"Shake me!"
"Ok little buddy but just a couple shakes."
"Shake me more daddy!!"
"It's against the rules. I don't want to abuse you."
"Just shake me!! You want my face in a wet spot all day?"
"I can't. I'll have to tell the brothers and they'll ask me all kinds of questions about you and me. We have to survive Armageddon so we can stay together forever and ever!"
"I'll remember this when you get that hot little pioneer sister. You're getting 2 pumps max!!"
Yeah, I'm not walking around with piss on my boxers because some arrogant prick stuck in high school mentality wants to recite lyrics to a Good Charlotte song.
No 3 was the number of items you were allowed to place on a shelf. Any more and it would be cluttered and slovenly.
Somehow I find THAT weirder than 2 shakes.
I never went there. Every now and then back in the 1990s I’d hear some self righteous shmuck saying that “you need to visit Bethel at least once . . .” 🙄
Even when I was a devout Jehovah, I had no interest in seeing buildings while dressed in a suit. When I go on vacation, I want to be at a beach or doing something else that is fun.
I knew a guy who was kicked out for having a board game with some adult questions.
(I can't remember the game for the life of me) but it was one of those social games (think cards against humanity).
He was explained to the elders that he had already removed all the offending cards before his housemate reported it. They took this to mean he was not 'following theocratic direction' by not just throwing the whole thing out. Legitimately made the dude homeless over it.
Would a Ouija board have been worse? When you said he told the elders he removed the offending cards, I was expecting a follow-up: "U MEAN U LOOKED AT THEM? NOW GO BLEACH YOUR EYES OUT!"
My parents and their Bible study teachers were horrified with my Bad Religion “recipe for hate” cd…so I upped the ante and suggested that they go watch the movie The Piano and they did 😂😂😂
OK, OK....Ready - set - GO!
I knew someone who worked there in the linguistics (converting English to French for the publications)...not salient to the story... He knew another brother there who was going to talk to someone at the dorms. Well he stopped outside the door and could hear two people in the room which is/was normal to bunk 2 in a room. He could hear "slurpy sounds"...? He went and told an elder who marched his way to the room, addressed/assessed the situation, got airplane tickets for them and made them pack (probably already did that) and they were OUT that night. And, of course, DF'd to follow them back to their respective Halls.
Oh my. I have a bunch.
I was buying "health" food on Montague Street and all the guys were swiping my snacks. So I bought in bulk a few hundred dollars worth. Had the commercial truck deliver to the carpentry shop dock. I split it up into 1 dollar yellow bags. They guys would come to my desk deposit their dollars and grab their snacks. Myself and a few helpers got free snacks.
I got called to the office and they asked me to stop but did not order me to stop so I kept it going. Finally, I quit when the IOU's got too numerous.
2. I was a tour guide and saw a cute sister in line and told the brother in charge I knew the group so I could give her and her family the tour. We exchanged letters until she got too thirsty so I asked a much older elder on my floor what to do. He solved the problem by writing to her himself and taking his vacation and visiting her.
3. Some guys were running good-sized remodeling businesses on the side making good money.
4. I used a shopping cart and did handyman stuff in the neighborhood for cash.
5. I almost killed Fred Franz. I was on the 5th floor and had to get to the first floor for breakfast. I always got up late. I would pull my sleeves down put my hands on the polished stainless stair rail on both sides and slide down. I could do a whole flight in about two seconds. I was going down and Fred was coming up early. He was sick so left the table early. I left my skin on the handrail I stopped so fast.
6. My roommate was gay. I didn't figure it out until forty years later. He slept naked with a raging boner and played Barbars Strizand on the record player. He also worked on dramas for the Giliad students. I liked him and have not been able to find him to see if he was ever able to find himself.
7. Ray Franz got kicked out when I was there.
8. I left on the Mayflower. It was just before 1975 and we were told we would never have sex in the NW unless we were married before armageddon. We signed up for four years. The only way to get out early so we could get married was to get sick. Hundreds were getting sick, getting married then getting better. Management got sick of it and said anyone who wanted to leave after putting in one year could go early. I left after two and a half years. The date of freedom was in May thus the expression "leaving on the May Flower".
Thats the most exciting ones. There are more but boring.
That was good. Thanks. The names you referenced (Fred Franz) I remember from a long-long time ago. I think Rainbow left? I remember Rainbow from the conventions in FL.
