Is it Time to Declare that The Great Tribulation Has Started ?

by OnTheWayOut 100 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  BluesBrother

  Could this be a way for Watchtower to seize any assets and dispose of them as they wish? Kingdom Halls, Assembly Halls, branch offices, circuit overseers, the printing of any literature- nothing would be safe from the chopping block

  Forgive me for not reading every post in this thread....but they are already doing that.

  Congregations all over the U K are being amalgamated together, K Halls appropriated and sold ,with the money going straight to the WWW Fund. Nobody asks the locals what they want, they are just told that as from next week you are assigned to XYZ Congregation - and that is it...
  
  
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  Doubtfully Yours

  1972-1975, 1983-1988, 1996-2001, present time fear mongering all over again.

  This new great hype means nothing to us old JWs who've lived through previous great hypes. We're not even talking about the nonsense, carrying on with life and ignoring the whole thing altogether.

  DY
  
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  BlackSwan of Memphis

  DY you don't think that the present fear mongering has been stepped up?
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  OnTheWayOut

  Still catching up. I haven't read ahead.
  Finishing Page 3 replies:
  
  sparrowdown, you are in line with what I am thinking. Troubles are piling up and it's time to strategically plan an exit, take the money and run.

  Gefangene, making a call out for handing over assets might as well be a call that the Great Trib. has started. Most won't go along with it without increasing the pressure on the timeline.

  Virgochik, thanks for that thought. I agree. But they have cried religious persecution before without declaring the Great Trib. so they might stop short or just imply it.

  Finkelstein, that was what I thought for quite awhile, but it sure seems like they don't have a bunch of money in reserve to weather this storm. Oh, hundreds of millions should be there, but somehow, I feel it isn't. It's like they are drying up and ONLY the money from property sales is covering their asses.

  Fisherman, yes. Prophecy declared by them is in the way. The Bible is in the way. That hasn't stopped them from changing it anyway.

  Listener, thanks for reminding us what they are currently saying in their videos. Remember they are slick and can set up a video or study article to make members speculate as to the meaning, then see how people react before going further down that path.
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  OnTheWayOut

  Page 4 replies:
  
  Ozgirl, thanks for your vote.

  Outlaw, that would be great. But I think a great tribulation would be over if Watchtower was destroyed.

  Fisherman, a judgment message would allow JW's to remember that "We and our GB were right." That's all being a JW is about. Otherwise, it serves no purpose. Even Watchtower's version of Noah didn't have time to go and declare judgment.

  RubaDub, we will take your joke under advisement. Zika or some next new outbreak.

  Listener, that's kind of deep, digging out such a quote. Thanks. So it's well established that they have been saying they will declare to the end. They are "witnesses" for Jehovah.

  cha ching, two great thoughts- [ I thought, "O.... M.... G...." what are they going to have people do next? ]
  It seems to be the case that they will at least want them to sit quietly while their congregation funds and their Kingdom Halls are taken away. More will come.
  [ "Just as in the last days of Jerusalem, the Jewish religion was not destroyed, so in our day it will be....... religions are NOT destroyed, but......" ] That's a NULITE spin they may have been holding for an emergency.

  Fisherman, yes yes yes. It flies in the face of what they used to teach. So does overlapping generation and young anointed ones and redefining so many things as the calendar forces them to move on. Thanks.

  Mickey Mouse, that's some compromise you offer. I would even offer an exception. Jehovah would only allow people to cling to the open deck of the ark without the waves sweeping them off into the sea if they totally kiss the asses of the GB and show what great sacrifices they are willing to make for just that privilege. Between you and I, we could replace Freddy Franz as an oracle.

  
  
  
  
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  OnTheWayOut

  Starting Page 5 replies:
  
  baker, I don't know if you are serious or sarcastic (or seriously sarcastic). That would be similar to becoming a televangelist religion. They just gotta figure how to get watchers to send in their money.

  Finkelstein, I have never thought the latest bunch were all that bright in the GB. I don't think it was their brains but their knee pads that got them to the top. One serious blow to the finances of Watchtower and these 7 men might just come up with something even crazier than overlapping generations. They assume the sheeples are not even bothering to try to understand their doctrines and aren't worried about a lack of scriptures to back them up.
  Dropping suggestions might very well be all we see from them.
  
