James Thomas Rook Jr.

Steven Hassan is the David Splane of anti-cultists. He is the Great Explainer who works tirelessly in their behalf. He is the originator of the BITE model of “mind control”—Behavioral, Informational, Thought, and Emotional Control! He is the man who, as a youth, was naive enough to join the Moonies—the robe-dressing, flower-hawking Moonies! and now, having quit them, he insists that even the most intelligent people [read: himself] can be misled into a cult. 
Of course, there are only so many Moonies in the world. Mr Hassan expands the C-word into ever more frontiers, and one of them is Jehovah’s Witnesses. You would think that it is the only one, to hear JW detractors carry on, but it is but one of an ever-growing stable. I have witnessed JW opponents on social media counseling each other as to the most effective way to conduct themselves, referring back to the BITE model of Hassan as a guide, as though he was a cult leader of himself.
His horizon’s continue to expand. His current book is: “The Cult of Trump—A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind-Control.” A review of it begins with: “Can’t understand why a loved one would vote for Donald Trump? Let the experts who spend their lives studying cults help break it down.” Of course! It is completely inexplicable otherwise! Only cult delusion can account for such a vote. When you think that half the country has fallen victim to cult influence and mind-control, it is strong evidence that you have drunk too much of the Kool-Aid yourself.
So he comes out of the closet. He reveals himself. He is a leftist—nothing more. He is of the victimization society. I’m glad to see it, for it undermines his alleged expertise elsewhere—like with JWs, for example. Up to the point of his new book on Trump, one can begin to suspect that maybe, just maybe, Jehovah’s Witnesses are a cult. They pay far more attention to their Governing Body than other groups do to their leaders. They certainly take their faith far more seriously than do others, and they deviate from the accepted goals of society in fundamental ways. 
Yes, you can just begin to imagine it—and then Hassan, who got the ball rolling in the first place, comes along and says half the country is under the spell of a cult leader! Okay. That does it. He is a loon, just upset that his candidate did not win, and that recognition qualifies whatever he has said about Jehovah’s Witnesses or anyone else.
It’s not that the idea of influencing people is ridiculous. Its the over-application that is. No meaningful outfit does not incorporate some application of “behavioral, informational, thought, and emotional control”—the most striking example is that of the family. Is it really brainwashing that he objects to—or is it just brainwashing that is not his? Read him as he carries on about Trump and realize that the spillover will taint his mission with anything else.
Leaving sects that were his bread and butter far behind, he tweets: 
“We need to have a fundamentally NEW conversation about how we interact with Trump supporters.  Online arguing doesn’t work. When we label Trump supporters as “dumb” or “evil”, it only reinforces their own image that they are persecuted and cuts off any chance of them changing.”
“Though I know it’s hard to do when they say such vitriolic things, we need to imagine they are stuck inside a religious cult. How would we try to get them out?  At first, we would make sure to avoid argument and really try to CONNECT. This may take a while but is vital.”
“After we’ve established some trust and rapport, we need to be delicate. We don’t rush to talk about Trump (they will still be defensive and unmovable).  We need to find a subject that has parallels to their situation but doesn’t feel personal (i.e. Chinese Communist Brainwashing)”
“Using that example, we can highlight examples of behavior control, information control, thought control, and emotional control.  Very delicately, we can ask them questions about their beliefs and reflexively listen to the answers without ANY judgment.”
“What if they bring up the economy?” I interjected. It worked for Bill Clinton—“It’s the economy, stupid” instantly trounced all other considerations and won him the election. I follow Mr. Hassan on Twitter. When he returned the follow, I promised that I would take no cheap shots. I find this promise hard to keep these days, since his new horizons strikes me as no less absurd that his old. But I have, more or less, kept it.
Incredibly, he answered me privately, though DM. He recommended that I read his book! Nobody answers privately on Twitter, yet that’s what he did. My only explanation is that he saw my Twitter banner, which suggests that I am a Witness—it’s an advertisement of Dear Mr. Putin - Jehovah’s Witnesses Write Russia—and he simply assumed that if he gently gave me opportunity, not publicly where I would not dare respond lest my OVERSEERS take note, but in private, like Jesus pulled aside the deaf man so as not to put him on the spot, that I would gratefully let him take me by the hand so as to escape from the JW cult!
