The Mysterious Disappearance of the Scarlet-Colored Wild Beast
| By: Lorri MacGregor; ©August 2003 |
| We have probably all been confronted by Jehovah’s Witnesses at our door at one time or another. Can we trust what they are telling us? Is it possible they even they have been deceived by their own leadership into believing a lie? |
What is this Scarlet-colored Wild Beast you may well ask? Every Jehovah’s Witness could answer immediately by parroting the answer found in Watchtower publications for the last fifty years. An example would be the quote from their book “Revelation, it’s Grand Climax at Hand,” published in 1988, page 248, which reads, “The UN, then is actually a revival of the scarlet-colored wild beast…The UN is actually a blasphemous counterfeit of God’s Messianic Kingdom….”
Page 254 continues, “Notice that the scarlet-colored wild beast is also itself an eighth king. Thus the United Nations today is designed to look like a world government….”
The publication “Pay Attention to Daniel’s Prophecy” (1999) also says this of the United Nations on page 269,
- What “disgusting thing” has been “put in place” in modern times? Apparently, it is a “disgusting” counterfeit of God’s Kingdom. This was the League of Nations, the scarlet-colored wild beast that went into the abyss, or ceased to exist as a world-peace organization, when World War II erupted (Revelation 17:8). “The wild beast” however, was “to ascend out of the abyss”. This it did when the United Nations…was established on October 24, 1945. Thus “the disgusting thing” foretold by the angel—the United Nations— was put in place.
There was never a doubt about it in Watchtower doctrine—the United Nations was not only the “Scarlet-colored Wild Beast,” but also the “Disgusting Thing,” and the “eighth king.” The United Nations was a despised, doomed organization according to the Watchtower’s twisted interpretation of Revelation 17:8 which reads,
- The beast that you saw was and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth will wonder, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that he was and is not and will come. (NAS)
Amazing, isn’t it, how they can get all of the above out of this one Scripture, and link-ups with others, that may or may not be related! Nothing disturbed the status quo on the “scarlet-colored wild beast—the UN”, until an amazing thing happened in November of 2001. The Watchtower Society was found to be a member in good standing of this same United Nations. Horrors! They themselves were part of this “disgusting thing” and therefore in league with this “eighth king, this scarlet-colored wild beast.” For further information on this discovery, please refer back to our article of November 2001 under the title of “Strange Bedfellows.”
Things got real testy around that time as news of this amazing development rapidly spread around the world via the internet. The Society quickly resigned the UN, and began to do damage control. We in the world of the cult-watchers knew the Society either had to prove they really were never a member of the UN (too late for that!), or they had to get “new light” on the United Nations, to make the UN seem better. We’ve all been waiting with baited breath for the expected “new light.”
After all, it was the United Nations that was to join up with “God of Magog” (Satan), to bring on the battle of Armageddon, and destroy everyone who was not a Jehovah’s Witness, and then try to destroy the Watchtower faithful before being stopped by Jesus Christ (Michael the Archangel in their theology) leading the heavenly host. The United Nations was a major player in Watchtower theology.
The June 1, 2003 Watchtower caused another internet buzz by this paragraph found on page 20 under the heading “Who Will Lead God’s Attack?”
- God of Magog is identified as Satan the Devil in his debased position since 1914. As a spirit creature, he cannot carry out his attack directly, but he will use human agencies to do his deeds. Who will these human agencies be? The Bible does not give us details, yet it does give us certain indications that can help us to identify who they will be. As world events unfold in fulfillment of Bible prophecies, we will gradually get an ever clearer picture. Jehovah’s people avoid speculation but remain spiritually alert, fully aware of political and religious developments that fit into the framework of the fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
It’s not so much what this paragraph says, but what it DOESN’T say. For fifty years and more the “human agencies” working with God of Magog (Satan) have always been identified by the Society as this “eighth king,” this “disgusting thing,” this “scarlet-colored wild beast,” the United Nations! Now they apparently don’t know who these human agencies will be, nor do they have any details! All this is said with not so much as a blush for reversing doctrine, never even making reference to what they once believed! The United Nations is not even mentioned in the whole article!
All this causes some of us to wonder about a non-event that occurred on October 8, 2001. This was a special meeting called for all Jehovah’s Witnesses regarding important changes that were coming. When all assembled, they heard a tired old talk with nothing new in it. All were disappointed. Now, some speculate that this special meeting was perhaps for “new light” on the United Nations. When the scandal broke over the Watchtower involvement with the UN, members were too agitated over the news to be receptive to any “new light” on the UN. Perhaps this is why they got nothing at the meeting.
Now that things have calmed down somewhat, members are being carefully groomed to accept “new light” by this carefully-worded paragraph in the June 2003 Watchtower. The promise is held out like a carrot on a stick, “…The Bible does not give us details, yet it does give us certain indications that can help us to identify who they will be….” The faithful will be on the edge of their seats waiting for these “certain indications” and the identity of these “human agencies.” All Jehovah’s Witnesses must now adjust their thinking to this coming “new light.”
We can only hope that Jehovah’s Witnesses will recognize that they have been “had” by the more than a century of consistently false prophecies and changed interpretations, which cannot be of God. We urge them to leave this false organization and give the real Jesus Christ, truly God, truly man, a chance to redeem them with a salvation that is certain and unchangeable.
