Posted on 05/26/2009 7:23:51 PM PDT by Alex Murphy
WEST PALM BEACH, FL -- If you feel like the world has been crumbling down around you lately, the Jehovah's Witnesses say - you're right. It is.
In fact, beginning this weekend, they'll be holding a series of public lectures entitled "How to survive the end of the world".
"It's imminent. It's at hand," says local Jehovah's Witnesses spokesman Travis Telfair.
Local Witnesses will be holding 14 consecutive 'conventions', as they call them, at their convention center on Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard - formerly the West Palm Beach Auditorium.
They hold such gatherings each year, but this year's theme is, admittedly, far more alarming. Spritually surviving an imminent apocalypse! When?
"No one knows the day or the hour," says Telfair, "but we know we're in the last days of this system of things."
Jehovah's Witnesses believe the beginning of the end started around 1914 with World War One.
Since then, there have been plenty of natural and man-made threats to contend with. But the bible, they say, offers specific events to "keep on the watch" for. An escalation in natural disasters, crime, war. Even diseases like Swine Flu.
"These are all things Jesus said would be increasing in intensity in the last days," says Mario Beltrami, also a Jehovah's Witness spokesman, "and we're seeing that. I think most people agree that these are probably the most critical times we've seen."
Sure, the prospect of a cataclysm may sound a bit - terrifying. But witnesses say it's not their intention to scare people. Rather, it's to provide believers with a revelations roadmap. A spiritual survival guide to emerge from Armageddon intact.
"They will be hearing things as far as how they can avoid Satan's snares. Because we know that the goal of Satan is to hamper people from surviving," says Telfair.
The lectures begin this Friday, and they're open to the public. There's no admission fee. No collection plate being passed. Just an analytical approach, they promise - to let people know why they believe the end is near.
“but we know we’re in the last days of this system of things.”
These people are lost souls. I know, my mother was one and it ended up killing her.
They use fear to keep their people in line.
The leaders of this organization are evil pure and simple.
A few years ago I would have probably said they were crazy.
Right now....
AGAIN?
All prophets should be judged by their accuracy, so, how accurate have Jehovah’s Witnesses been on these prophecies over history?
Anyone with a “lick of sense” could see the world is in a mess and can’t go on like this much longer without some major event that will affect the whole world.
Damn, I should have used all that vacation time.
If the Cubs make the World Series, then I’d be worried...other than that...
Damn, I should have used all that vacation time.
Damn, I should have used all that vacation time.
does that mean they’re going to stop coming around and bothering me? If so, the rapture can’t come fast enough.
(figures)
;-)
I was thinking of having some eggs should i boil them or fry them?
Boiling is slower..
Only 144,000 the rest are doomed to walk the earth forever and be just an earshot away from paradise.
Isn't that like betting on every single number combination in the lottery? In the end, you've wasted a lot of time, money, and energy and the return would be the same or less than if you just sat back and 'had faith'?
Be careful with those magazine subscriptions, people. Oh hell (literally), I’ve just ordered two boxes of Thomas Kinkade illustrated bank checks.
Correct me if I am wrong, but it is my understanding that JW believe that eternal life will be here on Earth. At least that is what was told to me by a JW who rang my doorbell. I always believed Earth is/was the Princes kingdom. You can sort of guess how the conversation went after I told them that.
I’ve got to hurry and put those plastic airplane models together I’ve been saving in the closet for 25 years.
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