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Your site is quite interesting. My question, after examining your site, is: Do you consider yourself to be a prophet of Jehovah? |
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| According to the Watchtower's criteria I am. Here are a few comments from the Insight on the Scriptures under the heading of prophet: "The Greek prophetes literally means "a speaker out". . . and thus describes a proclaimer, one who makes known messages attributed to a divine source. Though this includes the thought of a predictor of the future, the fundamental meaning of the word is not that of prediction. Nonetheless, living in harmony with God's will requires that the individual know what Jehovah's revealed purposes for the future are so that he may bring his ways, desires, and goals into line with the divine will. Hence, in the great majority of cases, the Biblical prophets did convey messages that were, directly or indirectly, related to the future." My work is all about speaking out; declaring Jehovah's future judgments--as contained in Scripture. By definition that makes me a prophet. However, there are other factors to consider. According to the Watchtower, the entire organization serves as a prophet—or at least the anointed are designated as a prophet class. (For example: The Jeremiah Class the Ezekiel Class and John Class, etc.) That assumption is based upon Bethel's interpretation that wayward Israel and Judah typify Christendom. And in light of the fact that Jehovah's Witnesses have denounced Christendom--as the original prophets denounced Israel--we have come to assume that the entire organization functions as a biblical prophet. There are, however, several problems with that view. First, there is no valid reason to ascribe all the denunciatory prophecies to Christendom while applying all the laudatory prophecies to Jehovah's Witnesses. Also, there is simply no basis in reality for the Watchtower's long-held, oft-repeated teaching that the grand repurchase of spiritual Israel took place in 1919. (Discussed in detail elsewhere) Secondly, there is no scriptural justification for the notion of a prophet class. Prophets, by their very nature, were individuals who spoke for God before the nation or its leaders. Prophets were the very antithesis of an organization. As individuals they often stood alone against Jehovah's organization and its corrupt leaders. For instance, Jeremiah described his situation in the following way: "Because of your hand I have sat down all by myself, for it is with denunciation that you have filled me." In what way has the so-called faithful slave sat down all by itself because of being filled with Jehovah's denunciation against Christendom? Honestly, the Watchtower rarely even condemns Christendom anymore anyway. Ascribing to the Watchtower prophet-class status is like saying that Jehovah used the kings and priests of ancient Israel to denounce themselves. It is an absurdity. The Insight on the Scriptures goes on to say of the prophets: "Their activity served as a check on the kings of Israel and Judah, for they boldly reproved erring rulers and declared God's judgments against those who practiced wickedness. When the priesthood deviated and suffered corruption, the prophets were Jehovah's means for strengthening the faith of a righteous remnant and for pointing the way back to God's favor for those who had strayed. Like Moses, the prophets on many occasions acted as intercessors, praying to God in behalf of king and people. They were especially active in times of crisis or great need. They gave hope for the future, as at times their messages foretold the blessings of Messiah's government." Like Israel and Judah of old, the Watchtower Society has become completely arrogant and corrupt. They have twisted and distorted the prophecies to glorify themselves and deflect God's judgments against them. They have disfellowshipped Jehovah's people left and right because many just could no longer choke down some of the Watchtower's preposterous prophetic interpretations. Bethel has corrupted itself by political alliances and backroom compromises. They have misled Jehovah's Witnesses into a form of organizational idolatry. They have lied to the press and to all inquirers about their slimy dealings with the United Nations. They have used donated kingdom funds to crush the plaintive cry of victims of sexual abuse. They have denied Jehovah by claiming before the courts that Christian elders have no responsibility before God to protect children from the crimes of a congregant. Now, in view of all this badness and the historical role the prophets played, is it realistic to expect the Watchtower to announce Jehovah's oncoming judgments against itself? Or is it more reasonable to expect that Jehovah's spirit would operate upon select individuals among Jehovah's Witnesses—moving them to speak out Jehovah's forthcoming judgments; while offering hope to those disaffected and stumbled? The biblical pattern unmistakably points to the latter. Jeremiah was commanded to stand in the gate to the temple and announce Jehovah's judgments to the Jews passing by. Jeremiah's scroll was even read to the king of Judah by some of his princes. I