A Feast to Jehovah

[this article is contributed by Alex Rover]

The Adoration of the Golden Calf by Nicolas Poussin (public domain)

 “DO YOU remember when you first learned about the wonderful prospect that Jehovah offers to obedient mankind?” w08 6/15 pp. 22-26 par. 1

“MOST of us in the Christian congregation can recall the joy we felt when we first learned the truth.” w07 11/1 pp. 27-31 par. 1

“When you first learned that truth, you no doubt viewed it as a genuine treasure, a piece of knowledge that filled your mind and heart with hope and joy.” w02 8/15 pp. 15-20 par. 5

Do you remember this moment? This joy? Really, who brought you out of this world and into the truth? Do you remember how happy you were? Aside from God himself, where do we direct our gratitude? Whom do we follow henceforth?

“We also love the organization [JW.ORG] that Jehovah uses to teach us wonderful truths. It was Jehovah’s organization [JW.ORG] that taught us about Jehovah’s name and what it means, his purpose for the earth, what happens to us when we die, and the hope of the resurrection. Do you remember how happy you were when you first learned these and other truths? Then do not allow the lies from false teachers to turn you against the organization [JW.ORG] that taught you these truths.—John 6:66-69.” (Simplified Watchtower [ws]11 7/15 p.11 par. 7)

In addition to distorting the Christian hope such that millions are convinced that they have neither God as their Heavenly Father nor Christ as their mediator, this organization is now directing gratitude toward itself.

Yes, who brought you out of this world? Jehovah’s own JW.ORG did! From Exodus 32:8:

“These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt”

Remain loyal to JW.ORG, since JW.ORG gives you abundance of pure waters of truth:

“We are determined to be loyal to Jehovah and to his organization. This organization has never disappointed us and always gives us an abundance of pure waters of truth from God’s Word.” (ws11 7/15 p.12 par. 8; compare subheading: Standing On the Rock At Horeb)

Are you moving ahead with JW.ORG? It is Jehovah’s will: “Jehovah wants us to support his organization and accept adjustments in the way we understand Bible truth”. (ws14 5/15 pp. 21-26 par.15)

Your sacrifices are for Jehovah, so we need to make any sacrifices JW.ORG requests us to make:

“Each of us does well to ask himself, ‘Do I immediately apply everything I read in the Bible and in the publications of the faithful and discreet slave class, even when it requires making personal sacrifices?’” – w12 7/15 pp.22-26

Who will go before us in the wilderness ahead? Your deliverance at the great tribulation will depend on obedience to JW.ORG, as it was true of Noah:

“As events unfold during the great tribulation, Christians will need to heed instructions from God’s Word and organization. […] Since our deliverance will depend on obedience, we do well to ask ourselves: ‘How do I respond to instructions that Jehovah provides for his people now?” – w12 4/15 p.26, par. 16

“And as was true of Noah, our success depends on obedience. […] We must obediently follow the direction Jehovah provides through his Word and his organization.” w07 2/1 pp. 22-30

“a feast to JEHOVAH”

(Exodus 32:5) Every Israelite knew Jehovah had saved them from Egypt. They made a golden calf and said, it will be a feast to JEHOVAH. They reasoned: the Golden calf is not a means to idolatry, because ultimately the glory goes to the heavenly Father.

And what a feast it was! They danced, they ate, and they celebrated. They had willingly brought their gold and gave it to be melted into an idol. Likewise, Jehovah’s Witnesses are the happiest people on earth! [1] They rejoice and worship Jehovah through his JW.ORG.

So they have created a modern-day golden calf, and proudly display it through select memorabilia. Below is a small sample:

A manly blue tie showcasing JW.ORG

A JW.ORG pin made of real Jerusalem Olive Wood!

A hand-made scarf with JW.ORG for you sisters.

A modest phone case to accompany your JW.ORG apps

Wearing this item is ill-advised, as it would get you accused of idolatry.

For the truly daring among you, try wearing a Jesus pin to your meeting or assembly and share the reactions in the comments.

Now as I am sharing these items with you, the entrepreneur inside of me is thinking: “why not insert my affiliate ID?” Of course that would be highly inappropriate. Save for the last item, I believe it all constitutes idolatry so I wouldn’t want anything to do with it. But it did bring me to a final thought, which I wish to share:

I vividly remember as a child, thinking about the destruction of Babylon the Great – the false religion, how the commercial system would “weep”. As sure as it was yesterday, I recall telling myself: “this surely proves that we are not part of Babylon the Great, for which commerce might benefit so much from my religion that it may weep over our demise?”

————- An Addendum by Meleti Vivlon ————-

In line with the thoughts Alex just expressed, I wanted to draw everyone’s attention to some interesting findings from our publications regarding icons, venerated symbols, and organizations.

All eight members [in Noah’s family] had to stay close to the organization and advance with it in order to be preserved with it in the ark. (w65 7/15 p. 426 par. 11 Jehovah’s Advancing Organization)

“The ark of salvation that we enter is not a literal ark but is God’s organization.”(w50 6/1 p. 176 Letter)

“But if we were to draw away from Jehovah’s organization, there would be no place else to go for salvation and true joy.”  (w93 9/15 p. 22)

These three quotes are representative of the idea that our salvation is tightly bound to being active in and obedient to the Organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses.  JW.ORG is now representative of that organization and the Logo has become the icon or symbol we rally behind.  Given that, consider this conflicting quote from The Watchtower:

As Christians, we face up to similar challenges today. We cannot take part in any modern version of idolatry—be it worshipful gestures toward an image or symbol or the imputing of salvation to a person or an organization. (w90 11/1 p. 26 par. 16)

By our own admission, it is a “modern version of idolatry” to impute salvation to an organization and worshipful gestures toward an image or symbol.  We disdain other Christians for carrying the symbol of the cross, but we proudly bear and publish the logo of the Organization to which we repeatedly impute salvation.  We are condemned by our own words as idolaters.

We love to describe our many doctrinal “corrections” as a spirit-directed process wherein the light of truth “grows brighter and brighter” (Prov. 4:18), but the fact that we can publish such diametrically opposed views as seen above indicates that we are fulfilling the next verse in that passage:

“ The way of the wicked ones is like the gloom; they have not known at what they keep stumbling.” (Pr 4:19)

[1] The Watchtower, 1997 May 1 p.23, 1995 Jan 15 p.12 par. 7, 1989 Mar 1 p.3, 1999 10/1 p.8 par. 13