James Thomas Rook Jr.

Ahem...Yoo Hoo! ... I never claimed it was real news ... it was YOU who claimed it was fake news... the burden of proof is on YOU.

True.  But some people misinterpret this to mean that you have abandoned the standards you had before, especially the older children.  They think the younger ones get away with more than they did. They can't see that you have adjusted your methods of discipline due to more experience and discernemnt.

A roll of Duct tape goes a LONG WAY to keep
children in their seats, and to make them be quiet!

POVERTY  BETWEEN  JEHOVAH'S  WITNESSES    Missionaries  today  in  HONDURAS....
Probably the witnesses of the first world as Europe or North America, let us not really be aware of the hardships suffered by our brothers from poorer countries.
We get real experiences from siblings who tell us what their day to day life is like.
Many missionaries count and do not finish the things they see, as in a really poor area of Honduras.
When someone dies in the congregation, they make a collection to bring a carpenter to make a coffin and to bury with dignity the deceased with the speech of an old man.
The missionaries brought them used glasses or magnifying glasses that they collected from the congregations of origin, because in those lands there were no opticians and many brothers can not read the publications like the Watchtower, since they are losing sight. With the glasses used they could even get a job, benefiting not only spiritually but even in their daily life.
Life there is hard, they die of simple diseases for lack of medicines. When the rainy season arrives, attendance at meetings declines due to the lack of shoes that allow them to walk on rough and wet terrain, causing them to injure their feet and die from those injuries. The people there are very superstitious, and if some sick witness family, they attribute it to have abandoned the religion of the family and abandon it. For this reason, the brothers in falling ill take care of each other.
When the pair of missionaries arrived, the brothers of the congregation of Honduras invited them to a meal. To do this, they gathered supplies for a whole week to feed them and then just watched them eat. The missionaries quickly learned to refuse invitations in a polite way so they did not see the children look hungry as they eat all the food.
A missionary was invited to a hospital to explain the witnesses' position regarding blood. They are so poor that they hardly have electricity, so it was impossible to show them the videos. The missionary had been an electronic engineer in England and was dedicated to arranging the subject of electricity in all the rooms of the hospital, if only to be able to put the videos of the organization. But from now on, the hospital liaison committee has been very well received since it already has electricity to the kitchen and the laboratory thanks to the brother.
Whole villages benefited from one of our Bible videos about cleanliness and hygiene around the house. The men who were like the heads or elders of a village asked our brothers to show the videos to the village in any meeting room or hut they could gather and the elders and the local police would ensure that they all attended. Our friends had to carry all the video / DVD players and televisions and generators in the back of their Izuzu van as well as the videos, as these people did not have any of these modern innovations. They also had to carry all their drinking water and medical supplies on these trips. They would have to drive the dry river beds to the mountains, since there were no adequate roads.
From wealthier congregations a collection was made for the missionaries to buy a battered but tough truck as they were supplied with a good car, but they stole it at gunpoint! Because the terrain is so rough, we also gave them good sturdy shoes as they used them regularly after a few months. We regularly provided them with simple ministry bags, since brothers and sisters were often robbed and robbed of their bags, even though they only learned to carry literature on them.
Many missionaries came from the rich areas and only lasted a few weeks since there was nothing that they recognized as requirements for their own way of life. Older missionaries laughed when some came waving their credit cards and asking for the nearest bank, or Supermarket and looking for a good cell phone signal. The Ministry is so different where people do not have house numbers or addresses as such, it is a clash of culture for a while.
( translated  by  google )

Every day I pray for patience and endurance ... because if God
gives me strength ... some heads are gonna roll!

Pray  Until  Something  Happens !    P U S H.....
A man was sleeping one night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light, and God appeared.
The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. So, this the man did, day after day.
For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all of his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.
Since the man was showing discouragement, the Adversary (Satan) decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into his weary mind:
"You have been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn't moved."
Thus, he gave the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man. Satan said,
"Why kill yourself over this? Just put in your time, giving just the minimum effort; and that will be good enough."
That's what the weary man planned to do, but decided to make it a matter of prayer and to take his troubled thoughts to the Lord.
"Lord," he said, "I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?"
The Lord responded compassionately,
"My friend, when I asked you to serve Me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all of your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to Me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewy and brown; your hands are callused from constant pressure, your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much, and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. True, you haven't moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. That you have done.
Now I, my friend, will move the rock."
At times, when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what He wants, when actually what God wants is just simple obedience and faith in Him. By all means, exercise the faith that moves mountains, but know that it is still Jehovah God  who moves the mountains.
When everything seems to go wrong ... just PUSH !
When the job gets you down ... just PUSH !
When people don't react the way you think they should..... just PUSH !
When your money is "gone" and the bills are due ...just PUSH !
When people just don't understand you ... just PUSH !

