Unless You People Have Faith

In modern times the various denominations (tribes) of apostate Christendom have been like the 10-tribe kingdom of Israel in allying themselves with political powers for the purpose of resisting or even destroying the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Whenever governmental authorities take action against the Watchtower Society invariably there is behind-the-scenes clergy involvement. For example, the recent banning of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Moscow is most assuredly the result of the influence of the Russian Orthodox clergy (Vladimir Putin is a Russian Orthodox) – just as the Catholic Church is undoubtedly behind the decade-old scheme in France to disallow the Watchtower Society from having tax-exempt status.

But like faithless Ahaz, the leadership of the Watchtower Society also has a history of compromise with political powers and other acts of faithlessness. (The Watchtower’s secret 10-year partnership with the United Nations is the most egregious – at least so far.)

But as in the case of Judah, God will not allow his modern institution to be derailed by the follies of faithless men or opposing devils; at least not until his purpose in connection with it is fully accomplished.

 Next God calls to all people to devise a scheme against his purpose, saying: “Be injurious, O you peoples, and be shattered to pieces; and give ear, all you in distant parts of the earth! Gird yourselves, and be shattered to pieces! Gird yourselves, and be shattered to pieces! Plan out a scheme, and it will be broken up! Speak any word, and it will not stand, for God is with us!”

In modern times there is an ongoing scheme being pursued by the elites running the world to eradicate all that is connected with the Renaissance, including the nation-state system and Christianity, and revert to a corporatist-run feudal system administered by the United Nations – the so-called new world order. Ultimately, the Devil’s intention is to use that last kingdom to eradicate Jehovah’s people from the earth.

The Assyrian Empire’s conquest of the 10-tribe kingdom of Israel pictures the coming annihilation of Christendom by the eighth king. As Jehovah’s Witnesses are well aware when the Assyrian king moved against Jerusalem one of Jehovah’s angels slew 185,000 Assyrians. What does that picture? It finds a parallel with the attack of Gog of Magog and the war of Armageddon.

But regarding the new world order conspiracy and the global genocide certain to be unleashed in the near future, the following verses of Isaiah are most relevant: “You men must not say, ‘A conspiracy!’ respecting all that of which this people keep saying, ‘A conspiracy!’ and the object of their fear you men must not fear, nor must you tremble at it. Jehovah of armies—he is the One whom you should treat as holy, and he should be the object of your fear, and he should be the One causing you to tremble.”

There is no conspiracy that can defeat Jehovah’s purpose. In fact, Jehovah fully sanctions the conspiracy for global government and intends to use the new world order as an instrument for destroying Christendom and all of Babylon the Great, even as Revelation reveals that God is going to put it into the minds of the last kings in order to impel them to carry out their wicked scheme to completion.

The reason Bible prophecy, such as Isaiah, is relevant today is because God’s purpose to produce a kingdom seed is still a work in progress and the Devil is still very much in opposition to the accomplishment of it. But, the efforts to-date to hinder the work of Jehovah’s Witnesses notwithstanding, we should not suppose that any modern-day scheme to stop the work of the Watchtower Society is what the prophecy relates to. Ultimately, God’s purpose transcends any earthly organization. God intends to bring to birth an exclusive heavenly organization – the New Jerusalem – the very Kingdom of God.

But that the aforementioned scheme has a modern application is evident from what is stated at Isaiah 8:14-18: “And he must become as a sacred place; but as a stone to strike against and as a rock over which to stumble to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and as a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them will be certain to stumble and to fall and be broken, and to be snared and caught. Wrap up the attestation, put a seal about the law among my disciples! And I will keep in expectation of Jehovah, who is concealing his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. Look! I and the children whom Jehovah has given me are as signs and as miracles in Israel from Jehovah of armies, who is residing in Mount Zion.”

As God previously stated in this context, unless his people have faith in him they will not survive. How must this apply to Jehovah’s Witnesses at this point in time?

