No context required.
But the YT content creator nailed it "If there is no people left, there is no power"
Lastly to see a 'live' hall with this many empty seats obviously proves the growth is fantastic!
Frog, pot and boil springs to mind.
I just watched the JW broadcasting for July and wow this was a culty one,
Robert Luccioni is basically begging JWs to stay in the organisation and obey whatever direction they get (even if it seems 'extreme'). He was going on about new direction that they've had and how they just need to go with it etc etc
He asks "where else would we go?" and calls the organisation the best imperfect organisation.
Something that really interested me is that he specifically asks "how do we know that the Governing Body is the faithful and discreet slave?". Then he encourages JWs to study lesson 54 - The Role of the Faithful and Discreet Slave. That shocked me. Isnt that supposed to for people studying whove never been witnesses? To my knowledge, that chapter doesnt get into the 1919 teaching...and neither did he. The speaker didnt even 1919 and I think they're trying to gradually distance themselves from it.
He made a point of stressing a couple of times that we are deep in the last days. They played snippets of the bunker videos and courage video and old convention videos where JWs are shoveling rubble in paradise. This shit is wild honestly. It makes me laugh but at the same time it's awful to think my mum and dad and brother will be watching this and taking it seriously.
There was a section where a family from the Congo relates an experience where obeying direction from the organisation saved their lives. I was thinking about the poor witnesses in Malawi, where obeying the org (to abstain from getting the party identity card) cost them their lives.
The final part that irritated me was a section near the end where young people are being interviewed about their doubts and how they overcame them. They do deal with at least one criticism, but it's poor apologetics and the whole thing was annoying...
Overall, I cant help but feel that this just screams desperation "please please please stay and obey!!" I'm guessing it's a mixture of trying to stop the leaking members and also prepare them for more future changes.
What do you guys think? Are they getting desperate? Big changes coming? Or more run of the mill culty nonsense as usual?