the finished mystery and the DVD

by Paulapollos 9 Replies latest jw friends

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  Paulapollos

  Hi,

  As I have been considering our modern-day history due to our new DVD, and the claims of Alice and Debator that JW's are God's organisation, it came to my attention that the food at the proper time that caused Jesus to select us must, of necessity, contain much that is spiritually beneficial. Therefore, I thought it only proper to provide nourishing morsels of the spiritual feast provided by the Lord's Channel at the time of his inspection, which of course was primarily the 1917(?) “The Finished Mystery”. So according to this book, the seven messengers of Revelation are:

  2:1. [Unto] BY the angel'—'The special messenger in the

  Harvest of the Jewish Age was St Paul.

  2:8. And [unto] BY the angel.—The mouthpiece of the

  Lord to the second epoch of the Church was St John

  himself.

  2:12. And [to] BY the angel.—The messenger whose

  testimony was of special value to the Church while the

  Papacy was rising into power was Arras.

  2:18. And [unto] BY the angel.—The messenger to the

  fourth epoch of the Church was Peter Waldo.

  3:1. And [unto] BT the angel*—The next important

  messenger to the Church was John Wycliffe.

  8:7. And [to] BY the angel.—The next messenger to

  the Church was Martin Luther. "

  3:14. And [unto] BY the angel.—The special messenger

  to the last Age of the Church was Charles T. Russell,

  born February 16, 1862.

  I was rather surprised to read from Rutherford that Russell: “ has privately admitted his belief that he was chosen for his great work from before his birth.” I was reliably informed that: “Pastor Russell was the most prolific writer of Biblical truth that ever lived.” I was also stunned to learn that “ The amount of work that Pastor Russell performed is incredible, and it is doubtful whether it was ever equalled by any other human being.” Indeed, I learnt that “No writer, not even excepting the writers of the Bible, have ever had such critical readers.” Thankfully, amidst all my confusion regarding the 7 messengers, I was given an anchor: “ The chronology as it appears In the STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES is accurate. The year 1914 brought the end of the Times of the Gentiles, but not the end of the Harvest work.” Rutherford reassured me : “The data presented in comments on Rev. 2:1 prove that the conquest of Judea was not completed until the day of the Passover, A. D. 73, and In the light of the foregoing Scriptures, prove that the Spring of 1918 will bring upon Christendom a spasm of anguish greater even than that experienced in the Fall of 1914. “ (Italics his)

  Thankfully, the slave returned to the prophecies: "The Spring of 1878, corresponding to the date at which our Lord assumed the office of King, rode on the ass, cleansed the Temple of its moneychangers, and wept over and gave up to desolation that nominal church or kingdom, marks the date from which the nominal church systems are not the mouth-pieces of God, nor in any degree recognized by Him."—B235.” So at least in 1917, we still believed that Jesus had become King in 1878. I was glad that was cleared up, although I'm confused as to why the DVD skims over this “food at the proper time.” I felt a slight moment of concern – did the Lord really return in 1874 and become King in 1878? Thankfully, further proof was provided: “ Besides the above Scriptures, time-proofs of the Lord's Return, are the fulfilments of the promised signs: The Gospel has been preached in all the world for a witness:” and then: “the abomination has been seen in the holy place (Matt 24:16; D572)” And even more reassuring: “the great tribulation has commenced (Matt 24:21; D540).” I have no idea why the DVD fails to mention such fine spiritual food, but I am just thankful that we have been surviving the Great Tribulation for at least 90 years, even though we have seen the pestilences, famines, and poisoning that has killed a quarter of the worlds population since the outbreak of the Great Tribulation. Happily, the Four Horsemen have not yet ridden over to where I live - they seem to be biding their time.

  There was much more. I learnt that: “The four and twenty elders. The personifications of the messages of the twenty-four Prophets who foretold the coming Kingdom of God.” Interestingly, the 24 elders were, it is written : “ Enoch was the first of the holy Prophets” “ Jacob ” “ Moses ” “ Samuel ” “ Job, after the Sabeans had made off with his oxen and asses,” “ David”, “Solomon”, “Isaiah” “ Jeremiah” “Ezekiel” “ Daniel” “Hosea” “Joel” “Amos” “Obadiah” “Jonah” “Micah” “Nahum” “Habakkuk” “Zephaniah” “Haggai” “Zechariah” “Malachi” “John the Baptist”. Certainly, we should “not go beyond the things that are written.” One fine example of following this was realising proof that Job was one of the 24 elders/prophets was that: “ Job also describes the steam engine—stationary, railway and marine.”

