Posts by Journeyman

93

Regional Convention Attendance

by XBEHERE in

jw
friends

elder friend of mine texted me asking what my rc attendance was 2 weeks ago (family and i streamed it since wife is not well).

he told me that his rc in the jersey city assembly hall last weekend was low.

co told them that around 2600 were the total from 16+ congs that were assigned.

Journeyman

Last day of the 2023 Regional Conventions in the UK today (oh dear, what a shame, never mind!)

The peak attendance at Excel B on Sunday at the English section was about 9,600, with about 2,900 in total for other languages at the same venue. I didn't get the baptism number, but I would presume it was comparable to the weekend before, since the other figures were similar.

Looking back at my old notes (yes, I used to keep attendance figures in my diary each year - how geeky) it seems that in the few years before COVID lockdown the peak could be up to 11,000 on Sunday for the English, so it's down a bit but not dramatically out of range, especially as the org kept rearranging the circuits and assignments around London and the SE of England.

I guess given the size and mobility of population around London and the high percentage of foreign language congregations and ethnic minorities (many JWs in English congregations these days seem to be from Afro-Caribbean backgrounds), the capital would be one of the last parts of the UK for any decrease to become really apparent.

Anyway, that's it for another year for the UK. Thank goodness. The constant stream of trite videos gets more wearing every year. The org were actually boasting about how many videos were on the programme these days - more than 70! Yet most of them were pointless shorts used as filler in symposium items (which are already broken down into such small segments now that they are mostly devoid of meaningful teaching points).

I liked nowwhat?'s comment on another thread, that this was more like the "Trying My Patience" convention...🤣

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

Journeyman

Thanks to the LE PIMO-Patreon(s) for this!

As I suspected, he missed not just one but four of his pledges to his patrons this month. But it's ok, because he's going to get a tattoo - at their expense! He really does think they are all a bunch of walking, talking cash machines for his personal use.

But so brave of him not to risk "burnout" after only having a mere two weeks of holiday...

I've lost all sympathy for people still paying for his so-called activism. If you can't see that you're supporting a lazy grifter at this point, there's no hope for you any more.

Indeed. After this insult to their intelligence, if we don't see a big drop in his patron numbers this week, then it really will show that most of them are either inactive, dead (and still paying by direct debit) or braindead! And he will take it as an excuse to go even further in exploiting them, I'm sure.

Increasing interviews is easy content, especially if he's getting the interviewees from other sources as it seemed for the ones he listed before (who were all on the MythVision YT channel - he probably has a contact on there who just passes him their details).

He probably won't even bother doing much in the way of preparing questions, just wing it as he goes. And if he has to give them a nominal fee he won't care too much right now if it keeps the patrons paying. He clearly has plenty of money at the moment (or at least, he thinks he does), given the holidays and his casual attitude to making content for the channel.

They never ''allowed" masturbation and watching Porn...

They never "allowed" visiting prostitutes on a regular basis either! So good that Lloyd is now able to do all the things those terrible JWs banned the poor obedient, downtrodden lad from doing. What next? Sacrificing chickens? Robbing old ladies? (Oh wait, he's already doing that last one, if he has any elderly female patrons giving him money... )

28

The pushing berween the K of N and K of S

by Kosonen in

jw
friends

the brics summit was big this year.

new member states were added.

interesting that they call themselves the global south.

Journeyman

Yes, the developing BRICS situation is interesting.

The bloc is expanding. They want to create a rival international currency to the global dominance of the US dollar on markets (mainly for political interests, of course, particular as China and Russia see themselves very much in competition with the old powers of the US, UK and Western Europe). India has just put a rover on the moon (despite still receiving millions of pounds in aid from the UK!)

The US is already concerned about the economic power of China; the NATO and AUKUS powers are resisting both Russia and China's military ambitions; India and China have the largest populations in the world, and India's young especially are on the move; China and Russia are extending their influence in Asia, Africa and South America.

