Satan has corrupted and misled every people that God has ever recognized as his own—beginning with the first family in Eden. For example, so insidious is Satan's influence, no sooner had God miraculously saved them from Egyptian bondage and organized the patriarchal tribes of Israel into a nation, then Satan induced their high priest, Aaron, to fabricate a golden calf to be worshipped in the name of Jehovah.

Sadly, much of the history of Israel and Judah is a chronicle of apostasy, idolatry and unfaithfulness on the part of the People of the covenant.

Even God-fearing King David was tragically over-reached by Satan's machinations and consequently his false step brought disaster upon God's people. No, it was not David's secret immoral love affair with Bathsheba that brought God's adverse judgment on the nation—it was something much more subtle. The 21st chapter of 1st Chronicles reports:

And Satan proceeded to stand up against Israel and to incite David to number Israel. So David said to Joab and the chiefs of the people: "Go, count Israel from Beersheba to Dan and bring it to me that I may know their number." But Joab said: "May Jehovah add to his people a hundred times as many as they are. Do they not, O my lord the king, all of them belong to my lord as servants? Why does my lord seek this? Why should he become a cause of guilt to Israel?"…. Now this thing was bad in the eyes of the true God, and so he struck down Israel.

Outside the book of Job little else is mentioned about Satan in the Hebrew text (Other than the fact he appears in the prophetic vision of Zechariah standing next to Jehovah's newly-installed High priest), but it is obvious that the Tempter was behind Israel's and Judah's many lapses into apostasy and idolatry. The phony gods Molech, Chemosh and the various Baals were simply idol fronts for the demons, as Moses indicated in the 32nd chapter of Deuteronomy, where he wrote: "They began inciting him to jealousy with strange gods; with detestable things they kept offending him. They went sacrificing to demons, not to God, Gods whom they had not known, new ones who recently came in, with whom your forefathers were not acquainted.

When the time came for the Messiah to come to Israel, the Devil spared no effort in his attempt to tempt Christ himself into worshipping someone other than Jehovah. When that proved unsuccessful, the chief demon sought to insinuate himself into Jesus' intimate company through the apostles. Why, one of Jesus' own hand-picked apostles, Judas, became a mere pawn of the Devil at the crucial moment during Christ's last hours.

The Devil's slithering methods have rightly earned him the title of the Serpent; and even though Christ was the head of the Christian congregation, no congregation was entirely insulated from the Devil's cunning influence. That's why, many years after Christianity was established, Paul expressed his deep concern that Satan might somehow corrupt the brothers. The apostle wrote the following in the 11th chapter of 2nd Corinthians: "But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent seduced Eve by its cunning, your minds might be corrupted away from the sincerity and the chastity that are due the Christ. For, as it is, if someone comes and preaches a Jesus other than the one we preached, or you receive a spirit other than what you received, or good news other than what you accepted, you easily put up with him."

How might the Corinthians be seduced by the cunning of the Devil? One way was by means of disguised satanic agents working from within the congregation!  Cunning indeed!

 

“SATAN KEEPS TRANSFORMING HIMSELF INTO AN ANGEL OF LIGHT”

Paul went on to reveal the extent to which the Devil had already succeeded in infiltrating the virgin-like Christian congregation of Corinth by exposing the superfine apostles; identifying them as covert agents of Satan the Devil who had cleverly insinuated themselves into the congregation. Paul wrote of them: "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself keeps transforming himself into an angel of light. It is therefore nothing great if his ministers also keep transforming themselves into ministers of righteousness. But their end shall be according to their works."

That Paul referred to the transformers as "false apostles" would seem to indicate that Satan's "deceitful workers" were the most prominent men among the Corinthians—vying with the apostles for control and influence over the congregation. Apparently, though, the deception was so adroit, so clever, the Corinthian brothers and sisters were in danger of being taken in by the ruse. For a fact, Paul's concern over his beloved Corinthian brothers and sisters was due to the fact that they kindly put up with such men.

We are not told of the effect Paul's courageous exposure of the superfine apostles may have had on the Corinthian congregation. However, Paul himself was well aware that the satanic influence of such men was only going to increase with time and would eventually extend over many more congregations than just the Corinthians. By inspiration the apostle told the elders of the Ephesian congregation: "I know that after my going away oppressive wolves will enter in among you and will not treat the flock with tenderness, and from among you yourselves men will rise and speak twisted things to draw away the disciples after themselves."

Paul was inspired to foresee that the future presence of Jesus Christ and the day of Jehovah would not come until first an apostasy had enveloped Christ's entire congregation.

At 2nd Thessalonians 2:1-3, Paul prophesied: "However, brothers, respecting the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we request of you not to be quickly shaken from your reason nor to be excited either through an inspired expression or through a verbal message or through a letter as though from us, to the effect that the day of Jehovah is here. Let no one seduce you in any manner, because it will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness gets revealed, the son of destruction"

To be sure, the apostasy was already at work in the 1st Century; even as the apostles fought to keep it at bay—as Paul further related: "True, the mystery of this lawlessness is already at work; but only till he who is right now acting as a restraint gets to be out of the way. Then, indeed, the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will do away with by the spirit of his mouth and bring to nothing by the manifestation of his presence."

History verifies that after the apostles gradually died off, "oppressive wolves" did indeed take control of the flock of Christ's remaining sheep. The restraint that the stalwart apostles had maintained was gone and the apostasy came to dominate the truth and pervert the worship of Jehovah. Nearly three centuries later the Roman emperor, Constantine, seduced the power-hungry, apostate bishops of the remnants of Christ's followers and Christendom-on-the-Euphrates was established. Little else needs to be said regarding the corrupt form of Christianity the churches of Christendom represent.  

