TV Ministry A No Go For Watchtower Society....Ever Wonder Why?

 By Terry Walstrom

Pastor Russell had 20 million readers of his newspaper columns worldwide and as many eager students of his topical bible study, Studies in the Scriptures.

He advertised for 1000 preachers to sell his books door to door!

The Photo Drama of Creation  wowed 9 million people in the early 1914 synchronizing film, hand colored frames and phonograph recordings.
State of the Art!

Judge Rutherford availed himself of Victrola recordings of "Religion is a Snare and a Racket!" He engaged in vast stadium filled preachments where he made wild prophetic claims and grisly accusations.

A radio program called Frank and Ernest used a question and answer format to spread the teachings of the bible students.
Seems like no stone was left unturned to reach as wide an audience as possible. Right?

Historically, however, the tale is a bit different. The audience to Russell and Rutherford were mostly disaffected Adventists and End Times speculators. After the Great Disappointment of William Miller these audiences were twofold.
1.Sincere amateur bible readers curious about all the changes going on in the world around them
2.Eager half-cracked conspiracy minded End Times nut jobs.
Reaching them was where the money and the following was.

After the death of Pastor Russell (who had his hands full of indpendant rebellions by the bible student community) and the new President of the Watchtower, Judge Rutherford---it was a free-for-all battle between groups on all sides with antagonistic views and counter-arguments about who was right.
The mission of the Watchtower was tied up in this in-fighting until 1931.
Books, pamphlets, movies, phonograph records, conventions and radio became the instruments of publicity. But, with often counter-productive results!
Years passed.

But TV.....nope!   Every Tom, Dick, Harry and Joyce Meyers can make millions of people watch and send in money too.  but, not the Watchtower Society.

Aren't they interested in reaching as many millions of people with their URGENT MESSAGE as possible?

In the 1960's when the GB was convinced there were only a few years of witnessing left to warn mankind concerning 1975 and the end of 6000 years of mankind on earth--STAY ALIVE TILL 75 was the most important mission of true believers.  Ask yourself why---if it was really that important--didn't the Watchtower Society spend its millions of dollars on TV SPECIALS in PRIMETIME warning everybody???
Instead, they sent amateur book peddlers door to door with a .25 cent blue book titled THE TRUTH THAT LEADS TO ETERNAL LIFE.

Surely you are curious as to the disconnect between policy of urgent witness and the utter disregard for the most proven effective medium of TELEVISION.

                                                                          ********************************

Rutherford believed in publicity, publishing and pugnacity to solve his problems.  But, he soon learned you couldn't successfully take everybody on at the same time and win.

By 1928 radio was the most advanced technology accessible to the public at large. Popular and free to any who owned one, radio reached audiences in the millions.
Rutherford denounced various religious leaders by name on his radio tirades. This led to a congressional hearing in support of shutting down his venomous speech.
From 1916 to 1931  battles raged among various former brethern AS WELL AS the various mainstream religious groups Rutherford had abused in his radio sermons.
Meanwhile, the brother of Clayton Woodworth (writer of many of the Society's published works) sided with the Bible Students group against Rutherford.
In 1928 Norman Woodworth (Clayton Woodworth's brother) went to Luxemborg to begin counter-attack against the radical new teachings of the Watchtower Society. In this effort he was aided by the Bible Students in Brooklyn.
                                                                              *****************************

Volunteer at Bethel, Nathan H. Knorr, was witness to all these upheavals. As a factory manager he heard the gossip and saw the result of rancor and head butting disagreement.  When Rutherford died in 1942 and Knorr replaced him, almost immediately a 180 degree turn was made in how theology was dispensed to the public.
Knorr wanted a more mature readership with education as the focus of his work. He started the Theocratic Ministry School and the Gilead Missionary School.

