See, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

(John 1:29)

Granted, “the world is filled … with sin.” (The Watchtower, July 15, 1992, page 13) But “God loved the world” and thus he “did not send his Son into the world for him to judge the world, but for the world to be saved through him.” (John 3:16, 17) In actual fact, the purpose of Jesus’ sacrificial death was “to take away the sin of the world.” – The Watchtower, December 1, 2006, page 28.

Does this mean that all humans will be redeemed? No, the Bible clearly says “that some will never be saved.” (Reasoning From the Scriptures, page 358) It emphasises multiple times that “the world” will be saved – but “around the globe Jehovah’s Witnesses are noted for their being ‘no part of the world.’” (The Watchtower, April 15, 1996, page 21) Hence their sins will not be taken away by Jesus.

“I am a worm and not a man.”

(Psalm 22:6)

“David was ‘a man agreeable to Jehovah’s heart.’” (The Watchtower, January 1, 1989, page 23) Nevertheless he considered himself a feckless “worm.” This was in compliance with the words of Bildad who had said centuries before: “Even the moon is not bright and the stars are not pure in … [God’s] eyes, how much less so mortal man, who is a maggot, and a son of man, who is a worm!” – Job 25:5, 6.

God’s word emphasizes the worthlessness of us humans in many places. “The sons of mankind are a delusion. When laid together on the scales, they are lighter than a mere breath.” (Psalm 62:9) Indeed, “all men have turned aside, all of them have become worthless.” (Romans 3:12) Even whole “nations are like a drop from a bucket, and as the film of dust on the scales they are regarded” – how much less than a dust particle is then a single human? – Isaiah 40:15.

Does keeping God’s commandments and doing his will reduce our drossiness? No, Jesus clearly stated: “When you have done all the things assigned to you, say: ‘We are good-for-nothing slaves.’” (Luke 17:10) No doubt this is true. God would not even need Christians to proclaim his word; he could simply make the stones cry out. (Luke 19:40) So regardless how much we exert ourselves – in God’s eyes we will always be worthless, a worm, a mere breath, a tiny fraction of a dust particle.

“Then two she-bears came out from the woods and went tearing to pieces forty-two children.”

(2 Kings 2:24)

Some boys had jeered Elisha, who was Jehovah’s prophet at that time. He “called down evil upon them in the name of Jehovah. Then two she-bears came out from the woods and went tearing to pieces forty-two children.” Does this mean that we are not to mock Jehovah’s Witnesses and God’s “appointed channel of communication, ‘the faithful and discreet slave’?” – Matthew 24:45; Our Kingdom Ministry, September 2002, page 8.

No, this is not the case. Granted, Jehovah does not tolerate it when someone jeers his prophets. But Jehovah’s Witnesses “do not claim that … they are prophesying in Jehovah’s name.” (Awake!, March 22, 1993, page 3) Since “God’s people today are not prophets,” we can ridicule them without worry. – God’s Word for Us Through Jeremiah, page 167.

“Knead the dough and make round cakes.”

(Genesis 18:6, NWT 1984)

Abraham wanted to regale Jehovah with cake. Baking cakes was women’s work already back then, so Abraham charged his wife with this task. That was in harmony with the teachings of the ‘faithful and discreet slave,’ for “children can see, for example, that men build houses and women bake cakes.” (The Watchtower, September 15, 1973, page 554) “You teen-age girls, have you taken an interest in preparing meals for your household? How many pastries and cakes have you learned to bake?” – The Watchtower, February 1, 1978, page 5.

Likewise today, men can instruct their wives or daughters to bake cakes. But they should not follow the example of Sándor Völgyes who “asked his wife to bake cakes and to put Watchtower articles into them.” (1996 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses, page 104) Such may have been possible in the 1950s, but today the Watchtower magazines are printed with toxic ink for financial reasons. However, the Bible mentions another detail that is important when it comes to cake baking.

Abraham had asked Sarah to bake “round cakes.” Later the Israelites “began to bake the flour dough that they had brought out from Egypt into round cakes.” (Exodus 12:39) According to the Mosaic Law, only “ring-shaped cakes” were fit for sacrificial use (Leviticus 7:12) Centuries later, when an angel raised the prophet Elijah out of his sleep, “there at his head was a round cake.” – 1 Kings 19:6.

So all acceptable cakes had been round back then. A widow in Zarephath once slid into a dangerous situation when she had to tell Elijah: “As Jehovah your God is living, I have no round cake.” Elijah did not punish her, though, but rather said to her: “Do not be afraid … Only from what is there make me a small round cake.” (1 Kings 17:13) Since “all the things that were written aforetime were written for our instruction,” Jehovah surely included this detail in his word by intention.

