Thank you wombat!
Atlantis
JoinedPosts by Atlantis
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15
Watchtower officials arrested for spying! (review)
by Atlantis ina review of some of the older watchtower observer information.
the 4 photobucket urls at the bottom of the post will be deleted in 24 hours.
in accord with the "fair use" policies this information is being posted for research and educational purposes only.
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Watchtower officials arrested for spying! (review)
by Atlantis ina review of some of the older watchtower observer information.
the 4 photobucket urls at the bottom of the post will be deleted in 24 hours.
in accord with the "fair use" policies this information is being posted for research and educational purposes only.
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Atlantis
A review of some of the older Watchtower Observer information. The 4 photobucket urls at the bottom of the post will be deleted in 24 hours.
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In accord with the "fair use" policies this information is being posted for research and educational purposes only. There were other related pages that also could have been scanned, however we felt this would be sufficient. Several people including Jehovah's Witnesses who are considered in good standing with their congregations, have asked members of this board as well as Randy Watters and myself if the Watchtower Society, or the elders in some of their own congregations would engage in "spying" on them. We felt the information listed below would answer their question. This information does not imply that all Watchtower officials or elders would engage in spying, but does show the extremes that "some" Watchtower officials have gone to in their attempts to find out information about their members and others not even associated. In our efforts to be fair to Jehovah's Witnesses and even to the Watchtower Society, we respectfully request that the moderators here would delete this information after a reasonable amount of time, as it is not being posted here to incite hatred, bias, or bitterness towards anyone. We have relatives that are Jehovah's Witnesses and we don't want them shown bitterness, we want them FREE! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Their magazine the Watchtower May 15th 1998 page 21, reports: "On Sept 26th, in a case from Greece, nine judges of the European courts of human rights, at Strasbourg, unanimously reaffirmed that Jehovah's witnesses come within the definition of known religions, entitled to enjoy freedom of thought, conscience, and belief, and the right to make known their faith"
What we are not told for example, the branch office of the witnesses in Athens, Greece totally abuses this right from its members. Staff from the HQ in Greece set up a video surveillance in a truck, spying on its members, to get evidence as to who, and when, they entertain, and visitors etc, and from this to confront them with the view to forcing them to give explanation of any they did not approve the company of, had association with, be it business, domestic, or social meetings.
Caught red handed the Watchtower staff were arrested by the police and "fined" for invasion of privacy resulting with much publicity in the newspaper. District Attorney Mr Kontaxis said: "this is very serious. . .to threaten and trample all that we call human rights" This incident and others can be read in former governing body member Ray Franz books "Crises of Conscience" and "In search of Christian freedom" (p.-379-382)
Shortly after this incident Jehovah's witnesses carried an article decrying the intolerance of JWs by the Greek Orthodox Church officials who opposed JWs holding a convention at a sports stadium. Above information can be found in paragraphs 3-6 here: http://www.bigwig.net/knots/nightmares/control.htm "Witnesses of Video" is what the front cover of the Athens newspaper displayed to the whole world! Page 1 of 4 http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e42/Expositor/Spy-1-sss0001.jpg Page 2 of 4 http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e42/Expositor/Spy-20001.jpg Page 3 of 4 http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e42/Expositor/Spy-3-d0001.jpg Page 4 of 4 http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e42/Expositor/Spy-40001.jpg -
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Dad agreed to look at UN and Rand Cam info
by Champion ingood morning everyone!
visited my staunch jw dad over the weekend.
my husband(never jw very educated) was with me.
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Atlantis
Tobacco documents found here: (Riley/Watchtower/Phillip Morris)
http://www.infotdgeova.it/morris2.jpg http://www.infotdgeova.it/morris3.jpg http://www.infotdgeova.it/morris4.jpg
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Dad agreed to look at UN and Rand Cam info
by Champion ingood morning everyone!
visited my staunch jw dad over the weekend.
my husband(never jw very educated) was with me.
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Atlantis
1991 NGO application from Randy's site.
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TOWN LOCKDOWN IN SEARCH OF DANGEROUS FUGITIVE JW
by DannyHaszard inlockdown in search for beating suspect
hartford courant, united states - 2 hours ago .
... central police emergency services team sped to barbourtown road and fanned out in the snow-covered fields and woods outside the jehovah's witnesses church at ...
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Atlantis
Danny:
Thank you Danny for the update! We appreciate your hard work.
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Governing Body Letter to Apostates 2005 in Yearkbook ;-)
by What-A-Coincidence inedited now with commentary.. .
taken from 2006 yearbook.
includes pg.
