G'day Roomie,
I'm still bemused by the section in the book study paragraphs 35 to 38 dealing with Isa. 19:23-25.
Apart from their words in paragraph 36 where the writer(s) claim that there was a "limited fulfillment" in the time of Isaiah, there is also the interpretation. Verse 23 reads: "In that day there will come to be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will actually come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria;.." Seems straightforward to me, yet the paragraph states "when exiles from assyria and Egypt, as well as from Babylon, were brought back to the Promised Land." Huh?
Then the question is raised "But what of modern times?" You might think, "What of modern times?" but, no, the book claims the major thrust of Isaiah's prophecy has to do with the anointed remnant in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries! Paragraph 37 'informs' us that there are remnant in militaristic nations (Assyria) as well as liberal nations (Egupt). Since there are no divisions between them, "it can truly be said that Assyria comes into Egypt and Egypt into Assyria".
As you so rightly describe it, "mental gymnastics" are required.
I think the reality is, that those attending the book studies are, for the most part, not great readers. It takes most of their efforts to simply read the material, let alone meditate upon it, and determine if it is right or wrong. As one well-respected Bethel elder put it to me: "I just don't have the time to stop and meditate upon the material". How true. And that, dear friends, is what happens in a cult.
Cheers,
Ozzie
"If our hopes for peace are placed in the hands of imperfect people, they are bound to evaporate."
- Ron Hutchcraft Surviving the Storms of Stress