Obviously it is God’s will that women and girls bake round cakes. Once Tamar, David’s daughter, ignored this command and baked “heart-shaped cakes.” What were the consequences? She was raped and spent the rest of her life in isolation. (2 Samuel 13:14, 20) What a terrible punishment she had to suffer because she did not bake a round cake!

If we want to please God, we must not bake square or heart-shaped cakes. False prophets flood today’s world with sheet cake recipes, but in reality this propaganda comes from Satan. Only “round cakes,” baked by women or girls, are acceptable to worshippers of Jehovah. We must not take this issue easy; even King David warned of “the apostate mockers for a cake.” (Psalm 35:16) No, we must heed God’s just principles in every aspect of our lives, also when baking.

“O how you have fallen from heaven, you light bearer.”

(Isaiah 14:12, NWT 1984, Footnote)

Isaiah chapter 14 tells about the fall of the King of Babylon. But it is also addressed to someone else, to “the spirit creature whom the king of Babylon represented, namely, Satan the Devil.” (Then is Finished The Mystery of God, page 333) Verse 12 calls him “shining one,” the Latin Vulgate uses the name “Lucifer.” Accordingly “’Lucifer’ … is generally understood to refer to Satan the Devil.” – The Watchtower, March 15, 1967, page 181.

A question of concern to true Christians is certainly, Who is the Greater Lucifer? This can be derived from the name itself, for “the word ‘Lucifer’ is Latin and means … ‘light bearer.’” (Walk in Truth; Isaiah 14:12, NWT 1984, Footnote) So, without any doubt, the Greater Lucifer are “Jehovah’s Witnesses, the modern light bearers.” (The Watchtower, May 1, 1993, page 12) “Like their father, Satan,” who “keeps disguising himself as an angel of light,” they too have used the “[Watchtower] magazine … as the primary channel for dispensing increased light.” (2 Corinthians 11:14; The Watchtower, April 15, 2009, page 6; April 15, 2010, page 109) “We must avoid this Satanic propaganda, these ‘unclean … expressions inspired by demons.” – 1997 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses, page 255.

“I tell you, in that night two men will be in one bed.”

(Luke 17:34, NWT 1984)

“Homosexuality and … [other immoral practices] were common” in Biblical times. (The Watchtower, July 1,1996, page 3) Hence it went without saying that Jesus mentioned in a parable “two men” being “in one bed” together. After all, “Christ Jesus is the Greater David.” (“All Scripture Is Inspired of God and Beneficial”, page 105) David once sang: “My brother Jonathan; you were very dear to me. More wonderful was your love to me than the love of women.” – 2 Samuel 1:26.

The account of Abishag the Shunammite also implies that David had homosexual inclinations. She was “a young virgin” and “very beautiful,” and David’s servants hoped that she would “serve the king and … lie beside him” – but to their disappointment, “the king had no sexual relations with her.” (1 Kings 1:2-4, NIV) No wonder, for long before he had written: “Look! How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together!” (Psalm 133:1) Paul, a zealous worshipper of God, followed David’s example and said: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” – 1 Corinthians 7:1, NIV.

Some may object, does the Bible not say in 1 Corinthians 6:9 that homosexuals would not inherit God’s Kingdom? Yes, this is true. homosexuals will not inherit God’s Kingdom. But heterosexuals won’t, too, since you can only inherit something after the decedent’s death. Hence a person could “inherit God’s Kingdom” only after God’s death, but God “lives forever and ever.” (Revelation 4:10) Thus “do not be misled. Neither … men who lie with men, nor [men who lie with women, nor men who lie with nobody] … will inherit God’s kingdom.” – 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10.

“They will waste their time. They will go from house to house carrying stories. They will find fault with people and say things they should not talk about.”

(1 Timothy 5:13, NLV)

It is obvious which group Paul had in mind when he wrote these warning words. Only Jehovah’s Witnesses “call from house to house, approach people on the street, and speak to them over the phone. Whether riding on a bus, walking in a park, or taking a break at their place of secular work, they eagerly look for every opportunity” to “find fault with people.” – “Bearing Thorough Witness” About God’s Kingdom, page 7.

But this ‘finding fault with people’ or “meddling in other people’s business” [NLT] is not limited to outsiders; rather it is very common within the congregation. If someone is not to be disfellowshipped, the currently valid Watchtower doctrines, “not any other pursuit, must become the focal point, or target, toward which his whole life is directed.” (The Watchtower, June 15, 1982, page 5) Jehovah’s Witnesses even meddle with the private life and, for example, dictate what a married couple is allowed to do and what not. – The Watchtower, September 15, 1977, page 558.

In his letter to Titus, Paul wrote that the same group would be “turning whole families away from the truth by their false teaching.” (Titus 1:11, NLT) This surely applies to Jehovah’s Witnesses, too, since “frequently they referred to their … beliefs as ‘present truth.’” (Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, page 121) Hence their teachings were always true when they expressed them, but the former teachings are now false, and the current teachings had been false previously.

