Welcome! We are glad you are here!

1. Welcome! We are glad you are here!

2. Exposing Counterfeit Faiths and Cults

3. Part 6: Jehovah’s Witnesses Why do this message series? We live in a great country where people are given the freedom to believe whatever they want. Evergreen Church is not in any way advocating the discrimination of a faith group with beliefs different from our own. Instead, we are using this message series to bring to light differing views of God and comparing them to what the Bible says in order to more effectively pray for others and address their extra-Biblical beliefs.

4. Part 6: Jehovah’s Witnesses Background Founder – Charles Taze Russell (1852-1916) Began bible study in Pittsburgh, PA in 1870 from which the Jehovah’s Witnesses emerged. Russell believed that Christ had returned in 1874, and that he had been ruling from the heavens since. Influence – Approx. 7 million JW’s worldwide Publications – “Watchtower,” “Awake” magazines, and “New World Translation” Bible

5. Part 6: Jehovah’s Witnesses Examples of Extra-Biblical Beliefs Trinity – JW’s reject the view of God as a Tri-unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They believe that Jehovah is God alone, Jesus is His non-equal Son, and the Holy Spirit is not a person but Jehovah’s “active force” in the world.

6. Part 6: Jehovah’s Witnesses Who is Jesus to Jehovah’s Witnesses? JW’s believe that Jesus Christ was a perfect man, and that He is a person distinct from but not equal to Jehovah. They also teach that before His earthly life, Jesus was Michael the archangel. They believe Jesus begam the Messiah at His baptism. "Jesus Christ, whom we understand from the Scriptures to be Michael the archangel" (The Watchtower, February 15, 1979, p. 31)

7. Part 6: Jehovah’s Witnesses Who is Jesus according to the Scriptures? Jesus is 100% God and 100% man as described in Chapter 1 of John. John 1:1,14 (NIV) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning…The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.”

8. Part 6: Jehovah’s Witnesses Who is Jesus according to the Scriptures? The JW Bible (New World Translation) adds an “a” in this verse to diminish Jesus’ deity and equality with God the Father. There is no “a” in the original Greek!

9. Part 6: Jehovah’s Witnesses Who is Jesus according to the Scriptures? John 20:28 (NIV) “Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” Jesus did not correct Thomas! Colossians 2:9 (NIV) “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” Romans 10:9 (NIV) “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” “Lord” (Eng.)= “Kurios” (Greek) = “Jehovah” (Hebrew)

10. Part 6: Jehovah’s Witnesses Who is the Holy Spirit to Jehovah’s Witnesses? They believe that the Holy Spirit is not a distinct person as in the case of Jehovah and Jesus, but rather is Jehovah’s “active force” in the world. The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is a Person and Jesus uses personal pronouns to describe Him!

11. Part 6: Jehovah’s Witnesses Who is the Holy Spirit according to Scripture? The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is a Person and Jesus uses personal pronouns to describe Him! John 16:13 (NIV) “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.”

12. Part 6: Jehovah’s Witnesses Governing Body, Watchtower Society Jehovah’s Witnesses are told by their Governing Body that Scripture alone is insufficient to understand the things of God - one needs the Watchtower Society and the literature it publishes to properly understand the Bible. “Unless we are in touch with this channel of communication that God is using, we will not progress along the road to life, no matter how much Bible reading we do.” (Watchtower, December 1, 1981 p.27)

13. Part 6: Jehovah’s Witnesses Armageddon and Jesus’ Second Coming JW’s have been wrong on numerous predictions of the end of the world (most recently 1975) and believe Jesus’ second coming has already occurred (invisibly). 1 Thess. 4:16-17 (NIV) “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”

14. Part 6: Jehovah’s Witnesses Hell, Heaven, and the 144,000 JW’s reject the Christian view of Hell. They claim non-JW’s simply cease to exist after they die. They claim dead JW’s remain in an unconscious state until the resurrection of the dead. The “Anointed Class” of JW’s (144,000) will spend eternity as spirit creatures in heaven with Jehovah and Jesus and will rule over all remaining JW’s on the earth.

15. Part 6: Jehovah’s Witnesses Biblical understanding of the 144,000 described in Rev. 14:1 12 (Tribes) X 12 (Apostles) X 1000 = 144,000 It represents the number of perfection/completion/fullness in Heaven rather than a specific number of people who will be there.

16. Part 6: Jehovah’s Witnesses Marking, Disfellowshipping If a member is guilty of breaking a minor JW rule, that individual could be “marked.” This means that other JW’s may only speak to them at the Kingdom Hall (church building). For more major rules violations, JW’s can be “disfellowshipped”. Using tobacco products, celebrating Christmas, reciting the pledge of allegiance, lying, stealing, joining the military, speaking to a disfellowshipped JW, reading religious material not published by the Governing Body, or running for public office, blood transfusions are examples.

17. See you next Sunday!