The October 15th, 2011, study edition of the Watchtower Magazine carries the leading article, entitled: Keep on the Watch – Why So Important?
As all of Jehovah’s Witnesses well know, it is vitally important to be ready for the coming of the day of Jehovah, or the day of the Lord as it is alternatively termed, even as on several occasions Jesus Christ exhorted his followers to stay on the watch and keep ready. But ready for what, exactly?
According to the brief article it is important to keep on the watch for the outbreak of the great tribulation, which Jehovah’s Witnesses have been led to expect will commence when the so-called militarized horns of the wild beast of Revelation suddenly turns upon and devours the harlot, Babylon the Great.
In non-prophetic terms the Watchtower’s prognosticators have created anticipation among Jehovah’s Witnesses for the United Nations to destroy organized religion around the globe as the next order of business scheduled on the prophetic calendar. Although not specifically stated in the October 15th article, it is certainly implied from what has been published previously.
But as presented in the previous article on this blog – Many Will Be Stumbled – Jesus’ exhortation to stay on the watch and keep ready was in connection with the coming of the master to inspect his slaves. That fact becomes plainly evident to anyone wishing to actually read and reason upon the Scriptures in their context.
NO MORE DOUBLE-FACED DIVINATION
In the 13th chapter of Ezekiel Jehovah issued his judicial decision against the stupid prophets who are within the intimate group of God’s people, misleading them by means of double-faced divination and worthless visions, declared in the name of Jehovah. (See article: The Wall Must Fall)
As an immediate prelude to the execution of God’s judgment against them Jehovah commands his prophet to say to them: “‘The days have drawn near, and the matter of every vision.’ For there will no more prove to be any valueless vision nor double-faced divination in the midst of the house of Israel.” – Ez 12:23-24
What is “double-faced divination”? Double-faced divination is what the Watchtower practices when they interpret the prophetic word of God in different ways in order to manipulate the minds of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The October 15th, 2011, article is typical. For example, in one of the concluding paragraphs the Watchtower cites Matthew 24:44, where Jesus stated: “On this account you too prove yourselves ready, because at an hour that you do not think to be it, the Son of man is coming.”
On what account ought Christians to prove themselves ready? Because, as the preceding verse explains, (Also Luke the 12th chapter) the Son of man is coming as a thief in the night. Then the very next verse following Jesus related the illustration of the faithful and unfaithful slaves. So, Jesus is coming a thief to judge the slaves of the household, over which he is the head.
As all of Jehovah’s Witnesses surely know, though, the Watchtower teaches that the master of the house has already come long ago and rewarded the faithful slave and punished the evil and sluggish slaves.
But, again, if that were true, why must Christians continue to stay on the watch for another coming of the Son of man? Surely, the Son of man is not coming as a thief in the night on multiple occasions, separated by decades in time, is he? There is nothing in the Scriptures to indicate that to be the case. That being so, if Christ came and judged his Father’s house in 1918 then that is the end of it.
But the Watchtower, although never addressing the obvious discrepancy of their teaching, nonetheless, continues to imply that the Son of man does indeed come as a thief in the night on more than one occasion. They sometimes interpret Matthew 24:44-45 to apply to the 1914-1919 era, and as in the article under review here, they also interpret the very same verse to apply to the future. This is double-faced divination.
It is divination because the Watchtower attributes their interpretation to the leading of God’s holy spirit. And the Watchtower’s priests boast that no one on earth can possibly hope to decipher such arcane mysteries who is not an accepted initiate within the hallowed halls of Bethel.
WOE TO THE STUPID PROPHETS!
But clearly, the spirit of the truth would not lead the leaders of God’s people to teach such contradictory and misleading things. In truth, the prophets of Bethel have not seen anything remotely connected with the parousia of Jesus Christ. It is a case of their “walking after their own spirit” – not Jehovah’s spirit. This is why Jehovah states in the 13th chapter of Ezekiel: “Woe to the stupid prophets, who are walking after their own spirit, when there is nothing that they have seen!”
Incredibly, the article under review even backhandedly acknowledges that the sign of Jesus’ presence is not all that prominent. In the 2nd paragraph the Society states:
If the sign in itself was to be so evident, why this extra admonition?
[to keep on the watch] … A Christian might recognize particulars of the sign but because of his immediate surroundings not feel directly affected. He might then reason that the “great tribulation,” the culmination of Jesus’ prophecy, was still quite distant and that it was therefore not yet necessary to “keep on the watch.In saying this, the Watchtower admits that the global sign of Christ’s supposed invisible presence may not be personally seen or experienced by most people. And they are also asserting that Christians are not to stay on the watch for the coming of the Son of man (contrary to Jesus’ clear statements), but rather (as already pointed out), for the outbreak of the tribulation.
