Barbara’s Articles and Accomplishments

Life of Barbara
Discoveries at Bethel
Leaving the WT Writing Department
Her Articles & Accomplishments
Interviews & Videos (YouTube Channel)
Contact Barbara

Scroll down below the research articles to see a more comprehensive list of Barbara’s activities and accomplishments.

  • Was Pastor Charles Taze Russell a Freemason?

    Considerable evidence demonstrates that Charles Taze Russell (CTR hereafter) was not a member of the Freemasons.  Examining the Pastor’s own words about Freemasonry;  Considering a requirement for membership as published in the Encyclopedia Britannica, proving Freemason membership for CTR was impossible;  Examining contradictory statements made by a one-time supporter regarding Freemason membership of CTR;  Disproving…

  • What is an advertorial?

    by Barbara Anderson It’s the name for a paid advertisement that turns up in the media, i.e. websites, magazines, or newspapers written by a staff writer or generally by the one who paid for it to be published. This is a common practice as publishers use different ways of generating revenue to stay afloat financially.

  • “Women—Deserving of Respect”

    “After this July 8, 1992 Awake! “Women—Deserving of Respect” was published, many letters of appreciation from women were received. Most disconcerting to us was the fact that 75% of the letters were not signed because the women said they were afraid of retaliation at home and in the congregation if the Watchtower sent their letter to the…

  • Switzerland: A Groundbreaking Ruling.

    The following information is an important Swiss Press Release of July 8, 2020, translated into English. (Page one contains the basics of the ruling and also provided is a link to the other eight pages.) 

  • Setting the Record Straight: The Atlantic “Secret Database” Article

    Sometimes you have to speak up and speak out when you come across a news article or a TV program that gets everything wrong. What follows is a case of an article whose author not only got the story wrong but just about everything else connected to the story was messed up – including where…

  • Has Watchtower Changed the ‘Two Witness Rule’?

    In mid-April (2019), Barbara released a YouTube video that tried to clarify the Watchtower’s changing “Two Witness Rule.”  Almost immediately upon its release, dozens of current and former Jehovah’s Witnesses questioned the legitimacy of Barbara’s understanding of the May 2019 Watchtower magazine article that announced a change of policy relating to child sexual abuse.

  • Working in the Watchtower’s Engineering Department

    Before my transfer from the Engineering Department to the Writing Department in 1989, the architect designing a 30-story staff residence building (that was about to be built near the four Watchtower printery buildings) mentioned to me his need for a professional cost analysis system to be put into place for future building projects. He designed the buildings but the Accounting…

  • “Barbara Uncensored” – Not Your Typical Biography

    During the first week of May 2018, Amazon.com released a new book by and about our own Barbara Anderson and the tasks she has taken on for nearly 25 years. Barbara Anderson Uncensored: Eyewitness to Deceit is unique when compared to earlier books and autobiographies considered to be in the “ex-Jehovah’s Witness” or “apostate” book…

  • Russell and Rutherford Disagreed on the Pyramid Teaching

    Russell taught that the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt was inspired by Jehovah God and used the pyramid’s measurements as a guide for much of the chronology in the Studies in the Scriptures volumes.* Rutherford credited the Pyramid to Satan the Devil calling the Pyramid “Satan’s Bible.”**

  • Fred Franz – Rewarded For Being Inept

    In the spring of 1975, Frederick W. Franz, considered since the mid-1920s to be the Watchtower’s “official oracle,” stressed the urgency of the Christian preaching work during his public speeches. Why? Because he believed that 6,000 years of human history would end that next September or soon after.

