Jack Ryan

interesting to see all the real estate up for sale. http://www.loopnet.com/locations/kingdom-hall-of-jehovah%27s-witnesses/listings/

the elders say that end is near cause there is a major cleanup taking place...... Jehovah’s organization is getting cleaned up

Of course that goes against the saying that Jehovah created ALL life.

What was the point in creating them in the first place?

If he could turn sticks into snakes in Egypt, it's reasonable he could fix cancer.

Look at what happened to Adam and Eve. Look at Jesus?

Kinda unfair when the perfect person had eons of experience with Jehovah compared to a 1 day old perfect person.

How was this justice?

Waits several thousand years before destroying Satan. But the Bible says god is not slow? Please explain.

It's going to take a LOT of preaching to equal the distribution of these newspapers above. Get ready to make some BIG Literature carts, stand by them for about a century and hope (maybe I should say pray for Jehovah's protection) so that no crazy ISIS guys coming wielding swords or bullets.

Apostasy is "as interesting as it is disturbing" ??? - THE MAIL ON SUNDAY - ONE MILLION copies being distributed today

An article in The Mail on Sunday, a British national Sunday newspaper and 'sister' paper to The Daily Mail (that only prints from Mon to Sat). The Mail on Sunday has a circulation of just over ONE MILLION copies each Sunday.

The Mail on Sunday (UK), Sunday, July 29, 2018 - Event Insert, page 15

The sick young patient in need of the blood transfusion that will save their life – only for it to be revealed that they have been brought up as a JehovahÂ’s Witness and cannot be given blood – has become something of a staple of television medical dramas such as Casualty. In Daniel KokotajloÂ’s debut feature, Apostasy, however, this dreadful scenario gets a more thorough examination, resulting in a British drama that, while undeniably slow and bleakly awkward, is also as interesting as it is disturbing.

It also features three knockout performances from the actresses at the centre of events – the superb Siobhan Finneran, who plays the God-fearing and unbending matriarch Ivanna; Molly Wright (so good in TV’s The A Word) as Alex, who received blood as a baby and is therefore considered somehow tainted; and Sacha Parkinson, playing the elder sister whose illegitimate pregnancy will shake the family faith to its core.

What results is no fun at all but certainly leaves its mark.

Read online version:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/event/article-5991763/Mission-Impossible-Fallout-like-Mission-Unmissable.html

Apostasy: "Between art class and Armageddon" ???? - THE OBSERVER

An article in The Observer, a British national 'quality' Sunday newspaper and the 'sister' paper to The Guardian (that only prints Mon to Sat). The Observer has a circulation of around 165,000-copies each Sunday

The Observer (UK), Sunday, July 29, 2018 - The New Review Section, pages 34 & 35

First-hand experience underpins Daniel Kokotajlo’s devastating film about a crisis of faith among three British JehovahÂ’s Witnesses

In the third act of Daniel KokotajloÂ’s Apostasy, a psalm appears on-screen: "Throw your burden on Jehovah and he will sustain you." It functions more as a provocation than a prayer. Based on writer-director KokotajloÂ’s own upbringing as a JehovahÂ’s Witness in Manchester, his edifying slow burn of a debut looks at a trio of women each wrestling with the rules and restrictions of their religion.

PICTURE: 'Exceptionally controlled': Sacha Parkinson as Luisa and Molly Wright as Alex in Daniel Kokotajlo's debut film Apostasy.

Eighteen-year-old Alex (Molly Wright) and her older sister Luisa (Sacha Parkinson) are devout Witnesses. Under the watchful eye of their single mother Ivanna (Siobhan Finneran), the girls attend meetings at their Kingdom Hall and spend their spare time learning Urdu in order to spread the word to the local Muslim community as part of their door-to-door duties. Kokotajlo treats their shared belief in the coming Armageddon (and the paradise that is supposed to follow) with utter seriousness.

Alex is shocked to discover that her sister, who studies at a nearby college and mixes with the secular kids, has neglected to tell her friends about her faith. "You've let college get to your head," scolds Ivanna, reprimanding her daughter for missing meetings in order to attend art classes. When Luisa reveals that she is pregnant – and keeping the baby – she is promptly "disfellowshipped", the church elders insisting the family cut contact until she is officially reinstated.

