JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES ARE WRONG ACCORDING TO THE JEHOVAH’S WITNESS BIBLE
(Scripture quotations are from the NEW WORLD TRANSLATION OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES: the Jehovah’s Witnesses translation of the Bible, unless otherwise noted.)
WHAT DO JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES (WATCHTOWER) BELIEVE....AND WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT IT?
JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES TEACH THAT JESUS IS MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL
Watchtower denies the Trinity and the Deity of Christ. One of their publications says that Jesus was “no more and no less than a perfect man” (see SHOULD YOU BELIEVE IN THE TRINITY?). In their book YOU CAN LIVE FOREVER IN PARADISE ON EARTH (p. 21) they state clearly that they believe that “Michael...is the resurrected Jesus Christ”.
But Jesus could not be an angel, since the BIBLE says: “Let all God’s angels worship him [Jesus]” (Hebrews 1:6, NWT, 1961 edition. Watchtower later changed this verse to say ‘did obeisance’ instead of ‘worship,’ yet they translate the same Greek word as ‘worship’ in many other places: see Matthew 4:10). In Revelation 22:8-9 we see that angels refuse to be worshipped, so JESUS CHRIST must be more than an angel.
He is, in fact, “GOD” (John 1:1), “I AM” (John 8:58), “GOD MANIFEST IN THE FLESH” (1 Timothy 3:16, KJV), and is worshipped many times in the Gospels (see Matthew 2:2; 9:18, etc.)
JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES DENY THE PHYSICAL RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
The Watchtower book YOU CAN LIVE FOREVER IN PARADISE ON EARTH says (p. 62) that Christ came out of the grave “as a spirit person.” Their book THE TRUTH THAT LEADS TO ETERNAL LIFE states (p. 52): “He was not given human life again, because that would have meant that he was taking back the ransom price. But he was ‘made alive in the spirit.’”
The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ version of the RESURRECTION is nothing more than a GHOST STORY.
BUT THE BIBLE SAYS:
JESUS “stood in their midst..... But...they were imagining they beheld a spirit. So he said to them, ...See my hands and my feet....feel me, and see, because a spirit does not have flesh and bones just as you behold that I have.” (Luke 24:22-23,36-40, NWT)
In John 2:19-21 JESUS said, “Break down this temple, and IN THREE DAYS I WILL RAISE IT UP. ... HE WAS TALKING ABOUT THE TEMPLE OF HIS BODY.”
JESUS CHRIST ROSE FROM THE DEAD BODILY, NOT JUST AS A SPIRIT. WATCHTOWER MAKES MONEY PEDDLING UNSCRIPTURAL LIES.
JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES DENY THE REALITY OF HELL
In their books the Watchtower organization says “the Bible ‘hell’ is actually mankind’s grave” (see THE TRUTH THAT LEADS TO ETERNAL LIFE, pp. 41-42; and YOU CAN LIFE FOREVER IN PARADISE ON EARTH, chapter 9: “What Kind Of Place Is Hell?”)
BUT THE BIBLE SAYS:
“The rich man died and was buried. And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, HE EXISTING IN TORMENTS, and...he said...have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and COOL MY TONGUE, because I AM IN ANGUISH IN THIS BLAZING FIRE” (Luke 16:19-31).
Watchtower says that this story is a PARABLE, but nowhere does the Bible call it a parable. Besides that, the passage gives NAMES of people: when Jesus spoke in parables He never used NAMES.
See also Matthew 13:41-42; 25:41; Mark 9:43-48.
JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES PREACH FALSE PROPHECY
Chuck Russell, the founder of WATCHTOWER (originally MILLENNIAL DAWN or INTERNATIONAL BIBLE STUDENTS) was involved with the SEVENTH DAY ADVENTISTS, and from them he learned the art of predicting DATES for the Lord’s return. They predicted that Christ would come back in 1875. When that didn’t happen Russell set his own date of 1914 as the end of the world. When 1914 came and went he adjusted his dates to say the world would end in 1918.
Russell died (with no kingdom on earth yet) and was succeeded by JUDGE RUTHERFORD, who predicted that in 1925 the world would see the return of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the prophets of old.
Again, the prophecy went unfulfilled.
Watchtower later predicted that 1975 would be the last year of human history. Kingdom Hall members were encouraged to mortgage their homes and cash in their life insurance policies to give the money to the organization so they could get the word out. The year 1975 came and went, and many disillusioned Jehovah’s witnesses ended up leaving the Watchtower fold.
Watchtower literature had been teaching that the 1914 date was merely the beginning of the last generation before Christ would come to earth and set up the Kingdom. Using Psalm 90:10 they calculated that a Bible generation was 70 years, and so in the late 1970s the JWs were telling everyone to be ready for 1984 (1914 + 70 = 1984). That was 20 years ago.....and we’re still waiting.
Cults like SEVENTH DAY ADVENTISTS and WATCHTOWER were started by date-setters, but the BIBLE forbids the setting of dates for Christ’s return: Acts 1:7 says, “IT IS NOT FOR YOU TO KNOW THE TIMES OR THE SEASONS, WHICH THE FATHER HATH PUT IN HIS OWN POWER.”
LAST DAYS RESTORATION? OR LAST DAYS APOSTASY?
Charles Taze Russell started what is now the Watchtower organization in the 1870s. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe (as do the Mormons and others) that the truth was lost from the earth since the death of the Apostles until GOD “restored” it through them. But the Bible does not teach that Christ’s church would disappear from the planet until the last days; rather, it teaches the opposite.
JESUS said that the gates of hell would not prevail against His church (Matthew 16:18). He also said, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). What the Bible predicts for the last days is APOSTASY and FALSE PROPHETS (Matthew 24:11,24; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-6; 2 Peter 2:1-2) These modern day CULTS (Mormons, JWs, Christian Science, Moonies, Scientology) are part of the LAST DAYS APOSTASY.
The TRUTH has always been with us since the Apostles, and can be traced through the TRAIL OF BLOOD succession of Anabaptists, unbroken for 2000 years (see our article on BAPTIST SUCCESSION).
