I have several questions that maybe
you could apply your thinking to.
When
Jesus said at (Luke
Since
it seems as if even so called Christendom, in part, is expecting the arrival of
Jesus in one form or another, the same as Jehovah's Witnesses, then how is it
that it will be “at an hour that YOU do not think likely.”?
Also,
is this a correct understanding, that there is no difference between Jesus'
presence and his coming? It seems that the question asked by the disciples and
recorded as below was in two parts. First asking about WHEN these things would
be and second about what will be the SIGN when these things are destine to
OCCUR, CONCLUDE, (PRESENCE and CONCLUSION).
Luke
21:7) . . .“Teacher, when will these things actually be, and what will be the
sign when these things are destined to occur?”
(Matthew
24:3) “Tell us, When will these things be, and what will be the sign of (your
presence and of the conclusion) of the system of things?”
(Mark
13:3-4) . . .: 4 “Tell us, When will these things be, and what will be the sign
when all these things are destined to come to a
conclusion?”
.
. . Notice that I put Matthew's part in brackets. This is because it seems he
was saying the one, presence, brings about the other, conclusion. So that they
are one and the same. Matthew was just identifying that Jesus' presence brings
the conclusion. Sort of like “what will be the sign that it is snowing and the
ground will become white?”
I
agree when you say that “Matthew was just identifying that Jesus' presence
brings the conclusion.” Although the disciples asked about the sign of Christ’s
“presence” (Greek: parousia), Jesus answered that the
events he foretold would be evidence that the kingdom of God was “near,” and that
he would be “near at the doors.” (Luke 21:29-31; Matt. 24:32,33)
Jesus
will return only once (not several times) at some unspecified future time, which
would catch even his disciples by surprise. According to the Amplified Bible
Jesus said: “You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour
and a moment when you do not anticipate it.” (Luke 12:40)
When
Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Tell us, When will these things be, and what will
be the sign of your presence and of the conclusion of the system of
things," I believe that we are reading more into what they were asking him
than what they actually had in mind. (Matthew 24:3) His disciples had just
pointed to the buildings of the temple from which they were leaving, probably
with great awe and respect, when Jesus answered them, saying: "Do you not
behold all these things? Truly I say to you, By no means will a stone be left
here upon a stone and not be thrown down." (24:1,2)
The
disciples likely understood that Jesus was foretelling the destruction of the
temple, but they had no comprehension about any future invisible return of his.
At the time when asking their question they still did not realize that he was
going to be taken away from them and be put to death, within a couple of days,
instead of becoming their king as they expected. Nor did they have any real
understanding about what God's kingdom was, or that it would be established in
the distant future. (see Acts 1:7) They most likely
believed that Jesus' rule would usher in a new era for the Jews, having again a
king sitting on David’s throne, putting an end to the condition they had lived
under since their return from exile in
In
answering their question Jesus took the opportunity to provide much more
information than his disciples could have understood or imagined back then. His
answer was twofold: First, he had in mind the destruction of Jerusalem and the
temple, and the whole Jewish system of worship, giving them signs of the
imminent tribulation that was to come upon them, and telling them what action
they needed to take to survive it once they discerned the fulfillment of the
signs. Secondly, he included signs that would apply to a larger fulfillment in
the distant future, that would involve his return, and which would affect all
mankind, not just the Jews. Not all the signs he gave would apply to both
instances. Some would be unique to the first fulfillment while others would
apply only to the time of his return. For example, Jesus said that they would
“see
His
disciples had no concept of Jesus going away for a very long period of time and
then returning unexpectedly. But his return would be an important feature
regarding the time of the great tribulation. How strange and puzzling his
illustrations or his explanations must have seemed to them when, for example,
he talked about a certain man who was about to travel abroad, summoned his
slaves and committed to them his belongings to do business with. Then after a
long time, the master returned suddenly and unexpectedly to settle accounts
with them. (Matt. 25:13-30; for a brief explanation see Examining the Scriptures Daily 2005, Wednesday, November 30)
Similarly, Jesus posed a question to his disciples, concerning a slave whom his
master had appointed to care for and provide appropriate food for his fellow
servants of his household while the master was away. Would he be faithful in
discharging his responsibility by lovingly caring for the members of the
master’s household, or would he find the slave to be oppressive, actually
catching him in the act of beating the master’s “menservants” and
“maidservants” instead of feeding them. The slave’s reward or punishment would
depend on whether he was faithful or unfaithful at the moment when his master
returned, unannounced and “at an hour that [he did] not think to be it.”
(Matthew 24:42,44-51; Luke 12:40-47)
The
master’s sudden return is always linked to his coming to settle accounts with
his slaves. Has he already returned and judged his servants, as the Watchtower
teaches? Did this happen way back in 1918/19? It is interesting that the text for the year 2004 was “Keep on the
watch . . . Prove yourselves ready.” –Matt. 24:42,44.
