Reshaping History – How the Watchtower controls their image by editing their own past

gods-kingdom-rulesWhen Watchtower’s new ‘history’ book was released this summer it was said to have been released because their old one had too many pages. “God’s Kingdom Rules!” was presented as a slimmer, and therefore more translatable, volume than its predecessor.

I’ve recently had a chance to go through it, and I firmly believe its purpose is much more complex than we have been led to believe.

A key difference between Watchtower’s old and new history book is that the new version is meant to be studied at weekly meetings. The older Proclaimers book was merely a personal reference volume, and had no questions and answers for the paragraphs.

As a study book, each Jehovah’s Witness will soon be expected to study a lesson from the new history book and attend the requisite Q&A book group each week. Throughout and after this very long process, Jehovah’s Witnesses will be well-armed with its fallacies and fabrications.

“God’s Kingdom Rules!” is a carefully crafted whitewash of Watchtower history that cunningly converts past bitter defeats into glorious victories. The book is spectacularly Orwellian.

Rearranging history

The volume opens by attempting to thrill the reader into imagining they are someone from 1914 sitting in the room when Charles Taze Russell announces the “end of the Gentile times.”

Only the perspective of an ardent believer in Pastor Russell is given. What the book fails to mention is that many of Russell’s followers were disillusioned by the lackluster results of his predictions.

As with Harold Camping in 2011, Russell’s 1914 end of the world prophecy was a failure. Both cases left behind followers that either believed in what was cooked up next, or cut their losses and moved on.

Rather than being recognized as an abysmal and embarrassing theological failure, Russell’s failed prediction has been re-shaped as the triumphant herald of the end of an age. In quite dramatic fashion, the moment is portrayed as an exciting historical event rather than the depressing disappointment it truly was.

Only a few pages later do you find Watchtower’s new and improved embarrassment: the “overlapping generations” doctrine, designed to explain Matthew 24:34.

Over the past century, Watchtower has been forced to evolve. They have transitioned from setting hard apocalyptic dates to using the generation who witnessed the “events” of 1914 as an apocalyptic barometer.

Since this original generation have all died off, the doctrine has gone through some strenuous changes. The current contortion can be found in question and answer form very early into the book. It spuriously claims that two generations can actually be considered as one.

George Orwell, author of the legendary novel 1984, spoke about theocratic entities changing their history in this way:

“A totalitarian state is in effect a theocracy, and its ruling caste, in order to keep its position, has to be thought of as infallible. But since, in practice, no one is infallible, it is frequently necessary to rearrange past events in order to show that this or that mistake was not made, or that this or that imaginary triumph actually happened.”

The organization that controls Jehovah’s Witnesses around the world through its “ruling caste,” the Governing Body, is claimed to be infallible. Logically, it simply cannot err while continuing to claim a perfect status. However, being an entity established by humans, it does fail. When this happens, a “rearrangement” of the past is called for, which is exactly what the God’s Kingdom Rules! book accomplishes.

The beginning of the book somewhat desperately tries to convince the reader that God’s plan has been progressively revealed. This “new light” strategy is a perfect way to covertly accomplish what Orwell was talking about. It allows for a future restructuring of past events which are then portrayed as the progressive understanding of “God’s will.”

It’s a “get out of jail free card,” to borrow a Monopoly metaphor.

Jehovah’s Witnesses – conquerors of the courtroom?

Section 4 of the book, entitled “Kingdom Conquests – Legally Establishing the Good News,” sparked a special interest for me. It paints the Watchtower as under direct attack from Satan through the world’s legal systems and its citizens. Irwin Zalkin, who is currently battling in court against the Watchtower, had this to say about their practices:

“These guys will deny and deny, they are belligerent, they are arrogant, they treat victims as adversaries. This is not an organization that is ready to accept the reality of what they have been doing.” (Source: U-T San Diego)

Section 4 of the book attests to the accuracy of Zalkin’s observations. The language clearly indicates that Watchtower sees opponents in the courtroom as agents of the devil.

The book again attempts to alter Watchtower’s history by awarding the organization with the image of “conquerors” of the courtroom. Countless court documents over many decades paint a picture very similar to the words Zalkin used: arrogant and belligerent. Yet, within Watchtower’s new “history” book, they are portrayed as the valiant conquerors who vanquished the dragon.

