Some of Jehovah's Witnesses have asked how it is possible for them to continue on in a ministry using the Watchtower and Awake; knowing that they are sharing in distributing certain falsehoods—such as the 1914 doctrine or subtle UN propaganda, or what-have-you.
Others have asked if there is any hope for inactive or disfellowshipped persons should the tribulation overtake them in that condition.
So, this week's commentary will try to address those two issues.
One factor that makes using what we might consider to be tainted Watchtower literature such a difficult issue for us to deal with is because most of Jehovah's Witnesses have never had any sort of ministry apart from using the literature. Our entire ministry revolves around distributing literature; either on the street corner or from door-to-door. Although Jehovah's Witnesses are regularly encouraged to use the Bible in the ministry, typically our using the Bible is limited to reading a few scriptures and then we are trained to make a literature offer. And, of course, the home Bible study program makes heavy use of either a book or brochure.
The dilemma arises for some of Jehovah's Witnesses, not over the fact that the Watchtower literature might contain certain falsehoods that we would prefer not to share in publishing; the problem is that we also recognize that we are under obligation to Christ to preach about his kingdom. For example, Paul wrote of his Christian obligation, saying in the 9th chapter of 1st Corinthians: "For necessity is laid upon me. Really, woe is me if I did not declare the good news! If I perform this willingly, I have a reward; but if I do it against my will, all the same I have a stewardship entrusted to me." But, since we are not accustomed to preaching and teaching others without using Watchtower materials, it is difficult to know how to carry on our Christian ministry in good conscience. That is the challenge.
To gain some perspective, let's take a broader "macro" look at Jehovah's way of doing things. To that end, let's take a closer look at the challenges the apostles originally faced.
Jesus once told a Samaritan woman that the Jews worshipped what they knew. As a Jew, Jesus certainly knew the God whom he worshipped and his fellow Jews also had a basic knowledge of God. For instance, they knew God's name. They also knew that God had promised to send them a Messiah. They knew that God's kingdom was going to rule the world.
However, there were many things the Jews did not know about God. That's why Jesus went on to tell the Samaritan woman that the hour had come for the true worshippers to worship God with sprit and truth. So, the rigid formalistic Jewish way of worship was going to be phased out. Years after Christ died, Paul indicated that the Jewish system of worship had served its purpose and was obsolete and due to pass away altogether. (Hebrew 8:13)
Jehovah's Witnesses are now in a situation similar to the pre-Christian Jewish nation. Like the pre-Christian Jews, we know God's name. We know about God's promised Messiah. We know that God's kingdom is going to rule the world. We know many details concerning all of God's arrangements.
But, do we really know Jehovah the way we should? Well, consider what Paul wrote at Hebrews 8:10-11: "'For this is the covenant that I shall covenant with the house of Israel after those days,' says Jehovah. 'I will put my laws in their mind, and in their hearts I shall write them. And I will become their God, and they themselves will become my people. "'And they will by no means teach each one his fellow citizen and each one his brother, saying: "Know Jehovah!" For they will all know me, from the least one to the greatest one of them. For I shall be merciful to their unrighteous deeds, and I shall by no means call their sins to mind anymore.'"
From Paul's perspective, "those days" were the 1st century and the Christian congregation was "the house of Israel." Christ established the New Covenant with his anointed followers and the Christians became God's people.
However, as far as biblical patterns go, our position today awaiting Christ's return is the same position the apostles were in relative to the kingdom before Pentecost. How so?
Prior to Jesus' resurrection the apostles were imagining that the kingdom of God was going to be on earth. For example, when James and John asked to sit beside Christ in his kingdom, Jesus told them they did not know what they were asking for. Other occasions proved that the apostles had no idea that they were going to have to go to heaven to rule with Jesus. Nevertheless, in spite of their ignorance and short-sightedness, Jesus entrusted them with a sacred ministry and commanded them to go through the land declaring that the kingdom of God had drawn near—even before Pentecost. It was only after Christ's resurrection that their eyes finally began to be opened to the reality of the heavenly kingdom.
