Telling 'householders' they are going to die at Armageddon

by rebel8 27 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  NeonMadman

  As an addendum to my comments above, I offer the folowing text from the Babylon book, pages 574-5:

  However, disastrous things can come from above as well as from underfoot. Showing that the air or atmosphere has been affected by the pouring out of the seventh bowl of God's anger is the fact that out of heaven there descends upon disobedient men a "great hail," with every hailstone weighing 96 pounds avoirdupois. Their falling with speed adds to the de­ structive effect of these tremendous "hailstones." Since hailstones are congealed water, this hailstorm pic­ tures that Heaven would send down upon worldly man­ kind a barrage of hard Biblical truths. These would be God's judgment messages for delivery by his Chris­ tian witnesses on earth. Instead of the good news of salvation by God's kingdom, the hard, unyielding message of God's vengeance against Satan's visible organization will at the last pelt men. It will presage their destruction.

  The symbolic hailstorm was not meant or expected to convert mankind at that late development of world affairs. So what was foreshown to the apostle John was that "the men blasphemed God due to the plague of hail." They did not call upon the name of Jehovah for salvation but blasphemed him because of the delivery of the judgment messages and the execution of them. (Joel 2:32; Romans 10:13) The fact that "the plague of it was unusually great" foreshows that at the last there will be an unusually great procla­mation of God's vengeance by Jehovah's witnesses. —Revelation 16:21.

  For the wicked ones there is no escaping from God's vengeance. In the Revelation picture, if they survived the symbolic earthquake, they would without fail be destroyed by the accurately aimed, executional hail­stones from the heavens. (Job 38:22,23; Psalm 148: 7,8; Isaiah 28:2,17) The full execution of the seventh of those "seven plagues" will bring destruction to all persons on earth who bring forth the wicked fruitage of Satan's spirit. But happy will those people be who get filled with God's spirit and produce its fruit!
• 

  Legolas

  We had a CO that said there would be a time that the preaching work would end I ask where in the bible that was he said John 9:4

  4 We must work the works of him that sent me while it is day; the night is coming when no man can work.

  He said the 'night' was the great tribulation and the preaching work would be done and I do remember people asking about the 'Doom message' that we would preach but I don't remember what he said.
• 

  Gopher

  What would the reason for such a "judgement message" be?

  Would it be so that when Armageddon comes, the householder can mumble "Jehovah, Jehovah!" while they're being destroyed? That's what Pharaoah said on the Watchtower's "Bible Drama" tape as he was drowning in the Red Sea.

  And what about the billions of people in China and India who couldn't be reached with this 'judgement message'? How would they know the reason for this Armageddon?

  That judgment message thing never made sense. Maybe that's why the WT Society isn't repeating it much these days.
• 

  Gill

  I only remember it being that the preaching work would change from a 'good news' message, to a 'warning' message.
• 

  blondie

  Per Legolas' comment:

  ***

  w55 1/15 p. 62 Questions from Readers ***

  Questions

  from Readers

  •

  Jesus said that the night comes wherein no man can work. Was he referring to the battle of Armageddon?—S. S., United States.

  Jesus’ words on this are recorded at John 9:4, 5 (NW): "We must work the works of him that sent me while it is day; the night is coming where no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the world’s light." He made these remarks when he restored sight to a man born blind. He was not talking about Armageddon. Jehovah sent Jesus to earth to perform works that would magnify God, make known his purposes. Jesus performed a work of spiritual healing, enabling those spiritually deaf and dumb and blind to hear and speak and discern the truth of God’s Word, freeing those held captive by false worship. Also in a literal way he brought sight to some physically blind, to give a striking display of Jehovah’s power.—Isa. 61:1, 2; Luke 4:17-21.

  So Jesus was speaking of himself and the works Jehovah sent him to do, and said that he must do them while it was day and before night came, for when night fell he would not be able to work. He also spoke of being a source of enlightenment as long as he was in the world, implying that the time would come when he would make an exit. His death removed him from the world, put him out of existence, plunged him into the darkness of the grave. It was as a time of night for him, a time when he could do no work. Jesus knew that the death state ahead of him would allow for no performance of work then, just as Ecclesiastes 9:10 shows: "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest."

  In Jesus’ case the nighttime void of works certainly could not refer to Armageddon, for he will be performing his mightiest work at that time, destroying wicked creatures on earth and binding into inactivity Satan and his demons, and completely vindicating Jehovah’s name. Nor can we conclusively say that Christ’s followers on earth will be wholly inactive. They will not share in the work of destruction, but they may keep right on doing the work they do now, which is singing Jehovah’s praises and warning the wicked of their destruction. From the words of Isaiah 6:11 it seems that they will be declaring Jehovah’s vengeance until the destruction of visible evildoers is completed: "Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate."

  So as Jesus used the word "night" in this text it merely meant the time of his judgment, impaling and death, during which time he would be unable to work.
• 

  Legolas

  Blondie...I wish I knew of that article back then...The guy was a BIG time JERK...the kind of man that believes woman should talk ONLY when spoken to!

  That &^$&*^$*&^*%&$*&^!
• 

  blondie

  *** w81 11/15 p. 21 ‘Stay Awake and Keep Your Senses’ ***

  We can expect a similar expansion of our preaching activity now, at this climax of the ages. No doubt, before the "great tribulation" is finished, we will see the greatest witness to God’s name and kingdom in the history of this world. And while now the witness yet includes the invitation to come to Jehovah’s organization for salvation, the time no doubt will come when the message takes on a harder tone, like a "great war cry." Revelation 16:21 shows that "a great hail with every stone about the weight of a talent [nearly 100 pounds] descended out of heaven upon the men, and the men blasphemed God due to the plague of hail, because the plague of it was unusually great." Hailstones are frozen, hardened water. So this pictures how, at the end, Jehovah’s judgment message sent down upon disobedient mankind will be like a barrage of hard-hitting hail. The fact that the plague of hailstones is spoken of as being "unusually great" suggests that at the very end there will be a hard proclamation of Jehovah’s "day of vengeance" by Jehovah’s servants.
• 

  Leolaia

  See also the infamous talk by Sunutko (delivered in 1967):

  "And then the cry 'Peace and Safety. We finally got rid of the old harlot, she's off our back. No more religion to bother us,' the nations say. Uh oh. There they are. Rearing there ugly heads up above the dust. Jehovah's Witnesses. Now with a message more fierce than has ever been heard before. Now with a taunt song to the nations. 'You see? We told you Babylon the Great was going down, was going to be destroyed, you said it would never happen, but you did it yourself. Now you're next. Jehovah will destroy you.' You think they're going to like that? That's when they all combine. All the communistic and democratic powers together, with one objective in mind: 'Wipe out those people' ".

  http://quotes.watchtower.ca/ServingWithEverlastingLifeInView.htm
• 

  VM44

  This "future history" given by Sinutko in 1967 never came to pass. He is now 96 years old and I wonder if he still believes what he said back then in his talk.
  

  --VM44
• 

  garybuss

  Soon witnessing will be done by thought transference. Invisible, like Jesus's return and the end of the world. The Jehovah's Witness publisher doesn't have to ring the door chime anymore, they walk to the end of the driveway and think some Witness thoughts they remember from the district assembly . . . Beware the voice of strangers, beware apostate web sites, obey, obey, obey. They wait for a reply. If there's no reply, they walk to the next driveway and repeat.
  
  I understand some are already using this method:-)