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Srecko Sostar

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  1. Like
    Srecko Sostar reacted to Arauna in Revelation: Babylon the Great, etc.   
    Royal family members were taken in by Him. One must understand the period to understand why people accepted certain things.  The Pope made the konkordat with Hitler.......even Russia trusted him..... untill he turned on it. 
    People can see things right under their noses and not realize what they are looking at.  Most Jews who experienced kristal nacht never thought it could suddenly turn much worse.  Those who did not leave in time were caught in the trap.
  2. Like
    Srecko Sostar reacted to JW Insider in Revelation: Babylon the Great, etc.   
    You may have noticed that the last time this came up on the forum, I stayed away from these details of the JFR/Hitler discussion, but I thought I remembered that you had already made a similar point in a previous discussion:
    I wanted to show the reasons that this particular case should not be compared (in my opinion) with a practice of dissing just anything that doesn't come from the organization. These details were in response to the idea that Rutherford might have been referring just to the feel-good principles and promises of a typical politician. I took the above quote to that effect as your "defense" of Rutherford's specific actions in this regard, even if it wasn't particularly what you were trying to do.
    I'm not at all trying to condemn Rutherford generally. Listening closely to his speeches and known writings, you can tell he has a love for Jehovah, and a strong faith that Jehovah will act on behalf of righteous people. Most everything I read from his writing and speeches is perfectly fine. But I am trying to condemn this conduct shown "here" on this matter. Absolutely!
    By his own words he condemns his own actions here, on this particular matter.
    We should never use two different scales, even when judging matters of this life about a distinguished and respected member of the Governing Body.
    Isn't this the very reason that Galatians 1 and 2 is part of Scripture, and therefore beneficial for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness? In Galatians, Paul showed how Peter stood "condemned" in this matter of showing favoritism for one race or national group above another. Earlier Paul had just shown how we might go wrong for showing favoritism for a leader just because that person might be distinguished and respected.
    There is nothing particularly wrong with bringing an accusation against an older man as long as we are conscientiously following the principle of not just making accusations wildly because of what we have heard from only one source, or unreliable sources. I think, or hope at least, that I am following the advice of Paul here:
    (1 Timothy 5:19-21) 19 Do not accept an accusation against an older man except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 20 Reprove before all onlookers those who practice sin, as a warning to the rest. 21 I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus and the chosen angels to observe these instructions without any prejudice or partiality.  
  3. Like
    Srecko Sostar reacted to JW Insider in Revelation: Babylon the Great, etc.   
    Extreme socialism does become communism. But extreme capitalism does not look like communism, it's the definition of fascism. Capitalism defended by a militaristic state is fascism.
    You have likely been listening to a lot of the same propaganda that now has most of the world in its thrall. I listened to it, too, for most of my life. The problem with your theory is that the United States, through dozens of once-secret sources, which are now in the open, prove definitively that the United States was deathly afraid of communism because it brings poor people out of poverty much quicker than capitalism ever has. This is the reason that communism is a "threat" and has to be interfered with and sabotaged constantly. It's the reason that the United States has chosen to destroy nations like North Korea and Vietnam and Libya and Syria and Venezuela and Nicaragua and even much smaller nations, more defenseless than those.
    The United States has been running scared for decades, because of the theory that people might notice that communism, at least Marxist communism, is a scientific approach to the economy such that more poor in the population rise above the poverty level.
    Russian communism, in spite of two world wars, and a couple of very paranoid leaders, managed to build itself up from a very poor economy with most of the population in poverty, to the second biggest economy in the world in just the 40 years from about 1917 to 1957. US Capitalism, for example, though a much richer country, barely moved the bar on the percentage of people it could bring out of poverty in any 40 year period.
    China's communism is creating an economy that has now very likely become the number one economy in the world. And it was and still is a poor, overpopulated country.  In the years since its revolution in the late 1940's it has managed to bring more persons out of poverty than all other nations put together. There is a rumor that they might have completely raised virtually everyone above the poverty line by late 2020 or 2021. And this is what's reported by Western journalists, not just Chinese sources. And China has done this without bombing countries for their resources or using the US/IMF/WorldBank tactics of creating loans to be defaulted on so that the leverage on those loans allows rampant stealing of resources, trade for military bases, pipelines, etc. In fact, John Bolton was angry at China for using tactics in Africa that made local populations "prefer" China over America when it came to doing business for their valuable resources (rare earth metals, etc). Those "tactics" include NOT using loans for leverage, NOT using military proxies to murder uncooperative local populations, NOT promoting civil war to weaken the country, NOT attempting regime changes, NOT building infrastructure that is clearly for the purpose of American military bases, NOT using a majority of Chinese persons as workers in these lands to hurt the local economies, etc.
    These "tactics" have worked so well, that almost everything the United States has done to make themselves unpopular in the world is projected onto China to try to make China look worse. Even the surveillance initiatives that you have often brought up are only in the testing stages and are still chaotic and experimental. They have been tried in only a few test areas and cities in China and they are not nearly as pervasive as such surveillance systems are in the United States.
