In the wake of the Bethel witch hunt in April and May 1980, and the earlier controversy over Jonsson's Gentile Times Reconsidered, talks were given in various congregations to minimize fallout over reports of apostasy at Bethel. "Enduring the Tests Within God's Organization," a special talk by California circuit overseer Floyd Kite, quite clearly alludes to these recent events, and stunningly discusses all sorts of "stumbling blocks" for faith in the organization, including doctrinal flip-flops and problems in their history. It also has a strong sense of paranoia in some parts ("Who do we trust?!"), but it is especially remarkable for explicitly voicing specific doubts about the Society being God's organization that make a lot of intuitive sense (e.g. "If God’s spirit appoints a man, how did it appoint a spy in God’s own organization?"), but which are all set aside through the simple appeal to everything being a "test" on faith. I find it very interesting how it co-opts the legitimate questioning process and turns it around into support for the very authority structure that is being questioned. Kite also has an affable manner, and his use of humor eases the otherwise hardline position.
There's a goldmine of material in the talk ripe for discussion, for it covers so many controversial topics, uses such blatant manipulation in its argumentation, and has much that is relevant to recent events and the contemporary situation faced by JWs and ex-JWs questioning their faith in "God's organization". However, I have not yet seen any transcript of this talk on the web, and so I thought I'd provide this rough-and-ready version. The sound quality of the audio is not perfect in parts, but I've tried my best in this first draft to represent what "Brother Kite" had to say.
Please feel free to quote whatever you want from this talk and offer your comments.
Enduring the Tests Within God’s Organization
Special Talk by Floyd Kite, 6/22/1980
All Christians are tested and anyone who is going to get life has to be tested. That is a truism of the Bible. The first Adam was tested and he failed the test. And the last Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ, was tested and he successfully passed the test and was granted immortality and incorruptibility. Anyone who lives during the Millennium, during the Thousand Year Reign of Jesus Christ, will also be tested because the book of Revelation mentions that at the end of the thousand years there’s a final test. And everyone who successfully passes that test will be declared righteous with the right to live forever as perfect human sons of God. So, we can’t get away from it, it’s a biblical teaching, everyone who gets life must be tested. It just becomes a matter of whether you and I can survive the test, whether we can pass the test successfully.
So let’s take a look at the scripture text from which we’d use as a spinning point, or spin off is 1 Peter 1 and it’s virtually the same statement as made by the disciple James in the first chapter of James, and we’re going to read this one in the first chapter of 1 Peter. In the third verse he talks about the living hope that you and I have. And he talks about in the fourth verse the undefiled and unfading inheritance that awaits the anointed, and for those of us in the other sheep class, earthly life in a paradise new earth. In the fifth verse he discusses being safeguarded by God’s power, so God is at work within us if we are in union with him. And then he adds in verse 6 (and this is where we would like to build), “And this fact --” all these things he’s just mentioned, this living hope, this unfading and undefiled inheritance, this being in union with God and Christ, and being under the undeserved kindness of God and Christ, and being safeguarded by God’s power -- “and this fact you are greatly rejoicing.” So there are reasons for us to rejoice. “Though,” he says, “for a little while at present, if it must be, you have been grieved by various trials.” So this “little while” indicates at least this is a marked time, it has a finish to it, it doesn’t go on indefinitely, but “there will be trials.” And then he says we rejoice in the hope facing the trials, grieved by them, and he says in verse 7, “in order that the tested quality of your faith” -- and so the trial accomplishes something, it tests the quality of faith -- and then he says, “of much greater value than gold that perishes despite its being proved by fire, may be found a cause for praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
So may our faith come through this great test refined, purified, may we come through successfully winners, conquerors, and our faith will be a praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. The trial can take any form. It doesn’t make any difference what form the trial is. The question is, will our faith be tested and will we take the trial and will we accept it and take the discipline from the trial and allow it improve and correct our personalities wherever it may be needed. In some cases the trial may be outright opposition because you and I are Christians, or because we take the course of neutrality in the wicked system, or because we hold steadfastly to the law of God under adverse circumstances, so we receive adversity or opposition from that standpoint. On the other hand, it may be a health problem from which we may not rapidly recover if there’s any recovery at all in some cases, and we have to live with the situation. It can be our flesh which is depraved and degraded and the flesh is a drag on us, and so that’s a test. It might be during an economic recession we suffer an economic setback or a financial reversal, and there’s a test. On the other hand, it might be loneliness or a lack of love, or it might be depression or a feeling of rejection and not being wanted. Oh, it just goes on and on and on and on. And they’re all tests.
And each of us are beset in various ways by these tests. And the big thing is, will we come out winners with God’s undeserved kindness and the undeserved kindness of the Christ? Will our faith be tested and will it be a praise in the glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ? So what sort of test are we experiencing now, what lies ahead of us? Who knows. But are we training ourselves now, preparing ourselves, gaining the needed strength so that we can resist and stand firm in whatever test we take. Well, Jehovah is not equipping us for nothing, he is not preparing us for nothing. But he is giving us the needed strength now if we will accept all the provisions that are made to withstand whatever test lies ahead. The Son of God mentioned that when he holds us in his hand, no one can snatch us out of the Son’s hand. But you and I can allow a test to snatch us out of the hand of the Son, in union with the Son. You and I can capitulate, whether it is to the flesh or internal forces or external forces. So much depends on us. Even though we are safeguarded by God’s power, [it depends on] whether we will respond to Jehovah’s power through his word and his holy spirit.
