Posts by Smiles

"Gog" had been the invisible evil spirit creature Satan but is now a future "coalition of nations" visibly bent on annihilating "pure worship" aka the Watch Tower organization, which will be miraculously rescued by God's angry heavenly warriors during Armageddon. (this future attack on Watch Tower by the "coalition of nations" will trigger Armageddon itself)

JW doctrine now understands Gog to be a flesh and blood entity, not an invisible evil spirit creature, because this prophecy at Ezekiel chapter 39 describes the defeated Gog as receiving an earthly burial. Apparently, spirit creatures cannot be buried on earth, therefore, Gog is not Satan, as Watch Tower (aka pure worship) had taught for decades.

40

Congregation in PA sues over mandatory reporting

by Corney in

ivy hill congregation of jehovah's witnesses is currently suing the pa department of human services.

it requests "a declaration that its elders are entitled to" clergy privilege, or, in the alternative,.

to the extent that the clergyman privilege is determined to exclude its elders on the basis that they are "members of [a] religious organization[] in which members other than the leader thereof are deemed clergymen or ministers," the court declare the statute to be unconstitutional.

Smiles

1994 Watchtower August 15

"in countries such as the United States and Canada, religion’s coffers are being drained by the high costs of litigation and judgments against clergy, resulting from their licentious conduct with children and adults.—Matthew 23:1-3."

2

Spanish name for Watchtower HQ

by Overrated in

jw
friends

casa pendejos.

need signs along the way..

Smiles

y Casa del Apóstatas

9

Federal court in Montana asked to impose sanctions on Watch Tower and its top lawyers Brumley and Taylor

by Corney in

in two child abuse cases litigated in a us district court in montana, plaintiffs recently filed identical motions for sanctions against watch tower pa, philip brumley (general counsel for whq/wt) and joel taylor (associate general counsel for wt), accusing them of lying to court and vexatiously delaying the case:.

here, with the hope that the court would dismiss plaintiffs’ cases against wtpa, in-house counsel brumley signed affidavits that were materially false and intentionally misleading.

doc.

Smiles

"Theocratic warfare strategy"

9

What's actually recorded in publisher record cards?

by optimisticskeptic in

it seems to be unclear if things like public or private reproofs and details around those events being recorded and traveling with you.

it seems like the details are largely part of whatever judicial paperwork there is and not necessarily attached to your publisher card permanently.

i changed congregations a few years ago and it appears the letter the body wrote only covered the most recent issue and said nothing of a reproof that had happened a few years prior.

Smiles

Elder bodies can get into trouble when only one elder composes/signs a letter of introduction, or when there are 'phone calls of introduction'.

There has been clear direction that a letter of introduction be signed by three elders, ideally the three elders of the congregation's service committee (Coordinator, Secretary, Service Overseer) This procedure is intended to ensure a balanced well-supported letter, but is still vulnerable to slanted language from a domineering or underhanded elder, which can be devastating to the publisher or family subjected in that letter of introduction. Many a grudge have appeared between the lines in letters of introduction.

In some cases, a draft letter of introduction is read to the entire body of elders before transmitting in order to gather additional input from other elders in that home congregation. This might be practised when a publisher relocates under circumstances where the elder body of that home congregation would no longer recommend the publisher retain certain privileges in the destination congregation but has not yet taken action to officially delete those privileges from the publisher. 'We would no longer recommend Brother/Sister continue to serve as an elder/pioneer because...' This is often referred to as an unfavorable letter of introduction, and can come as a rude shock to the relocating publisher/family.

One's publisher record "cards" may look very good in terms of monthly ministry hours and publication distribution count, but if the accompanying letter of introduction is not 100 per cent favorable, that publisher/family will begin to notice their new congregation receive them differently but will not know exactly why unless the confidential content within the letter of introduction can be discovered via a willingly communicative elder (maybe elder's wife), or getting your hands on the letter itself by earning appointment as an elder in that congregation with lock & key access to the congregation files.

Oddly, some elder body coordinators do not permit file access to every elder on 'his' team even though the official direction is each elder/equal access to 'positively under the appearance of the flock.'

If you want to see any files beyond your publisher service record, it may require legal action; and as we know, Watch Tower would sooner pay costly court fines with your donations rather than transparently release files.

9

What's actually recorded in publisher record cards?

by optimisticskeptic in

it seems to be unclear if things like public or private reproofs and details around those events being recorded and traveling with you.

it seems like the details are largely part of whatever judicial paperwork there is and not necessarily attached to your publisher card permanently.

i changed congregations a few years ago and it appears the letter the body wrote only covered the most recent issue and said nothing of a reproof that had happened a few years prior.

Smiles

Publisher service records aka "publisher cards" contain mundane data as RTN described above, plus date of birth and any notes a publisher or pioneer may have voluntarily included on his/her monthly service, such as "illness" or "emergency LDC duties" being the cause for an uncharacteristically low hour or low production report.

Although some elders will stubbornly resist, any publisher may request to review his/her publisher service record data. (km 10/98 p.7 par.3) A typical print of a publisher's service record will include a simple spreadsheet of the most recent six months to one year of reported ministry activity.

A publisher or pioneer usually requests a print copy of his/her ministry service record to personally review their own "spiritual progress", or simply because one lost their personal calendar notebook. A few elder bodies have from time to time provided these spreadsheets to each publisher in the congregation (privately) to drum up a spirit of "self examination"... i.e, 'where can you improve in the ministry?'