Within 10 years the reputation of Jehovah's Witnesses went from being troublemakers and rabble rousers to that of clean cut, strait-laced mainstream looking ministers.
The legacy of non-stop war that plagued his predecessor imprinted a total rejection of uncontrollable publicity for this religion.  A TV ministry would attract critics from all sides surely!
Instead of choosing what to publish and how to present it, the Watchtower Society would undoubtedly spend all of its time and money defending itself against every denomination it had burned in its books and magazines.  What was to prevent these wealthy religious groups from mounting a non-stop rebuttal on TV that could never be turned aside?
And so it went. The publicity department would focus on the tidy, clean-up-after-themselves, wouldn't-hurt-a-fly JW's as squares and egg-heads in the Press Releases given to the newspapers when Assemblies and Conventions were in town.
Knorr would let Fred Franz control the agenda in thickly worded strangulated sentences so murkey
no theologian would spend more than half a minute before tossing it aside.  So be it!


Besides...
if you asked one thousand people what Jehovah's Witnesses believe....you'd not find more than five who could tell you with any accuracy.
More likely you'd hear people tell you what JW's DON'T believe instead.
This comes after over 100 years of door to door preaching.
Does that astonish you?

It should not.
It works to their advantage.

Think of it this way.
A popular TV animated series (South Park) presented a program mocking Scientology and revealing its secret teachings. Suddenly the whole world caught a glimpse of the hidden craziness of that religion.  The same thing happened when the Mormon Church was revealed as to its teachings.
The more public and plain spoken a cult's teachings are made- the easier it is to turn people off when those teachings are made clear to people otherwise disinterested!
Jehovah's Witnesses find new members BECAUSE nobody really knows and understands their inner theology of craziness!
A TV ministry?  No way!

Did you know that as long as Pastor Russell stuck to teaching the bible topically he was okay. It wasn't until around 1909 when his views on the New Covenant changed.
He was called out and a retraction was called for.  He had gone off the reservation!  The first of 3 schisms took place!

What is the moral of the story?
A mainstream religion can go on TV because it doesn't have any crazy cult doctrines to be exposed and villified publicly and scare away new victims.
But, a religion like Mormons or Scientologists or Jehovah's Witnesses DO NOT HAVE A TV MINISTRY for a good reason!

Tell that to your next door knocker!

 

