Are Jehovah's Witnesses God's Spirit Directed Organization?

If Jesus inspected the Bible Students/JWs at the time in 1918/9, why would he pick them when they still had many teachings and practices that were wrong? This is often times brought up by opposers of JWs to discredit the claim that they are God's organization. But is this reasoning in accord with Bible prophecy? Indeed, why would Jesus pick them when they still had many things incorrect?

According to the prophecy in Malachi, when Jesus came to examine the temple he would find that the temple class needed to be refined and cleansed. Notice Malachi 3:2, "For he will be like the fire of a refiner and like the lye of laundrymen. 3 And he must sit as a refiner and cleanser of silver and must cleanse the sons of Le´vi; and he must clarify them like gold and like silver, and they will certainly become to Jehovah people presenting a gift offering in righteousness."

Question: Why would God's people need to be refined and cleansed? Surely God's organization would already be teaching all truths when Jesus arrived for inspection? While that is how some may reason that reasoning is not in harmony with the Bible prophecies. When Jesus arrived for inspection he found many flaws thus the need for refining. This is backed up by other scriptures as well. For example in Revelation, John is transferred into the 'Lord's day' (Rev 1:10) and it is during the Lord's day that he decribes the condition of the congregations in the seven letters. As the letters show, there was a need for changes in the congregation of Christ. Time and again he tells them that changes are needed and such changes need to be made before destruction comes. One example of this is Rev 3:3, "Certainly unless you wake up, I shall come as a thief, and you will not know at all at what hour I shall come upon you."

So you see, to believe that God's chosen ones would have all things right when he inspected the spiritual temple is incorrect. The Bible clearly shows that he would have a congregation of people and that congregation or organization of people would go thru a needed refining and cleansing during the Lord's day.
But which group would he choose to refine when he arrived at the beginning of the Lord's day?

Logically Jesus Christ would use the ones who were trying to do his will and who were trying to return to the ways of early Christianity. He found the Bible students, (later called Jehovah's Witnesses) to be the ones who had cast aside many God dishonoring Babylonish ideas and practices and he found them to be the ones teaching the basic doctrines of the Bible: no hellfire, no trinity, God's kingdom to restore paradise on earth, Christ's rule to be invisible from heaven, the importance of God's name, the importance of telling others these truths, etc. These are the people that he knew would humbly submit to a refining and cleansing process because they were already on the right path. And so the false teachings continued to be rooted out from the organization so that today JWs are clearly set apart from the other religions. That is why Malachi 3:18 says: "And YOU people will again certainly see [the distinction] between a righteous one and a wicked one, between one serving God and one who has not served him." The distinction is clear for those who are not blind.

But the claim is further made by opposers that Jehovah's Witnesses cannot be Jehovah's organization directed by His holy spirit and His son because they have in the past made interpretations, pointed to certain dates, and taught teachings that were proven to be wrong or were later corrected. Jehovah's spirit is never wrong. Jesus is never wrong. Then how can it be that Jehovah's Witnesses are directed by Jehovah and Jesus? 'Impossible!' opposers say.

But would anybody make the same argument about the seven congregations that John wrote letters to in the book of Revelation? Take a look at all their problems stated in the letters:

"you have left the love you had at first....

you have there those holding fast the teaching of Ba´laam, ... to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication....

you, also, have those holding fast the teaching of the sect of Nic·o·la´us likewise...

you tolerate that woman Jez´e·bel, ... and she teaches and misleads my slaves to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed to idols....

I know your deeds, that you have the name that you are alive, but you are dead....

I have not found your deeds fully performed before my God....

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or else hot. So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth.

you say: "I am rich and have acquired riches and do not need anything at all," but you do not know you are miserable and pitiable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire that you may become rich, and white outer garments that you may become dressed and that the shame of your nakedness may not become manifested, and eyesalve to rub in your eyes that you may see."

Someone could very well say of those seven congregations: 'Can you believe that this is God's organization? They certainly can't be spirit directed. They certainly do not have Jesus as their leader. There is no way that these congregations make up God's organization.'

