For the last month or so the very anti-watchtower website “six screens of the watchtower” has had a special caller on their bi-monthly call show, a young man claiming to be from Bethel. He is allegedly calling from inside Bethel, is assigned to the IT department and was tasked with monitoring so-called “apostate websites” and other computer and internet related duties. He claims to have fake Facebook pages to gain information on Witnesses and dig up dirt on them, as well as many other secret ways to hack computers. At first when I heard him I was skeptical, but then began to think that perhaps he is on the level. Many of the things he has brought out shows he knows a lot about the organization and the governing body too.

Well I downloaded and listened to the last six screens conference call like many others recently (this is the third one now), and Johnny sounds sincere and honest one moment, then a minute later….not. This is the third time he has called in to the show. He certainly knows a lot about Bethel, and having been there a few years myself I can vouch for that. But on this last call dated February 12, 2011 he was asked what the current stipend is for Bethelites. This is something any Bethelite would know even if THEY HAD JUST BEEN HIT BY A BUS. He said well I don’t get my stipend I am from a well-off family, etc. and stumbled on the question badly. Perhaps be genuinely doesn’t know, but it is a topic of conversation and very important to the starving Bethel brothers and sisters so how could he possibly not know? The other thing he said was that housekeeping only comes twice a week. Unless something has radically changed they come every day even if it is only for a few minutes- I don’t think that has changed for eons. Another sister started questioning him about his claim that they will not let him leave, and she made the point that if anything about you isn’t kosher you are ejected immediately. Which is true and anyone that has ever served there will confirm that one. He said that he couldn’t and didn’t want to be discredited and that he has several flash drives with confidential documents as well as an off-site cache of photocopied papers. If that is the case, another brother asked why don’t you send some of this information to us and release it- that will establish your credibility beyond a doubt. He dodged that question also.

So as interesting as it is, these things are making me question whether he is legit or not. But the meatier things he has said and his obvious appreciation for the older ones and those of the annointed shine through. If you decide to download these audio files and try and listen, be warned two are close to six hours long and one is 12 hours long, so you have been warned. A summary of one of the calls is here. Who knows? Perhaps time will tell…
.
.
UPDATE – FEBRUARY 21, 2011

Johnny appears to be a fraud for several reasons and I have it on good authority that he is very certainly NOT at Bethel. It’s sad that this person has decided to play people for monetary gain. These stories he has told are based on some bits of truth but nearly all of what he has said is now classified in my mind as rumor and idle talk.

 

UPDATE – March 7, 2011

 

Guess who showed up on Rick’s six-screen conference call again? Johnny comes on about halfway through, and it seems obvious that Rick is trying desperately to authenticate his identity, asking all sorts of questions. When he ask him what time morning worship is, Johnny goes “um…err…uhh…” and then the line goes dead. He calls back a few minutes later and says his phone card ran out. How convenient…

 

 

Rating 4.44 out of 5
[?]

Tags: ,

16 Comments on Johnny the Bethelite

  1. greybeard says:

    I haven’t listened to the recordings but from what you are saying it sounds to me like the guy is a scammer. Many people have info about Bethel that haven’t been there. Bethelites talk to family and friends. My question is why is this guy on the forum? Is he claiming to be enlightened about the GB/JWorg? What is he trying to accomplish?

      (Quote)

  2. greybeard says:

    Hey JJ,

    I shouldn’t have said what I said without listening to the recordings. After listening I have changed my opinion on Johnny. You can tell a lot in a persons voice. He name’s some of his friends there. I think he really is at Bethel.

    TMO now 😉

      (Quote)

  3. Rick Fearon, moderator of Six Screens, was going to go to Brooklyn and meet up with “Johnnie the B.” Did that ever happen?
    My own take on Johnnie is that he is a fake and Rick was sucked in. Everyone knows that there are people at Bethel and other branch offices that read our websites and listen in to Rick’s bi-weekly phone calls. All of the information that Johnnie gives out on practically every call would give him away in a moment. Certainly, if the WT leaders thought that they had a mole hiding in a Brooklyn closet that worked in their IT department, they would have him out of there so fast he wouldn’t have time to change his underwear after the call was over. Sorry – I like Rick, but I just don’t buy Johnnie as being legit.

