Posts by Zechariah

Martin Luther offered the first historicist interpretation of Bible prophecy. He boldly announced his divine inspiration that the Pope of Rome is both the Antichrist and the " man of sin " . Babylon the Great was understood to be the Roman Empire.

Rome was the 7 headed beast with 10 horns of Revelation with an emerging little horn that is recognized to be the papacy. The bold exposure of the papacy by the early church reformers gained them the label of Protestants and heretics.

This is by my own understanding the significant fulfillment of the prophecy. As it occurs with almost every historical event there are minor reinactments either before or after the significant one. This is what I believe has happened in regard to the Watchtower Society Compere the indictments of Martin Luther against the Papacy with that of ex-JWs against the Watchtower Society. The errors of the Papacy was pointed out in Luthers 95 Theses he posted on the doors of St. Peters Church. Luther was a bold defender of righteousness and is a excellent example for ex-Jws for what we desire for ourselves to be.

Definately the intent of ex-JWs is the same as the Church reformers and Protestants. They strove to expose the error and abuses of the Church as we do that of the WTS.

http://home.cvc.org/95.htm

Martin Luther accused the Pope of setting himself up as God in God's temple. The Pope is for certain the idol in the holy place. Observe in the link above just how this is so. JWs have definately done the same thing by their setting up their governing body that acts not only on Gods behalf but more often than not in his stead. You can surely quantify for yourself how this was done.

Also Martin Luther has accused the Papacy of sellng indulgences.This basically was a provision by which a person could buy themselves out of eternal damnation. Like this the JW can buy his salvation and live thru Armageddon by the extent of his service and loyal sacrafices to the WTS.

The first part of the 95 theses speak of people buying their way out of purgatory. Purgatory is that place between heaven and hell between salvation and damnation. JWs are taught to never be assumed of their salvation but to always be working it out by their deeds.

79. To say that the cross, emblazoned with the papal arms, which is set up [by the preachers of indulgences], is of equal worth with the Cross of Christ, is blasphemy.

80. The bishops, curates and theologians who allow such talk to be spread among the people, will have an account to render.

JWs treat Christ blood as ordinary blood not able on its own to save man. They have arbitrarily imposed without the support of scripture many rules as what "God Really Requires Of Us." Anything they put in writing automatically becomes divine law. Blasphemy indeed!

83. Again: - "Why are mortuary and anniversary masses for the dead continued, and why does he not return or permit the withdrawal of the endowments founded on their behalf, since it is wrong to pray for the redeemed?"

In thinking about this it made me wonder about the society's practice of encouraging members to include the WTS in their wills. They want to know well ahead of time that someone is willing to leave them an inheritance in case for any reason he changes his mind.

I bet they would never embarrass Michael Jackson with disfellowshipping or disassociation. First things first for them. Accusations of pedophilia and drug use aside no matter how many witnesses they have. It would really break my heart to see Michael self destruct and wind up dead only to have the Watchtower society profit by it and at the same time slander him when he can no longer defend himself.

92. Away, then, with all those prophets who say to the people of Christ, "Peace, peace," and there is no peace!

93. Blessed be all those prophets who say to the
people of Christ, "Cross, cross," and there is no cross!

94. Christians are to be exhorted that they be diligent in following Christ, their Head, through penalties, deaths, and hell;

95. And thus be confident of entering into heaven rather through many tribulations, than through the assurance of peace.

How interesting it is to discover that the futurist interpretation of Bible prophecy was the creation of defenders of the Catholic church. The intent was to divert the accusation that the papacy was and is the man of sin to a future political entity. It also has served the purpose of glorifying the church from a state of shame to prestige and prominence. It serves the purpose of JWs as it allows them to fabricate an interpretation of prophecy that validates their self created Biblical doctrines. And at the same time provides them with the means to control and steal from its members (indulgences).

May the spirit of the Catholic reformers be with all us ex-JWs as we suffer exommunication and spiritual death as they did. We are Christian martyrs of the same magnitude glorifying Christ and his true salvation that cannot be bought but is a free gift of Grace.

Zechariah
GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH

Edited by - zechariah on 30 August 2002 19:49:35

13

Jesus H Christ

by kenpodragon in

jw
friends

jesus h christ.

when people say this, i have to ask ... what does the h stand for?.

any clue?.

Zechariah

I always am fascinated by the etymology of words. Theone given by the Professor on Jesus H Christ was just that.

One of my favorite etymologies I've come to know from a Readers Digest the origin of the word crime. As I remember there was a old radio news reporter I believe who was Walter Winchell. He had the habit of saying about terrible things that happened "Its a crying shame". It became a oft imitated phrase which was eventuslly shortened to crime.
I hope you have found this interesting.

