Establishing a Beachhead
Established a beachhead in enemy territory, they did, like the Allied troops landing in Normandy. It may expand. A younger generation has come along, more savvy with social media. I was surprised to see it.
On the other hand, it was clearly presented as a trial program. They’re prepared to withdraw if need be.
Not sure how it will turn out. Will it be as I wrote about the website, then relatively new when I covered it in ‘Tom Irregardless and Me’?
“Members of the Governing Body thus repeat the pattern they are known for with any new technology: They eye it with suspicion. They advise caution. They know that when the thief switches getaway cars, it is the thief you have to watch, not the dazzling features of the new car. They follow the thief for a time. Convinced at last that they still have a bead on him, they examine the car. They circle it warily, kicking the tires. At last satisfied, they jump in with both feet and put it to good uses its inventors could only have dreamed of.”
The Witness website is today one of the most robust sites in existence.
“Things will get interesting right about now.” Social media is that raucous place akin to the synagogue of Acts 19:9 where opposers began “speaking injuriously about The Way before the crowd” to such an extent that Paul “withdrew from them and separated the disciples from them.”
Maybe the greatest takeaway for me personally is that I now assume the tacit go-ahead to keep on keeping on. Alas, long ago “I fell in love with a roller derby queen.” At times it takes me “round and round.” At times she is the “meanest hunk of woman that anybody’s ever seen.” She consumes substantial time. But when a certain Bethel brother spoke of a state of “war,” I told myself that the first thing you do in war is reconnaissance on the enemy. Few will do it. Even in a literal war, not many do reconnaissance. There’s no encouragement to start. But there is a recognition that some are doing so anyway, drawn by the circumstance that 30% of (U.S.) adults today report they spend “all” their time on the internet, and some are using social media for purposes of reaching them.
There is plenty of opposition, to be sure. But that has always been the case. When Paul reached Rome, he asked at the synagogue whether anyone had been talking trash about him. “They said to him: ‘We have not received letters about you from Judea, nor have any of the brothers who came from there reported or spoken anything bad about you. But we think it proper to hear from you what your thoughts are, for truly as regards this sect, we know that it is spoken against everywhere.’” (Acts 28:21-22)
Exactly as today.
****** The bookstore
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