Some of the most scandalous records pertaining to a given publisher or family are any "letters of introduction" which one body of congregation elders will transmit to another body of congregation elders when an individual publisher or family relocate to different congregation. Those letters are strictly confidential and often contain crafty remarks (above & beyond historical monthly sevice reports) which the receiving body of elders will typically accept as fact before consulting with the subject publisher or family, under the culty assumption that a fellow body of congregation elders would transmit only thoroughly investigated fact and truth.

Another source of scandalous records are applications for special service, which often include very sensitive information about the applicant's healthcare, finances, congregational standing and confidential (sometimes backstabbing) remarks from individual elders about those areas of the applicant's life.

The most notorious of publisher records are the official forms and other communications secretly exchanged between local congregation elders, circuit overseers, and departments of oversight within the main offices of Watch Tower corporations in regard to navigating deletion of personnel, scandals and legalities.

Without relentless legal subpoena or rogue leaks, most of that material will remain obscure to the courts and public society.

But, they will lovingly let you see a spreadsheet of your monthly sales timecard... Cheers!

34

What Congregation Scandal Still Troubles You?

by Sea Breeze in

i was appointed as a regular pioneer in a certain congregation.

in that congregation, a very obese male pioneer seduced a nice looking married pioneer sister who had two teenage sons.

her husband was a ms. both were df'd.

Smiles

During the early 2000s, a married prominent elder, "Brother M", was disfellowshipped for adultery with the wife of his buddy. That elder's innocent wife, who was known to be a stern woman, was subjected to more blame than her adulterous husband because it was learned that she had a pattern of "withholding sexual relations" from him, effectively driving him toward adulterous conduct as a result deliberate deprivation of marital relations. Because his wife shared some blame for his succumbing, she did reluctantly forgive him, and they remain married to this day. The same cannot be said for the other marriage, that of his innocent buddy; she was disfellowshipped, promptly divorced, and left the faith. The adulterous elder was reinstated after a short time, and is now serving as coordinator of the elder body in that same congregation where he had been disfellowshipped years earlier.

In the 1990s, a similar scandal occurred at a different congregation. The body of elders learned that a younger married couple in the congregation was experiencing marital discord, so two elders volunteered to offer a shepherding visit. The young couple accepted a few shepherding visits from that pair of elders but the marital problems continued. The husband stopped attending meetings and ministry, however his wife and young children continued active with the congregation albeit irregular, so she received ongoing shepherding attention which eventually involved one of those original shepherding elders, "Brother W", providing comforting phone calls and one-on-one visits. She voluntarily confessed to those one-on-one shepherding visits escalating into a complete sexual encounter with the elder. She was not disfellowshipped, only publicly reproved, primarily because she had been sexually exploited by the predatory elder, and because she voluntarily stepped forward to confess. Her marriage ended by divorce. She managed to stay active with the congregation for awhile but soon thereafter left the faith. The elder was disfellowshipped because he had concealed the adulterous wrongdoing until confronted with her confession. The elder's wife forgave him. Later, after multiple written requests for reinstatement over the years, he was eventually welcomed back into the organization, now serving again as an elder in a congregation several hours away from that scandal hometown.

We all make mistakes that we would like to overcome in life, but JWs teach that their leadership is especially appointed by God's holy spirit because that leadership meets lofty scriptural qualifications, so discovering the dirt about their double standards is troubling, and often raises the first big doubts...

Anthony Morris scotch bottles...

Theodore Jaracz rape allegation...

Scandals, whether small town drama or WT top brass, trouble many good people right out of the faith.

58

When did WT lose the spirit?

by Smiles in

at what time would you say that the watch tower schema lost the spirit?.

like the ancient nation of israel which struggled maintaining divine blessing due to a long series of grave errors that eventually culminated in definitive loss... how and when did watch tower lose the spirit?.

can we pinpoint a time or event?.

Smiles

Problem with quickly claiming WT never had the spirit, or that the spirit is a myth:

Sweeping overgeneralizations as those are usually not successful in helping PIMI to accept the truth about "the truth". PIMI are better helped to shift toward PIMO & POMO through small doses of exposé... factual events where Watch Tower failed to be "God's spirit directed organization."

Another problem with claiming Watch Tower never had the spirit or that the spirit is a myth:

Such claims raise more questions about the claimant than it does about Watch Tower itself.

Probably the only persons that can make such a claim with any real validity are persons that were never associated with Watch Tower, or those that instantly detected Watch Tower failures and then immediately rejected Watch Tower.

If an active or former JW were to claim, as some have done here, that WT never had the spirit, or that the spirit is a myth, either claim would place the onus upon their own shoulders as to why he or she ever joined and followed Watch Tower while purporting itself to be "God's spirit directed organization."
If WT never had the spirit or if the spirit is a myth, then WT followers, both former and active, must eventually acknowledge either:

My own naïvety wholly contributed to my being easily duped by Watch Tower.

I deliberately began following Watch Tower with full knowledge that it is not God's spirit directed organization.

So why not leave the onus upon Watch Tower in that while it may have at some point 'had the spirit' (as nebulous as that spirit may be) Watch Tower lost the spirit as a result of Watch Tower's own failures rendering Watch Tower in breach of duty; thus, by default, relieving you and me, holding us harmless, nullifying any and all obligations to Watch Tower, real or imagined; thereby granting us a free and clear departure out of Watch Tower, no fault of our own.
One premise can heap blame upon self.
The other premise allows us to blame Watch Tower.
Watch Tower lost the spirit...
Blame Watch Tower, not yourself.
This is an important valid coping mechanism for those of us that have suffered stigma and abuse at the hands Watch Tower.