  LoveUniHateExams, thanks for the compliment. They would rather do what you said.....and rant on about tight pants to a captive audience.
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  OnTheWayOut

  I am on a roll catching up.
  
  Page 5 replies:
  
  Quirky1, "...almost done" can still mean decades. Or it could be right now when they need to sell the remaining Kingdom Halls. It remains to be seen.
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  OnTheWayOut

  Had to take an emergency run. Continuing Page 5 replies:
  
  LV101, your thoughts on my thoughts seem in harmony. I just speculate. I keep hoping they crash and burn faster than I anticipate.

  Finkelstein, I hope you are wrong when you say "the WTS has never been richer, exponentially too ! " I really hope not. If they are cash-heavy, I still say they are planning for something of a major change that might include an escape plan. I don't really believe they are cash-heavy. I think they blew it all somehow and are just trying to recover.

  kairos, I feel the same way. Maybe it's Smurfs. Maybe it's birthday cupcakes in the schools. Maybe it's time to introduce the King of the EAST, kind of a "Wizard of OZ" thing. Don't forget the good king of the WEST.

  LV101, keep hope alive.
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  OnTheWayOut

  Page 6 replies:

  Blondie, I will leave the fact checking for you and others. Thanks for asking. I am pretty sure the answer is NO. I am really talking about introducing something new NOW and changing the GT stuff NOW, like they have done with so many other long-time doctrines.

  JRK, you offer the perfect solution. "Just as the generation overlapped AGAIN, so the Great Tribulation overlapped AGAIN. Really folks, it will not continue to overlap. Be ready to do whatever we say, no time to explain."

  Prometheus, we never know. So true.

  Finkelstein, their recruiting and retention methods aren't really working out so well. I am proposing that they don't even think that matters anymore as long as they get donations from the remnant of their flock that they can "scare sh*tless."
  
  GrreatTeacher, that's the announcement we are dreading, and at the same time cheering if it means an end to Watchtower soon.
  
  berrygerry, Yeah, it's been close to one-tenth of one percent for quite a long time.
  They are dragging out that "wait to have children" stuff again? They are suggesting spending less time with family? What a crock of sh&t.
  
  
  
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  OnTheWayOut

  Page 7 replies:
  
  berrygerry, thanks for reminding us how insignificant JW's are in the world scene. It feeds their egos and their persecution complex (the devil is after us) to over-state their significance.

  NewYork44M, yup. I am sure that is one game plan they continue to consider. I am proposing the possibility that finances don't even allow them to wait that long. Heck, some of the current GB will be around for 25+ years, maybe much longer. They just keep getting younger and younger ones to join. Great thoughts.

  Finkelstein, there have been tons of people preaching the end of the world. Take a look at this book when you get a chance, awesome book:
  
  
  Data-Dog, they play on past "the last card." They open a new deck and re-shuffle the old cards into it. They recycle ideas and cancel major pronouncements of theirs. I agree that as long as they "can scare the sheeple into believing anything they say, they won't need the GT, only the ever-present "SOON!!" " So if the money situation is sound, this speculation was just a fun exercise. But we shall see. It might just be more than that.

  Lieu, I fully understand. I have said that this would be an announcement we dread in many ways. Certainly, the toll on our older, long-term JW's can be terrible and it could last the rest of their lives. I am with you. I would rather they get older saying "So exactly when is this 'right-around-the-corner' stuff?"

  Doubfully Yours, thanks for your thoughts. I wonder in this thread that if the latest scare tactics don't work, what will they do?
  
  BlackSwan of Memphis, I feel that as time goes on, they will at the very least, continue closer and closer to being a creepy Jonestown or Branch Davidian type of cult.

  Londo111, I was with you partway. They could declare that PRE-Tribulation is upon us and make up any goofy thing that the cry of peace and security has taken place. But they ain't going back to private homes, their lawyers have steered them away from that. Maybe the internet and no Kingdom Halls. It's a radical change that we really can't imagine happening yet.
  
  DJS, thanks for the excellent thoughts on confirmation bias and whatever else they want to call it. And thanks for the closing remark there: "No one really gives a f**k about the dubs other than the dubs."

  BlackSwan of Memphis, it's that absolute total compliance thing I am trying to comment and speculate on as I drive the thread. Can they get enough money out of enough faithful members if they don't "amp it up" ? I think not. Others are not so sure. I don't have the answer, but it's great that we can speculate.