Jehovah's Witnesses

1.The Jehovah's Witnesses were founded by Charles Taze Russell (1852-1916)

A. At first he was a Congregationalist, but became involved in Seventh Day Adventism. When his teachings differed from Seventh Day Adventism he began writing his own books and pamphlets. (1879)

B. By 1896 the organization was renamed The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, and in 1908 it was moved to Brooklyn, New York.

C. He was egotistical and made absurd claims about his teachings. He said it were better for a person to read his writings than the Bible. His wife sued him for divorce in 1913 on the groundsof adultery, conceit, egoism and denomination. He claimed to know the Greek language but could not identify the Greek alphabet while on the stand in court. He repeatedly lied under oath. (Kingdom of the Cults pages 38-40)

D. Jehovah's Witnesses deny any connection with Russell, but their teachings are all based on his teachings.

E. Charles Taze Russell's successors:

1). Joseph Rutherford (1917-1942) - Changed the name of the group to Jehovah's Witnesses.

2). Nathan Knorr - (1942 - 1975)

3). The Governing Body of the Jehovah Witnesses (1976 - Present)

a). Since 1977 they are Frederick William Franz, Milton George Henschel and Don A. Adams.

2. Some Important Jehovah's Witness Teachings

The Bible is claimed as final authority, and the Jehovah's Witnesses have created their own Bible "The New World Translation" which shows no authorship. This particular Bible came from the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society in New York. Raymond Franz is a former member of the WBTS Governing Body. In his book, Crisis of Conscience, he states that the translation committee consisted of Governing Body members

George Gangas, Albert Schroeder, Fredrick Franz,and then WBTS President, Nathan Knorr. None of these men had formal training that would qualify them to "translate" the scriptures from the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. Further, there is much of it plagiarized from the King James.

One of the most debated scripture verses for the Jehovah's Witness is John 1:1.

"In the

beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God." The change the rendering

to "the Word was a God" totally misrepresenting and altering the intent of the scripture and reducing Christ to someone other than God incarnate. There is no indefinite article "a" in the

original text, however, in order to make this verse line up with their doctrine they initiated that change.

One clear cut refutation of their misrepresentation of this verse can be found in verse

14 of the same chapter. "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld

his glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten

of the Father, full of grace and truth." This verse clearly makes the Word, spoken of in John 1:1 to be Jesus Christ. (reference John 3:16

"For God so loved the world that he gave his Only Begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life."

It is vitally important to state here that Christianity explicitly holds to the belief that Jesus Christ is God incarnate or God come in human flesh and that he is the third member of the Godhead.

Those who reject this teaching cannot rightly be called Christian and so must be considered a cult. Matthew 1:23 calls Jesus Emmanuel and the scripture clearly says the meaning of that name is God with us." That coupled with the words of Isaiah that were written

760 years before Christ was born and prophesying about the coming

of Emmanuel do irreparable damage to the claims of the witnesses concerning who God is. To

see

more click on the deity of Jesus Christ.

The Jehovah's Witnesses substitute the word Jehovah for the word Lord and they insist that Jehovah is God's only name. One quick note on

that subject should be enough to discredit that teaching. Through the vast bulk of the Old Testament the name for God is the Hebrew "Elohim" which denotes plurality in the Godhead. A quick study on that alone totally refutes the witnesses false teaching. The name Jehovah never

appears anywhere in the Greek New Testament, and yet, those who accept the teachings of these witnesses mus believe it does. The Greek

word for God in all the New Testament is "Theos" meaning the supreme ruler or almighty God.

Concerning the Trinity; the Jehovah's Witnesses claim it was originated by Satan. Their exclusion of the Holy Spirit from the Godhead is explicit in their belief that he is an impersonal force - much like the one in the movie Star Wars. They are fully ignorant of who the Holy Spirit really is.

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