Part three of Watchtower Review
Under the subheading, WE LOVE THE TRUTH:
12) God’s people today do not claim to have perfect or complete knowledge of the truth. At times, they have made mistakes in doctrinal matters and in organizational direction. That should not surprise us. The Scriptures make it clear that accurate knowledge increases with time. (Col. 1:9, 10) Jehovah reveals the truth gradually, and we must be willing to wait patiently for the light of truth to get brighter. (Prov. 4:18) When those taking the lead realize that our understanding on a certain point of truth needs to be clarified, they do not hesitate to make the needed adjustments. While many denominations in Christendom make changes to please their congregations or to get closer to the world, the changes made by Jehovah’s organization are designed to draw us closer to God and to the pattern of worship established by Jesus. (Jas. 4:4) The adjustments we make are driven, not by modern trends or popular demands, but by a clearer understanding of the Scriptures. We love the truth! —1 Thess. 2:3, 4.
It is not really true that God gradually reveals the truth. It is true that the leadership of the Watchtower gradually makes trivial adjustments and tweaks their doctrine and policies, but they seemingly do so with great reluctance. Typically it takes decades for them to accept something that is obvious to others.
Back in the early days, though, it appears that the basic doctrinal truth was revealed virtually overnight. After a brief period of study Russell and the original Bible Students realized that pretty much everything the churches teach is a lie. However, Bible prophecy eluded them. And to this day the leaders of the Watchtower refuse to accept the truth.
From the very beginning of the Allegheny Bible study group, Russell implanted the teaching that Christ’s parousia was invisible. In fact, Pastor Russell claimed the parousia had begun in 1874. The parousia teaching became the bedrock cornerstone of the Watchtower. After Armageddon failed to materialize in 1914 according to the expectations of the International Bible Students, around 1930 J.F. Rutherford adjusted the parousia forward 40 years and attached it to 1914. Whereas, Russell had claimed that the Kingdom came to power in 1878 Rutherford shifted it to 1914 as well. Since then 1914 has been held up as an unassailable fact. No one who questions the validity of the 1914 doctrine can have any place among Jehovah’s Witnesses. Except, it is a lie.
How is it that the Bible Students easily overturned the false doctrines of Christendom and yet embraced what will one day surely be commonly regarded as one of the greatest hoaxes ever perpetrated? It is because God willed it. The inspired apostle foretold this very thing. Paul worded it this way: “But the lawless one’s presence is by the operation of Satan with every powerful work and lying signs and wonders and every unrighteous deception for those who are perishing, as a retribution because they did not accept the love of the truth in order that they might be saved. That is why God lets a deluding influence mislead them so that they may come to believe the lie, in order that they all may be judged because they did not believe the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness.” — 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12
Please notice in the passage above that God allows for a deluding influence to mislead those who otherwise know the truth. And why? To test their love of the truth. It is one thing to claim to love the truth. Demonstrating that love is something else.
And what, exactly, is “the lie” that God allows them to believe?
To fully grasp the depth of God’s mind on this matter consider the context. Paul started off warning the brothers not to believe certain announcements regarding the parousia having begun. Read it for yourself: “However, brothers, concerning the presence (parousia) of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you not to be quickly shaken from your reason nor to be alarmed either by an inspired statement or by a spoken message or by a letter appearing to be from us, to the effect that the day of Jehovah is here.”
Paul warned anointed Christians to be on guard and not allow themselves to be unduly alarmed by official-sounding statements and written messages declaring that the parousia has begun and the day of the Lord is here. As already noted above, even as the Bible Students were just learning the ABCs of the Bible they were deluded into believing the parousia had begun. If it were not a delusion why was it unceremoniously scrapped in 1930 and relocated to 1914?
The real test of our love of the truth will begin when Christ comes as unexpectedly as a thief in the night. Then with the earth-shaking developments taking place exactly as Jesus foretold; namely, nation rising against nation, food shortages, great earthquakes, and plagues, it will become obvious that the Watchtower had wielded a deluding influence over the flock. For some that will be the end of their faith. Again, even as Jesus foretold—“many will be stumbled.”
Those who really do love the truth will go forward without the Watchtower.
When will this occur? Paul provided a point of reference. He wrote: “Let no one lead you astray in any way, because it will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness gets revealed, the son of destruction. He stands in opposition and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he sits down in the temple of God, publicly showing himself to be a god. Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I used to tell you these things?” — 2 Thessalonians 2:3-5
An integral aspect of the delusion Jehovah’s Witnesses are under is identifying the man of lawlessness as the clergy and the foretold apostasy as occurring centuries ago when Constantine hijacked Christianity and laid the groundwork for infusing it with all sorts of pagan teachings. According to Paul, the man of lawlessness sits down in the temple of God, publicly showing himself to be a god—meaning, he is recognized as a prominent Christian among the anointed temple class. That is in harmony with the fact that Judas, whom Jesus identified as the son of destruction—the same designation given to the man of lawlessness—was among the 12 apostles whom Jesus personally selected.
The fact that the apostasy comes first, first before the parousia, surely signifies a development that immediately precedes the manifestation of Christ and not something that took place more than a thousand years ago.
As it stands presently, the Governing Body has revealed themselves to be in opposition to the truth. Under the guise of saving lives Jehovah’s Witnesses have been prevented from meeting together. They have been ordered to stay off the street, even though everyone in the world is moving about freely. And more recently, the Governing Body has inserted itself as a god by deciding life and death medical issues—presuming to mandate that all of Jehovah’s Witnesses roll up their sleeves and receive injections of experimental vaccines.
According to the Watchtower’s pilot program of reopening shuttered Kingdom Halls, no one will be allowed to enter a facility unless they have been injected.
If this becomes the policy for every re-opened Kingdom Hall, assuming that they will eventually reopen, by preventing the unvaccinated from obeying the exhortation to not forsake the gathering of themselves together the Governing Body will have unequivocally disowned the owner who bought them, thus bringing speedy destruction upon themselves—even as the foretold son of destruction, the man of lawlessness.
Thus, with a brilliant flash of light will the truth be revealed—so will the man of lawlessness. And the Tower will fall. God illustrates it this way: “And on every tall mountain and on every high hill will be streams and watercourses, in the day of the great slaughter when the towers fall. And the light of the full moon will become like the light of the sun; and the light of the sun will become seven times stronger, like the light of seven days, in the day that Jehovah binds up the breakdown of his people and heals the severe wound from the blow he inflicted.” — Isaiah 30:25-26
