“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.

“Be praising our God, all you his slaves.”

(Revelation 19:5)

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that “a global paradise [is] just before” us. (Live With Jehovah’s Day in Mind, page 99) How will God accomplish that? Will he reshape the earth himself? Will Jesus, the King of his Kingdom, lend a hand?

Jesus is “the Greater Solomon,” thus we can learn from Solomon’s approach how Jesus will act in the new world. (The Watchtower, August 15, 2010, page 29) How did Solomon implement his buildings? “All the people … who were not part of the people of Israel … were conscripted by Solomon for forced labor as slaves until this day.” – 1 Kings 9:20, 21.

We can assume that Jesus Christ too will conscript ‘all the people who are not part of the spiritual Israel for forced labor as slaves.’ He will follow his father’s example, who even in the New Jerusalem will have “slaves” that must “offer him sacred service.” (Revelation 22:3) What wonderful prospects lie ahead!

“The lion will eat straw like the bull.”

(Isaiah 11:7)

As is known, “the Bible says that in the garden of Eden the diet of the animals was vegetation.” (Happiness – How to Find It, page 188) “None of the animals in the garden of Eden were killers,” rather they “had a vegetarian diet in Eden, as did humans.” Only after Adam and Eve sinned, “the animals … began to live off one another.” (Awake!, October 8, 1982, pages 10, 11) “Further, during the Flood of Noah’s day, eight humans and ‘flying creatures and all moving animals of the ground’ were obliged to live on vegetable matter exclusively for more than a year,” proving “that animals and humans were meant to be vegetation eaters.” – Awake!, January 8, 1983, page 28.

Also in the future paradise “animals will be at peace with one another, able to be around one another without risk.” (The Watchtower, December 15, 1991, page 30) Lions “will eat straw” or other vegetarian diet, just like all other animals. Even the polar bears at the North Pole and the penguins at the South Pole will eat grass which will grow there in abundance. Spiders will create “intricate webs” in order to catch leaves flying around. (Awake!, July 8, 1972, page 5) “The cheetah finds the open grasslands ideal footing for its lightning-quick sprints. Its lean body blurs as it races across the plains in pursuit of prey” consisting of grass blades and other plants. (Awake!, February 22, 2003, page 16) Even crocodiles will eat vegetables growing underwater or in the proximity of the shore; fish will no longer eat other fish or shellfishes. Carnivorous plants like the Venus flytrap and carnivorous mushrooms like the lawyer’s wig will change their dietary habits and live on vegetarian diet.

Granted, “the earth [will] cause grass to sprout, seed-bearing plants and fruit trees,” but it remains to be seen whether it will be enough to feed all humans and animals. (Genesis 1:11) Antelopes will no longer be eaten by lions, but maybe they will starve because lions have eaten up all the grass. However, the dietary change will have more far-reaching effects. The human population is growing above average in times of peace, and the same will apply to the animal population when there is “peace among animals.” (The Watchtower, February 15, 1996, page 18) Some animals reproduce rapidly, for example, “the common brown rat … the black rat … and the house mouse” – a single female of these “can produce 2000 descendants in one year.” (Stopest) Mice and rats have many natural predators in our day, but once these have become vegetarians, a single mouse can have roughly 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 descendants within only ten years. Thus the “abundance of grain on the earth” will not persist because mice and other animals will eat it up in a minimum of time. “On the top of the mountains it will overflow,” not of food, but of mice, rats, hares, birds, and many other fast reproducing animals. (Psalm 72:16) The oxygen content of the air will also be reduced, since “phytoplankton account for half of all photosynthetic activity on Earth … [and are] responsible for much of the oxygen present in the Earth’s atmosphere,” but it will be the exclusive source of food for all sea dwellers in paradise. – Wikipedia.

In summary: “God’s restoration of Paradise on earth through Christ” will cause an extreme shortage of grass, grain, and other vegetables. (The Watchtower, September 15, 2007, page 12) Animals will reproduce without hindrance. If there would not be food shortage and lack of oxygen, earth would be covered with a meters thick layer of mice, rats, worms, and other animals after few years. Then the survivors will rightly proclaim: “The former things” – lush meadows, biodiverse forests, full pantries – “have passed away.” – Revelation 21:4.

 

“Make the heart of this people unreceptive … that they may not actually turn back.”

