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Rutherford's Paradise - Film Footage of Beth Sarim
by RayPublisher 73 Replies latest watchtower scandals
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RayPublisher
@Londo - That would be enormous, enough to dent the faith of at least some of the JW faithful...but most would just say, "imperfect men" and keep on worshiping the GB.
@ob - Fascinating article. Beth Shan had a secret bomb shelter, wow.
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St George of England
Wonder what the big tank was for that they were burying? Possibly fuel?
From what I have read on here there were two underground tanks, one for fuel as they had their own generators, and one for water in addition to the well.
There were two bomb shelters one of which was discovered when the area was divided up and sold off. A property was built over it and is still in use today as an underground 'den'
Beth Shan was built for Rutherford and his close 'associates', Gilead was built for the Bethel family, to see them all through WWII into the New World.
George
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AndersonsInfo
When my husband Joe and I were living at Bethel we saw the Joe Lubeck film that RayPublisher has introduced to Facebook and JWN. Some time ago, a JWN poster who calls himself Athanasius posted the information below which came from me, "a former Bethelite."
I just corrected some of the statements made by Athanasius and I'd like to add that somewhere in the middle of the Lubeck film, a woman with a hat is shown. That is Bonnie Boyd Heath. She married Wm Heath Jr. and actually Beth Shan was built for them to live in (because as Rutherford's companions, they didn't want to live with Rutherford and he agreed), by Wm Heath Junior's father, although the deed wasn't put in their name. In RayPublisher's film, we don't think he has all of it. What we didn't see (or maybe missed) is Mr. Heath Sr. and Rutherford strolling along the walk at Beth Sarim talking and looking at the construction of Beth Shan as is explained below. We think that both men carried walking sticks. Mrs. Heath was a Bible Student (JW) and big contributor, but Mr. Heath and Rutherford were friends.
Joe Lubeck and his wife Rose are presently deceased.
Here's what Athanasius posted in the Berta and Bonnie thread a while back. (Remember I said above that I edited some of the material to make it accurate.)
"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 color and was probably made around 1939 or 1940... This 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 circa 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, who he said was president of Coca Cola, and 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. (Dan Sydlik, Sam Friend and Merton Campbell were on the Family Night Committee and never heard of Beth Shan until Lubeck came forward with the film asking to show it to the Bethel Family.) Beth Shan was a topic of conversation for days after the film was shown. Joe Lubeck's wife was named Rose."
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. at one time 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 the Atlanta, GA 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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steve2
Looking at Rutherford's grand "style" fascinates but also sickens me. He lived in the lap of luxury whilst the rank and file did the hard work, which in my family were my maternal and paternal grandparents.
My maternal grandmother told me that they had a photo of "Judge" Rutherford on their sitting room mantlepiece from the 1930s onwards but that when my grandfather was assigned to be Presiding Overseer in a local company (I think that's what they were called in the late 40s through 1950s), Presiding Overseers from nearby companies told him to get rid of the photo of Rutherford. This would have been during Knorr's presidency.
My lovely grandmother also told me that she was relieved to finally have a reason to get rid of the photo because most witnesses knew through the grapevine at that time he was not a good man and that Jehovah God had cleaned up the organization since Rutherford's time. I cannot remember the exact words my grandmother used about "the Judge" - but they were not at all flattering. It is interesting to reflect that had she made her views known - especially during Rutherford's time she would have been excommunicated - I don't think it was called "disfellowshipping" until the 1940s.
My grandmother died relatively young - age 62 in 1972 but I'll never forget her little quietly expressed disclosures of her life in the organization when she and my grandfather were baptized as Bible Students around 1926 as a very young married couple - toiling away with very little in New Zealand and barely making ends meet but expecting the end very soon. Terribly sad - but it was what they believed and devoted their lives to
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designs
Great to preserve this history, amazing that even Bethelites do not know the details of Rutherford.
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AndersonsInfo
A Bethelite for many years from the 1930s on, Arthur Worsley, told Joe and me that he hated Rutherford because of his demeaning treatment of Arthur and other Bethelites. In one private discussion, Arthur said that while he and other men froze while working in the factory in the winter, Rutherford was enjoying beautiful Calif. weather. And while the men in the WT factory were roasting inside the building in the summer without so much as a fan blowing upon them, Rutherford was enjoying ocean breezes in a lovely ocean-side home on Staten Island, NY where he claimed he needed to be to concentrate on his book writing.
In the winter of his life, Arthur had recurring nightmares of Rutherford screaming at him. When he'd awaken from the horror, to calm himself down, he would repeat over and over, "Jesus is king ruling on his throne." Then he would sit the rest of the night in his recliner and try to sleep there because if he would lie down in bed, the nightmares would start again. This happened over and over again for the rest of his life.
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problemaddict
Absolutely riviting.
We clearly live in the age of the documentary. Just log onto your netflix account and say otherwise. There is a young film student out there just BEGGING for material like this, on such a well know American religion.
There is so much information. The societies own publications could be used in much of it. The finishing of the "Finished Mystery". The evolution in doctrine. The "cleansing" and subsaquent takeover. The man himself.
So much to work with. People would watch.
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Oubliette
So Barbara, do I understand you correctly? Are you saying that William Heath Sr. was NEVER a Bible Student or a JW, but he WAS a member of the WTBTS Board of Directors!?!?
Please clarify.
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glenster
Cool find! He's probably just happy to be giving himself a rich man's estate. I'm sure I remember a photo of him at the pool sticking his tongue way out (ew) at the camera but I haven't seen it on the Internet in years.