He Has Closed Your Eyes, the Prophets

This is the concluding segment of the brochure entitled The Second Coming of Christ.

Jehovah’s Witnesses will refuse to believe it. They will likely bristle with offense at the mere suggestion that those who are “in the truth” could ever be deceived by the duly appointed “slave.” When confronted with the truth they will retort with firm conviction: ‘The Governing Body could not be that wrong. It is not possible— Jehovah would never allow it to happen. It is only a minor adjustment needed here and there.’ 

Who can deny that the congregations have been carefully conditioned to believe without wavering that the faithful slave could never mislead Jehovah’s people? On the contrary, the Watchtower has inculcated in Jehovah’s Witnesses the belief that Bethel will issue “life-saving instructions” during the tribulation and lead the faithful to life eternal. 

Why, in the minds of Jehovah’s Witnesses the Kingdom of God and the Watchtower are synonymous. It is assumed that even the gleaming new Warwick headquarters will serve as the post-Armageddon capital of the new world. But given the irrefutable facts already presented in this publication, the real question is— why has Jehovah allowed his leading men to be so wrong? Why, after decades of intense study by dedicated, anointed Christians, are the vital matters concerning Christ’s second coming still so opaque— so consistently misunderstood? Why is the font of truth also the purveyor of a demonstrably artfully contrived false story? God’s prophetic word has the answer.

Concerning the siege of Ariel, God goes on to say: “Be stunned and amazed; blind yourselves and be blinded. They are drunk, but not with wine; they are staggering, but not from alcohol. For Jehovah has poured a spirit of deep sleep on you; He has closed your eyes, the prophets, and he has covered your heads, the visionaries.”

The leadership of the Watchtower does not claim to be inspired prophets or visionaries in the sense of receiving visions and messages directly from God; but, they certainly do claim to be the antitype of the Biblical prophets of old— or at least they have made such a claim in the past. That is why the Watchtower has invented such designations as the “Ezekiel class” and the “Jeremiah class” and so-on. And while all anointed members of the body of Christ are said to make up a “prophet class” (Wt 10/1/82 p.27para 8-9) since the Watchtower is the only official voice for all of Jehovah’s Witnesses— anointed or otherwise— it is the Governing Body who are the sole interpreters of prophecy and the spokesmen for God; thus, the modern “prophets” and “visionaries.” 

Given the Watchtower’s aforementioned “adjustment” regarding Jerusalem no longer typifying Christendom, this exposes yet another conspicuous contradiction. That is because the rationale for the existence of an Ezekiel/Jeremiah class was based upon the premise that Jehovah’s Witnesses are doing a work like that of the prophets in denouncing false religion and declaring Jehovah’s impending judgments. For example, this is what is stated as recently as 2011:

“Being true worshippers, we must continue to keep awake to our God-given responsibilities. We need to be determined to keep preaching without letup about the destruction of Christendom, which was foreshadowed by that of unfaithful Jerusalem. The Jeremiah class will declare not just “the year of goodwill on the part of Jehovah” but also “the day of vengeance on the part of our God.” (w11 3/15 p. 28)

Now, though, that Jerusalem no longer foreshadows Christendom that means there can be no such thing as a “Jeremiah class.” What can account for the Watchtower casually jettisoning such a fundamental, underlying teaching? Perhaps the visionaries did not think too much about the ramifications? Could it be that the seers have become so spiritually intoxicated they are even unaware of the many contradictions they espouse? It may be that the teachers of the teachers are so utterly inebriated they do not even realize that with their recent “adjustment” they have repudiated much of what the Watchtower has taught concerning the role of Jehovah’s Witnesses in modern times. Whatever their reasons, it is evident that the eyes of the visionaries are tightly closed. Jehovah has poured a deep sleep upon them.

Returning to the question posed above: Why has Jehovah concealed the deep things of prophecy from his “true worshippers”? Again, Jehovah answers: “This people approaches me with their mouth and they honor me with their lips, but their heart is far removed from me; and their fear of me is based on commands of men that they have been taught.”

Is it not Jehovah’s Witnesses who honor Jehovah with their lips; who praise Jehovah with their mouths in both the public ministry and from the platform and now via JW Broadcast? Who other than Jehovah’s Witnesses even use God’s personal name and recognize the distinction between Jehovah and Jesus? Surely, God would never accept praise from those who are steeped in Babylonish religion. Still, Jehovah knows the heart.

It is undeniable that the Watchtower governs virtually every aspect of the lives of Jehovah’s Witnesses— lives that revolve around meeting attendance, regular field service, studying Bible-based literature, commenting at meetings, being properly dressed and groomed, not celebrating this and that, keeping the kingdom hall tidy and in good repair, generously donating to the worldwide work, and on and on.

Who can deny that the fear of Jehovah is based upon the rules laid down by Bethel? For example, who can honestly claim that the fear of being disfellowshipped for some infraction does not weigh more heavily on the hearts of JW’s than the fear of displeasing God?

