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The Watchtower Society has done it again!

I have never really used the word "umpteenth" before, at least not in print, but it may be applicable now - as in the expression: the "umpteenth time"the Governing Body has revised and redefined that which is an integral part of their teaching on prophecy having to do with the return of Jesus Christ.

At this year’s Annual Meeting, held at the posh Stanley Theater in Jersey City, the eight member Governing Body of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society declared itself to be the embodiment of the faithful and discreet slave. And now all the individuals, including both the anointed and those who are defined as the great crowd, are the domestics that are fed by the slave. Okay. But alas, there are a number of inherent contradictions with this newly revised view.

But first, though, I stand corrected.

This is a revision and an update from a previous blog entry.

Apparently this is to be an annual occurrence, necessitated by the fact that the Watchtower sends representatives to an annual hedge fund conference about this time every year, and I, accordingly, am compelled to publicize their unseemly affairs. (The Watch Tower Society is on the 2012 attendees list under Investors.)

But what is wrong with the Watchtower investing in hedge funds? For one thing, the Society is a tax-exempt organization based upon the supposition that it is a non-profit institution. (Not to be confused with its non-prophet status) But is it even ethical for a non-profit organization to operate as a hedge fund or to invest in hedge funds seeking maximum profits? At the very least it is questionable and may even violate the rules governing tax-exempt organizations. Ultimately, their avarice may well be their undoing, as it is not out of the question that they may at some point lose their tax-exempt status for this very reason.

But it is not just that. Everything the Watchtower does now is either done to save money or to make money. For example, some assembly halls have evidently installed cash machines so that Jehovah's Witnesses can donate money straight out of their bank accounts. Apparently the donation boxes at every exit just weren’t enough. (Be reminded that Jesus became indignant because of the presence of moneychangers in his Father’s temple.)

On the other hand, it has come to my attention that this year the Watchtower asked Jehovah’s Witnesses (at least in France) to print copies of the convention program off the Internet to save the Society the printing expense. Apparently, that means that in their view it is a waste of money to provide programs for those who attend their conventions and that the money might be more wisely allocated by placing million dollar bets with the high rollers in the global financial casino. The Society’s sophisticated money masters make the Miracle Wheat fiasco of the organization’s founder seem amateurish by comparison.

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I had an occasion to go to Pittsburgh with my wife recently. I had never been there before. It’s a lovely city, nestled on the edge of the Allegheny Mountains. It is called "the city of bridges" because there are so many spans that cross the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, which converge to form the mighty Ohio River. On our trip home we stopped by the [...]

The symbolism that Jehovah employed when issuing the original Edenic prophecy regarding the serpent bruising the heel of the seed of the woman and the seed of the woman crushing the head of the serpent, would seem to be more fitting than is casually apparent.

On the one hand, Jehovah’s Witnesses have an appreciation of the paramount matter of Jehovah’s as-of-yet unresolved universal sovereignty, and the related issue regarding the faithfulness and integrity of all intelligent creation.

Jesus was, of course, the foremost witness of Jehovah and the grand champion of God’s rightful sovereignty. Having left the comfort and security of his lofty position next to God, Jesus willing exposed himself to the serpent Tempter; ultimately submitting himself to an unimaginably horrible, torturous death, in order to fully submit to Jehovah’s will; hence, the serpent bruised the seed upon the heel.

But Jehovah’s Witnesses are here behooved to consider the serpent bruising analogy in practical terms: Imagine yourself walking through a patch of tall grass and suddenly feeling a searing sting on your lower leg. Looking down you instantly realize you have been bitten by a venomous snake. A person’s instinctual reaction might be to stomp on the snake’s head and make sure it was crushed dead – so that it might not strike again. (Merely stomping upon the reptile’s body would more than likely result in another snakebite.)

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At Matthew 24:6 is recorded Jesus’ words of warning to his disciples: “You are going to hear of wars and reports of wars; see that you are not terrified. For these things must take place, but the end is not yet.”

Next Christ foretold: “For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another. All these things are a beginning of pangs of distress.”

Are we to believe that the “beginning pangs of distress” span generations, only to give way to a prolonged period of relative peace, and that the generation who heard the original reports of wars passes away long before all things are fulfilled? As strange as it may seem that is exactly what Jehovah’s Witnesses now believe.

But since wars and reports of wars precede the big war in which nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Christ’s prophecy regarding nation warring against nation was fulfilled in 1914-18, Jesus’ words regarding the “wars and reports of wars” that precede all-out war have no relevance whatsoever for Jehovah’s Witnesses today. For that matter, neither does the aspect of nation rising against nation. It is all dead history of fulfilled prophecy to Jehovah’s Witnesses.

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Immediately after Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River and anointed by God as the promised Messiah he was promptly led by the holy spirit into the wilderness in order to be tempted by the Devil. 

But that was just the beginning. After having failed to tempt Jesus into an act of disloyalty to Jehovah the gospel writer Luke noted that the Devil concluded the temptation, only “until another convenient time.” Some time later Jesus exposed his tempter as the wicked ruler of the world, the father of the lie and the original manslayer – charging his fellow Jews as being those desirous of doing the will of the wicked one.

On the night he was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus told his captors that it was their hour and the authority of darkness  – meaning that Jehovah had removed his protection from Christ in order to allow the wicked one to test him to the limit. If you recall, on several occasions during his ministry the murderous Jews tried to kill Jesus, but could not. On other occasions the leaders wanted to have Christ destroyed but they were in fear of those who accepted him as a man of God. But all impediments to his destruction were swept away on that fateful Passover.

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“For, according to their wish, this fact escapes their notice, that there were heavens from of old and an earth standing compactly out of water and in the midst of water by the word of God; and by those means the world of that time suffered destruction when it was deluged with water. But by the same word the heavens and the earth that are now are stored up for fire and are being reserved to the day of judgment and of destruction of the ungodly men.” – 2 Peter 3:5-7

de·lu·sion (d-lzhn) n 1: (psychology) an erroneous belief that is held in the face of evidence to the contrary 2: a mistaken or unfounded opinion or idea 3: the act of deluding; deception by creating illusory ideas If you are one of Jehovah’s Witnesses you no doubt believe that Jesus Christ arrived in the glory of his kingdom in 1914. You also believe that Jesus judged [...]

“What the near future holds” is the title of a talk outline presented by elders of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Representatives of the Watchtower Society have also delivered variations of the discourse in recent years.

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Over the years the Watchtower Society has published volumes of interpretations of Bible prophecy.  Aside from their saying “peace and security,” the destruction of Babylon the great and the actual war of Armageddon, Jehovah’s Witnesses have been led to believe that nearly all prophecy has already been fulfilled. In fact, the Watchtower is fond of saying that prophecy cannot really be understood until after it is fulfilled.

The return of Jesus Christ will be the most profound occurrence of all time. Christ’s revelation will set into motion a chain if events that will forever change the affairs of men on earth. But what exactly is the revelation of Christ? As the word implies, the revelation has to do with the revealing or unveiling of Jesus. To unveil means to make manifest something or [...]