I've just been looking through the latest garbage literature in the above mentioned WT. Both study articles are on obeying the Governing Body, although the second article is more on obeying the elders. Losing your grip there a little bit fellows? Here's a brief summary (have your barf bags ready):
Title of the study is: Loyal to Christ and His Faithful Slave(cause loyalty to Christ alone doesn't mean squat in this religion)
Par 1 & 2 openly admits that Jesus said " You must not let people call you 'leaders'---you have only one leader, Christ". After his resurrection "He would continue to be with them as their active Head......the apostle Paul likened the Christian congregation to a "body" of which Christ is the Head (Ephesians 1:22,23) The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges states that this metaphor "suggests not only vital union with the Head, but that the will of the Head is exercised through the members. They are His instruments." Whom has Christ used as his collective instrument since being invested with Kingdom power in 1914?" (you got three guesses and the first two don't count).
OK, so here's the first 'twisting of words'. The scripture in Ephesians clearly refers to the entire congregation as the "body"---not just a few men. Plus the book they quote from confirms this by referring to "the members" (the church/congregation) as "His instruments". So who does the Writing Department say "His instruments" are? Well now, lessee what paragraph 4 reveals:
The prophecy of Malachi foretold that Jehovah.....[and] his newly enthroned Son, Christ Jesus would come in judgement to inspect His "temple" or spiritual house of worship. "The appointed time" for the 'judgement of the house of God' to begin evidently arrived in 1918.* (*tells you to check out WT Mar 1/2004 and Dec 1/92 for uh 'confirmation). (Malachi 3:1) Those claiming to represent God and his true worship on earth were duly examined. The churches of Christendom..... were rejected. A faithful remnant of spirit-annointed Christians were tested, refined as with fire, and approved, becoming to Jehovah "people presenting a gift offering in righteouness."--Malachi 3:3
The sheer insanity of this paragraph just boggles the mind. First of all, the scripture they use in Malach 3:1, to support their claim that Jesus came and inspected his temple in 1918, is talking about John the Baptist preparing the way before Jesus, not a group of men battling for control of a new religion:
Malachi 3:1 "Look! I am sending my messenger, and he must clear up a way before me. And suddenly there will come to His temple the [true] Lord, whom YOU people are seeking, and the messenger of the covenant in whom YOU are delighting. Look! He will certainly come," Jehovah of armies has said.
Not only is that the consensus amongst scholars and ministers, but the WTS itself! For anyone who has the Society's CD-ROM, there is always references by way of footnotes in the scriptures you are looking at. When I clicked on the footnotes in this scripture, every single reference was to either Jesus, or John the Baptist; there is absolutely NO reference to this scripture talking about Jesus and Jehovah "inspecting" the WTS in 1918. So obviously, this idea was pulled out of their asses hat.
Second of all, the churches were 'rejected' because they had false teachings, but the WTS was approved even though they had false teachings and practiced things that get you DF'd if you try and practice them today. Hmmm......what's wrong with this picture?
Par 5: [Talks about the composite 'sign' showing they were in the conclusion of the system of things" including the identification of a collective "slave."]....."On arriving to inspect that slave in 1918 Christ found a spirit anointed remnant of faithful disciples who since 1879 had been using this journal and other bible based publications to provide spiritual food at the proper time. He acknowledged them as his collective instrument, or slave, and in 1919 entrusted them with the management ofall his earthly belongings."
And last night, Jesus came to me invisibly and acknowledged me as the Bride of Christ.
As it's been brought out several times here, making a claim that Jesus returned invisibly, inspected this group invisibly, approved of them invisibly, is like claiming that I'm visited by an invisible pink elephant on Sunday nights who reveals all the secrets of the universe upon me. Naturally, in paragraph 5, they quote Matthew 24 about "the slave", but other than that, there are no scriptural references to any of their wild, unsubstantiated claims. What a big surprise.
Par 8: "..The slave's responsibilties include the supervision of the material facilities used by Christ's followers.....such as the world heaquarters and branch office, as well as [the Kingdumb Halls and ASSembly Halls].
Not to mention the secret bank accounts and offshore accounts that we've got millions and millions of dollars hidden away in.Par 10: The slave's heavy responsibilites would obviously involve much decision making. In the early Christian congregation, the apostles and elders in Jerusalem....[made] decisions for the entire Christian congregation (Acts 15:1,2)
OK, this is just plain bizarre and a bold faced lie. The scripture they use to back THIS claim up in Acts 15:1,2 does not say anything of the kind. In fact, it tells us just the opposite. It concerns "certain men" who tried telling the entire congregation, that "Unless YOU get circumcised according to the custom of Moses, YOU cannot be saved."But when there had occurred no little dissension and disputing by Paul and Bar´na·bas with them, they arranged for Paul and Bar´na·bas and some others of them to go up to the apostles and older men in Jerusalem regarding this dispute."
