Why does the average man or woman on the street only have a vague awareness of who Jehovah's Witnesses are and what they stand for? Isn't it weird they know next to nothing after over a hundred years of door to door work???
Ask yourself why this has been such an ineffective ministry.
One actor, Tom Cruise, has raised more awareness about his own religion (Scientology) than all the Watchtower magazines placed at a million households. In Cruise's case, it is behavior that attracted attention.
In the case of the Watchtower, the bad behaviors (death due to refused blood) only paints the Society as martyrs, albeit fantatical.
The actual MESSAGE of what Jehovah's Kingdom means is completely lost to the public.
Could it be because all this work is designed to do is imitate a process of delivering an important life-saving message?
Could it be because the real purpose of the Watchtower corporation is hidden intentionally?
Corporations acquire legitimacy by earning a profit. In the case of a religious corporation the "profit" must not appear as mere monetary gain. There has to be a public service aspect to generating millions of dollars that will escape taxation! Ordinary corporations must demonstrate to the Board of Directors that cash flow is equitable to investors and a justifiable return on investment has been made. The Watchtower Corporation has had to generate a kind of marvelous "machine" you could pour money into and make it disappear in the form of the preaching work.
CONSTANT EXPANSION is the key! This is a kind of maniacal pyramid scheme to grow and grow ahead of the curve of waves of $$$.
Watchtower rank-and-file members are used as volunteer labor staying very busy appearing to be doing something important.
What they are really doing is generating publicity which serves to hide the actual purpose of the Watchtower corporation.
What is the genuine purpose of the Watchtower corporation?
POWER INVESTMENT!
REAL ESTATE!
The Watchtower was a corporate Donald Trump. It could grow dollars and not have to pay taxes on them. It could point to a worldwide work as evidence of money well spent (which wasn't really "spent" at all.) It could account for the cash flow by pointing to new projects in development and new acquisitions ostensibly for more and more publishing effort.
But, in reality, the goose just kept laying golden eggs in the nest of Governing Body members.
To the rank and file there was no Bill of Rights. They 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.
But, why should they?
There was a gun placed to the head of every Jehovah's Witness in the form of Armageddon. This threat could only seem real enough if Armageddon was made a fresh threat and not a vague one in the distant future.
Any Jehovah's Witness who didn't fear being slaughtered at Armageddon just wasn't paying attention. Failure to comply with the busy-busy work commanded from Brooklyn headquarters would lead to disfellowshipping. Disfellowshipping would lead to having a big target placed on the ex-JWs back at Armageddon.
It was the perfect "Protection Racket" organized crime had used to intimidate shopkeepers in the Al Capone era.
Further, 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!!
Whatever number of members who balked and left in disgust; the upside was greater! How so?
1.Only the "weaker" members would leave and that is no loss at all.
2.The disfellowshipping would serve as a warning to other members and make threats appear very real.
3.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.
4.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.
5.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!
Even outright fraud in the preaching purpose redounded as a benefit!
But, there was a fly in the ointment.
THE MESSAGE could not be made available all at once to everybody or the work would implode!
The only way for Jehovah's Protection Racket to stay healthy would be this:
1. The public at large must have only a vague idea of who Jehovah's Witnesses really are (or the public eye would see through the corporate treadmill and start asking where the money went.)
2. The rank and file must always bear the burden of selling the books and magazines to keep them busy.
3. The use of martyrs has a limited purpose. If the relatives of martyrs start suing in court: the game is up!
The legal situation got out of hand suddenly when people started questioning the backpeddling on delicate issues such as child molestation policy and medical emergency policy.
A buffer of protection was needed to separate the Governing Body from legal responsibility for their hurtful policy-making edicts.
Thus, the re-organization came and went without much publicity reaching the lower ranks and all was well.
Which brings us back to the question: Why no TV ministry?
As we have seen the purpose of the Governing Body is to generate investment capital through real estate ventures. A TV ministry would dry up that money machine quickly by generating a high-profile examination on the part of the newly well-informed public. An actual full-frontal presentation of the weirdness behind JW thinking would kill the vague persona of citizen do-gooders who clean up after themselves at conventions. The scrutiny would become intensely focused on Brooklyn, NY and the actual men who are power brokers on the throne of power.
Publicity has served the corporate purpose when they can frame that publicity as Kingdom Work. Publicity of a different nature could destroy them!
The lawsuits and exposure by internet sites dredging up failed prophecy and policy waffling are a sore point. Governing Body power can only deal with rank and file unrest by clamping down with threats and a tightening grip. It cannot control non-members curiosity. It cannot ignore penetrating questions of authority by threats if the press starts bombarding them with high-profile questions hanging in the air unanswered.
That is why there is no TV ministry for Jehovah's Witnesses. It is a kind of self-fashioned paradox that the Watchtower claims to be heralding an important and urgent message and yet demonstrates an absolute horror of making that message public effectively by using the best technology available.
Follow the money and it leads to a cover up; not a revelation of Christ's presence.
A new generation of leader will emerge soon at the top of the corporate ladder in Brooklyn. A younger and more legally-protected leadership will shift this money machine into high gear once again by protecting its assets and eliminating its liabilities. What changes will this bring to the local congregations?
Not the one they are praying for! The key purpose of new leadership will be to make individual responsibility invisible.
THERE WILL BE A GREAT AND POWERFUL OZ at the helm with fire and smoke and mirrors.
But, for the local Kingdom Halls it will be grunt work as usual.