But they would be dead wrong. Why? Take note of these verses which show who is in the midst of the congregations directing them:

Revelation 1:12 "And I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me, and, having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands someone like a son of man, ...20 As for the sacred secret of the seven stars that you saw upon my right hand, and [of] the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars mean [the] angels of the seven congregations, and the seven lampstands mean seven congregations."

And take note that to each congregation it is said: "Let the one who has an ear hear what the spirit says to the congregations."

Obviously the seven congregations which were composed of God's people, yes, His organization, were directed by Jesus and God's holy spirit and yet they had many problems. How can this be? Jesus and the holy spirit can't make mistakes.

Just because a person or a group of persons are directed by God's spirit does not mean that they will always follow the leadings of God's spirit. Moses didn't. David didn't. The Israelites didn't. The apostles didn't. At times they failed to follow the guidance of God's spirit which led to incorrect thinking or actions. And so there is a difference in being spirit directed and spirit inspired. Persons who were inspired by holy spirit to write the Bible did not make mistakes in those writings. However, these same persons, who were spirit directed, did not always follow exactly the leadings of God's spirit and so they did make mistakes.
The Watchtower publications have not been written under inspiration of the holy spirit and so at times the things written may have to be corrected. By no means does this prove that Jehovah's Witnesses are not spirit directed. The very fact that they have made the changes and corrected wrong teachings or ideas is proof that they are directed by holy spirit. Other religions simply have not followed this example. They continue to teach the same old Babylonish falsehoods and follow the same old pagan practices. Not so Jehovah's Witnesses. Just look at the changes JWs have made! We can only conclude then that out of all the religious organizations on earth today, it is only Jehovah's Witnesses who are truly directed by Jehovah's holy spirit.

Please take note that the above is not based on my reasoning or the reasoning of Jehovah's Witnesses. It is firmly based on the Bible. As Malachi 3 shows, God's people or organization would need to be refined and cleansed. And as Revelation 1-3 shows, God's organization would have many problems when the Lord's Day began and would have to make many changes. And yet, those chapters show that Jesus was still in the midst of them, directing them and the holy spirit was still guiding them telling them what needed to be corrected. The fact that Jehovah's Witnesses have made corrections and discarded Babylonish teachings and practices is proof that they are indeed the only organization on earth that is directed by both God's son and spirit.

Now opposers or critics of Jehovah's Witnesses may feel inclined to make a long list of teachings that JWs have been wrong about or changed but what exactly have they really proven by doing this? They have proven that the Bible is being fulfilled and that JWs are being refined and cleansed just as prophesied. And they have proven that Jesus really must be walking in the midst of Jehovah's Witnesses because of the many changes made that have brought them more in harmony with the teachings of Jesus. And they have proven that God's holy spirit really is directing his organization of Jehovah's Witnesses because they have continuously discarded Babylonish teachings and practices as directed by God's spirit. This is what we should expect from God's organization since it was prophesied that God's congregation would indeed have problems and flaws that would need correcting and that his organization would humbly submit to the necessary refining and cleansing.

In essence all the reasonings by critics and opposers about JWs having things wrong in the past are made invalid since the Bible clearly prophesied that when Jesus arrived and inspected his temple he would then refine and cleanse them because they needed to be refined and cleansed due to mistakes and wrong teachings. The seven letters to God's congregations in the Lord's day show that there would be problems that would need correcting. So digging up wrong statements by the WT fifty or a hundred years ago in hopes of discrediting JWs is really just a waste of time since the Bible prophecies are what count, not any human reasoning. Such reasonings by enemies of JWs is unscriptural. There is therefore no need to respond to past inaccurate teachings of JWs that are pointed out that have been corrected as part of the refining work done by Jesus to his organization.

So everytime we see a list of the past inaccurate teachings of JWs, we can be happy that Jehovah has seen to it that those teachings and practices have been discarded and that Jehovah does indeed have an organization on earth that he is directing and refining and cleansing.