Jehovah’s Witnesses: Christian or Cult, Part III

February 10, 2010 by Michael
Filed under False Religions, Opinion

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This is the last part of a three-part series on the cult known as the Jehovah’s Witnesses. You can find part one here and part two here.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses Believe the Last Days Began in 1914

Mixing different verses from the Old and New Testaments, the Jehovah’s Witnesses have come up with the date of 1914 as being the beginning of the last days. From their booklet, “What Does the Bible Really Teach,” (pp 215-217), the date 1914 is derived from Jesus’ words in Luke 21:24, who mentions that Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Romans 11:25 also mentions the fullness of the Gentiles, and says that a partial hardening has happened until Israel until fullness of the Gentiles has come in. Has the fullness of the Gentiles happened? Some interpret the word fullness as being a time or a number. I believe that until the rapture of the church takes place and the church is taken to heaven, we are still in the time of the Gentiles. Just as Romans 11:25 says, Israel is currently in a state of partial hardening UNTIL the time of the Gentiles is over. Has Israel turned to Christ yet? The country is current in preparations to build the third temple so that sacrifices can resume. Jesus was the ultimate blood sacrifice for our sins and our salvation and none other is needed. Until Israel accepts Jesus as their Savior, they are still partially hardened and, thus, the fullness of the Gentiles has not come in.

Back to the date of 1914. In the 21st chapter of Luke, Jesus is explaining the conditions on earth prior to His return. Jerusalem will be surrounded by armies. There will be great earthquakes, famine and plagues. There will be great signs in the heavens. There will be great distress upon the land. Right now, Israel has turned what was once practically a barren desert into a vast area of produce. They are not surrounded by armies, although they are surrounded by enemies. The Jehovah’s Witnesses calculate the date of 1914 by adding 2,520 years to October 607 BC (which they refer to as “B.C.E.,” strangely – before common era). 607 BC was the date Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians. The 2,520 years comes from a scriptural reference in Daniel 4:10-16, which are the verses that speak of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. In the vision, an angelic watcher tells Nebuchadnezzar that a period of seven times would pass over someone who would live with the beasts of the field. The angelic watcher also told the king that a tree would be chopped down and all of its branches removed. The Jehovah’s Witnesses took the “seven times” from this verse and compared it to three-and-a-half times in the book of Revelation 12:6 and 12:14 and multiplied by two. Unfortunately, Revelation 12:6 is talking about days, not years. Somehow the Jehovah’s Witnesses decided to use 2,520 years for “seven times” instead of 2,520 days, which is the correct interpretation for “seven times,” if Revelation is used as a guide. As far as Nebuchadnezzar’s vision is concerned, Daniel interpreted the vision later in Daniel 4. The vision was about Nebuchadnezzar, not Jerusalem or Israel. So there is absolutely no connection between the trampling of Jerusalem under the Gentiles’ feet, the 2,520 years and their prediction of 1914 marking the beginning of the last days is false.

If you want to look at this in a very simple fashion, I can prove their “1914 is the beginning of the last days” prophecy with one chapter in the Bible: Acts 2. This was the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out on mankind (Acts 2:1-4). In Acts 2:17, the prophet Joel is quoted as saying, “And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams.’” Peter was talking about that moment when the Holy Spirit was poured out on them. The prophet Joel called it the last days. The last days have been here since the day of Pentecost, not 1914.

