What is the WTS's motive?

by careful fader 82 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

Francois

As Henry Kissinger so aptly put it, power is the ultimate aphrodisiac. It's so powerful in fact, it works on the person who has it. Did you see the BBC attempt to interview Ted Jaracz for it's child sex abuse program? The man oozed arrogance from each and every pore.
Not only that, but these characters travel a lot. When they travel, they stay at five-star hotels, eat in the best resturants, purchase the services of the most sophisticated ~~prostitutes~~, um, escorts. And I'd say they have their own private jets. Don't know that for a fact, but with their income and rate of travel, it makes sense.
Your questions could reasonably have been asked of the renaissance popes. It was utterly unnecessary for them to have provoked the protestant revolt - but they did. They did it because they could; because they had the power.
Think about it.
francois
garybuss

Hi Careful Fader, You wrote:

the GB lives at bethel in a pretty low standard of living. It's not power . . .

Those are two Corporation teachings, but are they true?

On the topic of low standard of living, please look at these pictures of their accommodations with groomed grounds, multiple suites, open travel and expense accounts, spas, tennis courts, servants, company cars and chauffeurs.
Click on this link or paste it in your browser to see more.

http://members.shaw.ca/theotrip/index.htm

On the issue of power . . . . They have 12 million + people who hang on their every word, who treat them like royalty, who meet them and greet them and wine and dine them and see that their every need is met. How does this compare to your life? Or how does it compare to the life of the elderly pioneer who is single and old and living in poverty on the entitlement system to meet her needs?
How does this compare to your backyard?

The leaders living in powerless poverty is a doctrine like Millions Now Living Will Never Die. Do the facts support it?

The Way I See it http://www.freeminds.org/buss/buss.htm
Ravyn

the photos and the presentation of them really got to me. I can't believe at one time I would have been proud of it all. any religion in the US would be proud of what the Watchtower has. and from those photos, it could have been any religon. put those photos up against the ones I used to see in the Watchtower of the starving African brothers living in huts and it is sickening. shameless decadence built on the sweat of blind slaves. I am shaking from those photos, I saw the very diningroom table where I ate at! I am so ashamed.
Ravyn
gcc2k

Carefulfade, welcome. You are echoing similar questions that I (and many others before me I'm sure) have raised. If we accept that this is not God's organization, what really is the motivation for them to claim to be such? I'm not sure I buy the power trip reasoning. Is it good to be CEO of a company, controlling everything? Sure. But along with that role comes a huge salary, stock options, guaranteed employment, etc. If there is in fact something rotten in Brooklyn, it's got to be about money. Kingdom Halls are built with volunteer labor and financed by interest bearing loans from the Society (profit). They are later remodeled with additional loans (more profit) and then later sold (still more profit), at which point a new, larger, nicer hall is built, again with volunteer labor and, you guessed it, more loans. So where does all this profit go? It's alleged that the Society has billions of dollars in fixed and liquid assets. I believe that. But, who has access to spend that money, and how? It's got to be the world's best kept secret if no one has been able to figure this out in all these years of people falling away.
amac

Many of the GB live quite well actually. There was a thread recently talking about how they owned private jets and got to travel all over.

There is nothing low about that standard of living.

There is nothing high about there standard of living either. At least not while I was at Bethel. I only saw one of GB's room, but it was the same size as my friend who lived right next to them. And it wasn't "one of many" you could tell it was full-time occupied by two old people.
I couldn't find any threads on private jets, but I would be hard pressed to believe this without some serious evidence. At best, I would guess that the WT might own a private jet that it uses to fly people around in. But that is quite different from the GB owning their own private jets. There is nothing unusual about a corporation the size of the WT to own a corporate jet or at least a time share of one.
When they travel, they stay at five-star hotels, eat in the best resturants, purchase the services of the most sophisticated ~~prostitutes~~, um, escorts. And I'd say they have their own private jets. Don't know that for a fact, but with their income and rate of travel, it makes sense.
Francois -
Is this all complete speculation? Or are there actual reasons why anyone should believe this? Those are serious accusations. I would hate for someone to publicly state that Francois hires hookers ever chance he gets, especially if it wasn't true.
rocketman

