The MYSTERY of the Society's BETH-SHAN secret cult compound

by Terry 43 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Bobcat

  Terry quoted:

  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.

  At last years (or possibly the year before) DC, the public talk gave an experience where a witness was returning home after being let go from a camp. He runs into a German official who is fleeing after Germany collapsed. The German official asks the witness, "What now?" (That is, the Nazi thought the WT was fortelling that Germany would win. And since that wasn't happening, what now?)

  The witness says something along the lines of, 'We always knew that Germany would lose.' Leading to the speaker bragging about the 'FDS' being on top of events.

  This is why they don't want witnesses digging thru the past.

  Sorry. This isn't about the Society's bomb shelter per se. Their history just leaves me dumbstruck.
• 

  LongHairGal

  Terry:

  I never heard about this compound but I did hear about Beth Sarim. All embarrassing history like this is hidden from new members in the religion.

  Just speculation of course, but I wondered the same thing myself, if there is a well-stocked hiding place underground for all the heavies and the inner circle kept secret from all the other JWs, so they can slither away and hide. It would be similar to the ones rumored to be built out west somewhere in the desert for all the super-rich. Their own personal ark, if you want to call it that.

  In my opinion, people who build these shelters and manage to survive some catastrophe might not necessarily be so lucky. What kind of world will they emerge out into when it is all over??
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  Terry

  There are many such secrets in the Jehovah's Witness past!

  How many present day JW's even know that until 1954 all Watchtower Leaders taught that Jesus was to be worshiped?

  Probably none of them!
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  cofty

  Fascinating, thanks.

  I knew about Beth Sarim but not Beth Shan.

  It would surprise me if the current GB did not have emergency evacuation plans.
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  designs

  Nice details. I use to drive by the place in the first couple of years after I left.
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  Leolaia

  Athanasius posted this in the Berta and Bonnie thread a while back:

  Last week a former Bethelite told me that William Heath Sr., though not a JW, was a friend of Rutherford. The former Bethelite also said that hidden in the Bethel archives is a film of JFR and Heath Sr. walking together and viewing the construction of Beth Shan. The film is in black and white and was probably made around 1939 or 1940... A former Bethelite sent me some interesting information regarding the Heaths. It seems that Joe Lubeck, showed his personal film to the entire Bethel family on Family night sometime in the 1980s or early 1990s. According to my friend:

  "Lubeck said he was the gardener and handyman at Beth Shan when he was young. The film showed Rutherford walking with an old man who Lubeck identified as Mr. Heath, president of Coca Cola, who Lubeck said financed and gave as a gift to Rutherford, Beth Shan. Lubeck was emphatic when he stressed that Watchtower had nothing to do with the building of Beth Shan. He definitely stated that this gentleman was not a JW. Most Bethelites who saw the film were shocked because the majority did not know there was a place called Beth Shan in WT history, including most people in the Executive Offices. This was a topic of conversation for days after the film was shown. Joe Lubeck's wife was named Rose. He may still be alive living at Bethel.

  William Heath Sr. was the father of Heath Jr., husband of Bonnie Boyd (Heath) and a member of the Board of Directors (as the Governing Body was then) of the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society. Heath Sr. was the master chemist for the Coca-Cola Company (responsible, in fact, for the drink's formula). I don't think Heath Sr. was a Bible Student or JW. Prior to becoming involved with the Watchtower Society, Heath Jr. was vice president of a Coca-Cola bottling company. His sister (who was also a JW) was married to a man who would become the president of the World Bank.
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  Terry

  Leoalia, thanks for that.

  I love a delicious topic that just keeps having more and more layers to it!

  Pretty soon we'll discover that the Rothchild's are ruling the world from their underground headquarters in Beth Shan!!
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  cofty

  Leolaia thanks that is astonishing information!
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  Terry

  From the Olin Moyle court transcripts:

  The following is found on page 1259 of the transcripts and William Heath is being questioned by Hayden Covington, the Watch Tower attorney.

  The following is found on page 1259 of the transcripts and William Heath is being questioned by Hayden Covington, the Watch Tower attorney.
  
  Q: You are one of the defendants in this action, are you not?
  
  Heath: Yes.
  
  Q: How long have you been one of Jehovah's Witnesses?
  
  Heath: Since 1932.
  
  Q: And your mother is one of Jehovah's Witnesses, is she?
  
  Heath: Yes, she is.
  
  Q: How long has she been one of Jehovah's Witnesses?
  
  Heath: Since about 1915.
  
  Q: Did you know Judge Rutherford during his lifetime?
  
  Heath: Yes, I did.
  
  Q: How long were you acquainted with him?
  
  Heath: I first became acquainted with him about 1934.
  
  On pages 1294-1295 Heath is cross examined by Moyle's attorney.
  
  Q: Where did you come from before you took up your residence in Bethel?
  
  Heath: Georgia.
  
  Q: And what year did you leave Georgia?
  
  Heath: Well, I left it the first time, I believe, about 1922. Then I was there again before I came to Bethel.
  
  Q: What employments did you have before you went to Bethel?
  
  Heath: I worked as a salesman.
  
  Q: Selling what?
  
  Heath: Coca-Cola.
  
  Q: Did you become a minister?
  
  Heath: Yes.
  
  Q: When?
  
  Heath: In 1932.
  
  Q: How long did you study to become a minister?
  
  Heath: I had studied seven or eight years.
  
  Q: At the Watch Tower classes?
  
  Heath: No, not classes. I had the books and the Bible, and I studied both.
  
  Q: Did you belong to an organized church before you became a Jehovah?
  
  Heath: No.
  
  Q: No church at all?
  
  Heath: I wasn't a member of one. I had attended a good many.
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  Scott77

  very interesting thread. Thanks for posting