1    The WTS Separates "Sheep" & "Goats"

2    Separation of Sheep and Goats Stopped – Jesus Rejects Assignment from God

3    Separation of Sheep and Goats – Quotes

The Watchtower Society (WTS) teaches:

The basis of the judgment (according to the WTS) is the attitude people take towards the message preached by Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs). Those judged as "sheep" are those who accept the teachings of the WTS unquestioningly, regard the WTS as God's exclusive channel and become JWs. These will all be saved at Armageddon.

Those who do not accept the WTS's teachings are considered "independent". They are the "goats" and will all be destroyed at Armageddon – within the generation of people alive in 1914. So in a very short time over five billion people are going to be destroyed. (Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained 1958 p. 210; You May Survive Armageddon 1955 pp. 165-167, 217, 347; The Watchtower 1981 November 15 pp. 15-17, 21)

Furthermore, all these billions of people are to be judged on individual choice:

Has the WTS managed to convey their message to all the peoples of the world so that each and every person can make his own "individual choice"? Let's look at the WTS's latest "Service Year Report of Jehovah's Witnesses Worldwide" published in The Watchtower of January 1 1992 pp. 10-13.

According to the report the WTS is represented, and its 4,278,000 followers allowed to preach unhindered, in 186 countries/territories of the world. The population of each land is given in the table and the total for all 186 lands comes to 3,621,981,381.

In 25 other unnamed countries: "the work is banned and the reports are incomplete." (p.13) By deducting the above figure of 3,621,981,381 from the present estimated world population of 5.1 billion we get a total population of 1,478,018,619 in the 25 countries where the work is banned.

The figures supplied in the four-page table in The Watchtower are impressive but the work is unevenly distributed and is minuscule when compared with the world population.

There are still billions of people who have not been reached by the WTS and know nothing about JWs. For example, one of the 25 countries where the work is banned would be China. China has an estimated population of 1.1 billion, is officially atheist, and has very few JWs.

Furthermore, the JWs are distributed unevenly in any one country, which means some people are contacted repeatedly and others never.

The above analysis gives the lie to statements like:

The 1989 YEAR BOOK OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES refers to the Bible in Revelation 7 where a "great multitude" is predicted to survive the "great tribulation".

 The YEARBOOK next refers to the JWs and their:

This indicates the completion of the JW preaching (and hence of the occurrence of Armageddon) within the 20th century.

Those decades run out in 8 years, which seems too little time for:

Watchtower Society (WTS)
The Watchtower (WT)
 

The Watchtower, October 15 1995 did an amazing turnabout. Since 1923 the Watchtower Society taught that the separation of the sheep and the goats, described in Matthew by Jesus, began in 1914. Now they say it is future.

In Investigator 27 the WTS's concept of the separation was shown to be ridiculous.

The "separation" teaching was one of the most stressed doctrines of the WTS from the time it was revealed to them, apparently as a "flash of light", in 1923. (United in Worship 1983 p. 103-104; Watchtower Publications Index 1930-1985 p. 228)

The separation supposedly was being achieved by Jesus and his angels, since 1914, by peoples' response to the WTS's preaching – whether they accepted the message and joined the Jehovah's Witnesses or not.

The parable was of course made to fit WTS's scheme of things i.e. the 1914 date of return of Christ which date was also the beginning of the generation that would see the end of the world.

It was maintained that:

• In 1899 it was believed that the "separation and judging would occupy the entire millennial age". (Studies in Scriptures Volume 5 1899 p. 479-480).
• "In the year 1905 it was thought that the parable would apply during the Millennial reign of Christ after 'the war of the great day of God the Almighty' at the battle of Har-Mageddon." (WT 1984 February 15 p. 17)
• In 1917 it was believed that the separation would be at the close of the Millennial Age. (The Finished Mystery 1917 p. 307).
• A further "clarification of belief" was received on the subject in 1923 and 1936 and was apparently consolidated in the late '30s that Jesus had come into his kingdom in 1914 and had started the judgment. (Watchtower Publications Index 1930-1985 p. 228; United in Worship 1983 p. 103-104; Children 1941 p. 98; Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose 1959 p. 140).
• Now since the WT of October 15, 1995 was released, the belief is that Jesus has not even started his judgment. It will now "take place after the tribulation"!

The WTS has woven a tangled web of nonsense.

