Faith, Loyalty and "Jehovah's Organization"

[Witness]

“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and riches.”  Luke 16:13

 “We now come to the matter of being loyal to Jehovah’s visible organization.”  Wt. 1996/3/15, p. 16-17

 

In 1994, the family moved to the shores of a beautiful lake nestled in the Sierra Mountains.  Our first house was provided as a temporary dwelling through my husband’s employment with the park system and was located on the shores of the lake. It was late spring when we settled in, and the lake was getting busy with a progressive throng of tourists lounging on its warm sands.  At the peak of summer, large and small boats and various craft were creating competing waves on its expansive surface.

When autumn arrived, the din of activity died down, and the boats were stored away for safe keeping through the coming winter months. It was during those days that the lake exuded a tranquility of what it must have been like hundreds of years ago, without humans in massive numbers invading its shores and body during the warm months of the year.  

This is when one’s sense of time is altered while sitting on the lakeshore.  The gentlest of breezes would bring small waves overlapping one another, as they washed away the abandoned footprints of summer left on the sand.  The lake’s calming music carried on the gentle ripples was all that could be heard.  At rare times, it appeared to be like glass with colors of emerald and deep blue shimmering in the sun.  We eventually found a place of our own where we would call home; yet tears were shed when leaving the peace behind that the lake had gifted all of us during those brief, quiet months.

When I was reading Nehemiah chapter 9 recently, I was thinking of how the prayerful story it tells, comes to us on gentle breezes of God’s Spirit, creating wavelets of memories that remind us of what we had been through as JWs; from the years spent in the organization, followed by many of us getting “killed” through disfellowshipping for defending the truth in Christ, and now where we are today.  (Matt 10:18-20,37-39; Mark 8:35; John 16:2; Rev 13:5; James 5:24; James 1:12)

Our story is chronological; but Nehemiah’s account, although also chronological, can apply to our experiences through a medley of converging storytelling and counsel, that washes away our previous footprints as we followed men while living in confusion, lies and the sin of idolatry. (Jer 4:14; Isa 1:16; 1 Cor 6:9-11)

In the organization, our faith was formulated by the adulterated waters/teachings of false prophets. ( John 4:14;7:38; Luke 6:45;Matt 7:15,20; Deut 29:18; 2 Pet 3:17; Rev 8:10,11; 17:1,15; 13:11,12)

It was a wearisome job to keep our spiritual and mental outlook “moving ahead” with the direction the visible organization would take. Injecting our own personal doubts, would be rejecting the direction of the invisible, “Jehovah’s chariot”.  Like a hamster running on a wheel, we were constantly treading water to keep afloat in the tumultuous “Sea Beast” of Revelation 13:1, that worked under power bestowed by the “dragon”. Its false prophets “exercised authority” on its behalf.  (2 Cor 11:13-15; Revelation 13:1-2,4-5,8,11-12; Jer 5:30-31).  

Nehemiah tells us that the conclusion of restoring Jerusalem’s wall once Israel was released from captivity in Babylon, was a time of celebration and a restoration of following God’s word. (Neh 1:3,7-9; 8:9-12,17)  Ezra the priest, read from the book of the law, explaining its meaning so that all Israel understood the law, that had many centuries earlier been brought down from Mount Sinai by Moses.  (Neh. 8:2,5,8) The Levites began with exaltation and praise for what God had done for His wayward people. They called for Israel’s repentance of sins. Their prayer to the Lord recaps the story of Abraham, and the promises God made to his seed.  They spoke of the nation of Israel leaving Egypt, which scriptures refers to as the “iron furnace”.  (Deut 4:20; Jer 11:1-4) They proclaimed the blessings that God provided His people when in the wilderness, and then related the times of idolatry when Israel became “stiff-necked” and rebelled against God’s commandments.

