Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits[a] before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
GOD LOVES ALL AND DIED FOR ALL OUR SINS
GOD BLESS

Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits[a] before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
GOD LOVES ALL AND DIED FOR ALL OUR SINS
GOD BLESS

“For that day [the day of the Lord] will not come, unless the rebellion NRSV,NIV and NLT.

It is rendered ‘Final rebellion’ in the REB and ‘Great Revolt’ in the NJB. These are all better than ‘apostasy’ comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple (Greek ‘naos’) of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time.

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of His coming (parousia).

The coming (parousia) of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and be saved” (2 Thess. 2:3-9ESV).

According to Bauer’s Greek-English lexicon the Greek word apostasia which is used in 2 Thessalonians 2 means: “defiance of established authority, rebellion, abandonment, breach of faith.” The word was also used in secular Greek of a political revolt and in the LXX in Joshua 22:22 of rebellion against God. E.g. Acts 21:21 ESV: “You teach all Jews…to forsake (apostasia) Moses.” NAB gives ‘abandon’. So, the Final Rebellion will be “a total abandonment”, and not of any particular religion, but of the true God because “the Man of Lawlessness” installs himself in God’s place.

So, how can you, and people like you who have spoken out concerning what is true, and then suffer for it unjustly and then be labelled Apostate?

Apostasy is still a very future event and is the great falling away. I hardly think that speaking out on issues of concern when they are issues that require addressing constitutes people being labelled Apostate. So, when wbts go this far, even as far as to create divisions in family by misuse of this term, what is it they are trying to hide?

DOES YOUR RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION DO YOUR IMPORTANT THINKING FOR YOU?

KNOWLEDGE AND THINKING ABILITY ARE VITAL

· “The proverbs … for one to know wisdom and discipline, to discern the sayings of understanding, to receive the discipline that gives insight, righteousness and judgment and uprightness, to give to the inexperienced ones shrewdness, to a young man knowledge and thinking ability. A wise person will listen and take in more instruction, and a man of understanding is the one who acquires skillful direction, to understand a proverb and a puzzling saying, the words of wise persons and their riddles. The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge. Wisdom and discipline are what mere fools have despised. Listen, my son, to the discipline of your father, and do not forsake the law of your mother. For they are a wreath of attractiveness to your head and a fine necklace to your throat” (Prov. 1:1-9).

Contrary to the above advice from God himself the WTS says:

“The most beneficial study you can do is read the Watchtower and Awake! Or a new book by the organization.” WT 6/1/1967, p. 338.

However, many articles in those publications are of a non-biblical nature or are of subtle propaganda. Some of the early WTS understanding came from the older Bible Commentaries of the time which gave the WTS a certain amount of truth. Furthermore, much of the Bible is quite straight forward and is easily understood even by a newcomer to Bible reading. Yet over time WTS reading material has become increasingly propagandistic so that JWs do not gain any biblical understanding from their own thought processes.

THE WTS’ TOTAL MIND AND EMOTION CONTROL

“Respond to the directions of the organization as you would the voice of God.”

WT 6/15/1957, p. 370.

With this statement the WTS is virtually placing itself in the position of God and is certainly usurping the high office of Jesus Christ. With no legitimate basis for the claim the WTS says it alone speaks for God.

WAS IT ONE MAN OR THE GOVERNING BODY THAT IS THE CHANNEL?

“The Lord indicated he would use one member of his Church as the channel…”

WT 3/11/1923, p. 68.

THE CONTRADICTORY POSITION

“Examine the evidence. Reasonable persons want to examine both sides of a matter. That is how one arrives at the truth.” Awake 10/22/1973, p. 6.

“It is important to examine one’s religion; there is nothing to fear from such an examination” TRUTH, p. 13.

“No creature or organization on earth can truly presume to sit as the supreme tribunal of interpretation of the Holy Bible.” WT, 7/1/1943, p. 202.

The hypocrisy of the above WTS statements is that they apply only to members of the public. Once a person becomes a JW this right to continue examining Bible subjects is denied him/her. The JW is guided to do his/her research only within WTS publications. It is even frowned upon if a JW obtains the non-JW publication from which a quotation was taken. Those who have done this have often discovered that the quotation was taken out of context.

THE WATCHTOWERS’ MOST LIKELY REAL FEAR

The WT states that it“invites careful and critical examination of its contents in the light of the Scriptures.” WT 8/15/1950, p. 263.

“There are various publications exposing Jehovah’s Witnesses as heretics. We are not afraid of this.” WT 8/1/1978, p. 12.

In spite of such bravado it is evident that the WTS is concerned to make sure that its members do not discover the many facts from the Scriptures revealing the falseness of some 50% of its teaching and also revealing its very unethical approach to various matters. This is why they strongly discourage their members from searching the internet or Bible encyclopaedias, commentaries or other scholarly works. They also threaten their members that if they should communicate with an ex member they will be disfellowshipped. This is emotional bullying at its worst.

