Ray Devereaux

Wow, those two videos are just like sitting through the CO visit when they're talking about "we had 139% increase in meeting attendance at the KH" (of course, there were no meetings at the KH during COVID) and "we have an increase of 15 extra pioneers" (of course, the hours were dropped so that just includes what people were doing anyway) and like sitting through a "loving shepherding call" when you've been put on the hit list! 😆 

From  https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200277174
Truths?  Or Insanity?
 
 
 
 

That Eph' scripture does not mention 'the congregation'. It is only the Anointed that are part of the Body of Christ, that holy Temple.   The rest of the congregation are but 'little dogs' that feed from the crumbs dropping from the table. 
The GB are in for trouble then. The GB are beating their 'fellow slaves' and telling those Anointed slaves not to meet together. The GB say it would be 'working against God's Holy Spirit for the Anointed to gather together for prayer or bible study. 
I think that many faithful servants of God through Christ now do not believe that 1914 has any true spiritual meaning.
However, I keep coming back to the point where we are told in Scripture that ' on account of the elect / holy ones  'those days will be cut short' 
Matthew 24 :22 
Berean Study Bible
If those days had not been cut short, nobody would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.
So how short is short ? Will those days be reduced by a month, a year, how much ? 
Juggling numbers means nothing unless the true answers come from God, through Christ, by Holy Spirit. 

@Patiently waiting for Truthgave interesting view on issue when he said: 
 Bible records states how everything was "good" in Creative acts about 7 Days or even with creation/creativity before those 7 Days. That could also mean without "evil" or without "error".
If the environment and condition in Heaven around Satan was without evil and without sin, it would mean that nothing could corrupt one angel or any other angel. If we raise the idea that Satan had "free will", as humans, and chose to be evil, then we could shift the blame to “free will” as a gift from God. Because without “free will” he/we wouldn’t know we have a choice between two or more options. One might conclude that the existence of “free will” is actually a trap. Or we could say that dualism arose from the very creation of a person and it is a matter of the very moment when someone will stop being good and commit something bad. 
Furthermore, we have another very unusual thing in the Book of Genesis and in God’s statement. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
What does it even mean: Knowledge of good and evil? If there is a literal or symbolic tree that has information of what is good and what is evil, then it is inevitable that evil and good already exist in any literal or metaphorical sense. Did “good” produce any effect before Adam and Eve? Yes, because God says that everything that was created was "Good." Is the word “good” in both contexts synonymous?
If so with the word "Good," then it cannot be otherwise with the word "Evil." It must exist, even in the very imagination of the person. In the person of God, angel, man, it doesn't matter.
22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 
These passages should show that God, satan, and every angel knew, and should know, what "evil" is, without at the same time having to mean that as an individual he is "evil" or has done something "evil". 
In my opinion, this opens a paradox about the very concept of "good and evil". In other words, Adam and Eve could not possibly know what was "good" and what was "evil." God stated this in the quoted verse. By that, Adam and Eve did not know they were doing "evil" because they had no knowledge that “good and evil” existed at all, and more important what is difference, what is essence of them. But God and the angels knew the difference, according to verses.
Furthermore, everything that is in the imagination of an individual may already exist, or will exist in some other form or model of existence, either spiritual or physical. It would mean that "evil" began to exist from the very moment when God and the angels showed that they had "knowledge of good and evil." And, since God exists eternally, then "evil", at least in the form of cognition, also exists eternally.... and so it will be in the future, because God cannot cease to exist, because he is eternal and immortal, as they say, and many of us believe it. 
Did man gain full knowledge of "good and evil" in Eden? I don’t know, because man’s imagination of how to do harm to others developed more and more after Adam and Eve. Consequently, the "knowledge" of what "evil" is also "grew". If gift of imagination and free will will stay with humans, then some future individual and future generation will be in possibility/ability to exercise his/their  "knowledge/ignorance  about good and evil" too. 

I don't think 'evil' existed in the beginning so Satan didn't actually 'choose evil', he 'created it'.  The same as disobedience didn't exist until Satan was disobedient to God. The problem all humans have is that we use words to explain things, and all of those words can mean different things to different people. It becomes more complicated when words need to be translated from one language to another.  
Will there not be a final testing at the end of a thousand years of Christ's reign ?  
 
Oh yes but JWs are also taught to SHUN anyone that leaves the ORG.  Shunning their own children. Turning their teenage children out of the house. And they pretend tis is love. 

That’s right, sometimes we are burdened with internal conflicts.
That’s right, sometimes we’re hypocritical as we expose other people’s mistakes.
That's right, sometimes we publicly advocate general / social justice and truth, and yet something inside us tells us that it's not all exactly what it seems.
And what can be done about it? It can get out of an organization in which people are not really ready to face their own and other people's conflicts about what is true and accurate and what is not. And to stop speculate.

Veeeeerrrry Simple:
1.) Jehovah God made men with beards.
 
..... that's it .... no secondary points needed.
 
 
 
 
 

Oh I didn't know they mentioned wearing a suit and tie in the scriptures. The Elders really did kick off at me when i used to attend meetings in an open neck shirt and no jacket in the heat of the summer. The summer weather that God himself created for our enjoyment, but by rules of men, people are made to suffer. 

The reason there is so little common sense, is simply that common sense is not that common.
Ever bit a bee?

FYI - If you ever have a loved one get hospitalized for some cardiac situation and the cardiologist prescribes colchicine to reduce fluid buildup around the pericardium, be aware of side effects the doctor's themselves may not be aware of.
Colchicine has been used for hundreds of years for gout and recently has been used to reduce cardiac inflammation. It may also do other things if the patient stays on it too long.
In my case my wife was on it for a few months, but in that time and unbeknownst to me because of her polymyalgia rheumatica situation I didn't realize it was damaging her nerves, her muscles and her brain. She lost thirty pounds in this time, couldn't eat, would vomit, became weak and incontinent, was in deep muscle pain and neither the rheumatologist nor the primary care physician made the connection. In fact it was ignored when I mentioned it to her primary care physician.
So rather than watch my wife die, I took her off the colchicine and to deal with the pain I gave her 500 mg of acetominophen w/600 mg of N-Acetyl-Cysteine (3 x a Day) (an amino acid given to counter the potential liver damage from the acetominophen). I suspected the colchicine was the culprit. True the symptoms didn't come on quickly, but colchicine can build up in a person's system. She couldn't sit up in bed, I had to help her get on and off the commode and wipe her. I had to shower her. She didn't know at times what day of the week it was.
After a week and a half off the colchicine, the muscle pain went away, but the extreme weakness and all the other things associated w/colchicine poisoning existed.  I googled and tried to pack in every possible supplement associated w/assisting people w/alzheimers or traumatic brain injury or nerve damage.
Alpha-GPC, CDP-choline, Co-Q10, NAD+, Vinpocetine, Phenylpiracetam, Noopept, Acetyl-L-Carnitine, L-Carnosine, Fish Oil, Sulbuitamine (just to list a few). I shelled all these and packed them into a protein shake (w/creatine, and hmb) and argued w/her to drink at least this once a day. I used red light therapy on her head as well.
It's three months now and she's back to better than normal. (Although as soon as she really started to improve dramatically, her hair started to fall out - apparently hair will go dormant under stress and when the stress is gone, it sheds....right now she has "zombie-hair" but we can see it's growing back in.
She's not taking everything that I packed into her shake every day now, but now I can actually leave the house w/o worry. Before this I couldn't leave 20 minutes w/o worrying that I'd find her on the bathroom floor.
 
Anyway, just know that no one is as interested in your health or the health of your loved ones as you are. You're ultimately responsible. Doctors aren't necessarily geniuses.

Yes, in the hierarchy it is important to give everyone (primarily male members) their share of power participation. A very well-touched topic about our “dark” side of character and how that need for power develops in controlled conditions. Of course, anything that is tried to be controlled can always become uncontrollable.  