This afternoon I just wanted to mention some tests that we can expect within God’s organization that will be the hardest tests that you’ll ever face. Opposition from the opposer, outright persecution from the adversary, these we prepare ourselves for and we can accept -- maybe even physical handicap and a health problem, even internal tests within us due to our own depraved flesh. But the tests that I want to mention to you this afternoon are those that come from inside the congregation. And they’re the hardest tests because they’re the least expected. The one place we don’t expect to get a test is here. Out there, yes, but not here. And yet here will be the most difficult tests that you and I will experience. I want to mention three of them, and we will just build around these three, and I’m going to put them in the order of the effect or impact that they have on us as tests. And [I want to mention] the fact that the one I list first has caused the greatest number of casualties in God’s organization and will continue to do so. And that’s why we list it first. And I’ll probably spend more time on it than the other two tests, although they too have caused a considerable number of casualties among Jehovah’s people.
The number one test is this -- and if you can use this in helping someone else or teaching someone else, great. The number one test is this: will I be loyal to the organization God is using in spite of the people that are in it? That’s a big test. It’s been a big test in nineteen hundred years in the Christian congregation and a tremendously large test in modern times in God’s organization. How will I respond to the people inside of God’s organization? Will I be loyal to it? And you do have to admit that now you’re associated with the congregation there are many strange people in the congregation, and you’ve noticed that, right? And sometimes you begin wonder how did they get in? How do they stay in?! And yet we stand shoulder to shoulder like the loving encouragement we received through the book of Philippians this past week. Paul said, “Standing with one spirit shoulder to shoulder for the sake of the good news.” And yet if you look too closely at people, you can become very disappointed in your congregation. Even if you move to some other congregation, you’ll find the same thing. And you will actually begin to wonder, “Can these people really be God’s people?”
I think it’s very good when you and I start studying with a person that we tell them this to begin with. Because you know when we’re teaching someone else the Bible, and they’re making good progress, and we tell them about the meetings, and we’d like to have them come, and before they come, you make something very clear: “Now look, when you get down to the Kingdom Hall -- I want to tell you something -- when you get there, I don’t want you to look too closely at the people that are there.” And he’ll say, “What do you mean? What do you mean don’t look too closely at them?” “Now look, you’ve been learning all these marvelous things, right?” “Oh yes, that’s good.” “I want you to come to the Hall and I’ll tell you some of the things about what we do at the Kingdom Hall and our meetings, we have no paid ministers, no collections, but don’t look too close at the people.” And you must do that. Because eventually as these new students begin to associate with us, they begin to look around. And they see that some Witnesses are just hangers-on. And some Witnesses seem to be very indifferent, apathetic, careless, totally remiss in their Christian obligations. Others just seem to be too-doo-too-doo (laughter), not at all concerned that we’re in the time of the end. And they spot this! And they think that every Witness is like you -- you’ve been teaching them, and you’re all wrapped up in the truth. First, last and always. And they think that every Witness down at the Kingdom Hall is the same way, so you have to say, “Now look, I told you not to look too close at them. Because if you’re going to look for perfection in Davis congregation, you won’t find it. I’ll tell you one place you’ll find perfection, that’s in the dictionary, but you will not find it here. So you get the students straight, you see. The student is going to begin to observe that there are some Witnesses that are not zealous, some Witnesses that are not on fire with the truth. So you say, “Didn’t I tell you?"
You see, when you go down to the Kingdom Hall, all the Witnesses are on different levels or plateaus of learning. We’re not all in the same stage of growth. Some are new, some are babes in Christ, others have been around for a few years. There’s environmental problems, genetic problems, you try to get them to see the whole spectrum. It’s like when you’re driving and you see on the mountain side a beautiful forest, and it’s breathtaking. And yet you and I know that when you drive into the forest, you can begin to see it more clearly because now you can see all the individual trees. And some are very tall and stately. And some are short and some are stunted. Some have never seen the growth. Some have been hit by lightning. Others are bent and twisted out of shape. And that’s the congregation! From a distance, it’s beautiful. It’s a living, growing, thriving grove of trees to Jehovah’s praise. But if you look too closely, you’ll see all sorts in it. Some of us had to weather the storms for a long time, no wonder we’re bent! Some of us have been hit repeatedly by lightning. So before you let your student get too critical, tell him what people have been through in serving Jehovah God. And others have not learned all those lessons yet. The big thing is not to become a petrified forest. Stay a live one. Keep growing and help your student to appreciate that.
Another thing. We’ve got all sorts of peculiar personalities, we’re all in various stages in putting on personalities that please Jehovah God, trying to become like Jesus Christ. And so there’s some strange ones, there’s some odd ones, there’s peculiar ones in the congregation, you’ve been around them for years and they don’t seem to improve. And I always remember this statement that a brother made who lived at Bethel for a good many years. There’s over 2,000 people living at Bethel; it’s a big family. And there’s a lot of pressures at Bethel and some strange personalities there too. And they’re all lumped together just trying to accomplish Jehovah’s work. And he says, “You know, I’ve come to one conclusion. Half of us are here to test the other half.” And so if you approach it that way, that each of us are testing one another, it’s as what that scripture says, “that the tested quality of your faith will prove to be a praise and a glory and an honor,” and not take one another too seriously. Know that we have the spirit of Christ and we’re standing shoulder to shoulder for the sake of the good news.
