This is part two of my response to the Watchtower’s Question from Readers column: When Will the Current Preaching Work End?
I do not think most of Jehovah’s Witnesses, if any, appreciate or understand that the Watchtower has repudiated itself and contradicted the Bible. According to what the Watchtower has previously published, Babylon the Great fell in 1919. The call to “get out of her” has been amplified ever since. And of course, that message is based upon what is stated in the 18th chapter of the book of Revelation, which says that very thing with the added warning: “if you do not want to share with her in her sins, and if you do not want to receive part of her plagues.”
So, according to the Bible, those who have not gotten out of Babylon the Great by the time God’s judgment befalls it will be punished, sharing in her sins and receiving part of Babylon’s plagues. That does not sound good. But now, according to the Watchtower’s “clarified understanding,” it is not necessary to get out of Babylon before it is destroyed. God is just so kind and merciful. Here is what is stated:
Any who turn to Jehovah after the destruction of Babylon the Great will have the privilege of doing good to Christ’s brothers who will still be on earth.
What would motivate the Governing Body, or whoever is writing this stuff, to directly contradict God’s word and even the Watchtower’s long-held teaching? There is only one answer, and it is disturbing. It is a reflection of the apostasy that has infected the leadership of the Watchtower. And that is the fulfillment of prophecy: “The apostasy must come first.”
The intent has always been to glorify the Watchtower as the Kingdom of God. That is why, for example, the organization has been portrayed as a spiritual paradise. Even though several tens of thousands of children have been groomed, molested and some violently raped by child predators, the Governing Body claims that there are no cunning animalistic men in the congregations. There is no lie they will not tell to elevate the Watchtower as the everlasting source of truth and spiritual light.
And that is why they are making the bold claim that the Watchtower will be issuing life-saving instructions during the tribulation, and now, the latest absurdity—that Jehovah’s Witnesses will be standing on the street corner with their literature cart right up until the end of the world.
The problem is, the Watchtower has rejected God’s word. The Bible, particularly the Hebrew prophecies, explain very clearly, albeit in symbolic language, how and when the preaching work will end—the book of Joel is especially poignant.
More than a quarter of a century ago, even before e-watchman, I first presented the Governing Body with written essays and even spoke with one brother on the phone regarding the Watchtower’s nonsensical interpretation of the prophecy of Joel, specifically, the absurdity of the locusts symbolizing Jehovah’s Witnesses. Although I was rebuked for presuming to correct the exalted ones, after more than 20 years, the Watchtower finally arrived at a new “clarified understanding.”
Except that their clarification was no such thing. What the Watchtower did was to discard the entire message of Joel by claiming the locust swarm has no modern fulfillment. Even so, Jehovah’s Witnesses are expected to believe that Joel 2:28-29 was fulfilled in 1919. The fraud of this interpretation, though, is that the pouring out of the spirit upon the anointed sons and daughters and even the menservants and maidservants (other sheep) is the compensation God makes for the destruction wrought by the locust swarms. (Click here for link to WT article on Joel.)
Indeed, the prophecy of Joel foretells the end of the preaching work. Read it for yourself: “For a nation has come up into my land, mighty and without number. Its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and its jaws are those of a lion. It has devastated my vine and turned my fig tree into a stump, stripping them completely bare and tossing them aside, leaving their twigs white. Wail as a virgin wearing sackcloth does for the bridegroom of her youth. Grain offering and drink offering have ceased from the house of Jehovah; the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, are in mourning. The field has been devastated, the ground mourns; for the grain has been devastated, the new wine has dried up, the oil has failed. Farmers are dismayed, vinedressers wail, because of the wheat and the barley; for the harvest of the field has perished. The vine has dried up, the fig tree has withered. The pomegranate, the palm, and the apple, all the trees of the field have dried up; for joy has turned to shame among the people. Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests; wail, you ministers of the altar. Come in and spend the night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God; For grain offering and drink offering have been withheld from the house of your God. Proclaim a fast; call for a solemn assembly. Gather the elders together, with all the inhabitants of the land, to the house of Jehovah your God, and cry to Jehovah for help. Woe because of the day!
For the day of Jehovah is near, and it will come like a destruction from the Almighty! Has not food been taken from before our very eyes, and rejoicing and joy from the house of our God? The seeds have shriveled under their shovels. Storehouses are desolate. Granaries have been torn down, for the grain has dried up. Even the livestock groan! The herds of cattle wander in confusion, for they have no pasture! And the flocks of sheep bear the punishment. To you, O Jehovah, I will call; for fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and a flame has consumed all the trees of the field. Even the wild beasts long for you, because the streams of water have dried up and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.” – Joel 1:6-20
No one who has been taught by Jehovah will imagine that God was speaking in literal terms. The fig tree withering, the harvest perishing, the trees of the field withering, the graineries being torn down, the pastures being consumed by fire, these are symbols that represent the sudden end of the preaching and teaching work.
There is no mention of Babylon in the entire prophecy of Joel. That is because it had no ancient fulfillment. It is scheduled for the day of Jehovah. It is not coincidental that Jesus foretold the utter desolation of “Jerusalem” during the conclusion and that is what is portrayed in Joel. And if Jerusalem does not represent the Christian organization, why would Jesus give life-saving instructions to flee from the doomed city when they see the disgusting thing standing where it ought not?
The Governing Body and their helpers have gotten my message. And they have rejected it. And because my message is based on the book of Joel, they have relegated the prophecy to the ancient past. They have rejected God’s message to them.
The Governing Body has sent me a message. They have cleverly taken the e-watchman logo and subtly portrayed it (me) as Satan the Devil. I am therefore obligated to respond—or rather, send them Jehovah’s response:
“And you must say to them, ‘This is what Jehovah says: “Will they fall and not get up again? If one
would turn back, will the other not also turn back? Why is this people, Jerusalem, unfaithful with an enduring unfaithfulness? They hold fast to deception; They refuse to turn back. I paid attention and kept listening, but the way they spoke was not right. Not a man repented over his wickedness or asked, ‘What have I done?’ Each one keeps returning to the popular course, like a horse dashing into the battle. Even the stork in the sky knows its seasons; the turtledove and the swift and the thrush keep to the time of their return. But my own people do not understand the judgment of Jehovah. How can you say: “We are wise, and we have the law of Jehovah”? For in fact, the lying stylus of the scribes has been used only for falsehood.” – Jeremiah 8:4-8
