Ep. 05: Watchtower Bible & Tract Society - Big Business

The Jehovah's Witness old brand is what I called a religion wrapped around a publishing company. Tracts, brochures, magazines, books, and bound volumes. The flock needed spiritual food, and this publishing giant wanted to provide it, for a fee!

Transcript

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music.

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to

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another vlog. This is number three. Someone mentioned a couple of times

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about how the organization, you know, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, okay, that was like the legal corporation, but they were like this huge organization printing entity, you know, and it just got me thinking some people might not even realize that or might not appreciate like the concept of what was going on or what it was. And like I was born in 1970, excuse me, and it's like, you know, I know it's a lot more older ones that might remember a little bit more but I'm telling you from my vantage point how it was in that publishing company and that's what I call it because it's like it was like a religion built around the publishing company why do I say that so it's like a huge part or thing that had to do with that organization that Jehovah's Witness called was the literature. So they would tell you, like, you know, everything we teach, everything we learn is from the Bible, right? They're telling you that. But they didn't want you looking at outside information from any other religion or anything like that. What they would tell you, though, is we have these Bible aids that help you. If you want to learn more about the Bible, we have different publications that teach different aspects of the Bible. And they always had all these other publications, but there was always a main publication that they used to study with people. And to bring people into the truth, they said, or that cult. So my parents, they started studying in the mid-60s, and the book for them was the truth book, that little blue book, even some people called it. And it was one of the 192-page books, not that thick. And we had different books that we studied in the book study, and some of them were like the big books that we studied for the book study. Talking like that. Just a bunch of information. If it was a picture and it was black and white, so very boring. Think about a kid. It's just boring. They made all these books. It was a huge big blue book called... the aid to Bible understanding and everybody calls it the aid book. So it's like, you know, and I tell my kids now how easy they had it when we were in the organization because everything was just electronic, right? Phones, tablets. If I wanted to know something, I would ask my father and he would always tell me the same thing I could tell you. But if you find it for yourself, you'll appreciate it more. And, like, there I go. I would have to go look in the aid book. And then for the ministry school, and I actually liked this book that we had. It was All Scriptures as Inspired. And it broke down every book of the Bible. And it would give you an introduction. And it would give you, like, break down different sections of chapters. And then why beneficial or how you can apply it. And so I would look in the A book or I would look in the All Inspire book and I'm getting research. And like, that's what we had to do. The Bible that we had didn't have the reference or anything like that. It was just a Bible. And so, yeah, huge, huge printing company. Add to that, you know, you have the tracks, the little pamphlets. Um, that's easy to hand out. Like if people are busy or something, uh, we had brochures, uh, like most, I think most of them, if I remember correctly, like 32 pages, little brochures. Um, then you had the periodicals, the magazines, and I'm sure, you know, everybody probably know the watchtower and the weight. That's what they eventually came to be called. And, um, So you had the Watchtower came out each month on the 1st and the 15th. The Awake magazine came out each month on the 8th and the 22nd. So it was like each week you're just getting magazines. They're giving you magazines at the Kingdom Hall because that's where you're getting all your literature to go out in the field ministry. You're getting literature to do personal study. And everybody, almost everybody that I know, the families, had a theocratic library. And so one of our rooms, when we lived in Chicago, one of our rooms, it was just nothing but books and a desk. And one of the huge cabinets we had was nothing but theocratic literature. And then on top of it, you had like, you know, the periodicals, the Washtenaw Lake magazines. Each year they would make an index where you could look up certain topics and they'd tell you which volume it could be found in and which year. And so each year had the volume, just a big book with all the issues from the previous year in it. So like just tons of tracks, brochures. magazines, books, just, like, so many publications. Now, the thing was, like, we were paying. Like, you had to pay for the literature. So when we, you know, we're at the Kingdom Hall and we're getting literature, the magazine servant or the literature servant, he's tallying it up. And, you know, you paid for it. You're out in the film industry and you're like giving people your presentation and you're talking to them and they're interested. And, you know, then you get to that part and tell them like how much it would cost to get it. Some people would balk at that. And, you know, say to learn about God should be free. Others would be like, oh, yeah, let me get it. You're doing an important work and you're out here and eating all that. And so it wouldn't be a bit that big of a deal to them. And. Like when I was a boy. The earliest I can remember, I think. Like the magazines are like 10 cents

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each. At some point, I remember. They went up to a quarter