    Don't get the idea that I think Communism is a proper solution for the world, or that I think that these countries can do no wrong. They are led by humans, influenced by Satan, and will make dangerous mistakes just like every other nation. The only true solution to human governments is a government by God, God's Kingdom under Christ.
  4. Thanks
    Srecko Sostar reacted to JW Insider in Revelation: Babylon the Great, etc.   
    That's a very bad question if you are trying to exonerate JFR here.
    I'm sure you already know this, but Hitler didn't come out of the blue. The goals of the Hitler's Nazi party had already been made clear in the 1920's. Hitler was actually becoming important in internal political and military circles in 1918/9, when the first swastika flags were seen even at the tail end of WWI. He had been an intelligence officer in WWI. Also as a political operative he was not speaking just for himself, but amassed more political power by standing for popular ideas about remilitarizing to prove the true superiority of the Teutonic race, and that they would have won WWI, except for the UK and of course Jewish Bolshevism. Even before 1920, the foundations of the Nazi party were already "coming into their own."
    Because the Nazi party was very anti-Socialist (in spite of its name), it also grew in parallel with Italian fascism under Mussolini, whose party also gained power from the end of WWI. Mussolini was a "social Darwinian" racist (white supremacist), but not nearly as anti-Jewish as Hitler's party. Still it was a clear that Italy fascist party and Germany's fascist party (the Nazis) were trending in the same direction. Mussolini was breaking unions, was pro-capitalist, for privatizing businesses,etc. Both Nazism and Italian Fascism were seen as the "Anti-Revolution Revolution" or "Revolution of the Right" opposing the leftist Leninist style revolution of the left. The Russian revolution was spreading its ideology in some ways across Europe, as already seen in Finland and Romania and Ukraine, and Nazism was the cure. 
    When Hitler staged his premature coup to get power in 1925, of course, he was caught and sent to jail, where he wrote Mein Kampf. By the mid-to-late-20s, Mein Kampf had made very clear all the basic components of his ideology. His goals were to bring Germany back into WWI to win it this time. He also made clear that lying and backstabbing and false propaganda were going to be necessary "tools." The book along with his speeches promoted rabid anti-Semitism in the 1920's which he toned down only by the early 1930's to be more electable and respectable. He was visited by many Americans before he took power, being seen as a celebrity. Many others in the party did not control their anti-Semitic rhetoric in their political speeches. Not that it mattered, because it started to come back with a vengeance through Hitler himself within months of his election.  
    So his goals were clear from the 1920's. His party would be built on German imperialism, racial supremacy, fascism/nazism, and in his rise to prominence, he had used this rhetoric of revenge (over WWI, Treaty of Versailles) to push German even the socialist workers to the right. (Through inflitration and lying propaganda whenever necessary.)  He wanted to erase the shame of WWI, blaming the loss on Britain and Jews. German society saw the rhetoric rising but still assumed he could never become electable. But with rising industrialization, Hitler made fascism seem feasible. The premonitions in his rhetoric of the early and mid 20's made it seem realistic that that Germany should re-arm and conquer the world. The rationale for making war on the west was Jewish Bolshevism and the fact that they were blockaded by Britain, and obviously it was Russian-Jewish Bolshevism in the east since 1917.
    If I haven't repeated myself enough already above, he was already a scary, militaristic, fascist, anti-socialist, anti-British, anti-Jewish, white supremacist. So I don't know what goals Rutherford thought were identical, but he already would have known much of the above history because I'm sure he had been reading the writing of a Jewish person who had already reported this by early 1933. But this same Jewish man had also written in April 1933 that Hitler's party, even though ostensibly pro-Catholic, didn't care anymore and had been breaking up not just socialist and communist meetings, but Catholic meetings, too.
    Perhaps this is why Rutherford thought it was safe to include the following in his letter:
    The Brooklyn headquarter of the Watchtower Society is pro German in an exemplary way and has been so for many years. . . . These two magazines, "The Watchtower" and "Bible Student" were the only magazines in America which refused to engage in anti-German propaganda . . . . In the very same manner, in course of the recent months the board of directors of our Society not only refused to engage in propaganda against Germany, but has even taken a position against it. The enclosed declaration underlines this fact and emphasizes that the people leading in such propaganda (Jewish businessmen and Catholics) also are the most rigorous persecutors of the work of our Society and its board of directors. This and other statements of the declaration are meant to repudiate the slanderous accusation, that Bible Researchers are supported by the Jews.
    And the "Declaration" letter at the the same time included the following statements. The WTS was apparently not ashamed of them because they even printed them in English in the 1934 Yearbook, p. 134-138. The support for Hitler's Nazi principles are aligned with Hitler's propaganda against Jews and the British nation, and Rutherford admits his anti-Catholicism, too (which might NOT have aligned with Hitler's principles).
    It is falsely charged by our enemies that we have received financial support for our work from the Jews. Nothing is farther from the truth. Up to this hour there never has been the slightest bit of money contributed to our work by Jews. We are the faithful followers of Christ Jesus and believe upon Him as the Savior of the world, whereas the Jews entirely reject Jesus Christ and emphatically deny that he is the Savior of the world sent of God for man's good. This of itself should be sufficient proof to show that we receive no support from Jews and that therefore the charges against us are maliciously false and could proceed only from Satan, our great enemy. The greatest and the most oppressive empire on earth is the Anglo-American empire. By that is meant the British Empire, of which the United States of America forms a part. It has been the commercial Jews of the British-American empire that have built up and carried on Big Business as a means of exploiting and oppressing the peoples of many nations. This fact particularly applies to the cities of London and New York, the stronghold of Big Business. This fact is so manifest in America that there is a proverb concerning the city of New York which says: The Jews own it, the Irish Catholics rule it, and the Americans pay the bills.

