something occurred to me last night.
people that made their pilgrimage to jw mecca (bethel) would often be excited about some silly things, i say silly because for those of you who were there or lived near enough to be involved in these things regularly they lost their magic.
i am talking about on tours one of the most memorable things people talked about or looked forward to... lunch.
Oh everyone loved the stupid laundry shirt ironing / blowing machine...
"ohhh...ahhhh"
Haha!! A friend just posted some pics of their recent Bethel tour, including the laundry device that steams shirts. I thought, "How weird. None of us get excited when we walk into our local dry cleaner. Why on earth do we get excited enough to post pics on Facebook when we see the same thing at Bethel."
i have some updates and new information on the downsizing in bethel.
25% of all bethelites around the world will be sent home.
in the us over 1,000 will be sent home.
House cleaning is getting axed. All Bethelites will now be in charge of cleaning 100% of their rooms. Apparently a lot are annoyed at this because it will all have to be done on their time and never during work hours or in place of any other service.
What will they do to account for the loss of the housekeeper spy network? No one to rifle through your music or DVD collection? No one to tattle on you for having more than the allotted number of items on a flat surface?
Will rooms be subject to some type of random "safety inspection"?
so my wife and i were curious so i researched some financial links and found records indicating that the wt society has been operating at a loss since the year 2012. as you read the links it shows a loss of 10 million $$$ in 2012, about 16 million $$$ in 2013, and a whopping loss of 56 million $$$ in 2014 - where the expenditures exceeded the revenues for each of those years in the amount i've mentioned.
also there is a link on this same website with the sec records indicating that the wt society and it's representatives funneled 40 million $$$$ into hedge funds in the cayman islands as early as 2007. if you look online on other sites you can see evidence that indicates the wt society attended hedge fund conferences to look into more shadiness in 2011 and isn't it curious that by 2012 the wt society started showing losses.
anyway here is the link : https://www.watchtowerlies.com/the_watchtower_revenue.html .. feel free to check this link out and other links on that link indicating the cayman island connection.
As I keep saying, absent a full set of financial statements, we can't understand the WTBS financial state. Looking at random documents is like ripping a page out of the middle of a book and trying to reconstruct the entire story from it.
Right there with you JeffT!
I appreciate that lots of folks here would love to treat this as a sign that the WTS has lost a lot of money somewhere or is engaged in nefarious investing or accounting methods, but these SEC filings don't give a clear indication of anything except that for a period of time several years ago they had a significant investment in the fund.
just had the co visit tonight.
i asked him if he had heard about the worldwide halt of construction besides warwick and to my surprise he said he heard the same thing.
then he went on and add that also some branches are closing and some bethelites going into pioneering but, "all because of the preaching work now.
cofty12 minutes agoWe are getting rid of our special pioneers because it's all about the preaching.
just had the co visit tonight.
i asked him if he had heard about the worldwide halt of construction besides warwick and to my surprise he said he heard the same thing.
then he went on and add that also some branches are closing and some bethelites going into pioneering but, "all because of the preaching work now.
If they finished the projects and then said we will be focusing on preaching, that would not be objectionable.
Soon you'll start hearing people say: "The Org stopping all this build is like Noah finally finishing construction on the Ark! Now all we have left to do is 'fill the Ark' by focusing on the preaching work! That's the only reason we still need to keep build Kingdom Halls -- that's how we 'fill the Ark!'"
in the aftermath of this year's annual meeting and the recent tremors of cash shortfalls within the organization, i began thinking "what could they do next to bring in more $$$.".
many here have speculated that we're seeing incremental moves toward "tithing" (of course they would never call it that).
a recent thread (can't find it right now) highlighted that they recently raised the "suggested per publisher donation" at the circuit assembly significantly (tripled it?)..
I would venture that in most congregations there are a few families that have some money, and some of those families have someone serving as an elder. It's those families who make up the slack.
Agreed. I could see the letter to each congregation:
- quote/reference scripture about the widow's two small coins
- quote/reference 1st century congregations contributing more to make up for others' material deficiency.
Basically saying that if EVERYONE gives all they can, those with more will make up for the the deficiencies of those with less (read: tithe-lite).
Those who lived in wealthier areas would get lots of reminders that there are poor congregations out there.
