“Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, and say to those who fabricate their own prophecies, ‘Hear the word of Jehovah. This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah says: ‘Woe to the stupid prophets, who follow their own spirit, when they have seen nothing!’” –Ezekiel 13

As a general rule, everything the Watchtower teaches as regards doctrine is true. And everything the Watchtower teaches as the modern application of prophecy is false. It is not that they literally fabricate prophecy though. Bible prophecy is written for all to read. What is fabricated is the interpretation of prophecy. And as another general rule, the Watchtower interprets applicable prophecies to 1914 and 1918 and 1919, etc.

For example, the Pure Worship publication mentions 1919 well over a dozen times. It teaches that the dry bones of Ezekiel’s vision came to life then, along with many other things. For instance, on page 134 of Pure Worship it says:

Since 1919, after God’s people had been spiritually cleansed and had begun to enter a spiritual paradise, the prophecy of the joining of the sticks began to see its greater fulfillment.

Now, persons have two options. One, they can believe the statement above; or two —they can reject it as being untrue. However, if one accepts the Watchtower’s teaching as true then it must harmonize with the rest of God’s inspired word and it also has to have some basis in reality. In other words, can the Watchtower’s interpretation of prophecy stand up to scrutiny? If so, then we can be reasonably certain it is true. If not, then that means the Watchtower is the purveyor of false prophecy. Testing the truthfulness of the Watchtower’s teaching is the obligation of every one of Jehovah’s Witnesses: “Make sure of all things.”

Consider the Watchtower’s bold statement about having been “spiritually cleansed.” The implication of that assertion is that the organization is holy and pure. Besides the shocking immodesty of that presumption, is there some means to scripturally test the Watchtower’s teaching? Yes. There is. Always remember: All Scripture is harmonious.

The Watchtower claims that Jesus Christ returned in 1914. Everyone knows that. The third chapter of Malachi is a prophecy concerning his return —describing him as the messenger of the covenant. (Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant.) The prophecy goes on to say: “But who will endure the day of his coming, and who will be able to stand when he appears? For he will be like the fire of a refiner and like the lye of laundrymen. And he will sit as a refiner and cleanser of silver and will cleanse the sons of Levi; and he will clarify them like gold and like silver, and they will certainly become to Jehovah people presenting a gift offering in righteousness. And the gift offering of Judah and of Jerusalem will actually be pleasing to Jehovah, as in the days of long ago and as in the years of antiquity.”

Again, the Watchtower claims the messenger of the covenant has come. And he cleansed and refined Jehovah’s people a century ago. Consider the question, though: “Who will be the one standing when he appears?”

Besides the fact there is no such thing as an invisible appearance, what does it mean to stand before Christ? Obviously, to “stand” or remaining standing refers to one’s faith remaining intact and becoming approved. To fail to stand means to fall, to stumble, to be rejected. Reasonably, we will be made to stand or fall when Jesus comes to make the final judgment. In fact, Jesus used this very same analogy, about standing before him, when he said: “But pay attention to yourselves that your hearts never become weighed down with overeating and heavy drinking and anxieties of life, and suddenly that day be instantly upon you as a snare. For it will come upon all those dwelling on the face of the whole earth. Keep awake, then, all the time making supplication that you may succeed in escaping all these things that must occur and in standing before the Son of man.”

Jehovah’s Witnesses know that Jesus was speaking about the tribulation that is coming upon the world. And needless to say, the great tribulation that will rock this world to its foundation has not occurred. And that is when Christians will either stand or fall before the Son of man. (As an aside, from 1925 the Watchtower used to teach that the great tribulation began in 1914 but that it was cut short. It was not until January 15, 1970, that the Watchtower “adjusted” their understanding.)

But what about the refining process? Did Jesus cleanse the organization in 1919 in order to create a spiritual paradise? Did Christ really clarify the Bible Students association with fire in order to smelt away all their impurities so as to bring forth silver and gold? Let us consider two related prophecies. The first is Ezekiel 22:17-22, which says: “And the word of Jehovah again came to me, saying: Son of man, the house of Israel has become like worthless dross to me. All of them are copper and tin and iron and lead in a furnace. They have become the dross of silver.’ Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah says: ‘Because all of you have become like worthless dross, I am collecting you together inside Jerusalem. Just as silver and copper and iron and lead and tin are collected inside a furnace in order to blow fire upon them and melt them, so I will collect you together in my anger and in my rage, and I will blow upon you and make you melt. I will bring you together and blow upon you with the fire of my fury, and you will be melted inside of her. Just as silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted inside her; and you will have to know that I myself, Jehovah, have poured out my rage on you.’”

In metallurgy, the ore is subjected to extreme heat in order to melt the metals. The impurities in the caldron float to the top, the so-called scummy dross, where they are skimmed off, leaving behind pure, refined metal, be it gold or silver. Sometimes lye is added to the molten mass to draw off the slag —the scummy dross. In using this illustration, the point is God is not merely intent on destroying wicked people. The whole purpose of refining metal is to create something valuable, such as pure gold or silver. Comparing people to scummy dross means that God must remove the wicked in order to create righteous, faithful people. Now the question arises: Were the Bible Students liquified by the extreme heat of the First World War? Was God’s anger so intense that the Bible Students emerged as pure as gold?

