The Governing Body’s strange handling of the “new understanding” surrounding Matthew 24:45 will not go unnoticed

To many who have been associated with Jehovah’s Witnesses for some considerable time, the title of this article will sound outrageous – perhaps even blasphemous! However, it is a conclusion drawn from observing the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and specifically the manner in which they have disseminated the news of their “new understanding” related to the faithful and discreet slave of Matthew 24:45.

This website first reported on the new understanding with an article entitled “Governing Body says: ‘We are the faithful and discreet slave!’“, which was published on October 7th, only 24 hours after the announcement was made by the Governing Body from the platform at the Annual Meeting at Jersey City Assembly Hall. The article was widely read, and in the first week of it going online this website received over 5,000 unique visits – no doubt mostly from active witnesses curious to learn whether the rumours were true.

The news circulated on other JW-related websites and forums for weeks, until finally the Watch Tower Society confirmed the news on JW.org (their official website) on November 9th – more than a month later! To read their belated news article yourself, please click here. Predictably, the JW.org article features no acknowledgement whatsoever that the news had already been in wide circulation online for more than a month, nor is there any attempt at an apology for being so slow to confirm the drastic new shift in doctrine that was announced at the Annual Meeting weeks before.

A privileged few hear it first

For those of us who are familiar with how the organization has historically imparted spiritual food and changes in understanding, the above series of events will have been curious to say the least. True, there is nothing unusual about announcing a change in understanding or organizational procedure at a meeting. What is strange is the manner in which a select group of just over 15,000 who watched or attended the Annual Meeting were given privileged access to this “new light” weeks ahead of anyone else, thus allowing a lengthy window in which the news could be circulated online before being officially confirmed on the Society’s website.

Only the limited number of brothers attending the Annual Meeting or watching via video link were able to receive spiritual food weeks ahead of the global brotherhood

Surely it would have been much better if reasonable effort had been put forth to spread the news to the global brotherhood simultaneously either through printed publications or through a convention or assembly program. The apparent rushed and slipshod manner in which this new understanding was hurried into circulation by the Governing Body represents a radical departure from the Society’s traditional approach to imparting scriptural “new light” in a way that allows everyone to hear it at the same time.

Consider the following quotes from Watchtower articles related to the dispensing of spiritual food…

“Jehovah provides something else to safeguard us: spiritual food at the proper time. (Matthew 24:45) By means of printed publications, including the journals The Watchtower and Awake!, as well as by meetings, assemblies, and conventions, Jehovah supplies us with what we need when we need it.” (The Watchtower, December 15th 2002, pp. 15-16 par. 12)

“Another avenue that Jehovah uses to speak to us today is identified by Jesus at Matthew 24:45-47. There he spoke of the spirit-anointed Christian congregation—’the faithful and discreet slave’ appointed to provide spiritual ‘food at the proper time.’ As individuals, the members of this class are Jesus’ ‘domestics.’ These, along with ‘a great crowd’ of ‘other sheep,’ receive encouragement and guidance. (Revelation 7:9; John 10:16) Much of this food at the proper time comes in the form of printed publications, such as The Watchtower, the Awake!, and other publications. Additional spiritual food is dispensed in the form of talks and demonstrations at conventions, assemblies, and congregation meetings.” (The Watchtower, May 1st 2000, pp. 15-16 par. 10)

When you dwell on the above quotes, it’s difficult to notice any similarities in the manner in which the “food at the proper time” has found its way to the global brotherhood on this occasion. No printed publications were used to convey the timely “spiritual food”, nor was it announced at any assemblies, conventions or congregation meetings. It was announced at an annual meeting in front of a select few, and then the news was leaked on the internet before finally being confirmed on the Society’s website.

True, Annual Meetings have historically been events at which interesting news has been announced, but generally such news has involved changes of a procedural or administrative nature rather than momentous new revelations of scriptural understanding concerning the manner in which God guides his people.