I want you to think about the most advanced Witness in your congregation. Pick him out in your mind, pick her out, whichever one it is. Got it? The most advanced Witness in your congregation. Got it? Let me tell you something. Even that most advanced Witness has got a full thousand years to go. You see? So do you and so do I. And so during the thousand years, we’ll work on all the scars and disfigurements that have been connected with our personalities. And then by the end of the thousand years, hopefully Jehovah willing, we’ll be full-blown Christian personalities.
Take a look at 2 Corinthians 5, maybe I should’ve used this first, but this will supplement our argument here, 2 Corinthians 5:16: “Consequently,” he says, “from now on we know no man according to the flesh.” See, you and I have all our lives been trained in this system of things to look at people according to the flesh, fleshly traits and peculiarities and idiosyncrasies, the scarred and disfigured personalities. But he says not now, “even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, certainly we now know him so no more.” Now the strong point is in verse 17: “Consequently if anyone is in union with Christ, he is a new creation, the old things passed away, look! New things have come into existence.” We rise up above that which is petty. We look at the greater issues of integrity and the universal sovereignty of God, and our loyalty and our faithfulness, and our helping each other, and then we bridge those divisive factors that have just alienated man from God and his neighbor.
So then, will we be loyal to God’s organization in spite of people? That’s the number one big test. I want to mention in connection with this, besides the tests that we impose on each other because of what we are and how we are and our varying degrees of advancement, you will find that even prominent ones in God’s organization will put a test on you. And that may even be harder than the one imposed by the brother or sister sitting next to you. Because you see, when prominent ones who take the lead among us test us, we seem to find it an even harder test. I’ll give you several examples.
In the modern history of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Brother Charles Russell was the first president of the Watchtower Society. And every report that we have from those who were close associates of his, Brother Russell was a very loving, very kind, very approachable individual, almost saintly, some even describe him as angelic. And it was just his manner. When Brother Russell died in 1916, the next president of the Watchtower Society was Brother Rutherford. And Brother Rutherford had a personality just the opposite of Brother Russell. Now can you imagine, from about the early 1870s, people building up in their Bible studies with Brother Russell and the organization gaining momentum around this man who was totally dedicated, completely giving, self-sacrificing, and so mild, so kind, so gentle. And then here comes Brother Rutherford on the scene. And all the reports, maybe you remember hearing Brother Rutherford, or maybe you had some dealings with Brother Rutherford. Straightforward, absolutely frank, really candid, bombastic, over-opinionated -- and it was such a shock to the organization that in 1917 when Brother Rutherford was elected president of the organization, of the Watchtower Society, many people left because he was such a totally divergent personality from that of Brother Russell. That’s been the history of the organization -- men, their personality, their ways.
In 1917, in Brother Rutherford’s election as president of the Watchtower Society, he immediately released shortly thereafter a book called the Seventh Volume. Brother Russell had written six volumes himself, the seventh he had always hoped to write and was unable to do so. And it was presented as a posthumous work of Brother Russell although it was really a co-labored work by several key writers of the writing staff, and it took the books of Ezekiel and Revelation and sought to draw on some of the thinking of Brother Russell into this one final volume. Needless to say, when this volume was placed at all the placemats at the headquarters table, it caused a great ruckus. And several of the leading men of the organization at that time, one led by P. S. L. Johnson, immediately revolted and for four hours there was open debate right in front of the whole Bethel family at headquarters over this book and some of the material that it contained. P. S. L. Johnson was causing such trouble that it was felt best to send him over to England, maybe out of sight out of mind, maybe he could help the brothers in England. You’ll remember reading in your Yearbook in 1975 that P. S. L. Johnson caused great schism and fragmentation of God’s people in Britain, they hardly ever recovered from it -- it took years! P. S. L. Johnson also misused the Society’s money and immediately Brother Rutherford had to put a stop to it, impounding the money to prevent further misuse by P. S. L. Johnson. P. S. L. Johnson later set himself up as “earth’s great high priest” in total rejection of Jehovah’s organization. During those years in 1917, 1918, and 1919, there were all sorts of schisms in congregations. I’ve personally talked with brothers and sisters who lived back in those years who said that a congregation would be split right down the middle, half of them sitting on one side and half of them on the other side. Part of them for Brother Russell and P. S. L. Johnson, and part of them for Brother Rutherford. And that’s the way the meetings went. And they said that the meetings were continuous debates of whose side were you on. Can you think of the test that that would put on God’s people? How’d you like to be in a congregation like that? What would you do? What side do you take?! The issues are so beclouded and it’s all wrapped up in personalities. What does 2 Corinthians 5 say? “Consequently from now on we know no man according to the flesh.” See? If the flesh gets in there, and that’s why I tell you, it’s the number one test.
How about in Germany? Remember the 1974 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses? What about the German branch overseer that for years was taking the English Watchtower that was sent to him and, when translating it into German, would water down its message so that Jehovah’s people were confused on vital matters of neutrality because of the way that message was watered down? And later, can you remember, that branch overseer put in a German concentration camp, stood before hundreds of his own brothers, and renounced all association with Jehovah’s Witnesses. So here’s a man that’s trusted, a man that leads the work for years, and then find out what he’s been doing.