However, before Jesus would return to take up his rule over the earth, he first initiates a gradual reawakening of his congregation, similar in scope to the original establishment of Christianity. A restoration of primitive Christianity would naturally require overturning the centuries of accumulated false doctrines and practices of Christendom. Anointed Christians would have to do it.  The facts indicate that Charles Taze Russell and the original International Bible Students undertook that work in the late 19th Century, a work which continues to the present day.

Based upon such historical facts, the Watchtower has always assumed that the man of lawlessness is the clergy class. For example, the May 1ST, 1991, Watchtower stated on page 17: "A great apostasy was foretold, and a 'mystery of lawlessness' was already at work in the first century C.E. In time, men who accepted—or seized—teaching positions in the congregation taught many false doctrines. Their language was far from pure. So there arose a composite "man of lawlessness," the clergy of Christendom, bound to false religious traditions, worldly philosophy, and unscriptural teachings."

If that understanding is correct though, it means that the foretold apostasy that "comes first," before Christ's presence, has already been in evidence for some 17 centuries! But, is that reasonable? Of course Christendom is an apostate form of Christianity, none of Jehovah's Witnesses doubt that; but what sort of milestone would that serve to indicate the nearness of Christ's presence if the apostasy Paul foretold preceded the Parousia by nearly two millennia?

What is more, if our understanding is correct it means that the man of lawlessness has already been revealed; since the Watchtower has long-ago revealed him to be the composite clergy class?

But, is that really the end of it? Is the devious man of lawless really that easily exposed? One question to consider is: if the clergy make up a composite man of lawlessness, and the man of lawlessness has already been exposed through the pages of the Watchtower because Christ's presence presumably began back in 1914, then why hasn't Christ also already done away with the man of lawlessness "with the spirit of his mouth"? Why the delay of some 90 years and counting?

Furthermore, the apostle Paul foretold that the apostate man of lawlessness would sit in the very temple of Jehovah. Specifically, 2 Thessalonians 2:4-5 reads: "He is set in opposition and lifts himself up over everyone who is called "god" or an object of reverence, so that he sits down in the temple of The God, publicly showing himself to be a god. Do you not remember that, while I was yet with you, I used to tell you these things?"

Unquestionably, the clergy of Christendom are "bound to false religious traditions, worldly philosophy, and unscriptural teachings"—as the Watchtower (quoted above) states. But, since Jehovah's Witnesses have supposedly already been released from Babylonish captivity and we are now completely separate and distinct from Christendom—their clergy having no influence over us—how is it that the man of lawlessness "sits down in the temple of The God" apparently immediately before Christ destroys him? Or, if we imagine that he has, somehow, already been evicted from Jehovah's spiritual temple, would not his judgment during the oncoming Day of Jehovah be somewhat anti-climactic?

But, seeing that the temple of The God is the spirit-anointed congregation, as the Christian Greek Scriptures say in many places, that means that the man of lawlessness exercises authority and influence over all of God's true sons up until such time as Christ evicts him from the temple. After all, the prophet Paul specifically said that the man of lawlessness "is set in opposition and lifts himself up over everyone who is called "god" or an object of reverence."

According to the 82nd Psalm, Jehovah calls his own sons "gods." (See Commentary: Watchtower Sinks to New All-time Low) Wouldn't they logically be included among the "everyone who is called "god"' over whom the man of lawlessness lifts himself up over? Especially since the man of lawlessness is in "opposition" to Christ, being an earthly agent of the original spirit opposer, Satan, we would naturally expect the man of lawlessness to oppose Jehovah's servants in particular.

So, is it correct to conclude that the temple in which the apostate man of lawlessness seats himself is the very congregation of Christ at this present time?

Not according to the Watchtower.

The Insight Volume II, under the topic of "temple," states the following under the subheading: An Impostor. The apostle Paul, in warning of the apostasy to come, spoke of "the man of lawlessness" as setting himself up "so that he sits down in the temple of The God, publicly showing himself to be a god." (2Th 2:3, 4) This "man of lawlessness" is an apostate, a false teacher, so he actually seats himself only in what he falsely claims to be that temple. 

Amazingly, the Watchtower says that the man of lawlessness does not really seat himself down in the actual spiritual temple of "The God," as Paul clearly states; but rather, according to the Watchtower, the man of lawlessness only falsely claims to occupy God's temple. Why the obvious contradiction?

In view of the subtle discrepancies between what Jehovah's Witnesses have been taught by the Watchtower regarding the man of lawlessness and what the Bible actually says about him, we ought to soberly give thought to the possibility that we have already been victimized by a cunning deception perpetrated by the man of lawlessness. Yes, it is time to give serious consideration to the possibility that "the apostasy comes first" among the restored anointed congregation of Christ and Jehovah's Witnesses as an immediate prelude to Christ's coming.

Here is something to consider: Is there any reason to believe that Satan is any less effective today in transforming himself into an angel of light and empowering his pawns to transform themselves into ministers of righteousness?

The Watchtower has often pointed out that Satan and the demons operate much like underworld criminals, in that they seek to obscure their very existence and intentions. Paul once said that Christians are not ignorant of Satan's designs.

But are we ignorant of Satan's designs?

Jehovah's Witnesses are well aware that Satan is the god of this world and that his malevolent influence extends over all systems of religion, government, commerce, the media, and so-forth. But, is that all?

Keep in mind that one of the Devil's designs is to convince us that he does not even exist—or at least try and lull us into imagining that we personally may not be overreached by him. One of Jehovah's Witnesses might reason. "That would never work on us. We know the Devil is real." And that may well be true; however, the paradox is that Jehovah's Witnesses are naïve to the fact that Satan is fully capable of influencing what is commonly called "Jehovah's organization." Some might react to that with: "Oh no, that could never happen. The Watchtower has God's protection. Anyway, the faithful and discreet slave has already passed the test and been appointed over all the master's belongings; and besides, we are living in a spiritual paradise."