***Refugees 1940 25-26***
Those persons who are later enlightened, and who have goodwill towards God and Christ Jesus, turn to the Lord and seek protection and safety. Where will they find refuge and safety? ... They associate themselves with God's annointed in the service, announcing the THEOCRATIC GOVERNMENT. These are the ones who constitute the "other sheep", which the Lord declares he is now gathering to himself. (John 10:16). They are the sheep class mentioned by the Lord in Matthew 25:31-46. If they remain faithful and true to God's organization they shall be ultimately saved.

***Children 1941 85, 98 [pp. 116 & 133 in the Australian edition]***
The coming of Christ Jesus in power and glory marks the beginning of his reign as King (Matthew 25:31)…

The book called Salvation submits the proof that the Lord Jesus Christ came to the temple in the year 1918. On page 160 this appears: "In the year 1914 the Lord Jesus was enthroned as King of the world. (Matthew 24:3-14) Three and one-half years thereafter Christ Jesus the King appeared at the temple of Jehovah and gathered unto himself his faithful followers and commissioned them and set them forth to "preach this gospel of the kingdom"; and thus is marked the beginning of the Lord's judgment of the nations, and concerning which is written: "And before him shall be gathered all the nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left."–Matthew 25:32,33.

***w1950 4/15 119-20 Servants Feed the Flock***
REGATHERING SCATTERED FLOCK
The facts that have come to pass in "the cloudy and dark day" of this twentieth century show beyond all doubt that the complete fulfillment of Ezekiel's prophecy has taken place in our day. Jehovah has gathered the "remnant" of his people out of the far countries of Christendom where they were scattered. Over them God has set up "my servant" Christ Jesus the Greater David, and this "one shepherd", the Chief Shepherd, is feeding them. For some time prior to A.D. 1918 the preparing of the Lord's way was going on and then suddenly the Lord came to his temple, there to take account with his servants rewarding those that had been faithful and punishing the unfaithful. This is described for us by Jesus in his great prophecy on "the end of the world" in Matthew 24:42-51. As Malachi foretold, it would be a time of fiery judgment and one that would last for some time, until all the evil servants were purged and cleaned out from among the Lord's remnant.–Mal. 3:1-3. The gathering together of the remnant, the visiting of evil upon their oppressors, the installing of the Chief Shepherd as King, and the reestablishment of the Theocratic organization as it existed in apostolic times were also foretold by still another prophet, namely, Jeremiah. (Jer. 231-8) With Christ Jesus the Shepherd-King in charge since the regathering of the remnant after 1918, things moved along rapidly toward the setting up among them of a Theocratic organization similar in design to that in existence 1,900 years ago. This meant they all recognized the fact that Jehovah is the Great Shepherd over and above all; that Christ Jesus, the enthroned and reigning King of the heavenly Theocratic government, is Jehovah's Chief Shepherd; that here upon earth the "faithful and wise servant" organization has been placed in charge of all the Kingdom interests, and that in such Theocratic arrangement mature and faithful brethren have been appointed as various servants to look after, wait upon and care for the needs of the Lord's sheep.

At first the flock that followed Christ Jesus were few in number, only a "little flock", and when the regathering work began after the Lord's coming to the temple in 1918 there was only a small remnant of this flock remaining on earth. (Luke 12:32) However, today there is a great and mighty flock of sheep, meek and teachable people, following the Good Shepherd, even as Jesus said there would be. "Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold [not of the "little flock" fold]: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." (John 10:16) The parable of the "sheep and goats" reveals that Christ Jesus would begin to gather and "bring" these "other sheep" following his enthronement as King in 1914 and his coming to the temple for judgment in 1918. "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats."–Math. 25:31, 34.

In such separating work, now progressing among the nations, the "other sheep" class are placed on the King's right hand of favor.

***w195l 3/1 152 No Relief for the Rich, but Comfort for the Poor***
But now in this short period of God's patience before the world destruction at Armageddon the "other sheep" class hear the Right Shepherd's voice sounding the divine call to come out of worldly Babylon. They do so, flee to the upraised Signal of Jehovah's kingdom, and gain entrance to the one flock under his royal Shepherd. These sheep the Shepherd puts to his right and divides them off from the "goats". The great unbridgeable chasm of divine judgment allows for no fellowship between faithful persons and those who unbelievingly reject the Kingdom. "Thy judgments are a great deep."–Ps. 36:6.