I don’t troll the guy. Everyone has a right to prevail on their own feed. I am not disrespectful when I reply and I don’t do it often. The next time he advised me, this time publicly, to read his book, I responded that I had a book, too. A third party to the thread tweeted that he had no book. “Get off your duff and write one!” I replied with a smiley emoji. “It is apparently the price of admission.”
Hassan stays at it—keeping on the watch:
“Has everyone seen this video of Donald Trump?  Senior cabinet members grovel in the exact same way Scientologists do with Miscavage.  Does this LOOK like a healthy organization to you? This is not normal.  This is cult behavior.”
“He has actually said just the opposite,” I replied, “that his advisors do not have to agree with him and he likes the mix they bring to the table. To be sure, not many of them last too long.”
“He says often what he thinks people want him to say or what he is told to say, but actions are what count!”
“I don’t see it, Steve,” I wrote. “To get a job, you must convey that you are a “team player” Try putting on your resume that your talent lies in challenging or broadening out the boss. Most bosses want a cohesive team that will recognize who leads. Have other POTUSs not done this also?”
Of course! Trump does bully on his feed, but the Presidency has been called the “bully pulpit,” after all. It is just that he is better at it than others that gets into Steve’s craw. If he bullied on Steve’s side, I can’t imagine him having any problem with it. It’s not mind-control that he is upset with. It is the mind-control that is not that from his side. I barely restrainsmyself from playing devil’s advocate far more than the little bit that I do. There are genuine reasons to dislike Trump, and plenty of people take up those reasons. You could call him a bull in a china shop, except to do that one must accept the premise that government as usual is a china shop. Junkyard dog in a junkyard perhaps works better. But this mind control charge strikes me as pure looniness. 
“How is it that SO MANY people in this country are STILL under the spell of Donald Trump?” he tweets.
“Though most of us throw our arms up in disgust or confusion, the answer to this question is actually quite simple:”
“Trump, the Republican Party and the right-wing media industrial complex are manipulating the public. They are employing the same techniques advertisers and public relations professionals use but have done so in an even more potent way.”
“They harness fear.  They repeat messages over and over again.  They disorient with conflicting messages.  They wage war on detractors.”
It is not that they don’t do it. It is that everyone else doesn’t do it as well.
“We somehow think that “mind control” and “brainwashing” only exist in Hollywood movies but they are very REAL phenomena and through the relatively new medium of the internet, we are seeing mind control like we’ve never seen in human history.”
“The only remedy is knowledge.  We need to educate ourselves so we can educate others.  If you want to understand more, let me know,” thus taking for granted his role in disseminating true knowledge. 
Still, I want to take his message to heart. There is on this forum an unabashed Trump advocate. Can I help him break free from his cult? Mr. Hassan sets the goal:
“At EVERY point in this process (and I’ve been doing this for 40+ years for people lost in cults) we want to be gentle and caring. Arguing or TELLING them they are wrong will accomplish nothing.  We want them to have their OWN “Aha!” moment.  We never force it.”
Okay. I will try with @James Thomas Rook Jr.. Let’s see if I can help him to have his own “AHA!” moment. It won’t be easy because he is a blockhead. But I owe it to him to try.
Hello James. Have I told you lately that I feel love for you, just like Jesus felt love for the rich young ruler? I only want to help you—you must believe me. I do not want to take your trump-trump away. No.
But I have noticed—I say this only because I love and respect you—that whereas you used to be the most fun and pleasant person to be around, lately you have turned into a mean-spirited so-and-so. Do you even realize that the “Arab” you just spit at was actually a Jew?
Have you noted that the President does name calling? Do you think this is very nice? How do you expect other countries to respect America if it’s leader is not nice? [Have your “Aha!” moment yet, you fathead? No? Well, let’s continue] 
Hitler was not nice, was he? I know that we will agree on that. See, I am trying to build a bridge to you. I am establishing trust and support, and I will be delicate. Stalin was not nice either. And Pol Pot—what a meanie he was! These are facts I am telling you, James. I know that you will recognize that, for you are very smart, and I know that you will see that Trump is just like them. See? I am attempting a fundamentally new conversation with you, James. Thank you for allowing me to prove my point.
Alright, that’s enough! Am I my brother’s keeper? If he comes around, so be it. I hope he does, but there is only so much one person can do.
If Trump hadn’t been elected President, I would not have had the gift—an entirely unanticipated one—of Steve Hassan the anti-cultist revealing to all that he is just another political leftist.