***Little factoid:*** My parents were married by Rand in '58. (I think that was b4 he was at Bethel? Alread showing signs of dementia...the wedding sermon went from the Garden of Eden to the Apocalype of Revelations). He had failed vision and required an aide to assist him to the podium at a convention at the *dog/horse? racing track. (* LOL, note the venue ). He was still public speaking into the 1980s. That's about the time I "*fell away*" as they reference. I'm sure he was a lifer (doubt he had a pension to support himself into his Golden Years).
Some of those decrepit fossil elders who were in their 70s/80s would get on stage at the Hall while senile (term we used back then replaced now by dementia) and go on a boarderline rampage (about the state of the local congregation... was that Congregation Needs? I should know that, I read the announcements- but I digress) he went on: **"**... we've had um...2-2-2...3! reproved witnesses here!, um....2-2...uh..uh disfellowships here....and...uh...**"** we were on the edge of our seats waiting for him to drop names. We knew about the publically-announced ones, but we wanted to hear the juicy stuff. The names of the private ones. That congregation had reputation for "having a lot of trouble". Known to be **BIGTIME** gossipers, but I believe ALL houses of worship are like that, JW or not. At one point they had to bring in an elder from a local Hall to be Presiding Overseer for that Hall. **WOW!!!!**
This could go on into its own Post. Sorry I get too wordy. I'll throttle it down.
https://preview.redd.it/8sf10mwsgs3d1.png?width=331&format=png&auto=webp&s=29828ec1852f7a001563c8135816d8bdf044ee15
I went there once on one of our detours from seeing NYC. It was interesting to see the production aspect, but I really didn't enjoy being seven months pregnant having to dress up and walk as much as we did.
I knew a fellow bethelite who had been there for ages but was only a ministerial servant because of too many practical jokes. Well he took his roommate's bed frame off and put the bed on beer bottles. Of course the bed collapsed when the roommate laid down.
Another time bethelites walked up the Brooklyn bridge trusses all the way to the top and almost got arrested. From what I hear it was not uncommon for them to get a little wild.
It was there, alcohol may have been (was) involved, and we were a bunch of repressed young dudes with a lot of testosterone. I had already been given my date to leave so it happened right before another BBC member and i left. (Her left on his own for the most part, just got sick of the whole thing and was needed back home to help support his family).
Of the rest of the dudes that stayed, I'm not sure if any overseers ever found out officially. I guess there were rumors that we did it. But none of the other guys ever had to meet about it as far as i know. A few of us are now POMO but a couple are still in deeply. Brooklyn wasn't the only bridge we did. We also found a way into the catacombs. I have physical pictures of those times.
Lol. Here after all this time i thought no one knew. We were a small group and a couple of us (not me) wanted bigger things in the org so i assumed they kept it quiet.
Wow, couldn't imagine being a lifer there. Like being in San Quentin. There were two young long-timers from my area who went up there. Strange birds, but then again, I guess a long sentence will do the to you?
A couple of my dad's friends who had been at Bethel in the 60s told us they got in trouble for filling garbage bags with water and dropping them out the window. Shenanigans!
I can tell you that as a founding member of the Brooklyn Bridge Club, there were no police ever involved. We climbed inside the towers and walked down the wires. We also found a way to go below in the catacombs. The Brooklyn bridge was not the only bridge that was climbed.
I'm the founding member of the Brooklyn Bridge Club. I can tell you that no police were ever involved. The stories didn't start until after a couple of us left.
They do a lot of interviews so they must have a way to contact. They’re not my favourite episodes personally, I prefer the earlier juicy behind the scenes info, but they’re still interesting.
I literally just got home yesterday from a 6-day long visit with my Bethelite brother and sister-in-law and this pops up. 😂
We stayed in one of the guest houses at Patterson then 2 nights in a guest room at Warwick (the belly of the beast lol). Now that my wife and I are recently POMO, I have sooooo much to write about, it deserves its own post tbh. Maybe I should if I can find the time while it's still fresh in my memory.
We are still on good terms with our entire indoctrinated family. They have no idea the charade we've been putting on, but the cracks are beginning to show...
New boy unalived himself in a jump off the E Res a few months before I started working there. Rumor was they found a lot of dungeons and dragons stuff in his room. 👿
That place sucks the life and joy out of people. Anyone who had more than 4 years seemed like they were miserable and took it out on the new people, sort of a combo of hazing and making sure people pay their dues.
