Friday, June 13th – ON THE EDGE (Some entries are slightly edited from originals on the forum)
It seems as though the world is on the edge of a great spasm of violence. It has been a long time coming. It is not officially summer yet in the Northern Hemisphere, with the Summer Solstice not until next Friday, but it certainly feels like it will be the last summer—the last normal summer, anyway.
Here’s a happy thought: After the Flood, when Noah and his family emerged from their year sheltered in the ark, Jehovah said, “From now on, the earth will never cease to have seed-sowing and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night.” The seasons were not nearly as pronounced before the Flood, as the Earth was swaddled in an ocean high above, creating a greenhouse effect. So, to clarify, there is no such thing as a last summer.
This thread is intended to be my summer diary, of sorts—just wandom thoughts, observations, and meanderings.
It has been a few years since I seriously fasted, or should I say juice fasted? Intermittent fasting doesn’t count. Living in the cold country with six months of winter (it seems like it), summer is the only time I can fast. Technically, by purest standards, I am not fasting. After all, coconut juice and algae are food—blue-green algae, to be specific. By algae, I mean spirulina. And not powered, tablets or capsules—raw.
I thought I might go for a couple of weeks, maybe a month, or perhaps 40 days. That has a ring to it. Jesus fasted for forty days and didn’t sip pond scum, which is what spirulina is. But, alas, Jesus wasn’t damaged or burdened by the baggage we carry around now.
Fasting, once one gets into it, clears the mind of all the brain fog and clutter. The last time I fasted for over two weeks was six years ago. That’s when I ripped off daily videos in the Revelation series. So, I am looking to sharpen my sword and get into fighting trim by midsummer. By then, some of the garden veggies will be coming in.
I wonder if any of the brothers at Bethel have any inkling what is going on, at least as it relates to Bible prophecy and the second coming of Christ. I like to use the term “second coming” because the WT claims the second coming has taken place already, in 1914. Presumably, JWs are expecting the third coming. Crazy, isn’t it? No wonder the WT has deleted “second coming” from their theocratic lingo. However, regarding world affairs, I am sure they are aware that nations are on the edge of World War III, and the US and parts of Europe are primed for civil war. What will happen to their Kingdom hedge funds if oil skyrockets and the dollar crashes? Dear, oh dear, that could put them out of the publishing business altogether.
I wonder if the Governing Body even discusses these things and considers the possibility that Jesus did not become King in 1914. Making an effigy of e-watchman cast as the Devil is not going to prevent Jehovah’s word from coming true. Surely, they at least know that.
SATURDAY JUNE 14 – UPON THE WATCHTOWER
Now that it is summer, I spend my mornings on the screened-in back porch. It is very peaceful, except when some poor neighbor drives by who cannot afford to replace the rusted muffler on their car. There is a lot of poverty around here.
As I am listening to the birds chirp and coo, it is hard to believe that on the other side of the world, people are trying to blow their fellow humans to smithereens, sadly, with some success.
Today is Trump’s big military parade in Washington, D.C., and apparently, some of the billionaires aligned with the City of London have financed a mob of anarchists to stir things up on NO KING’S DAY. It is rather ironic that the head of the British Empire and globalists is actually a king, King Charles.
Meanwhile, Israel is assessing the damage from Iran’s overnight retaliatory strikes. It appears this time, Iran is not playing around. Why should they? Israel is intent on regime change. Things certainly are heating up. And whatever happened to the war in Ukraine? It has scrolled off the news cycle now that a new war has erupted. I would not be surprised if China sees the writing on the wall and takes the opportunity to take over Taiwan.
I see this thing as an elaborate trap to lure the US into a disaster to take down the big dawg, once and for all. If Iran goes full-on mad dog and starts blowing up the oil refineries that ring the Persian Gulf and shuts down the Strait of Hormus, through which half the world’s oil flows, some analysts say the price of oil could spike to $300 a barrel. I say we shoot for $500. That would collapse the whole system. And isn’t that what the Bible says will happen? Throw in a few dozen nuclear strikes, and they will have set the stage for Christ to enter the world stage. Regime change, BIG TIME!
