"Bad Fruit" being anything not served from the table of Jehovah, aka official Bethel-approved, publications and information of course.

Still many Witnesses did partake of the information. They surreptitiously checked out some books, if there were any, from the public library. Or maybe they ordered some information by mail and sneakily claimed the nondescript brown-paper wrapped packages that came in at the post office. Maybe a few bolder ones subscribed to a newsletter, probably using a false name, or in the middle of the night called the telephone number of the hotline they had jotted down from the sign of a picketer at one of the District Conventions.

And then came the Internet....

The access to and the exchange in information, ideas and viewpoint created by the Internet is not only an unprecedented phenomenon in world history, it has monumental implications for the future of the Organization and religion of Jehovah's Witnesses.

In the past, it was practically impossible, and dangerous, for any of Jehovah's Witnesses to access old and out-of-print Watchtower publications, to review counter-information, or to read about the facts and the experiences that others have presented.

All of that changed during the last decade of the 20th Century when the Internet and World Wide Web dramatically came into vogue. The very existence of this website and your reading of these words right now is testimony to the power of the Internet. If you have gotten this far, there is nothing more that I need to say about this point because you probably already know.

Prong Two: Access to Association

The advent of the Internet/WWW has made another thing possible which was frankly unthinkable before -- the association with other Jehovah's Witnesses who share your doubts, the association with ex-Witnesses who have something to say, and the association with non-Witnesses who also want to contribute.

Such association and freedom of communication, without fear and censorship, was not possible before. Before the advent of the Internet, if a Witness raised questions or shared their doubts, and many past reformers attempted to do just that, they were quickly escorted to the door.  And once outside the door, few if any on the inside could hear them, even if they wanted to.

Free association makes possible another previous impossibility -- planning. Now persons interested in change may make plans, they may coordinate efforts, they may share ideas, share strategy, inform each other about what has worked and what doesn't and in short engage in what is necessary to further the Revolution.

Factor #2: Higher Education - The Birthplace of the Questioning Mind

Maybe it was unavoidable? Maybe it was an early step by those inside the Organization that desire change? Whatever the reasons, in 1992 the Society opened the floodgates to higher education and in doing so it exposed the Organization to the second catalytic influence leading to the Revolution.

There is a reason why so many protests, so many revolutions in world history, began on college campuses or were lead by student leaders. If the Society were dedicated to preserving the status quo it would have never forgotten this lesson.

The freedom to explore higher education has lead to a new generation of sophisticated and critical-thinking Witnesses.  Many of these younger ones who are born into the religion are either living double-lives or rejecting their religious heritage outright. Even new attempts by the Society to temper the allure of higher education will not prevail or stem this tide.  Older Witnesses, who listened to the Society's suggestions and directives regarding higher education are now returning to the classroom and realizing how much they erred in foregoing their higher education. This resentment, very justifiable in most cases, has opened the way to allow them to question other things which they formerly held as unquestionable.

It is a certainty that the future of the Organization lies within the hands and work of today's youth. Among the future leaders of the Revolution there will be many who have obtained a higher education and learned and accepted the values of scholarship, plurality of thought, and the principles of diversity.

Factor #3: The Leadership Void

The year 1992, marked another major milestone in the history of Jehovah's Witnesses when Frederick Franz, the Third President of the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society, died. Even before that, with the rise of the Governing Body to power during the end of President Nathan H. Knorr's era in the 1970s, the presidency of the Society had become more and more only a token position. But with Franz's death, the real downfall of the power of the presidency was set in motion and findly came into full fruition with the massive legal reorganization of the old corporations and creation of several new corporate entities used by Jehovah's Witnesses today.

More important than the downfall of the presidency however, has been the lack of any real leadership on the part of the Governing Body. That body while occassionally dominated by one or two, now and then, has failed to produce a true visionary -- someone both capable and willing to lead Jehovah's Witnesses into the future. Simply put, the Organization in its present form faces a crisis of leadership.

And now the time has passed for a single new leader to emerge since the rise of such a charismatic leader would likely be rejected in our modern times. Thus for the time being, we are left with the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses to be responsible for the initiative of change.

Unfortunately, the Governing Body, already quite distanced from the realities of contemporary life and the rank and file Jehovah's Witnesses, are contemplating their own eminent demise -- or denying it. And this body and its replacements or assistants are slowly losing grip on the hearts and soul of the average Witness.

These facts are being felt by Witnesses everywhere. They are evident in the seemingling endless regurgitation of the same material and information, teachings and beliefs, in the pages of the Society's publications and The Watchtower. The meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses are tedious and boring for these very reasons. There is simply nothing new, because there is no one in authority doing any new thinking.

