WHAT WILL NOT HAPPEN?

 Some might wonder if the other sheep will stray from the truth when they no longer have the anointed brothers of the Governing Body to guide them. Perhaps some Scriptural accounts bring such fears to mind. Let us consider two examples. The first involves High Priest Jehoiada. He was an outstanding man of God. He and his wife, Jehoshabeath, protected a young boy named Jehoash and helped him to become a good and faithful king. As long as elder Jehoiada was alive, Jehoash did well. But after Jehoiada died, Jehoash soon turned bad. He listened to wicked princes and left Jehovah. - 2 CHRONICLES 24:2, 15-19. 

The next example is that of a second-century Christians.  The apostle John, the last of the surviving apostle, was a good influence on many Christians, helping them to endure in their service to Jehovah. (3 John 4) Along with Jesus' other faithful apostles, John had for some time been fighting hard against apostasy that was spreading.   (1 John 2:18; see study notes on 2 Thessalonians 2:7.) After John died, though, apostasy spread like wildfire. Within a few decades, the Christian congregation became thoroughly corrupted.

Do those two Scriptural accounts indicate that something similar will happen to Christ's other sheep when the anointed are taken to heaven? At that time, will faithful Christians on earth stray from their training, as did Jehoash, or drift into apostasy, as did many Christians during the second century C.E.? The answers is absolutely not! We can be sure that when the anointed leaves the earthly scene, the other sheep will be well cared for and will thrive spiritually. Why can we be confident? 

Next time: PURE WORSHIP WILL NOT BE CORRUPTED

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