[b]Jehovah's Witnesses
.
Almost everyone knows of their aggressive door-to-door proselytizing. The organization they represent, known as the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society (WTB&TS), emphasizes end time prophecy and has falsely predicted the end of the world many times.
The WTB&TS exercises rigid control over Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs) and prohibits their participation in such common activities as taking blood transfusions, celebrating birthdays or holidays (including Christmas, Easter, and Mother's Day), voting, flag saluting, and military service.

Through these restrictions, the WTB&TS builds a wall of isolation between Jehovah's Witnesses and the rest of society.

JW History

The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society boldlyclaims to be the only organization God is using today to teach His truth and speak for Him. ' According to the WTB&TS, all non-JWs will be destroyed at Armageddon, an event ofdivine judgment it threatens is just around the corner. The WT Society prints over 14 million copies of its magazines every week, and has over 4 million Jehovah's Witnesses spreading its doctrines in 200 countries. What follows are some essential facts everyone should know about the history and doctrine of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Borrowed Beliefs and Doctrines
Charles T. Russell (1852- 1916) founded the JW movement. As a teenager he rejected his Presbyterian roots, joined a more liberal Congregational Church, then left this group aswell. He denied the deity of Christ and the biblical teachings on hell and eternal punishment. Russell had no formal Bible training, but borrowed and built upon various teachings that were popular at the time. For example, Adventism influenced his denial of hell, and a splinter Adventist group led by N.H. Barbour aroused his interest in endtime prophecies. From Barbour he borrowed the belief that Christ returned invisibly to the world in 1874, and that 1914 was the year the world would be destroyed and the Millennium would begin.

Fantastic Claims
In 1879 Russell started his own magazine, Zion's Watchtower and Herald of Christ's Presence (now known as The Watchtower ), to promote his doctrines. People were drawnto Russell's sensational endtime predictions, and the organization grew.
In spite of his lack of formal training in theology or biblical languages, Russell claimed to be the only one with the truth, and he vigorously condemned all other Christian religions. As a result, ministers of various denominations began exposing Russell's false teachings and questionable character[/b]

[b]Flawed Character

Rev. J.J. Ross published a pamphlet that exposed Russell's false claims and doctrines. He revealed that Russell "never attended the higher schools of learning; knows comparatively nothing of philosophy, systematic or historical theology; and is totallyignorant of the [biblical] languages [i.e. Hebrew and Greek]". Ross concluded that Russell's teaching was "anti-rational, anti-scientific, anti-Biblical, [and] anti-Christian."
Russell unsuccessfully tried to stop circulation of this damaging informationby suing Rev. Ross for defamatory libel. However, he not only lost the suit, but in the process perjured himself in court when he lied under oath about his knowledge of the Greek language.

In the end Russell admitted the statements about himself in the pamphletwere true. 5

In 1906 Russell ' s wife successfully sued for divorce because of "his conceit, egotism, domination and improper conduct in relationto other women," and won a settlement of$6,036. The court severely censured Russell and called his conduct "insulting,""domineering" and "overbearing" to a degreewhich made life intolerable to a sensitive Christian woman.

In 1913, Russell unsuccessfully sued The Brooklyn Daily Eagle for libel when that paper exposed his fraudulent attempts to sell ordinary wheat at the exorbitant price of $60 a bushel, claiming it was "Miracle Wheat.''

Failed Prophecies

Despite these setbacks, Russell continued to attract people with his fantastic prophetic interpretations and dramatic warnings that Armageddon would strike in 1914. When 1914 came and went, he changed the date to1915. Russell died in 1916, leaving his followers doubting and disillusioned by his predictive failures. Joseph Franklin Rutherfordthen took control of the organization.

Prophecy For Profit

Rutherford (1869-1942) also used the threat of Armageddon to intimidate JWs. He published The Finished Mystery, a book whichpredicted that in 1918 God would destroy churches and millions of their members, and claimed that by 1920 every kingdom would be swallowed up in anarchy. Rutherford taught that the only way to escape the impending judgment and destruction was to join the

Watchtower organization.

