Building Our Own Home
     

Many people today are fortunate enough to own their
homes, but other people are not this fortunate and must
rent a place to live. Some people do not even have a home
at all!

Is this what God wanted for us?
What does the Bible say?

"They will certainly build houses and have occupancy;
and they will certainly plant vineyards and eat their fruitage.
They will not build and someone else have occupancy;
they will not plant and someone else do the eating. For like the
days of a tree will the days of my people be; and the work of
their own hands my chosen ones will use to the full.  They will
not toil for nothing, nor will they bring to birth for disturbance;
because they are the offspring made up of the blessed ones of
Jehovah, and their descendants with them."
(Isaiah 65:21-23) (American Standard Version)

"And I will provide a place for my people... and will plant
them so that they can have a home of their own ."
(2Samuel 7:10) (New International Version)

"...good people are rewarded here on this earth..."
(Proverbs 11:31) (Contemporary English Version)

Jehovah's People - Then and Now

Present-day Israel has many problems, just like the rest of
the world but at one time, the ancient Israelites were the most
prosperous and well-protected people in the whole world.

What separated the ancient Jews from the rest of the whole world?

The ancient Jewish people not only worshipped Jehovah
exclusively, but they were the only people who did! As
time went by, they gradually fell away and began worshiping
other gods. Every time that occurred, bad things happened
to the Jews.

Was this God’s punishment?

Not always! But it would seem like a punishment when
Jehovah withdrew His protection and favor.

It is perfectly true that Jehovah has punished people before.

For example:

“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he made man on
the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I
will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth;
both man and beast, and the creeping thing and the fowls of the
air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.”

(Genesis 6:5-7) (King James Version)

Jehovah created all of us with a free will. We think and do whatever
we want to do! We have the freedom to choose to do good things or
bad things with our life. Most of Noah’s relatives chose to do evil.
Therefore, Jehovah had decided, at first, to destroy all of the evil
people in existence on the earth. If it were not for the righteous
Noah, all of mankind would have been exterminated.

“And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all
flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah,
The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with
violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”

(Genesis 6:12-13) (KJV)

As we know from reading the Bible account, the earth was
flooded and every living thing drowned, except for every
living thing on the ark. This was punishment indeed.

So mankind was given a second chance. The earth was brought
back to peace and harmony, for the people who survived the flood
respected Jehovah. Noah, his sons Ham, Shem, Japheth and their
wives had children and mankind began to flourish again.

Then what happened?

8 Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in
Egypt. 9 "Look," he said to his people, "the Israelites have become
much too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them
or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join
our enemies, fight against us and leave the country." 11 So they put slave
masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built
Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.
(Exodus 19:4-5) (New International Version)

When Jehovah decided the time had come for the Israelites to
leave Egypt, the Pharaoh would not allow them to leave. Jehovah
bestowed ten plagues upon all of Egypt to persuade the Pharaoh
to change his mind. Every Israelite and Egyptian experienced the
plagues first hand and knew where they came from. When the
Israelites came to the Red Sea, Jehovah parted the waters so they
could cross. The Egyptians met with disaster! All of the Israelites
experienced these miracles first hand. The whole fifteenth chapter
of Exodus is a victory song the Israelites sang in celebration.

Jehovah provided His freed people with food and water
in the wilderness for forty years. Jehovah even made a
new covenant with his chosen people:

“YOU yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, that
I might carry you on the wings of eagles and bring YOU to
myself. And now if YOU will strictly obey my voice and will
indeed keep my covenant, then YOU will certainly become
my special property out of all the [other] peoples, because
the whole earth belongs to me."

(Exodus 19:4-5) (New World Translation) www.watchtower.org

So what happened soon after Moses went up the mountain
to receive the Ten Commandments from Jehovah?

“Jehovah now said to Moses: ’Go, descend because your people whom
you have led out of the land of Egypt have acted ruinously. They have
turned aside in a hurry from the way I have commanded them to go.
They have made a molten statue of a calf for themselves and keep
bowing down to it and sacrificing to it and saying: “This is your God,
O Israel, who led you up out of the land of Egypt.”’”

(Exodus 32:7-8) (New World Translation) www.watchtower.org

The people who experienced a long string of miracles actually
made an idol to worship right under the nose of Jehovah.

Why a calf?

Pagans commonly worshiped a golden calf as a tribute
to the god of nature named Baal (BAY-al). In fact, the
Israelites repeatedly turned to idol worship and away
from Jehovah many times over the centuries!