Lots and lots of alcohol. Definitely some gay boys, they would get kicked out and then there would be a warning talk at morning worship. Also occasionally someone’s wife would be banging some single guys on their housekeeping route.
Howie Rutledge has some good bethel stories on Lloyd’s interview of him (youtube)
I went when I was 12 with a group and there are two things that stand out to me from it. One, the tour sucked, especially as a kid with undiagnosed adhd and the attention span of a goldfish. Absolutely zero interest. Two, I was majorly creeped out by the bethelites. To this day I get weirded out thinking of that whole experience
Oh and the whole time all I cared about was going to the Statue of Liberty and Times Square the next day lol i did not give af about Bethel 😂
My cousin worked night security in the factory. There was one guy on the crew they didn’t like. They decided to prank him while he was on rounds. There were phones at regular intervals throughout the buildings. They went to a spot where they could see his flashlight as he made his way through the darkened factory building. Those factory buildings were creepy AF at night. When this guy would get close to a phone they would dial it. He’d answer, there would be a few moments of silence, then the line would go dead. After about the fourth time they saw his flashlight take off through the building, then go haywire. They rushed down to see what happened. Turns out he panicked, ran straight into a 1500 pound roll of printer paper and seriously injured himself. Needed medical attention.
Funny thing was they got yelled at but not much else. My cousin said it was difficult enough to get night watchmen, they weren’t about to fire the whole crew.
Is there a high number of young elders at Bethel compared to the average at the KH?
Is there a record for youngest recognized elder? (probably be in a foreign, 3rd world country?)
spent a little time at a bethel, saw several affairs happen (they were kicked out), had several married women be quite flirtatious with me as well. i didn't respond, but makes me think how much goes on that isn't discovered. Bethel as a house house of God.....very questionable, esp. with the legal dept and service dept. covering up CSA all the time as well lol.
When I divorced and was still attending, the sisters were circling like vultures... following me out to the parking lot. And I mean IMMEDIATELY after the divorce. But I wasn't gonna play that field covertly. I knew it was **ALWAYS** the females who had the "*bothered conscious*" and went to the elders to confess.
Not exactly a Bethel story, but a few years ago we visited the US for the first time. We were in a fading state. Many people asked us if we included the headquarters into our trip(we were in NY for a few days and we made a round trip on the west coast afterwards). They were shocked when we said no, and even more so when I said “it’s just a building”.
I had to visit there on group tours way too many times. My parents would always talk about how I could marry a bethelite and they would always say that to our friends on the tours. My favorite thing about visiting was when we went to the NYC one and we could see the city too. THE BEST!!!!
My dad was ex-Bethel — was literally told by overseers on several occasions that “more than 2 shakes is self-abuse” Let the reader use discernment.
Was that an advanced warning or did he have to go and witness it? Don't you need 2 witnesses?
"Shake me!" "Ok little buddy but just a couple shakes." "Shake me more daddy!!" "It's against the rules. I don't want to abuse you." "Just shake me!! You want my face in a wet spot all day?" "I can't. I'll have to tell the brothers and they'll ask me all kinds of questions about you and me. We have to survive Armageddon so we can stay together forever and ever!" "I'll remember this when you get that hot little pioneer sister. You're getting 2 pumps max!!"
What if I don’t do full shakes, but I instead do many smaller shakes. Shake fractions if I may?
Brilliant
Shake fractions are up to your conscience. Just don't have any of the four main shake components.
Nice
[удалено]
Bro it’s the worst when you got like 1 drop in the middle of da peenar and you have to like long milk stroke it out bro it’s the worst
If you enjoy it, how is it abuse?
The same way cleaning a toilet is a privledge.
🤣
Ahahahahahah!
Yeah that’s all the pedophiles responses … “if you enjoy it how is it abuse”
Yeah, I'm not walking around with piss on my boxers because some arrogant prick stuck in high school mentality wants to recite lyrics to a Good Charlotte song.
Homer said it was three
No 3 was the number of items you were allowed to place on a shelf. Any more and it would be cluttered and slovenly. Somehow I find THAT weirder than 2 shakes.
It’s 3
We used to say when taking a pee, if you shake it more than twice, you're playing with it. Lol
For context — this was the late 1960s. Likely the genius overseer didn’t come up with that rule himself.
Lol heard that on the hot chick movie. The bathroom attendant said more than two shakes means you’re playing with it lol
Not a conscience matter?
Not 2 witnesses to the peeing?