Consider another prophecy —Isaiah: “Therefore the utterance of the true Lord, Jehovah of armies, the Powerful One of Israel, is: ‘Aha! I shall relieve myself of my adversaries, and I will avenge myself on my enemies. And I will turn back my hand upon you, and I shall smelt away your scummy dross as with lye, and I will remove all your waste products. And I will bring back again judges for you as at the first, and counselors for you as at the start. After this you will be called City of Righteousness, Faithful Town. With justice Zion herself will be redeemed, and those returning of her, with righteousness. And the crash of revolters and that of sinful ones will be at the same time, and those leaving Jehovah will come to their finish.”

A simple question to consider is this: Did Jehovah put an end to revolters and sinful ones in 1919? Did those leaving Jehovah come to their finish a century ago? No one in their right mind would believe such a thing. Obviously, the smelting process has not taken place yet. The coming great tribulation is the blast furnace that will accomplish Jehovah’s smelting operation. That is when the wicked —the scummy dross —will be skimmed off and dumped on the slag heap.

In view of the undeniable fact that God’s symbolic smelting operation has not taken place, that means that the messenger of the covenant has not come. That means Jesus did not come in 1914. Nor did any sort of invisible parousia begin then either. The Watchtower’s entire doctrine of the Kingdom being established in 1914 is a fabrication.

Jehovah goes on to illustrate the extent to which the leadership of Jehovah’s Witnesses have gone to maintain the 1914 hoax by likening it to a whitewashed wall, saying: “All of this is because they have led my people astray by saying, “There is peace!” when there is no peace. When a flimsy partition wall is built, they are plastering it with whitewash. Tell those plastering with whitewash that it will fall. A torrential downpour will come, hailstones will fall, and powerful windstorms will break it down. And when the wall falls you will be asked, ‘Where is your coating of plaster?’”

Year after year, the Watchtower makes adjustments. For example, over the past 20 years the Governing Body has redefined the meaning of a generation —you know, the generation that will not pass away. And many, many other so-called adjustments have been made all for the purpose of upholding 1914 as the year of Christ’s return. It is as if the flimsy doctrinal wall needs constant maintenance, like plastering and whitewashing. What an appropriate illustration, as the case can easily be made that the Watchtower whitewashes its own history and misdoings —all to fabricate the false vision that the organization is the foretold spiritual paradise.

It is also undeniable that the Watchtower claims that because of their loyalty to the organization Jehovah’s Witnesses are at peace with God. In fact, the Pure Worship publication goes as far as to claim that Jehovah’s Witnesses are enjoying “peace and security.” Here is a  quote taken from page 91 paragraph 20:

Shortly afterward, in 1919, the newly enthroned King appointed “the faithful and discreet slave” to feed the “domestics”—God’s loyal worshippers who have the heavenly or the earthly hope. Under Christ’s direction, the faithful slave has kept God’s sheep well-fed with spiritual food. This food has helped them to promote peace and security in the spiritual paradise that is now taking shape.

Given the great interest in Paul’s prophecy regarding “whenever it is they are saying ‘peace and security…”’ one would think the Watchtower would avoid using that exact phrase. Why not “security and peace”? Or, “peaceful and secure”? It is as if the Governing Body is taunting God. Maybe the Governing Body will be included with the “they” who are saying “peace and security.” Obviously, they have said it and are saying it.

Jeremiah contains a similar prophecy: “For from the least to the greatest, each one is making dishonest gain; from the prophet to the priest, each one is practicing fraud. And they try to heal the breakdown of my people lightly, saying, ‘There is peace! There is peace!’ When there is no peace.”

“From the prophet to the priest” is to say the leadership. And certainly, the leadership over Jehovah’s Witnesses is practicing fraud —the fraud that Christ has come and given them his forever blessing. And there they sit in their new granite palace with luxuries and security that millions of Jehovah’s Witnesses do not enjoy and cannot afford. Some congregations even have their kingdom halls sold right out from under them. Talk about “dishonest gain.”

In recent years there has been a growing disenchantment with the Watchtower and a slow-rolling exodus of Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is not likely that the Watchtower would ever publish the numbers, but they must be considerable. Surely hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions have left or are in the process of “fading.” The organization continues to show growth, though, because new persons are baptized to replace those leaving. And the Watchtower promotes the baptism of younger and younger children to pad the numbers.

No doubt the Internet is feeding the exodus. The Watchtower cannot so easily whitewash their misdoings. But even at that, it is clear that the breakdown of God’s people is taking place now. And true to prophecy, the Governing Body is trying to heal the breakdown by claiming all is well —there is peace.

Jehovah went on to say to Ezekiel: “Tell those plastering with whitewash that it will fall. A torrential downpour will come, hailstones will fall, and powerful windstorms will break it down. And when the wall falls you will be asked, ‘Where is your coating of plaster?’ “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah says: ‘I will cause powerful windstorms to burst forth in my wrath, and a torrential downpour in my anger, and hailstones in destructive fury. I will tear down the wall that you plastered with whitewash and bring it down to the earth, and its foundation will be exposed. When the city falls, you will perish within her; and you will have to know that I am Jehovah.’”

In accord with God’s instructions to Ezekiel, I have put Bethel on notice that their wall —or, perhaps their “watch tower” is going to fall. In fact, in October, 2006, I published a brief open letter called “The Wall Must Fall.” It was mailed to all members of the Governing Body and departmental heads as well as English-speaking branch offices. Along with it each one received a copy of the first edition of Jehovah Himself Has Become King.

How will the wall come down? The symbolic torrential downpour and hailstones of destructive fury will be expressed in world war and the great tribulation. Then it will become obvious to everyone that the Watchtower’s 1914 doctrine was a total sham —a fraud. And the stupid prophets will come to naught.

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