by Noumenon 6 Replies latest jw experiences
Hi - can someone give me a run-down on the new President of the WTS since Milton Henschel's death, ie, age, background, etc. Is he a member of the GB? No doubt a lot of threads already about this, so apologies if this is already been covered numerous times b4.
ta
I understand that after the reformation of the organization, the GB resigned all official positions of corporate office ... only non-anointed leaders are now officers of the 5 main holding corporations ... but the new President of the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of New York is Don Adams who worked at one time as the head of the legal department.
The reason for all this is stated officially by the WTS. They ostensibly did it to relieve the GB from mundane service so they could concentrate on only 'spiritual' matters ... however ... given the pelthora of lawsuits, it may have also been a move to help shield them from prosecution in civil suits in cases of blood and pedophilia ...
However, the RICO laws can and likely will be used to penetrate this corporate shield to both prosecute the GB and seize assets. Perhaps that is why the WTS is also selling assets like the 360 Furman building ... to get liquid assets and move them to another country. - Jim W.
Amazing,
I thought the same thing when I heard of the sale of their Brooklyn real estate. Why else would a corporate sell such a valuable asset that only increases in worth? I'm pretty sure that everything will be moved to their Patterson site, there has been alot of expansion there in the past decade. They even support themselves agriculturally there.
I guess it is a pretty shrewd move...and the GB won't ever go to prision like in the days of Rutherford--they just step out of the picture and let the other guys go to prison, if it ever comes to that.
I just started a new thread on this subject. Sorry. I've been on vacation and pretty much offline the whole time.
Mom tells me it is Max Larson, who is not a GB member, nor is he of the "annointed". He is an old friend of the family, and was in town last week, and dropped in to visit her. Damn! We were out of town. That might have been a fun visit. But, he is 90 and Mom says he is very frail. His wife was in the car, and has MS, so doesn't get around easily.
The President is just a title for corporate reasons, and has no authority other than signing papers.
Don Adams is now president of the WTBTS. Seems to me he is a bussiness man:
http://www.watchtowernews.org/reorganization.htm
Date: Sat, 7 Oct 2000 20:56:26 -0400
I wanted to share some announcements with you that were made at the
Annual Meeting today. (sent by a Bethelite)
The Governing Body has decided that the positions of President, Vice
President, Secretary/Treasurer, etc. in the legal corporations (e.g.,
Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, Inc.; Watchtower
Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., etc.) do not have to be filled
by anointed brothers. Therefore, all of the brothers that were currently
holding these positions, all of whom were on the Governing Body, have
resigned. Brothers of the other sheep have replaced them. Therefore,
brother Don Adams is now the president of the Watch Tower Society.
Quite a lengthy discussion was given as to the reason this was decided
and why it's OK. Essentially, it boils down to the fact that this allows
the Governing Body to step back and deal primarily with spiritual
matters, while these brothers of the other sheep handle day-to-day
business operations of the legal corporations.
In addition, three new corporations have been formed:
1) Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, which will supervise
matters of a religious and educational nature. This includes organizing
the preaching work, holding conventions, etc. The directors and officers
of this corporation are primarily brothers who work closely with the
Service department in Patterson. Brother William Van de Wall is the
president of this corporation.
2) Religious Order of Jehovah's Witnesses, which cares for matters
pertaining to those in Special Full-Time service, including Bethelites,
Special Pioneers, Traveling Overseers, etc. Brother Patrick LaFranca is
the president of this corporation.
3) Kingdom Support Services, Inc., which handles design & engineering of
buildings and holds titles to vehicles used by the Society.
Isn't Adams president of the Pennsylvania corp, and Max Larson president of the New York, or vice versa?
Anyway, Milty has not been president for a couple years, so his passing is irrelevant in that regard. Now there really is no one person in charge, it appears, just a vague "Governing Body." Must be God's arrangement, I guess.