In Japan, the Yearbook reported that when World War II was over, the leading brother in that country who had been the spearhead of the work there, sort of a branch overseer, went on national television in 1945 in Japan and rejected and renounced Jehovah’s Witnesses. Even though there was only a handful of Jehovah’s Witnesses in that country. What an impact that has on us!
What about the branch overseer in Taiwan? It was just a few issues of the Watchtower ago we had an interesting article about Taiwan and what happened in that country. Back in the 1960s, the branch overseer of Taiwan had been invited by the Watchtower Society to attend the ten-month course at Gilead for branch overseers. Just before he was to leave Taiwan to come to the United States, he was exposed as having been an immoral man with many women. Immediately the Watchtower Society organized a special committee. He was disfellowshipped. He then took the Watchtower Society to court and sued them for slander. That added to the publicity of the thing! The Watchtower Society won the suit. But you look in the Yearbooks in the 1960s and it’s acknowledged in this recent Watchtower article on Taiwan, the work of Jehovah’s Witnesses steadily declined year after year because this man had been so prominent, even suffering incarceration at the hands of the Japanese during World War II, and then teaching the truth to so many of the mountain people of Taiwan, and later carrying on for a lengthy period of time this immortality, finally being exposed -- why, the organization’s ranks dropped year after year. It was such a tremendous impact on God’s people because of this one man. Think of how bewildering, confusing such a thing is.
You meet people out in service, they are very quick to tell you about some Witness that’s gone haywire, right? “Oh Jehovah’s ... oh my! (muttering fearfully)”. It’s just like all of Jehovah’s Witnesses are now in some mental institution, see? Right away they know someone that was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses that did some bad thing, and they’re very fast to tell us about it. Well, think of when right inside key leading men do things, renouncing association with Jehovah’s people, or do bad things, think of how that tests our faith. You have your new Yearbook on France, pages 68 to 89, well it’s just repeated over and over again there. Before men that were branch overseers in the early days of the French operation, writing their own copies of the Watchtower, writing additional articles to the Watchtower, attaching their names to them! Freytag, Zaugg.... there’s four of them! I have two years that says that the leaders of the organization had to be decapitated because the men had gone astray in their faith. Now you wonder if this work had been of men it would have come to nothing.
But what I’m getting at is, leading men in God’s organization will impose the hardest test that you may have to face. In one communist country, a man accepted the truth and made rapid progress and became a pioneer. He continued to make rapid progress and was made under the old arrangement in the congregations a congregation overseer. And because he was relatively free of obligations, and because of his faithful service, he was made a circuit overseer in that country. Later because of his ability to handle responsibilities and because of his dependability and his gift, he was made a district overseer in that communist country, and shortly thereafter he turned over all the names of Jehovah’s Witnesses in his district to the communist secret police. He was then revealed to have been a communist spy. What is interesting is he was a communist spy from the moment he accepted the truth. He was a communist spy when he pioneered, he was a communist spy when he became a congregation overseer, he was a communist spy when he was appointed as a circuit overseer, he was a communist spy when he was a district overseer. The communist philosophy is that they can outlast Jehovah’s Witnesses. Their philosophy is that they can infiltrate the work of Jehovah’s Witnesses and they can break it up, and that they can do it by subversion. They believe that given enough time -- time is on the side of the communists -- that they can infiltrate the ranks of Jehovah’s Witnesses with betrayers and traitors.
Can you think of the impact that had on God’s people in that particular land? Who do you trust?! If your circuit overseer or district overseer is a communist spy from the very beginning, how did the holy spirit appoint him as an overseer? If God’s spirit appoints a man, how did it appoint a spy in God’s own organization? The answer is that God permitted or allowed the appointment of that man as a test to his own people. Remember we said that tests can take many forms. The question is... will our faith be a praise to the glory and honor of a good test? Well, such tests cause confusion! Highly disturbing! Which way do you go?! Who do you trust next? Who really is a loyal Christian brother? Can you trust any of your elders? You see the point?
Take a look at Philippians, chapter 3. Well we were just studying the book of Philippians the other night but there was no reason to consider this portion of Philippians, chapter 3, because the book of Philippians is really loving encouragement to faithfulness; Paul had very little to say in the book of Philippians about false teachers, although that occupies a lot of his writing in the book of Galatians. But not in Philippians. Although he does say this in verse 17 of chapter 3: “Unitedly become imitators of me, brothers, and keep your eye on those who are walking in a way that accords with the example you have in us.” Well, take the faithful brothers, why put them all as suspect? Why be quizzical about every brother in his actions, when we have brothers that for years have stood the test of integrity? That have faced every insurmountable obstacle but in the power of Jehovah and his holy spirit, God acting within them, these faithful ones in your own congregation have endured. Why now suddenly put everyone as suspect as to their motives? Or to trust? Many have [become suspect] though, verse 18: “For there are many, I used to mention them often but now I mention them also with weeping, who are walking as the enemies of the torture stake of the Christ,” you see? He said that there were others that used to walk this way. In verse 17, they had walked faithfully. He said I used to mention them often. But now when I mention them, I mention them with weeping. Because they have quit walking that way, and now have become enemies of the torture stake.