The book cultivates this image by ignoring the negative and focusing on the positive. Granted, Watchtower has been involved in many landmark victories throughout the 20th century. They’ve even received attention from the outside world for their efforts to protect their freedom to propagate an unpopular message.

For instance, Joel Engardio, civil liberties advocate and creator of the documentary “Knocking,” had this to say about Watchtower in the courtroom:

“There have been nearly 50 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court involving Jehovah’s Witnesses that involved the issue of constitutional rights… We have to thank Jehovah’s Witnesses for being on the forefront of protecting everyone’s freedoms.”

Engardio is talking about giving credit where credit is due, as I understand it. However, Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t want any of the credit. This is clearly spelled out on page 156:

Why have Jehovah’s people won so many landmark legal victories? We have no political influence. Yet, in country after country and court after court, fair-minded judges have protected us from the onslaught of tenacious opposers and, in the process, have set precedents in constitutional law. Without a doubt, Christ has backed our efforts to gain those victories. (Read Revelation 6:2) Why do we fight such legal battles? Our intent is not to reform the legal system. Rather, our goal is to ensure that we can continue to serve our King, Jesus Christ, without hindrance.

They never intended to give the legal system a helping hand. Clearly, they do not concern themselves with the rights of others. Rather, their sole concern has always been running their doomsday propaganda machine without hindrance.

If they took an ounce of credit for any of the constitutional precedents they have helped introduce, they would be part of what they preach as being doomed. Within their theology the legal systems of the world, including their written laws, are merely things to be used until Armageddon comes and they are all destroyed.

Do we really owe them a debt of gratitude as Engardio claims? Are Jehovah’s Witnesses really team players in the battle for freedom?

Democracy on the chopping block

Unfortunately, Engardio isn’t the only one who buys into Watchtower’s side of the story. He, as well as people who see Jehovah’s Witnesses as brave defenders of freedom, need to take a good look at pages 26 and 27 of their new book. It shows the structure of the kingdom they predict will destroy the world’s governments and take their place. Atop this structure is the heavenly person who has allegedly been directing the Watchtower since 1914. This is what they have to say about their ruler:

“Enthroned in 1914, Jesus Christ is a powerful, just, wise and merciful King who is humble before Jehovah God. (Isa. 9:6, 7; 11: 1-3) Unlike imperfect human rulers, he cannot be corrupted, nor is he hampered by fractious congresses and parliaments or self-seeking lobbyists and special interests groups.”

As a religion founded in the United States of America, a system of checks and balances made the Witnesses possible in the first place. Before the advent of representative democracy, the world was mostly ruled by a slew of dictators who wielded absolute power.

In a world of dictators there was no freedom of religion, and an outfit like Watchtower could never have been conceived. They relied on these systems in order to even get off the ground, yet they make the claim that, in the future, humanity will revert back to the old ways with an established monarchy.

Watchtower has had many opportunities over the past 100 years to show that their organization is different, but they have completely failed in this endeavor. They have been plagued with scandals, cover-ups, false prophecies, and have shown utter disregard for the sanctity of life itself.

According to Watchtower’s record, any monarchy setup by them would undoubtedly be exactly the same as every other failed dictatorship that has ever existed. There is no reason to believe otherwise.

All they can do is desperately attempt to alter their past and misrepresent themselves to everyone as something they are not. Fortunately, we now live in a world that is interconnected through technologies such as the internet. It is now much more difficult to get away with changing your own past in the manner to which Watchtower has become accustomed.

People simply have more access to information than ever before. And knowledge is power.

 

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Further reading…

200 thoughts on “Reshaping History – How the Watchtower controls their image by editing their own past

  • January 7, 2015 at 2:49 pm
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    Hang on isn’t he one of our grand old spiritual guidance councillors, maybe that’s why I found myself rocking backwards & forwards in the fetal position.

    Kidding aside, I just can’t understand why I couldn’t see how out of touch with reality this religion is. They’re treating everyone like mushrooms.

