Did the Watchtower just admit to MIND-CONTROL?

***w833/1p.25par.16WhatIsOurPositionTowardOpposersoftheTruth?***

di·rect/di'rekt/

Great find!

Cedars

Nice catch. They did admit it but they'll deny it to the end.

What's the date of that? Seems to me I read that quote several years ago.

It's similar to the response to accusations that they are brainwashed: "That's good; it means I have a clean mind."

I got that from an elder once. He seemed to think it was very clever.

Disturbing.

That was from the 3/1 1983 issue.

Looking at the rest of the article , written in 1983, the same year that Ray Franz published C of C:

12 Turning our attention to modern times, do we see a parallel to these events we have discussed so far? Yes, there have been some from among us who have sought to tear down the good work done by Jehovah’s people worldwide. Some have become jealous, quarrelsome, filled with selfish ambition, often wanting to make a name for themselves....................

13 The purpose of such opposers, in attacking the Christian congregation, is to undermine the faith of Jehovah’s people, to draw some away as disciples after themselves..........

They always level that against "apostates" and Ray Franz in particular...Is it true? I have never seen it to be true. Ray did not start his own movement in opposition to the WTS

16 Consider some of the other “twisted things” used to mislead God’s people today. On occasion opposers will question the various teachings that Jehovah’s people hold in common. Often this becomes a debate about words, just as it was in the first century

Of course it is a debate about words ! That is what teachings are. Since so much depends on accurate understanding of Bible words this is inevitable. Do they say the same when they discuss "parousia" or "nephesh"?

Don't worry, if they got called on it, an explanation will appear in the footnote of a Study WT saying that they didn't mean miind control, that it is something else, that you should follow the FD slave anyway, and that they were right then, they are right now, and obey or else.

Don't worry, if they got called on it, an explanation will appear in the footnote of a Study WT saying that they didn't mean miind control, that it is something else, that you should follow the FD slave anyway, and that they were right then, they are right now, and obey or else.

You will be destroyed, because the slave in the truth and the light. 

Seems to be a response to Ray Franz and the apostate "witch hunt" in the early 80's.

Dear Bethel Surfer:

Better suggest to the Writing Committee an article for the next WT issue with some doublespeak that corrects the new "mind control" dilema.

Always opening mouth, inserting foot.

Damn!  Don't you hate it when the mentally diseased apostates read the publications more than the Rank & File.

DOC

When I read things like this from the Watchtower, I swear the Org. is mocking outsiders by demonstrating how much control they have over the rank and file because they know the rank and file don't see what we see.  It's as if they do it on purpose...  "Direct the Minds" is not mind control!!!!  How can the rank and file miss that!!!

Not just... long done!

But it is great to see it in print.

better get a paper copy before the 1980s disapear off the CD

Oz

Nice Atlantis -- thanks for the actual image!

And thank you all for the comments.  I find these things disturbing -- just amazing.  Also, in that same paragraph, it looks to me that their message is -- One shouldn’t question JW teachings and one shouldn’t just read the Bible. 

It appears, mind-control is the glue that binds.

On occasion opposers will question the various teachings that Jehovah’s people hold in common.

Dang did they really say that? Wow! 

Well, they said it in one of my favourite quotes...........if you use the formula mind = brain & clanse = wash!

(Watchtower, June 1, 1953, p. 350 par. 24). 24 In these closing days of wickedness Jehovah’s people must demonstrate holiness. They must not foul their minds with the filthy mental food on the propaganda tables of this old world, but must feed on the feast of fat things Jehovah provides. (Isa. 25:6; 28:8.) Minds must be cleansed and made over, mental circuits formed by old-world thinking and acting faded out and new ones put in according to new-world specifications. By privately studying regularly, by attending all meetings regularly, and by engaging in all features of the preaching work regularly mental circuits are deepened and such good activities become habitual, not at all the struggle they are when the mental circuits are weak and faint because used only occasionally. For ourselves and for others, make them strong!—1 Tim. 4:16.

Oh, yes.  I recall Watchtower study articles like this.  I was a zealous newbie, starting in 1980.  Many of those early 1980's articles dealt with the "great apostasy" that Randy Watters has written extensively on [from his vantage point in Bethel].  Our congregation had some VERY strong families (pios., elders, bethelites, etc.) in our New England congregation that were greatly effected by this and left the so-called "truth".  I remember how Ray Franz was demonized!  At the time, I thought he was Fred Franz's brother - which totally blew my mind.  I couldn't understand why he left "the truth".  (Most JWs didn't [and don't] know the names of the Governing Body.)

I remember the D.C.'s [in the early 80s] in Providence RI highlighting how these apostates went back to believing in The Trinity and such.  Of course, like this Watchtower article, it was emphasized how reading the Bible alone is not sufficient.  I remember thinking how odd that sounds, but my brainwashed mind accepted that we needed the faithful and discreet slave class to explain things.  As a matter of fact, perhaps many of you remember how talks at the D.C. said we would never understand truths [such as Russel putting the hose on hellfire] had it not been for the faithful and discreet slave.

I was proud that I wouldn't read or listen to any of the  non-sense from apostates.  I remember being visited by an old-time friend - who heard I became a JW.  Apparently, he wanted to see with his eyes that this was true.  Later, he sent me a letter revealing many things that I NEVER heard about JWs [like miracle wheat, Beth-Sarim, etc.].  I blocked it all as total non-sense, ripped the letter up and threw it away!

My "thinking mind" always thought it was odd that the WTS leaders put more emphasis on the authority of the WTS literature OVER the Bible, but I accepted the Faithful and Discreet slave teaching.  Of course, Don Cameron's book, Captive of a Concept, deals nicely with that erroneous concept!

What's so interesting is that looking back on these printed statements, it becomes perfectly clear that the WTS leaders were in such a fire-fighting mode against the apostates, that they didn't realize how very revealing their comments would be years [/decades] later. 

As always, the WTS has burnt itself so many times by "printing" statements that cannot be erased.  Of course, faithful JW's will do some dancing about what the WTS article meant, but it's quite clear what the WTS was saying back then [and today as well]!  The WTS leaders do NOT want JWs to think ON THEIR OWN!  JW's minds must be directed by the WTS leaders IF they are to be acceptable to Jehovah, EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE MORE MISTAKES IN THEIR RELIGIOUS DOCTRINE THEN YOU CAN COUNT.  And, Fred Franz's COC book reveals the shocking inner-workings of the Governing Body, something most JWs don't understand.  (i.e. Voting for the accepted interpretation of scripture?!?! - what happened to the Holy Spirit's direction???  Putting JW's own dogma above the Bible, etc.)

I just don't understand how the Governing Body can live with their own conscience - they must be in serious denial about the tarnished history of their teachings.  Of course, they can't say anything, or else they'll find themselves on the street with little-to-no opportunity to survive financially! 

Many, many JWs have observed a lack of zeal in their congregations and many of them are reading things about JWs on the internet.  So many put on a front [to fellow JWs], but are totally dis-illusioned about the religion that they "thought" was "the truth".  The real truth about JWs can hurt and cause pain for so many one-time very faithful JWs.  The leaders need to get real and admit that they are NOT who they say they are and allow their member to move on with their lives, instead of being held in limbo by constantly holding a carrot [paradise] in front of their face.  It's just plain wrong and worse, it's cruel!

They suck.  I hate the Borg.