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Atlantis
I noticed that the word "Worldwide" is now added to this name description!
It used to be "Order of Special Full Time Servants"
and now its:
Worldwide Order of Special Full Time Servants!
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Bethel "Vow of Poverty" documents scanned.
by What-A-Coincidence invow of poverty scanned from 2002 documents.
i believe these are the latest ones unless someone has a newer one.
i posted these in another thread but i thought it deserved its own.. ocrd with 98% accuracy.... initial cover page 1 of 4. vow of obedience and povertyto the.
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Atlantis
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/3883/order/order.html?200524
The Order of Special Full-Time Servants
When I read my 1995 Yearbook for the first time, I spotted something I had never seen in any literature before. This is the paragraph that made me stop and wonder:
*** yb95 5-6 ; Jehovah's Witnesses-1995 Yearbook Report ***
Among the full-time workers were 15,145 members of the global Bethel family. They help to provide literature, supervision, and other beneficial services in support of the worldwide work of Bible education. Of these, 5,082 serve at the world headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, and at nearby facilities. All of them are members of the Order of Special Full-Time Servants, a religious order that is devoted exclusively to the ministry - (italics mine).
Then I saw it again in the 1996 Yearbook. Here's the quote from that book:
*** yb96 8-9 ; Jehovah's Witnesses-1996 Yearbook Report ***
Among those in full-time service are 16,468 Bethel family members around the globe. Of this number, 5,709 serve at the world headquarters; all of these are members of the Order of Special Full-Time Servants.
Additionally, 4,374 care for assignments that require them to travel from one assembly to another in an assigned district or from one congregation to another in a circuit. One of the principal activities of all such traveling overseers is taking the lead in the field ministry.
The Order of Special Full-Time Servants! According to the Yearbook, this is a religious order, although I have failed to find any other reference to the "order" in any other publication.
When I asked a variety of Elders about this, none seemed to know anything about this "order". Even Circuit Overseers and District Overseers didn't seem to know anything about it.
Then, after extensive investigation, I found someone who was able to offer an explanation. Apparently, when brothers or sisters are accepted for Bethel service, they are asked to take a "vow of poverty"!! So by doing, they become members of this "religious order".
Why should they be asked to take such a vow? Why should there be a seperate "order" if we are all God's servants? Does all this not have undertones of "sects" and "divisions" amongstthe congregation?
It seems the short answer to all this is that it is another tax dodge!! By taking this "vow" and entering this "order" the members avail themselves of various tax consessions.
*** Rbi8 ; Matthew 22:21 ***
" Then he said to them: "Pay back, therefore, Caesar's things to Caesar, but God's things to God."
*** Rbi8 ; Galatians 5:19-21 ***
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, and they are fornication, uncleanness............................... divisions, sects, 21 envies, drunken bouts, revelries, and things like these. As to these things I am forewarning YOU, the same way as I did forewarn YOU, that those who practice such things will not inherit God's kingdom."
It seems to me that the WBTS is quite prepared to compromise Bible principles in order to evade paying "Caesar's things to Caesar"! It was just the same in the way the literature was suddenly offered "free of charge" , not to give freely what we had received freely, but rather because it allowed them to avoid paying sales tax!
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Help on Bolgarian Blood issue??
by IronClaw incan someone point me too a site that has the documentation on the bolgarian blood transfusion agreement with the wts?
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Atlantis
Watchtower leaders no doubt justify their deceptions as "theocratic war strategy." An article titled "Use Theocratic War Strategy" tells Witnesses: A great work is being done by the witnesses even in lands where their activity is banned. The only way they can fulfill the command to preach the good news of God's kingdom is by use of theocratic war strategy. ... So in time of spiritual warfare it is proper to misdirect the enemy by hiding the truth. ... Today God's servants are engaged in a warfare, a spiritual, theocratic warfare, a warfare ordered by God against wicked spirit forces and against false teachings. ... At all times they must be very careful not to divulge any information to the enemy that he could use to hamper the preaching work.
—The Watchtower May 1, 1957, pages 285-286. Compare discussions of this policy in The Watchtower February 1, 1956, pages 76-90; June 1, 1960, page 252; Aid to Bible Understanding (1971) page 1061; Insight on the Scriptures (1988) vol. 2, page 245.The commission published this on the Internet for all the world to see. (See excerpts reproduced on the facing page, or full documentation in our booklet Blood, Human Rights and Jehovah's Witnesses.) As we did ourselves, anyone may obtain the complete printed agreement from the Secretary to the European Commission of Human Rights, F-67075 Strasbourg, Cedex, France, telephone +33 (0)3 88 41 20 18 or fax +33 (0)3 88 41 27 30.
