Jehovahs Witnesses History and Hysteria

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Jehovah’s Witnesses History & Hysteria

Charles Taze Russell founded the Jehovah’s Witnesses a.k.a. watchtower Bible and Tract Society. Mr. Russell was born to a Presbyterian mother and a Roman Catholic father. Brother Russell had a hard time comprehending predestination, hell, and the trinity, so he started his own bible study. Later he got involved with the seventh day Adventist and this is when he started getting mixed up with errant end-time prophecy. The Founder of the Adventist persuaded the as of yet religiously uneducated Bother Russell into believing that Jesus returned invisibly in 1875 and that the end of the world would be 1914. Later this prophecy would change to Jesus return being in 1878 and the end of the world being in 1918. These time measurements were based upon some pyramid structure that had nothing to do with the bible but somehow they were using it to justify their end time prophecies. Charles did not start attending a bible college until 1890 and then left because he disagreed with the teachers view of eternity, hell, the trinity, predestination, etc…

About the time of Mr. Russell’s death around 1919 Judge Rutherford took over the watchtower Bible and Tract Society. Judge Rutherford changed the end time prophecies to 1925, 1929, and 1935. Judge Rutherford made a Mansion in San Diego for elijah, Moses, and enoch who were supposed to return which he was caught living in when he died. In 1935 Judge Rutherford added a new errant theology to the cults doctrine in the form of a sermon "many now living shall never die." In this sermon he made the claim that only 144,000 will go to heaven and that those hearing his message were the 144,000 and that everyone else would live on a paradise earth. Rutherford also concocted the name "Jehovah’s Witnesses," To make a clear definition between J.W.s and so-called "apostate Christianity" as he called it because the cult was loosing many converts to Christians witnessing to them.

Franz The next head prophet of the now named "Jehovah’s Witnesses" cult changed the end time prophecies again to 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975. The watchtower again prophesied the end time to be 1985. The bible clearly tells us that if one presumes to call on the name of Jehovah claiming to be a prophet of The LORD and it does not come to pass very clearly shows us that they are a false prophet. J.W. definitely fit into this category. In 1975 the WBTS started working on their own paraphrase version of the bible because they were sick and tired of Christians converting JWS because all the bibles that were in production contradicted their doctrine. So they set about writing there own interpretation of scripture that left out the deity and divinity of Jesus, hell, and anything else that contradicted there doctrine. They also started to say that blood transfusion is a sin because the bible tells us not to drink the blood of animals sacrificed to idols. They also started to not practice Christmas or any other holidays. IF you disobey any of their rules they will dis-fellowship you.

Jehovah’s Witnesses are a hard-line dogmatic cult who believe they are the only true church and the only true prophet only through whom God speaks today even though all their prophecies have failed to come to pass. JWs are very slick and well programmed/Trained and don’t know it. They all are taught out of the same books and given the same phrases and stuff to study. They seem really nice and dress really sharp. You would think they are a real and upstanding people but if you only knew how far from the truth their doctrine and practice are from the word of God. JWs go from door to door and to bus stops leaving their literature. They always start talking about how bad society is, Telling you that Jehovah’s Day of Judgment is to come on this world, they offer you the hope of a paradise earth, and ask if you would like to partake in a free home bible study. They do not share salvation in Jesus, redemption the preach judgment, bibles studies and the JWs way without offer the tormented soul with hope except for saying they can go to a paradise earth. They do not tell this tormented soul how they can get to the paradise earth. JWs are effective at rationally psychologically manipulating a possible convert into revelation of there sin without offering Jesus by power of the Holy Spirit as the healer, regenerator, or meander of their soul.. JWs are efficient at causing a possible convert to feel the need for hope and they give hope a paradise earth and then offer a free bible study. However they do not offer true biblical salvation, conversion, hope or relationship with Jesus. a person except by obeying the JWs regulations, through bibles studies, witnessing, and baptism. Jehovah’s Witnesses are highly effective a Psychological manipulation techniques and use them with devastating accuracy. JWs have no personal relationship with Jesus, no heavenly hope, no salvation experience, and no true judgment of Sin. If turning to dirt is all we had to look forward to for our sin and earth as our hope we would not have any reason to stop sinning we would just continue to sin. This view leaves no justice, nor any reward for our choice to deny God and separate ourselves from Gods presence.

What makes JWs WBTS a cult?