Steven Hassan is the David Splane of anti-cultists. He is the Great Explainer who works tirelessly in their behalf. He is the originator of the BITE model of “mind control”—Behavioral, Informational, Thought, and Emotional Control! He is the man who, as a youth, was naive enough to join the Moonies—the robe-dressing, flower-hawking Moonies! and now, having quit them, he insists that even the most intelligent people [read: himself] can be misled into a cult. 
Of course, there are only so many Moonies in the world. Mr Hassan expands the C-word into ever more frontiers, and one of them is Jehovah’s Witnesses. You would think that it is the only one, to hear JW detractors carry on, but it is but one of an ever-growing stable. I have witnessed JW opponents on social media counseling each other as to the most effective way to conduct themselves, referring back to the BITE model of Hassan as a guide, as though he was a cult leader of himself.
His horizon’s continue to expand. His current book is: “The Cult of Trump—A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind-Control.” A review of it begins with: “Can’t understand why a loved one would vote for Donald Trump? Let the experts who spend their lives studying cults help break it down.” Of course! It is completely inexplicable otherwise! Only cult delusion can account for such a vote. When you think that half the country has fallen victim to cult influence and mind-control, it is strong evidence that you have drunk too much of the Kool-Aid yourself.
So he comes out of the closet. He reveals himself. He is a leftist—nothing more. He is of the victimization society. I’m glad to see it, for it undermines his alleged expertise elsewhere—like with JWs, for example. Up to the point of his new book on Trump, one can begin to suspect that maybe, just maybe, Jehovah’s Witnesses are a cult. They pay far more attention to their Governing Body than other groups do to their leaders. They certainly take their faith far more seriously than do others, and they deviate from the accepted goals of society in fundamental ways. 
Yes, you can just begin to imagine it—and then Hassan, who got the ball rolling in the first place, comes along and says half the country is under the spell of a cult leader! Okay. That does it. He is a loon, just upset that his candidate did not win, and that recognition qualifies whatever he has said about Jehovah’s Witnesses or anyone else.
It’s not that the idea of influencing people is ridiculous. Its the over-application that is. No meaningful outfit does not incorporate some application of “behavioral, informational, thought, and emotional control”—the most striking example is that of the family. Is it really brainwashing that he objects to—or is it just brainwashing that is not his? Read him as he carries on about Trump and realize that the spillover will taint his mission with anything else.
Leaving sects that were his bread and butter far behind, he tweets: 
“We need to have a fundamentally NEW conversation about how we interact with Trump supporters.  Online arguing doesn’t work. When we label Trump supporters as “dumb” or “evil”, it only reinforces their own image that they are persecuted and cuts off any chance of them changing.”
“Though I know it’s hard to do when they say such vitriolic things, we need to imagine they are stuck inside a religious cult. How would we try to get them out?  At first, we would make sure to avoid argument and really try to CONNECT. This may take a while but is vital.”
“After we’ve established some trust and rapport, we need to be delicate. We don’t rush to talk about Trump (they will still be defensive and unmovable).  We need to find a subject that has parallels to their situation but doesn’t feel personal (i.e. Chinese Communist Brainwashing)”
“Using that example, we can highlight examples of behavior control, information control, thought control, and emotional control.  Very delicately, we can ask them questions about their beliefs and reflexively listen to the answers without ANY judgment.”
“What if they bring up the economy?” I interjected. It worked for Bill Clinton—“It’s the economy, stupid” instantly trounced all other considerations and won him the election. I follow Mr. Hassan on Twitter. When he returned the follow, I promised that I would take no cheap shots. I find this promise hard to keep these days, since his new horizons strikes me as no less absurd that his old. But I have, more or less, kept it.
Incredibly, he answered me privately, though DM. He recommended that I read his book! Nobody answers privately on Twitter, yet that’s what he did. My only explanation is that he saw my Twitter banner, which suggests that I am a Witness—it’s an advertisement of Dear Mr. Putin - Jehovah’s Witnesses Write Russia—and he simply assumed that if he gently gave me opportunity, not publicly where I would not dare respond lest my OVERSEERS take note, but in private, like Jesus pulled aside the deaf man so as not to put him on the spot, that I would gratefully let him take me by the hand so as to escape from the JW cult!
I don’t troll the guy. Everyone has a right to prevail on their own feed. I am not disrespectful when I reply and I don’t do it often. The next time he advised me, this time publicly, to read his book, I responded that I had a book, too. A third party to the thread tweeted that he had no book. “Get off your duff and write one!” I replied with a smiley emoji. “It is apparently the price of admission.”
Hassan stays at it—keeping on the watch:
“Has everyone seen this video of Donald Trump?  Senior cabinet members grovel in the exact same way Scientologists do with Miscavage.  Does this LOOK like a healthy organization to you? This is not normal.  This is cult behavior.”
“He has actually said just the opposite,” I replied, “that his advisors do not have to agree with him and he likes the mix they bring to the table. To be sure, not many of them last too long.”
“He says often what he thinks people want him to say or what he is told to say, but actions are what count!”
“I don’t see it, Steve,” I wrote. “To get a job, you must convey that you are a “team player” Try putting on your resume that your talent lies in challenging or broadening out the boss. Most bosses want a cohesive team that will recognize who leads. Have other POTUSs not done this also?”
Of course! Trump does bully on his feed, but the Presidency has been called the “bully pulpit,” after all. It is just that he is better at it than others that gets into Steve’s craw. If he bullied on Steve’s side, I can’t imagine him having any problem with it. It’s not mind-control that he is upset with. It is the mind-control that is not that from his side. I barely restrainsmyself from playing devil’s advocate far more than the little bit that I do. There are genuine reasons to dislike Trump, and plenty of people take up those reasons. You could call him a bull in a china shop, except to do that one must accept the premise that government as usual is a china shop. Junkyard dog in a junkyard perhaps works better. But this mind control charge strikes me as pure looniness. 
“How is it that SO MANY people in this country are STILL under the spell of Donald Trump?” he tweets.
“Though most of us throw our arms up in disgust or confusion, the answer to this question is actually quite simple:”
“Trump, the Republican Party and the right-wing media industrial complex are manipulating the public. They are employing the same techniques advertisers and public relations professionals use but have done so in an even more potent way.”
“They harness fear.  They repeat messages over and over again.  They disorient with conflicting messages.  They wage war on detractors.”
It is not that they don’t do it. It is that everyone else doesn’t do it as well.
“We somehow think that “mind control” and “brainwashing” only exist in Hollywood movies but they are very REAL phenomena and through the relatively new medium of the internet, we are seeing mind control like we’ve never seen in human history.”
“The only remedy is knowledge.  We need to educate ourselves so we can educate others.  If you want to understand more, let me know,” thus taking for granted his role in disseminating true knowledge. 
Still, I want to take his message to heart. There is on this forum an unabashed Trump advocate. Can I help him break free from his cult? Mr. Hassan sets the goal:
“At EVERY point in this process (and I’ve been doing this for 40+ years for people lost in cults) we want to be gentle and caring. Arguing or TELLING them they are wrong will accomplish nothing.  We want them to have their OWN “Aha!” moment.  We never force it.”
Okay. I will try with @James Thomas Rook Jr.. Let’s see if I can help him to have his own “AHA!” moment. It won’t be easy because he is a blockhead. But I owe it to him to try.
Hello James. Have I told you lately that I feel love for you, just like Jesus felt love for the rich young ruler? I only want to help you—you must believe me. I do not want to take your trump-trump away. No.
But I have noticed—I say this only because I love and respect you—that whereas you used to be the most fun and pleasant person to be around, lately you have turned into a mean-spirited so-and-so. Do you even realize that the “Arab” you just spit at was actually a Jew?
Have you noted that the President does name calling? Do you think this is very nice? How do you expect other countries to respect America if it’s leader is not nice? [Have your “Aha!” moment yet, you fathead? No? Well, let’s continue] 
Hitler was not nice, was he? I know that we will agree on that. See, I am trying to build a bridge to you. I am establishing trust and support, and I will be delicate. Stalin was not nice either. And Pol Pot—what a meanie he was! These are facts I am telling you, James. I know that you will recognize that, for you are very smart, and I know that you will see that Trump is just like them. See? I am attempting a fundamentally new conversation with you, James. Thank you for allowing me to prove my point.
Alright, that’s enough! Am I my brother’s keeper? If he comes around, so be it. I hope he does, but there is only so much one person can do.
If Trump hadn’t been elected President, I would not have had the gift—an entirely unanticipated one—of Steve Hassan the anti-cultist revealing to all that he is just another political leftist.

