Cults
Does God really exist? Was Jesus truly who he said he was? Is there life after death? When will the Lord return? What is the truth? These are just some of the questions that are asked by many people in our world today. These questions are asked by people who claim to be Christians and by people who have no religious background. I believe that it is engraved into our nature to question these things and to want to know the truth. While there are obviously many people searching for the truth, we know that the Bible tells us that there are few that find it. The so-called Christians of this world all claim that they know the truth, but where does a person begin to look? There are so many denominations and so many branches of those denominations that it can become confusing for anyone who is searching for the truth. The most frightening aspect of all of these denominations is that there are some whose name is mingled in with the word Christian who don’t even teach what the Bible says about Jesus Christ. Just some of these people are the Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, Catholics, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. In the eyes of the non-Christian world they associate these people to the Christian faith. Yet they aren’t Christian at all. For anyone who is seeking the truth I will try to explain the falsehoods of one of these religions in this report. We will be dealing with the sect title the Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Watchtower Society. I will give you a brief history of the cult, what they believe, and I will do my best to explain what the Word of God teaches against their beliefs.
Though their beliefs actually trace back all the way to the reign of Alexander the Great,
Charles Taze Russell is credited for officially founding the Watchtower Society, more commonly referred to as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, in the year 1879. He not only founded the society but also began to circulate the Watchtower Bible and Watchtower tracts. Their headquarters were located originally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1881 but were later moved to Brooklyn, New York. Russell labeled himself as “Pastor Russell” and was the spiritual leader of thousands of followers at that time. His followers truly believed that his teachings were equal to the voice of God. Making his voice equal to God’s was only one of the first of many mistakes that have plagued these people ever since. Charles Russell continued to lead these people further into the depths of Hell until his death on November 9, 1919. He died at the age of 65 aboard a transcontinental train. At his funeral, a man named J.F. Rutherford delivered the oration. He was a practicing attorney at that time who gave himself the title of Judge J.F. Rutherford. Rutherford’s oration proved to be so wonderful in the eyes of Russell’s followers that it actually landed him in a leadership position as Russell’s successor.
Throughout this entire time they were known by the name of the Watchtower Society. The name “Jehovah’s Witnesses” wasn’t adopted until 1931 and they have been known by that name ever since. J.W. Rutherford proclaimed that they were Jehovah God’s only true witnesses on the earth. They still hold the same belief today and actually class all other religions, including Christianity, as apostates and enemies of Jehovah’s Kingdom on earth. In their eyes they are the only ones who know the truth and claim that all others are working in organizations of Satan himself. Whereas they themselves don’t claim to be Christian, they certainly have fooled the world into believing such. The danger is that people don’t understand the difference and the Jehovah’s Witnesses are able to slip into their homes unnoticeably. It is a sad fact that many people are dying and burning in Hell because they have been drawn away by the false teachings of this cult.
In the year of 1999 the Jehovah’s Witnesses reported a membership of almost six million people and they also reported that they had baptized 323,439 in the same year. There were almost 90 thousand congregations meeting throughout the world with around 4.5 million engaging in their in home study courses each week. One of their latest and most popular converts has been the “Artist Formerly Known as Prince” as he has titled himself. He can now be seen going door to door with the rest of the group trying to work his way into Heaven.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses proclamation of the truth is far from it. Their false teachings speckle their skin like that of a leopard. The first false doctrine of the cult is really the one that all of the other falsehoods stem from. They don’t use a true version of the Bible. According to them the Holy Scripture can only be found in their Bible, which is titled the New World Translation. The translation actually began under the leadership of Charles Russell. It is a perversion of the true scriptures and doesn’t even come close to the original writings in the Greek and Hebrew languages. Russell actually claimed to be a Greek scholar but wasn’t able to prove that in a court of law. While under oath, Russell was asked if he knew the Greek language. He replied with a stern, “Oh Yes!” He was then handed a copy of the Wescott and Hort Greek New Testament and was asked to read from it. He couldn’t even read the letters of the alphabet at the top of the first page. He later made the comment that it was more important for a person to neglect the Bible and get his comments than to miss his comments and read the whole Bible. This is obviously false. How could a man’s interpretation of the scriptures be more important or even come close to the teachings that are found in the inspired Word of God. The Jehovah’s Witnesses also consider any of their publications to be inspired just as the scriptures.
They also deny the trinity of God. The trinity consists of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They say that it isn’t even a biblical teaching. They deny the deity of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. In the true Bible (King James Version), I John chapter 2 verse 22 says, “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is the antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.” That should come as a slap in the face to any Jehovah’s Witness, but I am sure that their New Living Translation doesn’t even contain such teachings. Remember even their leader Charles Taze Russell couldn’t even read the Greek alphabet so how could their translation of the scriptures even come close.
They claim that Jesus Christ is nothing more than a lesser god and they have changed John 1:1 to say, “In the beginning the word was a god.” The true scriptures say in John 1:1 that, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” They claim that Jehovah was the only creator yet the true bible states that the entire Trinity was involved in the creation. They claim that Jesus was a created being but John 1:1 clearly teaches against it. They Claim that Jesus is actually Michael the Archangel, that he was raised as a “spirit creature”, and that he didn’t die on the cross. A ten year old with a good copy of the Bible could prove them wrong on all of these points. They also deny the Holy Spirit as God, but I John 5:7 says, “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one.”
They all are trying to work their way into heaven because they believe in salvation by works. Ephesians chapter two verses eight and nine say, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; Not of works, lest any man should boast.” It is clear in these scriptures that salvation is simply by grace through faith. Grace is unmerited favor. It means that we can’t do any work to receive grace. It is freely given through faith.
They also deny the literal place called Hell. They believe that once a person dies they are annihilated or simply taken out of existence unless they have done enough to enter into heaven. The Bible states in the book of Mark 9:43, “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” Jesus was speaking in this passage of the literal place called Hell. Hell was not created for us. It was created for Satan who was once known as Lucifer. Lucifer was one of the three archangels who were given power by God to be in control of the things that he had appointed them to. Lucifer was given charge over the material things of the earth. He loved his position and himself so much that he decided that he would make himself higher than the true God and be ruler. God created Lucifer and God would always have the rule over him. Because of the blasphemies of Lucifer God put him out of Heaven into a place made for him called Hell. This didn’t happen before Lucifer was able to take one third of the angelic host with him. These angels now work as demons for Satan. If the Jehovah’s Witnesses were right then there would be no place for Satan and his demons. They too would have been taken out of existence or annihilated just as they believe that we will be. Their false doctrines make no sense and completely go against all Biblical teachings that are found in the true inspired word of God.
In conclusion, I would like to say that if anyone who reads this report that is searching for the truth they only need to find a copy of the King James Version of the Bible and read it to prove this cult wrong. I have done my best to give you a brief history and summary of the history and false doctrines of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Jehovah’s Witnesses are not a Christian organization and don’t claim themselves to be. People need to quit allowing themselves to be fooled by this cult and find the truth in a local New Testament Baptist Church. The charge that I would give to the true followers of Christ is found in the book of Luke chapter 14 verse 23, “And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and the hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.”
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