Follow the Money

I recently visited Sheffield City Centre and came across two groups of Jehovah’s Witnesses gathered around their literature stands.  Since leaving the religion I have never had a discussion with any Witness about the bible or Witness beliefs.

Nobody approached the Witnesses nor did anyone show any interest in the Watchtower magazines or the books in both Spanish and English on their stands.  So I walked up and picked up a magazine and started to leaf through it.  Nobody took any notice of me.  I looked around and gained eye contact with a thick set Witness in his fifties.  He nodded at me and went back to talking to the group.  I stayed in place, reading an article and wondering when someone would come over - after all I've rarely seen anyone approach these stands so any interest must be welcome for them.  Finally, after none of them had shown any sign of wanting to talk to me, I walked away, convinced that they wouldn't let a potential bible study wander away from their grasp.  I was wrong - they carried on talking amongst themselves and let me go.

The whole episode began to make me wonder if these town and city literature points are the modern equivalent of pioneers walking miles between 'calls' to fill their hours.  Certainly the Witnesses in Sheffield had no desire to actually talk to me and as I didn't know them and they don't know me I can only assume they have highly tuned 'apostate' detectors or they were just standing around in order to report their time.  If that is the case, you have to question their honesty.

Anyway I walked away with the latest Watchtower and later that afternoon, while sitting in a pub and supping a cold beer I took a look at it.  The first thing that struck me was how much it has shrunk in the six years I stopped attending meetings.  It's little more than a tract now and the paper quality is very poor.

If they believe we are almost at the very end of the system why would they shrink the 'spiritual food' that they claim to supply?  They have more active Witnesses now than at any time in history which equates to a huge income in contributions yet they are selling their prime properties in New York and there are rumours that they are considering the sale of various branch buildings around the world. They have downsized their 'wage' bill by getting rid of special pioneers and district overseers all over the world.  They have reduced the printing of the Awake magazine from bi-monthly to only six issues per year.

On the one hand they have cancelled the debts of all congregations that borrowed from the Society for Kingdom Hall building and refurbishment and on the other they have instructed every single body of elders to commit to a monthly contribution to the Society at a level not less than the debt payments (for those that had loans). In fact their 'suggestion' is that all funds other than those needed to run a Kingdom Hall for three months, pay off loans to individual brothers and a little for unforeseen contingencies, should be sent to the Society.

With these huge payments being raked in and the millions in savings being made in printing and wage costs plus the massive profits being made on their buildings there appears to be a very significant war chest being built.  For what purpose?  They can't spend it after Armageddon and they are not expanding at any great pace.  They claim that they need money to fund areas that need Kingdom Halls and Assembly Halls to facilitate growth - yet the net growth between those that get baptised each year and those that leave the organisation is pretty negligible.

Clearly they must be expecting large legal bills as they fight many child abuse cases around the world and the financial awards to victims must also be factored in to their forecasts.  However, should the rank and file brothers and sisters be funding the incompetency of the Governing Body's policies that have resulted in the legal actions?

And what about the rest of the millions pouring into their coffers every month?  It is a confusing picture, at a time when you would expect their output to be increasing they seem to be doing the polar opposite.   It could be explained away as hunkering down in preparation for Armageddon but that doesn't explain the hoarding and centralising of funds.

The elders were warned just a few years ago to follow the Society’s instructions “whether these appear sound from a strategic or human standpoint or not.”  Those instructions now appear ominously predictive.  Elders are legally responsible for their own congregations, including being responsible for the donations and expenses yet they are being 'encouraged' to hand over significant quantities of those funds despite the instruction appearing 'unsound', in fact if I were an elder I would be very suspicious of the reasoning behind it.

However once again the Governing Body have cleverly and cynically ensured that elders and congregation members cannot question their decision without appearing to be disloyal.