Transcription
Hi friends, one of my viewers by the name of Karen Brooks from the UK had sent me this video on my Facebook page, and I absolutely could not believe what I was seeing. And I wanted to share it with you. But before we get into the video, I just wanted to remind you to like this video and subscribe to my channel because it really helps me.
So, what you're about to see is a video of an elder giving a talk at what appears to be a congregation that he is visiting. He brilliantly leads the audience in love throughout his talk. It's only about maybe less than 15 minutes, and at the end of his talk, he issues a crushing blow to the organization right before they turn off his microphone and they usher him off the platform.
So, listen, for those of you tuning in who have never been a Jehovah's Witness or who have not had much dealings with Jehovah's Witnesses, I just want to explain one thing. You see, the Jehovah's Witness organization, they publish books and they require their followers to read these books because the books contain their doctrine. And obviously, they need these books and magazines because their doctrine is not found in the Holy Bible. They ignore 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16, which states that all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, for instruction in righteousness. So, in other words, the Bible is all we need. Anything that is contained in the Bible that contradicts what the Jehovah's Witness organization teaches is not allowed.
So, given this, enjoy the video of this elder who is my hero, my hero. And thanks so much for watching.
I just want to say it's good to be back for today. Now, we don't like to judge each other's spirituality. We shouldn't do that. We know only Jehovah can read hearts. And, uh, this is just when we're reading the Bible and we read a character, we can't help but think, where is this person spiritually? I mean, we can think of some really dismal cases, bad kings, Judas Iscariot, people who didn't seem very spiritual but who weren't evil. So, I'm just going to say a name and I want you to just let it happen in your head. Just think of wherever you naturally place the spirituality of this Bible character and go with your gut. Don't think yet. We'll be thinking. Thomas. You know, we don't talk about Thomas very often, do we? Well, let's, let's, uh, let's open our Bibles to John chapter 11. Beautiful Kingdom Hall. It's, uh, really, really a great job. Are we used to the silver sword yet, us old timers? And John 11, we're not going to read the verse that we may have been expecting to read when we think of Thomas. Who do we think of? The doubter. Thomas was doubting. And if we know a little bit about Thomas, we know that he had a lot to say sometimes. He said it before thinking. We think of Peter that way too, with fondness. These people spoke from their heart, and sometimes in their heart, they, they just would say, this doesn't make sense. So, Thomas was the one who said, I don't care what you say to apostles of Jesus, I need proof. We know the story. We don't even have to read that part. So, if we don't think about it, we might get the impression that Thomas was a person without faith. And indeed, Jesus said, happier are those who don't have to see and they still believe, and they are happier. They do a lot less thinking. But those of us who lean towards the Thomas side of things are not quite rejected by Jehovah or Jesus.
Let's look at this. It's John 11 and verse 16. So, Thomas, who was called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go that we may die with him." Those weren't just words. He meant it. Jesus was headed towards something that did not sound good, and the disciples were reacting in all different ways. But Thomas said, "I'm ready to die with him." He's not the only one who said it. But when someone says, you know, "I'll be there, I will hold your hand, I will die with you," that's an expression of love. Thomas was willing to die with Jesus, literally, then and there. That's where he wanted to go. So, is Thomas viewed, uh, scripturally, as having not much spirituality? Well, no. There's really nothing bad said about Thomas in the entire Bible. And in the Christian Greek Scriptures, certainly, the things that are mentioned are for our benefit. So, what do we learn just from knowing how Jesus felt about Thomas? You remember how Jesus reacted when Thomas was demanding proof? Did he say, "Well, listen, you know, you're leaning toward apostasy there, sir"? What'd he do? He showed him. We don't know exactly whether or not he touched him. It's an interesting tidbit online at jw.org. But he showed him. So, it would seem that this type of mentality is not rejected by Jehovah.
Well, we're going to need that because we can easily think that we have everything together. Turn with me to Romans, please. This is a, I think it's a little bit of a wake-up scripture, especially when we're studying with someone. We sometimes have to show them this. And it's Romans 10:1-3. I'm a Luddite. You know, the Luddite is the person who likes paper. Romans 10:1-3. Just glad we don't have to use scrolls. Paul here is speaking about his brothers in Judaism, all right? Now, the Jews who rejected Jesus weren't automatically non-brothers. They were still his brothers. And he says to his new brothers, brothers, in verse 1 of Romans chapter 10, "The good will of my heart and my supplication toward God for them are indeed for their salvation." And that we understand, don't we want that for our brothers and family members and sisters and fleshly and those we care about in the world? And perhaps those who've left, don't we want basically that they'd be okay? That's what we want for everybody. That's a basic human desire. And it's really brought up in Christianity as a light. But then he says in verse 2, "For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God." He said they're sincere. But then he said, "But not according to accurate knowledge." For because of not knowing the righteousness of God, and they just did not know it. They didn't get it. And here's their fault, but seeking to establish their own. Anyone of us can do that. We can be in an argument with somebody, and we may have the right argument, but we may just get a little defensive. And when we're defensive, we don't hear anything. So, for seeking to establish their own, he says, "they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God." And then he gets to his point. He says, "For Christ is the end of the law." And that's significant because people were holding on to details that they found in scripture, that some of the leaders were still saying, "This is very, very important." And up until then, that had been God's organization to those Jews who were there. And the argument was, well, what about this detail? What about that detail? And after saying that, Paul said, "Let's get back to the basics."