have endeavored to follow the pattern of the prophets as closely as I can by publishing Jehovah's judgments as broadly as possible—particularly among the upper levels of the Watchtower Society. The prophets themselves foretold that there would be watchmen on the scene immediately prior to the execution of Jehovah's judgments. For instance Hosea 9:7-8 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 expression 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 an animosity in the house of his God." The question thinking Christians ought to ask is this: If apostate Israel typifies Christendom, what is signified by the fact that it is called the house of God? Really, the entire prophecy of Hosea has relevance to spiritual Israel. (See essay on Hosea) The last verse of the 3rd chapter indicates that the ultimate fulfillment will take place "in the final part of the days." That being the case, the verse quoted above reveals that the abundance of error on the part of Jehovah's house causes men acquainted with the inspired expressions to become maddened and behave foolishly from the standpoint of observers. Yet, the prophecy confirms that even though his message is not received well because of animosity in the house of God—Jehovah's watchman is true. |
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First century Christians were not called Jehovah' Witnesses. What were the reasons behind the International Bible Students' adoption of this name earlier in the 20th century? Did they adopt this name by Divine Providence, or was it mainly so they could distinguish themselves from Christendom? If the name was not adopted by Divine Providence, on what basis does E-Watchman identify this modern movement as the spiritual house of Jacob? |
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There is no question that the J. R. Rutherford wanted a distinct name to set the International Bible Students apart from the nominal Christianity of Christendom. Acts 11:26 says that the disciples were given the name "Christians" as a result of divine providence—probably to set them apart from the formal Jewish religion they were once part of. However, since there are virtually hundreds of sects now, all claiming to be Christians, the term is not very specific or distinctive as it once was. So, clearly there was good reason for J.F. Rutherford to consider renaming the International Bible Students. But was the adoption of the name "Jehovah's Witnesses" a result of divine providence? The Society suggests that is was by divine providence. On page 151-152 in the publication Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, the Society states: But then, in 1931, we embraced the truly distinctive name Jehovah's Witnesses. Author Chandler W. Sterling refers to this as "the greatest stroke of genius" on the part of J. F. Rutherford, then president of the Watch Tower Society. As that writer viewed the matter, this was a clever move that not only provided an official name for the group but also made it easy for them to interpret all the Biblical references to "witness" and "witnessing" as applying specifically to Jehovah's Witnesses. In contrast, A. H. Macmillan, an administrative associate of three presidents of the Watch Tower Society, said concerning that announcement by Brother Rutherford: "There is no doubt in my mind—not then nor now—that the Lord guided him in that, and that is the name Jehovah wants us to bear, and we're very happy and very glad to have it." Which viewpoint do the facts support? Was the name 'a stroke of genius' on the part of Brother Rutherford, or was it the result of divine providence? The Society goes on to state that the name Jehovah's Witnesses was intended to emphasis the work and obligation of Christians to witness, not only for Christ, but primarily for Jehovah. The same publication goes on to say: "Thus the facts show that as a result of study of the Bible, attention was repeatedly being drawn to their obligation to be witnesses of Jehovah. It was not the name of a group that was under consideration but the work that they were to do." Since it is God's Will that those dedicated to him should make his name known, all true servants of God must be witnesses for Jehovah. That is the truth conveyed at Isaiah 43:10, where God calls the entire nation to be his witness. Still, that does not answer the question as to whether the proper name of Jehovah's Witnesses was specifically designated and conferred by God upon the International Bible Students. Since the only way we may determine that is by means of what is written in prophecy, the question then becomes—is the name Jehovah's Witnesses designated in prophecy? The answer is no. However, the prophecies do foretell that God is going to bring himself into judgment with an organization for the explicit reason of sanctifying his name from the reproach his people bring upon the name of Jehovah. So, then, while the specific name of Jehovah's Witnesses is not given in prophecy it is nevertheless evident that the prophecies do foretell that God's anointed congregation would be intimately bound to the name of Jehovah. (For a fuller discussion on this particular topic see the essay "Jehovah's Witnesses: A People for His Name.")