... place  keeper for reply after my nap ..... my eyelids are slamming shut.
 
OK...back.
I was only making the illustration about how things changed from the Kaiser Germany, to the Hitler Germany to give a generic example of how things change in one's surrounding environment over time.  I was NOT alluding to the WTB&TS, Jehovah's Witnesses, or the GB being anything like Nazi Germany, or Hitler.
I am very disappointed in what has happened in the "Truth" over the years, and do not try to defend what should not be defended, but that does not mean I am going to "jump ship".
Years ago there was a TV show called "Slattery's People", about a congressman's adventures and escapades  living and working in the swamp that is Congress, and the opening of each show a deep male voice said "It's not that Democracy is the best system of government, it's that the others are so much worse" ( or something to that effect).  That made a hell of an impression on me, and other than Richard Crenna playing the congresscritter, that's all I remember about it.
That's the attitude I have about Jehovah's Witnesses as practiced as ordered by the WTB&TS.
There is a LOT wrong ... but there is a LOT that is right
And besides, there will be clueless officers and crew on that ship to make you miserable ... but if you "jump ship", you better have a better place to go.
When you look at that "sea of humanity " .... that's only the top.
With all of its fantasys and foibles, being one of Jehovah's Witnesses is the best thing that ever happened to me ...and I appreciate that.
ANY OTHER WAY AND I WOULD BE DEAD OR IN PRISON.
I hope that gives you my perspective.
 
 

Slatterys People Intro.mp4

That probably works especially well for a mummified pecan pie..
... that was, by the way, an example of dry humor.
( Merriam-Webster: Definition of dessert. 1 : a usually sweet course or dish (as of pastry or ice cream) usually served at the end of a meal.)
 
We have two security guards at our Kingdom Hall ....one sits in a chair at the entrance to our large glass front door, and one sits in a chair at the opening to the main auditorium.
I refer to them as "Sheep victim No. 1", and "Sheep Victim No. 2".
And speaking of something that is NOT an example of pansy festooned  sheepness .... this report from near Fort Worth, Texas, about eight hours ago:
-   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -  
Dateline Sunday, December 29, 2019
Texas church shooting: Gunman kills 2, 'heroic' parishioners take down shooter
By Travis Fedschun, Bradford Betz | Fox News
Police: At least two dead, one critically injured in Texas church shooting
Christina Coleman has the latest update on the deadly shooting at a Fort Worth church.
A gunman opened fire in a Texas church on Sunday, killing two people and injuring others before two "heroic" parishioners shot and killed him at the scene, police said.
The shooting unfolded around 10 a.m. at the West Freeway Church of Christ, in the city of White Settlement, just outside Fort Worth, police said.
"It's all very tragic," Fort Worth Fire Department spokesman Mike Drivdahl told reporters.
An FBI agent standing outside West Freeway Church of Christ after the shooting Sunday in White Settlement, Texas.
White Settlement Police Chief J.P. Bevering told reporters Sunday afternoon that the gunman entered the church and sat down with the parishioners. He then got up, pulled out a shotgun, and shot two parishioners who died at a nearby hospital.
Two armed parishioners who were volunteer security guards returned fire and killed the gunman.
"The suspect was stopped thanks to the quick and heroic actions of those safety members inside the church," Bevering said.
Separately, two people who suffered minor injuries were treated and released at the scene.
During a news conference later Sunday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick lauded the quick reactions of the church’s "well-trained" security team, calling their heroism "unparalleled."
He said, "This team responded quickly and within six seconds, the shooting was over."
He noted that the security team's quick response saved an "untold number of lives."
A large emergency response after a reported shooting at a church in White Settlement, Texas. (KTVT via NNS)
The victims ranged in age from 30 to 60 years old, according to MedStar, the ambulance service provider to Fort Worth and other cities in North Texas.
A witness to the shooting told KTVT the gunman walked up to a server with a shotgun during communion and opened fire before parishioners inside the church took him down.
Two people were killed in the shooting, first responders said. (KDFW)
“It was the most scariest thing. You feel like your life is flashing before you," Isabel Arreola told the television station. "I was so worried about my little one."
The church was apparently live streaming the service when the shooting took place, Fox 4 reported.
"Unfortunately, this country has seen so many of these that we've actually gotten used to it at this point. And it's tragic and it's a terrible situation, especially during the holiday season," Jeoff Williams, a regional director with the Texas Department of Public Safety, said at the news conference. "I would like to point out that we have a couple of heroic parishioners who stopped short of just anything that you can even imagine, saved countless lives, and our hearts are going out to them and their families as well."
The shooting happened Sunday morning at the West Freeway Church of Christ, which is located in the city of White Settlement, Texas. (Fox News)
Images from the scene showed a massive emergency response. Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott called the shooting an "evil act of violence" at the church.
"Places of worship are meant to be sacred, and I am grateful for the church members who acted quickly to take down the shooter and help prevent further loss of life," the governor said in a statement. "Cecilia and I ask all Texans to join us in praying for the White Settlement community and for all those affected by this horrible tragedy."
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton tweeted about the shooting, asking for prayers for "any victims and their families, this congregation, and the law enforcement officials at the scene."
Agents from the Dallas Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives said they were responding to the scene of the reported shooting.
Local and federal law enforcement agencies were continuing to investigate the shooter's identity and motivation for the shooting. The identities of the deceased were not released.
White Settlement is located about eight miles west of Fort Worth.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
 

