Monday, August 11, 2008

The Watchtower and Johannes Greber, A Spirit Medium

Please click on letter to enlarge it.
Those desiring to please Jehovah, therefore, destroy their spiritistic paraphernalia, as did ancient Christians in Ephesus. --Awake!, April 8, 1986, page 27.
Anyone who consults a spirit medium is detestable to Jehovah. –Deuteronomy 18:10-12 (NWT),
The Watchtower Society has on many occasions stressed the necessity of destroying any books or other objects associated with "spiritism". Notice:
In harmony with the example recorded at Acts 19:19, it is also important to destroy or properly dispose of all objects in one's possession that relate to spiritism. --Reasoning from the Scriptures, 1985, page 389.
Those desiring to please Jehovah, therefore, destroy their spiritistic paraphernalia, as did ancient Christians in Ephesus. --Awake!, April 8, 1986, page 27.
In imitation of those who became Christ's followers at Ephesus, if you have objects in your possession that are directly related to spiritism the wise course is to destroy them no matter how costly they are. --You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, 1982, page 98.
The Witness who came to study the Bible with me advised me to destroy everything I had that was connected with spiritism. --The Watchtower, March 1, 1979, page 28.
The last quote above was published by the Watchtower Society in 1979. Another article published by the Society in the same year, under the heading "Resist Wicked Spirit Forces", had the following to say:
To Christians in Ephesus, the apostle Paul wrote: "Put on the complete suit of armor from God . . . because we have a wrestling, not against blood and flesh, but against . . . the wicked spirit forces in the heavenly places." (Eph. 6:11, 12) If a Christian were to consult such forces through a spirit medium, could it be said that he was fighting them? No, indeed. Rather, would he not have to destroy any objects associated with such spiritistic communication, following the example of those first-century believers in Ephesus who burned even the books that dealt with occultism? --The Watchtower, February 15, 1979, page 8.
According to the Society, the Christian course would be to "destroy any objects associated with such spiritistic communication". But what of the Watchtower Society themselves? What course would the Society take, should they find themselves in possession of objects associated with "spiritistic communication"? Would the Society "destroy their spiritistic paraphernalia" as do those "desiring to please Jehovah"? Would the Society imitate "those who became Christ's followers at Ephesus"? Would they act "in harmony with the example recorded at Acts 19:19"?
To answer these questions, consider the letter above which was sent by the Watchtower Society to the Johannes Greber Memorial Foundation upon receipt of two books by Johannes Greber, a spiritist. This letter - dated 1980 - was sent only one year after the Society's 1979 article wherein they stated a Christian would "have to destroy any objects associated with such spiritistic communication":
Gentlemen:
This is to acknowledge receipt of the two books you recently sent to us, The New Testament translated by Johannes Greber, and his book "Communication with the Spirit World of God."
We appreciate your sending these volumes on to us. For some years we have been aware of the translation by Johannes Greber and have on occasion even quoted it. Copies of the translation, though, have been hard to obtain. Since we have four libraries in our headquarters facilities consulted by the members of our staff, including the writers for our journals and books, we wonder about the possibility of obtaining a few additional copies of The New Testament.
Please direct any communication about the above request to the Writing Department, Desk EG.
Sincerely, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.
Huh?
How about "thanks but no thanks"? How about "we destroyed your spiritistic books"? How about "go read Deuteronomy 18:10-12"?
Upon receipt of two books associated with "spiritistic communication" from the Johannes Greber Foundation, the response of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society was to request more copies! It appears the Society wanted to ensure that all their staff - "including the writers for [their] journals and books" - would have access to Greber's spiritistic book!
As the Society stated in their letter, "for some years we have been aware of the translation by Johannes Greber and have on occasion even quoted it". Indeed for many years the Watchtower Society had knowingly used Greber's spiritistic translation to support certain obscure renderings found in their own New Testament translation. That the Watchtower Society knew Johannes Greber was a spiritist, and that his New Testament translation was "directly related to spiritism", is seen from the following statements printed by the Watchtower Society in 1955 and 1956 (emphasis mine):
It comes as no surprise that one Johannes Greber, a former Catholic clergyman, has become a spiritualist and has published the book entitled 'Communication With the Spirit World, Its Laws and Its Purpose.' --The Watchtower, October 1, 1955, page 603.
Says Johannes Greber in the introduction of his translation of The New Testament, copyrighted in 1937: 'I myself was a Catholic priest, and...never as much believed in the possibility of communicating with the world of God's spirits. The day came, however, when I involuntarily took my first step toward such communication... My experiences are related in a book that has appeared in both German and English and bears the title, Communication with the Spirit-World: Its Laws and Its Purpose.'... Greber endeavors to make his New Testament read very spiritualistic... Very plainly the spirits in which ex-priest Greber believes helped him in his translation. --The Watchtower, February 15, 1956, page 110,111.
Not only did the Watchtower Society knowingly rely upon Greber's spiritism for 20 years, but when presented with additional copies of Greber's "spiritistic communication" in 1980 (the very year after counselling their flock to destroy any objects associated with spiritistic communication), rather than destroying these books "directly related to spiritism" as "those desiring to please Jehovah" do, the Society instead expressed their sincere appreciation and requested even more copies.
Hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs--beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity.

