I used to claim to be a member of the anointed remnant. Why did I make claim to such a thing? What was it like? Was I just kidding myself? How did others in the religion of the Watchtower react and respond to my claim?
Of course what was really going on was that I was just reading the Bible. The experience of any Jehovah’s Witness who truly feels “called” to the heavenly hope is not rare at all. It is the experience of the almost 2 billion Christians on earth today. The only difference is that Jehovah’s Witnesses are told, even forced, to suppress the natural response the heart is supposed to make if one really learns about Christ.
For those who no longer believe in Christianity or theism, I mean no disrespect. Unlike the many believers who demonize and judge you, or “love” you “in spite” of your being an atheist, I am not like that at all. Because of my love and respect for my atheist neighbor I will try to compose this in a way that anyone can use this information to counter the teaching of Jehovah’s Witnesses on this subject. One could preface using these points by saying “for the sake of argument” certain or all aspects of Christianity were true, etc., etc., or something like that if need be. My points are not made to challenge or discredit the current convictions of my fellow ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses, the freedom to follow such you can always depend on me to defend regardless of what these may be.
Not Unique at All
If you read the New Testament, that is the hope that is held out, life in heaven with God. This is why it is not uncommon for many Jehovah’s Witnesses who are very serious about their faith to not have periods of conflict. Like all other Christians who read the Bible, a literal vocation to follow in the footsteps of Christ—a vocation to suffer, a calling to experience death, to follow Christ into heaven, to be with your Lord—this is what you read in Scripture and the invitation you see extended to you. It definitely reads nothing like what you find in the pages of The Watchtower.
But for those of you who have no frame of reference of what it is like to belong to a Christian religion outside the Jehovah’s Witnesses, you might find it surprising to learn that the so-called paradise earth hope is also held out to all Christians at the same time, being one of the basic premises of the faith of Christendom.
For example, practically all Christian churches make a profession of faith, if not weekly on Sunday then at least monthly or quarterly. They quote the ancient creeds together aloud, and whether you are Protestant or Catholic, the end of this profession ends with the words (italics added):
I believe in one, holy, catholic* and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come.
(*--The word “catholic” means “universal.” It does not mean that a person is a member of the “Roman” Catholic Church, which is that part of the Church Universal which views the bishop of Rome as the head of the church.)
If this creed is not used, the simpler “Apostle’s Creed” is quoted, which ends with the words (itallics added):
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting. Amen.
The creeds were developed before there was a canon of Scripture, so they give insight as to what the Church believed universally for the first few centuries. Note that in each creed reference is made to “the resurrection of the dead” or “the resurrection of the body” as well as “the life of the world to come.” These expressions are taken literally. They are not references to heavenly life, but of the beginning of the era of eternity that follows Judgment Day.
In other words, not only do Christians believe they have an immortal soul that goes to heaven to be with God after they die, they believe that their physical bodies will one day be literally raised (which is the only way they use they word “resurrection”—a physical re-standing and re-animating of the physical body), and with their souls re-joined with it they expect to enjoy “life everlasting,” what the creeds and their theology describe as “the life of the world to come.”
While this means something like experiencing “paradise” on earth like the Witnesses describe, it is not something experienced by members of a second-class of believers. It also far exceeds the Witness view, for Christians view this next era of existence as the “new heavens and new earth” of Scripture, when people don’t merely go to be with God after death but, on the contrary, as the Bible promises:
“Behold, God's dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them.”— from Revelation 21:1-6, verse 3 quoted, italics added.
So if you are presently a Witness or have left that faith and feel torn between the “two hopes,” then realize that the Witnesses are or have been forcing you to choose between something that all other Christian never have to choose between.
If we believe in God (and many who may not), it is only natural to want to see God face-to-face. It appears to be an innate desire. It is also natural to want to live life on earth in the best conditions possible. This also appears to be innate.
But unlike the Witnesses, Christians don’t view heaven as being a literal place. Since it exists outside of the physical universe, God’s dwelling of “Heaven” far exceeds one’s current experience of time and space. When one compares it to what the creeds and Scripture speak of, one thing is clear, namely that the experience of Heaven is not limited to the realms outside the confines of the cosmos.
Therefore it is not, repeat, not a unique feature of the Witness religion to believe in a paradise earth. It is also not unique that if you really believe in God and the Bible that you are going to want to respond to the heavenly calling held out in its pages. This is the normal everyday experience of every Christian you come into contact with and has been for the past 2,000 years.
This is also why no one outside of the JW religion ever seems impressed (besides those who don’t know their own religion very well) when Jehovah’s Witnesses talk excitedly about learning of the hope of a future paradise earth. If we are just finding out about that now, then we’ve been under a rock.
