The Last Days (August 21-27, 2023)
Issue No. 19
Welcome to the nineteenth edition of The Last Days newsletter.
The Last Days delivers a regular collection of curated JW-related news articles from around the world, and other entertaining information, straight into your inbox. You choose what you want to read, believe, download, listen to, watch, or subscribe to.
You can find the last edition of TLD covering August 14-20, 2023, here if you missed it. If you prefer to read The Last Days on our webpage click here.
This edition of The Last Days, covering the week of August 21-27, 2023, contains our leading Feature of the Week: God, Gold, Obedience - The closed world of Jehovah’s Witnesses; JW Announcements featuring a new documentary in production; JW News from Nigeria and Germany; our regular JW Celebrity News with this week’s celebrity in focus, Paris Jackson (daughter of Michael Jackson); a YouTube video series from Flaxenwick comprising short audio-visual lessons to help former Jehovah's Witnesses heal and rebuild their lives; and more!
Enjoy the Last Days! . . .
“The events unfolding around us, are making clearer than ever, that we’re living in the final part of the Last Days, undoubtedly the final part of the final part of the Last Days, shortly before the Last Day of the Last Days.” - Stephen Lett, member of the governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses
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DOCUMENTARY
God, Gold, Obedience
The closed world of Jehovah’s Witnesses
On August 23, 2023, a high quality German documentary aired on ZDF titled “Gott, Geld, Gehorsam - Die verschlossene Welt der Zeugen Jehovas”.
Filming of the 29 minute documentary took place in Germany, the USA, and Denmark.
An English language version is expected to be released shortly.
Reporters Marco Irrgang and Maxie Römhild examine the importance of money and blind obedience within the Jehovah's Witnesses.
Media reporting by Von Jörn Schumacher | PRO Das christliche Medienmagazin (PRO The Christian Media Magazine)
Original related media news article in German
[TRANSLATION - images added by The Last Days]
The two journalists spoke to those who had left Jehovah's Witnesses, including the cousin of Philipp F., who shot seven people and then himself in the Jehovah's Witnesses office in Hamburg on March 9, 2023.
David F. himself was a Jehovah's Witness for a long time. If someone turns their back on the organization and “no longer pays absolute obedience to it,” they will be cast out and branded as a follower of Satan, says David F. The exclusion often suddenly means total social isolation. Friendships had apparently been "feigned" to his cousin for ideological purposes. The perpetrator from Hamburg is said to have donated large sums of money and then demanded them back. It was therefore an act of revenge, suspects David F., combined with a mental disorder in his cousin.
“Little is known about the finances”
In Germany, the Jehovah's Witnesses are a corporation under public law and are therefore on an equal footing with the large churches. So they could levy their own tax, but instead they rely on voluntary donations from members. "They see the state as part of Satan's world and as a transitional order tolerated by God," the reporters explain. "In the end, only those who bow to the strict teachings of the organization will survive." The almost 9 million members worldwide believe in that.
The religious community supposedly has billions of euros at its disposal, the journalists report, “but very little is known about its finances.” When asked, the German headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses did not disclose how many donations they receive each year. "Members should donate to be closer to God," say the reporters. For this reason, many members also invest a large part of their free time in the community. They would see paradise as a reward.
Former members report that the church buildings of Jehovah's Witnesses - the "Kingdom Halls" - are built with a lot of voluntary help from members. This saved the churches a lot of money; but in the end the buildings became the property of the headquarters. She then sells these again and makes a profit. It is said that there are almost 900 of Jehovah's Witnesses' church buildings in Germany. Insiders report that members at headquarters in the USA speculate with donors' money on the stock exchanges. The Jehovah's Witnesses have built a new headquarters on a lake in Warwick, New York.
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A new documentary in production
PRODUCTION BLURB
Commissioned by ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses this 96-minute documentary will provide a holistic profile of the Jehovah’s Witnesses organisation. It will detail, amongst other things, the abuses that take place behind the secure doors of Kingdom Halls globally.
