[Watchtower study for the week of June 9, 2014 – w14 4/15 p. 8]
Study theme text: “He continued steadfast as seeing the One who is invisible.” – Heb. 11:17
Par. 1-3 – We do well to ask ourselves the question brought out in these paragraphs. “Do I have eyes of faith so that, like the “great cloud of witnesses” of Hebrews chapter 11, I can see the invisible one?” What we do by simply coming to and participating in discussion forums like this one requires faith. It takes time and effort and many of us do so at considerable risk to our social, emotional and even economic welfare. It would be so much easier to surrender ourselves to the will of others. To submit to men and their teachings and deny the reality that is revealed to us in God’s word. To just give in.
Faith allows us to see the invisible one and know what he wants of us. That imposes an obligation on each one. Moses could have ignored God and lived a comfortable, privileged life. Seeing the invisible one caused him to make the hard choice. A lack of faith causes spiritual blindness, a state many of our brothers and sisters prefer. They can live with the illusion that they are “good with God”—an illusion all too common throughout the Christian world. Doing so allows them to believe that they can surrender their conscience to men in authority and that by doing so, they are obedient to God and will be saved.
This belief is both seductive and pervasive, not just in Christendom, but throughout Satan’s world—the belief that our salvation can come through men or through an Organization. Hand in hand with this belief goes “fear of man”. Since we believe following them will deliver us, we fear displeasing them. It is easier to fear what we can see, but so unwise. Really, it is God we should be fearing to displease.
Par. 4-7 – Moses is shown to have overcome the fear of man, specifically of Pharaoh, for he had the “fear of Jehovah” which is the start of all wisdom. (Job 28:28) A modern-day example of such a faith in God is that of Ella, a sister in Estonia back in 1949. Many of the teachings we had in 1949 have been abandoned. However, her test wasn’t one of doctrinal interpretation but of loyalty to God. She would not give up her relationship with Jehovah in exchange for relative freedom. What a fine example of fearless loyalty she provided to us today.
Par. 8,9 – “Faith in Jehovah will help you to conquer your fears. If powerful officials try to restrict your freedom to worship God, it may seem that your life, welfare, and future are in human hands… Remember: The antidote to fear of man is faith in God. (Read Proverbs 29:25) Jehovah asks: “Why should you be afraid of a mortal man who will die and a son of man who will wither like green grass?”…Even if you must defend your faith before powerful officials…Human rulers…are no match for Jehovah.” We have to read past the immediate application of these quotes to the broader implications unwittingly expressed by the writer. During Israelite times, the persecution that faithful servants of God suffered came from the religious leaders within God’s own people. The early Christians likewise suffered oppression from those claiming to be led by God. As the centuries passed, the authorities that were to be feared were ecclesiastical in nature.
Is it any different for us today? How many of us have been persecuted by Catholic, Protestant or Jewish religious leaders? We have come to learn that the presence of Jesus is yet in the future, that we have no idea how close the end is, that all Christians should partake of the emblems. These are Bible truths. Yet we are afraid to declare them openly. Who causes us this fear? Catholic priests? Protestant ministers? Jewish rabbis? Or the local elders?
Paragraph 8 states: “You might even wonder if it is wise to continue serving Jehovah and angering the authorities.” In the six decades I’ve been serving Jehovah, the secular authorities have never tried to dissuade me from speaking the truth and I’ve never been afraid of angering them. The same cannot be said for the religious authorities holding sway over my life. It is for this reason that the work we do in researching Scripture and sharing our findings with each other and the world at large is done anonymously as part of an underground ministry.
Par. 10-12 – There is a thematic disconnect introduced in these paragraphs. The firstborn of Egypt were killed by God’s avenging angel. Israelites were spared by means of the blood of the Passover lamb. The Israelites didn’t go door-to-door warning the Egyptians. All of this has little to do with John’s revelation of the attack the nations bring on Babylon the great, yet we seem to be trying to connect these two scriptural elements. It appears we are making this effort to bolster a renewed call to preach the warning to get out of Babylon the great, the world empire of false religion.
The rule for Jehovah’s Witnesses is that if a religion teaches falsehood, then it is part of Babylon the great, and if you are still part of that false religion when the governments turn on all false religion, you will go down with it.
