Defd...When I read your comments I thought of these two letters that I first found when I left the borg, I hope you read them!
A. E. Fairweather 20 Brushy Creek Road,
LENAH VALLEY
Tasmania 7008
7th August, 1980
Dear Brothers,
I am writing to you regarding my relationship to the Watchtower Society. My decision to write has been made after much prayerful study of the Bible and sleepless nights and great concern.
My reasons are given in a letter which I wrote to Mr. F.W. Franz, the President of the Watchtower Society. A copy is enclosed for your information.
We have lost faith in the Organisation because Deuteronomy 18:21-22 states, "And in case you should say in your heart; 'How shall we know the word that Jehovah has not spoken?' When the prophet speaks in the name of Jehovah and the word does not occur or come true. that is the word that Jehovah did not speak. With presumptuousness the prophet spoke it. You must not get frightened at him."
Now Brothers, you know yourselves how many times the Organisation has made predictions and doctrinal statements have been changed many times, too many times to count them. How then, can we be sure that all the other teachings are true, when with each new publication some point is changed to some new idea or changing back to some idea which was rejected previously? For example see the illustration of Jesus dealing with the leaven, the meaning of which has been changed four times.
The meanings of words are changed to agree with Watchtower doctrine. For example the Greek word to worship 'proskuneo' (verb infinite) is translated 'to worship' when the Father is spoken of, and 'to do obeisance' when the Son is spoken of. Please check this in your Interlinear New Testament in Matthew 2:8; Matthew 4:8; Matthew 8:2; Matthew 18:26; John 4 21; Acts 8:27; Luke 24:52 Just to prove the doctrine of the so called 'Faithful and Discreet Slave' that the Son does not deserve to be worshipped, God's Holy Word has been tampered with. On other occasions Definite Articles have been omitted, Prepositions transposed, Imperatives changed into Imperfect Tense, in attempts to prove the doctrines of the Society.
One woman stopped taking magazines from us because the Watchtower depicted horror-stricken and dying clergymen among crumbling church steeples. She said, would not it be better to leave that judgement to Christ, because Jesus said even of his executors "Father forgive them" He said also "Pray for your enemies". I Corinthians 5:12-13 states, "For what do I have to do with judging those outside. Do you not judge those inside, while God judges those outside?" Some honest hearted people may be repulsed by such tactless illustrations about judgements upon false religion. Jesus says, "Do not judge" leave it to God. But the Organisation knows already who will be killed, whereas we should leave the decision in God's hands who should receive such judgements.
In Acts 1:8 the Lord Jesus says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit arrives upon you, and you will be witnesses of me" etc Also Revelation 20:4 states, "For the witness they bore about Jesus." But no one in the Organisation calls himself a witness for Jesus. Jesus, our Redeemer, is continually belittled and down-graded as a second class creation. He is not given the same honour as the Father, even though Jesus says in John 5:23 "In order that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father. He that does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him." By not honouring the Son the Father is not honoured either. Jesus was only mentioned once by the Circuit Servant in the public talk one Sunday.
Each person who carefully examines will find that in most of the publications 'God's Organisation'; 'Faithful and Discreet Slave' and 'Remnant Class' are mentioned many more times than Christ our Redeemer. Jesus says "I am the door", there is no Scripture which says the Organisation is the door. Again, John 3:36 says, "He that exercises faith in the Son has everlasting life". But the Organisation even published a Watchtower dealing with having faith in God's visible organisation rather than faith in Christ.
The Bible speaks of leading people to Christ and that he is the way, but we have always heard it taught that people must come into God's Organisation in order to obtain salvation Thus Jesus is automatically pushed aside by always emphasising God's Organisation' which is a term that is not found even once in God's Holy Word the Bible.
For years we have found these contradictions and inconsistencies, but because we feared men we did not openly declare what we knew. But when the Bible contradicts the Faithful and Discreet Slave, and predictions made by him do not come true, and which were admitted by the Organisation because she was forced to do so, then we must follow the Bible, for "No man can serve two masters".
We do not write this with any bitterness, but we love our brothers who have been misled. You brothers must determine what you should do in this matter, you may warn and punish us and put the Organisation before the Bible. You may even believe that you are right in doing this, but your conscience will not be clear before God, you will become a marred vessel, you will certainly have to answer for whatever you do to a much higher Judge than Brooklyn. Jehovah and His Son will be the Judge. Please keep these things in mind when you consider what we have written and our position.
We felt compelled to write these things because God's Word has been twisted and predictions made and supposedly backed up by the Bible, but they did not come true. God cannot lie, but the self appointed Slave has done so many times in the name of Jehovah.
Our strength and faith is in the Father and His Son alone. Peace be with you in the Lord's precious name.