Fear of Armageddon motivated Witnesses to work hard selling Rutherford's books and other Watchtower Society literature. When the 1918 and 1920 predictions failed, Rutherford set a new date in his book titled Millions Now Living Will Never Die (1920). It taught that the millennium would start in 1925 and that Old Testament saints like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David would come back to life. The WT Society even built a luxurious Spanish mansion called Beth-Sarim (House of Princes), supposedly to house thesepatriarchs. In the meantime, however, Rutherford conveniently moved ... into the mansion. He also drove an expensive new carthroughout the Great Depression, while rank and file JWs sold Watchtower books and pamphlets door-to-door, and worked at Bethel headquarters for $10 - $15 a month. Six years after Rutherford's death in 1942, the Old Testament saints still had not arrived, so the Society quietly sold "Beth Sarim," thus closing an embarrassing chapter in their predictive history.[/b]

[b]Tampering With The Bible

Under the leadership of Nathan H. Knorr (1905-1977) the WT Society put away date setting for a time and switched to a different strategy. Since many of their teachings could be refuted by key verses in the King James Bible, Knorr set out to publish a different Bible for JWs to use. Called the New World Translation (NWT), it blatantly altered many verses to support Watchtower doctrine.

The single best example of this is John 1: 1, whichin the King James Version clearly declares Jesus' deity-"the Word was God." JWs deny the deity of Christ, so the NWT renders this phrase "the Word was a god." The translationcommittee responsible for the NWT was kept anonymous, undoubtedly to cover up their complete lack of scholarly qualifications. None of the men who worked on this project had any formal training in the biblical languages, except for Frederick Franz. He was chairman of the committee and had studied Greek for two years at the University of Cincinnati without graduating, and was only self-taught in Hebrew. After Knorr's death, Franz became the Watchtower Society's new President.

Intimidation And A Lack Of Integrity

From 1960 to 1966 the organization's growth rate slowed considerably. At this point the WTB&TS introduced a new book and a new date for the end of the world. Life Everlasting in the Freedom of the Sons of God (1966) by Vice President Franz (1894-1992 ) concluded that the autumn of 1975 would mark the beginning of the seventh period of human history. The Society was careful to avoid printing an outright prediction, but the message was clear to Jehovah's Witnesses everywhere-Armageddon was coming soon. Some even sold their homes and property in 1974 and were praised by their leaders for doing so.

Membership grew by the thousands until 1975 came and went. Then many people realized God was not leading the WT Society and left the organization. The leaders of the WTB&TS refused to admit they had been wrong about 1975, and instead told disillusioned JWs to "adjust their viewpoint."

Today many people are unaware of these damaging facts, and the Witnesses continue to grow in number, publishing massive amounts of deceptive literature. The WT Society demands complete loyalty and still predicts Armageddon is coming soon with sure annihilation for anyone who does not join the organization or leaves its ranks. In spite of a history marred by manipulation andfalse prophecies, the WT Society still claims to be the only one teaching the truth.

Testing the Watchtower Prophet

The Bible warns us that many false prophets will come claiming to speak for God (Matthew7:15; 1John 4: 1). Thankfully, it also provides a practical test for identifying false prophets. In Deuteronomy 18:21-22 we are told that anyone who claims to speak as a prophet of God and predicts something that does not come true is a false prophet. "And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?

When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him."(KJV)

According to the Bible, one false prophecy makes the speaker a false prophet. By this test the Watchtower Society's prophecies concerning 1914, 1915, 1918, 1920, 1925 and 1975 prove beyond a doubt it is a false prophet and that we should turn away from this group's deceptive doctrines[/b]

[b]JW Doctrine

When an organization like the WTB&TS claimsto be the only true religion and the sole source of correct Bible teaching, we must carefully examine their beliefs. If their doctrines are true, they will be found in the Bible, and their teachings will be consistent and unchanging year after year.

Jehovah's Witnesses, however, deny or twist many of the Bible s basic teachings, and their beliefs conflict with those held by orthodox Christians down through the centuries. Consider the following comparisons.

