J.F. Rutherford, the 2nd President of the Watchtower Society, possessed a similar zeal for the truth. While he was in prison in 1918, he once said that if Jehovah saw fit to get him out of there that he would 'take the dagger of truth and rip the guts out of the old whore of Babylon.' He certainly did his level best to make good on that promise.

Personally, I greatly admire the fearless quality that moved those men to stand up for the truth, as they knew it. Many, many people have likewise been drawn to the Watchtower Society because of having a love of the truth and a desire to associate with others who display such burning zeal for the truth.

In the opening pages of the Live Forever book, there is a picture of a man giving directions to a lost driver. The man outside the car is pointing back in the direction that the driver has just come from. The Watchtower uses that to illustrate that if we find out that we are going the wrong way then we need to have the good sense and humility to turn around and get back on track.

Well, what about the Watchtower organization itself? What happens if the organization runs amok and gets lost? Isn't it the duty of those with insight to try and steer things straight? Not that any mortal might succeed in doing so, especially in view of Isaiah 51:18, which speaks to God's fallen organization, saying: "There was none of all the sons that she brought to birth conducting her, and there was none of all the sons that she brought up taking hold of her hand." But, where is our love of truth, now, when confronted with obvious error? Or do we imagine that the Watchtower is above counsel? If so, then we have placed that institution above the truth of God.

It is of interest that Jehovah uses an illustration at Isaiah 30:20-21 that is similar to that found in the Live Forever book—except it is directed to God's organization. It reads: "And Jehovah will certainly give you people bread in the form of distress and water in the form of oppression; yet your Grand Instructor will no longer hide himself, and your eyes must become eyes seeing your Grand Instructor. And your own ears will hear a word behind you saying: "This is the way. Walk in it, you people," in case you should go to the right or in case you should go to the left."

The Watchtower recently answered a question from one of its readers regarding that very verse. The Watchtower's commentary was that we individually hear Jehovah's voice, as if emanating from behind us, in the sense that the Bible was written centuries ago in the distant past, so that it is as if God's Word speaks from behind us. While that may be true, that is obviously not what the prophecy is talking about.

The above-quoted verse says that our "Grand Instructor will no longer hide himself." Since we have always had the Bible at our disposal, how is it that Jehovah has hidden himself from us? Since Isaiah says elsewhere that God has covered the heads of his own visionaries and prophets, it is apparent that God has hidden himself from his own otherwise-enlightened servants—allowing them to go astray into an operation of error. Furthermore, if Jehovah is to reveal himself to us in an extraordinary way so as to fully enlighten his servants, would not that logically take place during the ultimate revelation—at the unveiling of Christ Jesus in glory?

Really, the 30th chapter of Isaiah has to do with Jehovah's judgments upon his people as a prelude to the end of this world and the beginning of the new one. Clearly, according to that context, Jehovah has not put his people on a bread-and-water ration of distress and oppression. That being the case, then, neither has God spoken to us as if from behind us—indicating that we are presently going the wrong way and must in the near-future make an abrupt about-face at the rebuke of our Grand Instructor.

You asked the question: "What gives you the right and by whose authority do you set yourself up as the corrector of Jehovah's organization?" Questions that are even more pertinent and far-reaching are: What gives the Watchtower the right to become politically aligned with the United Nations as an NGO and to use the unwitting volunteer services of millions of Jehovah's Witnesses to disseminate subtle, globalist propaganda through the Awake magazine?

Also, by whose authority does the Watchtower surreptitiously appropriate untold sums of funds donated to the "kingdom preaching work" in order to pay out-of-court settlements to abuse victims-- binding them with hush-money and legal gag orders to prevent the details of these secret deals from being made public?  Do Jehovah's Witnesses deserve to know the truth about the Watchtower's unseemly affairs; especially when their donations are being used that way? More importantly, who has the right to prevent Jehovah's Witnesses from knowing why God has issues with his people? What man or organization has the legal authority or power to gag Jehovah? Again, where is our love of truth and righteousness?

The truth is that Jehovah has never had an organization that has not gone astray and become corrupt. Nearly all of the prophetic books of the Bible were written to reprove and correct the apostate Jewish nation. And those very same prophecies apply in many ways to spiritual Israel during the time of Jehovah's final judgment upon the organization that Jesus founded.

As for who gave anyone authority to rebuke God's people, have you never read what Jehovah says at Isaiah 58:1, which reads: "Call out full-throated; do not hold back. Raise your voice just like a horn, and tell my people their revolt, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet day after day it was I whom they kept seeking, and it was in the knowledge of my ways that they would express delight, like a nation that carried on righteousness itself and that had not left the very justice of their God…"

The above verse certainly describes Jehovah's Witnesses, in that we seek knowledge of Jehovah and as an organization we have been zealous to do things God's way—up to a point. That's why what is occurring in the organization, and no doubt what is yet to occur, is so tragic.

While the Watchtower has described itself and all of Jehovah's Witnesses as watchmen, the reality is that in Bible times Jehovah only raised up select individuals whom he used as watchmen to the entire nation of his people. Many of them were even reluctant to take up their assignments; but their fear of Jehovah was greater than their fear of man and so they were impelled to go against the popular current of the day.

