What the “Borg” doesn’t want you to know – perspectives of an ex-JW turned Christian
Readers of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society’s literature (otherwise known as the “Borg”), are taught a premillennial eschatology that Jesus Christ will return to the earth soon to destroy all non-Jehovah’s Witnesses in Armageddon and “perfect paradise” conditions will follow for “Jehovah’s clean people” for a thousand years before the final judgment. It was taught this would definitely occur in 1914, and when it didn’t, the date was revised until later (and when that didn’t work out, it was later still). In my lifetime, the date was 1975 (though I was 5 at the time and unaware of such an impending doom) and later before the “generation of 1914” died. But this too was changed (when it was obvious they had been wrong) in a November 1995 article of the Watchtower.
Unfortunately for Jehovah’s Witnesses, they are never even taught the word eschatology. “Eschatology“ is the study of the “last things” and refers to the view of the second coming of Jesus Christ and one’s view of the future and how it will turn out in the end. Worse, Jehovah’s Witnesses are never taught that there are alternative schools of eschatology (“post”, and “a” millennialism). Any Jehovah’s Witness that disagrees with the Watchtower view of eschatology is promptly disfellowshipped!
The Jehovah’s Witness premillennial version of eschatology is very similar to the dispensational premillennialism that was taught by Scofield, and now is most prominently taught in the Tim LaHaye's popular Left Behind fictional series - fictional in genre, and as fictional in theology as the Watchtower’s version of eschatology. Jehovah’s Witnesses may not have read the books, but they likely have at least seen them prominently displayed in Walmart, Books-a-Million, and other secular bookstore outlets while they stand in line at the check out. They may have even seen the Left Behind series of movies, and mistakenly concluded that the Watchtower’s eschatology is not much different from the rest of “Christendom”.
In contrast to the premillennial belief of the Watchtower, and the dispensational premillennialism such as Tim LaHaye’s in the Left Behind fictional series and the historic versions of premillennialism, there is another school of thought of eschatology called postmillennialism.
The Promise of Postmillennialism
Postmillennialism teaches that the second coming of Jesus Christ will come after the millennium, and the final judgment will follow. In other words, the OT promise of a Golden Age on earth (Num. 14:18-21; Ps. 22:27; 72; Is. 61:1-11; Jer. 30:1-33; Dan. 7:13-22; Am. 9:11-15) will happen before Christ returns. The promises talk too much about all the rest of society to refer to only the success of the “Paradise” the Watchtower teaches. For example, political rulers will bow the knee to Christ and his kingdom, and protect and help the people of God (Is. 49:22-23).
Remember seeing those almost-glossy full-page paintings of life in a “Paradise Earth” that the Watchtower displayed in the first chapter of the book “You Can Live Forever in a Paradise Earth”? The Watchtower was selling hope to a hopeless world and pointed to many Old Testament scriptures that spoke of a Glorious Age.
What I am saying is that those OT scriptures are to be fulfilled before the “end” of all things, instead of waiting (another 100 years?!) for the “Beast” of Revelation (The Watchtower thinks this is the United Nations – and still applied to promote its agenda!) to destroy all Christians and all of Christendom by maneuvering all the nations of the earth to burn churches simultaneously that will trigger the “great tribulation” that leads to “Armageddon”. (It is amusing that the WT thinks the UN has that kind of power) Those OT scriptures will be fulfilled as Christians are faithful to God and apply his word to all of life over generations.
There will be no millennium after Jesus Christ returns. When Jesus comes, there will be the resurrection, and the judgment, not the millennium (Jn. 5:27-29).
While I agree that there will be a second coming of Jesus Christ, I disagree radically with the Jehovah’s Witnesses teaching regarding what will precede it. Jesus Christ reigns from the heavens and has done so for nearly 2,000 years (Ac. 2:29-36). The godly mountain that engulfs the whole earth began during the Roman Empire, at Jesus’ first coming. (Dan. 2:31-44) The kingdom of God was already present in Christ’s earthly ministry (Mt. 4:23, 24; 12:24-28; Lk. 10:9). The kingdom of God was a main theme of Paul’s preaching – meaning that the kingdom existed then (Ac. 20:25; 28:31). Paul also said that those who are saved are made citizens of the kingdom of God (Col. 1:13; 4:11). The kingdom will come into fullness at the Second Coming (2 Tim. 4:1) and in eternity (2 Tim. 4:18), but it is present and working today (Heb. 12:28).