.
IT IS A GREAT KINDNESS and a great Merciful act, when one deliberately kills one's beloved Dog, when racked by disease. My dog Cubby, a Siberian Husky, had cancer in her left eye, and we had it removed ... but it had spread to her intestines and she was in great pain, and it would take a long time to die.
We took her to the Vet, and with wailing tears and anguish had her executed.
I felt it was my responsibility as a man to "pull the trigger" myself , but my wife, Susan, could not abide it.
There comes a time when every man has to shoot his own dog ... farming it out does not make it better .. it makes it worse.
I KNOW Cubby would never even had heard the sound. ... but it would have been messy.  Fortunately, we had the $140 to have her executed and she never knew it.
Many people do NOT!
It was completely painless and she died with her eyes open ... never knowing she had died.
I lament that when my time comes... and it WILL come ... there is no one to show me the great Kindness and Mercy that I was able to do for my beloved dog.
Jehovah God has stated many times in many different ways that he wants mercy ... and not sacrifice.
People that are COMPLETELY divorced from reality ... as it really is ... find the idea of killing ones child abhorrent, but there is a PRINCIPLE that reality based people understand, that liberals living in a fantasy world do NOT understand ... in Latin it's " Quod est necessarium est licitum", which means "that which is necessary, is legal" .
People of courage DO WHAT IS RIGHT, at ANY cost.
Slaves do what is legal.
If any of my three children had Rabies, as an example, and no medical care was available ... I would shoot him or her first ... and myself second.
Should I treat my children with LESS MERCY than my dog?

That is probably a good idea, considering how many times you have actually BEEN right ... in our little verbal tete-a-tetes.
BAZINGA!

The reason it is not important to know specific identities is that they are but actors in a play (and one of them does not belong on the list at all, IMO). Take one of them out and they are immediately replaced by another.
It is the play we are watching. You don't have to know the names of the actors to follow the play. It can even be a distraction if you do. The roles were laid out long ago in the Book and various actors audition for those roles. It doesn't matter specifically their names.
As much as I like to kick these guys in the teeth (verbally) whenever they rear their filthy heads on a site that purports to be a gathering spot for Witnesses - because if Scripture means anything, it is that fighters against God will not fare well at play's end - that does not mean that I know who is who. I am like a doctor who can only address the symptoms. Even when you take the one off the list who I think should be off, the remaining four are not the same.
What anyone must be alert to is Hebrews 6:4-6: "For as regards those who were once enlightened and who have tasted the heavenly free gift and who have become partakers of holy spirit and who have tasted the fine word of God and powers of the coming system of things, but have fallen away, it is impossible to revive them again to repentance, because they nail the Son of God to the stake again for themselves and expose him to public shame."
I don't presume that I can tell who this verse fits and who it doesn't - especially online.  Is a given opposer in this category or has he merely been influenced by someone in this category? Impossible to tell. All I can do is address symptoms. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't be addressed.
Some of them say that they were once hurt. Who am I to try to deny or minimize that? I don't. All I can note is that Revelation 2 and 3 makes clear that congregations of the first century experienced blemishes at least as bad as is claimed by some happens today, yet continued to be congregations. It is Paul saying that in any house there are vessels for uses both honorable and dishonorable. There comes a time when one must suck it up and move on - either stay or leave, but move on.

