If Jesus was enthroned in 1914, and if he inspected all of the earth's religions in 1919, choosing the WTBTS as his, then wasn't he choosing a religion that was manmade? If he didn't choose it until 1919, then what was the Watchtower Organization in 1918 or, for that matter, in 1914? And what happened to the church Jesus organized when he said anciently, "I will build my church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it"?
Indeed, the Watchtower (6.15.64) itself reported: "As Jehovah revealed his truths by means of the first century Christian congregation so he does today by means of the present-day Christian congregation. Through this agency he is having carried out prophesying. All of this activity is not an accident. Jehovah is the one behind all of it."
But did God ever speak through the congregation? Or did he speak through those he called and appointed at the head of the church? And when has he ever chosen from a number of manmade organizations? It would be as if you had three self-appointed prophets, and God was to choose one to be his. But this wasn't the case with Jeremiah, who wrote: "Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." (Jeremiah 1:4-5) Here it appears as though God is taking the proactive role, and not men. But now it's just the opposite. Man is the proactive force and God becomes the passive.
How would the Governing Body explain this?
In 1943 they were so thoroughly bold as to issue instructions as if they came right from God himself: "The Son has returned as King; he has come to his temple. He has appointed his "faithful and wise servant", who is his visible MOUTHPIECE. The Lord breaks down our organization instructions further and makes them more practicable by further instructing us through his "faithful and wise servant."
He [the Lord] says, 'Let us assign the field, the world, to special pioneers, regular pioneers and companies of Jehovah's witnesses in an orderly way, sufficient for everyone to thoroughly witness therein, and let us place on each one the responsibility of caring for the New World interests in these respective assignments." He [the Lord] says the requirements for special pioneers shall be 175 hours and 50 back-calls per month, which should develop into a reasonable number of studies; and for regular pioneers 150 hours and as many back-calls and studies as can be properly developed during that time. And for company publishers he [the Lord] says, "Let us make a quota of 60 hours and 12 back-calls and at least one study a week for each publisher." These directions come to us from the Lord through his established agency directing what is required of us. It is our duty to accept this additional instruction and obey it." (7.1.43, p. 207)
This is remarkable, to say the least. Here's a statement where the leading authorities of the Society are delivering an actual revelation very much like the ancient prophets and spelling out the Lord's instructions regarding workloads to be carried out by the troops. But they've fully committed themselves to speaking for God, even as the ancient prophets delivered it. And yet not one of them claims that the Lord spoke to them as he spoke to the prophets anciently. Again, self-appointed people making assumptions. Doesn't this throw a kink into their charges against Christendom -- that they're all manmade?
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