But if they were REALLY smart, they would first roll this out on the DL...during the CO's meeting with the local elders he would verbally talk through this new arrangement and give his assessment of where the congregation stood and "encourage" the local body to ensure their current monthly resolution totals at least that amount. (Of course, if the current resolution is more he can shower them with praise / shame them into ensure it stays high.) Then after a few years they could roll it out more publicly with plenty of follow-up "deficit" announcements at the meeting.
That way you get the elders on board early, and then when it becomes more public, everyone can stand back and say: "oh, well nothing has REALLY changed. Now we just have announcements so the friends can stay informed."
in the aftermath of this year's annual meeting and the recent tremors of cash shortfalls within the organization, i began thinking "what could they do next to bring in more $$$.".
many here have speculated that we're seeing incremental moves toward "tithing" (of course they would never call it that).
a recent thread (can't find it right now) highlighted that they recently raised the "suggested per publisher donation" at the circuit assembly significantly (tripled it?)..
In the aftermath of this year's Annual Meeting and the recent tremors of cash shortfalls within the organization, I began thinking "what could they do next to bring in more $$$."
Many here have speculated that we're seeing incremental moves toward "tithing" (of course they would never call it that). A recent thread (can't find it right now) highlighted that they recently raised the "suggested per publisher donation" at the Circuit Assembly significantly (tripled it?).
I can imagine them deciding that the same "per publisher 'suggested' donation" be applied at the congregation level in the future. The branch would determine what the figure is, write a letter to all congregations and direct the local elders to re-visit their current monthly commitment in light of this new per publisher donation and recommend a new monthly commitment for the congregation (only to those low-contributing congs, of course!).
Then, the local elders could make those dire sounding "deficit" announcements at the local level that we're all so used to hearing at the Circuit Assembly!
Not true "tithing" but still where HQ is dictating specifically how much each congregation needs to pay up.
so my wife and i were curious so i researched some financial links and found records indicating that the wt society has been operating at a loss since the year 2012. as you read the links it shows a loss of 10 million $$$ in 2012, about 16 million $$$ in 2013, and a whopping loss of 56 million $$$ in 2014 - where the expenditures exceeded the revenues for each of those years in the amount i've mentioned.
also there is a link on this same website with the sec records indicating that the wt society and it's representatives funneled 40 million $$$$ into hedge funds in the cayman islands as early as 2007. if you look online on other sites you can see evidence that indicates the wt society attended hedge fund conferences to look into more shadiness in 2011 and isn't it curious that by 2012 the wt society started showing losses.
anyway here is the link : https://www.watchtowerlies.com/the_watchtower_revenue.html .. feel free to check this link out and other links on that link indicating the cayman island connection.
JeffT2 days agoThose numbers are meaningless unless you can find the full financial statements including the footnotes and auditors comments. I can't see any of that in the available links. Flag Dislike Like
hello (not a new user - had to reregister with the site revamp).
i look for every way to make my 5 minute talks devoid of wt flavor.
i try to be positive -talk about god's love for humanity.
I make it a point to never say anything in my talks I don't personally believe. The closest I came to violating that self-imposed rule was a recent talk where I decided to include a line (posed as a question) about staying faithful if we see "the Governing Body" challenged. I refuse to use the term "faithful and discreet slave". Even if the GB itself uses "FDS" to describe themselves, I won't. From my experience, there are always a few who get just a little uncomfortable if you use "GB" all the time instead of the more flowery "FDS". "FDS" connotes some ethereal group wrapped in robes of holy spirit, whereas "GB" is a group of old (mostly) white guys who love their colored pocket handkerchiefs and pinkie rings and hate tight pants.
I've only ever had one person ask me, "oh, you mean the FDS?" I responded, "no, I used the term GB. They're one in the same, right?" "Well, technically yes, but...."
Sorry, rant over.
so i made a timeline based on the leaked letter, it is as follows:.
edit: updated chart with color, because the html version was crap.
so i know i might be crazy, but is the theocratic school still there, just called apply yourself to field ministry?
Yeah, pretty much SSDD.
The biggest thing they did is move the most boring, mind-numbing, and the LONGEST part of the meeting to the END.
That much more incentive to leave at half-time!