    The present government of Germany has declared emphatically against Big Business oppressors and in opposition to the wrongful religious influence in the political affairs of the nations. Such is exactly our position.

    Instead of being against the principles advocated by the government of Germany, we stand squarely for such principles, and point out that Jehovah God through Christ Jesus will bring about the full realization of these principles and will give to the people peace and prosperity and the greatest desire of every honest heart.

    A careful examination of our books and literature will disclose the fact that the very high ideals held and promulgated by the present national government are set forth in and endorsed and strongly emphasized in our publications and show that Jehovah God will see to it that these high ideals in due time will be attained by all persons who love righteousness.
  5. Like
    Srecko Sostar reacted to JW Insider in Revelation: Babylon the Great, etc.   
    The letter that Rutherford wrote to Hitler around June 25, 1933 uses pretty much the same logic that the Watchtower had used for supporting the League of Nations. The idea is that the Bible Students stood for the same ethical goals as the Nazi government under Hitler, and that they were in full agreement with them. Hitler's goals were just a political expression of purely religious goals of the Bible Students. The letter says:
    The conference of five thousand delegates also noted - as is expressed in the declaration - that the Bible Researchers of Germany are fighting for the very same high ethical goals and ideals which also the national government of the German Reich proclaimed respecting the relationship of humans to God, namely: honesty of the created being towards its creator.

    The conference came to the conclusion that there are no contradictions when it comes to the relationship between the Bible Researchers of Germany to the national government of the German Reich. To the contrary, referring to the purely religious and unpolitical goals and efforts of the Bible Researchers, it can be said that these are in full agreement with the identical goals of the national government of the German Reich.
    Of course, Hitler and his government had done very little by that point in 1933 to show how they would go about executing those "same ethical goals." But it was risky for Rutherford to claim they were identical. It's like giving Obama a Nobel Peace Prize just before he expands the current wars and takes the United States into some new ones.
  6. Upvote
    Srecko Sostar reacted to Witness in Genuine and Professed Jehovah's Witness - Who is who?   
    Since they are not willing to defend their teachings, then they must not be equipped to reason!  
    To what measure?  100 percent.  Why do they allow it? Because as the man said who was making the video, they refuse to use their mind.  Reason?  I can only guess its out of fear, knowing an elder would rush up any moment to shoo them away from the gentleman.  
    I was asking myself the same question!
    Hmmm, only the writers of the WT know this.
    The gentleman states, “so it’s a unique point, that actually there has never been a child abused by a Jehovah’s Witness”
    A few of the JWs are well aware of his daughter’s abuse, but they shun him when asking a simple question.  Everyone has a right to use their mind.  God expects us to.  But the elders/servants made sure no one could. And they made sure they didn't use their own mind as well. 
    "Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity."  Rom 12:2
    For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power and love and a sound mind.  2 Tim 1:7
     
     
     
    http://pearl-obeymen.blogspot.com/
     
  7. Like
    Srecko Sostar got a reaction from Shiwiii in Genuine and Professed Jehovah's Witness - Who is who?   
    I found interesting video, with very important evidences about few subjects. Video took place in Cardiff, Wales 2019. Summer Convention "Love never fails".
    1) To what extend JW members are equipped for reasoning and how much they are willing to defend own teachings and beliefs?
    2) To what measure JW members who are Convention delegates are under control of people in "orange vests"? And why they allow them to be under their control?
    3) Why JW members who wear "orange vests" and are in official capacity are not willing to defend WT published teachings? 
    4) Does it mean how every JW member who make some sort of sin in his life as JW congregant is "professed JW" while the state of sin lasts?
    5) Does he/she in time before and after sinning is considered as "genuine JW"?
    .....and some more.
    Enjoy in good material for thinking and discussion. 
     Sadly, child sexual abuse is a worldwide plague, and true Christians have been affected by this plague. Why? “Wicked men and impostors” abound, and some may try to enter the congregation. (2 Tim. 3:13) In addition, some professing to be a part of the congregation have succumbed to perverted fleshly desires and have sexually abused children. Let us discuss why child abuse is such a grave sin. Then we will consider how elders handle instances of serious wrongdoing, including child abuse,  and how parents can protect their children. - https://www.jw.org/en/library/magazines/watchtower-study-may-2019/love-justice-face-of-wickedness/
     
  8. Thanks
    Srecko Sostar reacted to JW Insider in Revelation: Babylon the Great, etc.   
    (Revelation 17:8, NWT 1984)  The wild beast that you saw was, but is not, and yet is about to ascend out of the abyss, and it is to go off into destruction. And when they see how the wild beast was, but is not, and yet will be present, those who dwell on the earth will wonder admiringly, but their names have not been written upon the scroll of life from the founding of the world.
    The NWT says above that some would "wonder admiringly" about this beast. The Watchtower in 1919 came out with an article that appears to be a commentary on that same phrase the Federal Council of Churches had used, but they also managed to use words that showed they "wondered admiringly" calling the ideals of this League both wonderful and admirable. But the Watchtower article also compared the League's ideals to show that they were essentially the same as the ideals of God's kingdom, and was even suggesting that this League might be involved in the initiation of the outworking of God's kingdom on earth. Just as the Federation of Churches had done, however, the Watchtower was not saying it was the same as God's kingdom, only that it was a "political" expression of those goals. Just like many in the Federation of Churches, it was realized that it would take more than political goals to actually achieve the full outworking of God's kingdom.
    Here are some snippets from the first, last and a middle paragraph of a short article in the Watch Tower,  February 15, 1919,  p.51, with a more complete text of the article below:

     

