Isn’t it our own fault for joining the Jehovah’s Witnesses (as adults)?
A lot of people would answer yes to that. As an adult they agreed to a free home Bible study and decided to get baptized and become a Jehovah’s Witness. They made the decision. Actually they made many decisions along the way.
Many had family and friends warn them. Many had people say “Anything but that!” They didn’t listen.
Barbara Anderson was a member of Jehovah's Witnesses from 1954 to 1997. She worked at Watchtower's headquarters in Brooklyn, NY, from 1982 to 1992 where during her last three years there, she researched the movement's official history (published in 1993) and did research as well as wrote a number of articles for their Awake! magazine. She has done extensive research on issues related to child sexual abuse in the religion leading to interviews on major TV and radio programs as an outspoken critic of Jehovah's Witnesses sexual abuse policies.
Charles Taze Russell's instructions for his funeral:
I desire to be buried in the plot of ground owned by our Society, in the Rosemont United Cemetery, and all the details of arrangements respecting the funeral service I leave in the care of my sister, Mrs. M. M. Land, and her daughters, Alice and May, or such of them as may survive me, with the assistance and advice and cooperation of the brethren, as they may request the same. Instead of an ordinary funeral discourse, I request that they arrange to have a number of the brethren, accustomed to public speaking, make a few remarks each, that the service be very simple and inexpensive and that it be conducted in the Bible House Chapel or any other place that may be considered equally appropriate or more so.
Who are the Governing Body members? Can the average JW name even one or more members of that body? And for those JWs who do know one or more members, what do they really know about them? More importantly, how did these men get to be the absolute rulers over seven million Jehovah's Witnesses?
Having worked at Watchtower headquarters in Brooklyn from 1974 to 1980, I just happened to be at the "right place at the right time," so-to-speak, when it comes to getting a good glimpse at the inner workings of the Watch Tower Society. A new Governing Body arrangement had just been put into effect, replacing the former arrangement where almost all decisions were made by the president and vice-president, who at that time were N. H. Knorr and Frederick W. Franz, respectively.
The Watchtower is - as every other fundamentalist religious sect - strongly against homosexuality. Let us look into a few cases from their own ranks.
This page is a compilation of observations and experiences culled from numerous former members of the Watchtower's New York and Canadian Bethel families, as well as outside sources and other current or ex-Jehovah's Witnesses.
(Note: the following was printed in 10,000 copies and sent out to remote locations around the world in 1981. Special thanks to Pastor Ralph Moore of Hope Chapel, the "surfer" church of Hermosa Beach, CA for printing them free of charge. READ MORE
Though my tone and approach has changed in the years since then, this essay represents what was truly one of the most fascinating stories I could have witnessed. Because my disassociating letter took them by surprise, I was never treated badly by the Witnesses personally, and I still love them individually. This lack of anger on my part has helped me to be more objective than most, who are often not so lucky in the treatment they receive from the "mother" organization.)
Great disturbances had been in the works for years in the organization known as the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society. These disturbances surfaced in the spring of 1980 and efforts were quickly made to conceal these difficulties. Can even the Witnesses themselves tell you what really happened?
[In memory of Warren Schroeder, who passed away May 18, 2010]
Warren Schroeder says,
[I was in] Bethel: 5/79 to 10/82. Over the years I lost touch with some common friends and was looking for a couple of names which I found through the ex-JW sites. I live in the East Village with my dearest wife, who teaches at NYU. We sometimes think we're the oldest people in the neighborhood... I just turned 53. We can't imagine living anywhere else.... well, we can imagine, but not any time in the near future.
It was the Absolut beginning of the end for me and at the end of it I made the biggest decision of my life. I have only one regret about this whole story. My mom.
This story's main portion spans the time over a the week and a half I spent at Bethel, but over all it has effected my whole life. I am going to break it down into several parts, two now, the rest when I have time to write it. For those who care to take the time to read it, and if you get a little something out of it, then it makes the experience as well as what came out of it a little more worth it.
Date: late 1800's. Okay, July 1879 if you want to be picky.
