Day_of_Jehovah_Brochure_InDesign_v9-1

“Blow a horn in Zion, O men, and shout a war cry in my holy
mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land get agitated;
for the day of Jehovah is coming, for it is near!” —Joel 2:1-2
“The day of Jehovah” is an expression with
which Jehovah’s Witnesses certainly ought
w
to be familiar. In 2006 the Watchtower
Society published a book exhorting
Jehovah’s Witnesses to keep Jehovah’s
day in mind. The following year the theme
scripture for 2007 focused on the nearness
of the day of Jehovah.
The fact that the Watchtower Society has
restored the personal name of God to its
rightful place – not only in the Bible, but
in the minds of men – helps to impress
upon us the significance of a day belonging
to Jehovah; a day in which the personal
name of God will be magnified before the
world; when his word and universal sovereignty will be finally vindicated for all time.
But while Jehovah’s Witnesses may be in expectation of the day of Jehovah, what is it
exactly? What are we to expect? What are the events that will initiate Jehovah’s day and
how will the day of Jehovah impact the Watchtower Society and Jehovah’s Witnesses?
As it stands, for over a half century the Watchtower has cultivated the expectation
among Jehovah’s Witnesses that the next major event to fulfill Bible prophecy will be the
sudden destruction of Babylon the great by the United Nations. But is that expectation
reasonable? More importantly, is it scriptural?
The information presented in this brochure will provide answers to the questions posed
above based upon a fresh interpretation of the prophecy of Joel.
© 2008, Robert King. All Rights Reserved
Publisher: Lulu.com | http://e-watchman.com /
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the modern-language
New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures –With References
Made in the United States of America
The Day of
Jehovah
“A DAY OF DARKNESS AND
GLOOMINESS”
A new dark age is coming –
characterized as a breakdown of
civilization itself. For a certainty,
the oncoming day of Jehovah will
be the bleakest period in mankind’s
tumultuous history. Its impact upon
the world will be so terrifying it will
seem as if the sun, moon and stars
have been snuffed out of the sky by
the very hand of God.
Jehovah’s day will be preceded
by a demonically-driven human
catastrophe that will envelope the
nations in blood, fire and columns
of smoke; confronting all people
with their own helplessness and
insignificance. And our response
to the globe-engulfing calamity
will serve as the basis for God’s
judgment, for it will force upon all
humanity the unavoidable choice of
either unequivocally accepting the
rule of Christ’s kingdom or swearing
allegiance to the last human kingdom
in opposition to God’s rulership –
Satan’s mimic kingdom, the so-called
new world order.
The concluding verses of the
prophecy of Joel indicate that the
symbolic locust onslaught will serve
as a precursor of Armageddon,
segueing into the final judgment of the
nations. Joel 3:13-14 says: “Thrust
in a sickle, for harvest has grown
ripe. Come, descend, for the
winepress has become full. The
press vats actually overflow;
for their badness has become
abundant. Crowds, crowds are
in the low plain of the decision,
for the day of Jehovah is near
in the low plain of the decision.
Sun and moon themselves will
certainly become dark, and the
very stars will actually withdraw
their brightness.”
The book of Joel uses the
expression “the day of Jehovah” seven
times in total. It could truthfully
be said that the theme of Joel is
the coming day of Jehovah and the
culmination of God’s judgment work
and the salvation of those who pass
the test that is coming upon the entire
inhabited earth (Revelation 3:10).
But contrary to the present
teachings of the Watchtower Society,
the developments forecasted in
Joel have not been fulfilled upon
Christendom by the world wide
preaching of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The prophecy actually focuses
upon the impact the arrival of the
day of Jehovah will have upon
Jehovah’s Witnesses and their
mother organization. Ultimately, the
prophecy gives us a glimpse beyond
the present Watchtower-centric form
of worship to the thrilling outpouring
of Jehovah’s spirit that will impel a
chastened remnant to accomplish the
final phase of God’s grand work.
While it is generally understood
by Jehovah’s Witnesses that the day
of Jehovah signifies the period of time
when God will personally intervene in
the world’s affairs in order to execute
his judgments, according to Joel that
fear-inspiring day is immediately
preceded by the relentless attack
of swarms of voracious locusts,
cockroaches and other loathsome
insect pests. The bizarre coalition of insects is even called Jehovah’s mighty
military force. How strange!
The book of Joel stresses that the very imminence of the day of Jehovah will
precipitate an emergency within the Zion-like organization of God’s people like
nothing ever before experienced. Joel 2:1 describes it this way: “Blow a horn
in Zion, O men, and shout a war cry in my holy mountain. Let all the
inhabitants of the land get agitated; for the day of Jehovah is coming,
for it is near! It is a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds
and thick gloom, like light of dawn spread out upon the mountains.”