Non-biblical Beliefs

The Nature of God.
The Bible teaches that there is only one true God (Isa.43:10-11; 44:6,. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are identified as distinct Persons within the one Triune Godhead (Matt.3:16-17; 2 Cor.13:14).

Throughout the New Testament the Son and the Holy Spirit,as well as the Father are separately identified as God. Each has divine attributesand acts as God (Son: Mark 2:5-12; John 20:28; Heb. l :8; Holy Spirit: Acts 5:3-4; 2 Cor.3:17-18).

By contrast, the WTB&TS denies the triune nature of God and teaches that such a belief is inspired by Satan and teaches that Jehovah, the name of the one true God, corresponds only to God the Father. JWs also deny that Jesus is God (see next point).They deny the Holy Spirit is a person, and instead teach he is merely God's active force, similar to electricity.
Jesus Christ.
The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is God come in the flesh, and is the Creator of all things (John 1: 1 -3,14; Col.1: 16). While never less than God, at theappointed time He laid aside the glory He shared with the Father and took on a human nature ( John 17:3-5; Phil. 2:6-11; Col. 2:9). Following his death, Jesus Christ rose bodily from the grave, appeared to and was recognized in his body by over 500people.
This fact was crucial to both the preaching and faith of the early church (Luke 24:39; John 2:19-21; I Cor. 15:6, 14).

By contrast, the WTB&TS denies the deity of Jesus Christ and teaches that Jesus is a created being who existed as Michael the archangel before being born as a perfect man. JWs believe that after Jesus was buried, God disposed of his physical body. He was raised a spiritual creature and "materialized" to make himself visible. Now in heaven he is once again known as Michael the archangel[/b]

Pygru: [b]Flawed Character

Rev. J.J. Ross published a pamphlet that exposed Russell's false claims and doctrines. He revealed that Russell "never attended the higher schools of learning; knows comparatively nothing of philosophy, systematic or historical theology; and is totallyignorant of the [biblical] languages [i.e. Hebrew and Greek]". Ross concluded that Russell's teaching was "anti-rational, anti-scientific, anti-Biblical, [and] anti-Christian."
Russell unsuccessfully tried to stop circulation of this damaging informationby suing Rev. Ross for defamatory libel. However, he not only lost the suit, but in the process perjured himself in court when he lied under oath about his knowledge of the Greek language.

In the end Russell admitted the statements about himself in the pamphletwere true. 5

In 1906 Russell ' s wife successfully sued for divorce because of "his conceit, egotism, domination and improper conduct in relationto other women," and won a settlement of$6,036. The court severely censured Russell and called his conduct "insulting,""domineering" and "overbearing" to a degreewhich made life intolerable to a sensitive Christian woman.

In 1913, Russell unsuccessfully sued The Brooklyn Daily Eagle for libel when that paper exposed his fraudulent attempts to sell ordinary wheat at the exorbitant price of $60 a bushel, claiming it was "Miracle Wheat.''

Failed Prophecies

Despite these setbacks, Russell continued to attract people with his fantastic prophetic interpretations and dramatic warnings that Armageddon would strike in 1914. When 1914 came and went, he changed the date to1915. Russell died in 1916, leaving his followers doubting and disillusioned by his predictive failures. Joseph Franklin Rutherfordthen took control of the organization.

Prophecy For Profit

Rutherford (1869-1942) also used the threat of Armageddon to intimidate JWs. He published The Finished Mystery, a book whichpredicted that in 1918 God would destroy churches and millions of their members, and claimed that by 1920 every kingdom would be swallowed up in anarchy. Rutherford taught that the only way to escape the impending judgment and destruction was to join the

Watchtower organization.