I don't think BRICS will achieve lasting greatness as a power bloc as those nations themselves are not internally as robust or as united as the UK and USA were when they rose to power in their respective times, but it will be interesting to see how far they can go. TBH, their union doesn't even really need to be that successful, just enough to concern the 'old world' powers so much that it influences their behaviour too. And those current and former world powers themselves are not as stable as they once were either, with and the USA, UK and EU suffering a lot of internal political upheaval and crises of identity over issues like migration, and even things like gender politics.

Lots of potential for future clashes - diplomatically and economically at least - between the two groups of nations.

As to which is King of the North, biblically speaking, and which King of the South, that's difficult to say.

It could be as easy as and the Global North=KoN and Global South=KoS, but remember two things: 1) those 'kings' originally got their designation from where they were in relation to the nation of Israel (north of the country or south of it), but came to represent two styles of government - KoN more militaristic and ruthless, KoS more superficially diplomatic and democratic. So by that, it would seem most of nations in (or invited to join) BRICS are more like the KoN in style.

Also, wouldn't it be a delicious irony and not surprising of the lying and deceitful nature of Satan's world, for the designations to be reversed? (Global North=KoS and Global South=KoN)

So I think the jury's out on which is which until we see more of how relations between the two blocs develop.

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

Journeyman

His new Youtube video today was the JW broadcast of JULY?

Yes, I wondered about that. Behind the times again. Just can't be bothered anymore.

how is it going to look if each month his banner shows the numbers going down all the time?

Very true. As his numbers drop, each new video will have to show a lower current total and either a bigger gap to the desired goal, or else a downward revision of his 'target'.

New viewers checking out his videos will see the current total on the banners declining too and will probably wonder what's going on.

All round, he's setting himself up for more awkward questions by including the begging banner totals every month. Unless he realises and drops the idea after just a month - but then that will also look odd. Another failed attempt to inflate his numbers.

I know a great cure to a happy life for him [...] he should move on.

At this rate it's just a matter of time. The wheels are barely turning now. LMSA is probably right that he can only get through this stuff with the aid of artificial stimulants.

68

Is JW.org going Broke?

by Vanderhoven7 in

https://youtu.be/e6gh6w7v03y.

Journeyman

Trying to see the strategy of their pricing and the time some assets sit on the market is a brain twister. WTC definitely needs to improve cash flow but I wonder if they even have the man power to address all that needs to be done. They are very insular and this hurts them when trying to get things done expediently.

In the past decade or more, the org has definitely made some very odd decisions, including several about-turns which suggest a lack of clear forward planning. They may be getting the picture of where they want to go clearer now, but for several years it seems they didn't. That might also have been because of an internal 'power struggle' at the top, as some have speculated. Either way, after being an organisation that took a long time to make changes and was usually very careful and methodical about them (at least for the decades since Knorr took charge), they have acted very suddenly and rashly in the years since the early 2000s.

Sudden changes to printing of magazines, releasing of Bibles and songbooks, decisions about building and opening new halls vs merging congregations and closing halls - all have flip-flopped in the past 10-15 years, and none of those actions suggest stability in 'senior management' or a clear 'strategy', which any organisation is going to need if it will maintain support (customers or, in this case, congregants) or remain financially viable.

13

New musical video on jw.org / humour or sad??

by Gorb in

jw
friends

today i discovered the musical highlight of jehovah's witnesses, recently added to jw.org.

we had "from house to house, from door to door", but this song will be more famous!

https://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=e&docid=1014316&srcid=share.

Journeyman

In a couple of weeks they've got this example of musical genius - another one of their cringeworthy songs for kids in the Become Jehovah's Friend series (remove the b in borg):

https://www.jw.borg/en/library/music-songs/become-jehovahs-friend-children-original-songs/esther-had-courage/

Esther had a simple life
When she was just a girl.
Raised by her cousin Mordecai,
She learned Jehovah’s will.
Her life then changed so fast.
She was chosen to be queen.
Esther obeyed; she showed courage.
So this teaches me:

(CHORUS)
I want to be like Esther.
She had courage; she was brave.
She took a stand for Jehovah.
I want to do the same.
I want to be like Esther
’Cause she listened and obeyed.
I want to be like her
’Cause Esther—she was brave.