Thus, by such false reasoning the very same Christian who may recognize Satan's dark influence over the world may become blind to the reality that Satan is fully capable of exerting considerable influence over the Christian organization. In that respect we are in danger of falling under the blinding spell of the Devil's man of lawlessness.

Actually, Jehovah's Witnesses recognize that we have already been victimized by false brothers who have sneaked into the organization; we just do not realize the scope yet. But, for a fact the Watchtower well knows that during the heyday of the Soviet Union, KGB agents and other enemies posed as interested Bible students in order to win the trust of the unsuspecting brothers. They often succeeded. Some of them were even appointed as elders and circuit overseers.

So, then, why is it unthinkable that Satan's phony ministers of righteousness could not also rise to the very top of the organization?

No wonder Paul told the anointed Corinthians he was afraid they might be seduced by the Devil's cunning! Or do we suppose we are wiser than the anointed Corinthian congregation that naively put up with the transformed apostles of Satan?

The Watchtower contributes to the delusion by assuring us that Jehovah's Witnesses today will never fall victim to any large-scale apostasy. The July 15th, 1971, Watchtower says:

"It is not difficult to see how Christendom is composed largely of those who make a mere profession of being Christians. Jehovah's witnesses, however, take their stand entirely separate from Christendom, a stand based solely on God's Word and its principles of truth and righteousness. We are assured that in this harvesttime, referred to by Jesus, there will not again be a large-scale falling away into apostasy."

We are not told exactly what assurances Jesus may have given us that there would be no "large-scale falling away into apostasy." On the contrary, Jesus actually foretold that during the conclusion "many false prophets will arise and mislead many; and because of the increasing of lawlessness the love of the greater number will cool off." (As used by Jesus, the term "lawlessness" is used in connection with religious lawlessness—or apostasy—not criminal lawlessness.)

However, the paragraph continues:

"But we cannot afford to be indifferent. The same enemy, Satan, the dragon, is on the warpath, more wrathful than ever. The modern-day history of Jehovah's witnesses shows that attempts have been made by some, making up an "evil slave" class, to assume control over Jehovah's work and his people. This was especially seen during the World War I period. Jehovah, however, has cleansed his organization, and made it wholly theocratic. The credit is due to him, not to man. Individually, careful watch has still to be kept. The records show that, in our congregations, some need to be warned, others put on probation, and others have to be disfellowshiped. Why? Because, while claiming to be in the truth, they do not practice the truth. This often starts in a small way, but, if persisted in, it leads away from the light into the darkness outside."

The Watchtower recognizes that a lawless element once sought to get control over the organization back during WWI. But, perhaps the evil slave has since been much more successful than we imagine. Would it not be a clever ruse by the Devil to promote the notion that the evil slaves were taken care of long ago and that the enemy is now powerless to take control?

To determine if that is really the case we must merely ask the question: Has Jehovah really cleansed his organization and made it wholly subject to himself in theocratic submission as the Watchtower claims? If so, why are there those in the congregation who do not practice the truth as the article above correctly points out?

Again, would it not suit the Devil's purpose to promote the lie that God had already cleansed his congregation if such were not the case? What could be more beguiling than to suppose that the organization is invulnerable to Satan's corrupting influence and that God is in absolute control? Ask yourself: By believing the delusion that we are living in a cleansed spiritual paradise, are we more or less vulnerable to the machinations of the Devil?

On the topic of spiritual paradise, as recently as the March 1st, 2004 issue, despite all evidence to the contrary, the Watchtower continues to insist that Jehovah's Witnesses are living in the prophesied trouble-free spiritual paradise.

 

DO JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES DWELL IN SPIRITUAL PARADISE?

The 1st study article begins by saying: "Jehovah's Witnesses dwell in a spiritual paradise. (Isaiah 11:6-9) In the midst of this troubled world, they share a unique spiritual environment with fellow Christians, who are at peace with Jehovah God and one another."

Not to mimic Eden's serpent, but just because an otherwise respected and credible authority says so, is it really so? What ever happened to the apostle's admonition: "Make sure of all things"?

So, are Jehovah's Witnesses presently living the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy or not? What is the truth?

For one thing, it does not at all seem proper or modest for Jehovah's Witnesses to boast of being at peace with God. We are reminded of the eerie similarity concerning a similar deception the Jewish leaders of Jeremiah's day perpetrated against God's people: "And they try to heal the breakdown of the daughter of my people lightly, saying: "There is peace! There is peace!" when there is no peace."

Although the Watchtower cites Isaiah 11:6-9 as a proof-text that Jehovah's Witnesses are luxuriating in spiritual paradise, they offer nothing in the way of an explanation as to how it might apply to us. So, let us test the seemingly inspired expression to see if it really originates with God, even as the apostle John exhorts us to do.

Isaiah 11:6-9 reads: "And the wolf will actually reside for a while with the male lamb, and with the kid the leopard itself will lie down, and the calf and the maned young lion and the well-fed animal all together; and a mere little boy will be leader over them. And the cow and the bear themselves will feed; together their young ones will lie down. And even the lion will eat straw just like the bull. And the sucking child will certainly play upon the hole of the cobra; and upon the light aperture of a poisonous snake will a weaned child actually put his own hand. They will not do any harm or cause any ruin in all my holy mountain; because the earth will certainly be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters are covering the very sea."