The 9th chapter of Hosea contains an obscure prophesy that seems to speak precisely to the situation today. Hosea 9:7-9 says: "The days of being given attention must come; the days of the due payment must come. Those of Israel will know it. The prophet will be foolish, the man of inspired expressions will be maddened on account of the abundance of your error, even animosity being abundant. The watchman of Ephraim was with my God. As regards a prophet, there is the trap of a birdcatcher on all his ways; there is animosity in the house of his God. They have gone deep in bringing ruin, as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their error; he will give attention to their sins."

In the essay entitled Justice for the Silentlambs, it was explained that the sin of Gibeah had to do with the shocking sex crime and cover-up that took place during the time of the judges. It well describes the perverse way in which the Watchtower has suppressed justice for the many thousands of Jehovah's little ones who have been raped and abused by those who called themselves Jehovah's Witnesses.

The prophecy of Hosea says that "there is animosity in the house of God" because of abundant error.

Since the time of Christ, the house of God has reference to the grouping of all the anointed. And, for a fact, the apostle Peter assures us that Jehovah's judgment starts first with the house of God and then proceeds in the judgment of the rest of mankind. (1 Peter 4:17) Not coincidently, in Hebrew the name bethel literally means "the house of God," which, of course, modern Bethel is the nucleus of not only God's anointed household today, but the entire organization of Jehovah's Witnesses as well.

Strangely, though, the Watchtower teaches us that the judgment upon the house of God took place long ago, back in 1919.  That is simply bizarre in view of the fact that virtually none of Jehovah's Witnesses are alive today that were adults back then. Also, considering all the errors, stumbling blocks and problems afflicting God's people today, how comforting or reasonable is it that Jehovah supposedly set things straight among the relative handful of his household of servants nearly a century ago? Furthermore, if we are facing God's judgment, isn't it irresponsible of the Watchtower to lull Jehovah's Witnesses with the fiction that the judgment has long since taken place?

Even as Hosea charges, who of us can honestly deny that the error of the house of God is abundant today. For that reason, there is animosity and resentment among the servants in the house of God; which house is inhabited presently by two classes of individuals who will ultimately be judged by Christ as either faithful or wicked slaves. Hosea also describes that the abundant error in God's household will drive his prophet into behaving foolishly. But the prophet's madness is not the result of his not knowing the word of his God. The prophecy says that the error of the household is what causes his madness. The prophet is in fact called "the man of inspired expression," indicating that he has insight into Jehovah's word; and as the next verse says, the watchman over God's house is really with Jehovah God. That does not bode well for those who suppose that they will never be brought to account before God.

From the standpoint of the Watchtower, it is sheer foolishness and apostate madness for any of Jehovah's Witnesses to presume to know more about Jehovah's judgments than the organizational master that taught him. Since the Watchtower has nullified, for the time being, Jehovah's judicial decisions against his household by either applying them to 1919, or redirecting such judgments against Christendom, or simply ignoring them, the man who would dare to direct Jehovah's ancient inspired expressions and prophecies against the Watchtower must face a congregation tribunal if found out. Thus, the Watchtower employs the local brothers as birdcatchers in order to try and cage any one of Jehovah's Witnesses who would dare to publish God's word against it with authority.

At any rate, that prophecy indicates that not all is well in God's household on the eve of his calling his people to account, and that there are those who are faithful watchmen; who announce Jehovah's coming judgment, even if it appears foolish in the eyes of their brothers.

As for the accusation that I am merely "sniffing" at the spiritual food the Watchtower has placed on the table—that is true—and it must be said that it does not have a very appetizing aroma. The reason being is because, as Isaiah says, 'the priests and prophets have gone astray;' "they have gone astray in their seeing, they have reeled as to decision. For the tables themselves have become full of filthy vomit—there is no place without it."

A careful reading of Malachi, the prophecy to which you referred, is actually Jehovah's rebuke of his anointed priests who have gone astray and caused God's table to become "polluted." Malachi 1:13 charges the priests of God with causing a sniffing at God's table. Specifically, it reads: You have said, 'Look! What weariness!' and you have caused a sniffing at it," Jehovah of armies has said.

Notice, please, that God does not necessarily find fault with the individuals who have come to God's table but who find the advertised "spiritual banquet" unappetizing, and so merely sniff at the food placed on the table. God faults the priests who served the table, who evidently found it wearisome to change the recipe, and so served up a polluted table, which caused others to merely sniff at the unwholesome concoction of truth they served up.

Hopefully, a brief consideration of our present situation in relation to God's prophetic word may help you to reason things out for yourself in answer to your question: "What gives you the right and by whose authority do you set yourself up as the corrector of Jehovah's organization?"

Sadly, more and more it seems that the Watchtower is given to doing what is legally and politically expedient. That should not be surprising though when we consider that when pressure was brought upon the Israelites they often failed to rely on Jehovah, and instead sought compromising alliances with the surrounding pagan nations and kings. No doubt because the Watchtower is operating in so many lands and faces so many legal challenges, the pressures must be enormous to do what is politically correct; in order to win friends in high places so as to advance our work.

