Wednesday, July 7, 2010

False Prophets - Part II: Creator's Promise

The history of the Watchtower Society from its early days of just being some 'bible students' to more modern times, by means of their literature through the organization they control, have produced numerous prophecies and predictions with a 100 percent fail rate. An outstanding one of these prophecies includes the organization having the audacity to claim it was God's promise to occur.

This is easily noted in the Awake! magazine masthead or mission statement as printed before November 1995. There it clearly and plainly states:

"Why AWAKE! Is Published ...Most important, this magazine builds confidence in the Creator's promise of a peaceful and secure world before the generation that saw the events of 1914 passes away."


The Watchtower Society had Jehovah's Witnesses preach and proclaim for years it was God's promise that a peaceful and secure world would happen before the generation of 1914 passes away. After realizing time had caught up to their false prediction, starting with the November 1995, Awake! onward, the masthead was changed to read as:

"Why AWAKE! Is Published ... Most important, this magazine builds confidence in the Creator's promise of a peaceful and secure world that is about to replace the present wicked, lawless system of things."


Using the Bible as the standard and bar for distinguishing and understanding a false prophet, Deuteronomy 18:20-22 states:

"'However, the prophet who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded him to speak or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die. And in case you should say in your heart: “How shall we know the word that Jehovah has not spoken?” when the prophet speaks in the name of Jehovah and the word does not occur or come true, that is the word that Jehovah did not speak. With presumptuousness the prophet spoke it. You must not get frightened at him.'" [NWT]


The Watchtower Society spoke not just in the name of God, but said it was His promise. The word they spoke did not occur or come true.

Furthermore, though some many have lingering doubts or question whether the Watchtower Society ever claimed they were prophets, their literature clears any doubt and answers the question.

The Watchtower from March 15, 1972 makes this statement on page 189 from the bound volume:

"More accurately, was there any group on whom Jehovah would be willing to bestow the commission to speak as a 'prophet' in His name, as was done toward Ezekiel back there in 613 B.C.E.?"


The same Watchtower on page 190 goes on further:

"It is of importance to every individual on earth to identify the group that Jehovah has commissioned as his 'servant' or messenger.... For this reason forthcoming issues of The Watchtower will further discuss the identity and work of Jehovah's commissioned messenger as revealed in His vision to Ezekiel"


It is followed with the ultimate claim of being a prophet in the "forthcoming issue" of the Watchtower, from April 1, 1972, on page 197 it states:

"So, does Jehovah have a prophet to help them, to warn them of dangers and to declare things to come? These questions can be answered in the affirmative. Who is this prophet? ...This 'prophet' was not one man, but was a body of men and women. It was the small group of footstep followers of Jesus Christ, known at that time as International Bible Students. Today they are known as Jehovah's Christian witnesses... Of course, it is easy to say that this group acts as a 'prophet' of God. It is another thing to prove it. The only way that this can be done is to review the record. What does it show?"


Indisputably, the Watchtower Society has claimed that its organization contains prophets. Indeed, per their claims, Jehovah Witnesses are God's prophet in modern times.

The Bible states that Jesus provided this warning against false prophets in Matthew 7:15, 16:

“Be on the watch for the false prophets that come to YOU in sheep’s covering, but inside they are ravenous wolves. By their fruits YOU will recognize them." [NWT]


The Watchtower Society's aforementioned spiritual fruitage regarding 1914 that it provided to its followers with the undeniable claim of it being a promise from God, makes them ravenous wolves in sheep's covering according to the Bible; false prophets in which no one should follow or obey their directions.