And what was the end result? Paul and Barnabas most certainly did not make the decision "for the entire congregation". After discussing the matter, they simply left it up to the individual person whether or not they wanted to get circumsized and gave them the following general statement as to Christian ethics:
Acts 15:28-29 For the holy spirit and we ourselves have favored adding no further burden to YOU, except these necessary things, to keep abstaining from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication. If YOU carefully keep yourselves from these things, YOU will prosper. Good health to YOU!"
Does anyone in the Writing Dept. actually read what they put to print?!! Anyway, Par 11 boggles the mind too when it says "...Albert Schroeder, a longtime member of the Governing Body who recently finished his earthly course and who is now burning in hell, wrote: The Governing Body meets every Wednesday, opening the meeting with prayer and asking for the direction of Jehovah's spirit. A real effort is made to see that every matter that is handled and every decision that is made is in harmony with God's Word the Bible."
This of course, is in direct contrast to what Ray Franz wrote in Crisis of Conscience, where he revealed that the Governing Body do not use the bible when discussing matters, nor do they pray. Everything is simply decided by a two-thirds majority vote. Keeping in mind the torture and brutal death that the brothers and sisters faced in Malawi in the 1960s, because of one vote on the GB panel, as well as their present disgusting views of harbouring pedophiles and ban on blood transfusions, I think it's most obvious that these guys are either praying to the wrong god, or they're just a bunch of filthy liars. Or maybe a combination of the two.
Par. 12 is moving in an obvious direction. To say that the WTS doesn't believe in the Trinity, the lines between obeying Christ and obeying the "Slave" are becoming more blurred all the time: "....Therefore, when we loyally submit to the direction of the faithful slaveand it's Governing Body, we are submitting to Christ......Our showing due respect for the instrument Christ is using.....is one way in which we openly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."---Philippians 2:11 (Funny, when you read Phil 2:11, there's absolutely no mention there about obeying any "slave")
Par 13 outta make you feel REAL special!"....Symbolically, the other sheep today walk behind the anointed slave class and its Governing Body, following their leadership."Translation: Just think of the Master/Slave relationship in the Old South, and we'll get along just fine.
The next few paragraphs drone on about how "happy" the great crowd is to be treated like absolute shit by these self-appointed "gods", but paragraph 17 caught my eye:
"...In view of their diminishing numbers, (wasn't there an increase last year?) the anointed cannot be present in all congregations
thank Christ. Consequently, the Governing Body appointsmostly kiss assmen from among the other sheep to positions of oversight in branch offices, districts, circuits, and congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses. Does our attitude toward these undershepherds have a bearing on our loyalty to Christ and his faithful slave? This will be considered in the next article.
I haven't read the next article, except for Paragraph 14 that says in part "....With their weighty responsibilities of teaching, shepherding, taking the lead in the preaching work, raising their families, (they don't mention working at a secular job), and handling problems int he congregration, Christian elders carry a heavy load."
And whose fault is that? Where in the bible does it say you have to meet for 5 meetings each week and then go out knocking on doors every Saturday in order to be considered a "Christian"? And these are just the basic rules. On top of these, there are dozens upon dozens of other man made rules that every Witness is supposed to follow. If the Governing Body members are aware that the elders have a "heavy load", then why don't they--the GB lighten it? Perhaps because they have more in common with the Pharisees than with the elders of the first century congregation:
Matthew 23:4-5 "...They bind up heavy loads and put them upon the shoulders of men, but they themselves are not willing to budge them with their finger. All the works they do they do to be viewed by men. . ."
Fortunately, more and more realize that they can not carry the heavy burdens that the WTS demands of them. Jesus said that his word would be refreshing, not a drugery, yet that is exactly what this religion is. Somehow, I don't think that Jesus approves or uses those who put such horrible burdens on others.
Matthew 11:28-30 . . .Come to me, all YOU who are toiling and loaded down, and I will refresh YOU. Take my yoke upon YOU and learn from me, for I am mild-tempered and lowly in heart, and YOU will find refreshment for YOUR souls. For my yoke is kindly and my load is light."
Amen.