by Sam Whiskey 17 Replies latest jw friends
I looked on the web and can't seem to find any numbers. Are they as big as the JW's? Approximately 7Mil. in size? It's concerning, because we don't want to see another Jim Jones Koolaid drinking suicide episode. These people are going to be in bad shape after the big workup to May 21st. and nothing happens.
A lot of them may feel suicidal.... Anyone know how many followers he's got?
I don't know. I am even getting long distance phone calls from S. American family members about 5/21, so the impact may be far wider than the followership.
Answer: none they are all followers of Jesus Christ. Harold Camping is just the messenger that Jesus is using in these "last days". The true believers would never question the date of 5/21/2011 because it would be the same as questioning Jesus.
It is crazy how similar to the WTS this nutty group is.
My family in Europe got mail from the group and heard crap on TV so at least these nutcases are doing way better job than jws in spreading their stupidity.
I'm wondering if there is an "unofficial" published number of followers....
The Bible Students and JWs used to be as good at getting the word out. Radio, newspapers (back when people actually read them), sound cars, sandwich boards, bullhorns, demonstrations outside churches, "Photo-Drama", public debates, etc. Russell would have been all over the Internet and had billboards everywhere.
But, the BS and JWs have cried wolf far too many times and now they just look silly. With the members going door-to-door, it keeps the rank and file too busy to learn anything that would wake them up. It also puts a buffer between the Society and what the public hear. Harold Camping is about to be seen as the fool he is, because he's very directly linked to his false prophecy. The Society uses its membership as a scapegoat for its false prophecy. It even starts talking about itself in 3rd-person when back-pedaling.
In this "Information Age", everybody's heard about May 21 in very short order. A few months ago, nobody had ever heard of Harold Camping, familyradio.com, or May 21. So, why is the Watchtower not doing this? Why aren't they using the Internet, billboards, TV, radio? Because the "message" has nothing to do with alerting the public. The most inefficient way possible of advertising is being used for a very good reason: It keeps the publishers busy.
You have time to go to college? You have time to be a pioneer. You have time to be online? You have time to pioneer. You have time to earn a decent living? You have time to pioneer. But, keep the JWs poor, ignorant, and desperate; constantly looking to "Jehovah" (read "Watchtower") for the only salvation from their suck-ass life. Blue-collar, part-time wages, a constant barrage of church literature, hours of meeting attendance and preparation, convention time and expense, hours of service participation and preparation; they all serve to keep our minds occupied and reinforcing the self-inflicted brainwashing of the cult.
"What are you doing to make your ministry more effective?" we're constantly being asked. Well, they're the ones with billions in assets, an army of slave labor; WTF are they doing? Where are their billboards, their media ads, their Internet presence. They bitch about the churches throwing up a building and just waiting for the parishioners to come to them, but isn't that what they do with their website? I've seen many Mormon ads online, but I have yet to see a JW ad. They don't want the word out; they want us occupied; too occupied to think, to learn, to feel, to reflect on what it all means and what it's all for.
They say "buy out the opportune time" after they eat up and ruin all our time. We can always do more, but what are they doing? Sure, the Bethelites are humping, but they're just slaves, too. The people who are talking the talk, the Governing Body, the ones with all the resources out of our pockets - what are they doing?
If there was a Like button on forums, I would Like your post, wontleave.
However much half of Facebook's customer base is.
-Sab
He has enough followers to afford to put up several million dollars for a billboard campaign--
-In the US, some believers have given up their jobs and donated money they think they will no longer need to pay for more than 2,000 billboards across the country proclaiming
"Judgment Day: May 21, 2011 - Cry mightily unto God. THE BIBLE GUARANTEES IT!"
