SERVICE REPORT 2005 : WATCHTOWER FEB 1ST 2006

by BluesBrother 307 Replies latest watchtower bible

AuldSoul

David2002,
I was going to write something that addressed your post, but I decided against it. It occurs to me that you are consumed with their "powerful works" as proof of their legitimacy. As long as that is the case, you will forgive their abysmal abuse of Scripture because you are misled. Jesus said, "Watch out!" for that, but you didn't. Now you think I'm the one you should watch out for.
Even though you can't support your organizations dogma and practices by using only the Bible.
Do you think that proving the JWs are better than other religions equates to proving that they are chosen as God's messengers for our day? I disagree. The Bible is very pointed in its description of those who ARE NOT God's messengers.
When it comes to speaking for God with validity rebuilding someone's house, recruiting a significant amount of new adherents, having umpteen millions reject the blood and body of Christ in a formal ceremony yearly, and all the rest of the dog and pony show they put on cannot distract a focused person from the fact that they lie about the one thing the Bible says none of God's spokemen would EVER lie about...
...the future.
If they had done it once and learned their lesson, that would be something a reasonable person might forgive and overlook. But no reasonable person can possibly examine the history this organization has of falsely foretelling the outcome of world events or the timing of those outcomes and arrive at the conclusion that this organization is being used by God.
Add to that the fact that you can't even support your religion's teachings by use of the Bible...I have to conclude that it doesn't matter whether Annie is lying (I believe she isn't, from my own investigation of the claims)—your religion is built on false hopes of future realities that ALREADY FAILED to happen. REPEATEDLY.
Why should anyone believe that an organziation with a 0% success rate at speaking about future events has it right this time? Because they have a lot of door-to-door preachers? I don't understand why I ever believed it, frankly. I am embarrassed by it and somewhat angry about having been lied to for so long (especially about 607 BC, which they know full well is an outright lie).
But mostly, I'm hurt that this organization that publicly claims to care for my everlasting well being won't ADDRESS ME or my concerns directly. They give the lie to their greatest claim humanitarianism, they don't care whether I eternally live or die. I strongly suspect that apart from this forum, David2002, neither do you. Are you my neighbor?
David2002, "Bible as the authority" thread... (<--- this is a link to a thread I started for you)
AuldSoul
Gary1914

David2002 said:
"You are speculating that problem is widespread. From elders I spoke to, as well as others, it is a very tiny percentage." Actually, you are wrong. I am an elder and my brother is a District Overseer. He has privy to information that those of us on the elder level do not have access to. The problem of sexual perversion involving children is actually a large one among Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide and it is growing exponentially. The Society is doing its best to keep this as quiet as it is possible to do. That is why people who speak out against it and who go to the media are disfellowshipped. They do not want other witnesses talking to them and finding out how extensive the problem really is. You seem like a sincere and well meaning fellow and you are not afraid to read literature and visit websites that are critical of JWs. I respect that. It is only by being fully informed that any of us can make good choices. The Watchtower shows a complete lack of respect for its members by not allowing them to explore and question what they are being taught. If their teachings were indeed the Truth, they would not shy away from its scrutiny.
I wonder how you would be viewed in the congregation that you are so quick to defend if you confessed that you were reading books by Stafford and the other gentleman you mentioned? Just curious.
AuldSoul

The dark outlook is that we see from the TOWER that another testing is in progress, and the adversary—Satan—presents error under the guise of “light,” and as is his custom (Matt. 4:6) uses Scripture to accomplish his object—wresting it from its proper meaning. We are not surprised at this in one sense, because we have long seen that we are living in the “Evil Day” of which Jesus and apostles and prophets forewarn us, saying “that it will be difficult to stand—and not fall before the attacks of the enemy. (Luke 21:36; Mal. 3:2; Eph. 6: 11, 14, 13.) Paul is very specific, and warns us that we will need the whole armor of God, because the conflict will not be with men (flesh and blood), but with the prince of darkness himself, whose “wiles” or deceptions he carefully mentions. (Eph. 6: 11, 12.) Thus divinely forewarned of what we might expect in this day, we have been calling attention to the coming storm and dangers for some time, and endeavoring to have all the saints armed with the panoply of God, in order that whatever the test might be, we might be able to withstand all the wiles and Aery darts of the enemy, and having done all, to stand.

