Series: So, What’s the Difference?
“The Differences Between Christianity, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses Cult”
(Sunday Evening March 26th, 2011)
Selected Scriptures(John 1:1,14)
O.S. I Believe It is Very Important for All of Us to Know the Differences Between
Christianity and the Two Most Prominent Cults in America(Elaborate)
-> But Even After Learning These Differences, I Would Say That We All Need
to Exercise a Great Deal of Caution When We Relate to Them
-> My Reason for Saying This Should be Obvious; I Don’t Want Immature
Believers to Become Confused and Deceived and Proselytized
-> And Apparently, the Apostle John Had This Same Concern, Because He Said
This in 2 John 10-11; Listen Carefully, He Said,
“10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him
into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11 for the one who gives him
a greeting participates in his evil deeds”
-> In Other Words, John Says That We Should Not Receive Those Whoare Propagating
a False Teaching Into Our Home or Encourage Them in Any Way
Q.n = So, How Should We Attempt to Witness to Them?
Ans = Well, This is One Suggestion That I Have Heard That Sounded Good to Me
-> And That is to Tell Them That They Have Come at a Bad Time, and to Make
an Appointment for Them to Come Back at a Time of Your Choosing
-> This Can Enable You to do Three Things
a. It Enables You to Gather Your Materials and to be Well-Prepared for Them
When They Return Instead of Being Taken Off Guard
b. It Enables You to Insure That Impressionable Family Members are Not Present
in Your Home When You This Discussion
c. VERYIMPORTANT - It Enables You to Have Someone There With You Who
is Very Knowledgeable About How to Deal With Those in This Particular Cult
Q.n = Do I Think It is Unfair to Double Team Them in This Way?
Ans = Absolutely Not, Because That is What They Attempt to do to Us
Q..n = Now, Why Do We Call the Jehovah’s Witnesses a Cult?
Ans = For Three Reasons
1) They Reject Our Savior
-> The Jehovah’s Witnesses Teach That Jesus Christ Was Merely a Man and Not God
-> They Actually Teach That Jesus Was a Created Angel, Michael the Archangel
to be Specific, and That This Was His Name Before He Was Created (Take Note
of That - They Believe Jesus Was Created) and That Michael Was His Name Again
After He Returned to Heaven
-> They Say That Jesus Did Not Die on the Cross; But Rather, That He Died on a Stake,
and Worst of All, They Deny the Physical Resurrection (Cornerstone of Our Faith)
-> They Say That Jesus Became Non-Existent After He Died and Was Raised,
or to be More Accurate, He Was Recreated Three Days Later as a Spirit
Creature, and That a Physical Resurrection Did Not Occur
-> According to the Watchtower Magazine, Jesus’ Body Was Disposed of by Jehovah
God, and Dissolved Into Constituent Elements or Atoms
-> This Teaching, of Course, is Clearly Defined as Heretical by Passages Such as This
One That is Found in 2 John 7 Which Says
“For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge
Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist”
-> The Word “Coming”in That Verse is a Present Tense Participle; Therefore, This
Tells Us That John Was Referring, Not Only to the Incarnation, But Also to Jesus’
Resurrection and His Second Coming
-> So, This Obviously Means That the Teachings of the Jehovah’s Witness
are Inspired by “the deceiver” and They Have the Spirit of the “antichrist”
-> And the Bible Teaches That False Doctrines Such as These Will Become Increasingly
More Common as We Get Closer to the Second Coming of Christ
-> In 1 Timothy 4:1, for Example, the Apostle Paul Said,
“But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith,
paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons”
2) They Reject Our Scriptures
-> The Founder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Was a Man by the Name of Charles Taze
Russell
-> Mr Russell Claimed That an Accurate Translation of the Greek Version of the Bible
Did Not Exists, and That He Was the Only One Qualified to Provide Us With One
-> In June of 1912, the Reverend J.J. Ross, Who Was Pastor of the James Street Baptist
Church in Ontario Challenged Mr Russell, and This Resulted in a Court Case
-> And So, on March 17th, 1913, in the Case of Ross vs Russell, a Well-Documented
Case; This is a Sample of the Cross Examination That Has Been Derived From
Those Court Records
______
Attorney Stanton Q.n = Do You Know the Greek Alphabet?
