by candidlynuts 22 Replies latest watchtower scandals
The brooklynn eagle's ''today in history''
an excerpt is posted below. there's more to the story on the link.
good money making scheme back in the day! lol
http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=23&id=16437
| On This Day in History: November 1 Watchtower vs. Eagle by Brooklyn Eagle ([email protected]), published online 11-01-2007 | ||||||
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Thanks Candi for bringing this to the forum! Every mention I saw about "Miracle Wheat" in WTS publications tried to minimize the scandalous nature of C.T. Russell. Russell is still adored by many JW's today, as well as Bible Student groups. Some people on the forum seem to believe Russell was an honest man. That contradicts the historical record. He was a scammer.
Wow that was a fun revist. Hi Candidly
I had never heard this part before:
In 1912 Russell went on a world tour and had sermons published in many places as paid advertisements. The 2/19/1912 issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle stated that the newspaper had proof that Russell never preached the sermons as he claimed. He stated he had preached them before thousands but witnesses who were on the same cruise refuted it. They were said to be imaginary sermons and Russell was again proven to be a fibber.
Interesting. Thanks for posting.
~Merry
However, the records show that Russell owned 990 of the 1,000 shares of Watchtower Society stock. By this figure, 99 percent of every “contribution” for Miracle Wheat” was in effect a contribution to Russell himself.
Does this mean Russell was also 99% of the Faithful and Discreet Slave?
Len
Great information. Thanks for posting that.
A few years back I came into contact with some Bible Students in CT and they proudly bragged about the thousands of sermons Russell preached on his world tour. Now, here we see it was totally made up. I mean printing sermons as paid advertisements? How pathetic!
Russell probably knew most people would not listen to his utter nonesense so he didn't even try to preach to them. I hope the modern day BS are reading this. Lilly
It is some what amusing to note how various critics of Pastor Russell have exaggerated the amounts charged for the wheat, the claims made for its productivity, and the total amount realized from the sale. With the passing of years, his antagonists have seemingly out done each other in the effort to magnify the issue all out of pro portion, in wan ton disregard of facts and fairness.
Following the lead of Rev. J. J. Ross, the Pastor’s original chief opponent, a Rev. Robert Mignard wrote concerning Russell that he was “a rascal, who … fleeced his followers with ‘miracle wheat’ sold at an exorbitant price, which he claimed would produce fifteen times as much wheat as an ordinary bushel.” (But even the original Eagle article was con tent with stating the claim at five times as much.) Evidently this was later interpreted, as we have already noted, to mean it would grow five times as fast as the common varieties.
Rev. W. H. Hingston has yet another version, as he lashes out at the Pastor: “He was a convicted crook [?] and a swindler [?] of the most contemptible sort, betraying the very trust of those who believed in him as God’s Prophet and Mouth piece, to sell dishonestly his ‘miracle wheat,’ which would pro duce 40, 60, 80, perhaps even a hundred bushels to the acre.” (But no such numbers can be found any where in the records, either in the original Watch Tower notices or in the Eagle news pa per accounts.) Researcher D. Fe1derer makes the observation here that the real miracle involved in all this is not so much with the wheat as it is in twirling around imaginary numbers!
For any one to find it necessary to single out the innocuous sale of wheat seed to lay grounds for fault with Pastor Russell surely seems like grasping at the proverbial straw. It is incredible that
in the Pas tor’s active min is try of over forty years’ duration, much of it before the public eye as author, lecturer and syndicated writer on the Christian faith, critics would find it necessary to dwell on such a tri fling incident in an effort to discredit him. Further, for members of the clergy to take the leading role in attempting to build a case on this particular charge seems the height of hypocrisy. It is the established church systems, built upon the premise of a paid min is try and the necessity of expensive church edifices, that have given their sanction to nearly every conceivable money-raising scheme that can be devised. But it was Pas tor Russell who openly and decisively challenged all of this as unauthorized by the Word of God and as wasteful and extravagant.
