1 thess 5:3 “Whenever it is—the apostle Paul is writing here—whenever it is they are saying peace and security, then sudden destruction is to be instantly upon them…”
I must confess that when I was giving talks, I developed this same habit of interrupting myself after reading the first few words of a scripture to interject some inane comment about who wrote it, or where or when it was written. It’s an affectation that seems to be adopted by many JW speakers.
Now up to this time, we’ve been hearing calls for peace and security; we’ve had it during the Desert Storm war, the Gulf War, we’ve heard it when the United Nations have said it, but notice, friends, that this time, in this situation that what happened there in New York has changed things. No longer is the world secure. It’s the truth, yeah.
The WT always quoted this scripture and said that the fulfillment would be cries of peace and security—that the nations would claim that they had achieved some notable measure of peace, and this deceptive atmosphere of security is what makes the “sudden” destruction so surprising.
Are they now changing the interpretation? Will sudden destruction be instantly upon them when they are crying for peace and security or crying out peace and security? Are the events of 9-11 significant because up to that point there was peace, but now things have changed and the world is no longer secure? Come on! People have been crying for peace and security since man learned to congregate into villages. Besides, I thought the WT has always taught that times now are worse than they’ve ever been? Weren’t these critical times, hard to deal with, before September 11?
These terrorists can do a lot of damage. And the whole world is now united for the first time. They’re looking for not only peace, but they want security. The Eiffel Tower, the House of Commons, all the major places are now under threat. And so now people want security. And so the cry is ‘peace and security.’ People are concerned.
All the major places are “now” under threat?
9-11 didn’t make the European countries suddenly sit up and take notice of the dangers of terrorism. I was in London and Paris a few years ago, and there were soldiers with automatic weapons in the airports and train stations. They had wands to ‘sniff' your backpacks and camera bags for explosive residue at the Tower of London.
Probably since the late 60s, and certainly since ’72 (Munich), Europe has been well aware of the dangers of terrorism.
And this is the first time that we have such a situation which has galvanized the entire world. You think of the Vietnam War, the Korean war, even the attack on Pearl Harbor, those were between nations. But now you have a whole world coalition—including the United Nations—whom the Secretary General said on television ‘Now, we must root out terrorism off the face of this earth.’
This is the first time the world has been galvanized? What about the UN coalition in Kosovo? Ever heard of WWI? “Even the attack on Pearl harbor”? Pearl Harbor is what finally brought the US into WWII, which had already “galvanized” the two factions in Europe for years. I guess this is why they discourage Witnesses from attending college.
Hmmm