THE SIGN 7: GOD’S ADMINISTRATION — HIS CHANNEL OF COMMUNICATION

INTRODUCTION

This article shows that the claim that the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses is God’s channel, giving the Witnesses the spiritual food that God wants them to have at the proper time is false.

God’s channel is what Paul calls “God’s administration” (Ephesians 1:10). The article shows that God administers his truth and communicates with his creatures in two ways, by way of inspiration and by direction. Inspiration means that God gives particular messages directly to his servants. Inspiration was used when the Bible was written down, in the time before the common era and in the first century CE. Today, we have the whole Bible and inspiration is not necessary. The members of the Governing Body overtly deny that they are inspired by God, but covertly they claim inspiration.

Direction means that God directly or indirectly causes or allows a situation, and his spiritualmined servants will draw the right conclusions from each situation. This means that no humans are God’s channel of communication, but he communicates through the way he does things, through his administration. I will use Romans 1:19, 20 as an example.

¹⁹ because what may be known about God is manifest among them, for God made it manifest to them. ¹⁹ For his invisible [qualities] are clearly seen from the world’s (kosmos) creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship, so that they are inexcusable.

Paul’s point here is that something God has done communicates to human beings. What is this? The key to the answer is the word “world,” translated by the Greek kosmos. This word does not refer to the universe or the earth but it refers to the human family. So, from the creation of the human family and onward God made different things. And Paul says that from the things God did to the human family, we see “his eternal power and Godship.” Those who do not draw this conclusion has no excuse.

The important point in our context is that the way he treated the human family, and the things he did in connection with the human family communicates a message to each human. His greatness “are perceived by the things made”. In other words, God communicates by his administration, by the way he administers and does things. This is the same as his direction, and it is the only way he communicates with his servants today when he no longer uses inspiration.

One of the things he made is the Holy Scriptures, the Bible. How has God directed his servants today to understand the Bible?

There are six keys that are necessary to understand the Bible. While Jehovah’s Witnesses are neither inspired by God nor are they his channel of communication, they are the only people that God has directed to have these six keys. Therefore, the Bible can only be understood with the help of Jehovah’s Witnesses. This will be discussed.

The members of the Governing Body have made false claims of inspiration, and because the Witnesses have some doctrines and practices that go against the Bible, the issue is discussed: How can Jehovah’s Witnesses be the true religion when it has some false doctrines?

Only by being taught by Jehovah’s Witnesses is it possible to learn the truth of the Bible. But the actions of the members of the Governing Body, particularly in the 21st century, have caused much damage to God’s people from the inside.

THE USE OF THE WORDS “GOD’S CHANNEL OF COMMUNICATION” 

In the 1870s, C.T. Russell and his friends made a systematic study of the Bible, and they were able to ascertain the basic doctrines of the Bible. They told others about what they had found, and the basic tool they used in their preaching was Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence. After the death of Russell, this magazine continued to be published, and the number The Watch Tower of July 1, 1931, page 198, says:

God has graciously provided, however, a means of communication among the remnant. For years he has used The Watch Tower as such a means of communication, and its columns are constantly used in an effort to give forth the truth to the remnant. It is not man’s truth, but it is God’s truth; and therefore the channel of instrument is God’s, and not man’s.

We note that the means of communication is The Watch Tower magazine, and the focus is not on humans but on God. The Watchtower of June 1, 1943, page 166, said:

The food that the Lord’s “sheep” feed upon and that their feeders must serve to them is the spiritual food provided by the Life-giver, Jehovah. He gives it through his Good Shepherd, Christ Jesus. Jehovah himself is the great “Shepherd and Bishop of our souls”. He sees to it that it is the right food, in due season, and that it is served through his approved visible organization. The spiritual food served up during the past sixty years and published in many languages in hundreds of millions of pieces of literature proves that the Society of Jehovah’s consecrated people, as represented by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, is God’s approved visible organization. While there are many so-called “Bible societies”, yet the Watchtower Society is the only one that has faithfully devoted itself, not to publish religious traditions and errors, but to printing and distributing the true-to-fact and harmonious explanations of the Bible as God’s infallible Word.

Again we see that the focus is on the organization and the magazine it publishes and not on humans. In 1955, a new expression was coined, namely, God’s “channel of communication.” The background for this expression is that drinking water for the people flows through a channel, and therefore, figuratively, truths from God flows through his “channel of communication.” The Watchtower of May 15, 1955, page 316, says:

The evidence, therefore, is overwhelming that the anointed Christian remnant among Jehovah’s Witnesses today comprise the collective channel of communication.

I agree with the three last quotations that the organization that publishes The Watchtower has been, and is, used by God to spread his truths. The Watchtower of  October 1, 1994 says:

All who want to understand the Bible should appreciate that the “greatly diversified wisdom of God” can become known only through Jehovah’s channel of communication, the faithful and discreet slave.”

I also agree with the quotation above, except for the words about “the faithful and discreet slave” (which actually refer to all Christians who endure to the end so as to be pronounced “faithful and discreet” by Jesus when he comes at the future great tribulation). The apostle Paul says in Romans 10:13-15:

¹³ For “everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved.” ¹⁴  However, how will they call on him if they have not put faith in him? How, in turn, will they put faith in him about whom they have not heard? How, in turn, will they hear without someone to preach? ¹⁵  How, in turn, will they preach unless they have been sent out? Just as it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who declare good news of good things!”

The only organization that sends out preachers of the good news of the Kingdom all over the world is Jehovah’s Witnesses through The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. Therefore, the truth about God can only be learned through this organization. In all the quotations above the focus has been on the anointed remnant and on their organization. But in 2013 the focus changed to be directed on human beings. The Watchtower of July 15, 2013, page 23, says:

¹⁰ Who, then, is the faithful and discreet slave? In keeping with Jesus’ pattern of feeding many through the hands of a few, that slave is made up of a small group of anointed brothers who are directly involved in preparing and dispensing spiritual food during Christ’s presence. Throughout the last days, the anointed brothers who make up the faithful slave have served together at headquarters. In recent decades, that slave has been closely identified with the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Note, however, that the word “slave” in Jesus’ illustration is singular, indicating that this is a composite slave. The decisions of the Governing Body are thus made collectively. (the author’s italics)

Today the Governing Body consists of nine men, and they claim that they have been appointed by God to be his “channel of communication.” Thus, the focus is moved from the organization and from unnamed persons who are used by this organization to a small group of men whose names are known. And they overtly claim not to be inspired by God, but covertly, they claim inspiration, as I demonstrate in the article “Sign 6: The Governing Body and Inspiration”. This is a power grab that is based on the reasonings of the members of the Governing Body and not on the Bible.

In what follows, I will discuss God’s administration, and on this background, we will learn more details about what we can call God’s “channel of communication.”

GOD’S REAL “CHANNEL OF COMMUNICATION” (OIKONOMIA)

God’s dealings with his people on earth are connected with the Greek word oikonomia. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains, by J.P. Louw and E. Nida says about this word:

To manage and provide for a household… In biblical times a household would consist of more than the nuclear family, that is to say, more than simply husband, wife, and children, for servants, slaves, and permanent hired workers living with the family would be regarded as a part of the total household.

