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[Note:\u00a0 <\/strong>This MS is available in larger font on our Manuscripts<\/strong>\u00a0 page.]<\/span><\/p>\n Introduction<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The doctrine of the Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses presents a real challenge to lovers of Biblical Truth for many reasons. It is challenging because cult members are very zealous and bold in the advocacy of their doctrine. At this writing an estimated 1,500,000 Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses participate in distribution of literature every month.<\/span><\/p>\n The doctrine of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses is challenging because it is an intricate and confusing maze of ancient and modern heresies, strung together in an illogical and often self- contradictory manner. This anti-scriptural system of doctrine is rendered even more confusing and challenging to many due to the abysmal ignorance of most people who answer the knock of the Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses at their door.<\/span><\/p>\n The doctrine of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses represents a challenge because its advocates are usually well drilled in their doctrine. A rigid schedule of classes, lectures, and demonstrations of door-to-door techniques is continually in progress in local \u201ckingdom halls.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The doctrine of the Jehovah\u2019s Witness sect is challenging because it teaches that there will be a literal kingdom on earth. The vast majority of the Protestant denominational world also holds a materialistic view of the kingdom of Christ, believing in the establishment of a literal, material kingdom on earth. This common point of doctrine disarms many denominational people, leading them to assume that Jehovah\u2019s Witness doctrine may not be so bad after all.<\/span><\/p>\n The doctrine of Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses also poses a great challenge due to the sheer number of books, pamphlets, magazines, and tracts published relentlessly by the Watchtower Society, the cult\u2019s publishing company. These are serious challenges, and they need to be met and answered by the Lord\u2019s people. Their doctrine, as with all false doctrine, can be refuted with the Truth of God\u2019s Word. It is our responsibility to reprove these unfruitful works of darkness and error (Eph. 5:11).<\/span><\/p>\n History of the Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses Cult<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n One may learn the story of the beginning and progress of the Jehovah\u2019s Witness cult by studying its major leaders. Charles Taze Russell began a \u201cBible Study group\u201d in Pittsburg in 1870, which evolved into this strange religious organization. Although reared a Presbyterian, by age 15 Russell had become a Congregationalist. By the age of 16, he was sick of \u201corganized religion\u201d and had fallen into infidelity after unsuccessfully trying to \u201cconvert\u201d an infidel friend. A visit on impulse to a rude Seventh Day Adventist hall prompted Russell to form his own \u201cBible Study group,\u201d which was the embryo of the religious empire he would later direct and control. His adherents soon came to be known as \u201cRussellites.\u201d He admittedly borrowed some of his doctrines from Adventist theology.<\/span><\/p>\n At the age of 25 Russell was so boldly confident in his new religious leadership role that he sold his interests in his father\u2019s clothing stores for $250,000 and began devoting all his time to religious activities. That same year (1877), Russell set forth in a booklet titled Three Worlds, or Plan of Redemption<\/em>, his doctrine that Christ came invisibly in the fall of 1874. In 1879 he began a monthly publication he named Zion\u2019s Watchtower and Herald of Christ\u2019s Presence<\/em>, the predecessor of the Watchtower <\/em>magazine. By this time Russell was convinced that he was Divinely appointed to serve as the \u201cwitness of Jehovah\u201d to all men.<\/span><\/p>\n In 1886 Russell published a book titled, The Divine Plan of the Ages<\/em>, which served as the first thorough summary and statement of his doctrinal system. The \u201cPublishers\u2019 Foreword\u201d of the book called it the \u201cpriceless key to the Bible\u201d and \u201cthe textbook supreme for aid in Bible Study.\u201d Russell wrote five other volumes in this Studies in the Scriptures <\/em>series over the next 20 years, and an additional volume was published posthumously.<\/span><\/p>\n Scandal, opposition, and lawsuits marked the last several years of Russell\u2019s life. Some prominent followers led an unsuccessful takeover attempt in 1893. In 1897, his wife of 18 years left him and in 1903 sued him for divorce. A scandal ensued concerning improper conduct toward other women. Russell was sued for advertising \u201cmiracle wheat\u201d in the Watchtower<\/em>, guaranteeing that it would out-produce any other by 500%. When a Brooklyn paper exposed Russell\u2019s claim, he sued for $100,000 libel damages, but lost the case. Russell\u2019s lack of integrity and religious errors were amply demonstrated subsequently in several other instances involving court cases and newspaper expose`s.