Sermon Tone Analysis

A CLOSE LOOK AT THE JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES

 

Positive Points

            Jehovah’s witnesses have a high zeal for involvement in their church and what they believe.

They have a strong interest in the Bible.

They spend several hours every week in Bible study.

Their missionary efforts are tremendous.

They have a high concern for religious apostasy in Christianity.

They take a stand against evolution.

They believe in the coming battle of Armageddon and the millennial reign of Christ.

! Introduction

            Their founder is Charles Taze Russell, born Feb. 16, 1852; died Oct. 31, 1916.

At an early age he rejected the doctrine of eternal torment and in 1870, at 18, he started his own organized religion.

He was the author of the “Watch Tower” publication that in 1975 was printed at 244,000,000 copies sent to the U.S. and 78 different languages.

In the WatchTower he advertised wheat seed for sale at $1.00~/lb and was advertised as miracle wheat, and it was asserted that it would grow five times as much as any other brand of wheat.

He was proved to be a fraud in court at a later date.

Russell was the controlling hand of the entire financial power of the Society.

Of the $1,000 capital, he held $990 and two of his followers the other $10.

He denied making any profit from the organization, yet he was directly heir to practically all the stock.

Pastor Russell printed imaginary sermons in his WatchTower publication saying that he preached in countries that he visited in which was later found out he never appeared in front of a crowd.

The truth was found out that the whole expedition was merely a huge advertising scheme.

Russell claimed to be a philosopher and ordained minister.

In court Russell was exposed as a pseudo-scholar and philosopher who never attended the higher schools of learning and was never ordained by a bishop, clergyman, presbytery, council, or any body of men living.

In court he claimed to be a Greek scholar, yet in court he could not identify the Greek alphabet.

He lied under sworn oath and proved himself a perjurer.

In court it was discovered that he divorced his wife and gave his wife alimony.

Upon Russell’s death, Judge Joseph Franklin Rutherford became the leader.

He, too, was corrupt.

He spent a term in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary for violation of the Espionage Act” in 1918.

He condemned all religious opponents as “enemies of God.”  Rutherford declared in effect that he was the mouthpiece of Jehovah for his age and that God had designated his words as the expressive of divine mandate.

Rutherford declared in the writings that Christ appeared on earth in presence in 1874.

! False Doctrine

1.

They claim to be the true representatives of God, that they are the present prophets of God, and the only channel of Biblical truth to man.

What does the Bible say?  Deut.

18:21-22;  Matt.

7:15;  Gal.

1:8-9 \\ – False prophesy = when they say Jesus returned in Oct. 1874; and we are supposedly in the thousand-year reign of Christ.

\\ -  False prophesy = 1914, 1918, 1925 were supposed to be the years of the end of the world and the thousand year reign of Christ begin.

Luke 21:8;  2 Pet.

2:1

2.      They deny the Deity of Jesus Christ; they believe the doctrine of the Trinity originated from Satan.

Matt.

1:23;  John 1:1;  20:24-28;  5:16-18;  10:30, 37-38;  12:45;  14:6-11;  17:5;  1 John 5:8

3.      They deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus and claim instead that He was raised a “divine spirit being.”

John 2:19-21;  20:24-28;  Lk.

24:36-43;  Matt.

28:5-9;  27:50-53;  \\ Lk. 24:10-12

4.      They teach that the atonement of Christ is not wholly of God, but rather half God and half man, that man must do half of His “work” for salvation.

Heb.

9:11-14;  9:22-28;  John 1:29;  1 Pet.

2:24;  Col.

1:19-22;  Rom.

5:8-11;  Rev.

5:9-10

5.

They deny a physical return of Christ along with teaching that He returned in 1914.

\\ Matt.

24:30;  Rev.

1:7;  1 Thess.

4:13-17;  Zech.

12:10;  Acts 1:9-11

6.

They deem themselves independent of allegiance to any government other than God’s.

They will not salute the flag or fight for their country.

Rom.

13:1-7;  1 Pet.

2:13-17;  Titus 3:1;  John 19:11;  Matt.

22:21;  17:24-27

7.      They teach that hell is the grave, the place where mortals wait for the resurrection, and there is no conscious punishment after death, as in hell fire.

Matt.

5:22;  10:28;  18:9;  13:41-42, \\ 49-50;  Isa.

66:24;  Rev.

19:20;  20:10-15;  Matt.

8:28-29;  Rev.

14:9-11;  2 Pet.

3:10-12

8.

They teach that Satan was annihilated, completely destroyed, when he was cast out of Heaven.

Ezek.

28:16-19;  Isa.

14:12-15;  Eph.

6:10-13;  1 Pet.

5:8

9.

They teach the soul is not an eternal entity, but merely a principle of life; it is not part of our being.

Rev.

6:9-11;  1 Cor.

15:51-55;  1 Thess.

5:23;  1 Pet.

1:3-5;  2 Cor.

5:1-10;  1 Thess.

4:13-17;  1 Cor.

5:4-5;  Lk.

23:46;  Acts 7:59

10.

They teach that the “Kingdom of Heaven” is an invisible Kingdom on earth and Christ’s return was invisible in 1874 and He set up His Kingdom beginning in 1914; that there only 144,000 saved humans who are in the “Kingdom of Heaven.”

Zech.

14:4;  Ezek.

37:20-28;  Lk.

17:20-30;  Matt.

24:26-31;  Rev.

7:1-10;  5:6-10

11.

They believe there is no present way to know your salvation is promised, so in the mean time you do your best and only hope that you will be saved come Judgement Day.

Eph.

2:8-9;  Rom.

10:9-11;  John 3:16-17;  Mark 16:16;  1 John 5:12-13

 

!

Other Doctrines They Believe

!! GOD

\\ 1.      God’s personal name is Jehovah (The Truth Shall Make Your Free, p. 17)

2.      Only Jehovah is from everlasting to everlasting (Make Sure of All Things, 1965, p. 486).

3.      Holy Spirit is God’s active force, not a person (MS, p. 487).

4.      There was a time when Jehovah was alone in universal space.