I don't know, sometimes the explanations seem forced, like some soft-headed new-agers looking for signed and reading into things, stuff that's not there.(at least not yet)
Exegesis over Eisegesis.
So I'm not making an argument, that all that's wrong,(an I'm sure a lot of it's right) but I am saying that when you find yourself living in an information bubble, you can get to thinking you've got it all figured out. I don't think anyone I've read so far has it all figured out. JW's seem really close, but there are places which seem wishy-washy.
Take the 8th king, that springs from the seven. The image of the wild beast. Perfectly fits the idea of the UN. It's a reflection. But the actual power of the UN is the US at this point, but more and more it's China.
That all the governments will give their power to the UN seems a way off. I see it as the CNN of government at this point. The UN is supposed to hate the harlot of false religion and do away w/her completely, but that seems like it would be really hard to do. And why would they do it, since so many give way to whomever happens to be in power? The pope sounds like a socialist. Would it be the tide of Islam? A nuclear exchange in the middle east via Iran?
Seems to me that a lot of things are brewing, but nothing has gelled to the point where you can draw a straight line from (to phrase an old pub "Kurukshetra to Armageddon")
Along other lines I've been considering...Is God waiting to cash in the value of the ransom at the most opportune moment? When might that be? Moreover, it's clear that none of us know how much knowledge/and/or obedience is required of one at the point of finding onesself at "the plain of decision". Take the Sentinilese. These people probably have IQ's of 60 at best. They don't even know how to make fire. They can't read, and they are probably animists of some kind. I have a hard time imagining Jehovah will simply wipe out these ignorant, backward people simply for not having the good sense not to be born a Sentinilese.
I can see wiping the slate as it were at Armageddon, letting some survive and gradually bringing back these kinds of people to see how these react, but simply not being a baptized card-carrying member of the community of true Christians at Armageddon doesn't seem to be a great argument as to deciding on their ultimate fate.
I had one sister once say "I don't care as long as I'm there." ... That struck me as honest, but also evidence of moral defect.
I know, like Paul said that in me, there dwells nothing good. It's not false humility on my part to acknowledge that there are a lot of non JW's who are way better than me. I used to say to people "I'm not better THAN anyone, but better OFF for trying at least to stay in line w/the bible."