  • Barbara’s Analysis: Watch Tower’s Child Safeguard Policy (UK)

    Barbara reviewed Watch Tower of Britain’s Child Safeguarding Policy and its implementation. What she discovered was depressing and disappointing. After Watch Tower submitted their child protection policy to the Commission more cases were reported within UK JW congregations – including one involving a Kingdom Hall Trustee. While reviewing the January 2013 POLICY document, Barbara was surprised…

  • “Increased Light”— Mindless Justification For Removing Errors

    In 2009, the Watch Tower Society published a songbook to replace the one that was in use by Jehovah’s Witnesses for twenty-five years. Along with new songs, many of the old ones were adjusted because “increased light” during that time caused many Witness doctrines to change and “some of the expressions used in the old…

  • Jehovah’s Witnesses: Higher Education and Misrepresentation

    It is my assertion that the publishers of the October 1, 2005 Watchtower, a Jehovah’s Witness journal, blatantly misrepresented statements from at least five well-known secular sources in an attempt to discourage their readers from pursuing higher education. While a religious journal may choose not to use secular sources for instructional purposes, if the journal’s…

  • The “Given Ones”: Jehovah’s Provision?

    August 24, 2005 was a day of reflection for me after I learned that two more men were appointed to be part of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I read the information on the Internet discussion board, Jehovahs-Witness Discussion Forum. The poster, who goes by the name of “truthsetsonefree,” started a new discussion topic,…

  • Libraries at Bethel?

    “I asked Barbara Anderson, by way of email, a question about the Bethel libraries, in particular, those that the writers had access. I had hoped, based on her experience and perspective, she would jump in on one of our threads where the library topic had been raised. I didn’t know until several days ago that…

  • Barbara’s Bethel Resumé

    Yes, a Bethelite woman provided “spiritual food” to Jehovah’s Witnesses… Over the last couple of years, many people have asked me to share my Writing Department resumé and basically that’s why I’m writing this. I hope that the knowledge of what I did at Bethel helps Jehovah’s Witnesses to understand that the Watchtower organization misleads the…

  • God’s Divine Plan of Evil for 6,000 years

    In November of the year 1886, Charles Taze Russell wrote in the Preface of his new book, MILLENNIAL DAWN, of his intentions to publish a total of seven volumes under that name which would “… set forth the wondrous things of the divine plan” of God. The name of the first book in the series was, The…

  • Youths are surprising us

    As far back as the first century BC, youths were criticized by the Greeks for their bad manners, contempt for authority, tyrannizing their teachers, love of luxury, etc., but Grecian writers didn’t attribute that behavior as a sign of the end of the Grecian world.

  • Did You Know? (A “Sect”? Or not a “Sect”?)

    The early Bible Students (later “Jehovah’s Witnesses”) were defined as both “a sect” and as “not a sect” at various times by their own founder. Charles T. Russell (founder of  the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society)  denied his movement was a “sect” in reply to a question in the October-November, 1882 Zion’s Watch Tower…

  • Examining Apocalypticism

    Are you studying the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses? Or are you no longer one of Jehovah’s Witnesses? Or perhaps you are a Witness who is considering leaving the religion? Whatever your circumstances, do you assume that the Witnesses are probably right about the nearness of Armageddon (the “Apocalypse”) because of the unstable world conditions? If…

  • What was the “Junior Bible Students Company”?

    In 1926, during “a convention of Bible Students [today known as Jehovah’s Witnesses] held at Chicago … the question was brought prominently to the fore: ‘What shall be done concerning the teaching of truth to children.’” Several hundred brethren decided to pass a resolution calling on the President of the Society, Joseph Rutherford, “to give…

  • A Letter From Sweden

    The Finished Mystery, considered as Volume 7 of Studies in the Scriptures, was first published in 1917 by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. It was advertised as the posthumous work of Pastor Charles Taze Russell but written by C. J. Woodworth and George Fisher and authorized for publication by J.F. Rutherford, second president of…

  • Rutherford is Dead – So is the Door-to-Door Ministry

    Let’s face it: “Judge” Joseph F. Rutherford is dead – along with his doctrines and influence. And so are the reasons for Jehovah’s Witnesses’ “house-to-house ministry.” In  two articles published on Freeminds.org several years ago, I discussed the changes made to two major old Watch Tower doctrines that have definitely affected today’s door to door ministry of…

  • Who are the “False Prophets” today?

