What Gilead Taught ME (page 3)

slimboyfat

An interesting read. It is important people who have seen the heart of the movement document their experiences for others.

chickpea

epic!

copied/pasted and saved as gilead grad speaks.....

thank you for the effort and toll required
to present this provision in a timely manner

On Elijah and Elisha. This was our reference material before our test in 2 Kings 1. The wording is a little convoluted, but thats because Fred Franz wrote this. (yes, I had 3 higer ups confirm he came up with this...)

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w658/15pp.493-495pars.7-12TurningtoJehovah***

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The major fulfillment of this prophecy of Malachi takes place when the Lord Jesus returns in kingdom power and glory. Jesus referred to this advent of the Son of man in kingdom power, linking it with the transfiguration vision, given in the presence of Peter, James and John, when in a high mountain. (Mark 9:1-8; Matt. 17:1-9) Elijah figured in that vision, indicating that there would be a future and larger fulfillment of Malachi 4:5, 6. Since this vision was given after the death of John the Baptist, it is evident that John himself did not completely fulfill the picture.

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Who, then, is the modern "Elijah the prophet" entrusted with sounding the warning of the "great and fear-inspiring day of Jehovah," also with the work of turning back the hearts? Jesus indicated the answer in the prophecy already mentioned, when he spoke of the "faithful and discreet slave," who is dispensing the spiritual "food at the proper time," and who is therefore appointed by the Lord "over all his belongings." (Matt. 24:45-47) This faithful slave class, the anointed remnant, is today standing out distinct. Like Elijah and John the Baptist, it fearlessly declared God’s judgments against all false worship till the enemies interrupted matters in 1918. However, in 1919 there was a revival of the work of turning people to God and declaring the oncoming destruction, first of "Babylon the Great," then of Satan’s visible political system at Armageddon.—Rev. 18:21; 19:11-16.

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This modern Elijah class has thus been doing a work of turning back the hearts. We have already traced the preliminary work done on behalf of the "other sheep" down to 1935, including those particular "sheep" pictured by the prodigal son who had wasted earlier opportunities of serving Jehovah. What has been done since then? In order to appreciate this we must be careful to look at the original prophetic pattern of Elijah in its entirety. This brings into the picture another prophet, though this did not indicate any fault or failure on Elijah’s part. When commissioning Elijah to anoint certain ones to execute His judgments against Baal worship, God said: "Elisha . . . you should anoint as prophet in place of you." Elijah promptly did so and, as a result, Elisha dropped what he was doing and "went following Elijah and began to minister to him." He thus had the advantage of many years of training under Elijah’s direction.—1 Ki. 19:15-18, 21.

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Do you recall Elijah’s last miracle? It was the dividing of the waters of the river Jordan by striking them with his official garment, enabling him and Elisha to pass over eastward on dry ground. (2 Ki. 2:8) As a result, the waters below the division flowed on down to the lifeless Dead Sea, but the waters above that spot were held back. Similarly with the Elijah class today. "Waters . . . mean peoples and crowds and nations and tongues." (Rev. 17:15) An earthly class of people had been foreseen for many years and members thereof were appearing in growing numbers, but it was not until 1935 that the actual division of symbolic waters and the work of gathering the "other sheep" began to take place, as already mentioned. Those gathered were held back from the downward course leading to destruction. Jehovah used the Elijah class to commence this dividing of the symbolic waters. It got off to a good start, and was carried forward by the Elisha class.

11 Do you recall Elisha’s first miracle? It was the same as Elijah’s last one, using the official garment that had fallen from Elijah for the same purpose, enabling Elisha to recross the riverbed dryshod. Only now he was alone, except that Jehovah was backing him up. In between those two miracles another notable one occurred, when Elijah ascended to the heavens in a windstorm after being separated from Elisha by a fiery war chariot and horses. That prophetically pictured the end of the work by the Elijah class and the continuation of the same work, only intensified, by the Elisha class. The historical events occurring early in the war year of 1942 marked the fulfillment of this changeover. Just prior to that time, in the midst of World War II, it seemed as if the witness work might be coming to its end. The outlook was very uncertain. On January 8, 1942, the president of the Watch Tower Society, J. F. Rutherford, died. Did the work stop?—2 Ki. 2:11-14.

