how would we get the early financial records of the wts?.
was the wts considered non-profit?
a religious order?
You could also look into these corporations:
Jehovah's Witnesses Watchtower Bible & Tract Society (Parent corp. is in Buffalo, NY, mail address is in Brooklyn, NY)
Watch Tower Society (Ms. Beth Sarim is still the principal owner, lol)
Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of Pennsylvania Inc
Religious Order of Jehovah's Witnesses
Circuit Leasing Corp
Mountainbrook LP (Patterson)
Watchtower (Walkill)
People's Pulpit Association
13 Hicks Street (which was sold when Rutherford and them went to jail)
well this past weekend was pretty much as predicted, the demonstrations were probably the worst i have ever seen.
you know the ones i mentioned on a post last week where in the middle the participant has a sudden epiphany!
here is a sampling of just a few.. .
Something else that a CO recently said in one of the 'Attending the Needs of the Circuit': We are missing a whole generation of Ministerial Servants which will eventually reflect on the amount of Elders that can take the lead.
The young folks in that circuit apparently have plenty to do in their own families (quite a lot of young children) and maintaining a job or have had issues in the recent past or they simply can't/won't bring up the hours in service required and thus don't qualify for MS. The young people are literally leaving in droves, look around in a couple of circuit assemblies or the upcoming 3-days - how many between the ages of 16 and 26 do you see that 'fit in' to the pictures of the WT's. Several 'volunteering' assignments have to scrape for brothers and some have even put up sisters in some form of oversight position.
id like to first clarify that i am not a conspiracy theorist by any stretch of the imagination.
however, i couldnt resist connecting the dots on some research ive been doing recently about watchtower spin-off corporations.
one such corporation that caught my attention is located just a few blocks away from the wtbts headquarters in brooklyn, quite possibly in a back room at the st george hotel on 100 henry street.
The Watchtower as an organization is and has invested in all types of companies before. They have an active force of investors, lawyers etc. that do transactions on the stock market and file paperwork. Maybe you can get more info through finding out all the companies registered on the addresses and phone numbers of the Watchtower (inquire with NYS and NYC to see if it is possible to get listings that way).
There are simply too many corporations the WT creates and dissolves to keep track off. An interesting lead is the for-profit companies like Circuit Leasing that recently moved from Delaware to NY and Watch Tower Enterprises LLC that got dissolved or Religious Order of Jehovah's Witnesses or Kingdom Support Services. But again, you won't find much. Their own instructions for RBC and KH recommend registering a new non-profit for each entity within the same building. Eg. if you have 2 congregations in 1 hall, you'll have 3 corporations, congregation 1, congregation 2 and the representative body for the maintenance etc., same for RBC - the local RBC is a separate corporation from the main RBC. You can find those instructions if you have access to eg. forms S-27 and S-42
as you may have heard if you attended recently, social networking is of the devil and many have been 'lead astray' by website supposedly set up for jw.
whatever, you heard it before about rock, hard rock, hip hop, rap, gangsta rap, tv, werewolves .... anyway you may have heard of the recent elder school where basically there were the proverbial tongue lashings about not having social networking sites.
here is the skinny on recent developments:.
You probably won't hear it from the stage. The CO's know about it and the information is going to be trickled down in the elder schools, most likely not in the bible schools for single brothers and definitely not in the bible school for married couples.
It's among the same thing where they tell you not to cooperate with authorities in case of a court case into child abuse - there the recommendation is to stall for time, contact the branch or if not possible a local lawyer, only turn over the least amount of documents requested, seal the documents and write on 'pastoral privilege' so the local authorities can't investigate them until a court case decides they have enough evidence for the court case to proceed and the documents can be opened for additional evidence. The JW lawyers will press local judges to open those documents only in closed quarters so they do not go on public record by citing privileges granted in higher court cases. These type of 'instructions' are not documented anywhere in official printed literature.
is this a newer hard line stance or has it been similar for the last couple of years?
there clearly must be a problem in this area in regards to nations that appear to have far stronger family units not adhering to the previous warnings, the wt article definitely has a barf alert comparing jeehobah's feelings when the angels rebelled in heaven!
well how the hell would they have know his feelings?.