Current Religious Views: many apocalyptic leanings, prompting the origin of several major eclectic religious groups claiming that God had rejected the mainstream Christian Churches for their apostasy in the fourth century, and that He has now chosen a new prophet, a spokesman, a faithful messenger to re-educate the world as to the truths of the Bible, long-lost and unattainable by any normal human being. To gain eternal life, man must listen to the new gospel of this messenger(s).
Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith alone...For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" - James 2: 24, 26
Al Capone gained his power by exploiting the weaknesses of people.
Judge Rutherford gained his power by exploiting the weaknesses of people.
Al Capone lived and acted like a King using his own money.
The last page of the February 1, 1976, Watchtower was devoted to a notification entitled "Governing Body Adjustments." The article advised that the Governing Body had, as of January 1, 1976, formed six supervisory committees: Service Committee, Writing Committee, Publishing Committee, Teaching Committee, Personnel Committee, and Chairman's Committee. This was, of course, big news in the world of Jehovah's Witnesses.
UPDATE: Theodore ("Ted") Jaracz died Tuesday, June 9, 2010
These men are desired alive and to be subject to an international court of judgment for their gross negligence in the leadership of over 7 million human souls, under the guise of being "faithful and discreet slaves" and corporate lackies of the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society. As yet there is no indication of any form of outright dissent within Bethel or the current leadership, but rumors are that GB member Ted Jaracz was the hard-line boss squelching all positive reform. He was in charge of the organization's "storm troopers," the Service Dept.
The following is a true story. I'm sharing it without commentary. It was part of many adventures I had while living and working at Brooklyn Bethel where I made my home from 1982 until 1993.
In the mid 1980s, Michael Jackson was touring the United States doing "Thriller" concerts in major cities in conjunction with the release of his "Thriller" album. I found out about Michael's visit to the metropolitan New York City area from Tim, who also was a Bethel staff member, when he called me at work to ask if my husband, Joe, and I would like to accompany Michael Jackson in field service on Saturday.
reprinted from the Mar/Apr 1993 Free Minds Journal
Reviewing of A History of Jehovah's Witnesses: From A Black American Perspective
Here is one book that is written from a unique perspective. It is entitled, A History of Jehovah's Witnesses: From a Black American Perspective by Firpo Carr, Ph.D. (Scholar Technological Institute of Research, Inc., 1992). The author is a black Jehovah's Witness from South Central Los Angeles who claims to have a Ph.D. and is a full-time pioneer. His parents say he was a child prodigy. Carr says he is completing his doctoral work in theology, but does not say where (the Watchtower forbids a Witness to study at formal theological schools. It also unofficially forbids the writing of a book like this!).
Barbara delivered this lecture in Paris, France, and in Rimini, Italy
Knock, knock. "Hello, I’m stopping by briefly to share with you some good news. Many people feel under pressure because of the stressful times in which we live. Do you think God intended that we live this way? So many people are depressed. I bet you know somebody who is. I have this excellent magazine that discusses Help for Sufferers of Depression."
Sound familiar? In this audience are people who have done the knocking and given a similar message to the person who opened the door. Or some of you have heard such a message from Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs). Certainly, the message doesn’t sound dangerous. Why be afraid of JWs? They don’t handle snakes, rip your heart out, or make you drink poisoned Kool Aid. They won’t ask you to be a suicide bomber either.
One of the major projects I worked on at the Watchtower's world headquarters in Brooklyn during the 1979-1980 era was that of testing and cost-accounting the web printing operations, in order to determine the feasibility of converting our 60 MAN-brand letterpresses to offset printing. Each press already represented an investment of $250,000 - $450,000, depending on their age, so this was no small proposal!).
The project was headed by Thomas Cabeen (pressroom overseer). Jim Petrie (offset floor overseer) and myself (Bible and Bible-paper publications floor overseer) were asked to assist Mr. Cabeen in this extensive project.
He's married, his wife being very supportive and warm toward him. He started out in a small Arkansas congregation as an elder. A few years ago he was District Overseer in the area we have blanketed with our underground newsletters and emailings which includes part of Kansas, Missouri, etc. He is highly intelligent, a powerful speaker with a deep voice who also physcially resembles Martin Luther King (seriously).
