Ah! Here it is! (Page 283)
"Even when something is anticlimactic, at a large convention, it is made to feel, at least in
retrospect, climactic - as, for example, at Yankee Stadium in August, 1950, where the
Witnesses were reminded of the old belief that God’s faithful - Abraham, Joseph, David
- would rise from the dead before the end of the world. This aroused tremendous
expectations, which were heightened by the speaker, F. W. Franz, when he suggested
that among those gathered together were the "Princes of the New Earth."
The spectators were roused to tears by the prevailing excitement, expecting to see these
biblical figures. Some stood up; others rushed to the entrance near the speakers' stand,
where they would have a better view. The speaker quieted the crowd and then compared
the new Jehovah's Witnesses to those of old. In effect, he assured them that they were the
new princes, those who had turned their backs on a world slated for doom and who must
persevere in going forward to build the New Jerusalem.
Forward, indeed. This was, in fact, a denial of a previously cherished and defended
belief, couched so as to make conventioneers feel that something had been added unto,
not taken away from, them. David didn't pop out of the dugout, and Solomon didn't
surface on the speaking stand; but Franz had thrilled his audience nonetheless. (I myself
was irritated - though I applauded as fervently as anyone else; I had a distinct sense of
having been had, and I felt guilt as a consequence. And I wondered how many coronaries
Franz had occasioned by his initial provocative remarks. And from some of the
mutterings I heard as I left the Stadium that night, I I deduced that others were irritated
as well, though not, perhaps, as guilt-stricken as I was for allowing myself to feel vexed.)"
My point is that this happened 68 years ago in 1950. Franz was the Watchtower's "Wizard of OZ," hiding behind his cloak of sanctimony, he uttered bald-faced LIES to gullible true believers.
The Watchtower still LIES to the flock, but today's LIARS don't have the phony gravitas that adorned Franz.
Barbara Grizzuit Harrison is as special to me as RAY Franz (Freddy's nephew) is to many XJWs today. Barb's book came out as I was exiting the WTB&TS, and it gave me the encouragement of knowing I was doing the right thing, even though it was not easy. I had the opportunity to speak with BGH before she died and I thanked her for the help she had given me.