Interestingly courts in Europe have decided that disfellowshipping can be construed as a hate crime. Even the US has decided in recent legislation that one cannot be discriminated against based on religion or sexual orientation and so certain DF cases can be re-argued in court. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard_and_James_Byrd,_Jr._Hate_Crimes_Prevention_Act)
Also, the 'persecution' in Russia is basically an investigation in religious extremism and hate crimes by their government: http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1161
Asbest's acting Public Prosecutor Aleksei Almayev defended the FSB seizure of the literature but denied that it had been a raid. "It was a search and the literature was taken as part of the investigation," he told Forum 18 on 22 July. "They just took one or two copies of each publication. There was so much literature that there were not enough staff to take it all."
Almayev also defended the investigation into the Jehovah's Witness literature. "It's not a witch hunt." He said it was launched after complaints from "citizens of the Russian Federation". Asked who had complained, he responded: "Catholics, Orthodox, Buddhists and Muslims – they all believe their rights have been harmed by this literature."
While several Jehovah's Witness magazines, including "Watchtower", are among the publications being investigated, Almayev insisted that no court has the right to ban an entire magazine. "The court would determine that a concrete article in a concrete issue of a concrete magazine had violated the law," he maintained. "Of course they can't ban the whole publication."
Yet this is precisely what Sivulsky fears. "It's not logical from a legal point of view, but we're afraid that they'll ban all issues of our journals, not just individual articles or individual issues," he told Forum 18. The lawyer Pchelintsev agrees. "The Jehovah's Witnesses are right to be worried. The court could deem the whole publication extremist under the Extremism Law and then anyone distributing it would face prison and the religious organisation itself could be closed down."
And I've heard the same line from other sources in recent past - the Russian government is looking to see whether JW's are extremists and whether or not DF'ing and the blood issue is wrong. The only literature they have outright banned in court at this point are ~30 WT articles where it 'encourages' to hate those that are DF'ed and maybe also some about blood but so far the list has not even been published yet. They haven't banned the Bible nor the full religion, the ban is not enforced (supposed to be voluntarily retracted by the WTBTS) and there is no documented proof of violent encounters with authorities. Off course on the last assembly (2010) it was said that they had 'seized all our literature' and they are 'banning the preaching work'. No such thing has happened so far, the JW's are off course playing the victim here and saying - but it will be.
as you may have heard if you attended recently, social networking is of the devil and many have been 'lead astray' by website supposedly set up for jw.
whatever, you heard it before about rock, hard rock, hip hop, rap, gangsta rap, tv, werewolves .... anyway you may have heard of the recent elder school where basically there were the proverbial tongue lashings about not having social networking sites.
here is the skinny on recent developments:.
As you may have heard if you attended recently, social networking is of the devil and many have been 'lead astray' by website supposedly set up for JW. Whatever, you heard it before about rock, hard rock, hip hop, rap, gangsta rap, tv, werewolves ...
Anyway you may have heard of the recent Elder school where basically there were the proverbial tongue lashings about not having social networking sites. Here is the skinny on recent developments:
- Elders, servants and pioneers (anyone with a position of some sorts) are not ALLOWED to have SN pages. They will be removed if they have public pages. It has actually become one of the questions before you are accepted into any of these positions (besides: are you a child molester)
- The WTBTS has provided certain 'brothers' access to a commercial social networking tracking service. This might not be in your congregation but most definitely in your area or circuit, there have been instructions to scan private profiles for people with current positions and will probably be extended later. The tracking service (which aggregates data usually for use in targeted ads etc.) does not necessarily give access to full private profiles but does most of the times to pictures and lifestyle choices (religion, race, gender, sexuality). Games like FarmVille etc. frequently have access to full profiles. There have been already a slew of DF's and reproves of people (mostly pioneers and elders) that identify as homosexual, posted pics of 'worldly' parties, have 'immoral' relationships or affairs etc.