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Following on the heels of your books release, I've noticed a number of blogs and what I assume are carefully-contrived press releases that are calling your book and authorship into question. Among the accusations are that you are undermining the faith of Jehovah's Witnesses, that this is part of a long-planned conspiracy to slyly draw away followers after yourself, and that you even plagiarized the works of another man, named Donald Burney. Some have gone to a lot of lengths to show how similar your writing content is to his book, even, and are claiming that you and Donald Burney have ties going back into the 1990's. Are you intending on responding to these serious accusations, and if so, when? |
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| I will take the opportunity to do so now. As for the accusation of plagiarism, as I have already stated, I have never read the book called The Report. Apparently, though, that is not good enough for those whose agenda is to discredit me. Strictly speaking, a plagiarist passes another's words off as their own. The examples Third Witness offers on his blog as proof do not come close to demonstrating that I have done any such thing. This is not the first time I have been falsely accused as a word thief. From time to time over the years various individuals—some of questionable mental stability— have accused me of stealing their ideas. One of the more comical has come from a fellow calling himself the Watchman of Ephraim. There have been others. But any similarity between my writings and anyone else's is purely coincidental. My work is the result of having been completely immersed in a study of the prophets. In the last 10 years I have read and re-read the prophets dozens of times. In the past year, though, I have had an opportunity to examine some of Donald Burney's writings. That is because links to his website and forum were occasionally posted on the Paradise Café board by a few of his followers. (His site is now only available to subscribers) So, I checked his site out. Of course, that was long after I had written the main body of what is presently published on e-watchman. I only recall reading one essay of his having to do with the king of the north. Frankly, my impression was that he had very little insight into these matters. One example: He asserts that Osama bin Laden is the king of the north, which is, of course, absurd. Bin Laden a king? Who are his subjects? It is fairly common knowledge that Osama bin Laden was originally a creation of British-American intelligence. Guardian article. Apparently bin Laden is a key asset of the London-centered financier oligarchy—the real king of the north. EIR article (See also the series of essays on the king of the north) Just the other day a former British cabinet minister revealed that the British Intelligence agency (M16) directly recruited and trained Islamic terrorists. Apparently Mr. Burney doesn't know how Satan's world works. At any rate, if the source of my enlightenment is Donald Burney, as alleged, what accounts for my "enlightenment" in matters of which Burney is apparently ignorant? For instance, over the years I have offered commentaries on virtually every prophetic book in the Bible. Did the Report cover Joel or Habakkuk, Amos, Obadiah, Zephaniah, Zechariah, Micah, Hosea? I can't say for certain since I have never read it, but, somehow, I seriously doubt it. Furthermore, the recently released book Jehovah Himself Has Become King offered a unique interpretation of Revelation from chapter seven to chapter eleven. Does The Report delve into that portion of Revelation? Again, I doubt it. So, the question thinking people have to ask themselves is: If the source of my enlightenment was Donald Burney's Report, what is the source of my enlightenment in areas of which he has no knowledge? It cannot be coincidental that Third Witnesses set up a blog and issued a press release the day Jehovah Himself Has Become King was released. He obviously knew the book was in the works and timed his slander to coincide with its release. As a former member of the Paradise Café forum, Third Witness had plenty of opportunities to bring up his concerns about certain similarities between the Report and e-watchman. I would have been more then happy to discuss it in the forum. But he didn't choose to have an open and honest discussion. Interestingly, like blossoming mushrooms in ripe manure, numerous blogs have popped up in Blogdom this week, all denouncing e-watchman as a plagiarist and apostate. In support of the Faith Apostates Go from Bad to Worse Watching e-watchman The Truth VindicatedJason's Place It is apparent that the bloggers are former members of the Paradise Café, who were either banned of left in a huff. Two of them don't even use their screen names because they are apparently ashamed of their underhanded attacks and their own glaring hypocrisy for having until quite recently willingly participated in a forum and had email correspondence with one whom they now denounce as the most dangerous apostate on the Internet. As the Proverb says, "The words of the slanderer are like things to be swallowed greedily, which do go down into the innermost parts of the belly." How true. Obviously the three bloggers greedily gulped down the lie that Third Witness is peddling and they regurgitated their own slanders in the hope that others will eagerly swallow their slanders. While claiming to support the truth, all of these men follow the Devil's modus operandi, he being the original Slanderer. "May you conceal me from the confidential talk of evildoers, From the tumult of practicers of hurtfulness, Who have sharpened their tongue just like a sword, Who have aimed their arrow, bitter speech, To shoot from concealed places at someone blameless. All of a sudden they shoot at him and do not fear. They hold themselves down to bad speech; They make statements about hiding traps. They have said: "Who sees them?" They keep searching out unrighteous things; They have hidden a shrewd device well searched out, And the inward part of each one, even his heart, is deep." (Psalm 64:2-6) |
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How can you say that you are an "e-watchman" when your thoughts are not in line with the "faithful and discreet slave" class? |