So, we're going to do both of those things today. Don't have a lot of time to talk about it. This used to be a 45-minute outline. It has been shaved down a little bit. But just because many of us probably have experience. Guys, just get a show of hands. How many do we have any pioneers in the audience or anyone who has ever been a pioneer? Oh, look at that. It's beautiful. Don't forget. And, um, a lot of you then are really going to understand where we're going with this because, you know, if you ever have the privilege of pioneer, you get face to face with every Thomas in the neighborhood. And they're not polite like a Jehovah's Witness Thomas. You know, I could be a Thomas, but I'm going to be polite. They might say very directly, more like the real Thomas, "Hey man, that doesn't make sense." So, if we understand what it's like to reach people in the territory, we can bring it right back home. And our outline just has really three things to talk about. And the first one is, what is the rulership that we have to submit to? You know, that's become a confusing issue. And we've had, uh, we know people in our territory believe it's one thing. Maybe God's rulership is an emotional state. Maybe it's a mode of behavior. Uh, we've, you know, shocked people by saying that it may be a government. That's been a little surprising for people to hear. And we might have gone over details about when that government took power in 1914 and chronology and generations. And boy, even pioneers, do we really want to get wrapped up in that when somebody is asking you, "Why should I submit to God's rulership?" Now, is that where we want to go? I don't. I could do it. Maybe we can all do it. But that's not really a good place to go. We're going to go directly to Psalm 2. And if, if you know the psalm, you know exactly what the point is of this. We have a song about this. Song? Yes. It's a good song.
So, in Psalm 2, verse 2, it says, "The kings of the earth take their stand, high officials gather together as one against Jehovah and against his anointed one, saying, 'Let's throw off their shackles.'" And you know, we don't want to live under that rulership, okay? We may see that today from nations. We don't even need to get specific on that, do we? And they're basically saying, "We do not want God's kingdom." So, the first thing is to accept the kingdom. And that means accepting what they're rejecting there, which is the king. So, we probably know who the king is. We probably don't have a single person in here who would fail that question on a test. We know Jesus Christ is the king. But let's just take it a little bit further and go to Galatians chapter 1 and verse 8. Because we can get caught up in details just as easily as it can happen in Christendom. We've got a big Bible here. There's a lot of things that we can get into. And Paul gives us a warning here. I know it's slower. I realize that paper is slow because you have time to think. Galatians 1:8. Paul gives this warning. And he says, you know, there's a lot of talk, a lot of excitement going on. But in verse 8, he says, "However, even if we are an angel out of heaven, we're to declare to you as good news something beyond the good news that we declare to you, let him be accursed." Well, let's give that a tiny bit of thought. We can hear something from someone we respect in the organization. We can hear something from the person who taught us the Bible. We can hear something from an elder. I could say something right now that might not be the right thing. And that doesn't stop at the level of elder. That can go all the way up. And if we know anything about the theater, theocratic history of this organization, we know that that can happen all the way up. So, how do we keep this point of how to submit to God's rulership? Now, with all of the things that could be said, all the speculations, all of the hard lines, all of the things that could be said, well, Paul said, "Stick to the basics." What was the good news that he had declared to him, to them in the past? It was very simple. There is a king. It's Jesus Christ. And the law is over. And you can approach God freely. And there was a lot written about it. Now, we have new things. There's, of course, we're in a different era. There are new details. But the fundamental idea is to respect the king. So, we have to just make sure we're doing it. And one more scripture on that will be Romans 10:10. We know this verse really, really well. I think we especially know verse 13. But in 10, or verse 9, excuse me, he says, "If you publicly declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and exercise faith in your heart that God raised him up from the dead." Notice these are very basic, basic things. But if we talked about that and we don't hide that, then we can make a public declaration for salvation. And in verse 13, we can be saved. So, by keeping it simple and by sticking to the scriptures as often as we possibly can, we'll be in a pretty good position to make sure that we're letting God's leadership be over us.
Now, the more interesting concept of this is to figure out what we should do. So, how did you like that? Romans 10:9, that "if you shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved." That was all it took for those elders to shut him down. Isn't that sad? The scripture that tells them the path to salvation. Listen, friends, God is not a god of confusion. First Corinthians 14:33 says, "For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace." You start reading the publications of the Watchtower organization, what is it? You go on this path of confusion all around different doctrines that change, different predictions that changed. Back to the basics. Get back to the basics. The Holy Bible. Thanks so much for watching, friends, and I hope you have a great day.
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