Charles Russell Ans = Oh Yes
Attorney Stanton Q.n = Can You Tell Me the Correct Letters if You See Them?
Charles Russell Ans = Some of Them, I Might Make a Mistake on Some of Them
Attorney Stanton Q.n = Would You Tell Me the Names of Those on Top of Page 477
I Have Got Here?
Charles Russell Ans = Well, I Don’t Know That I Would be Able To
Attorney Stanton Q.n = You Can’t Tell What Those Letters are, Look at Them
and See if You Know?
Charles Russell Ans = My Way (He Was Interrupted at This Point and Not Allowed
to Explain)
Attorney Stanton Q.n = Are You Familiar With the Greek Language?
Charles Russell Ans = No
(Reference = Book “Kingdom of the Cults” by Dr. Walter Martin Page 39)
______
Q.n = Now, Let Me Ask You This Question: If Someone Claims to be Able to Interpret
the Greek Version of the Bible More Accurately Than Anyone in His Day, Should
He or Should He Not be Able to Read the Greek Alphabet?
-> I Have Brought This Up, Because I Consider This to be a Very Relevant Issue
as It Relates to Anyone Involved in the Jehovah’s Witness Cult
-> For You See, They Have Rejected the Bible That You and I Have in Favor of Their
Own “New World Translation”, Because They Claim That Our Bible is in Error
-> Yet, It is Their Translation That Has Been Altered, and This is Especially True
in Regardsto Any References That Support the Deity of Christ
-> Let Me Give You an Example by Having You Turn to Colossians 1:16-17
-> Now, I Want to Show You How This Verse Appears in the New World Translation
“16 because by means of him all [other] things were created in the heavens and upon
the earth, the things visible and the things invisible, no matter whether they are
thrones or lordships or governments or authorities. All [other] things have been
created through him and for him. 17 Also, he is before all [other] things and by
means of him all [other] things were made to exist” (NWT)
Q.n = Now, Does That Little Word “Other” That Has Been Inserted Here
by the Jehovah’s Witnesses Make a Differencein How These Verses
are Interpreted?
Ans = It Most Certainly Does, Because It Leaves Room to Suggest That Jesus Was
a Created Being, and That He Did Not Exist Before All Things
-> If He is the Creator, and He Existed Before All Things, He Must be God
-> If He is Not the Creator, and He Was Created, He Cannot be God
-> That Verse in the Original Greek Clearly Says That He is the Creator;
The Jehovah’s Witnesses Cannot Accept This; Therefore, They Have
Altered the Text in Order to Make It Support Their False Doctrine
______
T.S. 1) They Reject Our Savior
2) They Reject Our Scriptures
3) They Reject Our Salvation
______
3) They Reject Our Salvation
-> Like All Other Cults, the Jehovah’s Witnesses Have Rejected Our Gospel
of Grace in Favor of a Works Based System
-> And as Most of Us Know, They Insist That Only 144,000 Will Actually Enter
Into the Heavenly Sphere (Rev 7:9 a great multitude no one could count…)
-> Of Course, They Also Say That Those Who Hope to be Included in This Elite
Group of 144,000 Must Achieve It by Doing Enough Good Works
-> According to the Watchtower Magazine Dated February 15th, 1983 Pages 12-13,
Those Who Hope to Receive Everlasting Life Must Identify Themselves With
“That Organization” (The Watchtower Society), and Serve God as Part of It.
