up Covert Fade on the available data.
Reply
 
 
 Covert Fade says:

 April 9, 2016 at 2:58 am
 
Markie.
Happy to have someone point out the specific flaws in the article, but in order to do that you’d have to, y’know, actually point out the specific flaws and not just wave a vague hand of disagreement in the general vicinity of an actual point.
Over to you: Please proceed with you objective analysis.
Reply
 
 Markie says:

 April 9, 2016 at 5:53 pm
 
Replied to the wrong person, see reply to John Redwood. Not trying to cause an argument but your analysis is certainly not objective. Maybe you were not trying to be objective. I don’t know.
I think it was brought out by the Royal Commission that there was 1000 cases of child abuse reported over the last 50 years or so. Maybe I am wrong but it appears that most disgruntled exJWs believe that the Society was somehow culpable in all these cases but the reality is that we don’t have any idea what has happened in any of these cases. What they were about at all.
 I always get a chuckle when Brothers or the Society mention the Catholic church and their problem with pedophile priests. The truth of the matter is that there are sick people everywhere regardless of what religion they may or may not be. And yes the JWs have their share of problems just like any other group of people.
 I am sure there has been many cases mishandled by the elders, cover ups and so on but I know of one incident that happened to a close friend of mine in the 1980’s and the MS that did it ended up disfellowshipped and spent time in jail. I think that case was handled correctly by the elders.
Reply
 
 Chiafade says:

 April 9, 2016 at 9:10 pm
 
I’m sorry but I have to chime in your last couple of sentences. You said “I know of one incident that happened to a close friend of mine in the 1980’s and the MS that did it ended up disfellowshipped and spent jail time. I think the elders handled that one correctly”.
Unless YOU served on that body you don’t know that it was the elders who did anything besides just disfellowshipping the MS. Sounds like the same kind of wishful thinking that you are accusing covert fade of.
I say this because 1. I served as an elder for over 10 years and I can guarantee you that the elders did not come to a unanimous agreement to call the police. NO WAY NO HOW. 2. Because the guidelines forbid them from doing such.
Now let’s consider the more likely scenario’s. The victim or their family contacted the police. The matter became well known and was gossiped about leaving the elders no choice but to act judicially. ONE of the elders called the police. Remember ONE not the body, which means he acted independently. Any of these scenario’s is completely plausible. You can say I wasn’t there but neither were you. Or did your friend tell you that the elders phoned the police? Although I was not there I am intimately familiar with the inner workings of judicial committees and how they work. So your conclusion on the elders “handling things correctly” is based on hearsay.
Be careful when use the term disgruntled ex-JW. Any ex-JW has a good reason to be a little pissed with the treatment the org dishes out on a daily basis with impunity. Then you follow it up by saying that “don’t know what happened with those thousand cases”. That’s true, but do you know what we are aware of ? That watchtower had a record of all of these individuals. So now you want us to believe that out of 1006 ” accused ” (to use your theory) pedophiles that it’s possible NONE of them were pedophiles? Or only a few of them? That may not be what you said but that’s how it sounds.
I don’t mean to sound offensive to you Markie. These are simple observations I’m making based on your comments. Also, there are some logical fallacies in your comments. The 1000 pedophiles may not be pedophiles comment you made is one of them. These are propaganda techniques and should be avoided in a respectful dialog.
Reply
 
 Markie says:

 April 9, 2016 at 10:49 pm
 
Not to be offensive to you but you sound like a very disgruntled exJW. Sorry that you were so hurt by the Society. I hope when you were an elder you were kind to people.
 Where did I ever say that of the 1006 cases that it was possible that none of them were pedophiles. I simply said that we don’t know what happened in those cases and why is it always assumed that the Society was at fault for something in those cases. Please reread what I said.
 I will have to ask my friend who called the police on the MS. It probably was his mother. But he was disfellowshipped.
 When I was younger I went to law school and I can tell you of many abuses I suffered at the hands of elders during that time and still do today. One of the elders actually grabbed me by the hair and asked me what the hell I was trying to prove. A few years later he asked me to help him out with some legal issue. Hell I have even had them comment about how wrong higher education is during the Watchtower study then right after the meeting ask me some legal question.
 I for one have quit donating any money to the Society about 20 years ago. I figured my money is tainted and they don’t need it.
 Like I tell me wife the GB said it all when they decided to move out of Brooklyn and move to Warwick. If they really believed that we are living “deep” in the time of the end they never would have bothered to build that place.
 So I do see things quit wrong in the organization but to simply put the blame on the Society for every pedophile case is just not logical.

 
 
 
 Caroline says:

 April 10, 2016 at 2:52 am
 
I do believe the Society is completely responsible for all those 1006 pedophiles not being reported to the police because there was not even one of those pedophiles reported to the police. The odds of that happening to 1006 people not having been reported to the police can’t be a coincidence.
Reply
 
 
 Covert Fade says:

 April 11, 2016 at 4:03 am
 
Actually Markie, we do know what happened in these 1006 cases.
We know that an accusation of abuse was made, and we know that the society handled the accusation with their internal policies. We know that the accusation was never reported to the police, otherwise it would not be part of the 1006 “unreported cases”
This was all shown under testimony from Watchtower’s own people during the ARC, and backed up with Watchtower’s own records.
It was also shown that these polices are incredibly harmful to the survivor and that Watchtower’s internal sociological environment puts great pressure on survivors not to report. It was also shown (from Watchtowers own records) that many of these unreported abusers went on to abuse again.
Therefore, it is reasonable to state that a large proportion of the 1006 cases will be eligible for compensation due Watchtower increasing the suffering of the suvivor.
These are the facts from the ARC hearings. If you’re going to dispute them, feel free, but you will need more than anecdotal evidence to do.
Reply
 
 
 
 
 
 Ocma says:

 April 8, 2016 at 11:44 pm
 
“McCellan: Would you recommend that the church join in such a scheme?” – why not join the scheme?? JW claim to have things under control, that there are so few abused. What are they scared of?….oh, of course, the facts. The fact that there are many victims, and the fact that they do jack to help the victims. They are only concerned with covering their own backs.
Reply
 
 
 AussieneedingComfort says:

 April 9, 2016 at 5:28 am
 
John Redwood/Covert Fade….please check with Cedars to be certain, but as I recall, this person “Markie” is a troll and has caused difficulties on other threads.
Regarding this article…GOOD WORK! I thoroughly enjoyed every word and agree with your intent! Keep it up!!! Makes my heart feel so better that the “bread” they have tossed on the water is coming back to them in a huge way! The amount of pain and misery they have dished out will now be theirs to enjoy!
Reply
 
 Covert Fade says:

 April 9, 2016 at 5:38 am
 
Hi AussieneedingComfort.
Thanks for the kinds comments.
On the other issue I’ve seen many of Markie’s posts and I don’t consider him to be a troll. He has not been abusive. I’m hoping he will reply here with some specific points of criticism which can either be debated or accepted, as his current post doesn’t really add anything to the discussion.
Reply
 
 
 Markie says:

 April 9, 2016 at 6:00 pm
 
I am a troll causing problems on other threads? What do you mean by that? Does having a different opinion cause one to be a troll?
Reply
 
 Winston Smith says:

 April 10, 2016 at 8:44 pm
 
In Internet slang, a troll (/ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response[2] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion,[3] often for their own amusement – Wikipedia
Markie, I typically disagree with the statements you make, but I don’t think they make you a troll.
WS
Reply
 
 Grace says:

 April 11, 2016 at 4:20 pm
 
I agree, I don’t think Markie is a troll. I think that it’s good for the website moderators to allow differing opinions. We don’t have to agree with them. Sometimes I think Markie is just being sarcastic.
Reply
 
 
 
 
 
 Jeffro says:

 April 9, 2016 at 7:31 am
 
As far as mazes go, it’s pretty lame, even for a child’s puzzle. Two completely distinct solutions, each with 2 different paths available, for a total of 4 possible solutions. Maybe this is meant to represent all the different types of donations Watch Tower will accept, from cash to jewellery to real estate to life insurance policies.
Reply
 
 
 Tara says:

 April 9, 2016 at 8:09 am
 
Haven’t been going to the meetings but Walmart seems to be the place to bump into the bros and sisters. The other day I bumped into one of the nicest couples in ‘my’ hall. After pleasantries the sister made a remark that took me back as it was unprovoked. She mentioned how the society is crying out for money. Her and her husbands thoughts were that it was because of the internet and obviously no one was donating to the magazines anymore. Then she mentioned how the renovation on ‘our own’ hall had been halved financially…. how the building of the new UK Bethel was on hold… I gave an off the cuff remark about the Warwick building work still going ahead and she gave me a quizzical look. I mentioned that when I first came into the ‘truth’ a comment from one of the governing body was that when the money runs out …… I stopped about then because it wasn’t the time or the place… but I saw them look at each other. Now this little maze thing. Yes, the minions are slowly noticing something isn’t quite right in the societies pocket book.
Reply
 
 
 Hakizimana Jean de Dieu says:

 April 9, 2016 at 10:09 am
 
Who do you think will pay the bill?
*** w10 11/15 pp. 20-21 ‘Let Us Present Jehovah’s Offering’ ***
“Your servants have taken the sum of the men of war who are in our charge and not one has been reported missing from us,” they told Moses. They decided to present gold and various ornaments as Jehovah’s offering. The total weight of the gold ornaments amounted to over 500 troy pounds (190 kg).—Num. 31:49-54.
‘Let Us Present Jehovah’s Offering’ , who knows how much Africa pays? What about Europe and Asia?
‘Let Us Present Jehovah’s Offering’
Reply
 
