1. Overview
1. 1975 active membership of 1.9 million
2. 1990 active membership of a little over 4 million
3. 850,120 of its members in America alone went on door-to-door visitation
4. They make 740 house calls to recruit one new member
5. Governing Body: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Brooklyn, New York
6. 2 semi-monthly magazines: The Watchtower and Awake!
7. The Watchtower 15.29 million published and is the theological publication of the Society
8. Awake! 13 million
9. Publish at least one book per year, always in the millions of copies
10. The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures is their official "translation" of the Bible
2. 7 Step Program as outlined by William Schnell in Thirty Years a Watch Tower Slave
1. Get literature into hands of people through house to house visitation
2. Follow-up with a "back call" to determine interest
3. Try to arrange a "book study" using the Society’s latest books
4. Get an interested person to come to a congregational "book study"
5. Bring those showing interest to the "Watchtower study."
6. Encourage attendance at the "Service Meeting" and the "Theocratic Ministry" school. These two meetings train the Witnesses in their outreach program.
7. Dedication to Jehovah in baptism

 

3. History
1. Charles T. Russell (1852-1916)
1. "accidentally" happened into an Adventist meeting in 1870
2. Learned many of his beliefs from Adventist, N. H. Barbour in 1875
3. founded Zion’s Watch Tower (The Watchtower) in 1879
4. founded Zion’s Watch Tower Tact Society in 1884 (Watchtower Bible and Tract Society)
5. Wrote 6 books titled Studies in the Scriptures (originally Millennial Dawn)
6. Established the doctrinal and legal foundation of the JW’s
7. In 1913 his wife Maria sued for divorce on the grounds of " his conceit, egotism, domination, and improper conduct in relation to other women."
8. Miracle Wheat scam (see handout) Probably used to cover his $6,000 alimony
9. In 1912, Rev. J. J. Ross, pastor of the James Street Baptist Church in Ontario, Canada, published a pamphlet against Russell. Russell sued for libel. During the trial, Ross’s lawyer asked Russell if he could read Greek. He committed perjury and said he could. The lawyer then handed him a Greek NT and asked him to read it. Russell was forced to admit publicly that he was unfamiliar with Greek.
2. "Judge" Joseph F. Rutherford (1869-1942)
1. Actually only a lawyer
2. After Russell’s death, most of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society’s board members opposed Rutherford
3. Rutherford, the group’s attorney, used a legal technicality against opposing board members
4. He dismissed them and refused to let them speak at the next convention and replaced them with his own supporters (1975 Yearbook Of Jehovah’s Witnesses, pp. 91-92)
5. Under his leadership the name "Jehovah’s Witnesses" taken in 1931
6. Wrote an average of one book per year
7. Brought the independent ecclesiae of Russell’s day under "theocratic" control
8. He became "the new oracle of God’s message for this age"
1. Thus, many of Russell’s writings and interpretations were often neglected or rejected
2. Russell’s writings were not abreast of progressive light (revelation)
3. Nathan H. Knorr
1. Took over in 1942 a led in growth from 115,00 to 2.25 million in 1977
2. Excellent organizer
4. Fred Franz
4. Key Events
1. Russell taught that Jesus had invisibly returned in 1874 to set up His kingdom and that in 1914, at the end of the "Gentile Times," Jesus would come to judge the earth and annihilate the wicked.
2. When Nothing Happened in 1914, the society transferred all of its doctrines of 1874 to 1914. They looked for great things in 1918.
3. Then they looked to 1925. Again, nothing happened. Since Jesus was ruling the world invisibly, they felt God was ruling through them (the society). They claimed for themselves a position as God’s channel of communication with mankind.
4. Prophecies of Mt. 24-25 were to take place in the generation of 1914 (30 or 40 years). When nothing happened by 1945, they extended the meaning of "generation" to 80 years (max. life span of a typical man).
5. Next, 1975 was seen as significant because it marked (as they calculated) the end of the 6,000 years since the creation of Adam and Eve.
6. Again lost many members after 1975 when nothing happened.
7. After nothing happened in 1994 (1914 plus 80 years), they decided "generation" did not mean a physical generation but meant "age," as in "era." This extended the "end times" indefinitely.
5. Doctrines