The Watchtower CUSTOMER Battles. By Terry Walstrom If we think of Jehovah's Witnesses as salesmen and their books and magazines as Product and their purpose as gaining customers we can gain several important insights into their proprietary Theology and its gradual development over time. Who were Pastor Russell's customers and what product did he offer? Thousands of people in America were the beneficiaries of new inventions in technology in the 1870's. The typewriter, the telephone and the light bulb would change how people communicated and how much time was extended for personal study of religious publications. Russell's customers were people in turmoil who were frightened by monumental changes. The Civil War had turned brother against brother in bloody unchristian demonstrations of incredible devastation. The Watchtower corporation would come only 14 years afterward. Simple people who understood the world through their own religion were upset, puzzled and scared about what was happening! Russell had a knack for titillating simple folks by drawing them in to the notion everything was understandable as SIGNS OF THE END. Studies in the Scriptures were sold door to door like any other product. These books were said to make the Bible "understandable" and were of greater value than the Bible itself! Gradually, using the Great Pyramid as god's witness in stone, Russell patched together his theology toward a date: 1914. Adventist sectarians were particularly interested in this. The daily newspaper was the number one source of information used by citizens of the world to gain understanding of what was going on. Russell used this to great advantage to gain new customers. In fact, by 1913 it was estimated that through 2,000 newspapers Russell’s sermons were reaching 15,000,000 readers! By using door to door salesmen (colporteurs), public discourse, books, magazines, newspapers and personal charisma Russell was able to cobble together a CUSTOMER BASE. After Russell's death in 1916, J.F.Rutherford sought to gain access to this customer base for purposes of building his own business interests. Rutherford knew CONTROL of information access was vital--but--various bible student groups were independent of central authority. How could he seize leadership of independent groups who went their own way without outside influence?? 1.He sent emissary's with offers of "help" in a series of outreach, venue change, policy adoption and re-organized the many into the one. 2.He created us vs them paranoia. The enemy of my enemy is my friend as the saying goes, so, Rutherford finger-pointed to ENEMIES everywhere in Government, churches, demons and among their own brethren--who should be resisted, opposed and removed. 3.He replaced bible study with the study OF the bible using official Watchtower publications. 4.He rode the coat tails of Pastor Russell admiration by claiming that Russell himself was supervising from heaven itself! 5.He created a sense urgency and life or death immediacy for End Times. The Products he sold were Time-Sensitive! 6.He crafted a personal theology of ONLY true religion in a world of demon controlled false religion. 7.He turned the members into radical contrarians who did the opposite of mainstream Christianity so that the bridge back to "normal" worship was impossible. The crazier the beliefs were---the easier it was for ordinary Christians to oppose and persecute them. The PRODUCT of the Watchtower organization became PARANOIA. The theology was one of vast Conspiracy theories through history. Jehovah had narrowly preserved a tiny band of pure worshipers with correct understanding since the time of the Apostles. Jehovah's Witnesses were being led by such a group! The central engine of this pure truth amid a lying world was Maria Russell's idea that the "faithful and wise servant" was actually a person selected at the End of Time to tell people (customers) the truth (sell books). This "remnant" had God's spirit and were His instrument. If you wanted access you had to pay for access. The religion of JW's was one of being customers served by a Central clearing house of the Jehovah channel. This was a closed intranet. Each subsequent President of the Watchtower Society has sought subscribers to service with this channel of VITAL warning. There were only three things that would make this work. 1.THE END (Armageddon) must always be just about to happen. This made the subscription to the channel one of urgent emergency information of life-saving importance. 2. The subscribers had to have a password to access their account. This meant a public advertisement speaking the word JEHOVAH (which is the brand) and demonstrating that branding by contrarian activities in regard to holidays and theology and lifestyle. 3.Referrals (new customers) must be added through the word of mouth testimonials of current members. 4.Strict observance of policy would lead to termination of account and blacklisting! (disfellowshipped). The actual product has to be New and Improved from time to time (New Light) and old product discarded to insure a steady sense of better and better service and customer satisfaction. Most importantly, loyal customers must be encouraged to see all competitors as liars with bad faith false claims that can poison and misrepresent the goodness of the genuine product. Disgruntled Ex-customers must be advertised as untrustworthy mental defectives because it is the only way to explain dissatisfaction with the Watchtower mangagement. The business of the Jehovah's Witnesses today does not differ much at all from a Mary Kay cult of weird religious activity. The product today has two markets: outside and inside information. The unclaimed customer gets one Watchtower and the insider gets special editions. The "profit" of the non-profit corporation is converted into real estate and leveraged against the worldwide salesforce's future earnings. In any business, Risk is assessed as an ACTUAL NUMBER. This is evident in the obsession over statistics in preaching and bible study success of salesmen in the field. Preaching Goals are merely Sales Goals. The enemy of business is UNCERTAINTY which is the UNKNOWN number whereby risk cannot be assessed. Recent lawsuits have cast a long shadow over risk assessment. As in any business, risk management has followed with the compartmentalizing of each tier of leadership from actual liability. Evidence of Leverage is manifest in pleas for money. As never before the "profit and loss" is squeezed out of the shadows by downturn in business futures. This Religion is merely business as usual.

“You Can’t Use Patterson!”

 

Excellent new article at Cedar's site. 

 

Click here to read.

 

 http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/you-cant-use-patterson-court-denies-watchtowers-bond-motion

Interesting Articles Regarding Developments In the Candace Conti Case.

http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/patterson-on-the-line-watchtower-claims-that-paying-cash-bond-would-cause-immediate-irreparable-harm-and-hardship

http://www.jehovahswitnessblog.com/jw-lawsuits/latest-candace-conti-news/

An Honest Encounter At The Door!

 Imagine how field service would be different if Jehovah's Witnesses had to drop the facade of "we just want to talk to people" and instead were completely honest and candid about their doctrines and beliefs. A typical conversation in the ministry might go something like this.

Continue reading 

'A National Nuisance': The Banning Of Jehovah's Witnesses In Australia in 1941

  Interesting essay by Jayne Persian

http://uow.academia.edu/JaynePersian/Papers/82088/A_National_Nuisance_The_Banning_of_Jehovahs_Witnesses_in_Australia_in_1941
 

WT Compares Higher Education To Drugs And Alcohol.