In a post-resurrection encounter with the apostles, Jesus rebuked them for their ignorance and slowness to grasp the truth, saying to them: "O senseless ones and slow in heart to believe on all the things the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?"
Now, think about it: If the very men who are now the foundational stones of the Christian church were "senseless and slow in heart to believe," where does that leave us in Christ's estimation? Imagine, the apostles got it all wrong without the help of tainted Watchtower literature?
Are not the problems we are dealing with, related to the Watchtower, a result of their being "senseless and slow to believe on all the things the prophets spoke"? Surely, that is the case.
For instance, the Watchtower's insistence that Christ came in 1914 is not that much different than the apostles' insisting that Christ was not going to die and that he would rule from Jerusalem. Their error then was just as wrong as our errors now. (Accepting the Watchtower's NGO affair—which amounts to apostasy.)
The Watchtower is "slow in heart to believe the things the prophets spoke" concerning Jehovah's judgments on spiritual Israel. Instead, they imagine that all of Jehovah's rebuke is directed toward Christendom or that it was fulfilled way back in 1918-19. It is because of the Watchtower's spiritual senselessness and slowness to understand the prophecies that we are now faced with the issue of organizational loyalty.
What is the solution?
Encouragingly, after calling the apostles senseless and slow to believe, the account says of Jesus: "And commencing at Moses and all the Prophets he interpreted to them things pertaining to himself in all the Scriptures."
The cure for the apostles' ignorance and error was that Jesus opened up their minds and hearts to believe and understand the prophets as never before. In other words, Christ enlightened them as only the Lord of Light can do.
Now, as it applies to the prophecies of the New Covenant, when may we expect the many prophecies to be fulfilled that refer to God writing his law in our hearts and Jehovah becoming our God in a special way? Did that take place in 1919? Hardly!
If we were not also senseless and slow to believe the prophets, we could grasp the fact that there is a day of ultimate enlightenment in the future.
For example, in the verse cited above, Paul quoted from Jeremiah where it foretold that those in the new covenant with God "will no more teach each one his companion and each one his brother, saying, 'know Jehovah!' for they will all of them know me, from the least one of them even to the greatest one of them," is the utterance of Jehovah. "For I shall forgive their error, and their sin I shall remember no more."
If we reason on this prophecy, what is it actually telling us? It is saying that when God's covenant is fully realized there will be no more teaching of the sons of the kingdom anything! When the prophecy is fulfilled, the sons of God will have been taught to each, individually, know Jehovah God completely—as completely as Jesus knows his Father. At that point here will be nothing left to teach them.
Obviously, that prophecy was not really fulfilled in the 1st century due to the fact that Paul and the apostles were very much engaged in teaching the prospective sons of the kingdom to know Jehovah. It is equally evident that it has not been fulfilled in our day either; otherwise, why would the Watchtower need to teach us about Jehovah?
And why would the as-of-yet unfulfilled prophecy of Ezekiel speak of a day when the Christian house of Israel "will have to know that I am Jehovah"?
Reasoning further on the implications of the prophecy, Jehovah said of those who become his people: "I shall forgive their error, and their sin I shall remember no more."
Again, we ask the question: Did God forgive the error of Christ's congregation in the 1st century? Not entirely, because in Revelation, for example, Jesus foretells of his judgment upon the seven congregations of anointed sons during the Lord's day.
It seems ridiculous to even pose the question, but did Jehovah grant forgiveness to all the sons of the kingdom back in 1919? Let sensibleness prevail and the answer becomes self-evident.
According to God's prophetic word there is a second Pentecost-like outpouring at Christ's coming. According to Joel's prophecy, the ultimate outpouring of holy spirit occurs during the tribulation. There is so much more that can be said about this, but suffice it to say:
Christ's coming will be pivotal—monumental!
