Hello everyone. The 2024 annual meeting of Jehovah’s Witnesses was perhaps one of the most significant ever. For me, it constitutes a turning point. Why? Because it gives us hard evidence of what we have long suspected, that the Governing Body and its behind-the-scenes supporters have now fully embraced the way of the Pharisee. Think about it! What motivated the Pharisees?
Luke tells us: Now the Pharisees, who were money lovers, were listening to all these things, and they began to sneer at him.” (Luke 16:14 NWT)
If you watched the full annual meeting program, you might be scratching your head and asking, “What evidence is Eric talking about?” Well, it wasn’t immediately apparent, but it didn’t take much work to find what they were hiding.
Let’s start with the announcement made at the annual meeting of two new members to the Governing Body, bringing the total up to eleven. Notice the ages of each.
Here’s the list:
- Samuel Herd: 89 years old (born in 1935)
- Gerrit Lösch: 83 years old (born in 1941)
- David Splane: 80 years old (born in 1944)
- Stephen Lett: 75 years old (born in 1949)
- Geoffrey Jackson: 68 years old (born in 1956)
- Kenneth Cook: 71 years old (born in 1953)
- Mark Sanderson: 59 years old (born in 1965)
- Jeffrey Winder: 56 years old (born in 1968)
- Gage Fleegle: 54 years old (born in 1970)
- Jody Jedele: 59 years old (born in 1965)
- Jacob Rumph: 52 years old (born in 1972)
The last five, about half, are in their 50s, meaning they are not part of David Splane’s cockamamie overlapping generation. Since the end is supposed to come before the first five, Herd, Lösch, Splane, Lett, and Jackson die—in fact, even before they get really old and decrepit—then why appoint newer, younger guys? What is really behind these appointments? What is motivating these men of the Governing Body and those whom they call “Helpers”? To truly be like the first-century Pharisees, they have to be motivated by money which is the point of this video.
I’ve just said that this annual meeting is a turning point for me. But turning from what into what? To answer that, I will have to give you the perspective of someone like me who grew up in the Organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses of the 1950s and 1960s. Back then there was no Governing Body. There was a president of the Society, Nathan Knorr, who together with his right-hand man, Fred Franz, pretty much ruled the Organization. They were both unmarried and were viewed as truly spiritual anointed men. They lived at the Brooklyn Bethel in a studio apartment much like every Bethelite did back then.
We thought that any new light, any changed understanding of Scripture, came about from the leading of holy spirit acting upon the remnant, as we then referred to the worldwide community of anointed Jehovah’s Witnesses. That turned out not to be true, but that was the common belief. Thus, we reasoned that it was Jehovah God who was leading the Organization.
We didn’t engage in what we called “creature worship” like the religions of Christendom. We had no Pope, so to speak.
We also were not materialistic. We met in rented halls in the 50s. In Canada where I grew up, we met at the Legion Hall on Ottawa Street in Hamilton, Ontario, if memory serves. I remember seeing the Queen’s portrait hanging on the wall during those meetings.
Then one of the local congregations decided to build its own Kingdom Hall. That decision was ridiculed by many because it was viewed as a waste of time and money. We reasoned that with the end so very near, they should have been concentrating on the preaching work, not on hall building.
All that slowly changed. Halls got built, but always under local initiative. There was no central control. Regional Building Committees—RBCs—came along later, but even they were fairly autonomous, not being directly controlled by the local branch office.
Now, if the spirit leading the Organization in the 1950s had been the spirit of Christ, all would have been fine. If the ministers of righteousness at the top had been truly righteous, we would now know that to be true by seeing the fruits of righteousness in the Organization today. However, if the spirit that led them back then came from another source, a different fruit would be harvested now. It is just as Paul predicted in his letter to Timothy about those taking the lead in the Christian congregations back then, and of course, now.
