It happened several times in Clearlake,Ca., not the suspending of literature but the threat to do so through serveral nasty letters from NY stating we owed a negative balance. It "suggested" we read a letter recommending we pass a resolution for a special donation to pay for the literature received.
LITERATURE DENIED for NONPAYMENT. Has this occured on congo level?
by uwishufish 56 Replies latest jw friends
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compound complex
Regarding $3000 "worth" of literature------I found it!
The Free Minds Journal, vol. 20, no. 2, Apr/Jun 2001, p.7, 8
Why Is It Now So Hard to Obtain Watchtower subscriptions, books and CD-roms?---an alarming shift toward greed
Major Deception to the Average Witness
"If the congregation does not submit enough money to cover the value of the books or other materials, they [Society] will actually bill the local congregations for the difference, and if they don't submit the difference, Brooklyn will CUT OFF all literature to that Kingdom Hall."
Brother Rolando R., literature servant formerly of Jersey City West Congregation, writes: "[the Society] noticed an enormous increase in literature orders. The congregation had made purchases of some $3000.00 and our donations were only somewhere around $500.00. They told us that we [the congregation] owed the Society $2300.00." [sic; actually $2500.00-see below]
There was no mention in this letter to Randy about being cut off; however, the congregation received two letters in one envelope from Brooklyn. One apprised the BOE of the balance due, the other, addressed to the congregation, stated that the Society was doing a great work and support was needed! Br. R.R. hence announced to the congregation that they were making a $2500.00 donation to the WWW. [the bad WWW!]
It was fun going through all my FMJs!
Compound-Complex
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uwishufish
Thanks for the replys.
UWUF
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Gordy
I was Literature Servant when the "no charge/donation/contribution" system was brought in. As pointed out at the time the literature maybe be without "charge" but not without "cost". In other words it still cost money to be printed and distribute it.
Of course what happened was that brothers/sisters began ordering things like Deluxe Bibles, Bound volumes etc, what were known then as "controlled stock" items. Before the change in the system a Deluxe Bible cost £6. After the change I would be surprised if anyone "donated" that much in the box at the Kingdom Hall.
Eventually I think this must have filtered through to Bethel. That brothers/sisters weren't as "honest" as they thought. I think most congregations in the area were having the same problem. In my congregation I think for every £100 of literature from Bethel we were only getting £50 -£75 in "contributions" if that. Eventually we received a letter from Bethel, I think all congregations did, saying that certain items would again be "controlled". We also received a "cost list" of "suggested prices for items".
I think the magazine side of things suffered more from the "no charge" system. Because many publishers didn't put any money in the KH box until they had actually placed them.
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nelly136
if the uk and usa are 'donation' only does that include the rest of the world now?
or are there still countries that are asked on the doors to 'cover printing costs'
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Mary
Gordy said: Eventually I think this must have filtered through to Bethel. That brothers/sisters weren't as "honest" as they thought.
Funny, but when this new 'arrangment' came into place, I was pioneering but I immediately knew this was not going to work because Witnesses are notoriously cheap and I knew then that most would not "voluntarily" pay for items if they thought they could get them for free. I always used to wonder why I, a nobody with no claims to getting revelations, could figure things out long before Jehovah "revealed" it to His "spiritual sons."
" Brother Rolando R., literature servant formerly of Jersey City West Congregation, writes: "[the Society] noticed an enormous increase in literature orders. The congregation had made purchases of some $3000.00 and our donations were only somewhere around $500.00. They told us that we [the congregation] owed the Society $2300.00." [sic; actually $2500.00-see below]
Am I the only one thinking that maybe the IRS would be interested in a letter like this? Proof positive that the WTS is in fact, selling the literature and not paying Caesar's things to Caesar. If there's an elder anywhere who could get his hands on any letter stating the above, the WTS would be up shit's creek without a paddle. Wouldn't that be a shame?
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south african beef
In reply to Nelly136 I believe that many countries in the world do not operate the donation arrangement.
I understand that the WTS has only bought it in to countries where there would be tax implications if they 'charged' for the literature.
So again they are just maximising their profits.
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Dogpatch
Thanks for the plug, Compound! :-))
Yes, Witnesses are in general (with few exceptions) cheap. They learned it from the Governing Body who also taught them to be cheap. If you were at Bethel, you REALLY know how cheap they are! Anyone remember Witnesses giving bad tips at restaurants, etc?
Randy
Net Soup
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Dogpatch
Donation Arrangement Fraud
http://www.freeminds.org/history/fraud.htm
As was pointed out in the article, The Watchtower Way of Laundering Money, their current donation arrangement is simply a gimmick to avoid paying sales tax on items sold in the United States and a few other countries where this arrangement has been utilized. (Some countries still have fixed prices for Watchtower literature).
Apparently, their recent significant drop in income, coupled with the failure of rank-and-file Witnesses to donate funds sufficient to their liking for materials received "free" has caused the Watchtower to make the following statement in the November 1996 issue (p.3) of their in-house bulletin entitled Our Kingdom Ministry:
- Share With Others According to Their Needs
- Jehovah makes provision to fill our spiritual needs through the faithful "slave". (Matt 24:45-47) Many of these provisions are in the form of books, Bibles, bound volumes, videos, audiocassette recordings, and computer disks for Bible research. What Jehovah supplies is always sufficient without being wasteful. He expects us to share with one another, making sure that all benefit equally. All such provisions are produced at tremendous financial cost. These expenses are cared for by the worldwide brotherhood. This is especially true since the organization instituted the arrangement to distribute literature without charge, depending entirely on voluntary donations to cover the expense. Additionally, many branches obtain these provisions from the Society at a cost that enables the brothers to have what they need for meetings and field activity even though they have very limited material resources.