... place  keeper for reply after my nap ..... my eyelids are slamming shut.
 
OK...back.
I was only making the illustration about how things changed from the Kaiser Germany, to the Hitler Germany to give a generic example of how things change in one's surrounding environment over time.  I was NOT alluding to the WTB&TS, Jehovah's Witnesses, or the GB being anything like Nazi Germany, or Hitler.
I am very disappointed in what has happened in the "Truth" over the years, and do not try to defend what should not be defended, but that does not mean I am going to "jump ship".
Years ago there was a TV show called "Slattery's People", about a congressman's adventures and escapades  living and working in the swamp that is Congress, and the opening of each show a deep male voice said "It's not that Democracy is the best system of government, it's that the others are so much worse" ( or something to that effect).  That made a hell of an impression on me, and other than Richard Crenna playing the congresscritter, that's all I remember about it.
That's the attitude I have about Jehovah's Witnesses as practiced as ordered by the WTB&TS.
There is a LOT wrong ... but there is a LOT that is right
And besides, there will be clueless officers and crew on that ship to make you miserable ... but if you "jump ship", you better have a better place to go.
When you look at that "sea of humanity " .... that's only the top.
With all of its fantasys and foibles, being one of Jehovah's Witnesses is the best thing that ever happened to me ...and I appreciate that.
ANY OTHER WAY AND I WOULD BE DEAD OR IN PRISON.
I hope that gives you my perspective.
 
 

Slatterys People Intro.mp4

... place  keeper for reply after my nap ..... my eyelids are slamming shut.
 
OK...back.
I was only making the illustration about how things changed from the Kaiser Germany, to the Hitler Germany to give a generic example of how things change in one's surrounding environment over time.  I was NOT alluding to the WTB&TS, Jehovah's Witnesses, or the GB being anything like Nazi Germany, or Hitler.
I am very disappointed in what has happened in the "Truth" over the years, and do not try to defend what should not be defended, but that does not mean I am going to "jump ship".
Years ago there was a TV show called "Slattery's People", about a congressman's adventures and escapades  living and working in the swamp that is Congress, and the opening of each show a deep male voice said "It's not that Democracy is the best system of government, it's that the others are so much worse" ( or something to that effect).  That made a hell of an impression on me, and other than Richard Crenna playing the congresscritter, that's all I remember about it.
That's the attitude I have about Jehovah's Witnesses as practiced as ordered by the WTB&TS.
There is a LOT wrong ... but there is a LOT that is right
And besides, there will be clueless officers and crew on that ship to make you miserable ... but if you "jump ship", you better have a better place to go.
When you look at that "sea of humanity " .... that's only the top.
With all of its fantasys and foibles, being one of Jehovah's Witnesses is the best thing that ever happened to me ...and I appreciate that.
ANY OTHER WAY AND I WOULD BE DEAD OR IN PRISON.
I hope that gives you my perspective.
 
