PJ54
Well-known member
*** Text for Thursday, June 23, 2022 ***Because of the limitations of age, health, or other factors, we may not be eligible to receive a certain theocratic assignment. In that connection, we can learn from the example of King David. When told that he had not been chosen to build God’s temple—something that David had dearly hoped to do—he gave full support to the one whom God had selected for the assignment. David even contributed generously toward the project. What an outstanding example to follow! (2 Sam. 7:12, 13; 1 Chron. 29:3-5) Because of health problems, Hugues, a brother in France, stopped serving as an elder, and he could not even care for simple tasks around the home. He writes: “At first, I felt worthless and deeply discouraged. But in time, I saw the importance of accepting my limitations, and I found joy in serving Jehovah within those limits. Like Gideon and his three hundred men—all of whom were tired—I will keep up the fight!”—Judg. 8:4. w20.12 25 ¶14-15
My son Solomon [is] the one whom God has chosen.—1 Chron. 29:1.
Many First Will Be Last, and the Last First
For many decades the Society has taught Jehovah’s Witnesses that the calling and choosing of the 144,000-member bride of Christ ended in 1935. (Actually, by applying the parable of the wise and foolish virgins to the 1914-1919 period the Watchtower even inadvertently implies that the door to the...
e-watchman.com
Many First Will Be Last, and the Last First
For many decades the Society has taught Jehovah’s Witnesses that the calling and choosing of the 144,000-member bride of Christ ended in 1935. (Actually, by applying the parable of the wise and foolish virgins to the 1914-1919 period the Watchtower even inadvertently implies that the door to the...
e-watchman.com
Many First Will Be Last, and the Last First Part 1
March 5th, 2005
For many decades the Society has taught Jehovah’s Witnesses that the calling and choosing of the 144,000-member bride of Christ ended in 1935. (Actually, by applying the parable of the wise and foolish virgins to the 1914-1919 period the Watchtower even inadvertently implies that the door to the marriage feast was closed way back then. Ironically, virtually all the present members of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses were anointed post 1935.) Consequently, as a result of that erroneous teaching the current mindset within the organization is that anyone who now professes a heavenly calling is viewed with skepticism, suspicion and even disdain—as if they are less worthy of Jehovah’s undeserved kindness then the older, exalted anointed brothers.
When we consider how Jehovah has been dealing with his people during the ‘harvest period,’ it seems evident that the heavenly calling in general was completed about the year 1935, when the hope of the “great crowd” of Revelation 7:9-17 was properly understood to be an earthly one. WT 2-15-82 Para 15
Prevailing attitudes in the organization are such that newly anointed individuals are even made to question their own sanity. (Interestingly, some of Christ’s own relatives once thought he had lost his mind.)
Some professing a heavenly hope are even intimidated to the point of hiding their own anointing by not publicly partaking of the symbol of their calling when the emblems of the Lord’s Evening meal are passed. Remarkably, the situation today among the prospective heirs of Christ’s kingdom exactly mirrors the condition of the ancient Corinthian congregation—only in reverse now.
Consider more closely Paul’s writings to the Corinthians. In the 4th chapter of 1st Corinthians, Paul sarcastically asked the brothers the following rhetorical questions: “You men already have your fill, do you? You are rich already, are you? You have begun ruling as kings without us, have you?”
In contrast, Paul stated that he and the apostles were like men appointed to death, stating: “And I wish indeed that you had begun ruling as kings, that we also might rule with you as kings. For it seems to me that God has put us the apostles last on exhibition as men appointed to death, because we have become a theatrical spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools because of Christ, but you are discreet in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are in good repute, but we are in dishonor. Down to this very hour we continue to hunger and also to thirst and to be scantily clothed and to be knocked about and to be homeless and to toil, working with our own hands. When being reviled, we bless; when being persecuted, we bear up; when being defamed, we entreat; we have become as the refuse of the world, the offscouring of all things, until now.”
To fully understand why Jehovah allows his beloved chosen ones to experience all manner of hardship, as did the apostles, we must appreciate the great issues that Jehovah is intent on definitively settling. According to the accusation of the Accuser, God’s loyal servants are only serving him out of self-interest.
As presented in the book of Job, Satan contends that if enough pressure is brought to bear upon us we will deny God. So, it is in direct response to the Slanderer’s challenge that God allows various difficulties and persecutions to fill up the full measure of the sufferings of the Christ among the body of Christ. That is why Paul referred to the apostles as being on exhibition as a theatrical spectacle before men and angels because the settlement of the grand issue is of universal importance.
For most Christians, the persecutions come primarily from outside the congregation. For others, though, the persecutions of the Christ come from their own brothers! In Paul’s day though, not all of the brothers suffered equally. Apparently prominent Corinthian brothers had it relatively easy. They not only enjoyed comfort and prosperity, but they also were highly esteemed in the congregation. They lived relatively trouble-free lives as if they had already begun to reign with Christ as kings over the world.
It is a similar situation today. Many of the elderly brothers of the anointed enjoy the esteem and respect of all in the organization. Unlike the apostles, the Governing Body especially and other anointed members of the Bethel establishment, live like kings. Brother Fred Franz, a near-lifelong member of the Bethel family, even once boasted that no one in the world lived better than he did—citing his world travels and other privileges. He innocently said that out of appreciation of Jehovah’s blessing upon him; yet, by his own admission he seemed to be saying—Corinthian-like—that he had his fill already as a ruling king of the kingdom.
At any rate, it poses quite a contrast with the persecutions and travails that Paul endured. Consequently, the Governing Body and old-time anointed are “discreet in Christ”—being virtually synonymous in the minds of Jehovah’s Witnesses with the revered faithful and discreet slave—while younger, newly anointed brothers and sisters, are looked down upon as mere fools, and worse.
The older anointed brothers are considered to be spiritual towers of strength, applying to themselves Isaiah’s prophecy of being “big trees of righteousness”; while the younger anointed are viewed as mere puny saplings and unwanted interlopers.
Like the kingly Corinthians, the older anointed brothers “are in good repute,” being spoken of in reverential tones by Jehovah’s Witnesses; while the newly anointed brothers and sisters are in dishonor—being scoffed at and whispered about; some even being hounded from the congregations by unloving elders and family members. The recently anointed sons and daughters of Jehovah are indeed the “offscouring.” The older anointed brothers, speaking through the instrumentality of the Watchtower, have even subtly set the stage for this particular act of the modern “theatrical spectacle”; specifically, for their younger anointed brethren to be persecuted. Consider this comment taken from the February 15, 1982,Watchtower, which says:
“As to the possibility of being a born again replacement at this late hour, understandably only a very few of these remaining anointed ones are likely to forfeit their heavenly calling by becoming unfaithful. Their ranks have by now been thinned by death to only a few thousand. If it becomes necessary to replace one, whom would Jehovah call? Jesus said of those invited to be his apostles: ‘You are the ones that have stuck with me in my trials.’ Logically, Jehovah would select someone who had been associated for many years and who had displayed endurance and loyalty under trial, rather than someone who had only recently become a baptized disciple of Jesus and perhaps was yet unproved in many respects. This is not said dogmatically or to provide a basis for judging anyone’s personal claim, but to help newly associated ones to avoid being presumptuous and to be sure of Jehovah’s manner of dealing with them.” (Paragraph 16)
Last edited: