by xelder 13 Replies latest jw experiences
So last week, I was in LA.
I had e-mailed Randy...then called and he invited me over. We got to chat for a couple hours and it was a great time....I want to meet more of you.
I'm Santa Barbara, CA area. Me and a couple apostate buddies are getting together Friday evening....lots of good healing....thanks everyone
In the early days after Randy left the WTS, he performed a great service by publishing his "Thus Saith the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses" book.
For anyone who hasn't seen it, it's a treasure trove of photocopies of WT false prophecies and doctrinal flip-flops.
At the end of a whole section of WT false prophecies, Randy included a photocopy of a WT article denouncing false prophets, saying that the faliure of their prophecies proved that Jehovah wasn't guiding or using them!
I shared the contents of the book to a JW one time and within 4 months he left the organiztion.
I showed it to an elder and he denounced it as apostate literature. He stalked out the door when I asked him when WT publications stop being the truth and turn into apostate literature.
I appreciate Randy,,I think he is about one of the most active, long-lasting ex-JWs, available to so many,,yet not angry, with a good long-lasting Internet site,,does good networking with several others,,doesn't take himself too seriously and he proves to adapt to the needs of the diverse individuals leaving the WTS.
thank you my peeps!
today is a good day for bikeriding and MAYBE surfing...
Dogz
Hi Ding, or Randy,
Can you provide me with the reference to the WT article denouncing false prophets, saying that the faliure of their prophecies proved that Jehovah wasn't guiding or using them?
Thanks
SIAM
Here's some refs for you!
The Watchtower, October 15, 1958, p. 613
"'Sometime between April 15 and 23, 1957, Armageddon will sweep the world! Millions of persons will perish in its flames and the land will be scorched.' So prophesied a certain California pastor, Mihran Ask, in January, 1957. Such false prophets tend to put the subject of Armageddon in disrepute."
Awake!, October 8, 1968, p. 23
"True, there have been those in times past who predicted an 'end of the world,' even announcing a specific date. Some have gathered groups of people with them and fled to the hills or withdrawn into their houses waiting for the end. Yet, nothing happened. The 'end' did not come. They were guilty of false prophesying. Why? What was missing? Missing was the full measure of evidence required in fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Missing from such people were God's truths and the evidence that he was guiding and using them. But what about today? Today we have the evidence required, all of it. And it is overwhelming! All the many, many parts of the great sign of the 'last days' are here, together with verifying Bible chronology."
Paradise Restored to Mankind--By Theocracy, 1972 ed., pp. 353-354
"Jehovah, the God of the true prophets, will put all false prophets to shame either by not fulfilling the false prediction of such self-assuming prophets or by having His own prophecies fulfilled in a way opposite to that predicted by the false prophets. False prophets will try to hide their reason for feeling shame by denying who they really are."
Reasoning From The Scriptures, 1989, page 132
"FALSE PROPHETS - Individuals and organizations proclaiming messages that they attribute to a superhuman source but that do not originate with the true God and are not in harmony with his revealed will."
It is interesting that the Watchtower says of who false prophets are by what they predict to come to pass on a certain date, thus they are a false prophet! Those who are false prophets deny who they really are! That sounds just like what the Watchtower has been saying concerning what people say about them in reference to the years of 1914, 1918, 1925, 1975! The Watchtower says that they even set dates, the years of 1914, 1918, 1925, and that those predictions did not come to pass. The Watchtower said that those who predict a date, and it does not come to pass they are by their definition false prophets, and those who attribute their message to a divine source but yet does not come to pass are truly false prophets, not of God. Will the Watchtower read their own material and see what their own material says of themselves? The Watchtower is a false prophet Organization, and has covered up their false dates, and at certain times lied about what they have said. This information was done so that those of you out there who want to know the real truth of what the Watchtower predicted concerning 1975 and other dates would be able to see and investigate for yourselves. I encourage you to look deeper into this, and share it with Jehovah's Witnesses, and let them investigate it to see if what the Watchtower is telling them is true.
THE WATCHTOWER'S CLAIMS ON BEING A PROPHET OF GOD
"Here, then, since 1914, and particularly since the year 1919, after World War I had ended, we should look for the modern-day counterpart of the prophet Ezekiel. Who is Ezekiel's present-day counterpart, whose message and conduct correspond with that of that ancient prophet of Jehovah? Of whom today was he a 'sign' or 'portent'? Not of some individual man, but of a group of people. Being made up of a unified company of persons, the modern Ezekiel is a composite personage, made up of many members, just the same as the human body is...So it is with the modern-day counterpart of Ezekiel: it is, not one person's body, but a composite body, made up of many members. All the members were together to do the will of Jehovah, who is the Creator of this modern 'Ezekiel.' Who, then, are the group of persons who, toward the beginning of this 'time of the end,' were commissioned to serve as the mouthpiece and active agent of Jehovah? In order to determine this, check the history of 1919, the first postwar year after the first world war."
The Nations Shall Know That I Am Jehovah, 1971 ed., p. 70-71
"At the time, they might not view or appreciate him as a prophet of Jehovah. But whether they heard him as such or refrained from hearing and paying attention to him, the occasion was to come when these rebellious people would 'know also that a prophet himself happened to be in the midst of them.' Jehovah would confirm him as a prophet before them by causing what Ezekiel prophesied to come true...Likewise it was a trying mission upon which the modern Ezekiel class was sent, to religious people of the same type as those in Ezekiel's day. But regardless of how Christendom views or regards this group of anointed witnesses of Jehovah, the time must come, and that shortly, when those making up Christendom will know that really a 'prophet' of Jehovah was among them...Since the year 1919 C.E. the anointed remnant of Jehovah's witnesses have found it to be just like that as they have spoken fearlessly the word of Jehovah in the midst of Christendom."
