“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.

“Jehovah is a Killer.”

(1 Samuel 2:6, NWT 1984)

At all times “Jehovah killed” people. (Exodus 13:16) When the Israelites were dwelling in Egypt “Jehovah let Pharaoh’s heart become obstinate” so that he had reason to send a “destroyer” through the country. (Exodus 10:27, NWT 1984; Hebrews 11:28) Shortly afterwards he was fed up with his own people, “and Jehovah began striking the people with a very great slaughter.” – Numbers 11:33.

Sometimes, though, “Jehovah kills” indirectly. (1 Samuel 2:6) Admittedly, we usually blame humans for earthquakes, floods, plane crashes, terror attacks, and other calamities. However, the Bible says clearly and unequivocally: “If a calamity occurs in the city, is it not Jehovah who has acted?” (Amos 3:6) The book of Revelation also states that God instructed a horseman “to kill with a long sword and with food shortage and with deadly plague and by the wild beasts of the earth.” – Revelation 6:8.

Without doubt, “Jehovah is a killer,” even if at times he makes it look like a natural disaster or lets assistants do the actual slaughtering. He announced to kill even more people in the future, so that “those slain by Jehovah in that day will be from one end of the earth clear to the other end of the earth.” (Jeremiah 25:33) Certainly “the slain of Jehovah will be many.” – Isaiah 66:16.

No wonder that the apostle Paul wrote: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31) Let us, therefore, avoid Jehovah and his witnesses!

“O God, knock the teeth out of their mouth!”

(Psalm 58:6)

These words were uttered by David, ‘a man agreeable to Jehovah’s heart.’ (1 Samuel 13:14) On another occasion he prayed: “Break my enemies’ jaws and shatter their teeth.” (Psalm 3:7, CEV) The Message renders this verse: “Up, God! My God, help me! Slap their faces, first this cheek, then the other, your fist hard in their teeth!” Interestingly, David did not ask for the punishment of God’s enemies. It was his own enemies whose teeth he wanted God to break.

This is of great significance to us because “Christ Jesus is the Greater David.” (“All Scripture Is Inspired of God and Beneficial”, page 105) Thus Jesus has the same attitude towards his enemies as David had. In a parable, he had a king picturing himself say: “These enemies of mine … bring here and slaughter them before me.” (Luke 19:27, NWT 1984) In the end “God will smash the heads of his enemies” for him. (Psalm 68:21) Indeed, “Jesus was the personification of love.” (Awake!, December 8, 1998, page 10) Do we not long for “a compassionate Ruler” like him? – The Watchtower, April 15, 2007, page 6.

“O God of vengeance, Jehovah, o God of vengeance, shine forth! Rise up, o Judge of the earth. Repay to the haughty what they deserve.”

(Psalm 94:1, 2)

The Bible shows clearly that Jehovah is “a God of vengeance” who will soon be “taking vengeance on his enemies … Why so? Because it would clear the way for all persons who love God to be glad, to rejoice.” (The Watchtower, January 15, 1981, pages 4, 5) Indeed, the prospect of seeing God annihilate all his enemies is for Christians a reason “to be glad, to rejoice.” Will it not be wonderful to watch how “in the very near future all ungodly persons” – all who are not Jehovah’s Witnesses or did not have enough field service hours, including our neighbors, workmates, and closest relatives – “will suffer destruction at the hands of God?” – The Watchtower, November 1, 1985, page 7.

People have really heaped a heavy burden of guilt upon themselves. Some have participated in political elections and so have opposed God. (John 15:19) Others live together in one apartment without being married, just because they cannot afford the administrative marriage. (1 Corinthians 6:9) Some children are “disobedient to parents” only because these want to abuse and mistreat them. (Romans 1:30) It goes without saying for true Christians that God can no longer sit and watch while such gross sins are happening on earth. “Jehovah is a God … taking vengeance; Jehovah is taking vengeance and is disposed to rage. Jehovah is taking vengeance against his adversaries.” (Nahum 1:2, NWT 1984) “God will come with vengeance, God will come with retribution.” – Isaiah 35:4.

”Jehovah’s witnesses today merely proclaim the ‘day of vengeance on the part of our God’ … They do not execute vengeance [themselves].” (The Watchtower, November 1, 1972, page 660) They proclaim the good news “of Jehovah’s vengeance” from house to house, and they look forward to the fulfillment of David’s prophecy: “The righteous one will rejoice because he has seen the vengeance; his feet will be drenched with the blood of the wicked.” – Psalm 58:10.

“Husbands, continue loving your wives, just as the Christ also loved the congregation.”

