The September 2024 Watchtower that was posted only few days ago on jw.org is full of changes on doctrinal issues that we will go through the next few weeks. The default position from now on is that your door to door ministry has become meaningless and only Jesus will have the final say when He judges the sheep and the goats after the battle of Armageddon. Therefore many of their beliefs will have to be readjusted to align with this new position.

Now you will find the link to this article which is

of course the content of this video in the description area, as I said last time the website jwupdates.com has been discontinued and you will find all my content including articles, announcements to elders and internal updates relevant to the Watchtower under one link jwupdates.locals.com

Now back in the article at hand , they didn't come to this new understanding by choice, they were really force into it. You see more and more governments are waking up to the fact that the Watchtower is a cult and are cutting their funding or tax exemptions towards with recent examples like Norway, Lithuania, Spain and France to name a few. The only choice they have is to remove their more sticky doctrines and blend in with the rest of Christendom. Now I did a video last time on the change of understanding on the parable of the 10 virgins, if you haven't watched I recommend that you do. Today I consider the second change that was presented in September 2024 Watchtower under the article "Are you heeding the warnings?" and paragraphs 15 &16 but before we read these paragraphs we need to first read the verses they relate to and these verse are Matthew 24:40,41 were we read:

40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken along and the other abandoned.41 Two women will be grinding at the hand mill; one will be taken along and the other abandoned.

So just to give you the background here, this is an event that is taking place immediately after the Great Tribulation because we read earlier in verses 29-31:

Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in grief, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory

Now keep that in mind as we read their new understanding in paragraphs 15 &16 were we read:

Before relating the three parables, Jesus described a final judgment of the anointed that would reveal who was approved. He spoke of two men working in a field and of two women working at a hand mill. In each case, the two appear to be doing the same work, but Jesus said that one would be “taken along and the other abandoned.” (Read Matthew 24:40, 41.) He then urged his followers: “Keep on the watch, therefore, because you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” (Matt. 24:42) Jesus said something similar after relating the parable of the virgins. (Matt. 25:13) Are these comments connected? It appears so. Only genuine, faithful anointed ones will be “taken along,” received by Jesus into the heavenly Kingdom.​—John 14:3.Prove yourself watchful. Any anointed ones who do not remain spiritually alert will not be gathered with the “chosen ones.” (Matt. 24:31) By extension, all of God’s people, regardless of their hope, should view Jesus’ words as a warning to keep on the watch and remain faithful

In other words just because you took from the emblems don't get your hopes too high body, if you are a fraud anointed you will be left behind whereas we the governing body with our new beards we are the true anointed and we will be flying first class with Jesus. You really can't make this stuff! This is pure gold!

Now before we delve into these verses let's see what was their previous position and for that you have to go all the way back to 1984 and the book "Survival into a New Earth" and Chapter 15 under the title :"Dividing of People Over the Kingdom issue. There in paragraph 1 we read:

EACH ONE of us is faced with a crucial decision. At issue is our attitude toward Jehovah’s Messianic Kingdom in the hands of Jesus Christ. Over this issue a dividing of people of all nations is taking place. On the basis of each person’s course of action he is being put into one of two groups. Only one of these groups will survive the impending world destruction.​—Matthew 24:40, 41.

So it is quite clear from this paragraph that the people of the nations ,that means unbelieving wordly people are divided now and not in the future depending their attitude towards the preaching of Jehovah's Witnesses. This is completely different from what they want us to believe now which is that these verses apply to anointed Christians and not wordly people. This is a 180 degrees change and a completely different take on these verses. Since this is the case can we expect a full blown explanation with a whole article with paragraphs and verses to convince us of their new take? So are you ready? Here is the explanation in just few sentences with barely any verses;

Jesus gave the parable of the 10 virgins which applies to anointed Christians only and his final warning was "KEEP on the Watch." Since the very same warning appears here in Matthew 24:40,41 then these verses apply to anointed Christians too! What?

In all my life I never actoss any scholarly work by any Christian scholar making this argument ever! Forget the verses, forget the immediate context forget the setting, forget the fact that the one account is a parable and the other is a prophesy! Truly astonishing!

And it goes to show how self deceived they have become cherry picking totally unrelated verses to make a connection offering zero to none valid backing or explanation and expecting everyone to go along with it.

So is there a correct understanding on these verses? I believe there is and all you have to do is read the immediate context .SO let's go to the prrceeding text and in verses 36-39 to get the answer, there we read:

Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 For just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be. 38 For as they were in those days before the Flood, eating and drinking, men marrying and women being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, 39 and they took no note until the Flood came and swept them all away, so the presence of the Son of man will be.

In other words as in the days of Noah unbelievers were engaging in mondain pursuits of life, eating, drinking and getting married so it will be in the last days, men will be cultivating in the fields and women will be at the hand mill. Both will be caught by surprise and notice how the Flood did the taking in Noah's day but angels will do the taking in the last days. By the way the NWT here mistranslates the verb "iro" which means taken to "swept away" So who is taken away here? The ungodly people they "were swept swept away by the Flood in Noah's day and will be removed by the angels after the Great Tribulation. Who is left behind? The believers who were saved in the Ark here on earth in Noah's days, and they will be protected by destruction here on earth to go through the great tribulation into the new system. The Watchtower thinks that because these unbelievers are being picked up by angels their only destination can be heaven but they couldn't be more wrong. How can this be? Well Jesus gives the answer in the parable of the wheat and the weeds. Wheat being the believers and weeds the unbelievers.

We read in Matthew 13:30:

Let both grow(= the weeds and the wheat) together until the harvest, and in the harvest season, I will tell the reapers(=reapers here symbolise the angels): First collect the weeds and bind them in bundles to burn them up; then gather the wheat into my storehouse

So as you can see the angels are actively "taking away" or collecting FIRST the wicked in bundles to burn them up and THEN they gather the believers the wheat in places of safety, the storehouses. Now how this is going to take place exactly and where these places are we have to wait and see. One thing is certain that the ones that get picked up first are not anointed and are not taken to heaven, the exact opposite is true, the angels FIRST pick up the weeds as Matthew 13:30 clearly says. In fact the parallel account to Matthew 24:40,41 refers to the same place of destruction. We read in Luke 17:34-37 from the amplified Bible:

34I tell you, on that night [when Messiah comes again] there will be two [sleeping] in one bed; the [i]one (the non-believer) will be taken [away in judgment] and the [j]other (the believer) will be left. 35There will be two women grinding [at the mill] together; the [k]one (the non-believer) will be taken [away in judgment] and the other (the believer) will be left. 36[l][Two men will be in the field; [m]one will be taken and the other will be left.”] 37And they asked Him, “Where, Lord?” He answered, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will be gathered.”

Clearly Jesus points to a place of destruction and heaven in these verses.

Now I have to say these are highly contested verses and there is alot more information and scholarly research on them, something the theologically inept "scholars" of jw.org never seem to want to look into. But encourage you to do your own research and arrive to your own conclusions. They truly are fascinating verses.

But there is alot more to unpack in their new understanding there is also an underlying threat to all those who have recently partaken from the emblems, all these new anointed and the next few paragraphs are dedicated to them, but this is a subject for the next video something I will consider next time.