 
 Hakizimana Jean de Dieu says:

 April 9, 2016 at 10:15 am
 
http://thewatchtowerfiles.com/money/
Reply
 
 
 Eyes opened says:

 April 9, 2016 at 11:17 am
 
Great article with sound reasoning.
Reply
 
 
 ruthlee says:

 April 9, 2016 at 1:39 pm
 
ummm! The GB seem to not know what children are for. They miss the point of their little maze. If you give a child a puzzle or a game , it is expected to give them the reward , The encouragement is for the child to find delight in achieving something. We all know the saying “taking candy from a baby” and these charlatans would fleece even the little children. Are you not supposed to lay up for your children and not expect them to lay up for you? These men are not just greedy but desperate. They would hoodwink innocent children into parting with their love tokens from their parents and grandparents , only to feed the GB greed and deficit. Let’s add insult to injury. How many JW’s are born in so didn’t even get converted off the doors so have always contributed to this cowboy outfit ? How many were molested so are entitled to a payout and not a contribution to the corrupt Tower? And how many of the younger generation will follow the pied pipers and not actually get a proper job so will always struggle for money the way we do? As it is there seems to be money making scams at every turn ie assembly deficits. What now at every meeting we have a TV show to keep costs down and damn begging letters always with a misquoted scripture. As my Asperger child so eloquently put it in his pointed truthful and rapier wit style”why don’t they set up a praypal account, so we can click at the touch of a button?” I had to smile because that IS really funny and might just give the greedy men ideas.Ruthlee
Reply
 
 Winston Smith says:

 April 10, 2016 at 8:51 pm
 
Keep in mind too that this organization has always had trouble holding on to the children who are “born-in” once they grow up. Used to be about 50/50 that they would stick with it and is probably less than that today. They are definitely doing more to try to get their hooks in the kids as early as possible and this maze is certainly geared toward that goal.
WS
Reply
 
 
 
 ruthlee says:

 April 9, 2016 at 1:50 pm
 
And another thing while I’m at it (on a roll here). How on earth do they expect to get any money back in the future if they damn the kids to eternal window washing and cleaning toilets? Here in Britain you need to clear around £1,000 per month to pay your way in rent , car taxes, food and fuel. So how does a “humble” window washer do this unless he goes under the radar and claim housing relief from the government. (hardly relying on god!) or fiddles the tax? I really don’t know how they manage. I don’t actually care what they do but I know they would struggle to help out in any lawsuits if for some reason they suddenly become vicariously liable through ignorance. So I reckon they all better start saving the kids money as there are some mighty expenses coming that I suspect the Gb will worm out of and trap the fools in the tower to cough up. I think you can tell i’m annoyed at the blatant misuse of power, yet again , against children. ruthlee
Reply
 
 Hakizimana Jean de Dieu says:

 April 10, 2016 at 1:40 am
 
@ruthlee, “misuse of power… against children”! You need to think deeper to understand how British children are being “killed” in another way!! Imagine now, a child recruited in Watchtower or born from a Jehovah’s Witnesses’ family will be subject to the same education (from Jehovah) as a child born in the bush somewhere in the “dark continent”!!
No race should boast of being superior or having high I.Q, all depends on what people are exposed to and schools they attend. Theocratic schools is an irrefutable proof of that.
Reply
 
 ruthlee says:

 April 10, 2016 at 3:14 am
 
Interesting points hakizimana , but I think Jw lala land is an American whiteman’s religion. Also in my experience (being the mongrel mixrace that I am ) Everyone aspires to the American dream in one form or another. Having said that, it is just a dream and like icecream can be sold then the seller moves on and the dream melts. Believe me I think very deeply on many points made here. In Britain kids have fantastic opportunities at school and higher places of learning which is why we have such and influx of bright young hopefuls. I wish them well. However every jw child that is deprived of its entitled free education here in Britain to be home schooled by the cult , is projected back beyond Victorian times when the system was set up. That is a travesty of human rights and human justice. Those kids leave school clueless and have but two qualifications in life expert cleaners of aforementioned windows and self appointed ministers of watchtower.Reguardless of intellect. I cannot speak for other countries or systems , I can only speak for a brown person who grew up with a browner father in a white culture and a white religion. I hope my comments do not offend but a spade is a shovel and I am not trying to be contentious just my take on things. cheers! ruthlee
Reply
 
 
 
 
 Eric Arthur Blair says:

 April 9, 2016 at 4:31 pm
 
The more I look at this picture the more disgusted I am. As if their policies toward children haven’t been shameful enough, they have to resort to sly, underhanded, manipulative exploitation and coercion. They are training the next generation to pay for the abuse of the previous generations.
Reply
 
 
 Freedom says:

 April 9, 2016 at 7:16 pm
 
In one of my earlier postings, I proclaimed there needs to be more court cases against the JW Org and I will continue to pray for that to happen so that their funds will start to dry up. Then I hope the majority of JWs will see through the plastic carrot this organization is putting in front of ordinary JWs that have sacrificed much of their youthful life worshiping an organization instead of God.
Reply
 
 
 Hakizimana Jean de Dieu says:

 April 10, 2016 at 1:59 am
 
Bible and Bible-Based organization will continue to be a burden to humankind until even a peasant understands it. Consider what Jehovah’s Witnesses wrote back in 1981…
*** g81 11/8 pp. 21-22 Is the Bible a White Man’s Book? ***
 To most blacks of southern Africa there are only three racial divisions—blacks, whites and Asiatics, and they classify Arabs, Jews and other peoples of the Middle East, not as Asiatics, but as whites. However, just as there are different nations and types of blacks so there are different types of whites. The entire Bible was written by Israelites, or Jews, who are Orientals, or people of the Middle East—but not of the white European races who conquered Africa. Interestingly, Moses, the man who wrote the first five books of the Bible, was born and lived in northern Africa until he was 40 years old
Now, as far as the bible is considered, we have same cries as Europeans! Shunning our loved ones, family splits, burden of elders, child abuses… as a price of Bible study! Let us all pay the price if power is to shift from where it used to be.
Reply
 
 dee2 says:

 April 10, 2016 at 8:44 am
 
@Hakizimana:
“Moses, the man who wrote the first five books of the Bible……”
Just as an FYI, some points to consider as to whether or not Moses actually wrote the first five books of the Bible (Pentateuch):
– There are two creation stories in Genesis:http://www.religioustolerance.org/ev_bibl.htm
– The Flood story appears to involve the meshing of two separate stories:
 Genesis 7:15: In the story of the Flood, these verses have Noah collecting two of each species of animals – one male and one female. Genesis 7:2-3 specifies 7 pairs of clean animals and birds and 1 pair of unclean animals. Genesis 7:11 describes water coming from the heavens and from below the ground to generate the worldwide flood. However, Genesis 7:4 describes all of the water falling as rain. Genesis 7:11, 7:17, 7:24 and 8:3 specify different intervals for the flood duration which have no apparent resolution.
– Exodus 33:7 describes Moses entering the Tabernacle. Yet, the Tabernacle had not yet been built; its subsequent construction is described in Exodus 35.
– Deuteronomy 34:5-9 describes the death, burial, age at death, physical condition at death, and mourning period for Moses. It is difficult for an individual to describe events at and after his or her death.
– Deuteronomy 34:10 states: “There has never been another prophet like Moses…” (NLT) This sounds like a passage written long after Moses’ death. Enough time would have to had pass for many other prophets to have arisen, to pass from the scene, and to have been evaluated.
– There are stories which have been described twice (doublets) and in some cases three times throughout the Pentateuch. These doublets appear to contradict each other. In most cases, one of the stories in the doublet refers to God as Yahweh while the other story in the doublet uses the term Elohim.
More arguments against Moses’ authorship of the entire Pentateuch can be found at:http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_tora.htm
Reply
 
 Hakizimana Jean de Dieu says:

 April 10, 2016 at 12:32 pm
 
@dee2,
 I think in the article “Is the Bible a White Man’s Book?” (g81 11/8 pp. 21-22) ,the GB want to teach us that “as there are different nations and types of blacks so there are different types of whites.”! More importantly, they want to tell us that the “Bible was written by Israelites, or Jews… not … European races who conquered Africa.”! Moses was mentioned to emphasis that the Bible was not written by Europeans who unfortunately brought it in Africa.
 That is the message conveyed in the GB’s article.
Reply
 
 dee2 says:

 April 10, 2016 at 3:53 pm
 
Hakizimana,
This is off-topic but here is my take on what the Bible really is, in a nutshell:
The Bible is a book about the Jews and their history and what they wanted; it is a book about how a failed Jewish hope became foisted upon the rest of mankind – when the Kingdom of Israel failed to permanently establish itself as a sovereign nation it then began to look forward to an apocalyptic in-breaking of God to set up the Kingdom of Israel that would incorporate the whole world – the Kingdom of Israel thereby became the Kingdom of God:
Matthew 19:28
 And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Luke 22:28-30:
“You are those who have stood by Me in My trials; and just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
The Bible is a book about how the Kingdom of Israel re-invented itself to become the Kingdom of God – we are victims of a nationalistic agenda.
Reply
 
 dee2 says:

 April 10, 2016 at 4:01 pm
 
******The Bible is a book about how the FAILED Kingdom of Israel………….

 
 
 
 
 
 
 Hakizimana Jean de Dieu says:

 April 10, 2016 at 1:11 pm
 
I wonder how the Bible is becoming a curse for all humankind, in more than 230 lands… The GB wrote about LIVINGSTON as follows:
*** w74 11/15 p. 677 Africa’s Churches Weigh Past and Future ***
“Instead of opening Africa for Christianity, he paved the way, at first, for the slavers who followed him into previously undiscovered territories. Also, ‘the introduction of God’s word was to presage the destruction of God’s creatures.’ After the Bible, came the gun.”
“After the Bible, came the gun.”, what about Europe? How was the Bible introduced in Europe? How are we now sharing the same cries from the Bible? How are we having the same bible educational programme?
“After the Bible, came the gun.”! My ancestors had to suffer because of the Bible and I am suffering because of the same Bible!
 People suffered when it was forbidden labeled “apostates” and now people suffer when they read it labeled the same “apostates”!
Reply
 
 Outandabout says:

 April 10, 2016 at 3:39 pm
 
Hats off to you for seeing that. Can anybody live by the Bible? Most certainly not!! They could try and if they actually made it to Mark 16:17-18 where it says that true believers can drink poison and be fine…well…anybody for a nice warm cup of bleach and a bikkie? For anybody to TRULY follow the Bible they would find themselves going around in a confused circle (if they survived) while constantly shooting themselves in the foot now and again and even then, feeling guilty about that. What they would perceive as themselves being weak for failing to understand gods word is actually their inability to understand something that can’t and never will be understood and not recognising that. Why is the Bible, after 2000yrs of total and intense study and discussion still not understood. Why can we shoot a probe off into space towards a passing comet travelling between 4,000kms and 40,000kms per hr, move alongside it at EXACTLY the same speed, land on it and start sending data back to earth, but we can’t understand the bible? If anybody suggests it’s because we’re not spiritual enough, I’ll scream. It’s been said that the Bible itself, in it’s entirety, is the single biggest case for Atheism available. I agree with that.
Reply
 
 dee2 says:

 April 10, 2016 at 9:01 pm
 
……..Don’t forget the agnostics and the deists.
Reply
 
 Outandabout says:

 April 10, 2016 at 10:25 pm
 
….and don’t get me started on these so called ‘last days’ we’re living in. If anybody can be bothered, try Googling ‘Our World In Data’. There you will find a more believable picture of current world trends which point to things being exactly the opposite to what is portrayed in the Bible. Exactly opposite of what the Watchtower is desperately ramming down peoples throats by way of their attention grabbing catch phrase – ‘War, Earthquakes, Famine’. If you look like you’re starting to drift off at the meeting, out it comes. If you having trouble understanding the overlapping generation crap, out it comes to quell any doubts and don’t think too hard, just believe!
 Famine? Apparently 786 million people worldwide are obese now so we can ditch that one.
 War? Despite what we see on telly, war deaths are a mere blip. Pretty much the same as motor vehicle accidents at about 1.3 million per year. Any mention of the tragic loss of lives on the roads in the bible? Watchtower? Any cars in the bronze age? Nah!
 Earthquakes…..we need ’em. Earthquakes and volcano’s remind us that the earth is a moving and evolving thing with a molten core that gives us the magnetic field which shields us from the damaging rays of space. We simply can’t survive without the magnetic field. If earthquakes and volcano’s stop, well then we really are in serious trouble. So…as much as we don’t like them….. if it’s hot, don’t touch it!! If the ground opens up…run away!! Don’t just stand there waiting to be rescued by a supernatural being. We left childhood behind. That reminds me of a song – ‘Puff the majic Dragon’. Maybe it should be sung at the K.H.
Reply
 
 Hakizimana Jean de Dieu says:

 April 11, 2016 at 3:39 am
 
Today, who wants to be warmed like did David?
 (1 Kings 1:1-4) . . .Now King David was old, advanced in years, and although they would cover him with garments, he could not get warm. 2 So his servants said to him: “Let a girl, a virgin, be found for my lord the king, and she will wait on the king as his nurse. She will lie in your arms so that my lord the king may feel warm.” 3 They searched throughout all the territory of Israel for a beautiful girl, and they found Abʹi·shag the Shuʹnam·mite and brought her in to the king. 4 The girl was extremely beautiful, and she became the king’s nurse and waited on him, but the king did not have sexual relations with her.
I think that is a case of child abuse!

 
 
 Tara says:

 April 11, 2016 at 6:01 am
 
I got into trouble for having that book lol….. ‘because it’s about drug abuse!’. I still have the book 😉

 
 
 Minion says:

 April 11, 2016 at 7:57 pm
 
Wow good stuff I’m reading, however, no one mention the progress our fine women and sisters in the KH are having.
What you say?, The day of prayer – for almost an over lapping generation or 65 years, this group has not invited your 7 men of shameless. I guess they don’t want to cuddle with the most unholy.
Every JW should be asking, why not be part of a movement worldwide for the healing and mending of humanity.
 I remember a man called Jesus, he believed in such a movement, why?
 I understand he cared.
Interesting read and history – our Women and sisters.
 History and Alternates
The Women’s World Day of Prayer started in the USA in 1887, as Mary Ellen Fairchild James, wife of Darwin Rush James from Brooklyn, New York, called for a day of prayer for home missions,[2] and Methodist women called for a week of prayer and self-denial for foreign missions. Two years later, two Baptists called together a Day of Prayer for the World Mission. The Day of Prayer initiated by these two women expanded to Canada, then to the British Isles in the 1930s. The movements focus on ecumenism and reconciliation led to growth after World War II. Since 1927 the March day is known as Women’s World Day of Prayer. Catholic women were allowed to join the movement after the Second Vatican Council, beginning in 1967, and united what had been their May day of prayer with the March Women’s World Day of Prayer in 1969.[3]
Two other Christian denominations celebrate a World Day of Prayer in September. The Unity Church, a New Thought Protestant denomination headquartered at Unity Village, Missouri celebrates a twenty-four-hour World Day of Prayer principally on the second Thursday in September (member churches may start at sunset on September 11, and the themes differ from those of the Women’s World Day of Prayer set forth below).[4][5] Also, the terrorist events of September 11, 2001 prompted the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fellowship, to designate that date annually as a World Day of Prayer for Peace.
Through the World Day of Prayer, women are encouraged to become aware of the other countries and cultures and no longer live in isolation. They are also encouraged take up the burdens of other people, to sympathize with the problems of other countries and cultures and pray with and for them. They are further encouraged to become aware of their talents and use them in the service of society. The World Day of Prayer aims to demonstrate that prayer and action are inseparable and that both have immeasurable influence in the world.
Peace out,

 
 
 Minion says:

 April 11, 2016 at 8:10 pm
 
Greetings to all,
The “world day of prayer” is held each year on ‘cinco de Mayo’ for the Britt’s its May 5,
I will join our fine women and sisters in the KH and encourage – morning and afternoon prayer.
Then I’ll fine my Beach with a case of coronitas or coronas and celebrate ‘cinco de Mayo’, both are great causes.
Peace out,

 
 
 
 
 Hakizimana Jean de Dieu says:

 April 11, 2016 at 3:32 am
 
@Outandabout, well said, yes, the Bible itself, in it’s entirety, is the single biggest case for Atheism available
Reply
 
 
 
 
 Doc Obvious says:

 April 10, 2016 at 2:10 pm
 
Listen, obey, and be redressed. Sounds more like it.
Reply
 
 
 Bill Thinker says:

 April 10, 2016 at 5:42 pm
 
Some more “Be Generous” imagery:
http://41.media.tumblr.com/aee57d67517f3453645893e7d0e661a0/tumblr_o5g1htzDov1u6z4apo1_1280.jpg
More here: http://goo.gl/jyJIlF
Print out and give to JW children to play with at the meetings…
Reply
 
 Markie says:

 April 10, 2016 at 10:50 pm
 
An older elder friend of mine that died years ago once said to me never trust a man that wears a pinking ring. So I have always mistrusted men that wear them especially this dude. I can’t really tell if that is a Rolex or not. I would think it isn’t due to the fact that he appears to be wearing a really cheap suit and tie.
Reply
 
 
 Grace says:

 April 11, 2016 at 4:23 pm
 
Bill, I love the second pic, it’s really good. I think I’ll send it to some people to stir them up a bit. You could add so many more to it.
Reply
 
 
 
 Hakizimana Jean de Dieu says:

 April 11, 2016 at 10:07 am
 
I guess we have a long way to go if we really find it necessary to convince “Jehovah” that he/she needs to change his point of view about child abuse!!
 Remember, the same “Jehovah” impregnated Mary, a virgin, when she was 13 or 14 years old? Imagine a god, the ancient of times, impregnating a girls of 13 a teenage!
 Sadly, what the same god writes on teen pregnancies shows that it is fast at pointing fingers on humans:
*** w78 10/1 p. 27 Insight on the News ***
 in the United States about a million teen-age girls had become pregnant during the preceding 12 months. She added: “Of this number, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics, approximately 600,000 will give birth, confirming the fear that teen-age pregnancies in this country are reaching epidemic proportions.”
Reply
 
 
 Kathryn says:

 April 11, 2016 at 5:29 pm
 
I notice the GB never says they’re wrong. I believe they are a for profit organization. When it comes to the lawsuits They’re pooping their pants. Maybe they think admitting they did anything wrong is a weakness and will make things worse for their org. The GB can’t be chosen by Holy Spirit.
Reply
 
 
 Wip it says:

 April 11, 2016 at 9:45 pm
 
we have just had the zone visit & phone hook up for the 3 hour meeting, the only mention was of the 40 refirbs & 10 new halls built here in OZ, our hall had a 1/2 refirb, i believe the Government will go after them for unpaid GST, they are broke & need/want money, when i was secretary i always challenged them about the GST, we had a flat & a written rental agreement with the tenant, we were collecting GST & keeping it, one tiny example, i know of another hall where telstra are paying to use the ground for a tower, this has been going on for over 20 years, again they keep the GST. But as we know they will just says its an attack from Satan & this proves where we are in the stream of time, bumpkin, i havnt given a cent in many many years
Reply
 
 
 Alice says:

 April 11, 2016 at 10:17 pm
 
I just finished watching the monthly video on jw broadcasting for the month of April. It reminds me of a Saturday Night Live skit. It shows a blind brother playing soccer with the brothers and it shows a sign language video of a guy with a huge rafter in his eye. It reminded me of a Saturday Night live skit
Reply
 
 
 James Broughton says:

 April 12, 2016 at 1:48 am
 
Thank you for the info. It must be very disturbing for the average Witness to learn of all this or are the facts withheld from them? I suppose they have to be. We have a phrase in the UK called “spin-doctoring” used by politicians to gloss over the truth and I believe the Watchtower Society are masters of that. But like all counterfeit commodities they only really show up in the light of the genuine.
Reply
 
 
 Twmack says:

 April 12, 2016 at 4:57 am
 
On the elders course at the London Bethel, in the 70s,
 the class was instructed to target young people in the
 ministry. It was claimed the elderly were too set in their
 ways to change. / And of course, young fit people can
 be turned into active and productive recruiters, whereas
 it’s less likely with the elderly ( My thoughts ).
At that time the org, was riding the “Gravy Train”, coming up
 to 1975 record increases in publishers, money to burn.
Just a few months ago their tune had changed. Now
 publishers were encouraged to seek out the senior
 citizens, and to try and get access into retirement homes
 and old peoples care homes.
As stated, there’s little gain as far as additional recruiters are
 concerned. But the Ancientry (Shakespearian ) often have
 acquired other valuable assets during their lifetime. Need I
 say more!
Reply
 
 
 AussieneedingComfort says:

 April 12, 2016 at 5:57 am
 
Scary! They are targeting the old folk’s homes so they can talk them into giving all their assets to the Org in their wills. I have heard of some heavy duty pressure being brought on these poor old ones. It’s not right! Can you say “coercion” or “blackmail”? If you have old folks in a home, talk to them and to the staff and make sure they all know that JW’s are not to try to “study” with them or harass them in any way. It is wicked that it has come down to this!!!
Reply
 
 Kathryn says:

 April 12, 2016 at 10:52 am
 
You are so right. My JW step mother tried to get one of her elderly bible studies to make a will giving all of his money and everything he owns to the society when he dies. She says its to bad he doesn’t want to do that. He prefers to give it to his family. When she told me I backed him up. I told her I don’t blame him for wanting to leave it to family. She went on to argue and argue and argue with me. I feel it’s terrible. It shows how brain washed the members are.
Reply
 
 
 
 Cappytan says:

 April 12, 2016 at 1:44 pm
 
Thanks for linking to my video!
Reply
 
 
 EDWARD GUZMAN says:

 April 12, 2016 at 2:16 pm
 
I can’t believe the amount of years i waisted and the amount of money I lost with the iws. If only I would have known. I came from a very disfunctional family. I made the members of the congregation my family, especialy when they gave a public talk and the speaker said that there were orphans in the congregation. I fell into the trap. I was in for 25 years it’ been 15 years that I’m out. I didn’t have a father to guide me in anything. I am greatfull that I have taught my daughter every thing I know, now she is leading a very productive life and she is nobodies fool.
Reply
 
 

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← The Friday Column: Governing Body Issues Apology to Abuse Victims, Announces Radical Policy Changes
The Friday Column: The Annual Jehovah’s Witness Convention: a Pseudo-utopia →
 
The Friday Column: Watchtower facing financial stormwaters?
Posted on April 8, 2016
 
JWMazeI honestly thought it was a joke.
When I first saw the image opposite being circulated online, I felt that it had to be a piece of satirical art, created by an Ex-JW. I mean, I knew Watchtower had been increasingly stooping to lower and lower standards with increasing desperation to wring every last penny out of their increasingly impoverished flock, but…come on!
Surely not even Watchtower could be so crass and unsubtle as to create a child’s game where the whole object of the game was to donate money to them!
Turns out, I was wrong.
The puzzle was a genuine piece of Watchtower art, although I was rather amused when former Jehovah’s Witnesses Tony Brock posted a slightly altered version of the game onto Facebook, to present his own suggestion of where the child’s donation might ACTUALLY be going if it made it through the maze:
1934537_1610083935981221_8189571102036436519_n
 
Even active and faithful Jehovah’s Witnesses will be aware of the truth of much of this cartoon. The Governing Body have increasingly been flaunting their jewellery, expensive suits and designer watches on their JW Broadcasting appearances, and the extravagance of the new Watchtower headquarters with it’s remote control lake is hardly a secret.
Yet the last item on the list; the increasingly painful legal damages that Watchtower is having to pay, mostly centred around Child Abuse policies, that one that will be unfamiliar to many Witnesses.
Ironically, this unknown and hidden aspect of Watchtower’s financial outgoings might be the one that increasingly comes to dominate their fortunes. According to the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Watchtower’s policies and doctrines come together in a “perfect storm” to create an environment for sexual predetors to molest children, undetected and unreported.
The thing with storms is this;
Storms are expensive, y’all.
Storm Damage
Branch committee coordinator Terrence O'Brien was accused of intentionally trying to mislead the Commission
Branch committee coordinator Terrence O’Brien

Day 7 of the Australian Royal Commission investigation into Watchtower saw this exchange between the Head of Watchtower Australia Terrance O’Brien and Justice Peter McClellan about the issue of financial recompense.

McClellan:You know that the Commission’s been looking at the issue of redress, I assume?
O’Brien: I do, yes.
McClellan: And it is fairly clear that the Commission will be recommending a response which brings together all of the institutions where there may have been problems, to contribute their fair share ‐ you understand that?
O’Brien: I recall that from the closed hearing we had with yourself.
Financial Redress has been a key area for the ARC. It’s hard to argue that organisations who failed in their duty of care and exposed children to sexual abuse should not be required to give some measure of financial compensation; not only to address the significant medical costs involved in treating the physical and mental damage suffered, but also to show recognition of the wrong done. The ARC has discussed this idea in detail, even presenting models as to how it might work:

“…relevant criteria could be severity of abuse – 40 per cent, impact of abuse – 40 per cent and distinctive institutional factors – 20 per cent. Other approaches are possible. Average payments of $50,000, $65,000 and $80,000 are modelled.”
In other words, this model suggests that the severity, the impact of the abuse, and the degree of specific failings of the Institution should be taken into account. It then suggests some average payments.

McCellan: Would you recommend that the church join in such a scheme?
O’Brien: I don’t know whether I would recommend that the church join in with other organisations, but certainly that we have some redress scheme of our own to care for victims who are Jehovah’s Witnesses.  I would agree with that.
McClellan: Why wouldn’t you recommend that you join with others so that there is a uniform response across the country?
O’Brien: If I may just indulge, your Honour, when we had the closed meeting with yourself and others, that was a matter that I think it was almost universally felt as a last option by those who were assembled, for a variety of reasons.  I think some may feel that ‐ would it be fair on smaller organisations and unfair on the ‐ or, rather, unfair on smaller ones, fairer on the larger ones?  To manage it I would see it as a much greater difficulty than for the individual organisation to provide their own scheme.
McClellan: You must have a different recollection to me.
This is part of a longer exchange which demonstrated how Watchtower is frantically trying to pour water on the concept of a financial redress scheme administered by an outside authority, with agreed and standardised amounts for victims.
Why would Watchtower be so afraid of a system like that becoming law, as is very possible in the next couple of years in Australia?
Well, remember what O’Brien said: Would it be “fair” on the smaller organisations?
That sounds like a reasonable concern until one realises that Watchtower is a “smaller” organisation unlike any other the Commission have investigated.
Watchtower: A unique stormfront
sex-abuse-survivorUnlike an organisation that simply reports to the police as soon as it becomes aware of an allegation of child sexual abuse, Watchtower policy not only refuses to do this unless legally required, but also requires the elders to start investigating the allegation themselves to determine guilt in a bronze-age religious court, thus opening themselves up to far greater liability than a regular church or group.
Additionally, it’s been clearly demonstrated during the ARC hearings that the process the elders are mandated to use is virtually guaranteed to cause further needless trauma to the survivor.
Therefore, it’s significantly more probable that cases linked to Watchtower (such as the 1,006 Witness molesters the ARC has already identified) will be eligible for compensation when compared to cases from other organisations of a similar size.
Keep that in mind as we craft a theoretical scenario that admittedly makes a lot of assumptions, some of which will fall in Watchtower’s favour for the sake of fairness.
Lets assume only one victim per abuser (and not, say the four victims involved in the case of BCG, who gave testimony at the Royal Commission). That gives us 1,006 potential claims identified by the Royal Commission.
Now assume that out of those 1,006 potential claims, only half of the victims are found to be eligible for compensation and in a position to claim.
Now assume that only half of those survivors are found to have directly experienced additional trauma due to Watchtowers’s policies, and qualify for a higher sum than a default of $65,000. Lets say the higher figure is $80,000.
So you’ve got 250 times 65,000 = 16,250,000 and 250 times 80,000 = 20,000,000
Now add those two figures together and what do you get?
An eye watering $36,250,000!
And remember, this scenario is making some assumptions that are significantly more favourable to Watchtower than the evidence suggests is reasonable.
Recurring Storms: No end in sight.
Angus Stewart, senior council at the Royal Commission, has delivered damning summary findings detailing Watchtower's mishandling of child abuse
Angus Stewart, senior council at the Royal Commission, has delivered damning summary findings detailing Watchtower’s mishandling of child abuse

But we’re not done yet, because another fascinating glimpse under the hood of Watchtower Australia was given on Day 7 when Watchtower Lawyer Vince Toole admitted under questioning the following statistic about his role at the Watchtower Australia Legal Desk, taking reports of child sexual abuse from congregations across the country.