     
    We cannot but admire the high principles embodied in the proposed League of Nations, formulated undoubtedly by those who have no knowledge of the great plan of God. This fact makes all the more wonderful the ideals which they express. For instance, it has been made plain by President Wilson and the advocates of his ideas that the proposed League of Nations is more than merely a league to enforce peace. They would not have us consider it to exclusively from the standpoint of politics or of military relations. It should be considered as fully from the economic and social points of view. The President’s idea seems to be that the League of Nations which he proposes would stand for world service rather than mere world regulation in the military sense, and that the very smallest of nations shall be participants in its every arrangement. In other words, his idea undoubtedly is that the league shall not be established merely for the purpose of promoting peace by threat or coercion; but that its purpose, when put into operation, will be to make all nations of earth one great family, working together for the common benefit in all the avenues of national life. Truly this is idealistic, and approximates in a small way that which God has foretold that he will bring about after this great time of trouble.
    So the Watchtower claimed that the Peace Conference and the "virtual reality" of the League of Nations were not merely the evolution of human progress, but were were strides of Jehovah's divine providence. They were a part of Jehovah's day of preparation for the Messianic Kingdom. In a small way this idealistic League of Nations was a political expression of what God's Kingdom would complete on earth.
    In fact, one point of the article is that the wonderful and admirable League of Nations is more than just a political expression of God's kingdom, but a social and economic expression of the ideals of God's kingdom on earth, too.
  9. Upvote
    Srecko Sostar reacted to Witness in Revelation: Babylon the Great, etc.   
    This is a side point, but one event can coincide with another.   The act of disfellowshipping has experienced a total turnaround in the organization. In 1947, excommunication was taught as having no sound scriptural basis.  As time went on, it was adopted as necessary, according to scripture; and gained momentum in its severity as the years passed.  Today, it is a hard-core teaching, with hard-core results. How often are individuals reminded not to have any contact with disfellowshipped ones, and now to shun those who are inactive?
    @Kosonen's remark brought this to mind when he said,
    It really looks like the WT organization by force tried to fit prophecies to events and dates too early before their right time
    When asked if I accepted the doctrine of 1914, my answer of “no” immediately brought the judgment that I would be announced as disfellowshipped at the next meeting. This happens on a consistent basis, and to many anointed ones - probably to all of them leaving the organization.  There is no sin involved, there is no need to repent before God, but before men holding on to their doctrine.  One is considered “apostate” against doctrines not having a sound basis in scripture.  Anyone disfellowshipped knows that to JWs, they are viewed as unworthy in God’s sight, having lost the promise of eternal life.  This is a “beating down” of the person, and their right to think independently, as the Bereans practiced in Paul’s day.
    “Now these were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica. They accepted the message with all eagerness, examining the scriptures every day to see if these things were so.”  Acts 17:11
    It is a typical hypocritical response by the organization’s leadership, who use this scripture to bring individuals from other religions into the organization.   
    When reading Kosnen’s comment, Matt 24:48-51 came to mind.
    “Who then is the faithful and wise slave whom the master has put in charge of his household slaves to give them their food at the right time? 46 Blessed is that slave whom his master will find so doing when he comes back. 47 Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But if that evil slave should say to himself, ‘My master is staying away for a long time,’ 49 and he begins to beat his fellow slaves and eats and drinks with drunkards, 50 the master of that slave will come on a day that he does not expect and at an hour that he does not know, 51 and will cut him in two and assign his place with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!  Matt 24:48-51
     
     
     
     
     