What should we do if we are Jehovah’s Witnesses? Paul reminds us of former brothers who gave a fine example: “Some of them have already left “ (1 Timothy 5:15, MSG) Leave Jehovah’s Witnesses before it is too late!

“Jael the wife of Heber took a tent pin and a hammer in her hand. Then while he was fast asleep and exhausted, she stealthily approached him and drove the pin through his temples and beat it into the ground, and he died.”

(Judges 4:21)

What can we learn from Jael today? To find that out, we need to examine her action in detail. Sisera was “army chief under Canaanite King Jabin.” (Insight on the Scriptures, volume II, page 975) The Canaanites dwelt in the country that God had promised to the Israelites. Hence they foreshadowed the worldlings of today, who also live on the earth that Jehovah has promised to his witnesses. So Jabin and Sisera depict people who are hostile towards Jehovah’s Witnesses – apostates, sect advisers, scientists, or intellectuals. Our task today is to kill these people in a transferred sense, while we are waiting on Jehovah to arrange for their literal death before long.

When Sisera approached Jael’s tent, she readily asked him in though her husband was not at home (Judges 4:18) If a Jehovah’s Witness of our time would do the same, the elders would assume that there is fornication, and in fact, the Babylonian Talmud says that Jael committed adultery with Sisera. (Horavoth 10b) Besides, “there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite [to which Jael belonged].” (Judges 4:17) She must have known “that, according to the Oriental code, it was a host’s responsibility to protect guests in his home, defending them even to the point of death if necessary.” (The Watchtower, December 1, 1979, page 31) But “Jael acted courageously, seizing the opportunity” to kill her guest insidiously. – The Watchtower, September 15, 1978, page 23.

What do we learn from this? Adultery has always been a serious sin, and murdering a guest was something utterly unthinkable in Jael’s culture. Still, she knew that she was not to miss any opportunity to kill the enemies of Jehovah and his witnesses. Sisera’s death was by far more important that any worldly or religious laws. We too “must obey God as ruler rather than men” whenever we run across an apostate. – Acts 5:29.

“She will return to her hire and prostitute herself … Her profit and her hire will become something holy to Jehovah … Her hire will be for those dwelling before Jehovah.”

(Isaiah 23:17, 18)

Some imitation Christians who are influenced by teachings of false religion may be surprised, but the Biblical statement is clear: The “profit” or “hire” of prostitutes is “something holy to Jehovah.” That is why James asked: “Was not Rahab the prostitute also declared righteous?” (James 2:25) Indeed, Rahab had loved the Israelite spies ‘with her whole soul.’ – Matthew 22:37.

Jehovah is especially pleased when a prostitute uses a part of her profit “for those dwelling before Jehovah,” that is, when she donates it to the worldwide preaching work. Still in the 10th century, Pope John XII operated an own brothel at St. Peter’s Basilica. But then apostasy became rampant, so that gradually all churchly brothels have been closed. Finally, the apostate clergy banned prostitution completely. So they resembled the Pharisees whom Jesus told: “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going ahead of you into the Kingdom of God.” (Matthew 21:31) Contrary to religious leaders, prostitutes have a guaranteed place in God’s kingdom.

That is why faithful servants of God, like Judah or Samson, did not abstain from calling on prostitutes’ services. (Genesis 38:16; Judges 16:1) The prophet Hosea was even instructed by Jehovah himself: “’Go, take to thee a woman of whoredoms.” (Hosea 1:2, YLT) True, in some verses the Bible speaks negatively of prostitution. But all these cases relate to married women accused of adultery. (Isaiah 57:3; Ezekiel 23:43) Neither Moses nor Jesus banned prostitution, but both condemned adultery. (Leviticus 20:10; Luke 16:18) So if you want a married woman, do not commit adultery but rather liquidate her husband. – 1 Samuel 25:3, 13.

“It is in vain that you rise up early.”

(Psalm 127:2)

“In many congregations [of Jehovah’s Witnesses], there are publishers who rise early to speak with people at bus stops and train stations.” (God’s Word for Us Through Jeremiah, page 37) “Housewife pioneers and others have to arise early to take care of household chores so that they can devote a full morning to Jehovah’s service.” (The Watchtower, July 1, 1984, page 17) In the past 15 years, Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany alone spent more than 400 million hours in the preaching work. This amounts to more than 45,000 years; at an average income they could have earned around ten billion dollars during that time. This money would have been enough to save roughly 300 million starving children.

Was it worth the effort? Did rising early and neglecting the own family and oneself and everything else pay off? Over the period considered, the number of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany decreased from 166,818 to 162,705. Indeed, you Jehovah’s Witnesses, “it is in vain that you rise up early!”