What Do You Believe? Jehovah Witnesses

What Do You Believe”

Jehovah Witness

,

Introduction

A.Today we are continuing our series called “What do you believe?” We

are talking about some of the major false religions such as Jehovah

Witnesses, the Mormons, Scientology and Islam that we are faced with

today and why Christianity is different from them.

B.Many Christians today are confused about what they believe. They are

not sure if other religions are okay or if they are the same as

Christianity. Many Christians have bought into the lie that there are

many ways to God and Christianity is just another one of those ways.

C.Last week we talked about the three signs of all false religions. I

call them the three “S’s.” They stand for Savior, Salvation, and

Scripture. All false religions differ from the Christian view on these

three major issues.

1.Savior: All false religions change who Jesus really was. They do not

believe that He is the ‘only way’ to heaven.

2.Salvation: All false religions teach that a person must ‘earn’ their

way to heaven. They don’t believe we are saved by grace, God’s gift.

3.Scripture: All false religions teach that the Bible is ‘incomplete’

and there are ‘other’ holy books.

D.Today we will look at the beliefs of the Jehovah Witnesses.

Why am I doing this teaching?

A.I am not teaching this series so you can argue with the Jehovah

Witnesses when they come to your door.

B.The main reason I am teaching this is to help you establish what it is

that you believe so that you are not lead astray and deceived. Sooner or

later every Christian has to come to grips with what it is that they

really believe and if it is really different than other religions. To

help you to see the ‘distinctives’ of your faith. The second reason to

equip you so that you can help others, friends, relatives, co-workers,

who are open and looking for truth.

History of the Jehovah’s Witnesses

A. One of the things JW’s are known for is predicting the dates of when

Jesus would return. This started with their founder Charles Russell and

has continued to this day. But this is a problem when we look at what

Jesus had to say about His return. Turn to Mark 13:32. When Jesus was

asked in verses 3-4 by the disciples, about what date He would return He

said no one would know the day or the hour when He would return. “But of

that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the

Son, but only the Father.”

B. In the 1800’s, Charles Russell, who at that time was in his teens with

no formal theological education, began to study the Bible and the angles

and measurements of the corridors of the Great Pyramids of Egypt. He

felt the Great Pyramids of Egypt were prophecies in stone. He combined

Bible prophecies with the measurements of the pyramids together, and he

picked 1914 as the date when Armageddon would take place. He picked 1914

as the time when Christ would return to Earth.

C. He then started The Watchtower Society. He said, “If you are not a

member of The Watchtower Society, then you will not survive Armageddon.”

Thousands joined the J.W. movement. 1914 came and went, and Jesus didn’t

show on Earth. Armageddon did not happen. So Charles Russell went back

to the drawing board. He crunched some more Great Pyramid numbers and

read some more Bible verses. And he said, “Okay, I was wrong. I was

wrong. It’s not 1914; it’s 1915. That’s the date, 1915. Armageddon will

happen then.” But 1915 came and went, and in 1916, Russell died.

D. This is always a telltale sign that an organization is a false

religion, when they begin to predict when Jesus is going to return. It

is sad but for some reason Christian people seem to fall for this. The

JW’s are not the only ones who try to predict Jesus return. A number of

years ago a book circulated in many churches, titled 88 reasons Jesus is

returning in 1988. Of course He didn’t return, so an edited version came

out the next year, 89 reasons Jesus was going to return in 1989. They

get around these scriptures by saying the don’t know the day or the

hour, but they can know the year! Now Jesus could have told us the

year.

E. In the prophet Daniel we were told the exact year the Messiah would

come, and Jesus came at that same time, but God has chosen NOT to tell

us the day, hour or year of His Second Coming. We are to live every day

ready for His return. But all false religions go beyond this and attempt

to name the exact time of Jesus return.