So now the apostle is acknowledging that we can expect this to happen. We should be aware of it. In the books of 1 and 2 Timothy, we have some men’s names mentioned by name! You know, interestingly, this subject of loyalty to God’s organization in spite of the people within it or leading men, there’s an expression that occurs several times in the Christian Greek Scriptures, it’s an expression that goes this way: “certain men”. I’ll quote it, “certain men”. Acts 15:1, there rose this disputing in the congregations about whether Christians should be circumcised, and it said: “Certain men insisted that Christians should be circumcised”, and that’s why Paul and Barnabas went up to the Christian governing body in Jerusalem and the governing body had to make a decision, what would be God’s direction in the matter, see? In the book of Galatians, remember when Peter was eating with the Gentiles and suddenly when circumcised Jewish believers would walk in, Peter would quit eating with the Gentiles and go over and sit with the Jewish circumcised believers. And Paul says, because of “certain men”, Peter had been influenced. In the book of Jude, Jude says “I started off to write to you about the salvation we hold in common, but because of certain men have slipped into the congregation...” You see? He said I’m changing my material now and I’m going to write you about these kind of men. Certain men. Watch for that expression as you’re reading the scriptures. Certain men would impose great tests on the congregation and would subvert the congregation, mislead the congregation, these tests within the congregations would create factions, sectarianism, schisms.
The apostle Paul must have found in necessary later to name some of these “certain men”. Just for example, in 2 Timothy 1:15 he mentions Phygelus and Hermogenes, men he says who subverted the faith of others. In 2 Timothy 2:17 he mentions Hymenaeus and Philetus, who he said have been shipwrecked when it comes to their faith. And then in 2 Timothy 4:14 he mentions Alexander, who tried to circumvent the work of the apostles. Christian men who had to be put out. Certain men who had exercised influence in the congregation. Certain men who had teaching ability, knowledge, experience, and who would seek to subvert God’s organization. And the question is when it happens, will we resist it? Will we stay firm? So the point number one, remain loyal to God’s organization in spite of what people do or do not do in the organization. Regardless of what they happen to prominent leading men among us. You keep your eye on those whose example accords with that set by Jesus Christ.
All right, so what’s the second big test? Well, the second big test is this: As you and I keep up with the truth -- I mean just being in the truth, you know we use that expression, when we meet each other we say, “Are you in the truth?”, you know? In the truth. Right? And I have my own little humorous expression because you know over the years my wife and I got associated with the organization back in 1941, and so we haven’t seen people for years and you know just in the sense of humor when we meet them, when good heavens we haven’t seen them for years, we say, “Are you still in the truth?” You know and they say the same thing and it’s our own little byword, see? Well, you know being in the truth is easier said than done. Because just keeping up with the truth imposes some considerable tests. Do you realize all the adjustments you have to make to stay in the truth? Oh, I don’t mean pulling away from this old system and putting on a Christ-like personality -- that’s just a continuous struggle of the decadent flesh pulling against us. I’m talking about the truth of the word of God that we now have clear today, that at one time we didn’t have it just that way.
Let me give you some examples. Today’s Watchtower, paragraph 11 [15 May 1980 Watchtower, p. 18], talks about the Zionist movement and Theodor Herzl of 1893. And then over in a later paragraph, about six or seven paragraphs away, it talks about following 1919 God’s people had to take a fresh look at the Scriptures and the Bible took on new meaning to them as they begin to reexamine the Scriptures. Well, you see, we used to believe that the Zionist movement and the repatriated Jews in 1917 and General Allenby liberating Jerusalem and the Jews going back was a fulfillment of prophecy. But through more careful study of the Scriptures, we recognized that God was no longer dealing with fleshly circumcised Israel but was dealing with the spiritual Israel. Circumcision of the heart, not of the flesh. That was a big adjustment.
We had to make a lot of adjustments in our understanding. 1914 was viewed as the end of the harvest period. But all the Christians were still here after 1914 and in 1919 began to make a reexamination of the Scriptures. Mathew 24:14 said that the good news of the kingdom would have to be preached, and a lot of other people would be witnessed to and take a stand for the truth who would not have the upward call. And that was a readjustment of thinking.
In more recent times, just think of the readjustments we’ve made! Were you around in the truth in 1964, how many of you were in the truth in ’64? Okay.... that’s a goodly number. I have had the privilege down in San Jose to give a manuscript talk on the subject, “Out of the Tombs to a Resurrection.” It’s a very exciting talk. It’s about John 5:28-29 and it completely remapped our thinking about that scripture, that persons are resurrected good and bad alike, and the outcome of the resurrection -- whether it be to eternal life or to condemnatory judgment -- would be determined by the way they lived in the Millennium following their resurrection. Wow! That completely upset all the thinking. I can remember when that talk was over when we mingled in the crowd for the evening supper; that’s when we used to have cafeterias and suppers at night at the conventions and we went on until 9 o’clock at night, remember? Started at 9 in the morning and went through to 9 at night. We were in the cafeteria and everybody was abuzz! Good heavens, what does this mean? I said well, that’s all we had, that’s all that they released that time at the convention in verbal form. And then if you remember later in 1964, out began to come the Watchtowers on resurrection. Oh my. Each one got more shocking than the previous one. We found out that there were billions of people going to be resurrected, some people we had dead forever. Solomon... we had him planted very deeply, we found out he’s right near the surface and he’s going to come back in spite of having a thousand wives. Boy that shook up Jehovah’s people. We were serving congregations; congregations were in a turmoil over this thing. Why, the Sodomites, people of Sodom and Gomorrah, Jesus said would rise up in the Judgment Day and would condemn that generation that lived in his day. Why, the people that went down in Sodom and Gomorrah, we said they were dead forever and some of them are coming back!
