Does the Watchtower organization claim divine appointment and inspiration?
Greetings group
In typical style, most WT defenders will respond to the allegation that the WT Organization has been and continues to function as a False Prophet with rejoinders such as this one given to me in an e-mail. Note the claim that the WT cannot not a false prophet because they ?admit that they are not inspired?.
Quote
Also, does it bother you to hold such a biased opinion in
light of the many WT quotes where they admit that they are not
infallible, or not an inspired prophet?
End quote
Thus, even when the Watchtower functions as an inspired prophet, making claim after claim that would only be appropriate for a prophet who considered himself inspired, with claims to ?speak in the name of Jehovah? and to be His ?prophet? like Moses and Ezekiel, or that the organization is ?God?s sole means of communication, among many others that will be shown in this article, the WT apologist will always resort to saying that the WT does not claim inspiration, and in fact, denies it.
While it is true that the WT does in fact state that they are not inspired, this is really only a smoke screen, since they also do claim to be inspired by the position that they claim to have, as well as the language that they use in describing who they are and the authority that they have. Thus, the Watchtower really is speaking out of both sides of their mouth. Out of one side, they claim not to be inspired, and on the other side, they are claiming to be inspired, with language that only an inspired prophet would use about himself. Thus, the WT wants the authority of an inspired prophet, but not the accountability and responsibility before God and man for that claim. Therefore, the WT can use all the rhetoric they desire about the authority that they have claimed to been appointed to, and yet, since they also say that they are not inspired, they offer the WT defenders a way out of being labeled as a ?false prophet? according to the biblical definition.
I will present evidence, however, that the WT does in fact claim to be an ?inspired prophet,? by noting that the language that is used in the organizations publications shows that it must be inspired, and functions in application as an ?inspired prophet.?
It should also be noted, that since the WT does also claim to be a ?prophet,? any way that the WT defender seeks to define the word ?prophet? they are still a ?false prophet? even if you want to define ?prophet? as something other than a person who is ?inspired? by God to teach a message.
One matter of extreme import is that the WT has claimed to speak IN THE NAME OF GOD. If you are claiming to speak in God?s name, then you are claiming to speak according to the authority of God, as God?s sent forth representative. While many WT defenders will make the claim ?well the WT has never claimed to speak in the name of God,? the truth of the matter is that they in fact have. Witnesses who make this claim are not really grounded in reality. Please note the following quotes from the WT, which show that the WT organization teaches that it is in fact an inspired prophet who has been divinely appointed. Please note the quotations below from the Watchtower publications themselves to see that this is in fact what the organization teaches about itself. It is taught by the organization that it functions as?
1. Jehovah?s earthly channel of communication,
2. is the modern Jeremiah and Ezekiel,
3. who speaks in His name,
4. who speaks by his authority,
5. who has been sent forth by God,
6. who are likened to the inspired prophets in the bible,
7. are communicating God?s messages,
8. commissioned by Jehovah to deliver His message,
9. whom peoples need to obey as they would the voice of God,
10. who has been anointed by His spirit to do His work,
11. who is alone Jehovah?s spokesman today,
12. and who have been divinely appointed and is the organized channel of communication.
*** w79 9/1 p. 29 The Royal ?Shepherd? of Bible Prophecy ***
Unlike the clergy class, those of the Jeremiah class have been sent by Jehovah to speak in his name? ? True, the Jeremiah class back up their message by quoting the words, ?This is what Jehovah has said.?
*** w79 11/1 p. 25 Divine Judgment Against the False Prophets of Christendom ***
. Whom, then, did Jehovah send and who are the ones that speak in his name, Christendom?s clergy who prophesy oppositely, or the Jeremiah class of today? Future events will identify the truthtellers.
*** w56 8/1 p. 463 Jehovah?s Message Against Gog of Magog ***
As Ezekiel was merely the spokesman used by God, so also are those today who are privileged to speak in the name of Jehovah as his message-bearing witnesses.
*** kj chap. 4 p. 66 Commissioned to Speak in the Divine Name ***
24 Why, though, are all these facts of history brought to our attention? It is to show the fulfillment of prophecy. Jehovah has found and commissioned his modern-day ?Ezekiel.? It is a composite Ezekiel. It is composed of those dedicated, baptized proclaimers of God?s kingdom, who have been anointed with His spirit for their work. (Isaiah 61:1-3) It is manifest that in the year 1919 the invisible heavenly organization of Jehovah, like the celestial chariot seen in Ezekiel?s vision, rolled up and stopped, not before Christendom?s advocates of the League of Nations, but before the anointed proclaimers of the heavenly kingdom of God in the hands of Jesus Christ. From atop this celestial chariotlike organization Jehovah commissioned this dedicated, baptized, anointed class of servants to speak to all the nations in His name. Thus, like Ezekiel, they became Jehovah?s witnesses.
*** w55 5/15 p. 305 Jehovah?s Channel of Communication ***
. Thus Jehovah?s earthly channel of communication is identified. The earthly channel is either a prophet or a collective prophetlike organization.