The Watchtower, March 15, 1972, pages 186/187/189
"THERE is a real need today for someone to speak as a true representative of God. Why? Because things are taking place that people do not understandthings that greatly affect their daily activities, yes, their very lives. The churches do not have a satisfactory explanation. But God does have. Is there someone who can bring the truth of God's Word to the people, letting them know what is ahead and what they can do for safety and survival?"(page 186)
"Ezekiel was thereby commissioned. Note that he did not raise himself up to be a prophet. This difficult mission was not one an individual was likely to choose for himself. The fact that Jehovah appeared to him in a remarkable vision (and later in the vision revealed things to him that could not otherwise have been known by Ezekiel), also that Jehovah commissioned him directlyall these things prove that what Ezekiel said and wrote in his prophecy was inspired by Jehovah. He was in an outstanding way made a witness of Jehovah God. His being a witness of Jehovah is emphasized by his unusually frequent use of God's personal name."(page 187)
"Therefore, when it came time for the name of Jehovah and his purposes to be declared to the people, along with God's warning that Christendom is in her "time of the end," who qualified to be commissioned? Who was willing to undertake this monumental task as Jehovah's "servant"? Was there anyone to whom Jehovah's heavenly "chariot" could roll up and whom it could confront? More accurately, was there any group on whom Jehovah would be willing to bestow the commission to speak as a "prophet" in His name, as was done toward Ezekiel back there in 613 B.C.E.?"(page 189)
"It is of importance to every individual on earth to identify the group that Jehovah has commissioned as his "servant" or messenger. We must recognize and understand the warning that he brings. We need to take action on the warning to safeguard our lives, for they are in a danger as grave as that of the lives of Jerusalem's citizens as that city neared destruction. For this reason forthcoming issues of The Watchtower will further discuss the identity and work of Jehovah's commissioned messenger as revealed in His vision to Ezekiel."(page 189)
The Watchtower, April 1, 1972, p. 197/200
"So, does Jehovah have a prophet to help them, to warn them of dangers and to declare things to come?...These questions can be answered in the affirmative. Who is this prophet?...This 'prophet' was not one man, but was a body of men and women. It was the small group of footstep followers of Jesus Christ, known at that time as International Bible Students. Today they are known as Jehovah's Christian witnesses...Of course, it is easy to say that this group acts as a 'prophet' of God. It is another thing to prove it. The only way that this can be done is to review the record. What does it show?"(page 197)
"The scroll was doubtless delivered to Ezekiel by the hand of one of the cherubs in the vision. This would indicate that Jehovah's witnesses today make their declaration of the good news of the Kingdom under angelic direction and support. (Rev. 14:6, 7; Matt. 25:31, 32) And since no word or work of Jehovah can fail, for he is God Almighty, the nations will see the fulfillment of what these witnesses say as directed from heaven."(page 200)
The Watchtower, July 1, 1973, p. 402
"Consider, too, the fact that Jehovah's organization alone, in all the earth, is directed by God's holy spirit or active force. (Zech. 4:6) Only this organization functions for Jehovah's purpose and to his praise. To it alone God's Sacred Word, the Bible, is not a sealed book. Many persons of the world are very intelligent, capable of understanding complex matters. They can read the Holy Scriptures, but they cannot understand their deep meaning. Yet God's people can comprehend such spiritual things. Why? Not because of special intelligence on their part, but as the apostle Paul declared: "For it is to us God has revealed them through his spirit, for the spirit searches into all things, even the deep things of God." (1 Cor. 2:10) Jesus Christ praised his heavenly Father for 'hiding such things from the wise and intellectual ones but revealing them to babes.' (Matt. 11:25) How very much true Christians appreciate associating with the only organization on earth that understands the 'deep things of God!'"
The Watchtower 1974, June 15, page 381
"Similarly the "false prophet" is not a person, but is a system or an organization. A "prophet" claims to have inspired information for the direction of others."
Good News--To Make You Happy 1976, page 14
"It was because they did not write of their own impulse, but were inspired by God. What is here meant by the word "inspired"? It means that God, the Creator of heaven and earth, moved these men by his spirit or invisible empowering force, putting into their minds what they should write down as his "word", or message, for mankind."
My favorite is included in Brotherdan's list:
Awake!, October 8, 1968, p. 23
"True, there have been those in times past who predicted an 'end of the world,' even announcing a specific date. Some have gathered groups of people with them and fled to the hills or withdrawn into their houses waiting for the end. Yet, nothing happened. The 'end' did not come. They were guilty of false prophesying. Why? What was missing? Missing was the full measure of evidence required in fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Missing from such people were God's truths and the evidence that he was guiding and using them. But what about today? Today we have the evidence required, all of it. And it is overwhelming! All the many, many parts of the great sign of the 'last days' are here, together with verifying Bible chronology."
Think about this in the context of their pushing of the 1975 date: "Today we have the evidence required, all of it."
I'm in the Pasadena area, if you are in the area and want to meet, let me know (PM me)
We're here!!!
(We do love our Randy!!! )
Why is the pier so deserted?
A great bike ride..no hills..lol
Thanks for the video..makes me want to get a bike!
Snoozy
