The Watchtower—Study Edition | May 2023

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

the watchtower—study edition | may 2023. .

study article 21. how jehovah answers our prayers.

14 a sister named soo hing felt that jehovah helped her by means of her doctor.

fastJehu

Best video about prayers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk6ILZAaAMI

4

Good video

by joey jojo in

highly recommend this video from youtube.

really well researched.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeggkcpkuve.

it has an interesting section about the un and jw's involvement and its good to actually see the un letter concerning jw membership still on the un website.

fastJehu

This Awakes are still online:
https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/101998843

11530

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

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

fastJehu

MeanMrMustard
Page 928. Has Lloyd gained mastery over his penis yet?

He startet with "mastery over his new Patreons"

11530

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

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

Transkript Lloyd Evans video - "Things are better (THANK YOU!!)"

Hello there. I'm here at RamaCrow recording some interviews and other future uploads and I just want to take a moment to sincerely thank all of you who have responded so amazingly to the video - I put out a couple of days ago regarding the financial state of the channel. When I filmed that video, we had a combined 432 supporting us as patrons and YouTube members. Which, as I explained, wasn't quite enough for us to keep going as a company. As of right now, about three days later we have 556 patrons and 110 YouTube channel members making for a combined total - and I'm not kidding here - of 666 patrons and YouTube members, which is just incredible.

Read into that number what you will. I promise I'm not making it up. As I explained before, we really needed to get to a minimum number of 500 supporting the channel on a monthly basis to break even, in other words - pay peoples wages, pay my wages, pay the owners wages, pay the insurance for the equipment, pay our company accountants fees, etc.

But ideally we needed to get back to the 620 figure, which is where we were when we hired Tibor. So for us to exceed that figure in such a short period of time is just an incredible response from our viewers. And on behalf of the whole team, I really can't thank you enough. It's extremely humbling to know that our viewers have our backs and want us to not just continue, but grow the channel as we intended, so I wanted to jump on camera and reassure you all this it's now back to business as usual.

We hear your unequivocal call to continue, and if things ever get dicey or uncertain again, it's extremely heartening to know that we can just let you all know about the situation and leave things in your hands.

I do just want to say a quick word about the defamation campaign as mentioned in my video. Some of you will have noticed I pinned a comment saying that I would automatically and unashamedly delete all abusive mean toxic victim blaming comments along the lines of get a job. Or it's all your fault anyway. I stand by that comment, not because I'm trying to shut people down or sweep anything under the rug. Obviously, viewers are free to respectfully disagree with me on any opinion I express in any of my videos. And the comments sections of any video I make will bear evidence of this.

But when it comes to rude, hateful, invasive comments where people usually from the luxury of total anonymity or inserting themselves in my personal life and claiming to know what I have or haven't done in private better than me, I really must draw the line.

I think most mature adults understand that nobody is perfect and that we all make mistakes. My mistake was to be unfaithful to my partner and I'll always be sorry about that.

But as I've said before, nobody deserves to be bullied, harassed and character assassinated across multiple social media platforms simply for being human.

I've had fake e-mail circulated implicating me, a father of two girls, as a sexual predator who grooms teenage girls. I was accused of being involved in sex tourism simply for choosing Thailand as a holiday destination during a mental health crisis. I've had packages sent to my home containing books with titles such as Leave a Cheetah gain a life. Friends and colleagues have been emailed and pressured to have nothing more to do with me. I've done interviews that got taken down or never saw the light of day because the channel or journalist was inundated with complaints. People have left menacing voice mails. Multiple videos have been made portraying me as a monster, including some calling for me to be reported to the police.

My video editor has been stalked and had copies of his college thesis posted online.

Most recently, the owner of a Zagreb wine bar where I host live music events received an e-mail warning her to have nothing to do with me.

This behaviour, and I've only given you a small sampling of what I've been dealing with, is totally unacceptable and if I'm being completely honest, it makes me ashamed to be an ex JW and mortified at the thought of attending ex JW gatherings in the future. You can, if you want, tell me to turn the other cheek or to not take my brother to court to just let it all go. It's certainly very easy to say that when you're not on the receiving end.

But you need to understand that I give a damn about my work and my legacy. And I know that if I let this behaviour go unpunished, not only will it continue, but it will also tarnish my reputation and therefore the value of the body of my work for generations to come long after I'm dead.

My 2 girls could conceivably be forced to deal with the lies that have been spread about me if I leave these lies unanswered.

So yes, I will keep blocking the haters and I will continue with my legal action for as long as it takes. And I can't tell you how much I appreciate those of you who understand all this. And are sticking with me and showing compassion and solidarity during this intensely challenging time.

I did very recently come extremely close to packing it all in. Obviously the finances are bad, so the business was no longer looking viable anyway. But I sort of had a job offer to do a job. I know I would have hated, but at least it would have taken me away from all the JW XJW toxicity.