      (Quote)

  4. greybeard says:

    Hi Exjw…

    i don’t know about Johnny. He probably is a fake. As far as Rick Fearon goes and his web site, I do have an opinion. I think Rick has good motive, trying to help the JW see the light, however I really do believe he is going about it all wrong. His web site is a total turn off to me. Any active JW wouldn’t stay there for more than a nano second. He say’s he is “fighting fire with fire” but to me it is more like throwing gas on fire. If anything, his web site makes the questioning JW go back to the JW/org. The colors are hideous and attitude overboard. I really think LOVE is what is lacking. It is almost as if he thinks he is in a war against JW’s. I think he would get farther with nice colors and an attitude of trying to bring all people, not just JW’s, to Christ.

    Standing outside a Kingdom Hall or where ever JW’s are does nothing except make them feel more in the right. I think it is a HUGE waist of time. If Rick could get people to place pamphlets on JW’s in laundry mats he would get farther. That is where the JW goes to preach. They go to laundry mats and drop off there propaganda.

    I really do think Rick has good motive but sadly I think he is doing more damage than good. You catch more bee’s with honey. I am sure Rick thinks his ways are working and maybe it does for a few, but if his energy was more focused in the right direction he could really reach more JW’s. The “Six Screens of the Watchtower” is a huge turn off. I bet this guy sold cars for a living. He is quite a sales man but it just doesn’t work with your average JW. His web site should appeal not repel. Sadly the JW web site is appealing. The JW org knows how to appeal to people. “Paradise earth” / “millions now living will never die”

    Rick could learn a thing or two from this guy: http://carm.org/

    His web site and videos that he has made for JW’s is far more appealing. The one thing that Rick does really well is the group phone calls. He handles it very well and he has a great voice for this. I really enjoyed listening to it. His web site? Very badly done. He should really leave the trinity out of it. A HUGE turn of to all JW’s and MOST who have left the JW org.

    The colors on his web site look very amateurish. I have built many web sites and I have read many books on it. Black background is a color you want to be vary careful with. He uses black and red a lot and has has green and orange words over black. Looks like a child did it. You can’t go wrong with a white background and black type. It is very clear and easy to read. Black backgrounds are more for presenting art and photos or artistic things and then, it should be used carefully to look professional. You won’t see a black background on the JW web site. They are to smart for that.

    Rick is not “fighting fire with fire” he need to focus on fighting lies with truth. Truth is clean and beautiful not black/red and ugly.

    I tried to write him about this but he wouldn’t respond. This tells me the guy is set in his ways and unwilling to take advice. That’s to bad because he has more energy than most and probably could reach so many more with the truth about JW’s if he would present it more professionally.

    I hope he reads this because I know he just trashed my e-mail.

    That’s my opinion.

    His web site is here: http://www.sixscreensofthewatchtower.com/
    for those of you who are wondering what I am taking about.

    Your brother,
    Greybeard

      (Quote)

    • greybeard says:

      One more thing…

      He also has a donate button at the TOP an his main page. HUGE turnoff to everyone.

      He also made a huge mistake in putting Google adds on the main page. Another HUGE turn off.

      To me, sharing truth about christ and making money with google adds don’t mix. Putting google adds on this web site shows that he doesn’t care who advertises on it as long as he makes a buck.

      There’s the truth Rick,
      If you don’t believe me, make another web site with a different domain name and make it nice with nice colors and such. See what site gets better results. Do you conference call on both.

        (Quote)

  5. graybeard,
    There seems to be several distinct unaffiliated groups of ex-JWs that seem to take different approaches to exposing the Watchtower for what it is. Roughly they fall into two (maybe three) categories:

    (1)Bible-based, old school evangelical, trinitarian, let’s set up our own competitive “church” and meet and preach while we fight the Watchtower;

    (2)Non-religious, non-Bible reliant, humanist, logic based, let’s fight the Watchtower because it lies, it’s a fraud, it’s a cult, nothing it preaches can be supported by history or logic and it destroys families and wants their children to be brain-damaged janitors who can’t spell.

