How did it come to this?
Worship of Jesus was declared to be an act of IDOLATRY!
We are going to examine the cataclysmic changeover in Christian teaching exploding inside the WatchTower religion in the early 50’s by exploring a background of the history of Jesus’ place in Christianity. JW teaching about the nature of Jesus’ importance in the salvation of mankind will be compared with Christian history. Finally, the reason for a dramatic demotion of Jesus as the central character in human salvation will be examined for motives.
_______THINGS WE NEED TO KNOW_______
There is a tension between Truth and Lies.
True things cannot self-contradict.
To arrive at a contradiction is to confess an error in one’s thinking; to maintain a contradiction is to abdicate one’s integrity.
Logic is the art of non-contradictory identification. No concept man forms is valid unless there is integration without contradiction into the total sum of all knowledge.
With that in mind, let’s take a peek at the origin of Christianity. What did it mean to become Christian?
______BEGIN at the BEGINNING_____
The changeover from Judaism to Christianity for 1st century Jews was wired directly into Judaism with the logical quest for the identification of Messiah or Christ. Did any person claiming to be Messiah fit the scriptures describing such one?
With the arrival of Jesus, a question arose spoken by him:
“Who do you say I am?”
"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
Peter answered, "You are the Messiah."
Jews who agreed with Peter’s identification of Jesus found themselves grappling with their personal understanding of monotheism, worship, and obvious distinctions in Jesus’ nature, character, behavior, and miracles compared with ordinary men.
The task of the Jews was to accept the miraculous demonstrations of love on the part of Jesus as convincing proof He / God loved them and wanted life eternal for them. Raising the dead man (Lazarus) back to life should have confirmed the penetration of the divine into their Earthly reality.
Jesus refers to himself not only as “the way” and “the life” but also as “the Truth.”
This meant Jesus’ miracles, in reality, represented the actual existence of the one true God among them, shepherding, and dying sacrificially on their behalf.
A large problem for Jews and Gentiles alike in accepting Jesus centered on intellectual efforts to understand the Divine Nature Christ had demonstrated in his miracles.
Opinions varied about Jesus.
1. He was only human.
2. No, he was half-human and half-god (Demi-god).
3. No, he was a human inhabited by a spirit.
4. No, he was the Logos, Wisdom incarnate.
5. No, he was ‘adopted’ by Jehovah and given an inheritance of divinity.
6. No, he was himself the God of Israel!
7. No, he was the archangel, Michael. . .
Yipes!
Where could all that diversity end except in disunity, quarreling, violence, and cries of Apostasy? Right?
Right!
If only some agreement could be reached to unite Jews and Christians in fealty, harmony, and true belief.
Was it possible?
______________UNITED believers in a UNIVERSAL Belief___
Around 101 C.E. in the days of St. Ignatius, Christians began referring to themselves a certain way. (as Katholikos).
From the Letter to the Smyrnaeans by St. Ignatius of Antioch:
“Wherever the bishop appears, there let the people be; as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.”
The Christians themselves called themselves katholikos. This signified a Universality or oneness in teaching and belief and the acceptance of the Redemption of Jesus as Christ.
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(NOTE: Until the conversion of pagan emperor Constantine, Christians were considered outlaw Atheists to be arrested, tried, and destroyed because of their impiety in denying the existence of everybody else’s god!)
From about 325 C.E. forward, Christianity would change from “beliefs about” Jesus into “belief in” Jesus, this singularity created a monolithic religion of Christianity in terms of Orthodoxy = Right Belief as well as purity of practice. Catholicism was organized into a Roman central authority. (Roman Catholicism would later permutate into a Greek Orthodox offshoot in Constantinople.)
_____DESTROYERS of CHRISTIAN UNITY____
Meanwhile, hard-headed splinter groups continued to exist in small hidden places of Europe throughout the centuries; and they never joined in with Rome or the Orthodox. They went by many names that changed with time: Waldenses, Lollards, Huguenots, Anabaptists, etc.