    In 1991 Colin Quackenbush, one of the Watch Tower Society’s senior writers, told me in the privacy of his office about letters which the Society had received from “prominent and credible elders, not apostates” (that’s exactly what he said), who were concerned about the increase in accusations that Jehovah’s Witnesses were “false prophets.” He told…

  • La Vida Teocrática y Los Tiempos de Theodore Jaracz

    Durante casi 36 años, Theodore (Ted) Jaracz fue uno de los miembros más poderosos del Cuerpo Gobernante de los Testigos de Jehová, hasta que murió a los 85 años de edad el miércoles 9 de junio de 2010. Poco se sabe de la juventud de este hombre. En 1991, un miembro del personal del Departamento…

  • C. T. Russell Was Never a Freemason

    In 2001 I requested historical information from the ANCIENT ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE OF FREEMASONRY, VALLEY OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA. I asked if Charles Taze Russell, his father and his uncle were Pennsylvania Freemasons. This was their answer:

  • Mary Aguilar Shares Her Story

    Mary Aguilar Shares Her Story By Mary Aguilar My name is Mary Aguilar. I was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the early 70’s and 80’s and a victim of domestic violence. My husband was a Witness too, and still is. I spoke to elders several times about his violent behavior. Their excuse was that I…

  • Lester Kite Shares His story

    My Story By Lester Kite I was a “born in.” My father and mother got the “truth” very shortly before I was born 44 years ago. They were very young parents but both took to the teachings of the WTS very easily. My father made ministerial servant grade and became an elder when the arrangement…

  • Jehovah’s Witnesses Obstruct Truth-Seeking

    Jehovah’s Witnesses are discouraged from doing extensive personal research into their modern-day history. Such action can cause a truth-seeking Witness to be labeled “apostate” and be shunned by family and friends. Yet, scrutiny of ancient Biblical history is allowable and thought to be important. So why can’t the same standard apply to Witnesses’ modern-day history…

  • Watch Tower or Watchtower – Which Is It?

    Ever wonder why the name, Watchtower, (one word) is sometimes written, Watch Tower, (two words)? Does it matter? What are the legal ramifications? What does the Watchtower have in common with the Peoples Pulpit Association of New York? The answers to these questions and more are thoughtfully presented from a historical perspective.

Summary of Accomplishments

  • Researched a Watchtower-approved project about child sexual abuse by Witnesses for the Watchtower’s Governing Body. Each Governing Body member received that research in early January 1993.
  • Researched the Watchtower’s history for its official 750-page chronicle, Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, published in 1993.
  • Wrote seven articles for the Watchtower’s Awake! Publication.
  • Interviewed on major TV and radio programs about the Watchtower’s policies and litigation.

As an Advocate

Since June 1999 to the present in Tennessee:

  • In 1999, because of conversations with former-Witness friends about child abuse, Barbara and her friends became convinced that the Watchtower and its policies were culpable for covering up the crime of child sexual abuse by Witnesses. They decided that they must make the world aware of the Watchtower’s irresponsible and negligent behavior and to convince the Governing Body to change their policies. But how?
  • In early 2001 Barbara flew to New York to be interviewed for NBC’s “Dateline” documentary about the Watchtower and how it handled child sexual abuse perpetrated by Witnesses. Broadcast of the program was planned for some time in November of 2001, but because of the terrorist attacks on September 11th in New York City, it was delayed until May 28, 2002.
  • On May 19, 2002, the Watchtower disfellowshipped Barbara for causing divisions in the organization. Her son and his family and many of her Witness friends began to strictly shun her. It was a cunning move by the Watchtower to disfellowship her before the “Dateline” show aired because Witnesses view disfellowshipped persons as unrepentant sinners who lie about their former religion.
  • Her husband, Joe, was subsequently disfellowshipped in July 2002 for (1) not having his wife under control; (2) causing divisions for defending her, and (3) for expressing his personal views about how the Watchtower handled child sexual abuse committed by Jehovah’s Witness molesters.

Accomplishments:

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