Should I partake at the Memorial?

I've never thought of myself as having the "heavenly" calling. However, recently I'm feeling that I should partake at the Memorial. Again, I have no feeling of being anointed whatsoever. However, the more I read from the Scripture; I find myself confused as to my position of partaking the emblems during Memorial. My thought process is, that, since we're 'all one body under one Shepherd', and to benefit from the "ransom provision" of Jesus - that I should be partaking by 'doing it in remembrance' of Him. Romans Chapter 8 shows us that we are no longer under the "law" since we are sanctified in union with Christ by putting faith in his ransom as 'children of God'. Please help me clear this confusion, whether I should partake or not? I really don't know.


As you know, the emblematic bread and wine are symbols of Christ’s flesh and blood. Christ specifically said at Luke 22:20 that the cup of wine represented his blood that was going to be poured out to validate the new covenant and the new covenant is between God and Israel. That is evident from the fact that Jeremiah 31:31 states: “Look! There are days coming,” is the utterance of Jehovah, “and I will conclude with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant…”

However, Christ did not mediate a new covenant with the 12 tribes, which descended from the 12 sons of Israel; but with the 12 apostles and other disciples. Fleshly Israel and the old covenant were merely the legal foundation for the new Israel that God began forming in the first century. In time it became more abundantly clear that the new covenant included non-Jews as well, so that what is called “Israel” pertains to Christ’s anointed congregation, where 'there is neither Jew nor Greek, male or female.'

The new Israel is ultimately to be composed of 144,000 members, who are spoken of in Revelation as being symbolically taken out of the 12 tribes of old Israel.

The purpose of the creation of the Israel of God is in order to establish a kingdom so that all peoples of faith might ultimately inherit the blessing of everlasting life. Only those who are called to be part of that heavenly kingdom, though, are participants in the new covenant.

Keep in mind that it is Jehovah’s purpose to resurrect the vast majority of mankind; the most of which never knew God or Christ before their deaths. Nevertheless, Paul stated that he had hope toward God that there would be a resurrection of the unrighteous masses of mankind. Are they resurrected to heaven though? No, of course not. Only those who are anointed and adopted as spiritual sons are taken to heaven.

So, the point is, those who are destined to receive an earthly resurrection have done absolutely nothing to qualify for a resurrection. They are not even required to excercise faith beforehand. The earthly resurrection is most definitely not dependent upon their being in any sort of covenant with God – neither does survival through the great tribulation require the great crowd to be in a new covenant with God either.

However, while not direct participants, the resurrected dead, as well as the survivors of the great tribulation, will be beneficiaries of the new covenant that God has made with the seed of Abraham. As the original covenant with Abraham stated, all the nations will inherit a blessing through the seed of Abraham. And Paul pointed out to the Galatians the seed of Abraham is the true Israel of God.

In the 8th chapter of Romans Paul referred to the nations that are to receive a blessing by means of the new Israel as “all creation,” which he said is awaiting the revealing of the sons of God. Obviously, “all creation” and the soon to be revealed sons of God are two separate groups.

Keep in mind that the old covenant was with only one nation, old Israel. Likewise, the new covenant is with one nation, new Israel. The individual members of new Israel are the sons of God who are in the new covenant. The rest of mankind is not. Therefore, only those who have been adopted as sons of God are entitled and required to drink the cup of the new covenant.

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Questions on the ransom and the final test

After having studied the WT lesson yesterday, Sunday, March 26, several questions arose in my mind.If the price of the ransom sacrifice of Jesus blood 'bought' the anointed, both in the initial sealing in 33 C.E. and now in the final sealing, then what 'price' is paid for the great crowd, who are also Christians? Are we 'grandfathered' in? Is our salvation through 'association' with the remnant?

Jesus’ sacrificial death bought all of Adam’s dying children. In a sense, Christ became the father of the human race by virtue of his purchase. He is the new Adam and empowered to give life to all of his offspring, provided that they have faith in him and obey him as Lord.

The vast majority of Adam’s offspring will be resurrected onto earth after the war of Armageddon sweeps this present evil system into oblivion. Their future life prospects will be determined by their course of life after their resurrection. However, Revelation reveals that a “great crowd” of people will survive Armageddon due to their washing their robes in the blood of the Lamb – meaning, of course, that they are counted worthy of salvation because of having faith in Christ and acting upon that faith.

As the study article brought out, though, there are two aspects to the ransom. It is Jehovah’s purpose to gather both a heavenly and earthly group. Since the ransom price that Christ paid bought the entire human race from sin and death, Jehovah also wills that a chosen few from among mankind should become spiritual sons in order to rule with Christ in heaven. In their case the ransom is applied in a different manner. Whereas, the surviving great crowd is considered righteous, they are not “declared righteous.” What's the difference? Being “declared righteous” means that God judges them to be sinless. God applies Christ’s sacrifice to them in a way that allows God to credit them with perfection – even though they are sinful. Being declared sinless allows God to transform sinful humans into immortal spirits upon their resurrection.