In
regards to this, the comments under that heading in Examining the Scriptures Daily, 2004, page 5, says: “[Jesus Christ]
will soon arrive ‘with power and great glory.’ His arrival will launch the
‘great tribulation,’ which will culminate in Armageddon, ‘the war of the great
day of God the Almighty,’ bringing to an end the present wicked system of
things. (Matt. 24:21, 30; Rev. 16:14, 16) All of this makes it extremely urgent
and important for us to ‘keep on the watch and prove ourselves ready.’”
Yes,
they admonish us to “keep on the watch and prove ourselves ready,” because Jesus has not yet returned. Obviously,
if he has not yet returned then neither has he settled accounts with his slaves
yet, since that is the first thing he does when he returns, and that is the
context and the very reason he told his disciples to “keep on the watch and
prove yourselves ready.” And if he has not settled accounts with his slaves as
of yet then neither has the “faithful and discreet slave” or the “evil slave”
been identified yet. (Matt. 24:45,48)
Jesus’
coming, his arrival and presence (parousia), will
mean first of all the judgment of his slaves and God’s household. (1 Peter
4:17) It will be the time for him to “collect out from his kingdom all things
that cause stumbling and persons who are doing lawlessness.” (Matt. 13:41) Then
the master will clearly identify the slaves who were faithful in discharging
their responsibility in caring for the members of his household and reward them
accordingly. Only then will his faithful slave be appointed by the master over
all his belongings. (Luke 12:43,44)
He
will at that time also deal with the ones who could not wait for the appointed
time to rule with him in his heavenly kingdom; but because of the master’s
seeming delay started to exalt themselves over their fellow slaves, even beating
by disfellowshipping ones for whom Christ died, simply for daring to question
their authority, or disagreeing with some of their teachings and interpretation
of prophecies. (Luke 22:24-26; compare 1 Cor. 4:8; Rev. 3:21)
“The
Son of Man is coming at an hour and a moment when [they] do not anticipate it,”
and they will be totally caught by surprise for they have convinced themselves
that he has already come, almost ninety years ago. They proclaim that any
further judging applies only to Christendom. No wonder, to them the master
appears “at an hour that [they] do not think to be it.” (Matt. 24:44) They should
have learned from Jesus’ words concerning the hypocrites who liked to be
glorified by men. Too bad for them, for instead of any reward from Jehovah, the
glory of men will have been their reward in full. They will be punished with
the greatest severity and be assigned their part with the hypocrites. He will
identify them as “that evil slave.” (Matt. 6:2; 24:48-51)
That
Jesus has not yet returned and removed from his kingdom “all things that cause
stumbling and persons who are doing lawlessness” is evident by the wicked and
lawless ones still within God’s household: the pedophiles, the adulterers, yes,
even murderers, the drunkards, the greedy, the epidemic of broken marriages
because of persons who are “self-assuming, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to
parents, unthankful, disloyal, having no natural affection, not open to any
agreement, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, without love of goodness,
betrayers, headstrong, puffed up [with pride], lovers of pleasure rather than
lovers of God, having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power.”
(1 Cor. 6:9,10; 2 Tim. 3:1-5) Many of them have their wicked acts reported in
the Newspapers and because of these “the way of the truth [is] spoken of
abusively.” (2 Peter 2:2) Are we to imagine that Jehovah is blind to the
situation within his household, that there is no future judgment of them, while
we are at the same time proclaiming his coming judgment upon Christendom?
After
Jesus returns and judges God’s household he will then turn his attention also
to the rest of mankind and express God’s judgment upon it by bringing about the
conclusion of this system of things, by first removing Babylon the Great, and
then shortly after, in the great tribulation, the rest of Satan’s entire wicked
world. (Acts 17:30,31; 1 Thess. 5:4; compare Luke
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I have read some
of your essays on your website and agree with some points you make, like your
thoughts about the tree of life. I have had similar thoughts on that. But I
must strongly disagree with other things you write, such as claiming that
baptism is not about dedication. You should read the book >What Does the
Bible Really Teach?< from the Society. On page 182 it clearly says that our
baptism publicly shows to everbody that we have made
a dedication to Jehovah.
I’m sure that many others don’t agree with a lot of things I have written. But
disagreement doesn’t constitute proof that I am wrong, and neither does quoting
from other publications. What I highly appreciate and respect are sound
arguments supported by scriptures. Perhaps you would like to do that in regards
to baptism and dedication.
Since you refer to the book, “What Does the Bible Really Teach?,” in Chapter 18, under the topic, “Baptism and Your
Relationship With God,” you may have noticed that there are only two paragraphs mentioning forgiveness of
sins, and repentance and conversion, in connection with baptism (page 178, #12,
13), along with a couple of supporting scriptures, and then eleven more paragraphs about how that
baptism is about our dedication to Jehovah, with not one scripture verifying
that baptism is about dedication. Remember, if what we teach is not in the
Bible then it is not from Jehovah.