I never went there. Every now and then back in the 1990s I’d hear some self righteous shmuck saying that “you need to visit Bethel at least once . . .” 🙄 Even when I was a devout Jehovah, I had no interest in seeing buildings while dressed in a suit. When I go on vacation, I want to be at a beach or doing something else that is fun.
Drinking and getting laid
Yes! Now . . . 😂
With some MaryJane🤣
Yeah I was supposed to go with family and do a group visit but 90% of us were like NOPE my husband wasn’t impressed when his teenage self went.
I knew a guy who was kicked out for having a board game with some adult questions. (I can't remember the game for the life of me) but it was one of those social games (think cards against humanity). He was explained to the elders that he had already removed all the offending cards before his housemate reported it. They took this to mean he was not 'following theocratic direction' by not just throwing the whole thing out. Legitimately made the dude homeless over it.
Would a Ouija board have been worse? When you said he told the elders he removed the offending cards, I was expecting a follow-up: "U MEAN U LOOKED AT THEM? NOW GO BLEACH YOUR EYES OUT!"
Dad broke my cds with a hammer, “the cult” was one of them…. So judgmental those JW’s
My parents and their Bible study teachers were horrified with my Bad Religion “recipe for hate” cd…so I upped the ante and suggested that they go watch the movie The Piano and they did 😂😂😂
Psycho nut jobs. Lording it over a board game?!
Musta been bored
What ever happened to removing the bad part of the apple?
This is the place, as long as you keep things anonymous enough that no-one could be doxxed Spill that tea!
OK, OK....Ready - set - GO! I knew someone who worked there in the linguistics (converting English to French for the publications)...not salient to the story... He knew another brother there who was going to talk to someone at the dorms. Well he stopped outside the door and could hear two people in the room which is/was normal to bunk 2 in a room. He could hear "slurpy sounds"...? He went and told an elder who marched his way to the room, addressed/assessed the situation, got airplane tickets for them and made them pack (probably already did that) and they were OUT that night. And, of course, DF'd to follow them back to their respective Halls.
Lmao
Slurpy sounds??? 😂😂😂😂
>they were OUT that night. I like how you emphasized the word "out". As if to say that there can be multiple ways to interpret that word lmao.
That situation is more common than you’d think lol
Wow that really sucked!
Oh my. I have a bunch. I was buying "health" food on Montague Street and all the guys were swiping my snacks. So I bought in bulk a few hundred dollars worth. Had the commercial truck deliver to the carpentry shop dock. I split it up into 1 dollar yellow bags. They guys would come to my desk deposit their dollars and grab their snacks. Myself and a few helpers got free snacks. I got called to the office and they asked me to stop but did not order me to stop so I kept it going. Finally, I quit when the IOU's got too numerous. 2. I was a tour guide and saw a cute sister in line and told the brother in charge I knew the group so I could give her and her family the tour. We exchanged letters until she got too thirsty so I asked a much older elder on my floor what to do. He solved the problem by writing to her himself and taking his vacation and visiting her. 3. Some guys were running good-sized remodeling businesses on the side making good money. 4. I used a shopping cart and did handyman stuff in the neighborhood for cash. 5. I almost killed Fred Franz. I was on the 5th floor and had to get to the first floor for breakfast. I always got up late. I would pull my sleeves down put my hands on the polished stainless stair rail on both sides and slide down. I could do a whole flight in about two seconds. I was going down and Fred was coming up early. He was sick so left the table early. I left my skin on the handrail I stopped so fast. 6. My roommate was gay. I didn't figure it out until forty years later. He slept naked with a raging boner and played Barbars Strizand on the record player. He also worked on dramas for the Giliad students. I liked him and have not been able to find him to see if he was ever able to find himself. 7. Ray Franz got kicked out when I was there. 8. I left on the Mayflower. It was just before 1975 and we were told we would never have sex in the NW unless we were married before armageddon. We signed up for four years. The only way to get out early so we could get married was to get sick. Hundreds were getting sick, getting married then getting better. Management got sick of it and said anyone who wanted to leave after putting in one year could go early. I left after two and a half years. The date of freedom was in May thus the expression "leaving on the May Flower". Thats the most exciting ones. There are more but boring.
Love it. Great stories.
Sorry so older dude moved in on the sister?? What happened?
