Rarely does Watchtower need to stretch itself too hard to “sell” a convention or assembly to Jehovah’s Witnesses, but a freshly leaked video suggests that may be changing.
Boldly called “The Time of Your Life” (no, it’s not a tribute to Dirty Dancing), the video utilizes slick graphics, uplifting music, dramatizations and interviews to drum up support for the 2014 Atlanta International Convention.
As is increasingly the case with Watchtower-produced videos, there is no reluctance when it comes to attributing favorable outcomes to divine intervention. Even the participation of every major hotel in housing delegates is hailed as a result of “Jehovah’s success.” (04:30)
Witnesses in the Philippines will wonder why “Jehovah’s success” deserted them when 22 Witnesses were swept from their kingdom hall in Tacloban and killed when Typhoon Haiyan struck last November.
A key motivation behind the video seems to be to convince local Witnesses to follow “theocratic direction” when it comes to the transport arrangements for those attending the Atlanta Convention, which is scheduled for July 4-6 at the Georgia Dome.
At 06:00 one of the interviewees explains that his congregation is located only two miles from the northern-most station of the local rail network. Despite this, he and his fellow congregants are being asked to travel 25 miles to a different station from which they will be required to ride into the city for the event.
The video also explains how delegates will be taken on tours of various sites of local interest, including the Atlanta Penitentiary where, according to another interviewee, “the Governing Body spent some time.” This comment alludes to the incarceration of Joseph F. Rutherford and his associates for the fiercely political contents of the book The Finished Mystery in 1919, more than 50 years before the Governing Body came into existence in 1971.
The video concludes with footage of a young girl featured in the video running through a garden, smelling a flower, and speaking the words “listen, obey and be blessed” into the camera. The Governing Body clearly feel they have hit on something with that sickening catchphrase, which calls for Witnesses to surrender all logic and reason and obey without question. And it seems they are right.
Is this, in part, to counter the PR campaign of AAWA and others to alert the local media in Convention cities that the modest hotel and catering income that a JW Convention brings is more than outweighed by the Watchtower’s utterly negative and poisonous message?
Seems to me to be the same thing year in year out. There is nothing new in the video. Also, I recall about the hotels and the myth that JWs got great prices and rates. Truth it they got the high end prices on hotel rooms and the “official” JW hotels they used to urge people to go to were up scale places. However the letters on the notice board always suggested these were the best and only places to stay which of course we all know was and still is a lie. This video makes it sound like ONLY JWs can organise such a thing and they are only able to do it because they are Gods recognised channel. What saddens me is the JWs fall for this type of thing all the time and really do believe only JWs can organise anything. The quote that “people from 16 countries will be here” made me chuckle…they are trying to make themselves sound like they are the only International religious group…I wonder how many nationalities attend anything done by the Pope eh? (the Pope who JWs once believed was Michael). Having also read the program of events for this convention it is the same old thing dragged up year after year but this time with a more dogmatic approach against love and family. I know some sisters who are doing a song and dance act to a selected audience of International JWs in London. The sisters doing the performance claim it is traditional English Victorian entertainment and will be doing songs from The Sound of Music (so Austrian there) and The King and I (Siam there). They will also do some West Side story (American) and a song from Oliver (American written)…I did point out they are way off base with these things being Victorian and English but was told bluntly the elders and entertainment committee know better. Typical reaction when faced with pure facts is for them to claim the facts have been changed to go against Jehovah’s people. I did suggest they do songs such as “Any Old Iron”, “My Old man’s a Dustman” and “The Boy in the Gallery” but was told they wanted English and Victorian songs. It simply boggles the mind.
It’s what they DIDN’T say in their little catch phrase “listen to JEHOVAH obey JEHOVAH be blessed by JEHOVAH”… because they don’t MEAN Jehovah. They squarely mean THEM. The slimey self righteous dicks. :/
cedars good job that on getting that video up
Interestingly not once was Jesus name mentioned.
Have you noticed how they sale everything around the convention and not the convention itself? They talked about the city, the entertainment, the fellowship with other JWs, but have mostly omitted to talk about the fact that people are request to remain seated for about 6 hours every day and to listen to various speakers going over the various JW teachings.
