My Thoughts on JW Broadcasting - May 2020 (with Stephen Lett) 

I'm so confused, are we to be childlike or childish. Are we to be curious or not be curious. Is it good to be young or bad to be young. I'm so confused. 😕🙃😐😞😳😋😲😇

This "we are so accepting of all races" video at the end as if the Society are so ahead of their time is so disingenuous. Racism isnt the norm anymore. If the society put out a diversity video in the 50's and didnt have separate Kingdom Halls then you could say the Watchtower was ahead of it's time. But what did they do back then, they behaved just like everyone around them. Having a "we are so diverse and accepting" video now is completely redundant in the largely accepting society we live in.

Hearing you talking about how they were using it to indoctrinate children really hits home. I am a former Witness. I have been out for many years now. My mom is still a witness and is very much under their spell. I have 2 kids and sometimes let them go visit my mom for a couple of weeks at a time when they aren't in school. She lives in another state. I really didn't think there would be any harm in it. She loves her grandkids, but, I am really starting to rethink allowing them go and stay with her again. The last time they did, my son came home completely indoctrinated. Saying that he doesn't want to celebrate his birthday and holidays anymore and saying all kinds of other stuff. Literally, 2 weeks of being around my mom and he was acting like a completely different boy. It's just so sad that I'm not even going to be able to let my mom spend time with my kids because she's so brainwashed and trying to indoctrinate my kids. 😔

You voiced my sentiments exactly at the end! I started to feel this way before I exited, so pleased I awoke from that bad nightmare! I’m still discovering my possibilities, what the future holds, so thankful to be free from that undue influence! 😊. Thanks for your hard work Lloyd!

Thank you for your video. But you are asking about people who may know about racism in the U.S. in the organization. I'm in North Carolina. I moved to here from Missouri, I grew up in Arkansas (the deep south) and when I moved to NC, I heard something I've never heard. My younger sister worked at a Starbucks and told another girl that worked there (African American) that she is a JW. The girl looked at her puzzlingly, and replied "but you're white?". So, in parts of the south in the U.S., JW's are known as being a black/minority religion. I don't know if you have ever heard this.

Oh please no music videos !!!

Have you done a video on the similarities of bible stories with other fables/myths?..if not, you really should!!

I honestly don't believe concerned parents wrote to WT about inappropriate videos. I think that this part on the broadcast with S Lett saying parents wrote in, was actually the organisations response to the court case in Europe where they were fined for showing videos without being rated, and of course they wouldn't say anything to the worldwide brotherhood about being taken to court about it. The easiest way to address it would be to invent "letters from concerned parents".

This is a power-packed episode. Lett is in top, rubbery form. Hatred of children, yet wanting everyone else to be children. And no play or curiosity! Amazing!

This brings back so many memories of my parents encroaching on my privacy, stepping over my boundaries growing up. It was tough and even as an adult I have struggled to identify who I am as a person and to feel independent. Such a destructive thing to do, especially during that transitional phase of a teenager becoming an adult.

I've just told my 8 month old baby to stop being so goddamn high maintenance and to stop playing all day long. She just started reading the bible and is changing her own diaper as we speak. A part-time job at the local McDonalds is in the talks as well. Thank you for your advice, Mr. Lett.

I have no personal experience with segregation (it ended before I was born). But in my 20s I befriended an older member of the congregation who once was an elder and lived in Georgia during segregation and after it ended. He was candid about his personal experiences. On at least two occasions, he told me that the stories circulating among JWs describing process of integration as a joyus reunion (a story I heard my mother repeat many times when talking to her bible studies) were mostly inaccurate. The reality was that JWs both black and white were unhappy with intergration (at least in the areas that he served) and that it lead to a lot of friction between congregations. He never went into detail, but it was clear that a lot of it had to do with power. Many brothers came into positions of promenince prior to integration, positions that were threatened as congregations began to merge. That's not to say it was the same everywhere. Those who were interviewed for this segment seemed to gloss over what transpired during integration, but (unspurprisingly) had nothing but positive things to say about their own experiences. My aim is to point out that the reality was far more nuanced than the offical accounts sanctioned by the leaders of the Watchtower Society, who are more interested in propaganda

I find it strange that Watchtower now wants you to meditate. That word was ‘dangerous’ when I was growing up as a witness. Apparently, you were under threat of having demons enter your mind if you meditated. That was why yoga was looked down on.

