Thursday, April 15
We are [not] the masters over your faith, but we are fellow workers for your joy, for it is by your faith that you are standing. —2 Cor. 1:24.
Jehovah has not given us authority to make personal decisions for others. Someone who makes needless rules is not protecting his brother’s safety —he is trying to become the master of his brother’s faith. Satan the Devil will not stop trying to persecute Jehovah’s faithful servants. (1 Pet. 5:8; Rev. 2:10) Satan and his agents will try to ban our worship of Jehovah. However, there is no reason for us to be paralyzed by fear! (Deut. 7:21) Jehovah is on our side, and he will continue to support us even if our work is banned. (2 Chron. 32:7, 8) May we have the same resolve as did our first-century brothers, who told the rulers of their day: “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, judge for yourselves. But as for us, we cannot stop speaking about the things we have seen and heard.” —Acts 4:19, 20. w19.07 13 ¶18-20
Satan is far more cunning and powerful than people realize. And that includes Jehovah’s Witnesses. Simply quoting a verse, such as Paul also wrote in his second letter to the Corinthians where he said “we are not ignorant of his (Satan) designs,” (2:11) does not mean we are not ignorant of his designs.
Take 1914 and the man of lawlessness for example. Since its inception, the Watchtower has claimed that Christ has already come, that the parousia has begun, that the Kingdom is ruling the earth, that the Devil has been cast down, that the first resurrection has begun. Related to that, Jehovah’s Witnesses have been convinced that the head of the wild beast has been mortally wounded and recovered and that the eighth king is ruling for his allotted one hour, and the masses of mankind have already received the 666 mark of the beast, and on and on.
According to the Watchtower, the man of lawlessness is the clergy. And since Jehovah’s Witnesses are far removed from the influence of the clergy that means that the operation of Satan emanating through the foretold man of lawlessness has no influence over those whom the Watchtower calls “Jehovah’s servants.”
But according to the apostle, the man of lawlessness wields a powerful influence over Christians. In fact, that is why Christ inspired Paul to warn his fellow anointed Christians regarding the insidious influence of the man of lawlessness. Specifically, Paul warned the brothers not to be unduly alarmed by official-sounding pronouncements and seemingly inspired written statements claiming that the parousia has begun and the day of Jehovah is here.
It is undeniable that the very thing Paul warned against is the bedrock teaching of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. It is deemed to be a grievous sin—even apostasy—to reject the Watchtower’s 1914 doctrine even though it is demonstrably false. And ought Jehovah’s Witnesses boast that they are not ignorant of Satan’s designs?
How many of “Jehovah’s servants” have been disfellowshipped because they no longer accept the false teaching that the Second Coming of Christ occurred in 1914? How many have been prevented from being baptized because they would not confess belief in 1914? And the Governing Body claims they are not masters over your faith? They absolutely are.
Back in 2005, I was disfellowshipped. Originally, I faced a judicial committee because I distributed a letter to thousands of elders exposing the Watchtower’s duplicitous partnership with the United Nations. However, the elders did not disfellowship me then for the reason I had not spoken about the affair to anyone in my own congregation. A few months later though I published another letter exhorting the Governing Body to say they were sorry. Again, Bethel ordered my elders to convene a judicial committee. It was during that tribunal that I said 1914 was a fraud. That confession abruptly ended the hearing. I was found guilty of apostasy. (The official reason was causing divisions, which is not a disfellowshipping offense according to the Scriptures.)
Since then I have had very few opportunities to speak to people face-to-face about the truth. My ministry, such as it is, has been via the Internet.
Paul advised Christians to keep testing so as to prove we are in the faith. A few days ago I prayed and asked God to give me a sign that I was still approved by Him. I happened to go out for an evening walk. (I usually walk in the morning) I usually do not walk the path I set out on that evening. About a half-mile down the road a neighbor my age with whom I have had a few casual chats was on his riding mower close to the edge of the road. He shut the engine off and we had another chat. First about world conditions and then it turned to the Bible. We spoke for over an hour and our conversation only ended because the sun went down. He had many questions and seemed to really like the answers I gave. Anyway, it felt great to talk to someone and feel the spirit flowing, just like in the old days. He said he wanted to talk to me again. Funny, as we were winding down, he said, “You ought to be a Bible teacher.”