12 To the contrary, the Elisha class, made up of the remaining members of the anointed remnant, immediately carried on with the same work of dividing the symbolic waters, even as Elisha did in a literal way. The same Watch Tower Society was used as a publishing agency, but with a new elected president. In the same issue of TheWatchtower that announced President Rutherford’s death, there appeared the leading article entitled "Final Gathering," based on Jeremiah 16:16, telling of an intensive fishing and hunting for those who might yet be recovered. In the late summer of 1942 a three-day convention was held by Jehovah’s witnesses at Cleveland, Ohio, with repeat programs in many cities of other countries. The main theme was based on Isaiah, chapters 59 and 60, bidding God’s people to "Arise . . . shed forth light," resulting in a great flock of peoples coming to the light, "flying just like a cloud." (Isa. 60:1-3, 8; Rev. 7:9) No doubt about it! The Elisha class recognized their commission and were losing no time!

It goes without saying that Knorr took office in 1942, when the article says the "Elisha" work started.

Gayle

Wow! Thank you. I am doing a cut & paste of your comments to share tonight at our Phoenix Meetup tonight. Write on!

AllTimeJeff

Still in 74

I distinctly remember that when this was stated in our OT class, my brain stopped me, as if to say, "Enough of this crap." I looked around, the rest of my classmates were nodding their heads, writing this down as if Bowen said "2+2=4"

It was at this moment when I realized that I had been lied to and misled. In the middle of Gilead.

I have a NWT bible full of references to old bible charecters = "the faithful and discreet slave with its governing body". That was a phrase used frequently at Gilead.

Quandary

Thank you ATJ! Eloquently stated!

My AHA moment came about 12 years ago, I had recently been appointed an elder and was attending my first KM school which was taught mainly by our DO. During one of the sessions, he made an off the cuff comment about Freddy Franz and how the Teaching Committee had tried for many years to change the "understanding" of the 1914 generation but Freddy would not hear of it! They had to wait until he died to change the understanding, which, as of this year has changed again! I remember thinking to myself, this whole FDS "class" teaching is bogus, in Franz's day FDS=FF. I remember commenting to some fellow elders later that evening, as we were eating, how the comment really bothered me, our doctrine had nothing to do with God's spirit directing the proper understanding, it was FF's theology. We all agreed that the comment was weird, but never spoke about it again.

Thanks again for an excellent post!

Q

SnakesInTheTower

AllTimeJeff:

Conversley, it had the opposite effect on me. Their training backfired because I knew there was no way that the presidency of the WTBTS could ever have been god ordained. Subsequent logical questions pulled back the curtain from the wizard.

This was the exact thing that happened to me when I went through the Ministerial Training School (MTS), which is a branch of Gilead...it is modeled after it but puts more emphasis on Organizational procedures than does Gilead. Gilead emphasizes the GB's view of doctrine... MTS emphasizes the GB's view of the Company...

..and did I ever have my eyes opened..it only took another 5 years for me to walk away...for reasons I may share one day...

Snakes ()

mary stewart

that whole, "the bible is about the annointed (GB)" crap... i knew about that it thought it sucked. i was also jealous that i'd never get to go to heaven! i fel so unloved when i was in. i felt i was dirt. no WONDER i was depressed and suicidal! my MOM ha depression and she's in. my dad has mental probs too.

sorry about the whining. i had to let it out.

Mrs. Fiorini

Thanks for sharing this. It's very interesting. Please share more as you feel inclined to.

Earnest

What I always failed to understand is that there was such an emphasis on Christ's brothers in the publications and yet within the congregation where there were a number of elderly humble and genuine Christians who identified themselves as being Christ's brothers by partaking at the memorial but had no say in what went on in the congregation or even taught other than by example.

What Gilead Taught ME

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