Esther’s husband was the king,
And he did not serve God.
Still, she showed respect for him;
For that she was cherished.
And one day she was asked
To stop a very evil scheme.
Esther obeyed; she showed courage.
So this teaches me:

(CHORUS)

Wait! What's that sound?

Oh yes, it's all the JWs who died before about 2005 spinning in their graves at what the org has become...

15

Our Kingdom Ministry

by NotFormer in

my understanding was that this was the magazine regularly published for insiders only, unlike the watchtower and the awake!

looking online, it seems that the wt ceased publication of this in 2016. is it due to a name change (it seems to have changed its name several times over the years) or has it been succeeded by a new publication?

or has it ceased to be?.

Journeyman

I've done a brief look ahead at the programme for the midweek meeting in the next month or so. Here are my 'highlights'!

1) This week and next we have a two part book study on "doing more to support the congregation", including volunteering our free labour and - of course - giving money!

This week, these now all-too-familiar phrases appear:
"offer [ourselves] willingly."—Psalm 110:3.
"honour Jehovah with [our] valuable things." (Proverbs 3:9)
"We can use our material things"

2) The second part next week has the heading "Brothers can reach out for more responsibility" - another desperate appeal from the org as it sees the pool of capable and willing men drying up.

3) The week after that is another "Organisational Accomplishments" video. These are just regular puff pieces about all the allegedly wonderful things being accomplished worldwide. September's theme is "Appreciate Those 'Whose Hearts Impel Them To Volunteer'" (sound familiar?)

But wait! In that video at about 9:26 - isn't that 'Uncle Tony' in a hard hat with the brothers? If so, will that video also be swiftly edited in the next couple of weeks before the meeting? Or will it be considered acceptable as he is not shown in a 'teaching' capacity? Look out for another announcement to update your devices, just in case! 😆

23

Putin the Pressure Up!

by snare&racket in

jw
friends

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/05/nato-rapid-reaction-force-counter-russia-ukraine.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2015/02/08/russia-investors-on-war-watch-wednesday/.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/11397924/ukraine-crisis-europe-and-us-debate-how-to-handle-russia-live.html.

Journeyman

Well there we go. It was inevitable that there would be another twist in this murky tale.

On the two-month anniversary of Prigozhin's aborted coup(?) in Rostov-on-Don, his private jet mysteriously falls out of the sky over Russia (although a second one registered to him lands safely).

Has Vlad wiped out Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin (the founder of Wagner group) in an act of revenge that he's been planning for a while?

Or is this a staged situation to allow the leaders of Wagner to 'disappear' and go undercover elsewhere?

The convoluted soap opera of Russian politics continues...

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

Journeyman

The LE parody pointed out to me quite a while back that lloyd will post “feel good” videos/posts toward the end of the month to boost his image and we all know from history that these types of videos garner interest.

If so, he may have 'shot his load' a bit soon. He's certainly got a lot of positive feedback already - 2.3K views and more than 70 comments. But it's only the 21st. He would've been better off waiting a few more days to maximise the benefit at the turn of the month.

Also, to return to his previous comment to Patreons - he's not been able to make time for the monthly pledges that they are paying him for... but he has time to browse through his old photo albums, scan/grab a few, and make a whimsical reminiscence video?

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

Journeyman

I open up an old photo album from my days as a Jehovah's Witness and take a trip down Memory Lane.

Self-indulgent much? For someone who is supposed to be an 'enemy' of the org and a committed atheist now, he certainly seems to revel in his JW past.

No surprises he chose to post this photo. He even looks quite bashful - probably remembering the fantasies it brings back to mind...

He says: "I can't remember how I got into this situation..." (riiight) but claims the reason he selected this picture is because the woman to his immediate right featured in one of the Jade and Neeta videos and he contrasted their paths, with him "running an exJW YouTube channel" while she appears in a "propaganda video".

It might be more accurate to say they're both in propaganda videos - one for the JWs, and one purely for self-publicity!