Newbie New Zealand Posts: 12 Since: Apr 4, 2001 Posted: May 11, 2001 6:30:29 AM
I seem to remember something on the board about Leo Greenlees being removed from Bethel & the GB. Can anyone give me information about this. Is he still allive and where? Liberated
My experiences at Bethel are in line with what Ray Franz explained in his book Crisis of Conscience that it was the “other sheep” who, over the years, did the bulk of the writing for Watch Tower literature. Of course, when Ray was in the Writing Department there were men who professed to be of the “anointed" who were doing writing. He was one of them along with Karl Klein, Lloyd Barry and Fred Franz. I don’t know if Dunlap or Reinhart Lingstat, both who collaborated on the Aid book, were of the anointed.
The two articles I'm going to present are going to be an indictment of Fred William Franz. I consider Franz to be the second most evil man in Watchtower history, next to Joseph Franklin Rutherford, if you measure the term "evil" not only by motive and action, but by the sheer numbers of people adversely affected from it.
The following is a lecture, based on her own research, given by Barbara on June 17, 2009, in Vatican City, Rome, Italy, in a Vatican Music Room. She also delivered this same lecture at the ICSA Conference, at the University of Geneva, in Geneva, Switzerland, on July 3, 2009, and in Cervia, Italy, on July 4, 2009. (See Opening Pandora's Box) I know you’ve heard of Pandora’s Box, the simple Greek myth that explains how bad things came to be. In one version of the myth the box that Pandora opened appeared valuable, but in fact it caused no end of misery because when she opened it, she let out all the evils including hope. Is hope evil? The Greeks considered hope evil, even dangerous; its bedfellow was thought to be delusion.
In modern times, opening Pandora’s Box signifies unwittingly unleashing chaos on yourself and those around you.
This is precisely what the spiritual directors of Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs) did when they published articles dealing with Healing the Wounds of Child Abuse in their October 8, 1991 Awake!. Healing from the devastating effects of child abuse was possible, the Awake! pointed out, for those who, in most cases had no physical scars, but deep emotional scars, or secret wounds that festered inside and whose behavior could be destructive. How could such an optimistic message printed 17 years before unleash chaos on the publishers of that Awake! which continues to swirl around them even until now?
It was, and still is, a fact well advertised by Jehovah's Witnesses (hereafter referred to as JW) that every member who works in their general headquarters (which is located in Brooklyn, New York, America), and their other worldwide offices, receives only room, board and a few dollars per month. This includes the Watchtower President. However, no explanation is given for their President's miraculous ability to find room in his agenda for lavish holidays.
August 24, 2005 was a day of reflection for me after I learned that two more men were appointed to be part of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses. I read the information on the Internet discussion board, Jehovahs-Witness Discussion Forum. The poster, who goes by the name of truthsetsonefree, started a new discussion topic, 'Hot News-New GB members,' where he repeated the announcement made at Bethel that morning of the appointments of Geoffrey Jackson and Anthony Morris to be part of the Governing Body.[1]
Following the release of Barbara Anderson's Secrets of Pedophilia in an American Religion, in late 2007, Jehovah's Witnesses scrambled to negate the negative publicity in the news. For those unbelieving Witnesses who spread the lie that Barbara either wasn't at Bethel or that she was disfellowshipped from Bethel or was asked to leave, here are the scans of cards and letters from her long-time friends saying "Goodbye!" and go in peace.
How is the kingdom work financed? Some might think it is done by money obtained from the Bibles and Bible literature produced by the Society, but this is not so. The small contribution received from persons that take literature does not cover the cost of operating the Society's activities. The Watchtower, May 1, 1960, p.265:
The Governing Body of the Watchtower Society has a similar function for the Christian congregation as a guide dog for a blind person. The sight-impaired person is unable to know the right direction to take or what obstacles might lie in their path. A guide dog is selected among many other animals for their reliability, temperament and alert diligence to the needs of its master. The service the animal provides is indispensable and a bond of affection develops unlike any other. At least, in theory.
In late autumn of 2005, I contacted Barbara Anderson, who, along with Bill Bowen, a former elder from Kentucky, came to the aid of many Jehovah’s Witnesses’ children, who were victims of sexual abuse. My purposing in contacting Barbara was to find out what happened to her since she discontinued her association with Jehovah’s Witnesses back in 2002, and ask her if she would write her story for my book.