  There is of course much more of this delectable spiritually happyifying feast, which I shall post.

  PP
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  Paulapollos

  Part 2

  I have often thought that the Great Crowd was unnumbered. But I was wrong. For: “ The number of the Great Company -will apparently exceed'.one hundred millions. Num. 4:46-48 and Ex. 28:1 indicate but one priest to each 2,860 Levi tes, which would make the number of the Great Company approximate 411,840,000.—T118, 119; Dan. 7:10.” I quickly put from my mind that apparently only 7m people are the “great crowd” today.......Much light was also shed on why there was a great crowd: “ The Great Company class humbly realize that' their faithfulness and zeal was not sufficient to warrant their own exaltation to power. They realize they did not lay up all the Heavenly treasures they might have done, but bid their talents in earthly pursuits.They realize their own unwisdom in seeking the praise of men and that the Christ Company, though apparently fools for Christ's sake, were really the wisest of the wise. They know that they used their own strength for the support and maintenance of Institutions which really hindered rather than helped the Bride to make herself ready. They know that, as a class, they sought and obtained the honor that cometh from men, but failed to properly seek the honor that cometh from God only. They know that they failed to meet the high conditions of self-sacrifice, and were therefore unworthy of the high reward.”

  Then we got into more deep prophecy, upon which Christ had judged the Slave to be providing food at the right time. I learnt that the white horse of Revelation 6:2 was none other than: The doctrines, teachings of the Lord and the Apostles recognized as the one and only rule of faith and practice of God's Church.” It's rider was none other than: “ The Bishop of Rome, the embryo Pope, the personal representative of Satan.” Realising that later we would understand this was actually Jesus, I tried to put out of my mind any outrage Jesus may have felt in 1919 at being identified with Satan, and continued.....I learnt that the fiery coloured horse was: “ A creed-horse, quite different from the Scriptures which it misrepresented.” I learnt that the rider of the Horse, the Papacy: “ has a great and powerful sword, In opposition to the Sword of the Spirit, and it, too, comes out of Papacy's mouth.” Indeed, in battling these creeds, I learnt that “ The Lord (Joshua-Savior) has humbled them all by His own Sword of the Spirit In the hands of Pastor Russell.” The black horse? That was: “ Complete disregard of the Scriptures by clergy and people alike, and in their place the ugly creeds and bulls of popes and councils.” The pale horse? : “ The ghastly and horrible teachings that God's true people must be "exterminated." "The ghastly green of terror and of death. The word Is used of grass in Rev. 8:7; 9:4; Mark 6:39."—Cook. ” This was fulfilled partly in the Crusades, apparently.

  I was heartened to learn that the Reformation was foretold, and it played a great part in the resurrection of the dead: “ Luther called the proclamation on the church door at Wittenberg Oct 31, 1517, which was already one month into the year 1518, Jewish reckoning. But It took some time for the news to travel to all parts of Europe. Three hundred and sixty years from the Spring of 1518 brings us to the Spring of 1S78, when we understand that God's promise made to the sleeping saints was fulfilled. They were raised from the dead, and Babylon was cast off.” Futhermore, Christ had told the slave to proclaim that in Revelation 6:12: “ And, [lo,] there was a great earthquake.— Literally, the great Lisbon earthquake, Nov. 1, 1755” As well as: “ And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair.— Literally in the dark day of May 19, 1780, which extended over 320,000 square miles.” “And the WHOLE moon became as blood.— Literally on May 19, 1780.” “ And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth.— Literally, the meteoric shower of Nov. 13, 1833, covering11,000,000 square miles.” There were of course a number of symbolic fullfilments, all pertaining to the clergy and papacy. I was getting confused – I didn't realise that the clergy was so heavily featured in the Revelation.

