Thursday, September 10

Their best one is like a brier, their most upright one is worse than a thorn hedge.Mic. 7:4.

Jehovah’s prophet Micah saw conditions in Israel deteriorate spiritually until they became appalling under the rulership of wicked King Ahaz. Micah likens the unfaithful Israelites to “a brier” and “a thorn hedge.” Just as a brier or a thorn hedge injures anyone who walks into it, those corrupt Israelites harmed anyone with whom they had dealings. The corruption became so great that even family relationships broke down. Aware that he could do nothing to change the situation himself, Micah poured out his heart to Jehovah. Then he waited patiently for God to act. Micah was confident that Jehovah would intervene in His own time. Like Micah, we have to live among selfish people. Many are “unthankful, disloyal, having no natural affection.”

Commentary

The spiritual condition among Jehovah’s Witnesses is deteriorating. The most upright among them lied under oath before the Australian Royal Commission, telling the commission that the Governing Body do not claim to be the sole voice of Jehovah’s channel and implying that elders act independently of the Legal Department on reports of child abuse.

Anyone who looks to the leadership of the Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses for justice is going to have an excruciating experience, akin to stumbling into a brier patch.

The prophecy of Micah more aptly applies to the spiritual condition of Christians during the actual conclusion. That is evident from the context and the similarity to the words of Christ. Micah 7 states:

“Woe to me! I am like one who, after the gathering of summer fruit and the gleaning following a grape harvest, finds no cluster of grapes to eat, no early fig that I crave. The loyal one has perished from the earth; among men there is no one upright. All of them lie in ambush for bloodshed…The day of your watchmen and of your reckoning will come. Now they will panic. Do not put faith in your companion or trust a close friend. Guard what you say to the one who lies in your embrace. For a son despises his father, a daughter rises up against her mother, and a daughter-in-law is against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his household. But as for me, I will keep on the lookout for Jehovah. I will show a waiting attitude for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy. Although I have fallen, I will rise up; although I dwell in the darkness, Jehovah will be my light.”

Jehovah’s Witnesses have been led to believe they will be passive bystanders to the unveiling of God’s wrath. They expect the Governing Body to be the source of unfailing light that will lead them into the new world. But instead it will be like the grape-gatherers who finish the harvest and find that there is nothing for them to eat.

The words of Micah parallel those of Christ concerning brothers hating and betraying each other; children handing over their parents to be put to death and vice-versa. These are the things that are destined to befall Christ’s followers when the system crashes and the last king arises.

Already vast numbers of former JW’s stand at the ready to turn in family members as soon the day of tyranny descends on this wicked world. They will have no choice but to follow Satan during the hour of darkness. We may also expect that the legions of the doomed will swell dramatically as many more will be stumbled when the Watchtower’s vision of the future comes unraveled.

The enemies of the truth will appear to have stamped out Jehovah’s Witnesses. But they will not succeed. After the shakeout the sons of the Kingdom will emerge and become like lions among the lambs.

The day of your watchmen is nearer than you think.

Related Posts