Saturday, June 4
Jesus spoke to the crowds by illustrations.
Simple illustrations are often the best kind to use. For example, when explaining to a householder that God is superior to Jesus, we can mention that both God and Jesus used a family reference when describing their relationship. God referred to Jesus as his Son, and Jesus spoke of God as his Father. Next, we might ask: “If you wanted to teach me that two people are equal, what type of family relationship would you use to illustrate the point?” The person may mention siblings—even twins. If he does, we could point out how natural that comparison seems to be. Then we might ask: “If you and I could come up with this illustration so readily, would not Jesus—the Great Teacher—have thought of the same comparison? Instead, he spoke of God as being his Father. Jesus thus portrayed God as being older and having more authority than he had.”
COMMENTARY
It is astounding that people can be so blind to the truth. A father/son relationship is so simple an infant grasps the concept. Yet, great theologians can’t seem to understand it. Amazing!
Jehovah’s Witnesses are blessed to know the truth about Jehovah and Christ. However, the same blinding phenomenon that is exhibited by the masses who believe that Jesus is God is a work on another level when it comes to the Watchtower’s unreasoning attachment to 1914.
Take Jesus’ simple illustration of the wheat and the weeds and the harvest, as set forth in the 13th chapter of Mathew. Although Jesus spoke to the crowds by means of illustrations in private he explained his parables to his apostles. According to Jesus the harvest is a conclusion of a system and the reapers are angels. He went on to explain: “Therefore, just as the weeds are collected and burned with fire, so it will be in the conclusion of the system of things. The Son of man will send his angels, and they will collect out from his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling and people who practice lawlessness, and they will pitch them into the fiery furnace. There is where their weeping and the gnashing of their teeth will be. At that time the righteous ones will shine as brightly as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Let the one who has ears listen.”
A few years ago the Watchtower revised several of their interpretations of Jesus’ illustrations as to the timing of when the faithful slave is appointed over all the master’s belongings and when it is that the bridegroom comes, which have been the topic of numerous articles in the Watchtower Review category.
These weeds were permitted to grow along with the good seed during the intervening centuries until the time of harvest began in 1919 C.E. after Jesus’ sign of the “last days” had commenced fulfillment in 1914.
Wt 70 5/1
For decades the Watchtower taught that the faithful slave was appointed over all in 1919. Now, though, it has been reset to the future, which, of course, is correct. However, why does the Watchtower continue to teach that the related illustration of the harvest of the wheat and the weeds began in 1914?
The reason is because Jesus clearly indicated that the harvest is the conclusion of the system and the Watchtower is just as committed to promoting 1914 as the beginning of the conclusion as a trinitarian is to the Jesus-is-God fallacy.
But overturning the Watchtower’s teaching is a very simple matter for any of Jehovah’s Witnesses who are willing to reason honestly. Simply ask yourself a few questions, such as: If Jesus dispatched his powerful angels to collect out of his Kingdom (congregation) lawless persons and stumbling blocks, why are there more lawless persons and stumbling blocks now than ever before? And if the weeds that are collected out represent the common churchgoer, why is it even necessary for the angels to physically remove such persons from Christ’s field in view of the fact that the Bible Students and now Jehovah’s Witnesses are completely separate from the nominal churches anyway? Thirdly, if the harvest has been underway for more than a century what evidence is there that the parishioners of Christendom have been made to weep and gnash their teeth? Also, in the related illustration of the dragnet, why is it, that on the one hand the angels are involved in drawing persons to the organization, but on the other hand they are supposedly throwing persons out? (See the article: Are the Angels Killing Off Your Bible Students?)
Furthermore, if the conclusion of the system began in 1914, what exactly has concluded? Generations have come and gone and the world continues. But shouldn’t the end of the world, as some translations render syntelia, be an existential crises for mankind rather than a time of rapid population growth and relative prosperity?
If you are honest you will admit that the Watchtower’s harvest is a hoax.
The fact is, the Kingdom harvest has not begun. And by the way, since the conclusion and the time of the end are the same thing that would also explain why the Watchtower has no idea who the king of the north is now, since the book is sealed up until the time of the end.
But two things are certain: The field is ripe for the harvest. And when the conclusion commences it is a certainty that many within the present leadership of the Watchtower will be foremost among those who will be made to weep and gnash their teeth.