It was very tempting - and honestly - it would have been the easiest thing in the world, to dissolve my company, leave Tibor and Diana jobless. And just bring everything to a virtual standstill. I can specifically remember thinking, whatever happens, I don't think I have another convention season in me.

But what pulled me from the brink was a friend who's never been a Jehovah's Witness, who urged me to think about continuing my work because they could see the good it was doing.

And then I read some of the comments and messages of support. And it caused me to think. Maybe this is worth one last push, maybe I should let the viewers decide if we continue.

So when Tibor and I were in Zagreb filming last week, I filmed the video where I put all my cards on the table and here we are.

You the audience have spoken. And if you believe in me and in the amazing team I have around me and keep us at around that 500/600 hundred figure, then I'm prepared to carry on.

And for the record, I will do my very best to ignore the haters and keep focusing instead on the overwhelming majority of you who see the bigger picture and care about the work I do.

We will still be leaving RamaCrow even with the influx of new patrons and YouTube members, I want us to recover and be on a much stronger footing, before we think about renting a studio again in the future.

Just please keep in mind that you will still see RamaCrow videos for potentially months to come because we're here until at least the end of April. There are interview videos and other content being filmed that won't be going out until potentially many weeks from now, but that doesn't mean I'm going back on my word or anything like that.

RamaCrows days are numbered, but I'm fine with recording in my bedroom, for a while. And if we get a studio again at some future point, it will be because we have the finances to commit to it long term.

If you are one of the new or returning patrons or YouTube channel members, thank you again so much for coming to our rescue in our hour of need. And giving us the green light to continue. I very much look forward to seeing and meeting some of you in future live streams and zoom calls. Speaking of which, if you are having trouble accessing any of the perks for your tier of membership, please do send a message on Patreon or via the channel's GMail - which is [email protected].

Finally I also want to say a massive thank you to those of you who couldn't afford to support the channel financially, but still sent through messages of kindness, love, compassion and solidarity. I've been reading each and every one of these messages and I can't tell you how much they've meant to me.

This is without a doubt a tough gig, and doing it to the extent we're doing it can exact a very heavy toll. But you are amazing viewers have given us a resounding call to continue, so we will do exactly that.

Thank you.

And I'll see you around.

11530

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

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

fastJehu

@Diogenesister

I can't post on reddit because I deleted my account there after the moderator of the german EX-JW group stopped allowing posts about Lloyd Evans.
However, I can translate english texts into german for you.

11530

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

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

fastJehu

Again begging for money with his newest Youtube-Video "Things are bad".

Transkript (made with Microsoft Word online):