The kingdom of Jesus Christ is being extended by His Spirit, using humans that have been redeemed - Christians (Acts 2:14-21). The Bible teaches that Christ will return after all human enemies are placed under His feet. (1 Cor. 15:23-27). Jesus indicates that it will be a good, long time between His First Coming and His Second Coming (Mark. 13:32-37; Luke 12:37-48). Between these two Comings, the kingdom of God will grow slowly, almost imperceptibly (Mathew. 13:31-33). But it will one day overwhelm the earth. Then will be fulfilled the great Old Testament prophecy that, “The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14). There will be an extensive Christian culture on earth before the Second Coming.
Watchtower Pessimism
Eschatology is ethical. It should be studied to better understand what God’s will is for living life now. The point is that instead of waiting for God to destroy everything so that “your religion” is the only one standing, the real commission of Christians is to work to spread God’s kingdom even amidst God’s enemies. (Mat. 28:19, 20). The pessimistic “things are getting worse and worse”-attitude (and premillennialists of all stripes are happy about it!) is wrong.
Mat. 7:13, 14, (“enter through the narrow gate for broad and spacious…”) teaches that at the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry, not many were saved. It does not apply to the present. The Watchtower abused Mat. 7:13, 14 in its pessimistic teaching that only a few on the earth will soon survive Armageddon, and if you just “stick with ‘em”, you can be one of the “fortunate” few.
2 Tim. 3:13 teaches that the evil of wicked men will get worse, but it does not teach that there will be more evil people as time goes on.
At least the Watchtower has been very consistent with the implications of premillennial thinking. Why “polish brass on a sinking ship”? The Watchtower refuses to feed the hungry, heal the sick (such as with hospitals) or do anything else to help non-Jehovah’s Witnesses, precisely because they think doom and destruction is imminent. Allowing children to die because of a (always changing!) policy on blood with the attitude of: “they will be resurrected soon anyway” is wrong, and perverse. There is no long-term planning for Jehovah’s Witnesses. Retirement - “Why save money when the “end” is coming at any time”? Jehovah’s Witnesses ask. Advanced education? “Why? – the “end” will happen before you graduate” has been the “wisdom” that the Watchtower has taught its members for the last 100 hundred years.
Implications of Postmillennialism
Postmillennialists believe in a tolerant and peaceful way of living life. Violence is only allowed when acting in personal self-defense from harm, or by a lawful government (such as a government waging war to defend the country). Changes in the world occur through God’s regeneration of sinners, and Christian godly living – not through political “top-down” legislation that forces an agenda on people, nor through the use of force. However, Christians should not retreat from any sphere, including political spheres of life since God is Lord over all spheres of life, not just the “spiritual”. Man will not bring the kingdom of God, and man will not make a “Paradise Earth” because only God can bring in his kingdom, and he uses his Spirit to empower the church to advance his kingdom in the earth by preaching the gospel to sinners. Postmillennialists are confident in God and his purposes, and have a hope that is far more optimistic than the pessimism of the Watchtower’s premillennialism.
The purpose of this article has been to introduce the ex-JW and the current Jehovah’s Witness to the study of eschatology in order to demonstrate that there are alternative eschatology’s, and that the responsibility of all (including Jehovah’s Witnesses) is to make an individual accounting before God in the Final Judgment. Claiming that it was what “they” taught you is not sufficient. The purpose has also been to encourage responsible living and behavior in today’s world rather than the irresponsible behavior of neglecting the providing for one’s family because of believing that the “end” is coming at any time. No one knows when Jesus Christ will return, and there is every reason to think that it will be several thousand years into the future before the “end” comes. There is plenty of work to do, so get to it.
Postmillennialism replaces the pessimism of the Watchtower’s eschatology with an optimistic hope for the future that essentially means that Christians are obligated to do something to make the earth better and better. That something may be feeding the hungry, or healing the sick, or clothing the naked – but it means work over generational lifetimes to make the world a better place when you leave it, than when you got here. That something always means living by the Bible – not ignoring scriptures with a “Yeah, but” attitude.
This is a poor primer of postmillennial belief, and more information about postmillennial eschatology can generally be found in Reformed literature and especially in “A Postmillennial Primer”, Chalcedon Monograph Series, Number 2 by Andrew Sandlin and can be obtained from here http://www.chalcedon.edu/Chalcedon_Catalog_Fall99.pdf