Fear of Armageddon motivated Witnesses to work hard selling Rutherford's books and other Watchtower Society literature. When the 1918 and 1920 predictions failed, Rutherford set a new date in his book titled Millions Now Living Will Never Die (1920). It taught that the millennium would start in 1925 and that Old Testament saints like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David would come back to life. The WT Society even built a luxurious Spanish mansion called Beth-Sarim (House of Princes), supposedly to house thesepatriarchs. In the meantime, however, Rutherford conveniently moved ... into the mansion. He also drove an expensive new carthroughout the Great Depression, while rank and file JWs sold Watchtower books and pamphlets door-to-door, and worked at Bethel headquarters for $10 - $15 a month. Six years after Rutherford's death in 1942, the Old Testament saints still had not arrived, so the Society quietly sold "Beth Sarim," thus closing an embarrassing chapter in their predictive history.[/b]

charles taze russells claims to have developed his teachings from the bible. he is a sola scriptura proponent, and he interpreted the bible to his own destruction. so also are many others who claim to be sola scriptura. even luther, calvin, zwingli and other chief reformers couldnt agree on the meaning of many bible verses yet they all claimed to have interpreted the bible properly. we will see many more charles t russells in the world, some of them are already on nairaland, interpreting the bible as it pleases them unto their doom.

nice one

Funny enough , many of the people who call JWs cults are even worse cults with worse doctrines of demons such as :

1. Pagan Trinity - removes God's individuality
2. Eternal torment - Slanders God's character and makes him worst than Hitler
3. Tithing - another doctrine of demons meant to make merchandise of the people of GOD
4. Word of Faith heresies
5. Strange and weird spiritual manifestations.
6. Worshiping MOG as gods

The list is too long.

I disagree with the JW on quite a number of doctrines, but stop this kettle calling a pot black nonsense.

How do u know about all these?

[b]Conclusion

In light of the preceding facts, do we dare trust the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society?
It has falsely prophesied the end of the world atleast 6 times and uses these predictions to intimidate its followers.
This group has repeatedly changed their doctrines and contradicted previously held beliefs, all while claiming that it alone has the truth. Is this consistent with God's perfection and holiness

We do not intend to ridicule or belittle individual Jehovah's Witnesses; they are generally sincere dedicated people.

In one sense they are more like lost sheep than ravenous wolves, for they have been deceived by an organization with a history of false prophecies and doctrines.

JWs truly believe that if they leave the Watchtower Society they will be destroyed at Armageddon.

They need our love and compassion Our desire for them,as for everyone else, is that they come to a true knowledge of what the Bible teaches, and the understanding that Jesus Christ alone can guarantee salvation.

Only through a personal relationship with him can we receive forgiveness and eternal life.

Joel B. Groat
*Documentation and further information available free or on loan from:
GOSPEL TRUTHS MINISTRIES
1340 MONROE NW
GRAND RAPIDS, MI 49505-4604
U.S.A.
(616) 451-4562[/b]

http://www.biblebelievers.net/cults/jws/kjcjws1.htm

frosbel: Funny enough , many of the people who call JWs cults are even worse cults with worse doctrines of demons such as :

1. Pagan Trinity - removes God's individuality
2. Eternal torment - Slanders God's character and makes him worst than Hitler
3. Tithing - another doctrine of demons meant to make merchandise of the people of GOD
4. Word of Faith heresies
5. Strange and weird spiritual manifestations.
6. Worshiping MOG as gods

The list is too long.

I disagree with the JW on quite a number of doctrines, but stop this kettle calling a pot black nonsense.

Frosbel!!!
You have absolutely no moral justification to say that

They need our love and compassion Our desire for them,as for everyone else, is that they come to a true knowledge of what the Bible teaches, and the understanding that Jesus Christ alone can guarantee salvation.

Only through a personal relationship with him can we receive forgiveness and eternal life.

What kind of religion condemn others _ wanting people to come to their? LoL

The fact is dat the bible is the only true source of knowing God more let no pastor,rev etc deceive u. Readur bible

Do you want to trust your eternal soul to the teachings of several men headquartered in Brooklyn, New York who claim to be the directors of God's organization on earth? Do you? Eternity is a long time to be wrong.

To be continued tomowow.........

bros abeg which church frosbel dy worship wit??