    And maybe (3)We don’t know what to believe and that’s really not the point because we just hate the JWs and the Watchtower and want to make them look worse than they are by making stupid videos and ranting on Internet forums.

    Now Rick clearly fits into category one. His associates who show up for every phone call also fall into that category. I think this hurts him somewhat because his phone calls often are degraded into long rants about “scipture” and support for evangelical positions. He’s trying to present the call almost like it is a call-in news and talk show. Unfortunately, so many of his guests, like Johnny the B, turn out to be less than credible. Some, like Cochise Pendleton, are very literate and speak clearly and precisely and add much to his program.

    Rich has received a lot of well-deserved criticism for his 6SW website. While he admits that it probably turns off a lot of potential visitors, he also points out that his site probably draws in more visitors than several other Ex-JW sites combined. Yes, it may turn off people over 35, but the younger set love the spooky trappings his site uses to make its point. He recently toned it way down and now has a whole new layout and emphasis – I applaud him for that. But it is still draped in black, dark gray, and red color schemes that make it not only hard to read, but still ominous and repelling to confused JWs looking for information and support.

    I too am a webmaster. You are absolutely right that information based sites should be primarily white and light colored backgrounds with black or dark gray text. As you mentioned, the only site that I support that has a black background is a photography site – and even he wants to lighten it up and give it a more appealing clean format.

    Graybeard – you are right on the money, brother!

      (Quote)

  6. jonny says:

    YOu are so ignorant it makes me crazy this is jonny and you people can talk out of your mouths till you vomit some sort of mental clarity but being in bethel is hard enough without crazed x jws who dont know a thing to all of you rick got a recording i took secretly from the body and Gilead Graduation of the 128th Class you want too know morning worship is at 655 7am 130dollars is our money and if you car pool to your hall you get a S.I.S card for gas
    also big problem is on the buildings in bethel it says not to read the bible but to read the word of god then another building says read the Watchtower

      (Quote)

  7. Joe Emerson says:

    This is Joe Emerson at jmasonemerson@yahoo.com and phone number 913 492-1564, Overland Park, KS. I confirm that Jonny posted the note immediately above and that I myself am who I say here that I am. I spoke a few minutes ago to Rick Fearon who says Jonny and he talked about the very recording Jonny mentions.

    Now, here’s a note for the Watchtowerites, the pedophiles and like ilk, the bad weeds hiding amidst the good wheat. So you have pinpointed Jonny but I also know you don’t know who all the other BetheliteS are who are so fed up. It’s amusing to see that that’s got Bethel all tied up in knots.

    If you spent one-tenth as much time doing acts of loving-kindness as you waste on Darksider activities then Watchtower wouldn’t have 1% of the many problems you create for it.

    You never seem learn and, no, your locals don’t fool me either. Shame on you. Turn around.

    Think about this: any organization that bleeds JW adults and kids to death, plus hides and shelters pedophiles etc across 50 U.S. states and globally doesn’t deserve to have or keep a nonprofit charter with tax benefits for any of its corporate entities including those in the U.S.

      (Quote)

    • greybeard says:

      Dear brother Joe,

      Maybe I missed something but I do not know of any “Watchtowerites” or pro JW’s on this forum myself. Everyone I know here believes the WT is not “Gods chosen channel” or the “FDS”. So who are you speaking about? As far as our opinion of Johnny the Bethelite, that’s all it is, an opinion. I myself do not care enough about the issue to confirm weather he is or is not at Bethel. I am sure there are many Bethelites that are fed up. Everyone I know on this forum is fed up with the Watchtower. However, unlike many other forums, this forum is more moderated and tries to keep a Christian attitude when speaking about our brothers and we do consider the JW’s as our brothers even though they have wrong teachings and have made may mistakes like many other religions have. We are just as disgusted as you are when it comes to the GB/JWorg.