Where is the Watchtower in all of this? I’d like to share with you a few excerpts from an article in a 2000 Watchtower Magazine entitled: Serving With the Watchman.
Are anointed Christians really a composite “watchman class,” collectively at their guardpost? Not anymore. At least according to the Watchtower. Now the Governing Body is the watchman and faithful and discreet slave. Okay, so what has the watchman seen? I am glad you asked:
So, the watchman has done his duty. He saw Babylon the Great fall from the pinnacle of power back in 1919. False religion can no longer prevent Jehovah’s Witnesses from preaching. Never mind that the Russian Orthodox Church got Putin to liquidate the Watchtower in Russia. Even so, apparently, the watchman on the wall has done his duty and has retired to his posh villa in Warwick.
Meanwhile, for the past 20 years, this upstart watchman has been watching developments that have brought us to the brink of world war. It’s not that I’m some analyst of world affairs. Once I realized 1914 was an operation of Satan intended to create a faux kingdom-come, I knew there had to be a future fulfillment for all of the things the Watchtower has attached to 1914. Now it is becoming apparent that the nations are all lined up in opposing alliances, such as they were prior to the outbreak of World War I, which was not really a world war. It was fought mostly in France. Now, though, we really do have a situation that could escalate into a global war, the first truly world war.
If you have been watching events unfold, the attack on Russia’s nuclear triad involved smuggling drones deep into Russia in containers hauled by trucks so as to avoid radar detection. Israel used the same ploy in Iran, although it is not clear how that smuggling operation was carried out. Obviously, both of these attacks were planned long in advance, no doubt by the same Anglo-oriented intelligence agencies. Who is to say attack drones are not already strategically placed throughout the United States, waiting for Jehovah to give the order to unleash his great military force?
I went and got myself all worked up. I am going for a walk
MONDAY, JUNE 16 – COMING AS A THIEF
In my Sunday Talk video ramblings yesterday, I mentioned that Jesus’ coming as a thief will be signaled by their saying “peace and security,” followed by “sudden destruction” manifested as world war. We know Jesus warned his apostles, and us by extension, to stay frosty, because he is coming like a thief in the night. But there is another place in the Bible where Jesus warns of his coming as a thief–Revelation. “Look! I am coming as a thief. Happy is the one who stays awake and keeps his outer garments, so that he may not walk naked and people look upon his shamefulness.” And they gathered them together to the place that is called in Hebrew Armageddon.” – Rev 16:15-16
It should be evident that Christ does not come as a thief immediately before the war of the great day of Almighty God at Armageddon, since that would be after the tribulation is cut short. But how could Christ’s coming take anyone by surprise after the globe-rocking tribulation? No, Paul placed the thief-like coming as the trigger for their saying “peace and security.” Christ’s stealthy, surprise visit is what sets everything into motion, beginning with the war in heaven and the debasement of the demons, which brings us to the preceding passage in Revelation: “And I saw three unclean inspired expressions that looked like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the wild beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are, in fact, expressions inspired by demons and they perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the entire inhabited earth, to gather them together to the war of the great day of God the Almighty.”
When might these demonic croakings begin to be uttered? It is reasonable to suppose that Christ’s unexpected arrival will have the knock-on effect of moving the enraged dragon, Satan the Devil, to move the kings of the earth to war against each other so as to crash the system, which heretofore has served as God’s public servant for our good. After the crash, the nations will no longer be the superior authorities in relation to Christians. God will be done with them. In the post-crash new world order, so-called, the two-horned, lamb-like beast will begin speaking as a dragon. That is when the inspired expressions of demons will be channeled through the wild beast. However, in order to acquire total dominion over mankind and coerce them into worshipping the image of the beast, the dragon must destroy the present system. (“Woe for the earth and sea because the Devil has come down.”) That is why the nations are being irresistibly drawn into total war.