Zechariah

23

MATRIX fans, I need your help fast!!!

by Lin in

i'm working with bill bowen on a couple things and he and i .

are discussing through emails some points in the movie, matrix.

watched it again the other day, and still i'm stumped.

Zechariah

Past post on the Matrix

The movie "The Matrix" revisited

This weekend the TNT station replayed the movie "The Matrix" for three nights in a row. It will play again tonight at 8PM. If you have not seen it I encourage you to do so. Not only is it a great adventure movie but it is also extremely profound about the strange but true realities of life.

The following is a post from a couple years back when the Matrix first was released.

It was last year about this same time that I presented to you all on the board lessons from Stars Wars. Recently the same type of inspiration befell me in watching the new sci-fi thriller "the Matrix". There was obvious to me many symbolic representations of biblical prophecies that are far beyond chance.

Again the forces of light and darkness are pitted against each other. If you have not yet seen the movie I highly recommend you do. My commentary here on the movie should make the movie far more interesting.

Let me begin by summarizing what the movie was all about. A man named "Neo" had grown up in a modern earth society. He was contacted by a band of rebels who sought to defeat the controlling world government.He was contacted by these and abducted to their spaceship headquarters stationed above the earth.

Neo was placed in the care and training of Morpheus who began to train him with the notion that Neo was the promised one to deliver the world from oppression. It was explained to Neo that all of earth's society was a virtual reality computer simulation and that people had their consciousnesses (souls) transported into the Matrix while their real selves were being fed upon as batteries by the race of machines who a longtime took over the world in combat with humans years ago and used them as sources of energy.

The matrix was provided to keep the batteries (people) under control by making them content with the illusion they are living free, prosperous lives. This illusion is provided by a virtual reality program that creates a living environment that could not be distinguishable from the real thing. The reality of the real world is that it is a burned out cinder from nuclear warfare between the artificial intelligence machines and humans.

The rebel forces were comprised of persons who were freed from their captivity as energy sources and were devoted to now freeing others. Neo developed, trained for and fulfilled his destiny as the promised one who will set all people free of the Matrix. He successfully battled the agents of the machines who were supernaturally gifted warriors.

A major interpretation might be that the Machines represented Satan the Devil. The darkly uniformly dressed agents would represent the agents in Satan's command (the demons). The Matrix is the present modern system of things that although on the surface appears to be real and appealing is in many ways corruptly holding people in slavery together with oppressing them, draining them physically and spiritually.

Neo would represent Jesus Christ and his promised return and the rebel agents of light are Christ's angels. Morpheus is a John the Baptist figure commissioned to prepare Neo (Christ) for fulfilling his destiny.

A more minor interpretation would be that the Matrix represents the Watchtower Organization and the Machnes are again Satan the Devil or in this case that which places itself in his place the governing body. The agents of darkness are those in positions over the flock to keep them in line (the elders). The rebel agents of light are those who have escaped the organization (the matrix)and are seeking to help others do the same.

Neo and Morpheus are those spearheading the battle and training people for the battle (Armageddon) against the control of the organization. Such symbolisms identify "Babylon the Great" clearly as the Matrix.

It represents organizations acting in the place of God that would try to control and oppress God's people (all people everywhere whose heart is right with God). Jehovah's Witnesses are as such Babylon the Great as much as any other religion. It is prophecied that Christ will do battle with and destroy completely Babylon.

The key lessons of the Matrix are many..
- Our real selves, not our illusionary physical bodies provided us while we are in the Matrix (so called real life) represents the soul of man. Realizing this truth frees men from captivity to the Matrix and proves that the only limits as to what is possible for us in this fantasy life existence is that which we create for ourselves. Believing makes all things possible.

Peoples ultimate peception of what is real inside the Matrix is what determines their personal reality. The rebel agents like angels can be transported into and exited from the matrix and the temporary physical bodies they were provided with to fulfill their emergency rescue missions. Thus is possible for all angels of God as many seemingly average humans are angels of light on a mission however short in duration their earthly lives last.

There are many more important analogies and lessons to be extracted from the movie. Your thoughts about my imaginings will be greatly appreciated.

Zechariah

33

DID SATAN REALLY LIE?

by Mary in

jw
friends

i have a couple of questions that no one has been able to answer, as apparently, no one else at the hall has thought of it.

my question is regarding the command that jehovah gave adam regarding eating from the tree.

genesis 2:16 says "and jehovah god also laid this command upon the man: "from every tree of the garden you may eat to satisfaction.

Zechariah

Mary......

What I am inspired to understand that I feel is the answer to your question is that most all references to life, death and resurrection is speaking in a spiritual and not physical sense.