If I had a dollar for every time Stephen Lett creeped me out as a kid I wouldn’t need to have a job.

Ohhh Im so angry about his comments regarding play.. My daughter whom we adopted from an orphanage in a third world country had no "play" for the first 17 months of her life and we have spent the last 15 years helping her catch up on what she missed out on by not being able to play as a younger child. Play is so much more than wasted time, its learning, its physical development, its emotional development, its social development. To deprive a child of play is setting them up for a life time of delays but then maybe that is what they want the next generation of JWs to be like so they are more easily manipulated...

Wow. Little children saying “mine” is called ego/personality formation and developing sense of separation between others. It’s not “greed” JFC! 🤯

They totally left out sexism in their "discrimination" video - We don't judge people on their colour, race, age or wealth, but we sure do in regard to what's between their legs!

“Jehovah is a God who hates violence! Now enjoy this reenactment of violence that was preserved for us by the God who hates violence!” - WT

How anyone could idolize a character like this is beyond me. Stephen moves like a nutcracker toy

The bit about your dad saying he really wished he came home from work and see you reading the watchtower instead of the Man United magazine had me in stitches. So typical of JW parents, but I can especially relate to it as I am a United fan as well. I had posters of Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo on my bedroom wall when I was 13-14 years old and my dad took them down because he thought I was idolising them both and worshipping them. Even though I was just a passionate man United fan, and football fan in general. But elders at my kingdom hall had convinced my parents that football was a distraction and a worldly activity. One time United were playing a big European cup game against Juventus on a Thursday night so I refused to go to the Thursday night meeting. I said there will be another meeting next Thursday, and the Thursday after that, but there wouldn't be another Champions League semi-final match involving United next Thursday. Valid point. They never saw it that way though and tried forcing me to go. I stone cold refused, and wouldn't leave the house, but I was not allowed to watch the game and lost all TV access as punishment. That was one of the first things that made me thought 'stuff the meetings', like in general. Not just that night because I had a football game on. I was also never allowed to get the new Man United shirt as it was usually £50 - £60. But my parents would always manage to find £300 down the back of the sofa to buy me a new 3 piece suit for the meetings every 6 months. But again, my trainers/sneakers were always dirty and falling to bits. However I always had a nice pair of meeting shoes though, which were replaced every couple of months and polished regularly. It's like my parents only spent money on meeting clothes. Nothing else mattered. Likewise, the only time I ever got a haircut was when an assembly was coming round. Often my dad would take me to get my hair cut the day before an assembly. But then I wouldn't have it cut for up to 6 months and would have to have my school/class photos taken like that. My parents only cared about assemblies and meetings. Nothing else.

Since I visited Hollywood studios and did a tour in 2014, this jw production became rubish to me!!! This May2020 broadcasting is preparing people for donating for the new Towerwood! Pure propaganda for the blind witnesses that for the 1st time can see a behind scenes

If you remember the 1966 Batman series with Adam West. Lett would have made a great looking villain.

Lloyd, your memory of the soccer magazine resonated with me. My parents would say similar things about my love of the NY Yankees and pop music. Anything that a “normal” teenager would do my parents said why didn’t I read theocratic magazines like I did with sports and music. 🙄

This was one of the issues that pushed me to leave the Witnesses. The "be child like" concept stunts and regresses adults to something lesser. A grown man acts as a child by being a tattle-tell. It was the straw that broke the camel's back when a brother that I considered a good friend threatened to tell the elders because I had an untreated anxiety issue during a time when my wife was continuously lying and cheating, and started to smoke. No questions as to why I was smoking. No mention of how the woman who got me into the cult had treated me like shit for years. No actual caring about me as a person. Just the childish idea of "I'm telling mom!" I knew then that JW's were not adults. Now... Why does this governing body member always look like he's coked out? Its like he is doing lines in between segments.

They clearly have money , why don't they use it to do some good in the world ?

One of the mind blowing moments I had after leaving the Witnesses was when a therapist said that living a double life isn't a bad thing, we get to choose what parts of ourselves we let other people see. No one else has the right to know everything about us. The JWs don't get that.