 

Slatterys People Intro.mp4

I look forward to reading your thoughts on the matter ... as long as it is in short paragraphs, a decent type size, and does NOT mention Gog of Magog.

via .ORGWorld News

SECTION 1. INTRODUCTION
POINT #1
Conversation this morning with a brother from my congregation. (A = me, B = brother)
B: The Governing Body is guided by the spirit of God. All it teaches us is what Jehovah makes them see or understand. A: So, how do we change from saying one thing about the 1914 generation, to a totally different one, and soon in yet another. Does Jehovah transmit errors? POINT #2
Conversation that I’ve had with a brother with decades serving in Bethel, (A = me, B = brother):
A: The Governing Body makes extended applications of Scripture without notifying what it is doing, to the extent that we forget the original meaning. B: Also, Paul and others, when quoting from the OT introduced new approaches that were not in the original intention of the writer. A: True, but the big difference is that they were inspired, but the GB is not. POINT #3
This week's conversation with a veteran brother from my congregation. (A = me, B = brother)
B: The "disgusting thing in the holy place" was that religions embraced the League of Nations in 1919 A: You did not remember, but in 1999 this approach was modified, and it was explained that this event is still future, and we do not know exactly how it will be. POINT #4
"Don't talk about my mother", says one spouse to the other during an argument. Touching the mother is a very serious matter. For many, the Organization is like a mother. Any criticism or negative observation is considered the result of lack of faith, little spirituality or influence of apostates.
CONCLUSION
About POINT # 1. As we consider the GB not inspired or infallible, but guided by the holy spirit, we are reluctant to admit doctrinal errors on your part. We call them adjustments, progress in understanding or with other euphemisms. Why have we this view? Do we remember having read in one of our publications the term: rectification, error, we were wrong, we apologize for ...?
About POINT # 2. We give the GB an authority similar to the apostles. If these apparently "twisted" the OT to achieve a good end (to prove that Jesus was the Messiah for example), why the GB cannot take some licenses with the Scriptures so that we can preach more, so that we respect the established order, so that we promote the unity, or so that we continue to have a sense of urgency.
On the way in which Christian writers used the OT very flexibly, until they seemed to distort the original meaning, the book “Handbook on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament: Exegesis and Interpretation”, by Gregory K. Beale is very enlightening.
In relation to POINT #3 it often happens that many doctrines that we have learned for decades and then have proven to be inadequate, we have studied many times in the obsolete format, to the extent that this comes to mind before the new one. In addition, with so many changes, it is sometimes difficult for us to remember the "right thing" (yeast, generation ...)
About POINT #4. I like this moral of the story "the new clothes of the emperor"
·        It is often used to describe a situation in which people are afraid to criticize something because everyone else seems to think it is good or important. It is the title of a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about an emperor who pays a lot of money for some new magical clothes that only wise people can see. The clothes don't really exist, but the emperor doesn't admit that he can't see her, because he doesn't want to look stupid. https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/emperor-s-new-clothes
 
APOCALYPTIC GENDER’S INTERPRETATION SCHOOLS
Daniel, especially in the OT, and logically Revelation, are known as apocalyptic because they share a style characterized, among others, by these common elements:
Symbology before literal language. Visions Encrypted language Clear temporary allusion to the "end times" Well, to address the correct exegesis or study of these books, there are the so-called schools or interpretation approaches, mainly from the book of Revelation:
PRETERIST: the writer describes what was happening at that time or even in the past. He preferred a cryptic language to avoid the persecution of Rome. There is no prophecy but a description of the past. HISTORICIST: It is believed that the revelation is about the history of the Church from the first to the last coming of Christ. IDEALIST: Revelation, instead of talking about the future, contains teachings about the situation of the Church in the world. FUTURIST: the content of the book will be fulfilled at the end of time. And there are other variants. With all of the above, I would like to reach this conclusion: it is difficult to arrive at a correct understanding of that part of Scripture. If the GB claims to have the "key", it is interesting what the mysterious book itself says:
(Revelation 5: 2-4). . And I saw a strong angel proclaim loudly: "Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?" 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or look into it. 4. I gave way to a great deal of weeping because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.
   But, finally, if Jehovah inspired that content, it would be more than simply filling the pages of His Book. So, at least something, a part, of the meaning of the book should be useful to us, but due to the POINTS # 1 to # 4 mentioned above, we, the JW, have a special difficulty in understanding apocalyptic literature.
(to be continued…)
 

Then I'll read it tomorrow if I'm on here.  

To the best of my knowledge and belief (please correct me if I am wrong ...) the WTB&TS has made hundreds of "mistakes", from "devil pus vaccinations", to continuously hyping Armageddon as "next week" .. and they have NEVER apologized for ANYTHING ...... EVER.
Of course, it's hard to be humble, when you are perfect in every way, and your credibility and contributed donations, which must be like showering under a waterfall (which I once did, in the Grand Canyon, many years ago ...) depend on the publishers having and keeping that impression.
 

When you selectively edit to change the meaning of reference material, you may qualify to get a job with the FBI to create dishonest FISA Court warrant applications.
Swords and bats can be very effective at arm's length.
But then again, both perspectives are only general rules, and can be disproved by any one example, in a specific instance, depending on divine providence, and pure dumb luck.
I was basically trying to show WHY the scriptures quoted above about having a hard forehead made instant sense to a person that understands the context of the times, which quite often survival depended on being GOOD at hand-to-hand combat, and today most people would not understand what the Bible writers were talking about.
 