The word oikonomia occurs three times the letter to the Ephesians, and the contexts of these occurrences are the focus of this study. But first, I will show how the word is used the other six times it occurs in the Christian Greek Scriptures. In Luke 16:1-4, oikonomia occurs three times:

 ¹ Then he also said to the disciples: “A rich man had a steward (oikonomos) who was accused of handling his goods wastefully. ²  So he called him and said, ‘What is this I hear about you? Hand in the account of your stewardship (oikonomia), for you can no longer manage the house.’ ³  Then the steward (oikonomos) said to himself, ‘What am I to do, seeing that my master is taking the stewardship (oikonomia) away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. ⁴  Ah! I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from the stewardship (oikonomia), people will welcome me into their homes.’

The Greek word oikos means “house,” the word oikonomos means “householder/administrator,” the person who was in charge of the household, which often was a slave. And the word oikonomia refers to the household itself. It can be concrete if the persons and items of the household is focused upon. And it can be abstract if the stewardship, i.e., the way the household is managed is focused upon. A word has a meaning and several references, which are the things in the world denoted by the word.

In the situation with the rich man and the steward (householder), the renderings “stewardship” and “management” (NIV) are good. The focus is on how the man handles the household.

Below are the NWT84 renderings of three other passages with oikonomia.

1 Corinthian 9:17

¹⁷ If I perform this willingly, I have a reward; but if I do it against my will, all the same I have a stewardship (oikonomia) entrusted to me.

Colossians 1:25

²⁵ I became a minister of this [congregation] in accordance with the stewardship (oikonomia) from God which was given me in YOUR interest to preach the word of God fully.

1 Timotheus 1:4

⁴nor to pay attention to false stories and to genealogies, which end up in nothing, but which furnish questions for research rather than a dispensing of anything (oikonomia) by God in connection with faith.[1] 

In 1 Corinthians 9:17 and Colossians 1:25 the focus is on the work of Paul that is compared with the work of a householder who is managing the household. The verb “dispense” means “to give out things,” and the point in 1 Timothy 1:4 is that false stories and genealogies give rise to speculation rather than giving out anything from God’s “household.”

God’s channel of communication is his administration (oikonomia), the way God administers or manages things, and not humans on the earth.

[1]. The NWT84 has the rendering “a dispensing of anything by God,” and the footnote says: “Lit., “house-administration.”

“TO GATHER ALL THIGS TOGETHER” OR” “TO GATHER ALL THINGS TOGETHER AGAIN” 

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul discusses the sacred secret (mystērion), and in 1:8-10 (NWT13) we read:

⁸ This he caused to abound toward us in all wisdom and good sense, ⁹ in that he made known to us the sacred secret (mystērion) of his will. It is according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself ¹⁰ for an administration (oikonomia) at the full limit of the appointed times, namely, to gather all things together again (anakefalaioō) in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth.

There is an important difference between the NWT13 and the NWT84 in verse 10. The rendering of NWT84 is “to gather all things together again.” (italics mine) The footnote says:

‘To gather…together again.’ According to G.H. Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, fourth ed. (1901)p. 39 ‘to bring together again for himself.’

The difference is that NWT84 has the adverbial again, while this is lacking in NWT13. The NWT84 shows that the unity between the things in the heavens and the things on the earth that will occur had one time earlier existed. But this idea is lacking in the NWT13.

Applying the principles of lexical semantics, we find that the use of “again” has a good basis.  I bring three quotations to show that. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. III, page 682, has the following comments on the verb anakefalaioō:

Iren. [Irenaeus, c. 130 — c. 200 CE, Church father] used anakafalaioō in the sense of gathering together, summation. Since every summation implies a kind of repetition, the word may sometimes have the direct sense of “to repeat.” The ana- thus assumes an iterative sense which it does not have elsewhere…Apsines [a Greek philosopher in the 3rd century CE] used anakafalaioō with reference to the repetition of an event. The recapitulare in Iren. [Irenaeus] is also to be understood in the first instance as repetition, though it is to be noted that it sums up the original and is thus qualitative…In this summation, however, the prominent element may be, not that of repetition, but that of the affirmation and confirmation implied in repetition.

We note the comment on the preposition ana (“up, upon, on”), which often is used distributively (= referring to each individual of a group rather than collectively to all individuals). The use of this preposition with a distributive meaning at the beginning of the verb anakefalaioō could signal the repetitive meaning of doing again, is the argument. Additions of prepositions to a word may change its meaning. For example, the Greek word gnosis means “knowledge,” but with the preposition epi (“over, upon”) prefixed, as epignosis, the meaning may be “accurate knowledge.”

Several commentators of Ephesians also argue about the repetitive meaning of 1:10. Galatians and Ephesians in Meyer’s Commentary on the New Testament (1883, 1979), page 322, says in comments on Ephesians 1:10:

Consequently anakefalaioō, summatim recolligere, “recapitulate summarily,” which is said in Rom xiii 9 of that which has been previously expressed singulatim, “individually,” in separate parts, but now is again gathered up in one main point, so that at Rom. l.e en touto to logo denotes that main point in which the gathering up is contained. And here this main point of gathering up again, unifying all the parts, lies in Christ.

The important point is that the commandments in Romans 13:9 have been expressed before, and now they are summed up again (anakefalaioō) in the saying, “You must love your neighbor as yourself.”

The commentator A.S. Wood in Ephesians in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary (1978) Vol. 11, page 26, also stresses the repetitive nature of the verb:

The verb anakefalaioō (“to bring together”) means to sum up together again (Rom 13:9). It is derived not from kefalē (“a head”) but from kephalaion (a summary, or sum total”). When a column of figures was added up, the total was placed at the top.

The three quotations above show that the use of the adverbial “again” in NWT84 has a solid linguistic basis. I do not know why the Governing Body deleted this important word from NWT13. But a characteristic of this translation is that subtleties and nuances in the original text often are ignored and are not rendered in English.

What is the meaning of the words “to gather all things together again in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth”? Before Adam and Eve sinned, there existed a unity between God’s family in heaven and God’s family on the earth, and again, this unity will be established through Jesus Christ. This is a part of the sacred secret of God.

THE SACRED SECRET OF GOD

We have seen that the basic meaning of the Greek word oikonomia is “household.” But using the rendering “household” in Ephesians 1:10 could create wrong connotations. Many translations do not translate the word oikonomia in this verse,” but they use some kind of circumlocution.  NRSV and NAB translate the word as “plan” and NKJV translates the word as “dispensation.” I think that the word “administration” of NWT84 and NWT13 is a fine rendering of oikonomia. This English word is abstract as the Greek word can be, and it includes the basic meaning of something that is administered, just as a household is administered. The Watchtower of October 15, 1974, page 636, has a fine explanation of the meaning of oikonomia:

“The term ‘administration’ does not mean the Messianic kingdom of His Son Jesus Christ,” the speaker emphasized. No, rather, it refers to God’s way of administering or managing things, his procedure in handling matters with a view to producing unity. The instrument God uses in his “administration” or management of things, it was shown, is the Kingdom of his Son Jesus Christ.” (the author’s italics)

If we compare this definition with the words “Biden’s administration” we see a difference. The words “Biden’s administration” includes the power basis of Joe Biden as president in the USA and the policy of the president. But it also includes all the ministers and persons who are employed for the purpose of following the instructions of the president.