The prophecy foretells that a child will not be harmed by even a dangerous, venomous reptile. But, how can that be? Interestingly, a seemingly harmless serpent was instrumental in Satan's bringing harm to the innocent inhabitants of the original paradise in Eden. So, the prophetic imagery of a tamed, but otherwise venom-spitting cobra would seem to suggest that Satan will have no influence or voice in the spiritual paradise of Jehovah's making.

Let us then determine the context of the above span of verses. Isaiah the 11th chapter is recognized as a messianic prophecy. It begins, saying:

"And there must go forth a twig out of the stump of Jesse; and out of his roots a sprout will be fruitful. And upon him the spirit of Jehovah must settle down, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of mightiness, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah; and there will be enjoyment by him in the fear of Jehovah. And he will not judge by any mere appearance to his eyes, nor reprove simply according to the thing heard by his ears. And with righteousness he must judge the lowly ones, and with uprightness he must give reproof in behalf of the meek ones of the earth. And he must strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the spirit of his lips he will put the wicked one to death. And righteousness must prove to be the belt of his hips, and faithfulness the belt of his loins."

We recognize that the stump of Jesse has reference to the Davidic kingdom—Jesse being David's father. And Jesus, of course, inherited the right to David's throne by virtue of his being of the genealogical line of David. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus has already sat down on his throne in 1914 and has since then been ruling the world. But, according to the context of the prophecy, the foretold peaceful conditions of paradise come about as a direct result of Jesus giving a favorable judgment to the lowly and the meek and his putting the wicked one to death. Needless to say that has not happened yet—not even symbolically.

It should be apparent, too, that no such spiritual paradise existed in the original Christian congregations. That is evident from the many problems that afflicted them. For example, Paul said that he was occasionally in danger from false brothers, which is exactly what the superfine apostles were, too. He referred to other men as sneaking into the congregation to "spy on our freedom." Elsewhere, Paul also warned the Galatians that if they kept biting at one another they were liable to annihilate each other. Are those the conditions of a spiritual paradise? Not hardly. The very existence of false brothers and faithless agents of the Devil within the congregations is the antithesis of a secure, trouble-free spiritual paradise.

The closest Paul came to spiritual paradise was when he has gifted with a rapturous vision of what he called paradise and the "third heaven." Obviously, if the apostles of Christ did not enjoy spiritual paradise, neither do we.

We realize that the imagery of the lion lying down with the lamb is really depicting the peaceful relations between people who are blessed by Jehovah. Individuals with animalistic tendencies will be tamed so as not to harm others. Unquestionably, the truth can have a powerful transforming effect upon anyone who applies the principles of God's Word in their lives. But, does that of itself make for a spiritual paradise? What if not all in the congregation are transformed?

For example, it is an undeniable fact that many thousands of innocent children of Jehovah's Witnesses have been sexually abused by animalistic predators within the very congregations and families of Jehovah's Witnesses. Anyone who has the stomach for it can read the real-life, heart-rending experiences of many so-called Silentlambs; who have been the innocent victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Jehovah's Witnesses.

That being the case, what makes the Watchtower's claims of spiritual paradise all the more incredible is that when the lions and the lambs lay down in our pasturage, many of the lambs wind up being raped and devoured!

Back in the 1960s, when the ongoing moral breakdown of Western society began in earnest, perhaps there may have been some justification for our believing that Jehovah's Witnesses were somehow different from other people in that respect. But, in recent decades we have been overtaken by the very same moral decay common to Christendom. The Watchtower even freely admits that tens of thousands of Jehovah's Witnesses are disfellowshipped every year for all sorts of immorality. Many more live what is called a double life. So, for the Watchtower to insist, year-after-year, despite all evidence to the contrary, that the congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses are sheltered in spiritual paradise—untroubled by the moral decay and animalistic spirit that afflicts others—is simply to deny reality.

The question is: Why do we unquestioningly believe something that is so diametrically opposed to the truth? Satan the Devil, the father of the lie, has to be the unseen force behind such stubborn truth-warping perversity.

As a related example of the persistent truth-bending spirit at work in the organization, consider a recent Watchtower press release in regards to Silentlambs. After ordering the disfellowshipping of the very brothers and sisters who originally spoke to the media about the child abuse problem in the organization, the Watchtower's spokesman, J.R. Brown, says that Jehovah's Witnesses do not view such victim's advocates as enemies. Incredibly, now the Watchtower even claims to agree with the goals of the Silentlambs organization!  

J.R. Brown, public affairs spokesman at the world headquarters of the Witnesses' Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, in New York City, said the religion agrees with Silentlambs' goal "to minimize or eliminate the sexual abuse of children" but disputes the group's specific allegations. "We do not view them as our enemies," Brown said.

But, if that is the case the question then becomes: How can the Watchtower admit, on the one hand, that there is a serious problem of child abuse in the organization and yet at the same time continue to cling to the belief that Jehovah's Witnesses are somehow living in a spiritual paradise? It defies all reason. If Jehovah's Witnesses were really residing in the glorious spiritual paradise of peace and absolute security that Jehovah promised, would we really have to have elders trying "to minimize or eliminate the sexual abuse of children"? Of course not!

The Watchtower has gone to great lengths to conceal the truth concerning these matters. No wonder Jehovah speaks to the leaders of his people through Isaiah, saying to them: "Woe to those who are going very deep in concealing counsel from Jehovah himself, and whose deeds have occurred in a dark place, while they say: "Who is seeing us, and who is knowing of us?" The perversity of you men!"

Jesus said earthly fathers would not be so wicked so as to hand their children a serpent if they asked for a piece of bread; but in effect that is what we would have to suppose Jehovah has done to us; that, because we have come to believe that our loving heavenly Father has given us such an unsatisfactory spiritual paradise, where thousands of innocent children are raped and abused and the perpetrators go unpunished for the most part; and all the while the Watchtower makes the outrageous claim: "There is peace, there is peace. We are living in spiritual paradise!"