(Isaiah 6:10, NWT 1984)

Jehovah’s Witnesses “are eager to see as many people as possible saved from the impending ‘great tribulation.’” (The Watchtower, February 1, 1987, page 11) But is this God’s will? Not necessarily, since “the sanctification of Jehovah’s name is far more important than human salvation” and “our being freed from bondage to sin and death and gaining life.” – The Watchtower, October 15, 2008, page 15; January 15, 2007, page 10.

”The book of Ezekiel emphasizes … that the sanctification of Jehovah’s name is more important than anything else” – maybe Jehovah would love to save all people, but “as the prophecy shows, he will sanctify his name by destroying all.” (“All Scripture Is Inspired of God and Beneficial”, page 137) “Jehovah’s indignation is against all the nations, and his wrath is against all their army. He will devote them to destruction; he will give them to the slaughter. Their slain will be thrown out, and the stench of their carcasses will ascend.” – Isaiah 34:2, 3.

As in the past, where Jehovah regularly “struck down” thousands among his own people “with a great slaughter,” so it will be in the future. (1 Samuel 6:19) Thus “the worldwide preaching work of Jehovah’s Witnesses” is opposed to God’s purpose, for how should the prophecy be fulfilled that “those slain by Jehovah in that day will be from one end of the earth clear to the other end of the earth” if too many people would leave the false religion and join Jehovah’s people? – The Watchtower, July 15, 1990, page 18; Jeremiah 25:33.

The “abundance of grain on the earth” promised by Jehovah is only possible if “those slain by Jehovah … will become like manure on the surface of the ground.” (Psalm 72:16; Jeremiah 25:33) But unfortunately, the “truth is not presented in a complex, difficult-to-comprehend manner in the Bible.” (The Watchtower, October 15, 1996, page 5) If too many people would get to know the truth, Jehovah would be unable to destroy them. Not only would there be a lack of manure, but also his name would not be sanctified, which “would cause Satan to rejoice.” (Keep Yourself in God’s Love, page 129) Isaiah knew that, therefor he asked Jehovah to act in the same manner as he did with the Egyptian Pharaoh: “Make the heart of this people unreceptive, make their ears unresponsive, and paste their eyes together, so that they may not see with their eyes and hear with their ears, so that their heart may not understand and they may not turn back.” (Exodus 7:3; Isaiah 6:10) This strategy worked out; today “most people reject the good news,” and Jehovah “will crush them to clear the way for a much-needed change.” (The Watchtower, August 15, 2005, page 21; Awake!, October 8, 1969, page 11) “O the depth of God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How unsearchable his judgments are!” – Romans 11:33.

“In faith all of these died, although they did not receive the fulfillment of the promises.”

(Hebrews 11:13)

In his letter to the Hebrews, the apostle Paul referred to Abraham. (Hebrews 11:8) “Because of Abraham’s great faith, Jehovah promised to give the land of Palestine to his offspring.” (The Government That Will Bring Paradise, page 5) No doubt, “Abraham demonstrated faith in Jehovah’s promises” – but “it is noteworthy that Abraham did not during his lifetime receive the inheritance of the land promised to him. He also did not see his seed become ‘like the grains of sand that are on the seashore’ … These promises went unfulfilled.” – The Watchtower, September 15, 2011, page 26.

Later, God promised Moses to bring him and his people “to a land good and spacious, a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Exodus 3:8) But “like Abraham, Moses did not experience the fulfillment of God’s promise … Moses was told: ‘From a distance you will see the land, but you will not go there.’” (The Watchtower, September 15, 2011, page 19) Centuries later, “Jesus’ disciples were still expecting an earthly reign of the Messiah.” (The Watchtower, April 15, 1981, page 15) “Even after Jesus’ death and resurrection his disciples still expected the establishment of an earthly kingdom.” – The Watchtower, May 15, 1978, page 21.

Thousands of years after these events, Charles Taze Russell promised “that the ‘battle of the great day of God Almighty’ … will end in A. D. 1914 with the complete overthrow of earth’s present rulership.” (Millennial Dawn, volume II, The Time is at Hand, 1889 printing, page 101) In 1920, after Russell’s death, Joseph F. Rutherford promised “that the old order of things, the old world, is ending and is therefore passing away, and that the new order is coming in, and that 1925 shall mark the resurrection of the faithful worthies of old and the beginning of reconstruction,” and he called this promise “positive and indisputable.” – Millions Now Living Will Never Die, page 97.