  10. Like
    Srecko Sostar reacted to JW Insider in Revelation: Babylon the Great, etc.   
    There is always some truth in half-truths, and conspiracy theorists always deal in half-truths. I have usually found, or I should say "always found" that whenever I hear about the dangers of a certain UN initiative, that the person promoting the theory is often virtually unacquainted with the original documents, and is getting their information from another place, rather than the UN source.
    I think that any human organization can be dangerous, even inadvertently. People make stupid and dangerous decisions without thinking of consequences. It happens all the more with persons of influence and power who make dangerous decisions, sometimes on purpose, and sometimes while trying to do the right thing. So I'm not at all surprised about bad things coming out of the UN, NATO, the EU, the White House, Russia, China, etc.
    And I'm not surprised that persons, even Rutherford, in 1918 on up through 1940, '41, '42, '43, '44, '45, etc., also held conspiratorial views of the League of Nations and the UN, and that these views influenced some of those extremely inaccurate predictions about them. Inaccurate predictions about them are found in the Watch Tower publications and also on the pages of many other religions and political, secular organizations, too.  
    Initially, of course, the Watchtower praised the League of Nations, as if it were some sort of political expression of God's kingdom on earth, just as Rutherford initially praised Hitler's Nazi government as if it were some sort of political expression of God's kingdom on earth. Of course, in neither case did this view last very long, and it was never expressed as if these two political expressions (the League and Hitler) could ever be looked upon as any kind of replacement of God's kingdom. 
    I doubt that this site is very accurate, but I agree with much of what is said on this wikipedia-style article at https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/United_Nations
    It includes among its member nations not only parliamentary democracies, but also human rights abusers mainly concerned with their own power. Because unanimity among the Big 5 (the USA, France, UK, Russia and China) is needed for any action involving the Security Council, things rarely get done, and UN sanctions can be pretty much ignored by all nations great and small. That's okay, though, since the countries like the US that are meant to fund it systematically starve it of funding, so the UN can't do much anyway.[note 1] On some small scale activities, it can do some good, but any attempts at actual peace-keeping usually fall apart. What should then be a cause for peace and brotherhood instead just becomes another bureaucratic nightmare.
    . . .
    The UN and conspiracy theories
    As an international body, the UN has predictably attracted the attention of conspiracy theorists. Due to conservatives' dislike of the institution, the conspiracy theories tend to come from the far-right wingnut camp, although said theories often cross over into the loony left fringes as well.
    League of Nations
    UN conspiracism grew out of the Paris Peace Conference at the end of the First World War as liberal internationalists like Woodrow Wilson pushed for an international body that would promote global peace and national self-determination. Opponents of the plan, most notably Wilson's nemesis Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge (R-MA), argued that joining the League of Nations would cause the US to become entangled in malignant international politics, that the US might have to commit troops to wars it didn't want to fight, and that the League would infringe on national sovereignty.[4] Despite the fact that the US ultimately failed to join the League of Nations — and that its failure was one of the major causes of World War II — conspiracy theories about world government began to spring up in fringe circles. Often, these were vague murmurings about shadowy international dealings, though some conspiracy theories began to take on racist overtones. Father Coughlin, for example, alleged that the League was a tool of the Jews to prosecute a "sacred war" against the US.
    As a side note: One of the few positive things that the League of Nations accomplished was issuing "Nansen Passports," the first internationally recognized form of Refugee Documents for stateless people.[5]
    Formation of the UN
    Conspiratorial themes about the League of Nations transferred over to the newly formed United Nations during the post-war era. The John Birch Society (JBS) was (and still is) most famous for pushing conspiracy theories about the UN being a front for a communist world take-over. The JBS also implicated the UN in plotting to institute one world religion to supplant Christianity. This was to be done through subtle means, such as a "War on Christmas" in which religious Christmas decorations would be replaced by UN iconography.[6]
    The New World Order and other current theories
    Current conspiracy theories about the UN usually portray it as the heart of an alleged "New World Order" (NWO), or at least implicate it as a major player in said Order. The UN effectively acts as a Rorschach test for political cranks to project their paranoia onto. Some more recent conspiratorial notions include:
    The UN is in cahoots with [insert favored bogeyman here]. (Popular choices include the Jews, the NWO, communists, environmentalists, "globalists", corporo-fascists, Illuminati, the Catholic Church, Freemasons, Reptoids, Them, etc.).
    The idea of the UN instituting a world religion or the UN being a vehicle for the Antichrist has become a common trope among the rapture ready set. Jack Chick was fond of this one.[7] This idea is also shared to some extent by Jehovah's Witnesses, who consider UN to be the "image of a wild beast" from Revelation 13 and the "disgusting thing that causes desolation" mentioned in Matthew 24:15, which will soon act to destroy all other religions, and finally turn against JWs. The UN has also been accused of being the Harlot being described as "Sitting atop the Nations, Multitudes, Languages, and Tongues" (sitting atop the tongues, what an image!).
    The UN has launched smaller projects such as the "North American Union" to gradually erase national borders.
    After the fall of the Soviet Union, the UN increasingly became the target of anti-environmentalist conspiracy theories, primarily the notion of a power-grab using climate change as a cover. This is due to the UN's institution of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to produce consensus reports on climate change. Conspiracies vary from the "softer" side (the UN is simply cooking the books to enrich itself) to the extremely alarmist (the UN is angling for world domination via alleged "junk science" and the machinations of Al Gore). Another element in this view is that the commies infiltrated the environmental movement after the fall of the USSR and are now using the UN as a tool via environmental policy.[note 2]Christopher Monckton is a proponent of this theory.[8]
    Agenda 21, the most recent UN-related conspiracy theory, also centers on a non-binding environmental agreement. If you want to know more, Glenn Beck wrote the book.[9]
    Mix the second and the fourth conspiracies and you get the idea that the UN is attempting to enforce a global Earth-worshiping pagan hippie cult where everyone is forced to sing the praises of Gaia.[10][note 3] This one, at least, could provide some amusement if it were true.
    Sometimes related to the environmental conspiracy theories (usually global warming) is the idea that concern about overpopulation is being used as a scare tactic to lay the groundwork for a genocide or eugenics scheme to kill off the "useless eaters." As if the world's population isn't currently growing at an alarming rate.
    The UN is under the control of Arab/Muslim states and attempting to (a) enable terrorists, (b) usher in the "global caliphate", (c) subtly insert sharia into the American legal system, or (d) all of the above.[note 4]
    The UN Arms Trade Treaty is an attempt of an "end run" around the Second Amendment to take away everyone's guns. Just guess the factual accuracy of that one.[11]
    Left-ish circles have their own conspiracy theories. Most common is the claim is that the UN is merely the pawn of the United States and its imperialistic schemes. This sometimes plays into fears about globalization (WTO, duh).[12] This seems to ignore the complete antipathy to the UN and other international organizations that some US administrations have shown in the past.[note 5] The War in Iraq also demonstrated that the US doesn't need no stinkin' UN to carry out imperialistic schemes.
  11. Upvote
    Srecko Sostar reacted to Kosonen in Revelation: Babylon the Great, etc.   
    As I remember WT organization teaches that God's kingdom was "born" in 1914 based on Revelation 12: "So down the great dragon+ was hurled, the original serpent,+ the one called Devil+ and Satan,+ who is misleading the entire inhabited earth;+ he was hurled down to the earth,+ and his angels were hurled down with him. 10  I heard a loud voice in heaven say:“Now have come to pass the salvation+ and the power and the Kingdom of our God+ and the authority of his Christ, because the accuser of our brothers has been hurled down, who accuses them day and night before our God!+"
    So here I have just recently remarked yet an other discrepancy. The WT teaches that Satan was not exactly in 1914 hurled down to earth, but around 1918 if I remember right. That is because some other calculations with 1260 days and events with WT society, did not start happening in 1914. 
    This in itself throws doubt on the whole idea about 1914. 
    It really looks like the WT organization by force tried to fit prophecies to events and dates too early before their right time. The events just do not fit the prophecies in many ways. 
     