WEDNESDAY JUNE 18 – 50 YEARS SINCE THE BIG DISAPPOINTMENT
Exactly 50 years ago, Jehovah’s Witnesses were in a high state of expectation for the culmination of the system and Armageddon. Some time in the late 60s, the Watchtower published a chronology that marked 1975 as the 6,000th year since the creation of Adam. Logic had it that Jehovah, being the ultimate Chronographer, would commence the 1,000-year reign on the 6,000th year. (Evidently, they did not factor in that the 6th “day” of creation did not end with the creation of Adam. It ended when God fashioned Eve from one of Adam’s ribs. And Adam was alone for an unknowable number of years.)
Obviously, Satan’s world was not crushed half a century ago. But, unfortunately, the faith of many of Jehovah’s Witnesses was. Now, though, we are at the brink of global war, and the Watchtower has gone silent. Really, there is not much they can say. They have painted themselves into a corner, as the saying goes. The prophet class has declared that there cannot be another world war because it would inevitably go nuclear, and they assume God will not allow Satan to express his murderous madness by inducing his earthly dupes to press the little red launch buttons before them.
No doubt, when the missiles start flying, as they already are in some far-away parts of the world, many will stumble as they did in the aftermath of the 1975 big disappointment.
THURSDAY JUNE 19 – ZIONISM
A couple of days ago, it seemed that President Trump had decided to take over for Israel in their assault on Iran. Now, though, it appears that he has hit “pause.” Apparently, an Iranian delegation has requested a conference in Washington to attempt to resolve the situation. Things are shifting back and forth, changing like the weather here in Michigan. Today is cool and rainy. This weekend, the temperatures are expected to soar into the 90s, which is unusual for Michigan. But enough about the weather.
Because of the war in the Middle East, it is foremost in the minds of people under the influence of evangelicals that the modern state of Israel is somehow connected with ancient Israel. Believers in the modern myth claim that the establishment of Israel in 1948 fulfilled Bible prophecy and was a necessary prelude to the return of Christ. Supposedly, all that remains is for the Jews to build another temple in Jerusalem, and that is where Jesus will show up.
I appreciate that the Watchtower long ago debunked this Zionist myth. Although Zionists derisively dismiss this teaching of Jehovah’s Witnesses as “replacement theology,” it should be apparent to every thinking Christian that that is exactly what it is. Christ told the Jews straight out that the Kingdom of God was being taken from them and given to a nation producing its fruit. One of Christ’s apostles explained that anointed Christians comprise a “holy nation.” Obviously, Jesus intentionally chose 12 apostles to symbolize that the twelve tribes of Israel had been replaced. Paul was the foremost defender of replacement theology, explaining that the new Jews were not those who were circumcised, but rather, those whom God had selected. In his letter to the Hebrews, Paul explained in detail how the Jewish system had served God’s purpose and had become obsolete.
It is disappointing that jw dot org has nothing to say. I don’t know why I even expect them to have anything to say. I mean, with these topics being discussed, and Senator Cruz’s cringeworthy interview with Tucker Carlson being seen by millions, I would at least expect them to come up with a catchy banner topic to inform people, if even only on a superficial level. With the number of writers and helpers there at Bethel and the technology of instant communications, it seems like they are squandering their resources.
Of course, given the fact that Masons deployed by the British Empire long ago infiltrated the organization, it is not reasonable to expect them to use their resources to expose how the British invented Zionism and took control of Palestine after WW1, and have used Israel to infiltrate the political system of the United States to subvert America into the military arm of the British Empire. Since 2001, the US has carried out the British scheme to destroy Iraq, Libya, Syria, Gaza, and now Iran, except that an attack on Iran may well trigger WW3, which apparently is London’s intention.
Friday, June 20th – INCHES AWAY
Today is the first day of Summer, alternatively the first day of Winter for the southern hemisphere. I ran out of algae earlier in the week and hit the wall, fasting. Decided to fuel up for a few days and now am renewing my raw spirulina regime. It takes a lot of focus to stop doing something that we all do every day, three times a day—eating.