The Society’s literature and congregational or assembly programs have always been the preferred means of disseminating new scriptural knowledge – and rightly so, since this enables the entire global brotherhood to receive the information at roughly the same time rather than a select few hand-picked delegates at an invitation-only meeting.

Internet access = the key to understanding?

Not all publishers have access to the internet, leaving them oblivious to any “new light” that is spread online

To illustrate, imagine you are a poor publisher living in a remote rural location in a third world country. You have no internet access, and you gather all of your information about the organization from the publications and weekly meetings, which you put forth considerable effort to attend. You would have no idea about the “new light” about the faithful slave until months later when it finally appeared in printed form in the publications, or was otherwise announced at the meetings (assuming you didn’t hear about it beforehand through word of mouth).

Is it truly fair or reasonable that whether or not you receive “new light” or spiritual food from God’s organization in a timely manner now depends on whether you have an internet subscription or some other means to access the internet? Should not all brothers in all countries have an equal opportunity to receive “spiritual food” from the organization at the same time, and not simply those who are in a position financially or otherwise to access the Society’s official website?

A period of silence

Furthermore, what about the 34-day period between the announcement at the Annual Meeting and the publication of the news article on JW.org? During this “silent” period it was left to websites such as JWsurvey.org and Jehovahs-Witness.net to convey information about the change in understanding – effectively handing the role of conveying spiritual food over to unofficial JW websites, which the Society urges us to avoid.

Is this really the way in which Jehovah would direct his organization to impart knowledge to his servants – through unapproved websites? Did the Society expect that nobody would want to share the news about the radical change in understanding online in the weeks before they finally published their own official review of the Annual Meeting? If the Governing Body simply misjudged the level of interest in this matter, and the enthusiasm with which the news would spread online, does this testify to any great prudence or wisdom on their part?

A sloppy job

Whichever way you look at it, the haphazard manner in which this “new light” was shared seems extremely shoddy and ill-thought out. I can’t help but wonder whether the Governing Body are seriously regretting going about this in such a careless manner, not least because it serves to prove that publishers really CAN access reliable information about Jehovah’s Witnesses on websites such as this before anyone is supposed to hear it.

This episode has proved that it is possible to gather reliable information from unofficial JW websites

After writing my article on the subject just over a month ago, I kept a close eye on the amount of traffic entering this website from search engines. A considerable number of visits were from people who were typing keywords such as “new light faithful slave” etc. No doubt many of these were active witnesses who have never visited a website such as this before, but they heard the rumour and wanted to investigate. Such ones who stumbled upon the information on this website will doubtless now be wondering: “if this unofficial website gave reliable information on the issue BEFORE it was confirmed on the official website, then what else is there to discover about the organization that can’t be found in the official publications?”

By giving websites such as this one the opportunity to report on important developments such as new understandings of scripture before these become commonly known among the worldwide brotherhood, the Society has set a dangerous precedent for the future. No longer can they boast that spiritual food is only ever disseminated through the publications or from the platform. In this case, spiritual food was spread to the “domestics” via the internet – and even via websites that are not officially approved by the Watch Tower Society! If the Governing Body can mess-up over such a relatively straightforward issue, it leads me to wonder what other significant mistakes lie in store in the near future.

 

 

 

 

 

Read a translation of this article in Hungarian by clicking here.

32 thoughts on “Jehovah now uses the internet to dispense new spiritual food!