Signed:
Siegfried and Ruth Strohbach.
20 Brushy Creek Road,
LENAH VALLEY
Tasmania 7008
7th August, 1980
Mr. F.W. Franz,
President,
Watchtower Society,
NEW YORK
U.S.A.
Dear brother Franz,
I am writing to you regarding the relation of my wife and myself to the Watchtower Society.
Firstly I would like to explain our background. We both come from East Germany and have been in Australia for 15 years. I am a third generation witness, I was baptized 31 years ago. My wife is a second generation witness and was baptized 34 years ago.
After discussing our position with the Circuit Servant, he suggested that I write to you in order to avoid endless and useless discussions.
Because we do not desire to be hypocrites, we will clearly state our position. Having prayerfully read our Bibles each day, we have come more and more into collision with the ever changing ideas of the Organisation. We have lost faith to believe what the Organisation teaches because interpretations given in one Watchtower or book could be changed in the next. This has actually happened many times.
Please understand that we are not rebels or evil slaves, which might be easily said about us.
We shall state a few facts, which most probably you are well aware of. Proverbs 27:2 states, "May a stranger, and not your own mouth praise you, may a foreigner and not your own lips do so" However what are the mernbers of the Organisation doing? They praise themselves all the time. How good we are. How many hours we preach. How superior the New World translation is, etc, etc. Likewise Matthew 6:2-4 "Do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, that your gifts of mercy may be in secret." But we are trumpeting how many hours of visiting and preaching we are doing. Even Pioneers are dragged on to the platforms, where it is said "Look how many hours he does!"
The teaching of Romans 13, dealing with the superior authorities has been changed three times. Many years ago a brother was disfellowshipped because he did not agree that the superior authorities in Romans 13 are Jehovah and Jesus Christ. Six months later the Organisation changed its opinion back to the previous interpretation, so the brother was right. This is stated in the book "This Means Everlasting Life" Page 197 Paragraph 10.
A sister in Munich, Germany, could not believe that Solomon would have no resurrectaon, she was disfellowshipped for apostacy and later committed suicide Later the Organisation said "Yes, Solomon will still have a resurrection."
Each new publication is said to be given to us by Jehovah through His 'Faithfull and Discreet Slave' But if the explanation changes, it must mean that either Jehovah is a liar, or could it be the Faithful and Discreet Slave has not spoken the truth? God never changes as James says in 1:17 "and with him there is not a variation of the turning of the shadow".
When Paul baptized the Philipplan jailor and his household the same night that they believed, Paul certainly did not ask the 'eighty questions' before he baptized them. Neither did Philip when he baptized the Ethiopian eunuch. There is no basis for the 'eighty questions' in the Bible, no matter how much human reasoning is used to try to prove that there is. We have no right to demand more than what is required in Scripture. Baptism is no more administered in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, as it was when I was baptized, despite this being a command of Jesus in Matthew 28:19-20.
In Acts 10 we read that Cornelius was still in the army when he was baptized. Now we go beyond the Bible by refusing baptism to any man in the army. This is putting the Roman historian, Tertullian, above the Bible.
For many decades we have been taught that Jesus did not have a beard, because the churches depicted him as having a beard. Now we are told that Jesus did have one.
In the Watchtower, 15/8/68, speaking of the Lord's return in the article "Why are you looking forward to 1975", Page 499 states "it may involve only a difference of weeks or months, not years". Now five years have passed, so the prophecy was a lie. Also what about the other dates which were prophesied, 1914, 1918, 1925 etc?
According to this year's yearbook page 62, concerning the resurrection of the worthy ones, Rutherford said 'It was stated in the 'Millions' book that we might reasonably expect them to return shortly after 1925, but this was merely an expressed opinion" However, this was not only an expressed opinion because they already had a house, 'Beth-Sarim' ready for them. If a humble brother expresses his opinion in a printed form, he is disfellowshipped, but the President is above his own rules and may do so.
At the large assemblies there is always much talk about bringing people into God's Organisation, but the Bible speaks plainly of leading people to Christ. Jesus says "I am the door," There is no Scripture whatsoever that states that the Organisation is the door.
Our Founder, Brotheer Russel proved the return of the Jews beyond any doubt from Romans 11 and many chapters in Ezekiel and Jeremiah, too many to go into details. But if I preach what Brother Russel said, and the literal meaning of the Bible a humble person would understand by reading it himself, then I would be disfellowshipped. Which means that the Bible does not mean what it says, and that the Founder was a liar.
