Being a dedicated Jehovah Witness for many years, e-watchman is devoted to adding prophetic insights into the difficult issues of faith facing the Watchtower organization and all of Jehovah's Witnesses. As an anointed follower of Christ Jesus, e-watchman also endeavors to follow the pattern of biblical watchmen in announcing the coming judgment of Jehovah upon the house of God. To that end this site contains over 1,000 printed pages offering in-depth interpretive commentary on numerous Bible prophecies; including Ezekiel, Habakkuk, Joel, Amos, Daniel, Isaiah, Hosea, Lamentations and Revelation.  

This site also seeks to shed light upon the prophetic Scriptures as they pertain to the ultimate creation of a satanic New World Order and the looming threat of world war, financial collapse and impact these eventualities will have upon the world, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society and Jehovah's Witnesses before the Millennial Kingdom of Jesus Christ is established.

A weekly mailbag offers readers an opportunity to pose their own questions to e-watchman, as well as read the archives of previous questions and answers. e-Jehovah's Witnesses presents Jehovah's Witnesses with a discussion board where numerous topics and issues related to the Watchtower Society are discussed.

Why a "Watchman"?

This article is in anticipation of a question that many knowledgeable readers are likely to ask: Why one of Jehovahs Witnesses would start a web site devoted to discussing Bible prophecy. After all, the Watchtower has instructed the congregations that Witnesses should not use the Internet to discuss the Bible; that the Watchtower has its own web site; and therefore, no faithful brother should take it upon themselves to privately publish on the Internet.

Furthermore, it is generally accepted among all members of the Christian congregation that the Watchtower is the sole channel of spiritual instruction for all of Jehovahs Witnesses worldwide. Consequently, any competing voice should not be given any heed out of loyalty for the accepted arrangement. And to be sure, the Scriptures themselves warn, "many false prophets have gone forth into the world." (1 John 4:1) So, why would an otherwise faithful, longtime Christian defy the Watchtower's direction in this regard? Hopefully, the answer to that question will become apparent to the reader in this and subsequent articles.  

In the Bible times of walled cities, watchmen served a vital function as sentries assigned to keep on the lookout for any signs of approaching armies, marauder bands, the return of their own ruler and his men from a battle, or any other similar event. The station of watchman was considered so important due to its responsibility for the lives of their fellow citizens that one could be put to death if found negligent in the discharge of their duties. Using that very analogy, Jehovah commissioned spiritual watchmen who were charged by him with announcing his coming judgments.  

For example, Isaiah wrote: For this is what Jehovah has said to me: "Go, post a lookout that he may tell just what he sees." And he saw a war chariot with a span of steeds, a war chariot of asses, a war chariot of camels. And he paid strict attention, with much attentiveness. And he proceeded to call out like a lion: "Upon the watchtower, O Jehovah, I am standing constantly by day, and at my guardpost I am stationed all the nights..." (Isaiah 21:6-8)  

Habakkuk, another ancient prophetic watchman, explains his duty: " At my guard post I will keep standing, and I will keep myself stationed upon the bulwark; and I shall keep watch, to see what he will speak by me and what I shall reply at the reproof of me." (Habakkuk 2:1)  

What is especially important is that the watchman calls out what he sees, not merely what he expects to see, and surely not what he is told by others to see. A faithful watchman cannot merely tell others what they want to hear. The true watchman has to have the courage to be the bearer of bad news if duty calls for such.  

On the other hand, Jehovah describes the negligent watchmen with these words: "His watchmen are blind. None of them have taken note. All of them are speechless dogs; they are unable to bark, panting, lying down, loving to slumber."  (Isaiah 56:10)  

Imagine a watchdog that is unable to bark when intruders encroach! That is how Jehovah depicts those who are in responsible positions as watchmen, but who ultimately fail to live up to their responsibility as such.  

Because of our less-than-perfect human condition, and the fact that this world is presided over by powerful wicked demons whose intent is to mislead us, the nearly overwhelming susceptibility is toward spiritual blindness. Most troubling is the fact that a person who is blind is usually the last to know it.  The Bible's inerrant record indicates that God's ancient people, both the Jews and the Christians, often imagined themselves to be fully enlightened, yet from Jehovahs standpoint they were blind.  

Jesus' letter to the congregation in Laodicea, which in reality is addressed to anointed Christians living during the much later period called "the Lord's day," charges them with being spiritually blind. Revelation 3:17 says: Because you say: "I am rich and have acquired riches and do not need anything at all," but you do not know you are miserable and pitiable and poor and blind and naked."  