We have not the gift of prophecy, and could not tell you in what form nor from what quarter the testing would come, for our adversary, the devil, is sure to bring the test from an unexpected quarter. This has ever been his policy.

versus...
In 1883 the Watchtower bluntly claimed “We [do] not have the gift of prophecy.” (Zion’s Watch Tower, January 1883, page 425.)
Your quote from the January 1883 Watchtower on page 425 take on a completely different aspect in context. What was the "Evil Day" they were saying they had long seen they were living in, David2002? Was it the same evil day that didn't begin until 1914, or a different one?
David2002, you pulled that quote from one of the more recent Watchtowers, and you believed it was in context. Because you put trust in those nobles and earthling men, you believed them. I didn't put trust in them and look what I found. They aren't deserving of your trust, that's what I found.
Simple Proof of WTS claims to be "Inspired" Prophet (<--- crazies thread that proves they DID claim to speak for Jehovah, repeatedly)
AuldSoul
AK - Jeff

Dear Brother David2002 -
It seems entirely to me that I am 'throwing my words to the wind' with you.
Please go back and examine a copy of the booklet "Millions Now Living will never die". I do not have it in front of me. I had a copy on my other computer and when the computer died, so did the copy. Rutherford clearly states there that the early faithfulls would become 'princes in the earth' and that they would be walking among us. I have spoken to many old timers who attended the convention in 1925 and literally were expecting Abraham et al to be among them. To deny that the Watchtower society was 'predicting' such is to deny reality. Rutherford actually gave the speech to tens of thousands of people before it was put in printed form.
Yes, my dear brother, the Watchtower Society acted as a prophet in this matter. They even built a house in San Diego called Beth Sarim, and they deeded it in the name of David, Abraham, and so forth. The deed is public record. I have seen it. The purpose of the house was stated to be for the use of those 'ancient worthies' when they returned to the earth to rule. This 'prophecy' was being uttered right on the heals of when they claim to have been selected as the Faithful and Discreet Slave class in 1919. What sort of 'food at the proper time' was this? It turned out to be poisonous lies and speculation at the least. Playing God and Prophet at the most. Dispicable in either case.
The 'brotherhood' did not create a false hope in this matter as was later claimed in the effort to cover this up. The Society prophesied it would happen, later covered over the matter to save face [I would call this lying].
When an organization [or an individual for that matter] stands and proclaims himself to be the exclusive source of light from God, then makes specific claims in the name of God, and as His self-proclaimed mouthpeice, what is it if not prophecy? Millions of people accept what this organization says as if it originates with Almighty God. They look to this organization as a prophet. Fred Franz was called by members of Bethel and the Governing Body "the Watchtower Oracle". He, in his millions of words of defining prophecy and assigning second or third applications to that prophecy, was misleading others to believe things that did not prove to be true.
In a court case in the UK, he and other members of the headquarters staff insisted that Jehovah's witnesses must accept such interpretations as correct and from God. Some here can probably post that transcript if u are not familiar with it. He insisted that witnesses must accept all the 'truths' taught by the organization even if they are wrong. To fail to do so would result in excommunication. He in essence was claiming to be the prophet of God. Any dissenters would be expelled.
Does not the organization repeatedly claim to recieve 'New Light' on matters of doctrine and prophecy? To whom would God send "New Light" if not to His prophets? The entire concept of New Light is about recieving a corrected understanding from God. Are they not claiming to be then inspired of God, Prophets of God? Of course they are.! They know it and you know it.
When they proclaimed 1975 as a marked year, they praised those who sold businesses and homes and quit jobs with enough money to get to 1975, but not beyond. How could they in retrospect deny that they thought and expected witness adherants to think that 1975 was going to be the end. I lived through that fiasco. I know what they said. I sat in Yankee Stadium in 1973 and listened to F Franz and Nathan Knorr pound into our heads for three hours about 1975. They said it. I did not make it up. Nor did the other 80,000 attendees.
I understand from where you come. I wasted the first 48 years of my life believing as you do. I swallowed it hook line and sinker as they say. I was good at defending it, as you are trying to be. I would have faced a firing squad rather than to deny it was the 'Truth', as I am sure you would.
The fact of the matter is this; They have no proof that they were selected by God in 1919 as they claim. They were teaching doctrine that was wrong then, and they continue to do so. They were predicting 'the end' then, in fact they were alone in stating that we were already in the battle of Armageddon at that point. You can provide no proof that God blessed them in any way to show that he selected them from all the religions in existence at that time. It is plainly an assertion with no evidence to support it. And if God did not select them, they are just another religion. Nothing more. If they indeed have proved to be 'false prophets', then they are evil and God will destroy them for thier falsehoods.
You need to investigate outside the doors and publications of the Watchtower Society. Otherwise your blood will be on your own hands.
This I say due to the fact that I love you as a fellow human being. Take it for what it is. Ignore it, and find out later. Or wake up and find out now while there is time to make a record with God, and not an organization that claims without proof to have his seal of approval.
Jeff
jwfacts