<\/span><\/p>\n He was neither a theologian nor a scholar. He had not the faintest idea of how to \u201chandle aright\u201d the Word of God (2 Tim. 2:15). He was a self-ordained \u201cpastor,\u201d masquerading as a prophet who would have better served the world as a haberdasher. His influence is attributable to egotism, singularity of purpose, determination, and gall. His bizarre interpretations of Scripture appealed to many. When he transferred these to the printed page and distributed them all over the world, thousands were swayed by them. He died in Pampa, Texas, October 31, 1916, while en route by train from California to New York. It is no mystery that the Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses have never published a biography of their founder.<\/span><\/p>\n The Watchtower Corporation unanimously elected a new president in January 1917\u2014 J.F. (\u201cJudge\u201d) Rutherford. Rutherford had practiced law for several years when two young Watchtower girls came into his office to sell him some books in 1894, introducing him to Russell\u2019s Watchtower Society. Russell began using Rutherford\u2019s legal \u201cskills\u201d in some of his lawsuits, thereby gaining exposure among the Witnesses. By 1906 Rutherford was earnestly at work in the movement. He fiercely attacked the doctrines of established churches, honoring no \u201csacred cows,\u201d and eventually even attacked some of Russell\u2019s prophetic interpretations, causing some division among the Witnesses. The followers of Rutherford constitute the Jehovah\u2019s Witness sect of the present. They have, in fact, repudiated some of the doctrines and prophetic speculations set forth by Russell, although they still adhere to his basic tenets.<\/span><\/p>\n In 1918 Rutherford and seven other principals of the Society were sentenced to prison for sedition due to their rabid anti-war statements during World War I. After 9 months they were released on grounds of an illegal conviction, and Rutherford returned to his post at the Society as a martyr-hero who now had even more power than before.<\/span><\/p>\n Rutherford began producing a stream of books that he declared to be \u201cnew revelations from God.\u201d He wrote faster than Watchtower presses could print. Selling these books from door to door became a major emphasis by about 1930, and it continues to be the mainstay of their propaganda machine. In July 1931 at a Society convention in Columbus, Ohio, Rutherford gave the name \u201cJehovah\u2019s Witnesses\u201d to the cult, hoping this would lay to rest such names as \u201cRussellites\u201d and \u201cMillennial Dawn People.\u201d He is credited with great administrative ability through which he organized a tightly controlled, self-perpetuating theocratic dictatorship. He died on January 8, 1942.<\/span><\/p>\n The mantle of leadership next fell upon the shoulders of Nathan H. Knorr. Born in 1905, he left the Reformed Church when he was 16 and became a Jehovah\u2019s Witness. At 18 he was a full-time preacher and had been added to the staff at the Brooklyn headquarters. He had worked his way up through the ranks and was the principal administrator of the Brooklyn office during Rutherford\u2019s last years. Although not as flamboyant and bombastic as Russell, or Rutherford, Knorr was nevertheless a talented writer, speaker, and administrator. While continuing the relentless stream of books, magazines, and booklets, his major emphasis was on the doctrinal education of the rank-and-file Witnesses. Knorr changed the policy of authorship credits so that all articles and books from his time are published anonymously. This policy includes their New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures<\/em>, published in 1961. Said policy has two distinct advantages for the Watchtower Society: (1) It prevents the glorification of leading personalities in the cult, which had proved divisive in previous administrations, and (2) it makes it impossible to challenge the scholarship or qualifications of the writers. Thus it is impossible to learn from the Watchtower Society who even had a part in producing their New World Translation <\/em>(the linguistic qualifications of anonymous writers can hardly be questioned).<\/span><\/p>\n Knorr\u2019s administration was characterized by streamlining every part of the Society\u2019s operations. He managed to avoid the scandalous lawsuits and headlines common to both Russell and Rutherford, enabling the Jehovah\u2019 s Witnesses to gain an unprecedented degree of public acceptance. Knorr had about 115,000 disciples when he began his presidency in 1942. The 1982 Jehovah\u2019s Witness Yearbook <\/em>said there were 172,859 full-time \u201cpioneers\u201d (i.e., preachers) with 2-1\/2 million members in 205 nations. If nothing else does, these growth figures should underscore the seriousness of the challenge Jehovah\u2019s Witness doctrine poses to the Truth of the Gospel. Let us now consider some of the Witnesses\u2019 fundamental errors.<\/span><\/p>\n The Witnesses\u2019 View of Deity<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n It is appropriate to begin a review of some major doctrines of the Witnesses with their errors on the concept of God. When one goes astray on the nature of Deity and the Godhead, he starts down a path that will lead him into the \u201cfar country\u201d on almost every Bible doctrine. To attack the Biblical doctrine of the Triune Godhead is a major thrust of Jehovah\u2019s Witness\u2019 doctrine.<\/span><\/p>\n Russell wrote:<\/span><\/p>\n Verily, if it were not for the fact that this trinitarian nonsense was drilled into us from our earliest infancy and the fact that it is soberly taught in Theological Seminaries by gray-haired professors in many other ways apparently wise, nobody would give it a moment\u2019s serious consideration (Studies in the Scriptures<\/em>, Series 5, p. 166).1<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Similarly, Rutherford wrote:<\/span><\/p>\n Another lie made and told by Satan for the purpose of reproaching God\u2019s name and turning men away from God is that of the \u201ctrinity\u201d…. That there are three gods in one: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, all equal in power, substance, eternity…finds no support whatever in the Bible, but, on the contrary, the Bible proves beyond all doubt that it is the devil\u2019s doctrine (Riches<\/em>. pp. l85\u2013188).<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n An excellent illustration of the lengths to which they have gone to strip Christ from the Godhead is seen in their rendering of John 1:1 in their New World Translation<\/em>: \u201cIn the beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god<\/strong>\u201d (emph. DM).<\/span><\/p>\n The Witnesses contend concerning the Christ that:<\/span><\/p>\n Prior to coming to earth, this only begotten Son of God did not think himself to be co-equal with Jehovah God; he did not view himself as \u201cequal in power and glory\u201d with Almighty God… (Let God Be True<\/em>, p. 34).<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n At that time [before Jesus\u2019 birth, DM], as well as subsequently, he was properly known as \u201ca god\u201d\u2014a mighty one. As chief of the angels…he was known as the Archangel (highest angel messenger), whose name Michael signifies, \u201cWho is God,\u201d or God\u2019s representative. As he was the highest of all Jehovah\u2019s creation, so also he was the first, the direct creation of God…\u201d (Studies in the Scriptures<\/em>, Series 5, p. 84).<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Men, angels, archangels, or even the Son of God, before and during the time he was \u201cmade flesh and dwelt among us\u201d were not immortal…all were mortal (Studies in the Scriptures, <\/em>Series 5, p. 389).<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Thus we see that the claim of religionists that man has an immortal soul, and therefore differs from the beast, is not Scriptural. He did not have an immortal soul: Jesus, the human soul, died (Let God Be True<\/em>, pp. 59, 63).<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n These contentions led them even further astray concerning the nature of our Lord, but these are sufficient to show their contempt for the Biblical doctrine of the incarnation and Deity of Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n The Witnesses not only deny that the Holy Spirit is God, but that He is even a person:<\/span><\/p>\n The words translated in our Bibles Holy Ghost <\/em>should be properly translated holy spirit<\/em>. The holy spirit is the invisible power, energy, and influence of Jehovah. God is holy; therefore his power, energy, or influence are holy (The Harp of God<\/em>, p. 97).<\/span><\/p>\n Far from teaching equality with Jehovah, the Scriptures show that the holy spirit is not even a person (The Watchtower<\/em>, July 15, 1957, p. 431).<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The man does not live who completely fathoms the exact nature of Deity, the Triune Godhead, and the way the three persons possessed of Godhood relate to one another (although both the Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses and the \u201cJesus only\u201d heretics suppose they do.). We should expect such to be the case; finite minds are not equipped to fully comprehend the Infinite Nature. Some matters are secret to humankind; they belong not to us, but only to God (Deu. 29:29a). Some (likely many) ways and thoughts of Jehovah are far above and beyond ours (Isa. 55:8\u20139); in the nature of the case, it must be so. However, the things God has revealed to us about Himself are ours to believe and act upon (Deu. 29:29b). While unable to understand all of the mysteries of God and Godhood, we can most certainly understand (and we are under Divine mandate to accept) what God has revealed about Himself.