HYPOCRISY

“Jehovah is not pleased if we receive that food as though it might contain something harmful. We should have confidence in the channel God is using.” WT 2/15/1981, p. 19.

Those who have taken the risk and have carefully examined this so-called spiritual food have, in fact, discovered that it contains something harmful—many dozens of teachings that are false to the Scriptures and much propaganda that can lead to mental and emotional damage.

DISTRACTION FROM OPEN EXAMINATION OF TEACHINGS

“Have No Dealings With Apostates … For example, what will you do if you receive a letter or some literature, open it, and see right away that it is from an apostate? Will curiosity cause you to read it, just to see what he has to say? You may even reason: ‘It won’t affect me; I’m too strong in the truth. And besides, if we have the truth, we have nothing to fear. The truth will stand the test.’ In thinking this way, some have fed their minds upon apostate reasoning and have fallen prey to serious questioning and doubt.”

WT 3/15/1986 p.12.

The fact is that the statement still stands that “if we have the truth, we have nothing to fear. The truth will stand the test.” Even if a JW falls for a different false doctrine that does not mean that the WTS doctrine should remain unexamined. The above approach is clearly an attempt to distract the membership from the WTS’ inability to demonstrate the truth of some of its teachings.

SEARCHING FOR TRUTH DENIED

“Outside the true Christian congregation what alternative organization is there? Only Satan’s organization…” WT 3/1/1979, p. 24.

As shown earlier the WTS claim to be “the true Christian congregation” is bogus and its attempt to make a ‘them and us’ scenario is typical of a cult mentality. The fact is that the

alternative to the WT organization is a rich heritage of biblical research by highly qualified scholars over a number of centuries. They may not all agree but then one should be allowed the dignity of being treated as an adult so as to make choices according to the information one discovers from the scholarly works and in harmony with ones prayers for God’s guidance toward truth. Sadly many truth seeking JWs never realize this and resign themselves to the thought that there is nowhere else to go, even though Jesus said we were to go to him (John 6:68).

WHAT THE WT HAS SAID ABOUT PERSONAL BIBLE RESEARCH

“Bible classes and Bible studies are all to no purpose until the Lord, in due time, sent them the ‘Bible keys,’ through the Society” WT, 10/1/1909.

“Furthermore, not only do we find that people cannot see the Divine Plan in studying the Bible by itself, but we see, also, that if anyone lays the Scripture Studies aside, even after he has used them, after he has become familiar with them, after he has read them for ten years - if he lays them aside and ignores them and goes to the Bible alone, though he has understood his Bible for ten years, our experience shows that within two years he goes into darkness. On the other hand, if he had merely read the Scripture Studies with their references, and had not read a page of the Bible, as such, he would be in the light at the end of the two years, because he would have the light of the Scriptures.” WT 9/15/1910, p. 298.

“Rather we should seek for dependent Bible study, rather than for independent Bible study.” WT, 9/15/1911.

CONDEMNING OTHERS FOR WHAT THE WTS NOW DOES

“It has long been the practice of clergymen to arrogate to themselves the sole ability to interpret the Scriptures.” Creation 1927, 2,175,000 ed., p. 148.

“The clergy tell the people that they ‘need not study the Bible, because they cannot understand it’, that the clergy are the only ones who can understand it, and that therefore the people should take their instruction from the clergy and follow what they tell them. That speech tends to turn the people away from Jehovah God and to cause them to forsake his Word.” Prophecy 1929, p. 21.

“Now, since the Lord has invited us to “reason together,” no man can reason unless he puts aside prejudice. Neither should any man permit any one else to do his thinking, whether that man be a rabbi or preacher. Life 1929, 1,000,000 ed., p. 210.

“They even go to the point of persecuting the humble men and women who try to study and teach the Word of God, which is the truth. Many a member of a church has been told by his pastor: ‘You had better not read any books or study for yourself. Leave all that to us preachers. We are the guardians of your soul, and your only teachers.’”

Life 1929, 1,000,000 ed., p. 216.

“The Vatican belittles Bible study by claiming it is the only organization authorized and qualified to interpret the Bible.” WT 7/1/1943, p. 201.

NOW WE NEED THE WTS’ HELP AGAIN

“To respond to this invitation to inquire of Jehovah the Creator, we must go to his written revelation, the Holy Bible, and study it with the help of his theocratic organization.”

New Heavens and a New Earth 1953, p. 18.

NOW IT IS ONLY THE WTS THAT CAN UNDERSTAND THE BIBLE

“The Bible is organization-minded it cannot be fully understood without our having the theocratic organization in mind.” WT 9/1/1954, p. 164.