FROM CATHOLIC BASHING TO JEHOVA WITHNES. Nl

@ Pygru and frosbel...

Good teachers, you say everybody else teaches and practises false doctrines.

Is it only both of you that teach and practise God's true doctrine?

Italo!!!
Evaporate from this thread now

And now where did you get these info's from??.......from a watchtower or hear say??........

What's your source pygru??......what's your source..??

Because your claims on this thread are unfounded and baseless.........

When did the witnesses ever sell books to make profit??............

And you've been yapping about russel......russell does not even knw half the truths I know now..........

On the other thread I had told you to bring out doctrines you feel that the witnesses believe in that are wrong and let's discuss them after the other,you refused.....

Now you go online copy and paste thrash here and expect who to attend to it??......


I ask again what is your source??......show me.........

frosbel: Funny enough , many of the people who call JWs cults are even worse cults with worse doctrines of demons such as :

1. Pagan Trinity - removes God's individuality
2. Eternal torment - Slanders God's character and makes him worst than Hitler
3. Tithing - another doctrine of demons meant to make merchandise of the people of GOD
4. Word of Faith heresies
5. Strange and weird spiritual manifestations.
6. Worshiping MOG as gods

The list is too long.

I disagree with the JW on quite a number of doctrines, but stop this kettle calling a pot black nonsense.

Like seriously, Frosbel did you make this comment or was some1 using your moniker.

Now the foolish OP says there are 4 million JW's in 200 lands........

The guy doesn't even know the statistics of JW's........this thread is just a pure copy and paste thrash.............

Pygru I ask you again.......where did you get this hogwash from??............

ijawkid: And now where did you get these info's from??.......from a watchtower or hear say??........

What's your source pygru??......what's your source..??

Because your claims on this thread are unfounded and baseless.........

When did the witnesses ever sell books to make profit??............

And you've been yapping about russel......russell does not even knw half the truths I know now..........

On the other thread I had told you to bring out doctrines you feel that the witnesses believe in that are wrong and let's discuss them after the other,you refused.....

Now you go online copy and paste thrash here and expect who to attend to it??......


I ask again what is your source??......show me.........

When Jesus said "do unto others as you want others to do unto you," you thought he was joking?

When he said "judge not, that you may not be judged," you thought it was play?

Now you are crying because someone is doing the exact things you do against Catholics.

Pygru: Italo!!!
Evaporate from this thread now

Why?

Because I'm a Catholic?

ijawkid: Now the foolish OP says there are 4 million JW's in 200 lands........

The guy doesn't even know the statistics of JW's........this thread is just a pure copy and paste thrash.............

Pygru I ask you again.......where did you get this hogwash from??............

But you love frosbel's copy and paste hogwash against Catholicism.

Hypocrite.

italo:

When Jesus said "do unto others as you want others to do unto you," you thought he was joking?

When he said "judge not, that you may not be judged," you thought it was play?

Now you are crying because someone is doing the exact things you do against Catholics.

Naaa....I'm nt crying...why should I??........

Let pygru get his info's right.........

Now I'm asking him where he got this info's from......that's all...let him tell us.........

italo:

But you love frosbel's copy and paste hogwash against Catholicism.

Hypocrite.

If you guys say frosbels posts are copy and paste then I won't sweat arguing out issues with you...remember I always ask you guys if frosbles posts are true before I start any hammering..........

When the post about bowÍng before a dead piece of meat came up I had to be sure if it was true becaÙse I never knew of such......

Pygru has to tell us where he got these lies and misconceptions from......

Can I ask my own questions about Jehovah's Witnesses?

Before he got his religious career well underway, Charles Taze Russell promoted what he called "miracle wheat," which he sold at sixty dollars per bushel. He claimed it would grow five times as well as regular wheat. In fact, it grew slightly less well than regular wheat, as was established in court when Russell was sued. Later he marketed a fake cancer cure and what he termed a "millennial bean" (which a wag has said probably got that name because it took a thousand years to sprout).

Is this true?

4 million?

Please get your facts right.