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Hi, I was reading a bit on your site. i like to visit
ewatchman site and i came accross yours. My question to you is what is your purpose?
and what exactly are you trying to say to people out there? :YOu know that this is a very triing
time. and these deffinitly are criticle
time hard to deal with, so what exactly are you trying to say to all of our
brothers and sisters out there . I really would like to know, because i love Jehovah, and i see that
you have intentions, Intentions i say, because you
have a web site and you are making an effort, but what is the intention, and
who are you working for?
My purpose in having a
website and my view concerning the situation within the congregations I explain
on my home page, under the heading "Be Patient and Trust Jehovah,"
and the letter that follows.
Just to explain briefly:
I believe that we are God's household. As Paul wrote to the Ephesians:
"You are fellow citizens of the holy ones and are members of the household
of God, and you have been built up upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, while Christ Jesus himself is the foundation cornerstone." (Eph.
2:19,20) In other words, Jehovah's household is founded upon his chosen ones,
the anointed, of which Jesus is the head, the foundation cornerstone, and his
apostles are the foundation. Besides Jesus and the apostles Jehovah has chosen
still others to make up the complete number of 144,000, which he had purposed
in the very beginning, "before the founding of the world." (Eph.
1:4,5; Rev. 14:1)
To these Jehovah brings all those who want to worship him and are in need to be
fed. This is what he did at Pentecost right after he established his Christian
household. About 3,000 persons were in need of being fed and taken care of on
that occasion. (Acts 2:1-4, 37-42) We don't know why Jehovah chooses certain
ones for that responsibility and not others, but he certainly knows, and he acknowledges them as being his chosen
ones, "by reason of his own purpose." (1 Cor. 26-29; 2 Tim. 1:9) It's
understandable that those who are not among them do not understand that. Now,
Jesus allowed for the possibility that some from among the chosen ones would
become unfaithful, self-important and oppressive. He told us that he would deal
with them when he returned and at the same time reward the faithful ones. (Matt.
24:48-51) Therefore, just because we have oppressive "wolves" among
us, who have even seized premature rulership over God's people, does not mean
that we are not God's household or that we should get out of there. There are
still many of the chosen ones who are doing their conscientious best to feed
those who belong to God's household, recognizing that the sheep belong to God.
If the righteous within God's household will be saved with difficulty, where do
you think those will be who are wicked or do not belong to the household of
God? (1 Peter 4:17-19; 2 Thess. 1:8)
Just like in the days of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, we today have wicked men among
us, "false prophets and priests," and Jehovah is astonished, yes,
horrified, that his people as a whole "love it that way." (Jer.
5:26-31) About ten years ago I came to understand that God's message of
judgment against his people does not apply to Christendom but rather to us.
It was because of my own personal experiences that I came to that realization,
and because of my experiences, some of which I have related on my website, I am
absolutely convinced that we are God's household, and that in fulfillment of
prophecies we are now experiencing the foretold exposure of our errors and
wickedness.
No, I have not put up my website with the intention of contributing to the
exposure of our wrongdoings and false teachings. Jehovah and his Son don't need
help in doing that. In my own congregation and neighboring ones, I have talked
to quite a few brothers and sisters who believe that if Armageddon were to come
tomorrow they would not survive. And when I ask them why they feel that way it
is always because of them feeling so inadequate and unworthy. They cannot live
up to everything that we have been taught is necessary to gain everlasting
life. In other words, worshipping Jehovah has become burdensome for many, and
their conscience is telling them that they are not measuring up to what Jehovah
expects of us. Over the past decade I have seen quite a number drop out, and at
the same time have seen marriages break up at an astounding rate.
There are still a few brothers who visit me privately at my home, they say for
their encouragement. They still love Jehovah very much and they love to talk
about the truth. In a limited way I am able to encourage the brothers in my
congregation and also on a more personal level, but I am hoping to accomplish
this on a larger scale by means of my website. From the many letters I have
received it seems I am accomplishing that. I have not received a single letter
thanking me for having set someone free from the "bonds" or
"chains" of slavery to the Society, as I see some express themselves
on the various forums. My website is not intended for those who are satisfied
with the way things are. If they still enjoy the meetings and field service
that is good. One of the fruitages of the spirit is joy. But many have lost
that joy and I like to help them regain it, even if it is by sharing with them
the reasons for the problems we are having among us. Just realizing that the
heavy load, that many are no longer able to bear up under, is not from Jehovah
and not necessary for gaining salvation, helps them to persevere. That is what
I am trying to say to all the brothers and sisters, persevere under present trying
conditions. Relief is close at hand when the master arrives soon.
I hope I have told you enough about myself and my purpose for my website. And I
hope I have not stumbled you in any way by what I have written on my site.
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http://www.perimeno.ca/Index_A.htm