“The world is full of Bibles, which Book contains the commandments of God. Why, then, do the people not know which way to go? Because they do not also have the teaching or law of the mother, which is light. Jehovah God has provided his holy written Word for all mankind and it contains all the information that is needed for men in taking a course leading to life. But God has not arranged for that Word to speak independently or to shine forth life-giving truths by itself. His Word says: “Light is sown for the righteous.” (Ps. 97:11) It is through his organization that God provides this light that the proverb says is the teaching or law of the mother. If we are to walk in the light of truth we must recognize not only Jehovah God as our Father but his organization as our mother.”

WT 5/1/1957, p. 274.

Although in the Scriptures “the Jerusalem above…is our mother” it is only “the Father” and “the Son” who provide the necessary ‘light.’

NOTE: “The Jerusalem above” refers to the future Jerusalem.

“Thus the Bible is an organizational book and belongs to the Christian congregation as an organization, not to individuals, regardless of how sincerely they may believe that they can interpret the Bible. For this reason the Bible cannot be properly understood without Jehovah’s visible organization in mind.”WT 10/1/1967, p. 587.

This contradicts the entire scriptural thrust concerning individuals as benefitting on their own from applying the Bible’s counsel and prophetic statements.

“Only this organization functions for Jehovah’s purpose and to his praise. To it alone God’s Sacred Word, the Bible, is not a sealed book.” WT 7/1/1973, p. 402.

“They say that it is sufficient to read the Bible exclusively, either alone or in small groups at home. But, strangely, through such ‘Bible reading,’ they have reverted right back to the apostate doctrines that commentaries by Christendom’s clergy were teaching 100 years ago…” WT 8/15/1981, p. 29.

This may be true of some who leave the WTS, but many use up-to-date information from modern commentaries, lexicons and background information that helps them to arrive at very different conclusions to the monolithic churches of Christendom.

“No matter where we may live on earth, God’s Word continues to serve as a light to our path and a lamp to our roadway as to our conduct and beliefs. (Ps. 119:105) But Jehovah God has also provided his visible organization, his “faithful and discreet slave,” made up of spirit anointed ones, to help Christians in all nations to understand and apply properly the Bible in their lives. Unless we are in touch with this channel of communication that God is using, we will not progress along the road to life, no matter how much Bible reading we do.” WT 12/1/1981, p. 27.

“An individual must have the Watchtower to understand the Bible.” 1983, Yearbook.

“We have the opportunity to show love for our brothers who take the lead in the congregation or in connection with Jehovah’s visible organization worldwide. This includes being loyal to “the faithful and discreet slave.” (Matthew 24:45-47) Let us face the fact that no matter how much Bible reading we have done, we would never have learned the truth on our own.” WT 12/1/1990, p. 19.

This is only partly true. Certainly we all benefit from the research of others—especially professionals. However, research is best done from numerous sources and not as the WTS wishes—from them only. Nevertheless, any individual with a reasonable reading level can learn of the overall truth especially if he comes to the Bible without any preconceptions concerning it.

“It is obvious that we need help if we are to understand the Bible. Clergyman Hal Llewellyn, the United Church’s secretary of theology, faith, and ecumenism, said: “It is very important to clarify what the Bible means to us and how it is read and interpreted.” But even if not all realize it, the fact is that we cannot understand the Bible on our own. We need help.” WT 10/1/1994, p. 6.

“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.” WT 10/1/1994, p. 8.

Much like the Roman Catholic Church the WTS, rather than God, determines what the Scriptures mean and all JWs are expected to accept the explanation without question or discussion. The earlier criticism by the WTS of the Vatican’s claim to be ‘the only true church’ is evidently hypocritical because the WTS itself makes the same claim. Please see STUDY 19 which shows that the WTS’ claim to be God’s organization is totally bogus and indeed arrogant.

ON ITS OWN TERMS THE WTS SHOULD BE EXPOSED

The WTS applies the following statements to all other religions. However, in fairness we should advocate that their own members examine them in the same light:

“It is not persecution for an informed person to expose a certain religion as being false.”

WT 11/15/1963, p. 688.

“Some opposers claim that Jehovah’s Witnesses are false prophets. These opponents say that dates have been set, but nothing has happened. Again we ask, what is the motive of these critics?” WT 3/15/1986, p. 19.

One might ask the WTS what their motive is for side-stepping the issue of their often times failed date-setting for when Armageddon would happen and for maintaining so many unscriptural teachings and their denial of access to scholarly works for their members. The motive is certainly not that of love. To treat adults as if they were children and so could not possibly make intelligent decisions about how something should be understood is clearly overly controlling. This sort of treatment of their members does mean that, if you are a JW, the WTS does do all of your most important thinking on spiritual and other matters for you.

