Posts by Hecce

143

Fidel Castro and the WT

by Hecce in

i am going to engage on a trip to the past and share with you some of the matters that marked the beginning of the jws persecution in cuba.

you will be surprised that the pattern that was followed is very similar to what happened in other dictatorial countries.. in the cuban case, i am going to surprise you and tell you that like what happened with hitler; the wt was partially responsible for their clash and confrontation with the cuban government.

during the early 60s the revolution was fighting for survival and they were willing and ready to demolish any perceived enemy to their cause.. a prime example was their war against the catholic church that was the most influential religious entity in the country; it took the supreme leader only a few public discourses to send the vast majority of clergy packing and back to their country, in this case spain.. the jehovah’s witnesses were an insignificant minority but they over estimated their importance and displayed a belligerent attitude, it was known that this was a us based religion and an easy target to connect them with the cia.

Hecce

I am going to insertsomething here because it might be an item in the mind of some of the readers.

That is how did thefriends managed to carry over their spiritual obligations?

I will focus on thehard times; the degree of persecution was related to your location. In thecapital and other larger cities it was less, smaller towns were the worse andsometimes dislikes for other reasons will spill over into the governmentalcontrol.

For meetings thenorm was to have them in private homes on a different day and time every week.The attendance was never more than 10 including the family, there was onemeeting weekly and everything was considered on that day; the material was condensedand new ones were not invited until they have proven themselves to be reliable.

Preaching was notdone in an organized manner, attire was street like sometimes even workclothes; the last thing that the friends wanted to do was to bring attention tothemselves. A lot of the preaching was done with reliable people that werefriendly to our work, if you were going to take a chance and go house to house,this was more like block to block. This will be one house here and another onthe next block or two to three blocks apart.

As a protection itwas recommended to take with you some work tools, in the event that you werestopped your first line of defense was that you were looking of some work as arepairman. Service was always in pairs and while one was preaching, the otherone was surveying the neighborhood looking for anything suspicious.

The danger wasbigger for males than females and in reality all of these things were nervewrecking experiences, at that time we did it without too much concern likesomething that had to be done.

25

What kind of person was Nathan H. Knorr?

by Hecce in

we have several examples in the forum showing that president knorr was not a loving and caring person; one that impressed me was the one about the elderly bethelite that was put out on the streets until his death due to a disagreement with knorr.

i bring to your attention an incident that happened in the country of honduras back in the 50s, it has to do with immoral conduct by a branch overseer and his subsequent disfellowshiping.

i am not critical of the end result of his conduct but rather the salacious and detailed report of this matter putting in the open the details for the whole world to see.

Hecce

It seems like Brother Knorr didn't leave a good "name" behind.

143

Fidel Castro and the WT

by Hecce in

i am going to engage on a trip to the past and share with you some of the matters that marked the beginning of the jws persecution in cuba.

you will be surprised that the pattern that was followed is very similar to what happened in other dictatorial countries.. in the cuban case, i am going to surprise you and tell you that like what happened with hitler; the wt was partially responsible for their clash and confrontation with the cuban government.

during the early 60s the revolution was fighting for survival and they were willing and ready to demolish any perceived enemy to their cause.. a prime example was their war against the catholic church that was the most influential religious entity in the country; it took the supreme leader only a few public discourses to send the vast majority of clergy packing and back to their country, in this case spain.. the jehovah’s witnesses were an insignificant minority but they over estimated their importance and displayed a belligerent attitude, it was known that this was a us based religion and an easy target to connect them with the cia.

Hecce

jwfacts

Your point about the growth is an interesting one. The conditions today are quite different from the past, the WT has plenty of freedom to conduct their business under strict official supervision; a lot different that the harsh past persecution.

However the growth has been constant, before the Castro takeover there were about 11,000 publishers with a rate of increase of about 10% annually, about 1994 when the WT had the negotiations with the government that number was 77,000. That shows a steady increase, even with the huge migration out of the country.

I know that in the early years, there was a void in the country as far as religion, culture, social activities and many other things and that many people came to the witnesses looking for refuge and comfort. Many prominent people in Cuban society became witnesses, included were former politicians, military, wealthy people, actors, commercial pilots, professionals and a vast array of “lost” individuals. But it seems that the religion is somehow attractive to the masses, your graphic shows close to a 96,000 presently.

From what I hear from my family, today the JWs work is something different to common life and like a form of occupying your time.