 

Everybody today are pansy studded sheep, at least among our contemporaries ... but back then, it was common knowledge that if you were in hand-to hand combat with another person for your life, that the forehead is the hardest bone on your body, and you do not stand off and do fisticuffs.  You get in close, and you get in fast, and you have daggers in your hands, and you fight with your weight, smashing their face with your forehead. Do it hard enough and you can smash the nose through the bottom of the skull, into the brain, and hopefully blind your adversary with his own blood.  ALSO, you fight with your elbows, being MUCH harder , and harder to damage than your fist and fingers. For massive blows, fingers often break before the other guys jaw, but an elbow is stronger than a jaw.
Also, an edged weapon, such as a sword, or a cudgel, such as a bat, is ineffective at contact distances ... but if you are fighting with your forehead, elbows and two daggers,  you want the combatant's blows to hit your arm at a glancing angle, not at 90 degrees, where either a bat or sword can sever your arm off, more readily.
The rest depends on divine providence, and pure dumb luck.
Now... go out and have a nice day !
.... and be sure to floss regularly.
 

I look forward to reading your thoughts on the matter ... as long as it is in short paragraphs, a decent type size, and does NOT mention Gog of Magog.

No thanks one suffering was enough 

Go back and read it again with more meditation.

@TrueTomHarley You write a lot of words, as story tellers do, but you say nothing of importance.
Quote "that Jehovah’s Witnesses have the highest rate of mental illness of all Christian religions."
Well I've no idea but it's a shame to know when some commit suicide. Very sad indeed.
Quote "There is a cost to being a disciple of Christ. " 
Yes but it is different to the cost of being one of Jehovah's Witnesses. 
Quote " Don’t go groveling over the education that those early Christians didn’t have but which is now thought essential. "
The early Christians were Jews that had a basic education about God and how to serve Him. Then Jesus built on that basic education and taught them what they needed to know for that time. 
Life now is far different and we each live in different lands. Christians are Earthwide. 
As for further education well it may be that some folks need it to earn a living. Life is not as simple as it was in the first century.
This has all been said before but :-
Basic education never taught Hebrew or Greek to working class English folks, nor probably American folks.
Basic education never taught working class folks about how to make Blood Fractions or how to discuss medical procedures, or how to build cell salvage machine. 
Basic education for working class folks never taught how to design and build massive structures such as a 1.6-million-square-foot headquarters in Warwick, New York.
Basic education is just what it says on the tin. It is a foundation. A beginning of learning. 
Quote "Christianity started off as a working class religion. It still is and the leaders of the faith among Jehovah’s Witnesses are still as they were then—“untaught and ordinary.” "
Does that include the Lawyers in USA that represent the Watchtower / GB / JW Org ?
In the first century they said simply 'We must obey God as ruler rather than men' 
BUT Now they consult their lawyers / solicitors / accountants  et al, BUT you try to pretend it is still the same. 
 

If Bethel was in the east and not the west:
Maybe theocratic warfare would not be so much like John-Wayne—hardening your forehead so the lout throwing a punch breaks his fist on it, a la Ezekiel:
“Look! I have made your face exactly as hard as their faces and your forehead exactly as hard as their foreheads. Like a diamond, harder than flint, I have made your forehead” (Ezekiel 3:8-9)
Why should everyone have hard heads? Maybe they should be more like those of eastern martial arts—duck the punch and the big slob’s own momentum sends him hurtling off-balance, and as he stumbles by you kick him in the rear.
You’re better off yielding than resisting. “Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but yield place to the wrath,” says Paul at Romans 12:19.
Take for example, the charge—detractors say it all the time—that Jehovah’s Witnesses have the highest rate of mental illness of all Christian religions. How in the world are you going to prove or disprove that—at a time when pharma has succeeded in putting 1 out of every 3 Americans on some form of anti-depressant? Drive by the psych ward of the hospital and look inside. Are they all our people in there? No. Usually, there is nobody at all, but sometimes there is one.
Don’t be the western scrapper who says it couldn’t possibly be so. Be the eastern scrapper who embraces it. Say: “Well, maybe you have a point,” and then observe that, if true, Luke 5:31 would account for it: “In reply Jesus said to them: ‘Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but those who are ill do.’” Is he speaking of tuberculosis? Or is mental distress, such as might accompany anguish over the ills of this world and the blame assigned to God for it more to the point? The ones you should worry about are those who are not greatly troubled by the stressors of life today—those who sail blithely through the injustices and cruelties without a care in the world.
What about when the scoundrels say: “If you look at the ‘turnover’ among JWs, you find it is one of the biggest turnovers of all religions.” Don’t say: “No way!” Say: “What do you expect? There is a cost to being a disciple of Christ. Why bother leaving a faith that asks very little of you? Besides, a high attrition rate is easily offset by the high participation rate of those who stick. After all, with many faiths, people might not actually leave, but how would you know if they did?”
Use the blaggard’s weight against him—it is key to every Eastern martial art—it can work for us, too. Take the origins of Christianity. It is plainly a working-class religion, and as to it’s early leaders? “Uneducated and ordinary,” says Acts 4:13 (“untaught and ignorant”—KJV) This is embarrassing to Western religionists. If acknowledged at all (I had never heard it before becoming a Witness) it is treated as an obstacle overcome. “They may have started low, but look how they pulled themselves up!” is the attitude, thus taking for granted that more secular education is what everyone needs. 
The clergy of many faiths bristle with degrees—considered essential as a qualification. The degrees require a broad command of the “humanities.” They often even require an examination of their own topic through the lens of critical thinking, ensuring that faith will lose out, since the two are opposed. A case in point is a series of talks I have been listening to from the Great Courses company entitled: “From Jesus to Constantine: A History of Early Christianity.” The speaker is Bart Ehrman, Chair of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he with a Masters of Divinity degree. You’d almost think that the Chair of a Religious Department would believe in God, but he does not appear to. If I took a science course taught by one who thought Newton and Einstein were well intentioned but misguided zealots, I would smell a rat.
Questions for Study at the conclusion of one lecture includes: “Why do you suppose such people as Perpetua or Ignatius—who presumably had so much to offer people in this world and who could have no doubt led happy lives here—were so eager to sacrifice their bodies and leave this world?”
Thus he indicates that he does not have a clue as to what he teaches. The entire motivation of a Christian appears to be a totally foreign concept to him, notwithstanding that he is recognized as the smartest person in the room.
Another case in point, which I have not yet expanded upon, though I mean to, is the New York Times review of Amber Scorah’s book—a review written by a faculty member of Harvard Divinity School. It seems pretty clear that she is an atheist. Don’t you go to Harvard Divinity School because you want to learn about God?
https://www.tomsheepandgoats.com/2019/08/a-review-of-a-review-of-the-scorah-book-leaving-the-witnesses.html
A third case in point—and a minor one—is those few elective courses I took in religion from my own college days. The professor was a retired Baptist clergyman. I can still hear him chuckling about how at Divinity School, the Gospel of John was called the Gospel to the Idiots on account of it’s simple language. The early disciples might be “untaught and ignorant,” but these characters meant to run rings around them.
Another project for one of his classes was to write a paper about “entering into God’s rest” and how there “remains a Sabbath for the people of God,” as written in Hebrews chapter 4. What was that passage supposed to mean? I ended up taking most of my paper from Watchtower publications. I didn’t want to. It was against the rules to rely on any one “sectarian” source. But I found that I couldn’t help it. None of the other suggested sources made any sense to me. They all struck me as pointless pontificating. 
This would have been in my senior year, and during the summer recess before, I had been introduced to the Bible study of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I had the sense of the puzzle picture coming together and was beginning to glimpse the mountain vista on the box cover. I had no patience for the logical machinations of those whose presentation made clear that their puzzle lay unassembled in the box on their closet shelf.
No. Don’t go groveling over the education that those early Christians didn’t have but which is now thought essential. Tell them to show us the magnificent world that their brand of education has collectively produced before we start fawning over it. Christianity started off as a working class religion. It still is and the leaders of the faith among Jehovah’s Witnesses are still as they were then—“untaught and ordinary.” Don’t hide your head in shame over it. Embrace it. When the “educated” people come along and say: “Okay, here we are, we’ll take it from here,” tell them to take a hike.
(to be continued)

