KINGDOM BULLETIN #14
“This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah says: ‘Look! A calamity, a unique calamity, is coming. An end is coming; the end will come; it will rouse itself against you. Look! It is coming. Your turn has come, you who inhabit the land. The time is coming, the day is near. There is confusion and not joyful shouting on the mountains.” —Ezekiel 7:5
Through his watchman in faraway Babylon, Jehovah announced that Jerusalem’s end was near. A unique disaster was coming and nothing could stop it. Jehovah had determined to pour out his rage upon the city that bore his name —what is referred to in Isaiah as “his strange deed —his unusual work.” Jehovah had wearied of putting up with their enduring unfaithfulness. He was going to put an end to the idolatry and their oppression of the orphans that the Jews piously practiced in his name. The prophets who prophesied otherwise would all be put to shame.
Even though Nebuchadnezzar had already subjugated Judah and imposed tribute upon them, even taking the upper crust of society into exile, the Jews who inhabited the land wrongly imagined that God would not allow Babylon to completely destroy Jerusalem. After all, when the Assyrians intended to lay siege to the city where Jehovah had placed his name an angel from heaven slew Sennacharib’s entire army as they slept. But there was going to be a different outcome this time. That is why Jehovah’s prophet in Jerusalem —Jeremiah —warned the Jews not to put their trust in deceptive words regarding the charm and assumed permanence of Jehovah’s temple. (Jeremiah 7:4)
The situation today is similar. Just as Jehovah supported and protected Israel and especially Jerusalem, at least up until He didn’t, there is ample evidence to prove that God has supported, blessed and protected the Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, as well as their Bible Student predecessors. Especially is God’s protection evidenced by the relative peace and stability of the nations of Christendom since the end of the last world war.
Nevertheless, the end is coming —the end of peace, democracy and our leading a calm and quiet life. The calamitous end of the Christian ministry is coming. That is why it is a “unique calamity.” The words of the apostle have never been more relevant: “The end of all things has drawn close.”
Jehovah’s dealings with ancient Israel and Judah stand as a stark warning to those who boast of practicing “pure worship” today. Like those Jews in Jeremiah’s day who proclaimed “this is the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah,” Jehovah’s Witnesses have similarly been deluded into trusting in the righteousness of the Watchtower Society —Jehovah’s visible organization, so-called. The extent of the delusion is evident from the fact that the Watchtower organization is believed to be the very ark of salvation. No one outside of the organizational ark may expect to survive the coming great tribulation. (This is not to suggest that some other religious institution is the place of refuge.)
As an example of the false reasoning buttressing the delusion, the “prophets” have wrongly applied Jehovah’s guarantee that ‘no weapon formed against you will have any success’ to the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. The Watchtower’s seers overlook the obvious fact that the prophecy could only be realized after God restored Israel, which, of course, was after He had effectively used Babylon as his weapon for punishing the Jews. Besides, what basis is there for the Governing Body to make such a boast now, when by all accounts Russia has recently had success in shutting down the work of Jehovah’s Witnesses in that vast country? We may consider what has happened in Russia as a portent of things to come.
According to Jesus, the faithful will be required to flee away from the comfort and security of “Jerusalem” when the disgusting thing stands where it ought not. In harmony with that, the 11th chapter of Revelation reveals the things to occur in the Lord’s day; namely, that the holy city and the temple courtyard that are destined to be trampled upon by the nations. Even the Watchtower recognizes this symbolizes Christ’s congregation. Therefore, if we are to let the Scriptures ring in harmony it simply cannot be the case that the “Jerusalem” that Christ spoke of on the Mount of Olives symbolizes Christendom.
Jerusalem is a most fitting symbol for Christ’s congregation since Jerusalem was where Jesus was put to death, providing the basis for his dealing with his congregation. Not only that, the anointing originated in Jerusalem. And Jerusalem was where the first century governing body composed of the apostles and other older men were headquartered. Fittingly, in prophecy “Jerusalem” is where it all ends. Indeed, the end is coming!
As part of the operation of error —the deluding influence that emanates from the Watchtower —an elaborate mythology has been fabricated regarding the supposed glorious second coming of Jesus Christ having taken place in 1914. For example, the trampling of the holy city mentioned above is asserted to have happened during the tumult of the First World War; thus, effectively divorcing that aspect of prophecy from Jesus’ words concerning the trampling of “Jerusalem” during the conclusion.
The so-called prophet-class, which in reality has been a mere handful of men tasked with interpreting prophecy in a way to aggrandize the organization, have developed a complex maze of contradictory exegesis with the intent of convincing Jehovah’s Witnesses that Christ has already judged the house of God.