So, yes, it appears as if the Devil has, again, craftily ensnared God's organization; thus making Jehovah's severe chastisement an absolute certainty.

In the preceding verse in the 12th chapter of Luke Jesus indicates that even among those who have been put in charge some are willfully disobedient to the master's will and some are simply ignorant. The verse reads: "Then the slave that understood the will of his master but did not get ready or do in line with his will will be beaten with many strokes. But the one that did not understand and so did things deserving of strokes will be beaten with a few."

Notice, though, that both slaves are punished by the master. The evil slave is punished severely and the other slave less so. It is apparent, then, that ignorance is an excuse; but, it does not completely exempt a servant of God from punishment due his error. That is in keeping with Jehovah's declaration of his character, that he is merciful and gracious, but by no means will Jehovah give anyone, especially his beloved servants, exemption from punishment.

Jesus' illustration of the faithful slave and the evil slave reveals that both classes of servants coexist, side-by-side, over God's household up until the very moment when the master unexpectedly arrives as a thief in the night. That being the case, it is evident that some highly-placed anointed servants of God are well aware of what they are doing. Others, though, while sincerely trying to serve their brothers, are simply ignorant of certain aspects of their master's will.

As for whether some of our teachers are knowingly, deliberately, trying to mislead Jehovah's Witnesses, the answer appears to be yes. Ironically, the accusation against the Watchtower is that it is a false prophet, and so some, then, jump to the conclusion that Jehovah's Witnesses cannot be the true religion. However, that is not sound reasoning. The ancient nation of Israel was plagued with false prophets from within. But did that mean that Israel was not God's special property? Of course not. The apostle Peter referred to the false prophets of Israel and also foretold that spiritual Israel would also be plagued from within by such men. 2 Peter 2:1 says: "However, there also came to be false prophets among the people, as there will be false teachers among you."

The prophetic book of Zephaniah indicates that there are faithless men who are situated deep in God's organization. It describes them as "men who are congealing upon the dregs." The "dregs" has reference to the sediment at the bottom of a cast of wine. That illustrates how such men are concealed within the congregation of God's people. The verse shows that God is going to "carefully search" for such ones who imagine that God is not the judge of his people. Why would it be necessary for God to carefully search Christendom to remove godless men from her midst? Zephaniah goes on to say: "Her prophets were insolent, were men of treachery."

Zephaniah 3:5 goes on to say that Jehovah was in the midst of his people "but the unrighteous one was knowing no shame." 

So, in answer to your question, apparently some men know that what they are teaching is wrong, but they don't care. As those congealing upon the dregs in the midst of God's organization, they imagine that "Jehovah will not do anything good, and he will not do anything bad." In other words, they do not believe in any judgment from Jehovah upon his people. And so they insolently insist that no one should dare question anything that the organization publishes as the truth. They treacherously suppress any attempt by those with insight to set God's prophetic word more clearly before Jehovah's people. The only solution to the problem is that God may fulfill his promise through Zephaniah 3:11 to "remove from the midst of you your haughtily exultant ones."

The account about Elijah is an amazing prophetic drama which is due to play out during the future parousia. What connection does Elijah have with the prophecy in Revelation? For one thing, Elijah is one of the two symbolic witnesses in the 11th chapter. That's because the 6th verse says that the two witnesses have "authority to shut up the heaven that no rain should fall during the days of their prophesying." And the account says that the two witnesses prophesy for 42 months dressed in sackcloth. If you recall Elijah prayed to God and literally caused a drought that lasted exactly 3 ½ years.

Another interesting similarity is that God's "woman," mentioned in the 12th chapter of Revelation, flees into the wilderness where she is fed for 3 ½ times. That's exactly what Elijah did too. He fled in to the wilderness where he was kept safe from the murderous Baal worshipping Jezebel and where he was literally fed by ravens that ferried stolen bread and morsels of carrion to him. Also, Jehovah revealed to Elijah that there was a remnant of 7,000 who had not bent their knees to Baal. Revelation 11:13 also mentions that 7,000 are killed along with the two witnesses. Apparently these are the modern anointed remnant that refuses the mark of the beast during the last hour.

Rather than applying to relatively insignificant events in the rapidly receding past, in reality the 11th and 12th chapters of Revelation outline the momentous events that are due to occur when once Christ actually begins to reign from heaven. Satan will wage a vicious assault on Jehovah's people, but he will not succeed in destroying the kingdom of God as it will be represented on earth at that time. The assault will serve as Jehovah's punishment, which is why the two witnesses are dressed in sackcloth and the gloriously arrayed heavenly "woman" becomes a refugee in the wilderness. But Jehovah will speedily cause our recuperation during that same period. No doubt as the time approaches we will see these things more clearly.

So, it is "both ways," in that during a coming 3 ½ year period, God's organization will come under attack by the demons after their ouster from heaven; and yet, also, God's servants will be kept safe by God in order to carry out the last aspects of his will before the end of the world.