I found a pamphlet at my door recently. The title struck me as odd somehow. This was the text on the front page:

You are cordially invited
to attend the
"DELIVERANCE AT HAND!"
district convention of
Jehovah's Witnesses

Now, to me the messaging seemed very strange. Being invited to a convention on deliverance is a pretty serious and ominous thing, considering I may find out that I’ll die shortly. But, I like the use of “cordially” to soften the blow. It’s kind of like telling someone they’re a nice person before kicking them in the nuts.

Further, the “DELIVERANCE AT HAND!” title was in huge font, so it’s hard to ignore. But, seeing that text first it was hard to not put it down immediately assuming it’s some crack-pot scheme.

Next, my thoughts turned to what life must be like to constantly think you’ll be killed by your god. There are others like that as well, notably the preachings of people like Jack Van Imp about the coming rapture. Perhaps living like this is somehow liberating, but it must be only in comparison to leading a crappy life otherwise.

Then, I found an article talking about this convention: Deliverance At Hand. I’m not sure, but I think the writer is ripping up the convention, but is a Jehovah’s Witness. Interestingly it seems they base part of their argument for their accuracy in predicting the date of deliverance on the fact that the name of their organization is the same as their god. “Coincidence? I think not.”

Also, check out the homepage of the website for that article, e-watchman. Their logo has a a nuclear explosion, the earth and Jesus. That’s some pretty good imagery.

Lesson of the day? In this digital world, fun things can still be delivered to your door on paper.