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By NiteOwlDave
I spent five hours recently with several
pleasant Jehovah's Witnesses (JW's) who showed up at our door advancing the
message of the Watchtower.
The first two visits were with two women in
their forties who must have thought I was a possible convert because of the
many questions I pitched their way.
The third session was a long one around the
dining room table, with the original two women on each side and a brusk woman,
more knowledgeable about the Bible and the JW beliefs, seated directly ahead.
We tossed off the gloves and gave it a go.
As expected, after three hours we wound up in
gridlock.
I was not a wit closer to becoming a JW
adherent, and they remained solidly fixed in their positions despite what I
thought was a fairly solid presentation of who Jesus Christ really is according
to clear biblical references.
In preparation of our round-table discussion,
I put together the following overview.
If you are dealing with a Jehovah's Witness,
you may find this useful.
First, though, a couple of tips:
1. Be polite and listen closely to their
presentation.
2. Ask them follow-up questions or say,
"Continue".
3. If they ask if they can bring a
friend back, be prepared—you're gonna be dealing with a JW heavyweight
who may have deserted true Christianity a while back and is today a trophy of
Satan.
So, on to my paper.
If I understand what you have been telling me,
I need to join the Jehovah's Witnesses' organization or church because, you
claim, it is the only way I can learn Jehovah's will.
Then, if I continue as a faithful Jehovah's
Witness for the rest of my life, I will be rewarded with another life on earth
because the 144,000 special seats in Heaven with Jesus are no doubt all taken.
You claim the JW way is the only way to God.
Upon my death, my body and soul go into the
ground but I will be resurrected for another test of good works and obedience
for 1,000 years.
If I prove myself to be Jehovah-worthy during
the thousand years, I will live on a renewed perfect earth for eternity. That's
providing I don't rebel against God.
Sigh! That's too complicated and doesn't offer
any positive long-range hope!
Let's examine what the Jehovah's Witnesses
promote and what the Bible teaches.
We must keep in mind there can only be one
truth. Either I'm right, or you're right. There can be no middle road here.
1. No Trinity?
The Bible points out that God exists in three
persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The JW's reject this and preach there is
one solitary being, Jehovah God. (Yes, I am aware that the word
"Trinity" does not appear in the Bible.)
How can one deny a Trinitarian God in face of
the following scripture?
Matthew 3:16-17
After his baptism, as soon as
Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit
of God coming down in the form of a dove.
And a voice from heaven said,
'This is my beloved Son, and I am wonderfully pleased with him'.
Matthew 28:19
Therefore go and make disciples
in all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and the Son
and the Holy Spirit.
2 Corinthians 13-14
May the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with you all. May God's love and the Holy Spirit's
friendship be yours.
Genesis 1:26
Let us make a
man—someone like ourselves to be the master of all life upon the
earth and in the skies and in the seas.
Job 32:8
But it is not mere age that
makes them wise. Rather, it is the Spirit in a man.
Acts 7:59
And as the murderous stones came
hurtling at him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit".
Thus, the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit—the Trinity!
2. Christ Merely One of God's Creations?
Because Christ was part of the Trinity, He is
God. The Jehovah's Witnesses preach that Christ was God's first-created creature.
John 1:1
Before anything else existed,
there was Christ, with God. He has always been alive and is himself God.
Colossians 1:15-19
Christ is the exact likeness
of the unseen God. He existed before God made anything at all.
In fact Christ himself is the
Creator...
He (Christ) was before all
else began...
He is the Head of the church
made up of his people—that is, his church—which he
began; and he is the Leader of all those who arise from the dead, so that He
is the first in everything.
For God wanted all of himself
to be in his Son.
Colossians 2:9
For in Christ there is all of
God in a human body.
1 John 5:5-7
But who could possibly fight and
win this battle except by believing that Jesus is truly the Son of God.
And we know he is, because God
said so with a voice from heaven when Jesus was baptized, and again as he
was facing death...
And the Holy Spirit, forever
forceful, says it too. So we have three witnesses: the voice of the Holy Spirit
in our hearts, the voice from Heaven at Christ's baptism and the
voice when he died.
And they all say the same thing:
That Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Every "born-again" believer has the
witness of the Holy Spirit—the quiet conscience who lives within.
God spoke of His Son when Jesus was baptized. Jesus cried out to the Father
just before He died.
Therefore, the Trinity.
3. Good Works the Way to Heaven?
The Bible proclaims that Christ completed our
salvation at Calvary. The Jehovah's Witnesses preach that our admittance into a
peaceful afterlife can be achieved only by our good works.
Romans 3:24-25
Yes, all have sinned; all
fall short of God's glorious ideal.
Yet, now God declares us
"not guilty" of offending him if we trust in Jesus Christ,
who in his kindness freely takes away our sins.
Colossians 1:20
It was through what his Son
did that cleared a path for everything to come to him...
2 Corinthians 5:21
For God took the sinless Christ
and poured into him our sins.
Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved
through faith, and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest anyone should boast.
John 1:12
But as many as received
(Christ), to them He gave the right to become the children of God, even to
those who believe in His name.
To summarize: We are all sinners. Christ took
care of our cursed sins on the cross. Salvation can not be attained by doing
good works. Eternal salvation is available free to anyone who will repent of
his wickedness and invite Christ into their life as Savior and Lord.
4. Christ's Resurrection Didn't Happen?
Consider these verses:
John 20:24
After greeting them (his
disciples, following the crucifixion) he showed them his hands and side.
How wonderful was their joy as they saw their Lord!
John 20:27-29
Then he said to Thomas,
"Put your finger into my hands. Put your finger in my side.
Don't be faithless any longer. Believe!
Said Thomas, "My Lord and
my God!"
Here's a challenging verse:
Then Jesus told them,
"You believe because you
have seen me. But blessed are those who haven't seen me and believe
anyway."
5. Christ Returned in 1914 and Was
Invisible?
Matthew 24:30
And then at last the signal of
my coming will appear in the heavens and there will be deep mourning all around
the earth.
And the nations of the world will
see me arrive in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.
(There will be "deep
mourning" because those on earth will know they will now face God's wrath.
They were not part of the earlier "rapture" of believers.)
Zechariah 12:10
Then I will pour the spirit of
grace and prayer on all people of Jerusalem, and they will look on him
they pierced, and mourn for him as for an only son, and grieve bitterly for him
as an oldest child who died.
Revelation 1:17
See! He is arriving, surrounded
by clouds, and every eye shall see him—yes, and those who pierced
him.
Annihilation If You're Not a JW?
The Bible states that eternal punishment
awaits those who reject or ignore Christ's gift of salvation. The Jehovah's
Witnesses teach that those who do not become a JW will be annihilated with no
conscience upon death.
Matthew 13:42
And all who are evil will be
thrown into the furnace and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Let those with ears, listen!
Matthew 22:14
Bind him hand and foot and throw
him into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Luke 13:23-28
Someone asked Jesus, "Will
only a few be saved?"
And he replied, "The door
to heaven is narrow. Work hard to get in, for the truth is that many will try
to enter but when the head of the house has locked the door, it will be too
late.
Then if you stand outside
knocking and pleading, "Lord, open the door for us, he will reply, 'I
don't know you.'
'But we ate with you, and you
taught in our streets.'
But he will say, "I tell
you, I don't know you. You can't come in here, guilty as you are. Go away."
And there will be great weeping
and gnashing of teeth as you stand outside.
2 Peter 12:17
...they are doomed to the
eternal pits of darkness.
Jude 1:13
They wander around looking as
bright as stars, but ahead of them is the everlasting gloom and darkness
that God has prepared for them.
Revelations 14:9-11
...and they will be tormented
with fire and burning sulphur in the presence of the holy angels and
Christ.
The smoke of their torture
arises forever and ever, and they will have no relief day or night.
What a horrible, conscious eternity awaits the
person who, although perhaps active their whole life in church, never had a
one-on-one relationship with everlasting God and never confessed his sin and
called out to Christ for his salvation!
He will spend forever, wide-awake in eternal
suffering!
Get right with God, now! You could be dead in
five minutes.
If you're not sure you're going to Heaven,
chances are you're not, and Hell awaits!
That's what is so frightening when you poke
into the devilish doctrines of the Jehovah Witnesses and other cults.
Below is some history of the Jehovah's
Witnesses.
Jehovah's Witnesses were founded in Allegheny,
Pennsylvania, in 1852 by Charles Russell.
Russell taught that the end-times started in
1799 and that Christ returned in 1874. These dates were later changed in 1914
when Armageddon failed to appear. Prophecies about 1915 also failed.
Russell died in 1916 and was succeeded by
Joseph Rutherford who falsely predicted Armageddon would take place in 1918 and
1925.
In 1931, the title Jehovah's Witnesses was
adopted.
In 1942 Nathan Knorr succeeded Rutherford. His
major accomplishment was overseeing the completion of The New World
Translation of the Bible in 1961, with its major false liberties.
The Jehovah's Witnesses' name is synonymous
with the name Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.
Headquartered now in Brooklyn, NY, the
governing body of the Witnesses wields absolute authority over its membership
and popularizes its doctrines by mass distribution of magazines like The
Watchtower and Awake.
A Witness is blindly obedient to The
Watchtower, which promotes a false gospel as outlined above.
The Witnesses refuse blood transfusions, will
not salute the flag or honor any government, will have no part of war, or honor
traditional Christian holidays.
The most grievous error in the doctrine of the
JW's is their insistence that Christ is inferior to God.
Consider John 8:42 where Christ said,
"That is why I said that
you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am the Messiah, the
Son of God, you will die in your sins."
Matthew 16:15-16, also, states,
"Then He (Jesus) asked them
(His disciples), 'Who do you think I am?'
Simon Peter answered, 'The
Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.'"
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