I used to tell what I thought was secret information that I had heard from Bethelites and C.O.'s and long-time elders, things that I honestly believed.
Here are two of them:
I used to say that Ray Franz was invited to Brooklyn Bethel for the funeral when Fred Franz died, since he is his nephew. (I heard this from a Bethelite, butu I only told this story to elders and pioneers, I said it was private information) He said that in the Bible account of David refusing to kill Saul when he had the opportunity, that shows we should never judge the anointed, even if they leave the truth. Even at MTS they made a similar point about disfellowshipped anointed and how we shouldnt judge them. They didnt mention Ray Franz. But back to the story, so according to what I heard, Bethel invited Ray Franz for the funeral, but he refused to come. It just shows how loving Bethel is, to invite someone who is apostate for a funeral. And it shows that Bethel never judges anointed, they leave that up to Jehovah. I believed all that.
I remember how everyone seemed to be wowed by that story. I was, when I first heard it.
The other one is that Jehovah will probably reveal to the Governing Body when the end at hand. The long time C.O.'s would sometimes tell us that while we were in car groups of elders and servants, because they said that Jehovah always reveals things to his servants beforehand, like Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar.
Oh, one more.
I heard more than once that, "The top ten most intelligent people in the world are in Jehovah's organization." Or something similar to that. "Jehovah makes sure the most intelligent people are in his organization, just like he had Joseph, the great organizer, in Pharaoh's household."
The older Bethelites would tell us that Bethel was so smart in making MEPS that IBM copied them, and also their printing methods, and construction methods, and farming methods, and laundry methods, and cooking methods, and organizing assemblies throughout the world, and the new videos from the Society, and the way everything done at Bethel is more efficient than anywhere in the world. And that in governments throughout the world, there are Witnesses in non-elected positions, just like Daniel. So we are ready for the new system. No one is organized like us.
I used to believe all that. That Jehovah's Organization is the smartest, the most loving, the most advanced. No one in the world is as organized as us. And when you grow up in the truth, you know nothing else, so you believe all that. I used to sit at the table at Bethel and see those brothers who had been at Bethel for so many years, I was in awe of them. They seemed to be so humble even though they served in God's House. We were always taught this was a taste of Paradise.
So, did any of you have "secret information" that you used to believe? Were you in awe of Bethel and the stories they told there?
BF