by Haereticus 10 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
I have a feeling that tens of years ago JW's had the idea that Matt. 24:14 preaching work was understood to cover literally places like China, India etc. Todays trend and figures do not really support this interpretation and I wonder what is the "present truth" about the expected extent of preaching work? This is closely related to the survival doctrine of the living at Armageddon.
Edited by - Haereticus on 8 October 2002 10:3:55
Well most of China hasn't been covered. That's nearly one eighth of the world's population that's gonna become birdfood for sure at the Big A.
And no Dub will say anything about it, all they will say is "Only Jehover can read the heart". Also, they will tell you that Jehover is going to exact a terrible price for people never finding out about Dubs and their "ways".
Kind of a contradictory set of doctrines, isn't it?
I was under the impression that they were leaning towards the explanation that not all the earth would be covered before the end came. From the Scripture that says that 'by no means will you complete the whole circuit of cities,' or something like that.
*** w62 2/1 95-6 Questions from Readers ***
Jesus said that in the year 31 (A.D.). This was when he was sending out his twelve apostles, in twos, to preach in all the cities of Israel. It may have been, as in the case of the seventy evangelizers whom Jesus also sent out to preach, that the apostles were sent in advance of Jesus and that Jesus would later come to the places where they had preached. (Luke 10:1) This, however, does not appear to be the thing referred to by Jesus in Matthew 10:23, namely, that he would personally, in the flesh, follow up his twelve apostles in the cities in which they had preached.
It is evident that when Jesus gave his twelve apostles these preaching instructions, he was doing so for the years that would follow his death, resurrection and ascension to heaven, never to come back again to the earth in the flesh. How is this evident? From the fact that Jesus spoke to the apostles about their being mistreated in the synagogues and being haled before governors and kings "for a witness to them and the nations." (Matt. 10:17, 18) There is no record that such things occurred during the short preaching campaign in which the apostles engaged in Israel exclusively, after which they returned to Jesus and made their reports. At the time that Jesus gave them the above instructions, he plainly told them not to go to the nations or even to the Samaritans on this preaching campaign, but only to the "lost sheep of the house of Israel."Matt. 10:5, 6.
So it must have been because he looked ahead to their world-wide preaching among outside nations after his ascension to heaven that Jesus said to the apostles: "You will be objects of hatred by all people [not merely Israelites] on account of my name; but he that has endured to the end is the one that will be saved. When they persecute you in one city, flee to another; for truly I say to you, You will by no means complete the circuit of the cities of Israel until the Son of man arrives."Matt. 10:22, 23.
On the occasion of saying those words, Jesus gave the apostles, for the immediate preaching campaign, a local territory assignment. It took in the territory of Israel in Palestine, namely, Judea, Galilee and Peraea, and did not include Samaria. By covering this they would "complete the circuit of the cities of Israel." So now Jesus used this temporary, limited territory assignment as an illustration of their final complete territory assignment. Before he ascended to heaven the resurrected Jesus made their territory assignment the entire world, for he said: "All authority has been given me in heaven and on the earth. Go therefore [everywhere in the earth] and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit." (Matt. 28:18, 19) This enlarged their territory assignment beyond the borders of Israel, yes, beyond the borders of so-called Christendom and out into the so-called pagan world that does not belong to Christendom. Under Jesus instructions, his disciples were to undertake to complete the circuit of the whole inhabited earth, preaching the good news of Gods kingdom to all, to Jewish people, to professed Christian people and to all the pagan peoples.
By our consideration of Bible prophecy and modern events we discern that the Lord Jesus Christ, in company with Jehovah God, came to the spiritual temple in the spring of 1918. It was after that year, particularly from 1919 forward, that the remnant of Christs anointed disciples began preaching the good news of Gods kingdom as having been established in the heavens in 1914.
How long after the Lords coming to the temple must this preaching continue? Until the "Son of man arrives" for the execution of Jehovahs judgment. This will be in the "war of the great day of God the Almighty," at Armageddon. In connection with that arrival Jesus said, in Revelation 16:15: "Look! I am coming as a thief. Happy is the one that stays awake and keeps his outer garments, that he may not walk naked and people look upon his shamefulness."
Accordingly, by means of his instructions to his twelve apostles Jesus was prophetically telling us today that his anointed disciples or the remnant of spiritual Israel
would not complete the circuit of the entire inhabited earth with the preaching of the message of Gods established kingdom before the glorified heavenly King Jesus Christ would arrive as Jehovahs executional officer in the battle of Armageddon. This means that Jehovahs witnesses today, who now include hundreds of thousands of the "other sheep" or earthly companions of the spiritual remnant, will not be able to reach personally all parts of the earth with the Kingdom message before the battle of Armageddon breaks out.
We may be driven from one city to another by the persecution upon Jehovahs witnesses, yet we should keep going. Why? Because, even being driven by the scattering power of the persecution to outside locations, we shall not be able to reach all the territory directly,
personally , before the war of God Almightys great day breaks out and destroys the people of this wicked world and thus puts a finis to our work of witnessing to such worldly people.
Hence it is up to us to cover as much of the territory as possible before Armageddon. Till then we shall never run out of new territory to work or of territory in which the need for Kingdom publishers and teachers is great. Thank God for that!Compare The Watch Tower as of June 1, 1900, page 174; June 15, 1907, page 184, paragraph 3.