Point out any religion to a Jehovah’s Witness and ask him if it is part of Babylon the great, and he’ll answer with a firm Yes! Ask him how he knows and he’ll respond that all other religions teach falsehood. Only we have the truth. Then point out the Philippines-based Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ). The Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) was founded in 1914 and boasts more than 5 million members worldwide. It doesn’t believe in the Trinity nor the immortal soul. It teaches that Jesus is a created being. Members do not celebrate Christmas. They have to study the Bible and pass a series of evaluation questions before being baptized. They believe the end is near. They believe the last days began in 1914. All of this parallels our own teachings. Like us, they believe that one cannot understand the Bible without the benefit of God’s Organization. Like us, they have a Governing Body. Like us, they believe the leadership of their church is God’s appointed channel of communication. Like us, they will expel members for drunkenness, fornication or disagreeing with church doctrine as revealed through their leadership. They believe the Father is to be worshipped and that he has a name, though they seem to prefer Yahweh to Jehovah. They also believe they are the true faith and all others are false. Again, just like us. They preach, though their methods differ from ours and they conduct Bible studies with new recruits. They are given training in public speaking. Their ministers work for free, like ours do. They do not disclose Church finances. Neither do we. They claim to be persecuted.
The question is, On what basis would we condemn them as false? Most of their core teachings agree with ours. Surely some do not. If they have even one or two major teachings that are false, that would invalidate all the correct ones and allow us to identify them as part of Babylon the great, the worldwide empire of false religion, would it not? I think the average JW would agree wholeheartedly with that assessment. After all, a little leaven ferments the whole lump, so even a couple of false doctrines would qualify them as part of the Babylon the great.
The problem with that position is that there is but one yardstick. If they do not measure up due to one or two false doctrines, then neither do we. In fact we have many false teachings, some minor and some major. By our own measure, we must be part of Babylon the great.
We can’t have it both ways. We cannot condemn the INC for whatever false teachings they may have while exempting ourselves from the same measure.
Par. 13, 14 – (I can only speak for myself here, but every so often, despite my best efforts at being understanding and magnanimous, there comes a statement that simply sticks in my craw.)
“We are convinced that “the hour of judgment” has, indeed, arrived. We also have faith that Jehovah has not exaggerated the urgency of our preaching and disciples-making work.”
Seriously!? What does Jehovah have to do with any exaggeration of the urgency in our preaching work? Our leadership, not Jehovah, has been exaggerating the urgency for 140 years. They are still doing it. This article does it. They’ve had one embarrassing failure after another, but instead of owning up to them, they’re suggesting that if we personally have a problem with this, we are lacking faith in God?!
“By faith, do you see those angels poised to release the destructive winds of the great tribulation on this world?” Let us hope you do. Let us also hope that you realize those angels have been holding the metaphorical winds back since the time John wrote the Revelation. Whether they release the winds this year or a hundred years from now shouldn’t change our faith nor lessen our sense of urgency. But that is not what we are saying in these paragraphs. What we are saying is expressed at the end of paragraph 14: “Faith…will motivate us to have a full share in the preaching work before time runs out.”
Par. 15-19 – “By the climax of the great tribulation, the governments of this world will have devastated and completely destroyed the religious organizations that were larger and more numerous than ours.” The implication is that our religious organization—which is already larger and more numerous than hundreds of other Christian sects—will be somehow ignored by these governments. We can have no doubt that true Christians who have gotten out of false religion will be passed over when the Governments strip Babylon the great of her vast wealth and confiscate her extensive property holdings; effectively stripping her naked and eating up her fleshy parts. (Re 17:16) However, the Bible only speaks of a salvation for a people, that is individuals of like mind and faith. There is no provision in the prophecy for the nations sparing a wealthy organizational entity like ours. Right now, officials in Detroit and Atlanta are very happy with the wealth our conventions will be bringing into their respective cities. (Rev. 18:3, 11, 15)
When Moses led the Israelites through the Red Sea, they were not an organization. They were not even a nation. They were a loose affiliation of family groupings under tribal leaders. All these individuals were being led by one man, not an organizational hierarchy. The Greater Moses is Jesus. The salvation parallel is clear. Only if we fear God and not man can we be saved. Only if we obey the Greater Moses’ teachings as expressed to us in Scripture, not the teaching of men, can we expect to find his favor.