“WAKE UP, YOU DRUNKARDS”
Jehovah speaks to the leaders of his people who are to become severely distressed
by the creeping and winged devourers, saying to them to them through his
prophet, Joel: “Wake up, you drunkards, and weep; and howl, all you
wine drinkers, on account of sweet wine, for it has been cut off from
your mouths. For there is a nation that has come up into my land,
mighty and without number. Its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and it has
the jawbones of a lion. It has set my vine as an object of astonishment,
and my fig tree as a stump. It has positively stripped it bare and thrown
it away. The twigs of it have become white. Wail, as a virgin girded
with sackcloth does over the owner of her youth.” – Joel 1:5-8
In modern vernacular, it is as if Jehovah is here announcing to his people
that ‘the party is over’! Indeed, the unexpected despoiling from the Almighty will
be so devastating, so astonishing, the effect will be as if the very bride of Christ
has been left at the altar dressed in sackcloth.
Since the shocking devastation of God’s nation is destined to be a jarring, but
potentially life-saving wake-up call for those whom God addresses in prophecy
as “you drunkards,” Jehovah’s Witnesses ought to no longer go on imagining
that the horrific insect and lion-like invaders typify the Watchtower-sponsored
preachers of the good news over recent decades or that God is somehow calling
the clergy to repentance. Although many householders may view Jehovah’s
Witnesses as nothing more than irritating pests, the army of locusts, cockroaches
and caterpillars do not symbolize Christian ministers.
Neither should the Watchtower Society any longer
continue to teach the fiction that the ministry of
Jehovah’s Witnesses has somehow fulfilled the
prophecy of Joel by stripping bare and completely
denuding Christendom’s supposed once-fertile fields
of operation.
What rational person would possibly believe
that the preaching work of Jehovah’s Witnesses has
completely despoiled the churches of Christendom?
While the influence of the old guard denominations
such as Catholicism, Lutheranism and Orthodoxy
may have waned over the past century, particularly
in Europe and America, it is doubtful that the
Perhaps the most contradictory aspect of the
Watchtower’s 70 year-old interpretation of Joel is
that Jehovah promises to make compensation to his
people for enduring the devastation wrought by the
symbolic locusts and other creeping pests.
3
preaching work of Jehovah’s Witnesses has had any significant influence on
that trend. Objective observers would certainly never attribute the decline of
Christendom to the preaching of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Besides, the growing
influence of evangelicalism seems to have filled the void – at least that is the case
in the United States and Latin America.
In reality the prophecy of Joel foretells that God’s own sacred possession is
due to become the object of devastation. As the verse previously quoted indicates,
the alarm is to be sounded within God’s own “holy mountain,” which in prophecy
pertains to Christ’s congregation. No spiritually sober Bible student could possibly
conclude that that which Jehovah declares to be “my land…my vine…and my fig
tree” is in reference to Christendom. No wonder God’s possession will become
an “an object of astonishment.” The desolation of God’s earthly organization is
considered to be an impossibility by Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is indeed time to
wake up!
Perhaps the most contradictory aspect of the Watchtower’s 70 year-old
interpretation of Joel is that Jehovah promises to make compensation to his
people for enduring the devastation wrought by the symbolic locusts and other
creeping pests. Joel 2:25 foretells: “And I will make compensation to you
for the years that the locust, the creeping, unwinged locust, and the
cockroach and the caterpillar have eaten, my great military force that
I have sent among you.”
Are we to assume that Jehovah is going to make compensation to the clergy
for having endured the evangelistic assaults of Jehovah’s Witnesses over the
years? Let us hope not.
Not only that, but Jehovah goes on to declare that he will ultimately drive
the locust swarm, also called “the northerner,” into the sea – thereby destroying
him. Joel 2:20 states: “And the northerner I shall put far away from
upon you, and I shall actually disperse him to a waterless land and
desolated waste, with his face to the eastern sea and his rear section
to the western sea. And the stink from him will certainly ascend, and
the stench from him will keep ascending; for He will actually do a
great thing in what He does.”
The prophetic designation of “the northerner” ought to put us in mind of
the king of the north and the Chaldean and “shining one”– who swoops down
upon God’s people from the land of the north; as well as
the confederation of Gog of Magog, who are destined by
prophecy to descend upon God’s nation “from the remotest
parts of the north.” (The king fierce in countenance
also comes from the north, in that, he is said to become
greater towards the south, the sea (west) and towards
the decoration (east) – making the north the symbolic
direction from where he launches his campaign to bring
the mighty ones of earth as well the holy ones to ruin.)
Although the Society has been preaching about the
nearness of the day of Jehovah for over a century now, how
is it possible that those entrusted with publishing reliable
interpretations of prophecy could so badly mangle and
misconstrue the prophetic message in Joel regarding the
nature of the day of Jehovah? For one thing, it proves that a
correct understanding of prophecy cannot be arrived at by
mere boardroom consensus. So while it is acknowledged
that the Watchtower Society has shown deep insight in
doctrinal matters, what can account for Bethel’s utter
blindness when it comes to prophetic interpretation?
