Occupy Jehovah's Witnesses: When the 0.1% are the 99.9%

On the evening of Monday, April 14th, after sundown, some 19 million people will meet in Kingdom Halls around the world to celebrate the Lord's Evening Meal. Of those 19 million less than half will be fully-fledged Jehovah's Witnesses comprising men, women, and children, who have dedicated their lives to the cause, amounting to some 7-and-a-half million - a mere 0.1% of the world's 7 billion population.

That 0.1% are in a privileged position. They are the sole bearers of "the truth". They alone know what God's purpose is regarding this earth - that at any given moment God is going to exact Armageddon upon this earth. The ungodly are going to be exterminated in a war against God that they cannot win. The only likely survivors of this war will be the 0.1% of the world's population who have dedicated their lives to the service of Jehovah, the true God. They will be preserved through the end of this wicked system, to live on a cleansed earth which they will go on to restore to the paradise it was always meant to be. If anyone else survives, it will be by the skin of their teeth. This cleansed new earth will be ruled over by Jesus Christ and his 144,000 co-rulers - a number chosen from among the earth. They will rule for a thousand years, and then Jesus will hand over the final result to his heavenly Father...and then...who knows what, and frankly, who cares.

The 0.1% have no intention of keeping this information to themselves. Jehovah's Witnesses are known throughout the world for their selfless house-to-house preaching work. In 236 lands around the globe they are pictured speaking to people of all colour and creed about "this good news of the kingdom," and leaving countless pieces of literature in numerous languages. They claim to be the only organisation truly engaged in this vital ministry. When the sword comes down, you can be sure that they are not going to be blamed for negligence. Your blood is not going to be on their hands.

However, on the night of April 14th, a curious tradition is going to take place in these Kingdom Halls of Jehovah's Witnesses. This is the Memorial of Christ's death. Apparently, it will be the only true representation of what Paul describes in verses 23-26 of chapter 11 of his first letter to the Corinthians:

For I received from the Lord that which I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was going to be handed over took a loaf and, after giving thanks, he broke it and said: “This means my body which is in your behalf. Keep doing this in remembrance of me.” He did likewise respecting the cup also, after he had the evening meal, saying: “This cup means the new covenant by virtue of my blood. Keep doing this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this loaf and drink this cup, you keep proclaiming the death of the Lord, until he arrives.

Throughout thousands of Kingdom Halls, bread and wine will be wordlessly passed from person to person, and 99.9% of the dedicated attendees will neither eat the bread nor drink the wine.

Jehovah's Witnesses remain firmly convinced that Jesus' words to "eat this loaf and drink this cup" does not apply to most dedicated Christians - it only applies to members of the 144,000 elect. Today, among the 7 million dedicated, baptised Witnesses, some 13,000 or so will claim to be surviving members of the 144,000 ruling class. This 13, 000 represents a somewhat embarrassing number. Ever since 1935, when it was insinuated that the door to entry into the 144,000 had as good as closed, the number of those who claimed to be of the 144,000 "anointed" had gradually been tapering off, just as was to be expected. For a decade or two the number settled at the mid-8000s. However, since 2007 the number has been rising at a somewhat alarming rate - over 500 a year! It has lead to some panicked explanations by the organisation's ruling class, the latest being the suggestion that, "A number of factors — including past religious beliefs or even mental or emotional imbalance — might cause some to assume mistakenly that they have the heavenly calling." (The Watchtower, 2011 8/5 page 22) They would rather cry foul on everybody else than find fault with the mentality that created the problem in the first place.

If we take a generous and open-hearted interpretation of the evidence, we can say that, strictly speaking, the numbers really ought to continue to decline, and everyone who has since begun to partake of the bread and wine is either mad or still attached to their old religious convictions, then the actual number of anointed should probably be hovering more around the mid-7000s. Ah, now we're talking. A neat 0.1% of the 7 million Witnesses worldwide.

This 0.1% are the "elect". Up until last year this small group were also referred to as "the faithful and discreet slave", a term derived from the words found at Matthew 24:45-47,

“Who really is the faithful and discreet slave whom his master appointed over his domestics, to give them their food at the proper time? Happy is that slave if his master on arriving finds him doing so. Truly I say to you, He will appoint him over all his belongings."

Based on this verse, Jehovah's Witnesses understood that this "faithful and discreet slave" - this 0.1% - had the God-given responsibility to look after the spiritual needs of the the 99.9%. To be obedient to "the faithful and discreet slave" is to be obedient to the Christ himself. The 99.9% labour under the misguided assumption that all the members of "the faithful and discreet slave" are in some way involved in the oversight of the majority. The reality is very different.

