00DAD, I thought I'd leave the research to Celestial. Here's most of them at short notice, seeing that you asked so nicely.
To take out membership for a library card? There you would exchange your birthright for a pot of lentil stew, i.e., a library card (cf. Hebr. 12:16). I'd call that despising sacred things according to WT theology.
w02 5/1 11
8 Why did Paul link Esau’s actions to fornication? Because having the mentality of Esau can lead a person to fail to appreciate sacred things. In turn, this can result in serious sins, such as fornication. Hence, each of us might ask: ‘Am I sometimes tempted to barter my Christian inheritance—everlasting life—for something as transient as a bowl of lentil stew? Perhaps without realizing it, do I despise sacred things?’
w89 12/15 14
Becoming disgruntled, dissatisfied, finding fault with the way things are done in the congregation can be like a “poisonous root” that can quickly spread and poison the wholesome thoughts of others in the congregation. We can counteract such negative thoughts by contemplating the countless blessings that the truth has brought into our life. (Psalm 40:5) Another danger is that of having immoral tendencies or a ‘lack of appreciation for sacred things, like Esau.’ (Hebrews 12:16) Paul links these two dangers together, since the one can easily lead to the other.
And it was hammered into our heads, friendship with the word is enmity with God (James 4:4). Here he is referring to "spiritual fornication" (cf. 1 Cor. 5:9-13; 6:9, 10).
w97 11/15 19, 20
4 Worldliness, envy, and pride existed among certain early Christians. (James 4:4-6) James calls some “adulteresses” because they were friends of the world and thus guilty of spiritual adultery. (Ezekiel 16:15-19, 25-45)
Rs 438
Jas. 4:4: “Adulteresses, do you not know that the friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever, therefore, wants to be a friend of the world is constituting himself an enemy of God.” (Because Christians are imperfect, they may at times get soiled through contacts with the world. But when counseled from God’s Word, they repent and correct their ways. However, if some, by deliberate choice, ally themselves with the world or imitate its spirit, they show that they no longer are true Christians but have become part of the world that is at enmity with God. )
It-1 864
SymbolicUse. Jehovah God spoke of the nation of Israel in covenant relationship to him as “a wife.” (Isa 54:5, 6) When the nation became unfaithful to him, ignoring him and turning to other nations such as Egypt and Assyria for help and entering into alliances with them, Israel was like an unfaithful wife, an adulteress, a prostitute, one carrying on fornication promiscuously. (Eze 16:15, 25-29) Likewise, if Christians in a dedicated relationship to God, or professing such a relationship, are unfaithful by engaging in false worship or by being friends of the world, they are called adulteresses. —Jas 4:4.
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The apostle Paul associates Satan with “the wicked spirit forces in the heavenly places,” and he speaks of them as “the world rulers of this darkness.” (Eph 6:11, 12) As a governing force in the invisible realm immediately about the earth, Satan is “the ruler of the authority of the air.” (Eph 2:2) In Revelation he is shown to be the one “misleading the entire inhabited earth.” (Re 12:9) The apostle John said that “the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one.” (1Jo 5:19) He is therefore “the ruler of this world.” (Joh 12:31) That is why James wrote that “the friendship with the world is enmity with God.”—Jas 4:4.
Tp 124-126
22 So, the Bible shows we have a clear choice. At James 4:4 we read: “Do you not know that the friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever, therefore, wants to be a friend of the world is constituting himself an enemy of God.” God also has his standards for friendship, and they are not in harmony with those of the world of sinful mankind. —Psalm 15:1-5.
Abomination causing desolation
In the book of Daniel one distinguishes two abominations. Jesus, in his discourse on the Mount of Olives, indicated that Rome and its Pax Romana would be the “[great] abomination causing desolation” (cf. Dan. 9:27; Matt. 24:15; Luk. 21:20).
w99 5/1 14-15
3 After outlining the sign, Jesus said: “When you catch sight of the disgusting thing that causes desolation, as spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in a holy place, (let the reader use discernment,) then let those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains. Let the man on the housetop not come down to take the goods out of his house; and let the man in the field not return to the house to pick up his outer garment. Woe to the pregnant women and those suckling a baby in those days! Keep praying that your flight may not occur in wintertime, nor on the sabbath day; for then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning.”—Matthew 24:15-21.
4 The accounts by Mark and Luke provide supplemental details. Where Matthew uses “standing in a holy place,” Mark 13:14 says “standing where it ought not.” Luke 21:20 adds Jesus’ words: “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by encamped armies, then know that the desolating of her has drawn near.” This helps us to see that the first fulfillment involved the Roman assault on Jerusalem and its temple—a place holy to the Jews but no longer the place holy to Jehovah—which began in 66 C.E. Complete desolation occurred when the Romans destroyed both city and temple in 70 C.E. What was “ the disgusting thing ” back then? And how did it ‘stand in a holy place’? Answers to these questions will help to clarify the modern-day fulfillment.
5 Jesus urged readers to use discernment. Readers of what? Likely, of Daniel chapter 9. There we find a prophecy indicating when Messiah would appear and foretelling that he would be “cut off” after three and a half years. The prophecy says: “Upon the wing of disgustingthings there will be the one causing desolation; and until an extermination, the very thing decided upon will go pouring out also upon the one lying desolate.”—Daniel 9:26, 27; see also Daniel 11:31; 12:11.