Could it be that the leaders of God’s people today are the
4
spiritual inebriates who are due to be
rebuked by God?
Although Bethel claims to serve
as a “watchman class” – presuming
to be wide awake to world conditions
and God’s coming judgment – there
can be no other conclusion except that
it is Jehovah’s Witnesses themselves
and especially their anointed Bethel
leadership and its Governing Body,
who will soon be roused from their
collective stupor by Heaven’s sobering
rebuke: “Wake up, you drunkards!”
We should not suppose that it is
some extraordinary thing that Christ
Jesus might severely reprimand or
scold his own disciples – even those
whom he will ultimately judge to have
been faithful and discreet. After all, in
the 12th chapter of Luke did not Jesus
explicitly state that the ignorant but
otherwise faithful slave will be beaten
with a few strokes by the inspecting
master of the house and held to a
higher standard as one whom others
have put in charge?
In his first post-resurrection
appearance to two of his disciples, one
evidently being Peter, Jesus scathingly
addressed them as “senseless ones
and slow in heart to believe on all
the things the prophets spoke!”
The occasion when Christ uttered the
above rebuke is when he came alongside
his dejected disciples as they walked
on the road and they did not recognize
him. Of particular importance is that
the word “parousia” literally means a
“coming alongside”— as Christ came
alongside his disciples on that occasion.
Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances
to his disciples establish a portent for
Christ’s presence during the conclusion
of the system of things; when he will
come alongside his anointed disciples
to reprove and ultimately enlighten
them.
Or are we to suppose that the
Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses
are now fully enlightened and above
the rebuke of Christ? While it is true
that the Watchtower has repeatedly
declared that the faithful slave already
passed the test in 1918 and the Society
even claims that the faithful slave has
5
already been irrevocably appointed
over all the master’s belongings, does
that mean that they are now superior
to the apostles, who were reproved,
rebuked and otherwise humbled by the
master on numerous occasions?
It is especially noteworthy that
Christ’s rebuke of his two disciples (and
by extension all) had to do with their
slowness to comprehend the meaning
of the prophecies; specifically those
prophecies that foretold the death and
resurrection of the Messiah. Although
the apostles accepted Jesus as the Son
of God, before their enlightenment
they simply could not grasp the fact
that Jesus was going to die and that
the kingdom was heavenly and not
earthly.
Jehovah’s Witnesses today are in
a similar position. Although accepting
the basic doctrinal truth of the Bible,
Jehovah’s Witnesses have been given no
insight into the nature of the oncoming
day of Jehovah due to the fact that
they have been indoctrinated with
the notion that the presence of Christ
has already begun! Because virtually
every significant prophecy in the Bible
has been wrongly attributed by the
Watchtower to the 1914-1919 era, or else
erroneously applied to Christendom,
Jehovah’s Witnesses have no scriptural
basis for comprehending the divine
judgments to be revealed during the
awe-inspiring day of Jehovah.
The leaders of the Watchtower
Society who promote the doctrine that
the judgment upon the house of God
has already taken place are as senseless
and slow to believe the prophets as were
the apostles, who erroneously imagined
that Christ’s kingdom was going to
instantly display itself back then. What
else but the spiritual intoxication
and organizational bravado of the
Governing Body and the directors of
the Watchtower Society can account
for the nonsensical interpretations
“Who is blind, if not my servant, and who is
messenger whom I send? Who is blind as the on
or blind as the servant of Jehovah? It was a cas
many things, but you did not keep watching. It w
opening the ears, but you did not keep listening.
that Jehovah’s Witnesses have been fed regarding the book of Joel and related
prophecies for so many years?
Who else but the actual messengers and servants of Jehovah – those who
have seen and heard many wonderful things from God’s word and been rewarded
in many ways by him – could be on the receiving end of the yet-to-be-revealed
prophetic reproof recorded at Isaiah 42:19-20? – “Who is blind, if not my
servant, and who is deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind
as the one rewarded, or blind as the servant of Jehovah? It was a case
of seeing many things, but you did not keep watching. It was a case of
opening the ears, but you did not keep listening.”
But if the teachers of Jehovah’s Witnesses are blind to the true meaning
and significance of God’s prophetic word, as the case is here being made, we are
left with the question: What do the prophecies really portend? What is the true
meaning of the prophecy of Joel?
“HOWL, YOU MINISTERS OF THE ALTAR”
The devastation wrought by the onrushing locust swarm will serve as a much
needed sobering slap in the face for Jehovah’s people. It is then that Jehovah’s
urgent exhortation to his anointed priests and ministers will hit home like an
atom bomb: “Gird yourselves, and beat your breasts, you priests. Howl,
you ministers of the altar. Come in, spend the night in sackcloth, you
ministers of my God; for from the house of your God grain offering
and drink offering have been withheld. Sanctify a time of fasting. Call
together a solemn assembly. Gather together the older men, all the
inhabitants of the land, to the house of Jehovah your God, and cry to
Jehovah for aid.”
