Jehovah's Witnesses refer to our faith as "the truth." For example, it is not at all uncommon to hear expressions like: "How long have you been in the truth?" "How did you find the truth?" Or, "Brother So-and-so left the truth." Actually, Jesus coined the expression "in the truth" when he said in reference to the Devil: "He did not stand fast in the truth." It ought to be sobering that the Devil was himself once in the truth—once a loyal son and worshipper of Jehovah.

Obviously, finding the truth and merely knowing the truth is no guarantee of remaining in the truth. The potential always exists for Christians to be stumbled and abandon their faith. Even the apostles were all momentarily stumbled and scattered on the night of Jesus' arrest. Entire congregations can stumble as is reflected in Paul's question to the Galatians, where he asked: "You were running well. Who hindered you from keeping on obeying the truth?"

The stumbling block for the Galatians was the divisive issue of circumcision. But a stumbling block can be anything that causes us to question our faith or view the truth in a negative way or deviate from our course as Christians.

Oftentimes the stumbling blocks come from outside the congregation in the form of outright persecution or subtle family opposition. In his illustration of the sower and the seed, Jesus illustrated how some individuals may initially accept the truth with joy and continue "for a time, and after tribulation or persecution has arisen on account of the word he is at once stumbled." For a fact, millions of people around the world have studied with Jehovah's Witnesses and have believed it to be the truth, not a few even becoming Witnesses themselves, but because of having no depth of knowledge or appreciation, they are unable or unwilling to stand up to the inevitable ridicule and persecution that comes upon anyone who endeavors to take a genuine stand for the truth.

Unfortunately, though, many of the stumbling blocks come from within the congregations; in the form of unkindnesses and thoughtless unchristian behavior on the part of brothers. Those stumbled by such things usually reason to themselves that 'if this is the way people act in the truth then this can't be the truth.' Such reasoning, however, does not take into account that the Christian Greek Scriptures warn Christians to be on guard against stumbling over the faults of others. So, we need to be realistic in that respect and recognize that there are a lot of problems, even in the truth, especially if we look for the faults of others.

Another more insidious source of stumbling comes from those who are knowledgeable of the truth but who slyly undermine the faith of others. At Romans 16:17-18, Paul advised the brothers: "Now I exhort you, brothers, to keep your eye on those who cause divisions and occasions for stumbling contrary to the teaching that you have learned, and avoid them. For men of that sort are slaves, not of our Lord Christ, but of their own bellies; and by smooth talk and complimentary speech they seduce the hearts of guileless ones."

Now, if the 1st Century congregations, who were then under the direct tutelage of the apostle Paul, were vulnerable to tripping over the stumbling blocks laid by vain, smooth-talking imposters, how much more we are subject to stumbling today, far removed from the stalwart influence of the apostles, when such imposters are apparently in the stage of advancing from bad to worse, as Paul described in 2nd Timothy?

There are many such men today, but Ray Franz is no doubt the most prominent individual fitting the profile of a smooth talker.  As a former member of the Governing Body of the Watchtower Society, Mr. Franz speaks with the authority that few others possess when it comes to the inner workings of the organization. He flatters Jehovah's Witnesses, as if he were imparting some special knowledge especially to them. As a result of his books, Franz is probably responsible for stumbling hundreds of thousands of guileless Jehovah's Witnesses and interested Bible studies.

Franz seems to have single-handedly spawned an entire genre of escape-the-tower-cult websites and books by ex-Jehovah's Witnesses and anti-Watchtower evangelical groups. The Proverb seems to describe their mentality, where it says: "Their sleep has been snatched away unless they cause someone to stumble." It is not that Franz himself is the source of the stumbling blocks though. For the most part such men have merely capitalized on the Watchtower's own folly, knowing that the average Jehovah's Witness or person studying simply does not have the depth of knowledge and faith to counter such things.

Jesus acknowledged that such stumbling blocks are inevitable, but he also warned of the awful outcome for those through whom they come, saying a Luke 17:1: Then he said to his disciples: "It is unavoidable that causes for stumbling should come. Nevertheless, woe to the one through whom they come! It would be of more advantage to him if a millstone were suspended from his neck and he were thrown into the sea than for him to stumble one of these little ones."

Although there exists a veritable mountain of damning accusations against our faith on the Internet, fortunately most of Jehovah's Witnesses are unaware of the many stumbling blocks advertised by those who have already been stumbled from the truth. The desperate, blaring, megaphone-style methods of ex-Jehovah's Witnesses outside our conventions, for example, are viewed as little more than carnival sideshow oddities by most of the friends.

However, it seems scripturally apparent that Jehovah's Witnesses will eventually be directly exposed to potentially lethal stumbling blocks that the Watchtower itself has laid before us all.

By briefly considering a few prophecies we may gain some insight into what Jehovah's Witnesses may expect in the near future.

