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ARE JWs BEING LIED TO? B J Kotwall (Investigator 28, 1993 January) [The
original article
included some photocopied
material. The following reprint
has replaced the photo copies with quotations from them. – Ed.] In INVESTIGATOR
No. 23 I
demonstrated that
the Watchtower Society (WTS) encourages Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs) to
deceive
when it suits their purpose. The WTS calls this "Theocratic War
Strategy".
(The Watchtower 1957 May 1 p.285)
Most JWs are not aware that the WTS also practices Theocratic War Strategy on its own JW followers! The following are a few examples culled from a vast collection: ------------------------------------------- The WTS's second president, Judge Rutherford, gave a series of lectures starting in February 1918 titled "Millions Now Living Will Never Die". (1975 Yearbook of JWs p.127; The Watchtower 1979 October 1 p.26; Revelation – Its Grand Climax At Hand! 1988 p.173) Rutherford also wrote a book in 1920 of the same title and essentially the same message. The message was that the ancient "worthies" mentioned in the Bible such as Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Issac, etc would return in physical form to Earth in 1925 to take charge of the affairs of Earth and paradise on Earth would then start. Despite the
fiasco when
none of this happened
the WTS now lies and says that the lectures and the book were "based on
the Bible" and "fulfilled Bible prophecies". (Awake! 1990 April 22 p.7)
The WTS also recently implied that the lectures and book were titled
"Millions
Now Living May Never Die". (Awake! 1990 April 22 pp. 6-7)
In anticipation
of the
return of the "worthies"
a large house was built for them in the late 1920s at San Diego,
California
and named "Beth Sarim" meaning "House of Princes". (Salvation 1939 p.
311;
The New World 1942 p.104)
The WTS now lies
by
claiming that the house
was built for Rutherford because he was ill and needed to be in a
different
climate and that someone donated $75,000 to build it and that the WTS
had
nothing to do with it! (1975 Yearbook of JWs p.194)
The WTS
published a
"Biography of Pastor
Russell" (its first president) in special editions of the book The
Divine
Plan of the Ages from 1924 to 1927.
Yet in the book Jehovah's
Witnesses in
the Divine Purpose (1959) we're told that JWs have never published
a biography of Pastor Russell! (p.63)
From 1896 Pastor
Russell
taught that the
"faithful and wise servant" in Matthew 24:45 was one individual –
himself.
(Zion's Watch Tower 1896 March 1 p.47; 1906 July 15 p.229; 1923 March 1
p.68)
The WTS now says
that
Russell considered
the Servant of Matthew 24:45 to refer to a group and that he never
claimed
to be that Servant! (God’s kingdom of a Thousand Years has Approached
1973
pp.345-346)
The books The
Finished
Mystery (1917)
and Millions Now Living Will Never Die (1920) contained
hundreds
of false statements and false predictions. In the book Jehovah’s
Witnesses:
A Statistical Survey (1992) a sampling technique is used to show
that
The
Finished Mystery contained over 1,000 points which even the JWs no
longer accept! Yet The Finished Mystery is still often
mentioned
positively in WTS literature although access to it to inquirers is
denied.
The WTS now
interprets the
"two witnesses"
described in Revelation 11 as referring to the JWs around 1914-1918.
The
WTS reasons, "The fact that they were symbolized by two witnesses
confirms
to us that their message was accurate and well founded…" and that they
were at that point in time "God's prophets". (Revelation – It's Grand
Climax
At Hand! 1988 p.164)
Until 1914 the
WTS
maintained that 1914 would
see the full establishment of the Kingdom of God on Earth. (Thy Kingdom
Come 1891 p.126) The WTS now
pulls the wool
over the eyes
of JWs with statements like this:
"In the
'Watchtower'
magazine of March
1880, they said: 'The Times of the Gentiles extend to 1914, and the
heavenly
kingdom will not have sway till then.' Of all people, only the
witnesses
pointed to 1914, as the year of God’s kingdom to be fully set up in
heaven."
(From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained 1958 p.170)
Only part of the
sentence of 1880 is
here quoted. The actual teaching from the 1880s onwards was that the
Kingdom
was set up in Heaven in 1878 and would be established on Earth by 1914.