David2002
Even the JWs do not teach that the "meek will inherit the earth" is referring to its inhabitatation. Don' t forget that they say the NT was written predominantly for the anointed. That scripture refers to Jesus inheriting the earth as a 'gift'. Kindly he will allow some to live on it.
it-1 p.1201 Inheritance
“The anointed members of the Christian congregation are spoken of as having a heavenly inheritance, sharing Jesus’ inheritance as his “brothers.” (Eph 1:14; Col 1:12; 1Pe 1:4, 5) This includes the earth.—Mt 5:5.”
Watchtower 1958 March 1 p.139 “Blessed Are the Meek”
“Will that mark the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise: “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth”? No, at least not primarily. Those words, first uttered by the psalmist David, apply first of all to the pre-eminently meek One, Jesus Christ, to whom his Father, Jehovah God, said: “Ask of me, that I may give nations as your inheritance and the ends of the earth as your own possession.” Inheriting the earth is part of his reward for his meek and faithful course while a man.—Matt. 5:5, AS; Ps. 2:8. Sharing this inheritance with Jesus Christ will be his “bride ,” those footstep followers of his, limited to 144,000, who will receive a heavenly reward. (Rev. 14:1, 3) Thus the apostle Paul tells them: “If, then, we are children, we are also heirs: heirs indeed of God, but joint heirs with Christ.” Jesus refers to these specially favored followers of his as a “little flock.” However, the principle enunciated at Matthew 5:5 applies also to Jesus’ other sheep who, as meek ones, will receive everlasting life on earth. How so? In that they will hold the earth in trust for Christ and his bride , permanent tenants, as it were.”
The Jews believed that paradise referred to a place people went to after death.
The NT teaches a NEW earth, not this present one.
David2002

