The issue is as old as Eden itself, that being: Does God have the right to tell us what to do? That core question, more than anything else, defines what Jehovah’s Witnesses are about, in that we are outspoken advocates and supporters of Jehovah’s right as sovereign to require obedience from his creatures. The flip side of that is, of course, rebellion against God, which is expressed in numerous ways and on all levels of society.
It only stands to reason that since there are powerful enemies who are indisputably vehemently opposed to the rightful rulership of Jehovah God, that anyone who accepts Jehovah’s sovereignty would likewise come under assault by those very enemies of God. The history of Israel is in reality a chronicle of Satan’s tireless efforts to harass, oppose, and corrupt the nation and prominent individuals within the nation, by any and every means possible. Satan’s machinations against Christ and Christianity are no less evident in the so-called New Testament. Since the opposition to God’s rule emanates from the demonic realm, and to date the demons have not died, but continue from one generation to the next, for that reason, then, the pattern is set and the die is cast and a rule of “nature” is established, whereby any expression of Jehovah’s sovereignty is met with the same resistance.
By far it seems that Satan’s most successful efforts have to do with exploiting and corrupting our sexual nature. Indeed, the demons are unquestionably the most sexually perverse creatures in the entire universe, in that they willfully transformed themselves from their heavenly non-sexual nature, into a lower order of sexually oriented creatures. No wonder Jesus referred to them as “unclean spirits.” It is not at all surprising, then, that Jehovah’s sovereignty today, as expressed in the movement of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watchtower Society, is similarly challenged with the relentless efforts of the demons and their human agents to corrupt and oppose us. And because, individually, our Achilles’ heel is the tendency toward self-determination, particularly as regards the intimate matters of human sexuality, the efforts of our enemies are directed in that area.
Because the spiritual ring-leader and instigator of the rebellion, Satan the Devil, is a most treacherous and cunning deceiver, who is bent upon leading all mankind into outright opposition to Jehovah’s kingdom authority, and because humans have built in frailties that predispose us to rebellion, for those reasons it is not always easy to recognize the revolt against God for what it is. That’s why the Bible gives, not only the historical development of the rebellion, but it also gives a helpful profile of the rebel himself which aids our recognizing them by their fruits, as Jesus said we must do.
The letter of Jude and the 2nd chapter of 2nd Peter provide an exacting profile to help us identify the apostate from within. For example, after writing about God’s judgments upon the wicked angels and Sodom and Gomorrah, Jude writes: “In like manner, notwithstanding, these men, too, indulge in dreams, are defiling the flesh and disregarding lordship and speaking abusively of glorious ones.”
Thus the ungodly men who were foretold to slip into the congregations are said to be defiling the flesh and speaking against lordship and ridiculing those whom Jehovah considers to be glorious, in that they have an anointing from him. The very fact that Jude would mention apostates and fallen angels, as well as Sodomites, in the same context is extremely relevant.
Because the Watchtower Society is an expression of Jehovah’s lordship, due to the fact that the congregations are administered under the authority of overseers, who likewise use the authority of God’s word conferred upon them through Christ Jesus’ lordship over all the congregations of God, the Watchtower therefore becomes the special target of those in revolt against Jehovah’s Lordship.
Interestingly, verse 10 goes on to say: “Yet these men are speaking abusively of all the things they really do not know; but all the things that they do understand naturally like unreasoning animals, in these things they go on corrupting themselves.” The things of which apostates are ignorant have to do with Jehovah’s judicial decisions and purposes to allow the very error which they indulge in, until such time as He sees fit to execute his judgments. That’s why the Psalms point out that God’s judgments are high up out of reach of such morally stupid ones. But, just as cunning predators in the wild instinctively know the weaknesses and habits of their intended prey, so too, the things that apostates “understand naturally like unreasoning animals,” have to do with their exploiting human weakness.
First, the predator knows that trust is very fragile, and human nature being what it is, slander is relished and taken into the inmost parts, as the Proverb says. By speaking against lordship, the apostate seeks to create suspicion and distrust in the minds of Jehovah’s trusting sheep in the credibility of the faithful slave. Paul wrote about those in his day who were, “puffed up with pride, not understanding anything, but being mentally diseased over questionings and debates about words,” and who were glutted with “wicked suspicions.”
Thus, by exploiting the misdeeds and mistakes of the brothers, the apostate seeks to give the impression of being a liberator from Jehovah’s oppressive organizational yoke. That’s why Peter’s profile of the apostate says: “For they utter swelling expressions of no profit, and by loose habits they entice those who are just escaping from people who conduct themselves in error. While they themselves are promising them freedom, they themselves are existing as slave of corruption.” How true that is! Which is why the very ones who proclaim that they are the liberated slaves of the Watchtower are at the same time the very promoters of every form of sexual immorality and perversion, from masturbation to homosexuality to sexual masochism. And if not personally indulging in sexual promiscuity, the apostate makes himself a partner with those who are, congratulating the deviant and approving of their course, even as the 50th Psalm relates Jehovah’s judgments, saying: “Why, you---you have hated discipline, and you kept throwing my words behind you. Whenever you saw a thief, you were even pleased with him; and you sharing was with adulterers.”
Too, both Peter and Jude make mention of the fact that apostates have “followed the path of Balaam.” Meaning that like Balaam, the apostate seeks to lure others into immorality knowing that it would bring spiritual ruin upon their intended victim.
Because sexual morality is not the invention of the Watchtower Society, but is the very basis of Jehovah’s sovereignty over His creation, it is therefore evident by the very existence of the apostasy, with it’s rotten fruitage of sexual immorality, that more is at issue than merely the Watchtower’s authority. This forum is eloquent testimony that XJW’s are not merely fleeing an oppressive religious organization, as some are under the impression, but that they are in outright rebellion against any imposition of divine authority. Given the telltale signs in evidence, according to the pattern in Scripture, it should be obvious to those who are not blinded by their own arrogance, that just as in times past, the demons are very much at the center of the apostate movement today.
Can there be any doubt that God’s word identifies the present generation of children, many of whom were who were brought up in the truth, as we say, but who rebelled against the faith of their parents, by these words: “There is a generation that calls down evil even upon its father and that does not bless even its mother. There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes but that has not been washed from its own excrement.” / You Know