The above groups demonstrated a spirit of disunity, insubordination, schism, and self-aggrandizement. It is here worth noting: Jehovah’s Witnesses count themselves as spiritual kinsmen of this breakaway, renegade version of Christianity! They go a step further is saying these ragtag renegades were Jehovah’s Organization on Earth!
(The history of the influence of such insubordinate groups early on is cited by Eusebius in his Church History. He cites fistfights, mob conflicts, debates, insurrection, heresy, and finally departure from the main body of Christian concord.)
Catholic Christians were united in at least ONE central TRUTH: The agent of mankind’s redemption is Jesus Christ who is the representation of the Divine.
Without this being agreed there could be no Christianity, only sectarian opinions.
Without the worship of Jesus Christ, Christianity would merely be another superstition.
The language of Christian unity was contained in the compromise doctrine of the Trinity.
For all practical purposes, it was declared a “divine mystery.”
In other words, God Himself and divine nature is, ultimately, indefinable by humans.
The importance of creating a Doctrine such as the Trinity was to avoid polytheism. In his divine miracles, Jesus was NOT a separate god but the true expression of the real God.
___________ANSWERING THE QUESTION_______
At the top we stated: Logic is the art of non-contradictory identification. No concept man forms is valid unless there is integration without contradiction into the total sum of all knowledge. Now we ask a question related to this.
QUESTION: Can Jehovah’s Witnesses contradict Christ and historical Christian unity in the understanding of his divine nature and still be Christian themselves?
ANSWER: Jehovah’s Witnesses broke away entirely from historic and orthodox worship of Jesus Christ as the agent of mankind’s redemption in 1954. By identifying their ulterior motive in so doing, we expose the contradiction of all their claims of being Christian.
The simple answer is this: the WatchTower organization was going to replace Jesus Christ as the Redeemer! Organizational authority was going to become the Mediator wedging itself between Jesus and mankind.
This would destroy any claim to historic Christianity once and for all as blasphemy.
The early stages in this erosion came in 1931 when the name Jehovah replaced the name of Christian in the central identity of the WatchTower corporation’s adherents.
The WatchTower magazine began as a Herald of Christ's Presence
(On its front cover banner.)
By 1939, Christ was dropped and Jehovah replaced him.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom.
In the 1950’s, the WatchTower Bible (NWT) revealed an overhaul in language in its proprietary version of the Bible dismantling ‘meaning’ connected with the natural awe and worship offered to Jesus by his followers.
“Worship” was changed to “obeisance” applied to Jesus’ disciple’s reverence and spontaneous devotion to him. Noteworthy is this. Almost every other occurrence in the New World Translation translates proskuneō as worship.
The WatchTower leaders were building a Trojan Horse inside the hearts and minds of its members.
Without the authority to do so, the WatchTower New World Translation of the Bible summarily wedged in the artificial name JEHOVAH where Kyrios and Adonai are clearly indicated in the Greek.
What can truthfully be said about this artificial construct, Jehovah?
The name Jehovah was only formed in the Middle Ages in its current form - actually invented out of thin air!
The creators of the name Jehovah were Catholic monks!
The creation of the name Jehovah was arbitrary and willful.
The name Jehovah is the work of man!
Anyone who worships this name, turns to a human invention!
Anyone who says this name exists in the original Greek texts - is dissembling!
This insertion was part of a two step plan of displacement and replacement.
Jehovah’s Witnesses should actually be Jesus’ Witnesses since their leaders claim to be the Bride of Jesus. Instead, they invert the worship of the divine nature working in Jesus to objectification of an invented NAME of their human organization.
JEHOVAH’S ORGANIZATION is run by?---Men; weak, sinful, imperfect-- A Governing Body is men who make mistakes.
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE CLARIFY about the Name central to Salvation?
Acts 4:12 New International Version (NIV) 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Jesus)
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With the above in mind, we examine the cataclysmic changeover in Christian teaching exploding inside the WatchTower religion in the early 50’s.
How did it come to this: To worship Jesus was now declared to be an act of IDOLATRY!
"Reverent adoration should be expressed only to God. To render worship to anyone or anything else would be a form of idolatry, which is condemned in both the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures. Accordingly, true Christians do well to direct their worship only to Jehovah God, the Almighty." Awake! 2000 April 8 pp.26-27
For the next 45 years, the WatchTower continued to hold on to a public face of Christian worship in its Charter purely for show although this meant it was guilty (in its own injunction) of idolatry for doing so.
In 1999, the other shoe dropped--and so did the wording of the Charter.
In the 99 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses, in quoting the Charter, Jesus’ name is obliterated and replaced with ellipses . . .
"for public Christian worship of Almighty God … ; to arrange for"--
By 1954, Jesus himself had been toppled. Worship of the central authority figure of Christ in Christianity was demoted and replaced by the WatchTower organization.
How does this destroy Scriptural definitions of Jesus?
The Bible states that Jesus is our mediator, and his ransom is for all.
"… one mediator between God and men, a man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a corresponding ransom for all." 1 Timothy 2:5,6
The WatchTower teaching CHANGES the above to this:
"So in this strict Biblical sense Jesus is the "mediator" only for anointed Christians."
Watchtower 1979 Apr 1 p.31
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Which is it--is Jesus a mediator for ALL mankind or ONLY anointed Christians? Who do you trust? The Bible or the WatchTower?
Speaking of the Bible--how is a Christian supposed to understand the “true” interpretation of scriptures other than prayer to Jesus and reliance on God’s Holy Spirit?
Let the Watchtower explain this for you:
"All who want to understand the Bible should appreciate that the "greatly diversified wisdom of God" can become known only through Jehovah's channel of communication, the faithful and discreet slave" Watchtower 1994 Oct 1 p.8
For a Bible believing Christian should such a statement not inspire panic? The Bible without the WatchTower leaders is reduced to a worthless nothing!
Worldwide Security Under the "Prince of Peace" on page 10, paragraph 16:
“Likewise, the Greater Moses, Jesus Christ, is not the Mediator between Jehovah God and all mankind. He is the Mediator between his heavenly Father, Jehovah God, and the nation of spiritual Israel, which is limited to only 144,000 members.”
If Jesus is only mediator for the few thousand remaining anointed JW’s on earth, who is mediator for the millions of Jehovah's Witnesses that do not form part of the 144,000?
To the rescue comes--not Jesus--no-o-o-o-o, but who?
The Great Crowd has as its Mediator none other than the Organization run by a Governing Body of ordinary, uninspired, non- prophetic men! They are SELF-APPOINTED by circular process.
Step 1. The Bible describes a ‘faithful and discreet slave.”
Step 2. The WatchTower writers interpret the meaning of the scripture as a prophecy applied only to themselves.
Step 3. By identifying themselves in this fashion it means they now have the authority to interpret scriptures (and nobody else can.)
Step 4. As the only true interpreters of Scripture, everything they say must be listened to and obeyed.
Step 5. Jesus is not to be worshipped and he is not the mediator for non-anointed--so they say.
Step 6. Everybody on Earth who is not anointed must obey the WatchTower’s Governing Body just as though God Himself was speaking.
“We’re not perfect” is their excuse each time their words come back unfulfilled! How confident can we be of the authority or veracity of such imperfect men?”
Can mere men forgive our sins?
Inside a Kingdom Hall, you must report your personal sins to the Elders!
The Elders decide if you are forgiven! Are you repentant enough?Will you be excluded
from Jehovah’s kingdom (disfellowshipped) and if DF’d, can you be allowed back in (forgiven)? It is not up to Jesus--it’s up to mere human men who are Elders approved by the Governing Body.
How does this differ in any way from confession of sins to a Priest inside Catholicism?
The answer is, it doesn’t!
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The claim of authority over the Great Crowd by “the faithful and discreet slave” is stated clearly above in the 2012 Watchtower Annual Meeting Report.
