Press Release for Immediate Publication
(To be included in Chapter Three of the soon to be released book, “Masters & Slaves of Modern Religion”. This new book deals with the major religious cults that operate today.)
From an inside report from the New York headquarters of the Watchtower Society, they are now entering into panic mode regarding the shrinking funds and the desperate need to realize their existing assets and somehow get their hands on more cash. We thought it expedient to include this report submitted by one of our reporters. He reviews the drastic steps taken to date by the Governing Body of this religion and their financial ‘wiz-kids’ in order to realize more income and funds to cover their dramatically increasing costs, especially including the millions of dollars involved in the pending court cases for child molestation and sexual abuse.
As a result of having to cease selling their literature from door to door and now being compelled to gave it away in order to avoid sales tax, plus the expected donations for their literature did not material as expected and was a failed “business decision”. Owing to shrinking funds they then introduced the scheme known as “stealth tithing” in which the local congregations were compelled to make compulsory monthly donations, also known as “pledges”. This manipulative scheme has also not produced the desired increase in funds that they expected. The Governing Body had already taken steps to cut back and close down many of their branch offices and as they owned the actual property that held these branches they sold off these properties for reasonable profits, but this also did not cover their increasing demand for funds.
They had now also sold off their ‘nest egg’, the numerous properties that they owned in New York City, most of which were bought many years ago when property prices were cheap. The Watchtower Society realized over one billion dollars from the sale of these properties but had to use a large slice to build their new headquarters in Warwick, upstate New York, built on a disused toxic waste site. The remaining balance was put toward current expenses but this amount also fell far short of the cash they desperately needed. So what was the next step? They sold the recently built luxury Branch Offices in London, England, in order to realize more funds as that property, which they owned outright but had actually been built by the local brothers by means of voluntary labour and donations. This property had increased so much in value that they took advantage of the rocketing real estate market in north London and used some of the proceeds to build a new British branch office on an old farm that had been donated to the Watchtower Society from a deceased estate of a loyal member of this religion and that was being used as a scrap yard for rotting vehicles. The quality of this new branch building built on Temple Farm was of a much reduced standard when compared to the previous premises in Mill Hill, North London, so the balance of the proceeds was sent to the head office in the USA. Once again this was still not enough to cover the insatiable demand for more funds.
The next step that was considered, as pointed out by the financial advisors to the Governing Body was that they were actually sitting on a ‘gold mine’, being the local Kingdom Halls of Jehovah’s Witnesses, most of which were currently owned by the more than 100,000 congregations throughout the world. It was the traditional method that local Kingdom Halls were built by the local brothers by means of their own donations, volunteer labour and secured loans and the ownership of the building was held by a local ‘board of trustees’ made up of leading members of each particular congregation. The Governing Body was advised by their financial gurus that if only there was a way that the ownership of these thousands of Kingdom Halls, which must be valued in the millions could somehow be transferred to the Head Office of the Watchtower Society.
In their desperate attempt for more funds they issued instructions to all local congregations that a new financial arrangement was to be introduced, supposedly for the benefit of the local Witnesses and the Watchtower Society in general and the scheme that was then enforced was that each congregation dissolve their local ‘board of trustees’ and transfer these properties to a ‘central board of trustees’, which in turn was owned and controlled by the Watchtower Society itself.
Of course it is one thing taking ownership of a property but
was no use except to use as collateral maybe for further equity loans, which
would be an impossibility in view of the financial condition of the Watchtower
Society, plus all the pending legal cases in the pipeline. So an underhanded scheme
was introduced to close down many congregations and amalgamate them with other nearby
congregation thus freeing up surplus Kingdom Hall buildings and property. In turn these properties could then be placed
on the open market for sale and thus release further funds to pour unto their
bottomless bucket. As already pointed
out in this report, this scheme has already been successfully employed and the
first Kingdom Halls are now for sale, but as this type of building would only
attract a certain market it would be truly a ‘buyers market’ only. So it remains to be seen if this last phase
of attempts to raise the desperately needed funds will be a success or not.
What the governing body of the Watchtower Society must have now come to realize that they have now used about every trick in the book to raise these desperately needed funds and there really is now no other source of funding they can turn too, thus the reason why they are now in panic mode. They must also now be fully aware of what their founder, Charles Russell prophesied over one hundred years ago, as this self-fulfilling prophesy is now clearly taking place.
As early as the second issue of the Watch Tower, in August 1879, Brother Russell stated: "Zions Watch Tower” has, we believe, JEHOVAH for its backer, and while this is the case it will never, ever neither beg nor petition men for support. When He who says: “All the gold and silver of the mountains are mine, fails to provide the necessary funds, we will understand it to be time to suspend the publication." Consistent with that, there is no begging for money in the literature of Jehovah’s Witnesses. (Quote from Watchtower publication, "Jehovah’s Witnesses Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom,” chap. 21, p. 340.)
Also Charles Taze Russell refused to imitate the churches of Christendom. He wrote: "It is our judgment that money raised by the various begging devices in the name of our Lord is offensive, unacceptable to him, and does not bring his blessing either upon the givers or the work accomplished. (Quote from Watchtower publication, "Jehovah’s Witnesses Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom”, chap. 21, p. 342.)
We once again repeat the wise words of the founder of this religion, “(When God) fails to provide the necessary funds, we will understand it to be time to suspend the publication (of the Watchtower magazine and also this now sham of a religious cult.)” (Italics ours) Will the current leaders of this religion accept this stark fact or continue to bury their heads in the sand and wallow in self-pity? (GH)