The Watch Tower Gave its Blessing to the US Army Fighting in WWI

by Leolaia 35 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  Leolaia

  MAY 30 FOR PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION

  In accordance with the resolution of Congress of April 2nd, and with the proclamation of the president of the United States of May 11, it is suggested that the Lord's people everywhere make May 30th a day of prayer and supplication. God was graciously pleased to cause the nation to be formed and to grow under the most favorable conditions in the world for the preservation of liberty, civil and religious.

  This is a land divinely ?shadowed with wings?--over-shadowed by the providential watchcare of God?s word--where God has lifted up an ensign on the mountain (kingdom), and where he has blown the trumpet message of the truth. Here the love of truth has for three thousand years attracted from all quarters of the world people who love God, love the Bible and love religious liberty. Here, practically alone of all the nations, exists in the fundamental laws of the land the safeguard that so long as the Constitution stands no law may be made nor any governmental action taken prohibiting the free exercise of religion, or abridging the freedom of speech or the press.

  Countless blessings have flowed to devout people through the wise provisions of the laws of the United States, blessing whose influences have been felt to the remotest corners of the earth, whenever even a spark of love for God-given freedom might be fanned into a glow. Here, more perhaps than elsewhere, exists that ?present? which shall be brought unto Jehovah (Isaiah 18:7), earth?s oblation (Ezekiel 45:1) to God of that class who, when in the age to come the restitution hosts shall be numbered, shall be found to have been ?born in Zion? (Psalm 87:5, 6), taken out of the world and given, in a figure, as humanity's present to their God, to be forever sons and servants of the Most High.

  This class love to ?assemble themselves together, and so much the more as they see the day approaching? (Hebrews 10:25), and they will be of all people the most ready to embrace an opportunity of gathering in an additional service of prayer and supplication. As says the spirit through the Apostle Paul: ?I exhort, therefore, that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour.? (I Timothy 2:1-3) Let there be praise and thanks-giving to God for the promised glorious outcome of the war, the breaking of the shackles of autocracy, the freeing of the captives (Isaiah 61:1) and the making of the world safe for the common people--blessings all assured by the Word of God to the people of this country and of the whole world of mankind. (1 June 1918 Watch Tower, p. 174)
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  bebu

  And wasn't this the year that the Lord came to inspect the churches?

  That is an amazing article.

  bebu
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  Leolaia

  From another article in the same issue:

  A Christian to whom may have been presented the perverted viewpoint that the Red Cross is only aiding of that killing which is against his conscience cannot help the Red Cross; then he gains the broader viewpoint that the Red Cross is the embodiment of helping the helpless, and he finds himself able and willing to help the Red Cross according to his ability and opportunity. A Christian, unwilling to kill, may have been conscientiously unable to buy government bonds; later he considers what great blessings he has received under his government, and realizes that the nation is in trouble and facing dangers to its liberty, and he feels himself conscientiously able to lend some money to the country, just as he would lend to a friend in distress.

  The Christian with the broadest mind is the one who is best informed Scripturally. Narrowmindedness invites troubles and persecutions for causes not even indirectly connected with true Christianity. (1 June 1918, Watch Tower, p. 168)

  And here is another article on the subject a few weeks earlier:

  The International Bible Student's Association is not against the Liberty Loan. Many of its members have bought and hold Liberty Bonds. . . .Every Christian obeys the law. The United States has always stood for religious liberty and freedom of speech. Every Christian appreciates the privilege of living in such a country and gladly meets his obligations in the payment of taxes. When the Government asks to borrow his money and gives its promises to pay in the nature of a bond, if he can do so he should buy the bond. (15 May 1918 Watch Tower, p. 152)

  Interesting, eh?
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  Kenneson

  It must be remembered that Joseph F. Rutherford and seven associates of the Watch Tower Society were sent to prison on June 22, 1918, most with sentences of 20 years. Their convictions, however, were reversed on May 14, 1919. But I'm sure that Rutherford never forgot and this cast an unfavorable shadow upon the U.S. government. Could it be that "new light" was created because of bitterness?

