Mailbag

QUESTION: The January, 2016, WT study article stated that anointed persons are not necessarily more spiritual than non-anointed Christians. I understand the importance of humility and of never feeling superior to others, regardless of your privileges in God's service.  But how can it be said the anointed do not have any more holy spirit or special knowledge than that of the other sheep?  If this is [...]

QUESTION: How are we to understand the identity of the false prophet, recorded at Rev 16:13? ANSWER: The Watchtower identifies the false prophet as the same entity as represented in the 13th chapter of Revelation as the two-horned beast that rises up from the earth and begins speaking as a dragon. This seems to be the correct interpretation. However, we may be certain that the [...]

QUESTION: At Mark 13:32 Jesus said: "Concerning that day or hour nobody knows, neither the angels nor the Son…” Is Jesus talking about his presence, which Jehovah’s Witnesses believe began in 1914, or is he talking about Armageddon? ANSWER: The simple answer is, Jesus was referring to the day and hour for the beginning of the conclusion and ultimately his presence among the chosen ones [...]

QUESTION: If the stone strikes the image upon its feet and toes during the time of the end, where in the stream of time does that leave the eighth king of Rev. 17:11? Is it possible that these two events mentioning differing numbers of kings/rulers could years or even centuries apart? I do not understand why God made these two prophecies so confusingly different if [...]

QUESTION: I am a bit confused. Can you help? Dangerous world situation followed by solution. Result: Peace and security declared. Then, instant disaster —great tribulation. Ok so far. Jehovah intervenes to prevent total annihilation. Rev. 16:12-15. Armageddon! With the Syrian war pulling in more hardware and more countries with vastly differing agendas. The situation seems very ominous. How does this all fit together? ANSWER: Through years [...]

QUESTION: Jesus said at Matthew chapter 24 verse 9, ‘on account of my name you will be hated’, etc. Do you feel that we downplay the name of Jesus or the role of Jesus in relation to the name of Jehovah in the time of the end or during the Great Tribulation? As Jehovah's Witnesses, we are most dominantly influenced to call on the name of [...]

QUESTION: I am not sure if you have heard of this or even care to give it consideration, but I discovered this info about an alleged "checklist" from the Watchtower to congregational elders, directing them to destroy “evidence.” I know you were an elder and have dealt with many organizational duties. I find this to be terrible if true, and another example of the Society’s callus [...]

QUESTION: How do you feel this Paris attack relates? How does one explain that the fear and actions are not fulfilling the sign of the last days or Christ's parousia? In addition, could some say it will be an excuse to attack religion? When a person is indoctrinated with a particular point of view — in this instance, that the last days began in 1914 — [...]

QUESTION: We have read all your "peace and security" articles and someone already posed the question if it is possible that the declaration of peace and security might come after the world war and you said ‘no that is not possible’, but then on another article someone asked you in the comments and you said you weren't dogmatic. Might it be possible that a very limited [...]

QUESTION: What are "the things coming upon the inhabited earth?" We've read about aliens or the demons showing up on earth. Are the demons going to show themselves? There is a card game called "Illuminati cards" and most of the big things like 9-11 were predicted, together with the NWO agendas such as population control or gun control and there are some cards showing that some mutated [...]