One of the scriptures that seemed to set the parameters of a generation is the 90th Psalm, which reads: "The days of our years are seventy years; and if because of special mightiness they are eighty years, yet their insistence is on trouble and hurtful things; for it must quickly pass by, and away we fly."

It is noteworthy that the author of that Psalm, Moses, lived to be exactly 120 years old. Yet, by inspiration he seems to have precisely described the average lifespan of our generation. So, based on that verse, the idea was out there among many of Jehovah's Witnesses leading up to the 1990's that 80 years was the maximum time allowance for the 1914 generation. When 1994 came and passed, the Watchtower felt compelled to redefine what Jesus meant about a generation that would not pass away until all things had occurred.

The Watchtower's latest commentary on "this generation" points out that Jesus always used the term "generation" in connection with the characterization of a "crooked and twisted generation." According to the Watchtower's latest commentary, rather than defining the duration of a specific generation, Jesus' use of the term merely defined the character of any given generation. The only problem with that definition is that, while Jesus did in fact use the expression "crooked and twisted generation" on many occasions, that is not the expression he used when speaking about the generation that would not pass away. He merely said: "This generation." So, rather than reinterpret what Jesus meant when he said "this generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur," it seems inevitable that eventually we are going to be forced to discard the whole 1914 doctrine. Doing so will obviate the need to redefine "this generation."

As for the second question, it seems that Jesus' prophecy regarding there being food shortages is literal. We may be certain of that because the opening of the first few seals in Revelation parallels Jesus' prophecy of wars, food shortages and pestilences. Specifically the opening of the third seal calls for "a quart of wheat for a denarius." In Bible times, a denarius was a day's wage. The prophecy may in fact be describing what we would call inflation, or in this case hyperinflation, whereby the purchasing power of a currency erodes to the point where it eventually cannot procure life's basic necessities.

However, that is not to say that there are not other prophecies that foretell that spiritual famine will also take place.

God's seating his anointed ones in heavenly places is not merely a reference to their eventually going to heaven. Paul was saying that the act of being born again, or anointed by God's holy spirit, made one a member of that heavenly organization even though they were still quite human. Notice, also, that in that short verse Paul twice used the word "together." Since all anointed ones are part of the same heavenly organization, as the head of that organization, Christ sees to it that all of his true followers are brought into association with each other. That's why Peter made reference to the Christian congregation as "the entire association of your brothers in the world."

While some may take issue with the term "organization," stumbling over the fact that the Bible does not contain that specific word, reasonable persons surely recognize that an association is nearly synonymous with the term organization. For example, YMCA stands for Young Men's Christian Association. Now, is anyone so unreasonable so as to insist that the YMCA is an association but is not also an organization? Also, an association may rightly be referred to as a society, which is why we use the term the New World Society. So, the Christian Greek Scriptures do in fact speak about an organization composed of the true followers of Christ.

Further in that same 2nd chapter of Ephesians, Paul says of Christ's congregation: "But you are fellow citizens of the holy ones and are members of the household of God." If a person is a member of God's household that means that there is membership in an association; a society; yes, an organization. The household of God is the exclusive membership made up of 144,000. Needless to say, the household of God is a totally unique and enduring organization.

The Watchtower Society was instituted in order to present long-lost truths to thinking, Christian-oriented people, in order to draw into an association those whom Jehovah would ultimately chose to fill the remaining number of the 144,000 spiritual Jews. From all the evidence at hand, the Watchtower has indeed served as a rallying point around which Jehovah has drawn into association the remaining prospective joint heirs of the kingdom of God as well as those who will eventually make up those who live through the great tribulation—the great crowd. It would appear that we are now poised to enter into the judgment phase of Jehovah's grand purpose for his organization.

The problem is that, over the years, Jehovah's Witnesses have been induced to think in terms of the Watchtower itself as being God's organization. But, the Watchtower is not really Jehovah's organization. The Watchtower is merely the legal corporation that is necessary in order to run the affairs of the vast global publishing operation that Jehovah's Witnesses have used in order to spread our message. But, because the Watchtower was established and overseen by anointed servants of God, we have come to refer to it nominally as "Jehovah's organization." The reality is, though, that the Watchtower is merely a means to an end and it is quite expendable. Whereas, the church of Christ is indestructible; even as Jesus said of his congregation: "The gates of Hades will not overpower it."  

A little further on in that prophecy Paul foretold that wicked men from within the congregation would resist the truth. They would be men who were "disapproved as regards the faith." Going on, Paul stated: "Nevertheless, they will make no further progress, for their madness will be made very plain to all." Now the question arises: has the "madness" of apostate opposers of our faith become evident to all? Not really. Why do we say that? Because according to another of Paul's prophecies "the apostasy must come first and the man of lawlessness gets revealed." Presently the man of lawlessness is still a mystery. Yet, the prophecy foretells that during the time leading up to Christ's judgment that the man of lawlessness will brazenly sit down in the temple of God. That of course has implications for the household of God.

