''Miracle Wheat'' in the news today (page 2)

Homerovah the Almighty

Those righteous folks sure make good sales men, a true and faithful con man of Jehovah

You can always trust a man of the cloth

Terry

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.

Interesting comments, R.R.

I've seen a transcript of the Miracle Wheat trial and I think it was much ado about almost nothing.

The point of the hulabaloo is that Russell made enemies among the clergy and they were anxious to return the favor.

Was Russell just an honest Pastor with only god on his mind? Not according to Maria, his wife. Russell played fast and loose and their

connubial partnership was severely damaged beyond repair as a result.

I've read a great deal of Russell's writings and of Maria's as well. They were both intellectually amazing people. The good Pastor, however, had peculiar tastes when it came to life in general and how he chose to live it.

It is pretty clear from his willingness to fudge dates and explanations that he ended up being an intellectually dishonest sort. How far this exteneded into his everyday life, I can't really say.

Overall, a man is the sum total of everything he says and does. Russell started out sincere enough, but; he ended up chasing his own tales.

The Rose Ball scandal is also troubling. We may never know the details. But, enough was printed and repeated to leave a taste of scandal behind.

I think Russell's overall theology was clever and novel enough, but; it has not withstood the test of time. He is pretty much an embarrassment to modern day JW's who only want to present him in the best possible light for their own sake.

The Watchtower Society is legacy enough for Russell inasmuch as they are willing to write any phony explanation necessary to keep their reputation above reproach.

glenster

What I have on that so far is about 1/3rd down the page, where there's a pic-
ture of Charles and Maria, "Love and money: Miracle Wheat and Charles' divorce
from Maria," at the next link:
http://www.freewebs.com/glenster1/gtjbrooklyn1a.htm

Before anyone gets confused about him being another modest sincere believer
victimized by intolerance, remember that he also established the current JWs
leaders' claim of being the special spokesman of an especially rarifiedly
righteous literal 144,000 decades earlier, and he maintained it through all
this. He propagandized against practically all other Christians for not agree-
ing with his bids for exclusiveness--keep in mind he taught a created Jesus that
was to be worshipped (get a handle on a 1st century Jewish culture, meshugeneh),
his historicism about 1874/1914, etc.

In other words, his effort to show such elitism was proven by the best
evidence and reason was phoney back then--it didn't start becoming phoney
with later JWs leaders.

His routine carried more about being woefully misunderstood with a proportion-
ate extra percentage of others meant as damned to be too sympathetic.

You might want to include the part about the money going into dummy companies,
Charles getting his friends to use an early version of shunning tactics on
Maria, and him dragging his feet about admitting to the dummy companies and
about paying alimony (early theocratic warfare, I guess).

I like nice people of various faith and non-faith outlooks, and one thing I
like about them is the agreement by general ethics of what an elitist scam
artist is, whichever of those groups they come from.

It's like the need to bring up the 1986 expose of Popoff having the radio
transmitter in his ear. It will still need to be brought up now and then since
Popoff's back on TV playing the rarified healer.

Current JWs leaders still require agreement for salvation that Charles knew
what would happen in 1914, and that keeps it contemporary.

lovelylil

glenster and terry,

Thanks for your comments. I really enjoyed that.

RR,

Its funny how whenever something is written about your precious "Pastor" you come on and try to defend him. Too bad you don't see how decieved you truly are. I can't understand why you became a BS after being a JW, they are virtually the same religion.

Anyway, I don't really care what the charge of the "miracle wheat" was and frankly I can't blame Chuck for getting duped on that one. At that time, there were hundreds of supposed cures for sickness going around all being sold by the snake oil salesmen of the day. So, if chuck got misled on the miracle wheat, I can understand it.

What I would like addressed is the propaganda that you bible students continue to spread about Russell and his importance and effectivness as an "international known Pastor". As was brought out in the beginning of this thread, Russell basically did NOT give the thousands of sermons he claimed to but rather PAID to have his sermons printed as an advertisement. And no one on the cruise he was on saw him given any live sermons at all.

Now, that certainly is being dishonest isn't it? If the common folk back then were reading the printed ads, would they know that Russell paid for the ad to be placed or would they assume his sermon was printed because it was an important message supported by clergy at that time? And as far as the cruise, Russell flat out lied. You can see how the man who you believe was so humble obviously had a hugely inflated ego.

To this day, the BS will still tell interested people that Russell was an internationaly known Pastor who gave thousands of sermons thru out the world and which were printed in hundreds of papers. What they STILL will not tell you, and maybe because they were duped into the beleiveing the lie themselves, is that the "sermons' were paid advertisements and thus he never actually gave them to the people in person. Also the number of the printed sermons is greatly exagerated.

Surely you RR, since you have told me are such an expert on Russell and have all his writings in your possession know he paid to advertise his sermons? Then if this is true, why do you and others continue to give Russell more importance than he deserves?

btw. "Pastor" is the title given to Russell's by his followers. Truth be told, he had no formal training or higher education in religious studies and could not even speak on a basic level any of the languages the Bible was written in. Lilly

candidlynuts

i didnt mean to offend any bible students who revere the man.

just posted the newspaper article.

as far as i'm concerned he's fair game for scrutiny because he also started the religion that took my family away.

lovelylil

candidly,

I feel the same way. And frankly what urks me is that the Bible Students continue to claim that Russell was this great international Pastor well known by the world when he really was only known and loved by his own followers.

And I find it dishonest that he printed pad adverstisements and tried to pass them off as legit sermons. Wonder if he told his followers the truth about these "sermons"?

Anyway, I was in contact with the BS for almost 2 years after leaving the JW's. I didn't join them for obvious reasons. At least the Modern day JW's have enough sense to drop the pyramid worship and some of Russell's other stranger teachings. But, the BS continue to this day to inflate Russell's accomplishments to newly interested people and I think this is important information to get out there lest someone else gets duped.

So thanks for posting it. Lilly

VM44

From the Brooklyn Eagle:

Relevant articles appeared in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle in the month of January 1913. The titles and their dates were:

1/1: Miracle Wheat Scandal

1/22: Testimony of Russelite Beliefs

1/23-24: Testimony on 'Miracle Wheat'

1/25: Financial statements proving Russell's absolute control were made by [Watch Tower] Secretary-Treasurer Van Amberg who was quoted as saying, "… We are not responsible to anyone for our expenditures. We are responsible only to God."

VM44

The Watchtower today still has that attitude!

Raphael

"In 1904 Kent Stoner of Fincastle, Virginia (USA) discovered an unusually hearty strain of wheat growing in his field. He named it "Miracle Wheat". When presented at the Appalachian Exhibition, and the Tennessee State Fair in 1910, it won first prize both times. When Pastor Russell came to hear about this "Miracle Wheat" in 1908 he was excited! Having the "restitution of all things", (Acts 3:19) and the restoration of earth to perfection always on his mind, he believed this was another proof that "restitution" had begun. An associate of Pastor Russell's purchased a large amount of this "Miracle Wheat," and desired to have it sold and the proceeds donated to the spread of the truth. A notice appeared to this effect in The Watch Tower, where Bible Students, and any others interested, could purchase a pound of it for $1. Ultimately $1,800 was raised. Nobody was defrauded. Everyone was well informed. Even the US Government recognized something was special about the wheat. When ministers began to criticize Pastor Russell, he offered a return of money to anyone who requested this. Nobody asked for their money back. "

VM44

Nobody asked for their money back.

During the trial it was stated that one individual who had fallen upon hard times did ask for his money back!

So much for Watchtower accuracy in reporting what happened.

--VM44

''Miracle Wheat'' in the news today

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