Well, what it really taught us was how beneficent Jehovah is. How loving. That during the Millennium the call for repentance would be extended to billions of dead ones who would be brought back to life, and the benefits of the ransom of Jesus Christ would be offered for their behalf. Marvelous! Oh, but what an adjustment! We just weren’t prepared for that kind of an adjustment. Some of God’s people back in 1964 and 1965 quit because they couldn’t accept how bountiful the provision of the resurrection was. That billions of people that we once thought would be dead forever would be brought back in the resurrection. That was a test.
How about in 1961, when we had [a readjustment] on Romans 13, remember that one? Anyone in the truth in 1961? Okay, remember that? There you go. Romans 13, we said that the “higher powers” were always Jehovah and Jesus Christ, well that’s true, they are! There’s no power higher than Jehovah and Jesus Christ. But Romans 13 isn’t referring to Jehovah God and Jesus Christ, it’s talking about the civil authorities! The secular governments and the Christians relative subjection to them. Well, that was discussed verse by verse. Ah, that was beautiful. But did you know that Brother Russell had it that way, way back in the 1870s? And then with Brother Rutherford it got changed to Jehovah God and Jesus Christ? And then in 1961 we changed it back to the way Brother Russell had it to begin with? If I talk to Russell, [he’d say], “What’s the matter with this organization?! Way back in the 1870s we had it right! Then we changed it and now we got back to it again!” It’s a big test, it’s a big test.
Do you remember in the 1960s when the Question From Readers asked, “Did Jesus have a beard?” (audience laughter) Remember that one? Boy, did we ever get flak in congregations on that one! One little question from the reader, “Did Jesus have a beard,” and it said, “Yes”. Then all of our publications that showed Jesus without a beard; he was a clean-shaven man. Then it went on to say that the fragmentary evidence that we had at our disposal that would seem to indicate that Jesus was clean-shaven was “faulty evidence”. Its belief in origin was not even a depiction of Jesus Christ at all. That Jesus was a Jew and Hebrew men had beards neatly trimmed, and therefore hereonafter our publications will show Jesus with a beard. Did you know that back in Brother Russell’s day Jesus had a beard? (audience laughter) And then in Brother Rutherford’s day Jesus’ beard came off, and then in the 1960s we put his beard back on? (audience laughter) Huh, how does that make you feel? What sort of organization is this?! Well, I used to tell the brothers, “Look, whether Jesus had a beard or didn’t have a beard, is he the Son of God?” “Yes.” “Did he provide a ransom, does his shed blood redeem us from sin and death?” “Yes.” “Is he the king of the new order?” “Yes.” “Then whether he has a beard or not, does that alter the truth of the Bible?” Not a bit.
Bottom line is we go berserk, we run amuck. And are we going to stay in the truth, that’s the question! Will we make the adjustments? Remember the Watchtower (1 October 1979 Watchtower, pp. 16-29) just recently on the three keys? Do you realize that ever since 1940-1941 when we first came into the truth there were only two keys? I had a hard enough time explaining the two keys! (audience laughter) Then last year the Watchtower comes out and says there are three keys: one at Pentacost (Acts, chapter 2), one in Samaria (Acts, chapter 8), then the third one (Acts, chapter 10) to the Gentiles. And to me all these years there were only Acts, chapter 2 and Acts, chapter 10. Well, how do you think that -- you know, you get your brain all fixed one way, you get these circuits built up, and then you have to put a new circuit in there: two keys, three keys, sometimes my wife and I say, “Well, what was our latest on that one?” “Three keys on that?” You see? Because after you’ve been in the truth having one thing a long time for years, and then you’ve got to readjust that from a clearer knowledge of God’s word, it doesn’t come easy. We wrestle with it. Another question to the reader (15 March 1980 Watchtower, p. 31) says, “Can you take organ transplants?” It says it’s up to you to use your conscience; you won’t be disfellowshipped from the congregation. In truth, we took a different viewpoint. See? All right, so you make those readjustments!
How does that make you feel? Is this God’s organization? If it’s God’s organization, why do we make changes? Let’s turn to Proverbs 4:18. I know you’ve used this a lot. Remember, this is material you can use not only with yourself but with someone else you may want to help sometime. Proverbs 4:18, it says: “But the path of the righteous ones is like the bright light that is getting lighter and lighter until the day is firmly established.” Isn’t that the way it is? We see things from a distance, they’re hazy, dimly. You think you see one thing and as you get closer there’s the outline, clearly delineated, and you say, “Oh, is that what that is? Well, I’ll be.” That’s the way it is with the truth.