Together with the scripture you are questioning is the scripture stating "he that has faith in Christ will never die at all. "

The key to understanding all this scripture and others is knowing that what is being spoken of is spiritual death. That means being disconnected from the source of life the Creator. It is like not having access to the recharging of a battery. The machine can run on the battery for a length of time before it ceases to operate altogether. But the moment God disconnected from man man although physically still alive was considered instantly (in the day) dead spiritually.

Also there is "do not be afraid of he that can just destroy the body but not body and soul in Gehenna. Destroying the body is physical death. Body and soul in Gehenna is speaking of spiritual death. Realize Christ himself was in Gehenna for three days. His spirital death preceded his physical death. He had been abandoned or cut off from God before he was able to be killed.

Thus Jesus cried out at his death "Father, father, why have you foresaken me." This indicating his spiritually dead condition. His resurrection was thusly spiritual as he was resurrected in the sense of having his relationship restored with God.

Also is explained the first and second resurrection in Revelation. The first resurrection to a restored relationship with God could only occur after Christ ransom sacrafice and the foregiveness of sin. Until that time all men of righteousness (those that love God and neighbor) had to sleep in spiritual death until they were reconnected to God at this point.

The first ones of those thereafter to die as faithful followers of Christ will receive the first resurrection to serve for 1000 years with Christ within the first Millenium following Christ resurrection to spirit life. After the 1000 years there will be a resurrection for the rest of the dead both righteous and unrighteous.

After the release of Satan from spiritual bondage there has been a time of testing for mankind at the end of which there will be a final judgement in the last days of all of mankind and a deternination of who would be deemed wicked and suffer the second death. After this death and Hades will be cast into the lake of fire meaning only tat man would never die again spiritually .

Zechariah

4

Please share your formatting tricks

by Zechariah in

jw
friends

i have observed that posters have some neat formatting tricks.

the things i have observed that i would like to know how they are done are: (1) highlighting text in different colors (2) importing running sites and displaying html files right in the post.

......... whats the secret?

Zechariah

I have observed that posters have some neat formatting tricks. The things I have observed that I would like to know how they are done are: (1) highlighting text in different colors (2) importing running sites and displaying HTML files right in the post. ......... Whats the secret? Please ....... Zechariah..........

5

For to him who has more will be given

by A Paduan in

can someone tell me how jws view this scripture ?

and does anyone know where dungbeetle went?.

paduan .

Zechariah

Matt 13:12; Matt 25:29; Luke 19:26; Luke 12:48; Luke 8:18; Mk 4:25; Matt 13:12....................

I won't even venture a guess what JWs think of the accounts.

5

Connie Chung Tonight...

by Golden Girl in

jw
friends

well...i watched connie chung tonight..looking for the jw interview..but instead found her inteviewing her hubby morey...(sp).

one of the topics was bill clinton.

seems he is serious about wanting a talk show!...i had this great idea!.

Zechariah

Maybe he can lead them in the reparations theft that many agree with. And IF he gets a talk show, he will be in that limelight he adores.Animal

Animal..... I suppose you do not believe black people as a whole were stolen from institutionally by the government. Either that or you believe that might is right and that injustice experienced by some of the people must only be tolerated, forgiven and forgotten. If that is your thinking then you must accept the emergence of blacks to new political and economic power. This power enables them to demand retribution (reparations) for the institutionalized theft imposed upon them as a people. If that is theft it is legal theft with the intention of restoring good relationships of all people. ......... Zechariah......

5

Connie Chung Tonight...

by Golden Girl in

jw
friends

well...i watched connie chung tonight..looking for the jw interview..but instead found her inteviewing her hubby morey...(sp).

one of the topics was bill clinton.

seems he is serious about wanting a talk show!...i had this great idea!.

Zechariah

I really love the man warts and all. I think he will make a suburb talk show host of a type we have not yet seen. (===) I recently heard a news report how the old Apollo theatre in NY was being completely remodeled. It is preparing itself for its first time hosting of a hit Broadway show. The show is called "Harlem Nights" if I recall correctly and enacts a wide gamut of entertainment that has made the Apollo famous. The Apollo is a place near and dear to my heart as I have frequented the place many times as a young man. (===) The reason I am mentioning this here is that Bill Clinton has his offices as a ex-President now in Harlem. The attention he has drawn by his active presence there is revitalizing the Harlem Community. Clinton is a real hero for black people for many reasons. His talkshow would have to benefit greatly the black community as he owes them so much for his two terms in office to an extent that only black people appreciate. (===) I say then right on to brother Bill. I can't wait.
(===)(===) Zechariah (===)(===)

3

Give Us A King

by Zechariah in

jw
friends

give us a king .

what object lesson and prophecy does the bible provide of the development of organized religion?

how specifically does it apply to and was fulfilled by jehovahs witnesses?

Zechariah

Thanks GRITS,

(===) I am pretty amazed with the lack of responses and reads my post received. It good to know someone got something out of my post.

(===) Zechariah