***w195l 6/1 286 Questions from Readers ***
Our present day is also a time of judgment, and it is this that the objectors to the answer In the November 15 Watchtower apparently fail to fully appreciate. For seventy-one years The Watchtower has been publishing the warning of God's Word, and since 1919 Jehovah's witnesses have been active as never before in giving world-wide witness, in this time of judgment when the enthroned King is separating the nations as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats.

*** w195l 6/15 368 The Place of God's Word in Our Lives ***
We are living at the time of the presence of Christ Jesus in his glorious kingdom, and one of the visible evidences of this is his separating of the people of all nations into two classes, sheep and goats, symbolically speaking. Mighty angels attend this separation work, for Jesus predicted respecting this time: "When the Son of man arrives in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit down on his glorious throne." Those angels are not just ornaments, but are with Jesus for some service in the work to be done.–Matt. 25:31, NW.

*** w1956 12/15 759 Telling the Good News from Day to Day ***
By his Associate Judge, Jesus Christ, he is separating the peoples of all the nations as anti-Kingdom goats and as pro-Kingdom sheep. Judgment he will execute at the great war of vindication and liberation.

*** w1958 3/15 177 Shepherd of Israel***
This wonderful saving power of Jehovah toward his people was displayed by his setting of the chosen King upon the heavenly throne in 1914 and by the victorious war in heaven that effected the expulsion of Satan and his wicked angels. Then in 1918 Jehovah, with his King-Son, appeared at his temple for judgment and commenced the separation of his "sheep" from the "goats". Rev. 12:7-9; Matt. 25:31-46.

***w1959 1/15 50 Surviving with the New***
"To the extent that you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me," said the King Jesus Christ to the "other sheep" in his parable of the sheep and goats, the last part of his prophecy on the world's end.–Matt. 25:40. In this day of the judgment of the nations, Jesus Christ the King, seated on his heavenly throne for judgment work, turns to his right and says to these sheep: "Come, you who have my Fathers blessing, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the world's foundation… I was in prison and you came to me." Since the year 1914 that heavenly kingdom is here and this green earth is its realm. These sheeplike persons of the Ebed-melech kind do not have to die and be resurrected in order to enter into the realm of that kingdom of God's new world. They are already living in the Kingdom's earthly realm. This is the realm they must inherit, and so they are not going to be evicted from this earthly inheritance of theirs. Christendom is cursed, but these sheep have the blessing of the King's Father, Jehovah God. Christendom with its goats will be destroyed, for it has no place in this earthly Kingdom realm.

***w1959 3/1 158 Day of Decision***
SHEEP AND GOATS
Christ gave an illustration that foretold how earth's inhabitants would be divided by their attitudes toward the good news of the Kingdom and the proclaimers of it. He said: "When the Son of man arrives in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit down on his glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will put the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left." (Matt. 25:31-33) Thus the two groups that result from the world-wide preaching of the good news of the established Kingdom will be separated to Christ's right hand of favor and to his left hand of disfavor.

This dividing work has to be done while the old system of things with its sea of mixed peoples is still existing. It is not something that can be done quickly; it requires a period of time, just as Noah's preaching did. Since Christ revealed in his illustration that he, the King, would be the One to supervise the separating of the people, he must be ruling in Kingdom power during the time when it is being done. Thus he would rule for a period while his enemies are still in power, and that is precisely what he has been doing since the last days of this system of things began in 1914.

*** w196l 10/15 632 The Time for God's Kingdom to Come***
"HE WILL SEPARATE...THE SHEEP FROM THE GOATS"
Continuing his discussion with his four disciples, Jesus said that, on his arrival, "he will separate people one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will put the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left." (Matt. 25.32, 33) Since his arrival for judgment work in 1918 Jesus has been doing this separating of the peoples, some to the right side for preservation and others to the left for destruction. How is this separating done? Jesus showed that classification as a "sheep" or a "goat" was based on the way an individual treated his followers on earth and the Kingdom message they carried. This separating work is nearing completion as all peoples am identifying themselves either in support of God's kingdom, or in opposition to it.

*** God's Kingdom of a Thousand Years Has Approached 1973 259-260***
Earthly Subjects of the Kingdom of God
At that time the "presence" or parousia of the Lord Jesus Christ began. Hence, what is described in the parable of the sheep and the goats happens during his parousia. This includes the gathering of all the nations before him as the King who is present on his throne. This was quite the right thing to happen.

