Posts by TerryWalstrom

I have piggy-backed another thread off of this one comparing the Beth Sarim and Beth-Shan property preoccupation in the past with sort of an Elitist obsession among the Watchtower leaders to ride out the Great Tribulation in luxury.

I'd love to know where all the money is spent and how many trips around the world the GB take and where they stay along the way.

29

Major fail on last convention video

by ILoveTTATT2 in

jw
friends

as noted on reddit,.

the last convention video,.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d43eygztxl4plagiarized the sound from this album:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2udtlqwtjd4 .

TerryWalstrom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDZ8FEvTflM

87

Think for Yourself: Reform Judaism Uses JW Blood Issue For Shavuot

by David_Jay in

as the jewish holy day of shavuot (pentecost) begins this weekend, the reform judaism site publishes an interesting article entitled "judaism teaches: question authority, think for yourself.".

the article employs a jewish doctor's recollection of a jw patient who refused blood and died as an example of how both religious traditions greatly differ on how they see and apply god's law.. shavuot is the day jews recall god's giving the law to israel.

the article is significant in that it demonstrates how jews see the giving of the law as a call to questioning authority, including divine revelation itself whereas the death of the jw patient is contrasted as a slavish interpretation that misses the point behind jewish scripture.. for more see the article at:.

TerryWalstrom

_____

The Jews had just escaped from slavery in Egypt. Moses went up on Sinai and came down with the Laws of God. He found the people celebrating their newfound FREEDOM which consisted of worshipping a golden calf! Instead of calling down the remarkable destructive doom of Jehovah upon them--Moses--instead, breaks the stone tablets!

Why?
"What we have here is not a story of revelation, but a story of the dangers of revelation. Moses understood that the weakness we have for dogmatic thinking and the longing for safe truths – the same flaws that had led the Israelites to the Golden Calf – would always hinder the flourishing of a moral society. What was needed was not to exchange the slavery of the body for the slavery of the mind, but instead to create a tradition alive with questions and debate and glorious differences of opinion."

Religious teaching is to ennoble the human being and enlighten the life to be lived--NOT to enslave the person or create a martyr to belief itself. Life is more precious than mere thoughts about things.

37

A question JWs almost never ask, but should

by slimboyfat in

it occurs to me, if i was starting from scratch choosing a religion or belief system to join, there's one good question i should like answered first:.

does this religion promote a way of life and view of the world that would be satisfying even if not a single word of its doctrines are true?

if jws honestly answered that question i doubt many would say it's a good choice.

TerryWalstrom

My current favorite argument is simple numbers.

We start with a basic premise:

IF Christianity contains the only true religion

There are 40 thousand instances to choose from (denominations).

The odds of finding the 1 true instance is 1 in 40 thousand.

So, you have to ask yourself a question: "Do I feel lucky?"

Well, do ya, punk?

16

I have a plan....

by DATA-DOG in

with all of the bat-shit crazy propaganda of late, i'm considering talking to my wife about the cult.

we have had zero religious discussions for two years.

the last discussion ended with ,"you have no beliefs, no personal beliefs, because you change your "beliefs" when the wtbts writes an article.

TerryWalstrom

FIGHT OR FLIGHT

When it comes to communicating with Jehovah’s Witnesses, the critical task, as I’ve suggested, is to go beyond your own understanding and to look at the world from your listener’s point of view. If you self-identify as an Ex-JW, you motivate the Apostasy issues which triggers fight or flight in your listener.

JW’s are partisans. They are also contrarian. The average JW is like a little kid who brags about how his big brother can “beat anybody up.” JW’s are emboldened to go out and do this actively. These are not highly-educated people, but rather, are practiced and conditioned to bait—troll like—and run away if things go against their arguments. FIGHT or FLIGHT is their pattern. The things which they cannot adequately defend against turn out to be mountain-sized lies told to them which they’ve accepted as TRUTH.