Teenage pregnancies aren't the only thing the church wonÂ’t tolerate. Alex thumbs a pamphlet of "kids who died for Jehovah", knowing that she might have to do the same. Though she suffers from a kind of anaemia (severe enough to warrant a transfusion as a baby, despite vehement protest from the elders), she tells her doctor that, as an adult with custody over her own body, she will refuse the transfer of blood.

Already ashamed of her supposed impurity ("to mess with the body is the worst sin"), Alex feels at a disadvantage with new boyfriend Steven (Robert Emms), a youngish elder transplanted from London. Pursuing her with Ivanna's approval, the sensible, straight-backed Steven tells Alex that he'd like to get to know her. "I donÂ’t know if youÂ’d like me if you really got to know me," she replies, mostly to herself. Kokotajlo emphasises the awkwardness of their courtship, continually positioning them a little too far away from one another. Like the wrong ends of two magnets, an invisible forcefield seems to stop them connecting; when they kiss, itÂ’s a hard, tight-lipped affair. "We could do all right, you know," exhales Steven with a chilling, happy sigh.

Cinematographer Adam Scarth favours tight close-ups and two-shots that tend to focus on one character at a time. Much like his dramatic sensibility, KokotajloÂ’s aesthetic is subtle and even-handed. A drab, brownish colour palette mimics the austerity encouraged by the elders, the day-to-day drained of worldly pleasures.

With an expectation established that the narrative will concentrate on the girls, a dramatic event in the filmÂ’s third act instead shifts the emphasis to Ivanna. Another director might build to this moment as a climax, but Kokotajlo chooses to spend time amid the wreckage. The absence of catharsis makes the filmÂ’s cold conclusion all the more devastating.

"Kokotajlo presents this world from the perspective of somebody who understands"

The three lead performances are exceptionally controlled. Wright creates the sense of AlexÂ’s deep spiritual connection with Jehovah but plays her as shy and self-conscious, a wide-eyed little girl lost. Finneran, on the other hand, dares to portray Ivanna as an unsympathetic character. There is a blankness to her, a stony gaze that betrays only the faintest flicker of doubt as her daughter pleads with her through angry tears. Yet her character motivation remains crystal clear. As Luisa, Parkinson, who caught the eye as Stacey Stringfellow in E4Â’s wonderful but short-lived series My Mad Fat Diary in 2013, is furious, exhausted, eager to please but unable to compromise. Despite her efforts to reintegrate herself into the church, the patriarchal powers that be declare: "She likes to voice her opinion too much."

Kokotajlo presents this world from the perspective of somebody who has experienced and understands it. Frequently, the film is enraging. Not because it shows the way in which dogma has the power to rewire the moral instincts of its devotees, but for the sombreness with which it acknowledges that the devotees allow this to happen.

Read online version:
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jul/29/apostasy-review-daniel-kokotajlo-british-jehovahs-witnesses

????? Five Star APOSTASY Review - THE SUNDAY EXPRESS

An article in The Sunday Express, a British national Sunday newspaper and 'sister' paper to The Daily Express (that only prints from Mon to Sat). The Sunday Express has a circulation of around 295,000-copies each Sunday.

The Sunday Express (UK), Sunday, July 29, 2018 - page 50

Apostasy isn’t anyoneÂ’s idea of a feel-good movie. Writer-director Daniel KokotajloÂ’s debut film is a gritty tragedy about three women whose lives are ruined by a religious cult. Yet somehow I left the film feeling elated. IÂ’ve suffered some long nights of the soul over the past few years, but my faith in British film had just been restored.

The cult in question, and I donÂ’t use this c-word lightly, is one that will be familiar to anyone with a doorbell. Kokotajlo is a former JehovahÂ’s Witness and his astonishingly authentic debut takes us inside OldhamÂ’s Kingdom Hall. He shows us a closed community with a radical, apocalyptic agenda that sets out to divide families and places dogma far ahead of human life. But he clearly cares for the churchÂ’s members. ItÂ’s a hard-hitting film but also a sympathetic one.

