by onacruse 43 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
cabasilas, thanks!
I'm downloading it now...I have to think that that's the GA article to which those Java pioneers referred and which made them chuckle.
Leo, thanks for the offer (via p/m) to help find this, but it looks like caba beat you to it. But that doesn't mean that you're off my "hit" list.
Ona, this info was food at the proper time for us.
The fact that the Society has, under Rutherford and those that followed him, tried to rip apart a fellow Christian, shows how "Christian" they are. Would Christ act like Rutherford did??
Today, it's more the silent treatment with plenty of innuendo.
minimus:
this info was food at the proper time
Ouch! That hurt! LOLOL
Thanks for injecting a bit of humor into this otherwise rather droll and irritating series of posts.
On a general note: That link that caba supplied is incredible! For all the character assassination that the quotes above show, that Golden Age article overtops it all. Of special interest is the closing letter from Tom Sullivan (a long-time and highly regarded GB member), who 'piles on' hip-deep against Salters and says, among other things:
I do not believe the man was ever in the truth, but was and is one of the biggest hypocrites I know.
I'm checking to see if that article can be converted to text, so that selected portions can be posted.
Ona, I never though that was boring at all! I love that type of stuff exposing their hypocrisy with their own words!
I had a chance this week to talk with a fellow poster who lives in Canada, and he told me a couple of things about the local "memory" of Salter, including that he apparently held clear deed to some WTS properties (why is not clear?), and that after this fiasco he simply took claim and left Rutherford holding an empty bag.
Now, while I don't necessarily approve of such an action, I must admit it made me laugh...and perhaps it is an explanation for why Salter never sued the WTS: he already had payment in full and in hand?
I'm still trying to convert that .pdf of the 1937 Golden Age that caba provided.
Here's the letter from Thomas J. Sullivan (long-time member of the WTS Board of Directors, and also of the GB). Unlike the articles above, I've added some bolds:
A Personal Statement Regarding Salter*
* At the last minute, just before going to press, a copy of this letter of T. J. Sullivan to Judge Rutherford was shown to the editor by its author. Its use was begged for this issue. All lovers of truth and justice will enjoy it.
April 16, 1937
DEAR BROTHER RUTHERFORD:
I have just received a copy of Salter's latest tirade, which, for pure hypocrisy and deceit, has no equal. It is a series of deliberate perversion and misapplication of facts which brands it, without a question of doubt, as of the Devil, and his sole intention is to poison the brethren and lead them astray.
I have known this man for the past twenty or more years. We were "elders" together in the hectic days of 1917 and 1918. I have seen the man in his native "heather" with all his bombastic arrogance and conceit manifested from one end of Canada to the other. I have seen him here at Brooklyn, suave, deceitful and an entirely different man from outward appearance. I do not believe the man was ever in the truth, but was and is one of the biggest hypocrites I know.
During the number of years that he has represented the Society I have never known him at any time to give a talk on The Watchtower or any of the Society's publications, but he has always endeavored to use some Tower article or book to substantiate some rattle-brain scheme or theory of his own, an exact reproduction of the ministers who take a text of the Bible as a basis for their devilish theories. I am glad that the Lord has now torn the mask off and revealed the man for what he really is.
In the entire mass of junk that he is sending out there is but one accurate statement, and that is, that he was not capable of answering the party who is reported to have given him the material on our Lord's return and the resurrection of the saints. The man was at no time capable of giving an answer for the hope that was within him because he has really never seen the Lord's organization nor properly discerned the body of Christ.
His covering letter sending out this trash to the brethren is devilish in the extreme. He encloses it in one of the regular Watch Tower envelopes with the return address of 117 Adams Street, which was calculated, of course, to deceive the brethren and lead them to believe that the material was forwarded from the Society's headquarters. By referring to himself as "Salter" and you as "Brother Rutherford" he intended to further his satanic scheme by creating the impression that this was submitted to the brethren for their consideration by the Society, and in order to further develop the deception he then created the impression that these were organization instructions which were not discretionary but entirely mandatory.
All of this reveals the man in his true position as one governed by deceit, hypocrisy, and as a willing tool of the adversary. The implication of his own action is that he is doing this to further the interests of the Lord's work. This would also imply, then, that the Lord was the author of this hypocritical and devilish procedure and would approve such a course of action. His god undoubtedly would, but Jehovah would not.
Salter "raises holy hands in horror" at the pictures and statements appearing in The Golden Age against the Hierarchy and the various other elements of the Devil's organization, but at the same time he is willing to defame and degrade the name of Jehovah God by implying that the course that he is following is approved before the Lord.
Regarding this tirade against you personally: I have never at any time seen such a manipulation, misapplication and perversion of simple facts with such devilish intent. His reference to your homes or offices at Columbia Heights, Staten Island, California, and in other places, as palatial residences with luxurious furnishings, etc., is a deliberate falsehood, and he knows it to be so. He knows that the furnishings of all three places are practical, business-office furniture intended for the furtherance of the Lord's work. In fact, it has often occurred to me, when I had occasion to be in your office for any length of time in the Lord's business, that it could be much more comfortable without taking away in the least from the efficiency of the Lord's work.
