by moomanchu 4 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
That's what they call themselves Rev.Ch.9 climax book pg.144
Rev.9;4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
Why would the locusts need to be told not to harm themselves?
Good point. I think the reasoning would go right over most JWs heads though.
Cellist
(Revelation 9:1-11) 9 And the fifth angel blew his trumpet. And I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to the earth, and the key of the pit of the abyss was given him. 2 And he opened the pit of the abyss, and smoke ascended out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun was darkened, also the air, by the smoke of the pit. 3 And out of the smoke locusts came forth upon the earth; and authority was given them, the same authority as the scorpions of the earth have. 4 And they were told to harm no vegetation of the earth nor any green thing nor any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 And it was granted the [locusts], not to kill them, but that these should be tormented five months, and the torment upon them was as torment by a scorpion when it strikes a man. 6 And in those days the men will seek death but will by no means find it, and they will desire to die but death keeps fleeing from them. 7 And the likenesses of the locusts resembled horses prepared for battle; and upon their heads [were] what seemed to be crowns like gold, and their faces [were] as men’s faces, 8 but they had hair as women’s hair. And their teeth were as those of lions; 9 and they had breastplates like iron breastplates. And the sound of their wings [was] as the sound of chariots of many horses running into battle. 10 Also, they have tails and stings like scorpions; and in their tails is their authority to hurt the men five months. 11 They have over them a king, the angel of the abyss. In Hebrew his name is A·bad´don, but in Greek he has the name A·pol´lyon.
Yes, JWs believe they are the locusts stated here. Something very interesting that most JWs do not know is that their king mentioned in verse 11 is Satan.
Here are the references from the New World Translation:
"Abaddon." Or, "Destruction." J17,18,22(Heb.), ’Avad·dohn´. Compare Job 26:6; Ps 88:11; Pr 15:11 ftns, "Destruction."
"Apollyon." Or, "Destroyer." Gr., A·pol·ly´on. Vg adds: "and in Latin he has the name Exterminator (Ex·ter´mi·nans)." See Mt 7:13 ftn.
If you read any other bible, it makes it very clear that Abaddon and Apollyon are different names for Satan
Sometimes I wonder if this is the WTS way of hiding the truth of their origins in plane sight. If any JW discovers this, will the WTS say: "Yes it is true - your king is Satan and that is who you have been serving all these years. You cannot say we did not tell you!"
On May 1, 1998, Watchtower published an article entitled 'Jehovah’s Day Approaches' and there it said, simply and clearly: Both in Joel 1:6 and Revelation 9:7 locusts symbolize God’s people and from the article anyone could conclude that these God’s people were Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Imagine a great horde of locusts! For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth (fangs) of a great lion …. (Joel 1:6-8) Is this applicable only to people - locusts, invading ancient Judea? No, this prophecy has a lot more meaning. Both in Joel 1:6 and Revelation 9:7 locusts symbolize the people of God. In the context of today the horde of locusts is nothing other than the army of anointed Jehovah’s locusts, nowadays joined by about 5 to 600,000 other sheep of Jesus (John 10:16). Shouldn’t we be joyous belonging to this enormous assembly of Jehovah’s faithful?… God’s army of locusts serves witness to the city known as the Christian world (Joel 2:9). Rev 9:11 They have over them as king the angel of the abyss: his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, in the Greek tongue he hath the name Apollyon
Here is something I had saved from a while back (above). It does spell it out pretty clearly that 1) the locusts symbolize the people of god (JWs) and 2) that their king or leader is named Abaddon or Apolloyon which is Satan!
They sure fell down in the proofing of this one!
You could do like David Spade and Chris Farley did in that one scene from Tommyboy:
The cops are chasing them, so to avoid arrest they pull over and start running from the car and gesturing wildly as if they have bees swarming around them, meanwhile shouting "BEES!!! BEES!!!!", and the cops end up leaving them alone.
So, next time the dubs come a-callin', you could run out of your house and flail around on the front lawn, shouting "LOCUSTS!!!!! LOCUSTS!!!!" lol