Siobhan Finneran plays Ivanna, a devout Witness from Oldham with two teenage daughters – Luisa (Sacha Parkinson) and Alex (Molly Wright). Both will test her faith. Alex, 18, has a blood condition but in compliance with the rulings of the “elders” is risking her life by refusing transfusions. Luisa falls pregnant, is “disfellowshipped” and must fend for herself.

The performances are all excellent, the plot is full of surprises and the characters are complicated and believable.

Read online version:
https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/films/995759/tom-cruise-mission-impossible-fallout-apostasy-hotel-transylvania-summer-vacation-review

But he sends angels to protect women at a door preaching from a potential bad householder? Wouldn't we often here of this experience?

Does anyone have a copy of the illustrations of angels protecting JW's during the preaching work?

The pressure mounts:

An article in The Sunday Times, a British national Sunday newspaper and 'sister' paper to The Times (that only prints from Mon to Sat). The Sunday Times has a circulation of around 720,000-copies each Sunday making it Britain's largest-selling 'quality press / broadsheet' Sunday newspaper.

The Sunday Times (UK), Sunday, July 29, 2018 - Culture Section, page 12

Apostasy is a moving depiction of a family constrained by the rules of life as JehovahÂ’s Witnesses

Daniel KokotajloÂ’s impressive film Apostasy is a gloomy British drama that draws its misery from a fairly novel source: the rules of being a JehovahÂ’s Witness. Kokotajlo grew up in that religion, and his movie shows great compassion for people in its thrall, but he sure doesnÂ’t think they are on a path to happiness.

Set in present-day Oldham, the film is a portrait of a single mother, Ivanna, and her two daughters, both of whom might be lost to her if she won’t relax her adherence to the Witnesses’ doctrines. The older girl, Luisa, is a student who becomes pregnant and questions her faith, causing her to be “disfellowshipped” — cast out from the flock. Ivanna’s maternal love remains strong, but she knows she is allowed only minimum contact with her ostracised child. Meanwhile, her younger daughter, 18-year-old Alex, is as devout as they come, but is also dangerously anaemic, and her refusal (in keeping with her creed’s teachings) to consider blood transfusions could put her life at risk.

AlexÂ’s health is obviously going to have consequences at some point in the story. And when they arrive, Kokotajlo proves he can resist melodramatic huffing and puffing. A terrible event does occur, but itÂ’s presented quietly and plays a valid part in the filmÂ’s poignant testing of IvannaÂ’s loyalties. Indeed, thereÂ’s one area in which the film is perhaps a bit too restrained. What made Ivanna the way she is? What became of her husband? KokotajloÂ’s silence here is clearly not accidental, but itÂ’s more frustrating than intriguing.

Ivanna remains a believable character, though, and she’s well played by Siobhan Finneran (previously seen in the television series Happy Valley), who gives her the solidity and sternness of a northern soap-opera matriarch before revealing the pain she endures as her zeal is shaken. There are good performances, too, from Sacha Parkinson — hollow-eyed as the isolated, anguished Luisa — and Molly Wright, who plays Alex with the right kind of ordinary sweetness.

As for Kokotajlo’s directorial skills, they are well honed in what is his first feature. When Alex prays, we see her speaking aloud in shots that float ever so slightly between realism and abstraction, giving us a heightened sense of how close to Jehovah she feels. The film moves smoothly and even gets away with a rather mannered fondness for sombre lighting — though you might still wonder if the Witnesses’ rules somehow limit their use of lightbulbs.

That’s one doctrinal question the film never gets round to, but in other respects Kokotajlo does provide bits of information about the Witnesses’ belief system. He can include the necessary dialogue quite realistically, given that he’s dealing with characters who tend to preach. The film is certainly meant as an exposé, highlighting a sect’s dubious practices. Crucially, though, it’s not bluntly journalistic. It’s a potent story of individuals and it understands the fear any of us might feel if our place in a family or a community was threatened.