AuldSoul,
Your quote from the January 1883 Watchtower on page 425 take on a completely different aspect in context. What was the "Evil Day" they were saying they had long seen they were living in, David2002? Was it the same evil day that didn't begin until 1914, or a different one?
David2002, you pulled that quote from one of the more recent Watchtowers, and you believed it was in context. Because you put trust in those nobles and earthling men, you believed them. I didn't put trust in them and look what I found. They aren't deserving of your trust, that's what I found.
Actually, I got my quotes from a JW Apologist site and from sites appearing include the full-text of the WT magazine. But even with your extended quotes, it still shows that the WTS, early on, said did not believe they had the gift of prophecy, which is the point I am making. The 1883 article in fulltext appears on http://www.agsconsulting.com/htdbv5/r425.htm. True, at that time they understood the the "Evil Day" or last days began in 1874 (which we now believe 1914 is the correct date). But that still does not change the point that Russell said the that WT does NOT HAVE THE GIFT OF PROPHECY, and did not know when the time of trouble would come. The fact that they were in error, proved that Russell was right when he said that. Let's take one other quote which I cited early, with a fuller context, which is the points exactly to what I am saying: This is from the Zion's Watch Tower, January 1, 1908 - page 4110, fulltext of which is found at http://www.agsconsulting.com/htdbv5/r4109.htm:
YET SEVEN YEARS MORE
From the foregoing it will be seen that to our understanding Christendom entered upon the final seven years of harvest time in October, 1907. Promptly on time the present panic gave Christendom a convulsive tremor, and it is our anticipation that the entire seven years thus started will witness a succession of panics and difficulties, each pressing a little more upon the interests of mankind, the rich as well as the poor, and each bringing conditions to a little harder plane than its predecessor, until, with the close of the seven years, during 1915, according to the Bible, we expect that anarchy will gain the upper hand of control throughout Christendom, overthrowing present institutions, civil and religious, financial and social, and in a general way plunging the poor world into the most awful trouble it has ever experienced--a trouble so dark, so terrible, that in referring to it the Master said, "Except those days be shortened there would no flesh survive." But then he added, that because of the Elect the days would be shortened. The Elect Church, at that time in glory with the Lord, and assuming the authority of the world, will at the proper moment intervene, and with divine power and wisdom bring order out of the confusion, and establish in the world righteous conditions, which the Scriptures assure us will then be welcomed by all mankind. Those now disposed to fight for present conditions will then, as a result of the chastening experience, be glad to look for and accept the new order of things--the reign of righteousness and love under the Millennial rule of the King of kings and Lord of lords, with whom in his throne will be associated [R4110 : page 5] the Bride, the Lamb's Wife--the Elect Little Flock of this Gospel Age.
We are not prophesying; we are merely giving our surmises, the Scriptural basis for which is already in the hands of our readers in the six volumes of SCRIPTURE STUDIES. We do not even aver that there is no mistake in our interpretation of prophecy and our calculations of chronology. We have merely laid these before you, leaving it for each to exercise his own faith or doubt in respect to them; but showing our own faith by our works. Even our enemies must concede, and many of them do concede, that the facts as they have developed year by year since we began these presentations in 1876 have most wonderfully, most remarkably, corroborated our expectations and continue to do so. For instance, the Jews had not thought of returning to their own land when, in 1878, we pointed out that the time for favor to that people had chronologically begun, in fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy, "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith my God. Speak ye comfortably unto Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her appointed hour is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins." (Isa. 40:1,2.) Zionism was not dreamed of at that time, and began to take practical form seventeen years afterward
There we see some errors regarding chronology, but at the same time Russell makes a very clear statement that there may be mistakes. I see Russell as being honest and clear. That same thought and viewpoint was carried on throughout all the WT publications, in spite of the fact that some only quote certain parts, and completely ignore the fact that Russell, Rutherford, and others clearly stated that they were not inspired prophets and that chronological biblical data may be difficult to interpret and subject to error. Russell himself emphasized the chronological bible doctrine can be read with the same absolute certainty as basic bible doctrine in the Jan. 1, 1914 WT (which I have never seen quoted in the anti-Witness sites) http://www.agsconsulting.com/htdbv5/r5374.htm:
"REST IN THE LORD"
This vision is to be made clear at the appointed time. We may not read the time features with the same absolute certainty as doctrinal features; for time is not so definitely stated in the Scriptures as are the basic doctrines. We are still walking by faith and not by sight. We are, however, not faithless and unbelieving, but faithful and waiting. If later it should be demonstrated that the Church is not glorified by October, 1914, we shall try to feel content with whatever the Lord's will may be. We believe that very many who are running the race for the prize will be able to thank God for the chronology, even if it should prove not accurate to the year, or even out of the way several years. We believe that the chronology is a blessing. If it should wake us a few minutes earlier or a few hours earlier in the Morning than we would otherwise have waked, well and good! It is those who are awake who get the blessing.
If 1915 should go by without the passage of the Church, without the Time of Trouble, etc., it would seem to some to be a great calamity. It would not be so with ourself. We shall be as glad as any one if we shall all experience our change from earthly to spirit conditions before 1915, and THIS IS OUR EXPECTATION; but if this should not be the Lord's will, then it would not be our will. If in the Lord's providence the time should come twenty-five years later, then that would be our will. This would not change the fact that the Son of God was sent by the Father, and that the Son is the Redeemer of our race; that He died for our sins; that He is selecting the Church for His Bride; and that the next thing now in order is the establishment of the glorious Kingdom at the hands of this great Mediator, who during His Mediatorial Reign will bless all the families of the earth. These facts remain the same. The difference would be merely that of a few years in the time of the establishment of the Kingdom. If October, 1915, should pass, and we should find ourselves still here and matters going on very much as they are at present, and the world apparently making progress in the way of settling disputes, and there were no time of trouble in sight, and the nominal Church were not yet [R5374 : page 5] federated, etc., we would say that evidently we have been out somewhere in our reckoning. In that event we would look over the prophecies further, to see if we could find an error. And then we would think, Have we been expecting the wrong thing at the right time? The Lord's will might permit this. Our expectation as a Church is that our change is near. Nothing of Restitution blessings can come to the world until after the Church has been glorified.
So here is Russell again declaring the fallibility of the WT. Russell emphasized, and even quoted in front of his publications, the text of Prov. 4:18 stating that the light will get brighter. He and the other members of the governing body alway emphasized that they are not perfect. But they taught the basic truth of the Bible, that Jesus is God's Son sent to be the Savior of the world, that's God name is Jehovah, that the soul dies, that there will be resurrection of the good and bad, that Jesus has a God and Father, that there will be a paradise earth, etc. So the fundamental, easy-to-understand, Bible doctrines were always taught by them. When one examines the Bible closely, they will see they teach what the Bible really teaches (Acts 17:11). And at the same time they teach that they are not infallible. Like the apostles and first century Christians they had false expectations. But like the first century Christians they adjusted their views.
--David2002
David2002

Jeff,
I have my copy of the booklet Millions Now Living Will Never Die (actually a Xerox copy which my brother-in-law, a former Bethelite, gave me). And I know it stated that we MAY confidently expect the resurrection of the "ancient worthies." But at the same time, I also know that Rutherford held to the point of view that Bible chronological data cannot be read with the same certainty as basic Bible doctrines, as aggreeing with Russell's assessment. And he clearly wrote (which I quoted earlier) that 1925 MAY NOT mark the resurrection. So he gave his admonitions.
Regarding, 1975: I have asked brother who were in the truth prior to 1975 about whether or not they believed the end was coming. The vast majority tell me "no." I even know one sister who told me that her mother thought it was coming, but the daughter advised her not to fall into that conclusion. The fact is most Witnesses did not think the end of world was coming in 1975 because none of the publications stated that it will come. People quote titles of WT, but when you like at the text you find clearly statement that it is not known what 1975 will bring. The only thing that is known is that humankind will completed 6,000 years of existance in that year (which appears to held today). The Truth book which was used around that time, containing the basic Bible doctrines, does not mention 1975. True, the Truth book quoted from Famine 1975, but it said nothing about the end coming that year. ( I think people are pushing it when they mention that quoted book as prove the end is coming. The book was quote along with some other to show that there would be severe hunger problems in the world in the last days.)
I do not think that corrections in teaching make one an inspired prophet. Prov. 4:18 clearly shows the light of the truth will get brighter. In last chapter of Daniel, Daniel is told that he would not understand the prophecy, but the in the end there will be those who will understand. People in the last days do not have the gift of prophecy, nor are they inspired like the apostles or OT bible writers. However with the help of God's holy spirit, many will come to gradually understand Bible prophecies and other teachings.
I have a wide library of books not published by the WTS. I know of brothers who have studied in seminaries, some of which have divinity degrees, including former pastors, priests, nuns, and reverends. All of them, after a carefull study of the Bible, have come to the conclusion that God's is among the Jehovah's Christian Congregation, and that they teach the truth from the Bible. I know of one person who was given books by Raymond Franz, James Penton, and numerous Evangelical apologists. Yet she concluded that in Jehovah's Witneses really teach the Bible truth and have the true Jesus of the Bible. There have been Witnesses that have read anti-Witness essays and books, but still believe the WTS, in spite of expected imperfections, teach the truth. Carolyn Wah, one of WTS attorneys, has read books by both Penton and Franz, and she is still a Witness. Greg Stafford has read Franz's books, but he still defends the Witnesses as teaching the truth regarding the basic bible teachings (He also plans to release the 3rd edition of the book Jehovah's Witneses Defended). We can think for ourselves, know what the Bible teaches, and will not accept the half-truths and false allegations which being spread like poison. The point is if the Bible clearly teaching something, we cannot change our minds and accept false teachings which others are promoting. We only listed to the voice of God's Son and will not listen to the voice of a stranger. (John 10)
AuldSoul