*** w55 5/15 p. 314 Christian Channel of Communication ***
20 What of Jehovah?s Christian channel of communication today? Which of the hundreds of sects and denominations of those who claim to be Christian is Jehovah?s spokesman today in the earth as his divinely appointed and organized channel of communication? ??Only the remnant of Jehovah?s anointed witnesses.?1 John
*** w56 8/1 p. 467 Delivering Satan?s Death Notice ***
AS THE previous article stated, Jehovah?s witnesses, of all people, are the ones commissioned by God to deliver his special message just prior to this world?s end. The message is one of doom directed against Gog of Magog, that is, Satan the Devil, and against his allies. And there are very good reasons why Jehovah God in these ?last days? passed over all others and chose what at the time was a small and obscure group of people to speak in his name and by his authority as his witnesses. Whom else can God trust to speak for him?
*** w56 1/1 p. 32 Announcements ***
. What a privilege to be serving with Jehovah?s channel of communication and to have the joy and pleasure of inviting others to receive the water of life!
*** w57 6/15 p. 370 Overseers of Jehovah?s People ***
7 Let us now unmistakably identify Jehovah?s channel of communication for our day, that we may continue in his favor. ??..It is vital that we appreciate this fact and respond to the directions of the ?slave? as we would to the voice of God, because it is His provision.
*** w58 2/1 p. 79 Cultivate a Good Mental Disposition ***
We must always remember that we learn the truth from Jehovah?s channel of communication, the ?faithful and discreet slave? class. (Matt. 24:45-47) We receive of his spirit by our continued association with his channel.
Thus the Watchtower Organization does in fact claim to be ?divinely appointed,? and to speak ?in the name of Jehovah? and ?by His authority,? being ?sent forth? by Jehovah Himself, commissioned by God, acts as His modern day ?prophet,? is the modern day ?Jeremiah,? and the ?sole channel of communication? today for Jehovah to reveal His truths.
I don?t know what else the Watchtower can write about itself to lay claim to being an ?inspired prophet,? or one who would be able to be judged in light of the text of Deuteronomy 18, since they claim for themselves everything that this verse warns about.
1. Those who claim to ?speak in Gods name.?
2. Those who claim to be a ?prophet.?
*** Rbi8 Deuteronomy 18:20-22 ***
20 ??However, the prophet who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded him to speak or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die. 21 And in case you should say in your heart: ?How shall we know the word that Jehovah has not spoken?? 22 when the prophet speaks in the name of Jehovah and the word does not occur or come true, that is the word that Jehovah did not speak. With presumptuousness the prophet spoke it. You must not get frightened at him.?
However, the WT organization goes FAR BEYOND what this verse states concerning simply being a prophet and to speak in the name of God. But yet, if you read what the Bible is telling us, this text is exactly what the WT has claimed, and then some. Thus, there is good reason for many christians to be concerned with the claims of the Watchtower, for the Watchtower can be honestly judged in light of the biblical text at Deuteronomy 18, and one can read the history of the Watchtower religion and see for themselves if all that they have stated has come true, or if what they have been saying as a ?divinely appointed? ?prophet? who speaks ?in the name of Jehovah? as His ?sole channel of communication? has all in fact come true, or if they have been ?presumptuous?, speaking falsely in the name of Jehovah. If in fact the WT organization has not been ?divinely appointed? in 1919, and are not ?Gods means of communication? and not a ?prophet? sent froth to speak Jehovah?s message, than they are in fact a False prophet, and according to the biblical text, ?that prophet must die.? Those claiming to be JW?s and who represent the WT need to be very aware of the importance of what this text is stating, and if the WT?s many claims might not actually correspond to what Moses was warning us about.
For the WT to also claim not to be inspired is intellectually dishonest and amounts to speaking out of both sides of their mouth. This position that they have amounts to them having the Authority of God, but not the responsibility of an appointed prophet to speak the truth and have their words come true.
Jehovah?s Witnesses today must be extremely careful not to allow themselves to be deceived by false teachers who come to them with claims of divine appointments, and yet who have time after time been found to be teaching falsehood in the name of Jehovah, and who have set themselves us as an Idol, whose publications are taught to be both inspired and should even be prayed over as being directly from Jehovah himself.
Note the following Watchtower which presents the Watchtower as a ?message from Jehovah? and some thing that one should even ?kneel down and pray? over before reading! Such outright idolatry should be of great concern to Christians. IF this does not qualify as an example of both the WT teaching that it is inspired, and of the idolatry that it encourages the Witnesses to have for it, I don?t know what will.
*** w64 9/15 p. 574 Experiencing Jehovah?s Love ***
?In contrast to the attitude of these elective elders was that of an elderly couple with whom I stayed on the outskirts of . The brother went down to get the mail before breakfast, and when we had breakfast he said, ?Brother Riemer, I got a new Watchtower this morning, and do you know the first thing that Ma and I do when we get that Tower? We kneel down before we take the wrapper off and ask Jehovah to make us worthy to see what the message is that Jehovah has for us. Now, before we take the wrapper off, will you kneel down and pray with us?? How different that elective elder was from this humble couple who appreciated Jehovah?s organization!?
End quote
How I pray that Jehovah will remove the veil that blinds the Witnesses from this deception.
Free in Christ
Daniel Michaels