While visiting Jerusalem, once the pride of Jehovah,
with his disciples; Jesus once lamented:

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the killer of the prophets and stoner of
those sent forth to her, - how often I wanted to gather your
children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks together
under her wings! But YOU people did not want it.”

(Matthew 23:37) (NWT) www.watchtower.org

So what was to be the fate of the city of Jerusalem?

“Departing now, Jesus was on his way from the temple, but his
disciples approached to show him the buildings of the temple.
In response, he said to them ‘Do YOU not behold all these things?
Truly I say unto YOU, By no means will a stone be left here upon
a stone and not be thrown down.’”

(Matthew 24:1-2) (NWT) www.watchtower.org

Sure enough, by 70 A.D., only 37 years after Christ died,
Jehovah withdrew His protection for His beloved city and
the city of Jerusalem fell to the Romans. The destruction
of the temple was so thorough that there was not a stone
left upon another stone when they were finished.

The Jewish nation of Israel was rebuilt many times. The
Israelites of today are no longer the chosen people of
Jehovah because they chose to reject Him and His son
a long time ago. In turn, Jehovah withdrew His blessings
and protection - and it shows!

To this day, most Jewish people around the world are
waiting for the Messiah to appear, not realizing that Christ
has already fulfilled his role as the Messiah and is ready to
return to the earth again soon to take over rule of the world,
just as he was prophesied to do many centuries ago. Messianic
Jews at least recognize Jesus as our savior but they are no better
off than their mainstream Christian brethren since they worship
the same nameless lord.

Who are Jehovah’s people now?

According to the World Book Encyclopedia:

"Jehovah’s Witnesses are Christians who use the Watch Tower Bible
and Tract Society as their governing body. They took their name from
the American Standard version of the Bible, Isaiah 43:12: Ye are my
witnesses, saith Jehovah, and I am God.” Jehovah’s Witnesses are
a religious society of ministers who give exclusive devotion to
Jehovah, and keep His command to preach “this good news of the
Kingdom” (Matthew 24:14). They believe that God’s war of Armageddon
will rid the earth of all wickedness in this generation. The modern
organization was started in Pennsylvania in the 1870’s by Charles Taze
Russell. The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society was incorporated in
1884 with Russell as president."

From: World Book Encyclopedia 1963

Of all of the religions in the world, only Jehovah’s Witnesses are
named after the God of our universe, Jehovah. There is no other
religion on the face of the earth at any time in the earth’s history
that can make that claim. Only the ancient Hebrews and later,
the Christians led by Christ acknowledged Jehovah as being the
one true God. This knowledge is being proclaimed worldwide by 
over seven million of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

As the only true religion on earth, the members take their
responsibilities seriously.

Their responsibilities include:

·        Representing Jehovah in a respectable way

·        Conduct that is pleasing to Jehovah

·        Teaching Bible Truth

·        Ongoing learning experience

·        Meaningful missionary work in every country around the world

The missionary work is the means for acquainting people
with the work of Jehovah’s Witnesses and to fulfill the
Biblical prophecy and orders from Jesus Christ himself
to preach “this good news of the Kingdom”:

Ready for the Harvest?

They Would Rather Have Statues of gods...

According to Encyclopedia Wikipedia, 1/3 of the world's
population is "Christian".

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion

Yet most of the world, even the so-called Christians, have rejected
the Glorious God, Jehovah, in favor of their pagan holidays, pagan
doctrines, pagan sun god worship, trinity worship, etc.

The world does very little to show honor for Jehovah. There
are Kingdom Halls of Jehovah's Witnesses all over the world
and everyone knows what those buildings are designated for,
the worship of Jehovah, the true God. Jehovah's Witnesses
know what idols are.

What about the rest of the world?

Such as...

It is easy to identify a pagan sun god. The sun's rays radiate
from their heads either as "spikes" or a disk behind the head.

Even here in modern America?

Most Christians have done nothing at all to honor Jehovah,
our Father, but we have fine statues all over the world to
honor the common people's preferred gods.

One of the most familiar commandments for Christians is:
 
4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in
heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You
shall not bow down to them or worship them;"
(Exodus 20:4-5) (New International Version)

That should be clear enough.

But what do we find in abundance all over the world?

What does the Bible say about our idols?

"See, I have taught you statutes and judgments,
as Jehovah my God hath commanded me -- "
(Deuteronomy 4:5) (Young's Literal Translation )

"And Jehovah commanded me at that time to teach you statutes
and ordinances, that ye might do them... And take great heed...
lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the
form of any figure, the pattern of male or female, and lest thou
lift up thine eyes to the heavens, and see the sun, and the moon,
and the stars, the whole host of heaven, and be drawn away and
bow down to them and serve them,"
(Deuteronomy 4:14-16,19) (Darby)

Most cross-clutching Christians smugly assume that they do not
worship idols like the pagans do. They would never suspect that,
among other things, pagan sun god worship has crept into their lives...