6 The Jews thought that this applied to the profanation of the temple by Antiochus IV about 200 years earlier. However, Jesus showed otherwise, urging discernment because “the disgusting thing” was yet to appear and stand in “a holy place.” It is apparent that Jesus was referring to the Roman army that would come in 66 C.E. with distinctive ensigns. Such standards, long in use, were virtual idols and were disgusting to the Jews. When, though, would they ‘stand in a holy place’? That happened when the Roman army, with its ensigns, attacked Jerusalem and its temple, which the Jews considered holy. The Romans even began to undermine the wall of the temple area. Truly, what had long been disgusting now stood in a holy place!—Isaiah 52:1; Matthew 4:5; 27:53; Acts 6:13.
The “[ultimate] abomination causing desolation”, is a creation of both the King of the North and South (cf. Dan. 8:13; 11:31). This refers to the League of Nations, and the United Nations, which as a peacekeeper, stands in the place of God’s kingdom, an abomination in God’s sight (cf. Ps. 46:8, 9; 72:3, 7, 8; Is. 2:4; Mic. 4:3).
Dp 269
‘THEDISGUSTINGTHINGISPUTINPLACE’
23 When the end of the second world war was in sight, another development occurred, just as God’s angel had foretold. “They will certainly put in place the disgusting thing that is causing desolation.” (Daniel 11:31b) Jesus had also spoken of “the disgusting thing.” In the first century, it proved to be the Roman army that came to Jerusalem in 66 C.E. to put down Jewish rebellion.—Matthew 24:15; Daniel 9:27.
24 What “disgusting thing” has been “put in place” in modern times? Apparently, it is a “disgusting” counterfeit of God’s Kingdom. This was the League of Nations , the scarlet-colored wild beast that went into the abyss, or ceased to exist as a world-peace organization, when World War II erupted. (Revelation 17:8) “The wild beast,” however, was “to ascend out of the abyss.” This it did when the United Nations, with 50 member nations including the former Soviet Union, was established on October 24, 1945. Thus “the disgusting thing” foretold by the angel—the United Nations —was put in place.
Beast that ascends out of the abyss
This is the beast that “was, but is not, and yet is destined to ascend out of the abyss” (of inactivity). After World War I it would start off as the League of Nations, disappearing in the clouds of World War II. Afterwards it would be resurrected as the United Nations (cf. Rev. 17:8, 11).
w99 5/1 17-18
15 Revelation depicts “ a scarlet-colored wild beast ” that exists for a time, disappears, and then returns. (Revelation 17:3, 8) This beast is supported by world rulers. Details supplied in the prophecy help us to identify this symbolic beast as a peace organization that came into existence in 1919 as the League of Nations (a “ disgusting thing ”) and that is now the United Nations. Revelation 17:16, 17 shows that God will yet put it into the hearts of certain human rulers who are prominent in this “beast” to desolate the world empire of false religion. That attack marks the outbreak of the great tribulation.
16 Since the start of the great tribulation is yet future, is the “standing in a holy place” still ahead of us? Evidently so. While “the disgusting thing” made its appearance early in this century and has, thus, existed for decades, it will take a position in a unique way “in a holy place” in the near future. As first-century followers of Christ must have keenly watched to see how the “standing in a holy place” would develop, so do present-day Christians. Admittedly, we will have to wait for the actual fulfillment to know all the details.
Revelation Climax, ch. 18, p. 246.
Ascending outoftheAbyss
6 The scarlet-colored wild beast did indeed climb out of the abyss. On June 26, 1945, with noisy fanfare in San Francisco, U.S.A., 50 nations voted to accept the Charter of the United Nations organization. This body was “to maintain international peace and security.” There were many similarities between the League and the UN. TheWorldBookEncyclopedia notes: “In some ways, the UN resembles the League of Nations, which was organized after World War I . . . Many of the nations that founded the UN had also founded the League. Like the League, the UN was established to help keep peace between nations. The main organs of the UN are much like those of the League.” The UN, then, is actually a revival of the scarlet-colored wild beast. Its membership of some 190 nations far exceeds that of the League’s 63; it has also taken on broader responsibilities than its predecessor.
7 At first, great hopes were expressed for the UN. This was in fulfillment of the angel’s words: “Andwhentheyseehowthewildbeastwas,butisnot,andyetwillbepresent,thosewhodwellontheearthwillwonderadmiringly,buttheirnameshavenotbeenwrittenuponthescrolloflifefromthefoundingoftheworld.”(Revelation17:8b) Earth’s dwellers have admired this new colossus, operating from its imposing headquarters on New York’s East River.
One law
Close cooperation between the “little flock” and “the other sheep” would be prefigured by arrangements for the Passover celebration of ancient Israel. The Israelite, as well as the alien resident, had to observe the Passover: “There should exist one statute for YOU people, both for the alien resident and for the native of the land.” (Num. 9:14)
ws chapt. 14, para 4
4 Being inscribed upon the heart, those laws would be less likely to cease being loved by those who obeyed them. If those laws were put “in their mind,” they would be less likely to forget them. Hence, the keepers of those laws say, in the words of Psalm 119:97: “How I do love your law! All day long it is my concern.” From their most inward being, they set their affections upon Jehovah’s laws as given through his Mediator, Jesus Christ. Thus, with the right motivation, they determine to keep those precious laws . This applies both to the “little flock” in the new covenant and to the “great crowd” of “other sheep” who are, not in the new covenant, but under it .—Compare 1 John 5:3; John 14:15.
Isaiah Book: 56:6—Who are“theforeigners,”andinwhatwaysarethey“layingholdof[Jehovah’s]covenant”? “The foreigners” are Jesus’ “other sheep.” (John 10:16) They lay hold of the new covenant in that they obey the laws related to that covenant, cooperate fully with the arrangements made through it, partake of the same spiritual food as anointed Christians do, and support them in the Kingdom-preaching and disciple-making work.
