Saturday, June 5 I am Jehovah; I do not change. —Mal. 3:6. Jehovah hates spiritism! He told the Israelites: “There should not be found in you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, anyone who employs divination, anyone practicing magic, anyone who looks for omens, a sorcerer, anyone binding others with a spell, anyone who consults a spirit medium or a fortune-teller, or anyone who inquires of the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to Jehovah.” (Deut. 18:10-12) Christians are not under the Law that Jehovah gave to the Israelites. However, we know that his feelings about spiritism have not changed. Jehovah warns us against spiritism because he knows that Satan uses it to harm people. Satan uses spiritism to promote lies—including the lie that the dead are alive in some other realm. (Eccl. 9:5) Satan also uses spiritism to keep people in fear and to turn them away from Jehovah. His aim is that people who practice spiritism will trust in wicked spirits instead of in Jehovah. w19.0421 ¶5-6
Sigh.... snippits of scripture from the Watchtower organization. I can better appreciate taking in the context of this day's snippit: And I will come near to you for judging; I will quickly be a witness against the wonder-workers, against those who have been untrue in married life, against those who take false oaths; against those who keep back from the servant his payment, and who are hard on the widow and the child without a father, who do not give his rights to the man from a strange country, and have no fear of me, says the Lord of armies. For I am the Lord, I am unchanged; and so you, O sons of Jacob, have not been cut off. From the days of your fathers you have been turned away from my rules and have not kept them. Come back to me, and I will come back to you, says the Lord of armies. But you say, How are we to come back? Will a man keep back from God what is right? But you have kept back what is mine. But you say, What have we kept back from you? Tenths and offerings. You are cursed with a curse; for you have kept back from me what is mine, even all this nation. —Malachi 3:5-9 Bible in Basic English BBE The first thing I notice here is that while spiritism was one of the condemnations of God in regards to his people, the snippit and accompanying commentary ignored the body of complaints Jehovah had about His people and why He was coming in Judgment— including their leaders being "hard on the widow and the child without a father" and, ultimately, having "no fear" of Jehovah. If one accepts Jehovah's Witnesses as Jehovah's "modern-day people," then how would this apply? I can think of no better example than in the Watchtower organization's institutionalization of naysaying the reach of child molestation within its group, with their continued publishing of statements like "we abhor" child molestation ("false oaths") and discounting the malevolent mishandling of justice to the extent of defrauding the single mothers with molested children, and the children who continue to be molested by those in positions of appointment by the organization. Indeed, if one accepts Jehovah's Witnesses as Jehovah's "modern-day people," then one could conclude that the Watchtower organization's absolute refusal to work with secular authorities to secure the justice which Jehovah expects of His "modern-day people" can appropriately be summed up in how Jehovah describes of those "who do not give his rights to the man from a strange country" — that is, to "caesar": Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. —Romans 13:1-5 English Standard Version The Watchtower organization's absolute refusal to cooperate with the governing authorities instituted by God Himself reveals that they "have no fear of me," which is tantamount and as wicked in Jehovah's eyes as spiritism is. I guess I can better see why the Watchtower organization's choice here was to go with a snippit and then deflect the sense of the words of the snippit to the practice of spiritism. /thinking aloud As always... submitted for perusal and consideration, —Timothy