-> And According to the Watchtower Magazine Dated April 1, 1947
“to get one’s name written in that Book of Life will depend upon one’s works”
-> But of Course, the Bible I Read Says That We are Saved by Grace Through
Faith in Jesus Christ and Apart From Works
-> Ephesians 2:8-9, for Example, Says
“8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast”
-> And Galatians 2:16 Says
“16 nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law
but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that
we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by
the works of the Law no flesh will be justified”
Pt = The Point I am Making, of Course, is That Orthodoxed Christianity,
and the Jehovah’s Witnesses are Totally Incompatible With Each Other
-> And Therefore, I Can Say Without Any Apology and Without Any Equivocation
That the Jehovah’s Witnesses are a Cult
-> And My Goal Tonight is to Help All of Us to be Able to See How They are in Error
-> And for Some of Us to be Able to Witness to Them Effectively
I. We Should Expose Their PropheticErrors
-> One Thing That Makes It Difficult for Us to Witness to Someone Who is Involved
in the Jehovah’s Witness Cult is the Fact That They Have Been Taught to Reject
What They Call “Apostate” Literature
-> Of Course, Apostate Literature is Anything and Everything That is Not Produced
by the Watchtower Society
-> Now, I Want You to Listen Carefully
* The Watchtower Society is the Organization That Governs Jehovah’s Witnesses
Worldwide
* They Believe That God Personally Set Up This Organization as His Visible
Representative on Earth
* It is Through This Organization AND NO OTHER (Repeat) That God Allegedly
Teaches the Bible to Humankind Today
* Jehovah’s Witnesses are Extremely Exclusivistic in Viewing the Watchtower
Society as the Sole Possessor and Propagator of God’s Truth
* Consequently, Every Christian Organization is Viewed as Being Deceptive
and Rooted in the Work of the Devil
* If a Jehovah’s Witness Disobeys the Instructions of the Watchtower Society,
In Any Way, They Will be Labeled as an Apostate and Disfellowshipped
-> In Fact, They Have Been Taught That Reading Apostate Literature is as Bad
as Reading Pornographic Literature
-> And They Also Have a Genuine Fear of Being “Disfellowshipped” and “Shunned”
by All Jehovah’s Witnesses if They Are Being Influenced by This
-> So, This is Why It is Good to Start by Pointing Out Some of the Prophetic
ErrorsThat Can be Found in Their Own Literature, and There are Many
St = Now, the Watchman Fellowship, Not the Watchtower Society, But the Watchman
Fellowship, Can Provide You With All of the Materials That You Need to be Able
to Confront a Jehovah’s Witness Effectively (But be Sure to Remove the Cover)
-> I Know It Probably Sounds Strange to You to Hear Me Say That This,
But I am Convinced That This is the Placeto Start if You Should Attempt
to Witness to the Jehovah’s Witnesses
-> And Again, the Reason for This is Because They Have to Accept Their Own
Material to be TrueWhile They Have Been Taught to Reject Ours
-> And the Watchtower Society Has Made Enough Blatant and Serious Errors
Throughout It’s History to Cause Any Objective Person to Have Some
Serious Doubts About Their Credibility
-> Now, You Can Use Deuteronomy 18:20-22as a Spring Board for This Discussion,
Because These Verses Tell Us How to Recognize a False Prophet
Deuteronomy 18:20-22 (Turn and Read)
Q.n = Now, Based on Those Verses, How Many Errors is a Prophet Allowed to Make?
Ans = Absolutely None, Zero, Not Even One Mistake is Allowed
-> Under the Old Testament Law, One Mistake Could Cause a Man to Get Rocked
to Sleep, Because the Penalty Was Death
-> Now, You Should Have No Trouble Getting a Jehovah’s Witness to Agree With
This, Because His Translation Says the Same Thing That Yours Does Here
-> The Next Step Should be to Convince Him That the Watchtower Society Claims
the Title of Prophet for Itself
-> And the Evidence for This Can be Found in a Watchtower Publication Which
is Dated April 1, 1972, and I Quote
“He had a ‘prophet’ to warn them. This ‘prophet’ was not one man, but was
a body of men and women. It was the small group of footstep followers
of Jesus Christ, known at the time as the International Bible Students.