It is ludicrous to suppose that God is calling the clergy to gather together
in “solemn assembly” in response to the preaching of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
deaf as my
ne rewarded,
se of seeing
was a case of
.”
6
Surely the ministers of Joel’s God
who are summoned “to the house of
Jehovah your God” to convene an
emergency assembly and who are
implored to “cry to Jehovah for aid” are
formal worshippers of Jehovah God –
recognized by him as his ministers.
But as another example of the
Watchtower’s abject blindness when
it comes to prophetic matters, it is
well known that numerous prophecies
call for the Christian holy place of
God, his sanctuary and “constant
feature,” to be brought to ruin for a
specified period of time. However, the
Watchtower’s interpretation of those
vital prophecies is best described as
a bewildering patchwork of pseudo
prophetic interpretation. That is
so because many obviously related
prophecies have been applied in a
variety of different ways. For instance,
the Society applies some prophecies to
the 1914-1919 period; others to a time
during the Second World War, and
still other prophecies – such as Jesus’
words concerning the holy place being
trampled on by a disgusting thing – to
Christendom at a future date. And the
7
prophecy of Joel (quoted above), which
calls for the “grain offering and drink
offering” to be withheld from “the
house of Jehovah your God,” somehow
applies to Christendom from the time
of J.F. Rutherford’s presidency.
But, that, the insect invasion
violates what had been holy to Jehovah
is evident by the concluding verses of
Joel’s prophecy: “And you people will
have to know that I am Jehovah
your God, residing in Zion my
holy mountain. And Jerusalem
must become a holy place; and
as regards strangers, they will no
more pass through her.”
The symbolic locusts, cockroaches
and caterpillars are obviously the
“strangers” that “pass through her,”
making it necessary for God to
intervene to reclaim and sanctify that
which belongs to him.
For a certainty, the prophecy of
Joel presages a one-of-a-kind event; a
terrifying disaster that will afflict all of
mankind, the likes of which have never
occurred before. Joel 1:12 verifies that
everyone on earth will be afflicted –
“For exultation has gone ashamed
away from the sons of mankind.” And Joel 2:6: “Because of it, peoples
will be in severe pains. As for all faces, they will certainly collect a
glow of excitement.”
The opening words of the prophecy speak of the uniqueness of the calamity
in saying: “Hear this, you older men, and give ear, all you inhabitants
of the land. Has this occurred in your days, or even in the days of your
forefathers? Concerning it give an account to your own sons, and
your sons to their sons, and their sons to the following generation.
What was left by the caterpillar, the locust has eaten; and what was
left by the locust, the creeping, unwinged locust has eaten; and what
the creeping, unwinged locust has left, the cockroach has eaten.”
Elsewhere in Hebrew prophecy locusts are used as a symbol of plundering
armies. For example, the prophecy of Nahum portrays the Assyrian army as
locusts.
Jeremiah describes the invaders of mighty Babylon as a swarm of locusts.
Also, at Isaiah 33:2-5 the prophet says: “O Jehovah, show us favor. In
you we have hoped. Become our arm every morning, yes, our salvation
in the time of distress. At the sound of turmoil peoples have fled. At
your arising nations have been dispersed. And the spoil of you people
will actually be gathered like the cockroaches when gathering in, like
the onrush of locust swarms that is rushing against one. Jehovah will
certainly be put on high, for he is residing in the height.”
Isaiah’s prophecy clearly does not pertain to the preaching work of Jehovah’s
ministers. In context, the winged cockroaches, caterpillars and locusts represent
the agency by which Jehovah accomplishes a purge of the apostates and sinners
from his place of spiritual habitation – Zion.
“THE CHANNELS OF WATER HAVE DRIED UP”
In view of the fact that the Hebrew prophets used locusts as symbols of the
devouring armies of empires, and the fact that Jehovah’s Witnesses have by
no stretch of the imagination stripped bare Christendom’s “religious field of
operation,” as the Watchtower has called it, what then must the following
prophetic passage portend? – “Alas for the day; because the day of Jehovah
is near, and like a despoiling from the Almighty One it will come! Has
not food itself been cut off before our very eyes; from the house of
our God, rejoicing and joyfulness? Dried figs have shriveled under
their shovels. Storehouses have been laid desolate. Barns have been
torn down, for the grain has dried up. O how the domestic animal
has sighed! How the droves of cattle have wandered in confusion!