Because Jehovah is almighty, he is not dependent on angels or humans to effectuate his purpose. So his administration is solely connected with himself, and if we coined a new word, his position would be that of “supremeship” and not “stewardship.” I will now analyze some of the expressions in Ephesians 1:8-12:

⁸ This he caused to abound toward us in all wisdom and good sense, ⁹ in that he made known to us the sacred secret (mystērion) of his will. It is according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself ¹⁰ for an administration (oikonomia) at the full limit of the appointed times, namely, to gather all things together again (anakefalaioō) in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth. Yes, in him ¹¹ with whom we are in union and were assigned as heirs, having been foreordained according to the purpose of the one who accomplishes all things as he decides according to his will, ¹² 

The administration is God’s sacred secret, and the following excellent definition of the sacred secret is found in the online study edition of NWT13:

The sacred secret of his will: The term “sacred secret” is mentioned several times in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Generally speaking, Jehovah’s “sacred secret”  centers on Jesus Christ (Col 2:2; 4:3) However, the sacred secret has many facets. These include: Jesus’ identity as the promised offspring, or Messiah, and his role in God’s purpose (Ge 3:15); a heavenly government, God’s Messianic Kingdom (Matt 3:11; Mr 4:11); the congregation of spirit-anointed Christians, of which Christ is head (Eph 5:32; Col 1.18; Re 1:20); the role of these anointed ones who share the Kingdom with Jesus (Lu 22:29, 30); and the selection of the anointed from among both Jews and Gentiles (Ro 11:25; Eph 3:3-6: col 1:26, 27).

The basis for the word mysterion (“sacred secret”) is the prophecy in Genesis 3:15 about the “seed of the woman.” This prophecy shows that God would do something to restore the order of the earth that Satan partially had destroyed. But how this would be done by the help of the “seed” was a sacred secret until it was revealed in the first century CE.

The construction of the clauses in verses 9 and 10 shows that sacred secret is “the administration,” which is God’s way of administering or managing things. That oikonomia (“administration”) refers to the way God is managing things accords with the words “the sacred secret of his will” and “which he purposed in himself,” The sacred secret is also put in a time frame because it begins “at the full limit of the appointed times.” The Watchtower of October 15, 1974, page 622, connects these words with the words “the full limit of the time” (Galatians 4:4) when Jesus was born by a woman, and we read:

¹⁰ When God’s Son Jesus Christ was glorified in heaven and founded the Christian congregation at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost of 33 C.E., the “administration at the full limit of the appointed times” started operation in its first stage, the most essential stage. The congregation of those who were to be associates in the unifying work with Jesus Christ in the heavens had to be gathered and unified under its Head, God’s Chief Servant. In this way “the things in the heavens,” the things destined for the heavens, would be ‘gathered together again in the Christ,’ so that the “body” used by God in his administration might be complete.​—Eph. 1:9-11.

¹¹ However, according to God’s purpose, the due time must come for the second feature of his “administration,” namely, to ‘gather together again in the Christ’ “the things on the earth.” This time arrived when the Gentile Times came to their fulfillment in autumn of the year 1914 C.E. There the time came for the Messianic Kingdom rule as formerly exercised by King David over in the Middle East to be reinstated, not in earthly Jerusalem, but in the heavens.

¹² In heaven, at God’s right hand, was where the permanent Heir of King David was now located, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. Then it was that Jehovah installed this heavenly Heir of King David on the throne, with royal power not just over the territory of ancient Israel but over all the earth, over all mankind for whom Jesus Christ had died as a perfect human sacrifice. Thereby the Kingdom of the Messiah went into operation. At that time, in a culminating way, the “full limit of the appointed times” had been reached when the “administration” that God was conducting ‘should gather together again in the Christ’ the estranged “things on the earth.” This would be the second stage of the gathering or uniting work according to God’s purpose.

This is a very good explanation. The gathering of “the things in the heavens” (those who will reign with Jesus in the heavens) started at “the full limit of the time” in the first century CE. And the gathering of “the things on the earth” (those who will live in the earthly paradise) started at “the full limit of the appointed times of the nations” (Luke 21:24) in 1914.[1]

God’s channel of communication is his administration, the way he administers things. His channel of communication is exclusively connected with himself, and humans have no part in it.

[1]. For a detailed discussion of the sacred secret, se my arricle “The Sacrted Secret and God’s Administration” in the category “Bible Study.”

THE ADMINISTRATION OF GOD AS GOD’S CHANNEL OF COMMUNICATION

The sacred secret is again mentioned in Ephesians chapter 3, and I quote verses 8-10:

⁸ To me, a man less than the least of all holy ones, this undeserved kindness was given, that I should declare to the nations the good news about the unfathomable riches of the Christ ⁹ and should make men see how the sacred secret is administered which has from the indefinite past been hidden in God, who created all things. ¹⁰ [This was] to the end that now to the governments and the authorities in the heavenly places there might be made known through the congregation the greatly diversified wisdom of God,

The Greek words of verse 9 are hē oikonomia tou mysterious, (literally: “the administration of the sacred secret”). I have already shown that the sacred secret is the administration of God. So, the rendering “how the sacred secret is administered” is fine. An alternative rendering could be “the administration which is the sacred secret.” Both translations would support the view that God’s administration, i.e., the way how he administers things is the sacred secret which now has been revealed.

INSPIRATION AND DIRECTION BY GOD’S CHANNEL IN THE FIRST CENTURY CE

As we have seen, God’s administration is the way he administers or manages things. How God would arrange things in order to fulfill the prophecy of Genesis 3:15 that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the snake was a sacred secret. But in the first century CE, this sacred secret was revealed, as Ephesians 3:4-10 shows:

⁴ So when you read this you can realize my comprehension of the sacred secret of the Christ. ⁵ In other generations this secret was not made known to the sons of men as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by spirit ⁶ namely, that people of the nations should, in union with Christ Jesus and through the good news, be joint heirs and fellow members of the body and partakers with us of the promise. ⁷ I became a minister of this according to the free gift of God’s undeserved kindness that was given me through the operation of his power.⁸  To me, a man less than the least of all holy ones, this undeserved kindness was given, so that I should declare to the nations the good news about the unfathomable riches of the Christ ⁹  and should make everyone see the administration of the sacred secret that has been hidden through the ages in God, who created all things. ¹⁰This was so that now, through the congregation, there might be made known to the governments and the authorities in the heavenly places the greatly diversified wisdom of God.

Please note the difference between inspiration and direction in these verses. The word “inspiration” means that God by his spirit directly gives a message to one or more of his servants on the earth. The word “direction” means that God causes directly or indirectly or allows a certain situation to materialize. And his servants on the earth will see this situation, and on this basis, they will draw a conclusion that God wants them to draw.

Verse 5 refers to inspiration. The sacred secret that people of the nations should be joint heirs with the Christian Jews and would be a part of the seed mentioned in Eden has been revealed to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This was first revealed to Peter by different miracles.[1] And how the ransom sacrifice was applied to these people, how they were baptized with holy spirit and declared righteous, were revealed to the apostles by inspiration.

Verses 9 and 10 speak about direction. How should people other than the holy apostles and prophets know about the sacred secret? Verse 9 shows that everyone should see the administration of the sacred secret. This means, as verse 10 says, that “the greatly diversified wisdom of God” should be made known, not only to people on earth but also “to the governments and authorities in the heavenly places.” This should happen “through the congregation.” Do we ascertain the situation and have the right perspective here in connection with God’s direction?

God directly caused a situation, and on the basis of this situation, everyone should draw a particular conclusion (“should see”) What was this situation? It was that at the direction of holy spirit, congregations were formed apart from the Jews, the previous people of God, and the members of these congregations preached the good news about Jesus and made miracles. On the basis of this “everyone could see” the administration of God and identify and become a part of this people. Everyone were not inspired by God, but on the basis of how God administered things, on the basis of his actions “everyone could see” — this is direction.