  12. Upvote
    Srecko Sostar got a reaction from Kosonen in Revelation: Babylon the Great, etc.   
    Apologize for little late comment about question when Jesus come to be King.
    WT Society agreed how Jesus became King in 33 AD. And his enthroning took literal manifestation in Jerusalem. Is it possible that Jesus became King without Heavenly approval? Well, could he become King on Earth but not in Heaven too?   
    The disciples fail to see that Jesus’ instructions involve Bible prophecy. Later, however, they grasp the fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy. He foretold that God’s promised King would come into Jerusalem “humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a female donkey.”—Zechariah 9:9. - https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/jesus/final-ministry/enters-jerusalem-as-king/
    It seems how WT GB also failed in interpretation about when Jesus became King. In 33 or in 1914 AD despite their own published books that supports 33 AD. More than this, and his Kingdom was also existed in 33 AD on Earth. Quote from WT publication said: In a very real sense, then, the Kingdom was in their midst. - https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2008012
    The King Enters Jerusalem on a Colt
    When they got close to Jerusalem and arrived at Bethʹpha·ge on the Mount of Olives,a then Jesus sent two disciples,b 2  saying to them: “Go into the village that is within sight, and you will at once find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3  If someone says anything to you, you must say, ‘The Lord needs them.’ At that he will immediately send them.”4  This actually took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet, who said: 5  “Tell the daughter of Zion: ‘Look! Your king is coming to you,c mild-temperedd and mounted on a donkey, yes, on a colt, the offspring of a beast of burden.’”e6  So the disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them.f 7  They brought the donkey and its colt, and they put their outer garments on them, and he sat on them.g 8  Most of the crowd spread their outer garments on the road,h while others were cutting down branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. 9  Moreover, the crowds going ahead of him and those following him kept shouting: “Save, we pray, the Son of David!i Blessed is the one who comes in Jehovah’s name!j Save him, we pray, in the heights above!”* - Matt 21

    PICTURE from WT book -   https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/jesus/final-ministry/enters-jerusalem-as-king/
    In rendering these words of Jesus, a number of careful Bible translations use wording similar to that found in the New World Translation. Some say that the Kingdom is “among you” or “in the midst of you.” How was God’s Kingdom among those people at that time, including the Pharisees? Well, Jesus was the one whom Jehovah God appointed to be the King of the Kingdom. As the King-Designate, Jesus was right in the midst of those people. He taught about the Kingdom of God and even performed miracles, giving them a preview of what that Kingdom would accomplish. In a very real sense, then, the Kingdom was in their midst. - https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2008012
  13. Like
    Srecko Sostar reacted to Witness in Did Jehovah’s Witnesses Lie to the Montana Court About Confidentiality?   
    "Witness":  Don't tell me that you believe Zion is the Watchtower, where lawsuits are coming out of its ears, records of pedophiles are hidden within it, and "Beliefs Clarified" is posted on the information board.   I know you must be smarter than that.
     
     
  14. Like
    Srecko Sostar reacted to Witness in Did Jehovah’s Witnesses Lie to the Montana Court About Confidentiality?   
    He asked,
    As Srecko stated, there is no earthly organization, but that God had a  people, a nation.  Since Christ, God's people, the "firstfruits" are "organized" within the Body of Christ.  James 1:18 I gave evidence according to the Bible, who that nation is comprised of. 
    Don't tell me that you believe Zion is the Watchtower, where lawsuits are coming out of its ears, records of pedophiles are hidden within it, and "Beliefs Clarified" is posted on the information board.   I know you must be smarter than that.
     
    2 In the last days
    the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established
        as the highest of the mountains;
    it will be exalted above the hills,
        and all nations will stream to it.
    Many peoples will come and say,
    “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
        to the temple of the God of Jacob.
    He will teach us his ways,
        so that we may walk in his paths.”
    The law will go out from Zion,
        the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.  Isa 2:1,2
    The Temple is not the organization and the "law" is not the Shepherd the Flock of God book.  
    1 Pet 2:5,9; 1 Cor 3:16,17; Eph 2:20-22; Heb 8:10; Rev 5:9,10; 14:1; Rev 21:22
    As for the "Great 8", (which is really clever),  the organization will make sure they are removed.  Rev 17:12,15-18
     
  15. Like
    Srecko Sostar reacted to Witness in Did Jehovah’s Witnesses Lie to the Montana Court About Confidentiality?   
    “You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,
        “and my servant whom I have chosen,
    so that you may know and believe me
        and understand that I am he.
    Before me no god was formed,
        nor will there be one after me.  Isa 43:10
    I have revealed and saved and proclaimed— I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “that I am God.  Isa 43:12
    "Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.”
    "you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
    But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."  1 Pet 2:5,9
    The nation of priests since Christ, are tested, refined, and proven to serve God and Christ, to bring "healing to the nations" in the Kingdom of God. Rev 21:2
     No other "rock", or "foreign god" will prove to replace this spiritual people, nation.  Not even the "mountainlike organization" that you fully put your trust in.
    It is the Temple of God, Mount Zion, soon to reach its completion.
    "For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God."  Rom 8:19-21
    “What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of ‘God bless it! God bless it!’”
    "I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God."  Rev 21:2,3
    The "dwelling place" of God is within the hearts of the anointed priesthood.  1 Cor 3:16,17  They are the "Bride" of Christ.
    "The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life."
     
    So, when your leaders say, "come to Jehovah's organization for salvation", they are telling you a lie. 
     
