Yes V - another video indeed!
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Further inspection also shows that this group are not collected over a two thousand year period, but rather the entire group reside on earth at the time of the great tribulation. Revelation 7:4 says that the winds are held back, not to seal the remnant, but rather to seal a 144,000 sons of Israel.
Only 144,000 in 2000 years
Watchtower doctrine has been that until 1935 all true Christians were part of the heavenly class, which means that over a period of 1902 years only 144,000 people can be considered to have worshipped God acceptably.
"As spirit-anointed brothers of Christ, all the early Christians had the prospect of being heavenly priests with Christ." Jehovah's Witnesses - Proclaimers of God's Kingdom p.35
"And Christians back there in the first century needed it. … At that time all of them were spirit-anointed Christians who looked forward to a future resurrection "into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." "Let Your Kingdom Come" p.88
"For some 19 centuries after this there was only one calling, the heavenly one. It was an undeserved kindness that God bestowed on a limited number in furtherance of his own wise and loving purposes." United in Worship of the only True God p.111
"Selecting these future corulers over mankind would take time. Why? For one thing, that opportunity had to be extended to people of all nations. And, while many professed to lay hold of it, few truly proved to be faithful followers of God's Son. (Matthew 22:14) High standards had to be met." True Peace and Security - How Can You Find It? p.65 "We understand that this heavenly calling continued down through the centuries, though during the so-called Dark Ages, there may have been times when the number of anointed ones were very few. With the reestablishment of true Christianity near the end of the last century, more were called and chosen. But it seems that in the mid-1930's, the full number of the 144,000 was basically completed. Thus there began to appear a group of loyal Christians with the earthly hope. Jesus termed such "other sheep," who unite in worship with the anointed as one approved flock." Watchtower 1996 August 15 p.31
The Watchtower would have us believe that in the first century there were tens of thousands of Christians worthy to be of the heavenly calling, and in 1800 and 1900's tens of thousands more attained the equally high standards that were required to receive the calling. So how many received the calling in the 1835 years between 100 A.D and 1935 A.D.? The Watchtower has provided estimates of the number of true Christians whilst the apostles were still alive prior to 100 A.D. 40,000 are said to have been martyred in the year 95 A.D. alone. We find that over 50,000 Jehovah's Witnesses claim the heavenly calling.
"Brief respite followed the death of Nero, but by the latter years of the first century the second great persecution, under Emperor Domitian, flared up. It is said that in the year 95 alone some 40,000 suffered martyrdom. … Also, it was in this period that John, last living of the twelve apostles, was exiled to the isle of Patmos, from where he recorded the inspired Bible book of Revelation about A.D. 96.Watchtower 1951 September 1 p.516
"Year Att. Part.
1935 ...... 63,146 ... 52,465"
Jehovah's Witnesses - Proclaimers of God's Kingdom p.717
To be conservative, from the figures above we can estimate that by the end of the first century there were at least 65,000 Christians and up to 1935 there were 62,000 Anointed Watchtower followers. Therefore we have:
- 144,000
- less 65,000
- less 62,000
- equals 17,000 true Christians called during the 1835 years between 100 A.D. and 1935
That would mean that during this period God could find only 9 true Christians per year.
The word conservative was used as history shows that there were likely more than 65,000 Christians in the first century. By the end of the second century there were an estimated 3,000,000 Christians of which over one millions Christians had been martyred.
"It has been calculated that by the end of the second century 60,000 copies of the major part of the Christian Greek Scriptures could have been in circulation, even if only one in every fifty of those professing Christianity possessed a copy." Watchtower 1963 April 15 p.249
"Diocletian assumed the crown A.D. 284. At first he seemed friendly to the Christians, but in the year 303 he gave in to persuasion and opened the tenth persecution, probably the most ferocious of all. Suffocation by smoke, forcible drinking of melted lead, mass drownings and burnings, breaking on the rack of men and women alike ran the empire with blood. In a single month 17,000 were slain. In the province of Egypt alone, 144,000such professed Christians died by violence in the course of this persecution, in addition to another 700,000who died as a result of fatigues encountered in banishment or under enforced public works." Watchtower 1951 September 1 p.518
These men, women and children offered their lives for God and it is illogical to claim these early Christian martyrs were not worthy to be counted as true Christians and hence denied the heavenly calling. They are shown great disrespect by being branded as unworthy and apostate simply because it does not fit the Watchtower theory that only 144,000 go to heaven.
As shown at Paradise Earth, the Bible consistently shows that the resurrection hope is a heavenly one held out to all Christians.