    We had a sister make an offensive comment to my husband that really cemented our leaving…the statement was “well we know whats going to happen to them (worldly people), don’t we”. I said to my husband, if she ever needed an Ambulance Officer, a Policeman, an SES worker, a Doctor or a Firefighter in her hour of need, would she be asking them who they worshipped first? Would they ask her who her god is? People who are trained not to judge the lives they’re trying to save, who don’t have time for such pathetic thinking when an emergency is happening. How dare she make such hateful, judgemental comments. What makes me sick is that she would never make that comment to a ‘worldly’ persons face. Anyway, it made me so angry and upset but it also made me realise that she is just speaking the real thoughts of jw’s.

  • January 7, 2015 at 4:19 pm
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    I know I have mentioned this before, but many witnesses view “worldy people” as the walking dead and therefore worldy people just don’t matter and are all categorized as “bad association”
    @Grace is absolutely correct – when a witness needs a surgeon or a doctor or a lawyer or an accountant, they don’t look at this person and ask them what religion they are, as a matter of fact the witness is probably pretty glad that this person got the education required to help them.
    However when the witnesses are all huddled in the Kingdom Hall, they take on the group mentality that all worldy people are scary and bad and will be destroyed. What hypocrites.

  • January 7, 2015 at 4:42 pm
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    Remember my fellow brothers and sisters, “The better the university, the greater the danger!”

    LOL!!!!! I actually laughed out loud!

  • January 8, 2015 at 12:23 am
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    Just on a point of information, prior to democracies there were many monarchies which allowed multiple religions to flourish. After the reformation in the UK, Catholics were restricted but allowed and for the most part Jews were tolerated and thrived here. The Ottoman empire in fact allowed Christian and Jewish schools, and courts to run for their own communities and welcomed in Jews expelled from Spain during the Inquisition.

  • January 8, 2015 at 12:50 am
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    @gareth,
    Could it be that Watchtower is frightened of education? How far did the Catholic church go in suppressing bible translation?
    There has been some supreme examples of bravery, many write on this blog. What a privilege.

  • January 8, 2015 at 5:20 am
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    @Sam, consdering the history of religion, Jews fighting Muslims, Muslim s fighting Jews, Christians killing Muslims, Christians killing Jews , it’s not hard envisioning a world without religion. Seems Watchtower is just as intolerant towards those who disagree with their teachings also.
    If the Bible is correct, then maybe there will be a religiously free world. What a war that would be.

  • January 8, 2015 at 12:17 pm
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    Any monarchy set up by them would not be an equal society.
    Half the population ( Women ) would be in subjection to men,
    it would be administered entirely by men.

    Under the law women were considered as chattels, such as a
    mans house, or ox, or even ass, Ex,20/17, Paul retained from
    the law, not only the prohibition on un-bled meat, but also the
    backward idea of men’s domination over women 1Tim,2/11-15,
    (Where are the women on today’s gov, body) ?.

    No one should be in subjection to another person, or denied
    opportunities that are open to another. And to be commanded
    to remain silent as if ones opinion is of no value, is sheer
    oppression, slavery.

    For this reason, and many more regressive ideas, the fabled
    Kingdom no longer appeals to me.

  • January 8, 2015 at 2:04 pm
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    I really enjoy jwsurvey’s posts, wish they would post more often. Lot’s of comments prove there is an audience for it, hint hint.

  • January 8, 2015 at 4:10 pm
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    Tony@JW-TV: “Thank you brothers for sharing that very interesting perspective on the subtle, mental conditioning that can transpire when exposed to higher education.”

    *choke*

  • January 8, 2015 at 7:26 pm
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    I was very much deceived when I became one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1966. I was deceived into believing what the Watchtower printed in their literature such as an article they printed in 1951 in the Watchtower on page 320. I am going to quote the article word for word:

    Question? “Would one of Jehovah’s witnesses be wise to say he accepts as from the Lord and true each issue of The Watchtower even before he opens it? or should he say it is provided by the “faithful and discreet slave” but he will prove everything in it before accepting it? – L.P., Montana.
    Answer: If the heavenly Father would not give a stone or serpent or scorpion to a child who asked for bread or fish or an egg from him, and if The Watchtower is a gift from Jehovah through Christ by the “faithful and discreet slave”, are we to take each issue of The Watchtower into our hands as if we were going to be bruised by a stone or bitten by a serpent or stung by a scorpion? (Matt. 7:7-11; Luke 11:9-13, NW) Are we to be doubtful and suspicious about each succeeding issue? The Boreans first “received the word with the greatest readiness of mind”, and then they went “carefully examining the Scriptures daily as to whether these things were so”. (Acts 17:11, NW) So we should receive The Watchtower as an instrument that is always endeavoring to bring us the truth, if our past experience with it warrants that, and then, not in a combative spirit, we should Beroeanlike prove by the Scriptures what it says. That is what we want you to do, that you may be convinced and make these things your very own.”

    The Watchtower likes to give the impression that we as Jehovah’s Witnesses are free to prove what it says against the Bible, but what really happens if we should do that, is to call into question whether or not it is God’s Organization and will be labeled as Apostates if we dared to point out any inconsistencies.

    Anybody should be free to and not to be afraid to make sure that what the Watchtower prints is according to the Bible but that is not the case at all.

    This is another quote from that same 1951 Watchtower on page 192:
    “Respecting your vow in a denominational religious system: If you now discern that you were misled by clergy influence and acted upon a misunderstanding and without being consecrated to God, then your conscience may allow you to view that vow as something that you forsook when you turned from the political, commercial, falsely religious world and devoted yourself to the living and true God.”

    I don’t really get the double talk from that above answer from the Watchtower but it seems that when it comes to other churches, you are allowed to take back a vow to God if that person was “misled” by a clergyman.

    The Watchtower only applies that advice when it comes to other churches. When it comes to the Watchtower, you can’t believe anything it puts in print and if you find out about the lies, a baptized Witness will be disfellowshipped and shunned if you tell anybody else about what you have found.

    If anybody is reading these comments and is not baptized, think about what you are getting yourself into.

    Ask your study conductor what happens if once you get baptized and you decide later on that you don’t want to be a Witness anymore? Ask if you are under obligation to accept and preach as “truth” anything that the Watchtower comes up with in the future, even if what they come up with, doesn’t agree with what the Bible clearly says.

  • January 9, 2015 at 12:30 am
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    @Gareth. Good point you make about King & High Priest Tony comment about MENTAL & SUBTLE Conditioning in higher places of learning on the Latest TV SITCOM …’TV.JW.ORG’!!! Does make you Choke.
    @Anonymous. Enjoyed your comment about examine other religions & taking back your VOW to God of that religion if it conflicts with Scripture from the Bible!!! Hmmmm Now I wonder why that doesn’t apply to being Baptised as a JW.Back in the 1960s there was a Watchtower that said it was wrong to get baptised into an ORGANISATION ,But in 1985 the Baptismal Questions were changed & the second question CHANGED to being ‘Do you understand that your dedication & baptism identify you as one of JEHOVAH Witnesses in association with Gods spirit directed organisation ‘ !! When I was baptised the second Question was ‘on the basis of this faith in God & in his provision for salvation have you dedicated yourself unreservedly to God to do his will henceforth as he reveals it to you through Jesus CHRIST & through the Bible under the enlightenment of Holy Spirit ‘ !! WELL GOVERNING BODY what does THE BIBLE SAY !!! Yes the BIBLE!! You know GODS WORD not some imaginary F&D SLAVE which is a PARABLE (an illustration not to be taken literally) Please King ?? Tony !! Let’s All (7! Members of GB) READ The Scriptures (bit of a novelty this) at MATTHEW 28 v.19,20) !!Says it all Really!!

  • January 9, 2015 at 1:09 am
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    @ anonymous, very much deceived

    When the WT told me the GB is the faithful and discreet slave, I wondered, “so what I learned and believed since baptism, was never really true?” Ugh.

    Some WT teachings may be true; Jesus did mention paradise. But claiming to be the “faithful and discreet slave” is a lie, and a house of truth can’t stand on a foundation of lies.

    See the youtube video “Who really is the Faithful and Discreet Slave?” by Mr. Lee. He never mentions the WT by name, but he clearly explains how WT’s claim to be “the Faithful and Discreet Slave” is false.

    And that truth sets you free.

  • January 9, 2015 at 4:37 am
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    @Foundtobelies. I will have to watch that video. Also, Winston in 2 of his latest Watchtower Examination Youtube videos shows how the July 2013 Study editions of the Watchtower debunks 1914 for Jesus having taken Kingdom power and come to the earth for the judging. I can guarantee you that it was so cleverly hidden in all that gibberish that they called “new light” that nobody would have caught it though. But one thing is, that we can hold that little bit of information over any elder’s heads and surprise them with that little bit of info.

    The average Witness doesn’t know anything about the Bible and so they are easy prey for the Watchtower when they print all that stuff in their magazines and books like it comes from the Bible but what it actually is, is just works of fiction, made to read like it’s in the Bible.

    Read any paragraph in any magazine or book and you will see statement after statement made saying the Bible teaches this or that, but with no scripture to back it up. All Witnesses accept this made up stuff as fact with no backing up with scripture references at all.

    They are under total mind control, thinking that God is backing that organization but it’s just a book publishing company with free labor. All the Society has to do is throw in a scripture here and there, using the fear of being killed at Armageddon, and the Witnesses are duped into thinking it’s from the Bible, all of it.

    They get to believing their own lies. That is the Governing Body. Or else, if they know it’s lies, then they are bloodguilty for all the lives lost to their supposed “inside” knowledge from God and how they have deliberately deceived us all.

  • January 9, 2015 at 10:12 am
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    @ anonymous

    I suppose they do believe their own lies. How can anyone voluntarily preach something they know is false? I won’t.

    1914 is another piece of their foundation, but after two and a half millenia, it’s virtually impossible to accurately trace its origin. 607? 587? Who can say for sure.

    But whether 1914 is true or false, doesn’t really matter. The WT’s entire authority is based on a false claim. As Mr. Lee explains with simple, common sense logic, the WT is not “the faithful and discreet slave.” Once I realized that, I understood they have no authority. They’re just men who don’t like secular work, and only want to preach all the time. Let them fund their own organization.

    Ever since Freddie Franz, the college dropout, took charge, the WT has preached against “higher education.” Maybe the world will end next week, and today’s students will never graduate. But I don’t know that, and neither does the WT. My advice is to plan for retirement in this old world. Because if you end up retired and penniless, don’t expect any help from the WT!

  • January 9, 2015 at 10:30 am
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    @Found tobelies. I listened to that video you suggested 3 times and Mr. Lee has really good reasoning. There should be no place in our or anybody’s vocabulary that says anybody is “faithful and discreet” since only Jesus is the only one who determines who is the Faithful and Discreet slave and it’s at their resurrection that will determine whether or not they were the “faithful and discreet” slave. That would be presuming to call anybody faithful and discreet. I loved that point.

    Another really good video is the latest youtube video from exjwinternational, Jill Chandler. I have listened to that video several times as well. What is really disgusting is how the Governing Body uses donations to buy luxury condos for themselves when they say the contributions are extorted for the purpose of the “worldwide” work and that is called stealing!

  • January 9, 2015 at 1:58 pm
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    anonymous, do you mean the “worldwide message” video? Where is the part about the condos you’re talking about, because that video is 45 mins long? Or is there any proof presented to this claim?

  • January 9, 2015 at 2:18 pm
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    Gareth. Yes, it’s the last one, the 2015 Jehovah Witness World Wide Message. I don’t know about the proof of the condos but she sure seemed to know what she was talking about and she talked about it a lot. It seems like she was saying it’s in Fishkill, New York and they bought up luxury condos and they could have bought older ones but they wanted the best and she describes the condos and how the people that are living there have to get out now. Everyone should listen to her video. It was a real eye opener for me anyway.

  • January 9, 2015 at 2:36 pm
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    I’m not so sure about Mr.Lee’s video… He’s connecting Matt 24:45 to Matt 25:23 to Hebr 12:2. The connection between the first two is that they’re both parables involving faithful servants. The connection between the last two is they both mention “joy” related to respectively the master and Jesus. Therefore, the logic seems to be, Matt 24:45 should also see fulfillment in a heavenly resurrection/reward. I think this is quite a stretch from what the verses are trying to say; are you sure they’re both talking about the same shared “deeper concept” of joy?

