Daily text, Monday 26. Sept. 2016

[Queen Esther]

I know that after my going away oppressive wolves will enter in among you and will not treat the flock with tenderness.—Acts 20:29.

http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/dt/r1/lp-e/2016/9/26

Toward the end of his third missionary journey, Paul warned members of God’s name people by saying the above. He added: “From among you yourselves men will rise and speak twisted things to draw away the disciples after themselves.” (Acts 20:30) This foretold apostasy had clearly manifested itself by the end of the first century. (1 John 2:18, 19) After the death of the apostles, that apostasy blossomed and produced the churches of Christendom. Apostate Christians have even removed the divine name from many of their translations of the Bible. They have adopted pagan rituals and have dishonored God by their unscriptural dogmas, their “holy wars,” and their immoral conduct. Thus, for centuries, Jehovah had just a sprinkling of faithful worshippers on the earth but no organized “people for his name.”—Acts 15:14. w14 11/15 5:8, 9