She agreed and sent me much more information than I could use in ten pages. We agreed that I could shorten her story for my book, Dommedag må vente (Judgment Day Must Wait), but I promised that I would try to publish the long version of her story on Gyldendal’s website. For that purpose, Barbara edited the material she originally provided me, and also included new information not previously included in the first edition that she had sent. This explains why there are some differences between the following account and Barbara’s story in my book.
Originally, when I asked Barbara to write her story, I did not know much about Jehovah’s Witnesses child sexual abuse problems. However, after reading Barbara’s story, I was forced to revise my attitude toward this sensitive matter, and finally I decided to reveal Barbara’s eyewitness testimony because now it seems to be an important part of the late history of Jehovah’s Witnesses – regardless of the number of cases.
This is an archive or our guest book for former Bethelites, in any part of the world.
Please send use our Contact Form if you would like to be added to this list.
We'd like to hear from former workers from the Watchtower headquarters in Brooklyn NY and elsewhere around the globe. A warm welcome to my brothers around the world! -- Randy Watters
Previous to a major policy change in 1990, Watchtower literature was distributed at what was termed a "specified contribution" price for each item. Witness canvassers (called "publishers") bought their literature supplies from the congregation and then resold these from door-to-door. All monies were then remitted to the Society's headquarters in Brooklyn, New York. The new policy announced in 1990 detailed a complete donation basis for literature. It was now to be supplied without charge to congregations, but contribution boxes are placed by the counter for donations from the publishers, supposedly to cover the cost of printing and distribution. In the field, donations for the items are solicited, but are supposedly not necessary in order to obtain books and magazines. Such donations received from the public are then to be brought back to the Kingdom Hall and sent to the Society.
Several unrelated discoveries of the faulty 607 BC-1914 AD chronology that forms the very foundation of much Watchtower teaching concerning their own authority were squelched by the Governing Body in the late 70s. When all the information came to the attention of many Bethel family members in 1979-1980, and some talked to others about it, a major witchhunt began in order to silence those who talked of the cover-up.
Charles Taze Russell would have been in for quite a shock were he able to see the modern-day organization he founded in 1879. From small beginnings, the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society has grown rapidly, especially since the early 70s. From a pre-1900 circulation of 6000 copies, The Watchtower magazine is now printed in the millions.
It is my assertion that the publishers of the October 1, 2005 Watchtower, a Jehovah’s Witness journal, blatantly misrepresented statements from at least five well-known secular sources in an attempt to discourage their readers from pursuing higher education.
While a religious journal may choose not to use secular sources for instructional purposes, if the journal’s editor allows its writers to do so, readers naturally assume that much care has been taken so that a quotation is not taken out of context in order to unfairly sway them to a certain conclusion not intended by the author.
Usually authors develop their thesis in two ways: 1) by using various statements of facts; 2) by quoting statements of other writers. These statements could be likened to bricks that the author uses to build a logical structure resulting in a conclusion. It has been observed that many Watchtower writers take one or more of these “bricks” and then use them to build an alternate structure with a different conclusion than intended by the original source. Furthermore, to provide authority for these “bricks,” the references are cited not in just any of the massive amounts of literature produced by this religion, but in The Watchtower, the Witnesses’ number one policy journal, which would give the reader even more confidence in the validity of the statement.
As of June 2010 the Governing Body profile is as follows. The numbers next to the names are their year born and year of entry to the Governing Body, followed by current age and years of service on the GB:
(The following are sample quotes taken from the book by Randall Watters of the same name as above) Everything quoted directly from Watchtower publications. Famous Sayings of The Governing Body in book form.
This is an excerpt from the book with the same title. These are the statements that, due to their irony and manipulative nature, will be most remembered in future generations. These are a collection of psychologically abusive statements intended to correct and mold the thoughts of Jehovah's Witnesses en masse, as dictated by the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Jehovah's Witnesses are discouraged from doing extensive personal research into their modern-day history. Such action can cause a truth-seeking Witness to be labeled "apostate" and be shunned by family and friends.
