If the early presidents of the WBTS were of the heavenly calling, why then...?

Question

did they proclaim such falsehoods. The answers will probably include such statements as "light getting brighter" which does not actually explain the fact that Jehovah God's truths have always been clearly explained by those who truly are His spokespersons. If the faithful and discreet slave class didn't receive full and correct knowledge and understanding, then how can truth seekers trust the same organization's so called faithful and discreet slave class today? The true God of the Bible has never allowed false information to be spoken through His organization or His messengers. Those that spoke untruths were always punished. Those that went away from His truths were punished, for example Moses was not allowed into the promise land because of his errors. Wouldn't this be true also of the early presidents of the WBTS?

Below is the first question that has led up to this one.

JW's: Did Bro Russell or Judge Rutherford claim to be one of the anointed?

Answer from a JW that was chosen as best answer is below:

Yes, both Russell and Rutherford partook of the emblems at the annual Lord's Evening Meal commemoration, indicating their heavenly hope and belief that they were anointed.

The following quote seems relevant to this question:
The Watchtower, May 15, 1997, page 17
[quote]
Today, [the Governing Body] consists entirely of anointed Gentile Christians, and Jehovah has greatly blessed their oversight.—Ephesians 2:11-15. From the incorporation of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania in 1884 until 1972, the president of the Society exercised great authority in Jehovah’s organization, while the Governing Body was closely associated with the Society’s board of directors. The blessings enjoyed during those years prove that Jehovah accepted that arrangement. Between 1972 and 1975, the Governing Body was enlarged to 18 members. (cont...)

(cont....) Things moved closer to the first-century arrangement when greater authority was invested in this enlarged body, some of whom are directors of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania [as of 1997]. Since 1975 a number of these 18 individuals have finished their earthly course. They have conquered the world and have ‘sat down with Jesus on his heavenly throne.’ (Revelation 3:21) For this and other reasons, the Governing Body now has ten members [as of 1997]

EXAMPLES OF FALSEHOODS:
The returning of Christ on several occassions.
The change in many doctrines such as the heavenly/earthly class and worshiping Jesus
The invisible presence in 1914 instead of armageddon arriving then.
Who will be resurrected and when (those in Sodom and Gomorrah when it was destroyed)

It is interesting to see how Russell uses this concept in the beginning of Studies in the Scriptures, Series 3 - Thy Kingdom Come 1916 Edition THE AUTHOR'S FOREWORD;
“"Although we disclaim anything akin to inspiration in connection with these STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES, nevertheless we are glad that because we are in the dawning of the New Dispensation, the light of Truth is shining so clearly and the Divine Plan is so manifest that scarcely a word of the Volume would need to be changed if it were written today -26 years later.”
Russell claimed that in 1890 the light was shining so brightly in the book that barely a word needed changing 26 years later for the 1916 edition. God’s light was shining at the maximum level necessary. In reality almost every chapter of this book is incorrect by current Witness standards. For example it discusses the time of the end being the 1800’s.

Answer 1

The WT has not only changed its doctrines on many key doctrines, throughout its tenure, but it has even flip-flopped back and forth again on these issues as well as on other statements. He is a by no-means exhaustive list (and I have all the WT quotations from their own literature to back these up):

Beth Sarim
Baptism questions
Russell's biography
Blood transfusion
Vaccination
Organ transplants
the Channel of Communication
Christmas
Communion
the Cross
Identity of the "Faithful and Discreet Slave"
What is a "False Prophet"
the Flag
Support of Johannes Gerber (ex-priest turned spirit medium)
Heavenly hope
Earthly hope
Identity of "Higher Powers" of Romans 13
Nature of the HOly Spirit
Jesus is not Michael.....oh, wait, maybe He is.....
Lying or "Theocratic War Strategy"??
Military service
the "New Covenant" is a thing of the future.....or maybe not...
Jehovah resides on the star Alcyone
...let's not even get into all the failed prophecies....
Faithful OT patriarchs and Apostles will return to earth shortly.....a few times.......well, maybe not....
Identity of "this generation"
WT org/Russell as a prophet....well, not anymore....
Pyramidology
the white race as superior????? C'mon!
Resurrection of Christ....once taught He was still in the grave!
Jesus raised as a spirit or with a body?
Residents of Sodom and Gomorrah will be resurrected....no, they won't.....yes, they will.....wait, I'm confused!
"Millions now living will never die!" (WT 10/15/1920)
"Accept truth wherever you find it, no matter what it contradicts" (WT 7/1879, pp 8-9)......well......ok, not if it contradicts US.....
Worship Christ!.....no, wait!

Whew, there's more, but it's exhausting!

I submit, "New Light" is supposed to make the path brighter??? Or is it supposed to contadict past beliefs that are emphatically affirmed???? I'm confused again. :D

Answer 2

It would help if you clarified why EXACTLY a falsehood was supposedly proclaimed by those early Presidents of the Wt.Soc. If they were NOT Spirit-anointed Christians, their claim to be of the heavenly calling was no more a falsehood than that of any professing Christian who takes part in communion but who actually isn't yet a Christian. They deceive themselves and partake unworthily.

However, if you are referring to the 'new light' they came out with in the early 1930s - that the heavenly calling was limited to 144,000 people, most of that number already completed, that's a different matter. There may well have been thousands of JWs around that time who WERE anointed and indwelt by God's Holy Spirit and I will not - cannot - pass judgment on whether the first 2 Presidents were, or not. But the 'new light' was nothing less than spiritual apartheid - proclaiming two classes of Christians, the vast majority of whom would never get to see Christ or go to heaven, whilst the leadership would get a far 'higher' reward. Once that teaching was in place, new converts (who never had been Christians) found it entirely agreeable because they had no desire for heaven. (Well, unspiritual people just don't.) Working for an earthly paradise appealled to them (carnal pleasures etc) and so we now have nearly 100% of all JWs today not even remotely interested in going to heaven to be with Christ. I cannot understand how JW leadership that claims to have the heavenly calling can promote a system of spiritual apartheid. That is entirely foreign to the Bible. It depends on a few verses being interpreted a certain way. The chickens may soon come home to roost, however, as the number of JWs claiming to be anointed is creeping up and soon the leadership will have to 'explain away' the discrepency of sheer numbers.

Answer 3

The answer to your question is they were not of a heavenly calling. The errors that they gave out with "light getting brighter" just prove that they are false prophets according to Deuteronomy 13 and 18

Answer 4

Every human is imperfect, including godly humans with a heavenly calling.

Jehovah's Witnesses have never pretended that they are infallible or inspired. Jehovah's Witnesses have never pretended that they experience miraculous messages from God or Christ. For more than a century, Jehovah's Witnesses have always presented their suppositions as the result of sincere bible research.

Interestingly, however, even those Christians who did enjoy direct communication from heaven at times came to wrong conclusions; these wrong conclusions were even communicated "out among the brothers"!

For example, the apostle Peter enjoyed remarkable privileges in the early congregation, and he was of the heavenly calling and part of the first century governing body. Yet, it seems that Peter was the source of an incorrect teaching about the apostle John that was not formally corrected until several DECADES had passed, and John himself finally wrote his gospel about 98 C.E.

(John 21:21-23) Peter said to Jesus: “Lord, what will this man do [that is, the apostle John]?” Jesus said to him: “If it is my will for him to remain until I come, of what concern is that to you? You continue following me.” In consequence, this saying went out among the brothers, that [the apostle John] would not die. However, Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but: “If it is my will for him to remain until I come, of what concern is that to you?”


It seems significant to ask what group is working harder than Jehovah's Witnesses to preach God's message globally (as Peter and the other early Christians did)?

(Matthew 24:14) And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.


Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/20000622/
http://watchtower.org/e/19990715/article_02.htm

Answer 5

Heiss....... is either ignorant of Witness history or is outright lying....The governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses have claimed your many years that they and they alone are the Voice of almighty God on earth.....I can pull up Witness literature to prove this, and i have on many occasions....

Then He uses Peter as an example of how you can be a prophet and wrong...Which is it...Peter NEVER called himself Gods only voice on earth.....HUGE difference...this has been pointed out ad-nauseam, but you still are insistent on vomiting up Watchtower dogma...I point the apostate finger at you...You are knowingly misleading those who could be saved by the Blood of the lamb.

Twisting and taking the Scriptures out of context is what all witnesses are trained to do...the problem is that they do not know that they are bastardizing the word of God....so sad.


Keiichi...once again I need to re-direct you to the fact that nowhere in scripture did the Apostles claim to be gods spokesman...they were careful not to do so ...they didn't want to come under god's condemnation, of false prophets...the governing Body is not so inclined..they blatantly profess to be Gods mouthpiece...sometime some Witness has to acknowledge this fact..It is a huge difference, and the distinction is set out by God.