Today, they are known as Jehovah’s Christian Witnesses”
St = Another Example of This is Found in a Book Published by the Jehovah’s
Witnesses Entitled “The Nations Will Know That I am Jehovah”
-> On Page 58, It Says, and Again I Quote
“Who is Ezekiel’s present day counterpart, whose message and conduct coorespond
with that of that ancient prophet of Jehovah? Of whom today was he a ‘sign’
or ‘portent’? Not of some individual man, but of a group of people. Being made
up of a unified company of persons, the modern Ezekiel is a composite personage,
made up of many members, just the same as the human body is”
-> They Site as Scriptural Support Matthew 25:4-47 & 2 Peter 1:20-21
Matt 24:45-47 “45 Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put
in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time?
46 ‘Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes.
47 ‘Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his
possessions”
Q.n = Who Was the Faithful Servant Before the Watchtower Came Along?
2 Pet 1:20-21 “20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter
of one's own interpretation, 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act
of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God”
-> The Jehovah’s Witnesses are Taught That the Primary Teaching of This Passage
is That There Should be no “Private Interpretations” of Scripture
-> Consequently, They Say That Only the Watchtower Society Can Provide Anyone
With the True Meaning of Scripture
-> But Listen, Those Verses are Obviously Dealing With the ORIGIN of Scripture
and Not the INTERPRETATION of Scripture
Pt = The Watchtower Society Has Taken Upon Itself the Title of Prophet
-> And So, This is Our Logic
Q.n = The Bible Says That a True Prophet Can be Wrong How Many Times?
Ans = Never, One Mistake is One Too Many
Q.n = Has the Watchtower Society Ever Been Wrong About Prophecy?
Ans = Yes, So Now Let Me Give You Some Examples
Example # 1 = They Claimed That the Battle of Armageddon Would Occur, and That
God’s Kingdom Would be Established on This Earth in 1914
-> This Was First Found in a Book Entitled Volume 2 of The Studies in the Scriptures
-> It is Also Found in a Watchtower Publication Dated July 15th, 1894, Which Says This
“Now, in view of recent labor troubles and threatening anarchy, our readers are
writing to know if there may not be a mistake in 1914 date…We see no reason
for changing the figures - nor could we change them if we would. They are,
we believe God’s dates not ours. But bear in mind that the end of 1914 is not
the date for the beginning, but for the end of the time of trouble”
Example # 2 = The End Did Not Come in 1914; So, They Quickly Movedthe Date
to the Year 1918, and Then Again to 1925
-> This is Found in a Book That Was Published by the Watchtower in 1920
-> The Title of the Book Was “Millions Now Living Will Never Die,” and It
Was Followed by What is Known Historically as “The Millions Campaign”
-> On Page 89, the Book Says, and I Quote
“As we have heretofore stated, the great jubilee cycle is due to begin in 1925.
At that time, the earthly phase of the kingdom shall be recognized”
-> Also, the Watchtower Publication Dated September 1st, 1922 Page 262 Says
“The date 1925 is even more distinctly indicated by the Scriptures because it is
fixed by the law God gave to Israel. Viewing this present situation in Europe,
one wonders how it will be possible to hold back the explosion much longer:
and that even before 1925 the great crisis will be reached and probably passed”
-> By the Way, This Included a Prediction That a Select Group of Old Testament
Saints Such as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob Would Rise from the Dead
Example # 3 = The Watchtower Predicted That in 1975 Human History Would End
and the 1,000 Year Reign of Christ on the Earth Would Begin
-> I Could go on to Mention Dates That Were Set for 1989 and Again in 1995
Pt = The Watchtower, Which Has Claimed to be a True Prophet, Has Been Wrong
Repeatedly, and the Bible Does Not Allow a Prophet to be Wrong Even Once