Interesting thread - and a subject that has been discussed here before.
I think that Power is a motivator, regardless of the amount of Money involved. For example, elders don't get paid, and generally don't receive perks, and yet many of them are on a power-trip.
I was an elder, and I can say that, though I was considered a nice guy in the congregation and all that, there is an ego-boost that takes place. For me, being an elder became one of the biggest, if not the biggest, accomplishments in my life, and in time, a lot, and I do mean a lot, of my self-esteem was based on my standing as an elder. It became something I felt validated who I was, like a doctor is a doctor. I was an elder. I had authority. To me, that was validation. I can only imagine how men with authority over the entire organization might feel.
amac

I think that most of them fully believe in what they do. They turn a blind eye to things that might normally trigger there thought processes. Why do they do this? I would guess a mixture of power (as others have said) and success.
In success I mean that it is very easy to be a successfull JW. It is not hard at all to "climb the ladder." You can be very unsuccessful in life, but very successful as a JW. And along with that comes the power, reverence, authority, self-esteem, etc as others have pointed out.
Is this entirely bad? I'm not sure it is for everyone. I'm sure there are a number of JWs, publishers, MS, and Elders that benefit from a boost to their self-esteem and it might even make them better fathers, husbands, sons, etc because of this confidence. I'm sure there are a number of JW's that would be complete losers in society if it wasn't for "the truth."
The flipside is, of course, you get a lot of bad elders, power abusers, guys who completely miss the point of what they are "supposed" to be doing.
Gerard

Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Inc: Like any other corporation, profits are the top priotrity. The elite that ultimately profits economicaly is not visible to the public.
[FromNewsday.com, in an article reporting the top-40 New York City corporations.]
[ http://www.newsday.com/business/printedition/ny-cvtop52369349sep17.story?coll=ny%2Dbusiness%2Dprint]
Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of New York

25 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, 11201

718-560-5000

www.jw-media.org

Revenue: $951 million
Industry: Publishing

President: Milton Henshel

Employees: 3,415

It takes a lot of printing to supply more than 6 million Jehovah's Witnesses with the materials for their ministry. One publication, Watchtower, now has an average print run of 23 million copies twice per month, an increase of 7.5 percent over last year.

"Our report for the year is different from a Wall Street company," said vice president George Couch. Indeed, the company's employees are volunteers who live and work in the Brooklyn complex.
Biggest Pressline order ever:
http://members.whattheythink.com/news/newslink.cfm?id=9398
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/919034/000104746902007862/a2087860z485bpos.txt
I just found another company on which the Watchtower is a shareholder:
MUTUAL FUND TRUST , located in: 522 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10036
The WT is listed as a shareholder under the name of:
WATCHTOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA
ATTN TREASURERS OFFICE
DOMESTIC CASH MANAGEMENT
25 COLUMBIA HTS BROOKLYN NY 11201-1300
Percentage held: 5.51%

The WTBTS of PA is actually listed as 5.51% owner of the J P Morgan Liquid Assets Money Market Fund:
LIQUID ASSETS MONEY MARKET FUND JP MORGAN CHASE BANK AS AGENT FOR 8.10%
(INSTITUTIONAL SHARES) PAUL G ALLEN
ATTN SPECIAL PRODUCTS
500 STANTON CHRISTIANA RD
1/OPS 3
NEWARK DE 19713
JP MORGAN CHASE BANK AS AGENT FOR 6.45%
ICO GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS
ATTN SPECIAL PRODUCTS
500 STANTON CHRISTIANA RD
1/OPS 3
NEWARK DE 19713
JPMORGAN CHASE BANK 5.81%
LIPPER CONVERTIBLES LP
ATTN: FUND OPERATIONS 3/OPS3
500 STANTON CHRISTIANA ROAD
NEWARK DE 19713-2105
JP MORGAN SECURITIES LENDING ASSET 5.77%
MANAGEMENT
ATTN ADAM BRINTON
4 NEW YORK PLZ FL 18
NEW YORK NY 10004-2413
BEAR STEARNS SECURITIES CORP 5.77%
1 METROTECH CTR N
BROOKLYN NY 11201-3870
WATCHTOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY OF 5.51% PENNSYLVANIA ATTN TREASURERS OFFICE DOMESTIC CASH
MANAGEMENT
25 COLUMBIA HTS
BROOKLYN NY 11201-1300