***w1965 3/15 174-175 Our own Twentieth-Century Generation and the Resurrection ***
However, among our own generation there are many who will share the final destiny of Satan the Devil and his demons. These will be those whom Jesus Christ compared to goats. He gave a prophecy on the conclusion of this wicked system of things and closed this prophecy with his parable of the sheep and the goats. This parable or illustration is found in Matthew 25:31-46. In our generation the symbolic "goats" are people from all the present-day nations, and they are separated from the righteous class of persons whom Jesus likened to sheep. Both these "sheep" and the "goats" are earthly classes of people; that is to say, they have no call from Jehovah God to the heavenly inheritance with his Son Jesus Christ but are earthly minded.–Matt. 25:31-33.

*** Our Incoming World Government – God's Kingdom 1977 170-171
A "Great Crowd" Hails the Incoming World Government ***
Regardless of whether anyone likes the thought of it or not, Jesus' illustration closes with regard to the judgment executed on the faulty "goats" and the righteous "sheep," saying: "And these [symbolic goats] will depart into everlasting cutting-off, but the righteous ones into everlasting life." (Matthew 25:46) When will Christ the King tell these cursed "goats" to go off into the symbolic "fire," the "cutting-off" (Greek: kola-sis)? After the preaching of the Kingdom good news has been carried on earth wide by his spiritual "brothers" and "the end" comes on this system of things that is now in its "conclusion." (Matthew 24:3, 14) Then the "great tribulation" will break out world wide, but the "goats" will never survive it.–Matthew 24:21, 22.

***g1980 12/22 4 Have You Ever Wondered–What Is Jesus Christ Doing Now?***
IF NOW RULING, WHAT IS HE DOING?
He is finding those who really want to be his subjects and is gathering these into a united worldwide brotherhood. Jesus indicated this in a parable that described the start of his rule when 'he sits on his glorious throne.' He gives his attention to "all the nations" and begins to "separate people one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats."–Matt. 25:31-33.

*** You can Live for Ever in Paradise on Earth 1982 183***
Judgment Day and Afterward
Yes, since Christ returned and sat down on his heavenly throne, all humankind has been on judgment. This present "day of judgment" comes before the 1,000-year Judgment Day begins. During the present judgment people are being separated as "goats" to Jesus' left hand or as "sheep" to his right.

*** United in Worship of the Only True God 1983 103-104***
A Great Crowd Before Jehovah's Throne
For centuries the identity of this "great crowd" was not understood. But the progressive understanding of related prophecies prepared the way. In 1923 it was discerned that the "sheep" of Jesus' parable at Matthew 25:31-46 and the "other sheep" to which he referred at John 10:16 were persons now living who would have opportunity to dwell forever here on earth. In 1931 the ones described in Ezekiel 9:1-11 as being marked in their foreheads by the man with the secretary's Inkhorn were identified with the "sheep" of Matthew chapter 25. Then, in 1935, the "great multitude," or "great crowd," of Revelation 7:9-17 was seen to be the same as the "sheep" of Jesus' parable of the sheep and goats. Although beck in 1923 it was realized that some such sheeplike individuals had already begun to manifest themselves, it was not until 1935 that their numbers began to grow rapidly. Today there are literally millions who are seeking to be identified as part of that divinely favored "great crowd" of the "other sheep."

***w1984 2/15 17 The Recent Pen for "Other Sheep"***
In the year 1905 it was thought that that parable would apply during the Millennial Reign of Christ after "the war of the great day of God the Almighty" at the battlefield of Har-Magedon. (Revelation 16:14-16) However, we must bear in mind that the parable of the sheep and the goats was the final part of Jesus' answer to his disciples' question as to what would be the sign of his "presence and of the conclusion of the system of things." (Matthew 24:3) So the fulfillment of this parable must be realized during this conclusion of the system of things that started in the year 1914.

*** w1984 3/15 17 God's United "Mighty Nation" to Fill the Earth ***
With the beginning of World War I in 1914, the old system of things entered its "last days." (2 Timothy 3:1) Kingdom rule also began in 1914. (Revelation 12:10-12) Christ was then authorized to begin separating the "sheep" from the "goats." Thus, God's holy spirit began to act mightily on his faithful servants. (Compare Acts 2:16-21.)