The next President, Brother Rutherford, completely contradicted himself in his writings. He wrote a book entitled "Comfort for the Jews" directed towards the Jews naturally. He proved that their return is beyond any doubt in the Bible. Shortly afterwards, in some of his following books, he wrote the opposite and went into great detail to disprove the arguments of his previous book
I Corinthians 15 and I Thessalonians 4 and II Thessalonians 2 speak about the rapture and Christ's coming back to earth. The resurrection and the rapture of the living ones is described as one event, as occurring together. However the Faithfull and Discreet Slave says just the opposite, he says that Christ does not return to the earth, and that the rapture is in stages, like a bus picking up stragglers.
Zechariah 14:4 says concerning Christ, 'And his feet will actually stand in that day upon the mountain of the olive trees, which is in the front of Jerusalem on the east'. One recent Watchtower stated the opposite, it said that Jesus had already put his feet on the heavenly Mount of Olives. So the Bible does not mean what it says. There are many examples which I could give like this. The books of Rutherford are a real mine of errors. Some years ago I picked out over four hundred statements which were just the opposite to what the Scripture stated.
The explanation of the parable of the leaven in Matthew 13:33 has been changed four times in the past seventy years, yet the Organisation claims that the spiritual food is given to us by Jehovah through His Faithful and Discreet Slave, and only after deep and prayerful study of the Bible. The same was said in the book "Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose," but Rutherford put all Russel's teachings out of the window. Who then is a liar, Brother Russel, Brother Rutherford, or Jehovah, the God who never changes?
Dealing with the different gifts I Corinthians 12:28 29 says "Not all are apostles, are they? Not all are prophets are they? Not all are teachers. are they?" But the Faithfull and Discreet Slave always says 'ALL OF US SHOULD BECOME TEACHERS', thus going beyond the Scriptures.
When the Pioneers were working 1200 hours per year and one of them became sick. he had to make up the missing hours in order to reach the 1200 hours so that he could remain in pioner service. We still remember my late father in law, he was 65 years old, he was sick with a severe cold yet he went out in the winter on his pushbike. My wife urged him to stay at home,. his reply was 'No I cannot, otherwise I will not reach the 1200 hours.' Not even the most cruel wordly employer would ask one to make up for the time lost when they were sick yet the Faithful and Discreet Slave has done so for years. Jesus, our Redeemer said "For my yoke is kindly and my load is light." Matthew 11:30.
The Organisation teaches that men may be saved and stand accepted before God on the basis of their own righteousness, rather than being saved through Christ alone. This is clearly stated in the book "Life Everlasting - in Freedom of the sons of God" Page 392. "Eventually, before the thousand years of his healing reign are over, uplift to human perfection will be imparted to the obedient, God fearing "great crowd". Now they will be able to stand before the God of holiness on the basis of their own righteousness."
When I compared the New World Translation with the original Greek and Hebrew, I found many inconsistencies. In order to confirm my own suspicions, we visited a Greek Scholar in Melbourne three years ago. During our visit to Israel we visited a famous professor in the Hebrew language. He also confirmed our suspicions regarding the Old Testament. Brother Franz, you speak a number of languages, you must certainly know where the Bible has been tampered with to fit into the doctrines of the Organisation.
The final blow came for us a few weeks ago when the Watchtower said about "praying through but not to Jesus". It was admitted that Stephen was praying to Jesus when he was being stoned to death, and that John prays directly to Jesus in the end of Revelation, "Amen come Lord Jesus." But the Organisation says in the same paragraph this does not mean that we can pray to Jesus because we have to consider the circumstances etc. But who can tell me not to talk to my Saviour? John 5:23 says, "that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father. He that does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him," Who has the right to tell us not to pray to the King of Kings, to our Lord who shed his precious blood for us. Isaiah 9:6 says of him, "And his name will be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. But the socalled God's Organisation says, "No you should not pray to him and honour and worship him." Once it was taught by the Organisation that Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, but now it is Jehovah who is the Alpha and the Omega.
How can we be sure that the writings of the Organisation are true when there are constant changes and the Word of God is denied. Many thousands have already left because they could not accept the hundreds of changes and spiritual somersaults. God's word is written so that even the most simple person can understand it, while the most wise and clever will never understand it. If God did not spare Israel, how much less will He spare you if you continually change and twist His Word.
There is much more that we could say, but will not. We have found peace in the blood of our Saviour. No longer will we agree to deny the same honour to the Son as to the Father, because we then belittle the Father also. We will not let anyone hinder us from bringing the Good News of God's Kingdom to the people.
We have no bitterness in our hearts, but we love all our brothers. You may call us apostates and evil slaves etc. But remember that you as well as us will have to give an account before the judgement seat of Christ.
In our Lord and Saviour's precious Name.
Brother and Sister. Siegfried and Ruth Strohbach.
