Acoording to this letter to the society posted on AnoitedJW (I realize some here do not hold it in high regard) the WTS has not had any articles about the memorial or any mention of Jesus in articles leading up to the memorial (public version). Instead 2-3 articles on Moses and one on Judas. Also rumor has it that the WTS will no longer be posting the amount of partakers, (perhaps for fear of how many are going to begin partaking?!?)
Here are some excerpts from the letter:
Along with practically all of the publishers in the organization, we have been
Matthew 24:45-47
that you brothers
revealed at the Annual Meeting on October 6, 2012. We have examined each
Watchtower from October 2012 through March 2013, which covers material that will be
studied up to June 2013. Yet there is nothing mentioned about the new light? Brothers,
if Jehovah’s spirit has revealed important information about our organization, why are
you sitting on it? Why are you withholding it?
Another problem we discovered is that there is no Watchtower study article
about the upcoming 2013 Memorial of Christ Death. In the January 15, 2012
Watchtower, there was a full study article for Memorial entitled “
A Royal Priesthood
to Benefit All Mankind
” scheduled to be studied the week before the Memorial.
However, there are
no
study articles about the Memorial leading up to the March 26,
2013 Memorial. Strangely, the February 1, 2013 Watchtower, scheduled for public
distribution during the month leading up to the 2013 Memorial, features three full
articles about Moses, and one full article about Judas, but practically nothing about
Jesus. Brothers, what is going on?
And finally, there is a
rumor
circulating that you have decided that you will no
longer be publishing the number of the Sons of God who partake at the Memorial
celebrations. Yet you will no doubt continue to publish the number of
observers
at the
Memorial, the number of
magazines placed, the number of hours
spent in the ministry,
the number of regular and auxiliary
pioneers,
but no acknowledgment of the Sons of the
Kingdom? Where is the respect and affection for Christ’s brothers? Are we not more
important than magazines? We certainly hope this is a rumor!
This is especially disturbing since you brothers profess to be among the
anointed. This is
your night! Your
hope! The Memorial is the most important evening
of the year for Jehovah’s Witnesses, especially for the sons of God
among whom you
count yourselves!
looking forward to a Watchtower article that explains the so-called “new light” about
the identity of the Faithful and Discreet Slave at
And even though you do not encourage others to partake of the
emblems, in the past you have at least advertised the Memorial and encouraged
attendance by as many as possible. What is now hindering you? Why are you
remaining silent?
As you can tell, we are deeply concerned at these developments. Yet we are not
without hope. We are reminded of the account when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the
back of a colt and the people began to offer praise and glory to him by crying out:
“‘Blessed is the One coming as the King in Jehovah’s
name! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest places!’
However, some of the Pharisees from the crowd said to
him: ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples.’ But in reply he
said: ‘I tell you,
If these remained silent, the stones
would cry out
We are also reminded of Paul’s words to the brothers and sisters in Galatia:
“Go on carrying the burdens of one another, and thus
fulfill the law of the Christ.” –
Galatians 6:2
Therefore, brothers, if you men choose to remain silent as to the glory of “the
One coming as the King in Jehovah’s name,” then
we will cry out
! We will gladly
carry your burden
of providing needed spiritual food to the domestics so as to ‘fulfill
the law of the Christ’ to ‘keep doing this in remembrance of him’ (
Luke 22:19
) until
you brothers decide to act ‘faithfully and discreetly’ as respects our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ and the heavenly hope.
We will, of course, let you know what we are doing and we will provide you
with access to every article and/or public invitation we publish in connection with the
2013 Memorial of Christ’s Death. And if the rumor is true that you will not be
publishing the number of partakers at the 2013 Memorial, then we will do what we can
to let the association of brothers know how many have picked up their torture stakes and
followed the Christ.
Dear brothers, we want to continue to support you, and we will, for as long as
the Father’s Spirit allows. But you must understand the seriousness and urgency of the
situation. There are millions of lives in your hands – millions who have not yet even
entered the race for the real life. We implore you to examine yourselves and your
teachings to determine whether ‘Jesus is in union with your actions.’ As Paul wrote:
“Keep testing whether you are in the faith, keep proving
what you yourselves are. Or do you not recognize that
Jesus Christ is in union with you? Unless you are
disapproved
. I truly hope you will come to know we
are
not disapproved.” –
2 Corinthians 13:5-6
Your Brothers and Ambassadors for Christ,
So I'm curious what anyones take is on this.
Have any of the active JW's or elders here heard anything on this?
Please provide feedback.