Thank you for your comments, and I can understand; I have worked in many lands outside of the United States for the WTBTS. I left a business that my father had started, to work in the "International Work" as it was then called. I feel now that I was "guilted" into it at conventions, and assemblies, because I was doing pretty good for a twenty two year old man, and made to feel that I should do more for kingdom advancement.
I left the family business just before the economy started to stumble in the late 1980's. I didn't leave because the economy was slowing down, but felt that when I left I had left behind a profitable job to do construction work that I didn't get paid for; but my "new" work was of a "spiritual nature", for the advancement of the kingdom, blah, blah, blah, and I felt like there was more to life than just making money. Which there is.
I returned "home" about five years later and the economy was still slumbering and I had to do a lot of odd humbling jobs for work, but, about a year later the economy just started to take off. We were not anything special, but we were at the right place at the right time, and we enjoyed about ten years of strong growth and profitability. I remember my family members saying that "Jehovah was blessing us", (basically financially) because several other fleshly brothers after me had entered the full time work doing the same thing, and that the "blessing from Jehovah" was dependent on our faithfulness and continued devotion to supporting the WTBTS,,,,.... AND my fleshly brothers.
I recently saw a video that my wife had told me about the construction in Tuxedo/Warwick New York that my brother was in. My brother looked like a bobble head when on camera. I couldn't make it through the video, as it just disgusted me. The theme of the video was basically how happy everyone is working at Warwick for WTBTS. Basically, it was an infomercial for coming to Warwick and working for freeeeeeee. Knowing what I know now, it Made me sick to watch it.
I now realize how foolish I was. However, I don't tell anyone that I worked for WTBTS or was a "Jw", but I describe my work as working for a non-profit organization, building schools (JW's were calling the branches "educational centers") for disadvantaged people, and teaching my trade to the local people. This is how I live with myself for my being a sucker.
Was there evidence of Jehovah's Blessing? After Dad's death, The two brothers that we had supported in the full time work in WTBTS construction came home and didn't want to work in the business, but they greedily wanted a weekly paycheck, and when that wasn't enough or fast enough, they wanted to liquidate the company. So the company that fed them for years was liquidated, and I don't think they have anything to show for it now.
Again, Was there evidence of Jehovah's Blessing? I haven't been to a meeting in nearly four years, and I'm doing as well as I ever have financially. But I don't stop working the overtime to go to a meeting or take off work so I can work for free on the new Warwick Headquarters. As far as any help from "the friends"? Well that is a joke, hardly anyone ever invited us over, and I never received a "green hand shake". Further, I didn't go to any meetings when I was pursueing a "worldly" degree in higher education.
Was there evidence of Jehovah's Blessing? You decide.
