Hello everyone.
My name’s Eric Wilson, and I saw something in this week’s Watchtower study that left
me flabbergasted.
It was appalling.
Then, suddenly, a number of ideas that had been floating around in my brain for a while
finally coalesced.
You may look at what I’m about to reveal as trivial, even picayune, but I assure you
that it is a symptom of a much larger and serious ailment afflicting the organization
that we all once served and esteemed.
What brought about this epiphany is this illustration from this week’s study article.
Do you see it?
Perhaps you’re looking for subliminal images implanted in the clouds.
No, the problem is right before your eyes and is quite intentional.
Still don’t see it?
Or perhaps you do.
Either way, it begs the question, why did the JW.org artists paint our Lord Jesus Christ
in a cape?
He is never depicted wearing a cape in the Bible?
For that matter, no one is.
We are told that great care goes into the design of these illustrations.
They are a valuable teaching aid.
So what message is the organization transmitting?
What next?
Jehovah God sporting a cape?
What are the implications of Jesus in a cape?
The relationship of Superman to Jesus Christ is well documented.
Superman was sent to earth by his father to save humanity.
Take this clip from Superman Returns (released 2006).
In this illustration, Christ is depicted ready to do battle with the demons on behalf of
Jehovah’s Witnesses.
So, viewing Christ as a sort of super hero fits the narrative, but does it dignify the
majesty of the King of Kings, or does it trivialize it?
This is stupid thing they’ve done, and it is remarkable that no one at headquarters
caught it, or perhaps it is not remarkable at all, but something we should have expected.
Perhaps this is just like a boil on the skin that indicates there is a serious disease
polluting the whole organism.
One sometimes wonders if they have lost all good sense at headquarters.
It started to become evident when they took the unbelievably arrogant step of appointing
themselves as Christ’s Faithful and Discreet Slave.
From then, it went downhill.
We’ve seen them lying in court documents and under oath—for instance, to the supreme
court of Canada and to the Australia Royal Commission.
We’ve seen videos where they encourage a young child to donate her ice cream allowance
to the organization, while another video reveals a Governing Body member stocking up on almost
a thousand dollars worth of fine scotch.
They’ve promoted silly and contradictory doctrines that undermine their own theology
as if they are unaware of the repercussions of their new teachings.
They’ve made big issues of trivial things like how tight a man’s pants should be.
We’ve seen them disfellowship individuals who publicly objected to the hypocrisy of
a 10-year affiliation with what they call “the Image of the Wild Beast”, the United
Nations.
We’ve also seen them persecute child sexual abuse victims and then compound the sin by
blaming the victims.
Terrance O’Brien: “A person who disassociate himself…they’re taking the action…they’re
actually taking the stand to shun the congregation from themselves.
And they understand the implications of that.
Justice McClellan: “Why is it necessary for the organization to tell all of its adherents,
‘You must shun that person’?”
Rodney Spinks: “Because the individual has not taken the decision to no longer associate
or to no longer be involved with congregation activities, which is their right.
They’ve taken the decision to say, “I’m shunning the congregation.”
I could go on and on, but the point is, when is enough, enough?
When you point these things out to Witnesses, they blithely excuse it all as just human
imperfection.
If you have a business partner engaged in criminal activity and you choose not to know
about it—you turn a blind eye—you are still culpable under law.
It’s called being guilty of “willful blindness”.
The same is true with Jehovah God.
He looks at willful blindness as a punishable offense.
To dismiss all this as just human imperfection is nonsense.
Consider this: If the members of the Governing Body are chosen by Jesus out of all the billions
of humans on Earth to be his Faithful and Discreet Slave, then they must be the best
of the best, la crème de la crème, the finest Christians on the entire planet.
In the first century, the only nation on Earth that had God’s approval was the nation of
Israel.
The religious leaders of that nation thought they were the best of the best, la crème
de la crème.
Did Jesus excuse their misdeeds by saying, “Oh, that’s just human imperfection?”
Did they escape annihilation by the Roman Army because God overlooked their sins as
just human imperfection?
Some prominent politicians amass lie-counts into the thousands and nothing happens to
them.
Few seem to really care.
The culture of apathy is everywhere in the world.
We now see it in the way many Jehovah’s Witnesses look the other way when their leaders
do and say embarrassing or downright wicked things.
How could this have happened to the organization we once thought was the only true religion
on earth?
How did it happen to the Israel of Jesus’ day?
Have a read from Matthew 12:43-45.
“When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it passes through waterless places in search
of a resting-place and finds none.
Then it says, ‘I will go back to my house from which I moved,’ and on arriving, it
finds the house unoccupied but swept clean and adorned.
Then it goes and takes along with it seven different spirits more wicked than itself,
and after getting inside, they dwell there; and the final circumstances of that man become
worse than the first.
That is how it will be also with this wicked generation.”
(Mt 12:43-45) This is not speaking of demon possession,
but of demonic influence.
Before the Christ comes into our life, we are dominated by the spirit of the world.
Corinthians says, “Now we received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit that
is from God, so that we might know the things that have been kindly given us by God.”
(1 Co 2:12) So as the spirit of God fills us, the spirit
of the world, which is rebellious and demonic, leaves.
It is forced out.
