For nearly 36 years, Theodore (Ted) Jaracz was one of the most powerful members of Jehovah’s Witnesses Governing Body until he died at age 85 on Wednesday, June 9, 2010.
Little is known of this man’s youth. In 1991, I was told by a Writing Department staff member that Ted Jaracz was raised by three maiden aunts. My informant didn’t know where, but it has been suggested recently on the Internet that he was raised in southern Illinois. The Memorial brochure dedicated to the life of Theodore Jaracz, and passed out before his funeral service began in Brooklyn, NY, stated he was born in Pike County, Kentucky. Other than his wife, Jaracz was said to be survived by a sister and nephews and nieces. It was news to me that he had a sister still alive. Wish I could locate her and sit down and talk about her enigma of a brother.
Why would I want to know more about this man? What did he do to deserve closer scrutiny? The fact is Ted Jaracz was directly responsible for an untold and immeasurable amount of grief or worse to an inestimable, but certainly, enormous number of people during his reign as a Governing Body member, if not before. His steadfast and unwavering grip on certain Watch Tower notions or opinions he claimed were taken from scripture, resulted in harm to too many followers, and for compelling countless Witnesses to forsake their religion, and, for some, to even renounce their belief in God.
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.
On January 14, 1912, my dad was born to Polish Catholic immigrant parents in Flushing, New York. His negative experiences during the time he was a practicing Catholic no doubt unfairly influenced us to view the Church the same way as he did, disapprovingly; yet, we never thought of leaving the Catholic religion.
I was baptized as a Witness in October 1954 at age 14. I severed connections with non-Witness friends and relatives, except for my father who never joined the religion, and had a great social life with people in the congregation and with young men from Brooklyn headquarters who often visited our home in Long Island. I was having the time of my young life.
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.
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?"
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.
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?
As most of you well know, Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) have never been known for having a charitable spirit, not even towards their own members because charitable acts are not encouraged by their leaders. Rather the message conveyed through this organization’s literature is that the most important thing for members to do is to spend personal time and money to convert non-JWs to their religion. They preach that after God destroys the world, suffering will be done away with so it is not necessary to relieve human suffering now.
A month or so, ago, I asked Barbara Anderson, by way of email, a question about the Bethel libraries, in particular, the one(s) to which the writers had access. I had hoped, based on her experience and perspective, she would jump in on one of our threads where the library topic had been raised. I didn't know until several days ago that she and Joe had been away on vacation. Well, she emailed me an answer about those libraries which I thought to be very interesting. I asked her permission to share it all of with you, which she granted.
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.
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.
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.
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]
Over the last couple of years, many people have asked me to share my Writing Department resume' and basically that's why I'm doing this. I hope that the knowledge of what I did at Bethel helps Jehovah's Witnesses to understand that the Watchtower organization misleads the flock by inferring that all "spiritual food" somehow emanates only from men and particularly from the Governing Body.
In 1998, I completely severed my association with Jehovah's Witnesses. However, it wasn't until 2004 that I heard the details from my mother, two years before her death at age 91, of how the Watch Tower organization’s teachings significantly altered her Polish Catholic father's life-course causing him to end up an excommunicated Catholic in Poland although he never became a Watch Tower follower.
Frances Pollini was the middle-aged woman of Italian descent who conducted a home Bible study with me and my mother in the fall of 1953. Connie Grazzuti introduced the Watch Tower religion to Frances Pollini, an ardent Catholic who changed her religion to become an ardent Jehovah’s Witness. A year before Frances met us, she moved from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, NY, where Connie also lived, to East Meadow, Long Island, NY.
When I think of Ray Franz, I think of his kindness, compassion and concern for others.
We know that the more closed a social system becomes, the greater the potential for abuse of power, and Ray saw this first hand in polices enacted by the Governing Body. That’s why, through his books, he tried to unveil the secret workings of the “hermetically sealed” leaders of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Ray had no dubious purpose in writing his books. He cared for others and was upset by the heartless policies enacted and continued by the Governing Body even though the “friends” were hurt by those policies. Ray always wanted justice, not for himself, but for the brotherhood and that’s why his conscience grieved him so when he was a member of the Governing Body.
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
As an independent, outspoken critic of the Watch Tower organization, I know, “The more profile, the more scrutiny.” Inasmuch as I write many articles, posts and blogs, there is opportunity for criticism of my integrity and honesty if I make certain claims without proof such as saying, “Thousands of Witnesses die each year when they need whole blood or some major blood components that JWs leaders don’t approve of.”
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.
When I was researching for the Proclaimers book, I had GB permission to go anywhere in Bethel to search for Watchtower historical or archival material. During one research expedition, I made an extraordinary find, that of the first accounts book of the Watch Tower Association, established in 1881. I found the book buried in old files which were in file cabinets located in the concrete vault in the middle of the Treasury Dept. at 25 Columbia Heights in Brooklyn.
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."
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While many Jehovah's Witnesses have been treated badly by the Watchtower organization, many have had good experiences during their time as Witnesses. For several years starting in the 70s, the Brooklyn home had a kind of "talent night," in this case it included an interview. You think these are "grumbling apostates" who never enjoyed their time in the organization, watch and find out.
Dan Bell, a Bethelite, told Barb that "no one ever gets to see these "family nights" outside of Bethel and gave Barb a copy of this one on a VHS tape as a personal gift for them to share with others. This segment is almost 30 minutes and is an interview with Joe, Barb, and their son Lance. George and Grace Aljian are also featured. Enjoy a good story!
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.
Ever wonder why the name, Watchtower, (one word) is sometimes written, Watch Tower, (two words)? Does it matter? What are the legal ramifications? What does the Watchtower have in common with the Peoples Pulpit Association of New York? The answers to these questions and more are thoughtfully presented from a historical perspective.
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.
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.
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.
For nearly 36 years, Theodore (Ted) Jaracz was one of the most powerful members of Jehovah’s Witnesses 
My experiences at Bethel are in line with what