Actually the WTS/GB are fulfilling prophecy FAITHFULLY. It is not that of Matt 24:45-47 but rather that of Ezekiel 13:1-16.
Who really is the faithful and discreet* slave whom his master appointed over his domestics, to give them their food at the proper time?
by Alex Williams 79 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Finkelstein
Very good Johnomos
Ezekiel
13 And the word of Jehovah continued to occur to me, saying: 2 “Son of man, prophesy concerning the prophets of Israel who are prophesying,+ and you must say to those prophesying out of their own heart,+ ‘Hear the word of Jehovah.+ 3 This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: “Woe to the stupid+ prophets, who are walking after their own spirit,*+ when there is nothing that they have seen!+ 4 Like foxes in the devastated places are what your own prophets have become, O Israel.+ 5 YOU men will certainly not go up into the gaps,+ neither will YOU build up a stone wall+ in behalf of the house of Israel, in order to stand in the battle* in the day of Jehovah.”+ 6 “They have visioned what is untrue and a lying divination,+ those who are saying, ‘The utterance of Jehovah is,’ when Jehovah himself has not sent them, and they have waited to have a word come true.+ 7 Is it not an untrue vision that YOU men have visioned, and a lying divination that YOU have said, when saying, ‘The utterance of Jehovah is,’ when I myself have spoken nothing?”’+
8 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: “‘For the reason that YOU men have spoken untruth and YOU have visioned a lie, therefore here I am against YOU,’+ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.” 9 And my hand has come to be against the prophets that are visioning untruth and that are divining a lie.+ In the intimate+ group of my people they will not continue on, and in the register* of the house of Israel they will not be written,+ and to the soil of Israel they will not come;+ and YOU people* will have to know that I am the Sovereign Lord Jehovah,+ 10 for the reason, yes, for the reason that they have led my people astray, saying, “There is peace!” when there is no peace,+ and there is one that is building a partition wall, but in vain+ there are those plastering it with whitewash.’+
11 “Say to those plastering with whitewash that it will fall. A flooding downpour will certainly occur, and YOU, O hailstones, will fall,* and a blast* of windstorms itself will cause a splitting.+ 12 And, look! the wall must fall. Will it not be said to YOU men, ‘Where is the coating* with which YOU did the plastering?’+
13 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘I will also cause a blast of windstorms to burst forth in my rage, and in my anger there will occur a flooding downpour, and in rage there will be hailstones for an extermination.+ 14 And I will tear down the wall that YOU men have plastered with whitewash and bring it into contact with the earth, and its foundation must be exposed.+ And she* will certainly fall, and YOU must come to an end in the midst of her; and YOU will have to know that I am Jehovah.’+
15 “‘And I will bring my rage to its finish upon the wall and upon those plastering it with whitewash, and I shall say to YOU men: “The wall is no more, and those plastering it are no more,+ 16 the prophets of Israel that are prophesying to Jerusalem and that are visioning for her a vision of peace,+ when there is no peace,”’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.+
17 “And as for you, O son of man, set your face+ against the daughters of your people who are acting as prophetesses+ out of their own heart,+ and prophesy against them. 18 And you must say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: “Woe to the women sewing bands together upon all elbows* and making veils upon the head of every size in order to hunt souls!*+ Are the souls that YOU women hunt down the ones belonging to my people, and the souls belonging to YOU the ones that YOU preserve alive? 19 And will YOU profane me toward my people for the handfuls of barley and for the morsels of bread,+ in order to put to death the souls that ought not to die+ and in order to preserve alive the souls that ought not to live by YOUR lie to my people, the hearers of a lie?”’+
20 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘Here I am against the bands of YOU women, with which YOU are hunting down the souls as though they were flying things,* and I will rip them from off YOUR arms and let go* the souls that YOU are hunting down, souls* as though they were flying things.+ 21 And I will rip away YOUR veils and deliver my people out of YOUR hand, and they will no more prove to be in YOUR hand something caught in the hunt; and YOU will have to know that I am Jehovah.+ 22 By reason of dejecting the heart of a righteous one with falsehood,+ when I myself had not caused him pain, and for making the hands of a wicked one strong+ so that he would not turn back from his bad way in order to preserve him alive,+ 23 therefore untruth YOU women will not keep on visioning,+ and divination+ YOU will divine+ no longer;+ and I will deliver my people out of YOUR hand,+ and YOU will have to know that I am Jehovah.’”+ -
DesirousOfChange
Sorry Mates............I mean ALEX has left the building.
(Alex! You can leave but you can never forget!)
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peacefulpete
Russell didn't object to the Spanish American War as he saw it as potentially toppling the Catholic Church's hold on Latin America. He also did not object to WW1 because of pacifism or neutrality as later leaders of the Jehovah's Witnesses splinter group would define it, but rather because he saw it as the unrest among the masses that would give rise to the return of Jesus. They felt their rapture/ascension was imminent and so they had no dog in the fight. That was in fact a very common position taken by many churches who likewise taught a premillenarian doctrine. Russell insisted he was not establishing a religion for similar reasons.
On this site there is a list of other churches who did not participate:
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RubaDub
I think his name is Sidney Goldstein... he goes by Sid.
He was in charge of the kitchen.
Rub a Dub
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sparky1
The Faithful and Wise Servant has morphed over the years.