  Here's how Revelation Its Grand Climax At Hand, page 32 expresses it:

  "...Early in 1918 the Kingdom activity of Jehovah's people met with great opposition. It was a time of testing earth wide, and fearful ones were sifted out. In May 1918 Christendom's clergy instigated the imprisonment of officials of the Watch Tower Society, but nine months later these were released. Later, they were completely exonerated of the false charges against them. From 1919 the organization of God's people, tried and refined, moved zealously forward to proclaim Jehovah's Kingdom by Christ Jesus as the hope for mankind.--Malachi 3:1-3.

  "As Jesus began his inspection in 1918, the clergy of Christendom no doubt received an adverse judgment. Not only had they raised up persecution against God's people but they had also incurred heavy bloodguilt by supporting the contending nations during the first world war. (Revelation 18:21, 14) Those clergymen then placed their hope in the man-made League of Nations. Along with the entire world empire of flase religion, Christendom had fallen completely from God's favor by 1919."
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  Leolaia

  bebu.....Yes, that is a very good point, and the funny thing is that it seemed to fulfill one of the Watch Tower's own prophecies. By 1918, the schisms that plagued the Society since Pastor Russell's death had resulted in several other competing organizations that claimed to better carry on the legacy of Pastor Russell than the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. These include the deposed directors, P. L. Johnson, and others who claimed that the Society had apostasized and that the publication of the Finished Mystery violated Russell's wishes and falsely claimed to be the voice of Russell. That very book however contained a prophecy that suggested that God was going to give a "sign" showing who represented him on earth (Finished Mystery, p. 530):

  33:21. And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, The city is smitten .? In 24:25-27, after having cited the skepticism of the Jews as to Ezekiel?s message, it was stated that from the time of Jerusalem?s fall until the tidings of the fall should arrive, Ezekiel was to be dumb, having no new message to be heard by the people. The intervening prophecies, chapters 26 to 32 are not against the Hebrews, but against the heathen nations. The city fell on the eleventh year of Zedekiah?s reign, the fourth month, the ninth day (2 Kings 25:2, 3), from which to the coming of the tidings of the city?s fall, on the twelfth year, tenth month and fifth day, was one year, five months, twenty-six days. On that momentous day came the tidings, "The city is smitten!" Pastor Russell?s voice was stilled in death on October 31, 1916. If an application of Ezekiel?s period of dumbness is valid here as a time feature, the tidings, the realization that Christendom is smitten by the onslaughts of revolution, might be expected to flash throughout the world on or about April 27, 1918, a year, five months and twenty-six days after the death of God?s great watchman. As in Ezekiel 24:27, this would be a sign, an indication to Christendom of the truth of Pastor Russell?s commission from the Almighty.

  Note, first, that Russell was to have "no new message to be heard by the people" after his death. Rutherford's opposers saw in this an admission that their continued publication after Russell's death in violation of Russell's Will, and especially of the Finished Mystery book, disqualified them from the "commission" that Russell had. The very same book this statement appears in was billed as the "posthumous work of Pastor Russell", yet it claims that Russell would not send any further message until a beyond-the-veil message "on or about April 27, 1918" which was the date Babylon was expected to fall. The Society today maintains the date of 1918 as a vestige of the Finished Mystery prophecies, but note that there would be a sign "flashing throughout the world on or about April 27, 1918" indicating "Pastor Russell's commission from the Almighty". This date came and went with nothing happening to the great churches of Christendom. But it was after this date that the compromising articles appeared in the WT. Thus, many Bible Students concluded that April 27, 1918 was the last day God's favor rested on the WT and the organization fell from grace since then. Of course today, the WT claims the exact opposite: Jesus judged everyone else and bestowed favor upon the Society... A group of Bible Students defected over this very issue, the compromise of political neutrality, and called themselves the Standfasters by the end of the year. Here are some later comments by the WT on this sordid issue:

  "As if persecution was not enough trouble, the Devil began to cause divisions and fighting within the ranks of God's people in an effort to disrupt the organization from within. Some ambitious individuals in the organization began selfishly to seek power for themselves. They claimed that those in the headquarters of the organization, known as the Bible House, were compromising and were too broad-minded. They called them "broadviews." This, of course, led to confusion and misunderstanding among the brothers. What were they to do? Should they remain loyal to those in the Bible House or leave the organization? A number of persons who had prominent positions of oversight in the congregations left the organization. They called themselves the "Standfasters," getting their name from the Bible book of Galatians where, in the Authorized Version of the Bible, it speaks of standing fast in the "liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free." (Gal. 5:1) The Standfasters soon began wrangling among themselves." (Watchtower, July 7, 1964, pp. 441-443)