There will come a time when God will remove all impediments to true worship by eliminating the religious authority of men embodied in the organizational hierarchies of Christendom. Then the words of Ezekiel 38:10-12 will come true and then, with his chief weapon against true worship gone, will Satan make one final attack against God’s people.
So the main point of the article is valid: Fear God, not man, and be saved.
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Wheresenoch,we’re told not to grieve the Holy Spirit.It/He talks,etc.Probably,what you’re saying is that unless the Holy Spirit is alive & personal,then it/he cannot be part of a triune God.How many churches do you know of that do not believe in the trinity or triune nature of God?Perhaps the WTBTS got this one right despite possibly not right in many other areas?
In response 2 your topic Kian, there are several instances in scripture where tangible attributes are possessed by impersonal forces. Gen. 4:10 has blood crying out. Rom. 5:14 has death ruling, & Rom. 7:11 has sin seducing & killing. Not 2 mention the heart being treacherous, desparate & sick. In light of these examples the Holy Spirit can @ times appear alive & personal. Just my take on it. Still an excellent topic 2 explore further.
Paragraph 14 was my only comment (the only paragraph that even mentions Jesus despite he being the greater Moses! How tragic!) Quoting Ezekiel 3:17-19 the writer says, “we recognize that it is our responsibility to ‘warn the wicked one to turn from his wicked course so that he may stay alive.’” Then he reminds us, “Of course we do not preach merely to avoid bloodguilt” since “we love our neighbor,” like the Samaritan. Are we really like the Samaritan? Are we really “moved with pity to give a witness?” or are we moved by the belief that those we witness… Read more »
We often quote those words of God to Ezekiel and then apply them to our preaching work. However, if that is the principle behind our preaching–to free ourselves from bloodguilt–then why is there not a similar warning from Jesus or the apostles? Ezekiel’s preaching had nothing to do with saving his audience from nor condemning them to the second death. We teach as JWs that the people of his day will be resurrected? So where is the bloodguilt Jehovah spoke of? Is it not exclusive to the destruction of that day, since all that death will be undone in the… Read more »
This is a good analysis of our misapplication of that scripture. I see that scripture in a totally different light now……… Context is important! The “it fits by extension” reasoning is nonsense and I am realizing that our publications and talks are built almost entirely on it. I have been taught from infancy to reason on the scriptures and make application of these scriptures in that way . This is a hard habit to break. The more and more that you discuss our weekly “theocratic menu” ( WT’s , TMS, BS, SM etc.) it is helping me to think critically… Read more »
Absolutely Meleti, Having spent most of my life helping others escape judgment, getting them to resign from their own respective religions, I am now on an empathetic journey of reflection. What I asked others to do, I am now asking myself. Am I brave enough to do the same? I ran the gauntlet from family and friends to become a JW. But now that I’ve met the spirit of Christ, am I more ready to obey? I often wonder what emotions churned in Saul when Jesus asked him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?” Not that I was ever… Read more »
Is the invisible Holy Spirit just an “active force” of God?Watchtower has a current featured article on this at http://www.jw.org entitled “What is the Holy Spirit?”.However,there are a good number of scriptures that say the Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force.Any comments from forum members?
Sounds like a good topic to raise on http://www.discussthetruth.com
The only problem with such a discussion is when we humans attempt to brand what can only be understood in the spiritual world with a Biophysics 101 textbook. It could become an endless argument for those sitting in the philosophy section of the Areopagus…..no? 🙂
I would say that is quite a different meaning. I’m glad we found another little nugget of “truth”. I don’t believe I have heard anyone mention how the Watchtower mislead us on this particular scripture. It makes you wonder how many other little nuggets are there that we haven’t found yet? That’s one great advantage of Bible Hub, you can see the different translations all lined up. The only way I caught this is because it is a short scripture and it was easy to see that none of them said “useful habits” which is what I thought I would… Read more »
Meleti, thank you for your kind response. Balance is the answer to many problems in life. You are correct, we have to be careful not to swing from one extreme position to another one just as extreme. It’s interesting that I was looking at 1 Corinthians 15:33 on Bible hub, when I noticed something strange about all the translations of that scripture. I was going to use that scripture to show why we need to avoid “bad association so as not to spoil useful habits”. POP QUIZ!!! See if you can spot the difference. Parallel Verses New International Version Do… Read more »
Based on how it has been used over the years, my guess would be that bias has entered into the translation. He “useful habits” are often understood to refer to our Christian routine of meeting attendance and field service. So rather than concern for our character, the inference is that our all-important “theocratic works” will suffer from “bad associations”.