<\/span><\/p>\n There is no argument between Christians and the Witnesses on the existence of the eternal, self-existent, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent God. The points at issue are these:<\/span><\/p>\n That there is more than one member of the Godhead is apparent in even the earliest<\/span><\/p>\n words of the Bible. The word for \u201cGod\u201d in Genesis 1:1 is a plural term (Elohim<\/em>), allowing for the subsequent Scriptural development of doctrine of the multi-person Godhead. It becomes immediately apparent in Genesis 1 that more than one person is identified as God since God said in verse 26, \u201cLet us <\/strong>make man in our <\/strong>image, after our <\/strong>likeness\u201d (emph. DM). To whom was God talking? He was speaking to Someone or Ones Who had power to create. Other Old Testament passages likewise use the plural pronoun in reference to God (e.g., Gen. 11:7; Isa. 6:8; et al.)<\/span><\/p>\n The following facts and passages clearly indicate that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit compose the Godhead:<\/span><\/p>\n The Witnesses argue that since Christ is subordinate to the Father and since the Spirit is subordinate to the Son, therefore the Son and the Spirit cannot be God. While some sort of subordination among the Sacred Three is indeed observable in Scripture, such does not preclude those subordinated from possession of Godhood. A man\u2019s wife and children are to be subordinate and submissive to him (Col. 3:18\u201320), but this does not preclude their humanity.<\/span><\/p>\n The Witnesses especially emphasize two passages in their blasphemous rejection of Christ\u2019s Deity. The first passage refers to Christ as the \u201cfirstborn of all creation\u201d (Col. 1:15).2 This, they say, teaches that Jesus was the first thing God created and is therefore not Deity. However, their ignorance of the word translated \u201cfirstborn\u201d (prototokos<\/em>) is the pivotal issue. The word does not signify first in time<\/strong>, but first in importance or preeminence. The context itself shows this to be the whole point of the passage: \u201cAll things have been created through him and unto him; and he is before all things, and in him all things consist\u201d (vv. 16\u201317). It is evident that Christ could not be both before all things <\/strong>and the first thing created <\/strong>as well. This passage, when read as a whole, is a devastating blow to the Witnesses\u2019 God-denying doctrine.<\/span><\/p>\n The second passage speaks of Christ as \u201cthe beginning of the creation of God\u201d (Rev. 3:14). Again, the Witnesses argue that this statement means that Christ was the first being created. However, the word translated \u201cbeginning\u201d is arche<\/em>, referring not to beginning as to order<\/strong>, but as to cause<\/strong>. This passage is simply saying that Christ is the One who caused all created things to be, as various passages affirm (cf. John 1:1; 1 Cor. 8:6; Heb. 1:2; et al.).<\/span><\/p>\n The Witnesses heap ridicule upon those who profess to believe in three Gods instead of one God. However, they miss the point altogether, for none who has any degree of Scriptural understanding of God believes any such thing. Even the Witnesses, I would suppose, can understand how a husband and wife can still be two persons yet be a unified whole when married (Gen. 2:24). Likewise, the Scriptures teach that while the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are three persons, yet they constitute a unified whole called \u201cthe Godhead\u201d (Acts 17:29). Again, while no sane mortal would profess to understand all of the mysteries concerning the nature of God, we can understand the Biblical teaching that these three persons are God. Simply put, denial of these facts constitutes heresy.<\/span><\/p>\n Christ is no angel, not even an archangel. He is the Son, the Ruler, the Creator, and the eventual Destroyer of the world, whom the angels worship (Heb. 1:5\u201313). Indeed, \u201cIn him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily\u201d (Col. 2:9). How demonic is the doctrine of any who would make of the Son of God a mere creature hardly differing from the beast of the field.<\/span><\/p>\n The Witnesses\u2019 View of Man<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The aversion of C.T. Russell to the existence of an eternal place of torment called \u201cHell\u201d produced a terribly warped view of the nature of man. Perhaps because he was disturbed about his own eternal destiny, he invented a concept of the nature of man that would conveniently relieve his anxieties. His view of the soul of man is based on a very restricted definition of the term. Probably the favorite passage of the Witnesses on this subject is Genesis 2:7: \u201cAnd Jehovah God…breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.\u201d From this passage they affirm: \u201cThe truth is that every man is a soul; no man has a soul\u201d (Deliverance<\/em>, p. 337). To the Witnesses soul <\/em>means only animal life and breath:<\/span><\/p>\n The body aside from the breath does not constitute the soul; but it requires the uniting of the breath with the body to constitute the soul. And when we separate the breath from the body the soul no longer exists\u201d (The Harp of God<\/em>, p. 42).<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Out of this very limited and perverted view of the meaning of soul <\/em>came the doctrine sometimes called \u201csoul-sleeping.