It is not for men to say whether they are approved or not. The boasters may claim that they practice pure worship, but it is God who determines our real standing. Paul explained it to the Corinthians: “For I am not conscious of anything against myself. But by this I am not proved righteous; the one who examines me is Jehovah. Therefore, do not judge anything before the due time, until the Lord comes. He will bring the secret things of darkness to light and make known the intentions of the hearts, and then each one will receive his praise from God.” — 1 Cor 4:4-5

As has already been demonstrated, the Watchtower preaches that Christ’s second coming has already taken place and a third coming is scheduled in the future. Assuming the Watchtower is correct, which coming of the Lord will bring the secret things of darkness to light? It should be evident that the judging is yet to come. That being the case, since only God can examine the heart only He can determine if our hearts are far removed from him. And through Isaiah God has already revealed what Christ will find when he comes to make an examination.

It is as when a person goes to a physician to have a routine physical examination. The patient may feel fine, but the doctor may find that there is a serious, undetected problem. The doctor may recommend immediate surgery to prevent a catastrophic breakdown. Likely, we would willingly submit to the procedure on the advice of our trusted physician. 

So it is, God knows human nature. More correctly, he knows sinful human nature. Just as Paul discovered that many of the Corinthians were following men, it should come as no surprise that Jehovah’s Witnesses have an unhealthy attachment to that which is revered as Jehovah’s visible organization. The “patient” may feel all is well. The great Physician knows better.

How can such a condition be remedied? Jehovah goes on to say: “Therefore, I am the One who will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the understanding of their discreet men will be hidden.”

In what way shall God act wonderfully with this people whose hearts are far removed from Him? In the context of Isaiah, the wisdom of their wise and discreet men will perish when Ariel is crushed. The voice of God’s spokesmen will then become a ghostly whisper— as if emanating from beyond the grave— needing a spirit medium to project itself. In other words, the Watchtower will be silenced. Worse, discredited. Indeed, what credibility could it possibly retain in the face of the second coming of Jesus Christ and the appearance of the genuine sign of his coming?

The 30th chapter of Isaiah accurately depicts the Watchtower’s 1914 fraudulent parousia as a wall ready to fall: “Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says: ‘Since you reject this word and you trust in fraud and deceit and you rely on these, so this error will be for you like a broken wall, like a bulging high wall ready to fall. It will crash suddenly, in an instant. It will be broken like a large potter’s jar, so completely smashed that no fragment among its pieces will be left to rake the fire from the fireplace or to scoop water from a puddle.’”

It is undeniable that Jehovah’s Witnesses have been made to trust in the fraud perpetrated by the Watchtower; namely, that Christ has already returned; that he has established the pure worship of Jehovah. The actual coming of the Lord will shatter the Watchtower’s deceit so thoroughly that there will no nothing left of the organization. Like the Jewish system, it will have served God’s purpose. Then what?

YOU WILL SEE YOUR GRAND INSTRUCTOR

Wonder upon wonder, when all seems lost Christ will appear to the called ones. Just as Jesus rebuked his disciples after his resurrection, the manifestation of Christ will similarly serve as a rebuke. Then Christ will become the Wonderful Counselor, Jehovah’s Grand Instructor. Isaiah continues: “Though Jehovah will give you bread in the form of distress and water in the form of oppression, your Grand Instructor will no longer hide himself, and you will see your Grand Instructor with your own eyes. And your own ears will hear a word behind you saying, “This is the way. Walk in it,” in case you should go to the right or in case you should go to the left.”

The distress and oppression will come during the tribulation. After their discipling and humbling the called ones will see the one whom the apostles’ originally looked to as the Teacher. Isaiah goes on to illustrate the enlightening effect Christ’s presence among them will have: “And on every tall mountain and on every high hill will be streams and watercourses, in the day of the great slaughter when the towers fall. And the light of the full moon will become like the light of the sun; and the light of the sun will become seven times stronger, like the light of seven days, in the day that Jehovah binds up the breakdown of his people and heals the severe wound from the blow he inflicted.”

As a result of Jesus coming alongside and ministering to them, the chosen ones will then shine as brightly as the sun in the Kingdom of God, even while upon the earth. Thus, the revealing of the sons of God. According to God’s law, every matter is established upon the testimony of two witnesses. The two witnesses of Revelation, who are depicted as Moses and Elijah for the purpose of evoking the Transfiguration, symbolize how the chosen ones will become eyewitnesses of the second coming of Christ. They will experience his manifestation, his revealing, even as the apostle Peter indicated when he said he was an eyewitness to a vision that represented the parousia. Then the chosen ones will stand before kings to give them a witness.

After the purge of the evil slaves, then the world will be judged according to how they treat the approved brothers of Christ. Then, ten men out of all the nations will take hold of the robe of the spiritual Jew because then Christ will really be with them in a wonderful way.