It seems President Trump has tapped the brakes on bomb, bomb, bomb, bombing Iran—at least for a couple of weeks, or so he said. You never know, though. It could be a head fake. Perhaps he is listening to saner voices that have warned him that he might start something that would crash the world’s economy. But speaking of times and seasons, really, it is not up to Trump to determine when he is going to plunge the world into chaos and destruction. That day and hour have already been determined. When Jesus walked the earth, he said that the Father had already determined the precise time. The time for what? The time for Christ to come into the world again. How do we know? The apostle Paul explained it in his first letter to the Thessalonians, saying to them, and by extension, us: “Now as for the times and the seasons, brothers, you need nothing to be written to you. For you yourselves know very well that Jehovah’s day is coming exactly as a thief in the night. 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.”
As I have pointed out before, there is no way of knowing if Paul used the YHWH in this passage. Since the context carried over from the 4th chapter has to do with the parousia and Jesus descending with the commanding voice of an archangel, and Jesus himself said he was coming as a thief in the night, more than likely, the inspired apostle intended “the Lord’s day” to apply to Jesus.
Revelation uses that exact phrase, and the Watchtower claims the Lord’s day began in 1914. So, the Watchtower has a huge problem. It’s unfixable, really. And they know it. I have always felt that the GB are hoping and praying that Jehovah will bail them out, and by some miracle, the great tribulation will begin, and false religion will be overthrown, and everything will turn out fine for them. Meanwhile…
Foreign ministers from Britain, France, and Germany are meeting with Iranian officials in Geneva to try to solve the crisis that erupted last Friday when Israel launched a sneak attack on Iran. So, Trump is holding off on attacking Iran for a couple of weeks while they try to find a peaceful solution. Meanwhile, Maria Z says the world is “millimeters” away from nuclear catastrophe. Personally, I prefer to measure in inches.
Saturday, June 20th – BEES AND BOMBS
It is the first full day of Summer. And here’s a depressing thought. The days are getting shorter already. 
I have noticed something else that is depressing, disturbing, alarming even. No, not the tweet Melinda posted on the WW3 Updates thread concerning Stealth bombers leaving their bases in Missouri, accompanied by refueling tankers. By the way, B-2 bombers are the only planes that can carry the earth-penetrating bunker buster nukes that are said to be the only weapon with any chance of taking out Iran’s underground uranium enrichment facilities. Rather, what is alarming is the disappearance of honey bees this year.
I don’t use chemicals on the lawn. We drink well water. So why dump poison on the ground? Doesn’t seem prudent. Because I don’t do the weed-and-feed thing, I have a generous crop of “weeds,” including clover. The clover is in full blossom. Bees love clover. When mowing the grass over previous years, I also braked for bees if I saw them on the clover, to allow them to fly away. This year, there are no bees. I should say that there are no honeybees. There are bumble bees, but there is something seriously wrong with them too. They are tiny, about the size of normal honey bees.
Something has gone seriously wrong. We need pollinators. This is ecological collapse. Hopefully, it is a local thing and not widespread. Oh well, the whole system is on course to collapse. This really is looking like the last normal Summer.
Sunday, June 22nd – BOMBS AWAY!
“You are going to hear of wars and reports of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for these things must take place, but the end is not yet.” – Jesus Christ
It is not really unusual for the US to drop bombs on some country in the Middle East. The US military machine has bombed numerous nations over the past 20+ years and killed millions through sanctions and starvation. Most of those targeted nations had little ability to respond or fight back. Iran is a little different. Not only does it possess tens of thousands of missiles hidden in caves across a vast area, but it also controls the strategic waterway that connects the Persian Gulf with the rest of the world.
