Q4) As foretold in Malachi's prophecy, what did Jehovah and Christ Jesus find when they came to the spiritual temple for inspection?4) The prophecy of Malachi foretold that Jehovah, "the true Lord," accompanied by his "messenger of the covenant," his newly enthroned Son, Christ Jesus, would come in judgment to inspect His "temple," or spiritual house of worship. "The appointed time" for the `judgment of the house of God' to begin evidently arrived in 1918.* (Footnote: * For a detailed discussion of this subject, see The Watchtower, March 1, 2004, pages 13-18, and December 1, 1992, page 13.) (Malachi 3:1; 1 Peter 4:17) Those claiming to represent God and his true worship on earth were duly examined. The churches of Christendom, who for centuries had taught Goddishonoring doctrines and had been heavily involved in the massacre of World War I, were rejected. A faithful remnant of spirit anointed Christians were tested, refined as with fire, and approved, becoming to Jehovah "people presenting a gift offering in righteousness."-Malachi 3:3.
The sheer insanity of this paragraph just boggles the mind. First of all, the scripture they use in Malach 3:1, to support their claim that Jesus came and inspected his temple in 1918, is talking about John the Baptist preparing the way before Jesus, not a group of men battling for control of a new religion:
Malachi 3:1 "Look! I am sending my messenger, and he must clear up a way before me. And suddenly there will come to His temple the [true] Lord, whom YOU people are seeking, and the messenger of the covenant in whom YOU are delighting. Look! He will certainly come," Jehovah of armies has said.
Not only is that the consensus amongst scholars and ministers, but the WTS itself! For anyone who has the Society's CD-ROM, there is always references by way of footnotes in the scriptures you are looking at. When I clicked on the footnotes in this scripture, every single reference was to either Jesus, or John the Baptist; there is absolutely NO reference to this scripture talking about Jesus and Jehovah "inspecting" the WTS in 1918. So obviously, this idea was pulled out of their asses hat.
10) The faithful slave's heavy responsibilities would obviously involve much decision making. In the early Christian congregation, the apostles and elders in Jerusalem acted in a representative way, making decisions for the entire Christian congregation. (Acts 15: 1, 2) The decisions of this first-century governing body were transmitted to the congregations by means of letters and traveling representatives. The early Christians were happy to receive this clear direction, and their willing cooperation with the governing body promoted peace and unity.-Acts 15:22-31; 16:4, 5; Philippians 2:2.
This is bold faced lie. The scripture they use to back THIS claim up in Acts 15:1,2 does not say anything of the kind. In fact, it tells us just the opposite. It concerns "certain men" who tried telling the entire congregation, that "Unless YOU get circumcised according to the custom of Moses, YOU cannot be saved."But when there had occurred no little dissension and disputing by Paul and Bar´na·bas with them, they arranged for Paul and Bar´na·bas and some others of them to go up to the apostles and older men in Jerusalem regarding this dispute."
And what was the end result? Paul and Barnabas most certainly did not make the decision "for the entire congregation". After discussing the matter, they simply left it up to the individual person whether or not they wanted to get circumsized and gave them the following general statement as to Christian ethics:
Acts 15:28-29 For the holy spirit and we ourselves have favored adding no further burden to YOU, except these necessary things, to keep abstaining from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication. If YOU carefully keep yourselves from these things, YOU will prosper. Good health to YOU!"
11) In his life story, Albert Schroeder, a longtime member of the Governing Body who recently finished his earthly course, wrote: "The Governing Body meets every Wednesday, opening the meeting with prayer and asking for the direction of Jehovah's spirit. A real effort is made to see that every matter that is handled and every decision that is made is in harmony with God's Word the Bible."*
Sure they do. This of course, is in direct contrast to what Ray Franz wrote in Crisis of Conscience, where he revealed that the Governing Body do not use the bible nor do they pray when discussing doctrinal issues or when they want to enforce more man made laws on 6 million hapless souls.
Therefore, when we loyally submit to the direction of the faithful slave and its Governing Body, we are submitting to Christ
My only question to this is: When to they usurpe Jehovah's position officially?
all in the congregation view it as their sacred duty to follow and uphold the direction coming from the faithful slave and its Governing Body. Indeed, the "other sheep" count it a real privilege to assist the slave class in caring for the Master's interests.
Translation: Just think of the Master/Slave relationship in the Old South, and we'll get along just fine.
Even when I was a believer and really thought these guys were Christ's brothers, it always bothered me how much obedience and adulation they expected everyone to give them. Well, I hope the old geezers watch this board just to know what kind of respect we all have for them.