    I think it’s simpler to dismiss watchtower’s use of Matt 24:45 by just saying it’s a parable; it’s one of the many ways of that chapter to put importance on “being awake when the master arrives”. In this parable, because those servants will be rewarded.

    If the GB is the faithful and discreet slave, then I can go to sleep; they will keep the watch for me? From their literature (and reality btw) I get a whole different feeling about it! ;-)

  • January 9, 2015 at 2:54 pm
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    The Bible is not structured like a computer program. Attempts to analyze it as such, with precise logic, will fail. You either get the idea of what Jesus meant, or you don’t.

  • January 9, 2015 at 3:44 pm
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    Gareth, I googled: Watchtower buys luxury condos and I came up with some information that seems true. What the article said was that the Watchtower paid $57,000,000.000 for a 250 unit luxury apartment building in Fishkill, New York and the sale closed in December, called the Rivercrest Luxury apartments. The name of the development manager is Tom Perna, for AVR Reality. The same source said it will be very difficult for the current residents to move since they haven’t been given very much time to vacate and some have children and the move will be difficult because it’s wintertime.

    The same article said Watchtower also bought a motel in the town of Newburgh on March 21, which was the former Hampton Inn on Route 300 and paid $21,600,000.00 for that.

    Also, the article said they bought a 48 unit apartment complex called Suffern Commons on June 2013 but the article didn’t say how much Watchtower paid for that one.

    There was a name to call concerning the information: Craig Wolf 845-437-4815.

  • January 9, 2015 at 5:15 pm
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    I called the number for that luxury condo complex and asked them if Watchtower had bought it and the girl said yes so it’s true.

  • January 9, 2015 at 5:31 pm
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    Maybe WT has wealthy donors, who don’t mind burning money on prime New York real estate. But even if WT moved to cheap land in the New Mexico desert, they would get no dollars of mine.

  • January 9, 2015 at 5:34 pm
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    When I was a little boy going to Sunday school, the parables
    at Matt,24-25, were explained as encouragement for each
    “individual” Christian to remain faithful throughout life or
    until the return of Jesus, ( “But he that endures to the end is
    the one that will be saved” Matt, 24/13 .)

    Similarly , the parable of “The sheep and the goats” is about
    separating “Individual” people into those who are faithful
    and those who are not. it’s interesting that the faithful sheep
    don’t claim any special assignment, and are not even aware they
    have fed Christ’s brothers, Matt,25, 37-40. The goats however
    insist they have always provided food Vs 44-46

    Taking the F,& D,S, parable out of this context has needed
    elaborate explanations by the G,B, to try and justify their self
    appointed position as the slave.. Not to mention several
    changes of identity passed off as new light.

    The Sunday school kept it simple and in context, and didn’t use
    a whole slew of scriptures to explain what was no more than a
    story to illustrate a moral principle. Jesus kept things simple too.

  • January 9, 2015 at 6:01 pm
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    Many of Jesus parables contain moral principles, and are easy to understand. But Matthew 24:45-47 indicates that some slaves receive a higher reward. Mr. Lee’s video explains how the WT’s claim to that reward is bogus.

    The WT’s bogus claim voids all authority based on that claim; i.e., they have no authority. It doesn’t matter what else they teach, true or false. Their authority is a lie.

    Use any good ideas they have. If a paradise earth is what you hope for, why not? But there is no reason to be enslaved by everything they teach. They have no authority!

  • January 10, 2015 at 5:24 am
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    Thank you for confirming that, anonymous. Will they be using it for warwick workers? Apparantly it’s a 52 min drive (according to google) so that seems a little long to me, but perhaps not to the average American :-). Also I’m wondering, don’t the people renting a place have any rights in the US? They can just be vacated like that… because the owner has sold the place they rented? I don’t think watchtower is being “evil” here (by “forcing” people to evict, ie. their rental contract expires). It’s a consequence of laws/regulations?