Well, AllenSmith ... and I assume you ARE Allen Smith, just trying a little deception ... (If I am wrong, please correct me...):
People rely on news where they can find it. Truth is where you find it .... especially when starving for truth!
The WTB&TS ONLY reports news that make them appear noble, and pure, and innocent and rightous ... and they are human beings just like all others, except that they NEVER report anything that might reflect on their IMPLIED claim of absolute competence ... and they NEVER apologize for any harm they cause by pretending to be experts on everything, misquoting references ( often with ellipsis ...  to deliberately obscure the real context of a quote..).
Like the old Soviet newspaper PRAVDA, and the last story in today's Watchtower ... they gloss over general disasters  with an obscure reference, because ONE couple was able to adapt, AND ALL NEWS ABOUT THEMSELVES .. IS GOOD NEWS!  
Fine if you are a Soviet Commissar, that is to be expected but .... everybody in Russia knew AND KNOWS the glorious worker's paradise was AND IS anything but .... except the IGNORANT, the delusional, and the stupid.
Like Charles Taze Russell said in the very first copy of the Watchtower ... IF Satan himself told you something that was the truth ... it would STILL be the truth, irregardless of the source.
Over the years, with their HIDING of relevant information, OBSCURING relevant information, and making up prophesies and types/antitypes that had absolutely NO basis in reality, generating artificial fear and anxiety over "end-times" predictions ...  and then weasel-wording around the facts that such things were ever said ....  and the list goes on, and on, and on, and on .. ad nauseum ... to directly answer your specific question ....
"My question would be, when did Jehovah Witnesses start relying on “apostate” NEWS by Johnny the Bethelite, and anything this EX-MEMBER has to say about the Watchtower in his blog"
THIS IS WHEN.
NOW.
Oh ....  and thank you for monitoring the many apostate websites to verify the source of YOUR research.

In February of 1974 it was reported that Phyllis Diller had been a Centerfold in the Watchtower magazine, and she commented, if memory serves. "That was the only Centerfold I could make!"
It disturbed me so much that even today I have five naked five females and two naked males running around my home, and lying about in repose on cushions about the house ... if you don't count their collars and rabies tags.
The paws that refresh!

The best way to not have any SPIES ...
... is not do anything that needs to be SECRET !

I find it so sad that a young sister took her own life (if it's true).  At 24 yo her life was just starting.  I can't help but think of a time when I worked for State government at the Capitol (actually the building behind it).  A woman was so distraught about trying to get some legislation passed (it had something to do with a victim being warned when the perpetrator was released from prison).  Her attempt to find some justice resulted in her going to the top floor in the Capitol bldg and jumping.  She had to splatter herself in the rotunda to get attention to her plight.  I wonder if this young sister felt the same way.  Coupled with the shunning,  life must have seemed overwhelming. I left the Mormon church because I didn't like the organizational style (really their teachings, doctrines drove me out first)  which is so similar to the Watchtowers,  the only difference is that I know the Truth from the Bible which anchors me and gives me hope that Jesus will clean house if there is "something stinking in Denmark".   John Bradshaw (author) stated,  "you're as sick as your secrets".  I believe that.   If DF'g is used to protect secrets and not the congregation,   many will stumble and some will become active haters.   Df'g seems to be our Achilles Heel.   BBC just ran a story the other day about 2 DF'd JWs.  It was outrageously untrue (i.e.: we DF for not attending the Memorial,  leaving an abusive mate, etc) and I noticed it's now posted to Youtube.   Could something designed to protect us be the very thing that persecutes us?

I'm certainly hoping now that it is, considering the current mood on this thread.

And now for the ultimate mia culpa:  I am - gasp! - @The Librarian!!!!
I got tossed out of Bethel decades ago for trying to sneak a red-hot bikini photograph, clad only in horn-rimmed glasses, of myself in the Watchtower centerfold. It almost made it out the door, but then some narrow-minded brothers spotted it.
I'll bet it still hangs upon their dorm walls - the sickos!!
I could have been famous - FAMOUS, I tell you. But now I send photos of myself to apostate rags and even they return it unopened!!

That's the first time I've seen you up voting your own comment 

I agree.
Signed,
Allen Smith
[Edited to add: Wow! That was the first time I ever "liked" one of my own posts, and it seems to have accepted it! So it turns out I never had to create all those separate accounts after all (with names I could hardly spell anyway, like Gnosis Pithos, etc.)]

You must be Allen Smith then

I can up vote my own comments too!! Look!! Maybe I will post a bikini shot of myself next! 

Yeah! I just noticed that I could, and I added a comment to that effect on the post. I know that others had that ability like Bible Speaks and Arch-rival (sp?), but figured that might have been through some special moderator permissions.
Still, it's kind of sad to find out that I might have been talking to myself all this time.