Okay, David2002, follow me on a couple of things.
First scenario:
"The ancient worthies will be resurrected to earth in 2025, to be princes in the earth. Bible chronology is certain about this date. This is not our date, but God's. God has placed his stamp of approval upon this chronology, it cannot fail."
Does this qualify as a prophecy? If so, why? If not, why not?
Is the person saying this stating opinion or fact? Why do you say so?
Is the person invoking God as the source of this certainty? What makes you say so?
Is the person speaking acting as a prophet whether they specifically CLAIM that title or not?
Second scenario:
2025 came and went uneventfully. But the leaders of my church, whose entire authority structure is validated by the 2014 doctrine, will excommunicate me if I publicly question whether they have the correct understanding 2014 correct, even though not one shred of what they were saying BEFORE 2014 actually occurred IN 2014, and even though they claim to be fallible.
Are they treating the current version of the prophecy of 2014 as unquestionably correct? Are they making decisions as though they recognize they might be wrong about 2014, or are they acting as though they should be considered infallible regarding that date?
You see, there can be a great difference between what an organization SAYS about itself and what its leaders SAY about themseleves, when you compare what is said to what is practiced.
In the case of the Governing Body, there is a teaching of fallibility and a practice of conferred infallibility. In other words, every specific thing the Governing Body says is held to be infallibly true until it is unqeustionably proven false or until they change their mind. Then that specific thing was evidence of fallibility, but the new teaching about EVEN THAT THING is taken as truth again, until proven false or changed. So, in EFFECT, their doctrine is accorded infallibility even though it is repeatedly PROVEN very faulty.
To challenge their fallible doctrine publicly for ... discovery of error (which anyone who actually admits fallibility would be open to) ... is to beg for cutting off from loved ones.
In fact, you challenge their doctrine by your presence here. I am certain you do not tell people you come here. Why? Are you wrong to come here? If not, why should you keep quiet about it?
Because you know that even though their doctrine is flawed you can't stand up and say so without risking punishment. That's why.
I hope you wake up. But unless you stop feeding exclusively on the self-aggrandizing fodder they shovel into your trough I doubt you will.
Respectfully,
AuldSoul
AlmostAtheist

And let us not quibble over a hundred years here or there. (I think the above post needs "19" substituted for "20" in those year references) ;-)
Interestingly, David2002, the very title of the booklet was incorrect: "Millions Now Living Will Never Die". Are there in fact millions still alive from that time? Perhaps. But will there be when we have this same conversation 10 years from now? 20?
Time makes liars of all prophets. Ignoring previous false prophecies is what allows them to keep doing it.
Dave
AuldSoul