The truth is: The real spiritual paradise of prophecy is not characterized by mere organizational uniformity or even doctrinal purity; or anything like that. The real spiritual paradise of God's making resembles the original paradise in Eden before it was corrupted, in that, in spiritual paradise there are no evil, hurtful, animalistic men—not so much as one! You may rest assured, dear reader, that in the real spiritual paradise of Jehovah's making not even one child will be raped or sexually molested by a trusted Christian.

The 35th chapter of Isaiah further describes the Christian spiritual paradise with these words:

"At that time the eyes of the blind ones will be opened, and the very ears of the deaf ones will be unstopped. At that time the lame one will climb up just as a stag does, and the tongue of the speechless one will cry out in gladness. For in the wilderness waters will have burst out, and torrents in the desert plain. And the heat-parched ground will have become as a reedy pool, and the thirsty ground as springs of water. In the abiding place of jackals, a resting-place for them, there will be green grass with reeds and papyrus plants. And there will certainly come to be a highway there, even a way; and the Way of Holiness it will be called. The unclean one will not pass over it. And it will be for the one walking on the way, and no foolish ones will wander about on it. No lion will prove to be there, and the rapacious sort of wild beasts will not come up on it. None will be found there; and the repurchased ones must walk there. And the very ones redeemed by Jehovah will return and certainly come to Zion with a joyful cry; and rejoicing to time indefinite will be upon their head. To exultation and rejoicing they will attain, and grief and sighing must flee away."

Spiritual paradise is a condition Jehovah will miraculously create in the future. Spiritual paradise will be the sole domain of those who truly love Jehovah. All others will be barred from entry. Just as surely as the condemned Adam and Eve were barred from re-entering paradise by the cherubic sentry with a revolving, flaming sword; so too, all non-spiritual, faithless and animalistic men and women will be removed by God's angels and forbidden to enter the repurchased organization of God.  Did not Jesus say that the angels will remove all persons doing lawlessness from God's kingdom at the conclusion of the system of things?

Again, if, in spiritual paradise there will be no morally unclean individuals; no foolish persons to vex us, nor any rapacious predators of any kind to threaten our well-being, why do Jehovah's Witnesses insist on believing the lie that such conditions already exist today in the organization? If we suppose that such blessed conditions already exist, when reality screams otherwise, doesn't that indicate that we are laboring under a powerful delusion?

 

HAS CHRIST ALREADY COME?

Not only that, but Jehovah's Witnesses are also victimized by a similar delusion; to the effect that Christ has already "come" and appointed his faithful slave over all of his belongings.  The March 1st, 2004, Watchtower study article entitled: "The Faithful Slave Passes the Test!" persuasively reinforces the lie with false reasoning.

For example, the box on page 16 says that it is unreasonable that the judgment of the faithful and unfaithful slaves "will take place when Jesus "comes" at the great tribulation." Their reasoning? The article continues, saying: "That would imply that many of the anointed will be found unfaithful at that time and will thus have to be replaced. However, Revelation 7:3 indicates that all of Christ's anointed slaves will have been permanently "sealed" by that time."

But, does Revelation 7:3 indicate that all of Christ's anointed slaves will be sealed before the tribulation? Most assuredly it does not! On the contrary, the preceding verses in the 6th chapter of Revelation describes the tribulation this way: "And I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and a great earthquake occurred; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the entire moon became as blood, and the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as when a fig tree shaken by a high wind casts its unripe figs. And the heaven departed as a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and every island were removed from their places.  And the kings of the earth and the top-ranking ones and the military commanders and the rich and the strong ones and every slave and every free person hid themselves in the caves and in the rock-masses of the mountains. And they keep saying to the mountains and to the rock-masses: "Fall over us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?"

The verses reprinted above are clearly apocalyptic language used in connection with the tribulation. That being the case, the very next verse, Revelation 7:1, begins with the words: "After this."

When John says "after this," what else are we to conclude but that there is a succession of events in a particular order? And, so, what did John envision "after this"? The apostle goes on to relate: "I saw four angels standing upon the four corners of the earth, holding tight the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow upon the earth or upon the sea or upon any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the sunrising, having a seal of the living God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying: "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until after we have sealed the slaves of our God in their foreheads.""

The "four winds of the earth" are not the destructive winds of the tribulation, as we have been taught. The angels are holding back the symbolic winds of Jehovah's final judgment that culminates in the war of Armageddon. That means that the sealing takes place during the tribulation, perhaps after the tribulation is "cut short," as Jesus elsewhere foretold, but before Armageddon.

The teaching that Christ has already given his faithful and discreet slave his irreversible approval defies all common sense. In the context of Christ's illustration of the faithful slave Jesus warned: "But know this, that if the householder had known at what hour the thief would come, he would have kept watching and not have let his house be broken into. You also, keep ready, because at an hour that you do not think likely the Son of man is coming."

The same issue of the Watchtower previously cited says that the early Bible Students "calculated" 1914 as the exact year of the master's arrival. But how can that possibly be reconciled with Jesus' sobering warning that his coming would be like a thief—"at an hour you do not think likely"? It defies explanation; and the Watchtower presently enjoys the luxury of not having to offer one. But one thing is certain: The stage is now set, by the near-universal acceptance of the erroneous teaching that Christ came in 1914, that it is virtually assured that Christ's future coming as the master of the house will be as unexpected as a thief in the night.

But some may reason: "So what if the Watchtower has the timing wrong?"

The danger is that the teaching—that Christ has already come and appointed his faithful slave over all of his belongings—provides the perfect cover for the man of lawlessness to operate. After all, if we are living in a spiritual paradise and the faithful slave associated with the Watchtower already has Christ's complete blessing, then the Watchtower, in effect, has a blank check to spend as it sees fit. It can do no wrong. It is as near to the doctrine of papal infallibility as can be.

