The WTS lie?? here's an exerpt from www.freeminds.org in an article entitled "Sleeping with the Enemy, Jehovah's Witness Style":
The books, Jehovah's Witnesses In The Divine Purpose and Jehovah's Witnesses, Proclaimer's of God's Kingdom, report that the Nazi government confiscated Watchtower property after raiding their Magdeburg Germany headquarter's twice during 1933. 3 In response to the first raid, a "Declaration of Facts" was drafted by J.F Rutherford (2nd WT President), which they claim denounced Hitler, his government and Nazism. 4 However, this Declaration, which was reprinted in The 1934 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses, represents the proverbial "skeleton" in the Watchtower's closet.
M. James Penton, author of the explosive book, Apocalypse Delayed, exposed the Watchtower's hypocrisy in an article written for the Christian Quest Journal. 5 According to Penton, the Watchtower took a definitive stance against the Nazi government only after Hitler rejected their Declaration. 6 In a personal letter which accompanied the Declaration, Watchtower leaders endeavored to convince the Fuhrer that they supported the "principles" of his government--No doubt, an effort to continue their book selling activities in Germany. 7 Hitler, however, was not impressed. In the declaration of facts, Rutherford wrote:
The present government of Germany has declared emphatically against Big Business oppressors and in opposition to the wrongful religious influence in the political affairs of the nation. Such is exactly our position:...Instead of being against the principles advocated by the government of Germany, we stand squarely for such principles and point out that Jehovah God through Christ Jesus will bring about the full realization of these principles... [emphasis ours] 8
What principles did Germany advocate under Hitler's rule? The Watchtower reported the following in their publication, God's Kingdom of A Thousand Years:
Shortly after the United States was plunged into World War II, information on this Nazi plan was gleaned from seized Nazi documents....This plan aimed at a Nazi world order that Hitler, if successful in World War II, would mercilessly enforce upon the world and mankind...[He] evidently had in mind the Germanic Holy Roman Empire...At any rate, there was no reestablishment...as many people of Hitler's religion had hoped. 9
While it is quite evident that the Society didn't believe in Nazism, the Declaration reveals that they are just as guilty as they claim Christendom is for "Sleeping With The Enemy." Consequently, one must also ask, what or whom was Rutherford referring to as the so called "Big Business oppressors?" 10 He answers: "It has been the commercial Jews of the British-American empire that have built up and carried on Big Business as a means of exploiting and oppressing the peoples of many nations....This fact is so manifest in America that there is a proverb concerning the city of New York....'the Jews own it, the Irish Catholics rule it, and the Americans pay the bills.'" 11
During WWI and II the Society criticized ALL governments, including Germany, for being manipulated by the Catholic Church whom they identified as the "Great Whore Of Babylon." 12 Yet the Declaration invariably exposes their own hypocrisy.
[The] Bible Students are fighting for the SAME high, ethical goals and ideals that the national German Reich proclaimed regarding the relationship of man to God....there are no opposing views....but that, to the contrary, respecting the purely religious and apolitical goals....these are in complete harmony with....the National Government of the German Reich." 13 [emphasis ours]
As previously seen, the Watchtower publication, God's Kingdom of A Thousand Years reported that the "people of Hitler's religion" were disappointed when his plan ultimately failed. 14 How then are we to view the above quote since the Watchtower claimed to be "in complete harmony" with the apolitical and religious views of the Third Reich? 15 Consequently, anyone with the smallest historical inkling is familiar with the German Reich's "apolitical goals." 16 Only a demented man such as Hitler could orchestrate the systematic annihilation of six million Jews while calling these deeds an act of divine will! The Society even acknowledged Germany's wickedness in later Watchtower editions, accusing them of complying with "Satan's attempt to turn all men away from God and His Kingdom." 17 Moreover, in the personal letter to Hitler, they even falsely claimed the U.S. government persecuted them for refusing to publish anti-German propaganda during WWI. 18
Of course this claim totally contradicts their stand during the summer of 1918, when the Watchtower urged faithful Bible Students to purchase War Bonds. 19 In fact, they even went so far as to support a National Day Of Prayer for Germany's swift defeat. 20 Yet, the Society bashed Christendom for praying for the end of WWI in a 1985 Watchtower article. "...in 1914 when German troops marched into Belgium wearing belts inscribed with the word 'Gott mit uns' (God with us). On both sides the church was prolific in prayers for victory and vitriolic abuse of the enemy." 21 The Organization has never been lax about pointing an accusing finger at others, while ignoring their own blatant inconsistencies.
What does the Society say of this Declaration and the events surrounding it? As should be expected, they shifted the blame. In their 1974 Yearbook they claimed a German Witness "accused" another, Paul Balzereit, of altering it. 22 They even went so far as to assert that Balzereit penned the letter to Hitler, which was supposedly done behind Rutherford's back. 23 However, Penton challenged this claim:
Regardless of who wrote, edited, or 'weakened' the Declaration, the fact is that it was published as an official document of The Watch Tower Society. Thus the American leaders...and Judge Rutherford in particular--were directly responsible for what was outright anti-Semitism and a willingness to compromise their loudly trumpeted principles of 'Christian neutrality' in order to continue their publishing and preaching work in Germany... 24
Moreover, Penton also uncovered an eyewitness account of shocking proportion. Konrad Franke, a German Jehovah's Witness added this to the Nazi scandal:
...I had the privilege of traveling with Brother Albert Wandres from Wiesbaden to Berlin...But we were shocked when we arrived at the Tennis Hall (the Watchtower's Magdeburg Headquarters) the next morning...When we entered, we found the Hall bedecked with Swastika flags!...when the meeting started, it was preluded by a song which we had not sung for years...the notes were (taken from) the melody of 'Deutschland, Deutschland, uber alles'! 25 These notes were the melody for the German National Anthem! 26
Since Witnesses today are forbidden to salute national flags, were the German Bible Students under a different standard?----Apparently so, since the Society continued to cover up historical facts with revisionistic slights of hand. In their book, Paradise Restored To Mankind By Theocracy, the Watchtower again demonstrated their propensity for double-standards. "[Jehovah's Witnesses] discerned their commission...They stuck to this course even amid WWII. They stuck to an absolute Christian neutrality toward international controversies." 27