Angus Stewart SC: You say you’ve done this exclusively for, did you say, two years or two and a half years?
Vince Toole: Yeah, approximately two years, I’ve been taking the calls myself.
Stewart: These are calls about allegations of child sexual abuse?
Toole: Yes.
Stewart: And how many such calls have you taken in that period, would you estimate?
Toole: I couldn’t tell you, but we probably get three, sometimes four, a month.
Again, let’s be generous to Watchtower. Let’s assume four new cases of abuse a month, but say that each of those reports involve only one abuse survivor, and that of those four survivors a month, only two are eligible for and desirous of compensation. Again, lets assume that the $65,000 default sum is the one decided upon every time because by some miracle Watchtower managed not to exacerbate suffering when they indulged in their demonstrably flawed judicial process.
So 2 victims a month is 24 victims a year.
So that’s 24 times 65,000…
…$1,560,000 per year!
Now, there are around 80,000 witnesses in Australia. Remember, that figure will include people who are fading or who have faded, and thus do not donate, as well as rank and file JW’s who are either very poor or simply forget to donate a lot of the time. But assume for argument’s sake that every single one of the 80,000 donates money of around $20 a month.
Divide the arguably conservative sum of $1,560,000 by the arguably generous figure of 80,000 publishers.
$19.5 dollars, right?
That means that if a witness donates $20 a month, almost 1/12 of his entire yearly donation will go simply to paying the annual child abuse bill.
That’s AFTER they spend around two years paying off the initial lump sum of  $36,250,000.
Granted, these figures are theoretical, using models and sums yet to be agreed and passed into law. Much could happen between then and now.
Nonetheless, the scenarios are plausible, and it’s clear if you read between the lines of O’Brien’s testimony that Watchtower also thinks they are plausible, and are very worried as a result.
Which is probably one of the reasons why I strongly suspect that the crazy maze at the top of this article won’t be the last piece of low-brow piggy-bank shaking we will see from an increasingly beleaguered Watchtower.
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← The Friday Column: Governing Body Issues Apology to Abuse Victims, Announces Radical Policy Changes
The Friday Column: The Annual Jehovah’s Witness Convention: a Pseudo-utopia →
 
107 Responses to The Friday Column: Watchtower facing financial stormwaters?

← Older Comments
 
 Wip it says:

 April 12, 2016 at 6:48 pm
 
When my mum was dying she intimated that she would like to give her money to WT, we kindly talked her around, it is disgusting, & i think people are waking up
Reply
 
 Donn Johnson says:

 April 13, 2016 at 10:33 pm
 
When my mom died a couple of years ago, she left me written instructions (not in her will) to give WT about 250k of her estate of just under 1M. Needless to say, I ignored those instructions, since I was the executor and that money went to a worthwhile cause instead (me). Thankfully, she didn’t change her will before she passed, I would have gagged if WT had managed to get their grubby hands on my inheritance!
Reply
 
 Holly Chu says:

 April 14, 2016 at 6:47 pm
 
Good for you, Donn Johnson! I absolutely laughed until I almost fell off my chair at your comment.
Reply
 
 
 
 
 Will says:

 April 13, 2016 at 11:02 am
 
Today’s NY Post is reporting WT will be getting roughly $700 million. I am so glad I was cheap with the WT when I was in.
Reply
 
 Will says:

 April 13, 2016 at 12:37 pm
 
I should have mentioned that $700 million will be from the sale of Brooklyn property.
Reply
 
 Alone In MD says:

 April 14, 2016 at 12:25 pm
 
Yes saw that in the Post yesterday. Maybe now Letts will stop begging for money. Or maybe not.
Reply
 
 
 
 
 Freed Mason says:

 April 14, 2016 at 4:48 am
 
Before hitting the kiddies up for cash its maybe time for GB 7 to stop the “showy display of ones means” and pawn out those $15000 Rolexes, $17000 Gold Apple Watches, flashy pinky rings and EFT the proceeds at the next meeting.
If you are going to meet up with Jesus and the Big Man you will have to explain the example you have set for others to follow:
Quoting the “Silver Sword” 1 John 2:15-17:
” (16) because everything in the world–the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one’s means of life–does not originate with the Father, but originates with the world.”
and the other scripture about storing treasures in heaven.. need I say more??
Reply
 
 Holly Chu says:

 April 14, 2016 at 7:02 pm
 
@Freed Mason, No you need not say more, you are very eloquent, but I have a Scripture as well,
 Matthew 7:22,23….”Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name……(23) Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!”
Reply
 
 
 
 Twmack says:

 April 14, 2016 at 7:40 am
 
Fantastic response for the need of volunteers to work
 on the 4 year project of constructing the new Warwick
 Headquarters. 3,800 Bro’s, responded, so many that
 a shift system had to be organised to prevent them
 getting into each other’s way.
The generosity of the R & F is beyond question, they
 were asked if they were able to pay their own way to
 the site. Many specialised skills and professional
 know how was needed. Skills that would not have been
 available if the AW, of May 1969 p15, had been followed.–
“As a young person you will never fulfil any career that
 this system has to offer”.
No doubt the new building will be a solid construction
 that will last for many, many Generations, the org, is
 renowned for taking care of its assets, it’s property.
“Could this be our last Memorial before Armageddon”?
Oh please! “Pull the other one it’s got bells on”.
Reply
 
 Minion says:

 April 14, 2016 at 8:15 pm
 
TW,
Let me get this right, all 3,800 volunteers paid there way to arrive at the new Mecca.
And have been sacrificed to the god of this world Satan.
 The Mecca is located over a toxic waste dump.
 All will develop uncureable cancer and will die.
Hail and praise Satan! the words and song of The Watchtower Corporation the evil slave.
Peace out,
Reply
 
 
 
 rob says:

 April 14, 2016 at 7:47 am
 
The leadership at the watchtower are shrewd and arrogant and know exactly what to say to get the herd to follow. Dangling the carrot, using manipulation and then using guilt are all tactics that obviously work. For those that do not follow, they use shunning from family and friends to keep control.
They really are masters at using people.
But one day, hopefully, they will be the ones who face judgement and are held accountable for their actions.
Reply
 
 Minion says:

 April 14, 2016 at 8:47 pm
 
R,
The Watchtower Corporation is due accountability, or lack thereof, this is an excerpt of the San Diego newspaper 3 hours ago.
Lopez’s lawyers put on a six-day trial in front of the judge, without Watchtower’s lawyers there to offer a defense. In the end, Judge Lewis handed down a default judgment of $10.5 million in punitive damages and $3 million in compensatory damages against Watchtower.
Watchtower also had to pay more than $37,000 in sanctions, mostly to cover the travel costs for the deposition that never happened.
Watchtower appealed.
The appeals court gave a mixed-bag opinion Thursday.
The three-judge panel rejected Watchtower’s claims that the prior abuse documents shouldn’t have to be turned over.
However, the appeals court disagreed with the judge’s order for Losch’s deposition, saying Lopez’s lawyers did not prove that he was key to the case as a leader in the governing body.
The court also took issue with how quickly Lewis terminated Watchtower from the court proceedings, saying she should have first tried less-punitive sanctions to see if the church would comply with her orders.
The case will now go back to Lewis to give Watchtower another chance to turn over the requested abuse documents. If, after further warnings and lower-grade sanctions, the church still doesn’t comply, the case could end again the same way.
Attorneys for Watchtower did not return requests for an interview Thursday.
Lopez’s lawyer, Zalkin, said Thursday that the court’s opinion could have a big impact on his case and other similar lawsuits against Watchtower being fought in California and around the country.
“From our perspective, this has always been about getting the documents,” he said. He added that Watchtower has produced some prior abuse documents in other lawsuits, but they have been heavily redacted and of little use.
Previous
 $13.5M for Jehovah’s Witness sex victim
“They don’t want the world to know what they’ve known about child sex abuse within their organization for decades and they’ve been trying desperately to keep that covered up,” Zalkin said.
Last April, an appeals court overturned an $8.6 million punitive award against Watchtower in a similar 2012 lawsuit filed in Alameda County by a woman who was molested by a church member. The court ruled that the church had no obligation to warn the congregation that the member had admitted to previously molesting his stepdaughter. The court did uphold $2.8 million in compensatory damages in the case. End of commentary.
Message to The Watchtower Corporation, “your following the steps of the wicked congregations spoken in Revelation.
 I know your wicked and evil deeds”
It’s true or its not.
Peace out,
Reply
 