JW's Appear to be a loving people. JW's Do not allow and can be disfellowshipped for the following; Participating in sports, Getting involved in Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween and other cultural activities, Birthdays, and non-JW friends. WBTS is a dead Formalistic Religion that denies the power of God. JWs claim to be the only true church and only true way to salvation. They are strong in faith and practice and preach "The great day of Jehovah’s wrath," and judgment. They give the prospective convert no redemption for the soul, salvation experience, release or relief for the torment of their souls. JW salvation is not biblical salvation of repentance and faith in Jesus precious atonement only but rather read JW books, have bibles studies, follow WBTS orders without questions, learn doctrines, and witness. They have no personnel experience with or relationship with Jesus. They never come to repentance and acceptance of Jesus atonement. JWs are highly effective at psychological manipulation through "Peer pressure," "Exploitation of expectations," and "The power suggestion." Here is an example of How a JW would use psychological manipulation techniques to win a possible convert. i.e. JW speaking "Hi my name is Johnny. I am a Jehovah’s Witness and we were out here just sharing the good news. Have you noticed on the news lately that the world seems to be in allot of trouble?" Possible Convert speaking "Yeah! My husbands overseas and might have to fight in a war." JW "I know what you talking about. The bible talks of a time when there will be no more wars anymore. Doesn’t that sound good to you?" P.C. "Yeah. I wish my husband were home right now!" (Christians note but what does the bible say I must do to get there, Ephesians 2:8-10. Here a Christian would want to offer Jesus as the hope but JWs well lets go on.) JW "Do you know that the bible tells us that we can live on a paradise earth. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?" (Christians note heaven sounds a lot better to me) P.C. "Yeah, what can I do to have that." JW "Would you like to start a free in home bible study." P.C. "Sure." JW suggest the future hope of peace, and then offer a bible study without relieving the persons need for a savior to come satisfy, heal, and deliver the persons soul. The JW will suggest a hope of a paradise earth were there will no longer be troubles and then they use peer pressure to exploit the possible converts expectations by offering a free personal in home bible study to give an solution to the problem. However the biblical solution is simple; repent and receive Jesus as your personal Master, Lord and Savior and live for Him and He will give you the seal of the Holy Spirit and you shall go to heaven. JWs give a false hope and no redemption except in theory, Jesus died for us but there is no personal encounter with a living Jesus. (Acts 2:38,39; 3:19; 4:12; Rom 10:9-10).

JW Salvation is by works whether you must go door to door, have a bible study, attend church, You must live sacrificially, also you must obeying all the society says even when it contradicts scripture. JW bible doctrine is allegorical teaching, everything becomes figurative if it is not in their doctrine. They do allot of Eisogesis, trying to use a cross-section approach to biblical interpretation out of context. i.e. JWs will use "John 3:16 + Rev 7:9 + Luke 12:32 + Rev 14:1,3=" to say only 144,000 can go to heaven. Which none of those scripture say that only 144,000 can go to heaven inspite of John 1:12,18; 3:3-18: 2 Pet 3:9; Rev 7:9-10; 19:1. They will also try to mis-interpret Isa 9:6 + Eph 6:12 + John 1:1 + 1 Thes 4:16 = to say that Jesus is Michael the Archangel. That makes no sense, no were in anyone of those text does it say Jesus is an angel fof any sort. The voice of an archangel does not make one and archangel. If I speak like "Tweedy Bird" that does not make me "Tweedy Bird." They say this inspite of the fact that Isa 9:6/10:22; Rev 1:5-8/Zech 12:10; Heb 1:3,5,6,8,10; 13:8; John 1:18; 8:58; 10:30-33,38; 14:6-9; 20:28-31; Matt 28:19; 2 Cor 13:14; Jer 23:5-6 call Jesus God. Some how they miss scripture all together and come up with there own interpretation.

JWs preach judgment with no redemption of the soul, and no hope of going to heaven. Causing ones soul to feel despaired and do not give them Jesus the savior but the WBTS as the only way out. The people do works because they have to and have no rest for their souls. JWs claim that the 144,000 were not Jews but rather the people Rutherford preached to and that they were sealed in 1935. Leaving the rest of us with no heavenly hope we can either become dust or live on a paradise earth. No one gets to go to heaven now we get to live on the earth. There is no punishment for sin. There is no real reason to follow them except to escape Gods judgment. There is no hope preached except paradise earth. They have no assurance of salvation. They do not receive the Holy Spirit at a seal for their salvation. The Holy Spirit is not a person but an active force and is only received through receiving their doctrine. The only way to go to a paradise earth is to either be a good person or obey JW society. JW's use fear of disfellowshipping from what they call "Gods only true church" to control people.

False Prophecies

Remember Deut. 18:22, "If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him." If someone makes a false prophecy, and they have claimed to be a prophet of God, then they are false prophets and are not to be listened to.

Do the Witnesses claim to be the prophet of God? Yes, they do.

In 1972 the Jehovah's Witness Watchtower claimed to be the prophet of God.

IDENTIFYING THE "PROPHET" -- "So does Jehovah have a prophet to help them, to warn them of dangers and to declare things to come? These questions can be answered in the affirmative. Who is this prophet?...This "prophet" was not one man, but was a body of men and women. It was the small group of footstep followers of Jesus Christ, known at that time as International Bible Students. Today they are known as Jehovah's Christian Witnesses...Of course, it is easy to say that this group acts as a ‘prophet' of God. It is another thing to prove it." The Watchtower, 4/1/72 (See Deut. 18:21)

1897 "Our Lord, the appointed King, is now present, since October 1874," Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. 4, page 621.

1899 "...the ‘battle of the great day of God Almighty' (Revelation 16:14), which will end in A.D. 1914 with the complete overthrow of earth's present rulership, is already commenced." The Time Is at Hand, page 101 (1908 edition).