(Ephesians 5:25)

The apostle Peter instructed Christian men: “Husbands … live with your wives with understanding since they are weaker than you are. Honor your wives.” (1 Peter 3:7, GWT) “Indeed, God’s Word plainly says that wives should be assigned ‘honor.’” (Awake!, February 8, 1993, page 13) But how should that look like in practice? Should a husband open the door for his wife, adjust her chair, or in any other way behave like a “gentleman?” One might think so, but the famous judge Joseph F. Rutherford stated with regard to the men of his day: “The men have become effeminate, soft and easily influenced, and have lost their real manhood … For instance, when men are sitting at a table and a woman approaches,
all the men arise and pay her homage … The men remove their hats upon entering an elevator, if a woman is present; and these things are said to be acts of respect and to show that a man is a gentleman. But it is subtle, and the real meaning is much different from that. It is a scheme of Satan to turn men away from God and from his announced rule of the proper position of man and woman … The scheme or habit of paying homage to women is not of God, but from the great enemy of God. It is a veneer of being a proper thing, and therefore it is more subtle than otherwise.” – Vindication, volume I, page 156.

Thus the obeisance to women that is common in the world is not acceptable to God, but was introduced by Satan, the Devil. So, what kind of “honor” that husbands should show to their wives did the apostle Paul think of? In Ephesians 5:25 he instructed men to ‘love their wives just as the Christ loved the congregation.’ And “Jesus perfectly imitated his beloved heavenly Father.” (Come Be My Follower, page 144) How does Jehovah show his love for his worshippers? Again Paul provides the answer: “The Lord punishes everyone He loves. He whips every … [person] He receives.” (Proverbs 3:11-12, NLV) Since Jehovah wants all his male worshippers to “become imitators of God,” he has wisely made sure that “women are weaker than men.” – Ephesians 5:1; 1 Peter 3:7, NLV.

According to the Bible, every husband “must love his wife,” and consequently “from time to time he will beat his wife.” (Ephesians 5:33; Awake!, November 22, 1988, page 8) In this context, “remember the words … by one wife beater: ‘If we stop beating, we lose control. And that’s unthinkable.’” (Awake!, November 22, 1988, page 6) The same magazine also explained how to recognize a a good husband: “Does … [he] freely tell others – outside family members, friends, other Christians – that from time to time he will beat his wife, inflict bodily harm on her, because he loves her so much?” – page 8.

“Let me die with the Philistines!”

(Judges 16:30)

Samson was “one of Israel’s outstanding judges.” (Insight on the Scriptures, volume II, page 849) Once he “went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them together in pairs with oil-soaked rags around their tails. Then Samson took the foxes into the Philistine wheat fields that were ready to be harvested. He set the rags on fire and let the foxes go. The wheat fields went up in flames, and so did the stacks of wheat that had already been cut. Even the Philistine vineyards and olive orchards burned.” (Judges 15:4, 5, CEV) So he was an innovator of biowarfare – he utilized animals as weapons to take from his enemies their livelihood, so that many of them starved to death.

Then he took direct action against the Philistines. First he “he went smiting them, piling legs upon thighs with a great slaughter.” (Judges 15:8, NWT 1984) Later he vaunted: “With the jawbone of a donkey – one heap, two heaps! With the jawbone of a donkey I struck down 1,000 men.” (Judges 15:16) He did not need modern weapons of mass destruction to kill great crowds of men; rather “Jehovah’s spirit empowered him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down 30 of their men.” – Judges 14:19.

At the end of his life it became apparent that Paul counted him as a part of the “great cloud of witnesses” for good reason. (Hebrews 11:32; 12:1)  He was present in the temple of the Philistines (that is, from his standpoint, infidels). There was a feast, and “Samson braced himself against the two middle pillars that supported the house, and he leaned on them with his right hand on one and his left hand on the other. Samson called out: ‘Let me die with the Philistines!’ Then he pushed with all his might, and the house fell on the lords and all the people in it. So he killed more at his death than he had killed during his life.” (Judges 16:29) So he became the first suicide assassin of human history.

Whether we are preparing attacks with biological weapons, going to kill our enemies in an open fight or planning a suicide bombing – in any case “we rely on the same holy spirit that Samson did.” (The Watchtower, December 15, 2011, page 21) What a fine example he gave for Terrorists today!

“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 even sacrificed their sons.”

(Psalm 106:37, NASB)

Whom was the psalmist talking about? He was referring to “Moabites and Ammonites” and other peoples of old. “It was a known practice of their religion to offer their own children.” Moabite king “Mesha offered up his own son as a sacrifice.” (Insight on the Scriptures, volume II, page 382) Time and again the Israelites imitated this abhorrent custom. Wicked King “Ahaz became a notorious idolater, even going to the point of sacrificing his own son(s).” – The Watchtower, November 15, 1978, page 28.