“But wicked men and impostors will advance from bad to worse, misleading and being misled.” (2 Timothy 3:13)
You see, the allure of wealth and prestige is very powerful and seductive, and it corrupts any heart that is not filled with God’s holy spirit.
As the years and decades have passed, the Organization has become increasingly involved in the purchase of land and the building of structures like factories and places of worship all around the globe. This all seemed like a good idea, but then about ten years back, the true heart motivation of the Governing Body and its helpers manifested itself when they seized ownership of all Kingdom Hall properties and assembly hall properties around the world.
Stephen Lett passed this off as direction from Jehovah, a wonderful and loving action that we’d never find in any worldly organization. What they did was to cancel all outstanding loans, imagine that, but behind the scenes, they forced the elders to replace any loan repayment with a so-called “donation” made by resolution of at least the same amount. Oh, and on top of that, they seized ownership of all Kingdom and assembly hall properties everywhere.
If any congregation objected, it would have been dissolved. If the local elders assigned as trustees refused to comply, they would have been removed. And of course, any real opposition would have been dealt with through the disfellowshipping process. Any organization acting this way without the veil of religion protecting it, would have been charged with racketeering.
Anyway, they got away with it because Witnesses still believed the Governing Body was doing all this with the best of intentions. This was just a more efficient way to manage and maintain these properties to the honor of Jehovah’s name. But that façade began to crumble when special committees were created by headquarters to identify hall properties that could be sold. The money-loving shadow of the Pharisee was looming on the horizon.
Starting around 2016, we began to see Kingdom halls being sold arbitrarily without any consultation with the members of the congregations that were benefiting from the hall. Brothers and sisters who had laboured so hard to fund and build their own hall suddenly found themselves evicted and forced to travel long distances to another hall.
And so, we come to this year’s meeting announcement of two new Governing Body members. Now, Witnesses are led to believe that the men of the Governing Body are the elite of the elite, the best of the best. These are to be the “future kings” that will rule with Jesus Christ in heaven. These men are deemed to be the most spiritual of all Jehovah’s Witnesses. So, a new member of the Governing Body is, presumably, someone who has spent his life in the full-time ministry, preaching in foreign lands, and setting a fine example of self-sacrificing devotion to Jehovah God. He is not some businessman, devoting himself to the acquisition of wealth, a dealmaker. He is not someone involved in Satan’s world.
Now, with that in mind, you might wonder why they picked Jody Jedele. Well, let’s let him answer that question for us:
The CCIM pin or designation is recognized in the real estate industry, both locally in the United States as well as internationally, as being a Premier Real Estate Designation. The CCIM stands for Certified Commercial Investment Member. And in order to obtain this designation, one has to complete both the rigorous educational component development, as well as real-life experience, a portfolio of qualifying experience.
The educational component revolves around four core classes in addition to other classes. Those four classes are case study-driven courses. They revolve around financial analysis, market analysis, user analysis, and then investor analysis. Other classes include ethics, advanced negotiations, and other classes specific to the need that we may have at the time. The portfolio of qualifying transactions or the real-world experience requires that we have both a volume requirement, or we've done a number of transactions, as well as what type of transactions are allowed. This ensures that the CCIM has a business understanding that they can use to help their clients. All of this put together allows one to become a CCIM and a member of the CCIM Institute. Once one has received the designation or the pin, Then one opens doors to both technology, information, and a network of other CCIMs.
And that's important when trying to get deals done. For example, what return is the client expecting? Will this investment reach that return? In addition, it will look at making sure that we have a network of other CCIMs. So if we can't find the property, we can identify others who can. Putting all of this together helps us get the deals done for the client. Because in the end, we recognize that the client is going to be making an important decision, a large financial decision. Our goal is to make sure that the client makes an informed decision that will help them reach their goals and needs. And of course, if we can help you here at Touchstone International Properties, please read us on the web at T-I-P-C-R-E and ask for Jody Jedele.