Now hear this: if you can expose an obvious disconnect between the J-Dub’s trust in TRUTH and the obvious LIE it is built on—the “little kid” has to run back to his “big brother” for help! Suddenly down is up and black is white and the sky is falling!

BULLY SMACKDOWN

We can seek to listen, then understand, and ultimately win over the doubter, the fence-sitter, the straddling skeptic only by beating up their “big brother” because bullies are basically cowards. Make no mistake about it—for all their willingness “to die” for their faith, or allow their own children to expire rather than offend the All-Powerful Oz in the sky—all this is conditioned on the

VALUE which has been placed on ORGANIZATION’s ability to tell the TRUTH! The magical, mythical FDS or GB is big brother.

Expose the lying deceit, misrepresentation, and double-speak of their leaders and what happens? The scales fall from their eyes and they wake up! The connection between trust and truth is delicate. It only takes one obvious example to crack the bond. Obvious to you? No--obvious to THEM.

Creating that wedge and bringing about the crack in trust and confidence brings down the house of cards. The question now becomes, “How is this best accomplished?”

LANGUAGE THAT MANIPULATES

It is very important to explain the difference between language that convinces and language that manipulates. Are you ready? THERE IS NONE!

Read the words of writer Aaron Sorkin:

“There’s no difference. It’s only when manipulation is obvious, then it’s bad manipulation. What I do is every bit as manipulative as some magician doing a magic trick. If I can wave this red silk handkerchief enough in my right hand, I can do whatever I want with my left hand and you’re not going to see it. When you’re writing fiction, everything is manipulation. I’m setting up the situation specifically so that you’ll laugh at this point or cry at this point or be nervous at this point. If you can see how I’m sawing the lady in half, then it’s bad manipulation. If you can’t see how I did that, then it’s good.”

What is Sorkin telling us?

As long as the words of the Watchtower Org aren’t seen to be manipulative by JW’s, those words are CONVINCING because they are trusted to be from Almighty God—but when they are exposed as manipulations by ordinary men—the conviction and trust vanish!

Our task is to expose the manipulation and make it too obvious to ignore.

ROYAL COMMISSION = EXPOSED MANIPULATION BY THE G.B.

In recent times, the entire Ex-JW community has been electrified by the investigation by Australia’s Royal Commission into child sexual abuse in Jehovah’s Witness churches.

This is by far the most obvious example of how the FDS or GB has lied about being “led by holy spirit” or guided by a Divine Jehovah figure. Logically, if Holy Spirit had any part in channeling JW policy in handling cases of child sexual abuse—well—it’s simply unthinkable, impossible, and instantly falsifying as an acceptable premise!

1006 files certifying pedophile activity in JW congregations were covered up from authorities, police, child protective services as well as blocking psychologists, counselors and all moral support. Rather than demonstrating “love among themselves” the very opposite has been uncovered and brought to light.

TV broadcasts from the RC lay bare how clueless, braindead, non-empathetic Elders inside Kingdom Halls “are only following orders” which prevent their own consciences from operating in a practical, common sense manner. Why? They have been manipulated in an evil way. How? Publications and legal advice from the Watchtower Society deliberately distorted the nature of what it means to be a Christian minister tending the flock of God. Legalistic double-talk has short-circuited reporting an obvious crime to police. Old Testament injunctions have been distorted into Catch-22 obstacles to justice.

Jehovah’s Witnesses will be coaxed, manipulated, urged and threatened into avoiding all contact with this spotlight on corrupt GB activity as revealed in the RC hearings. The Bunker videos at the Conventions are distractions and manipulations to lockdown the trust and mistrust issues of JW’s. The message is: Don’t trust any authority but us!

The only protection for these lying policies is the total ignorance of Jehovah’s Witnesses. This is where the Ex-JW community can be most effective at destroying the counterfeit bonds of trust. Ex-JW’s will NOT be effective AS APOSTATES. No. In the mind of vulnerable Dubs, connecting Apostate to the RC will nullify any possibility of awakening because the link between FEAR and APOSTATE is too strongly inculcated.

