Posts by wifibandit

i was sorting some papers tonight and came across a copy of the august 1980 km which announced the "apostasy against the organization" (a letter from the governing body) and has the notification that raymond franz was no longer a member of the governing body and bethel family.

i remember reading this just as i was making plans to disassociate myself at the same time.

this copy of the km was in some papers that belonged to my mother-in-law (who passed away several years ago).

wifibandit

Does anyone have this scan?

15

2016 Calendar: Give us more money!

by wifibandit in

just got a peak at the 2016 calendar and i cannot tell you how much it bothered me.

it's all about constructing new kh and assembly halls, which is completely ironic given that the construction stopped almost worldwide.obviously this is proof that the borg is shifting from a magazine publisher to a real estate conglomerate, no wonder they're getting rid of 12 issues of magazines all together.. now, while the pdf of this is not up on the site yet, i will post confirmation as soon as it becomes available.

weather that is by legitimate means or other wise..

wifibandit

ca16_E.pdf

11

New meeting answer sheet

by Saltheart Foamfollower in

hi all - thought you might be interested in the instructions for the answer sheet for the new meeting - full document to follow:-.

"our christian life and ministry meeting answer sheetfor use by meeting chairman for weeks of january 4-25, 2016source material: new world translation of the holy scriptures [nwt] and thewatchtower [w].instructions: these review questions correspond to material found in treasuresfrom gods word.

well in advance, the meeting chairman should ensure that theelder or ministerial servant assigned a part during treasures from gods word willconsider the question and answer for the week.

wifibandit

Saltheart Foamfollower

full document to follow

I look forward to it. Thank you!

18

139th Gilead Graduation Videos

by Listener in

the gilead graduate videos are now up on jw org tv.

they've outdone themselves this time by presenting 3 videos.

i didn't listen to it all but here is a little summary of them.. losch's talk about spiritual richness.

wifibandit

Gilead is a 5 month course located at the NY Bethel.

139th Gilead Graduation Program: Part 1—Introduction and Talks

0:00 - Gerrit Lösch is the master of ceremonies.
- Slip of the tongue? "Rich people said Jesus would have a hard time getting into the kingdom" He leads with "But really it was the opposite way around," which confused the heck out of me.
- 13:00 - Motivating Brothers to donate to the WTBS
- 14:20 - "You graduation students do not need to worry about material things. Jehovah will provide for you."
Brother Joel Dellinger - Helper of the GB Service Committee - his talk is "Never leave the classroom”
- Is this guy mentoring under Stephen Lett? Because he has similar mannerisms and speaking intonations.
27:00 - GB David Splane - his talk is “Be Loyal Like Barak”
38:20 - James Cothen (?) - Serves with the Theocratic Schools Dept - his talk is “Apply The Rule"
- around 41:00 lots of talk about imperfect people
- this dude’s talk was actually really good. If JWs applied and followed his principles, JWs would be so progressive!
48:30 - Mark Noumair - Longtime Gilead Instructor - his talk is “Keep the miracle going”
- 54:23 - “You’re not dedicated to a work or an assignment, you’re dedicated to Jehovah God”
- 58:25 - “Remember, you don’t want to view weaker ones as a liability, or allow procedures to become more important than people. We are not a military organization. We are a family. And as a family, we lift ones out of the ash-heap, and build bonds of mutual confidence and trust.”
- 1:02:35 - “May your signature piece, or your trademark be one that sticks to Jehovah and his organizational arrangements, trusting your heavenly father to strengthen you to do his work his way….be loyal.”
- Then Gerrit Lösch goes on stage and emphasizes loyalty. And they sing the song “Ever Loyal”.