Interestingly, Paul quoted from the 18th verse in showing that the children whom Jehovah has given to Christ are those who are the adoptive sons of God. Paul went on to explain to the Hebrew Christians that they had approached a heavenly Mount Zion and that the earthly Zion would not remain. The Jewish form of worship had become obsolete.

In this past century-and-a-half God has seen fit to renew the calling and choosing of “the children”; and he has done so through the agency of the Watchtower Society – it corresponding to earthly Jerusalem, the place where Jehovah has placed his name. But the final phase of God’s purpose involves Jehovah concealing his face from his people – as stated in verse 17. Jehovah’s “concealing his face” will be manifest in the collapse of the Watchtower Society during the tribulation. In that respect the present form of worship – centered on the Watchtower institution – will become obsolete too.

In what sense will the children whom Jehovah gives become as signs and miracles? Jesus foretold that during the conclusion of the system of things the sons of the kingdom would shine as brightly as the sun in Jehovah’s kingdom. This is no ordinary affair. Paul referred to the phenomenon as “the revealing of the sons of God.” It will come about when the last of “the children” are sealed during or even after the tribulation. That is why the next span of verses in Isaiah states: “And in case they should say to you people: ‘Apply to the spiritistic mediums or to those having a spirit of prediction who are chirping and making utterances in low tones,’ is it not to its God that any people should apply? Should there be application to dead persons in behalf of living persons? To the law and to the attestation! Surely they will keep saying what is according to this statement that will have no light of dawn. And each one will certainly pass through the land hard pressed and hungry; and it must occur that because he is hungry and has made himself feel indignant, he will actually call down evil upon his king and upon his God and will certainly peer upward. And to the earth he will look, and, lo! distress and darkness, obscurity, hard times and gloominess with no brightness.”

When the last of “the children” are sealed the Watchtower will at that point become something uncanny – no longer serving as God’s mouthpiece on earth. For those who continue look to it for guidance during that time of distress and darkness – in whatever form it might exist in the post-crash world – it will be considered by God as a form of spiritism. And those looking to it for spiritual food will surely go hungry. In reality, Jehovah’s Witnesses who will refuse to accept Christ during his authentic parousia and instead cling to the Watchtower’s 1914 “operation of error” are those described in prophecy who “actually call down evil upon his king and upon his God.”

It is not that any then might actually resort to necromancy, but once “the children” have been begotten they fully come to life, being received into the Kingdom of Christ as immortal sharers of the new creation, even though they will still be in the flesh for a short while. (See chapter: The Parousia) At the point they come alive those who are not part of the new creation are considered spiritually dead.

The opening words of the 29th chapter of Isaiah state: “Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the town where David encamped! Add year upon year, you people; let the festivals run the round. And I have to make things tight for Ariel, and there must come to be mourning and lamentation, and she must become to me as the altar hearth of God. And I must encamp on all sides against you, and I must lay siege to you with a palisade and raise up against you siegeworks. And you must become low so that you will speak from the very earth, and as from the dust your saying will sound low. And like a spirit medium your voice must become even from the earth, and from the dust your own saying will chirp.”

The prophecy above likens God’s organization to a spirit medium too, just as in the eighth chapter. (Interestingly, in 1961 the Society responded to a question from a reader regarding the verse above and they applied to what they refer to as Jehovah’s organization during the tribulation. But in the more recent commentary on Isaiah no such explanation is given.)

But, it should be noted that Jesus foretold that Jerusalem and the holy would be besieged and surrounded by a palisade during the conclusion. So, all of the prophecies point to one thing: The crash of the present theocratic organization!

Just as Jesus foretold many will be stumbled, the modern-day “Jerusalem” (The Watchtower Society) will become a stumbling block: “And many among them will be certain to stumble and to fall and be broken, and to be snared and caught.”

No wonder Jehovah emphasized the need to have faith in him and not in the assumed permanence of Jerusalem.