(See Nehemiah chapter 9, Psalm 106; Acts 7:1-53)

When worshipping the golden calf brazenly created to “go before” the nation of Israel, we are told that God’s children under covenant, “changed (or ‘exchanged’) their Glory”, their Almighty God, “with an image of an ox that eats grass”.  (Ps 106:20; 89:17)  Israel desired to “move ahead” with a god they crafted with their own hands. (Exod 20:3-6; Jonah 2:8; Acts 7:40-41; 1 Cor 10:7)

Yes, we too fell into idolatry when in the Wt. We exchanged the glory of God for an earthly organization built by men  – symbolically described as a Wild Beast from the Sea that required our loyalty, dedication, sacrifices and “worship”. (Rom 1:20-25; 1 Tim 4:1; Ps 106:37; Col 2:8; Rev 13:1,2,4,10)

But what caught my attention in Nehemiah chapter 9, was the account of Moses receiving the laws of God on Mount Sinai.  I was motivated to consider the meaning of “Sinai” and was surprised at what I found.  The name “Sinai” is derived from “sin-ah”, which means “hatred”, a description that traditionally applies to other nations despising the nation of Israel that received God’s decrees.  (See Strong's #8135)

Breaking down the root origins, we have “storehouse” and “thorn bush”, or “thorn”.  “Clay”/”muddy” is another meaning.  On Mount Sinai, God performed incredible miracles that Moses witnessed.  A “storehouse” of wisdom was given to him; to a people that God called the “clay” and He, the Potter. (Jer 18:6; Isa 64:8; Rom 9:21)

The various events that happened on Mount Sinai, tell a story about His chosen people that the scriptures have preserved, and definitely apply in a symbolic way to God’s spiritual “Israel” in the anointed today. These are ancient lessons that God’s people have failed to pay attention to. (Rom 15:4; 1 Cor 10:6; 2 Pet 1:19)

Although “New Jerusalem” represents the New Covenant promise in Jesus, we find God’s anointed priests in the organization transgressing their covenant with God, by falling into idolatry. (2 King 17:14-15; Isa 24:5; Ps 78:10; Hos 8:1; 2 Cor 11:2-4; Gal 4:24-26)

The result is slavery to a ruthless nation that exudes hatred toward God’s spiritual Jews in the anointed ones – a nation that can be compared to locusts, scorpions, briers, and thorns; providing us with a complete descriptive picture of affliction experienced by God’s people in the organization. (Isa 5:5-6; Hos 10:8; Prov 24:31; Heb 6:8; Joel 1:6,4; Joel 2:3; Isa 32:12-13; Col 2:8; Rev 9:1-5,10; Rev 13:1-2,4-7)

This hateful and jealous nation which has highjacked the priestly role of the anointed, is the “man of lawlessness”, comprised of the elder body. “Foreigners” or “Gentiles” have trampled God’s anointed dwelling/Temple of His Spirit. (Ezek 44:6-9; Dan 7:23; Matt 24:15,16; 1 Pet 2:5,9; 1 Cor 3:16,17; 2 Thess 2:3,4)

How could such a thing happen to a spiritual people who believe they live safely in truth, security, and love?   (Matt 24:24,25; Luke 17:23; 21:8; Dan 8:23-25; Ezek 38:11; Prov 15:19; Luke 19:44; 1 Thess 5:3)

They chose to accept the message of false teachers. (Deut 30:15-20; Luke 21:8; 2 Thess 2:1-4) All of us were purposefully deceived and led into a trap devised by the devil. (Luke 22:31; 2 Cor 11:4,13-15; 2 Pet 2:1-4; Col 2:8; Rev 13:11,14,10) 

JWs realize that the anointed “Israel” are solely found in their organization, which can be likened to its own “storehouse”, or library of rotten fruit tucked behind its logo. (Matt 7:15-20) These demonic teachings have filled their hearts, their spiritual storehouse, pushing aside the gift of truth in God’s word that was written on the heart upon the anointing.  (Mal 3:10; Matt 6:20; John 8:31-32;17:17; Rom 5:5; 2 Cor 1:22; 4:6; John 15:4; 1 John 2:27; Heb 8:10)

Matt 24:4-5 -  “Watch out, and do not let anyone fool you. 5 Many men, claiming to speak for me, will come and say, ‘I am the Messiah!’ and they will fool many people.”