Apparently, the writers at the Watchtower are aware of the work presented here on The Watchman’s Post and are intent on responding to and neutralizing it. For instance, articles like A Closer Look at 1914 raise questions as to the reasonableness and reliability of Society’s interpretations. The fact that not nearly all of the sign of Christ’s presence has even presented itself is a very difficult dilemma for the Society to patch over – though they seemingly never tire of trying.
To illustrate, the Watchtower used to teach that the tribulation began back during the First World War, but that it was cut short. They have since dropped that.
The Watchtower used to teach that the disgusting thing was already standing where it ought not to stand. They have since dropped that.
The Watchtower used to teach that the sheep and the goats were being separated now. They have since dropped that.
The Watchtower used to teach that men were faint with fear because of all the things coming upon the world since 1914. They have since dropped that.
The Watchtower used to teach that the generation of 1914 would still be alive when the end came. They have since dropped that. Other aspects of prophecy are only in evidence because the Watchtower’s prophets say they are.
As an example, as the previously blog entry pointed out, the many who will be stumbled and betray one another and put to death by family and brothers are also those who are pr
eaching the good news. Clearly, that aspect of the sign is not in evidence either.Although in Matthew Jesus said ‘when you see all these things occurring know that he is near at the doors,’ the truth is all the things he foretold have not occurred. (Adroitly, the Watchtower article cites Luke 21:31, which does not use the expression “all these things.”)
And not only that, most people alive today have not personally, directly, experienced any of the things that Jesus foretold, such as war, food shortages, pestilences, and great earthquakes. (The Watchtower unreasoningly insists that non-communicable diseases such as heart disease and cancer are pestilences, comparable to the Spanish Influenza of 1918-19.)
The Watchtower also contradicts the word of Christ in another way. According to Revelation, when the Apocalypse commences peace will be taken away from the earth. Yet, the Watchtower article says that not all the earth will be affected simultaneously or to the same degree. Are we to assume that peace was momentarily taken away from some parts of the earth in 1914, but that it has in more recent decades been restored to most regions?
Aware of these discomforting truths, the Watchtower goes on to assert that most people will only “see” the sign via the news media. No joke – the article states:
Modern communication allows us to see all aspects of the sign, no matter what we personally experience in our locality.
The Watchtower is apparently suggesting that Jehovah’s Witnesses in non-affected areas – areas not experiencing war, food shortages, earthquakes and pestilences, which is most of the Americas, Europe and the better part of Asia and Africa (in short, most of the world) – ought to stay on the watch by keeping glued to their televisions, radios, or perhaps even the Internet, so that they may continually view the sign of Christ happening, even if it is somewhere far, far away, on the other side of the planet!
But, even at this the Watchtower is being deceptive, which is undoubtedly why Jehovah further states in Ezekiel’s denunciation: “Like foxes in the devastated places are what your own prophets have become, O Israel.”
Foxes are known for their cunning and resourcefulness. Like clever foxes, indeed, the Watchtower’s prophets slyly bend the truth to serve their interpretations. By the Watchtower’s own admission, the totality of the sign of Christ is not in evidence anywhere on earth at this present time – no matter how vigilant the watcher! No matter, as quoted above, the Watchtower lyingly states that the modern news media allows us to see “all aspects of the sign” – presumably, even aspects the Watchtower’s oracles elsewhere have rightly stated are not yet in evidence.
The seers of the Watchtower are indeed stupid. They insist on patching coat after coat of whitewash on their decrepit organizational wall – oblivious to the simple truth that the sign of Christ can easily display itself at a future time – coming upon them as unexpectedly as a thief in the night.
They are pitiably oblivious to the now onrushing collapse of the Anglo-American financial and political system and the inevitability of global war, food shortages due to hyperinflation, great earthquakes now spreading around the Pacific Ring of fire and elsewhere, and the growing likelihood of a virulent pestilence, such as a mutated Avian virus or perhaps even man-made biological weaponry, capable of generating a swiftly spreading pandemic on a scale exceeding anything heretofore experienced on this earth.
They are oblivious to the massive, potential stumbling block they have placed before all of Jehovah’s Witnesses – a stumbling block that itself is part of prophecy.
The irony is, the Watchtower’s intractable blindness and deceptive intent has made Jehovah’s judgment inevitable. The coming judgment will knock down their whitewashed wall. The days have indeed drawn near, and the matter of every vision to be fulfilled – beginning with the house of God.
Reason enough for all of Jehovah’s Witnesses to keep on the watch, indeed!