  • January 10, 2015 at 5:46 am
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    Ted, in Matt 25:44-45 the goats are not claiming they have provided food, they’re just claiming that they have never *not* fed the “Lord” when they have seen him hungry. There is a subtle difference; namely, in the case those goats have never seen the Lord. As the sheep too claim never to have seen the Lord, btw. The goats should have fed “the least of these” but they also didn’t do that; therefore they didn’t do it for the Lord in a figurative sense.

  • January 10, 2015 at 7:54 am
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    @Gareth, your point is well made and accepted.
    Thanks for your response, best wishes.

  • January 10, 2015 at 8:00 am
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    I’m sure they will act within the law to pursue the evictions, but not very ethical for a “religious” organization. I would love for one of the tenants to take a stand and spark some well needed publicity.

    As always, have enjoyed all the comments, especially Anonymous and Pickled Brain. Look forward to what you have to say. I could tie up the forum by just replying “ditto”!

  • January 10, 2015 at 9:54 am
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    Thanks Shanti!!

  • January 10, 2015 at 11:19 am
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    @Found Tobelies, “Attempts to analyse the Bible with precise
    logic will fail”, is a good comment, but as we know this is what
    the W,T, does. Dissecting every line, sometimes single words
    and bringing a host of scriptures to bear, often making a simple
    subject almost incomprehensible. Giving the impression that
    we’d never understand the Bible without their help.

    The F,& D,S, parable is an example of this, apparently we need
    to know not only the identity of the slave, but also who the
    domestics are, what are the masters belongings, and when does
    the slave receive them.

    All these aspects of the parable have undergone the switcheroo
    treatment, meaning that previous explanations have been failures,
    thereby proving your point.

  • January 10, 2015 at 12:28 pm
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    @ Ted

    Yes, the WT takes a good thing and gets carried away with it. They flip flopped several times trying to prove they are faithful and discreet. A video on that topic is on youtube too, by TheScrewedGeneration. I don’t have the old bound volumes he provides scans of, so I take it on faith they are genuine. But even they were fraudulent, Mr. Lee, with his common sense reasoning, makes them unnecessary to reach a verdict: the WT’s claim is false; they have no authority.

    I think I’ve said enough on that, so lest this go any further off topic, I want to thank James for his article.

    WT often fails basic journalistic integrity. Editing the contents of a magazine when printing the bound volume, without any notation or explanation, is wrong. It would be useful to have a list of all such edits, but nobody has 135 years of old magazines and bound volumes, so that would be impossible now. But some are well known, and even once is too many.

  • January 10, 2015 at 2:20 pm
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    .The Governing body say the LIGHT is Getting Brighter but I can PROVE THE CON is Getting BIGGER and BIGGER until the NIGHT TIME(Proverbs 4v18) arrives .There is NO FAITHFUL & DISCREET SLAVE !! Please COMPARE Matthew 24v45-47 and Luke 12 v41-48 which are both describing the same Faithful Slave or Steward ! BUT look CLOSELY at Luke’s account there are 4 YES 4 different outcomes..Not 2 as in Matthew
    1) Luke 12v43
    2) Luke 12v45,46
    3)Luke 12v.47
    4)Luke 12v48
    This proves it is just an illustration not something that has a particular application to real life scenario from 1919 !
    Plus when the GB say the Bible Students were chosen in 1919 as The F&D Slave because they were providing food at the proper time BUT Russell himself was called THE FAITHFUL STEWARD until 1927 as stated in The FINISHED Mysterybook!! So why would JESUS make the appointment when they didn’t know who they were!!!! Then from 1927 to 2013 the F&D Slave were the 144000 . Then BINGO!!! COME 2013 The F&D SLAVE are just the 7 MEN ,YES 7 MEN at world HQ whereas before that date the F&D Slave were 144000 anointed MEN & WOMEN and the GB were JUST REPRESENTATIVES of the F&D Slave!! Oh SILLY ME ! I forgot The LIGHT is GETTING LIGHTER ????