Lloyd, I'm afraid you are right that Steven Lett will influence many parents to become even worse parents. I could write for hours of the cherrypicking Steven Lett does. "The negative traits about children are....." Then on another day, those same"negative" traits are positive.. They just say what they want even when it contradicts what they said in another video. They do the same thing e with Bible scriptures. Twist things around to got Watchtower's message.

Does anyone notice that it seems like ol’ Stephen is being controlled by marionette strings?

What an evil man. I remember when my ex-husband forced us to move where the need was great, and my 2 yr old had to give up his 2 tonka trucks. I was angry and tried to reason with him about kids need to play. There's nothing wrong with Tonka trucks!!!

I am gobsmacked. I escaped a long time ago, Stephen Lett is very disturbing. MTFBWY.

"We dont feel comfortable watering down any bible insight depicted in bible accounts by Jehovah....." But we will ban real beards.....😑🙄

Nothing can prepare you for Stephen Lett. What do the rest of the brothers say afterwards? Is it similar to when George Lucas was filming the Star wars prequels and everyone was too afraid to say anything?

It’s like Stephen Lett just keeps kicking it up a notch.

Steven Lett is something else. No coincidence they had him doing the talk-talking down to JWs about being childlike. His expressions, gestations are so exaggerated, & so insulting to the viewer, every time he opens his mouth.

Being raised in this religion I can verify that everything in this video takes place. Extreme and overreacting. This video I’ve seen many times take place in my 35 years in this cult like environment. Thanks Lloyd. I’d express my feelings about this dangerous controlling religion to my JW family if they would talk to me. They have completely cut me off. I have no family. But I have peace and this channel has helped me so much. Thanks again Lloyd.

Is Stephen Lett a real person or a cartoon character? Does anyone really talk like that? It's creepy.

I would bet that since the J.W conventions this year, that they will recommend that the money that the families normally spend on the hotels, should be sent in to them

Lett seems like an alien who was only given a vhs of William Shatner and 20 minutes to figure out how to pretend to be human.

Lett looks like he's going to pee with excitement 😅

If it’s ok for children to watch things like this. Then why not movie’s about war of the past. Using this point of view

As long as you don't see John's head getting cut off and put on a platter, it's okay to put a picture of John's head on a platter in a book for children to see.

They have such good facilities for producing the movies. If only it was used for good and not evil.

They don't want children to play and actually be children, because playing helps children to develop their own minds. And they can't have that.

Lloyd. I so relate to what you said about your mom being disappointed about you looking at a soccer mag. Instead of a watchtower. I got that constantly. Made to feel guilty about something innocent. Messes with your mental health.

Stephen Letts deranged expressions remind me of Heavens Gate cult leader Marshall Applewhite

Lett talks like he's speaking to kindergartners

I agree with you Lloyd. This is one of the worst broadcasts that I've seen in a while.

Never trust anyone who combs over their side hair to pretend it's real.

I can’t wait to leave this religion! It’s so controlling and nobody should have to live like watchtower demands. It’s sickening really, I’m pimo and have been for about a year. I’m so glad I’ve woken up and this channel is one of the reasons why. Part of me always felt something wasn’t right about what watchtower teaches.

When my husband was a young man living in North Carolina, coming from the north, he was shocked when he went to the Kingdom Hall and there were no blacks in the congregation. So he asked one of the elders and he told him that the congregations were still segregated. It was 1973, well after the civil rights movement of the mid sixties. He was very upset by it, but they explained to him that it was for the protection of the black brothers because of the attitude of the world.

Kids are smart ! Many will KNOW that the note is worth more !

OMG it hits hard. That young teen was me 2 years ago when my mom decided to use my 10 years old brother to spy on me and my phone. She was curious about her 21 years old daughter and who she talks to. My brother find out my password and when I was asleep at night my mother took my phone to spy on me. It created an avalanche that caused me being disfellowsiped. It helped me realize that it really was not the truth I believed it was so that's one good thing from this.

Completely disgusting I am totally ashamed I have been a JW for so long! how could I not see this craziness before. I have been woke for 6 Months faded for 4 years and up until the last 3 months been afraid to research and now that I am researching I have been engulfed in it for last 6 months. I was basically born in, 47 now and feel so much of my life has been wasted.

When you were done dressing down the GB for saying they won't water down the Bible, and then they water down Bible stories (e.g. Lot's daughters) when it suits their needs, I was giving you a standing ovation!!!!!

