Wednesday, July 7
You will come against them like a storm, . . . you and all your troops and many peoples with you. —Ezek. 38:9.
God will not allow the nations to destroy his people. They proudly bear his name, and they have obeyed his command to flee from Babylon the Great. (Acts 15:16, 17; Rev. 18:4) They have also worked hard to help others flee from her. So Jehovah’s servants will not “receive part of her plagues.” Still, their faith will be tested. (Ezek. 38:2, 8) After the destruction of all false religious organizations, God’s people will stand out like a lone tree that survived a fierce storm. Satan, of course, will be enraged. He will vent that rage by using demonic propaganda —“unclean inspired expressions”— to cause a coalition of nations to turn on Jehovah’s servants. (Rev. 16:13, 14) That coalition is called “Gog of the land of Magog.” When the nations launch their attack, they will have arrived at the symbolic place called Armageddon. —Rev. 16:16. w19.09 11 ¶12-13
If we consider prophecy in context it can be very enlightening. The prophecy of Ezekiel, which was ostensibly focused on the nation of Israel and most especially upon Jerusalem, the city where Jehovah caused his name to reside, has a broader application. Bethel realizes this, to an extent anyway, such as the portion of prophecy in Ezekiel 38 and 39 regarding Gog and his attack upon “Israel” in the final part of the days.
In context, Jehovah puts hooks in the jaws of Gog in order to draw him out to attack the restored nation of “Israel.” That is an important aspect of the prophecy—the regathering and restoration of a repentant nation. The Watchtower’s interpretation of the attack of Gog is completely divorced from the fact that Jehovah first has Jerusalem destroyed and afterward forgives and repurchases a remnant and restores them to his favor.
Bethel’s prophets have recently revised their interpretation of prophecy. Now it is believed that Christians went into spiritual captivity to Babylon the Great back in the 4th century when Constantine the Great decreed Christianity to be the official religion of the decadent Roman Empire. However, that does not take into account the fact that when the Jews were taken captive to Babylon it was punishment for their having profaned the name of Jehovah. It is not sensible to suppose that God was punishing Christians over the course of 15 centuries until Charles Taze Russell convened a small Bible study in Allegheny, Pennsylvania in 1874.
According to God’s word spoken through Ezekiel God acted to restore his people in order to prevent his name from being profaned by the nations. Here is what is written: “So I poured out my rage on them because of the blood that they had shed upon the land and because they made the land unclean with their disgusting idols. So I scattered them among the nations and dispersed them among the lands. I judged them according to their way and according to their dealings. But when they came to those nations, people profaned my holy name by saying about them, ‘These are the people of Jehovah, but they had to leave his land.’ So I will show concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel profaned among the nations where they have gone. Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah says: “Not for your sakes am I acting, O house of Israel, but for my holy name, which you profaned among the nations where you have gone. I will certainly sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the nations, which you profaned among them; and the nations will have to know that I am Jehovah,’ declares the Sovereign Lord Jehovah, ‘when I am sanctified among you before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you back from all the lands and bring you into your land.” — Ezekiel 36:18-24
Yes, Jehovah’s Witnesses proudly bear God’s name and the people of the world have come to associate the name of Jehovah with Jehovah’s Witnesses. That means that Jehovah’s Witnesses, especially the leadership, are more accountable to the Bearer of the Name.
It is not in the scope of this article to enumerate all the many ways the Watchtower has profaned the name of Jehovah, but consider just one aspect. In the 22nd chapter of Ezekiel God states: “Her prophets have conspired within her, like a roaring lion tearing prey. They are devouring people. They are seizing treasure and precious things. They have made many widows within her. Her priests have violated my law, and they keep profaning my holy places. They make no distinction between what is holy and what is common, and they fail to make known what is unclean and what is clean, and they refuse to observe my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing prey; they shed blood and kill people to make dishonest gain. But her prophets have plastered over their deeds with whitewash. They see false visions and give lying divination, and they say: “This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah says,” when Jehovah himself has not spoken. The people of the land have defrauded and committed robbery, they have mistreated the needy and the poor, and they have defrauded the foreign resident and denied him justice.’” — Ezekiel 22:25-29
In recent years the priests of Bethel have begun seizing Kingdom halls, evicting the very Christians who built them with their own hands and who dedicated them exclusively to Jehovah God. If something is given to God as a gift it is sanctified by the giver as something holy. However, just as is stated above, Bethel makes no distinction between what is holy and what is common. Like ordinary real estate, the Watchtower has sold hundreds of perfectly usable Kingdom halls to be used by the buyer for whatever they wish. While dispossessing the lowly publishers of their place of worship the princes of Bethel live like kings and anyone who dares to question the Watchtower’s policies is judicially executed and ostracized from family and friends.
The prophets have fabricated a great fraud, the hoax that Christ began ruling in his kingdom in 1914 and that the Watchtower is the embodiment of pure worship. Jehovah is profaned among them. As for whitewashing its deeds, look at the way the Watchtower lied about its 10-year political partnership with the United Nations, claiming they had to become an associate NGO to access the UN library, which was a lie.
Jehovah is patient. He takes the long view. He has allowed wickedness to come to the fore, like a slow-fermenting mass. When the hour arrives then God will unleash a great global tempest. The Watchtower will not survive. All of those who proudly bear the name of Jehovah will go into spiritual captivity to the greater Babylon. Think it can’t happen? Look at Russia. The Watchtower’s prophets have boasted that Babylon the Great has no power to suppress God’s people. Wrong! The Russian Orthodox Church, of which Putin is a staunch supporter, had Jehovah’s Witnesses completely liquidated.
In God’s mercy, he will forgive. In the aftermath there will be a regathering, only then there will not be one faithless, wicked person. The angels will not allow Satan’s ministers in. Then the sons of God will be revealed around which will be gathered the great crowd. Christianity will be successfully concluded. That is when God tempts the Tempter to attack “Israel.”
Then, Jehovah will respond.