On a side note: The reason Jehovah made the provision for a select few of mankind to become a new creation of incorruptible and immortal spirit beings is undoubtedly for the purpose of providing an unequivocal answer to the charge that Satan brought against Jehovah in Eden; namely, that God was selfish and would not allow any creature to be like him. The fact that God bestows immortality upon the 144,000 of the new creation means that they become as much like God as is possible. Essentially, the new creation is unanswerable to God but completely devoted to him. Christ’s ransom makes that possible in their case.

So, while the salvation of the great crowd comes about because of their faith in Christ too, it is God’s purpose to use the anointed as ministers to his other sheep.




Does the great crowd experience two 'tests'? The first 'test' is surviving the G.T. and Armageddon and the second 'test' is at the end of the 1000 year reign of Jesus Christ. Why?

Yes. There are two tests. The reason that is so is because at the end of the 1,000 year reign all traces of Adam’s sin will have been removed. Both the great crowd and the multitudes of resurrected persons, plus any children born during the millennium, will have been rehabilitated to the point of becoming sinless. They will attain to the human perfection that Adam and Eve briefly enjoyed.

However, in regards to the “things in the heavens” – the 144,000 kings and priests – Revelation 20:6 says that the second death has no authority over those who are privileged to experience “the first resurrection.”

“The rest of the dead,” referred to in the previous verse, is in reference to those resurrected onto earth during Christ’s reign. But even though they “come to life” at the end of the 1,000 years in the sense of coming out from under the condemnation of death due to Adam's sin, they are still subject to the second death. The second death is the penalty for willful sin – such as Adam and Eve committed.

Just as God tested Adam and Eve by prohibiting them from eating of a certain tree, so too, at the end of the 1,000 year reign, Satan is let loose from his dungeon for a brief period in order to test mankind in their perfect state. Those who fail that test experience the second death, which is permanent death from which there is no resurrection.

How many times does Jesus arrive?

Since Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus Christ has come into his Kingdom, how can that be compatible with celebrating the memorial in view of 1st Corinthians 11:26: "For as often as you eat this loaf and drink this cup, you keep proclaiming the death of the Lord, until he arrives.”


The Watchtower explains that by saying that Christ has numerous “arrivals.” The Watchtower teaches that Jesus arrived in 1914 and that he will also arrive again at Armageddon. However, their teaching does not stand up to scrutiny.

For example, consider the Watchtower’s teaching regarding the faithful slave. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that shortly after Christ arrived in 1914 he came to God’s spiritual house for judgment. It is believed that Jesus initiated the foretold judgment upon the house of God sometime in 1918 and that he thereafter appointed an approved slave class “over all of his belongings.”

But according to Jesus, the slaves who are ultimately judged to have been faithful to their original appointment to feed their fellow slaves are not appointed over all of their master’s belongings until the master arrives. Jesus spoke of the faithful slave on two separate occasions. The most frequently quoted is in the context of the sign of the conclusion in the 24th chapter of Matthew. However, Jesus also spoke of the faithful slave in the 12th chapter of Luke. He did so in explanation to Peter’s question in response to another parable Jesus had just uttered.

At Luke 12:37-40 Jesus urged his disciples to stay awake in anticipation of his unannounced arrival, saying: “Happy are those slaves whom the master on arriving finds watching! Truly I say to you, He will gird himself and make them recline at the table and will come alongside and minister to them. And if he arrives in the second watch, even if in the third, and finds them thus, happy are they! But know this, that if the householder had known at what hour the thief would come, he would have kept watching and not have let his house be broken into. You also, keep ready, because at an hour that you do not think likely the Son of man is coming.”

The Watchtower applies the parable above to the future arrival of Jesus, which is obviously correct. However, Jesus went on to explain who the illustration applied to, saying: “Who really is the faithful steward, the discreet one, whom his master will appoint over his body of attendants to keep giving them their measure of food supplies at the proper time? Happy is that slave, if his master on arriving finds him doing so! I tell you truthfully, He will appoint him over all his belongings. But if ever that slave should say in his heart, ‘My master delays coming,’ and should start to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that slave will come on a day that he is not expecting him and in an hour that he does not know, and he will punish him with the greatest severity and assign him a part with the unfaithful ones.”

