simply put; gullible people were told if they chose life on earth instead of heaven, they wouldn't have to die.
that's how they sold it.
the watchtower lied to people in the 1920 booklet and convention series titled "millions now living will never die!
It is a brilliant business strategy.
The bottom line is that they promised a superior product than what Jesus was offering:
Unending Life vs. Resurrection (which requires a death first)
I believe that it really is that simple. But the question still remains:
What kept so many on the hamster wheel after everyone died anyway?
simply put; gullible people were told if they chose life on earth instead of heaven, they wouldn't have to die.
that's how they sold it.
the watchtower lied to people in the 1920 booklet and convention series titled "millions now living will never die!
Simply put; gullible people were told if they chose life on earth instead of heaven, they wouldn't have to die. That's how they sold it.
The Watchtower lied to people in the 1920 booklet and convention series titled "Millions Now Living Will Never Die!" It announced that millions of people alive at that time would not die before experiencing the end of the current world system and living forever on a paradise earth.
So the false hope of avoiding death, is what started the whole scheme of Jehovah’s Witnesses seducing people into rejecting the new covenant “for the forgiveness of sins”.
The “Jonadabs” were not even considered to be “Jehovah’s witnesses” originally. (See The Watchtower, August 15, 1934, page 249
Nor were they saved in the new testament sense:
The..."other sheep"... are...not even justified" - Wt. 38 pgs. 104-105
In other words, the “great crowd” still carry their deadly sin debt and are not covered by the blood in the new covenant “for the forgiveness of sins” (See Mt. 26: 27–28)
Jesus is not their Mediator according to church leadership:
"Likewise, the Greater Moses, Jesus Christ, is not the Mediator between Jehovah God and all mankind. He is the Mediator between his heavenly Father, Jehovah God, and the nation of spiritual Israel, which is limited to only 144,000 members." Worldwide Security Under the "Prince of Peace" (1986) pp.10-11
These are Satanic teachings and doctrines of demons, as predicted.
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; - 1 Tim. 4: 1
So, instead of being resurrected, which is the Christian hope based on Jesus' resurrection as a guarantee, they simply offered a better deal.... one that basically said: "Why get resurrected? You don't even have to die if you join our church".
That's how they sold it.
- Sea Breeze
They lied. Everyone died.
things are moving right along.
“israel” has gone to war with iran.. who is fooled?.
this is uncle sam, same as in ukraine.. daniel layed out clearly the events of “d day” june 6, 1944 as the “ships of kittim” would sail against the king of the north.
Journeyman and JoJo,
You guys are nuts.
The Iran regime exists for the purpose of genosiding Israel, the "little Satan". After that, they they want to kill the "big Satan" - The USA.
The Iranian regime is welcome to all the delusions they want to engage in. That is a Judeo-Christian ethic. But now, they are are without a nuclear program to carry out their religious delusional murders..... which is also a Judeo-Christian ethic.
Eye for an eye & Do unto others... It doesn't get done perfectly, but its a good model for freedom.
the overwhelming majority of the early church leaders (fathers) were premillennial and believed in a literal 1000 yr. kingdom.
today, 2/3 of christians are amillennial.
i do not want to imply that amilennialists, are not christian.
there are various legends around the year 1000AD of mass conversions and subsequent “great disappointments”.
@AnonyMous - But you must admit that has nothing to do with the statements from the early church leaders. Some of them were trained by the apostle John himself, who penned "The Revelation of Jesus".
They simply stated that it was a literal kingdom, which is obviously what John thought since he was still alive and was consulted.
The point of this thread is : When we as JW's went to doors and presented a literal kingdom point of view, as twisted as it was with all the heresies about a two-tier salvation, it was an anomaly to at least 2/3 of the Christians and totally new to the unbelievers. It resonated somewhat.
Many scriptures supported this view and it gave a false impression that the JW's were really smart.
Those blind sided by this tactic just lapped up the poison when they were further led to reject the new covenant "for the forgiveness of sins".
The reasoning was: Surely if the JW's were right about the literal kingdom, they couldn't be wrong about the new covenant not being available to everybody, right?
It was all just another Satanic misdirection, with a little truth mixed in.
It took me a long time to figure this out. It is so obvious now.
it’s been discussed before that few jw leaders, past and present, have had children.
this is in contrast with other groups, such as the mormons, whose leaders have had a lot of children.
i wonder if this has impacted jw growth.
Russell had a failed marriage.
Rutherford had a failed marriage
Knorr was not married for the first 9 years of being WT president. Then his new wife complained to other sisters that he never consummated the union.
Fred Franz never married.
WT leadership have not been what you would call "family men". They have created the greatest family killing machine ever devised. They were all weirdos.
The produced the joke book - "Family Life". How dumb can people be?
the overwhelming majority of the early church leaders (fathers) were premillennial and believed in a literal 1000 yr. kingdom.
today, 2/3 of christians are amillennial.
i do not want to imply that amilennialists, are not christian.
@AnyMous
There is not any evidence that the early congregation leaders believed, or set a date for God's Kingdom establishing in AD1025. That's ridiculous.
