GOD SEARCH - A PROPHET WITHOUT CREDENTIALS (PART 1)
Updated: Jan 15, 2022
Being introduced to life in a godless manner, immoral behavior and sexual deviance permeate my earliest memories. My only real introduction to religion was the plethora of churches around and near my home as a child. The synagogue across the street, the Baptist church a block beyond, and the Greek Orthodox and Methodist churches further down. As a pre-teen youth, these were where my search for God began. As I progressed toward finding my spiritual self, I realized that my deviance made me anything but a friend of God or a follower of his Son, Jesus Christ.
When you find yourself young and alone in the big bad world, you tend to change your point of view.
After enlisting in the U.S. Navy at age seventeen, the combination of guilt and loneliness encouraged my continued search for God. Consequently, I found the Church of Christ, which seemed the logical place to look when the one for whom I searched had his name posted there on the marquee. Of course, they baptized me in the name of, well, you know who, and off we went in search of salvation.
With a mind "like a garbage truck," every Sunday after was a new personal experience in guilt, self-flagellation, and repentance. Then, in 1974, after a couple of near-death experiences, I developed PTSD having severe panic attacks, depression, and hypochondria. Ergo, the Navy discharged me with a pat on the back and a fare thee well with never the slightest hint of concern or follow-up.
Trapped with PTSD in the desperation of post-military life, the continued search for God's help led me to Jehovah's Witnesses to which I was introduced by a childhood friend, and by whom, on November 16, 1975, I was again submitted to submersion baptism. It certainly was not a coerced baptism, but I planned (i.e., assumed) that it would miraculously cure PTSD.
Continued Suffering
In the following years, during my studies with the Witnesses (a self-styled name, by the way, taken from the book of Isaiah), I knew what was wrong with me but inwardly I could also feel something also wrong with them. Something about the clandestine zeal of the people reflected the impression of a secret society that deemed itself elevated above the rest of humanity. Much like the Amish, monks, Mormons, et al.
After fifty years of listening to and observing all of these "good Christians" and not just Jehovah's Witnesses, but all of organized religion, I finally understand that not just me, but all of society is ultimately duped by what the world refers to as Christianity.
Looking at all of the so-called Godly groups who claim to know and preach God's "truth," you find that each and every one has a "leader" who claims insight into the Bible, and a God-given knowledge he or she simply must share. Each claiming to know better, understanding more deeply, and each with its own "translation" and "interpretation" of ancient manuscripts.
So many are the regrets for things I've thought, seen, and done throughout my life that I cannot begin to recount them, and I pray that anyone I offended might forgive me. Happily, I learned that "Whoever is forgiven little, loves little. whoever is forgiven much loves much." (Luke 7:44-47)
Once the realization of this decrepit life comes to the fore, only then does one fully recognize the true nature of the Gift God gave in sacrificing his son, Jesus Christ. That, then, is the most important message we can glean from the Bible. The rest is superfluous jargon designed by Satan and the Antichrist to keep us chasing our tails.
Consequently, articles and other things that I write are born from
association with so many religious organizations,
study and familiarization with the Bible and the history of the Bible,
steady and unbiased observation of people and the world, and finally
a constant and daily plea to God through Christ Jesus to understand the value of what I have learned.
Like the rumination depicted at the top of the page, I am running down the street shouting to myself, hoping to convince myself that I am reasoning and thinking correctly. So, then, to any who read this, please realize that it is up to you to conclude for yourselves God's will.
Per Aspera Ad Astra — What's Wrong With This Picture?
After a childhood of being serially exploited by adults, I began recognizing more keenly what was behind the eyes of such people, and not only persons of authority but also and most especially ministers, priests, and politicians, whom I find to be the most disingenuous, devious, and dangerous minds of all: not to mention the most reprehensible.
There is good reason for them to seek such positions, and those reasons are rarely altruistic. A predator rarely sees itself as a predator, and what is in the minds and hearts of people, i.e., their ideologies, beliefs, religious and political leanings, social personality and biases, likes and dislikes, hygiene, personal habits, and other traits, causes me to scrutinize and shy away from others.
People, in general, take too much for granted and are consequently duped and misled (e.g. "if it's on the Internet, it has to be true," or, "they wouldn't sell it if it was bad for you.")
More importantly, we live in a disgusting world where people "hook up" for sexual dalliance. People who know nothing about one another, and nothing about whom or with whom the other had relationships. They have no idea of what crawls outside or inside this other person. Yet, for the sake of companionship and selfish pleasure, they compromise their health and morality and ultimately drag one another through the mire of their selfish indulgences.
Similarly, those looking for God will "find a church they like" because they fear death and fear life's vagaries and unpredictable nature. Attaching themselves to organizations that appear altruistic and holy, they hope that for the contribution of a day's wage, they might make a reservation for themselves in heaven. For the average "so-called Christian," heaven is their destination of choice, despite such being unrealistic. A place the Church" claims to be the penultimate goal of every "good" person, despite the Bible telling us otherwise.
Most tragically is the fact that every church or religious organization claims to speak for God in the name of Jesus Christ. 21 At that time if anyone says to you,‘ Look,here is the Christ!’ or ‘There He is!’ do not believe it. (Mark 13:21)
Consequently, each of these groups or organizations behave as though the Bible was written explicitly for them and to them, all of whom wholly feel that God speaks to them and only them.
"5 For many will come in My name, claiming I am the Christ, and will deceive many." (Matthew 24:5)
The Bible Book of Revelation Speaks of Kings and Priests
The organization of Jehovah's Witnesses that I was now looking to refute interprets and dispenses their information claiming themselves as akin to the chosen of God and Christ, Christ's apostles, disciples, and the anointed followers whom Christ himself chose while here on the Earth, and to whom He intimated that they would rule with Him in Heaven.
Claiming to be "called" or "anointed" with the hope of ruling with Christ in heaven over the promised New Earth—a calling that, by the way, happens only after being associated with the organization that brought these scriptures to their attention, and of which they had no precognition of such a calling.
According to scripture, this anointing is strictly between God "nd them.
"The spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are God's children." ROM. 8:16.
The scriptures indicate that God's Spirit will attach itself to, and reveal such anointing to each individual as it did on the day of Pentecost. Is this true? Indeed, we have no way of saying one way or the other. Whereas on the day of Pentecost, a rushing wind occurred and flames of fire appeared above each head. Each also began speaking in foreign languages.
In the case of Jehovah's Witnesses, however, our Creator alone can and will decide who is anointed, and we cannot question its validity.
Jehovah's Witnesses adamantly believe that they alone will be the nuclei of the "New Heavens and "New Earth" spoken of in the Bible. Believing this with good reason, i.e., according to the way they interpret scripture to support their outcome (like all religions), they are assured by the teachings of their organization founded by the man shown here, Charles Taze Russell, that all such things are true and trustworthy.
Unfortunately, like all other religions, in doing so, they base their form of "truth" on the claim of inspiration through divine revelation, i.e., being inspired by God's Spirit to divine the interpretation and understanding of the Bible.
TO CONTINUE READING, SEE: GOD SEARCH - A PROPHET WITHOUT CREDENTIALS (PART 2)