1916 "The Bible chronology herein presented shows that the six great 10000 year days beginning with Adam are ended, and that the great 7th Day, the 1000 years of Christ's Reign, began in 1873." The Time Is at Hand, page ii, (forward).

1918 "Therefore we may confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the faithful prophets of old, particularly those named by the Apostle in Hebrews 11, to the condition of human perfection." Millions Now Living Will Never Die, page 89.

1922 "The date 1925 is even more distinctly indicated by the Scriptures than 1914." The Watchtower 9/1/22, page 262.

1923 "Our thought is, that 1925 is definitely settled by the Scriptures. As to Noah, the Christian now has much more upon which to base his faith than Noah had upon which to base his faith in a coming deluge." The Watchtower, PAGE 106 4/1/23.

1925 "The year 1925 is here. With great expectation Christians have looked forward to this year. Many have confidently expected that all members of the body of Christ will be changed to heavenly glory during this year. This may be accomplished. It may not be. In his own due time God will accomplish his purposes concerning his people. Christians should not be so deeply concerned about what may transpire this year." The Watchtower, 1/1/25, page. 3.

1925 "It is to be expected that Satan will try to inject into the minds of the consecrated, the thought that 1925 should see an end to the work." The Watchtower, Sept, 1925 page 262.

1926 "Some anticipated that the work would end in 1925, but the Lord did not state so. The difficulty was that the friends inflated their imaginations beyond reason; and that when their imaginations burst asunder, they were inclined to throw away everything." The Watchtower, page 232.

1931 "There was a measure of disappointment on the part of Jehovah's faithful ones on earth concerning the years 1917, 1918, and 1925, which disappointment lasted for a time...and they also learned to quit fixing dates." Vindication, page 338.

1941 "Receiving the gift, the marching children clasped it to them, not a toy or plaything for idle pleasure, but the Lord's provided instrument for most effective work in the remaining months before Armageddon." The Watchtower, 9/15/41, page 288.

1968 "True, there have been those in times past who predicted an ‘end to the world', even announcing a specific date. Yet nothing happened. The ‘end' did not come. They were guilty of false prophesying. Why? What was missing?..Missing from such people were God's truths and evidence that he was using and guiding them." Awake, 10/8/68.

1968 "Why are you looking forward to 1975?" The Watchtower, 8/15/68, page 494.

Dangerous deceptions

Because JWs have their scriptures memorized and they are professional at using their scripture and interpretations of scripture fast, rampant, and out of context. If you do not know how to think contextually, hermeneutically, historically, and exegetically you will get confused. They are so effective at throwing a billion scriptures at you out of context it almost sounds like they are right unless you understand proper bible study techniques. Of course bible study is for all not just the elite but if you take scripture out of context it can be bent to mean anything you want it to. JWs hop from verse to verse so fast that they can make your head spin you will end up getting so scripture tied up and confused they will start sounding right to you. Here they have succeeded at one of the main stages of psychological manipulation by sending rapid information at you mind so fast in an confrontational yet calm manner wearing your senses and guard down. This is done so that you will except there believe as truth without question because you no longer have any explanation nor defenses. They seem right to you because you no longer have any defense. Next they will try to get you reading their books and start going to their meetings. In which there is allot of psychological manipulative information coming into the persons soul causing the person to except their doctrines as truth without question. Also in their meetings and books they continually call the religion the truth. They say this so much that the person thinks they are in the truth and are not willing to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus. It seems logical but sense when did logic save a soul. Salvation is by grace through faith in the precious blood of Jesus alone in accordance to your act of repentance by your renouncing your prior sinful life and turning to follow Jesus.

Intercede for their souls

Pray that God will bring Divine Revelation of His truth through His word by His spirit. Pray that God will cause them to doubt the society and seek Gods truth even though they are taught not to search out truth for themselves. Pray that they will seek independent thought to hear from God themselves on all matters of doctrine in Gods word and through prayer. Pray that they will learn to study scripture Hermeneutically, Contextually, Historically, and Grammatically. God revealed Himself to me through His word by bible study and prayer. Eventually God lead me to attend a Christian church and I have been faithfully serving Jesus as my personal Master, Lord and Savior ever since. The only way that they will come to know of Jesus as personal Lord, Master and Savior is by supernatural revelation. You can argue with them until you are blue in the face and that will not work. The spirit of God must draw and convert them. Pray that God will supernaturally reveal Himself to them. Pray that God will raise up in the Orthodox Protestant Evangelical Christian Church Outreach, deliverance, mentoring, and discipleship ministries to reach the JWs, Mormons, Muslims and other cults. The church in general does not know how to deal with someone who’s world comes crashing down. It is rough when you loose you God and everything you believe in so intensely many ex-JWs and ex-Mormons become agnostics and atheists because they can not handle the paradigm shift, there whole world view being turned upside down. Pray for the Christians they must know what they believe, why and how to rightly divide the word of truth before trying to witness to a JW, Mormon, Muslim or any other hard-line dogmatic cult. Whether dealing with JWs or not it is essential to every Christians walk for them to know what they believe, why the believe, how to defend it and how to rightly divide the word of truth.

Part 4 Biblical Apologetics to JW doctrine