Side Notes for August, 2023

JW dot org has an attention-grabbing image. A mother and daughter with an empty shopping cart staring at barren grocery shelves. And of course, the urgent question: What Does the Bible Say About Today’s Food Shortages?  It certainly is a grim picture. But does it reflect reality?

I remember back during the pandemic hysteria there were a few weeks when some items like toilet paper were in short supply. More disconcerting, my favorite thin-crust pepperoni pizza in the freezer section of Whole Foods had been plundered by hoarders. Those were critical times, indeed.

We are not talking about some poverty-stricken developing nation mind you. I live in the USA. So, my observations are from that perspective. And the Watchtower’s staged image certainly seems intended to portray conditions in a developed country. 

Since the panic buying and supply chain disruptions associated with the engineered pandemic have subsided, grocery store shelves are now fully stocked. Where are the food shortages? Must we travel to Africa or some faraway place for confirmation that there are critical food shortages? Just visit a grocery store in your neighborhood and you tell me. I see shoppers pushing giant carts that are overloaded with food and other stuff. In fact, in the USA there is no need for you to even get in the car and drive to a store. Just order online. You can get groceries or meals dashed right to your door. Where are these predicted foot shortages? 

Honestly, I wonder what planet the Governing Body lives on. I am sure none of the Bethelites have ever missed a meal. That is not to say there is no hunger even in so-called affluent nations. Obviously, there is. But it is not due to a shortage of food. Millions of people simply do not have the money to buy the food they need. Still, there is plenty of food even an abundance, for now anyway. The article says:

The Bible predicted that food shortages would occur in our time, a period it calls “the last days.” (2 Timothy 3:1) God is not responsible for these food shortages, but he has warned us about them.

Ah, since there are no real food shortages in affluent nations, these must not be the last days. Besides, God takes full responsibility for the food shortages to come. He will allow them because it is part of his judgment. Bluntly, it will be punishment for those who are God’s people. According to the prophecy of Amos God causes food shortages for the purpose of punishing his people. Here, read it: “And for my part, I made your teeth clean of food in all your cities and caused a lack of bread in all your houses; but you did not come back to me,’ declares Jehovah.'” – Amos 4:6

Jehovah says it even better in Ezekiel. Speaking to the two prostitute kingdoms Jehovah said: “Look! This was the error of Sodom your sister: She and her daughters were proud and had an abundance of food and carefree tranquility; yet they did not support the afflicted and the poor.”

Personally, I prefer the way it is worded in the NIV: “overfed and unconcerned.” That certainly describes the leadership of Jehovah’s Witnesses. They are proud to sit in their granite tower and tell you what the Bible says about this and that even though none of it synchs up with reality. That will all change when the last days begin. Then it will be my turn to tell them what the Bible says. And they will have to listen. 

Saturday, August 12 Daily Text link/ Shaken not stirred

After the great Flood, from which only eight human souls survived, Jehovah established what some have called the rainbow covenant. Prior to the deluge it never rained. The earth was watered by heavy dew as the planet was enshrouded with what is called a heavenly ocean. The atmospheric ocean came down in the form of rain and along with the subterranean ocean, which the Bible refers to as the springs of the watery deep, the entire Earth was once again covered with water. Although Noah and his family were the only humans to survive the watery cataclysm, other creatures survived too. The rebel angels that had materialized as men and married women dissolved their flesh and returned to the heavenly realm. These wicked angels are still very much alive to this day and are influencing the world to a great degree. Ultimately the demon angels are luring the world under their influence to war with God, gathering them to a place called Armageddon. Just as some survived the Flood there will be many more than eight human survivors. Only this time Christ is going to take Satan and his angels out, locking them away for a thousand years. That will be something. 

Friday, August 11, 2023 – Daily Text link/ Keep on the watch

How Stupid Is This? What Does the Bible Say?

Some readers may be put off, offended, or even shocked by the harshness of my tone sometimes. Is it really proper that I describe the leadership of the organization as “stupid prophets”?

I admit, I am disgusted with the Watchtower. Jehovah’s Witnesses deserve better. Truth seekers deserve better. I am certain that if it were possible for deceased JW’s who were once part of the Bethel leadership to be brought back they would be shocked and dismayed at what the Watchtower has become. 

As a case in point, consider the front page article this week on JW.org. Devastating Floods—What Does the Bible Say? 

Jehovah’s Witnesses who are familiar with what the Bible says might be surprised to know that Jesus was a long-range weather forecaster—at least according to the seers of Bethel. Although local floods have been occurring on a regular basis over the several thousands of years since the big flood in Noah’s day, apparently the heavy rains that have occurred here and there this year are fulfilling Bible prophecy. Say what? I know. It sounds crazy. It is crazy. But the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses, heaven’s earthly mouthpiece, has declared it to be true.  Where did Jesus say such a thing, you ask? The article states:

Jesus prophesied that during our time, we would see “fearful sights,” or terrifying events. (Luke 21:11) Climate change has contributed to terrifying weather events that are more unpredictable, more frequent, and more intense.