As a recent example of the dishonesty of the institutional “prophets” the October, 2018, Watchtower, celebrates 100 years since 1918 —the year the Watchtower asserts that the messenger of the covenant came near for the judgment. The article refers to the Finished Mystery book and how its deep spiritual message brought persecution upon the Bible Students. In reality, the publication is nonsensical, mere incoherent ramblings. No doubt that is why the Watchtower took it out of publication long ago. But that has not stopped Bethel from continuing to pretend that the Finished Mystery was some weighty message from God’s Laodicean messenger. (Thanks to the Internet anyone can access the book and examine its contents and determine for themselves its merit.)
Jehovah long ago foresaw the very situation involving the leadership of Jehovah’s Witnesses today. Speaking to developments that immediately precede the earth-shaking second coming of Christ, through his prophet Isaiah Jehovah has said of those who preside over his people: “So hear the word of Jehovah, you boasters, you rulers of this people in Jerusalem, for you men say: ‘We have made a covenant with Death, and with the Grave we have made an agreement. When the raging flash flood passes through, it will not reach us, for we have made a lie our refuge and we have hidden ourselves in falsehood.’” —Isaiah 28:14,15
As already established, Jerusalem aptly depicts Christ’s congregation. Therefore, the denunciation of “you rulers of this people in Jerusalem” must be addressed to the leadership of the Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the lead-up to the desolation of the holy place during the time of the end.
To reiterate: Jerusalem does not represent Christendom. That ought to be evident by what is revealed in the 29th chapter of Isaiah, which is a continuation of the 28th chapter —pronouncing woe upon the city where David encamped —Jerusalem —saying: “But I will bring distress on Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation, and she will become to me like an altar hearth of God. I will encamp on all sides against you, and I will besiege you with a palisade and raise up siegeworks against you.”
Discerning Bible students will immediately recognize the parallel with what Jesus foretold concerning Jerusalem being encircled by a fence of pointed stakes, which is what a palisade is. But, obviously, the prophecy of Isaiah had no fulfillment in the first century. As revealed in the context the prophecy pertains to the second coming of Jesus Christ.
While the Governing Body may boast of the organization’s depth of insight, 1914 is a lie —a mere delusion. The events that the Watchtower touts as proof of the second coming are merely the powerful, deceptive, lying signs that Satan has put into operation, such as the persecution of the Bible Students during WWI and the brief incarceration of Rutherford and seven others, that have since then been interpreted as the fulfillment of a whole range of Bible prophecy, such as the monumental downfall of Babylon the Great and the ascension of the mountain of the house of Jehovah.
The 29th chapter of Isaiah also accurately describes the spiritually stupefied condition of the rulers of God’s people and why they cannot comprehend the message contained in Isaiah, saying of them: “For Jehovah has poured a spirit of deep sleep on you; He has closed your eyes, the prophets, and he has covered your heads, the visionaries. Every vision becomes for you like the words of a sealed book.”
How true Jehovah’s words. The Watchtower’s “prophets” and “visionaries” have their eyes sealed shut. It is as if they are illiterate when it comes to reading the judgments of Jehovah contained in Isaiah and all the other prophets.
There is no question that the rulers of God’s people have taken refuge in their 1914 phantasm. They prefer to hide in falsehood and boast of their having secured Christ’s approval for themselves back in 1919. They are cocksure that with them at the helm the organizational ark will ride through the raging torrent of Jehovah’s coming judgment. They hope to ride out the onrushing storm, safe and secure into their new granite fortress in Warwick.
But the onrushing flood of Jehovah’s rage will sweep away their place of concealment. “Your covenant with Death will be dissolved, and your agreement with the Grave will not stand. When the raging flash flood passes through, you will be crushed by it. As often as it passes through, it will sweep you away; for it will pass through morning after morning, during the day and during the night. Only terror will make them understand what was heard.”
Up until this moment, there is no possibility of reasoning with the Governing Body, or any of Jehovah Witnesses who are deeply entrenched in the Watchtower. As Jehovah has foretold, only a flood of satanic tyranny will disabuse the leading men of their idolatrous attachment to the Watchtower. Outright terror will make them finally understand.
That the prophecy of Isaiah has to do with the second coming of Christ is evident from the verse 16, which states: “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah says: ‘Here I am laying as a foundation in Zion a tested stone, the precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. No one exercising faith will panic.’” —Isaiah 28:16
While the Watchtower continues to celebrate over a century of Kingdom rule, the actual coming of Christ in Kingdom power has not occurred. But he is coming. Indeed, “the time is coming, the day is near.” And the boasters are near to their finish.
The leaders of the Watchtower Society will surely scoff at the message presented here, which is why Isaiah forewarned the hearers: “Now do not scoff, so that your bonds may not be further tightened, for I have heard from the Sovereign Lord, Jehovah of armies, that an extermination has been determined for all the land.” —Isaiah 28:22
This article is being mailed electronically and via snail mail to various representatives of the Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses throughout the English-speaking world.
A Unique Calamity is Coming (Download PDF)