Of course! Everybody knows that.

I look forward to reading your thoughts on the matter ... as long as it is in short paragraphs, a decent type size, and does NOT mention Gog of Magog.

When I say that I am tired of talking so much about dates, I do not mean that I do not find everything related to our background that has led to the birth, development and death of our numerical doctrines very interesting. It is part of the history of my religion, that is, it is part of the history of my life. And I am especially grateful to the explanations that  @JW Insider  has been happy to share with us. I have learned a lot from his knowledge, both from these spheres and from other plots in which he has exploded. Now that I think, I think he knows a lot of everything. I envy him.
Before anyone thinks that I am a kind of idolater or flatterer of JWI, I want to say that I often learn from the comments of children and anyone. Everyone can enrich our life and spirituality. With how much more reason who has had so many experiences and contacts within our organization.
Now, what I wanted to say with my comment that I would like to give this subject another approach (1914) is that I would like to share in the forum related portions of the Bible that address certain eschatological issues.
This doctrine (1914) I think that sooner or later it will fall like ripe fruit. In the meantime, I find myself like those Students of the Bible of the 20s who might have been very disillusioned with the Pyramid theory and its influence on our religion. At the moment these teachings were part of the official teaching. Less and less was mentioned, but it was still part of the doctrine. I suppose that these Christians would not make the Pyramid their great teaching focus, their great concern. They would not waste time showing interest in something they saw was nonsense. When Rutherford said that instead of being an instrument of Jehovah to teach, it was simply a funerary monument with demonic influence, they would not be disappointed, but relieved.
Well, it's the same with 1914
So, in the following posts, I would like to bring up approaches on Daniel 7 and 11, Revelation 6, 11 and 12 among others and may be enlightening about what we are discussing. I hope

I started getting interested in the Truth about 1961, and I remember that huge number chart, as big as a 4x8 foot piece of plywood.  No one ever walked me up to it and explained it to me, and I figured it was "quotas", although at the time I did not even understand that.
 

To the best of my knowledge and belief (please correct me if I am wrong ...) the WTB&TS has made hundreds of "mistakes", from "devil pus vaccinations", to continuously hyping Armageddon as "next week" .. and they have NEVER apologized for ANYTHING ...... EVER.
Of course, it's hard to be humble, when you are perfect in every way, and your credibility and contributed donations, which must be like showering under a waterfall (which I once did, in the Grand Canyon, many years ago ...) depend on the publishers having and keeping that impression.
 

When I was a pre-teenager, I used to stick my four fingers into an energized electric fan, just to "see" what would happen.
I hated it when it caught on my fingernails.
Hint: always have the palm of your hand facing the incoming blade.
I suppose things like this is why women live longer than men.

Even today, when I blink, my toes punch holes in my socks.