Facts You Should Know About Jehovah's Witnesses (JW)

Who are they?

• Known as the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society
• Emphasizes end time prophecy and has falsely predicted the end of the world many times.
• JWs and prohibits their participation in such common activities as taking blood transfusions, celebrating birthdays or holidays (including Christmas, Easter, and Mother's Day), voting, flag saluting, and military service.
• The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society boldly claims to be the only organization God is using today to teach His truth and speak for Him.
• All non-JWs will be destroyed at Armageddon, an event of divine judgment it threatens is just around the corner.

Failed Prophecies

• Warnings that Armageddon would strike in 1914.
• When 1914 came and went, he changed the date to 1915.
• Russell died in 1916, leaving his followers doubting and disillusioned by his predictive failures. Joseph Franklin Rutherford then took control of the organization.
• Rutherford (1869-1942) predicted that in 1918 God would destroy churches and millions of their members, and claimed that by 1920 every kingdom would be swallowed up in anarchy.
• When the 1918 and 1920 predictions failed, Rutherford set a new date that the millennium would start in 1925 and that Old Testament saints like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David would come back to life.
• Vice President Franz (1894- ) concluded that the autumn of 1975 would mark the beginning of the seventh period of human history. The Society was careful to avoid printing an outright prediction, but the message was clear to Jehovah's Witnesses everywhere-Armageddon was coming soon.

Tampering With The Bible

• Since many of their teachings could be refuted by key verses in the King James Bible, Knorr set out to publish a different Bible for JWs to use. Called the New World Translation (NWT), it blatantly altered many verses to support Watchtower doctrine. The single best example of this is John 1: 1, which in the King James Version clearly declares Jesus' deity-"the Word was God." JWs deny the deity of Christ, so the NWT renders this phrase "the Word was a god."

Testing the Watchtower Prophet

• The Bible warns us that many false prophets will come claiming to speak for God (Matthew 7:15; 1John 4: 1). Thankfully, it also provides a practical test for identifying false prophets. In Deuteronomy 18:20-22 we are told that anyone who claims to speak as a prophet of God and predicts something that does not come true is a false prophet. "And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?
• Deu 18:22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.
• Deu 18:20 But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death.
• According to the Bible, one false prophecy makes the speaker a false prophet. By this test the Watchtower Society's prophecies concerning 1914, 1915, 1918, 1920, 1925 and 1975 prove beyond a doubt it is a false prophet and that we should turn away from this group's deceptive doctrines.

Non-biblical Beliefs

• The Nature of God. The Bible teaches that there is only one true God (Isa.43:10-11; 44:6,8). Father, Son and Holy Spirit are identified as distinct Persons within the one Triune Godhead (Matt.3:16-17; 2 Cor.13:14). Throughout the New Testament the Son and the Holy Spirit, as well as the Father are separately identified as God. Each has divine attributes and acts as God (Son: Mark 2:5-12; John 20:28; Heb. l :8; Holy Spirit: Acts 5:3-4; 2 Cor. 3:17-18).
• By contrast, the JW denies the triune nature of God and teaches that such a belief is inspired by Satan and teaches that Jehovah, the name of the one true God, corresponds only to God the Father. JWs also deny that Jesus is God (see next point). They deny the Holy Spirit is a person, and instead teach he is merely God's active force, similar to electricity.

Jesus Christ

• The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is God come in the flesh, and is the Creator of all things (John 1: 1 -3,14; Col.1: 16). While never less than God, at the appointed time He laid aside the glory He shared with the Father and took on a human nature ( John 17:35; Phil. 2:6-11; Col. 2:9). Following his death, Jesus Christ rose bodily from the grave, appeared to and was recognized in his body by over 500 people. This fact was crucial to both the preaching and faith of the early church (Luke 24:39; John 2:19-21; I Cor. 15:6, 14).
• By contrast, the JW denies the deity of Jesus Christ and teaches that Jesus is a created being who existed as Michael the archangel before being born as a perfect man. JWs believe that after Jesus was buried, God disposed of his physical body. He was raised a spiritual creature and "materialized" to make himself visible. Now in heaven he is once again known as Michael the archangel.

