I recently read the transcript of Brother Jackson’s Annual Meeting talk entitled Don’t Be Surprised By Sudden Changes. As is the custom, the yearly assembly announces trivial adjustments in organizational policies and teachings. This year was no exception. This year’s “adjustment” was a change in understanding of Revelation 17:17, which states: “For God put it into their hearts to carry out his thought, yes, to carry out their one thought by giving their kingdom to the wild beast, until the words of God will have been accomplished.”
The “new light” concerns the meaning of the “one thought.” For decades, it had been assumed that the one thought concerned destroying Babylon the Great. Now, the Watchtower has come to realize that the “one thought” has to do with the kings giving their kingdom to the wild beast for “one hour.”
It is a trivial adjustment, at least on the face of it. Although the Governing Body member did not say that the nations would relinquish their sovereignty, he said they would hand over their political power, which is the same thing. Jackson rightly noted that this has never been done before. Nations do not willingly forfeit their ruling power, although, to some extent, we see it in the individual nations of the European Union.
For obvious reasons, the Governing Body did not elaborate on the implied ramifications of all the nations surrendering their power to a world body such as the United Nations. Jackson carefully avoided saying the obvious, but I will—when the nation-states abdicate, the United Nations will become a world government for the allotted “one hour.”
No one seems capable of contemplating the implications of a nation like the United States of America relinquishing its sovereignty. Suffice it to say that no organization in America has benefited from the First Amendment to the Constitution —otherwise known as the Bill of Rights —more than the Watchtower and Jehovah’s Witnesses. If you are unfamiliar with the First Amendment, it says: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The Watchtower’s flicker of “new light” is not really new to many of us. Regular readers of the e-Watchman website know that for the past 20 years, the empowerment of the United Nations as a world government has been a frequent topic of consideration and part of a fresh perspective on Bible prophecy. It is stunning that the Governing Body is just now timidly considering it.
Geoffrey Jackson directed the audience to verses 12 and 13, which state: “The ten horns that you saw mean ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they do receive authority as kings for one hour with the wild beast. These have one thought, so they give their power and authority to the wild beast.”
Brother Jackson correctly explained that since the symbolic ten kings have not given their kingdom to the wild beast, this means that the prophetic “one hour” has not begun. But their late-coming realization still is not in focus. To be sure, it is impossible for them to get their vision in focus. No fractal of new light can fix it either. That is because everything the Watchtower teaches as a reliable interpretation of Revelation is wrong. The Lord’s day has not begun. Satan and his demons have not been cast down. The horsemen of the Apocalypse have not begun their deadly ride. The head of the beast has not been dealt a mortal blow and recovered. And the wild beast has not emerged from the abyss as the eighth king.
Yes, the League of Nations went out of existence at the outbreak of the Second World War. The United Nations was indeed founded after the war as a replacement for the defunct League. But as Jackson pointed out, the UN is a toothless tiger—the League was even more so. And these would-be world governments have been ineffectual because nations are unwilling to relinquish their sovereignty.
Keep in mind, Satan the Devil is permitted to have influence to the extent of producing powerful works, lying signs and deceptive portents. To what end? The apostle Paul warned that Christians would be subjected to a fake parousia. Men with authority would falsely proclaim through written material and talks that the day of the Lord has begun. The League’s disappearance and the UN’s reappearance is a lying sign. It is a lying sign because it was not the true fulfillment of the beast emerging from the abyss.
Jehovah’s Witnesses are not allowed to critically discuss what the Watchtower teaches, again, for obvious reasons. Common sense should cause any serious student of the Bible to question the Watchtower’s teaching that there are two separate, symbolic seven-headed wild beasts in Revelation. How can such a nonsensical thing be accepted without sensible people questioning its authenticity? It is a mystery.
The fact is that Satan’s lying signs cannot stand up to the truth. The truth is that the League of Nations was never a ruling power. The British Empire intended it to be, but it was a colossal failure due in no small part to the refusal of the US Senate to ratify the treaty. Nationalism prevailed. The most powerful nation on earth refused to relinquish its sovereignty. That being true, why would God consider such an impotent organization as the League of Nations to be a wild beast? He would not. Therefore, it cannot possibly be true that the scarlet-colored wild beast ascended from the abyss in 1945 upon the creation of the United Nations. As Jackson noted, the UN is a paper tiger, not a wild beast.
There is only one symbolic seven-headed beast on earth, which corresponds with the fiery seven-headed dragon in heaven. The reason the beast is described slightly differently when it emerges from the abyss—as a scarlet-colored wild beast—symbolizes its changed nature to a very angry, scary monster. This anger is a reflection of the rage of Satan and the demons after their expulsion from heaven.
This harmonizes with the changed nature of the two-horned lamb, about which John wrote: “Then I saw another wild beast ascending out of the earth, and it had two horns like a lamb, but it began speaking like a dragon.” – Revelation 13:11
Saying, “but it began speaking like a dragon,” suggests that the Anglo-American dual-horned power has not always spoken like a dragon. We appreciate that the seven-headed wild beast with the body of a leopard and the feet of a bear, and the mouths of lions, is a compost reflecting the three individual beasts Daniel envisioned. The beast with two horns likewise represents a separate empire, the seventh kingdom that corresponds with the head of the beast that John saw suffer a mortal blow only to recover. The two-horned beast ascending out of the earth represents the recovery from the mortal blow and pictures the same thing as the scarlet-colored beast arising from the abyss. Ascending from the earth is the same as emerging from the abyss. But it should be noted that the two-horned lamb beast begins speaking like a dragon only after it climbs up out of the earth —from the grave. In other words, after its recovery and reemergence, then it will become the mouthpiece of Satan the Devil.
The exhortation not to be surprised by sudden changes sounds rather hollow—trite. How can we not be surprised, yes, shocked and horrified when the Anglo-American duo suffers a catastrophic blow—symbolized by the seeming mortal head wound? Speaking of sudden changes, “Whenever it is that they are saying, “Peace and security!” then sudden destruction is to be instantly on them, just like birth pains on a pregnant woman, and they will by no means escape.”
The reason the cunning Devil has devised a sophisticated scheme to fake his ouster from heaven is so that when he does come down in a red-hot rage and imposes an existential threat to civilization itself, we might be paralyzed with shock, fear, and confusion. No wonder Jesus urged us not to be terrified or give into fear, because the crash of the global system will be a fearful thing.