Like slowly pouring water into a vessel full of oil, the oil is displaced, overflows, and
eventually empties out.
So, the spirit of the world that was within us, leaves—replaced by God’s holy spirit.
But what happens if we don’t keep the spirit of God within us.
If we do not work in accordance with the spirit, Jehovah withdraws it, leaving us empty.
We become like a house which has been cleaned but left unoccupied.
It is said that nature abhors a vacuum.
The same can be said for a spiritual vacuum.
Very readily the spirit of the world returns and brings with it seven more like it.
You will notice that at the end of this illustration, Jesus applied it to the entire generation
of Jews.
He said, “That is how it will be also with this wicked generation.”
Notice, also, that he is expressing this in the future tense.
The majority of people at that time ignored the message of the Christ.
It was a time of decision.
Some even went so far as to oppose it.
Whatever spirit God had poured out into them was slowlyl withdrawn and eventually their
situation became far worse than it had been.
The organization that I grew up in is gone.
The organization that is now is a totally different animal.
There were always problems, I admit, but there were also many good things.
When different ones ask me how this could come about, I have tried to explain it this
way.
In my opinion, this is what has happened to the organization, to any organization, and
it happens at all levels.
We can best illustrate it at the local level and then apply it farther up.
In any congregation, some have God’s spirit and others have the spirit of the world.
Often, both spirits coexist, vying for the attention of the host.
As one inclines toward good or bad, one spirit grows while the other withdraws.
Now, if you are on an elder body and you have the spirit of a pharisee, and it comes time
to recommend brothers for appointment, will you recommend a spiritual man who will challenge
you, or a fleshly man who will support you?
The spirit of the world and the spirit of God are like oil and water.
They do not mix.
Since the road to destruction is broad with many on it, those who have the spirit of the
world outnumber those who have the spirit of God.
Inevitably then the spirit of the world dominates in the congregation.
Bear in mind that Jehovah does not pour his spirit out on an organization nor a congregation.
The spirit of a congregation is the sum total of the spirit of all the individuals in it.
As spiritual men and women are driven out of the congregation, you get the effect Jesus
described in Matthew which we have just read.
There may come a time when there is no spirit of God left among any of the individuals and
therefore the congregation is lost.
When this happens at higher levels of an organization, all the way up to its leadership, then spiritual
men have no recourse when they’re judged unfairly at the local level.
To whom do they appeal?
They cannot appeal on the basis of Bible law for righteous decisions, because the spirit
of God does not exist at higher levels.
This is the current situation of the organization, and is the reason we are seeing such strange
things happening on a regular basis.
Because this is so different from what we have come to expect and believe, we find it
puzzling.
Peter tells us: “Beloved ones, do not be puzzled at the
burning among YOU, which is happening to YOU for a trial, as though a strange thing were
befalling YOU.
On the contrary, go on rejoicing forasmuch as YOU are sharers in the sufferings of the
Christ, that YOU may rejoice and be overjoyed also during the revelation of his glory.
If YOU are being reproached for the name of Christ, YOU are happy, because the [spirit]
of glory, even the spirit of God, is resting upon YOU.” (1 Peter 4:12-14)
We must bear in mind that the purpose of the congregation is not the salvation of humankind.
That is what the kingdom of God is for.
The purpose of the Christian congregation is to gather in those who have been chosen
by God to become his children and to rule with Christ and heal the nations during his
righteous reign.
Great power is to be given to these ones, and so they must be fully tested to ensure
that they never abuse that power.
This is our hope; this is our reward; this is a great honour that has been extended to
us, and indeed to all who will reach out for it.
Paul told the Romans: “. . .What, then, if God had the will
to demonstrate his wrath and to make his power known, and he tolerated with much patience
vessels of wrath made fit for destruction?
And if this was done to make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which he
prepared beforehand for glory, namely, us, whom he called not only from among Jews but
also from among nations, what of it?
It is as he says also in Hosea: “Those not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and
her who was not loved, ‘beloved’; and in the place where it was said to them, ‘You
are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’””
(Romans 9:22-26) Those withi and n the congregation of God,
within Christendom with all its many denominations, are like vessels.
The majority of vessels will be filled with God’s wrath.
A minority with his mercy.
Be assured that whatever trial you are going through, our Lord Jesus is aware of it and
will sustain you.
He is depicted in the Bible dressed in white, sword in hand, but no cape.
He is far more than any imaginary superhero.
He is second only to God, who is our heavenly father.
Jesus will both sustain and save those who are called “sons of the living God”.
But as for the rest, as Paul says, “it is righteous on God’s part to repay tribulation
to those who make tribulation for you.”
(2 Thessalonians 1:6,7) One closing remark: Some like to suggest that
it is wrong to find fault with the Organization, though one doesn’t have to search very hard
for faults.
These Watchtower Apologists say that we should just leave them be.
If people want to believe the things the Governing Body teaches, that’s their affair.
They like to view the Organization as the victim.
However, when a group of people are systematically trained to act hatefully to friends and family
members—in the name of God, no less—and when that hatred, masquerading as love, results
in the spiritual shipwreck of thousands, not to mention who-knows-how-many avoidable suicides…well,
I don’t think it’s righteous to cover that up.
Do you?
Just sayin’.
Thank you for watching.
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Until next time.