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for a magazine. Books were a little bit more, like the 192-page books I told you about. Those were usually like a dollar. We had monthly offers where the Theocratic Ministry School and the service meeting, that meeting, it was all about demonstrations. We had a periodical called Our Kingdom Ministry and Our Kingdom Service, and it was like it would go through presentations with you. We had a topic for conversation that ran for like a month or two. So each month, that topic is like we're dialed in on it. And the topic could be, you know, I'm just making up something. Say it's like... talking about creation or it's talking about a verse in Genesis you know this talking about creation and Adam and Eve so that's the topic for conversation you would get like criticized if you didn't and I mean like from whoever you're working with like an elder or a pioneer if you didn't bring up that topic but see you have some people that come to the door and You ask them how they're doing, and they give you an answer totally off the topic for conversation. And, you know, you talk to them about that. And, yeah, you actually... Remember, I'm young. I'm like a preteen. I'm a teenager. And you have these grown-ups, like, hounding you because you didn't do the topic for conversation. It's bullshit. So you're just paying... For all this literature, you're collecting money for all the literature. Circuit Assemblies wouldn't be any literature release, but, oh, buddy, back then they didn't call them regional conventions. They called them district conventions. And at the district convention, it was always a buzz in the air because everyone is like, will we get a new release this year? Will we get a new book? Will we get a new brochure? Me and my friends, we would go through the program of the whole convention, and we're trying to guess which talk we might be getting a publication out of. So again, like this huge buzz, they actually had a literature desk at every convention where you could just go buy literature. So me and my friends, most of the time we were in cleaning, or food service and we could always tell when a new release was about to hit because you would see these huge they'd like dragon pallets and these like brown boxes on the pallet just stacked up and they would put them at different locations at the stadium and that's when I'm like oh okay like it's about to be a new publication and you know they like hyping it up, the brother giving a talk. He was pleased to release and he pulled out his manila envelope and he pulls out the publication. Proud erupts in applause. Everybody is happy and then they're collecting money. Like you had to go buy the literature. Now this is how they dope deal you at the conventions. I always joke with my friends. I was like, you know, you If you're familiar with that lifestyle, you know, they always, to get you hooked, they'd be like the first one free. So they would be like each family can get like two copies. And, you know, it was like four of us. So you go get two copies and my father's just chomping at the bit for them to release it a few months later at the kingdom hall. You know, they'll let you know it's available. You can order it, you know, but they would like give you that little teaser, little taste. So they'll be like, Depending on what it was, each family can get one copy or each family can get two copies. And please remember, like, just each family. Now, you had some crooked families. Like, if they had a big family. And I know about this personally. Okay. They would send their kids to different locations in the stadium. And they would each get two. And that's how they got the allotment that they needed. So, like, yeah. Witnesses are Israelites sometimes. But. Like I said. They hook you in with that. And then a few months later. In the announcements. They'll be like. The publication you got. That was released at the convention. You can now order it. So the literature servant. The line would be long. And he's taking orders. And he's sending his order each month. To headquarters. And they send you back. everything you're paying for, like the copies of literature that you're getting. In the end, as years progressed, I noticed something. Think about the money that they spent to ship all that literature to all these huge conventions, not only in the U.S., but around the world. Think about that money. But In the long run, they're collecting money back from us getting it at the Kingdom Hall. We were supposed to, like when you collect money out in the ministry, you were supposed to put it in the contribution box to like shoot it back to the branch. Sometimes I would take out a little field service snack fee. That was my tax, but don't tell anybody. But It's like they were just getting money, collecting money. Eventually, it started ramping down, like the releases that we would get. And then the digital age came, and they just released things digitally at the convention. And then I noticed they're not making all this money. So it's like not this big push to make all these new publications. And if you notice that, too, if you've been around a while, like there's not really any new publications being made. They'll drop, you know, a few here and there. They drop that, what is it called? Come Back to Jehovah, something like that, for the ones that have been this fellowship. And it's been like two or three years, but they made one like love people. And we were doing it at the midweek meeting. It was like, I know that's not the full title, but it's something and love people like how we, we love people out in the ministry. And every once in a while, they'll drop something. But for the majority of the time at the conventions, now they just drop, They were dropping something, but it was in a digital format, and usually it was a drama. Like the live motion drama that we've just watched at the end. You'll be pleased to know that you can go to JW Organ or the app and download it. And it's like, it stopped. It slowed down. Them creating publications, especially after At some point, it went to donation only. And I kind of saw something on why it might have went that way. How they were kind of, their hands pushed to go donation only. So, you know, if you want to donate, you can. It goes towards the worldwide work. Probably goes towards the rollies we see on the broadcasting. on different governing body members' wrists. But yeah, it was the printing. And I like how someone worded it. It was a huge publishing company. Like, that's what it was. And I got to thinking, I was like, yeah, it was a religion, a culture, an atmosphere wrapped around a publishing company. And it was a huge moneymaker for them. And it's crazy now. Especially, and it just got me thinking. You know, the revenue dried up from it. And now, all of a sudden, everything is digital. And they push like crazy their website. You see that circle with the JW org everywhere. They push that website. And conveniently... they've made contributing easy on there. You know, you can contribute all kind of ways and you can even leave your will to them. There's so many ways they take money, steal, and you know, again, tying in with all my other videos, that's what I ask people is stop. For a second, stop talking, stop debating, stop deflecting. stop victim playing the victim and just think like listen to what we're saying the ex-Jehovah's Witnesses and and just think use your reasoning use your discernment and see you know like why are certain things that happen in the Jehovah's Witness cult why do they happen what's the meaning behind them. And the more I learn, the more my mind is open, and the more I'm realizing this organization that I gave over five decades to, and I had them on a pedestal. The more I learn, the more I see, the more I read, and I'm not talking about just reading. like a book or someone's opinion I'm talking about, the more I see legal documentation, the more I'm seeing just these different news outlets doing stories, showing proof. The more of all that I see, the more I just see the corruption. And I see how they... Put people in, especially those that are missing something in their life, that need something in their life, need a hope, need a sense of community or a sense of feeling needed or wanted, cared for. Like, they go for those types and just draw you in. And yeah, I'm just trying to open people's eyes and like, In the comments, I would love to hear what you remember about the literature. If you remember all the literature, were you around in the time when we had to pay, or did you come in when it was donation only? I love hearing different stories, and I want to hear what you all remember about that. What did you think? Do you see how it changed? when the digital age came to the forefront. So, you know, leave me a comment. I love interacting with everyone. I like hearing everyone's thoughts, ideas. That's how I learned. That's how we all should learn. Just getting out there and learning about people, learning about the world. And yeah, so I, I, I'm excited to hear your thoughts and comments on this video. Look for me on social media. I'm on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram. You can usually find me if you just look up XJDUB, E-X-J-D-U-B. Look that up and it should bring you to me. But again, I thank you all. Look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments. Have fun, be safe, and thrive.