The early Church Fathers believed in a literal, earthly millennial reign of Christ, often referred to as chiliasm or premillennialism. Notable figures who held this view include Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Papias, Lactantius, and Commodianus. They interpreted biblical passages, particularly in Revelation, to support the idea of a future, physical kingdom established by Christ on earth.
Examples of early Church Fathers who held a premillennial view:
Justin Martyr:
He explicitly stated that he and other Christians who held correct views believed in a millennial reign of Christ on earth.
Irenaeus:
A student of Polycarp, who was a disciple of John the Apostle, Irenaeus also believed in a literal millennial kingdom, emphasizing a future period of earthly blessing and peace, following the Antichrist and the second coming of Christ.
Tertullian:
He was a strong proponent of a future, earthly millennial kingdom, seeing it as a time of joy and blessing for the resurrected saints.
Papias:
His writings, though mostly lost, are known through the works of others like Irenaeus. He is known to have held a premillennial view, likely influenced by his connection to the Apostle John.
Lactantius:
He also believed in a literal, earthly millennial kingdom, emphasizing the restoration of earthly conditions to their original, pre-fall state.
Commodianus:
This North African writer around 240 AD also wrote about a literal millennium, describing the overcoming of Antichrist and the blessings received during that time.
Many early Church Fathers who held to a literal millennial view did so in opposition to Gnostic teachings, which often spiritualized or allegorized biblical texts.
They emphasized the physicality of the resurrection and the future kingdom, contrasting it with the Gnostic tendency to view the spiritual realm as superior to the physical.
While premillennialism was a dominant view in the early church, it eventually became less prevalent, particularly after the rise of Augustinian amillennialism.
Watchtower sidesteps the problem with the Millennium following the return of Jesus by making him return invisibly. Then, they claim that he also invisibly appointed the WT corporation as the visible representation of the kingdom of God on earth.
Only cults pull stuff like this.
the overwhelming majority of the early church leaders (fathers) were premillennial and believed in a literal 1000 yr. kingdom.
today, 2/3 of christians are amillennial.
i do not want to imply that amilennialists, are not christian.
Found this on Quora. It is spot on. Hopefully this topic will open some eyes that the WT org isn't just a "different Christian denomination" like many believe, even after leaving.
the overwhelming majority of the early church leaders (fathers) were premillennial and believed in a literal 1000 yr. kingdom.
today, 2/3 of christians are amillennial.
i do not want to imply that amilennialists, are not christian.
@Vidiot,
I can appreciate your perspective. I personally don't mind if anyone wants to pursue a different worldview. I certainly did myself for around 8 years after exiting the JW community. It took me several years to understand what the WT was doing. It was important to me to figure out what the WT was hiding in plain sight.
The purpose of this post is to present the premillennial view. I believe it could be useful to some. If rejected, at least that person can know that it is not just a recoil reaction from the abuses of the WT.
the overwhelming majority of the early church leaders (fathers) were premillennial and believed in a literal 1000 yr. kingdom.
today, 2/3 of christians are amillennial.
i do not want to imply that amilennialists, are not christian.
The overwhelming majority of the early church leaders (fathers) were premillennial and believed in a literal 1000 yr. kingdom. Today, 2/3 of Christians are amillennial. I do not want to imply that amilennialists, are not Christian.
Nevertheless, that view is one that rejects the notion that Jesus Christ will physically reign on the Earth for exactly one thousand years. Rather, they interpret the "thousand years" mentioned in Revelation 20 as a symbolic number and not a literal duration of time. Amillennialists hold that the millennium has already begun and is simultaneous with the current church age.
This is what lead to the success at the doors I experienced when I was a regular pioneer for Watchtower. I regularly held 8-10 bible studies per month. Most of us were just ignorant pawns and didn't realize the theological landscape we were in.
The Kingdom message was attractive to many people because they never heard about a literal kingdom at their church. When a lady pointed out to me that hundreds of millions of people already believed in a literal "God's Kingdom", I was shocked and stopped going in field service.
The Watchtower used this "conversation opener" to spread the false message that there was another salvation method other than Christ as our personal Mediator / Savior - for the "great crowd". The unique WT views on the 1.) tripartite nature of man, 2.) 1914 invisible return of Christ along with 3.) the rejection of the Rapture, further supported their end times deception that Christ as a "personal savior" was not needed and not available.
For those wanting to understand the premillennial view of the end times (which is virtually synonymous with the early congregation leaders in the first 3 centuries after Christ) , the following talk is very helpful. It identifies who the great crowd is according to historical and accurate views handed down from the apostles. It will also walk you through the general framework of literal biblical end-times theology.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw3VLpd9Fm0&ab_channel=GracetoYou
i'll just shoot this short comment that i found interesting.
the gospel of mark at 15:22 says: then they brought him to the place golgotha, which is translated, place of a/the skull (singular noun).. it might be surprising to learn there is no ancient record of any topographical location called "place of the skull".
so, is that because of loss of information or is it suggestive that the 'place of the skull' had more christological meaning?
Just outside of Old Jerusalem’s northern wall, near the Damascus gate, there is a rocky hill that bears the resemblance of a skull... this is the likely location the Bible refers to as Golgotha and Calvary.
