Beth-Sarim is a mansion in San Diego, California, that was built in 1929 by Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Many Jehovah’s Witnesses have never heard of Beth-Sarim, or if they have, they have a distorted view of what its purpose was.
Read on, to learn more about Beth-Sarim.
At San Diego, California, there is a small piece of land, on which, in the year 1929, there was built a house, which is called and known as Beth-Sarim. The Hebrew words Beth-Sarim mean “House of the Princes”; and the purpose of acquiring that property and building the house was that there might be some tangible proof that there are those on earth today who fully believe God and Christ Jesus and in His kingdom, and who believe that the faithful men of old will soon be resurrected by the Lord, be back on earth, and take charge of the visible affairs of earth. The title to Beth-Sarim is vested in the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society in trust, to be used by the president of the Society and his assistants for the present, and thereafter to be forever at the disposal of the aforementioned princes on earth. To be sure, everything then on earth will belong to the Lord , and neither the Lord nor the princes need others to build houses for them; but it was thought well and pleasing to God that the aforementioned house be built as a testimony to the name of Jehovah and showing faith in his announced purposes. The house has served as a testimony to many persons throughout the earth, and while the unbelievers have mocked concerning it and spoken contemptuously of it, yet it stands there as a testimony to Jehovah’s name; and if and when the princes do return and some of them occupy the property, such will be a confirmation of the faith and hope that induced the building of Beth-Sarim.
– Salvation (1939) p. 311.
Beth-Sarim or House of the Princes was a mansion commissioned by Judge Rutherford for the purpose that the princes, or faithful men of old, would occupy the property.
Yet, nearly 55 years later, the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society wrote the following regarding Beth-Sarim (House of the Princes):
Brother Rutherford had a severe case of pneumonia after his release from unjust imprisonment in 1919. Thereafter, he had only one good lung. In the 1920’s, under a doctor’s treatment, he went to San Diego, California, and the doctor urged him to spend as much time as possible there. From 1929 on, Brother Rutherford spent the winters working at a San Diego residence he had named Beth-Sarim. Beth-Sarim was built with funds that were a direct contribution for that purpose. The deed, which was published in full in “The Golden Age” of March 19, 1930, conveyed this property to J. F. Rutherford and thereafter to the Watch Tower Society.
– Jehovah’s Witnesses Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom (1993) p.76.
The latter publication contradicts the former publication’s reason for Beth-Sarim. Obviously, the writers of the latter book are lying about the real reason Beth-Sarim was built. If they are lying about this, how are we to believe anything they write? In fact, if the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society is God’s Organization on Earth, why are they lying? Isn’t the Devil the Father of the lie?