How do we define the common phrase, “power trip”?
“A sustained and often aggressive exercise of power over others in order to boost one's stature or feeling of self-worth”
I want to share the following perspective of privileges and entitlement in the organization, made by an exjw on reddit. He described the progressive reality of power and authority, harboring in the hearts of the governing leaders. (Prov 25:6; Rom 2:8; Gal 6:3) 
These leaders presently ‘exercise all authority’ over the organization’s operations, yet the elder body is also given great authority over the anointed, replacing God’s chosen priests as the organization’s counterfeit priesthood. (Rev 13:1,2,5-7,11,12,15-17) (Matt 24:15,16; Mark 13:14; 2 Thess 2:3,4; Dan 11:36) (1 Pet 2:5,9; 1 Cor 3:16,17; Ezek 44:6-9)
This person relates the pervasive drive for men especially, to "reach out", be recognized and respected on all levels of the organization. The demands and expectations for select JWs to succeed in supporting the organization, are sourced with the men at the top. Although this progressive learning tool of control is exercised upon all JWs, it is an especially blasphemous act against God’s holy anointed priesthood. (Matt 24:24,25; 48-51; Rev 13:5-7; 11:1,2) 
“The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.” Luke 4:5,6
_____________
Did you ever “serve” as an attendant at conventions? What about working the parking lot at assemblies or memorial? Did you or your dad routinely travel to other halls to give a Sunday talks? Did you ever work safety at quickbuilds? Did you ever have a part on the stage at an assembly or convention? Were you ever in a drama? Did you ever get to pass the emblems (or even partake)? If you got baptized, do you remember sitting in the special section that morning? Did you ever get announced as an MS, elder or pioneer?
If you can answer yes to any of the above questions, you may recall the sense of pride you felt. Even if you’re a lowly teenager running mics or controlling the sound, any position of responsibility comes with a small (but noteworthy) power trip. Imagine, for a brief moment, an elder, the COBE, the circuit overseer or even a visiting bethelite pulls into the parking lot at memorial or circuit assembly and for one small moment, it is you who has all the power and control. You have the orange vest, the orange cone, the straw hat and the honorable Attendant badge. They must drive and park where you tell them to. They will obey your command. For a small snapshot in time, even they must follow your leadership and direction—even tho they represent god on earth. But for that moment, they heed your direction when parking a car. They need your microphone to share their wisdom. The anointed cannot partake unless you hand them the emblems. They cannot speak while you’re on the platform, even if you’re simply reading the WT. YOU have all the power and control. YOU command everyone’s attention. The day you got baptized, it was YOU everyone looked at in the special section. It was you they sang and applauded for. When you (or your dad) visited another hall to deliver a Sunday talk, you already felt special. They lined up to meet you. You met new friends. You were automatically trusted as “exemplary” and even given “hospitality.”
And even tho you may have only been a teenager at the time, or if you were an adult MS or elder, you were likely nothing special outside of the empowering moments those titles brought with them—but for those brief moments, even YOU, an uneducated window washer, enjoyed the taste of control and power. The highest ranking JW had to park where you told them. They couldn’t enter a quickbuild without safety gear and you had the power to stop them. They couldn’t interrupt your talk or take your spotlight the moment your appointment was announced. Yet, outside those windowless walls, you were nobody.
IMAGINE the sense of power and control the GB feels all the time, everywhere they go. They brag about their humble lifestyles (and it’s true, their lodgings at HQ are ok at best—nothing spectacular, in fact most of our homes are probably nicer than their rooms are), but they never lose that feeling of ultimate authority. Everywhere they go, they’re met with reverence. Everything they say is spoken as god’s mouthpiece. Every visit they make, every broadcast they host, they are revered.
What’s their motivation, you ask? Just try to remember those brief moments when you had title, rank and authority over others and ask yourself what you’d do if that was the way you lived 24/7.
 
https://4womaninthewilderness.blogspot.com/
“Should We Obey Men?”  
Why Jesus came to earth / Last World Power over the Chosen Ones / "Iron" and "Clay"  
“Who Really is?” 
 