Consider the prophecy of Malachi: Although originally set in the context of the restored Jewish priesthood, the prophecy really pertains to the future kings and priests of Christ's kingdom at the time Christ arrives to commence his judgment. That is evident from the entire third and fourth chapters, where Christ is introduced to us as the coming messenger of Jehovah's covenant, who sets God's house into order as a prelude to the finale. (Please, no more emails from various Elijah/messenger claimants.)

Malachi 3:5 specifically refers to Christ's judgment, where it says: "I will come near to you people for the judgment." It should be obvious that no such judgment occurred in the 1st Century or any time since then. That Christ's judgment purges God's people from all corrupting influences, as the prophecy makes plain, is proof that the judgment upon God's house is yet future.

The 2nd chapter of Malachi, verses 5-7, also speaks of Christ as a God-fearing high priest and messenger of the new covenant, saying of him: "As for my covenant, it proved to be with him, one of life and of peace, and I kept giving them to him, with fear. And he continued fearing me; yes, because of my name he himself was struck with terror. The very law of truth proved to be in his mouth, and there was no unrighteousness to be found on his lips. In peace and in uprightness he walked with me, and many were those whom he turned back from error. For the lips of a priest are the ones that should keep knowledge, and the law is what people should seek from his mouth; for he is the messenger of Jehovah of armies."

Seeing that Christ is the messenger of a new covenant and a priest "according to the manner of Melchizedek," and not according to the manner of inheritance as was the Levitical priesthood, it is evident that the priests whom Jehovah denounces in the following eighth verse are in reality the anointed priests of the faithful slave and not the actual sons of Levi. Verse eight reads: "But you men—you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble in the law. You have ruined the covenant of Levi," Jehovah of armies has said. "And I also, for my part, shall certainly make you to be despised and low to all the people, according as you were not keeping my ways, but were showing partiality in the law."

Ezekiel contains a similar prophetic denunciation, where we read at Ezekiel 36:15: 'And I shall cause no further humiliating talk by the nations to be heard concerning you, and reproach by peoples you will bear no more, and your nations you will no more cause to stumble,' is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah."

The context of Ezekiel's prophecy is the spiritual restoration of Jehovah's people, which comes as an immediate prelude to the final assault of Gog of Magog. That being the case, then, the "nations" that spiritual Israel causes to stumble must be the many so-called other sheep of the nations. That is in harmony with Jesus' own prophetic forecast that foretells that during the conclusion "many will be stumbled and will betray one another and will hate one another."

It is regrettable that so many of Jehovah's Witnesses have already been stumbled by goings-on in their local congregations and as a result of inconsistencies in the teachings of the Watchtower. The greatest tests of faith, however, are yet to come. That's because we are facing the unanticipated implosion of the Watchtower organization itself.

Many of our accusers, no doubt the Devil included, have leveled the charge that Jehovah's Witnesses are mere brainwashed cultic followers of the Watchtower. The collapse and humiliation of the Watchtower will result in a test of faith that would otherwise be impossible. While many of our number apparently do not possess genuine Christ-like faith apart from their association with the Watchtower—many do. For that reason Jehovah is pleased to allow tests of such severity.

Being in the truth means having faith, not in men or in any so-called visible organization, but in God and his Word. In view of the fact that Jehovah projects his voice ahead to the judgment, charging his own leading men with causing many to stumble, why should any of us who are aware of this profound truth any longer allow ourselves to be stumbled by the Watchtower's folly?

The cure, however, is not separating ourselves and going it alone. The apostle John writes to us saying that the preventative to stumbling is love of our brothers. John 2:10-11 reads: "He that loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in his case. But he that hates his brother is in the darkness and is walking in the darkness, and he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes."

Rather than allowing the Watchtower's stumbling blocks to ruin our faith in God, we ought to appreciate the opportunity we have been given to demonstrate our faith under test. And rather than letting festering feelings of betrayal and resentment to cause us to become estranged from our former family and friends, love for our brothers will enable us to be a source of strength and encouragement for them during the ultimate time of stumbling oncoming.

Jehovah is pleased to allow the stumbling, just as he allowed the testing of Job and the apostles, because he knows that we have the potential to rise above it. He knows that love never fails.

While the Devil would have us believe that the Watchtower has misled us into the wilderness, we have the opportunity to prove him a liar. If we have taken what the Watchtower has given us; that is, a knowledge of the truth, and we have developed our own personal relationship with God and Christ, we are in a position to serve as Jehovah's Witnesses in a very special way. By our faith surviving the collapse of the Watchtower, we will demonstrate to all observers that Jehovah is our God. Isn't that the cause we dedicated ourselves to in the first place?

Lastly, the closing words of Jude seem particularly appropriate: "Now to the one who is able to guard you from stumbling and to set you unblemished in the sight of his glory with great joy, to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, might and authority for all past eternity and now and into all eternity. Amen."