After the B-2 bombers dropped their loads on Iran’s nuclear facilities yesterday, the only question is if the Iranians will respond and attack US bases in the Gulf region and/or shut down the Strait of Hormuz. The latter could cause the price of oil to spike sharply. Iran could also attack Arab oil and gas refineries lining the Gulf, which would be catastrophic and could make gasoline unaffordable for millions of people.
You don’t hear much about the proxy war in Ukraine anymore, or Putin’s dastardly scheme to take over Europe. That is because the warlords in London have evidently given up on trying to inflict defeat on Russia. They have moved on. Obviously, now they have redirected their attention to another part of the world to inflame conflict between their Zionist proxy and Iran and draw the US into war. It looks like they have succeeded.
The crazy thing is, at the same time Trump ordered the air force to attack Iran, he called for peace. How crazy is that? Who does that? Who bombs a country and then walks away, declaring success and calling for peace, peace or else? Well, not only is the stage being set for World War III, but Trump seems intent on achieving peace at the same time. Thus, we have a situation developing in which they may appear to have established peace and security, only to have nations rise against nations and kingdoms against kingdoms—sudden destruction!
Sometimes, I get some crazy comments on my YouTube channel. In response to last week’s Sunday talk, entitled “Peace and Security, Then World War,” someone said, “There will be no world war for sure…Many things yet to happen, brother !” Apparently, this person is a JW. She certainly reflects the mindset of those indoctrinated by the Watchtower. I can only imagine the shock and horror millions of JWs will experience when world war erupts. No wonder many will be stumbled, as Jesus forewarned. That is because the Watchtower boasts of being the voice of Jehovah’s watchmen. Only the organizational prophet can foresee the future. And the faithful slave has assured those who look to him for food and the proper time that there can be no third world war. Yikes! Too bad for the seers.
“You will have night; there will be no vision; there will only be darkness for you, no divination. The sun will set on the prophets, and the day will turn dark for them. The visionaries will be put to shame, and the diviners will be disappointed. All of them will have to cover over the mustache, for there is no answer from God.” – Micah 3:6-7
Wednesday, June 25th – TRUMP DROPS F BOMB
Trump dropping the F bomb yesterday seems to have been his way of telling the Israelis that he has had it with their warmongering shenanigans and manipulation. At the NATO summit yesterday, Trump reaffirmed he wants to make a deal with Putin and Russia. Trump really wants to get the Nobel Peace Prize. Maybe they ought to have a Nobel Peace and Security Prize?
Read the daily text today, taken from Philippians. It prompted me to read the whole letter. You know, it is funny, not funny “ha ha,” but funny, odd, how you can read the same passage for many years and still not get the sense of it. Take Philippians 1:6 & 10. Paul refers to the day of Jesus Christ and the day of Christ. Verse 10 states: “that you may make sure of the more important things, so that you may be flawless and not stumbling others up to the day of Christ.”
The Watchtower has specifically quoted and commented on this verse more than two dozen times over the years, but has never drawn attention to the significance of the expression “up to the day of Christ.” The focus of the commentary has been not to stumble others. That is all well and good, but there is a glaring discrepancy. The Watchtower teaches that the Lord’s day began in 1914. Surely, every reasonable person should accept that the Lord’s day is the same as the day of Jesus Christ. It illustrates the blinding power of the operation of Satan. It is not even all on the Watchtower. Millions of JWs who read these verses in Philippians ought to follow the apostle’s exhortation and make sure of the more important things. Deluding ourselves into imagining the day of Jesus Christ is history seems kind of important. Ironically, the very passage that encourages us not to be stumbling others has become a massive stumbling block.
Researching the WT’s commentary on Philippians 1:10, they published an article in 2008 entitled Maintain a Scriptural View of Health Care
Just a few years after lecturing JWs about not imposing personal opinions on the value of some medical therapy, the Governing Body bamboozled millions of JWs into injecting themselves with an untested vaccine that has killed and injured millions worldwide. Besides those who have perished from following the Governing Body’s quackery, untold numbers of JWs have been stumbled and not a few elders have resigned, refusing to be a party to the Watchtower’s recklessness.
But what will those hypocritical vaccine pushers do on the day of Jesus Christ?
Thursady, June 26th – SUDDEN CALM SETS IN
An eerie calm has set in after the frenzied 12-day war in the Middle East. The quietness will probably not last very long. Now, there is chatter from Alex Jones, Redacted, and others concerning some false flag in the works involving nukes. Very predictable. What else do the tyrants have left?
It is almost comical to hear patriots discuss how they must save the world from all the threats at play. It is fascinating how the empire is using Islam to tear down the established nations that have been the heart of Christendom. At least Jehovah’s Witnesses know that there is no human solution. Such a view is not defeatism. It is not even realism. We know that God has foretold the finale from the beginning. What God has foreordained cannot be changed. Consider the opening words of the 25th chapter of Isaiah: “O Jehovah, you are my God. I exalt you, I praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, things purposed from ancient times, in faithfulness, in trustworthiness.”
If you read the rest of the chapter, the “wonderful things purposed from ancient times” still have not come about. Therefore, the words spoken by Isaiah, claiming Jehovah as his God, are really words yet to be spoken by those who belong to Him during the tribulation. That is when God will provide a shelter from the storm, so to speak. Isaiah goes on: “For you have become a stronghold to the lowly, a stronghold to the poor in his distress, a refuge from the rainstorm, and a shade from the heat. When the blast of the tyrants is like a rainstorm against a wall, as the heat in a parched land, you subdue the uproar of strangers. Like heat that is subdued by the shadow of a cloud, so the song of the tyrants is silenced.”
Isaiah goes on to say that in God’s mountain, his Kingdom, “he will do away with the shroud that is enveloping all the peoples and the covering that is woven over all the nations.” What is the shroud that is enveloping all the nations? It is not merely death, as the Watchtower claims. Since Satan the Devil is misleading the entire inhabited earth, the shroud covering over all the nations must be the deceptive networks that Satan uses to deceive. It will all be exposed. Likely that is what Peter was referencing when he wrote: “But Jehovah’s day will come as a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, but the elements being intensely hot will be dissolved, and earth and the works in it will be exposed.”
Keep in mind that Peter may have intended to write “the Lord’s day.” We don’t know. In any case, the Lord’s day and Jehovah’s day are the same thing anyway. And Paul used the same analogy that the day of Jehovah is coming as a thief in the night, commencing whenever it is they are saying “peace and security.” The “sudden destruction” to follow corresponds to the heavens passing away with a roar, and the elemental structures of this system melt, and the evil is exposed. A few nukes will sure do the trick.
Friday, June 27 – HOW MUCH WORSE CAN IT GET?
If you are older, like I am, do you remember years ago hearing JWs say, “How much worse can it get?” Maybe you said it too. However, as the years roll by, things gradually worsen. Or, more accurately, people get worse and worse. It does appear that now society has become as Paul foretold: “For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, disloyal, having no natural affection, not open to any agreement, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, without love of goodness, betrayers, headstrong, puffed up with pride, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God, having an appearance of godliness but proving false to its power…”
The Watchtower has always pointed to this prophecy as proof that we are living in the last days. But Paul did not say that it is a gradual process during the last days. He simply foretold that the last days would be critical times hard to deal with, because people will be so ungodly.
It is hard to deal with some people and organizations now, but imagine how much more difficult it will be when the system crashes, when the money you think you have in the bank reverts to zero, when people are fighting over the last few rolls of toilet paper on the shelf at Walmart, when all those illegal invaders who were given debit cards and cell phones are activated as terrorist sleeper cells and start blowing up critical infrasturcture, when the gas pumps run dry, when all the things people take for granted are called into question. Then critical times hard to deal with will be here.
That’s my happy thought for the day. I’m going out to do some yard work before it gets too hot.
Sunday, June 29th – WHO IS THE BOASTER?
