The Watchtower Leaving NYC?...Not So Fast
Wednesday, March 3, 2010 at 06:12AM

In 1908 Charles Taze Russell and associates relocated the headquarters of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society to Brooklyn, New York, from Allegheny, Pennsylvania. The reason behind the move was to give the Society greater visibility. At the time, Russell’s sermons were appearing in ever-increasing numbers of newspapers all over the country. It was once said that Russell had a bigger readership than all of the clergy, combined. So, the move to Brooklyn, the so-called City of Churches then, was undertaken to give the source of the message a more prestigious profile. It seemed like a wise decision. Ever since then the Watchtower’s facilities have been recognizable landmarks to the millions of people living and working in Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan, as well as the constant flow of travelers on ferries and those crossing the Brooklyn Bridge.
For years one sign on a Watchtower building reminded New Yorkers and visitors that Jehovah is God. More recent signage on a facility exhorts: Read God’s Word the Bible Daily and Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom.
Now, after being a fixture in Brooklyn for more than a century, the Watchtower is pulling out – moving its headquarters to Warwick, New York. The project, though, will evidently take several years to complete. But the Watchtower has already relocated an educational facility away from Brooklyn, in Patterson, New York. So, apparently this move has been planned for quite some time. Perhaps the terror attack on the World Trade Center towers across the East River spooked them.
Whatever the reason, be it financial considerations or security, having a core of seasoned ministers and a visible monument to the name of Jehovah in one of the most populous and important cities in the world no longer seems to be important to the Watchtower Society’s board of directors.
To those who do not attach any special importance to God’s distinctive name, the work of Jehovah’s Witnesses may not seem very relevant to their personal lives, but it has always been God’s purpose to have his name declared throughout the world by his witnesses, as a prelude to the nations being forced to know that “I am Jehovah” – as the prophecy of Ezekiel forewarns in numerous passages.
Above all else, publicizing the name of God has been the Watchtower’s primary mission since it was established – especially since the International Bible Students adopted the peculiar and provocative name of Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1931. To date the Watchtower Bible Society is currently publishing the name of Jehovah, in all its many linguistic variations, in nearly 400 languages.
But the question posed here is this: Will the Watchtower complete its planned pullout of the New York City area? Based upon my unique understanding of prophecy, the answer is no.
In the work Jehovah Himself Has Become King the case has been presented that “Egypt” of prophecy foreshadows the United States of America (See chapter Downfall of America). That “Egypt” has a prophetic value unrelated to the ancient or modern nation of Egypt is evidenced by the fact that in the 11th chapter of Revelation “Egypt” is used in a “spiritual sense,” as the place where Jesus had been impaled. Also, in the concluding episode of the long-running conflict between the king of the north and south “Egypt” is subjugated by the king of the north during “the time of the end.”
From God’s standpoint there has been an imperial, political system continuously in existence dating from the time Egypt first became a great nation. According to Revelation the world has been dominated, and especially God’s people, by a monstrous wild beast with seven heads, each head representing a consecutively ruling empire. Since Egypt was the first ruling head according to Bible history, and it was also the first identifiable entity in the position of the King of the South in the prophecy of Daniel, Egypt is a fitting symbol for whatever power is ruling. According to the prophecies of Ezekiel and Isaiah it is especially fitting for the American world power.
In the 19th chapter of Isaiah Egypt is similarly portrayed as coming under the domination of a hard master. Originally Egypt was dominated by Assyria. Oddly, though, Jehovah blesses the Egyptians and in the 25th verse he refers to them as “my people.” The prophecy also relates that the Egyptians will render sacrifices to Jehovah. Isaiah 19:21-22 states: “And Jehovah will certainly become known to the Egyptians; and the Egyptians must know Jehovah in that day, and they must render sacrifice and gift and must make a vow to Jehovah and pay it. And Jehovah will certainly deal Egypt a blow. There will be a dealing of a blow and a healing; and they must return to Jehovah, and he must let himself be entreated by them and must heal them.”
Another indication that the prophecy does not merely apply to the ancient land of the Nile is what is stated at Isaiah 19:19-20: “In that day there will prove to be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to Jehovah beside its boundary. And it must prove to be for a sign and for a witness to Jehovah of armies in the land of Egypt; for they will cry out to Jehovah because of the oppressors, and he will send them a savior, even a grand one, who will actually deliver them.”