Please notice that Jesus again referred to his surprise arrival. Only in the enlarged explanation Jesus indicated that some of his slaves would not be expecting his sudden arrival and would consequently be adversely judged for their negligence. The Watchtower, though, insists that Jesus has already arrived to judge his slaves – way back in 1918. But how can that be? How reasonable is it that Jesus intended to teach his disciples to anticipate two separate arrivals? It is not reasonable at all! The fact that the master will arrive at a time the unfaithful slave is not expecting harmonizes with the previous illustration regarding Christ’s coming “at and hour you do not think likely.”

The truth is there are not two arrivals. There is only one. The fact that the Watchtower teaches that Christ has already arrived is surely the reason Christ will come at an hour his disciples do not think likely and at an hour the evil slave is not expecting.

Additional reading: When does Jesus Come?

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The Watchtower as a UN-approved NGO

Why has e-watchman devoted a considerable amount of time and effort to make a case against the Watchtower’s former registration as an NGO with the United Nations? In a circular letter dated November 1, 2001, the Watchtower stated the following concerning its disassociation with the U.N.:

“...the Criteria for Association of NGOs—at least in their latest version—contain language that we cannot subscribe to. When we realized this, we immediately withdrew our registration…”

It appears that they were not aware of the “latest” version for association of NGOs. After which, they withdrew their registration, being “grateful that this matter was brought to [their] attention.” In what way have “opposers” attempted to “discredit” the Watchtower in this regard as stated in this circular letter? Since the Watchtower operates under a cloak of theocracy, Jehovah’s Witnesses will likely leave this matter in God’s hand. Has this matter been satisfactorily resolved in the minds of Jehovah's Witnesses, so that they bear no community guilt before God?


The Watchtower is lying.

The Criteria of Association of NGOs has always been the same. Apparently there was some minor rewording of the application, but according to the UN’s Department of Public Information (DPI) approved NGOs enter into a partnership with the United Nations. According to the UN the present working arrangement has been in place since 1968. Here is a quote from the DPI website addressing this point:

“In 1968, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), by resolution 1297 (XLIV) of 27 May, called on DPI to associate NGOs, bearing in mind the letter and spirit of its resolution 1296 (XLIV) of 23 May 1968, which stated that an NGO “...shall undertake to support the work of the UN and to promote knowledge of its principles and activities, in accordance with its own aims and purposes and the nature and scope of its competence and activities.”

When the story of the Watchtower’s involvement with the UN first broke in October of 2001, the UN headquarters was inundated with inquiries from Jehovah’s Witnesses. The DPI received so many emails and calls that they posted their official response on their website in which they clearly stated that the Watchtower agreed to support the United Nations in accord with the established criteria. (Click here and navigate to the link that says Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York. PDF file)

Interestingly, the letter also states that it is the UN’s policy to keep all correspondence between the UN and their associate NGOs confidential, which is a backhanded sort of way of stating that there was an ongoing interchange between the UN and the Watchtower.

Indeed, it is the obligation of all NGOs to keep the UN apprised of the progress of their particular information campaign in behalf of the DPI. Did the Watchtower comply with the DPI’s requirement to conduct an effective information campaign and to inform the UN of it? Undoubtedly it did, otherwise they probably would have been disqualified for serving as an NGO.

E-watchman has painstakingly documented the extent to which Bethel went to comply with the requirements of the DPI, which involved using the Watchtower and Awake magazines to inform the public and present in a positive light the UN's many agencies and programs. (See articles Strange Bedfellows, Plumbing the Depths of the Watchtower’s Prostitution, and The Watchtower and the UN: What is the Truth? )

The UN’s human rights website even lists the November 22nd, 1998, Awake Magazine, which was written specifically to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the UN’s Declaration of Human Rights. Evidently the Watchtower sent the UN a copy of that particular issue as proof of their compliance with the requirements for NGOs. (The Watchtower apparently was initially oblivious to the power of the Internet)

Does the mere fact that the Watchtower withdrew its NGO membership after it was exposed mean that all is well now? Take the case of a husband and wife relationship: What if one mate committed adultery over a long period of time and refused to admit it but merely secretly broke off the adulterous affair? Would that make everything right? Doesn’t the innocent mate deserve to know the truth?

In order to be resolved of guilt the Watchtower must first admit its guilt. It has not done so yet. The Watchtower's brief mention of their NGO affair in their letter to the branches merely blamed the UN for supposedly changing the wording of the NGO application -- leaving one the impression that all the Watchtower had to do to become an NGO was sign an application. The Watchtower’s response has actually added more guilt to their already considerable guilt of spiritual prostitution.

In fact, the Watchtower has never publicly admitted it was ever an NGO. It has only done so in private correspondence. To this day the vast majority of Jehovah’s Witnesses have no inkling of the affair. The comparative few who have heard of it are duped into imagining that it was something entirely fabricated by boogiemen apostates and opposers. Millions of publishers and hundreds of thousands of pioneers have no idea they were betrayed by the Watchtower and used like dumb pack-mules to disseminate subtle UN propaganda to the public.