I don’t see how the leadership of JW.org can hide their true motivation any longer. Do you? They are bringing in younger members to replace the older ones who will be dying off soon. After all, the show must go on. They now own billions of dollars in real estate assets, which can be flipped for profit. They can build new halls, making use of donated funds and free labor, and then sell them, and continue the process for as long as they can keep this money-making charade up. This is now clearly a corporate business designed or disguised as a righteous religion, just like all the rest.
But here’s the thing, there is a God. Jehovah is real. There will be consequences. How do I know? Because that’s the repeated lesson that history teaches us from the Bible.
Jehovah’s Witnesses claim they are God’s earthly Organization. They claim that Israel was also God’s earthly organization. Okay, let’s go with that.
The Prophet Jeremiah had this to say about the men acting as a Governing Body over ancient Israel.
“Has this house that bears my name become a cave of robbers in your eyes? Here I have seen it for myself,” declares Jehovah.” (Jeremiah 7:11 NWT)
And just what happened to the organization that was Israel of Jeremiah’s day? Jehovah God had them killed, their temple destroyed, and the remnant of the nation taken into servitude to the King of Babylon in 587 B.C.E.
What house of worship now bears Jehovah’s name? Think about it? Has it also become a cave of robbers?
Now we move forward some six centuries after Jeremiah’s time to Jesus’ day. Nothing has really changed. The leaders of the nation have again fallen prey to the love of money.
“Then he [Jesus] entered the temple and started to throw out those who were selling, saying to them: “It is written, ‘My house will be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a cave of robbers.”” (Luke 19:45, 46 NWT)
Jesus is here quoting from the writings of Jeremiah that we just read. The religious leaders of his time were also more interested in acquiring wealth than in worshipping God. Like their forebearers, they brought reproach on God’s holy name, and so he took away their wealth, their position, and their lives. That happened in 70 C.E. when the Roman Armies obliterated the city of Jerusalem with its temple.
As we look at the wealth of the churches of Christendom, we see the same pattern repeated over and over. The pattern is that of men giving way to the love of money, while claiming to be worshippers of the true God. And in the same way, the love of money can be clearly seen in the Organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Let’s remind ourselves about what Jesus said about trying to serve both God and money:
“No servant can be a slave to two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stick to the one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves to God and to Riches.” Now the Pharisees, who were money lovers, were listening to all these things, and they began to sneer at him.” (Luke 16:13, 14 NWT)
It is now very evident to honest-hearted ones that those who direct the Organization are serving Riches, but will our former friends and family members see it like we do?
A growing number are seeing the harsh reality that the flock of Jehovah’s Witnesses is being fleeced by ravenous wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing just as Jesus said would happen. (Matthew 7:15)
After recognizing the hypocrisy of the Governing Body, lovers of truth will leave the religion they once thought was God’s organization even at great cost to themselves. But they will not abandon their faith in God and his Son, Jesus Christ. They will come out of false worship to accept the offer of adoption as children of God and serve his true purpose.
“However, to all who did receive him, he gave authority to become God’s children, because they were exercising faith in his name. And they were born, not from blood or from a fleshly will or from man’s will, but from God.” (John 1:12, 13)
If you have been watching this channel for some time, you’ll know that we’ve spent a lot of time analyzing the false doctrines and teachings of the Organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Jody Jedele’s appointment to the Governing Body, however, serves to demonstrate that JW.org is on the same path that Jeremiah’s robber priests were on, the same path that the money-loving Pharisees who sneered at Jesus were on. That path will lead, in due course, to the same end as it did in the past. We must remember Paul’s words:
“Do not be misled: God is not one to be mocked. For whatever a man [or a group of religious leaders] is sowing, this [they] will also reap; because he who is sowing with a view to his flesh will reap corruption from his flesh…” (Galatians 6:7, 8 NWT)
JW.org is now in our rearview mirror. The following verses now apply to us:
“He delivered us from the authority of the darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of his love,” (Colossians 1:13 NWT)
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28 NIV)