As an example of how the Watchtower is able to exploit its respectability with Jehovah's Witnesses, we need look no further than the way the organization's leadership has shamelessly deceived Jehovah's Witnesses in regards to its NGO membership. Even when presented with the indisputable facts indicating that the Watchtower eagerly supported the United Nations as an NGO, the majority of Jehovah's Witnesses who have been made aware of the facts seem to have been so conditioned by organizational loyalty that they see nothing wrong with the Watchtower's brazen hypocrisy and deceit.

Reality and truth have been turned upside down. What is undoubtedly an apostasy in Jehovah's eyes is dismissed as mere allegations by opposers by the Watchtower. We should not suppose that Jehovah's denunciation applies to Christendom: "Woe to those who are saying that good is bad and bad is good, those who are putting darkness for light and light for darkness, those who are putting bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!" –Isaiah 5:20

The environment has now become such that any of Jehovah's Witnesses who dare to question the teachings or practices of the Watchtower Society is automatically considered to be an unspiritual apostate.

Ironically, such an atmosphere of unquestioned authority is the very breeding ground of apostasy. No, not necessarily an apostasy originating among the rank-and-file members, but rather, among the very leadership who are enabled by the doctrine of their making to operate in a realm of complete unaccountability. The only reasonable explanation for the Watchtower's tenacity in maintaining the illusions described above is best explained by these words of Paul: "True, the mystery of this lawlessness is already at work."

 

 “HIS VERY HEART WILL WORK AT WHAT IS HURTFUL TO AT APOSTASY”

Many, many places in prophecy Jehovah foretells of an enlightening concurrent with the actual coming of Christ. As already discussed, the Watchtower consistently maintains that the foretold opening of blind eyes has already come about since 1919 by means of the Watchtower Society. However, a careful examination of the Scriptures reveals that The Enlightenment comes about by means of the miraculous outpouring of Jehovah's spirit during the conclusion of the system.

The 29th chapter of Isaiah, for example, foretells woe for God's organization: "For the reason that this people have come near with their mouth, and they have glorified me merely with their lips, and they have removed their heart itself far away from me, and their fear toward me becomes men's commandment that is being taught, therefore here I am, the One that will act wonderfully again with this people, in a wonderful manner and with something wonderful; and the wisdom of their wise men must perish, and the very understanding of their discreet men will conceal itself."

Surely, Jehovah's judgment can only apply to Jehovah's Witnesses. After all, Jehovah's Witnesses are the only religion that glorifies Jehovah by public preaching—coming near God with our mouths. But, as Jehovah's piercing vision reveals, our worship has become warped and diverted by organizational loyalties—our obedience to God has become mere commands of men. Instead of worshipping our Creator with a complete heart, our worship has been subtly degraded into worshipping the Watchtower, the Governing Body and the so-called faithful and discreet slave.

Therefore, Jehovah promises to do "something wonderful."

The "discreet men" whose wisdom and understanding conceals itself can be none other than the otherwise faithful and discreet slave. But, even though such, they are blind and spiritually drunk and unable to comprehend Jehovah's judgments, as Isaiah foretells. Jehovah's wonderful purpose is to remove the petty tyrants who have seized control of the minds and hearts of his people.

That's what Isaiah next reveals in verses 18-21: "And in that day the deaf ones will certainly hear the words of the book, and out of the gloom and out of the darkness even the eyes of the blind ones will see. And the meek ones will certainly increase their rejoicing in Jehovah himself, and even the poor ones of mankind will be joyful in the Holy One of Israel himself, because the tyrant must reach his end, and the bragger must come to his finish, and all those keeping alert to do harm must be cut off, those bringing a man into sin by his word, and those who lay bait even for the one reproving in the gate, and those who push aside the righteous one with empty arguments."

Up in the 11th verse we are told that the prophets and visionaries of God would not be able to intelligently read the book of the prophets because it would be sealed. The Watchtower's two volumes of Isaiah commentary attests to such interpretive illiteracy. But, when Jehovah acts wonderfully with his people "in that day," God directly opens the deaf ears and blind eyes to perceive, comprehendingly, the words of the book. No doubt, the unsealing of all the prophetic books is a result of the unveiling of Christ.

The reason we can positively say that the Watchtower's educational work has not fulfilled the prophecy is because concurrent with the blessings upon the meek and poor of mankind, Jehovah also brings the tyrants and braggarts to a finish. If the foretold spiritual enlightenment has already occurred, then why has not Jehovah also done away with the tyrants and braggarts?

We may rightly conclude that the tyrants and braggarts are among the leaders of God's people who boast of their own righteous standing and spiritual purity, even while leading the organization into apostasy—dismissing any reprover "with empty arguments." (Interestingly, the Watchtower does not even offer a comment on the above prophecy even in their supposed verse-by-verse commentary of Isaiah.)

Zephaniah confirms that Jehovah does not "give to the peoples the change to a pure language" of unadulterated truth until such time as the actual denunciation is poured out. Typical of our blindness, it is amazing how Jehovah's Witnesses have accepted the Watchtower's teaching that "the change" has already occurred—supposedly evidenced by our organizational conformity to theocratic lingo—when the prophecy we have no doubt read dozens of times clearly tells us to stay in expectation for the day Jehovah; for "then" is when Jehovah will give "the change to a pure language."

