What Do You Believe”
Jehovah Witness
,
Introduction
A.Today we are continuing our series called “What do you believe?” We
are talking about some of the major false religions such as Jehovah
Witnesses, the Mormons, Scientology and Islam that we are faced with
today and why Christianity is different from them.
B.Many Christians today are confused about what they believe. They are
not sure if other religions are okay or if they are the same as
Christianity. Many Christians have bought into the lie that there are
many ways to God and Christianity is just another one of those ways.
C.Last week we talked about the three signs of all false religions. I
call them the three “S’s.” They stand for Savior, Salvation, and
Scripture. All false religions differ from the Christian view on these
three major issues.
1.Savior: All false religions change who Jesus really was. They do not
believe that He is the ‘only way’ to heaven.
2.Salvation: All false religions teach that a person must ‘earn’ their
way to heaven. They don’t believe we are saved by grace, God’s gift.
3.Scripture: All false religions teach that the Bible is ‘incomplete’
and there are ‘other’ holy books.
D.Today we will look at the beliefs of the Jehovah Witnesses.
Why am I doing this teaching?
A.I am not teaching this series so you can argue with the Jehovah
Witnesses when they come to your door.
B.The main reason I am teaching this is to help you establish what it is
that you believe so that you are not lead astray and deceived. Sooner or
later every Christian has to come to grips with what it is that they
really believe and if it is really different than other religions. To
help you to see the ‘distinctives’ of your faith. The second reason to
equip you so that you can help others, friends, relatives, co-workers,
who are open and looking for truth.
History of the Jehovah’s Witnesses
A. One of the things JW’s are known for is predicting the dates of when
Jesus would return. This started with their founder Charles Russell and
has continued to this day. But this is a problem when we look at what
Jesus had to say about His return. Turn to Mark 13:32. When Jesus was
asked in verses 3-4 by the disciples, about what date He would return He
said no one would know the day or the hour when He would return. “But of
that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the
Son, but only the Father.”
B. In the 1800’s, Charles Russell, who at that time was in his teens with
no formal theological education, began to study the Bible and the angles
and measurements of the corridors of the Great Pyramids of Egypt. He
felt the Great Pyramids of Egypt were prophecies in stone. He combined
Bible prophecies with the measurements of the pyramids together, and he
picked 1914 as the date when Armageddon would take place. He picked 1914
as the time when Christ would return to Earth.
C. He then started The Watchtower Society. He said, “If you are not a
member of The Watchtower Society, then you will not survive Armageddon.”
Thousands joined the J.W. movement. 1914 came and went, and Jesus didn’t
show on Earth. Armageddon did not happen. So Charles Russell went back
to the drawing board. He crunched some more Great Pyramid numbers and
read some more Bible verses. And he said, “Okay, I was wrong. I was
wrong. It’s not 1914; it’s 1915. That’s the date, 1915. Armageddon will
happen then.” But 1915 came and went, and in 1916, Russell died.
D. This is always a telltale sign that an organization is a false
religion, when they begin to predict when Jesus is going to return. It
is sad but for some reason Christian people seem to fall for this. The
JW’s are not the only ones who try to predict Jesus return. A number of
years ago a book circulated in many churches, titled 88 reasons Jesus is
returning in 1988. Of course He didn’t return, so an edited version came
out the next year, 89 reasons Jesus was going to return in 1989. They
get around these scriptures by saying the don’t know the day or the
hour, but they can know the year! Now Jesus could have told us the
year.
E. In the prophet Daniel we were told the exact year the Messiah would
come, and Jesus came at that same time, but God has chosen NOT to tell
us the day, hour or year of His Second Coming. We are to live every day
ready for His return. But all false religions go beyond this and attempt
to name the exact time of Jesus return.
See also Matthew 24:36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even
the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”
Also Matthew 25:13 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor
the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
F. The J.W.’s were taken over by a very charismatic and eccentric fellow
by the name of Judge Rutherford. He wasn’t a judge; he just called
himself that. Judge Rutherford, was a prolific writer and preacher, and
began to really put the J.W.’s in the mainstream, so to speak. He did a
great job in marketing. He preached famous sermons and wrote books. He
said, “Okay, the real date is 1925. That’s it. 1925, that’s when
Armageddon will take place. That’s when the end times will occur.” But
1925 came and went, and nothing happened.
G. Then the J.W.’s came up with another date. They began to teach, “Okay,
1978, that’s the date.” Well, ’78 came and went. Jesus didn’t show. No
Armageddon. No end times. Embarrassed, Jehovah’s Witness leaders began
to rewrite stuff, and change stuff.
H. Besides constantly predicting the date that Jesus is going to return
contrary to what Jesus said we would be able to do, where else do the
JW’s differ from Christianity? Let’s talk about what they believe about
the three S’s, Savior, Salvation and Scriptures.
What do they believe about the Savior, Jesus? Philippians 2:5-7
A. The J.W.’s believe that Jesus was really Michael the archangel. They
believe that God created this super angel, and Michael became a man and
came to earth and became Jesus Christ, and then Michael the archangel
who was now Jesus Christ died for Adam’s sin. Then when Jesus Christ
ascended back up into heaven, He morphed back into Michael the archangel.
B. What do the Scriptures say about Jesus? Philippians 2:5-7
1.“Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to BE EQUAL with
God.” Yet we know that Lucifer tried to make himself EQUAL with God,
and He was kicked out of heaven for this, but it was all right for
Jesus to consider Himself EQUAL with God. He even allowed Thomas to
call Him God, when He appeared to the disciples after He rose from the
dead. Thomas said, “My Lord and MY GOD.”
2.Also in John 10:33 we read, “The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a
good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You,
being a Man, make Yourself God.”
