“Salvation we owe to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.” Revelation 7:10
[Study 3 from ws 1/21 p.14, March 15 – March 21, 2021]
As a background, you may wish to read the following previously published articles which discuss who the Great Crowd of Other Sheep are in-depth.
https://beroeans.net/2019/11/24/look-a-great-crowd/
https://beroeans.net/2019/05/02/mankinds-hope-for-the-future-where-will-it-be-a-scriptural-examination-part-6/
https://beroeans.net/2020/03/22/the-spirit-itself-bears-witness/
Issue 1
Paragraph 2 quotes “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; those too I must bring in, and they will listen to my voice, and they will become one flock, one shepherd.” (John 10:16).
Notice how these other sheep were to be added to the one flock under one shepherd, Jesus Christ. It would be by Jesus himself.
Now compare the following two events:
- The opening up of Christianity to the Samaritans recorded in Acts 8:14-17 and to the Gentiles recorded in Acts 10.
- The Samaritans received the holy spirit after the Apostles Peter and John prayed, likely using a key of the kingdom of the heavens under the guidance of Jesus Christ. (Matthew 16:19)
- The Gentiles received the holy spirit while the Apostle Peter was speaking to them after the angelic direction and a vision probably from Jesus. Acts 10:10-16; Acts 10:34-36; Acts 10:44-48.
- The context of all these scriptures indicates was clearly Jesus using Peter to add other sheep to the little flock of Jewish Christians.
- “a history-making talk entitled “The Great Multitude.” That talk was given in 1935 by J. F. Rutherford at a convention in Washington, D.C., U.S.A. What was revealed at that convention? 2 In his talk, Brother Rutherford identified those who would make up the “great multitude” (King James Version), or “great crowd,” mentioned at Revelation 7:9. Until then, this group was thought to be a secondary heavenly class that was less faithful. Brother Rutherford used the Scriptures to explain that the great crowd are not chosen to live in heaven, but they are Christ’s other sheep who will survive “the great tribulation” and live forever on earth”.
- A talk given by J.F.Rutherford in 1935, the great crowd of other sheep identified by Brother Rutherford.
- One flock of Jehovah’s Witnesses divided into 2 parts with different destinies.
Did you note the recorded angelic direction of an apostle in the first instance, uniting Jews, Samaritans and Gentiles into one body of Christians compared with a change of teaching with no identifiable cause such as angelic direction, in the second instance which led to a divided body of Christians within the Organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses?
Which of these matches what Jesus promised in John 10:16 where Jesus said he would bring in these other sheep and make one flock? The answer is obvious.
Issue 2
Compare the following two statements:
- 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 “This means my body which is in your behalf. Keep doing this in remembrance of me. … Keep doing this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this loaf and drink this cup, you keep proclaiming the death of the Lord, until he arrives.”
- “After that talk, the young man mentioned earlier and thousands of others rightly stopped partaking of the bread and the wine at the Lord’s Evening Meal.” (para. 4). They stopped partaking and hence stopped proclaiming the death of the Lord.
Jesus’ instruction repeated by Paul in Corinthians was to partake and thereby proclaim the death of the Lord.
By J.F. Rutherford’s instruction, thousands stopped partaking and thereby stopped proclaiming the death of the Lord.
There is a further complication.
According to the Organization’s teaching, Jesus arrived invisibly in 1914.
If so, then those claiming to be ‘Anointed’ or part of the remnant of the little flock according to the Organization’s teaching, should also have stopped partaking. Therefore, the Organization is misleading everyone.
If Jesus has not yet arrived, then all true Christians should continue to partake until instructed otherwise by Jesus. Therefore, the Organization is misleading everyone.
How do you think your host would feel if you were invited to a meal, but when you attended, you rejected the meal and just watched others partake? Do you think they would invite you again? Very unlikely.
So, how is attending the Lord’s evening meal and not partaking while there, any different? Is it not the point of the Lord’s evening meal to attend and partake? Otherwise, why attend? Nowhere did Jesus suggest that some should attend and just observe.
Issue 3
Subtle misrepresentation of Revelation 7. The Organization introduces an artificial change of subject between Revelation 7:1-8 and Revelation 7:9-10.
Remember, Revelation was according to Revelation 1:1-2 a revelation by God to Jesus, who sent an angel who presented this revelation in signs to the Apostle John. Revelation 7:1-4 records that John heard the number of those sealed was 144,000. In Revelation 7:9-10 records that John saw a great crowd that no man was able to number out of all nations. It is logical to think that the great crowd he saw, was what he heard about just earlier.
If you were explaining what you heard and saw today, if the great crowd were not the symbolic 144,000 then you would qualify by saying for example, “I also saw another different group” so that your intended audience would understand the great crowd was different to the symbolic 144,000.
Issue 4
We have discussed at length that there is only one hope in the series “Mankind’s Hope for the Future, Where is it?”. While some may believe the one hope is in heaven, regardless, there is only one hope for Christians, not two separate hopes.
Issue 5
The Organization’s teaching of 2 groups leads to the following questions:
- As God is not partial and we would naturally expect those chosen to be from all nationalities and walks of life. So, why have the vast majority of ‘anointed’ Jehovah’s Witnesses been either white North Americans or white Europeans? Even the current Governing Body reflects this lack of ethnic diversity.