For there is no pasturage for them. Also, the droves of the sheep have
been the ones made to bear guilt. To you, O Jehovah, I shall call; for
fire itself has devoured the pasture grounds of the wilderness, and a
very flame has consumed all the trees of the field. The beasts of the
field also keep longing for you, because the channels of water have
dried up, and fire itself has devoured the pasture grounds of the
wilderness.” – Joel 1:15-20
The Watchtower has for many years taught that it is the earthly channel of
life-giving waters of truth and the sole source of genuine spiritual food. As the
legal instrument of the faithful and discreet slave appointed to feed the household
of the master, the Watchtower Society has indisputably acted upon the divine
mandate to shepherd the flock of God. To be clear, the Society’s appointment to
feed the household of God is not here being called into question (only that the
faithful slave has not yet been given his second appointment over all his master’s
8
belongings). But the question being posed is this: What does it mean that “food”
has “been cut off before our very eyes; from the house of God rejoicing and
joyfulness” and “the channels of water have dried up”? Surely Christendom does
not constitute the spiritual house of God.
Significantly, Bethel literally means “house of God” in Hebrew. As such, the
prophecy of Joel is foretelling the utter desolation of the house of God – Bethel
and the Watchtower Society and the entire organization as it presently exists!
There is no other reasonable interpretation. No wonder the anointed priests of
the house of God are destined to weep and howl in misery and cry out to Jehovah
for aid!
During Jehovah’s fear-inspiring day the Watchtower organization will
not even exist. Its worldwide printing operations will cease. Its bank holdings
will simply evaporate in the culmination of the now-on-rolling global financial
collapse. The voice that has for more than a century been instrumental in
“announcing Jehovah’s kingdom” will become a ghostly whisper of its former
self – as if impotently beckoning from beyond the grave like a spirit medium (See
Isaiah 29:4).
The Watchtower Society’s function as the earthly channel of divine truth will
come to an inglorious end (“The channels of water have dried up”). The spiritual
food, once so abundant, will become like succulent figs that have shriveled up!
The grain will have dried up!
The many printing facilities presently used by the Watchtower will become
like storehouses that have been laid desolate. The thousands of kingdom halls
throughout the world will resemble barns that have been torn down because of
disuse!
Jehovah’s Witnesses – like domestic cattle that depend upon their human
owner for feedstock – will lose their spiritual pasturage and wander about dazed
and confused at the unexpected turn of events! Christ’s droves of sheep will bear
the brunt of punishment for the Society’s lack of insight into the vital prophecies
that foretell the very catastrophe that will soon cause the complete desolation of
that which is known as Jehovah’s visible organization.
Even more distressing than the despoiling of the Watchtower Society, the
world-wrecking calamity brought on by the onrushing locust and cockroach
swarms will bring about the cessation of the preaching of the good news.
Do not Jehovah’s Witnesses routinely refer to the world as “the field” and to
the ministry as “field service”? In that agrarian setting the ministers of God are
like farmers and vinedressers. What else is betokened by the following verses,
then, except the end of the field service work of Jehovah’s Witnesses? – “The
field has been despoiled, the ground has gone to mourning; for the
grain has been despoiled, the new wine has been dried up, the oil has
faded away. Farmers have felt shame; vinedressers have howled, on
account of wheat and on account of barley; for the harvest of the field
has perished. The vine itself has shown dryness, and even the fig tree
has faded away.” – Joel 1:10-12
The collapse of the Watchtower institution will signal the end of the ministry
of Jehovah’s Witnesses in its present and familiar form. The “farmers” and
“vinedressers” symbolize the millions of publishers and pioneers who presently
labor in field service. (See also Isaiah 61:5-6) But because their ministry is
entirely dependent upon the constant direction from and regular publications of
the Watchtower Society, Bethel’s demise will have the inevitable knock-on effect
of causing the world wide work to come to a sudden halt.
Tragically, those many householders who are at that time dependent upon
the study aids and continual visits of Jehovah’s Witnesses, as well as those untold
millions who have not yet been contacted, will then be lost – as the prophecy
says: “the harvest of the field has perished.” (See also Isaiah 17:11 and Isaiah 24)
9
“RIP APART YOUR HEARTS”
The reason God allows such an unexpected disaster to befall his people is to
bring about their repentance. That is why the prophecy goes on to say: “And
now also, the utterance of Jehovah is, come back to me with all your
hearts, and with fasting and with weeping and with wailing. And rip
apart your hearts, and not your garments; and come back to Jehovah
your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abundant
in loving-kindness, and he will certainly feel regret on account of the
calamity.”
Since God implores his people to return to him, does not that indicate that
the prophecy is addressed to those whom God recognizes as his people? How
could the religionists of Christendom return to a relationship with Jehovah that
has never existed?
Although the Watchtower Society has never and would never acknowledge
any need for it to repent, Jehovah has a different perspective. God does not look
at the outward form of religion – such as the ripping of one’s garments in an
outward display of repentance. Jehovah’s call to rip apart our hearts indicates
that God sees that the worship of his people is not whole-hearted. From his
exalted point of view his people have left him –not merely as individuals, but as
an organization. Of course, Jehovah’s Witnesses have not denounced Jehovah
or denied Christ outright, but since God requires absolute devotion from his
worshippers any half-hearted attempt to honor God is unacceptable to him.
Jehovah deserves whole-hearted worship – nothing less.
