May you all have peace!
Along with Leolai's very accurate assertion, there is also the belief of the WTBTS leaders?, which belief is shared by the leader?s of MOST religious institutions and is based on TRUTH: the vast majority of lay people don't want to read things for themselves anyway and if you put enough pressure on them, the vast majority won't.
It is the faith of religious leaders in this TRUTH that prompts them to publish what they do. The result? A mass blind following that serves to enrich them in some way or another, primarily monetarily. Bottom line (no pun intended).
Why is this possible? Some would say it is because ?it is God?s will.? But that is not true. It is because of the TRUTH that for most, learning beyond 1-2-3/A-B-C (if even that far) is burdensome, tiresome, a work requiring effort most do not wish to make and energy most do not wish to expend. For MOST, it is MUCH easier to be told what to believe... and led by those who tell it. Easier due to lack of effort AND... because for them it provides a means (albeit false), for excuse: "I am not accountable because I only did what those you [God] appointed told me to do."
This excuse is false because contrary to what they SAY... such ones were never appointed. The incident at the temple in Jerusalem where my Lord turned over the tables of the money changers shows this. If you will, please permit me to illustrate it to you this way:
You are the vastly rich owner of a large house, one You wish to open to all who would come into it and dine with You at Your table? at no cost. You are doing this because You want it, Your own son has asked for it, and he is willing to cover the expense whatever it may be. You, frugal thinker that You are, realize that you lose nothing and gain very many as friends due to this generosity. And You are not surprised, but in fact, very pleased at Your son?s benevolence, which Your yourself taught him.
Unfortunately, Your estate includes a courtyard just prior to the main house, and by some will (most likely their own, but in some cases, that of others), certain men have come and seated themselves in that courtyard, just outside the main entrance to Your house. And from that place, they have begun charging fees for entry, literally. Yep, they?ve come, at no invitation from You nor with Your approval, and just set up shop. (They?ve felt no fear in doing this, partially, because they?ve never seen You and so believe Your house to be abandoned.)
Many people, however, having heard of Your invitation from others, try to come to Your house, but on arriving at the gate meet up with these men first. And although You have not authorized such men to collect any fees whatsoever, or ask for anything on Your behalf whatsoever, such men assert that they were "chosen" by You to oversee entry into Your house, which the people tend to believe. Such men say that their oversight includes levying taxes (which never have a set rate, and so cannot always be paid) as well as certain actions and conduct (which change and fluctuate at the whim and desire of the levier, and so cannot always be met). They tell the people that paying such taxes and doing such actions will further announce the people?s gratitude to You for Your generosity. But, in TRUTH, such things really only glorifies them.
But the men go further: they also convince the people that payment of these taxes and performance of these actions are a means by which they can ?determine? who, in fact, gains entry. According to them, however, that entry is ?delayed? and at this time, the payor is only guaranteed by means of a ?ticket?? (being the levier?s word or ?blessing,? per se) that ?ensures? that the payor will get in? someday. The TRUTH is, however, since the levier has no AUTHORITY to issue tickets, to even be sitting where he is, exacting what he is exacting, or granting or prohibiting entry, the payor is, in fact, no better off than when he first arrived: he is still outside, still cold, still hungry, and in TRUTH, he will stay that way because the ?ticket? was counterfeit, and therefore invalid, from day one.
What do You do?
Nothing? Okay. I mean, it?s not really a matter for You to interfere in anyway, is it? Perhaps. But let?s say you DO do something: let?s say that rather than You just simply wiping such men out, Your son intervenes and volunteers to go and run the men off. Why? Well, several reasons: he loves You? and he that insults You insults him (after all, he is Your heir). AND he loves the people that have been invited to come and enjoy a meal but have been prevented entry. You concur, however, although You know, as does he, that the men will kill him. You concur, however, because You know that Your son will not remain dead, for death is merely a temporary state from which he can return. And grievous as it may seem at first, You concur because You know that although they will kill him, his act in removing the men will result in many being granted entry to Your house.
And so Your son goes, willingly. And when he arrives, he sees a great line of people wishing entry into Your house, standing before the table of the tax collecting men and those who ?authorized? them. The people are young, old, healthy, wealthy, poor, blind, lame, what have you. Some can afford to pay and receive a ticket; some can afford tickets for their entire families; some purchase several tickets for themselves so as to be ?sure? of entry (if Ticket 1 doesn?t work, perhaps Tickets 2 and 3 will suffice, etc.). Most, however, cannot ?afford? even half of a ticket, if that, and others cannot perform the ?actions? required in addition to the tax/fee. Most look lost and forlorn, not only because of their plight in life, but because more than anything, all they TRULY want is a place at Your table, which they had thought to be free, but was now learning had a price.
Now, one would think this line burdensome, for it is quite long. However, the men, knowing that attention spans are short, fatigue comes easily and hunger can quickly set in, ?entertains? the crowds in line: music, dancing, magic tricks, displays of awesome beauty, elaborate refreshments, and tales (of ?fire and brimstone?), etc.
And so Your son, seeing this debacle, angrily turns over the tables and casts the collectors out the courtyard of Your house. He runs them out completely, and then turns to the people and says, ?Come! Follow me, for I will lead you into my Father?s house!? And some follow him. Indeed, a few follow his pointing finger and enter through the gate, not by means of a ?ticket? but due purely to his loving kindness. But he has no ?entertainment?? no sermons of ?fire and brimstone,? no fancy music, and nothing in the way of refreshment other than some unleavened bread and a sip or two of wine, for he doesn?t want to spoil the feast awaiting such ones. And so, to his great sadness? and Yours? they number only a few.
And after only a very short time, You both watch as the vast majority of the people turn their back, which, after awhile, allows the men to recover only to grab hold of Your son, falsely accuse him of going against You? and then brutally put him to death based on that lie! But as if that wasn?t enough, You watch as the people begin cheering the men? AND? sigh!? helping to reset the tables and chairs? restacking their coins, even giving them more so that their piles are even higher? and slowly lining back up before them!
WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
Have they not, by their actions of going right back to what Your son pulled down, proven what it is they WANT? And would You not give them what they themselves DEMONSTRATE they WANT? If they WANT to be exploited, if they WANT to be fleeced, if they WANT to be misled, if they WANT to be bound and enslaved, if they WANT to be prevented entry? who are You to deny them what they WANT? Would You not simply turn Your attention to those who WANT, instead, to be set FREE? who WANT to be welcomed by You? who WANT to eat at Your table? simply because You?ve invited them to and not because You?ve imposed some heavy, burdensome law upon them?
Dear ones, religion is simply a means to glorify men, under the guise of glorify God. My Lord cast the exactors out and by means of his loving kindness? and his blood? opened the Way for ANY who are thirsting to drink, who are wishing? to entry.
There is none among earthling man who can save you, for there are none who can save themselves. Hear, then, if you have ears, that which the Spirit and the Bride KEEP saying:
?Come! Take life?s water? free!?
I bid you, if you are wishing, hear the Spirit when he says to you that you may indeed come to God, if you are wishing, by means of coming THROUGH His Son. HE? is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Truly, there is NO other.
There is no church (building), for God does no dwell in handmade temples. YOU? are the temple of God, if God dwells? in YOU. Truly, then, there is no religion, no organization, no sect, no denomination, no cult, no Order, no other WAY? than to? KISS? the Son!
Truly, there is no ?where? to go to? only a Whom!
Servant of Israel, the Household of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, whose name is JAH? of Armies? and a slave of His Son and Christ, my Lord, JAHESHUA MISCHAJAH,
SJ