  Thankfully we went back to things I understood more fully. The four angels of Revelation 7:1 were: “ The Little Flock, commissioned to carry the message of Present Truth to the remotest outposts of civilization.” Sadly, this was interrupted by another eulogy of Pastor Russell: “ Pastor Russell was the voice used. Beautiful voice of the Lord: strong, humble, wise, loving, gentle, just, merciful, faithful, self-sacrificing; one of the noblest, grandest characters of all history” before we got back to the prophecy. I was warned that the demons would: “ Then brace yourself for the truth that It is evidently God's purpose soon to allow the minds of many of His little ones to become an open battle ground, upon which the fallen angels shall be judged, and the manner in which we meet the tests will prove our worthiness of crowns .” What form would this battle for minds take? Again, Christ's Channel warned us what we should expect: “ conceive of the Intensity of such struggles as Eph. 6:12 suggests. The base of the brain is seized as in a vise. Interpretations of Scripture, Ingenious, but misleading beyond description, are projected into the mind as water might be projected through a hose. Visions maybe tried, wonderful illuminations of the mind as by a soft but glorious greenish or yellowish haze. Seductive suggestions may be made, based on circumstances of the environment. Offers of inspiration may be made. The privilege of sleep may be taken away for days at a stretch. All this is with the object of forcing the unfortunate into at least temporary insanity so as to destroy his influence and, if possible, his faith In God. Falling in all other attempts, the mind may be flooded with thoughts that are vile beyond description. THEN REMEMBER THE VOW.” Wow. Demons will invade the minds of the annointed, and there will be a mental battle, a one-on-one?

  But more: “ there is every reason to believe the fallen angels will Invade the minds of many of the Nominal Church people, driving them to exceedingly unwise conduct and leading to their destruction at the hands of the enraged masses, who will later be dragged to the same fate. The great war now raging is most certainly the work of evil spirits, and the Kaiser is not the only clever ruler who has been deceived by evil spirits, as history will sometime show.— Lu. 12:56

  Amidst all of this talk of demon possession, I checked myself and remembered that Christ had judged the slave based on this food. I ploughed on, into this deep spiritual food, given at the proper time, attempting to ignore the statement I found on one page of this marvellous book: “ It seems almost incredible that any one seriously believed the following amazing statements”,

  PP
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  Mad Sweeney

  The entire history of the Borg is a sad, sick joke.
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  Witness 007

  Sounds more like Scientology writtings!
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  Black Sheep

  Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings but...............

  .......... neither of them have been willing to admit that the WT was selected in 1919. It is impossible to convince them not to believe something they already don't believe.

  Please correct me if I missed something.....

  Chris
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  Paulapollos

  Chris,

  you are absolutely right - neither one will explicilty state that - but Debator in particular has stated repeatedly that JW's are imperfect men who are being refined by God's spirit, shedding more light on the Bible, and are teaching the "truth" from the Bible - a way of stating that yes, they are God's organisation - without having to say so explicitly. Of course, I will be delighted to be proven wrong by debator.........

  PP
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  Olin Moyles Ghost

  Black sheep: neither of them have been willing to admit that the WT was selected in 1919.

  But this is what the WTS teaches. So, are these WTS/JW apologists denying this doctrine? If so, aren't they "apostates"?
• 

  Paulapollos

  Part 3

  Getting to the Great Crowd, after the Finished Mystery tells us that the Great Crowd are a 2 nd heavenly class that have not proved faithful enough, we receive this gem: “ They shall NOT hunger [no more].—Poor things, how hungry they have been! How the light has shone to their poor, hunted, starved faces, as they have listened to Pastor Russell, by the tens of thousands; and yet, when the lecture was over, they have wearily gone back to the "husks," from a sense of duty to the memory of some man, dead for hundreds of years, who would, If alive today, be a follower of the Reformer, Charles T. Russell, because he followed Christ.” It heartened me to realise that Luther et al would have followed Russell.

  I was delighted to learn that the angel of Revelation 8:3 was a direct prophecy of: “t he WATCH TOWER BIBLE AND TBACT SOCIETY, which Pastor Russell formed to finish his work. This verse shows that, though Pastor Russell has passed beyond the veil, he is still managing every feature of the Harvest work.” Indeed, the prayers of all the saints mentioned in Revelation 8: 4: “ The Society Is the only entity in the world answering to this description. It alone has offered on its behalf the prayers of all the saints, In harmony with the clause of the Vow which reads, "Dally will I remember at the Throne of heavenly grace the general interests of the Harvest work—the dear co-laborers at the Brooklyn Tabernacle and Bethel, and everywhere."

  But there was more – because: “ 8:6. And the angel.—The WATCH TOWER SOCIETY through its proper representatives. Took the censer.—The Seventh Volume of STUDIES IN THE SCBIPTUBES, Divinely provided” and attacked Christendom with it! Further, the trumpet blasts were part of the Reformation! What divine truths, beautiful spiritual truths, at the proper time! Indeed, one effect of the trumpet blasts was: And they were cast upon the earth AND THE THIRD PART OF THE EARTH WAS BURNED UP.—Luther's teaching had the effect of transforming the order-loving German people Into anarchists.” Revelation 8:8 was the Anglican Church movement, the “boats” of Revelation 8:9 were the Lollards, and Revelation 8:10 was the Calvinistic movement! Quote: And there fell a great star from heaven.—John Calvin tore a large-sized hole In the Catholic firmament when he started the manufacture of a firmament of his own.” The Society continued: “ And many men died of the waters.—Lost their manhood, reason and common sense by becoming Calvlnists.” Revelation 8:12 was the Baptists, Revelation 9:1 was the Wesleyan movement.

  But now we get to things that we may be more familiar with - the locusts of God's house, preaching the Kingdom, surely? Erm....": 9:3. And there came out of the smoke locusts: An Immense number of followers. ......And unto them was given power.—To attend an oldtime Methodist meeting and witness the "getting the power" was to see the sight of a life-time.” At this point, I was beginning to have some issues. The locusts were Methodists? Who would preach for 150 years, tormenting people with their message? And ruled over by Abbadon?!!

  The explanations kept coming, as the sixth angel was: “ The Evangellcal-Alllance-Splrltlsm movement began In 1846-1848 culminating in the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ In America. ” It got even more surreal – the fiery horses were Protestantism, teaching hellfire, and of whom the number globally was prophesised by Revelation 9: 16. Apparently, talking about these horses, Christ led the slave to state: “ 9:19. For [their power] THE POWER OF THE HORSES Is In their mouth.—Assuredly, assuredly; it certainly is not in the Scriptures.”

  Now I was confused, because the Revelation Book today applies all this to JW's, in a positive way, but back then, it's all.......well, negative judgement against the organisations' then enemies. It was at this point that a thought crept into my mind - could it be that the prophecies were just.....well, interpreted in a way that was convenient to the organisation at the time? The Finished Mystery did a job then – it was “plausible”.......and now......well, the Revelation Climax explanation was....”plausible”....But more disturbing – the Society have always defined the new light doctrine as “tacking” - refinements and adjustments. But the change between the Finished Mystery and the Revelation Climax book..........that's more like a paradigm shift, then any "tacking", or "minor adjustments."

  PP
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  Witness My Fury

  You cant beat a good old read of the old stuff to make you wake up and smell the BS. I recommend it to any JW, ...after all it isnt apostate stuff is it lol.

  Well, .. except my brother seemed to think me reading Studies in the Scriptures volumes was a bit apostate, so you cant win with free thinking like that can you!

  If Jehovah or Jesus wanted to reveal truth he could do it a whole lot faster than this inch forward inch back approach. How do you know you have the truth anyway if you keep changing your doctrine and thus changing your truth? It's like playing the lottery and changing numbers each week, maybe this weeks lotto will come up with the numbers you had last week were correct, but you've changed them now and they are worth diddly squat arent they? So if and when Christ comes what state will your truth be in then? If he came in 1918 and inspected the temple and chose the Bible Students (WTS) then he dont give a monkey about smoking, Christmas, Birthdays, Calling him Satan (see OP post for quotes) getting about 90% of current doctrine wrong. So which is it, 1918 and he chose the WTS or that he didnt come and choose anybody? Makes you wonder dont it?

  Cheers
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  wobble

  The "Finished mystery" is full of looney stuff, my favourite is on page 230, where it claims that what is mentioned in Revelation 14 v 20 can be calculated to mean the Railway Station at Scranton Penn. !!!!!!! I kid you not !!!

  I started a thread ages ago that challenged JW apologists to support the nonsense that they (the FDS i.e Rutherford and gang) were chosen in 1919.

  None came forward with any kind of defense.

  Answer me this then, Debator, and AIW et al, : On what does the authority of the present day GB/FDS rest ?

  Why should anybody listen to them ?