Since Jesus charged all of his anointed followers to remain on the watch for their master's return, he evidently knew that some anointed Christians would gradually become lulled into a deep sleep, spiritually, and fail to stay watchful. Apparently, many would even become complacent, because they would come to imagine that they were fully enlightened and not need anything (further) from Jehovah.  

Sadly, in some respects at least, that attitude seems to have come to characterize the entire Watchtower Society. We imagine that we are living in a spiritual paradise and we boast of practicing pure worship and of speaking a pure language of unadulterated truth. We imagine that God called his house to judgment decades ago and that now he is pleased with everything we do and say because we are his "clean people." In effect, are we not saying to Christ, 'we are spiritually rich and do not need anything more'?  

In the 12th chapter of Luke, Jesus spoke at some length on the need for his little flock to stay on the watch. Christ exhorted them, saying: "Let your loins be girded and your lamps be burning, and you yourselves be like men waiting for their master when he returns from the marriage, so that at his arriving and knocking they may at once open to him."  

Christ went on to explain that his arrival would be by stealth, like a thief in the night that comes at an hour his disciples "do not think likely." However, for those whom he actually finds ready and waiting, after punishing them for their shortcomings, Jesus rewards them by appointing them over all of his belongings.  

But what has proven to be a failure of true discernment, is that Jesus has not yet come as a thief in the night. That being the case, neither has he judged his household of anointed servants and dismissed those whom he judges to be unfaithful. Otherwise, what is the point of remaining on the watch?  

Ironically, one impediment to our own watchfulness is the Watchtower's established doctrine that Jesus has already arrived in his presence and rewarded his servants. The Watchtower Society's teaching relegates Christ's presence and judgment of his household to the 1914-1919 period. Thus, vast portions of Jehovahs judgments and judicial decisions have been nullified by assigning their application to the past, when instead they undoubtedly await fulfillment in the near future.  

For instance, at Luke 12:37, Jesus said: "Happy are those slaves whom the master on arriving finds watching! Truly I say to you, He will gird himself and make them recline at the table and come alongside and minister to them." Of special note is the expression where Jesus said that he would "come alongside and minister to them."  

The Greek word parousia, which is rightly translated as "presence," literally means, "coming alongside." Again, has Jesus come as a thief in the night? No, he has not. That being the case, then, neither has he come "alongside" his faithful anointed ones yet. That means that Jesus' presence alongside his chosen ones did not begin in the autumn of 1914, nor at any time since then for that matter, because otherwise our long watch would be over.  

Ultimately, this means that the very interpretation of Bible prophecy by the faithful slave regarding Christ's presence already commencing in 1914 could conceivably be our snare. While the Watchtower has imparted a rich spiritual heritage to Jehovahs Witnesses, and has bequeathed a firm doctrinal foundation for us, it has also saddled us with numerous interpretations of Bible prophecies that are unworkable.  

And while the Watchtower Society has done its best to keep us spiritually alert and in expectation, nevertheless, it seems increasingly evident that when Christ finally arrives, it will likely require that we quickly discard a good portion of what we presently are firmly convinced is the absolute truth. Yet, isn't that what the apostles themselves were forced to do when, contrary to their expectations, Jesus was killed and returned to his Father in heaven.  

After all, the true anointing does not come through a human agency or organization. Christ is not bound or obligated to use any earthly institution to announce his sudden thief-like arrival and presence.  

What we are facing, then, is the unexpected arrival of Christ when he comes to inspect God's house of anointed ones. What a test of faith awaits all of Jehovahs Witnesses! No wonder Peter, when foretelling that judgment begins first with the house of God, went on to say: "Now if it starts first with us, what will the end be of those who are not obedient to the good news of God? And if the righteous man is being saved with difficulty, where will the ungodly man and the sinner make a showing?"  

The reader will likely ask: 'But what about the signs of Christ presence and the chronology of the times of the Gentiles and all of that?' Those are topics that will be discussed. But in a word, in view of the world's unsettled post 9-11 situation, it is not at all out of the question that "nation will rise against nation" on a scale that will make both previous world wars pale by comparison.  

So dear reader, because of the obvious danger the world is now facing--an unspeakable danger that could ultimately involve the nightmarish scenario of the large-scale use of weapons of mass destruction--and in view of the spiritual danger that we have brought ourselves into by believing the fiction that Christ's presence has already begun, it hopefully becomes apparent why there is a need for a voice in the wilderness as it were; a watchman whose voice exists outside the institution of the Watchtower.