I cannot reveal my identity nor any written documentation on this since this is one of these 'secret' missions that not even all elders know about. Most likely you could ask your CO but he would bust you on how you got that information. As far as my knowledge goes in this misguided organization, one of the governing body members drives around an Infiniti GX35x and the WT has a department of full-time day traders (stock markets) at Bethel whom also frequently shuffle around money between branches in other countries and shell companies in order to trade in other markets and hide the flow against curious members, authorities and taxes.
well this past weekend was pretty much as predicted, the demonstrations were probably the worst i have ever seen.
you know the ones i mentioned on a post last week where in the middle the participant has a sudden epiphany!
here is a sampling of just a few.. .
The experiences have gotten way worse. They have become shameless plugs for donations and advocating. They are heavily weighing into the 'go more in service' message even to the point of encouraging people to quit their jobs even when they have it tough, sell their house, sell their cars, get rid of Internet and TV.
I have (had) many parts and 'experiences' on these gatherings - the experiences are half-truths in the best case, the people (even children) are coached into a certain message even if it totally distorts who they really are. Think: Why do you need about 2-5 rehearsals to answer 3 simple questions and explain what happened to you. When something special happens to me I remember it very well thank you very much.
something that i noticed a couple of weeks ago regarding the identity of the wild beast.
the do said that the wild beast is the 'the world's failed political systems that do not acknowledge jehovah's authority.
i always understood that it was the un.
Yes, something has changed. None of the outlines for talks include references to the UN as the wild beast and now state "the wild beast and its image are symbols of failed human rulership that do not accept Jehovah's sovereignty", the publications have been quiet about the UN for ~10 years except as I said, a copy-paste out of previous publications in 2005 and that statement about the (what I call 'new') identity of the beast was repeatedly stated (3 or 4 times if you paid attention) at the last set of assemblies. The scarlet colored beast is still the UN (actually - no mention of it nor a change in it's identity).
Another thing that I noticed is and didn't explain well in publications is that they state the 'wild beast' that has some type of mortal wound and was healed is the world's political systems however they then go on to explain that the wound the beast suffered is when the League of Nations was healed into the UN. However the bible text goes on to explain that only after the mortal wound the two horned beast breathes life into the image of the wild beast which they explain as the creation of the League of Nations/UN which has no power as it is an image just like images of God's have no power.
So there seems to be already a discrepancy (for years now) into the verses and the explanations that depending on what part of the verses you are reading, the identity of the beast itself changes from political systems (the first part of Rev 13) into the LoN/UN (the mortal wound part of Rev 13) and back (the latter part of Rev 13 where the political systems are and Anglo/America creates the wild beast's image which becomes the UN) and then the scarlet beast is again equated into the UN which IS the same beast as the beast that was, was not and was again. The harlot does not ride on the image of the wild beast, the harlot rides on the wild beast according to scripture. And then they wonder why we have such hard time understanding and explaining Revelations. Something else to note in the literature of the WT Rev 13 and 17 are never explained in the same paragraph/small article. They are always broken up in separate chapters or articles.
this is my first post.
the first portion is my story, and toward the end, you will find the section pertinent to the title of this thread.
(starting with the portion in bold print).
About your mom's unemployment - they should take that as an opportunity to go in Full Time Service. Also as far as your doubts, Pray, Study and Service is the solution to everything.
If you had your 2 day for this service year already, Sat. morning they will tell you to simplify and go in full time service - don't worry Jeh. will take care of you. Pioneers may not have much (they don't HAVE to live in poverty though) but whenever they think about what they don't have they can remind themselves that they're doing it for Jeh. Sat. afternoon however there will be a soliloquy about somebody who was forced to live on lower income due to cut downs at their jobs and has trouble paying their bills, thinking maybe they should take a second job since they can't go out anymore after the meeting or service to enjoy fellowship with the friends as is recommended. But no, that is wrong thinking, maybe they should quit their existing job (which they have trouble paying bills already) and try to go in full time service totally disregarding that they will have even less time and money to spend in bills or socializing.
I guess if you're a pioneer, Jeh. pays your bills. I used to be for a year but never got a cheque from either the congregation, the organization or the big guy in the clouds. I couldn't even afford living by myself and I see the same problem with a lot of others in the area (they are forced to shack up together with other pioneers or they stay at home with their aging parents).
something that i noticed a couple of weeks ago regarding the identity of the wild beast.
the do said that the wild beast is the 'the world's failed political systems that do not acknowledge jehovah's authority.
i always understood that it was the un.
Something that I noticed a couple of weeks ago regarding the identity of the wild beast. The DO said that the wild beast is the 'the world's failed political systems that do not acknowledge Jehovah's authority. I always understood that it was the UN. Off course I was 'encouraged' to do 'bible study', prayer and service.
WT 2/15/2009:“The wisdom from above” helps us to understand “the mystery of the woman and of the [scarlet-colored] wild beast that is carrying her.” (Jas. 3:17) This symbolic wild beast began as the League of Nations and was later revived as the United Nations. Should not the unraveling of this mystery move us to be zealous in preaching the good news of God’s Kingdom and proclaiming the day of Jehovah’s judgment.
It seems to me that this is 'the wisdom from above' aka directly inspired from the big man in the clouds. So this cannot be changed any further [sarcasm].
WT 3/15/2007: The apostle John was given a vision that provides the answer. John relates: “I saw the wild beast [the world’s political system] and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage the war with the one [Jesus] seated on the horse and with his army.”
WT 10/1/2005: “The wild beast and its image” are symbols of human rulership, which does not acknowledge Jehovah’s sovereignty.
IP-1 Ch 5 par. 14 (2000): including the United Nations, the “scarlet-colored wild beast” of Revelation chapter 17; references Revelation - Climax book.
Ch 25 par. 10: Notice that the scarlet-colored wild beast “is also itself an eighth king.” Thus, the United Nations today is designed to look like a world government. At times it has even acted like one, sending armies into the field to resolve international disputes, as in Korea, the Sinai Peninsula, some African countries, and Lebanon. But it is only the image of a king. Like a religious image, it has no real influence or power apart from what is invested in it by those who brought it into existence and worship it.
Revelation - Climax (1988) teaches that the wild beast whoms head was cut off and healed in Revelation 13 gave breath to the image of the wild beast which re-appears as the scarlet colored wild beast in Revelation 17.
The Bible Teach book (the book that's supposed to get you to baptism these days) doesn't mention it at all even though I think it would be important for JW Eschatology. What you can 'understand' until 2000 was the (scarlet colored beast === the image of the wild beast) and (wild beast != image of the wild beast) and (image of the wild beast == United Nations). Yet a head of the original wild beast was cut off which is explained as the League of Nations going into the United Nations. But if you still follow me and wrap your head around it, the head of the image (the LoN and the UN) wasn't cut off at all but the wild beast (the political system of this world) had a head cut off. 1 head was one of the 7 kings, not all it's heads were damaged and the UN/World Government of the Last Days is the 8th king which is the whole beast.
Any of you lying, cheating, mindclouding, poisonous apostates (that were some of the choice words in the 'warning against everything modern in this world talk' the DO had in another talk) or genuine JW that won't label me as apostate for questioning the 'logic' would like to explain.
For those that are interested, the United Nations as a 'bad' organization and the 'wild beast' hasn't appeared in publications since 2000 except for the regurgitated (copied from the WTLIB) content about what we can learn from Revelations in the 2007 WatchTower which might have been a goof by a youngling in Patterson.