*** Did Man Get Here by Creation or Evolution? 1985 247
What Choice Will You Make? ***
The declaring of the Kingdom worldwide is resulting in a clear separation of people. In illustrative language Jesus foretold for our day: "All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats."

***Reasoning from the Scriptures 1985 344***
Return of Christ
What are some of the events with which the Bible associates the presence of Christ?
Dan. 7:13, 14: "With the clouds of the heavens someone like a son of man [Jesus Christ] happened to be coming; and to the Ancient of Days [Jehovah God) he gained access, and they brought him up close even before that One. And to him there were given rulership and dignity and kingdom, that the peoples, national groups and languages should all serve even him."

I Thess. 4:15, 16: "This is what we tell you by Jehovah's word, that we the living who survive to the presence of the Lord shall in no way precede those who have fallen asleep in death; because the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a commanding call, with an archangel's voice arid, with God's trumpet, and those who are dead in union with Christ will rise first." (So, those who will rule with Christ would be resurrected to be with him in heaven – first those who had died in years past and then those who would die following the Lord's return.)

Matt. 25:31-33: "When the Son of man arrives in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit down on his glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will put the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left."

***You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth 1989 183***
Judgment Day and Afterward
Yes, since Christ returned and sat down on his heavenly throne, all humankind has been on judgment. This present "day of judgment" comes before the 1,000-year Judgment Day begins. During the present judgment people are being separated as "goats" to Christ's left hand or as "sheep" to his right. The "goats" will be destroyed because they fail to help Christ's anointed brothers in their service to God.

***w1990 5/15 8 When Christ Arrives In Kingdom Power***
Jesus is still with his apostles on the Mount of Olives. In answer to their request for a sign of his presence and the conclusion of the system of things, he now tells them the last in a series of three illustrations. "When the Son of man arrives in his glory, and all the angels with him," Jesus begins, "then he will sit down on his glorious throne."

Humans cannot see angels in their heavenly glory. So the arrival of the Son of man, Jesus Christ, with the angels must be invisible to human eyes. The arrival occurs in the year 1914. But for what purpose? Jesus explains: "And all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will put the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left."

*** The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived 1991 111***
Sign of the Last Days
Humans cannot see angels in their heavenly glory. So the arrival of the Son of man, Jesus Christ, with the angels must be invisible to human eyes. The arrival occurs in the year 1914. But for what purpose? Jesus explains: "All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will put the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left."

***w1992 6/15 20 What Do the Dragnet and Fish Mean for You?***
Let us now consider the time element. For centuries the dragnet instrument gathered fine fish as well as many unsuitable, or wicked, ones. Then the time come when the angels got involved in doing a crucial separating work. When? Well, Mt. 13 verse 49 clearly says that it is during "the conclusion of the system of things." This matches what Jesus said in the illustration of the sheep and the goats: "When the Son of man arrives in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit down on his glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats."–Matthew 25:31, 32.

Hence, in accord with Matthew 13:47-50, a crucial separating work under angelic guidance has been in progress since "the conclusion of the system of things" began in 1914. This became particularly evident after 1919, when the remnant of anointed ones were freed from temporary spiritual bondage, or captivity, and became a more effective instrument for accomplishing the fishing work.

***w1993 1/119 Shepherding With Our Grand Creator ***
The designation "my servant David" points prophetically to Christ Jesus, the "seed" who inherits David's throne. (Psalm 89:35, 36) In this day of judgment of the nations, Jehovah's associate Shepherd and King, Christ Jesus, the Son of David, continues to separate the "sheep" of mankind from those who may claim to be "sheep" but are actually "goats." (Matthew 25:31-33) This "one shepherd" is raised up also to feed the sheep. What a glorious fulfillment of this prophecy we see today! While politicians talk of uniting mankind through a new world order, the one Shepherd is actually uniting the sheep of all nations through a multilanguage witnessing campaign such as only God's organization on earth could ever begin to undertake.

*** w1995 5/15 20 Vindication and the "Great Crowd"***
...it was seen that this prophecy [Revelation 7:9-17] referred to the numberless great crowd from all nations who are now being gathered and whose hopes are earthly. They are "the sheep" of Matthew 25:31-46 and the other sheep of John 10:16.