This is a continuation in the series examining the July 2022 Watchtower.
With the May 2022 JW Broadcast, the Governing Body has confirmed its unofficial policy that unity is paramount. Unity is more important than truth. As long as everyone believes and embraces the same teaching, even if it is false, it is preferable to the alternative.
Sure, the best solution would be for the Watchtower to simply teach the truth. But alas, it can not. It is fully committed to wielding a powerful deluding influence over Jehovah’s Witnesses—the delusion that the Kingdom of God has been ruling the world since 1914 and all is right. In the latter half of paragraph eight the statement is made:
8b. Many stopped being immoral, violent, prejudiced, and nationalistic. The prophecy recorded at Isaiah 2:4 is being fulfilled; they are ‘not learning war anymore.’ As we work hard to put on the new personality, we help draw people to God’s organization and we prove that we are following our overseer Christ Jesus. (John 13:35; 1 Pet. 2:12) None of this happens by accident. Jesus is giving us the help we need.
First-century Christians also stopped being immoral, violent, and prejudiced. They responded to the message of Jesus’ disciples and repented. Obviously, too, Jesus oversaw the ingathering of his sheep and the angels helped people back then to qualify for salvation.
The prophecy in Isaiah—reiterated in the fourth chapter of Micah—is earmarked for the final part of the days. I am aware that this topic has been discussed at length on this site over the past 20 years of its existence. (September 2002) Unfortunately, there is no getting through to the vast majority of Jehovah’s Witnesses, especially the leadership. Jehovah knows I have tried. But, I’ll say it again: These are not the final part of the days.
It is true, that Jehovah’s Witnesses are known internationally as peace-loving people who are resolute in refusing to take up arms against their fellow man. Thousands of witness men have chosen prison rather than conscription. The Second World War was an especially trying time. The Vietnam War also presented challenges for JWs who were determined not to join the military. Young JWs in South Korea and France were put in prison camps even during peacetime. Is that the fulfillment of the prophecy, though? Has Jehovah God actually rendered his judgment? After all, that is what the scripture says: “He will render judgment among the nations and set matters straight respecting many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, nor will they learn war anymore.”
So what if a tiny minority of the population of the nations symbolically beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears, has that brought peace to the world? Has the stance taken by Jehovah’s Witnesses prevented nations from lifting up the sword of war against other nations?
Take the current situation in Ukraine. According to the latest report, there were around 129,000 JWs in Ukraine prior to the invasion. Has their refusal to take up the sword prevented the bloodshed and destruction that is now taking place? Has the stance of Ukrainian and Russian witnesses altered the course of history and brought peace, or is the world now at the brink of WW3 and even an unimaginable nuclear catastrophe? The answers are self-evident.
God intends to put a permanent end to wars so that people will never again suffer from their cruelty and violence. Jehovah’s Witnesses have demonstrated that it is possible for people to take a personal stand against war based upon the teachings of the Prince of peace, but as long as the biggest money racket in the world is war and murderous demons are on the loose, there can be no peace.
If we apply Isaiah 2:4 to the modern movement of Jehovah’s Witnesses then we must also include what God has recorded in the surrounding context; especially since it is destined for fulfillment in the final part of the days.
Again, the question: Has Jehovah really rendered his judgment and set matters straight? The first chapter of Isaiah indicates that there are matters that need to be set straight between Jehovah and his people. That is why God extends the invitation: “Come, now, and let us set matters straight between us,” says Jehovah. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be made as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson cloth, they will become like wool.” — Isaiah 1:18
Shall we suppose that God is going to turn the scarlet stain of the sins of Satan’s godless world as white as snow? Does Jehovah really expect the atheists, Catholics, Hindus, and whoever else, to “learn to do good, seek justice, correct the oppressor, defend the rights of the fatherless child, and plead the cause of the widow”?
If we back up to the opening words of the book of Isaiah Jehovah is speaking about the deplorable spiritual condition of his people—Jacob. Verse three makes it plain: “A bull well knows its buyer, and a donkey the manger of its owner; but Israel does not know me, my own people do not behave with understanding.”
Since the obligation to defend the rights of the fatherless child applies equally to Christian elders, are we at odds with Christian unity if we acknowledge that the leadership of Jehovah’s Witnesses has failed to live up to their sacred obligation? Since Jehovah is aware of the fact that many thousands of children have been sexually abused by members of the congregations, and Jehovah is also fully aware that the Watchtower’s legal team has in many cases shackled the hands of elders and prevented them from handing over wicked men to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, ought not the Governing Body and their helpers, as well as the board of directors and legal team, seek to set these matters straight with God?
Then there is the matter of the Governing Body advocating the mRNA vaccinations—even claiming that Jehovah has willed that his people allow themselves to be injected with the experimental elixir. David Splane said we ought to ask “what does Jehovah know?” And I think that is a very good suggestion. Surely, Jehovah knows exactly how many of his people have had an adverse reaction and how many have died as a result of following the faithful slave’s advice.
When Christianity began in Jerusalem the congregations were righteous and true. Since the renewed anointing in the latter 1800s, the symbolic Jerusalem has been populated again. However, this is God’s assessment of the “city” as it exists immediately prior to the beginning of the epic final part of the days: “How the faithful city has become a prostitute! She was full of justice; Righteousness used to lodge in her, but now murderers.” — Isaiah 1:21
From Jehovah’s lofty view the faithful slave is guilty of murder. Verse 15 indicates that even now Jehovah’s disgust has peaked: “And when you spread out your palms, I hide my eyes from you. Although you offer many prayers, I am not listening; your hands are filled with blood.”
Since the Governing Body is far too haughty to ever admit an error, let alone seek Jehovah’s forgiveness or even apologize to his people, the only way for God to set matters straight is by brute force.
“Therefore the true Lord, Jehovah of armies, the Powerful One of Israel, declares: “Ah! I will rid myself of my adversaries, and I will take revenge on my enemies. I will turn my hand against you, I will smelt away your dross as with lye, and I will remove all your impurities. I will restore your judges as in the beginning and your advisers as at the start. After this you will be called City of Righteousness, Faithful Town.” — Isaiah 1:24-26
Laughably, the Bethel’s prophets claim that all of their impurities were smelted away back in 1919 when the messenger of the covenant came and set everything right. That is why Jehovah is now obligated to unleash a global conflagration that neither the Governing Body nor their legal team will be able to divert. Only after the next war that will bring global devastation will God set matters straight and thereafter bring a permanent end to the wars of the nations.
End of part eight