The Governing Body want to speak as a prophet, be accorded the respect of a prophet, have their words heeded as though they issued from a prophet, set themselves up over those whom they call a "prophet" as a class, and be completely absolved of any culpability issuing from failing to accurately prophesy. Charles Russell is long dead, as is Rutherford. What about in more recent times?
Keep in mind that if someone utters a prophecy they can then only be one of two things: A true prophet or a false prophet. There is no middle ground.
The following is from crazies' thread which you apparently ignored:
(Deutrernomy 18:20-22)
20 “‘However, the prophet who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded him to speak or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die. 21 And in case you should say in your heart: “How shall we know the word that Jehovah has not spoken?” 22 when the prophet ( nabiy') speaks in the name of Jehovah and the word does not occur or come true, that is the word that Jehovah did not speak. With presumptuousness the prophet spoke it. You must not get frightened at him.’
(www.blueletterbible.org)
Prophet--( nabiy')
1) spokesman, speaker, prophet
a) prophet
b) false prophet
c) heathen prophet
(Matthew 24:23,24)
23 “Then if anyone says to YOU, ‘Look! Here is the Christ,’ or, ‘There!’ do not believe it. 24 For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will give great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the chosen ones.
(Reasoning from the Scriptures pp136)
Have not Jehovah’s Witnesses made errors in their teachings?
Jehovah’s Witnesses do not claim to be inspired prophets. They have made mistakes. Like the apostles of Jesus Christ, they have at times had some wrong expectations.—Luke 19:11; Acts 1:6.
(Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary)
Inspired
: outstanding or brilliant in a way or to a degree suggestive of divine inspiration <gave an inspired performance>
Inspiration
1 a : a divine influence or action on a person believed to qualify him or her to receive and communicate sacred revelation b : the action or power of moving the intellect or emotions c : the act of influencing or suggesting opinions
(Awake 93 3/22 Why So Many False Alarms?)
Jehovah’s Witnesses, in their eagerness for Jesus’ second coming, have suggested dates that turned out to be incorrect. Because of this, some have called them false prophets. Never in these instances, however, did they presume to originate predictions ‘in the name of Jehovah.’ Never did they say, ‘These are the words of Jehovah.’ The Watchtower, the official journal of Jehovah’s Witnesses, has said: “We have not the gift of prophecy.”
(Jeremiah 1:9 NWT)
9 At that Jehovah thrust his hand out and caused it to touch my mouth. Then Jehovah said to me: “Here I have put my words in your mouth.
(W79 9/1 The Royal “Shepherd” of Bible Prophecy p29-30 par.28)
28 Unlike the clergy class, those of the Jeremiah class have been sent by Jehovah to speak in his name. Nevertheless, the clergy prophets also claim to speak in his name and, hence, to tell the Bible truth. In this way Christendom’s religious leaders really ‘steal’ away the force and effect of the calamitous message proclaimed by the Jeremiah class. True, the Jeremiah class back up their message by quoting the words, “This is what Jehovah has said.” But the clergy try to add weight and the ring of truth to what they preach by affixing the words, “An utterance!” Seemingly they speak from God. So they may use a Bible text as a pretext for preaching about politics or even war propaganda. Yet Jehovah is against such clergy prophets whom he did not send forth from his intimate group and who ‘steal’ words from his Bible in order to make a wrong application of them.—Jer. 23:30, 31.
(w59 1/15 Down with the Old—Up with the New! P41)
. Jehovah’s witnesses are deeply grateful today that the plain facts show that God has been pleased to use them. All the preaching and all the Bible educational work that they have done till now in 175 countries and islands of the sea they confess has been, not by help of a military army, nor by human power, but by God’s spirit, his invisible active force. (Zech. 4:6, AV) It has been because Jehovah thrust out his hand of power and touched their lips and put his words in their mouths. It has evidently been because he commissioned them to be over the nations and over the kingdoms
(w57 6/15 Overseers of Jehovah’s People p370 par7)
7a Let us now unmistakably identify Jehovah’s channel of communication for our day, that we may continue in his favor.
7b It is vital that we appreciate this fact and respond to the directions of the “slave” as we would to the voice of God, because it is His provision.
(W94 3/1 Jehovah’s Judgment Against False Teachers p11 par.13,14)
13 Please note Jeremiah chapter 23, verse 22: “If they had stood in my intimate group, then they would have made my people hear my own words, and they would have caused them to turn back from their bad way and from the badness of their dealings.” If Christendom’s religious prophets were standing in Jehovah’s intimate group, in close relationship with him as though a faithful and discreet servant, then they too would be living by God’s standards. They too would have been making the peoples of Christendom hear God’s own words. Instead, the modern-day false teachers have made their followers blinded servants of God’s Adversary, Satan the Devil.
14 Exposure of the clergy by the Jeremiah class has been powerful.
(W86 4/15 What Jehovah’s Times and Seasons Mean for Our Day p18 par.11)
11 So God’s servants know what this world’s rulers do not. They know Jehovah’s purposes and his seasons. First Peter 1:11 says that, in the past, God’s servants “kept on investigating what particular season or what sort of season the spirit in them was indicating.” With God’s spirit indicating this, the apostle Paul could say to true fellow worshipers: “You people know the season.” (Romans 13:11) Since Jehovah’s servants of today obey him as ruler, God’s holy spirit also reveals to them what season it is from his viewpoint. Amos 3:7 says: “The Sovereign Lord Jehovah will not do a thing unless he has revealed his confidential matter to his servants the prophets.”
(Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary)
Reveal
1 : to make known through divine inspiration