Since the resurrection of Abraham failed to materialize in 1925, Rutherford promised again in 1938 that his followers would only have to “wait a few years, until the fiery storm of Armageddon is gone.” (Face the Facts, page 50) In the following decades, “the generation that saw the start of this age of lawlessness in 1914” was the object of promises. (The Watchtower, July 1, 1980, page 4) But “in faith all of these” – Abraham, Moses, Russell and his followers, Rutherford and his followers, virtually all of the ‘generation of 1914’ – “died, although they did not receive the fulfillment of the promises.” – Hebrews 11:13.

Today Jehovah’s Witnesses look forward to another one “of these divine judgments,” and they “expect the fulfillment of it very soon.” (The Watchtower, February 1, 2000, page 8) “Accordingly … [they] expect the great tribulation to begin soon.” (The Watchtower, May 1, 1999, page 16) “With eager anticipation … [they] await that new world.” (The Watchtower, April 15, 2010, page 11) But like Abraham and Moses, like all of God’s worshippers of old, like all Jehovah’s Witnesses before them and like all “true Christians” after them, they will ‘die in faith and not receive the fulfillment of the promises.’

“One time Samson went to Gaza and saw a prostitute there, and he went in to her.”

(Judges 16:1)

Worshippers of God never steered clear of prostitutes’ houses. “When Judah saw … [Tamar,] he thought she was a prostitute, since she had concealed her face. So on the way, he turned aside, approached her, and said, ‘Come on! Let’s have some sex!’ … So he .. had sex with her.” (Genesis 38:15-18, ISV) Centuries later, Joshua sent out two spies, and “the two men set out and came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there that night.” (Joshua 2:1, NLT) Samson followed the example of these faithful role models; he “went to Gaza and saw a prostitute there, and he went in to her.” – Judges 16:1.

Did the conduct of these men displease God? Not at all, for Judah became an ancestor of the Messiah, and the two spies were blessed by Jehovah, too. (Joshua 6:20) Even “the prostitute Rahab … received God’s approval because of what she did.” (James 2:25, GWT) And the apostle Paul ranked Samson among the “‘great cloud’ of good examples.” (Hebrews 12:1, The Watchtower, July 1, 2000, page 21) Consequently Christian men today also also obliged to ‘go in’ when they encounter a prostitute or come across a brothel.

This truth from God’s word sheds also light onto Jesus’ words towards the Sadducees. He told them: “When people come back to life, they don’t marry.” (Matthew 22:30) Not for nothing, Jesus promised his male listeners: “Prostitutes precede you to the Kingdom of God.” (Matthew 21:31, ABPE) Along with many other women, Rahab “will return to her hire and prostitute herself … Her profit and her hire will become something holy to Jehovah.” (Isaiah 23:17, 18) Their occupation will be simplified because “the Creator of human reproductive power will himself justly regulate its use … There will be no need for abortions.” (Awake!, April 8, 1988, page 27) What wonderful prospects lie ahead!

“These enemies of mine that did not want me to become king over them bring here and slaughter them before me.”

(Luke 19:27)

If you didn’t know who made this statement, you might attribute it to Joseph Stalin, Emperor Nero or an Egyptian Pharaoh. “But who said those words? It was a man who most people might think would never issue such a harsh order. He put those words into the mouth of the king about whom he was speaking in a parable or prophetic illustration of his. But he was really speaking for himself, inasmuch as he himself was the one pictured by the king in the parabolic illustration.” (The Watchtower, December 1, 1973, page 709) Indeed, there is no doubt that Jesus was referring to himself.

No wonder that this Bible verse was covered only five times in the whole Watchtower literature from 1930 to 2013 – less than once in 16 years on average. But it shows clearly that Jesus is not always as “lowly in mind, humble, loving, compassionate, [and] merciful” as he is usually described by Christians. (The Watchtower, August 1, 1999, page 15) No, when he will be King, “Jesus will use his power” only for those “who obey him.” (Learn from the Great Teacher, page 176) But people who disagree with his style of government “have no hope of survival” of course. (The Watchtower, September 15, 1988, page 15) Jesus considers such individuals “enemies,” and he will have them slaughtered before his eyes just like a human tyrant. “His rule not only would end poverty and hunger” but also freedom. – Insight on the Scriptures, volume II, page 71.