Well, you say, “But look, I mean the Bible’s been the same. Why is it we can’t get it straight?!” Two things. When you and I read the Bible, there’s two ways to read it. One is contextually. And that means that when you and I read a verse, we do well to read everything around that verse. Too often in the course of the years, we have been guilty of reading a passage and not reading context. So you and I must train ourselves to read contextually. Today in today’s Watchtower (15 May 1980 Watchtower, p. 17), you’ll have a reference to Isaiah, chapter 14, about the king of Babylon wanting to exult himself. I forget which paragraph it’s in, it’s in the early part of the lesson. We used to apply it to Lucifer, who became the Devil. And when you read the context, it doesn’t talk about any Lucifer who became the Devil. It’s talking about the dynasty of the reign of the kings of Babylon. See? Because you can take one little verse and get locked in and frozen in a particular viewpoint, and it’s very difficult to change. So in our critical study of the scriptures we must be contextual. Now the second one is, when you and I read scripture, we must give it extended application. When we read it, and we read it contextually, when we say to ourselves, “Now, how does that apply to me today? What does that tell me about God’s qualities? What does it mean about the way that he deals with us and why he does the things he does? How does that fit my life?” And when we ask those questions, we give extended application of the word of God, and we don’t get locked in from one single viewpoint of the text. And then our spectrum, our range, widens. And we see all the vistas of the word of God in its beauty. That’s why the riches of our understanding are being constantly enlarged upon because of both contextual and extended application of the word of God today. And you and I must do the same thing.
So, as it says, “the path of the righteous ones is like the bright light that is getting lighter and lighter until the day is firmly established”. There will be more changes that you and I will have to experience. There will be more adjustments. The question will be, will we still be in the truth? Or will we quit? Those that call themselves “The New Jehovah’s Witnesses” or “Jehovah’s Christian Witnesses” are those who wish to express themselves differently from this, they are those who have found it difficult to keep up with the truth. They don’t want to make the adjustments. And let me mention something else to you. Over the years I have been associated with God’s people, some of whom have had some very distinct views about the Bible. I have spent time with some of God’s people who have written literally reams to the Watchtower Society about certain controversial or difficult-to-understand passages of scripture. They’ve given me copies. I’ve studied what they’ve said. They’ve later received back from the Watchtower Society a rejection of their particular scriptural viewpoint. And I’ve seen those people quit associating with Jehovah’s Witnesses because their viewpoint was not accepted by the Governing Body.
There were some in the 1940s, or rather during the early 1930s, who felt that the great crowd of Revelation chapter 7 was not a secondary heavenly class, but an earthly class. In 1935, the Watchtower Society published the fact that it was an earthly class. They were right. But were they still with the organization? Oh, you may get an idea every once and a while that is right. I mean, you know, a lightbulb goes on ten thousand times, you’re bound to get something right every once in a while, right? I’m bound to hit on something every once in a while. But, am I willing to wait? Are you willing to wait until God’s organization publishes it for the whole association of brothers? Or will we become disgruntled, and say, “Because my idea isn’t accepted, then I’ll join my own group, I’ll abandon the truth.” That’s why I say “being in the truth” is the second biggest test. Will you continue to make the adjustments; it may be the very next issue of the Watchtower that’ll completely stun you. It could be! You open it up and say, “Oh! Look at what they’ve done!” What would you do? Will you test it, check it with the scriptures, pray on it, talk to other older ones in the congregation, the experienced ones, to get their feelings about it? Or will you reject it?
John, chapter 6 seems to fit well here. This was in the year Passover of 32, and Jesus had been witnessing to the disciples for a number of years, and Jesus was not one to dump out some heavy truths on people in the early parts of their Christian development, and so a couple of years had passed, and in John, chapter 6, he talks about eating his flesh and drinking his blood if they want eternal life. Let’s remember that a couple of years had passed by and these disciples had been listening to Jesus regularly. By this time, Jesus feels that he can give this particular truth, even though it is a deep truth. Well, in verse 60 there, if you want to turn over there. John 6:60 says: “Therefore many of his disciples, when they heard this, said: ‘This speech is shocking; who can listen to it?’ “ And then verse 66: “Owing to this many of his disciples went off to the things behind and would no longer walk with him.” Jesus was the perfect instructor and he knew that this was the right time to give them this truth. But they wouldn’t wrestle with it. They wouldn’t wrestle with it, they wouldn’t come to grips with it, they left. In verse 67: “Therefore Jesus said to the twelve: ‘You do not want to go also, do you?’ ” Simon Peter answered him in verse 68: “Lord, whom shall we go away to? You have sayings of everlasting life.” Let that be our feelings, strong for God’s organization that’s brought us this far. When we’ve asked for bread, it’s never given us a scorpion, when we’ve asked for egg, it’s never given us a serpent. It has always provided that which is wholesome and beneficial. Thanks to Jehovah God and Jesus Christ for the faithful slave class that has brought us this far. May we continue to make the necessary adjustments.