I posit and suggest that we in the Ex-JW community perform our education of the rank and file as anonymously as possible! Otherwise, we are the enemy and they will fight anything we say as being lies, distortions, and Satan-inspired.

TO BE EFFECTIVE, WE MUST AVOID TRIGGERING THE REVULSION and conditioned reflex toward apostates implanted in JW's everywhere.

Fight fire by using fire. Employ the "Theocratic Warfare" principle of "only those who need to know" are told the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Once the JW awakens to the GB manipulation--then and only then--full disclosure is possible.

Only then will it be received, processed and undistorted.

FOR COMMUNICATION TO BE EFFECTIVE IT MUST MOTIVATE.

36

DOOM and LUXURY : the Watchtower Elite prepares for the GREAT TRIBULATION

by TerryWalstrom in

boondoggles and preppers watchtower style!

a religion of doom and luxury!.

in 1866, the times of london wrote:.

TerryWalstrom

BOONDOGGLES and PREPPERS Watchtower style!

A Religion of DOOM and LUXURY!

___________________________

In 1866, The Times of London wrote:

“For all practical purposes, Welsh is a dead language.”

As the historian Ieuan Gwynedd Jones (1992: 56) states: “One simple but very important fact is that there were more people who could speak Welsh in 1901 than in 1801.”

So, the jury may still be out on whether or not the Welsh language is dead.

So, let us pose this question. If you were a religious Organization, would you be motivated to buy a $ 1,425,400 property in which a Welsh translation center could be maintained?

What if it looked like this?

This looks like a pleasant location for Doomsday, doesn’t it?

Or

Maybe just a fortunate location for. . .um. . .translating boring religious writing into WELSH.

The Watchtower Organization in 2014 made the purchase for $ 1,425,400.00

Entrance Hallway Hardwood door with double glazed side panel, high pitched ceiling with double glazed Velux window, three wall light points, meter cupboard, cloaks cupboard, oak doors, Travertine flooring with underfloor heating and glazed doors leading to:

Reception Hallway 13'9" (4.2m) x 24'7" (7.5m) max (9'2" (2.8m) min). Open spindled staircase to the first and second floors and oak glazed doors leading to lounge.

Lounge 18'4" x 20'4" (5.59m x 6.2m). Cast iron multi fuel burner on a raised slate hearth, six wall light points, television aerial point, engineered oak flooring, radiator, vaulted ceiling, double glazed patio doors and double glazed windows to the rear and side from which there are views across the extensive rear garden and Menai Straits to the Isle of Anglesey.

Property description

Superbly positioned above The Menai Strait with direct water access, the property comprises of entrance hallway, reception hallway, impressive open plan 'live in kitchen/family room', lounge, sitting room, games room, 2 studies, utility, cloakroom, shower room, 5 double bedrooms, four en-suites and a family bathroom. The property benefits from having gas central heating, double glazing, garage, established landscaped gardens with decked areas and pond. The property enjoys fantastic sea view of The Menai Strait, The Menai Suspension Bridge and across to Anglesey. (See Menai Suspension Bridge below)

Does it represent value for the people whose contributions paid for it? Will they even be told about it? Isn’t the Watchtower supposed to be a charitable organization? Hmmmm...

Why are they closing buildings in other (often poorer) parts of the world, evicting long-established workers and at the same time investing in luxury property like this that will 'benefit' a select few?

Who chooses who the select few are?

If you want to give your children a useful tool for the modern world then have them speak English, Spanish, maybe French or even Chinese. Being able to speak Welsh is a wasted opportunity better spent on other more useful things that could be taught.
Unless. . .

This property is for Watchtower Elite to enjoy under pretense of business going about the Lord’s work. Or maybe for the Governing Body to wait out the Great Tribulation while the rank and file are in their Bunkers eating Pork n’ Bean rations?