If you go to http://www.jpmorganfunds.com/index.jsp?uuid=F11404F1E66B3AD4-10390318391991990&fund=2252&team_id=3 and click on "Fund Profile" under "Fund Literature", it will tell you that the fund assets are $1.69 Billion. If you take 5.51% of that $1.69 Billion comes to $93,119,000. That is some serious money!
http://www.oha.doe.gov/cases/refunds/2002/September/rk27201885.htm
U. S. Department of Energy
Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA)
Case No. RK272-01885

September 5, 2002
DECISION AND ORDER
OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Supplemental Order
Names of Cases: Watchtower Bible & Tract Society
Dates of Cases: July 14, 1995
Case Numbers: RK272-01885
Pursuant to the long-standing policy of the Department of Energy (DOE), thousands of purchasers of petroleum products have applied for, and been granted, refunds from crude oil overcharge funds under the jurisdiction of the DOEs Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA). See Statement of Modified Restitutionary Policy To Be Implemented In Crude Oil Cases, 51 Fed. Reg. 27899 (August 4, 1986). The standards for considering Applications for Refund from these crude oil funds are set forth at 10 C.F.R. Part 205, Subpart V.
The OHA has approved more than 87,000 requests for refund from the pool of crude oil overcharge funds. In Subpart V crude oil refund cases, a claimant is generally eligible for a refund equal to the number of gallons of eligible refined petroleum products it purchased during the period from August 19, 1973 through January 27, 1981, multiplied by a per gallon amount. That per gallon refund amount is derived by dividing the total refund monies available by the total U.S. consumption of petroleum products during the crude oil price control period. Refunds had been calculated by multiplying the number of gallons of eligible refined petroleum products purchased by the applicant by $0.0008 (the volumetric factor). That volumetric factor had been in use since April 1989, when it replaced an earlier volumetric factor of $0.0002 per gallon. Any applicant who received a refund at the lower volumetric factor also received a supplemental refund based on an additional $0.0006 per gallon. See Crude Oil Supplemental Refund Distribution, 18 DOE 85,878 (1989).
Additional crude oil overcharge funds have become available for disbursement and we can now issue additional refund checks to applicants. Sufficient funds are available to pay applicants at a new, aggregate rate of $0.0016 per gallon.(1) Thus, the amount of the supplemental refund will be equal to the refund already received. Refunds are rounded to the nearest dollar.
In order to receive a supplemental refund check, applicants are being required to verify (directly or through their representatives) that their name and address in our records are correct, to correct any information that is not accurate, and to indicate whether there has been any change in circumstances affecting the payment of the refund. We intend to issue a series of Decision and Orders approving supplemental refunds as we receive completed verification forms from all applicants or certifications from their representatives.
This Decision and Order contains the name and address of a claimant receiving one of these supplemental refund checks. In this case, we were informed that there had been a change of circumstances since the previous refund was disbursed. Accordingly, we set up a new case file (designated RK272-)(2) and investigated whether the party that submitted the verification form (or on whose behalf the form was submitted) was the proper party to receive the supplemental refund. On the basis of that investigation, we have determined that the party listed below is the proper recipient of the supplemental refund. The dollar amount of the supplemental refund being approved in this Order for the claimant is $7,787.
It Is Therefore Ordered That:
(1) The Director of Special Accounts and Payroll, Office of Departmental Accounting and Financial Systems Development, Office of the Controller of the Department of Energy shall take appropriate action to disburse a supplemental refund of $7,787 to the claimant at the following address:
Watchtower Bible & Tract Society
c/o James Kimball
25 Columbia Heights
Brooklyn, NY 11201-2483
(2) The funds shall be disbursed from the escrow fund denominated Crude Tracking-Claimants IV, Account No. 999DOE010Z, maintained at the Department of Treasury.
(3) To facilitate the payment of any future refunds, an applicant shall notify the Office of Hearings and Appeals in the event that there is a change of address, or if an address correction is necessary. Such notification shall be sent to:
Office of Hearings and Appeals
HG-1/LEnfant Plaza Building
U.S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Ave., S.W.
Washington, DC 20585-1615
(4) Any conditions imposed that applied to an applicants receipt of the initial crude oil refund shall also apply to that applicants receipt of this supplemental refund.
(5) This is a final Order of the Department of Energy.
George B. Breznay
Director
Office of Hearings and Appeals
Now think of it for a second: for a refund of $7,787 at a rate of $0.0006 per gallon, the WT must have traded 12,978,333 gallons (thats almost thirteen million gallons of crude oil!) The dates of case originaly filed is July 14, 1995, closed on September 5, 2002 but it is unclear to me the time range in which the WT purchased this large volume of crude oil - and its use.
Full details can be downloaded from OHA Crude Oil Refunds Information--Database Crude Oil Refund Data Base. The file will require an additional 24Mb of disk space.": http://www.oha.doe.gov/data.htm
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief2.asp?ev_id=20001207X03587&ntsbno=ANC95LA077&akey=1
ANC95LA077
"On June 12, 1995, at 1530 Alaska daylight time, a wheel equipped Cessna 402B airplane, N710WS, registered to and operated by the Watchtower Bible Organization and Tract Society, collapsed its nose gear while taxiing back after landing. The business flight, operating under 14 CFR Part 91, departed Good News, Alaska, and the destination was Tuntutuliak, Alaska. No flight plan was filed and visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The airline transport certificated pilot and the three passengers were not injured and the airplane was substantially damaged.