But could it be that the Watchtower Society’s insistence on organizational
uniformity and “theocratic” procedure has created an institutional form of
worship not dissimilar from that presided over by the Pharisees; and in so doing,
has fostered a culture of men-pleasers who merely honor Jehovah with their lips,
but whose hearts have gradually become far removed from him? (Isaiah 29:13)
By means of his prerecorded judgments contained in prophecy the Almighty
Judge, Jehovah – whose piercing eyes see our inmost thoughts and motivations
– indicates that to be the case.
Although the Watchtower’s spokesmen haughtily brush off any sort of criticism
of the Society’s teachings, tactics and policies as mere allegations by opposers and
apostates, the truth is that
the Society is responsible for
having stumbled hundreds
of thousands, if not millions
of
Jehovah’s
Witnesses
and non-witnesses alike. In
fact, Ezekiel 36:15 indicts
Jehovah’s organization for
having
stumbled
entire
“nations” of people. Sadly,
many more are yet to be
stumbled, as Jesus foretold
(Matthew 24:10).
Consider the very last
verse of the prophecy of Joel,
The collapse of the Watchtower
institution will signal the end of the
ministry of Jehovah’s Witnesses in its
present and familiar form.
which says: “And I will consider innocent their blood that I had not
considered innocent; and Jehovah will be residing in Zion.”
In saying that God’s final verdict upon his then-properly chastised people is a
declaration of their innocence, but that prior to that Jehovah had not considered
their blood innocent, is that not indicative of our guilt now, as a people, and
our desperate need for God’s forgiveness? Godly humility and spiritual sobriety
ought to move us to answer in the affirmative.
‘FIRE HAS DEVOURED…A FLAME CONSUMES’
The onrushing insect swarm symbolizes the agents of the last empire, the eighth
king of Revelation, and it will serve as Jehovah’s means to shatter the nations and
discipline his people. That the locust hordes symbolize the nations that will yet
plunder God’s own possession is clearly evident in Joel. For example, Joel 2:17
states: “Between the porch and the altar let the priests, the ministers
of Jehovah, weep and say, ‘Do feel sorry, O Jehovah, for your people,
and do not make your inheritance a reproach, for nations to rule
over them. Why should they say among the peoples: “Where is their
God?””
The Israelites were frequently harassed, invaded and even occupied by
surrounding nations when they strayed from pure worship. God allowed the
Philistines, Moabites, Edomites and others to afflict Israel in order to bring
them back to their senses. It is a common theme that runs through the Hebrew
Scriptures.
The six imperial forerunners of the modern Anglo-American alliance, namely
Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome, each ruled over Israel and
Judah in their turn. The Hebrew prophecies and Revelation indicate that the
Christian “Israel of God” is also destined to have the same fate before being
brought to glory. But how might modern nations rule over Jehovah’s people
during the finale?
As is well known, during times of war and unrest even democratic nations that
claim to value freedom have persecuted Jehovah’s Witnesses. There is no need
to recount the Watchtower Society’s well-documented fight to legally establish
the good news here. However, it should also be recognized that the constitutional
guarantees inherent in the legal systems of Western nations have served as a
protection for Jehovah’s Witnesses. Even Paul appealed to Caesar.
But the question we ought to ponder is this: What would happen to freedom
of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and legal redress, and
other cherished liberties, if the present Anglo-American world order were to be
suddenly overturned – what then? We would then be faced with a repeat of the
Nazi holocaust and the Communist pogroms, only on a global scale.
Let none of Jehovah’s Witness scoff at the suggestion that America is destined
to be overturned and replaced by a tyrannical, fascist regime. It is destined to
occur by the very word of Jehovah.
The prophecy of Joel foretells that the relatively peaceful and secure world
in which we now live will simply be devoured by Jehovah’s rapacious “military
force” and its freedoms – enshrined in revered documents like the Bill of Rights
and the Constitution of the United States of America – will be set aflame and
go up in smoke. The very institutions that serve as the foundations of modern
civilization will be destroyed. Forebodingly, Joel 2:3 states: “Ahead of it a fire
has devoured, and behind it a flame consumes. Like the garden of
Eden the land is ahead of it; but behind it is a desolate wilderness,
and there has also proved to be nothing thereof escaping.”
11
Contrary to the Watchtower’s Revelation exegesis, nothing remotely
analogous to the symbolic death-stroke upon the head of the wild beast took
place during the First World War or at any time since then. The sword-stroke
and “miraculous” resurrection of the Anglo-American head of Satan’s wild beast
– followed by the coming to life of the image of the beast – is yet to occur. It
will be a stunning, nation-shattering development. The future death-stroke
upon the Anglo-American head of the seven-headed beast will initiate a global
crisis like no other disaster that has occurred before – bringing an end to the
present nation-state system and ushering in what is sure to be a United Nationsadministered world government resembling a combination of corporate fascism
and global communism. The emergence of the beast from the abyss will then
initiate judgment day for the nations.