Today, the deception is so fine-tuned, that Satan’s polished trap has deceived every anointed one in existence, since the Watchtower’s inception.  (Dan 10:14; Ezek 38:14-16; Acts 20:29-31; Jude 1:4,10; 2 Tim 3:6-9; 2 Thess 2:1-4; Rev 20:7-9)  

John tells us:  "Then I saw three unclean spirits that looked like frogs. They were coming out of the mouth of the dragon, the mouth of the beast, and the mouth of the false prophet.” Rev 16:13

“The Spirit says clearly that some people will abandon the faith in later times; they will obey lying spirits and follow the teachings of demons.” 1 Tim 4:1 

Can we determine specifically that the anointed are the primary target of these spirits?  Was Satan looking to entrap God’s anointed when on the hunt facilitated by the “preaching work” of JWs? Demonic spirits do marvelous and seemingly wondrous “miracles” and signs, through their false prophet pawns. (Matt 24:24; 2 Thess 2:9-10; 2 Pet 2:1-3; Rev 13:11,13)

“for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the entire ^[a]world,  to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. (Rev 16:14 NASB)

^[a]   “the entire inhabited earth” -  Greek ,“oikoumene”

This is not referring to political rulers, but to the anointed kings belonging to Jesus.  The anointed spiritual hearts are God’s homestead, His land, His possession inhabited by His Spirit. (John 14:23; 1 Cor 3:9,16; Rom 8:9)  They, are the “kings of the earth” who are to submit solely to their Head, Jesus Christ.  (1 Pet 2:5; Rev 1:5-6; 5:9-10)

“Then the spirits brought the kings together in the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.” (Rev 16:16 GNT)

The organization is where these kings are found.  No other religion has boasted for years of the membership of genuine anointed of “Israel”, gathered into its flock. (Jer 6:2-6; Rev 20:7-9)

Back in Nehemiah chapter 9, the Levites addressed God saying,

“At Mount Sinai you came down from heaven;
    you spoke to your people
    and gave them good laws and sound teachings.”

You taught them to keep your Sabbaths holy,
    and through your servant Moses you gave them your laws.”  Neh 9:13,14

After years of neglecting the word of God, which was the reason Israel became exiles to Babylon, the laws were restored for Israel to follow; and as long as they adhered to His decrees, they flourished under His guidance. (Deut 28:9; Lev 26:3,4; Prov 6:23; Luke 11:28)

Toward the end of his life, Moses told his people that God would raise up a prophet, saying “Listen to him”.  (Deut 18:15,18-19) This prophet is the “Elijah”, the “messenger of the covenant”, whom Jesus sends in the last days to warn his priests of the imminent danger they are in while in slavery to the Beasts. After years of the governing leaders rejecting the word of God and instituting the words men, a trumpet call is sounded, admonishing the cleansing, refinement, and restoration of the holy priesthood, through the reintroduction of the teachings of Christ. The word of God has once again “come down from heaven”.  (Joel 2:1-2; Jer 4:7,19-22; Mal 2:7-8; 3:1-4; Luke 1:17; Matt 17:1-3,10,11; Rev 11:3,4)

(Mal 4:4-6; Heb 12:18-25) - https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mal+4%3A4-6%3B+Heb+12%3A18-25&version=CSB

While struggling under the teachings of demons in the organization, many of us sought rescue when our boat, our faith, was ready to capsize into the deep, murky waters of the storm-tossed, “wicked” sea.   (Ps 18:16,17; 69:14-15; Jer 6:23; Ezek 2:6; Isa 35:4; Luke21:28)

I thought I’d share comments from a meeting recording dated 3/9/2021, which can heard here.  It is addressing the article,  Good News, What is it? Who is it for?   

Pearl comments on the account of Jesus walking across the stormy sea to meet the disciples, found in John 6:16-21; Matt 14:29-34; Mark 6:45-53

“…when Jesus was walking on the water and the apostles were terrified, it says they thought he was an apparition, or a spirit or a demon, and he was about to pass them by. I love this account because of what it means for later. He was about to pass them by, but he told them who he was and to not be afraid.

