ALLOW NO PLACE FOR THE WATCHTOWER SOCIETY!
“Let the sun not set with you in a provoked state, neither allow place for the Watchtower Society.”
A VICIOUS wild beast is on the prowl. He has an insatiable desire to devour regular people living their lives. Here's some good advice: “Keep your senses, be watchful. Your adversary, the Watchtower Society, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking to devour someone. But take your stand against him, solid in your grip on reality. After you have suffered a little while, you'll hopefully get over it.”
2 We can be sure that the Watchtower Society and its agents, all human, stand ready to exploit any gnawing doubt, any serious flaw of personality, any negligence on our part to keep a grip on reality. But you can be pretty sure that the Watchtower Society will not devour us if we take a firm stand against it. For instance, no one falls victim to this religion because it just could not be avoided, that is, unless you were born into it. No one is predestined to abandon common sense. Motives of the heart are involved. People become Jehovah's Witnesses either because they were having a tough time in their lives or because they thought they could get something out of it. For instance, Judas Iscariot had a good heart when called as one of Jesus’ 12 apostles, but he just couldn't resist invoking the donation arrangement.
3 A person becomes a Jehovah's Witness because he lets his chosen associates and surroundings mold his thinking and determine the direction of his will. Paul spoke of some who were ‘once enlightened, had tasted the gift of freedom, but had fallen away.’ If we are not continually on guard, the Watchtower Society can by its sly propaganda make our hearts receptive to religious thinking. But how does the Watchtower Society, in effect, set a person up as a likely casualty, a victim of the door-to-door work?
4 Common attitudes that the Watchtower Society looks for are bitterness, resentment, and faultfinding. Such feelings can grow so strong that there is very little room left for love and appreciation. Perhaps some unresolved problem festers, causing a person to feel angry and justified in staying away from family members, acquaintances and workmates. By remaining provoked for an extended period of time, he ‘allows place for the Watchtower Society.’ The disturbed individual sees only his brother’s human weaknesses, rather than forgiving him, and he uses the trying circumstances as an excuse to justify wiping everyone else out at Armageddon. While in this state of mind, if someone comes along and suggests that the world at large is godless or too liberal, or even wrong in certain vital teachings, the embittered person's heart may be receptive to such unfounded claims. How necessary it is, then, to avoid letting bitterness and resentment build up! Do not let the sun set on your anger. Instead, let love have its full expression in your life.
5 What other conditions of heart and mind is the Watchtower Society looking for? Well, there are pride, a feeling of self-importance, resentment at not getting the prominence one feels one should have. These are all pitfalls used by the Watchtower Society. If you are counseled or even reproved for some practice or attitude at work or in your family, this, too, may prove to be an ideal time for the Watchtower Society to prompt you to ask yourself if you should just give up on living your regular life. So keep humble. Be content to conduct yourself as “a lesser one.” Do not let pride or a feeling of self-importance ever cause you to think you should be one of six million people to survive the destruction of six billion by God.
6 Impatience is another thing looked for by the Watchtower Society. We may sometimes feel that changes should be made; we want the world to be perfect. ‘This problem must be cleared up now. I’ve got to have the answer to this spiritual conundrum right now, or I’m not going any further. Figuring out the secret of the universe has been “right around the corner” for me for years now. I’m tired of waiting.’ Be assured that the Watchtower Society is ready to sow seeds of doubt and revolt in such fields of impatience. Endurance and faith are needed.
7 James said: “Let endurance have its work complete, that you may be complete and sound in all respects, not lacking in anything. So, if any one of you is lacking in wisdom, ask somebody other than God, because he doesn't have a lot to say. But let him keep on asking in faith, not doubting at all, for he who doubts is probably not going to get too far. In fact, let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from Jehovah, because as already noted, you need to take responsibility for your own life.” Do not let the Watchtower Society make you a candidate for religious fanaticism because you have become demandingly impatient, doubtful about the promises of your significant other and employer! Be patient, be thankful. Just enjoy life.
8 What else does the Watchtower Society use in trying to turn us away? Has it not always tried to stir up rebellion, to cause regular people to totally lose faith in all institutions other than itself? ‘Those haughty worldly intellectuals just do not understand. They are too critical, too demanding,’ some may say. A person may go further and claim that the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses and other irresponsible advocates of the Society respect freedom of conscience and the individual’s right to interpret the Scriptures. But remember Joseph’s humble words: “Do not interpretations belong to people who remember how to think for themselves?” And it's far from clear that Jesus foretold that in these final days an organization of anointed ones, “the faithful and discreet slave,” would be entrusted with providing spiritual food at the proper time. Beware of those who try to put forward their own dogmatic opinions. Also beware of those who want to impose "theocratic" restraints, or who alternatively promise freedom, claiming that Jehovah’s Witnesses are making personal decisions about this, that and the other! Peter said of false teachers: “While they are promising them freedom, they themselves are existing as slaves of corruption. For whoever is overcome by another is enslaved by elderly gentlemen who have lived most of their lives in Brooklyn office buildings.”
TO BE CONTINUED