[6-1-91 WT - Like ancient
Jerusalem, Christendom looks to worldly alliances for security, and her clergy
refuse to take refuge in Jehovah. Why, they do not even use his name,
and they mock and persecute those who do honor that name.]
[Ezekiel 13:3 This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has
said: “Woe to the stupid prophets, who are walking after their own
spirit, when there is nothing that they have seen…6 “They have visioned what is
untrue and a lying divination, those who are saying, ‘The utterance of
Jehovah is,’ when Jehovah himself has not sent them, and they have waited
to have a word come true. 7 Is it not an untrue vision that
YOU men have visioned, and a lying divination that YOU have said, when saying,
‘The utterance of Jehovah is,’ when I myself have spoken nothing?”’8
“‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: “‘For the reason
that YOU men have spoken untruth and YOU have visioned a lie, therefore here I
am against YOU,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.” 9
And my hand has come to be against the prophets that are visioning untruth and
that are divining a lie. In the intimate group of my people they will not
continue on, and in the register of the house of Israel they will not be
written, and to the soil of Israel they will not come; and YOU people will have
to know that I am the Sovereign Lord Jehovah, 10 for the
reason, yes, for the reason that they have led my people astray, saying, “There
is peace!” when there is no peace, and there is one that is building a
partition wall, but in vain there are those plastering it with whitewash.’
11 “Say to those plastering with whitewash that it will fall.]
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[9-15-88 WT- Why, learning that Gog’s attack is imminent
but that Jehovah will rescue His people ought to increase our faith and make us
rejoice that such events will result in sanctifying God’s long-profaned name!—Ezekiel
39:1-29.]
[Ezekiel 39:23 And the nations will have to know that
the house of Israel went into exile because of their own error, because they
were unfaithful to me.+ So I hid my face from them+ and handed them over to their enemies,+ and they all fell by the sword. 24 I dealt with them according to their
uncleanness and their transgressions, and I hid my face from them.’25 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign
Lord Jehovah says: ‘I will restore the captives of Jacob+ and have mercy on the whole house of Israel;+ and I will zealously defend* my holy name.+ 26 After they have been humiliated for all
their unfaithfulness toward me,+ they will dwell securely on their land, with
no one to make them afraid.+ 27 When I bring them back from the peoples
and collect them together from the lands of their enemies,+ I will also sanctify myself among them before
the eyes of many nations.’+ 28 “‘They will have to know that I am
Jehovah their God when I send them into exile among the nations and then gather
them back to their land, not leaving any of them behind.+ 29 I will not hide my face from them any
longer,+ for I will pour out my spirit on the house of
Israel,’+ declares the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.”]
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[1-15-04 WT- As foretold in Ezekiel chapter 38, Satan
will soon complete his role as “Gog of the land of Magog.” This will involve a
worldwide attack on Jehovah’s people. It will be an all-out attempt on the part
of Satan to break the integrity of God’s loyal ones. As never before,
worshipers of Jehovah will need to call upon him earnestly, even crying for help.]
[Joel 1:5,8,9,13,14- “Wake up, YOU drunkards, and weep;
and howl, all YOU wine drinkers, on account of sweet wine, for it has been cut
off from YOUR mouths. Wail, as a virgin girded with sackcloth does over the
owner of her youth. “Grain offering and drink offering have been cut off from
the house of Jehovah; the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, have mourned.
“Gird yourselves, and beat YOUR breasts, YOU priests. Howl, YOU ministers of
[the] altar. Sanctify a time of fasting. Call together a solemn assembly.
Gather together [the] older men, all the inhabitants of the land, to the house
of Jehovah YOUR God, and cry to Jehovah for aid.]
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[3-15-61 WT- The opening verse of Isaiah 29 shows that
these words are addressed to Ariel, concerning which the footnote of the New
World Translation states: “‘Ariel.’ Meaning, perhaps, ‘the altar hearth of
God’; or, ‘the lion of God.’ Designating Jerusalem here.” This prophecy would
therefore apply to spiritual Jerusalem as represented upon earth by the
remnant. These words show that God’s earthly organization would come under
attack and would be reduced to a very low state by the enemies of God’s
kingdom. God’s people would be, as it were, crushed to the earth, at the time
of Gog’s attack upon them,]
[Isaiah 29:13 Jehovah says: “This people approach me
with their mouth
And they honor me
with their lips,+But their heart is far removed from me;
And their fear of me
is based on commands of men that they have been taught.+
14 Therefore, I am the One who will again
do wonderful things with this people,+
With wonder upon
wonder;And the wisdom of their wise men will perish,
And the
understanding of their discreet men will be hidden.”+15 Woe to those who go to great lengths to
conceal their plans* from Jehovah.+Their deeds are done in a dark place,While they say: “Who sees us?Who knows about us?”+
16 How you twist things!*Should the potter be regarded the same as the
clay?+
Should what is made
say about its maker:“He did not make me”?+ And does what is formed say about its
former:“He shows no understanding”?+]