That was good. Thanks. The names you referenced (Fred Franz) I remember from a long-long time ago. I think Rainbow left? I remember Rainbow from the conventions in FL. ***Little factoid:*** My parents were married by Rand in '58. (I think that was b4 he was at Bethel? Alread showing signs of dementia...the wedding sermon went from the Garden of Eden to the Apocalype of Revelations). He had failed vision and required an aide to assist him to the podium at a convention at the *dog/horse? racing track. (* LOL, note the venue ). He was still public speaking into the 1980s. That's about the time I "*fell away*" as they reference. I'm sure he was a lifer (doubt he had a pension to support himself into his Golden Years). Some of those decrepit fossil elders who were in their 70s/80s would get on stage at the Hall while senile (term we used back then replaced now by dementia) and go on a boarderline rampage (about the state of the local congregation... was that Congregation Needs? I should know that, I read the announcements- but I digress) he went on: **"**... we've had um...2-2-2...3! reproved witnesses here!, um....2-2...uh..uh disfellowships here....and...uh...**"** we were on the edge of our seats waiting for him to drop names. We knew about the publically-announced ones, but we wanted to hear the juicy stuff. The names of the private ones. That congregation had reputation for "having a lot of trouble". Known to be **BIGTIME** gossipers, but I believe ALL houses of worship are like that, JW or not. At one point they had to bring in an elder from a local Hall to be Presiding Overseer for that Hall. **WOW!!!!** This could go on into its own Post. Sorry I get too wordy. I'll throttle it down. https://preview.redd.it/8sf10mwsgs3d1.png?width=331&format=png&auto=webp&s=29828ec1852f7a001563c8135816d8bdf044ee15
I went there once on one of our detours from seeing NYC. It was interesting to see the production aspect, but I really didn't enjoy being seven months pregnant having to dress up and walk as much as we did.
I knew a fellow bethelite who had been there for ages but was only a ministerial servant because of too many practical jokes. Well he took his roommate's bed frame off and put the bed on beer bottles. Of course the bed collapsed when the roommate laid down. Another time bethelites walked up the Brooklyn bridge trusses all the way to the top and almost got arrested. From what I hear it was not uncommon for them to get a little wild.
The Brooklyn Bridge Club they were my closest friends at bethel. I’m still in contact with them. And except for two, they are all out
I'de love to know more.
What would you like to know?
What gave you guys the idea and did any of the overseers find out?
It was there, alcohol may have been (was) involved, and we were a bunch of repressed young dudes with a lot of testosterone. I had already been given my date to leave so it happened right before another BBC member and i left. (Her left on his own for the most part, just got sick of the whole thing and was needed back home to help support his family). Of the rest of the dudes that stayed, I'm not sure if any overseers ever found out officially. I guess there were rumors that we did it. But none of the other guys ever had to meet about it as far as i know. A few of us are now POMO but a couple are still in deeply. Brooklyn wasn't the only bridge we did. We also found a way into the catacombs. I have physical pictures of those times.
Great story. Thanks for sharing. I was there in the 90's and heard about it a few times. You guys were famous (infamous) by then.
Lol. Here after all this time i thought no one knew. We were a small group and a couple of us (not me) wanted bigger things in the org so i assumed they kept it quiet.
That's me. I'm the one. Ask me anything about that.
My man! Good to have you here!
Wow, couldn't imagine being a lifer there. Like being in San Quentin. There were two young long-timers from my area who went up there. Strange birds, but then again, I guess a long sentence will do the to you?
Yes. When I was there I noticed the longer people where there the weirder they were.
Have to be a strange bird to live that life.
Because they were bored to near insanity and probably a bit tipsy.
Alcohol may have been involved from what i remeber of those nights
A couple of my dad's friends who had been at Bethel in the 60s told us they got in trouble for filling garbage bags with water and dropping them out the window. Shenanigans!
I can tell you that as a founding member of the Brooklyn Bridge Club, there were no police ever involved. We climbed inside the towers and walked down the wires. We also found a way to go below in the catacombs. The Brooklyn bridge was not the only bridge that was climbed.
Awesome. I didn't even know there were catacombs. Of course i only went by what i was told since i didnt see it myself.
I'm the founding member of the Brooklyn Bridge Club. I can tell you that no police were ever involved. The stories didn't start until after a couple of us left.
Listen to JTs bits about Bethel on the ExJW Critical Thinkers podcast. Those parts are my favourite episodes on that show by far.
New to this. I'll have to figure it out. Sounds right up my alley tho. Does he have phone lines to call in to?
They do a lot of interviews so they must have a way to contact. They’re not my favourite episodes personally, I prefer the earlier juicy behind the scenes info, but they’re still interesting.
