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Jehovah's Witnesses: Cult, One True Church, Neither?
Our Purpose: to show you the love of Jesus Christ, His promises of
Salvation & Blessings and to spread the Good News to the ends of the
Earth [Mark 16:15]. We're also here to edify the church
[Ephesians 4:11-12].
Reasons to Register:interact with like-minded
believers worldwide, seek help, help others, enjoy live chat, live
events (bible studies, prayer, video chats), socialize with those of
other faiths and share the love of Jesus with them, seek prayer, pray
for others, enjoy kid-safe games, gallery and music. 100% free
to join.
View Poll Results: Jehovah's Witnesses: Cult, One True Church, Neither?
Voters
30. You may not vote on this poll
Cult
2686.67%
One True Church
13.33%
Neither
26.67%
Not sure, but hope to find out by reading these posts!
Jehovah's Witnesses: Cult, One True Church, Neither?
To respect a young brothers desires on another thread, I decided to move this question, here in order to open dialogue with someone who happens to be a Jehovah's Witness. Posing it as a Poll Question, would allow others to include comments if they so desire or if not so bold as to profess their belief in JW openly may yet still be able to make note of this in poll without feeling put upon by the comments that may follow.
C4E
Ephesians 4:15 [15] But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, [even] Christ:
Galatians 1:9 [9] As we said before, so say I now again, If any [man] preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 [3] For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; [4] And they shall turn away [their] ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
Matthew 24:23-26 [23] Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here [is] Christ, or there; believe [it] not. [24] For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if [it were] possible, they shall deceive the very elect. [25] Behold, I have told you before. [26] Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, [he is] in the secret chambers; believe [it] not.
Acts 4:12 [12] Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Revelation 22:18-19 [18] For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: [19] And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and [from] the things which are written in this book.
I, personally, view the Jehovah's Witnesses no differently than I do any other "Christian" group. They profess Jesus Christ, and I agree with them myself on certain aspects of the Bible, but do disagree on others. I disagree with them on enough that I could not begin to go to one of their churches.
There is so much that could be said about the scriptural errors that this group (the JW's) is fundamentally involved with.
This brief comment is intended to relate with many others on this site which banter about the issue of bible "versions."
The JW's are known to recruit with both the AV (Authorized Version, the King James Bible), and their own copyrighted "version," the NWT (New Word Translation), which was anonymously authored "in-house" by five JW's back in the 1950's.
You can guess which book more fully supports their objectives and which therefore is their book of choice.
I, personally, view the Jehovah's Witnesses no differently than I do any other "Christian" group. They profess Jesus Christ, and I agree with them myself on certain aspects of the Bible, but do disagree on others. I disagree with them on enough that I could not begin to go to one of their churches.
First one must be able to find out how "Jesus Christ" is defined before one can lump them together as a "Christian group". What do they profess Jesus Christ as being? Was He just an enlightened person? Is He the Son of God, but with no divinity attached? Is He God incarnate? So what do we profess Jesus Christ as being? Is it the same Christ Jesus, or another outside of Scripture? Which of cause will lead to many other questions. So, one at a time at least on this thread.
The care necessary, for the believers to avoid deception now a days, is that there are many life preservers in the water, but only one will save you. We can use the same terms and Jesus Christ is one, but are we using the same dictionary? Therein is the problem and one folks would do well to be aware of. As Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11:4 "For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or [if] ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with [him]." It is too easy to accept out of love what others have to say, if they use the right words. Believe me, or don't believe me, but believe Holy Spirit through Paul when he wrote Galatians 1:6 "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:" There were Jews who were trying to tie up the Church at Galatia to Jewish Law. How serious was this? Enough so that he repeated one verse over again, to make the point Galatians 1:8-9 "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. [9] As we said before, so say I now again, If any [man] preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."
So do I take this a bit serious, enough to provide a closer examination, especially if the influence of their words or their claims can be found at TJ? You bet ya I do. Let's bring it to the light of day to examine. But I won't be the one to start explaining their positions. I opened this to allow them to state their case. There are enough Apologists here at TJ to address the question at hand.
If I've replied a bit heavy handed or you may perceive it as such. I apologize brother. It is not intended in that fashion.
YBIC
C4E
I wouldn't call the Jehovah's Witnesses the one true church any more then I'd call the Roman Catholics or the Missionary Baptist the Lord's one true church. That being said, there are other so called churches such as the Joel Osteen church that one could at the current time refute as the Lord's true church.
There are certain disqualifies to weather a church is pleasing to the Lord. I have a small checklist that must be meet before I can call any church a part of the Lord's work. Here is that list.
A. The church must preach against sin and be doing the Lord's will
B. The church must not be actively participating and or promoting luwed acts, occultic natures, and foul language.
C. The church must be public to visitors and willing to welcome those who wish to join.
D. The church must not commit fraud.
E. The church must worship God, who sent his son to die for the salvation of those who repent and believe
F. The church must not promote idolatry, including blab it and grab it, idolship worship, and national worship.
Now the test is not if the church messes up once or twice on these items, but continually messes up on these issues with no repentance of the mistake.