- How we can help. We can respond to Paul's admonition to share with others "according to their needs." (Rom 12:13) When we make financial contributions toward the worldwide work, we are directly sharing what we have with our brothers around the world. With this in mind, some have decided to set aside an amount to contribute to the worldwide work each month, just as they do for Kingdom Hall expenses. They recognize that these funds are used not only for literature production but for all facets of the work as well. Imagine the great benefit our worldwide brotherhood would experience if more would share in this way on a regular basis.
- Further, we can share with them by always being conservative when requesting items that are readily available to us. Ordering only what we actually need allows our brothers elsewhere to receive the spiritual provisions that they also need to keep strong and to advance the preaching of the good news in their part of the world.-Heb.13:16.
- We should especially bear this in mind when we request items that are produced at considerable expense to the Society. These include videos, CD-ROMs, large reference books, bound volumes and audiocassette subscriptions. Rather than requesting one item for each member of the household, could the entire family get along with just one? If we limit what we take for ourselves, it will allow others to obtain the same good things that we enjoy. -Phil. 2:4. The cost of literature that we place in the field may be offset in part by donations to the Society's worldwide work offered by us at the Kingdom Hall and by interested ones who accept it. However, when it comes to literature items we request for our personal use, including songbooks, Yearbooks, deluxe Bibles, and so forth, we cannot expect outsiders to care for our needs. Jehovah's dedicated servants are the primary source of this financial support. With that in mind, many publishers estimate what these items might cost if commercially produced and then they contribute accordingly. For example, a deluxe gold-edged Bible can easily cost $20 or more, a reference book may be $40 and up, a full-color wall calendar may sell for at least $5, an encyclopedia on CD-ROM costs from $50 to $100 or higher, music compact discs commonly cost close to $20 and some videos are often sold for much more. A failure to contribute enough to cover costs will ultimately restrict what the organization may otherwise be able to accomplish in furthering the worldwide work.
- Jesus declared that his true disciple would be clearly identified by their love for one another. (John 13:34, 35) Our generosity in giving materially and our unselfishness in sharing with other according to their needs are surely fine ways to prove ourselves to be genuine Christians.
- contributed by Sam Muramoto
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It is interesting how they have even "raised the price" of a number of items! They appear be suggesting a donation of $50-100 for the CD-ROM instead of $25 to $50, and $40 for reference works such as Insight on the Scriptures. Since their costs of producing CD-ROMs could not exceed two dollars each (probably closer to $1), one wonders who they are trying to deceive.
One investigator sent in a donation to the Watchtower "equivalent to that once specified" for some literature, just to see what would happen. A letter, and an additional card was sent back. The letter was a "thank you" letter acknowleding a donation, but containing no hint as to any literature involved. But the card sent with it stated, "We are pleased to inform you that your request for Bible literature has been honored and will be mailed seperately." (See laundering.) Using this technique, the WT feels they are going to avoid legal complications. Time will tell as to whether the State of California decides to reopen the case with regards to the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. The following letter(s) illustrate the outworking of this policy.
I thought I'd tell you of an experience some years ago when I served as an elder in Jersey City, New Jersey, during the first month of the change from selling books to the "Voluntary Donation" system. It seemed everyone one and their mothers decided that now was a good time to stock their libraries. Pioneers were now doubling up on their magazines for service. Witnesses who rarely bought anything, were now ordering, the New World Translation on Tapes [which, when price sold for over $100.00] everything and anything was being ordered. I was in charge of the literature counter. The invoices included in the orders were now dollarless. Three months later, the elders received a letter from the Society. It basically stated that they [the Society] noticed an enormous increase in literature orders. That the congregation had made purchases of some $3,000.00 and our donations were only somehere around $500.00. They told us we [the congregation] owed the Society $2,300.00. I'm thinking to myself..."hey wait a minute, isn't the literature "FREE" on voluntary donations?" Obviously not! The Society had it all planned out. In the envelope was another letter, addressed to the congregation. That letter basically told of the great work the Society was doing and how support was needed.
In view of that I had announced that we [the congregation] were donating to the Society from the congregation fund $2,500.00 for the World Wide Work.
Clever of them? The Society still got their money. I wonder how many congregations got that letter? Of course only the body of elders knew the truth for sure, the rest of the friends were left to believe we were so loving and generous by supporting the Society with such a big donation. Mind you no mention of the excess literature order was made.
How can they sleep at nights? It was situations like these that opened my mind to the true nature of the Society. They are a publishing house...we are their salesmen...what was that the Judge said "Advertise, Advertise, Advertise..." Nothing has changed!
In His Name!
the address of the congregation:
Jersey City West Congregation
582 Bramhall Avenue
Jersey City,NJ 07304 -
RR
Hey, that's meeeeeeeeeeeee .... I'm famous!