    • October 2, 2016 at 3:52 pm
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      ABSOLUTELY THE TRUTH! I also am a 3rd Generation JW and long gone as of 1974………..it just no longer made any sense to me and I was un-happy in every way! Now I am Happy and have Hope in the Future! What a wonderful world this is and why many think that we are at the “Endtimes” is due to the Media and Internet! We didnt have that when I grew up! “Tool of Satan?” lol

  • November 16, 2012 at 10:21 am
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    Interesting point about those without internet access, not getting the ‘new light’. However Watchtower do not care about that. In everything they do they just hope for the best. There are many doctrines of the society out there that many witnesses do not understand. I am sure the generation teaching is a good example.
    All they are concerned about is that the members stay faithful to the organisation. In the most part they do, and any apparant mistakes are simply put down to the imperfections of man. The members are told that they should obey the governing body completely, but then in the next breath, they tell the members that the governing body will make mistakes because they are imperfect.
    So it all comes down to whether present witnesses will start questioning what they have been told for all these years. Many have done so, which is why there are so many ex witnesses round the world now. Others however will accept everything they are told, because they feel there is nothing better for them to cling on to.

  • November 16, 2012 at 1:11 pm
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    Now what about my poor grandmother living in a remote village in rural Africa…
    she doesn’t have the internet let alone electricity…
    anyway,the GB doesn’t really care about such hard working, obedient publishers who contribute a great deal to the little growth the Society boasts of. …
    in any case ,the average JW living those areas cannot explain most of th Society’s teachings..
    and anyway,they are never really up to date with the ‘current truth’

  • November 16, 2012 at 1:14 pm
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    Cedars I think you are overstating this issue. Even with information conveyed via publications, assemblies and conventions JW’s have not had information at the same time. For instance look at the time frame over which district assemblies take place in the US and other countries, those attending the later assemblies are sometimes months behind those attending the first ones. The same to a lesser extent with regard to when watchtower issues are received. The point really is that all the congregations world wide will have the explanatory articles in time to study them at the appropriate time world wide maintaining unified worldwide control.

    • November 16, 2012 at 2:18 pm
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      You make an interesting point which I’ve considered already. Tens of thousands of people at a time receiving a new understanding at conventions over a course of many weeks based randomly on their geographical location is still preferable and fair in comparison with 5,000 or so cherry-picked “exemplary” publishers and bethel workers getting to hear the news first perhaps months before anyone else reads it in the literature. Surely you must admit that the news could have been released in such a manner that everyone would read of it simultaneously – albeit with less fanfare?

      • December 9, 2012 at 4:01 am
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        Почему эта новость только на английском языке на сайте? Почему нет на других языках? Другим людям не надо во время знать “новый свет” ?!

  • November 16, 2012 at 1:14 pm
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    man i wish they would just crash and burn already!

  • November 16, 2012 at 2:04 pm
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    Cedars, I get your point and well stated. Miken has a good point too though. In my part of the world, the District Convention is to be held in January. We are yet to be introduced to ‘Sparlock’ and be reminded that our ‘Mother’ is the Org. I am one of the few who know about this stuff because of ‘daring’ to visit websites like this one.

    • November 16, 2012 at 2:23 pm
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      Thanks Jimmy, but as I’ve just stated to Miken, convention programs are still a far more effective means of circulating new light to tens of thousands of people simultanesously (regardless of their status in the organization) than making an announcement at a members-only meeting to only 5,000 or so people months before printing anything in the literature. Even Miken must admit that printing something in a Watchtower article would have been far preferable, because it would have achieved instant and non-discriminatory circulation throughout the whole organization. I have no idea why the Governing Body went for the more complicated option, but I suspect it has something to do with the fanfare of making an announcement at the Annual Meeting, and witnessing the reaction for themselves.

  • November 16, 2012 at 3:27 pm
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    cedar: its described very well, although i was aware of doctrine faults, (see beabeorean.com) for a long time, its the first time I went into these interesting sites, courtesy of WTbungling. May be its a ploy to have us passive doubters come out of the woodworks and trace to us.I think these are historic times on par with the end in 1945 and the fall of the berlin wall. It is good to have found kindred seekers.
    blessings: abel joseph

  • November 16, 2012 at 11:29 pm
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    One important question is “When the Son of Man arrives in is glory will he really find The Faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8)

    He sure will !
    It will be among those that came out of man made organizations and only hold to the scriptures. Didn’t Jesus say
    John 4:23-24
    King James Version (KJV)

    23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

    24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.*******

    Jesus also said to his Father

    John 17:17
    King James Version (KJV)

    17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.*********

    Are we really being feed thru the Internet ! we certainly are.