However, the fact that impresses me is that he deliberately lies and misrepresents conditions he knows of in order to interfere with the Lord's work. He knows that it is a physical impossibility to settle down and do the studying and research work necessary for the purpose of preparing the Watchtower and book material and other necessary Kingdom service at the office at 124 Columbia Heights, because of the innumerable interruptions of all sorts that occur there from the telephone, the various brethren calling up about this, that and the other thing. He also knows of your physical condition making it impossible for you to live in the eastern part of the United States during the winter months and look after the direction of the Lord's work and prepare the necessary material that should be prepared; that Staten Island affords an opportunity for you to get away and do this research work and prepare the material that is necessary to be prepared, and quiet, for proper thought and consideration to be given to it without the many interruptions; and that California enables you to work throughout the winter without the physical handicaps that you would have in the east. And, above all this, the manifest blessing of the Lord upon the tremendous amount of work that has been turned out under this arrangement is of itself sufficient answer to the foul charges made by this man. The Lord himself has blessed it and manifested His approval on the setup as it exists, and if Salter were not blinded to all honesty, justice and common decency, he would include these known facts in his letter, that the brethren might get a more accurate picture of the true situation.
His reference to your cars at Brooklyn and San Diego is similarly misleading. In the first place, he knows that these cars were not purchased by yourself or with the Society's resources, but were a present to you. In the second place, he does not tell the friends that this car is used in Brooklyn in the service when you are away.
His reference to the Society's resources is devilish in itself, because it is such a deliberate misrepresentation of facts that he is familiar with. The man knows he is lying and creates a false impression when he presents it the way he does. He refers to the fact that there is a difference between the cost of production of the literature and the amount at which the companies receive the literature, but he does not say that well over fifty percent of the literature placed is placed by pioneers at less than cost of production. He does not say that a very large percentage of this literature is shipped to foreign countries at even less than cost of production. He does not remind the friends of the thousands upon thousands of dollars that are spent every year on broadcasts and for the recorded programs on the different stations throughout the world. Nor does he call attention to the thousands more that are given to pioneers in convention allowances and other provisions each year, nor the thousands that are sent throughout the earth to foreign lands to extend the Kingdom work in these places which are not self-sustaining. His letter implies that the difference in these amounts is something that you personally receive and use for your own pleasure, despite the fact that he knows that all monies received by the Society are received by the treasurer, banked by the treasurer, and that you could not, even if you wanted to, draw a personal check upon them.
If Salter were really halfway honest and wanted to give the brethren an accurate picture he would give them these facts; but that would not suit his purposes or the purposes of his father, and, as a willing tool, he confines his remarks to the limitations placed upon him to advance the interests of his Satanic majesty.
I am surely thankful to the Lord that during the past twelve years I have been enabled to be in a position to know the true facts regarding these situations, although even without that knowledge there would be no justification for accepting Salter's vilification of yourself.
The Lord's blessing upon the Kingdom service throughout the earth during the past twenty-odd years that you have served as president of the organization is the greatest proof, of course, of His favor and blessing, but this willful and deliberate misrepresentation of facts with such devilish ingenuity, which I know to be false, established beyond any shadow of doubt in my mind that the other things he brings up in his letter, which I do not happen to be familiar with, are just as false and misleading and instigated by the Devil for the purpose of opposing the Lord and the advancement of His organization.
Relative to his "crackpot" theories on our Lord's return and the resurrection of the saints, and Armageddon: These are not worthy of receiving any consideration. Anyone who has read The Watchtower during the past fifteen or more years will readily see that his play on words to set aside the mass of Scriptural evidence is worse than childish and is nothing but the babbling of one who, if he ever had any truth in him, has now turned into darkness.
The mass of evidence appearing in the parables of the "Pounds", "Talents," "Wise and Foolish Virgins," "Sheep and Goats," Lord's Coming to His Temple, in "Birth of The Nation", revealing the two organizations, and, in fact, all the Kingdom literature, up to and including the "Joseph" articles and "Song of the Harlot", so definitely repudiates the position taken by Salter and his associates that anyone with the mind of the Lord will have no trouble in discerning the truth on this matter. But the colossal audacity of the man is manifest in expecting you to set aside the columns of The Watchtower, which the Lord is using to bring forth such vital truth as contained in the "Joseph" articles, "Malachi," "Song of the Harlot," and devote its pages to the discussion of his theories on Armageddon and the Lord's return. I and all the rest of the Lord's people truly thank the Lord that you have the vision, courage and uncompromising devotion to the Lord that will not consider such a compromise under any circumstances.
I feel better that I have gotten this off my chest, and I want you to know that I am convinced that the Lord's people throughout the earth appreciate your loyalty and devotion to Him and His cause and that such inconsistent vilification and misrepresentation as Salter and his associates distribute only more clearly manifest your true integrity and devotion to the Lord and His cause.
May Jehovah continue to preserve and direct you in the vindication of His name and to the comfort and aid of His people in this great battle that we are privileged to be in.
Your brother and fellow servant,
T. J. SULLIVAN.
Did you type that all out or do you have an OCR that works with that quality of scan?
Leo,
I used the OCR that AO supplied (thanks! ), but it still required a fair bit of editing. For example, it's not unusual (in my experience) that the two-column format of the originals becomes blended as a single column, requiring that each line be compared to the original and separately cut and pasted into it's proper place, as was true for this text.
But in this case the basic quality of the scan (insofar as the individual character read-out is concerned), was very clean. Most of the 20s WTs, and a good many of the 30s WTs, are just so degraded that the OCR only renders pure gobble-de-gook.
And, fwiw, I've had to read every single word of every one of the c/p's I've posted on this thread...and therefore donations to my psychotherapeutic contingency fund would be very much appreciated! LOL
If anyone thinks it's worth it, I'd be willing to go through the rest of that Golden Age (the Woodworth part), and post it up...but I don't want to belabor anyone with what might just be overkill.
Ona,
That'd be a lot of work. Perhaps just significant parts? It would make the info more accessible to have it here instead of buried in a PDF.
caba, OK then! I have one taker, and that's good enough.
It isn't so bad, once you get used to it.
And thank you for providing the link to that Golden Age article to begin with...although maybe I should be sending you a mail-bomb back. LOL
I'll work on it over the next couple of days.