"The change" comes about as a result of Jehovah's fiery purge of the self-glorifying apostates in the midst of his organization. That's why the very next verse in Zephaniah goes on to foretell: "In that day you will not be ashamed because of all your dealings with which you transgressed against me, for then I shall remove from the midst of you your haughtily exultant ones; and you will never again be haughty in my holy mountain. And I shall certainly let remain in the midst of you a people humble and lowly, and they will actually take refuge in the name of Jehovah. As regards the remaining ones of Israel, they will do no unrighteousness, nor speak a lie, nor will there be found in their mouths a tricky tongue; for they themselves will feed and actually lie stretched out, and there will be no one making them tremble."

If the "haughtily exultant ones" are the clergy, why would it be necessary for Jehovah to remove them from the midst of his people during the final judgment?

No wonder the 33rd chapter of Isaiah foretells that Jehovah's blazing anger will terrify the apostates in his organization: "Now I will rise up," says Jehovah, "now I will exalt myself; now I will lift myself up. You people conceive dried grass; you will give birth to stubble. Your own spirit, as a fire, will eat you up. And peoples must become as the burnings of lime. As thorns cut away, they will be set ablaze even with fire. Hear, you men who are far away, what I must do! And know, you who are nearby, my mightiness. In Zion the sinners have come to be in dread; shivering has grabbed hold of the apostates: 'Who of us can reside for any time with a devouring fire? Who of us can reside for any time with long-lasting conflagrations?'

No doubt, too, Isaiah's prophecy is the basis for Christ's parable of the harvest; when the weed-like sons of the wicked one are uprooted from the midst of the wheat-like sons of the kingdom and thrown into the fiery furnace of Jehovah's denunciation.

The 32nd chapter of Isaiah repeats the same theme; whereby, Jehovah dismisses the apostates and then blesses the faithful with an outpouring of spirit like no other. However, the 32nd chapter of Isaiah connects the coming of Christ with the judgment to come. Again, proving that Christ did not return in 1914.

Isaiah 32 opens, saying: "Look! A king will reign for righteousness itself; and as respects princes, they will rule as princes for justice itself. And each one must prove to be like a hiding place from the wind and a place of concealment from the rainstorm, like streams of water in a waterless country, like the shadow of a heavy crag in an exhausted land."

The Watchtower teaches that the princes of that prophecy are Christian elders who have served under Christ since 1914 and their counsel provides a place of refuge from life's harsh realities. But is that the correct interpretation?

Not according to the 4th chapter of Isaiah, where we read: "When Jehovah will have washed away the excrement of the daughters of Zion and he will rinse away even the bloodshed of Jerusalem from within her by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning down, Jehovah will also certainly create over every established place of Mount Zion and over her convention place a cloud by day and a smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; because over all the glory there will be a shelter. And there will come to be a booth for a shade by day from the dry heat, and for a refuge and for a hiding place from the rainstorm and from the precipitation."

According to the context, Jehovah provides a place of sanctuary from persecution after God judges his organization and wholly cleanses it. As noted previously, not only is it immodest and presumptuous for the Watchtower to claim it has already attained spiritual purity in God's eyes—it is unscriptural.

"The spirit of burning down" is the "long-lasting conflagration" that causes the apostates in Zion to shiver—as cited from the 33rd Chapter of Isaiah. Therefore, the princes who provide the place of refuge are not congregational elders. Rather, they are the 144,000 princes who begin to rule with the Prince of princes—Christ. And rather than providing refuge from the world, the prophecy indicates that the princes of Christ will provide a spiritual refuge from evil men who are responsible for the spiritually famished condition.

Going on in the 32nd chapter of Isaiah, we read: "And the eyes of those seeing will not be pasted together, and the very ears of those hearing will pay attention. And the heart itself of those who are overhasty will consider knowledge, and even the tongue of the stammerers will be quick in speaking clear things. The senseless one will no longer be called generous; and as for the unprincipled man, he will not be said to be noble; because the senseless one himself will speak mere senselessness, and his very heart will work at what is hurtful, to work at apostasy and to speak against Jehovah what is wayward, to cause the soul of the hungry one to go empty, and he causes even the thirsty one to go without drink itself. As for the unprincipled man, his instruments are bad; he himself has given counsel for acts of loose conduct, to wreck the afflicted ones with false sayings, even when someone poor speaks what is right."

All of Jehovah's Witnesses have been "overhasty" in assuming that God's kingdom came to power back in 1914. We have been "overhasty" in stamping so many prophecies as being fulfilled—when such is not the case at all. If called to account for our many interpretive discrepancies, we are liable to become tongue-tied "stammerers."  Up to the present moment, Jehovah's Witnesses lavish praise upon "the slave" for all of his "generous" provisions of spiritual food. However, we are blind and deaf to the fact that certain well-thought-of, "noble" men have also given us a heaping portion of sheer nonsense and have slyly led the organization into apostasy.

For instance, we have for too long cherished the crude algebraic formula for calculating the precise year for the coming of Christ's kingdom. (-607+2,520=1913+1) (7 times=3.5 x2 (3.5=1,260) days=years) We suppose that the Society has been generous in sharing such Einsteinian insights into chronological mysteries. However, their measuring "instruments are bad"—provably so—as Isaiah describes.

Without belaboring the point, nearly the entire body of the Watchtower's prophetic interpretation is either misdirecting us to supposed fulfillments in 1914-1919 and other points in the past century, or they are misapplied to Christendom. In reality, our interpretations are mere "senselessness" and stand as an immense stumbling block to all of Jehovah's Witnesses when once Christ's presence actually commences. Many tens of thousands of Jehovah's Witnesses have already been stumbled by the Watchtower's bad dealings and consequently have stopped feeding at our table altogether. True to the prophecy, the end result of what amounts to apostasy is "to cause the soul of the hungry one to go empty, and he causes even the thirsty one to go without drink itself."