To begin, many people know of Jehovah's Witnesses who entrust their doctrinal interpretations to the Governing Body of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, but few know a great deal about the Watchtower Society's second President, Joseph Franklin Rutherford, and, until now, very few have known about can be termed the Mystery Years of Joseph F Rutherford in Missouri, which came prior to his becoming the Watchtower President.
A review of the history of the movement now known as Jehovah's Witnesses finds that the sect has long been characterized by antagonism from most secular governments, primarily because of their stand on other religions, saluting the flag, war involvement, voting, and other patriotic activities. Opposition against them has been at times extremely violent, both in the Western nations as well as in the communist and totalitarian societies. In the United States of America and several other countries, the Jehovah's Witness cases have been among the most important modern religion, press and speech cases. Their relatively high level of success in the courts was also briefly reviewed. The blame for this problem lies both with the Watchtower and government intransigence.
I spoke October 23, 2004 at Wenatchee WA at a Bible Conference, and this is the transcript. I also wrote the article on p. 24 of the Dec. 8, 1991 Awake! article, "Students Participate in National History Day" which went along with the Bill of Rights article mentioned in my talk.
The following was posted at my guest list the other day, by a producer of a new documentary that is pro-Witness and may go out on PBS. We need to write these people!
Date: 28 Jun 2005 Time: 20:19:32 Subject: "Knocking" A Documentary Coming soon to PBS "
I emailed the producer of "Knocking" and received this (thought you might be interested): Thanks for your interest in the KNOCKING documentary on Jehovah's Witnesses. I'm Joel Engardio, director of the project. Since the http://www.knocking.org/ web site went live a few days ago, I've been hearing from Jehovah's Witnesses like yourselves from Arizona to Arkansas and everywhere in between. Some have commented that the film clip downloads don't work. The site is brand new, and is still a work in progress. Check back from time to time to see new bells and whistles. Also, please note that my email address will change in a few weeks to joel@knocking.org. It's been great to hear from so many Witnesses around the United States. Hopefully word will spread to other countries in Europe and beyond. Please feel forward the link http://www.knocking.org/ to all your friends far and wide.
The item at auction is a "cover", or "used envelope" from 1903. In the upper left-hand corner (sender's name and address) is the imprint of "Riter-Conley Mfg. Company, Iron and Steel Construction, Pittsburgh, PA."
Though Charles Taze Russell founded the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society in 1879, the spirit of the modern-day organization could more aptly be attributed to its second president, Joseph Franklin Rutherford.
The "Judge," as Joe was often called, was born in near-poverty in Missouri on Nov. 8, 1869. Rutherford studied law under an apprentice system and passed his bar exams in 1892, later serving on occasion as a substitute judge, from which occasions his nickname was derived.
What was the "Judge" like? Watchtower historian M. James Penton writes of Rutherford:
When the story broke on the Internet that the Watchtower was an NGO affiliated with the UN's Dept. of Public Information (DPI), I was not shocked. And I had no doubts whatsoever that the information was true because in 1991, when I was part of Brooklyn Bethel's Writing Dept., Ciro Aulicino began to visit the United Nations every Wednesday afternoon. However, back then I didn't have a clue as to what was required to get Ciro his "visitor's pass."
Some of these comments from the Governing Body are hilarious!!!
FROM MORNING WORSHIP... 9/27/00
"...I especially liked your comment about the Society, that it's an organization on the move...and today being the day the Governing Body meets,...I hope they keep that point in mind." -D Sydlik 9/19/00
"Here is a talk by Br. Herd that he gave last year. The transcript is taken from a CD of the actual talk. This was double-checked by a Bethelite we know, so it's a legit talk. Very very interesting perspective - a must read for all who want to survive the great tribulation and Armageddon! It's long but well worth it. " -- JW comment
I believe that researchers have adequately confirmed the Millerite Adventism connection to Russell. However, after Russell died, who in the organization was a Millerite man at heart? For what it's worth, it was none other than Fred Franz. I found out the connection when I was working in the Writing Dept. doing research for the Proclaimers book
A Thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Religious Studies by Gene Edson Ahlstrom
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara Committee in charge: Professor Catherine Albanese, Chair Professor Walter Capps Professor Gerald Larson July 1990
ABSTRACT
The Church in the Thought of Charles Taze Russell by Gene Edson Ahlstrom
Charles Taze Russell's views of the church fit into the theme of chronological primitivism, that of restoring the biblical church, prevalent among other nineteenth-century religious leaders. His view of the church moves in two directions. While emphasizing antisectarianism, ahistoricism, and the importance of freedom in declaring that the church is not yet completed, he nevertheless does develop a church structure which increasingly restricts freedom and eventually contributes to sectarianism. What were his views and where did they come from? While in some ways his views are very clear regarding the church, on the other hand there is confusion.