 

 

How Exactly Did J.F.Rutherford Wrest Control For Himself Over The Watchtower Society?

By Terry Walstrom (JWN)

 

On October 31, 1916 Pastor C.T.Russell died on a train in Pampas, Texas. Shortly afterward, a direct long distance call was placed to Judge J.F. Franklin with the information: "The old man is dead."

Pastor Russell left a Last Will and Testament. In this legal document he made specific instructions for who the Directors of the publishing corporation should be: W. E. Page, W. E. Van Amburgh, H.C. Rockwell, E. W. Brenneisen and F. H. Robinson.

Russell's exact words: “the five whom I suggest as possibly amongst the most suitable from which to fill vacancies” as alternates.

The will, along with a number of letters and other statements about the administration of the Watch Tower Society, was printed in the December 1, 1916 edition of The Watch Tower. Inexplicably, the 5 names of alternates turns into 6 with J.F.Rutherford included as alternates:  A. E. Burgess, R. Hirsh, I. Hoskins, G. H. Fisher, J. F. Rutherford and Dr. J. Edgar.

Page and Brenneisen declined to serve. They were replaced by Hirsh and Rutherford from the alternates list. Hirsh was the first substitute named in Russell’s will, and therefor a natural first substitution, but Rutherford was only mentioned fourth, yet took the second vacant position!

What had Russell done about his controlling shares in the Corporation?

Russell’s portion of the shares that gave legal control of the Watch Tower Society was distributed to five loyal female Bible Students who would be “trustees for life.”

Alexander H. Macmillan, who served as manager of the Watch Tower administration, a de facto interim president along with P.S.L. Johnson (personal friend of Russell) had a lion's share of votes due to the purchase of those shares after incorporation.  These two men pushed Rutherford over the top at the election in January of 1917.

P.S.L. Johnson was an egotistical crackpot with wild ideas whom Russell had fondly tolerated.  The board and executive committee shipped him off across the Atlantic to "encourage the Bible Students". Upon arriving, Johnson sought to take control of the Society's finances and disrupted activities there in short order by claiming the HE should be the successor of Pastor Russell!

Russell's will made explicit that no NEW writings were to be published; only reprints of Russell's.

When the Editorial board sought to enforce this they were opposed by Van Amburgh, Macmillan and Rutherford.    Conflicts arose. Rutherford demanded P.S.L.Johnson return from London.

 In secret, Rutherford had supervised the writing of a new publication, the seventh volume of Russell’s series Studies in the Scriptures. The book, titled The Finished Mystery, was written by George H. Fisher and another Rutherford supporter, Clayton J. Woodworth, loosely based on notes and statements made by Russell. The plan was to release this as a posthumous Russell volume completing the series.

Rutherford had no patience for opposition to his plans. He sought a legal pretext to remove everybody but Himself as Director and sole authority!

How exactly did J.F.Rutherford wrest control for himself over the Watchtower Society?

According to the charter of the WTS, a Pennsylvania corporation, all directors had to be reelected annually in that state.

 (This had not happened since the headquarters moved to New York). Because of this technicality, the four ....claimed Rutherford...were not legally elected.

The removed Directors, Rutherfords opponents , objected that if the directors were not legally elected, neither was Rutherford.

 Rutherford responded that he was a legal officer! Of what?  Of a subsidiary corporation, called People’s Pulpit Association,  (later called The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society  which Rutherford used to publish The Finished Mystery.

This Association was legally incorporated in New York to allow the Pennsylvania corporation to operate in New York, and was wholly owned by it.  This was Rutherford's finesse.

The directors never took the case to court. Rutherford  had the directors and P.S.L. Johnson physically thrown out. Rutherford actually attacked Johnson physically. For some time, the vice-president, Pierson, sided with Rutherford’s opponents, but he eventually landed on Rutherford’s side.

Now, as sole Authority, all the Judge needed to do was find out where all of the bible student's local congregations were, obtain their addresses and gain control of them by pretending to send them a Circuit visitor to "encourage" their local work.

