Tuesday, March 16
In the last days ridiculers will come with their ridicule. —2 Pet. 3:3.
As Satan’s system nears its end, we can expect to face ever more difficult tests of loyalty to God and his Kingdom. We will likely continue to be the target of ridicule. This may especially happen as our neutrality is tested more and more. We must strengthen our loyalty now so that we will remain loyal during the great tribulation. During the great tribulation, a change will take place regarding the brothers who take the lead on earth. At some point, all anointed ones who are still on earth will be gathered to heaven to share in the war of Armageddon. (Matt. 24:31; Rev. 2:26, 27) This means that the Governing Body will no longer be with us on earth. However, the great crowd will remain organized. Capable brothers from among the other sheep will take the lead. We will need to show our loyalty by supporting these brothers and by following their God-given direction. Our survival will depend on it! w19.10 17 ¶13-14
There is no question that the scripture has been fulfilled: “Jehovah has poured a spirit of deep sleep on you; He has closed your eyes, the prophets, and he has covered your heads, the visionaries.”
I suppose it might be considered progress, that after a century of Bible research the Watchtower has finally come to realize that all of the chosen ones will be with Christ in heaven when Satan’s world is finally destroyed. How else could God crush Satan under our feet shortly? (Romans 16:20) See article: Will Christianity Survive the End of the World?
However, this business of the Governing Body going to heaven is not correct. Will there be “capable brothers” who take the lead? Yes. But…
Here is the problem. Everything the Watchtower has taught regarding prophecy is a fraud. Jesus did not come into his Kingdom in 1914. The invisible presence did not begin then. In fact, there is no such thing as an invisible parousia. Jesus has always been invisibly present with his disciples. Did not Christ say where two or three are gathered in his name he will be in their midst? Is that not an invisible presence? And did not Jesus also assure us that he will be with his disciples all the days until…?
There are plenty of reasons to ridicule the promoters of this massive hoax, but that will not endear us to God. The Watchtower’s 1914 phantasm will collapse on its own. God likens it to a highly raised wall that will crash in an instant.
Needless to say, no amount of whitewash and plaster can hold up to a flash flood of tyranny. Here the Watchtower has claimed that the Second Coming of Christ is history, that World War One and the Spanish Flu pandemic were unique and fulfilled prophecy in a way that no future fulfillment is possible.
Consider what is stated in the Reasoning book under the topic of the Last Days as a response to someone who might suggest a future generation might fit the prophecy better.
‘That’s an interesting question, and the answer highlights the fact that we really are living in “the last days.” How? Well, part of the sign given by Jesus involves war between nations and kingdoms. But what would happen today if fulfillment of the sign required that we wait until another all-out war were to break out between the superpowers? Such a war would leave few if any survivors. So, you see, God’s purpose that there be survivors indicates that we are now very close to the end of this old system.’
Indeed, what would happen if America goes to war with Russia and China, as the Anglo war machine intends? No doubt weapons of mass destruction will be used. It is not even a question of “if,” but rather “when”?
It is as if the Governing Body has never read the Bible. Or perhaps they do not believe or trust God. What they say is true—An all-out war between the superpowers would be a nuclear war and there would be no survivors. Jesus alluded to this very thing when he said “for then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again. In fact, unless those days were cut short, no flesh would be saved; but on account of the chosen ones those days will be cut short.”
If the great tribulation were merely the liquidation of organized religion why would God have to intervene to cut short the days or else there would be no survivors?
We can better appreciate now why God long ago posed the question: “Who is blind except my servant, so deaf as the messenger I send? Who is so blind as the one rewarded, so blind as the servant of Jehovah?”
Obviously, no one is as blind as the leaders of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The very thing they say is impossible is precisely what Jesus foretold—a tribulation like no other calamity that has ever occurred, a tribulation so catastrophic that only divine intervention will prevent the total extinction of the human race.
Needless to say, the Governing Body is going to be forced to eat their words—lots of useless words. They will be humiliated. The exalted kings of the organization are going to find themselves in the dungeon. The Watchtower will be discredited beyond repair. What does the scripture say? “Man’s haughtiness will be brought down, and the arrogance of men will bow low. Jehovah alone will be exalted in that day.” — Isaiah 2:17
Perhaps it is best that people have no inkling of what is going to happen. Fear can be paralyzing. No doubt that is why Jesus foretold that men will become faint with fear. Jehovah is going to rock the world. It will be terrifying.
On the positive side, Jehovah has something quite wonderful in-store. The actual presence of Christ will be visible—at least to those called and chosen and faithful. The parousia is the same as the manifestation and revelation of Christ. The tribulation will be cut short on account of the chosen ones, not that they may survive because none will live on in the flesh as will the great crowd. The cutting short of the tribulation will allow for the final sealing which will involve Jesus revealing himself to the chosen ones. That is what the Transfiguration prefigured.
In the post-tribulation world, Satan’s beast will come alive—as if back from the abyss of death. But then the Kingdom will have come. It will be fully operational then. There will even be earthly kings of God’s Kingdom. They will be quite capable. In fact, they shall shine as brightly as the sun in the Kingdom of God. Jesus and the Devil will be ruling the world concurrently for a short period of time, otherwise known as the time of the end and the final part of the days, which the Scriptures indicate will amount to 42 months.
The chosen ones who will have seen Christ will be his witnesses in the fullest sense. They will stand before the rulers of the world and give witness that they have seen Jesus. These are symbolized as the two witnesses who stand next to the Lord of the whole earth. The kings of the earth will then be gathered by demonic expressions to a place called Armageddon by becoming the adversaries and killers of the sealed sons of God.