      Your brother,
      Greybeard

        (Quote)

  8. jonny says:

    too all out there 5 kingdomhalls gone 4 confirmed dead and 100 still missing was said at morning worship and the number grows

      (Quote)

  9. marcus says:

    Hi, everyone. “Johnny” can’t answer a question that is in the news everyday. He does not know where the builders are going, I know and most of New york city knows.It’s in the news everyday. A sister living in NY rides the train right by one of the buildings and talks about the condos moving in and it is in the paper. He is trying to make everyone believe there are no recordings of the missionary graduation. I went to my brothers and normally got a blow by blow account of the whole affair every year of others. I have sat with my relatives at Patterson and saw the induction. He has never told anything that brothers living in NY with a Bethelite in their congregation does not know.
    I don’t know what he is getting out of pretending to be at Bethel. Someone please google JW property called Vatican City being sold. I have waited weeks for him to tell us this.
    He said he went on this site (JW struggle) and answered all of their questions.He alledgedly tells the sisters he love to exercise all day and has a beautiful body.
    He is not describing an actual person living in Bethel. He may have a relative there. Most of us with relatives there know everything he says is public knowledge in the congregations.
    Someone just told him about Warwick, He didn’t know about it months ago, but all of us did plus half of NY city.He said they were going to a secret place. It was in the paper in January, they were going to Warwick.
    I just want to know is he trying to sabotage and use time or does he just want to have info for his facebook braggings or over texting and over calling females? Just wondering?
    I think when persons gather on these programs they want to get help not a young man just having fun and a laugh, or maybe letting his brother know he can pretend to at least be in Bethel.
    That’s my opinion. BTW, how is everyone doing?

      (Quote)

  10. Propaman says:

    Hey;

    I think Johnny may be a commuter Bethelite. I knew many of them. They have Bethel family status but, in most cases, do not attend morning worship; they do not get $113.00 a month stipend; and are not kept in the loop on many things.

    Something else to keep in mind is that if you have no real skill, they can get rid of you like yesterday’s trash. If you have a skill, like doctor or something, they can trap you there like the mob.

    If he is commuter, he would probably not want others to know; for, then he might be zeroed in easily.

    I also doubted his authenticity at one point because of things he was saying incorrectly about Wallkill; yet, when I considered all the information and applied it to their new prospective site in Warwick, he was right on the money. I realized he simply misspoke when naming facilities.

    I honestly don’t know but these are my thoughts. I could be dead wrong. It would not be the first time I was duped.

    Craig

      (Quote)

  11. Anon says:

    Propaman the fact remains that Johnny has not presented one shred of evidence other than he can use Google! Mr. Fearon of 6screens is a sensationalist that is milking the situation and perhaps even in cahoot with this person.

    We have alot worse problems than worrying about this character anyway.

      (Quote)

    • Alex says:

      2 months ago I asked JTB about the vow for The Order and he didn’t answer clear… I asked about the booklet for bethelites and he didn;e remember the name…. Every bethelite know the title of this be cause it is used in the school for beginners in Bethel
      … “Dwelling together in Unity”…
      HE EVEN SAID THAT HIS BROTHER TOOK THE BOOKLET HOME WHEN LEFT BETHEL… BUT I KNOW THAT WHEN SOME ONE LEAVE MUST TURN IT BACK TO THE BETHEL OFFICE COZ IT IS CONSIDERED BETHEL PROPERTY…

        (Quote)

      • JJ says:

        Alex

        Thanks for the further evidence that he is a clever con man. My question is what he has to gain by pretending to be a Bethelite. Mr Fearon is encouraging him and giving him a platform, and dwelling on speculation and rumors does not upbuild or accomplish any real lasting good IMO.

        My goal is to encourage myself and all the rest of us that are in “the struggle”. If we can stay positive and retain our faith in YHWH and his Son then we can endure anything.

          (Quote)

  12. Andrewski says:

    I heard that Bethelites from my cousin Chris get around $700 every month for expenses. And Bethelites are allowed to have bank accounts to save their stipends in case their work at Bethel is over so they can move into another accomodation other than Bethel.

      (Quote)

Leave a Reply

Website Apps