From Russell on through the JWs leaders, they've claimed they were the only
rule maker, or one of the few rule makers, of a literal 144,000 and meant a
dozen or so rules to set off the distinction. Keep your focus on the methods
they use to make it seem like the best evidence supports those rules to deter-
mine their insincerity.
My research shows they've used propaganda of others/quote mining/omission
of pertinent evidence, etc., and falsified a bad track record, to make the
claim about their exclusiveness look substantiated. A handful of sections are
of authors complaining that their research books were misrepresented, and there
are a lot more contexts of other quotes the JWs leaders used that show the same
insincerity. Raymond Franz seems like a nice fellow, but if those leaders had a
sincere era, I haven't found it.
http://gtw6437.tripod.com/
I don't remember the exact quote, but I vaguely remember RF writing that he
was taken aback by one of the GB who joked that the prediction failures weren't
a problem--they just take a date off one shoulder and put it on another.
Why put a radio transmitter in your ear to get flock members' names and
addresses from your wife, who found these things out earlier talking with the
flock, then tell the flock that you're getting special messages from Jesus and
that they're healed? Why bend spoons then tell people it was done with psychic
power?
Russell: see "Love and money: Miracle Wheat and Charles' divorce from Maria"
on p.1a. He socked it away in dummmy companies. The concern to put it into the
Watchtower and live on an undisclosed amount, used to this day, seems to have
been born out of a concern to avoid making alimony payments anywhere near com-
mensurate to his income.
http://gtw6437.tripod.com/id12.html
(I always thought that one of the dumbest things said about Rusell, meant
to indicate his sincere selflessness, was that he died with only $11 in his
pocket. In today's economy, that would be at least ten times that, an amount
anyone might have on them for some spending money. You can't tell anything
about the person's income from that.)
Rutherford had a more overt approach to wealth and socked the wife away. See
"Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc., are coming back to run things, and they're going
to live in one of Rutherford's mansions and drive one of his Cadillac V-16s" on
the same page.
Knorr and subsequent JWs leaders have reverted to Russell's more clandestine
approach about money--see jamiebowers' post.
The recent leaders are pretty clandestine period. But the discouragement of
charity (other than to other JWs), encouragement to round up money for the pub-
lishing at the expense of one's own concerns, inexpensive publishing and Kingdom
Hall materials, etc., indicate a concern to turn as high a profit as possible
for a billion a year business.
http://gtw6437.tripod.com/id16.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkhX5W7JoWI
"As is well known, members of the governing body and other high officials are
so often given sizeable gifts when they travel and speak to the larger Witness
community."
http://www.culthelp.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=283&Itemid=8
