All Things Seen & Unseen

In John's gospel account, chapter 12 and verses 1-8 we read, 12  Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. 2  There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. 3  Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. 4  Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, 5  Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? 6  This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. 7  Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. 8  For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always. ...

Over the last number of posts, we have been examining Watchtower Society (WtS) beliefs and gradually moved towards a defence of Christian orthodoxy. In this polemic, we will examine the happenings surrounding the WtS's critical year of 1919 because in that year, according to the WtS, it gained a unique status. The year, 1919 , is critical for the WtS because it believes that not only did Jesus Christ come invisibly to reign over the earth in 1914 but in 1919 judged the fitness of each earthly organisation to represent Jehovah God on earth according to the terms of Matthew 24.45-47. A WtS publication God's Kingdom of a Thousand Years Has Approached (Frederick W. Franz, 1975, chap. 17 p. 350 par. 40) described this time like this: The serving of food, the right sort of food, at the proper time was the issue. It had to be according to this that a decision must be rendered by the returned master. Well, then, what about that body of Christians internationally hated and perse...

As I mentioned last time, Don Cameron 1 , a one-time Jehovah's Witness (JW) elder, has tabled 48 doctrines which the Watchtower Society (WtS) was teaching from 1876 to 1919 but now no longer teaches. The WtS believes now that Jesus Christ returned invisibly in 1914 and began inspecting the societies, organisations and religions of the world according to various criteria. Four criteria were to be applied to the teachings of these organisations according to the JW historian of the WtS, Frederick Franz, in Jehovah's Witnesses: Proclaimers of God's Kingdom ( Proclaimers ) (1993) * (free pdf download from the Internet) p. 47 : a) teaching must be correct b) teaching must be at the proper time c) teaching must be found in the Scriptures d) teaching must be rejected if found to be based on tradition (as summarised by Cameron). We can't cover all the 48 beliefs cited by Cameron but I will cover 3 of them in some detail below and then list others below these below. ...

A former Jehovah's Witness (JW) elder, Don Cameron 1 , says that the Witnesses are 'captives of a concept': JWs believe that they are connected to the only organisation in this world chosen by God to speak for him!  Is this not a preposterous claim! It's not only a highly inflated view, it's false. But, to testify adequately to JWs, evangelicals need to know that Witnesses believe this lie about the Watchtower Society (WtS) itself because all JWs receive their doctrine and teaching from the Society.   But, how did the WtS come by this preeminence in God's plan you will surely ask?

Well, yes it is! And there is a particular reason why that is so difficult. Moreover, orthodox Christians often don't realise or don't have a clear picture of this gigantic obstacle between them and Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs) when talking  with them .  Actually, the JWs hold a false but determinate assumption; for them it is a bedrock truth but is a lie. Hence,  to lay the groundwork for a successful *   meeting with them  we need to know the nature of this fantastic illusion JWs accept, sometimes, without fully knowing it . The JWs' Fantasy   JWs are held in thrall to an oppressive fabrication of their second leader's fertile imagination. They  seriously imagine the Watch Tower Tract and Bible Society (WTS) to be Jehovah God's only legitimate and trustworthy organisation on earth. All orthodox Christian groups are viewed as corrupted, unreliable and not to be trusted. Furthermore, the WTS is held to be the only means by which God speaks Tru...

The first important date for the Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs) was 1799. Charles 'Taze' Russell (1852-1916), the first leader of what later became the JWs promoted 1799 as the 'beginning of the time of the end'.  The organisation kept teaching the date until 1928 ( http://bit.ly/1PjtDEc ) which included time under the JWs second leader Joseph Franklin 'Judge' Rutherford (1969-1942) . 1874 was the next important date and, according to Russell, was to be the year of Christ's coming or 'invisible presence'; the year in which Jesus Christ began to reign on His throne in heaven. 1914 was first prophesied by Russell as the end of the battle of Armageddon (Rev 16.14-16) . So, although you may have heard 1914 published as the year in which Christ's secret presence in the heavens took place, initially, for the first leader of the JWs, it was not so. His presence would mean that in 1914 all the kingdoms of the earth would be struck down and abolis...