When ever I hear the cliche "true church" the alarm bells sound.
Witnesses deviate from biblical Christianity in several areas.
I will discuss some of their major doctrinal errors.
First, like all the cults, they deny the Trinity.
They believe there is one God, Jehovah. Jesus, is actually Michael the Archangel,
the first of God's creation, who became
flesh at the incarnation. After the resurrection,
He returned to heaven as Michael the Archangel.
(1) The Holy Spirit is not God but an active force
much like electricity or fire.
(2) Second, Witnesses deny the bodily resurrection of Christ,
but instead believe He was raised as a spirit and manifested
Himself several times in different materialized bodies.
(3) Third, they deny the existence of hell and eternal punishment,
but believe in total annihilation after death. Only the elite ruling class,
the 144,000, are allowed to go to heaven. The faithful Jehovah's
Witnesses remain unconscious after death till they are resurrected
in the Millennium. Those who are not in the organization are annihilated
after death.
(4) Fourth, Witnesses have a works-oriented salvation. Salvation is not
based upon a relationship with Christ, but found in the organization.
One must serve the society, and depending on one's faithfulness and
absolute obedience, one may be saved.
(5) Fifth, they believe that Jesus returned invisibly in 1914 and established
His throne in heaven. At Armageddon, God will destroy all evil, and abolish
all the world's governments, and establish a new Paradise on earth.
Then the living and resurrected Jehovah's Witnesses will inherit Paradise earth.
The 144,000 mentioned earlier will rule with Jesus. At this time all unbelievers
who have died will be raised (with some exceptions) and will study under the
Witnesses during the Millennium, a period of a thousand years.
Studying with them will be the unbelievers who have survived Armageddon.
After the thousand years, their faith will be tested because God will release
Satan from the abyss. At that point all unbelievers will have to choose between
Satan or Jehovah. Those who reject Jehovah will be annihilated.
Well, I guess the only real thing I would have in common with the JW's is that there is one true God, who is Jesus' Father and God. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who is actually listed as Jehovah in the Biblical Texts.
Other than that, well, Jesus is not Michael the Arch Angel. Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. He was the first of creation from the foundation of the world. He is the right hand of God who He made all things through...and that would include Michael the Arch Angel (who is actually who Jesus uses as the protector of Israel. IMO, Michael the Arch Angel is the top dog in the order of God's faithful angels, and he has command over the legions of angels down the list.)
Dan 10:21 But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.
Dan 12:1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
Jud 1:9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
Rev 12:7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
Rev 12:8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
As far as the 144,000, well those are Jews who are sealed either shortly before, or simutaniously with the 6th seal of Rev. That has nothing to do with the Gentile nations. They are sealed on earth to remain a witness of God. The redeemed in Christ are who will be ruling and reigning with Christ, and that number is much larger than a meager 144,000!
Rev 7:3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
Rev 7:4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
Jesus will be ruling with a rod of iron, which indicates there will be those left that will not willingly submit with their whole hearts to His Lordship and Salvation of their souls. There has to be someone to rule over...can't see those people being sold out born again Christians.
Rev 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
Rev 2:28 And I will give him the morning star.
Rev 2:29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Vs 29 is talking about the churches, not the 144,000 sealed Jews.
Of all the cults and distorted Christian church movements the
Jehovah's witnesses are the ones I feel the most empathy for.
They are driven hard by their organization, salvation is
impossible for the JWs unless they conform and obey.
This iron clad obedience is to the JW organization above all.
My faith is in Jesus not a church or organization, so I am
at liberty to choose my place of worship.
There theology is pathetic, not supportable outside
of JW literature. They are prisoners of this cult and
deeply deceived. It pains me when they knock on the door,
no matter how or what I say they refuse correction and leave.
There theology is so simple and wrong and plainly so, I am
surprised that they do not spot the heresies. There level
of devotion to the JW movement is beyond reason. They
are very nice people to meet, polite, friendly and deceived.
Thanks brother, but not really me
The Spirit moves me to read certain threads, then to write, pray on it, and finally to reply. not always so quickly!
On this particular thread, I'm still waiting for the individual to step up; "come out of the weeds" so to speak. This can be difficult for them since this site can really be anathema to them in more ways then one.
YBIC
C4E
Proverbs 27:17
They believe all of Christendom (Methodist, Baptist, and everybody else) are in league with satan. They actually practice (roll play) their rejection of anything you say to them.
I have done a lot of research on this particular cult and one of the first things they want you to do if you study with them is to trick you into denying the Holy Spirit and accept what they call "the faithful and discreet slave" as the sole provider of spiritual "food".. Only through them do you receive "spiritual food at the proper time"... belittling the Holy Spirit to a THING and replacing the Holy Spirit's role in the lives of their followers.
When I began my quest to understand them, I had hopes of finding common ground and to prove they were indeed part of the body of Christ. I was so clueless. Common Ground should have been at Calvary.
Their "jesus" is not Jesus at all. Therefore their God "Jehovah" is not God but an imposter. Their "jehovah" is a false god and mean tyrant who is impossible to please and very demanding of your time and resources.
There is no common ground. They are a very dangerous cult.