Let us investigate who was leading this “faithful and discreet slave” according to their own words:
Preservation (1932) pages 193-194 (Watchtower Bible and tract Society publisher)
“By His spirit, the holy spirit, Jehovah God guides or leads His people up to a certain point of time, and thus He did until the time when ‘the comforter’ was taken away, which would necessarily occur when Jesus, the Head of His organization, came to the temple and gathered unto Himself those whom He found faithful when He, as the Great Judge, began His judgment in 1918.”
What’s going on here? Holy Spirit ceased in 1918 but the Governing Body was SELECTED in 1919 without Holy Spirit?
Apparently, the Watchtower Organization was NEVER LED BY the AUTHORITY of holy spirit!
According to the Organization’s own words we get our answer:
Preservation (1932) page 151:
“After the holy spirit as an advocate or paraclete ceased to function in behalf of the consecrated, the angels are employed in behalf of those are being made ready for the kingdom.”
1 Timothy 2:5-6New King James Version (NKJV)
5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time
But Wait! The Governing Body says “NO!”
Watchtower 1989 Aug 15 pp.30-31:
"Consequently, 1 Timothy 2:5, 6 is not using "mediator" in the broad sense common in many languages. It is not saying that Jesus is a mediator between God and all mankind."
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For all these years, the justification for the Governing Body (FDS) being allowed to tell us what to think, how to act by the authority of BEING SELECTED by heaven and APPOINTED over ALL Jesus' belongings.
This explanation has been removed because Holy Spirit was inactive.
Watchtower March 1st 1979 page 23, paragraph 15:
“Because of this hope, the “faithful and discreet slave”has alerted all of God’s people to the sign of the times indicating the nearness of God’s Kingdom rule. In this regard, however, it must be observed that this “faithful and discreet slave”was never inspired . . .”
WHO or what really runs the Watchtower organization (President? Faithful and Discreet Slave? Anointed worldwide? Governing Body? Legal Board of Directors?
"Christ used his authority by actively leading his congregation on earth. He did this by means of the holy spirit, the angels, and the governing body made up of the 12 apostles and the elders of the Jerusalem congregation. Jesus stated that he would be with his disciples right up to the conclusion of the system of things, where we now are. In the following article, we will see how he is still the active Head of the Christian congregation and how he is leading his "sheep" today." Watchtower 1987 Aug 1 p.15
Really?Jesus is the active head of the Christian congregation after having been removed as worthy of worship and having been squeezed out by a self-appointed “slave” without Holy Spirit?
Without Holy Spirit there is no inspiration for the faithful slave. Are we convinced the Angels have taken charge and led the way as all the above articles have reassured us?
Fasten your seatbelt and get ready for a shock.
"Those who make up the one true Christian organization today do not have angelic revelations or divine inspiration. But they do have the inspired Holy Scriptures, which contain revelations of God's thinking and will." Jehovah's Witnesses - Proclaimers of God's Kingdom (1993) p.708
We’ve come full circle on this Merry-Go-Round.
The Scriptures which only the Slave can interpret (because it wasn’t appointed by Holy Spirit) grant us God’s thinking and will! How does this all fit cogently into an actual organized and cooperative central authority under Headship of the removed Jesus?
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Without Holy Spirit (it ceased!) and without angels (no angelic revelation) is it any surprise these men have made so many errors, experienced so many setbacks, had to make so many adjustments to their teaching?
Could it possibly be because they stopped worshipping Jesus Christ as well as having replaced him with their own man-made substitute?
The contradiction set in when a religion calling itself “Christian” removed Christ as its central figure of worship.
It all comes back to the 1954 bootstrapping decision of the self-appointed Faithful and Discreet Slave (not appointed by Holy Spirit.)
The answer to the question comes down to an act of mutiny, insurrection and self-aggrandizement on the part of a fallible, blasphemous, group of imperfect men claiming to be the mouthpiece of God.
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