Apparently there were Jewish settlements in Egypt at the time the ascending second world power, Assyria, subjugated Egypt. Still, God did not send a grand savior to rescue the Jews from oppression. The language of prophecy indicates that the grand one, the savior who would deliver God’s people, is none other than Jesus Christ. Truly, all prophecy, in one way or another, illuminates the mission of Christ.
From the time that Abraham first entered the land of Canaan he built several crude stone altars to the name of Jehovah. His son Isaac and his grandson, Jacob, also built altars dedicated to Jehovah. Moses also built an altar to commemorate the defeat of Amalek – calling it Jehovah-Nissi.
Jehovah’s Witnesses today worship and serve the same God as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, as well as Moses. In that respect it is as if the Watchtower Society, including its publicly visible infrastructure devoted to the worship of Jehovah, stand as a monument and altar to the name of Jehovah – as the scripture states: “it must prove to be for a sign and for a witness to Jehovah of armies in the land of Egypt”
In what sense are the Egyptians God’s people? The concluding verses of the 19th chapter state: “In that day there will come to be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will actually come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria; and they will certainly render service, Egypt with Assyria. In that day Israel will come to be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, namely, a blessing in the midst of the earth, because Jehovah of armies will have blessed it, saying: ‘Blessed be my people, Egypt, and the work of my hands, Assyria, and my inheritance, Israel.’”
Although the nations are under the authority of Satan the Devil, ultimately God’s purpose is served by them. How is Assyria the work of God’s hands, as the scripture says? Assyria serves the same purpose as Babylon did, which Jehovah described as his forge hammer for smashing the nations. The Assyrian Empire typifies the last king – the eighth king. The last Kingdom springs from the seven previous world powers, particularly the Anglo-American dual world power. Jehovah will use the last king to dispose of the iniquitous harlot of Babylon. In that respect Assyria will render service to God and will prove to be a blessing to all of God’s people by destroying the false religious system known as Babylon the great. Keep in mind that the historical Assyria boasted to king Hezekiah that none of the gods of the nations were able to save their devotees from being subjugated.
Just as during the Exodus a vast mixed company of Egyptians and others threw in their lot with God’s people, the Israelites. Although not descendents of Abraham, the Egyptians and others making up the vast mixed company that came out of Egypt became God’s people.
Jehovah’s Witnesses have been derogatorily described as an American religion. This is not true. However, obviously, Jehovah’s Witnesses got their start in America. America, after all, was originally settled by pilgrims and Puritans fleeing religious persecution. As an outgrowth of that experience, tolerance and religious freedom were principles that were written in to the Constitution of the United States. So, the much hated and often persecuted witnesses of Jehovah have until now flourished in America.
America has been described as a melting pot. The people of America – excepting the aboriginal tribes – are not a race unto themselves. Although of predominantly European extraction, Americans are a blend of many ethnic and racial groups. In relation to the anointed Israel of God the modern-day “Egyptians” resemble the vast mixed company during the Exodus.
But as regards the topic at hand (the Watchtower’s intended exodus from Brooklyn), consider, now, Isaiah 19:18: “In that day there will prove to be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Canaan and swearing to Jehovah of armies. The City of Tearing Down will one city be called.”
Since the time the Israelites conquered the land of Canaan the language of the land of Canaan became Hebrew. The third chapter of the prophecy of Zephaniah foretells that during the period of judgment God will give his spiritual nation a change to a pure language – the pure language being the language of uncontaminated truth.
But what may be symbolized by the City of Tearing Down? Since America broke away from the Crown of England it has been the intent of the British Empire to reacquire control of the United States through subversion and ultimately tear down the entire nation-state system and revert to a corporate-controlled, feudalistic system. The trend in recent decades has been to weaken national sovereignties through the mechanism of globalism with the ultimate intent of creating a world government.
The United Nations stands as a Trojan horse, ready to come to power in the last hour. So, the City of Tearing Down is New York City. Not only is it home of the United Nations Organization, but Manhattan is also home to Wall Street, and it is no secret that the big investment banks and related hedge funds are also busily tearing down the nation, bankrupting it, by offloading trillions of dollars of fictitious debt onto the taxpayer. When the inevitable crash occurs it will spell the end of America and the religious and civil liberties the citizenry have come to take for granted.
Since the City of Tearing Down is also where those are found "swearing to Jehovah of armies” during the time that Egypt is delivered up to a hard master, it would seem that the present system is destined to be torn down before the Watchtower can remove the landmark altar to Jehovah from the Brooklyn borough of New York City.