139th Gilead Graduation Program: Part 2—Student Experiences and Interviews

Nothing too illuminating here that I could find. My takeaways:
- 5:00 - Dude looks like Vladimir Putin
- Worldly people are super accommodating and welcome your literature and preaching with open arms.
- Gilead students bat 1000 every time they proselytize, and strangers know what the term “tract” means.
- US customs agents are friendly and polite.
- The airport skit was actually pretty funny and cute. I liked it. I think they were being cheeky. Well done.
- /u/berrygerry I had to...
- Preach anywhere, anytime, anyhow. PREACH EVERYWHERE!
- Seek out a person’s vulnerabilities, then lovebomb them, then emotionally coerce them. Make potential converts feel special and chosen.
32:00 - Daniel Fenson (?) - Interviews Students - Theme "Happy are the people who serve Jehovah”
- 37:35 - Brother Lorenzo - "helps with the health care needs of special pioneers and Circuit Overseers and their wives - entails receiving phone calls re: any situation they may be facing, and looking into the best way to find treatment for them alongside the medical team in Bethel, and also we help in covering their medical expenses.”
- 38:32 - Sister Shirley - Her Dad had stage 4 cancer and only had months to live. She offered to leave Bethel to help take care of him. Her dad said, “Your Mom and I have already given you to Jehovah. We have no intention of taking you back. You just stay where you are." Then 5 months later in November, she received her invitation to attend Gilead…she offered to delay her studies. Father refused again. Dad died. But it’s ok, her Dad already planned his resurrection party, so she’s excited to attend it in the new system.

139th Gilead Graduation Program: Part 3—Concluding Talk and Assignments

0:00 - Anthony Morris - his talk is “Always Rejoice”
- he’s got his gold ring on his right hand again.
- Scorns Satan for going after Job. Yet wasn’t it Jehovah who allowed Job to suffer so much?
- 7:10 - “only individuals can do this, on an individual basis we stand before God, unless we are talking about toddlers, this is our personal responsibility, to adhere to the scriptures.” So what about all those toddlers that died by Jehovah’s will in the Hebrew Scriptures?
- “life in these last days” is bad
- If negative emotions grip you, Tony advises listening to the Kingdom Hall songs.
- "If you can’t change your circumstances, change your viewpoint” - this is actually good advice.
- 12:00 Tony says we can get counselors and other help to change our viewpoint, but only scripture actually helps, and he hopes those counselors are using scripture. "Because that’s where the power lies."
- Some metaphor Tony uses about phones/tablets freezing on him, and the need reset them to solve the issues. While I am glad Tony recognizes one particular solution to working around microcomputer memory corruption issues etc., I’d advise Tony to focus his JW app dev team on fixing their software bugs that cause these undesirable behaviors in the first place.
- 17:00 “People that are not reasonable aren’t very likely to be rejoicing very much…always thinking about what you should be, could be, it’s not reasonable, you’re not going to be experiencing rejoicing….am I too strict on myself? beware of that...to always rejoice means be reasonable with yourself. That'll enable you to have proper/reasonable goals.”
19:15 Gerrit Lösch reads some letters of congratulations to the Gilead students sent in from various lands
- Angola branch: During the last 5 months (May - September 2015?), Angola has experienced remarkable increase: 101 new congs have been formed. New peak of memorial attendance of 529,827. In June they reached all time peak of 113,039 publishers conducting more than 500,000 Bible studies.
- Bolivia: greetings
- Bulgaria: more than 10% of the publishers attended the meeting for those interested in the school for Kingdom Evangelizers
- Burundi: 13,000 publishers conducted over 41,000 Bible Studies monthly. Congregation publishers averaged approx 18 hours in the ministry each month.
- Greece: best wishes
- Ukraine: 145,612 attended imitated Jesus convention. 1601 got baptized.
- He goes through all the “lands" of the world that sent greetings but no other comments. Didn’t hear China :). But they did have a Hong Kong student couple.
22:53 Gerrit Lösch shows the audience the 139th class of Gilead
- number of students = 50
- married couples = 16
- single brothers = 14
- single sisters = 4
- average age = 40
- average years baptized = 24.3
- average years in full time service = 19
- number of lands represented = 31
24:00 Introduces each student one-by-one, where they’re from, and where they’re assigned
- Seems like almost everyone is returning to their homelands.
- Handshakes…do they have pagan origins? Helluva lot of handshakes going on. Get that man some antibacterial soap.
30:50 - Selected student reads the letter from students to Bethel family. Mentions GB right away
37:05 - Gerrit Lösch provides audience attendance statistics (people listening in)
- Canada = 482
- USA Patterson = 3,956
- USA Brooklyn = 2,840
- USA Walkhill = 2,862
- USA Warwick = 3,430
- USA Florida, Fort Lauderdale = 117
- USA Newburgh (?), NY Assembly Hall = 553
- Jamaica = 57
- Puerto Rico = 194
- Total = 14,491 (all time peak high)