Ukraine, Russia, and Jehovah's Witnesses

End times prophecy is such an important part of the Jehovah's Witnesses that they are one of the few groups who are excited to hear all the "bad news" going on in the world the past few years. Their featured story today on the Jehovah's Witnesses official website has an article "Russia Invades Ukraine: Is Bible Prophecy Being Fulfilled?" In that featured article, they link back to the May 2020 Watchtower Magazine where they said:

“In the time of the end the king of the south will engage with the king of the north in a pushing.”​- Daniel 11:40.

[Page 5] During World War I, the United States and Britain were welded into a powerful military alliance. At that time, Britain and its former colony became the Anglo-American World Power. As Daniel foretold, this king had amassed  “an exceedingly large and mighty army.” (Dan. 11:25) Throughout the last days, the Anglo-American alliance has been the king of the south.  Who, though, has filled the role of the king of the north?

[Page 6] Soon after World War II ended, the new king of the north, the Soviet Union and its allies, launched his own assault on God’s people. In harmony with the prophecy recorded at Revelation 12:15-17, this king banned our preaching work and sent thousands of Jehovah’s people into exile. In fact, throughout the last days, the king of the north has poured out “a river” of persecution in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the work of God’s people.

[Page 7] The king of the north has supported the king of the south in one key endeavor; they “put in place the disgusting thing that causes desolation.” (Dan. 11:31) That “disgusting thing” is the United Nations. The United Nations organization is described as a “disgusting thing” because it claims to be able to do something that only God’s Kingdom can do​—bring world peace.

[Page 13] Note why we can say that today the king of the north is Russia and its allies. (1) They have had a direct impact on God’s people, banning the preaching work and persecuting hundreds of thousands of brothers and sisters who live in areas under their control. (2) Those actions show that they hate Jehovah and his people. (3) They have been competing with the king of the south, the Anglo-American World Power.

The king of the north and the king of the south continue to compete for world domination. For example, consider what happened after World War II when the Soviet Union and its allies gained influence over much of Europe. The actions of the king of the north forced the king of the south to form an international military alliance, known as NATO. The king of the north continues to compete with the king of the south in an expensive arms race. The king of the north fought his rival in proxy wars and insurgencies in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. In recent years, Russia and its allies have spread their influence across the globe. They have also engaged with the king of the south in cyber warfare. The kings have accused each other of using destructive computer programs in an effort to damage their economies and political systems.

[Page 14] In 2017, this current king of the north banned the work of Jehovah’s people and threw some of our brothers and sisters into prison. He also banned our publications, including the New World Translation. Further, he confiscated our branch office in Russia as well as Kingdom Halls and Assembly Halls. After these actions, in 2018 the Governing Body identified Russia and its allies as the king of the north.
Who Is “the King of the North” Today?

Much of this sounds like the typical Protestant reading of the Bible's two main "prophetic books," the books of Daniel and Revelation. Many Protestants are bringing up similar points today with Russia being the "king of the north" in this current Ukraine conflict. This kind of Biblical interpretation became popular in the 1900s with American & British Protestantism's reading of the Bible, as Protestantism had lost its place in Europe after the World Wars and needed to find an "explanation" for why these wars happened. So it is no surprise that the American Protestants who lead the Jehovah's Witnesses speak of 'finding' the United States and Russia within Biblical prophecy. You've got to admit, Protestantism has a way of being entertaining, and why we shouldn't entirely ignore this (though most of it is a complete waste of time).

 

What many people do not know is that within the past 5 years or so, Russia has stepped up it's persecution of JWs. The Russian leaders consider the JWs a dangerous organization designed to infiltrate and break up families and society (e.g. once a person becomes a JW, they tend to cause division within their family and donate all their money to the WT). The Russian Orthodox Church works closely with Putin, and since the JWs were breaking up Russian Orthodox families (often not very educated), the Russian government made JW preaching and material illegal, and JWs can be jailed. In response to this and similar persecution in other countries, the Watchtower has responded by digitizing their magazines. Over the last several years, the Watchtower has made almost all of their material completely online. This means JWs no longer have to carry around books, magazines, etc, and instead anyone can freely access all past, present, and future JW material on the official Watchtower website or download it all on their app. This allows JWs in persecuted areas to still access the material without having to carry around the books.