JW dot org posted a video the other day as part of their “morning worship” series, entitled: Our Role in Sanctifying Jehovah’s Name.
The speaker read Isaiah 29:23, which states: “For when he sees his children, who are the work of my hands, in his midst, they will sanctify my name; yes, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and they will stand in awe of the God of Israel.”
He pointed out that the 29th chapter is a prophecy, but offered no contextual explanation, and then went on to explain how Jehovah’s Witnesses sanctify God’s name by going out in service and by our good conduct, dress, and grooming. So, if those who sanctify God’s name are Jehovah’s Witnesses, who are those of whom God speaks in verse 13? Jehovah says: “This people approach 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, even claiming to be taking part in sanctifying God’s name? If the GB and their helpers are going to attribute the sanctification of God’s name to themselves, they have to own the context and not extract a verse.
The talk really demonstrates the Watchtower’s disdain for Bible prophecy. It is even so stated in the very same chapter of Isaiah. If you want a little more context, God is speaking to the leaders of his people, saying to them: “Woe to those who go to great lengths to conceal their plans from Jehovah. Their deeds are done in a dark place, while they say: “Who sees us? Who knows about us?” How you twist things! Should the potter be regarded the same as the clay? Should what is made say about its maker: “He did not make me”? And does what is formed say about its former: “He shows no understanding”? (vs 15-16)
What brings about the situation whereby the spiritual children of Jacob will sanctify God’s name and hold him in awe? Again, read the context. The opening verses of the 29th chapter state: “Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped! Continue year after year; let the cycle of festivals continue. But I will bring distress on Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation, and she will become to me like an altar hearth of God. I will encamp on all sides against you, and I will besiege you with a palisade and raise up siegeworks against you.”
Ariel is a cryptic reference to Jerusalem. David captured the Jebusite stronghold and made it the capital of the Israelite kingdom, as well as the center for true worship. But the prophecy is not speaking to the overthrow of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. Jesus foretold the destruction of Jerusalem in his day, foretelling that a fence with pointed stakes would surround the holy city. And the festivals certainly ran their course up to the last celebration of the Passover in 70 CE, when the city was packed with worshippers. Then the Romans hastily erected a palisade and trapped over a million celebrants inside. But the prophecy of Isaiah did not apply to that destruction either. Did the survivors of that massacre sanctify God’s holy name?
Christ is the son of David. He inherited the throne of David after being anointed. Although hailed as the King of Israel, Christ was never intended to govern the physical nation. Jesus is the King of God’s Kingdom, and God’s Kingdom before Christ comes is the congregation of the firstborn. Furthermore, Jesus was executed outside the walls of the holy city. Jerusalem became the birthplace of Christianity when the first Jewish disciples of Jesus were anointed. The apostles were headquartered in Jerusalem. Ariel, the town where David encamped, is really a cryptic designation for Christ’s congregation. Did not Jesus foretell the destruction of “Jerusalem” as taking place during the great tribulation? It is a strange and unusual work, as God explained in the 28th chapter, that the Protector of his organization would destroy it. However, that is exactly what Jehovah foretells in Isaiah.
To be sure, the prophecy of Isaiah will be fulfilled. And many among Jehovah’s Witnesses will sanctify God’s holy name, but only after this: “For the tyrant will be no more, the boaster will come to his finish, and all those keeping alert to do harm will be destroyed, those who with a false word make others guilty, who lay traps for the defender in the city gate, and who with empty arguments deny justice to the righteous one.” Who is the boaster if not the one who boasts of others sanctifying God’s name by complying with the guidelines laid down by the Watchtower?
Many among the leadership of the Watchtower are aware that I have been preaching this message for many years. In fact, one of the first articles I delivered to the Governing Body before ever having a presence on the Internet was titled “Collapse of the Watchtower,” which later also became a chapter in “Jehovah Has Become King.” I consider their casting of the e-watchman logo as Satan to be an effigy, representative of their “deeds done in a dark place,” and their rejection of Jehovah’s work as the master Potter.