“THROUGH THE WINDOWS THEY GO IN”
What is the significance of the fact that the invading armies are said to rush into
the city, scaling over every wall and entering into every dwelling like thieves
through opened windows? It must betoken a total police state and conditions of
martial law; where private homes may be electronically spied upon or physically
entered and possessions legally seized with no protection or legal recourse for
the occupant.
It may also well symbolize how earth’s inhabitants – even the wealthy
who may imagine that their wealth is secure, as if behind a protective wall –
are due to be plundered. Bank accounts, treasury bonds, stocks, annuities and
pension funds, as well the paper currencies of the nations, may be devalued to
the point of worthlessness through hyperinflation or confiscated by other forms
of sophisticated financial chicanery more easily than an army of plunderers can
wreck havoc upon a nation. After all, the world’s store of wealth – including the
Watchtower’s multi-hundred-million dollar next egg – is largely just so many
digits stored on a computer. How secure is that?
The most recent trillion-dollar bailout scheme foisted upon the American
taxpayer is a striking demonstration of how private financial interests have the
power to loot entire nations. The reality soon to be thrust upon the world is that
no one is beyond the reach of Jehovah’s planet-plundering army of locusts!
(It is worth noting, according to the letter of James rich Christians who have
dealt unjustly with their fellow believers have stored up something like fire for
the last days and are due to howl over their misery
as their riches rot away! The prophetic judgment of
James is not at all dissimilar to the horrific cataclysm
portrayed in Joel.)
Jesus foretold that the sign of his presence would
be manifested in wars, food shortages and pestilences,
to the extent that mankind would become faint with
fright because the symbolic luminaries of the heavens
will go into eclipse. Joel 2:30-31 similarly foretells
that God will provide foreboding portents. Those two
verses read as follows: “And I will give portents
in the heavens and on the earth, blood and
fire and columns of smoke. The sun itself will
be turned into darkness, and the moon into
blood, before the coming of the great and
fear-inspiring day of Jehovah.”
The fact that the passage above uses similar
apocalyptic phraseology as employed by Jesus in
explaining the sign of the conclusion
indicates that the prophecy of Joel will
be fulfilled during the parousia of Christ
and will be characterized by a time of
unprecedented war; no doubt involving
the terrifying use of nuclear weaponry
– producing the dreaded “columns of
smoke” known as mushroom clouds.
There should be no doubt that even the
limited use of such horrific weapons
would send shock waves around the
globe – rocking civilization to its very
foundation – even as Jehovah says at
Joel 3:16: “And heaven and earth
certainly will rock.”
“I SHALL POUR OUT MY
SPIRIT”
Eventually Jehovah’s Witnesses will
awaken from the delusion that Babylon
the Great has already fallen, as well
as the naive notion that the many
prophecies that call for God’s people
to be persecuted and taken captive
to a greater Babylon were fulfilled
when J.F. Rutherford and seven other
Bethelites were incarcerated in the
Atlanta penitentiary for eight months.
The sobering truth that will inevitably
confront Jehovah’s Witnesses is that
the organization is destined to go
into babylonish captivity in the near
future. That is because the religious
system known as Babylon the great
will initially survive the take-down
of the present economic and political
system. And rather than Christendom
being destroyed by the eighth king
at the beginning of the tribulation,
as
the
Watchtower
repeatedly
insists, Jehovah’s Witnesses will find
themselves under the boot heel of the
tyrannical last king and his whorish
religious consort during the initial
phase of the day of Jehovah. The
following scripture is yet to be fulfilled
with respect to God’s people: “And for
my people they kept casting lots;
and they would give the male child
for a prostitute, and the female
child they sold for wine, that they
might drink.” – Joel 3:3
13
If that is not the case, then let
the Watchtower’s seers coherently
interpret the meaning of Joel 3:1-2,
which reads: “For, look! in those
days and in that time, when
I shall bring back the captive
ones of Judah and Jerusalem, I
will also collect together all the
nations and bring them down
to the low plain of Jehoshaphat;
and I will put myself on judgment
with them there on account of my
people and my inheritance Israel,
whom they scattered among the
nations; and they apportioned
out my own land.”
According to the Watchtower’s
hackneyed interpretation of Joel the
clergy are the object of devastation.
Yet, the concluding chapter of the
prophecy depicts Jehovah gathering
back the captive ones of his people as
an immediate prelude to Armageddon.
Obviously, the captives are made
such by the calamity described in
the prophecy. So, it is apparent that
the final gathering of those who will
ultimately receive salvation takes place
during the day of Jehovah.
The above scenario is in complete
harmony with the sequence of events
Jesus foretold would occur during the
conclusion of the system of things.
According to Jesus, Christians are
going to be scattered during the time
the holy place is brought to desolation.
Only afterwards, during the finale, will
the chosen ones be gathered by the
angels from the ends of the earth.