A cynical Ex-JW (mentally diseased Apostate) might well ask if this doesn’t represent another Watchtower boondoggle from 1929, better known as the House of Princes.

This was built in 1929 to house the newly resurrected “Ancient Worthies” such as Abraham, David, and other Old Testament men of faith which were supposed to have been already resurrected in the year 1925. (Note: it didn’t happen.)

__________________________
While WatchTower President, "Judge" Joseph F. Rutherford was enjoying the paradise like conditions of San Diego at Beth-Sarim, a secret property was also purchased near Beth-Sarim in 1939 with similar expectations but NEVER discussed in WatchTower literature.

This secret 75 acre prime real estate property was also expected to house the resurrected Moses and other heroes of the faith. The added benefit was since they were expected to return shortly, just prior to Armageddon and world wide wars, they would have 2 hidden underground bomb shelters protected with 3 feet of concrete overhead and storage provisions for months.

They would be totally self sufficient at Beth-Shan with their own 425 foot well and 10,000 gallon storage tank. Electricity would be provided by a state of the art diesel powered generator and a 4,000 gallon underground tank for diesel fuel. Water was piped to the house and 2 fire hydrants would protect them from fires. The real beauty of such a secure compound is there was plenty of room for the safety of the WatchTower leadership as well. Perhaps they could bring Abraham and his friends up to speed on the marvels of the 20th century and assist in the preparation of the Kingdom of God.

Beth-Shan is mentioned only ONCE by name in the Watch Tower publication, Consolation, predecessor to the "Awake!" magazine. The context is an article concerning the requested 1 man cemetery plot for Judge Rutherford since the original burial request at Beth-Sarim was denied.

"The judge decided to continue the case so that the new site could be brought before the Planning Commission... the second plot was a proper place for burial.... The Planning Commission, who deliberated for more than two weeks, investigating the site, was haled before the court, and denied the second application for a cemetery.... New location for interment was almost in the center of the property known as Beth-Shan, which is roughly 75 acres of canyon and mesa land, adjoining Beth-Sarim but separated by a half-mile width of canyon."(May 27, 1942 Consolation, p. 9)

The immediate personal use of this home and facilities in mild weather San Diego would be immediately available to Rutherford. However, the deed to the property makes it appear this was for the noble reason of providing a haven for the arrival of faithful men and women of old as Abraham, Moses, Rahab, and Sarah. A portion of the deed of trust reads as follows:

NOW THEREFORE this trust is created and the said trustee shall hold the title to said property in trust for the use and benefit of the following named persons, whose names appear in the Bible at the Book of Hebrews, chapter eleven, verses one to forty, to wit: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthae, David, Samuel. Until such time as the aforementioned persons return and identify themselves to the legal representatives of the said WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY and by the consent of said Society take possession and control of said premises, the President of the WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY shall have the right and be duty bound to direct the management and use of said premises…"

Unlike Beth-Sarim, this facility would be far more secure from the predicted coming of Armageddon. 2 bomb shelters, a diesel powered generator with a 4,000 gallon underground tank for diesel fuel, and 10,000 gallons of water storage with 2 fire hydrants.

It wasn't long before rumors among witnesses began to be spread about this haven of security, which apparently prompted a rather vague response from the WatchTower leadership:

"Some unreliable person is responsible for the circulation of a report that Beth-Sarim is being enlarged as a place of security and that this is being built by the Society.

There is absolutely not one word of truth in the report. Those who are interested in the Theocracy would better be circulating the kingdom message rather than false imaginations of others."(The Watchtower, June 1, 1940, p. 162)

Perhaps the leadership felt justified in stating "Beth-Sarim" was not being enlarged as a place of security, but the fact is the nearby Watch Tower property Beth-Shan certainly was.