From Jehovah's standpoint, until the Watchtower comes clean and admits that it knowingly and willingly engaged in a collaborative partnership with the United Nations there can be no forgiveness.



Link to additional article http://www.globalpolicy.org/ngos/ngo-un/rest-un/2001/1030j.htm

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Sheep and goats

In view of Jesus words at John 10:25-31, how can it be that 'sheep' can be found to be 'goats', if nothing can remove the sheep from Jesus' hand? Doesn't this imply eternal security for a true believer? Otherwise the terms 'sheep' and 'goats' are a contradiction in terms. If a sheep could be taken from Jesus' hand, what does the sheep become? A goat? It seems that Jesus was teaching 2 distinct groups: believers and unbelievers and that we can put great assurance that we can never lose our salvation by being plucked out of the hand of our Shepherd. Only 'sheep' can hear Jesus. The goats never CAN. John 8:43, 47 Otherwise, we must conclude that sheep can become goats by being unfaithful. Yet, that would mean that Jesus indeed can 'lose' his sheep and they can be 'plucked out of his hand'.


In the 10th chapter of John Jesus discussed his role as Jehovah’s good Shepherd. Contrasting himself to the hired men who do not really care for the sheep and fail to protect them, which results in the sheep being scattered and assaulted by wolves, Jesus stated the following: “My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give them everlasting life, and they will by no means ever be destroyed, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is something greater than all other things, and no one can snatch them out of the hand of the Father. I and the Father are one.”

In stating the above, Jesus indicated that he could never be overpowered or outsmarted by any sort of predator so that he might become an ineffectual shepherd -- like the hired men. However, that is not to say that Jesus’ followers cannot become unfaithful or allow themselves to be stumbled. Jesus himself says in Revelation that he will vomit lukewarm Christians out of his mouth as unpalatable. Numerous parables also indicate that Jesus will adversely judge those whom he deems to be wicked and sluggish slaves. It is not as though an enemy snatches them out of Christ’s hand though. Christ himself rejects those whom he judges to be unfaithful to their calling.

What about the king of the north and south?

What light can you shed on the WTBS explanation in the Pay attention book of Daniel 11:20; proving that the Anglo-American world power switched from being the King ofthe South to the king of the North?


I am not sure I understand your question. But the Watchtower does not teach that the Anglo-American king switched from being the king of the south to become the king of the north. The Society teaches that the Anglo-American dual world power has always been the king of the south and the modern king of the north has been Germany and the USSR. The Society offers no suggestions on who the king of the north might be at the present moment and they discourage Jehovah’s Witnesses from even thinking about it or discussing the issue.

E-watchman has presented the case for the British Empire filling the role of the king of the north with the United States as the king of the south. In order to understand how that works we should first dispel the myth that the British Empire no longer exists, then we must come to appreciate that even though Great Britain and America are allies, they are also rivals. The intent of the imperial system is to befriend its enemies in order to beguile and subvert them, which is exactly what has happened. The goal of the London-centered financier oligarchy is to ultimately destroy the United States once and for all, at least the constitutional republic.

It is from that standpoint that e-watchman has interpreted the prophecy of the rivalry between the king of the north and south. (See essay: The King of the North Conspires for World Domination)

What about tattoos?

I have been an active Jehovah’s Witness for over 20 years, and have seen more and more changing attitudes in the last few years. (Sex, underage drinking, divorce) It seems to me that a new age of Witnesses is appearing in the United Kingdom. What I mean by this is, for example: the issue of tattoos is now viewed in many halls as acceptable. Why, 4 elders in my own hall have them, as do many sisters and young ones. I have used many scriptures, like Leviticus 19:28 and Romans 12:12, and research on the origin of tattoos to show how God must feel about them; but have been told that because the Watchtower has not told us it is wrong to get them and is a conscience matter, to keep quiet. Now more and more young ones are getting them as those taking the lead wont speak out against them, but bizarrely enough, a local needs talk was given about how women wearing trousers offend Jehovah. Where do you stand on the issue of tattoos brother Watchman?


The Watchtower has written enough about tattoos to provide anyone who wishes sufficient guidance.

The fact that significant numbers of Jehovah’s Witnesses are ignoring the Watchtower’s counsel and embracing a degrading worldly fashion such as tattooing is symptomatic of the coming “increasing of lawlessness.”

Interestingly, tattoos used to be a means of marking a slave, and even though modern men and women who may choose to get themselves tattooed typically feel that they are expressing thier freedom, in reality they are branding in their flesh an indelible mark that signifies they are mere slaves of fashion of this world.

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