If you ask Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs) today do they wor ship Jesus Christ , they will say 'no'. Christians are amaze d at th e news of this missing dimension in the J ehovah's Witness (JW) pr acti ce . BUT, it is perfectly consistent with JW basic beliefs about Jesus Christ Himself. L et us then investigate their basic beliefs about Him . Firstly , they say, 'Jesus was/i s a creation of Jehovah God [Yahweh]', the first 'direct' and only creation of J ehovah . Hence, Jesus did not always exist but, f or JWs, came into existence as a 'spirit- being' exist ing as Michael, the Archangel before his Fath er sent him to earth !     Orthodox Christians find this type of notion strange to say the least. F or them the Son of God is co-eternal with the Father and was in the words of the Nicene Creed , ' begotten not made'. Historically considered, their teaching is known as Arianism. Secondly , JWs say, that Jesus while on earth...

In reading through the Acts of the Apostles following the stand ard lectionary readings after E aster used in Roman, Anglican and Eastern Orthodox churches we have been amazed at how references to the holy judgement of God are avoided in the guide. For example, Ananias and Sapphira who both lied to God, to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5) and were killed at Peter's word for their sin: no portion is set for reading. This case becomes a model for exclusion of those passages which the church, appar ently, does not want to hear (the so-called, 'terror pas sages' of the scriptures) . Of course this process fits with today's lost sense of sin and its almost exclusive emphasis on the 'love' of God. A s if love need mean that God cannot also judge mankind (Acts 17.31) in this life and in the next. The world clamours for justice when people do bad things and blame God -often the very God they refuse to believe exists- for those bad things. It never considers that God...

The hope-filled words above come from Isaiah 40.1 with the immediate context being Isaiah 40.1-11 and the larger backdrop, the first 39 chapters of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter one speaks of the spiritual degradation into which Judah (the Southern Kingdom of the former Kingdom United under Saul, David and Solomon) has fallen (e.g., Isa 1.2-9).  It is now a rebellious people (Isa 1.2), contaminated by gross iniquity (Isa 1.10-31) ripe for judgement which was about to break upon it in the Babylonian Captivity (Isa 39.6). It was first attacked in 606BC, then again in 597 and finally 586BC saw its final demise (see here ).

The 31st October is the day that some celebrate as Reformation Day! What is Reformation Day? It's the day that Protestants celebrate Martin Luther's (1483-1546) sending 95 Theses complaining about the selling of 'indulgences' in his parish to the  Archbishop of Mainz and Magdeberg.   Some believe that he nailed the Theses (in Latin) to the door of the church at Wittenberg , October the 31st, at 2 pm 1517 . This action signalled the beginning of a mighty 'protest' across nations against the Papal church's teachings on indulgences and the spiritual supremacy of the Pope as the (Western) Church's leader. What were Indulgences? The Roman clergy were authorised to absolve the guilt of contrite sinners (based on Jn 20.23). But according to Romanist theology, absolution did not mean that the threat of punishment was removed. Therefore, indulgences would be bought as penances for the punishments of sins committed. In Luther's time Johan...

The Character of the Messiah (Christ) In the second part of Matthew 22.34-46 Jesus asks them a question. It's an important question because it relates directly to the matters raised in the first question-and-answer section found in an earlier post which indirectly brings up the issue of what can be done about our failure to keep the Law. Jesus takes his turn to ask them a question in line with the rules of formal debate of that time between disputants. He asks questions about the Messiah (Christ).  Is the Messiah just a man or more than a man? This issue is the one on which Jesus is concerned to concentrate with them. Whose son is He? Jesus asks.  To which they reply, 'the son of David'. Jesus draws their attention to Psalm 110.1 in which David says: The Lord (Jehovah) said to my Lord (the Messiah), 'Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.' Jesus presses his point, 'If David calls the Messiah 'Lord' how can the ...

The Scripture reading set down in the Common Lectionary for last Sunday (26th October) was from Matthew 22.34-46. 1 The Content of the Law The Pharisees yet again try to 'tempt' or test (Lit. Version) Jesus with a question: which is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus says, 'The first and greatest commandment is: 'Thou [singular, 'you'] shalt love the Lord with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy mind'. And a second is like it, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself'. The law contained (reportedly) 613 laws and ordinances and I suspect that Jesus' answer (from Deut 6.5 and Lev 19.8) and the authoritative way in which he gave it stunned them into silence. The Purpose of the Law But given that the law's content is summed up in these two commandments, what is the character/purpose of the law? First, no one is able to keep the law. In respect of the great and first commandment, all are guilty ...

