“Abraham had two sons … the man who had gladly received the promises attempted to offer up his only-begotten son.”

(Galatians 4:22; Hebrews 11:17)

Abraham was a puzzling man. Once he “took his wife … and they set out for the land of Canaan,” and “he went out, although not knowing where he was going.” (Genesis 12:5; Hebrews 11:8) And though his wife Keturah alone bore him six sons and therefore he had “two sons” in total, he tried to offer up his “only son” as a sacrifice. (Genesis 22:2; 25:1, 2; Galatians 4:22) Finally he purchased a piece of land from the sons of Hamor which was later purchased by his grandson Jacob from the sons of Hamor.

God gave to Abraham and to his offspring “the entire land of Canaan for a lasting possession” so that it is theirs “until time indefinite,” and “he did not give him any inheritance in it, no, not even enough to put his foot on.” (Genesis 13:15, NWT 1984; Genesis 17:8; Acts 7:5) Not for nothing, the apostle Paul called Abraham “the father of all those having faith.” (Romans 4:11) “In faith … [Abraham and his sons] died, although they did not receive the fulfillment of the promises,” and the same will happen to everyone who puts his faith in the god of the Bible. – Hebrews 11:13.

“Wail, for the day of Jehovah is near!”

(Isaiah 13:6)

How do we know that “the day of Jehovah” is now nearer than in Isaiah’s or Joel’s day? The January 15, 2000 Watchtower mentioned “six lines of evidence proving that we are living in the last days of this ungodly world.” One of these reads: “The number of genuine anointed disciples of Christ is dwindling … Most of the remnant are quite elderly, and over the years the number of those who are truly anointed has been getting smaller.” – pages 12-14.

“For many years now, the number of the remnant of anointed Witnesses has been decreasing.” (1993 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses, page 253) No wonder, for “from the end of the 19th century and on into the 20th, Jehovah has been completing the gathering of this group … to make up the full number of 144,000.” (The Watchtower, January 1, 1997, page 10) This shows “the significance of the diminishing number of anointed ones on earth” – it indicates “that the end is close at hand.” – The Watchtower, August 15, 1997, page 15.

“In view of their diminishing numbers, the anointed cannot be present in all congregations.” (The Watchtower, April 1, 2007, page 25) While there had still been 8,685 anointed ones in 1988, only 13,204 of them were left in 2013. “Admittedly, the number of anointed Christians left on earth is declining” because “the gathering in of all his anointed remnant was completed about 1935.” (The Watchtower, October 15, 1995, page 26; July 15, 1969, page 433)  But still some of them are alive. No wonder that many Jehovah’s Witnesses “wail,” and that “their weeping and the gnashing of their teeth” can be heard everywhere! – Matthew 8:12.

“All the utensils of gold and of silver were 5,400.”

(Ezra 1:11)

Ezra reports the exact number of vessels which Cyrus returned to the Jews: “Now this was the inventory: 30 basket-shaped vessels of gold, 1,000 basket-shaped vessels of silver, 29 replacement vessels, 30 small gold bowls, 410 small silver bowls, 1,000 other utensils. All the utensils of gold and of silver were 5,400.” – Ezra 1:9-11.

According to today’s popular mathematics it would have been only 2,499 vessels –. not 5,400 as stated by Ezra. What is the reason for the difference between the Bible’s definitive statement and the mathematical calculation? Mathematics is a science, and “what scientists know is far less than what they do not know … A scientist’s lack of knowledge is compounded by his imperfection.” (Awake!, June 22, 1993, page 22) Furthermore, “scientists are only imperfect humans. They make mistakes … [and] cling to ideas that are not the truth.” – Awake!, March 8, 1977, page 9.

True Christians put “their trust … not in human scientists but in the Master Scientist, who created all living things, Jehovah God.” (Awake!, December 8, 2000, page 18) “When scientific … [statements] that contradict the Bible … are introduced, they say with calm confidence that the scientists must be wrong.” (Awake!, April 8, 1972, page 16) Exactly that applies here. “The Scriptures are infallible, being the Word of God.” (Awake!, February 8, 1989, page 11) Thus, when they say that ‘30 vessels, 1000 vessels, 29 replacement vessels, 30 bowls, 410 bowls, and 1,000 other utensils’ are together ‘5,400 utensils,’ then this is an established fact. “The Bible, the Word of God, allows no room for doubt.” (The Watchtower, June 1, 2008, page 3) Let us hope that mathematicians will recognize their error sooner or later.

“Every swarming creature of the earth is something loathsome.”

(Leviticus 11:41)

Obviously there are ‘loathsome creatures.’ It is impossible that they were created by God because “every creation of God is fine.” (1 Timothy 4:4) “All of God’s creative work is perfect,” and “in God’s handiwork both big and small are beautiful.” (Awake!, May 8, 1977, page 27; November 8, 1995, page 10) Furthermore, the apostle Paul wrote that only apostates who are “paying attention to misleading inspired statements and teachings of demons … [and] speak lies” would “command people to abstain from foods that God created.” (1 Timothy 4:1-3) But the Mosaic Law came from God; when he commanded to abstain from certain foods, he must have referred to foods that someone else had created.

