From what you have told everyone, you and I are about the same age. I have been reading "Church of God" literature since adolescence, and I'm here to tell you that you are mistaken. The reason I know this to be the case is because I don't recall that rendering of John 14:2........ at all!
When you can twist words, then it is time for people to look the translations up on the internet - which ordinary people can do now from independent sources.
One of the things I can remember best was the constant reminder to prove all things. Get your own concordance, get your own interlinear, learn some Greek.....and "Don't believe me...believe your Bibles!" Doesn't sound too much like anyone was trying to twist words....at least from my perspective.
If you would care to reacquaint yourself with what was actually taught you may start ... here and then go here , but I don't believe you'll ever find your rendition among these works.
Christ . . and Him having been crucified. .
Hmm..mm . . this is my opinion of the WWCoG and why it is so vitally important to the hierarchy that no one believe that to be absent from the body is "to be present with the Lord" as Paul wrote. In fact, he seemed anxious to go on out of here to be present with the Lord (unless, I suppose this passage has been mistranslated as well). I think there is the possibility that if we get scared enough that we will go to sleep and won't ever wake up if we don't join the WWCoG, we will rush to join the WWCoG and send our donations on up to headquarters. Excuse me, but I am understandably skeptical of rich organizations and human beings that think they are "the only right one". I've had a full belly of religious control freaks (and not necessarily all WWCoG) who use fear and alarm tactics and manipulation to make us fear crossing a "man of God" - who is all the while lining his pockets, consorting with prostitutes and laughing all the way to the bank. I've seen this in other religious quarters; don't know about WWCoG all that much except for some sort of off behavior of Garner Ted, a once very high profile WWCoG example.)
You're right about people needing to take care of their own translations. I am decidedly not lying about what I read those many years ago in the WWCoG material article. Perhaps it was an article by Garner Ted in one of his more distracted moments. - By all means people should read the WWCoG stuff and decide for themselves if they want to. I am just a weak vessel and not an authority of any kind.