The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society was founded on the belief that Armageddon is imminent. In the late 1870s when Charles T Russell gave up his business interests and began preaching that Christ had returned - invisibly, of course - in 1874 and that by 1914 the current system would be over with, a religious model pinched from the Adventists and Millerites, was established.
1914 came and went, this old system lumbered on, and the WTBTS in the person of Russell began re-reading his favourite Biblical texts and re-calibrating his 'pyramidological' calculations. Yes, his prophecies hadn't come true, but the Bible Students lived to predict another end of the world. Other dates such as 1915 and 1918 were put forward with the same confidence as 1914. The Bible Students had good reason to be 'faithful' to Russell and his teachings, molding and shaping their lives to suit the 'nearness of the end'.
Russell died, and his replacement, Rutherford, picked up his measuring tools and had another look at the Great Pyramid and boldly proclaimed that the date most definitely predicted in scripture, even more so than 1914, was 1925. He published a brochure, gave a bunch of public talks, printed some placards and built a home in California. Once again, the Bible students had a date to pin their hopes on, to build their lives around - or in most cases put their lives on hold for.
By 1926 it was back to the drawing board. Other end-time dates were thrown up, but it wasn't until the late 1960s that the WTBTS had another rock-solid, firmly-in-scripture date to look forward to; 1975. Stay alive 'til '75, was the cry. College was forsaken, operations were put off, dating couples held off getting married, married couples held off having children, bills weren't paid, businesses were sold, homes were mortgaged off and Jehovah's Witnesses collectively put control of their lives into the hands of the Society once again, firm in their faith and belief that this time, this time they were onto a winner.
By now a pattern had surely emerged; the on-going success of the WTBTS in keeping the level of control it has over it's members was mostly down to their confident proclamation that Armageddon was right around the corner; 1914, 1925, 1975. After 1975 the great Society 'hook' was the 'generation' that would not pass away. How long could there possibly be left of this old system? The generation that understood the events of 1914 would still be around to witness Armageddon and the 'new system'. Lives were shaped and molded and planned with the 'Creator's promise' that the 1914 generation would not die out.
Then 1995 came. Suddenly it seemed that maybe we weren't so close to the end of the system after all. And that '1914 generation', well, maybe we weren't right about them after all. Maybe they wouldn't see the coming 'new system'.
For the first time in it's history the WTBTS did not have a date in the near future with which they could control their members. Suddenly, kids started going to college, couples starting having kids, people started planning for their future for the first time. Yes, they were still being faithful to God's channel of communication, a group of men who were admittedly false prophets, but more and more Witnesses were, cognisantly or otherwise, realising they may be in it for the long haul.
But the WTBTS wasn't finished with the 'generation'. Out of the blue the generation flip-flopped back to what they'd interpreted it to be in the 1920s; the remnant of Christ's brothers on earth...at any given time. Should that mean we should start to doubt the nearness of the end of this old system? Er, well, ok, maybe we can see how you could start to doubt, but please don't. You see, it's closer than ever. Honestly. We really mean it. This time.
The reality is, however, this incarnation of understanding of the 'generation' has to be doctrinally coupled with the abandonment of the 1935 sealing of the anointed. With the anointed being unsealed, with the number of memorial partakers increasing by 10% in one year, with the age of the remnant surely falling, suddenly savvy JWs started waking up to the fact that there is no end to this system in sight. For the first time in WTBTS history, the Governing Body do not have a tangible date or time period they can point forward to and thus control their membership.
This is surely deliberate, having been outed as being false prophets as recently as the mid 90s, they can't be seen to be even speculating as to an end date.
They now have a serious problem. Without an end-date to preach, how do they keep control of their members? They've lost perhaps their biggest tentacle of control; dates. How many JWs have been faithful to the Society for decades due to dates; 1975 and any point up until 1995? But without a date to look forward to, how can they be assured of the loyalty and obedience of their followers? They always offered a carrot. Now they need to break out the stick.
They need a new tentacle of control.
In my opinion they are growing such a tentacle; fear of leaving.
With nothing to look forward to, what's going to keep the Witnesses in? Fear. Fear of what's on the outside. Fear of apostates. Fear of doubts. Fear of questioning Watchtower doctrine. Fear of questioning the elders. Fearing of even thinking about questioning Watchtower doctrine. Fear of the internet. Fear of questions.
The Watchtower Society knows that as soon as a Witness starts to question, starts to doubt, starts to listen to family members who've faded, Googles 'Jehovah's Witnesses' on the 'net, starts to ask questions, that Witness is starting to loosen the grip of control the Society has over his or her mind. And we know what happens when we start to free our minds...
How many Study articles have their been recently where those who've left the Organisation are essentially demonised? How many Study articles have we seen where the focus has been on sifting, sorting, refining, articles that have shown 'scriptural precedent' for the numbers ebbing away from the congregation? Look at those who leave, see how weak they are! See how ungrateful they are for Jehovah's channel! See how they turn their back on the fine spiritual food. And have they found other spiritual food of such high standard? Of course not, for there is none.
If you leave the Organisation you're under demonic control. You're showing an ungrateful spirit. You're turning your back on Jehovah. You're choosing death.
I am absolutely convinced that the congregations are riddled with people who are mentally cognisant of the Watchtower's false prophecies and mind control tactics, yet they are so scared of being seen as weak or disloyal that they can't even consider leaving.
The WTBTS doesn't have a date to look forward to other than 2014, and that will bring it's own problems. They will struggle to keep a hold of their membership over the next 5 years. As a result we can expect to see them grow and develop their new tentacle of control; fear of leaving the Organisation.