Communiqué issued by the Secretary
to the European Commission of Human Rights
INFORMATION NOTE No. 148
on the 276th Session of the
European Commission of Human Rights
(Strasbourg, Monday 2 March - Friday 13 March 1998)__________
The 276th Session of the European Commission of Human Rights (Council of Europe) was held at the Human Rights Building in Strasbourg from 2 to 13 March 1998. At the close of the session the Secretary gave the following information on matters dealt with in the Commission:
The Commission dealt with 715 applications under Article 25 of the Convention and also examined one application under Article 24 of the Convention. Among the applications examined by the Commission were the following: ...
...II. Reports adopted
(i) Reports adopted under Article 28 para. 2 of the Convention (friendly settlement)
(a) One Report was adopted by the plenary Commission under Article 28 para. 2 of the Convention, concluding that a friendly settlement had been secured:
- KHRISTIANSKO SDRUZHENIE "SVIDETELI NA IEHOVA" (CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES) v. Bulgaria (Application No. 28626/95)
The case concerned the refusal to re-register the applicant association pursuant to a 1994 law, and the alleged suppression of its activities and those of its members. In settlement, the Government agreed to introduce legislation as soon as possible to provide for civilian service for conscientious objectors, as an alternative to military service, and to register the applicant association as a religion. The applicant undertook with regard to its stance on blood transfusions to draft a statement for inclusion in its statute providing that members should have free choice in the matter for themselves and their children, without any control or sanction on the part of the association. [emphasis added]But now it is clear that the Watchtower Society has reneged on that agreement and apparently never intended to be governed by it.
In a letter dated August 27, 1998, the Society claims the government of Bulgaria agreed to make concessions in exchange for nothing from the JWs, and reveals that the organization will continue to control members on the blood issue by using the sanction of disfellowshipping to punish violators:
"The phrasing that is to be incorporated into the statutes of the Christian Association of Jehovah's Witnesses in Bulgaria describes the manner in which Jehovah's Witnesses have traditionally handled these matters.... ...misuse of blood, then this may at times lead to the Scriptural action of disfellowshipping." http://www.cftf.com/online/ http://www.cftf.com/online/
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Can you celebrate your 100th birthday when you are a JW?
by blondie inas a devout jehovah's witness, mrs. merle is prohibited from celebrating her birthday.
but a week from tomorrow, relatives and friends will flock to the camoset village country living mobile home park in johnstown to attend a super bowl party that just happens to feature ice cream and cake.. "that's why we're calling it a super bowl party," explained her son bob merle, 73, who lives just five trailers down the road.
"we don't celebrate birthdays, but we have to celebrate 100 years," said mrs. mechem, 78.
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Atlantis
Watchtower-1985-1-1-p.-16
A
Centennial to RememberGOD’S people have been privileged to observe many modern-day miracles. Outstanding among these has been the growth of the global organization that Jehovah is now using to declare his name throughout the earth. It all started in Pittsburgh during the early 1870’s with a small group of earnest Bible students. These multiplied rapidly, so that it soon became necessary to form a legal corporation to care for the expanding organization. Thus, Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society was duly incorporated on December 13, 1884, under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Recently, on Saturday, October 6, 1984, the 100th annual meeting of the members of the corporation—known now as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania—was held in Pittsburgh. A special occasion indeed! Just as important events in ancient times were memorialized, so it was appropriate that Jehovah’s Witnesses should mark this centennial of the Watch Tower Society by a special gathering. Thus they could render thanks and praise to the Sovereign Lord Jehovah, who has protected and shepherded this expanding organization through the troublesome years of the past century.—Joshua 4:4-8, 20-24; Esther 9:20-22; Psalm 23:1-6.
Corporate
MeetingPromptly at ten o’clock on the morning of October 6, the annual corporate meeting of the Society was opened at the Coraopolis Assembly Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Pittsburgh. Among worldly organizations, corporate meetings are usually cut-and-dried, business-only affairs. But this meeting was different.
Of the 429 members of the corporation, 259 were present in person, together with their guests—an assembly totaling 1,615 persons. These had traveled to the meeting from 53 different countries—from such widely scattered places as Alaska, Antigua, Argentina, Australia, Austria, and through the alphabet to Zimbabwe. The formal election of four directors of the Society was followed by a spiritually strengthening program of talks. One of these, based on the yeartext chosen by Jehovah’s Witnesses for 1985, 2 Timothy 4:5, exhorted everyone: "Fully accomplish your ministry."
