Patiently waiting for Truth

Belgium: Jehovah's Witnesses will be tried for hate crimes on February 16.
https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20200915_93224449
 translated courtesy pf Google Translate
GHENT - The Jehovah's Witnesses stood before the Ghent criminal court on Tuesday for inciting hatred towards some ex-members. The various parties are now given time to prepare their pleas. The case will be heard on February 16, 2021.
For a period of five years, the court investigated complaints from ex-members of the Jehovah's Witnesses. They testified about how they were rejected by order of the organization and became completely socially isolated.
The Ghent prosecutor's office already sued the Jehovah's Witnesses in June, but the case was then postponed. On Tuesday, the case against the Jehovah's witnesses was reopened. The deadline for conclusion has been set and pleadings will take place on February 16, 2021. A dozen people already presented themselves as disadvantaged parties. According to the defense of the ex-members, this number will only increase.
The non-profit association is charged with four cases. First and foremost, inciting discrimination based on religious beliefs against a person and against a group. In addition, also inciting hatred or violence towards a person and towards a group.
 

https://www.jw.org/en/library/series/how-your-donations-are-used/A-Small-Box-That-Delivers-Spiritual-Food/
The branch loads usb sticks with videos and content and sends it to the congregation, who then load it to the jw box, which the publishers connect and download into their devices. 
It works as a normal device and can be charged through usb, adapter or power bank.
The best part, they want donations of $75 for it! So they don't provide any physical food to people in Africa but they can send them "Spiritual Food" for $75. 
Turns out, you can buy the same exact thing on Amazon for $45!!! All they did was slap a JW Logo onto of it and cover over the name of the product with a white sticky tape. 
let's say they bought these in bulk for 20 dollars. If they sell 1million of these at a 50.00 dollar profit. The org just made 50 million !

Don’t worry. Be happy! Turn that frown upside down!
In every life we have some trouble
But when you worry you make it double
Don't worry, be happy
Don't worry, be happy now don't worry
(Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) be happy
(Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) don't worry, be happy
(Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) don't worry
(Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) be happy
(Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) don't worry, be happy Maybe that will be the next year text

Historians of the future will be asked which quarter of 2020 did they specialize in.
Quarter 1: Pandemic appears out of nowhere and spreads throughout the globe within weeks. Society goes into lockdown. Stock markets plunge. Massive unemployment begins.
Quarter 2: People get fed up with lockdown. Churches defy them. College students and the young in general defy them. Police shootings prompt major protests in the streets. Renewed spikes in Covid 19 cases.
Quarter 3: Protests escalate to riots. Pro and anti Trump people fight each other in the streets. Some killings, Huge property damage. Record-setting fires burn throughout western states, destroying entire communities, the smoke dims Eastern skies. GOP and Democrats decline to help unemployed as they did initially, preferring to blame each other Instead for the suffering that ensues.
Quarter 4: The election. Never has been seen such incivility of opponents. Trump’s enemies proclaim he will not leave if he loses and will have to be dragged out of the White House. Hillary tells Democrats to, under no circumstances, concede a loss come Election Day. Social unrest intensifies. Only about one third of Americans say they will take a vaccine whenever one is produced. Serious talk of civil war is heard.
Just for starters.
Nothing to see here, people. Move along, now. Why, from the days of our forefathers, all things continue exactly as from creation’s beginning.
You do?

As skeptical as I am about a lot of things, I cannot agree with you there. There are a lot of things going wrong that I have not seen before. For example just when I go shopping. I want to make bread....I can't get the flour, and haven't been able to for months. This is only one thing. There are many others I won't get into, but once the supply chain is broken somewhere, it's like a domino effect, it affects a lot of other things. In the long run it affects people's livelihoods, and when people don't have money, they get up to all kinds of weird and dangerous things to get it. In my opinion, we have not seen the fallout of 2020 yet. I think we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg right now....

I was just browsing this topic and was wondering if you had the reference for this. Thanks! 🙂

Very true....

It sure seems like 2020 is quite distinct from any other. It even looks distinct on paper: 2020, an interesting number. When it passes by and in a few more years nothing happens I will refer you to this page and laugh at you.. When something does happen, I will eat humble pie and you will have the right to laugh at me. Not that any of us will be really laughing at the other, we are too nice for that right?