C. Again one of the most common ways to identify a false religion is the
way they look at Jesus. They struggle with the truth that Jesus was God
in the flesh, that Jesus was without sin and that Jesus is the only way
to God.
Do the JW’s believe the Scriptures?
A. People ask that question a lot. Here is what they say about the
Bible. “Our true source is the Bible,” but here is the kicker, “as it is
interpreted and translated and explained by leaders of The Watchtower
Society.” Their teaching is that the Bible is really too hard for the
average person to understand. Rather than encourage them to read it,
they encourage them to read their interpretation of it.
B. The Watchtower Publication House in Brooklyn, New York, cranks out
over 800,000 magazines a day. The main publication of the Jehovah
Witnesses is The Watchtower. Currently 18 million copies are published
bimonthly in 106 languages. The J.W.’s eat this stuff up because to
them, when they read The Watchtower, it’s like reading raw truth from
God.
C. Here’s what The Watchtower says about itself: “The Watchtower Society
is God’s sole collective channel for the flow of biblical truth to men
on Earth.” In effect, J.W.’s say, don’t read the Bible on your own, and
don’t go to a Bible study at your church. The only way you are going to
know what the Bible says is if it is funneled through The Watchtower
Society their interpretation, their slant, their spin on scripture.
D. They have even produced their own version of the Bible called the “New
World Translation.” The reason they did this was so that they could
change all the scriptures that teach that Jesus was God.
E. They only read select scriptures, very few if any at all ever attempt
to read the entire Bible, they are not encouraged to do this, but they
are encouraged to read their Watchtower magazine faithfully.
F. What do true Christians believe? Turn to I John 2:26-27, “But the
anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not
need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you
concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has
taught you, you will abide in Him.
G. A true sign of a cult or a false religion is when they start teaching
that they have the ‘only correct’ understanding of the Bible, or when
they tell you that you cannot understand the Bible on your own. It is
great to gather together to study the Bible together to hear a sermon,
but it crosses the line when you are being told that the preacher is the
only one who really understands the Bible, it is too hard for the common
man to understand. If you have the Holy Spirit abiding in you, then you
can understand God’s word.
What about Salvation? Romans 3:28
A. Here is how you attain salvation if you are a Jehovah’s Witness. You
have got to have faith in Jehovah and you have to have faith in Christ’s
ransom sacrifice. But here is where JW differ from Christianity you must
do good works. You have to work if you are going to be a good J.W.
You’ve to work if you are going to attain true paradise.
B. Here is what you have to do. You have to really involve yourself in
door-to-door preaching. You have to hand out Watchtower literature. You
have to attend Kingdom Hall meetings. If you mess up, if you are not a
good J.W you won’t make it through Armageddon and on top of that, you
probably won’t go to the ultimate heaven.
C. What do Christians believe? Turn to Romans 3:28, “For we maintain that
a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.” It’s by faith
with no math. It’s by faith with no addition, subtraction,
multiplication, or division.
D. Again this is a common theme in all false religions. They teach that
you must do good works if you really want to get to heaven. What a
struggle this causes, and stress, especially for JW’s they are always
told they must go door to door if they want to be sure they are going to
heaven. After a while they get burnt out and give up on the hope of ever
getting to heaven. How sad.
There are many other differences between JW and Christianity
A. They reject the trinity as God the Father, God the Son, and God the
Holy Spirit: three in one, one in three. We believe biblically that
they are co-existent and co-eternal. The JW’s say, “Jehovah is no
Babylonian triad of gods. No god of three persons in one individual.
Jehovah is only one god in one person.”
B. They teach that the Holy Spirit is like a force, but that it is not a
person of the Triune God. They teach that the Holy Spirit is an energy
that God uses on the earth.
C. JW’s are not allowed to receive blood transfusions
D. JW’s think that only 144,000 people will ever attain the ultimate
first class heaven. They say the rest will go to a kind of “coach-type”
existence. They will fly coach on a place called Paradise Earth.
E. They are not allowed to celebrate birthdays or holidays like
Christmas, Easter, etc.
F. JW’s don’t believe there is a place called Hell. They believe that
once a person dies, they go to sleep. That’s it. Too bad that Jesus
talked more about a place called Hell than anyone else in the Bible!
Summary
A. A faith that pressures you to work hard to please God, in hopes that
you might someday be good enough is difficult to live with. At some
point you eventually get burnt out and give up. You can see the
pressure, can’t you? You can see the intensity. You can see the
obsession with the end times. If you don’t do all these things, you
might not make it. You won’t survive Armageddon. You are going to get
fried, basted, and roasted when Jesus comes back.
B. Here’s what one former Jehovah’s Witness said, “I hated every minute, e
every hour of being a Witness, but I thought it was the only way to
survive Armageddon and live on paradise Earth. Many times, I would have
left, if someone had only presented the gospel to me.”
C. Matthew 11:28 is a verse that I think many Witnesses need to
understand and own. Jesus said, “Come to me all you who are weary and
burdened, and I will give you rest.”
D. Here are some more comments from another former JW. Listen to her
words:
E. As far as religion, I had a lot of anger towards it. I just didn’t
want to have anything to do with it. After a couple of years, you just
start wondering where you fit in as far as religion. You want a purpose,
but you don’t know where to start. You have the guilt trip of every time
you went into a different church, thinking God would strike me right
there. My advice towards people who have friends as Jehovah’s Witnesses
is to be patient with them because their minds are covered. They are
afraid. I think if you just invite them one time, give them a little
bit, invite them again. Let them know there are good Christian people
out here.
F. There are four million Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide. Four million of
them who matter to God. Four million of them who are one invitation
away, one prayer of faith away without any math of turning their life
over to Christ.