\u201d However, this is far too mild a description of the doctrine, as the following citations reveal:<\/span><\/p>\n As the natural sleep, if sound, implies total unconsciousness, so with death, the figurative sleep; it is a period of absolute non-existence…. So soon as the spark of life is gone, soul or being has ceased (Studies in the Scriptures<\/em>, Series 5, pp.329, 342).<\/span><\/p>\n When a man dies, he is as dead as a dead dog (Deliverance<\/em>, p. 337).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Russell therefore taught the following concerning our Lord: \u201cHe was put to death a man but was raised from the dead a Spirit Being…the man Jesus is dead, forever dead\u201d (Studies in the Scriptures<\/em>, Series 5, pp. 453\u201354). Later Watchtower publications echoed this concept: \u201cHe did not have an immortal soul: Jesus, the human soul, died\u201d (Let God Be True<\/em>, p. 63). It is clear that this doctrine of death is one of absolute annihilation and non-existence, rather than of mere \u201csoul-sleeping.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n While it is true that man is <\/strong>a soul and that Scripture sometimes uses soul <\/em>to refer to his \u201canimal\u201d life, it is also true that he has <\/strong>a soul, and that soul <\/em>is used to refer to a part of man\u2019s nature that is distinct from animal life and breath. God, being spirit (John 4:24), has no physical breath, yet He has a soul (Lev. 26:3; 1:14; Mat. 12:18). The soul and body of men are distinguished clearly in Matthew 10:28: Man can kill the body but cannot kill the soul; only God can destroy soul and body in Hell. There is an \u201coutward man\u201d and an \u201cinward man\u201d (2 Cor. 4:16). Man has a \u201cspirit\u201d that is distinct from his \u201cflesh\u201d (Mat. 26:41; 1 Cor. 5:5). The \u201csalvation of the soul\u201d refers to more than preservation of physical life and breath (Heb. 10:39; 1 Pet. 1:9). John saw the souls <\/strong>of those whose bodies <\/strong>had been slain by decapitation (Rev. 20:4; cf. 6:9\u201310). Surely, their physical breath had ceased, but their souls were much alive.<\/span><\/p>\n The weight of Scriptural evidence showing that the invisible, spiritual soul of man is immortal is conclusive to any reasonable and reverential mind. Man is made in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26), but since God is not a flesh and blood creature, man\u2019s mortal, physical nature is obviously not that likeness. It follows that the immortal, spiritual nature of man is that which is after the likeness of God. When man dies his body returns to the dust, but his spirit returns to God who gave it <\/strong>(Ecc. 12:7). Matthew 10:28 not only emphasizes the distinction between man\u2019s soul and body; as already noted, it also clearly affirms that the soul of man cannot be killed like his body can be. That which cannot be killed is immortal\u2014it goes on living indefinitely, and such is the case with the soul of a man. Moses and Elijah continued to live centuries after their bodies had died and decayed; God caused them to reappear (Mat. 17:3\u20134). Jesus declared that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were still living (22:32). Although our bodies will perish, our spirits or souls will not (Mat. 25:46; John 5:28\u201329; 2 Cor. 4:16\u20135:10).<\/span><\/p>\n A fair test of the Witnesses\u2019 doctrine of the soul is to substitute breath <\/em>for soul <\/em>in a few passages. If soul <\/em>means only breath<\/em>, then either word will make equal sense. If any of the passages are made nonsensical by such substitution, it will be obvious that their definition of the human soul is absurd and palpably false.<\/span><\/p>\n By every Scriptural test the Witnesses\u2019 doctrine of the soul of man and its immortality is\u00a0<\/span>totally false, but beyond that, its practical implications are monstrous and horrendously evil.<\/span><\/p>\n The Witnesses\u2019 View of Sin and Salvation<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n As with other doctrines propagated by the Witnesses, their doctrines relating to sin and salvation are a deadly mixture of some truth and much error. While they correctly define sin<\/em> as disobedience to God and admit the free agency of man to obey or disobey God, they err grievously on other matters closely related. They hold the Augustinian-Calvinistic views of inherited Adamic sin and total depravity: \u201cJust as parents today often pass sicknesses on to their children, so Adam and Eve passed sin and death on to theirs. Their children were unclean in God\u2019s eyes\u201d (Paradise<\/em>, p. 35). One of Russellism\u2019s grossest errors relates to the consequence of sin. As previously indicated, to them \u201cdeath,\u201d which is caused by \u201csin,\u201d equals annihilation, a state of non-existence: \u201cWhen a human creature dies nothing survives\u2014no soul\u2014no body\u201d (Make Sure of All Things<\/em>, p. 241). When a person dies, he \u201c…would become as when he had not been\u201d (\n
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