Jehovah’s Witnesses Believe Jesus Was the Archangel Michael

Denying the divinity of Jesus is a very dangerous move, but it’s something done by thousands of Jehovah’s Witnesses around the world. In their aforementioned booklet, pp 218-19, the Watchtower Socierty has linked 1 Thessalonians 4:16 with Jesus being the archangel Michael. That verse reads, “The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a commanding call, with an archangel’s voice.” They figure that if Jesus has the voice of an archangel, he must be Michael. They also go on to say that the term “archangel” is only used in the Bible in singular form and is never plural. In addition, they determined that because Michael leads an army of angels in the book of Revelation and Jesus has an army of angels in other parts of the Bible, they must be one and the same. Colossians 1:15-17 tells us a different story. It reads, “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” Nehemiah 9:6 says that God created all the hosts of heaven. Psalms 148:2 refers to angels and hosts and in verse five says they were created by His commandment. John 1:1-5 says Jesus existed in the beginning with God. In John 10:30, Jesus said that He and the Father were one. So if Jesus created everything we see and everything we don’t, did He create Himself, too? Of course not. Jesus is part of the Holy Trinity – three distinct personalities but representing God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Everything else was created by Him for Him.

Jehovah’s Witnesses Believe Only 144,000 Go to Heaven, Part II

I’m covering again in this post, even knowing I covered it in part two. I wanted to be more explicit and help you to understand that what the Jehovah’s Witnesses believe isn’t Biblical truth.

As I mentioned in part two, the Jehovah’s Witnesses cult uses a reference in the book of Revelation to drive home the point that only 144,000 go to heaven.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses use Revelation 14:1 to determine that only 144,000 go to heaven. That verse reads, “Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.” So 144,000 people sealed with the mark of God and were standing on Mount Zion with Jesus. The cult does not bother to go into further detail or show the context in which this verse was written. Revelation 14:4 says the 144,000 were virgins. Revelation 7:3-8 describes the 144,000 prior to receiving their seal of God as being from the 12 tribes of Israel. To reiterate what I wrote in the last post, unless the Jehovah’s Witnesses are all Jewish virgins, they’re not the 144,000 spoken of in Revelation.

One other major section from the book of Revelation was also missed. Revelation 7:9 says a great multitude which no one could count from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues are standing before the throne and the Lamb. The 144,000 are considered the saved remnant of Israel. But they’re in heaven with what Revelation 7:9 described as a number of people that no one could count. There are many, many more people that make it to heaven. And simply reading a few more verses in the Bible exposed this lie.

Summary

After having read the material given to me by a member of the Jehovah’s Witness cult, I can’t call this organization anything but a cult. They deny the divinity of Jesus. They believe, at least partly, in works-based salvation. They believe only 144,000 people go to heaven, even though John 3:16 tells us something completely different.

Also, were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob Jehovah’s Witnesses? Matthew 8:11 says they’re in heaven. I believe the Bible tells us they were found righteous because of their faith, not because they were Jehovah’s Witnesses.

By setting the groundwork for man to believe he can save himself, the Jehovah’s Witnesses remove the need for the death and resurrection of Jesus. By limiting the number of those who can enter heaven, they are attempting to create a high-demand, low-supply situation for their cult. And by implying that one can lose their salvation, it takes away the hope of each of us who worship Jesus. We’re all sinners and we all fall short of the glory of God. If Christians have to continually earn their salvation over and over again, we are not free but laden with burdens.

Now, ready for the good news? Jesus came to set us free. We’re not good enough to get into heaven on our own merit. But Jesus died for all of our sins–past, present and future. Do you want to know how to get into heaven? It’s not by following religious cults. It’s about having a personal relationship with Jesus. Believing that Jesus was born of a virgin, died for your sins, and rose again. How do you have a personal relationship with Jesus? Pray. Read His word. And if you ask Him to be your Savior, He will save you from your sins instantly. If you’re sincere, you’ll be changed forever on the inside. And then you’ll want to live like Christ lived, and your actions and works in life will reflect Christ living inside you. It’s not the works that save you. Works are what you’ll want to do once Jesus saves you, so you can be like Him.

Tags: Archangel, B.C.E, blood sacrifice, Christ, Daniel, date, Gentiles, God, Israel, Jehovah, jehovah s witnesses, Jerusalem, Jesus, Joel, Lord Himself, Luke, Michael, Michael Denying, Peter, Signs in the Heavens, the Holy Spirit, times of the gentiles, vision