*** w97 8/15 14 Living for Today or for an Eternal Future? ***
11 There is also Jesus prediction that "this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come." (Matthew 24:14) Today, Jehovahs Witnesses carry out their work in 233 lands, island groups, and territories. True, untouched territories still exist, and perhaps in Jehovahs due time, a door of opportunity will open. (1 Corinthians 16:9) Still, Jesus words recorded at Matthew 10:23 are sobering: "You will by no means complete the circuit of the cities of Israel until the Son of man arrives." While the good news will surely be announced throughout the earth, we will not in person reach all parts of the earth with the Kingdom message before Jesus "arrives" as Executioner.
JW's aren't God's people, so what they are doing isn't God's work.
The work was done and completed in the "world" that was then.
JW's preaching is bogus and sinister because Jesus never told THEM (JW's) to do anything.
They made up their own work and say it is the Lord's.
Horse pucky!
Blondie
Thank you for good quotations which do show the inevitable. However my memories are about ten years before W62, but I might well be mistaken or whatever. Anyway the real playground for JW's is a fraction of world's population and even so the losing of grip is obvious.
Mark
I think I have that Mark, just not at work. I'll post it later if I can find it.
Here's another interesting article I found in my file:
w65 9/15 575-6 Questions from Readers
It is important to understand what the Bible says about the destruction to come at the end of this system of things. In his illustration of the sheep and the goats Jesus indicated that a separating work would be done "when the Son of man arrives in his glory," and that persons would be classed as either "sheep" or "goats." (Matt. 25:31-46) In part, the basis for the separation would be the reaction of people to the preaching of the good news of the established kingdom. That preaching work is now being done by Jehovahs witnesses. Jesus explained that those on earth who favorably responded to that message and treated kindly its bearers would be classed as "sheep" and would enter into "everlasting life." The rest of mankind who did not respond favorably to the preaching work and offered no aid to those who carried the Kingdom message would be classed as "goats" and would go, not into a temporary death, but into "everlasting cutting-off" at the time when judgment is executed.
But some persons, appreciating that millions of people are to be resurrected and given an opportunity to serve God, wonder if the millions of individuals living today who apparently have never heard the Kingdom message preached will be everlastingly destroyed without ever having had a witness about Gods purposes. It is true that at present it appears that there are vast numbers of mankind who have not heard the Kingdom preaching. Also, from what the Bible says and from conditions in the world, we know that we are in the "last days." But we do not know just how much more will be accomplished in preaching the Kingdom message before the end comes. (2 Tim. 3:1-5; Matt. 24:3-13) If at the end of the second world war someone had said that the Kingdom preaching would be carried out, by more than a million publishers, in over 190 lands, including communistic countries, many might have found that hard to believe. Yet, Jehovah has blessed his people, and that is exactly what is being accomplished. So, if it is Jehovahs will to have this message personally carried to the millions on earth who seemingly have not yet heard it, that will be accomplished. If he chooses, he could see to it that this message is spread in ways that we cannot yet imagine. Jesus did foretell that "this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come." (Matt. 24:14) We can rest assured that God will see that the preaching work is done to his satisfaction. After that "the end" comes.
Then those who correspond with "goats," whether in China or elsewhere, will be pronounced "cursed" and will not be permitted to survive that "end" into Gods new order of things. Since these go into symbolic "fire" (like the Devil and his angels), their punishment will be everlasting. They will never be resurrected.Matt. 25:41-46.
"Just a little while longer, and the wicked one will be no more; and you will certainly give attention to his place, and he will not be. But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace."Ps. 37:10, 11.
Edited by - Blondie on 13 October 2002 9:24:16
SYN ,
It couldn't have been said better!
Basically....there has never been a clearcut understanding of how Jehovah will deal with those who have never heard the message. Ask various dubs and get various answers. This is another PERFECT example of the mind games this organisation can play on you.
These types of arguments are the ones we used to think about but would just...."forget about it"....until Jehovah made it clear to his people. We figured if the SLAVE didn't know......how could we?
This is another PERFECT example of double talk. On one hand Jehovah will destroy all those who are not in his org.....and on the other, he will read hearts at Armaggedon or will kill them....ressurect them....and give them a fair shot.
There is also Jesus prediction that "this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come." (Matthew 24:14) Today, Jehovahs Witnesses carry out their work in 233 lands, island groups, and territories
Although the above statistics may be true. I can't help but think how they as a "worldwide group" are still so insignificant.Why do I say that, one might ask? Inasmuch as the rank and file of JWS have these stats paraded at them often, from sources such as the WTBS publications, as well as at the assemblies and public meetings, isn't it safe to say the average person just has no clue as to what JWS believe. So as a consequence have not put this bad bad world on notice as the shallow minded R/F have been taught to think.
One of the best modern day, up to the minute examples I can think of regarding this (and in no way do I mean to diminish the importance of the issue) is the Dateline piece, as well as countless newpaper articles reagrding the pedophilia and the all important work that SL is doing to regarding this disgraceful conduct.
Isn't it true that almost everytime that "The Jehovah's Witnesses" are brought up by these media outlets. That what JWS believe are in many cases part of the news piece, and the audience has to be told how, and what, they believe. Due to the fact that they are so miniscule and nobody really knows who they are, and in the minds of many must seem like kooks. My point being that they in the eyes of the world even now are just a small insignificant cult.
Dismembered
Edited by - Dismembered on 13 October 2002 10:45:58