Joe and I just returned from Chicago where I was a guest speaker at the BRCI conference on September 19, 2009. The attached material, "Opening Pandora's Box" is the talk I gave. It is about our European month-long tour from last June-July. “Pandora’s Box” is a simple Greek myth which explained how bad things came to be. In one version, when Pandora opened what appeared to her to be a valuable box, she let out all the evils including hope. Is hope evil? Well, the Greeks considered hope evil, even dangerous, and its bedfellow was thought to be delusion.
In our jargon today, opening Pandora’s Box means to unwittingly unleash chaos on yourself and those around you. It was with these thoughts that I commenced one of the lectures that I gave three times in Europe this past summer.
The following information represents an ongoing proposal submitted by Thomas Cabeen, Pressroom Overseer to the Factory Committee at 107 Adams St. factory of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society in 1979. After much hesitation and disbelief, it finally caught on that they would look very stupid for not taking these steps which would result in the savings of millions of dollars to the Watchtower. In reading the various stages of the proposal, especially the chart towards the end, one can get a good idea what the books and magazines printed by the Watchtower really cost them. At the time, the magazines were selling for 25 cents a copy. The markup was close to 500%. More of this story to come! Stay tuned. Thanks to Tom Cabeen for allowing this information to be divulged, though it has been in my possession for 17 years. --Randy Watters
Barb Anderson relates amazing info about Knorr, also Senior Bethel Writers
"Is it possible that many of the organizational sexual policies began when (in the late 70s early 80s?) some of the people at Bethel and even some of the GB were found out to be visiting gay bars? And engaging in homosexual acts? That some of the GB were so repulsed by such activity that they then put policies in place which included private issues between married couples? Did some of these men just have their own sexual problems that they put onto all the members of the Society as what should be 'normal' between married couples?"
As was pointed out in the article, The Watchtower Way of Laundering Money, their current donation arrangement is simply a gimmick to avoid paying sales tax on items sold in the United States and a few other countries where this arrangement has been utilized.
Apparently, their recent significant drop in income, coupled with the failure of rank-and-file Witnesses to donate funds sufficient to their liking for materials received "free" has caused the Watchtower to make the following statement in the November 1996 issue (p.3) of their in-house bulletin entitled Our Kingdom Ministry:
Barbara Anderson was a member of Jehovah's Witnesses from 1954 to 1997. She worked at Watchtower's headquarters in Brooklyn, NY, from 1982 to 1992 where during her last three years there, she researched the movement's official history (published in 1993) and did research as well as wrote a number of articles for their Awake! magazine. She has done extensive research on issues related to child sexual abuse in the religion leading to interviews on major TV and radio programs as an outspoken critic of Jehovah's Witnesses sexual abuse policies.
Charles Taze 
My experiences at Bethel are in line with what 
The 
Previous to a major policy change in 1990, Watchtower literature was distributed at what was termed a "specified contribution" price for each item. Witness canvassers (called "publishers") bought their literature supplies from the congregation and then resold these from door-to-door. All monies were then remitted to the Society's headquarters in Brooklyn, New York. The new policy announced in 1990 detailed a complete donation basis for literature. It was now to be supplied without charge to congregations, but contribution boxes are placed by the counter for donations from the publishers, supposedly to cover the cost of printing and distribution. In the field, donations for the items are solicited, but are supposedly not necessary in order to obtain books and magazines. Such donations received from the public are then to be brought back to the Kingdom Hall and sent to the Society.