The Calling Is Not the Issue
Therefore feeling you have a “heavenly calling” is not the issue or the source of conflict. It is the teaching of the Jehovah’s Witnesses who force their way in and demand that their members choose, and then generally to only choose the paradise hope, that is what is causing the problem. Even looking at the Christian religion from the perspective of an outsider who might be studying it, it is clear that this calling from God is an earmark of what it means to practice Christianity, and it is also a very personal thing between a member of Christianity and their God. The Witness leaders therefore are guilty of forcing people to act contrary to personal conscience when they try to impose that their members must choose between one or the other.
In other words, if you are a Witness and confused about the heavenly calling and feel torn, the irritating factor is not your natural response. The issue is the problematic position that Witnesses force upon their membership. “No,” they say in effect, “don’t listen to what God’s spirit may stir up in your heart from reading Scripture or from your day-to-day personal prayer life. Ignore that and do what we tell you.”
Before the Current Change
Mind you, I made this claim of a heavenly hope many years prior to the current change in understanding regarding the Witnesses’ new teaching that there is no formal end to this calling. By comparison with others back then, I was relatively young.
But the official reaction of the religion to this was at least honorable. Back in my time elder bodies were instructed that persons who were otherwise unquestionably living outstanding lives were not to be questioned as to their sudden new claim to the heavenly hope. A “wait-and-see” response was cautioned as the only proper response.
This was not the way all of the elders responded to me, of course. About three of them, independent of one another (and at different times), took it upon themselves to come to my home and give me the third-degree (one did it in a dark room, with one light on me as if I was being interrogated) and questioned my "newfound" belief. They all practically said the same thing, asking: “Why would God choose someone like you to go to heaven? Why not instead choose someone like me?”
I had to calmly remind two of the elders that it was not their place to ask such a question and neither was I in a position to answer theirs. The third elder who was acting out the “bad cop” scene, him I allowed to get 45 minutes of ranting out of his system before I literally exploded in fury before him and told him he had no business coming into my home and telling me how to serve God in a matter that was private. I informed him that I was throwing him out now and that he was never welcome on even my doorsteps again, and that the incident was being reported not only to the rest of the elder body but to the circuit and district overseers (both of whom I knew and worked with regularly). I also very firmly made it clear that if he ever broached the subject again that he was going to get far more than mere words from me. Thank goodness there was a younger elder with him who immediately grabbed hold of this now-very-shocked elder, asked my forgiveness for their ‘shameful conduct,’ and quickly ushered this man off my property.
This is likely what lead to many “problems” with the other elders on the body that I had for the next few years. The jealousy factor was a horrible one. And because many of them allowed this jealousy to get the better of them, well this might explain why so many of those who “opposed” my claim to a heavenly call were eventually removed or stepped down from their position, even though I am not really sure of all the details as to what happened to everyone of these men.
It Feels Like…
Of course, after the first couple of rocky years my calling eventually became a non-issue. I was serving the congregation and a pioneer and had been hand-picked to do a lot of things on the circuit and district levels for conventions and assemblies. And because I had been a Witness for about 10 years before making such a claim, I had already enough history that the majority of those who knew me never questioned it or treated me as if they did not believe.
One of the questions I often got was what did it “feel” like to be of the anointed. To be honest it doesn’t really “feel” like anything. To this day—and yes, I am revealing it plainly here—I consider myself a Christian. To “feel” that I have the heavenly hope is as normal as it is to know I am a male.
The only factor that made it something I felt I had to make claim to while a Witness was when I realized I was going against my conscience if I claimed otherwise. In simplest terms, I knew I would be lying before God and man and denying myself and my stand as a Christian if I said I did not have the heavenly calling. Like most of us here, I never felt comfortable with lying. In fact, making any other claim would have made me feel I was denying God.
And that was that. I knew of other so-called anointed Witnesses, and at least back then in the 1970s I would considered that most of them if not all were being just as honest as I was about what we believed.
I also can tell you after talking with them and with what I experienced that the information that gets printed in the Watchtower and other publications does not, repeat, does not in any way or form come from the anointed class. None of us had any experience of being asked our viewpoint on things or to help in the process of teaching the congregations anything. We were not allowed to do research outside the publications, just like anybody else, and we were made to be unquestioning sheep just like everyone else. What goes in publications is provided not by an international class of Christians, but by the small group of the Governing Body.
Confronting this lie made by the Governing Body that “spiritual food” was provided by the “faithful and discreet slave class” was a major factor in my decision to leave, let me tell you. And it’s not that I wanted to teach or take leadership or lead anyone. It was hard enough work what I was having to do already for my congregation let alone having to produce “spiritual food” if ever asked.
And though the JW religion made a great appeal to my ego’s need for being stroked at first, in the end I had been changed by what I read in Scripture. When my ego began to weaken and I became less self-centric, so did my desire to remain a Jehovah’s Witness weaken and begin to die. In a sense you could saying taking the heavenly call seriously saved me.
Of course, what I believe in now and how I live my life as a believer does not resemble anything at all of my former Witness days. It was not easy unlearning things from them and re-learning others, but eventually it all happened.
But I’ve never looked back or yearned for those days of the Kingdom Hall. And I found real happiness and satisfaction and peace with my neighbor as a result.
