If you had asked me about those verses when I was a JW, I would have responded that they referred to false human messiahs who would claim that they were Jesus returned in human form, e.g. Jim Jones or David Koresh. These messiahs would live at a certain place, such as "in the wilderness" so that people would attempt to go to this place to find the messiah. Since we did not believe that Jesus would return in human form or that there was anywhere on earth that you could go to in order to see him, these verses were not talking about us.
Of course, in context, what is being referred to is the striking visibleness of Jesus' return, so it is entirely as reasonable to apply these texts to those who teach an "invisible presence" as it is to mere human "messiahs".