There followed a stirring address by the Society’s 91-year-old president, F. W. Franz. He stated that he had never been so thrilled as when, some 65 years ago, along with J. F. Rutherford, he first heard the phrase "God’s organization." After tracing the development of the organization in the earth, he expressed thankfulness that this is the 100th year that Jehovah’s organization has used the incorporated Society to bring us life-saving Scriptural information. Brother Franz’ voice rose to a triumphant crescendo as he quoted the last verse of the Psalms, saying, ‘Every breathing thing—let it praise Jah—HALLELUJAH!’
‘Jehovah
Is With His People’Outstanding brotherly love and hospitality were displayed by the Pittsburgh congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses. (Hebrews 13:1, 2) Self-sacrificing attention was given to provide fine meals, accommodations and transportation, and every organizational detail was cared for in readying Pittsburgh’s famous Three Rivers Stadium for the three-hour evening meeting that followed.
It was like a smile of approval from Jehovah that weather conditions for this autumn day were ideal. Thus, the crowd of 37,733 at the stadium could listen in comfort and with appreciation. Telephone tie lines carried the program to 34 Assembly Halls of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the United States and in Canada, where another 59,715 listened—making a grand total of 97,448 in attendance. All of these were provided with copies of a colorful 32-page brochure-style program as a memento of the happy event.
The evening session commenced with joyful song and prayer. Then ten members of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses shared with many other long-time servants of Jehovah in developing the theme: "Jehovah Has Always Proved to Be With His People." As the program brochure stated: "There is, indeed, much evidence that Jehovah has proved to be with his people and that he has blessed and established the work of their hands—accomplished by the instrumentality of the Watch Tower Society. Therefore, in accord with the thoughts of Psalm 78:2-7, it is appropriate that we use this occasion to relate to the newer generation ‘the praises of Jehovah . . . and his wonderful things that he has done.’"
That is just what the program accomplished! Hitler and apostate religionists had tried to exterminate Jehovah’s Witnesses "like vermin," but such opposers have gone, as always, "like snow in the sun." Bible translator Goodspeed described the first century Christians as "a translating and publishing people." And how true this is also of 20th-century Witnesses! During the 105 years ending in 1984, these Christians published, in 200 and more languages, 8.8 billion Bibles, books, booklets, magazines, and tracts. The New World Translation of the entire Bible, or at least the Greek Scriptures, was printed in 14 languages to a total of 51,034,000 copies. Very soon a pocket edition of this Bible, and also a large-print edition in four volumes, will become available. Thus the Watch Tower Society will continue to be a leader in Bible publication.
The brochure said: "A testimony to the caliber of faithful men who have served with the Watch Tower Society can be seen in the fact that during a period of 100 years only four different men have served in the responsible position of president of the Society." Jehovah’s organization moves on grandly toward final victory. As Martin Poetzinger, who kept integrity through nine years in Nazi concentration camps, commented: "Stick to Jehovah and Christ Jesus and God’s organization, and you will see his triumphant victory over all opposers."
The final speaker of the evening, president F. W. Franz, described this centennial day as "an occasion that will never be duplicated." How true! Reviewing the thrilling history of the Society, Brother Franz recalled the words of J. F. Rutherford, the second president, who died in 1942. Shortly before his death, he said, "Well, Fred, it looks to me the great [crowd] is not going to be so great after all." Brother Franz commented, "He died too soon." At that time Jehovah’s Witnesses numbered fewer than 100,000 worldwide. Today, literally ‘millions of those who will never die’ have been added to the ranks of these loyal servants.
Brother Franz concluded with these words: "We are stirred to say in unison: ‘All hail to Jehovah God the Universal Sovereign.’" By thunderous applause all present expressed their wholehearted agreement. After final song and prayer they left for their home countries and congregations with joyful determination to go on in Jehovah’s work to the finish.
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Does the new "Bible Teach" book mention the "Faithful and Discreet Slave?"
by truthseeker indoes anyone know if this new publication teaches the "faithful and discreet slave doctrine" and if so, does it pertain only to jehovah's witnesses?
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Atlantis
Truthseeker:
I say old chap, I can send you the book "What Does The Bible Really Teach" on pdf in email if you would like to have it. Then you could go through the book and find whatever you need! Let me know from a [pm] and I'll send it out to you pronto. Of course the mother-org might want my guts for garters, but thats her problem!
Smashing good show!
![[Watchtower August 27, 1998 letter page one]](http://www.cftf.com/online/1999JanMarp04.gif)
![[Watchtower August 27, 1998 letter page two]](http://www.cftf.com/online/1999JanMarp05.gif)