     
     
     
     
     
  16. Upvote
  17. Like
    Srecko Sostar got a reaction from Witness in Did Jehovah’s Witnesses Lie to the Montana Court About Confidentiality?   
    This made old-new perspective on this forum and for this forum.
    Is it allowed to any female here to go into "deep and deeper discussions" about subjects that arose as topics? Does this mean how we, who are males, are only one who have "privilege" for participation and challenge each other standpoints and thinking?
    Female person, according to @Arauna  in this comment, suggesting how women are not permitted to argue in "important subjects" aka almost all Topics, but only to Preach essential message (perhaps standing with tablet or magazines) and not going into doctrinal dilemmas and instructional, organizational issues.
    Dear Female Forum Members! Your participation in all sort of discussions is welcome and shows (proves) your need to have more important role in spiritual matters. 
  18. Like
    Srecko Sostar got a reaction from Witness in Did Jehovah’s Witnesses Lie to the Montana Court About Confidentiality?   
    Imagine a day, when 1st century GB and 20th, 21st century GB meet each other (or to be as guests at Annual Meeting of Corporation) and start to discuss how congregation have to look and functioning?  And of course, Paul come there latter to join them into reasoning. :))
  19. Like
    Srecko Sostar reacted to JW Insider in Revelation: Babylon the Great, etc.   
    That was partially answered in the previous post. But there were more quotes of course.
    The first is from the Watchtower, September 15, 1941, p. 288
    Receiving the gift, the marching children clasped it to them, not a toy or plaything for idle pleasure, but the Lord's provided instrument for most effective work in the remaining months before Armageddon.
    Sometimes it was even a matter of "days." The following is from Consolation (lka, Awake!) April 27, 1942, p. 13
    Proof is now submitted that we are now living at the end of the days, and we may expect to see Daniel and the other mentioned princes any day now!
    And the following was already quoted from "Universal War Near," 1935:
    . . . during the few remaining months until the breaking of that universal cataclysm the powers that rule the nations of the earth will continue to make treaties and tell the people that by such means they will keep that world peace and bring about prosperity.
  20. Upvote
    Srecko Sostar got a reaction from Patiently waiting for Truth in Did Jehovah’s Witnesses Lie to the Montana Court About Confidentiality?   
    According to WTJWorg doctrine, women is not allowed to talk with men in a such manner to be or to look like, how she teach him/them. @Arauna highlighted somehow  this detail in her comment. And because of that, how Arauna's comment sounded to me, in my perception, it remind me on WT doctrine about interpretations of some Bible verses on women. 
    In other way of perception, we can say also this way: If women "arguing" (with other male or female) in some specific kind, it could be sounded how she looking for "prominence" for herself, according to WTJWorg. It seems how choice of words, tone and attitude (in live or on paper) could be "judged" by this WT position.
    As you see, WTJWorg culture have specific (as all groups) rules about inside member's behavior and also how behavior of members to outside individuals or group have to look like. Christian woman (JW member) according to this rules, should not put herself in position to "teach" adult males (only children) inside or outside of JWorg. 
    Your "rebuke" directed to @Witness went by this WT rules about male-female relations. But in the same time you, as female, found no self-ban to doing same sort of "arguing" with @Witness (as woman) or me or some other "men" here. And that i found as funny (ironically), at least.   
    If i am right in perception, according to Bible, God never had an Organization, ....but He had a Nation. People for his name. And Individuals who was faithful and showed faith in His promises.
    WT Society is not People, is not Nation. It is Corporation. CCJW are not People, are not Nation. It is Legal Entity produced, established by WT Company. 
  21. Upvote
    Srecko Sostar got a reaction from Witness in Did Jehovah’s Witnesses Lie to the Montana Court About Confidentiality?   
    According to WTJWorg doctrine, women is not allowed to talk with men in a such manner to be or to look like, how she teach him/them. @Arauna highlighted somehow  this detail in her comment. And because of that, how Arauna's comment sounded to me, in my perception, it remind me on WT doctrine about interpretations of some Bible verses on women. 
    In other way of perception, we can say also this way: If women "arguing" (with other male or female) in some specific kind, it could be sounded how she looking for "prominence" for herself, according to WTJWorg. It seems how choice of words, tone and attitude (in live or on paper) could be "judged" by this WT position.
    As you see, WTJWorg culture have specific (as all groups) rules about inside member's behavior and also how behavior of members to outside individuals or group have to look like. Christian woman (JW member) according to this rules, should not put herself in position to "teach" adult males (only children) inside or outside of JWorg. 
    Your "rebuke" directed to @Witness went by this WT rules about male-female relations. But in the same time you, as female, found no self-ban to doing same sort of "arguing" with @Witness (as woman) or me or some other "men" here. And that i found as funny (ironically), at least.   
    If i am right in perception, according to Bible, God never had an Organization, ....but He had a Nation. People for his name. And Individuals who was faithful and showed faith in His promises.
    WT Society is not People, is not Nation. It is Corporation. CCJW are not People, are not Nation. It is Legal Entity produced, established by WT Company. 
  22. Haha
    Srecko Sostar got a reaction from Patiently waiting for Truth in Did Jehovah’s Witnesses Lie to the Montana Court About Confidentiality?   
    Our need for air, water, food, for example, are "temporary" every single day, And that "temporary" things repeat itself from day to day until we die. And we can't live without this "temporaries".
    Thank you for your concerns about my everlasting blessings. But i have to take care about my "temporaries", day after day. :))
  23. Confused
    Srecko Sostar reacted to TrueTomHarley in Did Jehovah’s Witnesses Lie to the Montana Court About Confidentiality?   
    As much as I agree with the sentiments here, I have come to wish that young people were better prepared for whenever they might stumble across such a site—almost like a vaccinated person is better prepared for the plague once they encounter it. In an increasingly informational age, it becomes more and more likely that they will. 
    Should they hang out there? Obviously not. The one common feature of these sites is that they feature people who are hypercritical to the nth degree, carrying on ad nauseam about complaints great and small. They are among the most unforgiving people on earth. Some of them will be blasphemous, filthy, and foul besides. Not a place to hang your hat. Even counselors in the general world speak of the advisability of cutting off “toxic relationships.” ‘Rocks submerged beneath the surface ready to rip the bottom out of your faith,’ is how the Bible writer puts it.
