Hello, everyone. I have something truly bizarre to share with you this time. It comes from a rather innocuous place, the July 2024 letter from the Governing Body to all the elders in North America and, I assume, around the world, titled “Announcements and Reminders”. You remember how, if you were one of Jehovah's witnesses, we were constantly reminded that we needed reminders, as if we had terrible memories and constantly forget the simple things that we were taught. Anyway, that's off topic.
Let's get right into it. Here's the letter, and we're going to begin by reading from the first paragraph. Helping young brothers to make spiritual progress. As Jehovah's Organization continues to grow, more brothers are needed to care for practical congregation tasks. Right away we start with gaslighting.
We know that the Organization is not growing. It has been shrinking for a while now. Kingdom halls are being sold by the thousands. Congregations have reduced attendance, resulting in them being merged together with other congregations to make the appearance of one large congregation and therefore freeing up kingdom halls that can be sold and the money taken back to headquarters. So right away, we're being gaslite.
Why is there a need for more brothers to care for practical congregation tasks? Not because of growth. Quite the opposite. Because the ones that are leaving more than any other group would be the younger ones. Young men simply don't want to step up and be counted anymore to do these tasks.
So what's the solution? This is where it gets weird. In paragraph two, we find the following. “Congregation tasks for Exemplary”—notice this—“Unbaptized Male Publishers. The Governing Body”—not God, of course, not the Bible, but the Governing Body—"is pleased to inform you that exemplary, unbaptized male publishers may also be used to care for some congregation tasks that are appropriate for their age and circumstances. For example, an exemplary male publisher in his early teens or younger may be used to handle microphones and operate the sound and video equipment, if permission has been granted by his parent or guardian.”
Let's try to digest that for a moment. They're talking about exemplary, unbaptized men or boys, or even children. It says early teens, so we're talking 13, 14 years old or younger than early teens. Preteens. What? Eleven years old? Ten years old? Eight years old? How young do they have to be? It doesn't specify, but they have to be male. They don't have to be baptized, though, and they can be used to handle microphones and operate the sound and video equipment.
Now, to do so, they have to get permission from a parent. And we know that many times there is no man in the family. Either it's a single parent, a mother, or it is a couple, but he is no longer one of Jehovah’s witnesses or never was one. And so, the mother is the only Witness.
So, they have to go to a sister to get her permission for her ten-year-old to operate the video equipment or carry the microphones. Why don't they use her? When my wife, my late wife, was in her twenties, before I knew her, she was a pioneer. And at that time, they didn't have enough brothers to take all the book study groups. (Remember the book study groups that met on usually on Tuesday evening?) Well, she took a book study group; she conducted a book study group; she taught. And nowadays she wouldn't even be allowed to carry the microphone. Oh yes, that's true. Let's look at the next paragraph.
“If sisters are currently being used to care for some of these practical tasks, please assign exemplary brothers, baptized or unbaptized, to care for the work.”
A little side note here. You can't be a brother if you're unbaptized, right? And even if you are baptized, if you're one of Jehovah's Witnesses and are of the Other Sheep class, then technically you can't be a brother. Because to be a brother, you have to be adopted from God. You have to be an adopted child of God. And to be an adopted child of God you have to be born again, of the spirit, in other words, anointed. Jehovah's Witnesses tell the other sheep they're just friends of God. So, if God isn't their father but their friend, then they aren't in any familial relationship with each other. So, to call each other brothers isn't scriptural. But I'm getting off topic.
The real point here is that a sister, and as we said before, she could be the guardian or parent who’s approving that the ten-year-old, unbaptized, exemplary male carries a microphone. She could have been the one doing it before. She could be 30 years old, 40 years old, 50 years old, managing a household, running a business. But carrying a microphone is not something she's qualified to do in the congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. Her ten-year-old unbaptized boy is more qualified to do so than her. And just to show you to what extent they're carrying this, it says next:
“If there are not enough brothers, please contact the circuit overseer for direction before using sisters. Guidelines that comment on the very exceptional use of sisters, such as in Video Conferencing Systems for Meetings will be updated accordingly.”
That's remarkable. We're talking about, very likely, the woman, the parent who was 30, 40, 50 years old and who approved that her ten-year-old could be assigned to carry the mics and yet she is not qualified to carry the mics. A woman managing a household, managing a family, maybe managing a business, isn't qualified in the Organization of Jehovah's Witnesses and the Christian congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, to carry a microphone. This is bizarre. Where does this come from?
And in the case where there are no others to do it and there's only sisters left, as it says here, “the very exceptional use of sisters” is something the elders have to consult the Circuit Overseer about. So, it's very exceptional. And even then, they need to go up above their own level to the Circuit Overseer to find out if it's okay to allow a sister to carry the microphones in the Kingdom Hall when it comes time to get comments from the various participants in the Watchtower study.
This is weird, really strange. It's a level of misogyny that I've never seen before and I'm trying to figure out where it's coming from because it wasn't this way before. And what's prompting this, because it's not scriptural, no doubt about that. I mean, in the Bible, Paul in 1 Corinthians, chapter eleven, five and 13, twice mentions women praying and prophesying in the congregation. Now, in the first century, if a woman could pray in the congregation and prophesy in the congregation, why can't they carry a microphone, now in the 21st century? You see what I'm saying? It's bizarre.
The other thing that comes to mind is, who trains these 8, 9, 10, 11-year-old unbaptized boys? Does the mother accompany them the whole time? Or are the elders allowed to care for them? In an Organization that has been so plagued by child sexual abuse cases, with tens of thousands of known paedophiles in their records? This is just strange in every sense of the word. That is the modern Organization of Jehovah's Witnesses. Now, think about this.
Whether you know or don't know what the Witnesses believe, whether as a Jehovah's Witness, you accept all their teachings. It's not just their teachings, but their conduct that is your responsibility. Because supporting Jehovah's Witnesses means supporting everything they do and stand for and represent. And that's something we all have to come to terms with. Maybe it's time for you to think seriously about that.
Well, that's all for now. Be back soon. Thank you for your support. Until next time.