 

I'm sure this digitizing of all material is also part of cutting down printing costs, since printing millions of pages each year cannot be cheap and often gets thrown away (e.g. each month a new magazine comes out). I first attended a JW Meeting around the year 2010, the internet was still in its infancy stages and they had lots of printed materials in their "Kingdom Hall" (their term for their church building). But when I entered another JW Meeting just a few years ago, the entire meeting was done digitally, even though everyone was sitting in the same room. Everyone in the congregation had their phone or tablet out logged onto the website. Printed materials were entirely absent. The meeting hall had a few big TV screens where the entire meeting was conducted through movies and online talks. This paved the way for the JWs to transition entirely to remote meeting when the Kingdom Halls all shut down during Covid and have not reopened since. (If you go to the JW website and click "find a meeting" they say all meeting is done online now.) I attended a Zoom meeting last year, where all the JWs were at home sitting behind a computer screen, and I got to see all these elderly folks each secluded in their living room, and we just watched prerecorded videos played from the JWs highest leadership. Some ex-JWs suggest this move to online is also part of the Watchtower Organization preparing to sell off most of its Kingdom Halls, as it has become sort of failed real estate, with not enough members or income to pay the bills anymore. Just like most office space, it's cheaper for most companies to just have everyone work from home. Now the JWs are not so much going door to door but instead are writing letters to houses, calling them, even sending texts. I've received such letters, calls, and texts. They are cut and paste, and they are much easier for the average shy JW to send out than having to face people in real life. More JWs are getting bored and going online to YouTube and other social media comment boxes, where hopefully they will get exposed to true Christianity.

Since things have been shut down during Covid, I spent several months doing an online "Bible Study" with a decently educated JW, who would call me each week and we'd talk for 2 hrs. Most people don't realize that a JW rarely gets to be called to a Bible Study, since so few people show interest in the JW preaching. Much less does the average JW get to spend that many months/hours trying to convert someone. So by him logging that many hours talking with me (records they keep and report to their HQ) is a big deal in his congregation. I did my best to plant seeds, and the experience was very educational for me. I'm sure if you called or emailed your local congregation, they would be happy to do weekly Bible Studies with you over the phone. The benefit of this is that they are not inside your home, which I have previously written about is a bad idea to 'let the devil inside'. Talking over the phone allows you to keep distance and not be pressured to meet in person, especially since they aren't allowed to due to Covid. You must be prepared to take on the 'student' role and not try to push your Catholicism though.

 

Having everything freely available online has been a blessing for Christian apologetics, because now we can more easily research the official JW position, whereas before the information was almost impossible to access, and even the average JW historically only had a few sources readily available. Now we can easily do word searches and verse searches and see where the WT has cited this material in any of its published books, magazines, etc. Honestly, I'm surprised they haven't closed more of it off, or locked out non-members from most of the materials. They must figure that they would rather have people doing their own research in the privacy of their own home rather than being locked out and not bothering to research. I think the Holy Spirit is at work here, because this digitizing of the JW material is invaluable for Christian apologetics.

Sorry for all that rambling, it was really just meant to lead to the main point I think needs to be emphasized when doing apologetics with the JWs, which is that their raison d'etre is their claim to have properly interpreted Biblical prophecy. The JWs exist solely because they claim Biblical prophecy points to our very own lifetime being the final end of the world. This means it's of minimal value to 'waste time' discussing their objections to the Trinity, Immortal Soul, Hellfire, etc, since these are all merely secondary issues they bring up to discredit mainstream Christianity from being a contender in properly interpreting the Bible, particularly Biblical prophecy. Given this, my strategy is to engage them directly on their Biblical prophecies, since they are often very easy to discredit, and in fact they will immediately get uncomfortable and start making all kinds of excuses (e.g. how is the British/American Empire supposed to be a "southern" kingdom?). It is typically the ideal to go after anyone's primary proof texts, since avoiding their proof texts does come across as implicitly admitting they are right. For example, it is important for Catholics to focus on the book of Romans when talking to Protestants, especially the verses Protestants point to. In the case of JWs, I like to focus my attention on their wacky interpretation of Matthew 24, Revelation, and Daniel. I hope to have some relevant articles up about these soon.