 
 

What this means is that God and Christ are not 'owned' by the Watchtower / CCJW. 
Unfortunately the Org teaches that if a person leaves the Org then that person has left God and Christ.
I was making the TRUE point that God and Christ are not part of the Watchtower / CCJW.  God and Christ are far superior to a man made Organisation. 
@Witness has her own viewpoint and i have my own viewpoint. We may have the same view on a few matters, but that is purely coincidental. I do not spend my time agreeing with her. 
I have on many occasions said this " Either the JW Org will be cleansed, or another Organisation will be built up"
But please remember that i have to be careful what i can say here, due to the reason John Butler was d/fed from this forum.  I will just say that I do not believe the GB are of the True Anointed and i expect the True Anointed to leads God's willing servants.  We've had this discussion about the word 'perfect' many times before. The scripture at Matthew 5 v 48
You must accordingly be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
It is the True Anointed that must be 'perfect' by God's standards, through Christ, so as to lead God's servants.  Zechariah 8 v 23 
“This is what Jehovah of armies says, ‘In those days ten men out of all the languages of the nations will take hold, yes, they will take firm hold of the robe of a Jew, saying: “We want to go with you, for we have heard that God is with you people.”’”
That JEW is the True Anointed, and they will lead God's willing servants. 
This is true in the case of CSA. I believe that the Australian Royal Commision first looked at CSA regarding the Catholic Church, but if had to include other religions so as not to seem 'prejudiced'. Hence the JW Org / W/t was examined too. and the current IICSA investigation is of many religions, including the JW Org / W/t.  So we see the JW Org is not recognisable above the other religions. 
Now I do not know if this pure Organisation will be a restored / cleansed JW Org (maybe with a change of name), or if it will be a 'New Organisation', but if it is the JW Org restored, it would need time to gain the confidence of true Christians. The True Anointed would have to prove that they are worthy of being 'followed' as per the JEW scripture. The Watchtower magazine would have to be completely revised or removed. All the books would need replacing, or maybe no books at all, as in truth all that is needed is God's word.   But all of this will come about by God's Holy Spirit.  
After all, in the 'last days', all religion will be banned it seems. So no books, no magazines, no KH, no assemblies, maybe all meeting in 'underground' places at different times each week. And, this is where it would be good to have the True Anointed Servants, in many different countries. Each country is different in many different ways. And at the time of the end, each country may be dealing with things differently. However, Holy Spirit can so very easily be directed to True Anointed ones in each country.  ALL things are possible with Almighty God, through Jesus Christ. 

The only ones that can 'sin against the Holy Spirit' are the True Anointed ones. Because they are the only ones anointed with such Holy Spirit.  
As I am not anointed I am also not able to sin against the Holy Spirit. 
If you really understood scripture you would know it is for the True Anointed ones, not for us earthly ' little dogs' 
Matthew 15 v 27
Berean Literal Bible
And she said, "Yes Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs falling from their masters' table."

How is it, you can say...
"Matter of fact, knowing such dates and understanding them can make one more accountable to Jehovah. Serving Jehovah with a Full Heart no matter what date comes and goes should be our Priority."
But anyone who calls you on your use of dates and calculations, gets this...
 

Okay then.  I guess we'll see if your "fruit" remains - if it proves to be true; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  🙂    1 John 4:1
 

Who is it, that has the Holy Spirit causing 4Jah2me to sin against?  The GB?  No, they told us they are not inspired.  The organization itself?  According to Rev 13:15, it is a false prophet that breathes spirit into the Beast of Rev 13:1,2. Thus the Beast/organization becomes "spirit-directed". There is only one organization with a "false prophet" that I know of, which touts to be "spirit-directed", and that spirit is not Holy Spirit.  1 Tim 4:1
Teachings by anointed give proof of their source; either in demonic spirit or in Holy Spirit.  The "fruit", teachings sourced in the spirit of Jesus Christ,  cannot rot, be tossed away, or hidden away...it cannot originate from the minds of men. 
NLV - "Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’”  Matt 15:9
It cannot be calculated and assumed that it is right.  It must remain - last -  and be based solely on the words of Jesus Christ.  Matt 7:15-20; John 15:16
If a JW cannot discern the tree that they "eat" from  as good or bad, then he or she is suffering from a delusion.  2 Thess 2:9-12
 
What is the worst sin the Wt has done?
 