People will have little time to actually associate as they will be busy with preparing their meals, their clothing, their packages, the full transportation process, checking in and out of hotels, taking care of their kids, waiting for the bathrooms, trying to find seats. And for the truly blessed and spiritual, they will read the published material in the evenings and reflect upon their notes with their friends and families.
The time left for old friends, making new ones and enjoying entertainment is not only limited, but most simply do not have enough energy remaining to do all that stuff. And yet, this is what is placed on the forefront of this video!
Short and direct to the point… I love your comment!
“At that time, the lifesaving direction that we receive from Jehovah’s organization may not appear practical from a human standpoint. All of us must be ready to obey any instructions we may receive, whether these appear sound from a strategic or human standpoint or not.”
Apparently the absurd and ridiculous instructions to travel 25 miles to a different train station fit this category. With the exception of Friday, the convention takes place on the weekends. I’m sure the trains can handle the extra JWS at any station and all this nonsense is unnecessary. No doubt many JWs agree that it’s stupid and complained. This video was a reminder that they need to fall in line, listen obey and be blessed. This reminds me of the Detroit propaganda video I posted a few months ago. People complained Detroit was dangerous and refused to attend, so they made a video telling people how safe Detroit is and that the governing body cares about our cars. They even said the governing body loves us more than we love ourselves. So silly.
Is “listen, obey and be blessed” the new Watchtower mantra? It even made Caleb ditch his Sparlock toy, right?
They seem to be pushing their “events” rather aggressively these days. Remember the memorial? They suggested that maybe, just maybe, this would/could/might be THE LAST MEMORIAL EVER! You wouldn’t want to miss that one, would you? Hm? Hm?!
… brood of vipers
Thinking of leaving says:
June 7, 2014 at 7:51 am
Interestingly not once was Jesus name mentioned.
… your point is the essence of all this and one that strikes at the very heart of truth.
i personally find it hard and cannot watch these types of videos as i have shed many tears over someone who is held captive to this cult…. but i continue to pray.
… but thanks cedars for keeping us up to date ! This is a vital role you play.
Looks great,apart from the actual convention.It looks more like an advert for a weekend break.Make sure your food bag is the correct size.Listen,obey and be blessed.
I have to hand it to them on this one. They did a good job promoting Atlanta, one of the top 10 cities in America for violent crime. Even if no JWs watched the video, the convention and visitors bureau surely like the promotion of their city.
What the video should have been entitled
“The GB is having the time of their life”
Catch phrase: ‘Listen obey and be fleeced’
opening scene showing all the best Atlanta has to offer. Narrator: “Welcome to Atlanta an american city that has one of the highest violent crime rates in America, in fact so violent that if you all stay here for a year, statistically 400 of you will be victims of a violent crime. Just for the convention only 7 of you will be, and there is only a 70% chance one of you will be killed. Don’t worry that is only 1/3 the chance you would have if we had it in the worst city for crime in America, Detroit. However that is a chance the G.B. is willing to take, they want to appear on the biggest stage possible in America to see their followers. Ahh don’t worry about them, they have their own private security following them everywhere, they feel confident it will be one of you and not them that falls victim.”
Narrator with a smile: “Lets look in on a family with a son who will read a scripture from the Bible that will make you forget your safety and focus on what we want you to.” Father: “Go ahead son read Rev 7:9” son reads scripture, Father: “good job son, you are not the best reader, but you will do great as a janitor since you will not have an education.” Father: “What should we be doing at the convention?” Daughter: “listen, obey and get fleeced” Father chuckling “right little one and cross your fingers that you won’t be a victim of a violent crime or you can pray.” Father chuckling as he finishes
Convention rooming overseer: “We got every hotel to say yes with the help of over paying for their rooms, now I get free rooms, The GB get, dig this, free Presidential suites and free unlimited room service, since you are overpaying. That’s right friends, it is a well known fact in the travel business that the best suites are free of charge to those who make the arrangements. Don’t worry about the 1 and 8 rule, you know the one in the travel industry that says for every 8 rooms that are booked you will get one free. Those rooms will be quietly distributed to Elders, pioneers and others by the rooming department, for their loyal service, No, No we are going to give them an envelope and read them a scripture about their privilege to put money in the envelope for the free room. They will still pay full price for the room, not to the hotel, but to whatever the GB wants. All to the credit and glory of capitialism, or Jehovah, whatever makes you feel warm and fuzzy while we empty your small wallets.” Overseer with a cheesy smile: “Remember… Listen…. Obey…. and Be Fleeced.”