But, as regards those maddened apostates who "will make no further progress," Paul went on to say that "wicked men and imposters will advance from bad to worse, misleading and being misled." So, apostates will make "progress," advancing "from bad to worse," up until Christ's judgment reveals their madness along with the man of lawlessness. Since we have not reached that point yet, it is evident that the most critical and difficult times for people of faith are definitely looming directly ahead of us.

As for whether I might turn out to be mistaken, I would almost welcome that prospect. Like Paul said, he would gladly choose to be estranged from God in place of his misled countrymen. The real question, though, is not, What if I am wrong? But, rather: What if I am right?

...What do you think?

Considering that none of us have ever had a close encounter with a glorious heavenly angel, what do you suppose it would be like if you could meet up with a holy, transplendent being? Daniel had one such meeting and it seems that he barely survived the encounter. In the 10th chapter of Daniel, he describes his experience saying that his personal dignity was changed into ruination and that he became as a dead man. It was only by the comforting reassurance of the visiting angel that Daniel was able to muster the strength to get up on all fours and then eventually stand up on his feet.

Remember, that Daniel's companions could not see the angel even though they were terrorized by just being in the same vicinity with the glorious celestial being. The vision that Daniel had is really prophetic of Christ's parousia, in that Christ will reveal himself in some way to his desirable ones—which is what the angel said Daniel was.

Taking account of Christ's glory when he comes to judge his Father's spiritual temple, we do well to recall how Christ overthrew the tables of the money changers in his Father's physical temple. That gives us some idea of how Jesus will deal with corruption in the midst of his congregation and why it is that Isaiah describes Jehovah's spiritual table as being polluted with vomit. From Christ's and Jehovah's viewpoint, anything unholy is detestable. They can only have intimate fellowship with those who are clean and holy. So, when Christ comes and inspects his Father's house it is as if he finds the place a real mess. So what does he do? Well, he dismisses those whom he judges to be evil slaves and then he tells the rest of his slaves to get up off the floor and get the place cleaned up. Isn't that reasonable? That is, in fact, exactly what the prophecies foretell will occur.

According to Isaiah 64:5-6, we will all be found to be unclean in God's sight during the judgment. It reads: "Look! You yourself became indignant, while we kept sinning—in them a long time, and should we be saved? And we became like someone unclean, all of us, and all our acts of righteousness are like a garment for periods of menstruation…" That's why Isaiah's prophecy opens its address to God's people by saying that even though our sins should be like scarlet-colored stains in God's eyes, that he will cause them to become white as snow. The 30th chapter of Isaiah, which was discussed in last week's Mailbag (pertaining to God's word speaking as if from behind us), goes on to say that as a result of Jehovah's rebuke God's people will discard their organizational idolatry as if it were "mere dirt."  The prophecy then relates that during the time of great slaughter that God's word will shine with seven-fold intensity.

The point is that we should not underestimate God's forgiveness once we are brought to a point where Jehovah is ready to convict us. So, while the so-called faithful and discreet slave might seem unfaithful and indiscreet presently, we need to appreciate that the prophecies are looking at things as they ultimately culminate after Jehovah sets things straight.

But, if they merely wanted access to the UN's library as they claimed, why then did they withdraw their membership in the first place? If that was their excuse, would not that also be a good reason to continue on as an NGO, if that is all there was to it? The irony is that if the Watchtower wanted to do in-depth research on the UN, they should have been the first to know what NGO's are all about. The information is easily accessible. The fact is that the United Nations does not just grant any organization NGO status. There are pretty strict criteria and application processes, as well as an annual renewal that each organization must comply with in order to continue to be recognized as an NGO. It is ludicrous to suppose that the brothers who were responsible for the maintenance of that arrangement didn't know what was involved.

It is obvious that the Watchtower's spokesman in England issued a misleading and false statement to the public when he dismissed the whole NGO affair as an innocent mistake. Even Jehovah indicts our spokesmen as liars when he says in Isaiah 43:27: "And your own spokesmen have transgressed against me." And again, through Isaiah, Jehovah asks his servants the soul-searching question: "Whom did you become frightened at and begin to fear, so that you took up lying?"

Witnesses believe as a doctrine...that all the brothers in the first century were of the anointed. However in the Bible, the apostle Paul has at one point clearly stated that there were two distinctive groups of faithful brothers at the time. 1 Corinthians 1:1-2 says: "Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through God's will, and Sosthenes our brother to the congregation of God that is in Corinth, to you who have been sanctified in union with Christ Jesus, called to be holy ones, together with all who everywhere are calling upon the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours."