Dangling the Carrot in Front of the Jehovah’s Witness Elders
| By: Lorri MacGregor; ©May 2001 |
| The “priestly remnant” of the Jehovah’s Witnesses is growing older. This is causing some serious problems for the organization. Lorri MacGregor reveals the “new light” that has come in an apparent attempt to correct the situation. |
Picture in your mind the poor, overworked donkey plodding along with a heavy load, kept moving by a carrot dangling from the front of a long stick—just out of his reach. He is so weary, but he must keep moving—no matter how hopeless he feels, he has no other hope but the carrot. Besides, if he stops, the master will beat him, so on he goes.
Every now and then the master must change the carrot so it looks fresh and inviting and will spur the donkey on to greater effort. This has been the pattern of the “anointed” elders at Watchtower Headquarters for over 100 years now. You’d think the poor donkeys would catch on, but alas, they don’t, so here is my take on one of the latest “carrots.”
The March 1st, 1999 Watchtower Magazine, on pages 8 through 23 presented “brighter light” on the prophecy in Ezekiel concerning the cleansing, measuring, and restoring of God’s temple.
Those of you, like me, with long memories will remember how we Jehovah’s Witnesses were assured that we would be ruled over by the “princes” of old who would be resurrected onto the new earth. Imagine! Ruled by Moses, David etc., etc. It was a great prospect. Now something new has been added. The present day elders are now being allowed to enter this ruling class. I can just hear the groans as the present-day Jehovah’s Witnesses picture eternity under the thumb of their favorite oppressive, controlling elder!
The Watchtower, of course, has had to redefine a few meanings. They have taken the Hebrew word nasi, which according to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance means “one lifted up, a chief, a prince,” and suddenly made it to be “…a head of a paternal house, a tribe, or even a nation.” Notice that even with their definition it is a singular term—one chieftain. Miraculously, it suddenly becomes a “class.” Their devotees just read the last part of the phrase—“tribe” or “nation”—“a head of” being ignored by all.
This “chieftain class” is now promised an inheritance in the restored new earth! This point becomes clear after lots of mumble-jumble incorporating the Watchtower dates of 1919 and mention of the 144,000 ruling class of priests. The point is made over and over that these priests are still in charge and that the chieftains are subordinate.
However, the remaining priestly remnant of the “144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel” has a problem—age! They are decidedly in their dotage and will soon all be dead. Therefore, in the Watchtower mentality, the organization will soon be priest-less!! Their devoted followers need a firm hand of leadership, as none of them is allowed to think independently, so VOILA—enter the “Chieftains.”
The Governing Body in Brooklyn, NY, already has been stripped of its power in the latest corporate shuffle. The “other sheep” at headquarters are running the flock now! The lowly “other sheep” out in the local congregations now have to be programmed to accept less than “anointed, priestly” oversight.
This will be hard for them. It’s one thing to accept “truth” from an exalted group of men they never see, and so can idolize and picture as perfect. It’s quite another thing to picture the elder you have to put up with on a weekly basis ruling your life for eternity!
We could not resist grinning as we guessed at the meanings behind the phrases in this “new light.” Could the reference to the “spiritual cleansing undergoing fulfillment today” be an excuse for their dropping numbers in the North American continent?
Could the phrase, “Jehovah has blessed his people with many flashes of spiritual insight…” be a veiled reference to their many doctrinal reversals, of which this is only one example? Jehovah’s Witnesses should worry about these “flashes”—you could give up your life for one that is changed later! Think about it!
This next one really requires a leap of faith for Jehovah’s Witnesses. It has been drummed into their heads for years that their “anointed, heavenly class” of 144,000 are the twelve tribes of Israel spoken of in Revelation, chapter 7 and 14.
Compare that to this statement in this Watchtower on page 14, “In the context of Ezekiel’s vision, the 12 tribes of Israel picture the “other sheep.” PARDON? That’s right folks, Jehovah’s Witnesses are now expected to think “144,000” every time the twelve tribes of Israel are mentioned in the Bible, EXCEPT in the “context of Ezekiel’s vision.”
The Society had to resort to the judicial use of brackets to make their point that the “chieftains” are not the “priests,” even altering the word of God to do it! For example when Ezekiel 46:10 states plainly that the prince (or chieftain) goes exactly where the priests do. That doesn’t fit the “new light” at all. In this Watchtower on page 16, the scripture has been extensively altered to read, “As regards the chieftain in their midst, when they [the nonpriestly tribes] come in [to the temple’s outer courtyard] he should come in; and when they go out, he should go out.”
Oh my, the chieftain has been displaced from the inner courtyard to the outer courtyard, contradicting the teachings of scripture, but upholding the “new light.” Shame on them!
When the people are told to support the “chieftain” in the Bible, this has been twisted around to divert the benefits to the Watchtower Headquarters, the “spiritual paradise.” This Watchtower so aptly reinterprets scripture, saying that God’s people should not be “burdened with a salaried clergy class.” In other words, make sure your money gets to headquarters!
I advise all Jehovah’s Witnesses to take a reputable Bible and just simply read Ezekiel chapters 43 through 48.
Notice that Ezekiel’s vision was one of the glory of God filling the temple. He is told in verse 10 of chapter 43 to “describe the temple to the house of Israel.” The instructions are directed to “…the Levitical priests, who are from the offspring of Zadok” (v. 19). Now really, could this be modern-day Jehovah’s Witnesses?
Notice also God’s judgments against those same priests—they are harsh. If the early Jehovah’s Witnesses were these “priests” in the vision, they sure have a lot of repenting to do!
Notice also the use of the term “prince” or “chieftain.” It is always an individual, never a group or class.
The dividing of the land in chapters 47 and 48 of Ezekiel is for the land which God says “I swore to give it to your forefathers, and this land shall fall to you as an inheritance.” This is not the whole earth, is it? Verse 21 of chapter 47 goes on to say “So you shall divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel.” Chapter 48 names the tribes and the square footage.
Really, could this be modern-day Jehovah’s Witnesses? I think not. Why not just believe the Bible as it is written, without interpretations that stretch credibility to its limit, and require added explanations in brackets to the word of God! We urge Jehovah’s Witnesses to break free from this mind-control now!