Narrator: “there will be plenty of entertainment as well, we have obtained a nice theater with money, yes thats right, money, don’t worry, we didn’t forget our convention mantra, Listen…… Obey….. and be fleeced. All of the entertainment is from JWs that have volunteered and worked hard. We of course will intertwine every show with a reminder that the building came at an undisclosed price and you will be guilted into thinking a group of nonprofessional entertainers is equal to the ticket price of a broadway show. However it will be GB blessed, so go ahead partake of the good times, but don’t forget, well you already guessed it, Listen…. Obey…. and be… come on, say it with me, Fleeced. Hallelujah, holy cow and pass the tylenol.
Narrator: “So you can see friends the G.B. will be having the time of their lives and don’t worry they won’t be riding Marta, like you looos, uh, excuse me, frog in my throat, they will park underneath the convention center and enter through all the private entrances that people like Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and other superstars do. They will try to make their gloating seem like joy over God’s spirit and happiness to see you.”
Cut to little girl going to sniff a beautiful flower.
Little girl: “Listen…. Obey and be Fleeced”
That doesn’t greatly increase the likelihood that she will be victimized by an older adult authority figure at all!!!!!!
Get ready for the time of your life! Get ready to:
* sit hours on end
* fight sleepiness (e.g. by eating candy)
* sweat your shirt and pants inside out so they smell a mile away
* listen to music through speakers so crappy that you’d wish you’d stayed in your car.
Thanks Cedars for your diligent reporting, I like the time index references. Much appreciated!
Did anyone notice that the boy’s question @2:15 “Why here in Atlanta?” is not really answered? The response is: “The governing body had requested for international conventions here in North America. And there were certain cities that were ‘focus cities’, and one of which was Atlanta, Georgia! And when we define what an international convention would be… it would be of a particular size. […]” He continues about only the georgiadome being able to fit all the attendees; but why Atlanta was one of the ‘focus cities’ and why Atlanta was picked… we remain in the dark.
I also lolled a few seconds later because he’s talking about the economic impact of all the visitors for the city while on screen we see a few “ads” with one saying “Keep Seeking First God’s Kingdom”. Keep seeking first the visitor’s wallet! Hahah!
And again they want to make the world believe that they cherish children.
A few things… I had to chuckle at the $500,000 dollar houses that were shown when they said that local witnesses had opened their homes for people to stay. What witnesses can afford those kind of homes? With any advanced education being taboo in the org. I have to figure they must belong to those that went to college and got well paying careers before becoming JW’s lol… I was kind of shocked at how nicely they portrayed the ‘worldly’ city of Atlanta. But with three days of excruciatingly long mind numbing brainwashing most probably won’t get to experience the local sights anyway. It doesn’t cease to amaze me how less and less Christ orientated they become. I don’t think I heard the word Jesus or Christian one time.
@Jim – That story reminds me of when someone brought a karaoke machine to a JW social do and one of the elders sung “Mac the Knife”. I had to tell him he’d just sung a song about a murdering, pimping, thieving sociopolitic arsonist who in the original German lyric is also implied to be paedophile. His response? I was talking rubbish as “they didn’t write songs about such things in the 50’s” (it actually dates from 1928)
At the same get together one of the Bible studies sung “Making Whoopee” I chose not bother pointing out what that one was about…
@ Steve my wife and I both laughed when we saw the houses as well. Definitely not the house of the family doing the demo. The living room was so small that if the father stretched his legs out he would have kicked his son out of his seat on the other side of the room. LOL maybe they filmed in one of the closets in the house shown.
Listen, obey and be blessed…..to whom?
Jehovah sure is moving mountains to make this event a truly memorable time. A subtle prophetic shadowing by ready revelation 7 at the beginning, implying they are the gathering? The whole thing makes me a bit sick to my stomach.
Perhaps the purpose of the video is to fulfill a contractual obligation to the visitors’ bureau.
Maybe a part of the ‘price’ of using the venue (or some other perk from Atlanta) is to promote tourism in the city within their own demographic.
Of course, done with the usual blandness and ridiculous reverence portrayed by the WTS.
@steve my first impression was very similiar to yours. The “houses” of witnesses made me sick. Anyone who lives in a house like that is looked down on in a congregation and here they are glorifying it. Um celebrities? sports teams? You
mean… all of the things of satans world? So if the city is going to shine “even brighter” youre aknowledging it shines pretty bright already with satans “tools”?? And I agree with other readers that I almost can’t watch this as I have my entire family and friends still involved, and I am so discouraged they are taking the route I dreaded they would… Attempting to be “cool” on the surface while still brainwashing their members with fundamentalist garbage. And is anyone else noticing how they are totally just copying Mormons??? I mean if you go to LDS.org it’s embarrassing for them how obvious it is they are just following their lead. I also can’t help but think this whole thing is a publicity stunt. Hey look we can have 34,000 people attending our conventions! No, you had to ship them in from all over the world to get that number. Just so sickening.
*acknowledging
have you compared the new gray bible with other versions for romans ch 14?. vs 6
doesnt even make sense now.
they put jehovah in place of Lord, when it was meaning Jesus the lord. [otherwise why wouldnt they have put jehovah in place of the word God too.] i ve seen this in other places as well. lets just dishonor the Lord Jesus, and Gods command to bow to his son,
by eliminating him…
what blessings will follow?
im confused,
how is this a ‘leaked’ video? who is supposed to watch this video if not everyone?
the convention is soon,
isnt it availiable to watch now on line?
Of course, perhaps it’s because so many Witnesses aren’t listening and obeying that the GB felt it merited the cost of producing the video!
And why Detroit and Atlanta? I wouldn’t be surprised if the citys’ Visitors and Conventions Bureaus pay big kickbacks to ‘incentivize’ organizations to stage large events in their cities. As always, it’s the poor JW rank and file who pick up the tab …
Tiger123 – you have me here dying laughing out loud almost in tears..by the way for those of you fortunate to get to go to the international convention OUT DOORS…July and August in stadiums with very little shade….you get to sit in the immensely hot sun while the higher ups sit in air condition suites. Nice!
They’re going to sponsor tours and have entertainment with Mariachi and Blues bands? Are they really getting that desperate? Are the JWs really that reticent these days to attend these (cough) “rich spiritual feasts” that the Society feels the need to tempt them with entertainment and tours?
I can remember attending the international conventions in New York City when I was a small child. No entertainment. Seven to nine mind-numbing days of convention talks starting at 9 a.m. and lasting until around 9 p.m. The only “entertainment” (if you could call it that) was getting to eat meals in one of the convention tents–and you generally had to stand up while eating.
They are getting desperate these days, and JWs are needing more and more “perks” just to attend one of these things.
Listen, Obey, and Be Blessed? Sounds like a new chant for the cult, make the sheeple even More mindless! Why do they have this need to Advertise the conventions, as though it were a vacation?? Are numbers dropping?? I remember attending international conventions many years ago, there was NO advertising! The convention centers in N.Y.C. were packed!! There was no entertainment!! What’s going on?? Do they need to Implore people to attend? Are the numbers of sheeple attending sooo low, that they need to REduce the number of conventions, and now have it International, so that the stadiums will be filled? shakes head
Is there a timeshare presentation during this trip to Atlanta??? LOL!!! This video looked more like an Expedia ad and less like a WT convention promo.
So I can see how this works very clearly. The zombies who will attend have to order their tranportation passes & hotel accomodations directly from the WTS who in turn will pay the money to the local vendors and keep a nice percentage for itself.