"The real secret of Constantine and the bishops of Rome is their
cunning introduction of sun worship and paganism into
Christianity. It was done so shrewdly that, incredibly, it has
been veiled within the faith for centuries. Through Constantine,
paganism and Christianity joined hands in the Roman Empire.
Sun worship, which appears in nearly every pagan religion in
the world, soon appeared in Christian art, imagery, and theology.
The halo often seen on Christ and Mary is actually a
symbol of sun worship."
--Beyond The Da Vinci Code
  by Alan Parker, Th.D

Not all idols are of living things.

 
Notice that the Celtic cross is a cross combined with the sun?

Glory and honor is given to idols even by the nominal Christians.
They rejected Jehovah God but cherish the old rugged cross...

"The wise men are put to shame, they are dismayed and taken:
lo, they have rejected the word of Jehovah; and what manner
of wisdom is in them?"
(Jeremiah 8:9) (American Standard Version)

Is there an answer?

"The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom;
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."
(Proverbs 9:10) (ASV)

"...I am Jehovah thy God, who teacheth thee to profit,
who leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
Oh that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments!
then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness
as the waves of the sea:
(Isaiah 48:17-19) (ASV) 

"The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom; A good
understanding have all they that do his commandments..."
(Psalm 111:10) (ASV)

"The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge;
But the foolish despise wisdom and instruction."
(Proverbs 1:7) (ASV)

"The fear of Jehovah is a fountain of life, That one may
depart from the snares of death."
(Proverbs 14:27) (ASV)

"The fear of Jehovah is the instruction of wisdom..."
(Proverbs 15:33) (ASV)

"The reward of humility and the fear of Jehovah
is riches, and honor, and life. "
(Proverbs 22:4) (ASV)

"Blessed is the man that feareth Jehovah, That delighteth
greatly in his commandments."
(Psalm 112:1) (ASV)

Falling Away From Jehovah

When people fell away from Jehovah God - they began to invent new
and different ways to think of "God". Man's imagination ran rampant
until, among other things, they finally invented a polytheistic - triune
god to further corrupt their view of Jehovah, the true God.

The "Christian Trinity" came from the pagans. 

"So we see that the earliest forms of various pagan religions -
were really deviations away from the One True God, Jehovah. 
Their doctrines concerning the One God - were obviously
lacking specific truths - as they departed from the true faith. 
The more that people crept away from faith in God - the more
elaborate the concoctions became regarding their view of
God, until a 'trinity' of three persons was invented."
-- From the Book --
The Pagan Influence Upon the Development
of the Doctrine of the Trinity; - by Michael F Blume

"The trinity got its start in Ancient Babylon with Nimrod - Tammuz -
and Semiramis. Semiramis demanded worship for both her husband
and her son as well as herself.  She claimed that her son, was both
the father and the son. Yes, he was 'god the father' and 'god the son' -
The first divine incomprehensible trinity."
 --The Two Babylons ;
   Alexander Hislop;  p.51

"Long ago - right after the Flood, a man named Nimrod emerged on the
scene of history. His name means 'let us rebel'.  He led the founding of
the first great civilization – Babylon... He led them to rebel against
Jehovah God.  He had tremendous power, so much that he became a
god in the eyes of the people. When he died, his wife, Semiramis,
recognized that without him she might lose power herself,  so she
devised a clever plan. Semiramis was pregnant. She told everyone that
the child in her womb was none other than Nimrod being reborn. This
was the beginning of the greatest perversion... the concept of
father/son deity,  the very first incomprehensible divine trinity (the
unexplainable mystery)..."
- Resurrection Sunday and
the Babylonian Connection; By Errol Hale

"Nimrod of Ancient Babylon became both the husband and son of
Semiramis, and was worshiped as - both god the father - and god
the incarnate son. In the Bible, Nimrod was called Tammuz and
Molech. He was worshiped in Babylon as El-Bar, meaning 'god the
son.' In Assyria, Nimrod was called Baal, Bal or Belus meaning 'lord.'"
--The Two Babylons ; Alexander Hislop
Louizeaus Brothers; Neptune, N.J.

"History reveals that the trinity concept is a pagan invention and
belief found in many ancient countries. The worship of the trinity
traces back to the worship of Nimrod,  Semiramis, and Tammuz
(of ancient Babylon) soon after the Flood!"
-Forerunner Commentary
"Trinity" by John W. Ritenbaugh
under - The Nature of God - Elohim

Babylon was just the beginning...

"All Pagan religions from the time of Babylon have adopted in one
form or another a Trinity doctrine or a triad or trinity of gods. In
Babylon it was Nimrod, Semiramas, and Tammuz. In Egypt it was
Osiris, Isis, and Horus. The Greek triad was composed of Zeus,
Athena and Apollo. The Romans had the Trinity of Jupiter, Mercury
and Venus.  Since the doctrine of the trinity is unscriptural,  it took
an emperor to make Christianity start embracing the concept. The
Emperor Constantine had spoken, and no one dared touch the creed
of the Trinity during his lifetime. The great majority of the Eastern bishops
found themselves in a false position. Satan has deceived people into
believing that God is a 'Trinity.'"
--The Lost Doctrines of Christianity
The Doctrine of the Trinity
The Reluctant Messenger

The nominal Christians reject Jehovah and surround themselves
with crosses, statues and other images of their gods. They may
not knowingly worship those images, but they have still fulfilled
the Bible's prophecies nonetheless. They rejected Jehovah and...

They Would Rather Have Statues of gods!

They would even rather have crosses.

That is not what true Christians want.

The "Hand of Jehovah"

One of the most popular messages the church crowd hears from
their Christendom priests and ministers is "God loves you - just as you
are". While it is absolutely true that God loves us as His children, He
does not love evil people doing evil things. He never has and never
will. Jehovah has executed judgment on wrongdoers many times in the
past and many people criticize Him for taking such drastic action. 

Yet, how else can we expect God to protect
the good people from the evil ones?

"that all the peoples of the earth may know the HAND of Jehovah,
that it is mighty;  that ye may fear Jehovah your God - for ever."
(Joshua 4:24) (American Standard Version)

Fear God?

Why? Why should we be afraid of God if He is a God of love?

"I will cause them to know  MY HAND -and- MY MIGHT and
they shall Know that MY NAME is Jehovah."
(Jeremiah 16:21) (Young's Literal Translation)

Do we have something to worry about?

"but if ye will not hearken unto the voice of Jehovah,
but rebel against the commandment of Jehovah,
then will the HAND of Jehovah be against you..."
(1Samuel 12:15) (ASV)

"...JEHOVAH... in thy HAND there is POWER
and MIGHT - and none can withstand thee."
(2Chronicles 20:6) (Darby)

Just how much does God love us as we are?

Did God almost exterminate all of us once?

5 The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth,
and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently
and totally evil. 6 So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and
put them on the earth. It broke his heart. 7 And the Lord said, “I will
wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth.
Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals,
the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of
the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.”
(Genesis 6:5-7) (New Living Translation)

What about judgment against cities full of people?

23 The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot came unto Zoar.
24 Then Jehovah rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah
brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven; 25 and he
overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants
of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
(Genesis 19:23-25) (ASV)

1 Then the LORD said to Moses, "See, I have made you like God
to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. 2 You are
to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell
Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. 3 But I will harden
Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and
wonders in Egypt, 4 he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on
Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions,
my people the Israelites. 5 And the Egyptians will know that I am the
LORD when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites
out of it."
(Exodus 7:1-5) (New International Version)

There are many more stories in the Bible about Jehovah’s
judgement. They are there to teach us that Jehovah means
business. It is a bad idea to keep on believing that He will
never get angry with us. Jehovah is a loving God but He
has His limits.

Does Jehovah see everything we are doing?

The Eyes of Jehovah...

"...the EYES of Jehovah... run to and fro through the whole earth."
(Zechariah 4:10) (ASV)

"The EYES of Jehovah are in every place,
Keeping watch upon the evil and the good."
(Proverbs 15:3) (ASV)

"For the ways of man are before the EYES of Jehovah,
and he pondereth all his paths."
(Proverbs 5:21) (Darby)

"For God carefully WATCHES the way that people live;
he sees everything they do. No darkness is thick enough
to hide the wicked from his EYES. For it is not up to
mortals to decide when to come before God in judgment.
He will openly strike them down for their wickedness.
For they turned aside from following him. They have no
respect for any of his ways."
(Job 34:21-23) (New Living Translation) 
 
"From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind;
from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth-"
(Psalm 33:13,14) (NIV)

"Behold, the EYE of Jehovah is upon them that fear him,
Upon them that hope in his lovingkindness; To deliver
their soul from death, And to keep them alive..."
(Psalm 33:18,19) (ASV)

"Don't say, "I didn't know it!" God can read your mind.
He WATCHES each of us ; and knows our thoughts.
And God will pay us back for what we do."
(Proverbs 24:12) (Contemporary English Version)

"The eyes of Jehovah are toward the righteous, and his
ears are open unto their cry. The face of Jehovah is against
them that do evil, To cut off the remembrance of them
from the earth."
(Psalm 34:15,16) (ASV)

Many people blithely believe that Jehovah does not exist,
does not care or cannot do anything about the evil things
that people are doing.

But that is not what the Bible warns! 

"They say, "God can't see!  He's got on a blindfold." The wicked
don't respect you. In their hearts they say, 'God won't punish us!'
But you see the trouble and the distress, and you will do something..."
(Psalm 10:11,13,14) (CEV)

"You make God tired with all your talk. "How do we tire him out?"
you ask. By saying, "God loves sinners and sin alike. God loves all."
And also by saying, "Judgment? God's too nice to judge."
(Malachi 2:17) (Message Bible)

"Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly,
therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully
to do evil."
(Ecclesiastes 8:11) (New American Standard Bible)

Jehovah has definite plans for evil, disobedient people.

Foolish people believe that it is enough just to know who Jesus is.
They believe that Jesus also loves us no matter what. The Bible's
prophets indicate that there is far more to know than that.

"...they do NOT listen to God's word or OBEY it, and so
they meet the fate that has been planned for them."
(1Peter 2:8) (NLT)

"...God requires obedience to all of his commands."
(Romans 10:5) (NLT)

"See that you do all I command you;
do not add to it or take away from it."
(Deuteronomy 12:32) (NIV)

"God will give to each person according to what he has done."
(Romans 2:6) (NIV)

"...each will  receive his own reward according to his own labor. "
(1Corinthians 3:8) (NASB)

"And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the
throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened,
which is the book of life. The dead were judged according
to what they had done as recorded in the books."
(Revelation 20:12) (NIV) 
 
"And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no
favorites when he judges. He will judge or reward you according to
what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him..."
(1Peter 1:17) (NLT) 
 
"You see that a man is justified - pronounced righteous before
God - through what he does and not alone through faith..."
(James 2:24) (AMP)

"I, Jehovah, search the mind, I try the heart, even to give every man
according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings."
(Jeremiah 17:10) (ASV)

People complain that God is being mean.

"How can a loving God have such terrible plans
for us? How can He be called a God of Love?"

Are they terrible plans or are the evil and violent people
just getting what they deserve?

"For yet a little while, and the evildoers will be no more;
though you look with care where they used to be, they
will not be found. But the meek in the end shall inherit
the earth and shall delight themselves in the
abundance of peace."
(Psalm 37:10,11) (AMP)

"For evil-doers shall be cut off; But those that wait for Jehovah,
they shall inherit the earth. For just a little while longer,and the
wicked ones shall be no more: Yea, thou shalt diligently consider
his place, and he shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the earth,
And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace... The
righteous shall inherit the earth, And dwell therein for ever... Wait
for Jehovah, and keep his way, And he will exalt thee to inherit the
earth; When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it."
(Psalm 37:9-11,29,34) (ASV)

"...And you will destroy all who have caused destruction on the earth."
(Revelation 11:18) (NLT)

This prophecy is just one of many made long ago for the
benefit of Jehovah's people. From waht we can see in
the news daily, Jehovah is already actively giving the wicked
their due. None of the upheaval in the world will affect the
people who devote themselves to Jehovah. Christ, himself,
assured Jehovah's people that their patience and devotion
will be rewarded. 

"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth."
(Matthew 5:5) (King James Version)

What kind of Earth do the meek want, the violent, chaotic
world we have today or a kinder, gentler world?

"This world as you see it - is on its way out."
(1Corinthians 7:31) (Message Bible)

"But God has promised us a new heaven and a new earth,
where justice will rule. We are really looking forward to that!"
(2Peter 3:13) (CEV)

It will be a much quieter and better world indeed!

"Look! I am creating... A NEW EARTH -- so wonderful
that no one will even think about the old one anymore."
(Isaiah 65:17) (NLT)

"He will swallow up death for ever; and the Lord Jehovah
will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of
his people will he take away from off all the earth.."
(Isaiah 25:8) (ASV)

"...And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and
death shall be no more, neither shall there be anguish nor
grief nor pain any more, for the old conditions and the former
order of things have passed away."
(Revelation 21:1-5) (AMP)

These prophecies are going to become fulfilled very shortly!