Hello viewers. This is gonna be a tough video to make. As you can see from the title. Things aren't looking rosy at the moment. For the channel. I have to tell you that we have made the decision to get out of ramaco. We can't afford to rent premises anymore. Rent a studio. It would be the easiest thing in the world to just say, hey, we're moving out of ramaco. But don't worry, we're moving. And we're better and all that kind of thing. But I always try to be. Honest with you? We're moving out because we have to. We are scaling down production. The Lloyd Evans Channel now is the Lloyd Evans channel under threat. Is it gonna disappear? Obviously not even in the worst case scenario where something happens to me. You know, the channel's still gonna be up. The videos are still going to be there. For people to. Watch what's really sad for me though, is that. Over a long period I've been working on this channel and I've built something very beautiful. I like to think in terms of not just the content but the people. I have an amazing team working with me. I have Tibor, I have Deanna working with me. Only really with that team and with the support of patrons and now YouTube members and with the equipment we've been able to buy because of their support. Are we able? To produce not just the content that we're making, but the frequency of content. So that we're putting out a video at the moment, sort of every day, sometimes 2 videos per day if you count the shorts. So that frequency of content. Is completely dependent upon our patrons and our YouTube members and a couple of months ago. I let my patrons know. And my YouTube channel members know that we were in trouble. Because on a month by month basis, it's not just that we're getting by hand to mouth when it comes to paying the salaries and paying the rent for the office. And the, you know, the insurance for the equipment, all of the overheads and that kind of thing, it's not just about getting by hand to mouth. We're actually running at a deficit, so we're running at a deficit currently of somewhere between 500 to €750 per month. And so I put out a call for help two months ago. And the patrons and YouTube channel members very, very kindly respond. And helped to plug the gap so that we could carry on going for a bit. But of course, the problem with appealing to my patrons. Is that they're the ones that are already giving, you know, they're they're the ones who are already giving so much to make the channel work. When I put that video out. Most of you who just watch the channel and enjoy it won't have known anything about it. So I guess what I'm saying is. Since we had all of the turmoil last year with the defamation campaign. The channel has struggled. We've come back to a degree. I like to think we've done an amazing job in keeping things running as long as we possibly can. That's been due to a large extent to us operating very frugally when times were good before the defamation campaign. The defamation campaign is still very much ongoing. My lawyers are still on top of it. It's just that the Croatian legal system, I've learned, is glacially slow. And it's probably going to be years before I see any kind of justice for what was done to me and my family. The defamation campaign was and is a failure. It was a really cruel, sadistic way of attacking my reputation and it had the predictable. Effect of drastically reducing the number of patrons who support my work. Because they came to believe that I'm someone I'm not and that I'm somehow taking advantage of them. We dropped by hundreds of patrons and what you need to understand is that when we started or when I started working with Tibor. It was because we had enough patrons to justify hiring someone. We actually had 620 patrons at the point when Tibor joined us. We lost more than half of our patrons as a result of the campaign. I mean. So we at one point we were at over 800 patrons and then we fell to 3-4 hundred patrons as of right now, when you add together. The patrons and the YouTube channel members, we are on 432. So that's nearly 200 patrons less. Than or YouTube channel members less than we had when we reached the point where we were like, you know, we can hire teeball, we can hire a professional to edit the content. I can remember telling Tibor when we dropped below 500 things are bad and. The truth is we've been operating at less than 500 combined patrons and YouTube channel members for months now. So the fact. That we've been able to carry on this long is I guess you could say a miracle. It's not been easy and it's largely been due to people behind the scenes seeing the problem and stepping in to intervene. It's because of them that we've been able to stay on air. And and carry on, but ultimately fundamentally that's the problem. We don't have quite enough patrons. We need to get. From 430 as it is now to at least 500, and preferably for this to be viable and. For us to be. Putting money away for a rainy day, we need. To get back. To that 620 figure. That's really the help that we need. That's the way in which the audience can really step up and help us. We managed to rally, we managed to keep going. To this point, and we're now at the stage where. The money just doesn't add up and we're having to. Scale things back so. I am going to move my studio or my filming space to essentially my bedroom. Which is you will know as the attic. That was where I was filming before we moved to our macrow. Our landlord at Rama Crow has been very, very understanding and I'm hoping that he won't cause us any problems with demanding too much money and that kind. But we're going to move everything back to essentially my apartment. My bedroom is where I'm going to be filming and we're going to do what we can to continue with Tibor and with Diana essentially with the company. With with the nucleus of the company, irrespective of whether we actually have a premises or not. And we'll see how long we can do that. But I I'm not gonna lie to you, things aren't looking great. And it could be that I have to dissolve my company. It could be that I have to let Tibor go. Let Diana go. And just be doing it by myself and that would involve because I no, I would no longer have tebor and I would be editing the videos myself. I would probably go down to like two or three videos per month. Which I. Think would be something of a tragedy considering what we're doing now and the amount of content we're able to put out the way I view it as every single video that we make has a potential to reach someone. Because if we're just doing two or three videos per month, great. If that's all we can do, fine. But you never know what particular video is going to appeal to a particular person at a particular point in their lives. So it would be tragic for me. If we do need to go to that kind of Helms deep position. I guess we're already at Helms Deep now that we've lost drama Crow, but if we have to. Go to that. Kind of final position of of me letting Tibor go and Dianna go and just doing it by myself. I mean, if that's what I have to. Do that's. That's what I have to. Do I don't take anything for granted? If, however you. And join my channel. And you feel like you can do something to help. There's the join button for you to maybe think about being a YouTube channel member. There'll be a link to the Patreon in the description, obviously, but I don't expect anything. I really don't expect anything at this point in my life. Nothing is guaranteed. We we're all getting by from day-to-day. There are no promises about anything, so whatever happens, happens. I'm basically leaving it in your hands as to what happens next. If I have to go down to two, three videos per month, so be it. But I didn't want to just carry on, just change locations and for you to all just assume that everything's fine because it isn't. I'm not the sort of of man who is too proud to admit. When things aren't going right. So I can already see people jumping up and down saying he's begging, he's begging. If you want to interpret it that way, I'm not going to stop you. Nothing I can say. Can stop you from having that position, but I honestly. It's not that I don't care, it's just that I honestly have the philosophy that whatever happens, happens. This channel will be around whatever. Weapons. The people who set out to destroy me and destroy my work will always fail so long as the channel is around and so long as I still have a voice and whatever happens, I will always to my dying breath, have a voice and use it. It's it's literally just the frequency of content and the quality of content that's at stake at this point. Because there's no way I can do this volume of videos to this quality without people and without the team that I have around me. So I guess I'm leaving it in your hands. I wish I had something a bit more positive to talk about, but this is reality, isn't it? Not everything can be positive. I'll leave it with you and I will update you in due course as to if as to whether things improve. Whether things are as bad as I suspect them to be, but until then. Please do consider subscribing or even joining the channel and thank you so much for watching.