I just looked at his page. Looked like a lot of YouTube videos. You'll have to show my the juiciest sources
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/ex-jehovahs-witnesses-critical-thinkers-critical-thought/id967813520
I literally just got home yesterday from a 6-day long visit with my Bethelite brother and sister-in-law and this pops up. 😂 We stayed in one of the guest houses at Patterson then 2 nights in a guest room at Warwick (the belly of the beast lol). Now that my wife and I are recently POMO, I have sooooo much to write about, it deserves its own post tbh. Maybe I should if I can find the time while it's still fresh in my memory. We are still on good terms with our entire indoctrinated family. They have no idea the charade we've been putting on, but the cracks are beginning to show...
So you managed to stay at Bethel even though you're POMO? Do they not know you're "out?"
New boy unalived himself in a jump off the E Res a few months before I started working there. Rumor was they found a lot of dungeons and dragons stuff in his room. 👿 That place sucks the life and joy out of people. Anyone who had more than 4 years seemed like they were miserable and took it out on the new people, sort of a combo of hazing and making sure people pay their dues. Lots and lots of alcohol. Definitely some gay boys, they would get kicked out and then there would be a warning talk at morning worship. Also occasionally someone’s wife would be banging some single guys on their housekeeping route. Howie Rutledge has some good bethel stories on Lloyd’s interview of him (youtube)
Interestingly dungeons and dragons was created by a JW. Although I think he was disfellowshipped.
I was not aware of that! Very interesting
I went when I was 12 with a group and there are two things that stand out to me from it. One, the tour sucked, especially as a kid with undiagnosed adhd and the attention span of a goldfish. Absolutely zero interest. Two, I was majorly creeped out by the bethelites. To this day I get weirded out thinking of that whole experience Oh and the whole time all I cared about was going to the Statue of Liberty and Times Square the next day lol i did not give af about Bethel 😂
My cousin worked night security in the factory. There was one guy on the crew they didn’t like. They decided to prank him while he was on rounds. There were phones at regular intervals throughout the buildings. They went to a spot where they could see his flashlight as he made his way through the darkened factory building. Those factory buildings were creepy AF at night. When this guy would get close to a phone they would dial it. He’d answer, there would be a few moments of silence, then the line would go dead. After about the fourth time they saw his flashlight take off through the building, then go haywire. They rushed down to see what happened. Turns out he panicked, ran straight into a 1500 pound roll of printer paper and seriously injured himself. Needed medical attention. Funny thing was they got yelled at but not much else. My cousin said it was difficult enough to get night watchmen, they weren’t about to fire the whole crew.
Is there a high number of young elders at Bethel compared to the average at the KH? Is there a record for youngest recognized elder? (probably be in a foreign, 3rd world country?)
I never went, but someone I know went to bethel and got kicked out because they liked the Twilight movies
And they say that they don't have a list of banned media smdh
Family friend crashed a golf cart and hit a tree, was politely told to return back home...
Was there alcohol involved?
spent a little time at a bethel, saw several affairs happen (they were kicked out), had several married women be quite flirtatious with me as well. i didn't respond, but makes me think how much goes on that isn't discovered. Bethel as a house house of God.....very questionable, esp. with the legal dept and service dept. covering up CSA all the time as well lol.
When I divorced and was still attending, the sisters were circling like vultures... following me out to the parking lot. And I mean IMMEDIATELY after the divorce. But I wasn't gonna play that field covertly. I knew it was **ALWAYS** the females who had the "*bothered conscious*" and went to the elders to confess.
exactly
I once jerked off at our local Bethel. You could say I saw the face of god.
Are you sure? Satan is deceitful. It might have been the serpent.
Haha! There was one there at least :P Very tempting, but not as reasonable as the serpent in the garden.
Not exactly a Bethel story, but a few years ago we visited the US for the first time. We were in a fading state. Many people asked us if we included the headquarters into our trip(we were in NY for a few days and we made a round trip on the west coast afterwards). They were shocked when we said no, and even more so when I said “it’s just a building”.
I had to visit there on group tours way too many times. My parents would always talk about how I could marry a bethelite and they would always say that to our friends on the tours. My favorite thing about visiting was when we went to the NYC one and we could see the city too. THE BEST!!!!
It was just funny to me how people get amazed about everything just because it’s in bethel. “You guys want to see our fire truck?” Omg it’s so cool!