Regards

143

Fidel Castro and the WT

by Hecce in

i am going to engage on a trip to the past and share with you some of the matters that marked the beginning of the jws persecution in cuba.

you will be surprised that the pattern that was followed is very similar to what happened in other dictatorial countries.. in the cuban case, i am going to surprise you and tell you that like what happened with hitler; the wt was partially responsible for their clash and confrontation with the cuban government.

during the early 60s the revolution was fighting for survival and they were willing and ready to demolish any perceived enemy to their cause.. a prime example was their war against the catholic church that was the most influential religious entity in the country; it took the supreme leader only a few public discourses to send the vast majority of clergy packing and back to their country, in this case spain.. the jehovah’s witnesses were an insignificant minority but they over estimated their importance and displayed a belligerent attitude, it was known that this was a us based religion and an easy target to connect them with the cia.

Hecce

The next test for the friends was about something totally unexpected, which was the departure from the country. This was something that was always considered a personal matter and the decisions and trips from the first ones that left, mostly the elite were accepted without much criticism. Now all of a sudden, friends in the congregations started questioning the loyalty and faith of those that were planning to leave; for some this was a lack of confidence in Jehovah and for the ones with service privileges it was considered an abandonment of the flock.

Thing got so bad, that the Branch decided to meddle in this matter. By this time the Branch Overseer Brother Del Rio who was a nice man, maybe in his high 30s, professing to be anointed and in reality too holy and naive to be a real benefit to the flock. The real power behind him were some of his assistants, one of them in particular a DO by the name of Santiago Cueto became a thorn for all those planning to leave the country, the standard conclusion for this talks was “remember that the Devil knows how to speak English too”.

I will get back to Cueto in a second but I must tell what happened with the Branch intervention, they decided that any brother who had presented his papers to leave the country was unfit for privileges and all those in this category were immediately removed. These resulted in the drainage of the little brain power that was left, presenting to leave the country and leaving were two different things and it was a process that could take years to be completed. These brothers were penalized just to placate the gossip and envy of those that didn’t have a chance to leave.

I must tell you that eventually all of these individuals that were criticizing the departures came to the States including Brother del Rio and all of his helpers. Santiago Cueto was a different deal, he had a very high opinion of himself and on one occasion when he was routinely detained by the police, he decided to impress the authorities with his knowledge and verbiage; he was identified as a “big fish” and got special treatment. His home was raided and they got a whole bunch of records that were not supposed to be there, he created a serious danger for the brothers.

The Government was harsh with him, he was sentenced to ten years in prison; no reduction for good behavior was given to him and he completed his sentence, shortly after that he departed for the “home of the English speaking Satan” and the last time that I hear from him he was in Florida partaking from the emblems, I don’t know if he still alive; for me he was a modern Uzziah.

Good for now.

25

What kind of person was Nathan H. Knorr?

by Hecce in

we have several examples in the forum showing that president knorr was not a loving and caring person; one that impressed me was the one about the elderly bethelite that was put out on the streets until his death due to a disagreement with knorr.

i bring to your attention an incident that happened in the country of honduras back in the 50s, it has to do with immoral conduct by a branch overseer and his subsequent disfellowshiping.

i am not critical of the end result of his conduct but rather the salacious and detailed report of this matter putting in the open the details for the whole world to see.

Hecce

Robo Bobo

If I recall correctly, I think Charlie's experience and the one about the sister that drowned were both part of the tales of Bill Cetnar who was at one time a heavyweight in Bethe.

143

Fidel Castro and the WT

by Hecce in

i am going to engage on a trip to the past and share with you some of the matters that marked the beginning of the jws persecution in cuba.

you will be surprised that the pattern that was followed is very similar to what happened in other dictatorial countries.. in the cuban case, i am going to surprise you and tell you that like what happened with hitler; the wt was partially responsible for their clash and confrontation with the cuban government.

during the early 60s the revolution was fighting for survival and they were willing and ready to demolish any perceived enemy to their cause.. a prime example was their war against the catholic church that was the most influential religious entity in the country; it took the supreme leader only a few public discourses to send the vast majority of clergy packing and back to their country, in this case spain.. the jehovah’s witnesses were an insignificant minority but they over estimated their importance and displayed a belligerent attitude, it was known that this was a us based religion and an easy target to connect them with the cia.

Hecce

During the first two years of the Castro Government people were living a honeymoon. The WT was operating with the same false sense of security and did nothing with regards to what was going to happen, with the experience that they had in communist countries it was to be expected that a better strategy was going to be put in place.

Probably during 1961 we had the last national convention at the Rancho Boyeros Fairgrounds, it was a complete success with an attendance of over 18,000; once again they did something very provocative and that was to bring Don Adams as the guest speaker and his talks were translated in Spanish.