This is pretty typical of the WTS. I’m sure they stand to make a nice profit from this since Atlanta is really hurting for tourist money and will work out a good deal for both sides. But what really shocked me is how the WTS is promoting local food and culture. When I was a kid, my mom dragged us to countless Distirict/Circuit assemblies and NOT ONCE were we ever encouraged by the JW honchos to visit local restaurants for lunch/dinner/recreation. We were told to bring our own food, buy parking tickets, do NOT leave the venue during lunch, and go straight home so you can sleep early and get back early the next day.
I’m pretty sure that none of those local excursions and shows will be free. I gues we might as well change the name of this cult to JEHOVAH’S TRAVEL AGENTS LOL!!!!
I know whatcha mean Gail. I used to attend the District Assemblies at Yankee Stadium back in the days when the WTS used to serve up food. Of course you had to buy food tickets. The Watchtower mafia always finds a way to make money. It would be nice if we could get someone on the inside who could spill the beans on how much money is being made on this.
That’s so true. When I used to attend the Yankee Stadium District Conventions, my brother and I used to volunteer for the overnight cleaning jobs. That’s where we found out that the WTS honchos were staying in the Club Suites and chilling in the stadium’s restaurant with air conditioning, a restaurant, drinks…very nice. Meanwhile my mom had me practically strapped into that cramped seat by first base with NO umbrella and I’m wearing a wool suit. My parents NEVER took me to see a baseball game, but they took me to Yankee Stadium to get brainwashed…go figure.
Hello!
Very interesting! The conventions are a lucrative business for WT, but not for JW. It is not necessary to travel to Atlanta (or any place) to hear the program, or see new publications or new DVD…
If you know Spanish, you can hear the complete program and see the new publications here:
http://hildeydesa.blogspot.com/2014/06/nuevo-dvd-asamblea-2014-estas-palabras.html
Best regards,
Hildebrando.
I love how the father tells his son “…a Great Crowd that no one could count.” Does this guy read the WTS annual report? There’s fewer than 7 million! My dad (who’s still roped up by the JWs) tried that line on me and I smashed him with his own statistics. We don’t talk much anymore and that’s motherf—–g fine with me because I refused to get brainwashed anymore.
According to the premises of Watchtowerism, I would think the “time of your life” would rather be the day you have survived Armageddon.
Or is that one becoming more obscure now, since the Big A never seems to arrive anyway?
If you are in tight with the Elder’s brown noising in the local kingdom hall you will get nice Assignment’s where you do not have to set all day you will be up around and about.
I’m at the detroit international convention, THANKFULLY today is the last day, but in regards to being driven into the city and all that, we had a lot of inconveniences with the parking. They wanted us to park at are designated lots and be shuttled into Ford Field, there were only three shuttle buses and at the end of the day, of the buses showed up and it took a lot of people a couple hours to even get to their car that was about a mile or two away, it was pretty ridiculous. There was a tract release, along with two 32 page magazines focusing on children and family, and one book titled “Gods Kingdom Rules!”. One thing I found interesting outside of their usual bias and general bs at conventions, is for Sunday all the flowers that they have surrounding the stages they’re planning on bringing them up closer towards the seats so people can have the flowers but get this- they have a “suggested amount” of what you should donate to them. Pretty bold if you ask me.
none of the buses showed up**
Bonkers! Who on earth wants to go on a tour of a penitentiary? Who does that?
I am so glad that I don’t have to attend these awful, moribund events anymore! I used to hate going to assemblies, especially the district ones. They sucked so badly!!!
My poor old Mum has to make her own way to the convention this year. I have suggested taking a cab. It’s expensive, but it is the most practical way for her to get there. Luckily, my dear old Mum can afford a cab. But what about other elderly ones who can’t? Well, they can just stay at home, they are not wanted, it seems.
One elderly sister who has been making crafts to give away to the delegates can’t attend. She is just too disabled to get there. What a loving and inclusive arrangement!
Every day and in every way the WTBTS make me loath them a little more.
Peace be with you
Excelsior!