Jehovah’s Witness Vs. Biblical Christianity Series

Jehovah’s Witness vs. Biblical Christianity

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Introduction

Imagine for a moment, that you are at home this Saturday afternoon watching the Cubs beat Arizona and your doorbell rings.

At the door, 2 ladies and a man nicely dressed in a suit and dresses stand there as you open the door.

The younger lady greets you and tells you she is there to pass out some literature as she holds out a copy of the Watchtower Magazine and a magazine called Awake!

Who are these nicely dressed people?

They are the Jehovah’s Witnesses and perhaps many of you who are here today have at some point had someone knock on your door or know someone who has had a Jehovah’s Witness come to their door.

But if I asked you what they believe, I bet many of you might have some difficulty.

And if I asked you if it was just another Christian denomination, I am sure there would be some who might think so, after all, they use the name Jesus and they are clean cut and appear to be nice, so they must be Christians, right?

Well, just as we saw last week with Mormons, not all you use the name Jesus or say they believe in Jesus are Christians and Jehovah’s Witnesses are believing in and preaching a different Jesus than the Bible talks about.

Transition

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If you are joining us for the first time this morning, we are finishing up a series called Faithology that is looking at some various religions around the world and comparing them to Biblical Christianity

so we can see the errors of thinking and not fall prey to them and

so we can stand more assured that Christianity is not something that is just good to believe or beneficial to me, but it is true as opposed to any other religion or system of beliefs.

This morning, as we finish up, we will be looking at the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

As I just said, last week, we looked at the Mormon beliefs and they too, claim to believe in Jesus.

How can someone who claims to believe in Jesus Christ not be a Christian?

Well, as we saw last week, Paul discussed this very issue concerning people who were coming in and preaching about a Jesus who was different than the Jesus who Paul knew and who the Bible describes and talks about.

The Jesus and the gospel that was being preached was not at all good news and just like what Paul talked about in 2 Corinthians 11, the Jehovah’s witnesses are preaching a different Jesus and a different gospel that is not at all good news.

Let me remind you again what Paul said to the Corinthians.

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2 Corinthians 11:3-4

3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.

Just as Eve was deceived, there are people today that are being deceived by people who are teaching false things about Jesus.

Some of the things that Jehovah’s Witnesses are teaching are false and they are leading people astray from a belief in the Jesus Christ of the Bible and the salvation that is available only in Him.

This is why it is important that we understand the truth and we understand the false things being preached,

so we don’t get deceived and

so we can help others to see the truth.

So. how did Jehovah’s witnesses begin?

Background of Jehovah’s Witnesses

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Jehovah’s Witness movement is founded on the teachings of Charles Russell in the late 1800’s.

Charles Russell was born in 1852 and attended church with his family. At the age of 16, he began to question his faith and began looking into different beliefs.

A few years after that, he came to believe and taught that Christ would return in 1874, but when that did not happen, he taught that He would return in 1878.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Taze_Russell#cite_note-20

Well, that didn’t happen either.

Because of this, a disagreement arose between Russell and some of his associates and they parted ways and

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Russell began publishing his own magazine called Zion’s Watchtower And Herald of Christ’s Presence in 1879 which was the precursor to the Watchtower Magazine now published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.

At around this time, he started also preaching that 1914 was the ‘real’ year for Christ’s return.

Well, the year 1914 came without any physical return of Jesus