Little by little the Judge changed local operations, installed his own leaders and dropped all bible reading that wasn't using his own proprietary articles and books as reference.

The ‘ousted directors,’ Paul Johnson and their followers formed the Layman’s Home Missionary Society, and others formed a number of different Bible Student movements, some of which still exists and continues to reprint Russell’s writings with nothing new added.

The Proclaimers book follows up demonstrating how cowardly Rutherford turned out to be

when it came to defending his Finished Mystery publication publicly.

“When it had been learned that the government objected to the book, Brother Rutherford had immediately sent a telegram to the printer to stop producing it, and at the same time, a representative of the Society had been dispatched to the intelligence section of the U.S. Army to find out what their objection was. When it was learned that because of the war then in progress, pages 247-53 of the book were viewed as objectionable, the Society directed that those pages be cut out of all copies of the book before they were offered to the public. And when the government notified district attorneys that further distribution would be a violation of the Espionage Act (although the government declined to express an opinion to the Society on the book in its altered form), the Society directed that all public distribution of the book be suspended.” (p. 652)

Rutherford published statements in The Watchtower urging Bible Students to buy war bonds, participate in a day of prayer for allied victory and only stopped short of encouraging armed service.    (Jan S. Haugland  Master Thesis   September 26, 2000)

The Transformation Into Cult Religion: Jehovah's Witness Empire In 15 Steps.

 By Terry Walstrom\JWN

 

There are only 15 steps from a widely scattered readership of 2nd Adventist speculations published by Pastor Russell into a world wide monolithic control cult.
It reads like a Machievellian discourse of Absolute Power:


1.  Nine years after the death of Pastor Russell his publishing company was being operated by an editorial committee which would review articles pre-publication for the Watchtower society.
In 1925  the President of this society (Rutherford)  offered up an article of extreme controversy. It was titled The Birth of the Nation.  The editorial committee (Russell had created) would not approve it.  Rutherford would not permit changes.  He was outnumbered in the vote!

2. Rutherford removed all opposing members from the committee and published the article anyway! Dishonestly, the "Judge" pretended publicly that no such high-handed action by him had ever happened.  He allowed the names of the removed members to continue to appear as editors for the next six years!
Rutherford controlled absolutely the "faithful and discreet slave" throne of dictatorial supremacy. Inside the corporation he could plot the takeover of local congregations (called ecclesias) to wield his will there as well.

3.With no input outside of his own, Judge Rutherford next turned his attention to the independent local congregations begun by devotees of Pastor Russell (Russellites, International Bible Students).
Russell had been dead set against outside control for these congregations. No list of members existed. Local deacons and elders were elected by voting.  However, Judge Rutherford craved total control. He came up with a method of replacing local elections. It was subtle, clever and effective.
 Local congregations had been asked to register as service organizations with the Watch Tower Society.  This gave Rutherford the list of targets for takeover!


4. A Service Director (not subject to yearly election) was appointed to "visit" these target congregations.  Rutherford's man on the scene could usurp local control in this way by "helpfully" organizing the preaching work, assigning territory and encouraging participation in the field work in the congregation.

5.What pretext would Rutherford use to convince local congregations they needed such control?It was the colporteur work begun by Russell. It was to be enlarged and concern itself with all Watchtower books and magazines rather than the Studies in the Scriptures 7 volume sets as before.  Thus, the actual purpose of the door to door work was a ruse to link up Judge Rutherford with complete autonomy over local congregations under the pretense of making the preaching work more organized.

6.Little by little every targeted congregation had its own public discourses side railed and replaced.
Bible studies were disconnected and Rutherford's own Watchtower Studies (replacing the bible) substituted. Group control was sought and unified indoctrination. Rutherford wanted all congregations on the same page;  his page with his ideas.