The Watchtower of September 15, 1971, page 569, has an interesting comment on the issue of direction that is mentioned in verse 10:

It is not that the congregation on earth teaches wisdom to the heavenly authorities. Rather, it is that God, by his dealings and the working out of his purposes in connection with the Christian congregation, reveals surpassing wisdom, even to the angels.​—1 Pet. 1:10-12.

Peter also made some comments regarding how God’s administration — how he administers things — should be made known to the heavenly authorities in 1 Peter 1:10-12:

¹⁰  Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the undeserved kindness meant for you made a diligent inquiry and a careful search. ¹¹  They kept on investigating what particular time or what season the spirit within them was indicating concerning Christ as it testified beforehand about the sufferings meant for Christ and about the glory that would follow.¹²  It was revealed to them that they were ministering, not to themselves, but to you, regarding what has now been announced to you by those who declared the good news to you with holy spirit sent from heaven. Into these very things, angels are desiring to peer.

When God uttered the words that are quoted in Genesis 3:15, the angels in heaven wondered who the woman and her seed and the snake and his seed were. The prophets who prophesied about the restoration of all things, kept investigating about the fulfillment of their prophecies, without being able to understand this.

Through the centuries, the angels saw what God did and how he administered things. His action represented clues, as to how the prophecy in Eden would be fulfilled, but the clues gave no knowledge of the sacred secret. Therefore, Peter could say that “into these very things [the fulfillment of the sacred secret], angels are desiring to peer.”

According to Ephesians 3:3 Paul said that “by way of a revelation the sacred secret was made known to me” — he was inspired by God. In contrast to Paul who was inspired, the angels in heaven understood the fulfillment of the sacred secret by direction. They saw how Jesus came to the earth and gave his life as a ransom sacrifice and how the Christian congregations were formed. And by looking at this, the saw the fulfillment of the sacred secret — the secret was “made known to the governments and the authorities in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 3:10).

I would like to connect the information given above with the quotation From Romans 1:19, 20 that I made in the introduction:

¹⁹ because what may be known about God is manifest among them, for God made it manifest to them. ¹⁹ For his invisible [qualities] are clearly seen from the world’s (kosmos) creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship, so that they are inexcusable.

Here we have the same points as those of Peter and Paul that are discussed above. God made known his sacred secret by letting Jesus die for the sins of mankind and by forming the Christian congregation. Sincere persons could see this and draw their conclusion regarding the purpose of God.

The quotation above shows that people could see God’s eternal power and Godship on the basis of the things he made from the world’s (the human family’s) creation and onward. In both situations were God’s direction and not his inspiration at work.

The sacred secret was made known to Paul and to the holy apostles and prophets by inspiration (by revelation). The sacred secret was made known to other people by direction. (They saw how God dealt with the congregations consisting of Jews and people of the nations.) The sacred secret were also made known to the angels by direction.

[1]. See the article «The Sign 6: The Governing Body and divine inspiration.”

DIRECTION BY GOD’S CHANNEL OF COMMUNICATION IN OUR TIME

The first prophecy in Genesis 3:15 indicates that God has a purpose, and this purpose he makes known through his channel of communication, that I have shown is his administration (oikonomia). Today, God communicates with people through his administration, by his actions and not by inspiration.

We are accustomed to communication by spoken and written words, but not so much by actions. God has used both written and spoken words, but a great part of his communication with humans has been by actions. When we understand this, we also understand why we can say that God’s administration, which is the way God does things, is his channel of communication. God communicates with us by his actions.

In the first century CE, God communicated, to some extent, directly with some of his servants by giving them revelations, which means that they were inspired. This served his purpose because only the Hebrew Scriptures were available at that time. But to a greater extent, he communicated with his people by his actions. Today, we have the whole Bible, and there is no more any need for inspiration. So, today, God communicates solely with humans by his actions.

Today, God exclusively communicates with his actions, by conclusions that his people draw on the basis of these actions. Because of this, the claim of the members of the Governing body that they all the time are led by God (= inspiration) to give the spiritual food he wants his people to have at the proper time, is a false claim. God’s channel of communication is not the nine men of the Governing Body, as they claim. But his channel of communication is his administration, the actions he does to accomplish his purpose.

But how can we be acquainted with God’s administration today, with his channel of communication? The basic tool God has given us is the Holy Bible, and only by understanding the Bible can we be acquainted with God’s channel of communication.

In the first century, God’s channel of communication directed people of the nations and the angels to understand his sacred secret by his actions, by sending Jesus and by forming the Christian congregations. Now everyone could see the sacred secret.

Today, God’s channel of communication has directed sincere persons to become his people, and he has directed his people to understand the six keys that are necessary to understand the Bible. Just as people in the first century could see how God made and supported the Christian congregations and by this know his sacred secret, God has directed his people to understand the six mentioned keys, and by understanding these keys, anyone can understand the Bible by the help of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

THE FIRST KEY: IDENTIFYING THE PEOPLE OF GOD

God has directed the formation of a closely united people, has caused the fulfillment of prophecies on this people, and has helped them to understand that they are God’s people. Let us see:

Jesus said that one part of the sign showing that he was present as king in God’s kingdom was that the message of his established kingdom would be preached as a witness for all the nations. (Matthew 24:14)

As a basis for our discussion, I take Romans 10:13-15 as a point of departure.

¹³ For “everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved.” ¹³ However, how will they call on him in whom they have not put faith?  How, in turn, will they put faith in him of whom they have not heard? How, in turn, will they hear without someone to preach? ¹⁵ How, in turn, will they preach unless they have been sent forth? Just as it is written: “How comely are the feet of those who declare good news of good things!”

 These words deal with communication, both between preachers and other humans and between those who organize the preaching and the preachers. But how can we identify these preachers? Or put in another way, how can we know how God’s channel of communication works today? How can we identify the people whom God uses to preach his message?

We may get an important lead by reading 1. Timothy 3:15 and Hebrews 3:6:

¹⁴ I am writing you these things, though I am hoping to come to you shortly, ¹⁵ but in case I am delayed, so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in God’s household (oikos), which is the congregation of the living God, a pillar and support of the truth.

⁶ but Christ [was faithful] as a Son over the house (oikos), of that One. We are the house (oikos) of that One, if we make fast our hold on our freeness of speech and our boasting over the hope firm to the end.

Paul shows that there is only one congregation that belongs to God, and this congregation is the pillar and support of the truth. A congregation consists of those who are members, and Hebrews 3:6 shows that “the congregation” consists of all the anointed Christians on the earth. This means that among the hundreds of religions (congregations) that claim to serve God, and who offer help to us, there is only one congregation that God uses in connection with his channel of communication.

That there is only one true congregation is confirmed in 2 Timothy 4:3,4:

³ For there will be a period of time when they will not put up with the healthful teaching, but, in accord with their own desires, they will accumulate teachers for themselves to have their ears tickled; ⁴ and they will turn their ears away from the truth, whereas they will be turned aside to false stories.

According to Paul, there is only one truth or healthful teaching, and the reason of all the different Christian religions is that this truth is not accepted. Many persons do not want to follow the laws and principles of God — these are too burdensome — and they turn to teachers who say what people like to hear, things that “tickle their ears.” It is obvious that when we search for teachers who can help us learn God’s truth, we must use teachers from the congregation of the living God.

Why is the identification of the people of God necessary to understand the Bible? We may get some clues by reading Daniel 11:33, 34 (above) and 12:7, 9-12 (below):

³³ And as regards those having insight among the people, they will impart understanding to the many. And they will certainly be made to stumble by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plundering, for [some] days.³⁴ But when they are made to stumble they will be helped with a little help; and many will certainly join themselves to them by means of smoothness.