Im no greek scholar sister but i did s bit of research on the words we have homilia association which basically means a company of men and ethos habits Which is in that verse a strong version of ethos which means custom .the context itself discusses the ressurection and the failure of some people in the congregation to believe in it hence eat and drink for tomorrow we die and the next verse is an exhortation asking those ones to come back to their senses and stop sinning so we get the idea . Our custom of holding to the… Read more »
Meleti, perhaps it is not correct to call it “judging” religion after all, especially in view of the valid points Mailman makes. (I say this because I agreed with you earlier on that point) No single religion has it all figured out. Maybe what you meant is that we have to prove whether any religion has truth from the Bible. We won’t find that truth in any one religion. Coming close is not good enough. All organized religion has been/is being judged by Jesus. It is on an individual basis that Our Lord is judging us because he can read… Read more »
It is so easy to get hung up on words. There is one judge over the whole earth, so we do not do the type of judging that Christ does, neither of individuals nor peoples. That meaning of “judge” defines the action of deciding judicially and pronouncing sentence. None of us has the right to pronounce sentence on another as to their value before God. The Organization condemns all other religions as false, but itself as true. However, based on the criteria we use to do this, we ourselves must also be judged a false religion. The use to which… Read more »
Points well taken. Thanks for the clarification.
Hello imacountrygirl2, good morning. It is our duty to obey God absolutely. However, it is not the same for men representing Him. Problem of being a JW is you cannot appear different, much less question its core beliefs and not be marked or be a candidate to sit down in a judicial committee, or worse, D’fd. GB has trumpeted from time immemorial that JWs have to OBEY their leaders at all cost. This has essentially taken away or diminished any independent thinking. I agree with you, every JW seemed to have lost a part of his personal identity just to… Read more »
Hi Meleti, thanks for the comments. I agree that every individual has the right to evaluate the teachings and doctrines of any religion. But for our organization to cast judgement on all other religions, confirming they are destined for destruction, is I think a bit too stretched. Isn’t this preempting what the Lord Jesus Christ is set to fulfill? We don’t want to play semantics here but isn’t it the destruction of ungodly men is what the bible teaches and not destruction of religions per se?
Mailman, welcome to our discussion! You do raise a valid point: “Hence, it is very premature if not presumptuous at all to judge all other religions, much less their members, as false and destined for destruction. Doing so promotes self-righteousness.” As far as religion is concerned, is it really judging them to state the truth about them? A fact is a true piece of information. I agree with Meleti. “judging religions of any kind is our duty. We have to obey God and make sure of all things” We can state facts about a religion or a sect or an… Read more »
First comment here dear brothers. The separation of the sheep from the goat-like ones are still far into the future. The ultimate judge is not the GB but on our Lord Jesus Christ. Hence, it is very premature if not presumptuous at all to judge all other religions, much less their members, as false and destined for destruction. Doing so promotes self-righteousness.
I agree and I disagree. We have no right to judge any man as God is the judge. However, judging religions of any kind is our duty. We have to obey God and make sure of all things, which requires us to evaluate the teachings of any religion and reject what is false, but hold on to what is fine. (1 Thess. 5:21)
This statement stood out to me: “Moses could have ignored God and lived a comfortable, privileged life. Seeing the invisible one caused him to make the hard choice. A lack of faith causes spiritual blindness, a state many of our brothers and sisters prefer. They can live with the illusion that they are “good with God”—an illusion all too common throughout the Christian world. Doing so allows them to believe that they can surrender their conscience to men in authority and that by doing so, they are obedient to God and will be saved.” Thats what the baptism of a… Read more »
BeenMislead, you quoted the Awake of 1968, that was the year I graduated from High School. Sure enough it came to be (almost) as the Awake said “The 1970′s will certainly see the most critical times mankind (me personally) has yet known.” With that date fixed in my mind, I did not go to college. I did not buy a house. There was a house for sale within a mile of my parents that I could have easily bought at that time and my wise dad did his best to get me to purchase that house. I gave up on… Read more »
Nice warm comment that country girl thanks kev
Yes, food for thought for all of us. Thanks ImaCountryGirl.