- The calling of ‘anointed’ is implied to have basically all but closed in 1935. Between the 1870s and 1935, the majority of Witnesses were only from the USA, Canada, UK, and Western Europe. It was only after World War II that more than a handful from South America, Africa, and Asia became witnesses. Surely, that is not the results we would expect of a just and impartial God is it? How will a white American really understand the problems and culture of Africans living in poverty?
- Para 17 claims “They think about their hope, pray about it, and are eager to receive their reward in heaven. They cannot even imagine what their spiritual body will be like.” So why would God give them a hope that they do not understand and is not explained in the scriptures? Also, in the absence of scripture, why has he not miraculously given them an understanding of what he was calling them to be?
There are many other issues with this Watchtower study article, but most, if not all, have been covered in articles such as those given at the beginning of this review.
Archived Comments
We have moved to the Disqus commenting system. To post a new comment, go to the bottom of this page.
Comment by Dissident Fairy on 2021-03-14 13:42:01
I've always wondered how the "anointed" really know they are one of the 144,000. To my knowledge, they never tell us. Is it just a feeling? If so, based on what? Desire? Wishful thinking? Did an angel actually appear to them? If so, why don't they enlighten us? Reveal the epiphany. Why is it such a secret? Also, if an angel did appear to them in a dream or in the flesh then it would seem reasonable for them to declare they are inspired by God, which they say they are not. So it circles back to how do they know?
Also, when the current governing body dies out, will the next in line, the helpers suddenly become anointed too? There is a shroud of mystery surrounding it. I feel that laymen in the organization have a right to know how they know unless the anointed can honestly say that God or an angel, or Jesus Christ have given them explicit instructions not to say and they are forbidden to speak of it, then one would have to take their word for it.Reply by Leonardo Josephus on 2021-03-14 18:26:11
Thank you DF for saying what we would all like to have asked ourselves. It seems to me that if a religion its relying on something that can be kept as a mystery, then their R & F followers will simply accept it as a mystery, just as members of a church accept the Trinity teaching. . .
Reply by Ad_Lang on 2021-03-14 22:50:22
"laymen in the organization"....
Yet another facet of what I feel is outright hypocrisy. We're not supposed to have clergy, yet in practice we do, just like the other churches that we condemn. How so?
Consider what makes the clergy different. It's not only payment, it's privilege. Privilege to information, for example. Bodies of elders do get (parts of) letters and instructions that are hidden to the rest of the congregation. That was not what happened in the first century, nor was it ever meant to happen. There is also what I have come across quite a number of times, a legal privilege to secrecy for clergymen, if someone has spoken to them in their spiritual capacity. I know for a fact that Jehovah's Witnesses (we) in the Netherlands have used that privilege to challenge actions by police and prosecution service in some criminal matters around child sexual abuse.
There are a few more, but these are the foremost in my mind. Maybe I should also mention Galatians 6:1, which seems to be applied to the elders. One of my elders actually accused me of "twisting the Scriptures" when I applied that to every "qualified" brother, e.g. all those who have been baptised and/or have appropriate understanding. Sadly, I didn't get to ask him how he thinks Heb. 13:7 applies, where Christians are told to imitate the faith of those taking the lead. Oh yes, some of the elders here seem to think they can tell me what to do. Effectively, that makes them leaders, contrary to Matthew 23:10,11.
How the anointed know?
I think the secret is really in the one and only channel that Jehovah and Jesus actually use. That exclusive channel is not the governing body, but the holy spirit (John 14:16-17, 21, 23-26). In fact, holy spirit is the means by which Jehovah and Jesus are actively involved in our lives. Jesus makes only one distinction, and that is with the world that cannot receive this spirit (v17).
It reminds me of the blatant lack of understanding that the governing body shows at times, which makes me wonder whether Jesus might also have spoken of them as ones who are not capable of receiving the holy spirit. I don't think any Christian would envy them; I certainly don't. I do feel pity, because they seem to be among those spoken of by the apostle Paul in 2 Tim. 3:13, who are "misleading and being misled".
There are references to 2 Pe. 2:1-3 in the NWT and I cannot help but ask if these men (GB) might not even be capable any longer, of understanding what it is that they are actually doing. In the meanwhile, I am still undecided between fearing for those who are blinded despite efforts to help them (ex-JWs report various levels of often little success) and, on the other hand, trusting that Jesus is righteous enough not to judge them purely based on their lack of understanding. For now, I'm setting my hopes on the idea that Jesus, on his return, will be judging only those who are his own and knew what they were doing.
Reply by katrina on 2021-03-16 01:53:37
DF I remember asking a few anointed sisters years ago same question "how does one know" got the same answer from both at different times, you just know you want to be in heaven not on earth, and heard it said at meetings on paradise that the GC want to live on earth they have no desire to be in heaven like the little flock. Some may have had an experience or near death I don't know but I have never had any desire to live permanently in heaven would love to visit and be with our Father and Christ, maybe its possible that both will be accessible for all, maybe I'm nuts.