    Would we have known about the Silent lambs or the WT & the UN if it werent for the Internet,

    Yes, we had Raymond France and a few other courageous brothers to share out what they knew, but then everything was speeded up thru the Internet.

    Divine intervention ?

    I personally would have to give credit where credit is due and say, ” Yes, “the Internet does have Gods backing.

    If a magazine that came out in the late 1800’s could go abroad, then certainly the Internet can act with the speed of lightening.

    We are being shown that the governing body who claim to be feeding the sheep, are not. They certainly are not boasting in Jehovah .( they can’t ).

    We on the out side are getting our food from Gods word,. The apostles and the prophets ,that Gods word is built on , is doing the feeding.

    Proof of what were being feed and warned to watch out for, is found documented here on the Internet.

    2 Corinthians 10:17
    But, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
    Daniel 12:3-4
    New International Version (NIV)

    3 Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. 4 But you, Daniel, roll up and seal( the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and their to increase knowledge.”*******

    The question was put
    ” what about those who don’t have a Internet ? ”

    There are a dozen friends where I live that left the WT org and three have computers ,and we share our findings. Thru printouts or phone calls .

    love susanna

    One important question is “When the Son of Man arrives in is glory will he really find The Faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8)

    He sure will !
    It will be among those that came out of man made organizations and only hold to the scriptures. Didn’t Jesus say
    John 4:23-24
    King James Version (KJV)

    23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

    24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.*******

    Jesus also said to his Father

    John 17:17
    King James Version (KJV)

    17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.*********

    Are we really being feed thru the Internet ! we certainly are.

    Would we have known about the Silent lambs or the WT & the UN if it werent for the Internet,

    Yes, we had Raymond France and a few other courageous brothers to share out what they knew, but then everything was speeded up thru the Internet.

    Divine intervention ?

    I personally would have to give credit where credit is due and say, ” Yes, “the Internet does have Gods backing.

    If a magazine that came out in the late 1800’s could go abroad, then certainly the Internet can act with the speed of lightening.

    We are being shown that the governing body who claim to be feeding the sheep, are not. They certainly are not boasting in Jehovah .( they can’t ).

    We on the out side are getting our food from Gods word,. The apostles and the prophets ,that Gods word is built on , is doing the feeding.

    Proof of what were being feed and warned to watch out for, is found documented here on the Internet.

    2 Corinthians 10:17
    But, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
    Daniel 12:3-4
    New International Version (NIV)

    3 Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. 4 But you, Daniel, roll up and seal( the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and their to increase knowledge.”*******

    The question was put
    ” what about those who don’t have a Internet ? ”

    There are a dozen friends where I live that left the WT org and three have computers ,and we share our findings. Thru printouts or phone calls .

    love susanna

  • November 17, 2012 at 2:50 am
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    Hi Cedars,
    First of all, peace be with you.
    I must say you have an information network that works faster than any I know. You had this piece of information even before an ex writing staff member I know had it! But I don’t think the 34 day delay is the problem. The problem is that the GB has formerly declared themselves to be the embodiment of that slave mention by Jesus in the Gospel as simply an allegory. This is similar to when Napoleon crowned himself as Emperor or to how the popes justify their position of power.
    The GB were performing this role covertly since their existence a few decades ago. They made no consultation with other anointed throughout the world concerning “food”. They mostly responded to critical letters sent to them from the outside with form letters back. It’s a sad development but I just don’t care any more. My Head is Christ Jesus and, in the final analysis, I have to respond to Him. I have no ill feelings toward those GB brothers who now probably have to duck their heads because of their new “star” status.
    Time will tell what this change will bring – more “theocratic dictatorship” perhaps?
    May you have peace,
    Alden

  • November 17, 2012 at 7:53 am
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    Some numbers to think about…. caring for 7,000,000 people.