In a series of ever decreasing circles, this 0.1% are themselves just another 99.9%. All decisions and policies are in actuality decided upon by a group of men known collectively as the "Governing Body". At present the number of members on the Governing Body stands at 7 - a mere 0.1% of those remaining of the 144, 000. Since July 15, 2013 the Governing Body have seen fit to identify themselves exclusively with "the faithful and discreet slave" class. While for many years the Governing Body were happy for the majority to entertain the fantasy that their spirituality was being handled by "the faithful and discreet slave" en masse, they have recently made it quite clear that they are not interested in having any input from the other 99.9%. How can they, after all, when they have branded any one of them with "mental or emotional imbalance." It would be nuts to let them have any part in the decision-making process. In The Watchtower of June 15, 2009 page 24, they plainly state:

Are all these anointed ones throughout the earth part of a global network that is somehow involved in revealing new spiritual truths? No. The Governing Body does not consult with each individual member of the slave class before making decisions.

This 0.01% are the next generation of the elite. They are the offspring of the offspring. They are the Rehoboam to the previous generation's Solomon - and just as Rehoboam boasted, “My father, for his part, made your yoke heavy, but I, for my part, shall add to your yoke. My father, for his part, chastised you with whips, but I, for my part, shall chastise you with scourges,” so they will make the yoke upon the necks of the majority even tougher. They will continue to bear no responsibility for any of the life-threatening decisions they make. They have inherited doctrines and traditions they can do nothing about. They have a centuries worth of study material they can hash and re-hash, with only minor adjustments. The recent history of the organisation presented on a series of DVDs proved to be a cut-and-paste selection of legendary quotes which they lifted from the 1993 book, Jehovah’s Witnesses — Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom. At the same time, they will distance themselves from their forefathers, quietly erasing the foundations and lower storeys of their theocratic edifice until eventually they are floating effortlessly in the heavens. They seek to make the Governing Body an entity all of its own - a mouthpiece for "the faithful and discreet slave" - that can be served on by anyone they see fit to appoint. They are working to establish their own right to rule. They have to. After all, most (if not all) of those seven men were not even alive in 1935. All of them come under their own condemnation that, "A number of factors — including past religious beliefs or even mental or emotional imbalance — might cause some to assume mistakenly that they have the heavenly calling." However, they have the advantage of being able to sit in their tower surrounded by the moat of circular reasoning: "We are here, so we are meant to be here. We can't be suffering from mental or emotional imbalance because if we were Jehovah would not have appointed us to this position."

As with Jannes and Jambres, the madness of this position is very plain for all to see. Everyone can see it except those cursed with the madness. Like a depressed person, full of self-loathing, the Governing Body despises its own physique. It refuses to look at itself in a mirror. It hates what it sees. It believes some of its own adherents - their own fellow believers - are afflicted with mental or emotional imbalance, or that some of them are still resolutely clinging to past religious beliefs. If this is the opinion they let slip in public, what must they think of their fellow believers in private? They see them as a stiff-necked people who would do nothing but go astray, were it not for the determined resolve of those at the top. Contrary to Jesus claim that each individual is "worth more than many sparrows", members of the organisation are treated more like skin cells that are shed and replaced by the thousands each day without being noticed. The 99.99% accept this treatment with quiet resignation. But not all of them.

The men and women who speak out boldly about the injustices of the organisation through forums or by other means comprise the Watch Tower Society's very own Occupy movement. They are speaking up on behalf of the 99.99%. They do not necessarily seek the dissolution of the organisation, they are simply determined to highlight the unjust balance of power. The 0.01% are able to hold sway over the majority because the 99.99% are held captive to fear, guilt, and shame. They fear for their lives and the 0.01% are content to do nothing about that except gently stoke the fires of discontent by subtly labelling people, and calling into question people's loyalty to God. At worst, the 0.01% have placed themselves in positions of authority and have given themselves permission to adopt and enforce policies that have proved time and time again to have a damaging effect on people's well-being. They have destroyed lives, and without an ounce of shame. OJW will go to any lengths to make these facts known. Wave after wave will not let the oppression and authoritarianism continue unchallenged

Within the rank and file of Jehovah's Witnesses, however, there also appears to be a quiet revolution taking place. One of the reasons for the gradually increasing number of memorial emblem partakers is the growing belief that all Christians have been commanded to "keep doing this in memory of me," and not just a select few. At first this defiant group will be viewed with suspicion and scepticism. If some are foolhardy enough to speak out publicly, they will be tried and evicted - disfellowshiped for apostasy, in JW parlance. And then in a farcical display of irony, the Governing Body will declare that "evidently" the bread and wine ought to be partaken by all Christians. This could prove to be a logistical frightfest - just think of the health and safety outcry when everyone is asked to sip from the same cup! Perhaps they will be asked to file up to the front in an orderly manner where an appointed man will wipe the lip of the wineglass. And thus Jehovah's Witnesses will continue to morph in to any number of other Christian denominations.