According to the Director of the Watchtower Bible Organization, who was also a passenger on the airplane, they were taxiing back to the ramp after landing. The runway had just been graded and a small depression in the runway's surface was filled with soft material. The airplane's nose gear rolled into the depression and the nose gear collapsed.

The Director of the Watchtower Bible Organization stated that the soft area on the runway had been marked with yellow cones. He stated that the runway maintenance person told them the cones were removed so the runway surface could be graded. The cones had not been replaced.

There were no NOTAMS (Notice to Airmen) issued. The Alaska Supplement, however, states that runway conditions are not monitored and that a visual inspection is recommended. The supplement states that there are dips and ruts to 4 inches deep."
Cruise Speed: 210 kts Fuel Capacity: 102.00 gal Range: 1180 nautical miles.
Cessna 402B , The letter "B" stands for Business comfort & Luxury.
Their destination, Tuntutuliak, Alaska is located 440 miles west of Anchorage with one well known activity : Salmon fishing.
Think of them having fun with their luxurious airplanes next time you go out on the field or send them your money!
1) The WT owns and operates a shale mine in NY
http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dmn/minres/shale_xls.htm
306 3 0227 WATCHTOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY SHALE MINE 900 RED MILLS ROAD WALLKILL NY 12589 914-744-2041 DENNIS OSTENDORF SHALE A 3 ULSTER SHAWANGUNK
2) The WT got a $30,000 polluting fine < http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.aspx?id=36527&site=3 on the same shale mine.
3) Now, this "environmentaly responsible" owner/operator expands its Earth-raping operation to a sand and gravel mine:
http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dmn/minres/sg4_xls.htm
306 3 0243 WATCHTOWER BIBLE SOCIETY BIRCH RD. 900 RED MILLS RD. WALLKILL NY 12589 914-744-2041 DENNIS OSTENDORF SAND AND GRAVEL A 3 ULSTER SHAWANGUNK
- where is all this money going? Who benefits from having it?
...and you thought Jehovah is misterious!
Watchtower's Governing Body
Meeting Room
metatron

imagine that you are one of them
You've given your whole life to this cult. You just can't believe it's all Bullsh#t.
You don't enjoy food that much. You're too old for sports. You haven't had an erection in a year or two.
What's left - to go on living for?
Power ------ Ego That's all that's left. That's why you go on, lying, hiding, covering up and deceiving a mass of poorly educated
cultists who avoid thinking.
Ain't life great?
metatron
rocketman

Gerard, thanks for the posted info!

What is the WTS's motive?

Case No. RK272-01885

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