The next day it dawned on me. I just might be the only one of “Jehovah’s servants” in the world who is out talking to people face-to-face. What an irony, after all these years of being confined to an Internet ministry Christ has opened a door for me to have a more conventional ministry again. Meanwhile, the Governing Body has ordered all of Jehovah’s Witnesses to confine themselves to home. Sadly, they comply.
A few days ago I tried to watch the April JW Broadcast. Samuel Herd, a Governing Body member, discusses serving God with our whole soul and whole mind, etc. Then he poses the question if publishers might be using stale and ineffective introductions to householders—pretending as if JW’s are still knocking on doors. It was too nauseating for me to continuing watching. Maybe he applied it to the phone ministry later in his presentation. I don’t know. It wasn’t worth my time to watch the whole thing. But here it is, over a year since the Watchtower has ordered all of “Jehovah’s servants” to confine themselves to house and yet the masters pretend as if nothing has changed. How can they be so obtuse—so disconnected from reality? Talk about gaslighting!
I challenge Jehovah’s Witnesses to disregard the Governing Body’s lockdown orders. After all, I am someone who causes division. I challenge “Jehovah’s servants” to defy their organizational masters and obey the heavenly Master. What an honor it would be to face a judicial tribunal and even be disfellowshipped for going out in service.
There is an article on the front page of JW.org about coping with pandemic fatigue. JW’s offer personal experiences on how they cope. Some say they try to go outside, taking a walk, or riding a bike. That’s good. Getting out is good. Think about it, though, if JW’s venture outside to exercise and get some fresh air why can’t they at least stand on a street corner like formally? Okay, wear a mask for show. What risk is there? Very little, if any. I went out for a walk the other way and the spirit led me to someone who is hungry for the truth. Yet, millions of “Jehovah’s servants” are under strict orders from headquarters not to have physical contact with anyone—including fellow believers at their kingdom halls. And they are not the masters of your faith?
Senator Rand Paul, who is also a doctor, was on Fox Business News the other day and he disputed the official narrative spewed by the mainstream. (And the Watchtower) He pointed out that young people have about a one-in-a-million risk of dying from Covid. The odds are probably even greater than that. According to the CDC, the odds of being struck by a bolt of lightning are 1 in 500,000. In other words, young people are twice as likely to be zapped by a thunderbolt than succumb to Covid!
The fact is, young people are much more likely to commit suicide than even contract Covid, let alone die from it. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for persons 15-24. By the Watchtower’s own admission the lockdown is causing its own mental health problems. Young people especially need human contact. It is a fact that before the pandemic one of the most troubling trends among the young was their fixation with the virtual world. I observed years ago that you no longer see kids out playing, riding bikes, and playing ball in groups like when I was a kid. Since Covid poses only a minuscule risk to young people the Watchtower is responsible for heaping on them a mental health burden that is wholly unjustified and unnecessary.
Because the Watchtower has cleverly convinced the entire association of “Jehovah’s servants” that Satan has no influence over the congregation as a whole, the Governing Body is empowered to do what Satan has not been able to accomplish through frontal assault. The daily text states that Satan’s agents try to “ban our worship.” That is very true. And what has the Watchtower done if it has not banned Jehovah’s Witnesses from worship? And not a word of protest from “Jehovah’s servants.”
Keep in mind that the man of lawlessness presents himself as a god in the temple of God. After Jesus was resurrected into the spirit realm he became the Mighty God. In that state, he ordered his disciples to go and preach and teach. The man of lawlessness, who stands in opposition, has placed himself above Christ.
Meanwhile, Jehovah is mustering His military force. From all appearances, world war has already begun. They just haven’t started shooting the big guns yet.