It says they allowed Jesus into the boat that kept them separate from the sea, which we know from Isaiah 57:20, is the wicked. Now, teachings are what keep us afloat – our faith. Remember the shipwreck of your faith? (1 Tim 1:18-19) So our faith (is) the teachings we believe in.  (The disciples) were without Jesus when they were on that stormy sea. And we know the prophecies say that the sea would be in tumult casting up mire and mud, especially in the time of the end. When they accept him into the boat, when Jesus becomes their faith, everything (becomes) still. And if you read the account, it says immediately they were at the land where they were intending to go. Just immediately, their boat was there on the shore.”

When the family reluctantly moved from the shore of the beautiful lake in late autumn, our opportunity for a daily respite from the ongoing treadmill while members for the organization, was taken away.  Not until many years later did our captivity under the teachings of demons, come to a grateful end. Replacing the teachings of demonic spirits with the living water of Christ, brought freedom in truth, and peace and rest to the heart. (Matt 11:28-30; Phil 4:6-7)  By the grace of God, a remnant of the spiritual Temple/Zion and those faithful disciples of Christ with them, have been released and rescued from captivity to false prophets and a Wild Beast of stinging locust scorpions. (Ezek 28:24) The anointed in Christ who bravely defend God’s dwelling in Spirit, give God all glory and reverence through sacrifices of praise. (2 Chron 23:6-7;1 Pet 2:5; Heb 13:15) They defend the truth in His Son, the conquering King of kings. (Rev 19:15-16,14) The spiritual temple built on the Word of God, is now being restored and refined, outside of the organization’s wall of lies. (Neh 9:27; Ezek 2:6; 13:10-12; Isa 58:12; Jer 31:11;1 Pet 3:10-15)     

 

Topics found at https://4womaninthewilderness.blogspot.com/

Getting "Killed"/Disfellowshipped

"Word"/"Earth"/"HOME"

Greatest Tribulation - What and Why?

"Two Witnesses"/"Elijah" and "Moses"

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Moise Racette]

Since Luke is referring to how the Pharisees loved their money more than they loved God, the poster's immoral rant would have to prove how "Luke" and disfellowship equal murder. The poster is accusing an organization of murder with the following comment:

On 11/30/2022 at 2:24 PM, Witness said:

When I was reading Nehemiah chapter 9 recently, I was thinking of how the prayerful story it tells, comes to us on gentle breezes of God’s Spirit, creating wavelets of memories that remind us of what we had been through as JWs; from the years spent in the organization, followed by many of us getting “killed” through disfellowshipping for defending the truth in Christ, and now where we are today. 

The two do not coincide at best with the context of LUKE. Therefore, Christ truth is not morally defended here by a poster that serves 2 Gods. 1, the prince of darkness and 2, the originator that became the crutch of the poster's confusion.

[Witness]

If the “wicked” are disfellowshipped by the elder body, are they still considered spiritually “alive” in God’s eyes? (John 16:2)  And, what is the definition of “wicked” according to the Wt?  More times than one can count, it is the rejection of your idol, your organization, its wicked slave and its false teachings.  That is not the Bible's definition of wickedness, and it can lead to repentance from idolatry; loving God and Jesus instead of an organization built with riches that is destined to fall.

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:

“But in their place he shall honor a god of fortresses; and a god which his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things. “  Dan 11:38

Donations, donations, donations are now stressed as a requirement.  JWs are not honoring God with their “valuable things” which is translated as earthly riches instead of the appreciation of truth in Christ’s teachings (Prov 10:22; Luke 12:33-34); they are honoring a god of fortresses - "Jehovah's organization",  with all those donations, earthly riches .

Zech 9:3-4 - For Tyre built herself a tower,
Heaped up silver like the dust,
And gold like the mire of the streets.
⁴ Behold, the Lord will cast her out;
He will destroy her power in the sea,
And she will be devoured by fire.

“The fruit that your soul longed for has gone from you, and all the things which are rich and splendid have gone from you, and you shall find them no more at all. ¹⁵ The merchants of these things, who became rich by her, will stand at a distance for fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, ¹⁶ and saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls! ¹⁷ For in one hour such great riches came to nothing.’ Every shipmaster, all who travel by ship, sailors, and as many as trade on the sea, stood at a distance ¹⁸ and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What is like this great city?’”  Rev 18:14-18

And what about disfellowshipping?

 He also declares, at Revelation 3:16 (NW😞 “So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth.” Well, that is a disfellowshiping. Christ Jesus is not going to have any lukewarm persons permanently in his organization. You are either for him or against him. You will either come into the congregation of the Lord God and be his minister or eventually go out into the Devil’s organization. You cannot pussyfoot. You cannot be lukewarm. You cannot be passive. You have to be positively for the Lord God. w52 3/1 p. 137-138

Where is the devil’s organization?  It is where false predictions and false doctrine are taught as “truth”, which is clearly an act of sorcery, of wickedness against any who are deceived by such teachings!  (Rev 18:23; Matt 24:24,25; 2 Cor 11:4,13-15; 1 Tim 4:1)

Who “kills” the holy people today?  Who calls them “wicked” for turning completely to the teachings of Jesus and pointing to falsehoods that the GB uphold?  Who is responsible for shedding spiritual “blood”?  Notice Rev 18:24 – “And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth.”

The Pharisees, the Jews, physically killed the prophets and the saints for speaking the truth of Christ.  Christendom doesn’t know who they are in order to kill them today, but “Israel” – your harlot leaders do. (Rev 17:6,13-15) They send their “Gentile” elders out to disfellowship, to judge, to deem individuals as “wicked” for rejecting a lying idol. (Matt 24:48-51)   It’s your leaders who are responsible for blaspheming the Holy Spirit, by refusing to listen to the warnings from Christ. (Rev 11:1-3,7)  The evidence is right before your eyes in the scriptures.  (Rev 3:18; 16:13-16)

What is Jesus’ “organization”?  It is built with “living stones” of the royal priesthood – an “administration”/spiritual Temple that will “come down out of heaven” as His Bride. (Rom 8:18-21; Zech 4:6-7; Rev 21:1-4)

It is Mount Zion, the dwelling of God in the hearts of the anointed. (1 Pet 2:5,9; 1 Cor 3:16,17; Eph 2:20-22) 

Rev 18:4-8 does not apply to early leaders/members of your organization coming out of Christendom, it applies right now to God’s holy people, “Israel”, and those with them, to come out of Satan’s “spirit-directed organization”/Beast that daily “makes war” against them, trampling these living stones to the ground.    (Dan 9:23;11:31; Matt 24:15,16; 2 Thess 2:3,4; Col 2:8; Rev 13:1,2,4-8,11,12, 15,10)

The message is sent to “Israel” before the return of Jesus Christ.  (Matt 10:23; 23:34) God judges the world in righteousness, but His wrath comes upon His own people in the last days. 

If JWs love their “beloved organization”/fortress/salvation more than they love God and His Son, then it is they who are committing an atrocity, a blasphemy against the Father and the Son. God sees right through the hearts of each one of us.  Every act of deception by your leaders committed against His “saints”, against victims of abuse, and evil judgment and neglect performed against any, will be brought to light. (John 3:19; Eph 5:8-14)

[Moise Racette]

Can more meaningless illustration prove the first? No! It has not proven the question on the accusation. The poster should learn the difference between definitions such as excommunication, expulsion, and removal. How many illustrations of such can be found in scripture without directly using these modern words?

However, LUKE can be applied to the ill will of the poster, and John can be applied to the sacrilege condemnation of judgment left to the will of God to deliver that judgment, as God did in bible times.

Therefore, the poster is condemning God through the Body of Elders in a sinful way. Eph 5:8-14 does not apply to the poster, since there is no light in darkness.