    But to absolutely make it taboo to go there doesn’t serve young people very well either. In the event that they succumb to the most basic force of human nature—doing something because they have been advised not to—and are stumbled, there are barely any in the congregation who can help them because they don’t know what is there themselves. All they can say is: “Don’t go there!” Trust me, opposers are very skilled in turning that advice on its head. “Sure they don’t want you to go there!” they say, “they want to keep you in blinders!”
    It is all very well for us to say it is like the devil with bad motive—“for God knows in the very day of your eating from it your eyes are bound to be opened!” but it is a tough sell. It is very easy to explain why ones ought to keep away from porn, from graphic violence, or from demonism. But from apostasy? ‘Are they wrong there?’ some will say. ‘I’ll just go there to see what they are wrong about, and then I will set them straight.’ Not all will reason this way. Not even most. But some will. After all, here they are advised to be bold with the Word at the door—for it is the all-powerful sword—but cowardly with it when it comes to ones who have rebelled and from there launch another attack on faith. 
    Getting a measured glimpse of these apostates for any so inclined, when there are ones who can talk them through whatever they may find,  might almost be likened to lab class in school. See how some of the Bible themes play out—not just why people come into the truth—we surely know that—but why some leave. Let youngsters see, if they ask, how “Demas has forsaken me because he loved the present system of things.” Let them see how some have left “because they were not of our sort.’ Let them see what happens when people do not ‘take the rafter out of their own eye but focus on the straws of others. Let them see that mistakes can be made by old and young alike—it was certainly true in the first century—why should it not be true today? What has come to be a favorite saying of mine is: ‘The trick is not to sanitize the present—it is to desanitize the past.”
    Will that happen anytime soon? Or at all? And should it? All above my pay grade. But it doesn’t seem likely. The counsel to avoid apostates is well-supported scripturally—Matthew 11, for starters. Moreover the GB takes on the role of the fine shepherd—they see the wolf coming and they beat it off, holding the sheep out of harm’s way as they do so. 
    Still, in view of the poor track record we have with significant numbers of the young, maybe they will someday reassess and consider it a matter of degree. Surely, as ones who had “received the Law but have not kept it,” the Pharisees could be described as apostate. Could Jesus’ own manner of dealing with them be looked to as an example? He certainly didn’t seek them out. Nor did he argue with them when they approached to trap or attack. He wasn’t especially nice to them, really, though he always left open a way of return for any wanting to take it. 
    I’d just as soon the young never run across these guys at all. But they do. And being totally unprepared and unfortified—something that could be effectively addressed but so far has not been—some stumble and there is no one able to help.
    I can’t make head or tails of that. But I do note that Witness has told me I’m wrong no less than I have told her the same.
  24. Thanks
    Srecko Sostar reacted to JW Insider in Revelation: Babylon the Great, etc.   
    This claim is about the talk by Knorr in Sept 1942 and the booklet by the same name "Peace - Can It Last?"
    Knorr, didn't anticipate it. He knew about the formation of the United Nations because it had already been announced for the past 9 months before the talk. President Roosevelt himself had called it the "United Nations." Knorr even stated in the talk that the name "United Nations" had already been announced by a member of the President's cabinet. Listening to the talk, and reading the booklet, you can see therefore, that this was never a prediction, nor was it presented as a prediction.
    It was not spun as a prediction until 1958 when Fred Franz wrote the book "Your Will Be Done On Earth" and this portion implying a prediction was requoted in the 2/1/1960 Watchtower. By July 15, 1960 the claim had become very explicit:
    *** w60 7/15 p. 444 par. 19 Staying Awake with the “Faithful and Discreet Slave” ***
    . In 1942 the “faithful and discreet slave” guided by Jehovah’s unerring spirit made known that the democracies would win World War II and that there would be a United Nations organization set up. Such wakefulness was concerning events that unerringly took place three years later. At the 1958 Divine Will International Assembly amazing advance information in connection with Daniel’s prophecy was given about events to occur in the immediate future. Such evidence of spiritual foresight is recorded for us in the book “Your Will Be Done on Earth.” Once again the “faithful and discreet slave” has been tipped off ahead of time for the guidance of all lovers of God. Surely one’s present security depends on his staying awake with the “faithful and discreet slave.”
    The Watchtower had been predicting that the NON-democracies, the AXIS powers would win WWII, at least up until 9 months before the talk. But then Knorr had also repeated a prior idea that the war would be stopped by treaties with no real winners. Then by the time of the talk, the idea was that the Vatican would compromise but that the win by the Allies would not last long BECAUSE the cry of peace and security after the war would be the immediate end of peace due to Armageddon being triggered. (using 1 Thessallonians 5). Also, this "win" would be declared by the new TOTALITARIAN world order under the totalitarian armies of the UN. The Watchtower was interpreting this situation to support the idea that it would now only be a matter of a very short time for the Kingdom to take over, compared to the length of the war itself. The idea that Armageddon was only MONTHS away, instead of years, was a common theme for the remainder of the war.
  25. Like
    Srecko Sostar reacted to Arauna in Did Jehovah’s Witnesses Lie to the Montana Court About Confidentiality?   
    For people who like to lick their wounds from time to time this is true. True forgiveness takes away all wounds and resentment. A scar is not painful unless you open it again.  It is merely a sign that you got a wound and now know how to avoid it in future so it will not happen again.
    People should learn to get on with life. Not look back. Every day is an opportunity to grow into a new and better person.... 
    When you rehash the past (if it comes up in the brain by accident) and think too much about it in an emotional way - the brain ends up rebuilding the bad memories and synapses.... In the brain it will tend to come up more... and when emotion is attached to memories one remembers it even better....... new synapses....
    When bad thoughts come up...... do not think about them.... get on with making new beautiful memories. 
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