There is no doubt that “child sacrifice” is a “revolting practice.” (Insight on the Scriptures, volume I, page 103) Do you warm to individuals who offer up their own sons as a sacrifice? But Ahaz, Mesha and other idolaters are long dead. There is, however, another person who also offered up his own son as a sacrifice roughly 2000 years ago. It was Jehovah who boasted of “sacrificing his own Son.” (Your Youth – Getting the Best out of It, page 184) ”Jehovah offered up his only-begotten Son in actual sacrifice,” and so he became the Greater Ahaz. (The Watchtower, April 1, 1967, page 208) We should have nothing to do with such a person.

“They were bowing down to the sun in the east.”

(Ezekiel 8:16)

In Ezekiel’s day there were some people “bowing down to the sun.” (Ezekiel 8:16) Jehovah God considered this “detestable,” and he sent “his executional forces” to put an end to their activities. (The Watchtower, September 15, 1988, page 13) He instructed them: “Old man, young man, virgin, little child, and women you should kill off completely … Fill the courtyards with the slain.” (Ezekiel 9:6, 7) So he clearly showed that he doesn’t take a joke when it comes to sun worship.

How could we ‘bow down to the sun’ today? Bowing down to someone means acknowledging his power. In our day there are millions of people acknowledging the sun’s power by rubbing sunscreen into their skin. Others pay tribute to the sun by wearing sunglasses. People who sunbathe regularly are not for nothing called “sun worshippers.” Sunbathing as well as the use of sunscreen and sunglasses are definitely idolatry and hence “detestable things” to God. – Ezekiel 8:15.

There are more ways to defile oneself with sun worshipping, though. A reference work says: “For instance, on July 20, 1969, when for the first time a human astronaut set foot upon the moon, who was glorified thereby, according to the way that the scientific group responsible for it named things that were involved? … The mythological sun-god. How so? Because the man-made spacecraft with which the successful moon-shot for putting Americans on our lunar satellite was made was named Apollo, Number Eleven. Phoebus Apollo was the sun-god of the ancient Greeks … namely, Nimrod … Since that first landing on the moon, further moon-shots have been made in spacecrafts of the ‘Apollo’ series. All a part of sun worship!” (“The Nations Shall Know That I Am Jehovah” – How?, page 157, 158) By showing admiration for the Apollo missions we would be guilty of sun worship accordingly. Driving a Volkswagen Apollo or using a mobile phone with Windows Phone 8 (Codename Apollo) would be something detestable to God, too.

The apostate Israelites “reintroduced sun worship and practiced it right inside the temple of Jehovah.” (“The Nations Shall Know That I Am Jehovah” – How?, page 155) So they mixed the worship of the sun with the worship of Jehovah. Something similar is happening in our day, where many people hold “sacred gatherings” for Jehovah on Sunday of all days, “the venerable day of the Sun!” (The Watchtower, June 15, 1988, page 13; Corpus Juris Civilis) Jehovah will not watch these detestable things much longer. “Soon God’s executional forces will unceremoniously dump false religion” – including all people who wear sunglasses, use sunscreen or practice the worship of Jehovah on Sunday – “into the pit of eternal extinction.” (Awake!, December 22, 1989, page 16) Let us therefore avoid “bowing down to the sun” in a transferred sense!

“Drag these people away …

… like sheep to be butchered! Set them aside to be slaughtered!” (Jeremiah 12:3, NLT)

”Jesus had described his followers as sheep.” (Jehovah’s Witnesses – Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, page 212) He called himself “the fine shepherd.” (John 10:14) That is why Jehovah’s Witnesses are working hard to turn ever more people into “sheeplike persons.” – 1996 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses, page 254.

What fate awaits the “little flock” and the “other sheep?” (Luke 12:32; John 10:16) “More than 30 million sheep are slaughtered … each year in Australia … A single abattoir kills thousands of sheep and lambs every day. Their final moments are spent surrounded by … the screams of their companions.” (The Truth About Sheep Used For Food) Even the “mother ewes will be slaughtered … after they have been worn out mentally and physically.” – Sheep and Lambs.

The butchering of sheep is absolutely in compliance with Jehovah’s purpose. “Sheep have from earliest times been offered in sacrifice.” (Insight on the Scriptures, volume II, page 916) They “are born to be caught and destroyed” like all animals. (2 Peter 2:12) In Biblical times, sheep were ‘singled out for slaughtering and set apart for the day of killing.’ (Jeremiah 12:3) King Solomon had “120,000 sheep” slaughtered on one day to provide food during the inauguration of the temple. (1 Kings 8:63) The same fate will befall the “’great crowd’ of ‘other sheep.’” – The Watchtower, May 15, 2008, page 26.