(Studies in the Scriptures Vol. 4- pp. 604, 624-625) The full sentence
in the 1880 Watch Tower reads:
"The Times of
the
Gentiles extend to 1914,
and the heavenly kingdom will not have full away till then, but as a
'stone'
the kingdom of God is set up 'in the days of these kings,' and by
consuming
them it becomes a universal kingdom – a great mountain and fills the
whole
earth."
Russellism
taught the
Kingdom of Christ
was established in Heaven in 1878. Studies in the
Scriptures
Volume 4 (1897) says:
"A
"generation" might be
reckoned as equivalent
to a century (practically the present limit) or one hundred and twenty
years, Moses' lifetime and the Scripture limit. (Gen. 6:3.) Reckoning a
hundred years from 1780, the date of the first sign, the limit would
reach
to 1880; and, to our understanding, every item predicted had begun to
be
fulfilled at that date; – the "harvest" or gathering time beginning
October
1874; the organization of the Kingdom and the taking by our Lord of
his great power as the King in April 1878, and the time of trouble
or "day of wrath" which began October 1874, and will cease about 1915;
and the sprouting of the fig tree." (p.604)
Pages 624-625 predicted the "earthly phase of God’s Kingdom" from 1914, to be ruled by physically restored "ancient worthies" like Abraham, Issac and Jacob. The WTS now
publishes
numerous lies about
what was predicted concerning the Kingdom. For example:
"They
particularly
heralded that the year
1914 was a marked year for the ending of "the times of the Gentiles"
(Luke
21:24, AV) and for the establishment of Christ’s kingdom in
heaven.
All this proved to be true and was verified by the beginning of World
War
I…" (The Watchtower 1966 September 15)
In 1941 the WTS wrote that World War II would not end in decisive victory for either side as Bible prophecy would not permit it, and America and England would turn into dictatorships. (The Watchtower 1941 December 15 p.372) Also the end of Nazi rule would mark the end of demon rule. (p.377)
Furthermore The
Watchtower of 1941
speaks of:
"the remaining
months
before Armageddon."
(September 15 p. 288)
Despite clearly
linking World War II
to Armageddon in this way the WTS later lied to JWs:
"During WWI
God’s people
expected it to
lead directly to Armageddon, but Jehovah prevented such climax at that
time. We didn't succumb to such an expectation during WWII."
(Kingdom
Ministry 1968
January p.5 – USA edition)
The WTS has
experienced complete failure
of all its predictions including for the dates 1914, 1925, 1942-45,
1975.
In addition it has made thousands of ridiculous statements. The
following
claim about The Watchtower being "consistently…dependable" is
therefore
a brazen lie:
"Since 1879 it
has been
published regularly
for the benefit of sincere students of the Bible. Over that extended
period
of time The Watchtower has consistently proven itself dependable."
(New World
Translation
of the Christian
Greek Scriptures 1950 p.793)
Obviously the WTS has regularly lied to JWs to further its hold on them. The WTS claims that "Jehovah’s witnesses" are not false prophets because they admit their mistakes! (The Watchtower l972 December 15 p. 762) Actually, the
false
prophecies do not originate
with JWs as a whole since a vote by all JWs to teach them is not taken.
The false prophecies originated solely with the leaders including
directors
of the WTS. Furthermore, the WTS is very coy about what it admits to
JWs
and, often, doctrinal somersaults are made without alluding to previous
beliefs.
The WTS has the temerity to claim that the "faithful and discreet slave" organization has replaced Jesus as the repository and dispenser of truth! (The Watchtower 1981 February 15 p.19) Why do the JWs not see through the lies taught by the WTS? Firstly the WTS has presented itself to JWs in such a Godly light that most JWs think it a sacrilege to question any of its pronouncements. Secondly most JWs have never read the older books of the sect nor have access to them since copies have been removed from the libraries in their "Kingdom Halls". Thirdly, the JWs are a "captive audience" which hears only one viewpoint. Opposers are labelled "apostate" and "like Satan" and their writings compared to "pornography" and JWs are ordered to shun them completely! The WTS has
backed itself
into a corner with
its own writings! Its own voluminous literature is its most potent
enemy!
The WTS has ignored Jesus' warning:
"For by your
own words
you will be justified,
and by your own words you will be condemned." (Matthew 12:37)
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