It will explore subjects such as the practice of shunning, child sexual abuse, mental abuse, and the denial of basic human rights. These subjects and many more are deliberately concealed by the organisation. Operating covertly behind a façade of adherence to the teachings of their god ‘Jehovah’.
In the opinion of many ex-witnesses and experts, the Jehovah’s Witnesses organisation is nothing more than a cult that profits from its devotees by enforcing a regime of fear and guilt.
In several countries, legal action has been instigated against the organisation and they are being held accountable for their practices and crimes. The documentary is not targeted at the ex-Witnesses community, victims that have suffered the consequences of the draconian practices within the organisation. Its purpose is to educate those outside of the organisation, the wider public, specifically politicians and public authorities that have a duty of care to intervene in the interests of children, such as educators and medical professionals etc.
Production fundraising
A dedicated GoFundMe page has been established for those interested in supporting the production costs.
Expose Jehovah’s Witnesses Documentary
The production
The production is focused on a rounded overview of the organisation and as an instrument that will afford the production of additional programming concentrating on specific themes such as child abuse, and Human Rights maltreatment.
Our objective is to reach beyond the boundary of simple exposure and informational content. We aim to support and achieve proactive intervention, and demand that governments around the globe recognise the true nature of the Jehovah’s Witnesses organisation and rightfully strip them of their charity and religious organisation status. In tandem with this objective, we want to support victims who wish to proceed with criminal prosecution against their abusers.
Now is the time to instigate change. We demand transparency and accountability from those who hide behind a mask of religious love and benevolence, whilst committing crimes against the vulnerable and controlled.
Documentary production questions?
We appreciate that you may have questions to ask about the production and the management of funds raised, production values and detailed objectives. Please click the attached link to read a detailed overview of the proposal.
* The inclusion of this ‘documentary’ article as quoted above, related media, and links as appearing in The Last Days newsletter is for newsletter entertainment purposes only.
Nigeria - published on August 21, 2023
In the below article, Daniel Ighakpe from the University of Benin, used the teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses and Watch Tower publications in support of corporal punishment in schools.
Nowadays, however, the views of many child psychologists on discipline conflict with what is recommended in God’s Word, the Bible, as recorded in the verses of Proverbs quoted above. Their theories collide head on with the counsel we find in the Holy Scriptures.
What have been the results of sowing the seeds of permissiveness? What has resulted from a lack of proper parental and school discipline? In one publication of Jehovah’s Witnesses (“Making Your Family Life Happy”), in Chapter 10, titled, “The Value of Disciplining in Love,” paragraph 3 (accessible on www.jw.org), we find this report: “The bumper crop of crime and delinquency is well known. Youth crime accounts for over 50 per cent of serious crimes in many industrialised nations. In some parts of the world, school campuses are hotbeds of class disruptions, fights, verbal abuse and obscenities, vandalism, assault, extortion, arson, robberies, rapes, drugs and murders.”
A spanking may therefore be a lifesaver to a child, as God’s Word recommends in the Book of Proverbs. If parents and teachers hold the children’s life interests dear to them, they will not weakly or carelessly let disciplinary action slip from their hands. Love will motivate them to take action, wisely and fairly, when it is needed.
Germany - published on August 24, 2023
Let’s face it, there are a lot of actors, singers, musicians, artists, sports stars, and celebrities that are former or even current Jehovah’s Witnesses, or that were raised as children within the religion.
In focus: Paris Jackson (daughter of MICHAEL JACKSON)
[QUOTE]
According to Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris, the best way to celebrate the late singer’s birthday is to do nothing special at all.
. . . Michael Jackson was born Aug. 29, 1958. The singer and his family were raised as Jehovah’s Witnesses, who do not traditionally celebrate birthdays. According to the Jehovah’s Witness website, members “believe that such celebrations displease God.”
The King of Pop “disassociated” himself from the religion in 1987.
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In this YouTube video series Flaxenwick presents an online course consisting of 16 short audio-visual lessons to help former Jehovah's Witnesses heal and rebuild their lives. Below are links to the first three short audio videos by Onion Unlimited Production.