The loss of registration in Norway didn’t really shock us…
…but I think the Org leadership was completely taken by surprise.
All the available anecdotal evidence we have suggests that the guys at the top truly believe that the WTS is “God’s Exclusive Earthly Organization”…
…and, by implication, invincible and destined to prevail.
These days, however, the losses seem to be outweighing the victories, which flies in the face of that.
Being weaned off the government teat, having to pay back Caesar’s things to Caesar, or being held to account for their (and their predecessors’) mistakes can’t really be plausibly spun as “persecution”…
…and according to their own decades-old End-Times interpretation (which they can’t really abandon, ‘cause Fred Franz never left a protege and the talented creatives are all but gone), “Babylon the Great” is supposed to be attacked by “Satan’s World” first.
Not the Watchtower.
Point in fact; the recent change-up to their eschatology still, nevertheless, reiterates this.
They’re obviously not able to reconcile it, though, because overall, they keep making the same kind of ideology-driven strategic blunders…
…like a gambling addict keeps doubling down even harder in a losing streak, ‘cause he figures he’s still due a win.