Today the 130th Annual Meeting of the Watch Tower Society was convened at the Jersey City assembly hall, or “Stanley Theater” as it is otherwise known.
There once was a time when these were run-of-the-mill business meetings to keep Society members updated on organizational progress and administrative matters.
But especially over the past few years these events have morphed into an opportunity for the Governing Body to embrace the limelight by heralding “new light,” or sharing news of big changes or literature releases in front of an audience that is guaranteed to give them the adulation they seemingly crave.
This year has proved to be no different. According to multiple sources, a new website (believed to be “tv.jw.org”) has been announced that will feature “on demand” videos, including morning worship sessions from New York bethel and special Governing Body talks, to be broadcast once per month.
Sources are telling me the website will be available from Monday (6th October) onwards. The following images purportedly show what the studio of the website’s news bulletin will look like…
Other announcements from the annual meeting are said to have included the following…
- New song books are to be released that will be the same color as the “silver sword.” They will feature 15 new songs, some of which have already been leaked. All new songs are to be made available on JW.org until the new songbooks are in circulation.
- Psalm 106:1 will be the new year text.
- More audio bible readings are to be released.
- A pocket version of the “silver sword” revised new world translation has been released.
- A new app “JW Language” will be released on Monday to help Witnesses learn a new language.
- New light: Gog of Magog is no longer considered to be Satan, but a coalition of nations yet to reveal itself.
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There was also reportedly an on-stage sing-along by bethelites to demonstrate how some of the new songs are to be sung. All seven Governing Body members are said to have taken to the stage and chimed in on the final verse.
But undoubtedly the most intriguing development concerned the new “on demand” video website, which marks yet another step in the Governing Body’s path to increasing prominence following their 2012 revelation that they alone are the “faithful slave.”
I for one welcome the change, because if there is one thing I can be certain of, it is that the more Witnesses hear these men speak for themselves, the more obvious it will become that they are nothing more than proud, deluded men – far from worthy of the adoration they receive.
I leave you with some wisdom from Anthony Morris III (from the 2012 special convention in Dublin) as a sneak preview of what the new video website may well have in store…
Related video…
Please also check out the Friendly Atheist’s blog post on jw.tv.org!
Wait a minute…if Gog of Magog is now a coalition of nations yet to reveal itself, does that mean all the years of talk that this system could end literally any second now isn’t true? If it has yet to reveal itself, that means it literally can’t end until this, whatever it is, happens. So the entire point of get on board now before it’s too late….is now moot.
that 130th Annual Meeting of the Watch Tower Society was among the best.
I like all news.
@ baby So, which one was the worst?
With all of the Electronic Media the borg is turning out lately, how long until the governing body starts a deal with a company (or starts their own) to put their logo on a device, then recommend that their followers buy that device so everyone can be on the same device to make things “easier”. I’m telling you…..it’s coming. It would be a cash cow. Guarantee my parents would run out and buy whatever they said to buy.
Jason, it’s funny you say that. Just a few years ago on the platform they would constantly state that those devices are a distraction from Satan, now it’s an necessary part of the ministry. Funny how that works…
gog is going to become a bog in their wheels, may gog bog. Kat 9:1
oh I just make it up as I go along.
I was watching a few more of their videos and it’s mind blowing how big that business is just to turn out some droll Watchtower and Awake magazines every month and it’s mind-blowing what all they own and what all it takes to run it all and it has to be mind blowing how much it is costing to run it all. I had no idea until I started watching some of those videos they are running on that tv channel and I wonder if any of the rank and file “get” how rich this the organization really is and what does all this have to do with preaching the Bible? No wonder they are begging for money. Wouldn’t it make more sense to print simple little Bible study aids that didn’t require sooooo much time and money and people to make??? Like maybe the same book that they would use for years and years????
And what does having an orchestra have to do with saving the world of mankind with the message of Jesus? And the art department and the lawyers and all the committees? What does that have to do with preaching the Bible?
Jesus didn’t have a place to lay his head. It seems like the bigger they get, the more they need in funds to keep it going etc. I remember many talks about how the more a person earns, the more work it takes to keep it up and so on. Then think about all the volunteers who get a stipend every month? How many of them are there? How much does that take? Why does it have to be so high tech, costing so much???? Why, at the beginning of the video about Warrick, it starts out by saying they were going to renovate those buildings and the next thing is they are tearing those very same buildings down and disposing of them? That didn’t make any sense to me at all.
It seems reasonable to me that all a person really needs to conduct a Bible study would be a Bible.
So True lol
Anonymous, I agree with you 100 per cent.
But, the society will tell everyone how God is blessing this organization and making it grow. The average everyday witnesses just eat it all up and in essence worship this huge corporation that tells them not to go to university and to simplify their lives and to give all their time to the watchtower and they always ask for money. Do they not realize how hypocritical all of this really is?