No doubt Rutherford believed his wild speculation about the nearness of Armageddon and was preparing this haven of safety from the soon to be experienced explosions and poison he predicted years earlier:

… the next war will be…an annihilation! There will be poison and explosion everywhere, beneath the whole canopy of the heavens…(Golden Age, June 2, 1926, p. 55)

Author and researcher, Edward Gruss, interviewed Fred Eason, a eye witness to the goat barn bomb shelter. Fred Eason said he saw the underground shelter shortly after it's sale in 1945. He described the underground shelter with its secret entrance as a:

"...building that was called the 'goat barn' which was used to stable their goats. To enter the shelter one would go to the small bathroom area at the rear of the building, open the medicine cabinet, and pull a concealed lever inside.

A section of the wall would swing open, revealing a stairway down into what can only be identified as a bomb shelter--a room about 30 feet x 15 feet, with a 10 foot high ceiling. The walls were lined with storage shelves.

The cement ceiling of the room was 3 feet thick!" (interview with Fred Eason as documented in "Jehovah's Witnesses Their Monuments to False Prophecy, Edmond Gruss, p. 75)

The building at upper right is the main Beth-Shan residence. The arrow points to the “goat barn” which had the secret bomb shelter (as did the main residence). Photo taken after the sale of Beth-Shan 1945.

(photo courtesy of Edmund Gruss)

1963 Aerial photo of Beth-Shan. Extensive grading on the property

revealed the hidden “goat barn” bomb shelter (arrow).

(photo courtesy of Edmond Gruss)

Not only did the princes NOT return to claim the estate at Beth Sarim as prophesied by Rutherford, but the Society simply ignored the promised trust to the princes and quietly sold the property soon after Rutherford's death.

1945 black and white photo of Beth-Shan (now hand colored):

Beth-Shan house built in 1939, ten years after Beth-Sarim on adjacent property. Beth-Shan, which means "House of Security" in Hebrew, was literally a house of security -(cult compound)*-

it was accessed by a single dirt road that was guarded and gated. It also had two secret bomb shelters to protect the Beth-Shan/Beth-Sarim residents (such as the Society's second president, J.F. Rutherford).

The Society apparently wanted to keep the residence secret and covered up its very existence. The Society only mentioned Beth-Shan once in its literature: May 27, 1942 Consolation magazine (now called Awake!)

The Society began building a burial crypt for Rutherford just below Beth-Sarim shortly before his death. After this site was denied by local authorities, the Society proposed a second site which was located on the Beth-Shan property which was adjacent to Beth-Sarim. This second burial spot was also denied.

Here is an aerial photo taken in 1945:

(Note: the airstrip at the left was built shortly after the sale of this property in 1945)

The long building to the left of the cul-de-sac is the "goat barn" which had a secret bomb shelter (as did the main residence).

The remote inaccessibility is better seen from the following angle:

The deed to the Beth-Shan house and property were, like Beth-Sarim, made out to Abraham, David, and the other Old Testament "princes." In reading the deed to Beth-Shan, one could get the impression that it is simply Beth-Sarim, part II --the two deeds are very similar. Both of the residences and property were held in "trust" by the Watchtower Society's leaders for the Old Testament "princes" awaiting their return.

According to Fred Eason, who was later to purchase some of the Beth-Shan property and residence (discussed below), the dirt road which was accessible through a gate, was also guarded by JWs, so unauthorized individuals couldn't enter. He first stumbled onto the Society's building of the Beth-Shan residence while he was looking for "Young's Cave," a series of manmade caves or tunnels in the area. He was "rebuffed" by "several men on horseback" and watched the building of Beth-Shan from a different side of the mesa canyon.

Telephone interviews between Edmond Gruss and Fred Eason, Dec. 3, 1996 and letter dated Dec. 12, 1996 from Eason to Gruss. Gruss, p. 70.Monuments, p. 70.