    0.17% of 7,000,000 = 11,900 Counsellors.

    0.000115% of 7,000,000 = 8 Counsellors.

    The scriptures advise, in the multitude of Counsellors their is accomplishment.

  • November 17, 2012 at 11:31 am
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    Hi Alden, it is interesting that you mention the word ‘theocratic.’ Are you aware that there is no Bible reference to this word. It was first coined by Josephus and first used by JF Rutherford in the 1930’s. Today the GB seem to use it to define an eisegetically derived policy that has been cherry-picked in Scripture to ‘support’ it.

    I have a lot of respect for their historically-derived (exegetics) teachings, but much of the criticism for WT policies criticised on this have been humanly-drawn more from political wishthinking.

    Frank 2

    • November 17, 2012 at 1:02 pm
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      Hi Frank,
      Yes, I’m sure the word has just been coined like the other “ocracies” to describe political systems. The word theocracy is supposed to describe a political system established by God, like the one under Solomon. Like so many words, it’s used and abused.

  • November 17, 2012 at 11:38 pm
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    Hi Alden, I thought you might find this intersting – from Wikipedia under “Theocracy.”

    “Etymology

    The word theocracy originates from the Greek θεοκρατία, meaning “the rule of God”. This in turn derives from the Ancient Greek θεός (theos), meaning “god”, and κρατέω (krateo), meaning “to rule.” Thus the meaning of the word in Greek was “rule by god(s)” or human incarnation(s) of god(s).

    It was first coined by Josephus Flavius in the first century A.D. to describe the characteristic government for Jews. Josephus argued that while the Greeks recognized three types of government: monarchy, aristocracy, and anarchy, the Jews were unique in that they had a system of government that did not fit into those categories. Josephus understood theocracy as a fourth form of government in which only God and his law is sovereign. Josephus’ definition was widely accepted until the Enlightenment era, when the term started to collect more universalistic[clarification needed] and negative connotations, especially in Hegel’s hands. The first recorded English use was in 1622, with the meaning “sacerdotal government under divine inspiration” (as in Biblical Israel before the rise of kings); the meaning “priestly or religious body wielding political and civil power” is recorded from 1825.”

    Frank 2

  • November 18, 2012 at 6:08 am
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    Alan, you are right. I quit the organization 9 months ago. But before my quitting, I tried to help my wife to quit together as I had found a lot of gaps in the WTS beliefs. I thought may wife, a nurse, was enough educated to understand it, but, …. it finally turned against me. She is now accusing me to be “Mentally Diseased” with support of all Jehovah’s Witnesses in my country. There is need to teach our people “how to reason”, the WTS is a real “BRAIN WASHING ORGANIZATION”.

  • November 18, 2012 at 6:16 am
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    Sorry to hear your wife would not listen. As a nurse I am sure she must be a caring person, so maybe talk to her about all the witnesses that have died over the years because of their unscriptual demands of the past that their followers could not have vaccinations, transplants and at one time no blood in any shape or form. You can use the societies own words to prove this. In fact anything you tell her should idealy be showing her from the Watchtower publications. Otherwise she will just say that is an apostate idea and a lie. Good luck and well done for getting out. It’s not easy, but so worth it!

  • November 25, 2012 at 3:57 pm
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    Hello Miken. You have to admit it is unprecedented in the history of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, Inc. to allow “worldly” people an opportunity to receive “New Light” before most WBTS members. Most non-WBTS members would probably never appreciate the phrase “new light”.

    My six siblings and three children are WBTS members and may have not known about the doctrinal change within the WBTS except for the fact that I, a non-member of the WBTS, emailed them the information.