7. The system of local elective elders was completely eradicated and replaced by something now called a Service Committee. These men took their marching orders from Brooklyn, NY.
"The Theocracy is at present administered by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, of which Judge Rutherford is the president and general manager."  Consolation p.25

 8. Rutherford  sought to create a famous brand name religion by  a method of churning publicity out of throwing people of conscience willy-nilly into dangerous situations. (Avoiding military service, refusing blood transfusions, ridiculing other religions, railing against political parties, refusals to salute the flag, decrying the cross, etc.)  JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES was the brand and it smacks of Rutherford's legal background influence. It was a legalist cult being built.

9.  Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom as having arrived in 1914 and warning of the impending event Armageddon was the "public face". There was a private face, however. Corporations acquire legitimacy by earning a profit. In the case of a religious corporation the "profit" must not appear as mere monetary gain.

10. The Watch Tower Corporation had to generate a kind of marvelous "machine" you could pour money into and make it disappear in the form of the preaching work while avoiding all taxes.
Watchtower rank-and-file members would be used as volunteer labor staying very busy appearing to be doing something important. What they were really doing was generating publicity which served to hide the actual purpose of the Watch Tower corporation.
CONSTANT EXPANSION was the key! This was a kind of maniacal pyramid scheme to grow and grow ahead of the curve of waves of cash.

11. Every once and awhile a GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE would have to be run. This would be in the form of date setting. Date setting (determining when Armageddon was to arrive) was an Investment.

The publicity was golden.
The threat level was heightened.
The cash flow was extraordinary.
The need for more investment property increased. The grip of absolute power was made real.
The downside was practically nil!!
Weak members were eliminated and replaced by eager recruits.

12.To the rank-and-file there was no Bill of Rights. The could be worked to death grinding out book and magazine sales. In fact, they had no choice but to comply since their very identity as Jehovah's Witnesses depended on demonstrations of door to door sales and hours devoted.

13. An outside body of apostates could be created as a target for vilification that served to drain off anger as a target away from the Governing Body itself. This Apostate group would feel the brunt of frustrations and not the actual perpetrator's of date-setting fraud.

14. A mindset of cognitive dissonance would be reinforced because anybody who stayed would have to justify being made a fool of for believing in the Faithful and Discreet Slave nonsense in the first place.

15. Any slowdown in the worldwide conversions would be a bonus since it would "signal the end" of the preaching work was drawing near and that would mean Armageddon really was imminent!

In just fifteen steps a scattered readership of 2nd Adventists keen on End Times articles were transformed into 7 million cult adherents in the absolute grip of Governing Body authority!

Charles Taze Russell - Sermon - The Chief Source Of Persecution 1 Of 2 

 

 

Jehovah´s Witnesses Settle 9 Law Suits 

 

Family Night At Bethel With Joe And Barb Anderson 

 

Interview With Randall Watters Of Freeminds 

 

Interview With Don Cameron.

The Candace Conti Verdict Explained - Why The Watchtower Has Been Punished Over Child Abuse 

 

 

Some News Articles About the Oakland Case.

Jehovah's Witnesses Asked To Pay $28 Million In Child Abuse Case


Jehovah Witnesses Ordered To Pay Sex Abuse Victim $20 Million


Jehovah’s Witnesses Found Guilty In Unprecedented Molestation Case, Must Pay $21 Million



Jehovah's Witnesses Must Pay More Than $20 million In Fremont Sex Abuse Case



Calif Jury Awards $28M In Jehovah’s Witness Sex Abuse Case



Jehovah's Witnesses Must Pay $21M In Molestation




Jehovah’s Witnesses Told To Pay In Abuse Case


Calif Jury Awards $28M In Jehovah's Witness Sex Abuse Case



Jehovah's Witness Sex Abuse Victim Award,Not just For Catholics Anymore


Woman Molested By Jehovah's Witnesses Member At Age NINE Wins $28million In America's BIGGEST Religious Sex Abuse Payout


Jury Awards $28M To Woman Who Said Jehovah's Witnesses Allowed Church Member To Molest Her


Jehovah's Witnesses Must Pay $21M in Molestation


Jehovah's Witnesses Must Pay More Than $20 million In Fremont Sex Abuse Case




Calif Jury Awards $28M In Jehovah's Witness Sex Abuse Case


Jehovah's Witnesses Must Pay More Than $20 Million In Fremont Sex Abuse Case


Jehovah's Witnesses May Pay Millions To Sexual Abuse Victim



Candace Conti Awarded $28M In Jehovah's Witness Sex Abuse Case


Jehovah's Witnesses Must Pay More Than $20 million In Fremont Sex Abuse Case

The BRAND Is What Sells JW's And The Alternate Lifestyle.