One of the signs of upcoming problems was related to "voluntary work", it started at factories and workplaces as something innocent; that was to work 15 minutes free daily as a contribution to the Revolution. Naturally the brothers resisted this and it became a sore spot, specially since the 15 minutes were increased to 30 minutes, then to 60 and eventually to spending Saturdays in the the field doing voluntary work. The fact that the JWs refused to do this was a black mark for them.

Little by little freedom was being lost and the only alternative was to leave the country which a lot of friends were doing.

25

What kind of person was Nathan H. Knorr?

by Hecce in

we have several examples in the forum showing that president knorr was not a loving and caring person; one that impressed me was the one about the elderly bethelite that was put out on the streets until his death due to a disagreement with knorr.

i bring to your attention an incident that happened in the country of honduras back in the 50s, it has to do with immoral conduct by a branch overseer and his subsequent disfellowshiping.

i am not critical of the end result of his conduct but rather the salacious and detailed report of this matter putting in the open the details for the whole world to see.

Hecce

Village idiot, here is the sad experience:

The Death of Charles de Wilda (self.exjw)

submitted 1 year ago by wifibanditUndercover Apostate

by William (Bill) Cetnar

Translated by belbab

TOE THE LINE OR CROAK, THE DEATH OF CHARLES DE WILDA

One tragic event that happened at the Watchtower Headquarters during my service there involves Charles de Wilda. Charlie, as we all called him, was a deserter from the Cavalry after the First World War and looking for employment, he came to Headquarters. He was told there was work available, but the salary was only twenty dollars a month with room and board. He accepted the offer and when I knew him, he had already worked there for more than thirty years. Now, Charlie was old, a little slower, but still a hard worker. President Knorr often praised him and used him as an example for the volume of work that one man could accomplish. Charlie was the best bookbinder on the fourth floor.

But, like everyone else who worked at Bethel, he was not allowed like everyone else to get married if he wanted to stay at Bethel. Knorr often repeated this rule, and that irritated Charlie. However, in 1952, violating his own rule, Knorr married Audry Mock, one of the sisters at Bethel. A few years after the marriage, Charlie went to see Knorr, and told him he had broken his own law and he should resign. He added: “You preach love more than anyone else, but it is you that practice it the least.”

The result of this confrontation, Charlie was not allowed his usual seat in the cafeteria, and was relegated to a distant corner at the back. The pretext for this is that he was rude. It was evident that he was being punished. He refused to remain put in his new seating place and returned to his former place. His life was made so bitter at Bethel, he took his few possessions and departed. Bethel was his whole life. He never even took his vacations. He did not know where to go, he never had any one to receive him, but for him, at the time, anything was better than Bethel. I met him later, he slept at a flophouse for fifty cents a night. When he was short of money, he begged from Bethel workers and other Witnesses to give him some money to provide him with food. I gave him some for his needs. The Bethel workers were instructed to not give him money, and a letter was sent saying the same from the Bethel headquarters directed to the congregations in the area. I heard later, that eventually Charles de Wilda died on a park bench in a public park.

That is how one rewards a man who after forty years of faithful service in “God’s organization because he denounced an evident anomaly. This was an example that revealed to me how little the love that exists at headquarters for the personnel who worked there.

https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/2s7axz/the_death_of_charles_de_wilda/

79

What's a word that describes the way Witnesses behave as a group?

by paul from cleveland in

jw
friends

i can't recall the word that describes a group that keeps to itself like the witnesses do.

i thought it was "insular" but i don't think that's the one i'm looking for after reading the definition.

i remember an elder using the word "clannish" and that has the proper definition but it reminds me of a group of elves.

Hecce

Nuts!

23

Should this Body of elders be considered blood guilty?

by dbq407 in

over the weekend a very nice, caring individual was killed in a car accident after meeting.

she was 32 y/o and has a 3 year old daughter.

her husband was driving home from meeting when his car slid off the road, came back on the road, and was broad sided by a truck.

Hecce

A tragic situation, without using it for judgement; the guilt has to be shared between the elders and the husband as head of the family, he carries the bigger share.

8

Lacking some of the pieces in the puzzle

by oppostate in

i had a chance last weekend to talk with an elder i used to serve with.

a very kind hearted and understanding elder, always showing sympathy and concern for others, looking out for the little guy, the downtrodden and oppressed, even willing to stand up to uncaring company-men co's .

he was po way back then and became the cobe in the new re-0rg, until, that is, the gb came out with the age limit.

Hecce

A lot of the older brothers have their "chariots" parked in neutral.