Read online version:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/film-review-apostasy-lz00nnk5n

The Sunday Times (UK), Sunday, July 29, 2018 - Culture Section, page 20

This credible drama about life in a British community of Jehovah's Witnesses centres on a family damaged by rules from which they can barely imagine escaping.

A Jehovah’s Witness who partnered with a couple he trusted based on their shared faith is suing them over ownership of a religion-themed gift shop in Orange County.

Greg Holland of Victoria, British Columbia, claims in a federal lawsuit that Thomas and Nanci Matos of Pine Bush, New York, coerced him into relinquishing his property.

“Through deceit and intimidation, the Matoses stole Holland’s investment and interest in Ministry Ideaz LLC,” the complaint states. “The Matoses then used Ministry Ideaz’s inventory and cash to establish their own competing business.”

The Matoses did not respond to telephone and email messages asking for their side of the story.

Holland started Ministry Ideaz in 2002 as an online business from his home in Ecuador. The company makes and sells leather and paper products – such as Bible covers, notebooks and calendars – for Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Last year, he decided to open a store in the U.S. He met the Matoses through a mutual friend and, “based on his trust of fellow members of the Jehovah’s Witness faith, agreed to partner with them.”

Holland held 90 percent of the New York company, and the Matoses owned the rest.

Holland claims he wired more than $40,000 to the Matoses to set up the store and then another $190,000 to cover expenses for nine months. He shipped $250,000 in inventory from Ecuador that he hoped would sell at retail for $750,000.

In May 2017, they opened a storefront in Valley Supreme Plaza in Pine Bush, 25 miles from the JehovahÂ’s Witnesses headquarters.

Business was good. The store sold $38,837 in goods in the first month and another $250,000 in credit card transactions over the following four months.

But Holland became estranged from his wife in late 2017, having engaged in an extramarital affair. His wife moved to Canada with their two children.

Holland describes the Matoses as his “surrogate parents.” They offered emotional support during his marital troubles and assured him that he need not worry about the business because it was in their good hands.

At the same time, Holland alleges, the Matoses were trying to persuade his wife to divorce him, seek sole custody of their children and “extract a financial settlement.”

The Matoses, the complaint states, were already “secretly scheming to steal Holland’s entire investment.”

They registered BestLife Gifts LLC in February, using the Ministry Ideaz address.

On March 2, the Matoses held a “special meeting” at their home and decided to dissolve the company. Holland, the majority owner, claims he was not notified.

Thomas Matos emailed him on the same day, stating, “We are severing ties!”

“The store sign has been removed, the lease has ended, utilities, phones and internet cancelled,” the message said.

“There has been far to (sic) much pressure on Nanci and I being in business with you,” the message stated. “Being associated with Ministry Ideaz has become a liability that has already damaged us.”

To this day, according to the July 25 lawsuit, BestLife operates from the same storefront as Ministry Ideaz, uses the same telephone numbers and sells the same inventory.

On March 5, the complaint states, Thomas Matos threatened to reveal HollandÂ’s marital problems to the customers he had cultivated for 16 years and to stop processing about 1,000 online orders.

Matos allegedly offered a deal. He would not follow through on the threats if Holland signed over his entire interest in Ministry Ideaz, agreed to dissolve the company and relinquished the equipment and inventory.

Holland says he signed the one-page agreement, “fearing that the Matoses would ruin his livelihood and his relationship with his family and his church.”

Holland reconciled with his wife, moved to Canada and “began to grasp the extent of the Matoses’ deceit.”

He is demanding $300,000 in damages, and he wants the court to declare the dissolution deal null and void and to bar the Matoses and BestLife from selling inventory and assets.

Holland is represented by Jack A. Gordon, Joshua B. Katz and Luis F. Calvo of Kent, Beatty & Gordon LLP in Manhattan.

https://westfaironline.com/105235/partners-fighting-over-gift-shop-for-jehovahs-witnesses/

I realize that those kids are playing with their parents, but it seems pretty dishonest for them to portray sports in a positive light when it is so plainly forbidden inside the organization