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It is already past time to seriously reconsider whether the Watchtower organization itself constitutes a "faithful and discrete slave class"—or whether the faithful slaves are merely individuals within the congregation. Viewing the Watchtower Society as already having been appointed over all of Christ's earthly interests would imply that Jehovah's judgment has already taken place and that Christ has distinguished those who are faithful. (In actuality scheduled to occur at the revealing of the sons of God) Indeed, the Watchtower does much more than merely imply that it is the faithful slave. It is taught as an indisputable fact. (One of the factors that weighed heavily in my being disfellowshipped from my congregation earlier this year is that I disputed that the judgment of the faithful slave took place in 1918-19. The elders simply could not accept the scriptural reasons I put forward since my thoughts were not inline with the Watchtower's.) As all of Jehovah's Witnesses know, one of the fundamental teachings of the Watchtower Society is that Jesus arrived in 1914 and appointed his faithful slave over all of his belongings. So, according to the Watchtower the judgment has already taken place and they have received the Lord's irrevocable approval. However, the bulk of my work has had to do with testing the Watchtower's prophetic teachings in light of the Holy Scriptures. And I have made the test results available to the public for others to examine. (See chapter IV— The Judgment Begins—in the online version of the book Jehovah Himself Has Become King.) Although the apostle Paul exhorted the Corinthians (and hence all Christians) to be in agreement, that is the ideal—but unfortunately not the reality. Obviously, the reason Paul offered that admonition in the first place was because the Corinthians were not all in agreement on certain issues. Paul himself was at odds with the Judaizers within the organization to the extent that he was compelled to travel to Jerusalem and thrash out the issue with the apostles and older men—some of whom were apparently not very warm to the idea that the Gentile Christians had an equal standing with the Jews before God. At one point Paul was even accused of apostasy, so that the apostles advised him to perform a Jewish ritual to appease the Jews. Being in agreement with the majority is wonderful. But what do we do when it is apparent that the majority is wrong? Do we go along to keep peace? Do we suppress what we know to be true in order to be in harmony with what we know is untrue? Or do we stand on principle? You may be surprised to know that the prophecies make allowance for Christians to be out of agreement with each other before Jehovah sets things straight. The very fact that Isaiah and Micah foretell that Jehovah is going to set matters straight during the final part of the days indicates that there is a disharmonious condition that requires God's intervention. Isaiah 52:8-9 foretells a condition when Jehovah's watchman will finally be in unison—seeing eye to eye—as the expression goes. It reads: "Listen! Your own watchmen have raised their voice. In unison they keep crying out joyfully; for it will be eye into eye that they will see when Jehovah gathers back Zion. Become cheerful, cry out joyfully in unison, you devastated places of Jerusalem, for Jehovah has comforted his people; he has repurchased Jerusalem. Jehovah has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth must see the salvation of our God." When does the foretold unity among Jehovah's watchmen come about? After Jehovah repurchases his people from their spiritual captivity—after the holy place is devastated. Has that already happened in 1919—as the Watchtower teaches? No. It has not. (See last chapter of Jehovah Himself Has Become King) Ultimately, the so-called faithful slave associated with the Watchtower does not have to teach the whole truth in order to accomplish Jehovah's Will. God's purpose, in fact, is that his people be subjected to an insidious operation of error in order to test our love of the truth. That would seem to be the ultimate paradox, would it not? How can the Christian congregation simultaneously be influenced by truth and error? Would not the prevalence of error negate the truth? That brings us to the question, what is the truth? What are the vital truths which we must hold dear and love? The truth that we must love is the simple truth of the Bible. Jehovah is God. He is righteous and the only rightful ruler of the universe. Jehovah gave his son as a ransom for mankind. That's it, basically. Is it absolutely necessary for us to believe that Jesus Christ was crowned as king in 1914? Does being in the truth necessitate that we must also believe the conventions in the 1920's were a fulfillment of the angelic trumpet blasts of the Apocalypse? Does it really matter whether or not the men and women of Sodom and Gomorrah will be resurrected or not? No, we can love and serve Jehovah in spite of all the rubbish that has become connected with the Truth. And the final test will determine precisely whether or not that is the case. Consider the import of the 29th chapter of Isaiah. Jehovah absolutely lambastes the leaders of his people for their arrogance and spiritual blindness. But when Jehovah intervenes to set matters straight, the last verse of the chapter says: Therefore this is what Jehovah has said to the house of Jacob, he that redeemed Abraham: "Jacob will not now be ashamed, nor will his own face now grow pale; for when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in the midst of him, they will sanctify my name, and they will certainly sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and the God of Israel they will regard with awe. And those who are erring in their spirit will actually get to know understanding, and even those who are grumbling will learn instruction." Jacob is the anointed congregation. And taken in context Jacob is the entity upon whom Jehovah pours a deep sleep. Jacob is not merely spiritually blind to the judgments of Jehovah. According to the 15th verse, he goes deep down to conceal God's judgments. That is of course exactly what the Watchtower Society has done. By ascribing all of God's denunciation to either Christendom or the Bible Students of 1918, the Watchtower has effectively concealed the judgments of God from Jehovah's Witnesses. However, the prophecy makes allowance for God's people to have an erring spirit and to be without understanding regarding certain aspects of Jehovah's work, as contained in the scroll of the book of Isaiah—specifically, which is unintelligible to the leaders of Jehovah's people. However, upon the unveiling of the Judgments of Jehovah, God finishes the work begun by his servants—who proved themselves incapable and incompetent of completing the work of God in their own strength and wisdom. So, as regards your concerns as to my being out of step with the orthodox prophetic teachings of the Society—the prophets themselves acknowledge that God's people are laboring under the burden of an erring spirit and ignorance of Jehovah's judgments all the way up until the time the very judgments of God commence. My purpose is simply to call attention to this fact. As near as I can tell, that is what a watchman is supposed to do. |
