Topics like this serve as a reminder. When we look at the world situation and become worried, it is the old programming at work. Humanity has spent the last several centuries telling one another that the end must be near because things can't get much worse before we wipe ourselves out. Has this been any more obvious than the last 50 years? There has never been a lack of things for the WTS to point to, where they say "look! this is a sign of the end!"
Stephen Lett's "last part of the last days" is what you say when you realize that you are old and will not be around that much longer. Who has to deal with the fallout when his words come back to haunt the organization? The next group of GB members. I think this might be one reason why they are making such big changes. At some point you can no longer just ignore or walk back statements like that. Remember this: this reform effort is due, at least in part, to the realization that they have run out of reasons for the 'end' times never ending.