My wife and I have seven dogs.
We have found that dogs contribute a great deal of joy to our lives
... somewhat in part due to their one-word vocabulary.

Well, AllenSmith ... and I assume you ARE Allen Smith, just trying a little deception ... (If I am wrong, please correct me...):
People rely on news where they can find it. Truth is where you find it .... especially when starving for truth!
The WTB&TS ONLY reports news that make them appear noble, and pure, and innocent and rightous ... and they are human beings just like all others, except that they NEVER report anything that might reflect on their IMPLIED claim of absolute competence ... and they NEVER apologize for any harm they cause by pretending to be experts on everything, misquoting references ( often with ellipsis ...  to deliberately obscure the real context of a quote..).
Like the old Soviet newspaper PRAVDA, and the last story in today's Watchtower ... they gloss over general disasters  with an obscure reference, because ONE couple was able to adapt, AND ALL NEWS ABOUT THEMSELVES .. IS GOOD NEWS!  
Fine if you are a Soviet Commissar, that is to be expected but .... everybody in Russia knew AND KNOWS the glorious worker's paradise was AND IS anything but .... except the IGNORANT, the delusional, and the stupid.
Like Charles Taze Russell said in the very first copy of the Watchtower ... IF Satan himself told you something that was the truth ... it would STILL be the truth, irregardless of the source.
Over the years, with their HIDING of relevant information, OBSCURING relevant information, and making up prophesies and types/antitypes that had absolutely NO basis in reality, generating artificial fear and anxiety over "end-times" predictions ...  and then weasel-wording around the facts that such things were ever said ....  and the list goes on, and on, and on, and on .. ad nauseum ... to directly answer your specific question ....
"My question would be, when did Jehovah Witnesses start relying on “apostate” NEWS by Johnny the Bethelite, and anything this EX-MEMBER has to say about the Watchtower in his blog"
THIS IS WHEN.
NOW.
Oh ....  and thank you for monitoring the many apostate websites to verify the source of YOUR research.

I was trying to say similar, but I think you have expressed it better. 2 Corinthians 1:4 applies here. But those who need comfort won't get it if everyone pretends it doesn't exist - and it really doesn't for most people. Who in the congregation would even believe you, or even want to? The answer is: nobody - unless they have seen and been through it themselves. Fortunately for me, I knew very strong and zealous brothers of many years who shared their experiences with me which was of great encouragement because as you correctly stated it provided "relief I wasn't going crazy."  But they wouldn't go talking about these things just to anybody in the congregation. It's too outside the realm of experience for most. We are encouraged to overlook the "imperfections" of others, which is scripturally loving and appropriate. But what we are alluding to is much more than some garden variety imperfection. These are often disfellowshipping offences and other forms of badness. 
I wouldn't think everyone reading this would believe/agree with this thread. But for those of us who have had to come to terms with some pretty hairy stuff, your expressions above ring true - spot on in fact. 