⁷ And I began to hear the man clothed with the linen, who was up above the waters of the stream, as he proceeded to raise his right [hand] and his left [hand] to the heavens and to swear by the One who is alive for time indefinite: “It will be for an appointed time, appointed times and a half. And as soon as there will have been a finishing of the dashing of the power of the holy people to pieces, all these things will come to their finish.”

⁹ And he went on to say: “Go, Daniel, because the words are made secret and sealed up until the time of [the] end. ¹⁰ Many will cleanse themselves and whiten themselves and will be refined. And the wicked ones will certainly act wickedly, and no wicked ones at all will understand; but the ones having insight will understand.

¹¹ “And from the time that the constant [feature] has been removed and there has been a placing of the disgusting thing that is causing desolation, there will be one thousand two hundred and ninety days.

¹² “Happy is the one who is keeping in expectation and who arrives at the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days!

Verses 33, 34 speak of those who having insight who will teach others, and verse 10 says that only those having insight will understand the book of Daniel in the time of the end. Verse 7 speaks of the holy people whose power will be dashed to pieces after a certain period of time. This shows that there would be a clearly identifiable people separated from other people who will experience a loss. Three different time periods are mentioned, and it is obvious that to understand what these time periods refer to we must first identify the holy people who experience these time periods.

The Christian Greek Scriptures also indicate the importance to identify God’s people, and I quote Luke 21:29-32 (above) and Revelation 1:1 (below):

²⁹ With that he spoke an illustration to them: “Note the fig tree and all the other trees: ³⁰ When they are already in the bud, by observing it YOU know for yourselves that now the summer is near. ³¹ In this way YOU also, when YOU see these things occurring, know that the kingdom of God is near. ³² Truly I say to YOU, This generation will by no means pass away until all things occur.

¹ A revelation by Jesus Christ, which God gave him, to show his slaves the things that must shortly take place. And he sent forth his angel and presented [it] in signs through him to his slave John.

According to Luke, the followers of Jesus, who were God’s people and who were addressed as “YOU,” were those who should understand the sign of the presence of Jesus. According to John, the followers of Jesus, who were God’s people were those who should understand the book of Revelation.

I quote the following three passages to show how God’s people is mentioned in Revelation: 11:2, 3, 6, 7 (above), 12:17 (middle), and 13:5-7 (below):

² But as for the courtyard that is outside the temple [sanctuary], cast it clear out and do not measure it, because it has been given to the nations, and they will trample the holy city underfoot for forty-two months. ³ And I will cause my two witnesses to prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days dressed in sackcloth.” ⁴ These are [symbolized by] the two olive trees and the two lampstands and are standing before the Lord of the earth.

⁷ And when they have finished their witnessing, the wild beast that ascends out of the abyss will make war with them and conquer them and kill them.

¹⁷ And the dragon grew wrathful at the woman, and went off to wage war with the remaining ones of her seed, who observe the commandments of God and have the work of bearing witness to Jesus.

⁵ And a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies was given it, and authority to act forty-two months was given it. ⁶ And it opened its mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name and his residence, even those residing in heaven. ⁷ And there was granted it to wage war with the holy ones and conquer them, and authority was given it over every tribe and people and tongue and nation.

Revelation is written in signs, and “the two witnesses” represent the people of God. Daniel 12:7 said that the power of the holy people would be dashed to pieces after 3 times and a half. This is the same as 1 260 days after which the two witnesses would be killed, according to Revelation 11:7.

Revelation 12:17 tells that the dragon will wage war with the remaining ones of the seed of the woman, and the wild beast that is mentioned in Revelation chapter 13 will wage war with the holy ones and conquer them, and it will, according to verse 5, have authority to act for 42 months. This is the same period as 3 times and a half and 1 260 days.

There are four conclusions we can draw from all the passages that I have quoted:

• Both the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Greek Scriptures show that God will have a people in the time of the end that is distinct and separated from all other groups.
• This people fulfill different prophetic time periods.
• Only those who are members of this people will benefit from God’s channel of communication and will understand the Holy Scriptures.
• Only by being taught by God’s people is it possible to benefit from God’s channel of communication and understand the Holy Scriptures.

The people of God can be identified as Jehovah’s Witnesses! (See chapter 1 in my book My Beloved Religion — And theGoverning Body.)

 

Only by being taught by Jehovah’s Witnesses is it possible to learn the truth of the Bible.

But the actions of the members of the Governing Body, particularly in the 21st century, have caused much damage to God’s people from the inside.

 

THE SECOND KEY: UNDERSTANDING THE PRESENCE OF JESUS

The return of Jesus and his presence has an important place in the Christian Greek Scriptures. Both Matthew, Mark, and Luke present the great prophecy of Jesus about his presence. The only people that understand what the presence of Jesus is, are Jehovah’s Witnesses.

In my article “The Sign 6: The Governing Body and divine Inspiration” I showed that the Bible Students’ knowledge of the presence of Jesus probably was given to them by God’s direction communicated through his channel of communication. God’s direction means that he causes directly or indirectly or allows a particular situation to occur. And God’s people will draw a particular conclusion on the basis of this situation.

In the 1870s, when the Bible Students started their Bible studies, the extant Bible translation (King James version from 1611) did not show that Jesus had a presence. The attention of the Bible Students was directed toward The Emphatic Diaglott, translated by Benjamin Wilson in 1864, which used the word “presence” in the great prophecy of Jesus. It is very likely that this was Jehovah’s direction.

Because Revelation 1:1 says that this book is written to show his slaves the things that must shortly take place, most of its signs refer to the time of the presence of Jesus. Jehovah’s Witnesses are the only people I am aware of who knows that the presence of Jesus began when he received the kingly power in God’s kingdom, and that the Greek word erkhomai (“to come”) in most instances refer to the end of his presence when he comes as judge in the great tribulation. It is not possible to understand Revelation without the knowledge Jehovah’s Witnesses have of the difference between Jesus’ presence (parousia) and his coming (erkhomai). One example is Revelation 12:7-12:

⁷ And war broke out in heaven: Miʹcha·el and his angels battled with the dragon, and the dragon and its angels battled ⁸ but it did not prevail, neither was a place found for them any longer in heaven. ⁹ So down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth; he was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him. ¹⁰ And I heard a loud voice in heaven say:

“Now have come to pass (ginomai) the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ, because the accuser of our brothers has been hurled down, who accuses them day and night before our God! ¹¹ And they conquered him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their witnessing, and they did not love their souls even in the face of death. ¹² On this account be glad, YOU heavens and YOU who reside in them! Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to YOU, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.”

The phrase “have come to pass” is translated from the Greek verb ginomai with the meaning “be, become, happen, be born or created, constitute, establish.” (Mounce) So, the meaning of the phrase is that the things mentioned has happened or has been established, namely the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ. Because the presence of Jesus started when God’s kingdom was established and Jesus received the authority as king, the words in verse 10 refer to the beginning of Jesus’ presence.

After Satan was hurled down to the earth, he has a short period of time, according to verse 12. Satan is thrown into the abyss before the period of one thousand years of judgment and begins. Thus, the short period of time represents the presence of Jesus, from the time when he received the authority as king until the great tribulation.

THE THIRD KEY: UNDERSTANDING THE TIME OF THE END

The words “the time of the end” are found in the book of Daniel, and I quote 12:8-10:

⁸ Now as for me, I heard, but I could not understand; so that I said: “O my lord, what will be the final part of these things?”

