Bill Bowen may be more important than some of us think he is.
There was a post back in July this year that began:
Wycliffe, Tyndale,..........Bowen
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.aspx?id=33120&site=3
The poster downplayed the significance, but many JWs would recognize that 2 out of 3 were already on the JW's most recent list of "Messengers throughout the Ages." (The official list contains Wycliffe, Tyndale, etc., and Russell as the 7th and last.)
The modern-day JW religion evolved initially from Russell one who ultimately saw himself as the wise and discerning "7th Messenger" of Revelation. Russell apparently did his best to act the part. But the personality of Rutherford soon permeated those JW beginnings, and they still can't get the stench out. In my opinion, Knorr provided well for the survival of the organization by trusting JWs to stand up on their own (to a point), with the ability to put JW formulas into their own words -- without relying on phonographs and sound car recordings. Of course, Knorr used these people as marketers for the JW product (printed books and a promise).
According to these familiar JW organizational templates, it shouldn't surprise us that lofty goals can be frustrated, after which leaders may sink to the low road. Survival of an organization with such problems will depend on education and the trust to allow followers to stand more strongly on their own two feet to get back on track. Bill Bowen, in my opinion, has tended to stay too long in the tyrannical "Rutherford era." He's called down evil upon his enemies, has seen enemies where they don't exist and has shown himself too anxious to treat people merely as followers, incapable of walking on their own.
On May 8, 2001, Bill Bowen reposted his January 5, 2001 post from H2O ( http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.aspx?id=27214&site=3) where he threatens to take down the Watchtower. He even called himself "the messenger" like Jehu, "just one man who was right and as a result killed about everyone in charge of god's organization at that time." Bill said:
I am the most dangerous threat to the wt organization . . . and whatever you do to me will just make things worse for wt. . . . try to df me and silence the messenger. ... The silentlambs will speak, wt will be silenced and humiliated. [formatting mine]
Does this messenger as a modern day Jehu, have a call to action? Bill makes it clear in his post: ( http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.aspx?id=38041&site=3 )
When Jehu looked up at the window and asked, "Who is with me?" those men in "high places" had to make a choice. They had to either do what they knew in their hearts was right or they could have waited on Jehovah. Sometimes you have to grab evil and throw it out the window. While I claim no special dispensation, I stand before you now and say,"Who is with me?"
On July 12, a poster named "messenger" questioned the ethics of one Ray Franz and gives a reason for not reading his books. Inexplicably, he signs that post "silentlambs" as if silentlambs = messenger.
I know I covered some of this material before, in my very first thread here, when "messenger" went so far as to associate Ray Franz with Charles Manson. But, being new here, I missed a very important clue when I wrote that email. I'll explain it in the next post.
Gilgamesh
Edited by - Gilgamesh on 23 December 2002 12:11:55Edited by - Gilgamesh on 23 December 2002 12:12:46