2 : to make (something secret or hidden) publicly or generally known <reveal a secret>

(W80 10/15 Execution of the “Great Harlot” Nears p17 par.1,2)
THE Creator, Jehovah God, knows exactly what will take place in the future. He is “the One telling from the beginning the finale.” (Isa. 46:10) Being “perfect in knowledge,” he knows the details about the “finale” of this system of things at the coming “great tribulation.” (Job 37:16; Matt. 24:21) Because he is a God of love, he reveals enough of these details to those who serve him loyally that they can be properly informed, upbuilt and protected. The Bible states: “The Sovereign Lord Jehovah will not do a thing unless he has revealed his confidential matter to his servants the prophets.”—Amos 3:7.
2 Thus, God gives his humble servants special knowledge that others do not have. As the apostle Paul said: “This wisdom not one of the rulers of this system of things came to know . . . For it is to us God has revealed them through his spirit.” (1 Cor. 2:8-10) Having advance knowledge from Jehovah, his servants are equipped—indeed, commissioned, by God—to herald throughout the world the warning of this system’s approaching end, along with the comforting message of the new order.—Matt. 24:14.
(W72 3/15 Wanted—a Messenger p189)
Therefore, when it came time for the name of Jehovah and his purposes to be declared to the people, along with God’s warning that Christendom is in her “time of the end,” who qualified to be commissioned? Who was willing to undertake this monumental task as Jehovah’s “servant”? Was there anyone to whom Jehovah’s heavenly “chariot” could roll up and whom it could confront? More accurately, was there any group on whom Jehovah would be willing to bestow the commission to speak as a “prophet” in His name, as was done toward Ezekiel back there in 613 B.C.E.?
(W72 4/1 ‘They Shall Know that a Prophet Was Among Them’)
(P197) A third way of coming to know Jehovah God is through his representatives. In ancient times he sent prophets as his special messengers. While these men foretold things to come, they also served the people by telling them of God’s will for them at that time, often also warning them of dangers and calamities. People today can view the creative works. They have at hand the Bible, but it is little read or understood. So, does Jehovah have a prophet to help them, to warn them of dangers and to declare things to come?
IDENTIFYING THE “PROPHET”
These questions can be answered in the affirmative. Who is this prophet? The clergy of the so-called “Christian” nations hold themselves before the people as being the ones commissioned to speak for God. But, as pointed out in the previous issue of this magazine, they have failed God and failed as proclaimers of his kingdom by approving a man-made political organization, the League of Nations (now the United Nations), as “the political expression of the
However, Jehovah did not let the people of Christendom, as led by the clergy, go without being warned that the League was a counterfeit substitute for the real . He had a “prophet” to warn them. This “prophet” was not one man, but was a body of men and women. It was the small group of footstep followers of Jesus Christ, known at that time as International Bible Students. Today they are known as Jehovah’s Christian witnesses. They are still proclaiming a warning, and have been joined and assisted in their commissioned work by hundreds of thousands of persons who have listened to their message with belief.
(p198-199) Thus this group of anointed followers of Jesus Christ, doing a work in Christendom paralleling Ezekiel’s work among the Jews, were manifestly the modern-day Ezekiel, the “prophet” commissioned by Jehovah to declare the good news of God’s Messianic kingdom and to give warning to Christendom.
(p200) The scroll was doubtless delivered to Ezekiel by the hand of one of the cherubs in the vision. This would indicate that Jehovah’s witnesses today make their declaration of the good news of the Kingdom under angelic direction and support. (Rev. 14:6, 7; Matt. 25:31, 32) And since no word or work of Jehovah can fail, for he is God Almighty, the nations will see the fulfillment of what these witnesses say as directed from heaven.

SERVICE REPORT 2005 : WATCHTOWER FEB 1ST 2006

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