JEHOVAH'S PROPHET
(Investigator 149, 2012 March) INTRODUCTION
Jehovah's
Witnesses (JWs)
believe they are led by a prophet appointed by Jehovah i.e. God in 1919
as his "mouthpiece" on Earth.
This prophet is a composite or collective prophet composed of a subsection of JWs known as "the remnant of the 144,000". A letter (Investigator 144) by one Brenton Hepburn who defends JWs on a website called "All Experts" requested a "right of reply" to the Investigator website. Hepburn wrote "a lot of what I read certainly was not the truth but half truths… I would especially like to address the so called prophecies because I will show NO Prophecies (in the Biblical sense) were uttered." Hepburn was invited to write but hasn't — therefore the following is presented. "KNOW
JEHOVAH" (1971)
The book
The Nations
Shall Know That I Am Jehovah"—How? (1971) was authored by Frederick
W. Franz (1893-1992) who was ranked second in the JW Governing Body and
was the main theologian and ideologue.
In 1972 JWs worldwide studied the "Know Jehovah" book in their "book study" meetings. They gathered weekly in small groups, mostly in private homes, and studied the book paragraph by paragraph. "Know Jehovah" gave the latest JW interpretation of the Old Testament book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel was a prophet around 600 BC who foretold the desolation of Judah and its capital Jerusalem. "Know Jehovah" teaches that Ezekiel has a second, i.e. 20th century, fulfillment in which Judah and its capital Jerusalem correspond to Christendom i.e. all Christian denominations (p. 127), and the prophet Ezekiel corresponds to the JW "remnant" of the 144,000. [In JW theology only 144,000 go to heaven. These were chosen by God throughout the centuries with a final "remnant" chosen from 1870 to 1935, all being JWs.] COMMISSIONED
TO SPEAK
Chapter
2 of "Know
Jehovah" is titled "Commissioned To Speak In The Divine Name". It
quotes Ezekiel 2:3-5 where Ezekiel is appointed as a prophet
"commissioned to speak in the divine name". (p. 56)
Pages 53 and 58 introduce the modern-day Ezekiel: As regards our twentieth century, the prophet Ezekiel well pictures the anointed remnant of Jehovah's Christian witnesses since the year 1919 C.E… (p. 53)Ezekiel's modern counterpart:
Ezekiel was "...a
true inspired prophet of Jehovah." (p. 277) Since the
JW prophet preaches Ezekiel's modern fulfilment as his counterpart we
expect his predictions to be equally "inspired". Indeed we're told that
the prophecy "will not fail":
That ancient type will not fail of fulfillment upon its modern, antitypical counterpart. Christendom The
Watchtower
magazine, on the same topic of modern-day "Ezekiel", states the
prophecy won't fail because it's from God Almighty: "And since no word
or work of Jehovah can fail, for he is God Almighty, the nations will
see the fulfillment of what these witnesses say as directed from
heaven." (1972, April 1, p. 200)
INVECTIVE
Franz
supplements his
double-fulfillment interpretation with abundant criticism, almost
invective, of "Christendom". For example:
mercy from Him." (125)> Labels such as "false",
"hypocritical", "Babylonish", "apostate", "harlot", "rebellious" and
"unfaithful" in "Know Jehovah" number several hundred. Also only
JWs are Christian, these being "Jehovah's Christian witnesses",
"Christian witnesses of Jehovah" and "true Christianity" — about 55
reminders. Other denominations are "so-called Christians".
With such intensive indoctrination many JWs must have finished the
weekly "study" fuming with self-righteous hatred of other religions.
With JW religion blameless and other religions entirely bad we'd expect
JW prophecies to be completely accurate:
"DAY
OF JEHOVAH" in "TWENTIETH CENTURY" or "FALSE PROPHET"
Shortly,
within our twentieth century, the "battle in the day of Jehovah" will
begin
against the modern antitype of Jerusalem, Christendom. (Know Jehovah, 1971, p. 216) "Know
Jehovah"
draws attention to the "twentieth century" 25 times including some
almost as clear as p. 216 these being pages 33-34; 113; 141; 255.
What is the "Day of Jehovah"? This phrase is common in JW writings. The "Watchtower Library 2007" (a CD of recent JW publications) lists over 1400 occurrences. The article Who Will Survive the Day of Jehovah? (The Watchtower 1995, September 15) states that this "Day" is:
To JWs the "Day
of
Jehovah" is Armageddon, when the entire world's population except JWs
is violently exterminated.
"Know Jehovah" as noted above, says that the prediction will come true. The book also implies that if it doesn't come true then the "Ezekiel class" will be a "false prophet": What a thrilling moment it will be when, during the coming "great tribulation" on this present system of things, the authentic news comes from all around the earth that the antitypical Jerusalem, Christendom, has fallen at the hands of Jehovah's executional forces! This will be a vindication of the modern-day Ezekiel class, to authenticate that they have not been a false prophet… (p. 286)Having specified the "twentieth century", and this prediction proving false, the "modern-day Ezekiel class" by its own criterion is a "false prophet". Other JW publications in the 1960s and early 1970s pinpointed Armageddon for the mid 1970s. (See Investigator #51) Therefore suggestive statements as follows were published regularly: The fact that fifty-four years of the period called the "last days" have already gone by is highly significant. It means that only a few years, at most, remain before the corrupt system of things dominating the earth is destroyed by God. (Awake! 1968, October 8, p. 13) PREVIOUSLY
A
previous detailed JW
interpretation of Ezekiel was published in three volumes titled Vindication
I (1931), Vindication II (1932), Vindication III
(1932).