 
 
 label licker says:

 April 15, 2016 at 3:48 am
 
While we were in the cult, we had our wills made out to the Watchtower. When we saw how the elders protected a man who was beating his wife, smashing in her car by hand while drunk, committing adultery, waving fully loaded guns in his wife’s face threatening to kill her and using a worldly teenage employee to forge legal documents using his wife’s name then we stopped going to the meetings in Elmira, On. Even asking why an elder is allowed to remain an elder after finding out his fifteen year old daughter is having a baby and the father is a worldly fourteen year old kid, all we got for an answer was the elders don’t even have any say on what pedo’s can do to the kids in the congregation. Making excuses and putting the blame on the org’s sick rules for their laziness as elders.
 I do have my judicial meeting all on tape so they didn’t df me but put me on public reprove for supposedly discouraging all of this guy’s family members to pioneer six years previous. Half a year later none of them were pioneering and two months later two of the twenty-five year olds were made elders. One who was still going to college taking a four year course and told by the po to keep it quiet that he was going to college. The org would rather keep someone who’s getting an education quiet than to expose pedos. Sick sick cult!
 To bad for Watchtower for we have no kids and our money was willed to them. I don’t think a few million dollars is something to protect pedo’s over or allow a guy who was reinstated after seventeen years of being df’d be allowed to do what he did after he was reinstated. Thank god we saw that bright light and the real truth was revealed to us. Now our wills are made out to helping sick kids and the poor.
Reply
 
 
 Twmack says:

 April 15, 2016 at 6:42 am
 
Minion.
 Let me get this right, all 3,800 volunteers paid there way to arrive at the new Mecca.”
Hi minion.- Volunteers were asked, if they were “Able” to pay their own travel
 expenses, which is very subtle. Instead of the org, paying as a matter of policy,
 it puts the onus on the volunteers, either to find their own funds or, take from
 JHVH, by asking the org, to pay ( As they would view it ). I can’t think that any
 would take the second option.
I was invited to attend courses at Bethel on two occasions, and each time
 I was asked if I was able to pay my own way.
Things seem to be well organised at Warwick. 40 buses to transport workers
 to and from the site every day. Also 8 temporary dining rooms to feed the
 hungry workers.
I only hope at the end of their contract the volunteers won’t be invited to
 contribute toward the cost of the food they’ve consumed. Which is exactly
 what the classes I attended at Bethel j invited to do. Even though
 we had lost a months wages by being there.
Reply
 
 
 Vidiot says:

 April 15, 2016 at 9:33 am
 
Ho… lee… f**k.
No wonder the Org has been trying to scrape together as much funds as they can.
This isn’t gonna be a one-time-only thing… they’ll have to budget for abuse-related payouts for every single year here on in (and not just in Oz, I’ll bet).
And when they start coming up short, they can kiss their charity/tax-exempt status goodbye.
Reply
 
 
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← The Friday Column: Watchtower facing financial stormwaters?
 
The Friday Column: The Annual Jehovah’s Witness Convention: a Pseudo-utopia
avatar 
Posted on April 15, 2016
 
Each year, lots of Jehovah’s Witnesses around the world anticipate the convention season. It is a time of excitement as families set out to make plans for this annual gathering of like-minded people. For those who live far away from their designated convention arena, it is most exciting.  It is often the only vacation some families will have all year. Parents save their money for travel expenses while their young sons and daughters look forward to meeting other Jehovah’s Witness kids.
Older teens and those in their early twenties have a special plan for the convention: to meet the “one” who will become their spouse. It is hard to find a “suitable” boyfriend or girlfriend at the local Kingdom Hall, especially if there are more females than males, or vice-versa. In a lot of cases, parents have already decided who they have in mind for their daughter or son. In a way, the convention is one place where teens can be a little rebellious in between the morning and afternoon sessions. If they can break away from their parents, they can mingle in the main area outside the auditorium and hope to find a potential mate.
Elders anticipate this behavior, so they walk around carrying “Quiet please” and “Please be seated” signs. They don’t speak. They just carry the sign and make eye contact with whomever they believe is “loitering”. Unless you have to use the restroom, you had better be in your seat!
Most readers of this article have been to a Jehovah’s Witness convention. I recently found pictures from when I attended the “Divine Love” convention in 1979. My oldest brother and his wife were recently baptized. I was visiting them in Florida for the summer, so I went with them to the convention.
karenne-assembly
At the 1979 Divine Love Assembly

I remember being taught that Jehovah’s Witnesses are unlike any other group of people. I was told that, when you are among “Jehovah’s people”, no one is a stranger. You could be in need, anywhere in the world, and a Jehovah’s Witness would take you in. That is the feeling you are supposed to have at these annual conventions. They have even been referred to as a “family reunion” by some Jehovah’s Witnesses.
When I attended a convention in the late seventies and early eighties, I remember the feeling of excitement and anticipation. I was in my early teens and my brother (eight years older and married) let me have a bunch of tickets that could be exchanged for food. During the lunch break, he let me go to the concessions by myself to get lunch. He told me that, even though we were in a group of thousands of people, he felt safe letting me go off by myself because everyone in the building was a Jehovah’s Witness. I know he believed what he was saying because he was usually very protective of me. In any other circumstance, he would never let me go off by myself.
"Divine Love" District Assembly, 1979
“Divine Love” District Assembly, 1979
Through the years, I have been told, “One way you can be sure we are Jehovah’s people is that we are united in worship. Every congregation studies the same thing during the same week throughout the world.” As I got older, I learned that the Roman Catholic Church has been doing the same thing for many years. The RCC has a missal with a three-year cycle. Each year, the Vatican assigns a cycle (A, B or C) to the worldwide churches so that their masses don’t get repeated too often.
I stopped going to meetings and conventions when I was twenty-two. My Jehovah’s Witness brother had died when I was twenty (they considered him a “martyr”) and his wife had written a letter of disassociation a few years after he died. Thankfully, no one else in my family was baptized, so we didn’t have to deal with being shunned.
In 2015, I began to watch ex-JW videos and read ex-JW blogs. I know a few former Jehovah’s Witnesses, but I didn’t realize that an international community was online! Since I had been out for so long, I wanted to attend a convention to see how much had changed since I last attended one in the early eighties. My husband, who has never been to a Kingdom Hall, agreed to go with me.
We live in a state in the Midwest, but we are both originally from Connecticut. Since we have a “New England accent”, we sound like outsiders in the state where we live. We used that to our advantage. I didn’t want us to be treated like visitors at the convention. I didn’t want my husband to be “love bombed”. Rather, I wanted us to be treated like any other rank-and-file Witnesses. It was important to me that we get badges that listed our congregation on them so we could blend in.
When we approached the table to get a badge, the man said, “Which congregation are you from?” I said “Wallingford, Connecticut”.  He asked me to repeat myself about three times. We told him that we were traveling through the area on our way to Oregon and didn’t want to miss the convention. He said, “How do I know you are from a congregation in Connecticut?” I said, “You can call them.”, but he was busy and just handed me two badges.
badge-karen
JW Convention Badge, a sign of conformity

As we walked to the convention area to get seats, I looked around. The first thing I noticed was the lack of concession stands. There was no food anywhere! One of the things that I remembered from going to the conventions years earlier was the aroma of baked goods and hot dogs! I guess those days are gone.
While technology has made its way into the conventions, most things remain the same. Talks are scripted down to the most mundane levels. At one point during the Saturday that I attended the 2015 “Imitate Jesus” convention, a woman and her husband were ‘interviewed’. The man at the podium asked the woman how many children she had and what were their ages and names.
My husband noticed that she hesitated and looked at an index card before responding. He asked me, “Is this an actual couple or is this a fictional couple? Why would she need to look at an index card to remember the ages and names of her children?”
There were a few more talks that involved people being interviewed about their life experience. My husband and I wondered if all of the interviews were really just scripts written by the Writing Department in Brooklyn.
One talk was specifically geared toward women. The premise of the talk was to remind women that they are expected to be subservient to men… and to be grateful for the role that Jehovah has given them. In a pathetic attempt to make an analogy, the brother said, “Women, you are not a giraffe. You shouldn’t want to be a giraffe.” I was using my video camera at the time, so I recorded that ridiculous talk.
Click here for a clip from the ridiculous talk
Later, when my husband saw the baptismal candidates answer the questions, he had a good view of them and noticed how young most of them were. My husband has learned (through my online activism) about the implications of getting baptized as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. He knew my brother and how he died after refusing to receive blood. He knows about how Jehovah’s Witnesses shun those who are disfellowshipped or write a letter of disassociation. When he saw the young baptismal candidates go behind a curtain to get ready to be baptized, be became very upset and developed a migraine.
My husband said that he saw and heard enough for one day. We planned to attend the Sunday talks, but my husband changed his mind. The entire experience upset him.
I didn’t want to go the 2015 convention, but I knew that my husband would not be able to understand my activism if he didn’t experience the convention for himself. He saw for himself how obediently Jehovah’s Witnesses take in the messages, sing the songs and clap on queue. He said he felt like he walked into a Stepford Wives movie.
When he got the migraine, we had to leave. The program still had about an hour left, so there were only a few people in the parking lot. We noticed a man walk to his car, rip off his tie in one large gesture and throw it in the car. We made eye contact with him and waved. When I looked at the man, I was hoping that he was in the parking lot (instead of in the building listening to a talk) because he was on the verge of waking up.
I’ll never know.
 