⁹ And he went on to say: “Go, Daniel, because the words are made secret and sealed up until the time of [the] end, ¹⁰ Many will cleanse themselves and whiten themselves and will be refined. And the wicked ones will certainly act wickedly, and no wicked ones at all will understand; but the ones having insight will understand.

The words of the book of Daniel should not be understood before the time of the end. This means that we need to know when the time of the end is. In connection with the section on the presence of Jesus I showed that there are several different time periods that are mentioned. This shows that the time setting of the Bible is not general but is specific. Many people have tried to calculate the time periods of the Bible with different results. But the only group that points to a time period that can identify the time of the end and which corresponds with the presence of Jesus is Jehovah’s Witnesses.

In connection with the presence of Jesus, I quoted Luke 21:29-32 saying that the people of God should understand the sign of the presence of Jesus in Luke 21:8-24a. However, after the description of the sign, verse 24b have a prophecy that must be included in “these things” that should be understood according to verse 29. I quote Luke 21:24:

²⁴ and they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations, until the appointed times (kairos) of the nations are fulfilled.

If you use the words “times of the gentiles, Luke 21:24” as a search on the Internet, you will find many different comments. But the only group that connects these “appointed times” (kairos) with the events of the great prophecy of Jesus and God’s kingdom, and have calculated the number of these times is Jehovah’s Witnesses.

In the first chapter of my book My Beloved Religion — And The Governing Body I have a detailed analysis of “the appointed times of the nations.” I show that there is both a thematic and linguistic parallel between “the appointed times of the nations” in Luke 21:24 and the seven appointed times in Daniel chapter 4. Below I reproduce a table from this chapter:

Table 1.3 Parallels between Daniel 4 and Luke 21

Jerusalem = the Kingdom of God.	The tree = the Kingdom of God.
Jerusalem is trampled on.	The tree is cut down.
The trampling occurs during the appointed times of the nations.	The stump of the tree is without sprouts during a period of seven appointed times.
Jerusalem will no longer be trampled upon after the appointed times of the nations.	The stump of the tree will sprout after 7 appointed times

The topical (thematic) parallel is seen in the table above, and the linguistic parallel is seen in the word kairoi (Aramaic ‘iddānīn) in Luke 21:24 which parallels kairoi (Theodotion)—(Aramaic ‘iddānīn) in Daniel 4:16, 23, 25, 32.

Following the same procedure of calculation that is used regarding the 69 weeks of years, mentioned in Daniel 9:25, until the coming of Jesus in the year 29 CE, the “appointed time of the nations” lasted 2 520 years until the kingdom of God was established and the presence of Jesus started in the year 1914.

Matthew 24:3 parallels the presence (parousia) of Jesus with “the conclusion of the system of things (synteleias tou aiōnos), which linguistically can be shown to be the same as “the time of the end” (Hebrew, ‘ēt kēts). So, it is clear that the time of the presence of Jesus is parallel with the time of the end.

The reason why “the appointed times of the nations” are so important is that they show that the time of the end started in the year 1914.

Daniel shows the importance of knowing when the time of the end is. The calculation of “the appointed times of the nations” is the only way to know when the time of the end is.

As a confirmation that the calculation of “the appointed times of the nations” is correct, is the fact that World War I, which is the first event of the sign of the presence of Jesus, started in the year 1914. Another confirmation is that the preaching of the established God’s kingdom as a witness of all the nations is a part of the sign of the presence of Jesus. And this preaching started a short time after 1914.

A third confirmation is John’s words in Revelation 17:8-11. Five world powers were fallen when John wrote Revelation, Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Medo-Persia, and Greece. One was exisiting, the Roman empire, and one would come in the future, related to John. The seventh world power can be identified as the Anglo-American Empire. There would come an eighth world power that springs from the seven. While the seventh and the eighth world powers existed, the great tribulation would come. This prophecy has a time frame confirming that the time of the end refer to our time.[1]

[1]. See my article, «The Sign 4: “‘The abomination that causes desolation’ Matthew 24:15” in the category “Bible study.”

Because the knowledge of the time of the end is necessary for our understanding of the great prophecy of Jesus and of the book of Revelation, this understanding can be said to be one of the keys for the understanding of the Bible.

Can we see Jehovah’s direction here? When the Bible Students started their studies in the 1870s, the basic doctrines of the Bible were rather easy to find, because everything they needed were found different places in the Bible. They only needed to gather all that was written about each doctrine and make a synthesis of it.

The prophecies were much more difficult to understand because only half was written in the Bible (the prophecy), and the other half (the fulfillment) they had to find themselves. They had to start from scratch, which means that they had to start with the extant interpretations of the prophecies  and the prophetic time periods in their time. After  a careful study, which could take years,  they had to accept or reject an interpretation. One of the time periods that already had been calculated was 2,520 years from the year 606 to 1914.[1]

As the Bible Students studied the Bible, one after another of the prophetic interpretations made by others were rejected. But the prophecy about the 2,520 years was kept, and when the great war that was expected in 1914 started, the Bible Students believed that this chronology had been confirmed. Taking the whole situation of this prophecy into consideration, it is likely that it was God’s direction that the Bible Students understood the prophecy of “the appointed times of the nations.”

THE FOURTH KEY: UNDERSTANDING THAT TWO DIFFERENT GROUPS WILL GET EVERLASTING LIFE

The Hebrew Scriptures speak about a future hope connected with the earth and the resurrection from the dead. Isaiah 65:17 speaks about new heavens and a new earth, and the same does Peter in 2. Peter 3:13.

The future hope that is expressed in the letters and epistles of the Christian Greek Scriptures is heavenly, to reign with Jesus Christ in heaven. In order to understand the Bible, it is mandatory to know that there are two different hopes of salvation, one earthly and one heavenly. To show this, I quote Hebrews 2:5 (above), 3:1 (middle), and Revelation 7:4, 9, 14 (below)  :

⁵ For it is not to angels that he has subjected the inhabited earth to come, about which we are speaking.

 ¹ Consequently, holy brothers, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle an high priest whom we confess—Jesus.

⁴ And I heard the number of those who were sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel:

⁹ After these things I saw, and, look! a great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes; and there were palm branches in their hands.

¹⁴ So right away I said to him: “My lord, you are the one that knows.” And he said to me: “These are the ones that come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

The Epistle to the Hebrews shows that there is a coming inhabited earth where some people will live, and there is a hope of heavenly life for others. Revelation shows that there is a great crowd without a number that will survive the great tribulation and live in paradise on earth. It also shows that there is a group of 144 000, which according to Revelation 14:1-4, “are bought from among mankind” to a life in the heavenly government.

If we do not understand that there are two groups with two different hopes, we will misunderstand many parts of the Christian Greek Scriptures.

We learn from these Scriptures that the reason for the preaching in the first century CE was not to separate all people into two groups, one group that would be saved and one that would be punished. The purpose of the preaching was to find sincere people who could be a part of the heavenly government. All those who did not become a part of this group, except those who are incorrigibly wicked, will, because of the ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ, get a resurrection during Judgment Day of a thousand years to get the opportunity to serve God and get everlasting life.

The purpose of the preaching in the time of the end is not to separate all people into two groups, one group that would be saved and one that would be punished. But the purpose is to find sincere people who can fill the remaining places among the 144 000 with a heavenly calling and to find sincere people who can be a part of the great crowd that will survive the great tribulation. All those who have not become a part of one of these groups, except those who are incorrigibly wicked, will, because of the ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ, get a resurrection during Judgment Day of a thousand years to get the opportunity to serve God and get everlasting life.