That is when the blind eyes are opened to see the deeper truths. That is when the pasted ears are unstopped to hear Jehovah's clarion call. That is when those slow in heart to believe God's prophets will have their minds and hearts pried open to know the truth. That is when we will discard our erroneous teachings as if they were an unclean menstrual cloth. That is when Christ will scour us clean as with laundrymen's lye. That is when God will grant forgiveness. That is when Jehovah will truly become our God and we his people. That is when we will come to know Jehovah.
So, what do we do in the interim?
In the 13th chapter of I Corinthians, Paul wrote about the day of knowing. He wrote to us, saying: "For at present we see in hazy outline by means of a metal mirror, but then it will be face to face. At present I know partially, but then I shall know accurately even as I am accurately known. Now, however, there remain faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
At present we, too, see Jehovah and his still-unfolding purpose in a mere "hazy outline." Regrettably, our hazy understanding is only exacerbated and made all the more pitiful because we assume we see things clearly.
Nevertheless, we can appreciate that the answers to our doubts and turmoil lies in the spiritual gifts available to us presently; namely, "faith, hope and love."
As for how each one of Jehovah's Witnesses should meet the challenges set before them in accomplishing the ministry we have committed to undertake, the answer lies in our having faith in God's unfailing promises to set all things straight; hope in God's forgiveness and mercy, and love of the truth about God that we presently possess. The power of faith, hope and love is much stronger than the mountain-like obstacles before us. Really, compared to the profound truth about Jehovah and Christ's incoming kingdom, all else is mere trivia.
But what about those who are not "in the truth," as we say?
What about those who are estranged from Jehovah? What about the disaffected and stumbled who do not have the power to simply carry on as before?
Certainly, Jehovah is aware of everyone's spiritual condition. If a fallen sparrow does not escape his Father's notice, surely Jesus knows every one of Jehovah's lost sheep by name. Jehovah also knows that the Watchtower bears a heavy responsibility for stumbling many of his sheep.
Jehovah even charges his modern anointed priests with as much, prophetically saying to them: "But you men—you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble in the law. You have ruined the covenant of Levi," Jehovah of armies has said.
The question is: If Jehovah is going to hold an accounting with those who "have caused many to stumble," what is to become of the victims who were made to stumble?
There answer is that Jehovah and his messianic shepherd are going to retrieve the lost sheep—at least those who have retained a measure of "faith, hope and love."
The 34th chapter of Ezekiel assures us of this: "'For this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: "Here I am, I myself, and I will search for my sheep and care for them. According to the care of one feeding his drove in the day of his coming to be in the midst of his sheep that have been spread abroad, that is the way that I shall care for my sheep; and I will deliver them out of all the places to which they have been scattered in the day of clouds and thick gloom… I myself shall feed my sheep, and I myself shall make them lie down," is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah. "The lost one I shall search for, and the dispersed one I shall bring back, and the broken one I shall bandage and the ailing one I shall strengthen, but the fat one and the strong one I shall annihilate. I shall feed that one with judgment."
"The day of clouds and thick gloom" is a reference to the darkened period of the world's tribulation. That is when Jehovah personally oversees the final in-gathering of the so-called other sheep that make up the great crowd.
We can be certain that "everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah," in faith, will be heard.
The 42nd chapter of Isaiah says of Christ, when he comes to rule the world: "No crushed reed will he break; and as for a dim flaxen wick, he will not extinguish it. In trueness he will bring forth justice. He will not grow dim nor be crushed until he sets justice in the earth itself; and for his law the islands themselves will keep waiting."
Those whose spirit and hope resembles a flickering wick of a lamp about to burn out may be sure that Christ will not snuff out their flame. When Christ "sets justice in the earth," that means that the injustices will be amended. Not merely worldly injustices, but the unjust things within the New World Society that have caused many to stumble and be crushed.
While many of us struggle with feelings of resentment and disappointment, there is no reason to give in to despair. There is, however, every reason to continue on in faith, hope and love.
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