“In my letter I wrote you to stop keeping company with sexually immoral people, not meaning entirely with the sexually immoral people of this world or the greedy people or extortioners or idolaters. Otherwise, you would actually have to get out of the world.” Paul has to clarify who he was speaking about, because, obviously it was not possible to “get out of the world.”
Today it is! If you follow government advisories and go just a tiny nudge further, you all but have! And nobody saw it coming! Nobody foresaw a pandemic, and in case anyone did, no one foresaw how it would give ample opportunity to get out of the world.
Let’s get @Kosonengoing on this. We all know that 4J is nuts, denouncing that even if they brush their teeth at Bethel, those choppers are not really clean because it was not guided by holy spirit. Yes, holy spirit doesn’t direct every tiny little thing they do. But neither am I willing to send it out to pasture. Could holy spirit have something to do with this unexpected opportunity to “get out of the world?” What does Kos think?
One of our elders is very much given to spotting sentences from the Watchtower and reading extra meaning into them that may or may not be there. He was all excited when they commented on the uber-violent entertainment of today, that maybe it is preparing the hearts of non-worshippers for when “each one will lift up his hand against his brother”—pumping them up with an affinity for gore.
And now here we are just a few years down the road and people seriously discuss the possibility of civil war in the United States! And they are fighting it out right now in several US cities!
In the United States! The last time there was talk of civil war in the United States was during the Civil War! Now there is that talk again, with society splitting into two factions that hate each other‘s guts. No matter who wins the election in November, the other side is not going to accept it.
It is more than a joke when it is said: “Future historians will be asked: ‘What quarter of 2020 did you specialize in?’” They didn’t say it about 2019, 2018, or any other year in memory. There is something distinct, groundbreaking, and equally disasterous in each quarter. Factions do not trust one another. The population does not agree on “what the science says” or whether they should follow it regardless of what it says. It doesn’t agree on anything. As Pew uncovered, not only do they not agree on how to act in light of the facts, but they don’t agree on what the facts are. Factions can’t stand each  other and do all they can to demonize the other side.
Current happenings are entirely in harmony with how God has said he “will incite Egyptians against Egyptians, and they will fight one another, each against his brother and his neighbor.” It seems like a very appropriate time to “get out of the world” to the extent possible, and now current events and the organization’s example make it possible to a greater extent that even Paul’s day. It also seems like an appropriate time to lay off criticism for anyone saying we’re in the last of the last days.

I suppose the word "misleading" is what I balk at.
Miriam Webster defines this as: "to lead in a wrong direction or into a mistaken action or belief often by deliberate deceit"
I do not think this is the case in respect of the last days or any portion thereof. I think there have been and are speculative expectations regarding the proximity of Jehovah's intervention and that some get carried along with them, embroidering them even. But not all have, or are, even now. An "are we there yet?" mindset is not  that peculiar among humans who are expecting good things to happen. It is just a consequence of impatience and and a bit of tangible reward focus thrown in.
People who need and want to give up smoking tobacco may be reinforced in this by monetary or health considerations, even peer pressure. The more noble reasons of being undefiled and whole-souled before Jehovah may take time to get their proper place in motivation. But who cares?.... as long as they put the filthy habit behind them.
So if people do more for Jehovah due to an exaggerated spur of expectation... who cares? Everybody wins in the end. Right motive takes time to develop as Paul made clear at Php. 3:15 and 1Cor. 9:17.
And for those who now feel they gave up too much for too little in their serving Jehovah? Perhaps a little more meditating on what Jehovah and Jesus gave up for them, and what exactly they gave it up for would not go amiss.

Know what you  mean, but there is a problem with the analogy. Your illustration has $100.00  as the main objective. So you gain nothing until the delivery of that prize. So the seeming delay in receiving this becomes a problem as you actually have nothing until that sum is repaid, in fact you are out of pocket, in a negative position.
That is not the case with true Christians. Once their relationship with Jehovah has been restored through Christ, they have something of infinite, immediate value. They are not out of pocket while they await payment of a debt. So as the psalmist said at Ps.119:165 "Abundant peace belongs to those who love your law, nothing can make them stumble". That is current, not future. 
Those who appreciate what Jehovah has done for them are not disappointed because some enthusiastic speculation on when they are going to get a future reward doesn't come to fruition. Neither are they carried along euphorically in some sort of "self"-sacrificing display of piety, only to wish they hadn't offered a bull when they could have got by quite acceptably with a goat. When the self-expected reward doesn't appear, they feel cheated as if they were owed something by God as a payment for services rendered.
Nope, all I see is the age old parental type care displayed when children are told "Stop playing with that stick, you'll poke your own or your sister's eye out!" Exaggeration sure, but compliance will definitely protect someone's eye. Don't blame your parents for trying to protect you from harm. 🙂

Can't wait till AI starts running the WTBTS!