Reply by Dissident Fairy on 2021-03-16 09:59:28
Wanting something doesn't make it so. There has to be something more concrete than that. I've known people who actually do want to go to heaven. They prefer the concept over life on the earth, but it doesn't mean they have been chosen to do so, it just means that is their wish, and wishes don't always come true:-)
As a child growing up in the organization I often observed the ones who partook were unfamiliar to me. Individuals who never attended meetings. They would show up once a year to partake and we wouldn't see them again for another year. I always found it strange. There were the usual whispers of awe. "She's of the anointed, or he's anointed," but privately when I asked my mother (an elder's wife) why they never attended meetings, she expressed doubt that some of them were anointed based on their once-a-year performance. She was discreet and didn't say too much about it but let's just say I could read between the lines:-)
Comment by Fani on 2021-03-15 04:32:15
Le paragraphe 16 dit en parlant des autres brebis : "Et il ne faut pas oublier que l’esprit de Dieu peut agir avec la même force sur chacun d’eux. Jéhovah accorde son esprit saint à chacun en fonction de ses besoins".
Vrai
Selon Luc 11 : 13 "...combien plus le Père au ciel donnera-t-il de l’esprit saint à ceux qui le lui demandent ! ”
Alors quelle différence la Bible fait elle entre tous les chrétiens qui reçoivent l'esprit Saint ? Aucune.
Que signifie être oint d'esprit et recevoir l'esprit Saint ? C'est la même chose.
Les paragraphes 17 et 18 font une opposition entre des soi-disants oints qui pensent aux choses spirituelles, au Royaume de Dieu et les autres brebis aux choses terrestres (maison, jardin…)
Non
Nous avons toujours pensé aux choses spirituelles. Il n'y a que 2 choix : penser aux choses du corps ou aux choses de l'esprit.
Romains 8 : 5 "En effet, ceux qui vivent selon la chair pensent aux choses de la chair, mais ceux qui vivent selon l’esprit, aux choses de l’esprit".
Nous ne sommes pas des chrétiens de seconde zone !
Nous voulons tous proclamer la mort du Christ qui nous sauve en participant au pain et au vin, comme nous l'a demandé notre Seigneur.
Comment pourrait il nous inviter à un repas sans nous demander d'y prendre part. A quoi bon ?
Leur est il arrivé d'inviter leurs compagnons à un repas en leur disant que certains mangeront et d'autres regarderont ? Absurde !
Tant d'aveuglement fait frémir.
Merci Tadua
Comment by Mike Felker on 2021-03-15 13:04:49
One of the most noteworthy parts of the study article was par. 13 where it is admitted that most congregations have no partakers in attendance, and may not have for years. Then they go on to parallel this to attending a wedding in showing their "love and support." What a strange illustration to use! If the memorial is parallel to a wedding, would anyone in their right mind attend weddings year after year if no bride and groom show up? Who then would they be supporting?
Comment by marielle on 2021-03-16 03:24:29
Le choix de l’image montrant des chrétiens qui se passent le pain et le vin de mains en mains, pour rappeler les paroles de Christ « faites cela en mémoire de moi », n’est pas banal !
Ce sont des paragraphes mis en références, mais pas de textes bibliques.Reply by Fani on 2021-03-16 05:46:58
C'est pas gênant pour le Collège Central puisque la Tour de Garde a remplacé la Bible comme référence !
Ils changent les paroles du Christ en disant que PASSER le pain signifie reconnaître le sacrifice du Christ.
Comme ils ont pris l'autorité du Christ ils se permettent de changer son ordre.
Ils se placent AU DESSUS du Christ.
Je ne voudrais pas être à leur place...
Comment by Jerome on 2021-03-16 22:09:17
Just wanted to commend Tadua on a fascinating Watchtower review. Well done!
Comment by Jerome on 2021-03-18 22:20:32
Paragraph 11 makes the statement: "After the great tribulation ends, Jesus will guide these earthly survivors to the “waters of [everlasting] life.” Just think: The great crowd have a unique prospect. Of all the billions who have ever lived, they may never die!—John 11:26." However, John 11:26 records Jesus speaking in the present tense, promising those that put faith in him at the time he was speaking that they will never die at all, not may never die if they survive Armageddon in the future. This is similar to another statement Jesus made which is recorded in John 3:36: "He that exercises faith in the Son has everlasting life;"
Comment by Solla Sollew on 2021-03-20 02:35:10
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
Comment by Solla Sollew on 2021-03-20 02:43:41
Para 13: "They attend for the same reason that people attend a friend’s wedding. They attend because they want to show their love and support for the couple who are getting married. Thus, those of the other sheep attend the Memorial because they want to show their love and support for Christ and the anointed."
The illustration is failed logic. Do you go to the reception and just stand there and watch everyone enjoy the wedding feast, what a nonsense.
Comment by Romana on 2021-03-20 12:06:28
Issue 1 - John 10:16. If you just read this chapter in context, it is abolutely clear, that Jesus is speaking about the future Christians from Gentiles. I had a 30 year pause from any religion after leaving JW. This year I started to read NT again and this explanation jumped out clearly to me.