Wow Admin, will i win a prize for having the most topics on the forum 

@César Chávez Show me where I'm advocating my own online community. or where I'm advocating anyone else's online community.  Come on give me a link then where " I " am doing those things. 
It's bad enough that your GB are doing those things ( distortion, exaggeration, and lies.) , I'm certainly not going to follow them into that pit. 

@TrueTomHarley You must watch a lot of television or films or something as you seem to reference so many things I've never heard of. Both you and Arauna make references to things that have no meaning to me. (Perhaps I lead a sheltered life). 
Now as for your words of wisdom, "Why don’t you divert a little more energy towards the goal of being in that New World, you yo-yo?"  This is sensible......... But then your words "Perhaps then your credentials for condemning everything under the sun will improve.", are too general. You know that I don't condemn 'everything'.  Paul's words, as I mentioned "Hate what is evil", prove the point. 
It is because I hate what is evil, that i cannot be part of the CCJW right now.... I am not saying that 'everything' about the Org is evil, but that certain things are.... And @JW Insider certainly seems to find 'discrepancies' in the 'teachings' of the Org. 1914 seems to be suspect for instance. So it's not only what you and others call my 'favorite subject' that holds me back, but also some of the teachings and 'rules'.  I admit to being at a complete loss right now. You laugh at my idea of a True Anointed but it's the only way forward as far as I can see. You also laugh at my idea of a much bigger 'Body of servants' taking the lead in the Org, but my point has been proven that so much can now be done via internet that a much bigger 'GB' type of leadership is easily possible with Anointed leaders from all around the Earth. 
But i will come back to the Org's teaching of "Only baptised JWs will be saved", and I'm not liable to be a JW for many years if things continue as they are in the Org. So, I will take the risk of doing what i think is right and stay away from the CCJW, and I will face the consequences. If i die for doing wrong then i can say i did wrong for the right reasons  

@César Chávez My morals are not perfect, but then, I'm not trying to run an organisation and I'm not trying to mislead millions of people either. I also don't expect to be in that New World.  I am a hater in one way though. As the Apostle Paul said at Romans 12 v 9 "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good".  So my hate is directed by scripture which is inspired of God's holy spirit. 
 

@César Chávez Allen I am not your mate and you do write rubbish. 
And it is you that are part of an immoral Organisation.
For my part I do my best to warn people, especially families with young children, to keep away from the CCJW and it's immorality and child abuse. I also warn people about it's false teachings too. 
I wonder which God and Christ prefer, someone that warns others to help other stay safe, or, people in an immoral organisation that encourage others into an unsafe immoral place.
I might not be preaching the 'good news' but neither am I supporting Paedophiles in an immoral Org. 

What is your first language ? Probably not English unless you were drunk when you wrote the above. None of it makes any sense.
A. I don't have 20 years of any letters. B. I am not keeping a fornicator in the Org. 
C. This FORUM is about Jehovah's Witnesses, Hence I speak about THEM. Why would i want to talk about the Catholic Church, or any other, on a JW forum ? 
D. Everyone lives in the world, and you could therefore say that everyone lives in a 'paedophile world' as it is part of the world we all live in. 
Jesus said  (recorded at John 17 v 15 )  ( New American Standard Bible ) 
"I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.
So you see, we are all in this world. But your GB are still withholding evidence about Paedophiles in the CCJW. So, your GB are guilty of great sins against God, Christ and humans. 

@César Chávez Well the GB and their Lawyers are keeping the paedophiles inside the CCJW / Watchtower by hiding that 20 + year database, so they are not cleaning the Org at all. How you can spout about What is the point of keeping Christian ethics, when the CCJW Org is so immoral i do not know. 
Wake up CC. Your Org is being part of this world right now. Your CCJW Org is better known for Child Sexual Abuse Earthwide than for anything else. Earthwide Child Sexual Abuse CC, just remember that when you spout about Christian ethics.