The doctrine of a "composite prophet" composed of thousands of individuals was unclear back then. But Vindication does state, "Ezekiel foreshadowed…the remnant now on the earth." (Volume III p. 131), and "The entire remnant collectively is designated "the watchman"." (Volume II, p. 207) Vindication like "Know Jehovah" also set a time limit, this being "millions now living will never die" (Volume III, p. 192) and "It seems certain that there are millions now living that will never die." (p. 331) Since only JWs will survive Armageddon and very few JWs from 1932 are still alive — certainly not "millions" — that prediction too has failed. PROPHET
RUSSELL
Prior to
the Vindication
volumes the JWs — then known as "Russellites" and "Millennial Dawn" —
believed that God's prophet was one man, Charles Taze Russell
(1852-1916). For example:
Truly there lived among us in these last days a Prophet of the Lord; and although now he has passed from human sight, his works remain an enduring witness to his wisdom and his faithfulness! (The Watch Tower 1917, June 1, page 6091)Here is a sample of that prophet's prophecies: Be not surprised then, when in subsequent chapters we present proofs that the setting up of the Kingdom of God is already begun, that it is due to begin the exercise of power in A.D. 1878, and THE
FINISHED MYSTERY
The
earliest JW attempt
to interpret Ezekiel was in The Finished Mystery (1917). This
book was the "posthumous publication of Pastor Russell" (Preface p. 5)
and "of the Lord—prepared under his guidance". (p. 126)
It predicted Christendom's destruction in 1918 and the rest of the world after that: In one short year, 1917-1918, the vast and complicated system of sectarianism reaches its zenith of power, only to be suddenly dashed into oblivion. (p. 285) The
Finished
Mystery's interpretation of Ezekiel 2:3-5 where Ezekiel becomes a
prophet to Jerusalem is not a "collective remnant" but one man:
A like work was to be accomplished in Spiritual Israel, Christendom, after the Lord's Second Advent in 1874. The man raised up…was Pastor Russell." (p. 377) WHY
THE HATE?
As noted
above "Know
Jehovah" has many comments about "Christendom" comparable to
invective. Why?
JWs present themselves as the only genuine Christians, followers of Jehovah's prophet who alone understands the Bible. Yet all their prophetic dates have failed and numerous doctrines been revised, and it shocks their minds when pastors of "Christendom" expose it all. [Investigator 85 presented a calculation that The Finished Mystery — just one book and not counting others — has about 1300 interpretations that JWs later changed!] Rather than feel humility the JW leaders express a terrible rage. They've even called theologians "dumb dogs" and ministers "swine class". THE
"REMNANT"
JW
theology, as shown
above, teaches that the "remnant" is a "composite prophet". This
doctrine, however, is theoretical; it is not true in practice.
In practice most official JW books until the 1970s were written by one man without consulting the thousands who constitute "the remnant". Until 1916 the one man was Russell. Until 1942 the one man was Joseph F Rutherford the second president of their Watchtower Society. After that the main writer was Frederick Franz. A "governing body" was instituted in 1944 and for some books such as the New World Translation of the Bible several of these worked together. But Frederick Franz was the sole exponent of prophecy; any JW who challenged his theology was excommunicated. INFALLIBLE
BUT FALSE
Mr Hepburn claims "NO Prophecies (in the Biblical sense) were uttered." Possibly
Hepburn has in
mind Watchtower articles that state JWs are neither "inspired"
nor "infallible" whereas the Bible's prophets were "inspired". Being
non-inspired, however, would not relieve anyone who makes false
predictions of responsibility. All false prophets mentioned in the
Bible were non-inspired but accountable!
The JW "prophet" denies interpreting the Bible — God interprets and "reveals it": He merely uses the servant class to publish the interpretation after the Supreme Court [i.e. Jehovah] by Christ Jesus reveals it. (Watchtower 1943 pages 202-203)Such statements imply infallibility since God is said to be infallible. The JW
prophet is, we
learned above, "commissioned to speak in the divine name" and "no word
or work of Jehovah can fail". He corresponds to Ezekiel, predicted
Armageddon "within our twentieth century", and implied that if this
failed he would be a "false prophet" — which he therefore is.
CONCLUSION
JWs have prophets who correspond to Ezekiel. Their prophet from the 1870s was Charles Taze Russell whose predictions were false.
Afterwards the "remnant of the 144,000" became a "composite prophet"
claiming to dispense Jehovah's "interpretations" and "speak in the
divine name" but whose predictions were false.
(BS)
The Watchtower does not permit the
"right of reply"
but this website does because it seeks the truth: https://ed5015.tripod.com/ https://investigatormagazine.net Dictionary of Jehovah's Witnesses at: https://ed5015.tripod.com/jwdictionary/ |