Let the reader be reminded that the first verse of the 32nd chapter of Isaiah is foretelling the coming of Jesus Christ as king and the work that Christ will accomplish towards Jehovah's people during the tribulation. That being the case, Jehovah's Witnesses are yet to experience to the full the harsh reality of being victimized by an "unprincipled man" of apostasy; who has evidently already "given counsel for acts of loose conduct," evidenced in the organization's deplorable dealings with child abuse, for example; and who now stands poised to further "wreck the afflicted ones with false sayings."

Since the prophecy of Isaiah had no earlier fulfillment, for the simple reason that the Jews have never again had a king, let alone a righteous king, the prophecy, even though encrypted in the ancient setting, is actually a vital prophetic revelation of future events. Far from experiencing spiritual paradise, Jehovah's prophet calls for the exalted spiritual domain of God's people to become cursed—like the land outside of Eden. Isaiah 32:12-13 foretells: "Beat yourselves upon the breasts in lamentation over the desirable fields, over the fruit-bearing vine. Upon the ground of my people merely thorns, spiny bushes come up, for they are upon all the houses of exultation, yes, the highly elated town."

"All the houses of exultation" may well be referring to the many kingdom halls of Jehovah's Witnesses—since we have unquestionably exalted ourselves. "The highly elated town" today similarly well describes the Brooklyn Bethel headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses. The Watchtower serves a similar function as did ancient Jerusalem—being the capital center for all worshippers of Jehovah God. As such it has been described by Jehovah's Witnesses as the very hub of Jehovah's visible organization and the earthly center of true worship in all the earth. Unquestionably, like ancient Jerusalem, with its highest peak of Ophel, Bethel is inseparably associated with the name of Jehovah.

Isaiah's prophecy continues, saying:

"For the dwelling tower itself has been forsaken, the very hubbub of the city has been abandoned; Ophel and the watchtower themselves have become bare fields, for time indefinite the exultation of zebras, the pasture of droves; until upon us the spirit is poured out from on high, and the wilderness will have become an orchard, and the orchard itself is accounted as a real forest. And in the wilderness justice will certainly reside, and in the orchard righteousness itself will dwell."

Let the reader take note of the precise ordering of events in this vital apocalyptic prophecy. First, Jehovah's capital city and watchtower are made desolate. Afterwards, Jehovah pours out his enlivening spirit; causing the spiritually deserted condition of his people to become comparable to a verdant forest.

However, as the reader might suspect, the Watchtower's interpretation is totally reversed. According to the commentary on Isaiah volume I, Ophel and the watchtower becoming barren fields supposedly symbolizes Christendom's coming desolation; whereas, the spirit was supposedly poured out back in 1919.

On page 340, the Watchtower comments on the verse in question: "Happily, since 1919, Jehovah's spirit has been poured out in abundance upon his people, restoring, as it were, a fruit-bearing orchard of anointed Witnesses, to be followed by an expanding forest of other sheep. Prosperity and growth are the keynotes of his organization on earth today. In the restored spiritual paradise, "the glory of Jehovah, the splendor of our God," is reflected by his people as they proclaim his incoming Kingdom worldwide"

However, the prophecy clearly indicates that Ophel and the watchtower—symbolizing God's organization—are laid low first. Then, afterwards, "the spirit is poured out from on high." As for what "the dwelling tower" and "watchtower" of the city of Ophel of Isaiah's prophecy actually represents, it seems more than merely coincidental that Jehovah refers to the watchtower in that context. Given that the context concerns the return of Christ, and coupled with many other prophecies, the end of Ophel and its dwelling tower, or watchtower, seems certain to be foretelling the end of Bethel and what is commonly called "Jehovah's visible organization." No wonder Jehovah describes his own judgment work as "strange" and "unusual."

The 32nd chapter of Isaiah illuminates Paul's prophecy of the man of lawlessness. According to Paul, the man of lawlessness works his mischief in the very temple of The God up until Jesus Christ personally exposes and deposes him. Isaiah's prophecy indicates that men who are otherwise considered by God's people to be "generous" and "noble" will "work at apostasy and speak against Jehovah what is wayward" up until the messianic king destroys them.

But why would God allow his people to be victimized by a satanic man of lawlessness in the first place? Paul answers: "But the lawless one's presence is according to the operation of Satan with every powerful work and lying signs and portents and with every unrighteous deception for those who are perishing, as a retribution because they did not accept the love of the truth that they might be saved. So that is why God lets an operation of error go to them, that they may get to believing the lie, in order that they all may be judged because they did not believe the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness."

The unadulterated truth is very simple. Jehovah is God. Jesus is his firstborn son who gave his life for mankind. God's kingdom is going to rule the world and destroy the Devil and his system. The earth is going to become a paradise. The "operation of error" comes with the details. So to test our love for the truth, God allows Satan to work his deception upon us.

The doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses concerning Christ's presence beginning in 1914 appears to be the primary "operation of error" afflicting us presently. Virtually all of the Watchtower's prophetic interpretations revolve around 1914 in one way or the other. The deception is so powerful that Jehovah's otherwise insightful servants have been deceived by it. Worse, we are deceived into imagining that Satan's "powerful work and lying signs and portents" only affect Christendom.  But, if the so-called gentile times did not end in 1914 how can Jehovah's Witnesses be so wrong and still be the true religion?

Satan no doubt immediately recognized when Jehovah began to anoint Christians back in the 1870's. As Jesus' parable indicates, Satan is always ready to over-sow the wheat field with weeds. If anointed Jehovah's Witnesses are the true sons of the kingdom, then, there is no possibility that Satan's weed-like agents are not also prominently among us—undetected. The notion that the wheat was gathered out from among Christendom's weeds back in 1919 is nothing but a satanic operation of error intended to disarm us.