Answer 6

it is befell in the previous, as attested to by a brother named Eric Cooke whose existence tale is printed interior the Watchtower of four/a million/1989 p. 29 in an editorial entitled " a spectacular occupation " He became baptized in 1930 and partook of the Memorial logos, in accord with Jesus command to remember his loss of existence. He continued to accomplish that when 1935, while it became "printed" to decide Rutherford, who in turn "printed" it to the Witnesses, you should stay on earth extremely of going to heaven, and additionally you probably did no longer ought to rejoice the Lord's Supper because it became meant; you should in basic terms rejoice the Lord's Supper by "watching" and passing around the wine and bread. (no longer precisely a "supper" if no longer something is eaten or drank.....attempt looking that interior the Bible). His view wasn't altered. He knew he became going to heaven. till in 1952, while The Watchtower printed a rationalization of the excellence between the earthly wish and the heavenly wish. Then no longer in basic terms Eric, yet he says "We" found out that"we" did no longer have the wish of heavenly existence. curiously the Watchtower publishing agency has the skill to invalidate the leadings of the Holy Spirit in this regard. Edit Joyfilled... The Witnesses did no longer have a e book by that call. They printed a ebook in 1920 observed as "tens of millions Now residing won't ever Die" and then in 1973 they printed a e book observed as "God's Kingdom of one thousand Years Has Approached". it is a yellow e book; became that the only you studied in? It talked plenty with reference to the millenium of peace which became due on the top of 6000 years of human historic previous (which, in accordance to what they call "Bible chronology" became 1975).

Answer 7

The Watchtower did not invent the prophecies of the last days and a war called Armageddon. Those prophecies originated within the mind of God many centuries ago and our faith is unfazed that God's words are certain to eventually come true.

Because of our interest in the Bible and its promises of a new world, we have been keenly interested in the outworking of prophecy, particularly as it relates to the return of Christ. The fact that our heightened kingdom expectations have so far led to disappointment does not of itself discredit our faith. For a certainty our failed expectations have been an embarrassment for us and a stumbling block for many, but in that respect it seems that the Watchtower is guilty of falling into nearly the same trap as did the apostles.

Jesus' comment gave the apostles the impression that John would still be alive when Christ returned. Consequently, the account says that the word went out from the apostles among the brothers, to the effect that John would survive to see the Lord's return.

According to the NIV, the 23rd verse reads: "Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die."

The very fact that John, the last-surviving apostle, saw fit to dispel the rumor and set the record straight toward the end of his life, indicates that the rumor the apostles started persisted during the entire apostolic period. SO?

Well, the apostles were given authority over the entire organization of believers back then. Their words carried a lot of weight because they personally knew Jesus and could recall to the later believers all the things that Jesus said and did. So, when the apostles spoke, the brothers and sisters listened. And when the apostles started a rumor that John would survive until the coming of Christ, what Christian could doubt their interpretation?

But, obviously, the apostles were wrong. They misunderstood Jesus. And their earnest desire to see the realization of Jesus' promised return inclined them to jump to hasty conclusions.

Another question we ought to ask is this: Did God judge the apostles as false prophets? No, obviously not. So, if we are honest and straightforward in our reasoning, we will not jump to shallow-minded conclusions about the Watchtower's past indiscretions and failed expectations. If anything, our premature expectations fit the pattern of those who anxiously await the Master's return.

New Topic: Accountability

The overseers and Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses today are especially accountable before Jehovah to make sure that the name of God that we bear is not brought into disrepute. Particularly is that so, when we consider that Christ Jesus specifically indicated that his faithful slave will bear a heavier judgment according to the principle found at Luke 12:48, where we read: "Indeed, everyone to whom much was given, much will be demanded of him; and the one whom people put in charge of much, they will demand more than usual of him."

When Jesus cleans house the Governing Body and secondary leadership of the organization will be especially accountable of any words put into God’s mouth or enact any harmful regulations.

In the opening verses of the 10th chapter of Isaiah Jehovah pronounces “Woe to those who are enacting harmful regulations and those who, constantly writing, have written out sheer trouble, in order to push away the lowly ones from a legal case and to wrest away justice from the afflicted ones of my people”

It is very unfortunate for those knowing the approach of Jesus is near, yet still refuse to stay close to Jehovah and adopted some pagan God for their security.

Deu 12:10 "your God is giving you as a special possession. When he gives you rest and security from all your enemies"

Answer 8

I also agree..You know..It doesn't matter how much proof of how this organization is false that one gives..They are blinded to the truth..Those scriptures that they always use as proof of their truth , can so be related to them..Such as the ones about Wolves in sheeps clothing seeking to devour you..And the one about those twisting the scriptures to their own interpertations..and as far as the fruitage of the spirt goes..That applies to each true Christian..we all have it if we are true..

Answer 9

Can't understand your question, if there is one. What is WTBS?

Edit: OK, now that I understand the question, I couldn't care less. The very concept of "Biblical truth" is an oxymoron of monsterous proportions. Please don't ever knock on my door.

Answer 10

I agree :)