A few weeks ago JW.org posted a similar bit of drivel claiming that this summer’s heat wave was fulfilling Bible prophecy. Now heavy rains are the terrifying manifestation of Jesus’ prophecy. Who knows, maybe in a few months heavy snowfall and blizzards will become the fulfillment of Christ’s astounding meteorological forecasts.

No, I do not retract anything previously stated. By their own words, the writers for JW.org have themselves fulfilled prophecy by becoming the foretold “stupid prophets.”

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Thursday, August 10, 2023 – Daily Text link/ All the sons of God will shout in applause 

I saw that one of its heads seemed to have been fatally wounded

The Watchtower has done an extensive commentary on most of the prophetic books of the Bible, including Revelation. The seers of Bethel claim that the Lord’s day began in 1914. They claim Satan and his angels were thrown down from heaven then too. As a result, the Devil went on a rampage and caused the Great War and according to the Grand Climax publication, the head of the wild beast suffered a mortal blow and then recovered. Incredibly, Jehovah’s Witnesses have been deluded into believing that the victorious Allies led by the United States and Great Britain fulfilled the words in the 13th chapter of Revelation although there is no evidence that the governments or civil society in the UK or USA suffered anything remotely analogous to a fatal head wound. But, the prophets of Bethel are at least clever enough to know that in order to make the whole 1914 thing at least believable they have to make such an incredible claim. That’s because, as I say, they are smart enough to realize that the ouster of Satan marks off a 42-month period that begins after the slaughtered beast comes back to life. Strangely, no one seems to question how Satan’s short period of time has now stretched out to almost 110 years! The truth is, the Kingdom has not begun ruling. Satan and his angels have not been hurled down and the seventh head of the beast has not been slaughtered. But, the death blow is in the works. No doubt about it. 

Wednesday, August 9, 2023, – Daily text link / I will open your graves and raise you up

Open to no agreement?

JW dog org’s snippet offers the reason politics are so divisive. It is because people are open to no agreement. That’s it. It is as if the Governing Body lives on another planet. They are totally oblivious to reality, the reality being that the United States and Europe are under attack from within. National borders have been erased. Deadly drugs are flooding the streets and killing hundreds of thousands of mostly young people. Patriotism has been made illegal. The federal government is being intentionally bankrupted. And the military is being hollowed out and destroyed with Marxist woke ideology at the very time when the feckless leaders are pushing America and NATO into war with Russia and China. And the once-prosperous middle class is being crushed. And ought everyone be in agreement with their own elimination and the destruction of their children’s future? The irony is, once America is taken down and its foundations destroyed the Watchtower will have no legal protections. Then we will find out who is who and what is what. 

August 8th Daily text link / Speak consolingly 

FIRE FROM HEAVEN

This week is a grim milestone. 78 years ago the US exploded two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, instantly vaporizing tens of thousands of men, women and children and subjecting many more to agonizing deaths from burns and radiation exposure.

The use of such horrendous weapons of mass destruction was totally unnecessary, as Japan was in contact with the Vatican as a third party discussing its surrender. However, the British Empire’s Bertrand Russell wished to use the newly invented “gadgets” as weapons of terror in order to launch a world government, which came just weeks later in the form of the United Nations, supposedly an institution devoted to maintaining peace and security. The use of WMDs 78 years ago also was instrumental in bringing about the Cold War.

With the dissolution of the Soviet empire 30 years ago most people assumed there would be a new era of peace. Instead, the Anglo Empire seized upon Russia’s collapse as an opportunity to impose its rule globally. The ongoing proxy war in Ukraine was intended to destroy Russia militarily and economically but has only served to bring the world to the brink of nuclear war. By the way, the thousands of nuclear gadgets now are many times more powerful than the bombs that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

More disconcerting though, some WMDs have been designed to be used on the battlefield and are less powerful. These so-called tactical nukes make it more likely that nuclear weapons will be used at some point.

Back when I first started searching for the truth, before I ever came into contact with JWs, I read the book of Revelation. I figured out that the seven-headed beast represented the political system and I guessed the US in particular, and I assumed that the beast that makes fire come down from heaven had to do with Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When I became associated with JWs I mentioned it to the brothers and they told me that the Watchtower did not teach that. Hmmm. Okay. Whatever. So, I just let it go and didn’t think about it.

But then in 2022 the Watchtower came out with an “adjustment.” Here is what is stated in the May 2022 WT paragraph nine:

Revelation chapter 13 goes on to tell us that this seventh head, the Anglo-American World Power, also acts as a wild beast with “two horns like a lamb, but it began speaking like a dragon.” This beast “performs great signs, even making fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the sight of mankind.” Revelation chapters 16 and 19 describe this wild beast as “the false prophet.” Daniel mentions something similar, namely, that the Anglo-American World Power would “bring terrible destruction.” That is exactly what happened during World War II. The two atomic bombs that played a decisive role in ending that war in the Pacific were the results of a joint effort by British and American scientists. The Anglo-American World Power, in effect, made “fire come down out of heaven to the earth.”