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR OWN THINKING TO BECOME LIKE GOD’S THINKING

“He said to him: ‘You must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind’” (Matt. 22:37).

“One [man] judges one day as above another; another [man] judges one day as all others; let each [man] be fully convinced in his own mind” (Rom.14; 5).

For one to allow one’s thinking to be governed by another’s would be contrary to these statements that involve our worship of God and our dealings with our fellow Christians.

SHOULDN’T WE ALL THINK THE SAME?

· “Now I exhort YOU, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that YOU should all speak in agreement, and that there should not be divisions among YOU, but that YOU may be fitly united in the same mind and in the same line of thought”

(1 Cor. 1:10).

· “…make my joy full in that YOU are of the same mind and have the same love, being joined together in soul, holding the one thought in mind, 3 doing nothing out of contentiousness or out of egotism, but with lowliness of mind considering that the others are superior to YOU, 4 keeping an eye, not in personal interest upon just YOUR own matters, but also in personal interest upon those of the others” (Phil. 2:2-4).

· “Beloved ones, this is now the second letter I am writing YOU, as in my first one, I am arousing YOUR clear thinking faculties by way of a reminder…” (2 Peter 3:11).

What would be the point of our having “clear thinking faculties” if we must arrive at the same conclusion as that of the WTS which has kept changing its mind over time.

THINK GOD’S THOUGHTS NOT THOSE OF MEN

· “He turned, looked at his disciples and rebuked Peter, and said: “Get behind me, Satan, because you think, not God’s thoughts, but those of men” (Mark 8:33).

If Peter could “think, not God’s thoughts, but those of men,” then certainly this could be the case with the WTS’ governing body. After all they view Peter as one who was the leading member of the 1st century governing body.

· “The heart of earthling man may think out his way, but Jehovah himself does the directing of his steps” (Prov. 16:9).

Certainly God’s thoughts are higher than man’s thoughts (Isa. 55:9), but this does not mean that the imperfect men of the WTS are in the unique place of God so as to direct others in their thinking. It is God’s thoughts that we should strive to acquire and live by. No imperfect human can direct us with their interpretation of those thoughts. God does this through the Scriptures and not by means of WTS propaganda. The WTS has made many, many mistakes of interpretation throughout its history leading people to make disastrous choices at the time. In time the WTS has changed its mind as to the interpretation on some of these issues e.g. vaccinations, organ transplants, the details on blood transfusions, to marry or not, substitute civil for military service and numerous different dates for the coming of armageddon.

Example:

“Vaccination is a direct violation of the everlasting covenant that God made with Noah after the flood,” The Golden Age magazine 2/4/1931, p. 293.

Many died because of following this directive which later changed to:

“Vaccinations appear to have caused a marked decrease in disease”

Awake 8/22/1965, p. 20.

This article actually encourages JWs to have their children vaccinated. So in this aspect of life the JW has not been allowed to decide his own course of action. This is in contradiction of the scriptural advice:

· “When wisdom enters into your heart and knowledge itself becomes pleasant to your very soul, thinking ability itself will keep guard over you, discernment itself will safeguard you, to deliver you from the bad way, from the man speaking perverse things, from those leaving the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness…”

(Prov. 2:10-13).

BE A BEREAN TRUTHSEEKER

· “Immediately by night the brothers sent both Paul and Silas out to Beroea, and these, upon arriving, went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now the latter were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with the greatest eagerness of mind, carefully examining the Scriptures daily as to whether these things were so. Therefore many of them became believers, and so did not a few of the reputable Greek women and of the men” (Acts 17:10-12).

There is nothing to show that the Bereans changed this fine habit after they became believers. There would be much to learn for years after they had got baptized and yet the WT stated:

“Jehovah is not pleased if we receive that food as though it might contain something harmful. We should have confidence in the channel God is using.” WT 2/15/1981, p. 19.

So when a new individual has a Bible study with a JW it is only a study of the basics of WTS teaching. There is a vast amount left to learn about the Bible. So why, once they have been baptized, should any individual give up the God-given right to continue examining these matters and issues from whatever source he/she deems scholarly.

THE WATCHTOWER SOCIETY’S APPARENT MOTIVES

They seem to wish you to not:

· discover the many teachings of the WTS that, when honestly examined from a scholarly perspective, are proven to be false.

· discover the great amount of activity of the WTS over the course of its history that has been less than ethical.

· discover the great amount of severely bad treatment they mete out to individual JWs who ask questions. It is reminiscent of the Catholic inquisition and early Protestant mistreatment of those they deemed to be heretics e.g. Michael Servetus. The only difference is that today’s laws prohibit the WTS from executing those who disagree with them on Bible interpretation.

Additional they wish to control your thinking so that you will do their bidding in their goal to build a religious empire with mainly free labour (already worth around $200 billion).