I think they have got carried away with being bigger and bigger, comparing to others like the Mormans, they have lost the plot.
The nerve the Society has in those videos showing the millions and probably billions it has in all it owns and operates and then pretends all the donations are going to those poor Witnesses in poor lands who don’t have a Kingdom Halls that even have heat. The hypocrisy is astounding.
I just watched the advertisement for the new jw tv and it really appears to me that they are making quite a showy display of themselves.
How many times from the platform were we told that witnesses should never make a showy display and that we were to be humble and Christ like and not let the right hand let the left hand know what it is doing. Is God really directing all of this? Not in my opinion. Now that they have cash in their jeans from the sale of Brooklyn properties, looks like money and the quest for prominence is directing this religion. Sad that so many are not seeing the real picture.
I guarantee you that if the GB did away completely with the disfellowshipping arrangement, half the JW members through the whole organization would leave the “truth” the very next day. ….and the GB knows this at this point which is why they push that topic so hard nowadays. I hear more about the topic of DF than anything else, sans the ministry. I think talking about the “faithful and discreet slave” has become third at the meetings.
I mentioned this to a coworker, and the first thing she said was, “they must be getting desperate”.
Are Jehovah’s Witnesses really politically neutral? What are possible implications of Gog of Magog being now considered as a coalition of nations yet to reveal itself? What does “to reveal itself” mean? I am afraid WTS has a hidden agenda…
The Bible can be made to mean anything that you want,
these people have proved it, It’s beyond stupid.
It’s estimated there’s around 40,000 Christian denominations.
All no doubt believing they have the right interpretation.
Any communication from a supreme intelligence would
not be open to different interpretations, or need constant
updates. It would speak to us the way nature does, same
rules and principles apply to all, and are constant throughout
the Universe. Once learned they need never be changed.
Solving a puzzle, finishing a mystery, to gain salvation, is like
some tatty game show and the idea just discredits an intelligent
creator.
My conscience, ( whatever its origin ) tells me what’s right or wrong,
when I ignore it (and I sometimes do ) it plagues me, But it does
prompt me, to thank whoever is responsible for this amazing life
support system we live on, and also to treat others as I would wish
to be treated.
I’m happier without the Bible, a book that puts a huge burden of sin
on people from the moment they are conceived, and requires that we
spend the rest of our lives making amends for something completely
beyond our control.
Free at last
Amen brother ted! Chalk another book to mythology as the Greeks, Romans, Norse folks, etc..
excellent comments, and much to think about for any JW viewing this site, hopefully some may come away using their reasoning skills they are taught at the TMS, won’t hold my breath but where their is good info their is hope, and they may do more research, I hope so.
If you are a loyal Witness, reading these posts, ask yourself: Why is the Society moving out of Brooklyn? Ask the elders this and see if they have the answer. I didn’t see the reason in any of the videos and by the way, just how many buildings does the Society own in Brooklyn and how much money is the Society going to make when they sell all their properties in Brooklyn and where is that money going?
What this brings to my mind is the scripture starting at Luke 12:15:
“Then he said to them: “Keep your eyes open and guard against every sort of covetousness, because even when a person has an abundance his life does not result from the things he possesses.” With that he spoke an illustration to them, saying: “The land of a certain rich man produced well. Consequently he began reasoning within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, now that I have now where to gather my crops”‘ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my storehouses and build bigger ones, and there I will gather all my grain and all my good things; and I will say to my soul: “Soul, you have many good things laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, enjoy yourself. But God said to him, ‘Unreasonable one, this night they are demanding your soul from you. Who, then, is to have the things you stored up”‘ So it goes with the man that lays up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God.””
What I see is a ploy to make the followers donate more and more money to the “work” because it’s so obvious in these videos just how much all the “work” is costing the Society. What I don’t get is how is that new “compound” in upstate New York supposed to make me feel good when I go to “visit” when I am not the one living there? Does it occur to anybody that in upstate New York, they are building a really nice get away for themselves with all free labor and they will be living in this really neat little place, free of charge while all the other Witnesses in the poorer parts of the world will never be able to “visit” New York and enjoy that little “compound” get away that they are making for themselves with all that free labor?
This is nothing but a cheap ploy to get old people to leave all their worldly possessions when they die (or whatever they can scrape together now) to the Society for the “worldwide work”.
I have been looking at jwtv this morning and for my mum it is lovely.
So long as Stephen Lett and Tony Morris stay quiet, who she has already said she finds rather cheesy. The mornings text by Tony Noumair is being discussed at the moment and for elderly ones like her, who no longer go to the meetings or field service it is a ‘Godsend’ ( sorry couldn’t resist )
However the thought of children being sat in front of this leaves me cold. Daily indoctrination at it worst. What better way to get at the children than through TV. So I have to ask, is it ok to leave the tv babysitting your child, so long as they only watch jwtv. It is wrong on every single level. My grandchild is subjected to this, and I detest it.