So true. It's hard to imagine what kind of "spirituality" can live alongside certain kinds of sin and certain kinds of personalities.
Most people go into the various Bethel branches, at about age 19 and 20, rather naively, and usually just a few short years after their baptism and with an average of more than a year of pioneering.  The statistics favored those who were 'raised in the truth' rather than recent converts. One of the first things we were told, jokingly by Brother Couch and Brother Sydlik in the "welcome speech' is that Bethelites were divided into two groups, "Newbies" and "BAs" (those with a "Bad Attitude). Then we were reminded that this wasn't a joke by Bethelites who had already been there a year or two. The direct implication was that it didn't take long before we would all become jaded.
I went in on the cusp of a changeover from a 4-year commitment to just a 1-year commitment. Those who were serving out the last year or so of a 4-year commitment were supposed to be the worst BAs (although with the changeover, there was no stigma to a 2 or 3 year Bethelite leaving early, as there had been previously). If you went home early prior to that, it was considered the same as a dishonorable discharge from the army. And worse than that, there had just been a dismissal of 50 or more (all at one time) who had been accused of homosexuality. It was right after that that the 1-year commitment was offered, but no one wanted to leave early in the midst of that, for fear of what the congregation back home might think.
On the first day I got to Bethel, my temporary roommate stole a couple hundred dollars from me, as he was just going back home after 4 years. On my last day of Bethel, I discovered that my storage locker, unused for several years, had been broken into and my valuables had been stolen. I never thought to check my storage locker even though Brother Knorr made at least a weekly announcement of Bethelites dismissed for theft over a period of several months.
But all this was very easy to ignore, by just putting your nose to the grindstone and staying busy. As TTH reminds us, it's dirt among diamonds. I found diamonds by the dozen, and would have never focused on the dirt. And of course every diamond itself has imperfections, too. I could not have asked for better assignments at Bethel. I didn't deserve any of them, and I loved it every single day. Even those dark days of 1980 that seemed surreal, didn't change my resolve to continue to just try to be the kind of person who was like those whom I liked to be around. 
As I got a little older I realized that part of helping others stay grounded is to stop keeping everything to myself, and just admit the faults we've lived through. And I think that we can help others even by admitting the specifics (up to a point). The reason is that others who have gone through something unexpected might never guess that others have gone through something similar. It might give them a bit of relief that they are not going crazy or being singled out for mistreatment or just to know that others really can sympathize.
There is always an element of concern over the fact that some are stumbled by dirty laundry, but that's why I've mentioned before that a semi-anonymous discussion forum (for me) is a much better choice than trying to sympathize in the congregation setting. Many of those who are hurt by mistreatment from those they trusted have clearly turned to discussion forums like this one. (Actually, I saw several of that sort on a bigger discussion forum and was terrified for them that they were being eaten alive by a a lot of unruly ex-JWs, proud to call themselves "apostates.")
Rather than fight the noise on that larger forum, I ran across this one, and think, so far, that it has a fair balance, and that even ex-JW and non-JW "opposing" voices are fairly good at self-moderating here. Someday, this forum will probably no longer meet the same standards it meets now and I'll either go back to silence, or go looking around for another outlet. Many won't agree, but I think that sharing openly and honestly is a loving thing to do for those who might be looking for a sympathetic or empathetic ear. That goes for those concerned about issues of justice and issues of doctrine and healthful teaching. I think this is why the Bible reveals the flaws, even of people at the highest levels of responsibility. (Noah, Moses, Jephthah, Saul, David, Solomon, . . . Paul, Peter, James, and John).
I'm sure some are annoyed that not everyone here spends 100% of their time encouraging loyalty to all the long-standing traditions, and bureaucratic processes. Some apparently only want to encourage complete obedience to any and all suggestions from the Governing Body and apparently think anything less is some kind of apostasy. We have congregations for that kind of encouragement. We have meetings where we specifically study the current thinking of the Governing Body and support it through prepared questions and answers and reading of published material. The congregation is no place for open questioning of current doctrines and procedures.
Well put! 

Unfortunately, that wasn't just true back in the '80's. I have seen the same thing and so have others - and it's not just true of NY Bethel. The trick for those of us who have lived through and seen these lying machinations is not only to stay faithful to our dedication and respect for the authority of our organization (while being more than aware of things that might destroy the faith of our brothers and sisters), but to help them to stay grounded despite the faith-testing/destroying machinations of men who have something to hide, and who will lie, plot and scheme to protect themselves. To try to help our friends have faith that overall, we are a spiritual organization, not just the political entity proud ambitious men would turn it into.We expect this behaviour in the world, but when men in authority ("angels in Jesus' right hand") act as if they are in Satan's right hand, then most would have a hard time to rationalize what they may see or even experience within the context of their faith - it's just too "out there." But prophetic warnings in Gods Word make clear that this type of stuff will happen - (not just could happen).. It's just that people think it's "negative talk" or something that "allegedly" happens to someone else until it happens to them.  
I have a lot of respect for mature, battle-hardened/wisened Christians who in a spiritual sense, are like the valiant mighty men of old who faced dangers from outside and within in defence of pure worship. Although I love also my "weaker" in faith brothers and sisters who would rather act as if these things can't/don't exist or even acknowledge it, I wouldn't want to be like that - in "pretend world." I have always wanted to know the "truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" - even when it is uncomfortable - at least it's real and I know who/what I am dealing with. We can easily accept there will be wickedness from Satans system. Not so easy when it's from within "Jehovah's organization." But those who have this "tested quality of our faith" are a living testimony that these things are survivable, doable, and they can even maintain their joy in serving Jehovah stronger and wiser than before.