 By Terry Walstrom\JWN

Jehovah's Witnesses don't have a message.  They have an alternate lifestyle.
For persons put off by teachings of eternal torment they offer eternal sleep or a Paradise Earth.

For Christians disaffected by tepid sermons and rituals they offer a vital lifesaving field service ministry.
In a world saturated in sex and exhibitionism, loud rude music and apathy they offer modesty of dress, cleanliness and worldwide family.
They are seen by the world much the same way as the Amish only more modern.
People find their teaching quaint or laughable but think they are sincere and eager for positive change.

THIS IS A BRAND more than a religion.
When the average person looks at JW's they see loyalty. The religiosity has credibility even if the doctrines don't.
BRANDS establish personal public contact.  The individual JW walks up and knocks on your door. That person IS the BRAND.

We here on JWN are obsessed with the details of doctrine and teaching.  But, come on--smell the coffee!
90% of "spiritual" people don't give a flying fudge bar about all that!   Chapter and verse scripture quoting bores the hell out of folks!
JW's seem to handle a bible like Wyatt Earp handled his pistol anyway!

If you put the way JW's come across in everyday life on one side and the rest of the world on the other side THEY LOOK BETTER!
Think about that.
Religious people are accustomed to background noise about Armageddon and the end of the world. It is blah blah blah.
THE BRAND is scrubbed and friendly families knocking your door with a bible who are willing to die for God.

The Devil is always in the details. But, in this world, nobody bothers with the details.
Many many people are very put off by consumerism, fashion, popular music, obsession with sex, fall-apart family.
JW's are the BRAND that seems to offer solutions.
In a world of mealy mouthed Joel Osteens and Joyce Meyers Jehovah's Witnesses lay it all on the line and STAND FOR SOMETHING.

I know you are gnashing your teeth at all this because you know the substance of it is a load of horse shit.
But, what I'm saying is true. The details of belief take a distant second to the BRAND of Lifestyle.

 

Millions Now Living Will Never Die.

Pyramidology.

Millions Now Living Will Never Die.

The Infamous Murder Letter.

Don't Let Your Accountant Fire YOU When You Catch Them In Malfeasance.

By Terry Walstrom(JWN)

You own a business and hire an accountant to manage the finances.

Your checks start to bounce every once and awhile. You anxiously call your accountant: "What's going on? There should be enough in the

bank to cover these things!"

The accountant has 3 things by way of response that can be said:

1.I screwed up. I apologize. I'll make good on it. It won't happen again.

2.It's not MY fault all the other people are wrong.

3.Who are you to question me? I've got the degree in accounting. Keep your pants on.



If this happens just ONCE--you may shrug it off and keep that accountant no matter which reply was given.



But--here is the most important point that can be made: IF IT HAPPENS AGAIN..and again...and again...and again.....



it should not matter how many excuses or reasons the accountant gives you--should it?

Are you not justified in firing them, reporting them, losing all confidence in them, suing them?



The rank and file Jehovah' Witnesses are like the business that has hired the Governing Body to keep their spiritual account running in a healthy profitable way.

At a certain point....after many bounced promises...reversals...outright errors....obvious ass-covering excuses.....FIRING THEM is a no-brainer!

No business person could AFFORD to "wait on the accountant" to straighten out the mess. You could quickly be out of business and bankrupt.



Disfellowshipped people are, in effect, spiritually bankrupted because they TRUSTED when they should have demanded an accounting.



Have you ever hear this saying?

Fool me once---it is "shame on you."

Fool me twice---it is "shame on ME."



Don't let your accountant FIRE YOU for catching them in malfeasance!

What is needed is an exposure of the problems and a reckoning without all the excuses and muscle-flexing.