A failure to understand that there is an earthly and a heavenly group will cause us to misunderstand many texts in the Bible. I give the example of Luke 13:22-30:

²² And he journeyed through from city to city and from village to village, teaching and continuing on his journey to Jerusalem. ²³ Now a certain man said to him: “Lord, are those who are being saved few?” He said to them: ²⁴ “Exert yourselves vigorously to get in through the narrow door, because many, I tell YOU, will seek to get in but will not be able, ²⁵ when once the householder has got up and locked the door, and YOU start to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Sir, open to us.’ But in answer he will say to YOU, ‘I do not know where YOU are from.’ ²⁶ Then YOU will start saying, ‘We ate and drank in front of you, and you taught in our broad ways.’ ²⁷ But he will speak and say to YOU, ‘I do not know where YOU are from. Get away from me, all YOU workers of unrighteousness!’

²⁸ There is where [YOUR] weeping and the gnashing of [YOUR] teeth will be, when YOU see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves thrown outside. ²⁹ Furthermore, people will come from eastern parts and western, and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. ³⁰ And, look! there are those last who will be first, and there are those first who will be last.”

Most people who read this text will conclude that it is difficult to be saved, i.e., to get everlasting life. Many will try to be saved but not be able to achieve it. This is a completely wrong understanding. We do not know what the man meant when he asked, “Lord, are those who are being saved few?” But in order to understand the answer Jesus gave, we must understand the two different groups that will be saved and the context.

The Jewish nation was the people of God, and they were the first to be offered to fill the places of 144,000 who would reign with Jesus Christ in heaven. But the nation did not accept this offer and was rejected, as we read in Matthew 21:43:

⁴³ This is why I say to YOU, The kingdom of God will be taken from YOU and be given to a nation producing its fruits.

The man who asked the question was a part of the Jewish nation that had been rejected by God. When Jesus gave his answer, he showed in verses 28 and 29 that by “being saved” he referred to coming into the kingdom of God, i.e., being one of the 144 000 who will reign with Jesus in the heavenly kingdom of God.

Now we can understand the background. When Jesus said that “the kingdom of God will be taken from you” to whom did he refer? Verse 23 shows that he spoke to “the chief priests and the older men of the people” The leaders of the people pretended that they served God. But as Jesus showed on several occasions, they were hypocrites. Matthew 23:23-32 shows how the religious leaders tried to get into the kingdom of God:

²³ “Woe to YOU, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because YOU give the tenth of the mint and the dill and the cumin, but YOU have disregarded the weightier matters of the Law, namely, justice and mercy and faithfulness. These things it was binding to do, yet not to disregard the other things. ²⁴ Blind guides, who strain out the gnat but gulp down the camel!

²⁵ “Woe to YOU, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because YOU cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of plunder and immoderateness. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the dish, that the outside of it also may become clean.

²⁷ “Woe to YOU, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because YOU resemble whitewashed graves, which outwardly indeed appear beautiful but inside are full of dead men’s bones and of every sort of uncleanness. ²⁸ In that way YOU also, outwardly indeed, appear righteous to men, but inside YOU are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

These religious leaders tried to come into God’s kingdom by doing “good works” and “outwardly indeed, appear righteous to men.” But inside they were “full of hypocrisy and lawlessness,” according to verse 28. Therefore, they would not be able to enter God’s kingdom.

We understand that to come into God’s kingdom referred to obtaining the heavenly call of being among the 144 000 who would reign with Jesus, and that those who tried to come into the kingdom but were not able to do it, were members of the nation of Israel that was rejected by God, and who were full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. For these people it was difficult to be saved.

The words of Jesus do not show that it is difficult for people in general to be saved, i.e., to get everlasting life. Chapter 7 in my book The Atonement Between God and Man is entitled “Is it difficult to be saved,” and it discusses in detail the words of Jesus and their context. Chapter 4 in the book is entitled, “The Vast Majority of Adam’s Descendants Will Get a Resurrection,” and it shows that most of the possibly 20 and 25 billion people who have lived on the earth will get a resurrection. Only those who are incorrigibly wicked and have sinned against the holy spirit will not get a resurrection with the possibility of everlasting life. Chapter 1 in the book is entitled “An Understanding of the Two Different Hopes is Necessary in Order to Understand the Ransom Sacrifice.” A detailed analysis of this issue is given.

The conclusion is that only if we understand that there are two different hopes of salvation, will we understand the words of Jesus about salvation and a great number of other expressions in the Christian Greek Scriptures. Therefore, we can say that this understanding is a key to understanding the Bible.

We may also see God’s direction behind the understanding of this key. Because the Bible students were sincere people who put the Bible above human dogma, early in their study they understood that the ransom sacrifice of Jesus guarantees that all Adam’s descendants will get a chance to serve God, while 144,000 humans will reign together with Jesus in heaven. But many details of this were unclear. However, as I show in the article “The sign 6: The Governing Body and Divine Inspiration,” in 1935, the big group of persons hoping to live in the earthly paradise became visible. From that year, the distinction between the two groups became clear. It is likely that this was God’s direction.

THE FIFTH KEY: A DETAILED UNDERSTANDING OF WORLD HISTORY

Many prophecies in the Bible have been fulfilled by events described in world history. A detailed knowledge of world history is necessary to understand the prophecies and show that this understanding has a solid basis.

I will give one example. The Book of Daniel, particularly chapter 11, contains many detailed prophecies. Many scholars argue that these are prophecies in historical disguise, which means that they represent history written after the events but presented as prophecies written before the events.

The most important example is the reign of the Syrian king Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who was born in 215 and died in 164 BCE. The prophetic actions presented in Daniel 11:25-35 represent the history of this king is the argument, and they were written after his death and presented as prophecies. The only way to test these arguments is to have a detailed knowledge of the history of Antiochus IV.

Chapter 6 in my book When Was the Book of Daniel Written? A Linguistic, Philological, and Historical Approach (2017) is entitled “Antiochus IV Epiphanes and the Book of Daniel (54 pages).” Contrary to the view of many scholars, I show that the sources for the history of Antiochus IV are few, and to a great extent, they contradict each other. In the chapter, I argue that no event in the book of Daniel is parallel to any known event in the life of Antiochus IV.

In addition to a good knowledge of world history, it is also important to have a knowledge of the history of Jehovah’s Witnesses because many prophecies have been fulfilled on events in their history.

THE SIXTH KEY: A DETAILED KNOWLEDGE OF GREEK, HEBREW, AND ARAMAIC

I need not say so much about this key, except that the first approach to any study of the Bible must be to analyze the original text of the passage in question. A very good knowledge of the grammar, syntax, and lexical meaning of words of the three languages is necessary to understand the nuances and subtleties of the text.

[1]. The year 606 was used, and because the lack of year 0 was not included, the result was 1914. Later, the year 607 was used, the lack year 0 was taken into consideration, and the end result was the year 1914.

HOW CAN A PEOPLE WITH SOME FALSE DOCTRINES BE THE TRUE RELIGION?

A pupil in elementary school who are going to learn botany cannot just go into a field and learn botany by picking flowers and study these.  He or she is dependent on botany textbooks and a teacher who can help the pupil to learn the subject on the basis of these books. The six keys discussed above show that a person cannot just read through the Bible and understand it. He or she will not know to what the abomination that causes desolation refers to (Matthew 24.15), he will not know who the holy people are, or when the time of the end is, or to what the time periods of three times and a half, 1290 days, and 1335 days refer (Daniel chapter 12). He is dependent on a teacher to understand these subjects.