11 comments:

spiritualbrother said...

Wonder what the rank and file will think if they come to know of this.

Anonymous said...

this is one of the most disturbing things discovered. and yes, grebers translation is quoted a lot in wt history. the most disturbing thing is that grebers translation supports many of the wt teachings and translation in the NWT and is often used to prove NWT renderings.

grebers teachings have a lot similarities with past and present jw teachings which are unique to the jws.

its really disturbing.

Anonymous said...

if you have the balls you can compare that what grebers "spirit" told him to actual wt teachings (especially old light from the 50s). its disturbing similar...

kimmy jo said...

"Hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs--beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity."

Anonymous said...

The Watchtower organization is steeped in the occult. Johannes Greber is just one example. Occcultism runs rampant throughout their literature and teachings. To find out more about Johannes Greber and what the Watchtower is hiding behind go to the following website.
www.sixscreensofthewatchtower.com When on home page click screen 3

Anonymous said...

The Watchtower organization is steeped in the occult. Johannes Greber is just one example. Occcultism runs rampant throughout their literature and teachings. To find out more about Johannes Greber and what the Watchtower is hiding behind go to the following website.
www.sixscreensofthewatchtower.com When on home page click screen 3

Anonymous said...

The Watchtower organization is steeped in the occult. Johannes Greber is just one example. Occcultism runs rampant throughout their literature and teachings. To find out more about Johannes Greber and what the Watchtower is hiding behind go to the following website.
www.sixscreensofthewatchtower.com When on home page click screen 3

Anonymous said...

The Watchtower organization is steeped in the occult. Johannes Greber is just one example. Occcultism runs rampant throughout their literature and teachings. To find out more about Johannes Greber and what the Watchtower is hiding behind go to the following website.
www.sixscreensofthewatchtower.com When on home page click screen 3

Anonymous said...

The Watchtower organization is steeped in the occult. Johannes Greber is just one example. Occcultism runs rampant throughout their literature and teachings. To find out more about Johannes Greber and what the Watchtower is hiding behind go to the following website.
www.sixscreensofthewatchtower.com When on home page click screen 3

Anonymous said...

Where are the WTS apologists? Why aren't you defending your precious faithful and discreet slave concept? Look! The WTS knowingly uses demon-influenced men to back-up their teachings!

Defend them!

Or, in reality, is this indefensible?

Anonymous said...

For the record there was another Watchtower reference to Greber although he is not named but the quotation is identical to later quotations attributed to him. See WT Jan 1st 1961 'Was There a Resurrection? pp29-30 viz:-

A reasonable solution to this problem is given by the rendering of the verses in question in the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures. While a literal translation, it puts clarity of thought ahead of literalness. It reads: “And the memorial tombs were opened and many bodies of the holy ones that had fallen asleep were thrown up, (and persons, coming out from among the memorial tombs after his being raised up, entered into the holy city,) and they became visible to many people.” From this translation it is evident that this was no resurrection of “sleeping saints” but merely a throwing of bodies out of their tombs by the earthquake that attended Jesus’ death.

Nor is the New World Translation alone in rendering these verses thus. A modern German translation reads quite similarly: “Tombs were laid open, and many bodies of those buried were tossed upright. In this posture they projected from the graves and were seen by many who passed by the place on their way back to the city.”—Matt. 27:52, 53.