Another building, a "goat barn" had a secret bomb shelter as well. It was a long building apparently used to house goats. At the rear of the building was a bathroom. Fred Eason bought 30 acres of the Beth-Shan property including the goat barn. In a letter to Ed Gruss he wrote of its bomb shelter:

To enter the shelter one would go to the small bathroom area at the rear of the building, open the medicine cabinet, and pull a concealed lever inside. A section of the wall would spring open, revealing a stairway down into what can only be identified as a bomb shelter--a room about about 30 feet x 15 feet, with a ten foot high ceiling. The walls were lined with storage shelves. The cement ceiling of the room was 3 feet thick!"

Gruss noted in his Monuments book:

“A person could go into the bathroom and would never know that the shelter was there. When a house was built on the property in 1967 it was placed on the lot so as to keep the shelter intact, and it still exists today.”

Doomsday PREPPERS?

Watchtower Society in the 1920's and 1930's believed that the "next war"would lead to Armageddon and result in the Theocracy or Kingdom of God on Earth. They believed it would be a war fought primarily or exclusively in the air with poison gas and bacterial (germ) bombs which would obliterate most life on earth. For example, they said:

*... the next war will be a completion [of the First World War] and therewith an annihilation! There will be poison and explosion everywhere, beneath the whole canopy of the heavens.... Poison will be mechanically wafted forward and backward by unmanned airplanes, going up into the atmosphere and descending to the earth.”

The compact, thickly-populated, highly -industrialized centers of civilization will be drenched with gases, bathed in a liquid-fire and sown with bacteria. Unquenchable conflagrations will overspread the sky with a blanket of smoke.... Perhaps some previous preparation will have been made of elaborate subterranean tunnels and chambers in anticipation of this awful time.

When the totalitarian Catholic combine gains control of the British Isles, which it is certain to do, then all the liberties of the people will be at an end.... What will be the condition when all nations become totalitarian?.... The totalitarian combine is going to get control of England and America. You cannot prevent it. Do not try.

Rutherford, J.F., Face the Facts, 1938, pp. 20, 21, p. 27.

Apparently, the Watchtower Society did its own preparing for this future calamity in building Beth-Shan (House of Security) with two bomb shelters. Perhaps "Young's Cave" with its series of underground tunnels on the property was an appealing feature in their decision to buy the property!

The reason for the storage shelves in the bomb shelters is they believed that great famines would soon occur world-wide, including the United States. This was also brought out in the "Demon Rule Ending" articles:

A great famine is certain to afflict the many nations of the earth in the very near future. The United States is also in line for much suffering.... the United States is faced with world disaster now impending and about to fall...

________________________________

One thing for certain. Boondoggles never end in this religion!

Apparently the fear mongering of old is alive and well as reflected in the Bunker videos

Released for download at the J-Dub Org website. You have to admit, it’s slightly more comforting to know the leaders themselves believe their own baloney and are just as afraid of the Great Tribulation as the rank and file. So afraid, they sacrifice all this money for doom and luxury!

25

TWO MEN who changed Watchtower History but YOU NEVER HEARD of them!

by TerryWalstrom in

two men who changed watchtower history but you never heard of them!

cults are famous for control--especially controlling information about people, places and events which are embarrassing to their self-myths.. especially is this true for two important figures in watchtower history.. .

the first man is william f. hudgings.

TerryWalstrom

OrphanCrow2 hours ago

William Hudgings was also an inventor.

He invented an "asshole flusher" and filed a patent for it in 1930.

https://www.google.com/patents/US1983293

Huh...there must have been a market for the device at Brooklyn Bethel.

______________

C.T. Russell was plagued with what he thought were haemorrhoids, but he died of cystitis. I don't know how accurately this was diagnosed, but the swelling of the prostate is often involved. All of which to say, I find an interesting irony in the fact Russell had ass problems, and Rutherford died of rectal cancer. Knowing Hudgings had invented an 'assflusher' makes me slightly wonder why the preoccupation with that particular region of the human body in the Watchtower Organization?

It seemed to attract assholes, you might say.