First it was this gentleman:
Then as Jehovah's Witnesses moved away from 'creature worship' it became this group of people:
alive during 'this generation'.Now that Jehovah's Witnesses have returned to 'creature worship', this abomination has claimed for itself the title of Faithful and Discreet Slave:
The modern day Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, who claim to be part of an 'overlapping generation' of remnant of the 144,000 class. As a group they claim for themselves the title of the Faithful and Discreet Slave. As individuals they claim to be Domestics served by this body. That makes them the most 'self serving' individuals in the Jehovah's Witness religion.
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Alex Williams
'If in fact in 1919 the faithful slave was chosen as God’s channel on earth, and Christ Jesus, the Master approved of them, why is it that we do not still teach the things taught back then? Why are they considered, "old light"? Yet it was considered truth for that time. Truth does not revert back to falsehood if it was indeed truth to begin with. Why has the slave rejected what the master had approved of?"
The truth never EVER changes but the understanding of that truth has and will continue right to the END,
its like the bright morning light that grows brighter and brighter.Proverbs 4:18 NWT
But the path of the righteous is like the bright morning lightThat grows brighter and brighter until full daylight.+
I addressed this before as to why the understanding has evolved over the years,
does the passage say :
the path of the righteous is like the a bright morning light,that's its brightest in the morning as well as daylight?NO,its gradual progression ,brighter and brighter suggest learning and understanding in stages not full knowledge from the beginning,How can it be expected Zions Watchtower
have complete understanding of Gods will when the apostles who were with Jesus didnt completely understand his teachings even after he died and was resurrected?
Example:
Jesus said over and over his Kingdom was New Jerusalem in heaven not the earthy city in Israel,in fact he predicted the temple would be destroyed as proof.
New Living Translation John 18:36
Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.”Yet his followers asked this question after Jesus was resurrected
Acts 1-6 NIV
Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
Why would they ask this question about an earthly Kingdom over in Israel in view of his constant teaching about his heavenly New Jerusalem?
Because they didnt understand fully about New Jerusalem and they wanted relief right then from Roman rule,they had no idea Jesus was leaving soon to set up his heavenly Kingdom.
There are other instances when they didnt fully understand his teaching and would privately ask Jesus what he meant .
So the Slave in 1919 after leaving false religious teachings of Satan should have understood Jehovah's truths from the very beginning when Jesus followers who were right there with the great teacher didnt fully understand some of his basic teachings
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peacefulpete
I doubt you are even reading the replies but for everyone else: Take a look at Proverbs 4 and read it in entirety.
From my favorite poster years ago...
You just need to read the verse in its overall context -- "walk" is a metaphor for one's course of action in day-to-day life; a similar metaphor gave rise to the notion of "halakha" in accommodating the commandments of the Torah to the niceties of everyday life (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halakha). The behavior of the righteous man is contrasted with that of the wicked. The metaphor runs through the whole chapter at a number of different levels: the wise person is not to walk without restriction (v. 11-12), but neither is he to walk without regard to his footfalls lest he fall (v. 12), the path of the wicked is an alternate course to take that the righteous person is to avoid even if it seems easy (v. 14-15), the wicked stay up all night scheming of ways to make others fall who walk along their path (v. 16), the path of the wicked is a path of darkness where even the wicked cannot see what makes them fall (v. 19), the righteous however may start out in darkness but wisdom illuminates their way so that they may take sure steps (v. 18), the righteous person also has his eyes fixed on what lies ahead so he may watch his steps with care (v. 25), and he should step on places that are level and firm (v. 26), he should not swerve right or left from the path he is on (v. 27), and most of all he should keep his feet from walking towards evil (v. 27).
Have you ever walked in darkness without light to guide your way? You may be unsure of where to place your feet in case you bump into something or step down and loose your balance. The chapter is talking about wisdom providing a light that would help guide you on your way: "Do not forsake wisdom and she will protect you, love her and she will watch over you" (v. 6). The notion of the light increasing has nothing to do with the dispensing of "true understanding" from God in a progressive fashion. It is all about how an individual learns wisdom from his father's instruction (v. 1), by paying attention and gaining understanding from parental teaching (v. 2). The wise person says: "When I was a boy in my father's house still tender, and an only child of my mother, he taught me and said, 'Lay hold of my words with all your heart, keep my commands and you will live. Get wisdom, get understanding, do not forget my words" (v. 3-5).
In short, the meaning is not hard to grasp once you simply read the verse in its natural context. It is about what happens when a person grows up and learns how to properly behave by walking in his father's instruction. It is not about learning doctrines or having God gradually reveal his purposes to his special channel.
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peacefulpete
And lastly Alex, we all know that knowledge grows and a person's instruction is gradual, we are not stupid. We object to the notion of a special channel of divine knowledge that can not be challenged.
Verses like Prov 4:18 do not justify this. Passages that depict the disciples making mistakes or lacking understanding do not justify this. If the leaders of the church simply said we think this or that but you decide upon the evidence how to feel, there would be no objections. Instead some of us lost our families and friends because we questioned the interpretation of these men in power. That should be of concern to you as you have been explicitly told not to be here.
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Giles Gray
Alex Williams:-
" The truth never EVER changes but the understanding of that truth has and will continue right to the END,
its like the bright morning light that grows brighter and brighter."
Loosely translated... "Jehovah's Witnesses are forced to alter their teachings every time the Watchtower's understandings prove to be nothing but vacuous, fictitious twaddle made up by deluded megalomaniacs."