Blimey i’ve just watched about 10 minutes of this Stephen Letts broadcast and can watch no more. Hand on heart i have never seen anything like it before. I think this JW tv is a good thing now………. No one, no one could watch that and think it or he was “Spirit directed”
GoG of Magog. Quite a leap from being one person( Satan)
to becoming a “Coalition of nations”.
If this is “New Light” where’s the advancement, it just leaves
another unanswered question, another puzzle.? Who are these
nations.?
Oh! I forgot, “This is something that has yet to be revealed”.
In other words it’s a “Mystery”, ( An explanation that’s used
in order to avoid awkward questions.)
During Catechism at school, one boy asked the teacher. Please
Sir , “How can there be three persons in one God”? Mr, Battles
replied “Don’t ask stupid questions boy, It’s a mystery.
It’s obvious they’re not prepared to go out on a limb and name
names, having learned from previous fiascos.
( several identities applied to the King of the North, including
the Nazi Regime, and the now dissolved Soviet Union.)
Wherever their information comes from, it’s not from any divine
source. It insults human intelligence, let alone that of an all
wise creator.
Ted, great comments as ever! We are blessed here to have a mature gentleman with such a sound grasp of logic and many years of experience to share.
The verse the WTBTS are referring to is found in Revelation chapter 20.
Gog of Magog CANNOT EVER HAVE BEEN Satan as he is mentioned as a separate character! My goodness! How stupid are these people? It’s blindingly obvious from reading the context that their “old light” (or should it be dim light?) was wrong!
This passage of Revelation is referring to the final battle between Satan, Gog and Magog verses the faithful. This occurs AFTER THE 1000 YEARS HAVE ENDED!
How can anyone take these imbeciles seriously when they can’t even read context? They are the blind leading the blind and I hope that the gb fall into the deepest of pits for what they have done to millions of people.
Peace be with you
Excelsior!
Amen Excelsior!!
This is interesting :). I want to take on the November Novel challenge and I want it to be about my experience as a JW while I was an adolescent :). I make it fiction, but that will be my source. This looks like a great thing to poke fun at, the broadcasting, so you can keep your mind numb with idiotic videos showing fake faces from mr. Lett
I am just hoping with all my might that they let (my favorite) Tony Morrison really share his profound wisdom on T.V. If “they” allow it, I think this could really good for us trying to make our families wake up. I’ve played some of those audio recordings of his talks, and other governing body members that have gone viral, to a couple family members, and if it comes from anything other than the official jw.org, they think it’s manipulated and fake, and apostate, so this could be something to work against them. We just have to keep paying attention, so that we can catch anything they might slip up and say, any discrepancies that we can point out. There will be no denying it being real. But they probably are putting millions of dollars into this, so they will have the best of the best writing this material. (i.e., not Tony Morrison) There is a whole generation of young people who live on their hand held devices, I’m sure that’s who they are targeting. They’re just trying to become less and less old-fashioned.
sometimes the writing material wont really matter, people look at the person who they present themselves, their gestures, mannerisms and voice, their eyes etc,
Morris and Lett both have deficiencies in presentation, Lett has his weird expressions and its almost like watching a comedian, Morris has this arrogant persona and looks like a mafia boss.
The new video now available on tv.jw.org “Jehovah Will Help You Be Bold” is something difficult to surpass in the art of manipulation. It’s a real shame to make young children to feel that much guilty, if they are not ditributing WT litterature to their school mates. The GB even imagined things that have happened in the house of Naaman, things that are not found in the Bible. What a shalmeless brainwashing!!!!!!!!
Some people, my dad is one example, thinks those guys are so funny and personable. Which is shocking, since my dad can kind of see through other peoples phoniness. After the annual meeting where they introduced the silver sword, my dad just couldn’t stop telling us how funny Brother Lett was, when he was joking about “bending the scriptures”. He thought that was so hilarious. Even then, when I wasn’t awakened, I thought it was was so corny. Some people just eat it up, they think the G.B. are the greatest things since…. But I really hope, that there’s people like us who can pick up on that stuff too. I’m really looking forward to it. At least it will be entertaining.
Yep looking forward to it, pop corn and beer or two!
Excelsior, Thanks for your kind words. When one has been a
victim of exploitation and can see others, including our own
family members, still exposed to such. It creates strong feelings
in us.
Bottling up strong feelings is frustrating and can lead to anger,
and depression, I read and enjoy everyone’s comments, as I
know you do, and I’m sure everyone who posts here
is grateful to Mr, Cedars for giving us a voice. It’s very cathartic.
Better than a visit to the Doctors.
My very best wishes to all.