So, after a half-century, the Watchtower came around to the view I had originally in my ignorance. That’s weird. Ironically, now the Watchtower is as wrong as I was back in 1972. The reason the Watchtower is wrong is because the beast has not suffered the mortal wound yet. That means that neither has the revived beast conjured fire from heaven.

Back when I first read Revelation I did not have the background of knowledge based on the Hebrew Scriptures as I do now. For example, Elijah called down fire from heaven to prove that Jehovah was the true God. The prophets of Baal were powerless. Even so, when Moses confronted Pharoah Egypt’s magic-practicing priests were able to duplicate the first two miracles. Also, during Job’s trials, Satan made fire come down from heaven, possibly in the form of lightning, but also perhaps literal fire. In any case, it was caused by supernatural means.

With the above in mind, it is doubtful that the fire the beast causes to come down from heaven will be in the form of a nuclear firestorm. Although nuclear war seems to be a certainty and the reason God will intervene to cut the tribulation short in order to prevent the extinction of mankind, the fulfillment of Revelation will likely involve something else, perhaps supernatural.

Besides conjuring fire the scripture says the beast will perform great signs. Jesus also foretold there will be great signs in the heavens. It is impossible to say with certainty what these great signs will be. We can only speculate. But, we do well to keep in mind that Satan is called a god for good reason. He and his wicked angels possess powers that are beyond human comprehension. And apparently, the Devil is saving his best for last.

August, 7 Daily text link / It will crash suddenly / in an instant 

Some people are beginning to wake up to the reality of nuclear war.

Jeffery Sachs was one of the Harvard boys sent into Russia after the collapse of the USSR with the assignment from the City of London to loot Russia to the bone.

Apparently, maybe, Sachs has had a conversion? I don’t know. He kinda makes sense now though. (EIR)

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Sunday, August 6th Daily Text link / The good news has to be preached first

The Song of Solomon is a strange bird. It is not prophecy. It is not history. it is not even witty bits of wisdom. It is just a story. A love story. And it is one book in the collection of 66 books that make up the Bible. But why? The story is about the king who had cast his eye on a certain Shulammite maiden with the intention of adding her to his vast harum. But the Shulammite virgin was not wooed by the king. Instead, she was in love with a shepherd. She could not be bought. 

It is a hard story to follow because, unlike modern stories and plays, the Song of Solomon does not identify who is speaking. So it can be a bit confusing. The WT actually helps the reader sort out who is saying what.

Although the Watchtower dropped the type/antitype approach to Bible interpretation, Jehovah’s Witnesses have always believed that the Shulammite maiden represents the anointed remnant. There is even a song that is sung by JWs on Memorial night based upon the maiden’s love for her shepherd boy.

I accept that the anointed remnant is the antitype. But let’s take it a step further. What about Solomon? What sort of prophetic shadow does he cast? Solomon was the king of God’s typical kingdom. He calls himself the “congregator.” That is interesting because that is what Jesus is too, a congregator. He was the writer of most of the Proverbs and Ecclesiastes besides the superlative Song. He also became an apostate and established idols for his hundreds of foreign wives.

Now what about the story of the 10 virgins? When the announcement came in the middle of the night to go out to meet the bridegroom the virgins had to leave all behind and not return. When Christ actually comes the called ones will have to leave the organization and go out to meet the Lord.

Solomon, therefore, represents the organization today which will not accept Christ when he returns and that will try to deceive the chosen ones if that were possible.

August 3, 2023 – Daily Text Link / Jehovah’s Witnesses – Face the Facts!

It is odd that Jehovah’s Witnesses do not recognize the urgency of the present time. It is as Jesus said to the Jews regarding their knowing how to interpret atmospheric phenomena in order to predict tomorrow’s weather, but they could not interpret the signs of the times. “Oh no” a JW will say. ‘We can interpret the signs of the times. We know that Jesus became King in 1914 and there was a big war then and that was the sign.’ Really? 

What about now? ‘Oh”, the JW continues: ‘We are waiting for the UN to destroy false religion to kick off the great tribulation.’ No, I mean, what about the present world situation? The UN is in no position to stamp out religion around the world. It can’t even end a regional war, which is what it was set up to do. I mean, what about the ominous situation regarding the proxy war between two nuclear powers? The Anglo Empire has stated that Russia cannot be allowed to win. In fact, they have admitted that their intention is to topple Putin and break up Russia into many smaller regions. Russia has made it known any attack on Russian territory will result in a nuclear response.  In fact, Russia has all but destroyed the Ukrainian army. NATO is now contemplating putting boots on the ground. That will mean WW3. You see what I mean? 

August 2, 2023 – Daily Text Link / Before the Founding of the World

It is an old story that just goes on and on. A child is sexually molested. The loyal WT parents do not report the crime to the police, you know, to protect Jehovah’s reputation. After more than a decade though the elder father of the abuse victim contacts the police. Now, of course, the parents of the abused child are considered apostates. You just have to wonder how much longer Jehovah is going to allow this wickedness to continue. Emails Reveal Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Response to Child Sex Abuse

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