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← The Friday Column: Watchtower facing financial stormwaters?
 
15 Responses to The Friday Column: The Annual Jehovah’s Witness Convention: a Pseudo-utopia

 rob says:

 April 15, 2016 at 12:29 pm
 
When I was a witness teenager the top ten reasons to go to the assembly were:
1. Find a prospective husband/wife
 2. Show off new clothes
 3. Talk about work and sports and school or job
 4. Reunite and talk with friends
 5. Eat the sandwiches and the pudding cups
 6. Watch the Drama
 7. Sleep during the afternoon sessions
 8. Make plans for dinner at a restaurant that evening
 9. Look to see where people are sitting to avoid boredom during the talks
 10. Watch the baptism candidates getting dipped.
Reply
 
 Michele says:

 April 15, 2016 at 1:17 pm
 
Haha this is so true!!
Reply
 
 
 Minion says:

 April 15, 2016 at 4:06 pm
 
Greetings to all:
 R,
My top ten reasons – why I attended the assemblies:
 1. Find a prospective husband/wife
 2. Show off new clothes
 3. Talk about work and sports and school or job
 4. Reunite and talk with friends
 5. Eat the sandwiches and the pudding cups
 6. Watch the Drama
 7. Sleep during the afternoon sessions
 8. Make plans for dinner at a restaurant that evening
 9. Look to see where people are sitting to avoid boredom during the talks
 10. Watch the baptism candidates getting dipped.
Great minds think a like.
Peace out
Reply
 
 Winston Smith says:

 April 15, 2016 at 4:57 pm
 
I remember being bored out of my mind as a young child during the sessions. I found that if you started at the big overhead lights long enough they would start to change colors. I remember talking to another kid from my congregation and learning that he did the same thing. Probably wasn’t good for our eyes.
I also recall some speakers had such a monotone voice it was perfect to drop off and nap.
WS
Reply
 
 Winston Smith says:

 April 15, 2016 at 4:59 pm
 
I meant STARED at the overhead lights. Gotta love autocorrect.
Reply
 
 
 
 
 
 Cherie says:

 April 15, 2016 at 12:53 pm
 
I haven’t been to a convention since ’92, but I understand they have to pack their own food now. I thought I also heard that, with the exception of a few “international” conventions, the venues are smaller.
Reply
 
 
 Will says:

 April 15, 2016 at 1:27 pm
 
My last convention was the 2014 international convention in N.J. 100 years of the kingdom–YAY!!! I was miserable. I was there with my wife and kids and I knew that would be my last one. A couple of months after that I stopped attending meetings. I love the “clap on queue” comment by your husband. I remember going the annual meeting or whatever meeting it was that Jehovah “gave us” the beautiful gray bibles and people clapping like seals. And I’m thinking that these people have no clue who wrote this bible and their qualifications. It’s amazing how reason kicks in when you are mentally out. Also, I was always so skeptical of these “experiences”. Their may be a shade of truth to some of them, but I’m sure it’s embellished so it could be more encouraging. Nice article!!!
Reply
 
 
 Sister drifter UK says:

 April 15, 2016 at 1:41 pm
 
Twickenham assembly used to be very exciting because depending on where the flight path was for Heathrow meant you could look at aeroplanes going over.
 I went to Twickenham for decades- until Twickenham stopped.
 I have been a child, a teenager, on the look out for a husband, married, pregnant, a mother of children ( they loved the airplanes) and a widow -all acted out at Twickenham. Twickenham ended and I stopped.
 All those endless meaningless conversations with people you only see once a year –
 ‘Hello! (Kiss /hug) how are you?
‘I’m fine how are you ?’
 ‘I’m fine- where are you sitting?’
 ‘I’m in the west stand M16 where are you sitting?’
 ‘oh we are in the west stand too!’
 ‘Better sit down the music has started!’
 ‘lovely to see you’
That’s it.
 That’s the extent of the conversation.
 Or maybe ‘just getting in the toilet queue’
No real conversations and if you try and stop and talk you are moved on by some officious 15 year old who has just got baptised and thinks he is superior to all women.
Actually Twickenham was like a big fashion parade .
 Always was.
 In my day you met under the lion if you were on the look out.
 Now they just walk round and round until they see someone they like the look of….
If you are familiar with Twickenham then this will make sense.
But I can also remember some very very happy times there doing pre convention work for weeks on end and there was time for conversation.
Reply
 
 
 Big B says:

 April 15, 2016 at 1:52 pm
 
Great article and a “blast from the past”,
The last convention my family and I attended while fading was the “God’s Word is Truth” district convention.
The Friday session that afternoon was the final straw of the bundle of nonsense that proverbially “broke the camels back.” That last talk, “Believe Inspired Truth Not Inspired Error”, had me hooked. Finally, I thought, the Society would confess their egregious doctrinal errors and set matters straight. Alas, it was not to be. Because I chose to pursue a higher education to better my families circumstances, I was labeled “a tool of the Devil”. I haven’t been back since, not to the Hall or the Circuit or District (Zone) “boreathons”.
I do remember the big “Divine Will” International Convention in New York City. I was six at the time, huge eight day assembly (Sunday to Sunday) with morning, afternoon and evening sessions ending around 9 p.m. The sessions were punctuated with a light breakfast, lunch and dinner there at the assembly.
Note: They stopped serving food due to problems with vendors wanting to open up their concession stands per contractual arrangement with the stadiums. Witness conventions serving their own food did not sit well with the concession owners.
Anyway, good article and I enjoyed the reminisce down memory lane however, like they say “It was real and it was nice but it wasn’t real nice”. :)
Reply
 
 
 Marilyn White says:

 April 15, 2016 at 2:12 pm
 
That was beautifully and accurately written. I escaped the cult when I was 15 but it’s had lifelong repercussions on my life. I’m so happy that you have found the strength to investigate the JW and find your way out of that very controlling and unhealthy organization. I hope you can find a way to enjoy the rest of your life. And remember, you are never alone…there are millions of us on the outside who understand and care.
Reply
 
 
 Nunya says:

 April 15, 2016 at 2:13 pm
 
Wait that looks like the Bayfront Center! If so I was actually there. Small world. I was a good little youth running food around to the stands. My big treat was waking at the crack of dawn stocking stands with O.J. and grabbing a few that were still frozen since it was so early. What joy!!
Reply
 
 Karen says:

 April 15, 2016 at 4:19 pm
 
Nunya,
 Yes! It was the Bayfront Center. During the break between the morning and afternoon sessions, I was at the food stations. Maybe we walked right past one another.
Reply
 
 John McCarthy says:

 April 15, 2016 at 6:00 pm
 
OMG! That’s what I thought when I first looked at that picture. Many years ago, when first became an Elder, I gave my first circuit assembly talk at the Bayfront Center! Yeah, really small world. Hey, Nunya and Karen, we might actually know each other……scary thought huh!
Reply
 
 
 
 
 J goodman says:

 April 15, 2016 at 4:17 pm
 
My last Convention was in Seattle In the eighties.
 I don’t remember any of the talks or the convention theme. However, I do remember the hurt ,humiliation and shame I felt because I was in a disfellowshipped state. (The irony of that word, a fabrication not even in the bible).
 But I digress…. I was there with my mother and grandmother and was trying very hard to return to Jehovah. My motivation was twofold, I was terrified of Armageddon and the brutal isolation and terrible angst
 I felt at being shunned.
 At one point, I left at a break to use the facilities and came back to find my mother in tears sobbing.
 A self-righteous elder from her congregation had observed my mother sharing a song book with me with her arm around my waist.
 He disciplined her very harshly and basically told her she was to shun me. My grandmother was also there and he directed her to do the same.
 My Mother tearfully told me what happened and said she
 couldn’t share a song book with me or hold my hand during prayer.
 I clearly remember the knot of pain coiled around my heart and the psychological devastation.
 I left the convention heart sick and reeling from the cruelty.
 After that incident, I attempted suicide. I cut a length of garden hose and shoved it in the tailpipe and the other end in the crack in my car window. I crawled in the back seat with my teddy bear (I was thirty).
 I opened the car door before losing consciousness and fell out on the asphalt. I decided I wanted to live.
 My mother has never left this cult. MY sister and brother in law are also still in the JW.BORG cult. Sadly, their disfellowshipped son committed suicide seven years ago.
 This cruel totalitarian religion run by the “gang of eight” should be wiped off the face of the earth.
 Ironically, a few years later this zealous, sanctimonious elder had a daughter who was disfellowshipped for immorality.
 My mother said he was devastated.
Reply
 
 
 Clay says:

 April 15, 2016 at 5:27 pm
 
It sickens me to think I was apart of a organization that treats people this way with the shunning and gossiping. And they say there following Jesus!! What a crock
Reply
 
 
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19 Responses to Videos

 KtotheRAD "Konrad" says:

 August 25, 2013 at 6:55 pm
 
With every word they reveal and “impart” far more than they ever intended…
Reply
 
 
 george says:

 August 27, 2013 at 4:45 am
 
Sorry Cedars, I can only access the first video on my I pad. There are a lot of over sized play icons and they won’t work.
Reply
 
 
 Luke says:

 October 27, 2013 at 5:27 pm
 
Continue the good work on this site that expose what Watchtower Organization really are — a fanatic end-time driven cult that only serve interests of its leaders. I left this
 cult three years ago for good. My only regret is that I had not left the Watchtower Cult earlier! On Easter Sunday this year, I was baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit and received into Eastern Orthodox Church, apostolic Church that preserved the Faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
Cedar, you have my blessings of your work on this site that
 will yet help millions of JWs to see the truth of so-called ‘Truth’.
Reply
 
 
 Fred says:

 November 2, 2013 at 12:09 pm
 
Forget taking your numbers from a 1974 yearbook if you question the amount of those killed, interned, etc get the numbers from the Holocaust museum. You forgot to mention the ‘JEWS’ were and its quoted several times in the Watchtower publications as it is related in the bible, “ONCE GOD’S CHOSEN PEOPLE” but they did not remain that because of their actions. Your quotes from WT publications are based on the latter that they fell out of favour in God’s eyes. They therefor were NOT written in an anti-Semitic nature. Many Jews have become JW’s over the years are they lesser beings because they were of Jewish blood?…ABSOLUTELY NOT! All races are equal so this video in my opinion is twisted in its presentation. Not to mention the ridiculous claim of Rutherford’s so called love letter to Adolf Hitler. No blinders on here, I have checked the facts. Sorry but this video paints an untruthful twist of events and statements about the WT as regards the comments on the Nazi’s and Jews.
Reply
 
 
 Palma says:

 February 28, 2014 at 3:48 am
 
Hi everybody! Hi cedars!
 I found this article about a discovery in egypt that brings light to the origin of story of joseph in the bible.
 What do you think?http://www.davidovits.info/the-lost-fresco-and-the-bible-my-new-book-in-french/
Reply
 
 
 Idris says:

 March 27, 2014 at 8:12 am
 
Thank you for this page, it has been a great help to me, as I seek the truth of the word of God, however I noticed in the video ‘Does the Bible speak of ‘Paradise Earth’ the speaker quotes Luke 21v43 twice, regarding Jesus word on the cross, there should be a correction note as the verse he mentions is in Luke 23 v 43.
 Keep up the good work
Reply
 
 
 Julia Orwell says:

 July 17, 2014 at 3:47 am
 
Been to internationals before and this elaborate souvenir thing is entirely new. The last one I went to in 2009, the last ones they had, had nothing like this so it’s not a matter of you having not noticed it in the past, it’s a matter of it being a new phenomenon.
 I theorize that the wt motives for this involve keeping the masses busy and therefore obedient. Jws would volunteer to do this because there are no other legitimate outlets for creative expression. Armageddon being near has nothing to do with it: it’s about keeping the sheeple busy and happy. Making stupid trinkets is also a team building activity as it involves jws working together, thus reinforcing the herd mentality jws have.
Reply
 
 
 frankie fernandez says:

 February 27, 2015 at 4:44 pm
 
dear friends I was baptized in 1974. Thank God I am no longer a member of the WT. Free at last and oh what a relief it is. A member of my former congregation who I considerd my best friend molested a minor. There was a big argument amognst the elders on the judicial committee. One elder who was a maverick, wanted to notify the police. But, instead they followed the instuctions of the society. They kept this crime against the child, hush hush. So as not to tarnish the name of Jehovah. But in reality it was a coverup to protect the wt’s reputation. Meanwhile this poor child that was raped has to carry the heavy burden of a victim for the rest of thier lives without compensation and without justice. While the abuser has remaind a member in good standing. The congregation he is attending now has not been notified that he is a sexual preditor.
Reply
 
 Holy Connoli says:

 November 17, 2015 at 1:14 am
 
Frankie.If I were you I would turn him into the police now even though it may have been several years ago he committed this crime. Many sexual predators get turned in years later after the crime is reveled. At the very least he will be investigated and his Name will be mud for being a creep.
 He deserves it and so does the WT for its NON protection of the flock and not caring for the victim but only their phony reputation.
Reply
 
 
 Lesley HUmphreys-Jones says:

 February 15, 2016 at 10:10 am
 
Tell the police.
Reply
 
 
 
 Kirtley W. Burggraf says:

 March 11, 2015 at 11:16 am
 
Tell me, since governing body members are elected (replacing someone who dies) at what point do do they become “divinely inspired” or “spirit guided”? Were they always thus in the lower ranks or does this just “happen” the moment that they are appointed? What’s Watchtower’s take on this?
Reply
 
 
 Alone in MD says:

 March 31, 2015 at 6:00 pm
 
Regards your video on the Memorial Service. I am one of those “non believers” married to a baptized witness. I go to just keep the peace but I’ve made it known that I consider this service one of the worst religious ceremonies that I have ever been to. “Anointed What”. Also it was announced at last years meeting that “this may be the last memorial service”. They are at it again. Thanks for the great videos.
Reply
 
 
 frankie fernandez says:

 May 10, 2015 at 9:50 pm
 
IF CHRIST WAS ENTHRONGED IN 1914, WHY ARE THE WITNESES STILL CELEBRATING THE MEMORIAL? CHRIST SAID THAT AFTER HIS ARRIVAL NO ONE WAS TO CELEBRATE THE MEMORIAL .ALSO HE SAID THAT THE DAY OF HIS PRESENSE, IT WILL BE LIKE LIGHTNING FROM ONE POINT OF THE EARTH TO ANOTHER. LIGHTNING TRAVELS AT THE SPEED OF 3500 MILES PER SECOUND. SO IT WILL TRAVEL AROUND THE GLOBE IN LESS THAN A MINUTE. HE ALSO SAID THAT ALL EYES WILL SEE HIM. NOT LIKE THE WTS THAT SAYS WE ARE IN HIS INVISIBLE PRESENSE.
Reply
 
 
 pj wilcox says:

 July 31, 2015 at 3:21 am
 
I watched the latest video of the inept elder being questioned by the commission. Who prepared this man for testimony? You all are aware of the dentist who shot Cecil the lion in Kenya? Well his life is over. He is in hiding. What he did ,did not break laws in Kenya and his is in a world of trouble with public sentiment. But this elder being questioned is far worse. He covered deeds that drove people to think of killing themselves. Should he not go into hiding? Is his life over? Has he know conscience? Emotion, caring? You know the answer. Bet ya, damage control is working overtime on this.
Reply
 
 
 Adrian says:

 September 8, 2015 at 3:32 am
 
I think the Royal Commission videos demonstrate that fragility of the governance within the WT society. Yes, it’s an Australia branch issue but cross examination only points to the seat of control on which the governing body members sit. Everything starts and stops with the governing body, they set the policy but where are they? Sitting comfortably in NY watching from a distance ready to abdicate any responsibility whatsoever. A governing body governs and leads but I see no leadership I see the followers talking and being bashed around the head with questions, all too easy for the legal team.
However, it might just be me but does anyone else not see the lawyer’s gap in knowledge regarding the fundamental rationale for the WT society policies, they fall back in their comfort zone knowing that they can say ‘well we don’t have the authority to go beyond the bible.’
It’s this gap in knowledge of the legal representatives which the WT society exploit. I mean nobody is going to ask ‘ where actually did this translation come from anyway?’ What were the academic qualifications of the translators? Is there a possibility that you have interpreted things wrongly or even worse, translated things incorrectly? If there’s a possibility that your interpretation on how to deal with modern day child abuse cases in congregations may be flawed, then are you in agreement that your policies could result in lasting harm to victims of abuse? In my view that translation is the ‘elephant in the room’ every scholar knows it’s perverse but no one is holding this cult to account. So easy to say it’s all in the bible but should they really be saying it’s all in the NWT instead?
The WT society in the videos almost give of an innocence as if to say, ‘ but that’s what we understand from the scriptures’, and I think it works in their favor, but a savvy legal representative would do well to tease out the basis for the rendering of certain verses on which doctrine, policy and organisational decisions are based. So far the WT Society appears to be one step ahead because their authority is not a person but a book, which they are ‘only trying to understand and live by’. Expose the origin of the NWT and the basis for so many ridiculous uncaring decisions is called into question.
Reply
 
 
 Rick Viger says:

 November 10, 2015 at 3:26 pm
 
Thanks John for all you do with your videos.
 I’m an ex JW for 40 years now. I hope your videos reach some witnesses and make them think. For all of you that have left Watchtower remember you made the right decision.
Reply
 
 
 S.T. says:

 November 24, 2015 at 9:48 pm
 
I was wondering if anyone has heard that Jehovah’s witnesses are telling there congregations that the end of this system could have only hours left? My sister who is a Jehovah’s Witness said they are preaching this at the congregations. Has anyone else heard this?
Reply
 
 
 Paul says:

 April 3, 2016 at 10:24 pm
 
Indoctrination and mind control in its purest form. Will the BS never end, and is hard for me to understand why JW’S put up with this.
Reply
 
 
 ian York says:

 April 13, 2016 at 4:15 pm
 
It is hard to fathom how anybody could believe in the legitimacy of Watchtower’s claim to be God’s only organization on earth today when considering it started with the likes if this oaf. One would have to have a belief in predestination, an unscriptural concept, in order to square the circle of the now regarded apostate beliefs if the founder members and today’s dogma.
Reply
 
 
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