It could very possibly be a demon possessed Smurf.
 

Now reading what @JW Insider has just written, I would say that the 1967 'prediction' was a con, a lie, a deliberate fraud.
But this bit is funny JWI, Quote :
But it's completely forgivable, of course, because they weren't claiming they knew for sure, it's just what they were very sure of, 
Actually it is not forgivable in any way at all.   Those Leaders pretended to be inspired by God's Holy Spirit. Those Leader expected to be believed and obeyed by ALL JWs of that time. 
Those Leaders were / are a stumbling block. Luke 17 v 1&2
As for poor old Tom, well he just loves to misquote me. Keep it up Tom. quote :
 ‘Only five years more till the true-anointed appears and brings the end!’ and now sings “Que sera, sera’ no last of the last for me!”
I have said it would need a True Anointed to run God's true Organisation through Christ. It would be very sad if the CCJW had to wait another 5 years for that true Anointed to be put in place.  We know (through JWI's friend in Bethel) that the CCJW is in financial trouble. We also know that the CCJW is in spiritual trouble. We also know how bad the CSA problem still is.... SO, if it had to wait another 5 Years for the True Anointed, i don't think there would actually be a CCJW at all. 
Also I never said the True Anointed would bring the end. Only God through Christ will bring the end of this wicked system.  There will of course be a final last day, but NO ONE knows when. 
 

That's pretty simple to answer, thanks for asking.
Let's say I owed you $100.00, which you only would loan me because I promised to pay you back "within days." I told you that I would pay you back within days saying, "... because these are now the last days before I finally will get my paycheck."  But then, let's say, it went on for a few more weeks and then a whole month. You'd probably remind me about that time when I said we were already in the last days before I would get my paycheck. But my response to you is, "Don't worry! We are now in the final part, the last days of those last days before I get my paycheck." But, one more month goes by and you still don't have your money.
They say that a verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on. But, assuming both parties stipulate to exactly what was said above, and both parties are fluent in English, you could go to a small claims court and easily show a breach of promise because the expression "final part of those last days" strongly implies that we are at least in the last half (past the midpoint) of those last days before the promise should be fulfilled. If you, the party who gave the loan, had waited a month, before being told "we are now in the final part, the last days of the those last days" then you should reasonably expect that it would not be another full month of waiting.
In fact, you would say that I was misleading you. And I couldn't say, as @Outta Here indicated, that you were only misled because you wanted to be misled. Quite the opposite; it would mislead those who don't want to be misled.
So that brings us to the obvious implication of saying the last days started in 1914 and then saying, in 1967, that we are already in the final part of those last days. It had already been 53 years, in 1967. And it has also been 53 years since 1967. So apparently we were not even in the final half of those last days, in spite of being told something much more specific about where we were in that last part of those last days. In fact, we were told, in 1967, that we were in the last part of the last one-seventh of the last days. (One could even say that this should mean we were likely in the last one-fourteenth of the last days since 1914.)
But it's completely forgivable, of course, because they weren't claiming they knew for sure, it's just what they were very sure of, and it didn't make sense any other way - based on the length of the generation since 1914, and several ominous factors about the signs of the times. There was also the sureness of others, and this was probably contagious (in a good way) while some brothers in Writing were even "prophesying" that young people would never get old in this system, and never even have the time to start a career, and probably didn't even have time to get a 4-year college degree.
*** Awake! 1969 May 22 p.15 ***
"If you are a young person, you also need to face the fact that you will never grow old in this present system of things. Why not? Because all the evidence in fulfillment of Bible prophecy indicates that this corrupt system is due to end in a few years. . . Therefore, as a young person, you will never fulfill any career that this system offers. If you are in high school and thinking about a college education, it means at least four, perhaps even six or eight more years to graduate into a specialized career. But where will this system of things be by that time? It will be well on the way toward its finish, if not actually gone!"
In fact, our Circuit Overseer in 1967-70 (Kent Karras) gave a very rousing talk about the 1967 Watchtower quoted above, and applied it to Joshua encircling the walls of Jericho for 6 days, and how in this final period (the "seventh") we should try to cover our territory more often than we ever did before.
*** it-2 p. 35 Jericho ***
. . . once a day for six days the Israelite military force went forth, followed by seven priests continually blowing the horns, behind whom were the priests carrying the Ark, and finally the rear guard—all marching around Jericho. But on the seventh day they marched around the city seven times. At the blowing of the horns on the final march around Jericho, the people shouted a great war cry, and the city’s walls began to fall flat.
According to my notes, the idea was repeated at the Divine Victory! conventions in 1973, which also included the Joshua/Jericho drama.

I’m not doing nothing until we reach the last of the last of the last days. Why inconvenience myself unnecessarily? It’s the same as when over the years the pioneer hour requirement is progressively lowered, then such a thing as ‘auxiliary pioneering’ is concocted, then the hour requirement for them is over time lowered, then it is even devised how to lower it still more during months of special activity. “I’m holding out for 15,” I tell people when I’m feeling punchy.
I forgive it all. It may sound a little clunky, but I forgive it. I even recommend it—or at least acquiesce to it.
“Soon we’ll be away from here—step on the gas and wipe that tear away!” That’s what the GB does. They step on the gas. They don’t sit in stuffy boardrooms discussing schematics of the car. The hop in the driver’s seat and drive that sucker! It is not an armchair activity for them. It is a participation sport, and they are not afraid to push pedal to the medal.
It is a little like Carl Jung after the Holocaust, his values shaken to the core, because he observed it and read a lot about it, and so he completely misses the meaning of Job as he takes shots at God in ‘Answer to Job.’ Jehovah’s Witnesses, on the other hand, didn’t observe it. They didn’t read up on it. They endured it. They lived through it. They were sent to the camps well before the far more numerous Jews, and their integrity saw them though. 
So it is that the GB today are doers to match their prowess as thinkers, maybe even outrunning it at times, convinced the latter will catch up. Do they counsel obedience for others? They are that way themselves. They obey first, then they think it through more thoroughly afterwards. Should this result in a clunky expression from time to time, so be it. They are not afraid to go all-in, and I so prefer them to the bland people of this system who must hedge everything they do.
Nor am I not going to be forewarned by it. I’m not about to let my ‘sophistication’ cause me to miss out. They deal with and want to counter the opposite view: “Why, from the days of our forefathers, all things are continuing as at Creation’s beginning!” People are rocked by unheard of calamities today—and yet in no time at all they have adapted to them and accepted whatever is the latest as ‘just one [more] of those things.‘ The urge to sleep is strong. Even 4Jah, saying whatever he has to in order to insult his former faith, not noticing when it contradicts what he has just said, scares us all with ‘Only five years more till the true-anointed appears and brings the end!’ and now sings “Que sera, sera’ no last of the last for me!”

I'm afraid you are misunderstanding completely. @Outta Here said:
I'm merely showing you how what he is saying is correct. So what you are quoting is a very true statement.
I'm not saying I believe the last days started on October 4, 1914, I just picked that date because that's pretty close to the day that the Watchtower claims the last days must have started. If they did start then, you could say that everyone since that date has been living in the last part of the last days.
*** w14 7/15 p. 30 par. 9 “You Will Be Witnesses of Me” ***
That happened in October 1914, marking the beginning of “the last days” of Satan’s wicked system.
*** yb75 p. 138 Part 2—United States of America ***
around October 4/5, 1914 C.E. The people needed to know that through the Messianic kingdom then established Jehovah was ruling as king,
*** dp chap. 6 p. 97 par. 28 Unraveling the Mystery of the Great Tree ***
Thus, the “seven times,” or 2,520 years, ended by Tishri 15, or October 4/5, 1914 C.E.
*** po chap. 14 p. 177 par. 19 Triumph for the “Eternal Purpose” ***
So they would end about that time of the year in 1914 C.E., or about October 4/5, 1914.
*** ka chap. 12 p. 230 par. 40 Increasing the King’s Belongings ***
So the end of those Gentile Times about October 4/5 of 1914 should logically witness a reversal of the situation of such long standing. It was therefore not without significance that October 4/5, 1914, found the Gentile nations in trouble, already for two months embroiled in the first world war of human history.
*** kj chap. 19 p. 352 par. 7 Defeat Awaits Attack by Nations under Gog ***
they were fulfilled around October 4/5 of the year 1914 C.E.
Therefore, the following statement is also very true:
And so is this one:
 

I can tell I touched a sensitive nerve in you since you directly resorted to an insult...classical jw style.
Non of those people claimed to be prophets in their history, or the current channel of communication between God and man, or the mouthpiece of Jehovah or getting direct information from Jehovah through Jesus. 
Or do you enjoy worshipping 8 men who are still roaming about in the dark, waiting for new light from Jehovah?