“They will plant vineyards.”

(Isaiah 65:21)

“Soon, a physical paradise will exist earth wide.” (Awake!, October 8, 1997, page 9) And “speaking of those who will live in Paradise, the Bible states: ‘They will certainly build houses and have occupancy; and they will certainly plant vineyards and eat their fruitage.’” (The Watchtower, May 15, 2005, page 4) Hence, whoever wants to live in paradise must “built houses and have occupancy” as well as “plant vineyards” and drink wine.

Among the resurrected ones will be “the Rechabites” because of their “faithfulness to Jehovah and to the commands of their forefather.” (God’s Word for Us Through Jeremiah; page 160) These “commands of their forefather” were: “Neither you nor your sons must ever drink wine. And you must not build a house, sow seed, or plant or obtain a vineyard.” – Jeremiah 35:6, 7.

What will the Rechabites do in paradise? If they build houses and plant vineyards, God will destroy them because of their failure to ‘observe the commandment of their father.’ (Proverbs 6:20) If they do not build houses and plant vineyards, God must also destroy them because their existence would thwart his purpose revealed in Isaiah 65:21. In any case, it will be a “resurrection of judgment” for the Rechabites. – John 5:29.

“Then he … gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.”

(Deuteronomy 26:9)

God promised to bring the Israelites into “a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Deuteronomy 6:3; 11:9; 31:20) What did this mean? Is “a land flowing with milk and honey” something worth striving for? Milk is used to produce butter; hence in “a land flowing with milk and honey” there would be butter and honey to eat. Regard this, a reference work says: “’Butter and honey are what everyone left remaining in the midst of the land will eat.’ This circumstance was to result from the devastation of Judah by the Assyrians. On account of this devastation, formerly cultivated land would become choked with weeds. Therefore, those left remaining in the land would have to subsist to a considerable degree on dairy products and wild honey.” – Insight on the Scriptures, volume II, page 402.

Another book says even more clearly what life in “a land flowing of milk and honey” will be like: “’Butter and honey’ will be eaten – nothing else, no wine, no bread, no other staples.” (Isaiah’s Prophecy – Light for All Mankind, volume I, page 110) “To help them keep the proper viewpoint as they entered the land ‘flowing with milk and honey,’ Jehovah reminded them: ‘Not by bread alone does man live.’” But not even such poor man’s food would be there in abundance; rather “the Israelites would have to work hard for their ‘milk and honey.’” – The Watchtower, September 1, 1998, page 20.

The times when people had to live on butter and honey are gone fortunately. But the “land flowing of milk and honey” actually “provided a small-scale example of what Paradise under God’s Kingdom will soon mean for mankind earth wide.” (The Watchtower, August 15, 1996, page 3) Admittedly, “for many, a bowl of hot oatmeal … is hard to beat,” especially when they “cook it with milk and honey.” (Awake!, February 8, 1974, page 17) But others will share the fate of Addie Clinton Few who said: “I don’t like milk, and I don’t like honey! … I’m gonna starve to death!” – Awake!, July 22, 1974, page 20.

“Beware … of Kings that drink wine.”

(Proverbs 31:4, ABPE)

The Bible contains the wise words of the mother of King Lemuel (maybe another name for Solomon). She advised her son and all other kings: “It is not for kings to drink wine … so that they do not drink and forget what is decreed.” (Proverbs 31:4, 5) A religious magazine explained on that verse: “How is a king to render sound and clear-headed judgment … if he is … intoxicated? … On the contrary, by remaining free from such vices, the king will be able to ‘judge righteously.’” (The Watchtower, February 1, 2000, page 30) Definitely “it is not for kings … to guzzle wine. Rulers should not crave alcohol.” – Proverbs 31:4, NLT.

“God’s appointed King, Jesus Christ,” is said to assume power over the earth soon (Awake!, July 2011, page 8) Will he follow the wise counsel of his prophetic type? No. Like in many other matters, he will flout God’s will regarding alcohol. He told his disciples: “I won’t drink … wine again until that day when I drink new wine with you in my Father’s kingdom.” (Matthew 26:29, GWT) Hence in short time, when “Jesus and his fellow kings rule from heaven,” they will be drunk obviously. (The Watchtower, April 1, 2009, page 8) Under the influence of alcohol, the “true vine” Jesus Christ and the anointed kings will “forget what is decreed.” – John 15:1.