Salvation

• The Bible teaches that the atoning work of Christ alone provides the solution for man's sin problem. Jesus Christ took the personal sins of all men-past, present and future-in his own body on the tree (I Pet. 2:24), and as perfect God and perfect man he fully met the demands of Divine justice for us (Rom. 3:22-26). Therefore, any and all who receive him by simple faith (John 1:12; Acts 16:31), can be forgiven, declared righteous and restored to fellowship with God (Cor. 5:21; Heb. 7:24-26).
• By contrast, the JW teaches that only an elite group of Witnesses, known as "the 144,000," or the "anointed ones" are presently credited with Christ's righteousness. Only the 144,000 are born again and expect to reign with Christ in heaven. For the vast majority of remaining JWs, known as the "other sheep" or the "great crowd," the atoning sacrifice of Christ only provides a chance at eternal life on earth.
• The Bible also teaches that we are saved by grace alone apart from any self-righteous works (Eph.2:8-9). There is nothing we can do to contribute to our salvation because apart from Jesus Christ we are "dead in our sins" (Eph. 2:1,5).
• By contrast, the JW teaches that salvation "will depend on one's works." A person must first "come to Jehovah ' s organization for salvation and then comply with everything they teach. In this way, a relationship with the Jehovah's Witnesses organization, rather than a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, is presented as the basis of salvation.

The Soul & Eternal Punishment

• The Bible teaches that the human soul continues to exist consciously after death (Is.14:9-11; Luke 16:19-31;Rev 6:9-11). Those who have rejected God's gift of eternal life will suffer conscious eternal punishment (Matt. 25:41,46; Rev. 14:10,11; 20:10,15).
• By contrast, the JW denies eternal punishment and teaches that the soul cannot exist apart from the body. JWs believe that death ends all conscious existence. Hell refers to the grave and those who are ultimately judged by God will be annihilated and simply cease to exist.

The Bible

• The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit's anointing enables individual Christians to understand God's Word and properly apply it to their lives ( I John 2:27).
• By contrast, the JW teaches that the Bible can only be interpreted by the Watchtower Society and no individual can learn the truth apart from them.

Contradictions & Flip-Flops

• The JW claims to be Jehovah's organization and God's only channel of spiritual instruction for today. It stresses that the Bible is an "organizational book" and cannot be understood by individuals no matter how sincere they are. But how can we trust our eternal destiny to an organization that during its brief time in existence has accumulated such a woeful history of doctrinal contradictions and flip-flops? Consider the following examples of ever-changing Watchtower theology.
• In 1975 the JWs taught that the man who sows the seed in the parable of the mustard seed (Matthew 13) is Satan. Later that same year the WT Society taught that this sower was Jesus.
• A similar incident occurred in 1978, when the JW identified the "Alpha and Omega" of Revelation 22:12-13 as Jehovah (that is, God the Father), and then five weeks later taught these verses referred to Jesus.
• The Watchtower Society's failure to correctly interpret the Bible is most clearly seen in their doctrinal flip-flops. First they teach position A, then they change to position B, claiming God has given them "new light." Later on, however, they revert back to their old teaching (position A) and in some cases change once again to position B.

Examples of Contradictions & Flip-Flops

• Resurrection of the Men of Sodom
• 1879 - They will be resurrected.
• 1952 - They will not be resurrected.
• 1965 - They will be resurrected.
• 1988 - They will not be resurrected.24
• The 'Lord' in Romans 10:12-16
• 1903 - 'Lord' refers to Jesus.
• 1940 - 'Lord' refers to Jehovah.
• 1978 - 'Lord' refers to Jesus.
• 1980 - 'Lord' refers to Jehovah.25
• 'Higher Powers' of Romans 13:1
• 1916 - 'Higher powers' refers to governments.
• 1943 - 'Higher powers' refers to Jehovah God & Jesus Christ.
• 1964 - 'Higher powers' refers to governments.26