There is often a great deal of pain and lost in the ex JW world and understandably so. There must be a million stories to hear and for me that is why this site is of such value. No one needs to be alone. So a big thanks to the writers and to those who comment. It’s been and is of real encouragement and comfort. x
And bugger bowing down.
Unless it’s truthful of course.
I just got done watching the 3 hour video about the 137th Gilead graduation ceremony on jwtv. I had never heard anything like that before and wanted to listen to the whole thing to give it a fair assessment. I have 50 feet of wire for my ear phones so I could do chores and still listen to it or it would have been hard for me for such a long time. But anyway, these are my thoughts:
I thought the talks were very well done and not boring. I thought the brothers and sisters that were giving their experiences in field were the sweetest and nicest people I could ever want to meet. Brother Lett’s talk, I thought was excellent. He was our circuit overseer about 30 years ago and he is exactly as he is on the stage at that graduation. That is the way he was then and the same now. I think he is very sincere. I think he actually thinks that God has appointed him. I think he could be like Ray Franz was until Ray Franz started getting letters from Carl Olof Jonsson and others around the world proving that Jerusalem fell in 586 and he realized that God’s spirit could never be on the Organization when they disfellowshipped Jonsson for proving the Society was wrong and the Society’s duplicity in the case of the Malawi brothers and sisters not being able to buy the 25 cent card and at the same time in Mexico the brothers were allowed to bribe the officials so they wouldn’t have to serve in the armies and on and on. I am hoping Stephen Lett is not evil but deluded.
As far as the other men on the Governing Body, I have no idea of their sincerity but I really believe that Stephen Lett is sincere. He seems odd to people because his expressions on his face are so rubbery. But I do think he is a good speaker. On his license plate on his car, he had the date that he was “called” to heaven which to me seemed so strange when I asked what the date was for. I thought it would have been his marriage anniversary date but it was when he was “called” instead. That was a long time ago, so don’t hold me to it, but that is the way I remember it.
I think the Governing Body feel they are in a different league than the rank and file and not approachable. They may seem approachable when giving talks like the Gilead talk, and be approachable by their close friends but not “ordinary” people that they don’t know. I can’t picture any of them taking a phone call or going in service and being exposed to ordinary people. I’d like to see them digging in the dirt to build a simple Kingdom Hall like the Society likes to show other poor people doing in those 3rd world countries like what is in the videos, making people think that is where their donations are going and not to the new Bethel in New York.
Also, when they were handing out diplomas, I didn’t hear of even one single person in that Gilead class being from the United States. When they said the attendance, only 10 from the state of Florida??? That was weird.
Listening to those syrupy voices of those brothers almost sucked me into it again if I hadn’t been aware of the lies and half-truths (Romans 16: 18 “For men of that sort are slaves, not of our Lord Christ, but of their own bellies; and by smooth talk and complimentary speech they seduce the hearts of guileless ones.”)
When they were talking about the sisters, the only thing that I found they said that was nice was how the sisters made it possible for the brothers to go to the Gilead School. Other than that, I didn’t see any particular praise for them. I thought that was missing also.
Do these missionaries get a stipend so they don’t have to get jobs? I have always wondered that.
One of the sisters made a comment that it was hard for her to get used to not being able to make decisions like her and her husband were able to do before. That says a lot to me.
So sad that all that “love” that they are feeling is completely conditional.
Even though any member of the gb may seem to be honest or sincere, I cannot accept the fact that an individual cannot question any current doctrine or rule which emanates from them. These seven men can then produce “new light” at any time and everyone must just accept all of this. In my opinion they have placed themselves in the position of Jehovah God and this I find detestable.
In my final watchtower study meetings that I attended I so wanted to raise my hand and say “I really don’t agree with this point or is this really correct” but I was a coward and held my voice.
In my mind (in principle anyway) the most important people of the entire congregation are the lost sheep. Watchtower offers very little comfort to those people. We know the script. . Come back and do as we say. There’s precious little in way of explanation with regardings to false teachings and poor attitudes. We know what to expect and it is not appealing. Of course we are then labelled as ‘disgruntled ones’. Why shouldn’t we be disgruntled when we’ve been abused spirituality and let down so badly? The Watchtower offers precious little transparency & real honesty. If it wants to gain these ones then it needs to begin to listen. You won’t hear a lost sheep bleating if you don’t open your
ears.
It is all about your authority and position & our compliance and people are sick of it. You need to listern. A change of heart is required. You can’t keep beating people. We are all equal even less if your are a minister.
Hi Rob. I agree with you. Just because one of them (Governing Body) may seem sincere, doesn’t make them exempt from not taking responsibility for the unchristian shunning. One good thing about an honest man like Ray Franz was that he did have a crisis of conscience and walked away from it when he realized it wasn’t from God. What I am hoping for is that if the Governing Body men have any conscience at all, they will reform the Society or walk away from it and write their own books so anyone who wants to walk away can without retribution.