As I have shown above, the only people who know the six keys that are necessary to understand the Bible are Jehovah’s Witnesses. (The two last keys may also be known by others.) But the articles on my website show there are many problems connected with the leaders of Jehovah’s Witnesses that need to be addressed. The principal question is: How can Jehovah’s Witnesses be the only true religion, and that we need teachers from this religion to understand the Bible, when it has a dictatorial leadership and some doctrines and practices that go against the Bible?

The nine members of the Governing Body have in the 21st century elevated themselves, and they function as a government of Jehovah’s Witnesses with unlimited power. It is possible that they believe in what they do. But the positions they have given themselves and their actions go contrary to the laws and principles of the Bible. One example is Matthew 23:6-12:

⁶ They like the most prominent place at evening meals and the front seats in the synagogues, ⁷ and the greetings in the marketplaces and to be called Rabbi by men. ⁸ But YOU, do not YOU be called Rabbi, for one is YOUR teacher, whereas all YOU are brothers. ⁹ Moreover, do not call anyone YOUR father on earth, for one is YOUR Father, the heavenly One. ¹⁰ Neither be called ‘leaders,’ for YOUR Leader is one, the Christ. ¹¹ But the greatest one among YOU must be YOUR minister. ¹² Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Jesus condemned the scribes and the Pharisees, and verse 6 describes these people. Verses 8 to 12 show the humble position that Christians should take. Just the name “The Governing Body” is completely out of touch with the words of Jesus and the rest of the Christian Greek Scriptures. No Christians should govern other Christians.

In the Christian Greek Scriptures, there are several examples of how humans elevated themselves, and I quote 2 Corinthians 11:5, 13 (above) and 3 John 9, 10 (below):

⁵ For I consider that I have not in a single thing proved inferior to YOUR superfine apostles. ⁶ But even if I am unskilled in speech, I certainly am not in knowledge; but in every way we manifested [it] to YOU in all things.

¹² Now what I am doing I will still do, that I may cut off the pretext from those who are wanting a pretext for being found equal to us in the office of which they boast. ¹³ For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.

⁹ I wrote something to the congregation, but Di·otʹre·phes, who likes to have the first place among them, does not receive anything from us with respect. ¹⁰ That is why, if I come, I will call to remembrance his works which he goes on doing, chattering about us with wicked words. Also, not being content with these things, neither does he himself receive the brothers with respect, and those who are wanting to receive them he tries to hinder and to throw out of the congregation.

The “superfine apostles” were members of the congregation in Corinth around the middle of the first century. Diotrefes was a member of an unnamed congregation at the end of the first century CE. Their actions were to elevate themselves and they wanted to govern other Christians.

The spirit of some elders to get a position above other elders was widespread in the beginning of the second century CE. Mark M. Mattison who is a specialist in early Christian texts wrote about Ignatius bishop of Antioch (108-140):

In the first part of the second century Ignatius, the bishop of Syrian Antioch, wrote several letters while being escorted under armed guard to Rome where he was to be martyred.

 In his letters we encounter for the first time an ecclesiology which exalts one “bishop” over the rest of the “presbytery.“ In the opening of his letter to the Philadelphians, he wrote about the importance of “unity with the bishop, the presbyters, and the deacons.” “It is therefore necessary that,” he wrote to the Trallians, “as ye indeed do, so without the bishop ye should do nothing, but should also be subject to the presbytery” (Tr. 2:2). 5

The language of obedience to the bishop and the presbyters is notably pronounced in his letters. “Your bishop presides in the place of God,” he wrote to the Magnesians, “and your presbyters in the place of the apostles, along with your deacons.”(Mag. 46:1).

To the Ephesians he wrote: “It is manifest, therefore, that we should look upon the bishop even as we would upon the Lord Himself“ (Eph. 6:1; cp. Sm. 9:1).

In his commentary on Ignatius, William R. Schoedel downplays this language, arguing that Ignatius does not actually place the bishop in the place of God but depicts him ratheras one sent by God. 6 Thus, though Ignatius’ language may anticipate the exalted view of episcopal authority we encounter in later centuries, it is not as far developed. Even so, however, we have definitely moved beyond the ecclesiology of the New Testament. Never did Paul exhort Christians to obey “the bishop.”

How widespread was this view of the monarchial bishop? Clearly it was not universal.Ignatius himself wrote of Christians who acted independently of the monarchial bishop (Mag. 4:1). In his letter to the Philippians, Polycarp (a contemporary of Ignatius) did not…

The elevation of monarchial bishops within local churches is hardly surprising in light of human nature. As the Israelites clamored for a human king, so do many Christians. What is interesting is how early this worldly phenomenon was manifested in the church. Within only years of the death of its last apostle, the church saw the initial emergence of an ecclesiological system which was to have devastating consequences. The creation of a new caste of Christians was not far behind.[1]

We see the same spirit of self-elevation in the members of the Governing Body as in the superfine apostles, Diotrefes and Ignatius.  And as Mattison wrote, “The elevation of monarchial bishops within local churches is hardly surprising in light of human nature.”

In this discussion about the true religion with some false doctrines, we will note that the elevation of humans existed in congregations that were a part of the people of God.

I will also point out that at the end of the first century CE, there were actions in some congregations that represented gross violations of God’s laws and principles. I quote the words of Jesus through John to the congregation in Pergamum in Revelation 2:13-16:

¹³ ‘I know where you are dwelling, that is, where the throne of Satan is; and yet you keep on holding fast my name, and you did not deny your faith in me even in the days of Anʹti·pas, my witness, the faithful one, who was killed by YOUR side, where Satan is dwelling.

¹⁴ “‘Nevertheless, I have a few things against you, that you have there those holding fast the teaching of Baʹlaam, who went teaching Baʹlak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication. ¹⁵ So you, also, have those holding fast the teaching of the sect of Nic·o·laʹus likewise. ¹⁶ Therefore repent. If you do not, I am coming to you quickly, and I will war with them with the long sword of my mouth.

The actions of the members of the congregation in Pergamum were bad, and the words of correction were strong. But the words, “Therefore, repent” show that this congregation was still a part of God’s people.

Today the members of the Governing Body have elevated themselves, and they have introduced some false doctrines. But more than 90% of the doctrines of Jehovah’s Witnesses are directly based on the Bible. The members of the congregations do their utmost to follow the laws of God. They preach the good news of the kingdom all over the world, and they are the only ones who have the six keys for Bible understanding. The pattern from the first and second centuries shows that in spite of the bad actions, Jehovah’s Witnesses are still the people of God.

FINAL COMMENTS

God’s administration is the channel by which God communicates with humans on earth and not the nine members of the Governing Body. In the first century, God administered the situation so that he inspired some of his servants, i.e., he gave specific messages to his servants.

Today, we have the whole Bible, and inspiration is no longer needed. This means that God communicates with his people through the actions of his administration. God causes situations to materialize directly or indirectly or allows them to materialize, and when his servants see these situations, they draw the conclusions that God wants.

God has directed his servants to find the six keys that are necessary to understand the Bible. This means that the Bible can only be understood with help Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The members of the Governing Body have elevated themselves and introduced some false doctrines. But the pattern from the first and second centuries shows that despite this, Jehovah’s Witnesses are the people of God.

[1]. The Rise of the Clergy. http://www.auburn.edu/~allenkc/openhse/clergy.html Ignatius of Antioch