If I wasn't born in the JW cult I would have never 'met' Llloyd. I'm so thankful for the John Cedars channel and I can't believe everything I've survived from the JW trauma :( It gets me sometimes

Incredibly good points made! Especially about baptizing children. I always enjoy watching you take the propaganda apart with critical thinking. I find myself getting lulled in to seeing the points they are making sometimes and it’s horrifying! Then you come back with points that make their whole facade come crumbling down like a house of cards. You are amazing at it!

Yeah, y'know where I've seen this kind of "tell on your own family members because higher authority" behavior before? In a flipping _NORTH KOREAN PRISON CAMP DOCUMENTARY_ ! The survivor was recounting how he overheard his mother talking with his older brother about escaping so he told on them to a camp guard. They were executed the next morning -- and of course he was forced to watch. He said how he felt nothing seeing it. I can't even begin to describe how disturbing that is let alone the similarities here. _WHAT. EVEN._

@1:17:11 The parents have the reaction of people who just found out that their son has married somebody of the working class 🤣😂. It almost like the reaction you get in a period piece drama ..pride/prejudice or Downton abbey.

The Bible should be R rated!!

I think I’m beginning to realize how indoctrinated I’ve become.. even whenever you play clips from the broadcast I sense that I go into an almost hypnotic state and actually internalize everything that’s being said without realizing it ...then I have to snap out of it 😳 scary 😖

YOOUNG WAAANNS

Stephen Lett is scary 😱

On the racism tip, when I was in the organization still, I was mortified when they decided to use an Asian family, in K-Drama style, to demonize higher education and materialism- nitpicking at various aspects of their culture as being problematic. Oh and the Hispanic family, being dysfunctional and hot-headed? And NO ONE picked up on the overt racism that was happening on screen in front of 7,000 people. Ridiculous.

Holy Crap. Did Stephen really just dismiss JW parents that complained about age appropriate material? Is he trying to wake up more JWs??

Imagine the terrible issues the younger siblings are going to suffer when they have to deal with the guilt they will feel when their brothers or sisters are DF or worse and when they reach the teenage years themselves and do the same thing. It is evil

Steven Let has the Facial expressions of Stanley Laurel..he just needs the hair to fluff.🤣😂

Stephen Lett: "We want you to ask questions, but don't be curious about your questions... and no questions about anything we've said... so just don't ask."

Unfortunately I can remember being a lot like the parents portrayed in the video. We have been out of the org for decades, but the scars remain. My children have been adults for many years, but we have never had a real conversation about how those early experiences effected them. I hope we can clear the air at some point.

8:00 - And as a graphics programmer this makes me smile how they get credits for all the tools which actually DOES the geometry and rendering work... Yeah they arrive in 2010+ and they think CGI is a great skill... No, they use assets and decades of improvement in 3d editing and rendering... Nowadays even my 10 y/o son can make a scene with billions of copy paste data in three clicks... Being able to clone assets is not a "skill" it's just knowing which button to push the program that WE, heavily math oriented engineers, have wrote... And you can't wrote those tool if your a WT cultist... Even better, when you were a computer "whiz kid" in the 90's, you were stigmatized because games are evil (you know, Doom...) and you have better stuff to do that working for this "system of things"... They seem happy that some people actually worked, educated to build those tools while they were preaching that there were no future... How ironic God will is, isn't it ?

Gone full hollyweird production company. No part of the world but extremely good at imitate the world. As everyone knows movie production is very cheap. I guess..........

I work in the film industry and it's kind of nauseating to see what equipment JWs have at their disposal. Green screens, cranes, steadicam rigs - all so expensive. Yet the products themselves always look and feel so cheap.

They really need to do a realistic Armageddon video with liberal sprinklings of human hotdogs. Otherwise, how will the kiddies know what's coming? (And they talk about the Catholic Church using hellfire as a scare tactic!)

There are families out there who will adopt EVERYTHING this charlatan says. That's more frightening than his odd and creepy mannerisms. How any parent can think this nonsense is useful or healthy, is beyond me.

How can they say ‘if university and schools could do it, then so could we,’ and then say, ‘we could integrate because of jehovahs backing’... So the University’s had jehovahs backing too? Cause they got it done. Before jw’s did too!

