Fred Franz had his way.
Franz (a holdover from the End Times era of Rutherford and Russell) pushed hard for BIBLE CHRONOLOGY which pointed to a hard and fast date for ARMAGEDDON.
From 1968 to mid 1975 JW's threw it into high gear promoting hysteria in escaping the Armageddon event. New books stretched the truth, quoted out of context both secular scientists and social critics to convince every reader THIS TIME JEHOVAH MEANS BUSINESS!!
As it turned out though......it was the usual Monkey Business!
When the non-event passed with only an embarassing silence the central engine of the Watchtower faltered, sputtered and almost died.
Like a veteran boxer knocked to the floor for a 9 count; things in the local Kingdom Halls shifted into "downtime" and policies relaxed until the men at the top of the JW foodchain could find their legs again.
Ridicule, humiliation and a demand for explanations became an avalanche.
THIS WAS THE MOMENT OF TRUTH for the "Truth"!
It was now or never. Would this religion look itself in the mirror and see wrong-headedness and self-delusion? Or, would it become desperate like Hitler in his bunker with only reports of defeat pouring in from the homefront??
History reveals the answer!
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The Watchtower turned around and began eating its own! A vicious program of strictness, blame-the-accuser, stone-walling and enforced-obedience reared its ugly head like a foaming hydra.
OBEY US or be gone!
From the top to the bottom it became a nightmare of crackdown. The doors were slamming and locks were being bolted as SEIGE MENTALITY set in!
A split shattered the ark of righteousness and water poured in drowning half the animals on board!
The noose tightened around the necks of the members whose mind's could still think rationally. If you speak your doubts you hear your own neck snap.
Disambiguation could not be tolerated. Doctrines tightened their icy fingers on the jugular of rank and file servants. Tests of Loyalty and Obedience were administered and butts were kicked.
Meltdown in the crucible of Watchtower purpose produced a molten ore poured into a forge of cold denial, denial, denial!
No longer would "honest questions" be entertained and rebutted by flipping through the inerrant word of Jehovah. No. Questions triggered knee-jerk responses of warning, marking and disciplinary action!
A balance was no longer allowed between honest discussion and mild-tempered counsel. Conform or be banished!
That transformation and shrinking of "purpose" has produced the Jehovah's Witness robot of today. This robotic worker/slave is programmed what to perform without variation. Personality and identity are forever expunged!
Old doctrines overgrown with weeds are now plucked and cast into the vault and the key thrown away! Any vulnerable theological point of contention is isolated like a virus in a laboratory. Members are never to turn around and look back at their destruction (by the Internet or ex-JW's) or they will turn into pillars of salt.
Jehovah's Witnesses world-wide have dissolved into lifeless "thing" so Zombified are they now.
Meetings are a collection of the catatonic going through the motions of worship. They are hollow as an empty dumpster inside!
The history of this religious group went from radical and self-serving-- to crackpot and shrill-- to moderate and peculiar-- to hysterical and bizarre-- to insular and dangerous.
It is an excruciating journey for people without a map who wander without asking for directions!
Like tipsy squirrels in search of the true nut they scramble woozily as though scared of their own shadow!
When you browse a WATCHTOWER magazine today you are peering into the distortion that comes from intellectual bankruptcy.
The history of Jehovah's Witnesses is a landscape littered with disproof of divine support! A religion of wafflers who flim-flam and play the blame game they retrace their steps to nowhere in particular.
What passes for New Light today? Mere scrabble tiles aligned on a gameboard accruing bonus points by despotic old windbags out of touch with the very planet they inhabit!!
The Watchtower is a madhouse!
Thought crime is everywhere and their purpose is to root it out before their cushy little scam is seen for what it is!
The inmates are running the asylum!!