I was looking at various posting on the JWN forum about this years Watchtower District Conventions.
The following was post by one person who went.


"""In the talk "Know That The End Is Near", there were presented 4 "lines of evidence" that the Great Tribulation is coming "soon" (by far the most used word in the whole DC). The first 3 were the usual claptrap about wars, earthquakes (yes, they said "seismic activity is increasing"), love cooling off, etc., but the final point was just jaw-droppingly stupid:

He said that the new understanding of "this generation" proves that the GT is close. This "generation" is NOT all anointed Christians since 33 CE, but instead all anointed Christians since 1914. When the GT comes, there will still be members of that "generation" on the earth.

OK, try to follow this - I sure couldn't.

"Remember when we used to look excitedly at the January 15 Watchtower, to see how many had partaken of the emblems in the previous Memorial? We were always so expectant & excited to see the number going down. Well, guess what - with this new understanding, the number of partakers completely doesn't matter! There will still be some anointed on the earth when the GT comes! So we have to be ready now."

Ummm...didn't we excitedly check the 1/15 WTs to see the "dwindling" partaker count, because we knew there would have to be some left at the GT? And if the number got to be very small, well, the GT had to be close, right? It had to come before the number dropped to 0, right? I.e., no change from the current understanding - there would still be anointed ones on earth when the GT came.

Well, now that the number of partakers is growing at a double-digit percentage increase year over year, how is it that the "number doesn't matter any more"?
I still can't figure it out."""


Also it seems that one speaker said that "Armageddon was so close, it was on the doorstep."
Well it makes a change from "its near" "very soon" "the end is near" etc.

As this quote from a 1997 Watchtower says:

***w97 1/1p.11par.18Let All Glorify Jehovah!***
In the early 1920's, a featured public talk presented by Jehovah's Witnesses was entitled "Millions Now Living Will Never Die." This may have reflected over optimism at that time. But today that statement can be made with full confidence. Both the increasing light on Bible prophecy and the anarchy of this dying world cry out that the end of Satan's system is very, very near! The Memorial report for 1996 shows that 12,921,933 attended, of whom only 8,757 (.068 percent) indicated their heavenly hope by partaking of the emblems.


Notice how those in the 1920's showed "over optimism" for say "Millions Now Living Will Never Die."
But in 1997 it can be said with "full confidence".
Meaning that "the end" is "very,very near"
Why? Because the 1996 Memorial report showed the low number of the "anointed" .
Well 13 years later they have had to drop the whole teaching of the "anointed" getting less before "the end".

So JWs coming home from this years conventions will all be full of "the end" will be here by Christmas (but they don't celebrate Christmas) so its here by December 25th image

Considering that two years ago their convention theme was "Deliverance is at Hand!" and they were coming home from that one saying "the end" would be here by Christmas.

Will they never learn and set themselves free from living for a date.