Well, I should really wind up this talk now. I did want to mention that third test, how do the brothers feel, will they run me off if I take just a couple of minutes? I did drive thirty miles to get here. (audience laughter) In fact, it was further than that, right? And I know for some people it is supposed to be 45 minutes, but if I just take this one point very quickly... I want to mention the third great test. And that’s whether you will do the service as outlined: witnessing, evangelizing, that’s the third big test. Go house to house. Because you and I once said, “I’m gonna go from house to house? Maybe those that try we get to go house to house. I think its right, the Witnesses are right, but I’m not going from house to house,” right? And now we’re going from house to house. That’s been a test. And a lot of people would be with us today if we would stop the house to house work. If we would just announce in the Watchtower, 100 languages around the world, big announcement, front page, “Jehovah’s Witnesses are stopping house to house work,” well people would come out of the woodwork. There are people in Davis, and the neighboring communities, that believe like we do, and think that we got the truth if we would just stop the house to house work. We wouldn’t be able to build kingdom halls fast enough to accommodate them as they came in. The house to house work is scriptural. It is one of the big tests. Will we accept it? When you get your Kingdom Service and read the things that it recommends for us to do in auxiliary pioneering, you know... you might find yourself chafing, and then, you know, they struggle with it. But did you ever think about God’s prophets and the struggles they had to carry out his assignments? Like Isaiah 20:2-3, when he had to run through the streets naked for three years? How’d you like that assignment? I mean, I’d rather go house to house, wouldn’t you? (audience laughter) Ezekiel lying on his side 360 days, or 390 days rather, and then 40 days on the other side. You stop to think about the kind of assignments; look, Jonah, we’ve gone over that. Jehovah tells him to get up and go to Ninevah, it’s only 600 miles to the northeast. He got up and went to Joppa and got on a slow boat to Tarshish that took six months. I mean, he had to go through a terrible experience to finally get the message when Jehovah said “Get up and go!”, right? He went to Ninevah.
So all of God’s people have had the same struggle. So don’t think it’s a unique test. But it is a test. Learn to do the service. And Jehovah blesses you. And I think the scripture on that is Psalm 25:4, well I’ll be, look at that: “Make me know your own ways, O Jehovah; teach me your own paths.” Now I’m reminded of asking Jehovah in prayer to teach me, but this business of “make me,” how about that? Look at verse 5: “Make me.” Have you ever prayed “make me”? “Make me walk in your truth and teach me,” we’ve all prayed for Jehovah to “teach me, please Jehovah teach me,” not this “make me” bit. “For you are my God of salvation.” When we pray to Jehovah “make me,” then we cooperate with that prayer. So it’s right for us to say “Jehovah make me”. If you’re sitting in a chair and then you push down on it, and raise yourselves erect, then you begin to take steps. And then you’re cooperating with the prayer. Make me. This is a form of discipline, self discipline. Doesn’t mean that our motives aren’t good, doesn’t mean that we really don’t want to serve Jehovah, it just means that we have problems with our flesh! So we say “make me”.
And listen, by the way, just be glad you’re not doing the work the way that we were doing it when we first learned the truth. With phonographs. That’s right! Every once in a while you still meet someone today that’s using the phonograph, who’d say, “You people, you people used to turn those things with you.” You’d say, “What was that? (ha, ha)”. The Victrola. You remember? We used to call it the “doorstep set up”. Any of you carried the phonograph? One. Sister Kite I know, two, Goldie three, four. I used to carry the phonograph in one hand and a witnessing bag in the other hand. Pull it up on my hip, (knock knock knock knock on podium), the door opens and you open up the lid. (audience laughter) The person was stunned. You’d say, “Good morning, I have an important message for you,” and you put the record on. (imitating door slam) That’s the way the played the message, Brother Rutherford did the talking. Remember the kind of man I told you that Brother Rutherford was? Forceful, dynamic, powerful. I remember one of the lessons I used to play from door to door. He said, “On the Devil’s side will be found the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, the Army and the Navy, and then the strong arms fall.” How’d you like to stand in the door in 1940 during World War II and play that? (audience laughter) And then the very next sentence was, “But on God’s side, will be found the small band of Jehovah’s Witnesses.” (audience laughter) More than once we were driven off the doorsteps, stopped by the police, brothers had their phonographs destroyed, smashed, the message was powerful. I tell you now, I would never tell you then, during that part where he said on the Devil’s side will be found the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, I’d go, “Ahem ahem ahem!!!” That was just powerful!
Then in 1942, the Society came out with a verbal phonograph. And I don’t mean the verbal phonograph made by our brothers in Brooklyn. It was our own, designed by our brothers, never needed a crank, it was hidden inside until it connects, like this: “Good morning. We have an important message for you...” The heart was on that record; I’m thinking you and I, and the voice would come out. (audience laughter) Fantastic machine! When you get through you just open the door on the side, there’s some pictures, books, and your Watchtower magazine. (laughter) And he would say, “Watch this! Watch this! That thing doesn’t just play records, it’s a book!” (audience laughter)
So how grateful we can be that we don’t use a phonograph, that we don’t have to rely on the verbalized message of some individual, but you and I can use the word of God and do our own witnessing with topics for discussion, we have excellent publications to offer, Is the Bible the Word of God?, Evolution, Good News to Make You Happy, we have the Truth book, and we have the Making Family Life Happy book, and the Youth book, and the Great Teacher book, and My Book of Bible Stories, we have all the necessary equipment to back us up. So then, may we accept the third test of doing the service however Jehovah outlines it. Those of us who were willing to carry the phonograph are still having a share in the evangelizing work. Some said, “I’ll not carry the phonograph, I’ll have nothing more to do with this organization.” Where are they today?
So whatever the test is, when it comes to service, be willing to do it. And remember, whether the test comes from people that are in the organization, keeping up with the truth, or doing the service, may our faith be a praise, and a glory, and an honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.