But there were times, we could have done other equally important, uplifting things that exult our Creator. I guess preaching is not the only kind deed we Christians should do nor serve as the only benchmark for proving to be God’s servant. WT has ingrained so much guilt for doing other good things apart from preaching and indoctrinating students of the bible. (Sigh)
Watchtower May 15/2014 – CAN ANYONE SEE THE FUTURE? Religious leaders sometimes predict tragic worldwide events to warn mankind and gather followers. Doomsday prophet Harold Camping and his disciples widely advertised that the earth would be destroyed in 2011. Needless to say, the world is still here. Human predictions are often based on such factors as scientific research, analysis of available facts and trends, or even bogus spiritual insight. After making their forecasts, humans typically sit back passively and wait to see what will happen.—Proverbs 27:1. In contrast to humans, God knows all the facts. He thoroughly understands the nature… Read more »
Yes … calling Harold Camping a Doomsday prophet is definitely the pot calling the kettle black !!! “In what year, then, would the first 6,000 years of man’s existence and also the first 6,000 years of God’s rest day come to an end? The year 1975.” This is worthy of notice, particularly in view of the fact that the “last days” began in 1914, and that the physical fads of our day in fulfillment of prophecy mark this as the last generation of this wicked world. So we can expect the immediate future to be filled with thrilling events for… Read more »
I wish I could remember the right way to post to keep everything in line. Oh well, no worries, I’ll probably forget this as soon as I post it.
Thanks Meleti for the information about the Philippines-based Iglesia Ni Cristo religion. I did not know about that. Par. 10 Says: “In the month of Nisan 1513 B.C.E., Jehovah told Moses and Aaron to convey these unusual instructions to the Israelites: Select a healthy male sheep or goat, slaughter it, and splash its blood on your doorways. (Ex. 12:3-7) How did Moses respond? The apostle Paul later wrote of him: “By faith he observed the Passover and the splashing of the blood, so that the destroyer might not harm their firstborn.” (Heb. 11:28) Moses knew that Jehovah is trustworthy, and… Read more »
I did not this about Rutherford. But it is not surprising.
The following quote shows the Anti-Semitism of J. F. Rutherford
“Be it known once and for all that those profiteering, conscienceless, selfish men who call themselves Jews, and who control the greater portion of the finances of the world and the business of the world, will never be the rulers in this new earth. God would not risk such selfish men with such an important position.” – (Golden Age 1927, 2/23, Pg. 343, A Righteous Government)
Jannai40, What a beautiful way to express your thoughts! “I have begun to look at it as an opportunity to cultivate Christian qualities (some of which as a JW I thought I had, but now realise I didn’t!) This has caused me to think more about others and less about myself – learning to be unselfish.: When we are unselfish, it will motivate us to show love to all our neighbors around us, and just as important, show our love for Our Heavenly Father. The more we love Jehovah, the more we are drawn to imitate his Son Jesus, as… Read more »
39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” – I think this law even applies to JW disfellowshipped ones. Completely ignoring them, having nothing to do with them, treating them just like a person with leprosy is exactly the opposite of the law isn’t it?
“We also have faith that Jehovah has not exaggerated the urgency of our preaching and disciples-making work.”
No no , Jehova has not certainly exaggerated anything, he is only using his faithful servant (Gb) on the earth to craftily move dates for the Christ second comming and final judgment day to sift and weed unworthy ones.
Well I doubt that any will NOT be sifted as wheat. There is a difference between what Jesus and Jehovah direct and what they allow.
sw
Revelation 18 v 4 is interesting as well .come out of her my people so that you will not share in her sins so that you wil not receive any of her plagues .. It seems that babylon likely false religion exerts power over its members causing them to sin against god more than likely by persecuting gods honest and truthful messengers among other things .When it gets to that stage that the religion were in forces us against our god given conscience to sin its time to get out .2 thess 1 v5 and 6 Matthew 24 v 48… Read more »
“We have come to learn that the presence of Jesus is yet in the future, that we have no idea how close the end is……” This can be a difficult thing to accept in our “unlearning” process – none of us wants to die. However, I have begun to look at it as an opportunity to cultivate Christian qualities (some of which as a JW I thought I had, but now realise I didn’t!) This has caused me to think more about others and less about myself – learning to be unselfish. The important thing is what we leave behind… Read more »
The hour of judgement has arrived revelation 14 v7 ‘the 2nd angel says fallen is babylon he great revelation 14 v8 . The hour of judgement comes upon babylon because of the intense persecution of gods true worshippers by her revelation 17 v6 the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and those who bore testimony to jesus.Revelation 18 v 20 rejoice saints apostles and prophets god has judged her for the way she treated you .Revelation 6 v 9 to 11 i saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the… Read more »
this is so much like JW in many ways, their persecution complex, but I did notice that the bible was not present with the brethren.