Since the ban explicitly mentions ‘creatures,’ someone must have created them, for “we know that everything made has a maker.” (Awake!, October 22, 1973, page 23) The Bible tells us who is was: “When the Most High passed the peoples to the Gods, when he divided humankind, he determined the territories of the peoples according to the number of the Gods.” (Deuteronomy 32:8, Einheitsübersetzung) So there were multiple gods, that is why Jehovah said to the other gods during creation: “Let us make man in our image.” (Genesis 1:26) For the Jews, of course, Jehovah was “the God of gods,” and they refused to worship other gods – but they never denied their existence. (Deuteronomy 10:17) Thus it must have been one of these other gods who created the ‘loathsome swarming creatures.’

“I will completely wipe out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens.”

(Exodus 17:14)

Jehovah promised that “all memory of Amalek is to be completely uprooted from the earth.” (Exodus 17:14, BBE) Was he able to keep his promise? The facts speak for themselves. The “memory of Amalek” is alive in the Bible where “Amalek” and “the Amalekites” are mentioned 57 times. And the Bible is not just any book; it is “the most widely translated and circulated book in the world.” (The Watchtower, April 1, 2002, page 29) Even back in 1959 there had been “over 2,000,000,000 copies of the entire Bible or major sections thereof … distributed in some 1,810 languages;” today there are even more copies in 2,557 languages. – “Look! I Am Making All Things New”, page 5; Scripture Language Report 2012.

“Nearly everyone on earth today has access to the entire Bible or portions of it,” and with it to “the memory of Amalek.” (The Watchtower, September 15, 2001, page 5) The Amalekites are even mentioned in Children’s books. (My Book of Bible Stories, Study Questions for story 56) True, God had promised to “completely erase any memory of the Amalekites from the earth.” (Exodus 17:14, GWT) But the millions of Google results for “Amalek” prove otherwise.

Thus the prophecy about Amalek is one of the many promises that God made but did not keep. Abraham’s offspring should own the land of Israel “until time indefinite,” David’s throne should “be firmly established forever,” the lion should “eat straw” – but so far, all worshippers of Jehovah have “died, although they did not receive the fulfillment of the promises.” (Genesis 13:15, NWT 1984; 2 Samuel 7:16; Isaiah 11:7; Hebrews 11:13) God’s promises can at best “be compared with the promises of politicians, who say that they will do one thing and finish up in doing something else.” (The Watchtower, February 1, 1979, page 6) What do we learn from this? “Bible prophecies that have … [not] been fulfilled give us the confidence that all other promises made by Jehovah God will also [not] come true.” – The Watchtower, November 1, 2004, page 32.

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his … brothers … he cannot be my disciple.”

(Luke 14:26)

According to Joseph F. Rutherford there were “three great persons” at the beginning of creation: “Jehovah the Father, and the Logos and Lucifer his sons.” (Deliverance, page 5) So Jesus (also called “the word” or “the logos”) and Satan (Lucifer) were brothers. (John 1:1) While on earth, Jesus never concealed his hate for his brother – when Satan wanted to talk to him, Jesus snarled at his brother: “Go away, Satan!” (Matthew 4:10) Since then, Jesus dreams of bringing “destruction over Satan.” – Insight on the Scriptures, volume I, page 12.

Hating his brother that much, it is no wonder that Jesus demands the same hate from his disciples. He made hating one’s brothers an inevitable requirement for Christians. (Luke 14:26) What does that tell about him? The apostle John had a clear opinion on people like Jesus and his disciples: “Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother.” (1 John 3:10, HCSB) God wants us to “love our brothers from the heart,” but Jesus wants us to hate them. (The Watchtower, August 1, 1973, page 467) Can there be a greater contradiction? There can be no doubt that Jesus was one of the “false teachers” who would “bring in destructive sects” as foretold by the apostle Peter. – 2 Peter 2:1.

“The overseer should … have a fine testimony from outsiders.”

(1 Timothy 3:2, 7)

True Christians are subject to “public criticism.” (Our Kingdom Ministry, June 1982, page 3) In his sermon on the mount, Jesus said: “Happy are you when people reproach you … and lyingly say every sort of wicked thing against you.” (Matthew 5:11) As true Christians “we … are privileged to be reproached for more than just ‘the name of Christ.’ We are privileged to be reproached especially for the name of the One for whom Jesus Christ bore reproach.” (The Watchtower, November 1, 1976, page 666) No doubt, “as long as we are faithful, there will always be some who … ‘go on speaking abusively of us.’” – The Watchtower, November 1, 2002, page 19.

If, however, someone wants to be appointed as an elder in the congregation, “people outside the church must speak well of him.” (1 Timothy 3:7, NLT) “But such popularity has never been an indication of God’s favor.” (The Watchtower, March 1, 1978, page 6) Since all true Christians are reproached ‘as long as they are faithful,’ only unfaithful ones are qualified as elders. To them Jesus’ warning applies: “Woe whenever all men speak well of you, for this is what their forefathers did to the false prophets.” – Luke 6:26.