Consider these examples: Formal church collections have become part of most traditional worship services, yet Biblical precedent for such a practice is hard to find. The custom of tithing as enjoined by the Mosaic Law has been adopted as a requirement by many churches, with some even urging donations above this standard; but not a single text in all of the New Testament sup ports the custom. And in many (if not most) churches, money-raising schemes for support and building expansion occupy a central place. Such efforts include church socials, entertainment, bazaars, lotteries, games of chance, book and card sales, investment plans and business ventures. Again, one would be hard pressed to find any vestige of justification for such enterprises in the passages of Holy Scripture.
As aptly expressed by Rev. Richard Clearwaters:
“If the church is in the junk business on Monday
And in the restaurant business on Tuesday
And in the dry goods business on Wednesday
And in the theater business on Thursday
And in the grocery business on Friday
And in the bakery business on Saturday,
How will (the) community ever know what business this church is in when Sunday comes?”
Since Pastor Russell’s day, due to the relentless commercial emphasis of established religion, the churches in America have become big business in the highest sense. In 1981, it was estimated that generous Americans responded to various direct mail appeals alone from religious organizations by donating a whopping $24.8 billion. Almost all of the emotional and tear eliciting appeals for money are writ ten by professional marketing specialists using sensational techniques that smack of outright deception.
But it has remained for contemporary televangelists to scale new heights in adopting these methods to pressure and cajole their followers. In the early 1980s, a leading “faith healer” reported receiving “nearly $12 million in one month” in response to a special “prayer partner” appeal series. One cannot help but wonder if such funds could have been raised without promises of health and prosperity and miraculous answers to prayer. In 1987, the same preacher announced that “God would take his life unless he raised $8 million to provide scholar ships to medical school students at his college [in Tulsa] by April 1 that year.” Two years later he announced that “he must have $11 million [in donations] by May 6 or face financial collapse.”
In 1981, the various ministries of another leading televangelist raised $64 million, with $11.5 million of that amount reportedly left over in surplus funds. Yet in December of that year, he sent three “crisis” fund-raising letters to his supporters, claiming that individual donations of up to twenty-five dollars per month were “the only way we can keep up the Old-Time Gospel Hour (his TV program) on the air.” A host of other examples could be cited and, in fact, such practices have become so common place in our day that they are hardly even considered scandalous.
Another popular technique in direct-mail solicitation is the use of premiums and gifts. Prospective donors are showered with member ship stickers, Bibles, miniature bricks or stones, records, cassettes, medal lions and even samples of wood or earth from the Holy Land. This increases the persuasion upon the recipient who is made to feel obligated to respond, even if the enclosed gift is “free.” Jeffrey K. Hadden, sociology professor at the University of Virginia, charges that, “Not since Vatican officials sold papal indulgences—writ ten protection from the wages of sin—has there been such a public marketing of Christian favors.”
More and more thinking people are reaching the conclusion that such methods of raising money are not proper, are not fitting for organizations that invoke the name of God, and are not based upon Biblical ethics. They are being seen for what they really are— exploitation of the masses in the name of religion. And since religious groups in the United States are exempt from revealing anything about their finances, account ability in this area is a matter hard to evaluate.
Does this mean Russell was also 99% of the Faithful and Discreet Slave
According to Maria Russell (C.T. Russell's spouse and inventor of the doctrinal understanding of the "faithful and wise servant") Russell was 50% with Maria being the other half!
Holy CRAP!!! Never heard this one! Good work and thankee kindly, Dear Candidly!!!
Love,
Baba
You all are shamlessly beating an unarmed man ! Villifying a scoundral like russel doesn't take much, and beating up the Wretchtower ,lordy, lordy ,it's all cheap shots all the time,
They can't help but do the things they do, after all ,the faithless and decrepit servant only does his masters bidding , posssibly ,,,,satan made them do it ?