The persecution and martyrdom
of Christ’s followers will then warrant
a response from Jehovah. As was
the case with Assyria and Babylon,
even though Jehovah had authorized
those empires to punish Israel and
Judah they were also eventually
called to account for having reveled
in the destruction and mistreatment
of God’s inheritance. God’s dealings
with the nations establish a pattern
for the judgment to come. While the
Watchtower Society and Jehovah’s
Witnesses have brought reproach upon
the name of God and will shortly have
to pay the price, the nations that bring
about the execution of God’s judgments
will also be made to render an account
before the Almighty. Joel 3:4-6 goes on
to say: “Is it the treatment that you
are giving me as a reward? And if
you are giving such treatment to
me, swiftly, speedily I shall pay
back your treatment upon your
heads. Because you men have
taken my own silver and my own
gold, and you have brought my
own desirable good things into
your temples; and the sons of
Judah and the sons of Jerusalem
you have sold to the sons of the
Greeks…”
The period of upheaval and the
desolation of Jehovah’s holy place will
serve as the means by which Christ’s
angels will accomplish the harvest –
sifting out the faithless and wicked
from among those destined to receive
salvation. But while Jehovah breaks
down, he also builds up. Jehovah may
break a bone, but he also binds up.
Jehovah is a destroyer, but he is also
the Savior. The devastation of God’s
earthly organization will pave the way
for God to pour out his blessing upon
a chastened remnant of survivors. Joel
2:32 confirms that “the escaped ones”
will receive salvation: “And it must
occur that everyone who calls
on the name of Jehovah will get
away safe; for in Mount Zion and
in Jerusalem there will prove
to be the escaped ones, just as
Jehovah has said, and in among
the survivors, whom Jehovah is
calling.”
After the fiery purge the faithful
will experience a dousing by the
holy spirit not experienced since the
original outpouring of spirit on the day
of Pentecost. The 2nd chapter of Joel
foretells that both the anointed (sons
and daughters) and non-anointed
(menservants
and
maidservants)
will receive the full measure of God’s
holy spirit in order to accomplish the
final phase of God’s work in the postWatchtower period of the tribulation.
Joel 2:28-29 foretells: “And after
that it must occur that I shall
pour out my spirit on every sort
of flesh, and your sons and your
daughters will certainly prophesy.
As for your old men, dreams they
will dream. As for your young
men, visions they will see. And
even on the menservants and on
the maidservants in those days I
shall pour out my spirit.”
However, unlike the day of
Pentecost when the first sons of the
kingdom were begotten by holy spirit,
the outpouring of the holy spirit upon
the sons and daughters during the day
of Jehovah does not anoint them. That
is because they will have already been
anointed. The ultimate fulfillment of
the prophecy has to do with the body of
Christ becoming fully accepted into the
kingdom, so that at that point, during
the world’s darkest period, the chosen
ones will shine as brightly as the sun
in the kingdom of their heavenly
Father. That event will mark the longanticipated revealing of the sons of
God.
The prophesying inspired by that
outpouring of spirit will no doubt have
to do with heralding the authentic
establishment of the kingdom – not in
the manner that Jehovah’s Witnesses
presently preach, but with spirit and
power. The “visions they will see” will
be the first-ever accurate understanding
of the prophetic visions recorded in the
Bible. But instead of offering the hope
of salvation to the nations, Jehovah’s
true witnesses will then “shout a war
cry” – announcing to the nations that
they must meet Jehovah “in the low
plain of the decision, for the day
of Jehovah is near in the low plain
of the decision.” – Joel 3:14
14
“Jehovah himself has become king!” What a rousing declaration that is! At
no previous time in human history has the world been in such urgent need for
a change of rulership. Not merely a change of political parties or ideologies, but
a radical change. What mankind needs is for Jehovah himself to become king!
Jehovah’s Witnesses have been made aware of God’s purpose to establish his
kingdom as the only government ruling over the earth. Unfortunately, the
Watchtower Society has unwittingly trivialized the act of Jehovah becoming king.
They have done so by making it a mundane affair - a mere historical footnote.
Although most of Jehovah’s Witnesses do not realize it, the Watchtower actually
teaches that the most profound event in all history has already occurred - on no less
than two occasions! As absurd as it may seem, according to the Watchtower Jehovah
became king in 1914 and then again in 1919! (Isaiah’s Prophecy Volume I, page 270)
The book Jehovah Himself Has Become King (2005) presents an in-depth
examination of the Watchtower’s extensive interpretations of Bible prophecy particularly the notion that Jehovah has already become king and that the judgment
of the house of God has already begun - testing them as to their authenticity.
It is, in fact, the obligation of all Christians to follow the apostolic counsel to “test the
inspired expressions to see if they originate with God.” It is the author’s hope that
the truths presented in Jehovah Himself Has Become King may play some small
part in clearing the path and making the way of Jehovah straight, as a prelude to
Jehovah himself actually becoming king.
Published by Authorhouse.com
Available as free e-book on Jehovah-has-become-king.com
May be purchased on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com