This is only a brief outline of the origins of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and I will only hit on the high points of this ridiculous cult.
It seems that with most cults that they are dreamed up by men who have nothing better to do than trifle with the word of God – the Holy Bible. These people, often after being exposed to true Biblical Scripture, decide that they know better than the Spirit-filled men who wrote the initial texts from Moses on.
The inventor of this cult (Jehovah’s Witnesses) was Charles Taze Russell, yet another self-described teacher who began his ministry in Brooklyn N.Y. His musings were written under the heading “Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.” Yet he only went to public school for seven years and left at the tender age of fourteen. Later, he became wealthy from his father’s hat- making inheritance and had the means to publish his own works.
Although he was raised a Bible-believing Christian, this man decided that he would alter the Bible since he felt the content of the King James Bible was faulty; yet the Bible itself says that “no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20-21).
The Bible also describes itself as “God breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16). He should have known better.
It’s amazing how a man can consider himself more knowledgeable than the 44 Godly men who translated it. Among them were scholars, archeologists, linguists and such. Yet this silly man would come up with his own unique take on scripture – a take he called, THE NEW WORLD TRANSLATION. (Sounds too much like THE NEW WORLD ORDER to me.)
Its adherents are people who have been misled into believing that they and they alone possess the truth. But the truth is that they’ve been hoodwinked into believing they can earn their way to heaven by distributing tracts and by knowing God’s name – Jehovah. The Scriptures say, “There is a way that seems right unto man, but the end thereof is the way of death.”
The original King James Bible tells us that, “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” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
So, it is by faith and not of “works” like they so ardently believe. Yet it seems that they will not admit to their frailties and shortcomings, but continue to put up a façade of self-righteousness.
Today the printer and distributor of Jehovah’s Witnesses tracts is the Watch Tower Society, a publishing house ensconced in a building in New York City. They also print other fodder for their ardent followers to distribute and sell, all the while collecting “Tithes” and offerings to enrich their leaders.
For the most part, these misled people tend to stay in the book of Revelation, a book that is hard to decipher – even for theologians as the worldwide events described therein are happening today or beginning to happen. It is often written in symbolic terms, so even true Biblical scholars can only speculate their meaning up until the event materializes.
One of the things that makes this cult infamous is its penchant for setting dates for the end of the world (which have of course never come true). Another falsehood is that Christ returned in 1874.
Then there is the hope that they are the 144,000 who make it through the Tribulation period and are saved. The problem with that theory is that today there are more than enough of them (Jehovah’s Witnesses) to qualify with their numbers growing by the day. That would mean that they must grit their teeth and continue to scour the earth making more followers to satisfy the greed of their leadership
They also claim to qualify for salvation because they know God’s name, yet Jesus never spoke the name ‘Jehovah’. Jesus ascribed to God as “Father” as in “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name…” in teaching us to do the same.
If they had really read the original Bible, the adherents of JWs would know that “there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved” and “there is only one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” Jesus is not Michael the Archangel as so many of them presume.
In the New Testament the Apostle Peter said to Jesus directly “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus replied, ‘Simon, son of Jonah, happy are you for you did not hear this from man, but My Father in heaven has revealed this to you’” (Matthew 16:16-17).
JWs don’t believe that God and Jesus are one. Yet the Bible clearly states that they are (John 1:1, 14; 8:58; 10:30).
There are so many other proofs that this twisted truth Jehovah’s Witnesses spew has no basis in fact. They have no excuse for believing this doctrine spawned in hell. The Apostle Peter alludes to this heresy, saying that, “There are some things in them (Paul’s letters-Epistles) that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures” (2 Peter 3:16)
Thinking that they are the 144,000 witnesses who go about proclaiming their brand of gospel during the Tribulation period, they believe in ‘replacement theology’ (that they have replaced the Jews to whom the word of God was first given). How foolish! As a matter of fact, many Jews are receiving Christ Jesus as Messiah these days and could be approaching the 144,000 in number. (12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel, Rev.7:4-8). I personally know of five of them and may have been instrumental in helping deliver one of them through my preaching.
Messianic churches are popping up everywhere, even in Israel.
As hard as they try to keep up appearances, they fail at every turn and often end up alone and destitute. (I have yet to meet a happy Jehovah’s Witness.) Yet like Peter, we who have received and know Jesus personally should be happy.
Need I say more.
On another note:
I saw the movie “12 Strong” and was disappointed in several aspects: the music, lighting and sound were all faulty and even the cinematography was mediocre.
YBIC
Jim Towers