It's funny you mentioned play. While home during the pandemic I looked at some better ways I can manage my home with my child here 24/7 now. We consulted a parent group (decided on a routine to incorporate messy,focus,screen,play,quiet and family time)and YES PLAY is essential for kids, it is how they process information and develop and it's backed by many studies and research.

Funny. When I brought up the child sex issue with my PIMI friend she said to me “ why focus on the bad? Why keep our attention on the bad?” Yet it’s ok to focus on the bad in the Bible? Let me guess, because it teaches a lesson right? Yea so do the court cases. A HUGE lesson. But let’s ignore that😂

Is Lett becoming more patronising the older he gets? 🤔

This guy (the JW one) seriously reminds me of Mr. Magoo. I know it's downplaying how bad he is and what he's saying, but that's all I think - that he's this cartoon character that no one should take seriously.

Ol' Rubber face Lett! You should have slapped a "viewer discretion advised" warning on this.

Stephen is reason enough to never become a JW.

So, younger brothers can be appointed to serve and have "privileges"--but never sisters no matter their age or wisdom and knowledge. K

No wonder I was an anxious kid - there was a lot of scary shit we were exposed to as children. Jehovah's Witness kids live in a very scary world.

Stephen sounds so patronizing with every word he says. Does he talk like this in his daily life or does he put on this voice to talk to the congregation? The inflections he uses and everything are so over the top like how you talk to a baby.

Is it just me or is this religion getting creepier by the day? At least when I was a JW ( pre JW org) I had no idea how freaky the governing body members were. So pleased to be free of it.

I told my mother that I didn't like the trailers for the dramas this year because it wasn't as well made as it could have been and that i knew ways to improve it and she acted as though i said the most blasphemous thing possible

What a waste of donations? Such a scam.

the problem with curiosity is that it's how we LEARN and learning is what they don't want us to do.

I’m gobsmacked that he’s actually saying kids have “negative traits”. Omg.

If I were still at witness’, I would have nightmares if I HAD to listen to this rubber faced man!!!!!!! Reminds me of a time (when I was still in) that the Circuit Overseer AND his wife were very overweight and VERY critical of everything. I, as an adult, spoke to my Dad ( an elder till his death) that I was having a very hard time with their admonishments when they were ignoring the part of the Bible about GLUTTONY. He had to agree.

He used to sound like he was talking to toddlers. Now he sounds like he's talking to babies.

Steven Lett wants money all the times haha

1950’s JW’a were not united due to racism in the south.

This guy is so reminiscent of Do, of the suicidal Heaven's Gate cult.

No where in " Gods words" are they instructed to reenact events and present them to all age groups ignoring the fact that it is causing fear and mental harm to children!

The fact that they embark on a lengthy, not to mention expensive projects like films just shows how they don’t have the sense of urgency that they claim. Like why are they using the funds of hard working people for this and then have the audacity to beg for money on a jw broadcasting... ? and if the end is near why is making a film necessary? This religion doesn’t make any sense

I was a born in JW. Spent my whole life wondering why I was such a burden on everyone, even though all I wanted to do was be good and please my parents. But nothing I did was good enough. Decades of anxiety, depression, and suicide attempts later.... i’m finally starting to love myself and see that there was actually nothing wrong with me this whole time. It was all what my parents were taught, which is what Stephen Lett is teaching...hate your children, despise their natural tendencies, suppress their imagination and love for life, discipline them for wanting to explore. And in my case, keep them in their room and beat them for the tiniest of offenses, like laughing too loud. I can’t wait until this cult is finally bankrupt from all the abuse litigations

And fake beards

Jehovah didn't protect Josiah despite his favour towards him. The {Pharaoh Neco killed him not long after. Doesn't that point to some conclusion about Josiah, that the JWs somehow forgot to include in their film?

I just want to say thanks to not only John Cedars, but also Matt Dillahunty, Theramintrees, and Aronra in helping me escape this cult. As someone who thought I was gonna die in Armageddon in my teens simply for not following specific doctrines, I thought I had no hope for living my life and was destined to die in my early 20s at best. It made me volatile and paranoid but now that I'm free from this cage I can live in peace and enjoy my life starting now at 23. Once again thank you so much!

I had another dream about Armageddon coming this week, and being out of the org for 2 years now. The next generation of children are going to be deeply scarred by all this indoctrination, I really feel for them.