Should we look to the Governing Body to lead the Organization out of this morass?

The fact is that by its own terms, the Faithful and Discreet Slave doctrine has crossed the point of irrationality and is now ebbing toward farce as there will be no one left of a sizable number claiming to be of the anointed at all still living, much less a "Governing Body" within fifteen or perhaps twenty years from now. This 8000 plus corp are now in average age in excess of 80 years old and cannot be expected as a significant number to remain longer than that. This Last Biological Clock is ticking and winding down quickly.

Therefore, it is because of this leadership void, that the initiative for change must be seized by others. Change must be embraced by every Witness, no matter what station or position they may hold within the organization. It is on the initiative of those within the Worldwide Association of Jehovah's Witnesses, some perhaps, engaging in both passive resistance and active protest, and some who have joined the Prometheans, and others simply doing their own small part, that will push the Revolution forward.

Factor #4: The Doctrinal Void

If you are one of Jehovah's Witnesses, stop and think about it for a moment. What DATE are you looking forward to?

For the first time in the entire history of the modern-day Organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, there is no date held out to the faithful for the expectation of Armageddon. Even after the 1975 Fiasco, when the Society began to wisely avoid specific date setting, there was still the insistence of the Generation Doctrine, and the occassional attempt at urgency for the "Armageddon is just around the corner" type statement.

But since 1995, when the Society finally abandoned the Generation Doctrine, and with the exception of the Last Biological Clock teaching, there has been no date-setting and no theological or doctrinal understanding which leads Jehovah's Witnesses to believe in the near-term arrival of Armageddon.

At most, all the Society can do and individuals who are folly enough can do, is to point to various problems and crises in the world and claim that these are signs of the times that prove we are living in the Last Days.

This old script is growing more and more ineffective, especially upon younger Witnesses, who, like generations before them, see each crisis come and go or each new challenge met and surpassed.

This combined with the insistence on old doctrines which among other things teach that the whole world's religious community is going to be turned upon by the political powers, or that the spreading of the Good News is being completed, has only led to more and more Witnesses wondering and questioning just where do they stand in the stream of time.

The resulting psychic ambiguity is wreaking havoc upon the rank and file. Increasingly desensitized to nonspecific warnings about the coming destruction or statements that "soon the end must come," many Witnesses are cooling off in their enthusiasm for the ministry and peddling of the literature.

This spiritual vacuum is being filled with many other things. For some it is being filled with materialism and worldly concerns. For others, it is being filled with false teachings and ungodly wisdom. And for still many others it is allowing them to expand their minds and to allow the truth about the Truth to be explored and to question, to challenge, and eventually, to want to change the status quo.

Factor #5: External Pressures

Pressures from outside of the Organization to change or reform have always been present. And they have always been among the weakest influence to change for a number of reasons, most notably, because such outside pressures, viewed as "persecution from Satan" only served to reinforce the Witness mindset and theology.

However, because of the previous four factors, and because of changes within our larger cultural society which have eroded the barriers of insular religious institutions and made possible the successful invasion into ecclesiastical authority, it seems evident that the factor of external pressure may be more powerfully felt by the Organization of Jehovah's Witnesses than ever before.

These external pressures will likely come in the realms of: the Internet, the media, the academic arena, the social perspective, religious opponents and the courtroom.

The Internet/WWW will continue to play a crucial role in exposing fault and falsehood of the Organization and in helping to mobilize the external forces.

The media has already contributed to the external pressure in several ways and this area is likely to grow as both Jehovah's Witnesses become more and more interesting to the mainstream and as opponents learn to better utilize such resources.

The academic world, always eager to investigate undeveloped fields, are finding that Jehovah's Witnesses are remarkably understudied and underevaluated and more and more studies will appear in academia -- the results of which will be influential.

Society at large, especially in areas and lands where Jehovah's Witnesses are relatively "new," are pressuring their governments and authorities to examine closely these new invaders.

Religions and religious leaders, have always been opponents of Jehovah's Witnesses, however, many are becoming much more effective in their counter-ministries. Some are adopting similar techniques as Jehovah's Witnesses to wrestle away potential converts and others are making use of both the Internet and published information.

In the legal realm, the Organization faces numerous battles. Of course, this is nothing new. In the area of civil rights, it is unlikely to lose any significant ground in Western lands; however, the courts of these lands and elsewhere are more and more inclined to remove the veil of ecclesiastical privilege in several areas including child welfare, sexual abuse, privacy and labor regulations. Additionally, although they present "legal long-shots," the spectre of being responsible in tort law for its actions and for its statements (including possibly such religious doctrines as the Blood Doctrine) looms threatening over the Society's future.