Only to those who want to be misled. It is, at worst, "ambiguous" to a thinking person. "Last days of what?" is the first question that comes to mind.
I see no issue with premature expectation when it comes to the end of this system of things. It seems to have always been a feature of true worshipers that their expectation of Jehovah's action to cleanse the earth brought the event closer in their minds than in fact, see Luke 19:11; Acts 1:6. In fact this attitude is even encouraged, 2Pet.3:11-12, although of course there is balancing counsel too as at 2Thess.2:1-2.
We have a very clear punctuation mark in the progression of this time known as "the last days"  if that is what we want, in the form of the destruction of false religion Rev.17:16-17. Really, that event will be the herald of "the last days of the last days" of the time leading up to Armageddon. There will be no ambiguity when that event occurs, although the "great tribulation" itself has no specifically defined duration despite indicators being that it will be relatively short.
Habbakuk's words are timely,(Hab.2:3) "Keep yourselves in expectation of it!" And Romans 8:19 highlights a similar attitude of "eager expectation". This is an identifying feature of true worshippers according to Heb 11.  Spiritual drowsiness and sleep, along with "upturned noses", characterises those described at 2Pet.3:3-4 by way of contrast.
 

Adam was hanging around the Garden of Eden feeling very lonely.    So, God asked him, "What's wrong with you?"    Adam said he didn't have anyone to talk to.    God said that He was going to make Adam a companion and that it would be a woman.    He said, "This pretty lady will gather food for you, she will cook for you, and when you discover clothing, she will wash it for you.    She will always agree with every decision you make and she will not nag you.    And will always be the first to admit she was wrong when you've had a disagreement.    She will praise you!    She will bear your children.    And never ask you to get up in the middle of the night to take care of them.    "She will NEVER have a headache and will freely give you love and passion whenever you need it."    Adam asked God, "What will a woman like this cost?"    God replied, "An arm and a leg."    Then Adam asked, "What can I get for a rib?"  

Arbitrary nonsense.

You do know that in Dan 11:38, where it states “he will honor a god of fortresses”, it is speaking about the King of the North?  According to your organization, that would be Russia.  Most JWs may believe in 1914 as you say, but do you believe what your leaders teach you, about the King of the North?  Or, do you have your own opinion?
I’m glad you have your own opinion.  Just realize that the “armed forces” of the King of the North, “desecrates the temple fortress” and abolishes the “daily sacrifice”.  (Dan 11:31)
It is the “man of lawlessness”, who “honors a god of fortresses”, setting up the “abomination of desolation”, which means that the temple of God is desolated by an idol – a “god of fortresses”.  Matt 24:15
Who comprise the Temple of God?  1 Cor 3:16,17; 2 Cor 6:16; Eph 2:20-22
“As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 
 “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
Who is it, that “represents the royal priesthood”, replacing their "daily sacrifices" as well?
Who is it, that keeps the organization moving forward in all aspects?  The GB?  Not for long. (Rev 17:12,13,16,17)   It is the elder body – a large army of men – “armed forces”. (Dan 11:31)
And who is it, that cannot meet together as a holy priesthood” and offer their spiritual “daily sacrifices”? 
I think you know.
JWs honor the same god of fortresses, as the King of the North. 
 A fortress is a haven of safety, providing security from the enemy.
“Our spiritual heritage can also infuse in us a deep sense of spiritual security that can be enjoyed only within Jehovah’s organization.” w05 2/15 pp. 17-22
“They have fallen into the deep hole of this system of things and are desperately trying to crawl out and return to the haven of Jehovah’s organization.”  w92 8/1 p. 28
A fortress provides peace of mind for those who believe they are safe within it. 
“And come they have by the hundreds and thousands—happy, lovable people who have found rest and peace in Jehovah’s organization.  yb82 pp. 34-112
 
You said, "Jehovah is loving, and gives us signs.  He does not do anything without warning us".
“Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.” 1 Thess 5:2,3
 
Our only “fortress”,  should be God, who's Spirit resides in His Temple.

“When you cry for help, let those idols of yours save you! (that god of fortresses, that mighty army of elders)
 A puff of wind will carry them off! (2 Thess 2:8)
 But those who trust in Me will live in the land and will worship Me in my Temple.” Isa 57:13
…not in, “Jehovah’s organization”
 
 
 
 
 

Um....it always is isn't it? If we are in the last days and there is an end, and some of the last days have gone already, and keep going day by day, then we must always be... in the final part....No? As long as we are alive that is of course.

This was his opinion. Mine is that something big could be about to happen at any time, with or without a lockdown. It could happen in dire times, or during times when people are taking note of relative peace and security.