  "One compromise has been the cutting of pages from The Finished Mystery, this to please those who had assumed the position of censor. Another occurred when The Watch Tower of June 1, 1918, stated: 'In accordance with the resolution of Congress of April 2nd, and with the proclamation of the President of the United States of May 11, it is suggested that the Lord's people everywhere make May 30th a day of prayer and supplication.' Subsequent comments lauded the United States and did not harmonize with the Christian position of neutrality. "During World War I questions arose among the Bible Students as to the position they should take regarding military service. Some refused to participate in any way, whereas others accepted noncombatant service. Related questions arose about whether to buy war bonds and stamps. Failure to do so sometimes resulted in persecution, even brutal treatment." (1975 Yearbook, p. 119)

  "World War I was raging, and even though the most prominent brothers had been unjustly imprisoned over the war issue, the need for Christian neutrality was not fully appreciated by those taking the lead. A few who saw the issue clearly took offense and separated themselves from the Bible Students, calling themselves Standfasters. They warned me that if I stayed with the Bible Students I would lose out on being of the "little flock" of Jesus' anointed followers. (Luke 12:32)." (Watchtower, October 1, 1984, p. 22)

  "When Jehovah accompanied his 'messenger of the covenant" to the spiritual temple, He found the remnant in need of refining and cleansing. For example, The Watch Tower had encouraged its readers to set aside May 30, 1918 as a day of prayer for victory for the democratic powers, as requested by the U.S. congress and by President Wilson. This amounted to a violation of Christian neutrality." (Watchtower, June 15, 1987, p. 15)

  Remember, the Bible Students who accepted the Finished Mystery believed that Babylon was going to fall in 1918, and everyone else believed that the end was imminent, especially after the death of Russell. When those still associated with the WTS saw these articles and recalled the prophecy of a "sign" occurring around that date, and saw that the WTS had become just like the churches of Christendom in publishing those compromising articles, they also recalled the words "Get out of her, my people" and defected from Rutherford's WTS. The 1987 article however designates these defectors as merely he "chaff" that fell out of the organization when Jesus "tested them", and the compromise in neutrality is viewed simply as a tool Jehovah used to test Christians' loyalty to the organization.

  This raises a possible "spin" that the WTS might eventually put on the current "UN NGO" issue. They might one day say that it was one issue that was used among others (the internet, the abuse scandal) to test Christians loyalty in "God's organization". Those who left out of principle are thus construed as the weak-minded who didn't have the faith in these men in Brooklyn as being representatives of God on earth.
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  Leolaia

  bttt
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  frankiespeakin

  Ken,

  It must be remembered that Joseph F. Rutherford and seven associates of the Watch Tower Society were sent to prison on June 22, 1918, most with sentences of 20 years. Their convictions, however, were reversed on May 14, 1919. But I'm sure that Rutherford never forgot and this cast an unfavorable shadow upon the U.S. government. Could it be that "new light" was created because of bitterness?

  Actually if you look at the dates in Leo's quotes:( 1 June 1918 Watch Tower, p. 174) you see these men are cowardly trying to cover their tracks,, in hopes that they would not go to prison.

  Amazing 1914 made some good comments about this trial but I can't find it.
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  Leolaia

  I actually have the trial transcript somewhere at home....

  I'm surprised no one is commenting on this. Kinda old news, but still something that has current relevance because of the UN/NGO scandal. And of course it undermines the whole Babylon-the-Great-Fell-in-1918, and God's-Organization-Chosen-in-1919 doctrines....

  BTW, I just notice that the WTS is now claiming in the Daniel book that the Fall happened in 1919. I always thought they claimed it was in 1918.

  Leo
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  Brummie

  Very good leolaia.

  Are people also aware that the WT itself called the UN an expression of Gods kingdom on earth? They continually condemn Christendom for doing it but they also did it.

  Brummie
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  Leolaia

  Do you have a cite?