'That's just your opinion! Where's your proof!'  How often are we confronted with this retort with regard to our confession of the Christian Trinitarian Faith! And of course, such retorts imply that the proofs ought to be logical, or empirical ones.  This position ignores the fact that most of what we know, we know on the basis of authority! Someone or some group (parents, family, friends, the media, 'science', etc.) has told us what we now believe and know. The scene alluded to in this post title comes from the aftermath of Jesus' teaching ministry in Samaria (see John 4.42). At first, the Samaritans had believed the testimony of the woman who had met Jesus at Jacob's Well.  But at the end of Jesus' time with them, they now have heard for themselves and say, 'we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world' (Jn 4.42, kjv). Whatever divinity belief a person, group or community holds, implicitly each knows and t...

Of all the sections in the fourth gospel account (FGA) Jesus' discourse with the Samaritan woman (Jn 4.7-26) fascinates me the most. I t's loaded with material that could keep any teacher at work in any interested group for a good while. The discourse has 3 stages: first, water (vv7-15); then, her ' husband ' (16-19); finally the worship place (20-26). The gospel's question is, Who is Jesus ? The writer focuses on her answers to this question as in each section her understanding becomes greater.

Like just about everything to do with the Scriptures, debate occurs about what the 'signs' in the fourth gospel account (FGA) 1 are and even how many there might be.  I've decided that it's better to adopt a seven-sign approach (see next paragraph) and understand them as beginning with the water into wine, then the nobleman's servant, the paralytic man at Bethesda, the feeding of the 5000, Jesus walking on water, the man born blind healed, and the raising of Lazarus. And why be restricted to seven you might be asking? Seven (7) is a highly significant number in the scriptures  as in Genesis 1, the Pentateuch, the prophets, the Book of the Revelation here , and in the FGA, here .  Let's look at the beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee.

The fourth gospel account (FGA), traditionally known as 'the gospel according to John', is like the other gospel accounts with interrelated purposes 1 and intentions.  The most obvious purpose in the FGA is the evangelistic aim stated in John 20.30f. The context of these words is the occasion in which the risen Lord confronts Thomas, one of the 12 disciples, with his unbelief about His resurrection. 

In my last post about the charity collector, I mentioned something of importance that I would like now to talk about further. Using My Story With Apologies I enter the realm of personal experience hesitantly, knowing that it is open misunderstanding. (At least one good friend of mine doubts whether I actually know the Lord even now simply because my experience is different from that of others!)

I was speaking with one of the mall charity collectors at our local shopping centre who frequently buttonhole shoppers with pleas to sign up for contributions to all manner of causes.  We got onto the topic of belief in Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Who did she think He was? After the collector told me that she wasn't a Christian, she also told me that all religions were the same because they all have a belief in one supreme god.

The title of this post takes its cue from a book written by Tom Smail (1928-2012) on the first person in the Trinity, God the Father, a study, which I heartily recommend. Smail had a Church of Scotland background but later entered the Anglican ordained ministry; he was evangelical, and charismatic (but with reservations later in his career ) in churchmanship. He was a learned theologian and a godly man who wrote with care about church teachings-practices which he believed were becoming lopsided in emphasis.

'Then the preacher said the most provocative words that church congregations need to hear and act on today. The most significant piece of 'furniture' or fitting in this building are :   the doors through which you will all leave at the end of this service and go out into the world.' I ended with the above words in my last post. I'm a bit crabby at the moment. Yes, I know, good Christians are not supposed to get irritable , fractious , fretful , cross , petulant , pettish , crabbed , crotchety , cantankerous , disagreeable , miserable , morose , peppery ,  edgy , impatient , querulous ; etc but I am.  I think my crabbiness has to do with the fact that the visible, institutional church doesn't get it! But then I have to remember that for many years I didn't get it either until a rude, Dutchman woke me up out of my dogmatic slumber.  So I have nothing to boast about. None of us does. The church is in such a parlous condition in Australia that none...