interesting experiences.
http://incmedia.org/content/featured-news-lingayen-pangasinan-central/
This Church is copying us. Exchange the term executive minister for the member of Gb , ordained minister for elder and Our Lord God for Jehova and I would get very confused if this video is not about our JW philiphino brothers and sisters. Also experiences told by Inc church members are very similar to the experiences I heard so many times on our assemblies. For example in 7:26 member of Inc says – continue to follow the church administration to submit to them and unite and participate in all of the activities that they set in motion. 12:45 –… Read more »
Oh man paragraph 14 gets me jesus illustrated what it means to have love and mercy in his parable of the good samaritan .we could ask ourselves am i moved to give a witness . Or words to that effect .For goodness sake is the parable about preaching or humanitarian works .This parable and its application is one of the most well known in the entire bible .the brothers need to go back to reading the bible story book again . Kev
After over 35 years in the Organisation I realised that, especially with regard to the NT, I never really read the Bible – I was reading the Society’s publications all those years; every time I read the scriptures I would look up the explanation in the publications. Thankfully, now that I have got my brain back, I am able to read the Bible as it was written and I have learned so much especially about Jesus Christ and the Good News of the Kingdom. I think a problem many JW’s have with reading the Bible is because they have been… Read more »
Yes Jannai40 that is true. When reading a scripture, I find that I am saying to myself, OK but what do other Bible Translations say. For example: Rev 5:10 in the New World Translation says: “and you made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they are to rule as kings over the earth.” ——————————————————- But notice that all these other Bible Translations say either “on the earth” or “upon the earth”. ——————————————————- Kingdom Interlinear Translation (Rev. 5:10 says:) “and you made them to the God of us kingdom and priests, and they are reigning upon… Read more »
Thank you, BeenMislead, for pointing out Rev 5:10 – I’m still very much at the unlearning stage and finding it all very interesting and the information you point out is helping me in my studies. Certainly, if the Society has deliberately altered God’s Word, then they are in trouble, Rev 22:18,19. I decided a while back not to use the NWT or the RNWT because I had decided after examining it that they had gone beyond the things written. I use the NIV but I like to compare other Bible translations too. I keep the RNWT for reference only in… Read more »
excellent article by Meleti as usual and plenty of food for thought, as is your posts imacountrygirl2, enjoy reading and learning here, thank you!
Making disciples FOR WHOM.
Thanks Katrina……Making disciples FOR WHOM?
Meleti, another fine expose’ of the WT Study: Do You See “the One Who Is Invisible”? It has been quite a number of years since I went door to door. Reading your comments has caused me to wonder what exactly is the door to door urgent preaching work done by Jehovah’s Witnesses about today? What is the purpose and what is the message? Making disciples of whom? “It appears we are making this effort to bolster a renewed call to preach the warning to get out of Babylon the great, the world empire of false religion.” “We are convinced that… Read more »
Reminds me of a quote I read somewhere.
“Religion is a snare and a racket” 😉
With the clarifying addition of “Organized” as the opening word, it is one of the few teachings of Rutherford on which I’m in complete agreement.
What we are saying is expressed at the end of paragraph 14: “Faith…will motivate us to have a full share in the preaching work before time runs out.” – Why WT writers have to insert the phrase “before time runs out” or a similar one just to drumbeat the end is always near? Can we not preach w/out false time pressure? Can we not teach out of love for God and our neighbor?
>>Can we not preach w/out false time pressure?
An excellent question Mailman. We had a fairly mediocre public talk a few weeks ago. Last days 101 stuff. However, the inactive son of one of the sisters who has recently begun to attend more frequently following a wake-up call death in the family commented on how much he appreciated it, because “understanding how close the end is gives us more drive to become active.”
And there you have it. Sad, but true. We will see when the real test comes just how much value this methodology has.