    Thank you Cedars for all you are doing in your “World Wide Work”.

    • November 26, 2012 at 6:13 am
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      I would agree it is unprecedented in the history of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, Inc to use the internet to anounce so called New Light.However I do not see by so doing it is giving “worldly” people an opportunity to receive “New Light” before most WBTS members. It is giving both groups equal opportunity by accessing the news section of the official web site. Probably more JW’s are likely to do this than “worldly people” as they are more likely to be interested in the latesy official JW news.
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  • November 26, 2012 at 2:20 am
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    That is so true what you just said William. My own JW son has often said that I seem to know more about what is happening in the org than him. You are no doubt the same. I believe many of the changes the society make are because the gov body know what is being said among ex witnesses on the web. The case of Charles Russell is a good example. We have shown that the vast nunber of things he said were total rubbish. He is an embarrassment to the gov body now, which is why they now say he was not a member of the slave or appointed in any way.
    Because we had been questioning the increase in memorial partakers all over the internet, they have had to act. They did away with the 1935 cut of date and said that some of those partakers might be mentally unbalanced.
    That is why forums and blogs like this do so much good. They help expose all the false ideas coming from the gov.body.

  • November 26, 2012 at 7:21 am
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    I think the point was made that the ‘new light’ was announced at the annual meeting. From there, Cedars and many others were writing and talking about it all over the net. I believe it was 4 weeks later that the society put it up on their website. Certainly most interesred ex witnesses new about it before the rank and file JWs

  • November 26, 2012 at 8:59 am
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    Good work cedars.

  • December 13, 2012 at 2:31 am
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    All publishing organizations are in the metamorphosis stage, print in newspapers is becoming a thing of the past. Digital is coming in. And the Watchtower also is being drawn into it also.

    This is a good thing in that people will become more informed before making a decision. While the Watchtower have their site, there are many others that balance out what the Watchtower fail to explain. Cedars site included.

    History is history. It can not be changed. Charitable organizations send out their volunteers to help the homeless, and bring them to shelter. They are given credit, because credit is due!

    The Watchtower send out their workers with important dates like 1874, 1914, 1925, 1975, 1994. Did these dates bring the expectations that the Watchtower published? The answer is written in history.

  • December 15, 2012 at 12:48 pm
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    RE: The Governing Body, and they alone are “the faithful and discreet slave.”

    That is what “Captives of a Concept” has been saying for 8 years. And that is what Raymond Franz’s “Crisis of Conscience” has been saying for over 30 years.

  • December 15, 2012 at 1:17 pm
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    I think most ex witnesses have been saying the same as well. It was obvious to anyone with an open mind that the gov body themselves or those under them in Brooklyn, were suppyling the ‘food’
    Probably won’t make much difference to the rank and file

  • January 14, 2013 at 11:11 pm
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    Am I alone in finding it annoying to keep hearing about all this slave stuff when I probably ought to be going over Jesus’ attitudes and actions so I can try to be more Christlike? And am I the only one who wonders why the WTBTS keeps going over this (yawn) topic?

  • April 6, 2013 at 2:25 pm
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    I guess I’m confused again or didn’t the Society condemn the Internet back in the late 80’s or early 90’s as evil? And the lair of “”Apostates” and everyone was supposed to just stay off of it altogether?
    Now it has become their pet tool for dispensing “Spiritual Food”?
    Just more waffeling and Flip-Flop hypocrisy which proves where they stand in God’s eyes at the moment! Does it sound like an organization driven by Holy Spirit? Did the first Century Christians go back and forth and return to the same previous positions several times over again? Did anyone think to leaflet campaign the KH parking lot cars the same way they come to people’s doors? With proper info?

  • December 31, 2015 at 1:39 am
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    Hmm is anyone else having problems with the images on this blog loading?
    I’m trying to figure out if its a problem on my end or if it’s
    the blog. Any feed-back would be greatly appreciated.

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