  • January 10, 2015 at 4:52 pm
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    The quote from finished Mysterybook is on page 418 that states Russell was Faithful & wise Servant mentioned at Matthew 24v.45 in King James Bible which bible students used. I will DEBUNK the 70 years desolation of Jerusalem from 607bc to 537bc theory?? Held by GB in future comments which is easily disproved after reading Carl Olaf Jonsons book Gentile Times Reconsidered.Plus it can be easily be shown false by reference to the Isaiah book part 1 produced by Watchtower which in turn disproves 1914 and if 1914 is false then 1919 is a FAKE when the SUPPOSED SLAVE was appointed!! Jesus & Paul were SLAVES of JEHOVAH!!Anthony Morris the THIRD?? a SLAVE???? Oh Please DON’T MAKE ME LAUGH……

  • January 10, 2015 at 5:43 pm
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    Tonight I was doing some research and came upon a scripture that I never noticed before and thought it was very entertaining. This is the way it reads from the old New World Translation at Isaiah 66:11

    “for the reason that you will suck and certainly get satisfaction from the breast of full consolation by her; for the reason that you will sip and experience exquisite delight from the teat of her glory.”

    Now this is how Isaiah 66:11 reads from the “cleaned up” but still disgusting new silver Bible: “For you will nurse and be fully satisfied from her breast of consolation. And you will drink deeply and find delight in the abundance of her glory.”

    I grew up on a farm and teat was not the way my father referred to what is on the cow’s udder if you catch my drift.

  • January 10, 2015 at 10:50 pm
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    “If any man shall say unto you then, Lo here is Messiah, or there, believe it not. For there shall arise false Messiahs, and false teachers, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that if it were possible they would deceive the very elect. Remember I have foretold you.” Matt. 24:23-25

    The deceivers here described certainly are not the fanatics who from time to time have claimed to be Christ and have deceived but few possessed of any degree of common sense and judgment.

    Various Protestant denominations, although they acknowledge no head except Christ, nevertheless practically make their Synods, Conferences and Councils into heads, from which they take their laws, usages, and confessions of faith, instead of the one only head of the one true Church.

    For a large period and to a greater or less extent these systems of men have so counterfeited the genuine Messiah (head and body) as to partially deceive many.

    (The above is taken from Russell’s work of the Study in the scriptures Vol. 4 “Armageddon”.)
    And does it not fit what Rutherford started? A so called faithful slave and Governing Body i.e. “Synods, conferences and councils.

    Never in any of his writings did Russell claim to be The Faithful Steward! Nor did he ever indicate that it was anything more that an illustration.
    Is Matt 24:45-47 an illustration or a prophecy which seems out of place. In both occurrences Matt 24 & Luke 12 it occurs after Jesus states “Keep on the watch”, and caries the idea that this is a house servant who is appointed over kitchen BEFORE the master leaves then when keeps awake so to speak receives reward by being appointed over all his belongings or household and this illustration not only is followed by 2 more illustrations but is similar to that of the illustration of the Talents Matt 25:14-30.
    So does not the Governing body fit the description by Russell of false Christ’s or Messiah and is the Faithful slave prophecy or just an illustration and a self appointed slave?

  • January 10, 2015 at 11:00 pm
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    Making sense of the “new understanding” in comparison to the older one is quite comical.
    1981 Watchtower
    The Slave recieves 1st appointment in 33 C.E. Before the master goes away!
    Then his 2nd when the Master returns 1914 and supposedly some time after his arrival 1918.
    2012 Annual meeting
    Slave master arrives 1914 inspects temple 1st appointment comes 1919 then 2nd appointment is yet future…
    Make sense of this..
    Jesus/master goes away 1914, but yet is still here and King, head of cong, and directing preaching yet somehow went away and doesn’t know if the Slave is doing the assigned work while being gone but somehow still here! And will appoint the slave over all his belongings if he finds him doing so, even though he is directing their work.. Confused yet?

  • January 10, 2015 at 11:06 pm
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    The illustration is quite simple…
    The Master Jesus before going away gives the slave the task of feeding his household while away…
    The faithful slave carries out the task…
    The wicked slave calculates that the Master will be gone a long time and slacks off to be punished when the Master arrives…
    The faithful slave receives reward of being put in charge of all his belongings that is his whole household.
    A simple illustration about keeping on the Watch…

  • January 11, 2015 at 12:03 am
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    @Brad . I like your line of reasoning.Yes it is just an illustration about keeping on the Watch. pure & simple .

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