Note: they are better known for what they do not teach, rather than what they do teach

1. Denial of the Trinity
2. Denial of the deity of Christ (arianism)
3. Denial of the personality of the Holy Spirit, The Watchtower, 6/01/52, p. 24
4. Denial of salvation by faith in Christ alone
5. Denial that Christ died for the sins of the whole world (only for the 144,000)
6. Denial of the immortality of the soul
7. Denial for the bodily resurrection of Christ
8. Believe in a two caste salvation system: 144,000 in heaven, great crowd on a paradise earth
9. Believe only those in their group will make it to heaven
10. Believe in annihilation
11. Denial of the bodily, visible return of Christ
12. The Bible cannot be understood without the society
13. Blood transfusions are unscriptural (if a witness received one willingly it would result in his eternal death
14. Refuse to serve in the military, salute the flag
15. Holidays and celebrations are rejected as pagan in origin
6. Examples of Their Doctrine
1. Their church is the self-proclaimed prophet of God The Watchtower, 4/1/72, p. 197
2. They claim to be the only channel of God’s truth, The Watchtower 2/15/81, p. 19
3. Only their church members will be saved, The Watchtower 2/15/79, p. 30
4. Jesus was an angel who became a man, The Watchtower 5/15/63, p. 307
5. Jesus was only a perfect man, not God in the flesh, Reasoning From the Scriptures, 1985, p. 306
6. Jesus did not rise from the dead in his physical body Awake! 7/22/73, p. 4
7. Jesus was raised "not a human creature, but a spirit." Let God Be True, p. 276.
8. Jesus did not die on a cross, but on a stake Reasoning From the Scriptures, 1985, pp. 89-90
9. Jesus returned to earth, invisibly, in 1914 The Truth Shall Make You Free, p. 300
10. There is no Trinity, Let God Be True, pp. 100-101
11. Good works are necessary for salvation, Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. 1, pp. 150, 152
12. The soul ceases to exist after death, Let God Be True, p. 59, 60, 67
13. There is no hell of fire, Let God Be True, p. 79-80
14. Blood transfusions are a sin, Reasoning From the Scriptures, 1985, pp. 72-73
7. Bad Translations/Corrupt translations

Note: Their translation committee was made up of 5 men. Four only had a high school education. The fifth-Fred W. Franz-was shown under oath (Edinburgh, Scotland, November 24-25, 1954) to lack Hebrew translation knowledge. He dropped out of the University of Cincinnati after his sophomore year.

8. Answering Jehovah’s Witnesses "Trap" questions.

Note: Just as the Sadducees had there "trick" questions (woman married 7 times and all of her husbands die w/o kids) the JW’s have their trick questions.

Why did Jesus pray to the Father?

As a man he set our example and also needed to pray

Why did he say the Father was greater than he?

Difference in position, not essence or nature. In Heb. 2:9 it says that Jesus became a little lower than the angels.

Why did he say, "Why call me good, only God is good"

He was trying to get His hearers to affirm that what He was doing was good, and that He was God

Ask them, "Was Jesus good?"

Why did Jesus say that He could only do those things that He saw the Father do? Jn 5:19

Jesus is the only one who can do what the Father does because he is he is God. Can an angel do what God does?

9. The ever-changing false prophecies of Jehovah’s Witnesses

• JWs profess to have the only true Christian church, to be the only true representatives of God, to have the only correct biblical teaching, and to be the only true announcers of Jehovah’s kingdom. If they are the only true voice and if their church is the prophet of God, then what they say should prove to be true. In the OT, the mark of a false or true prophet was whether or not his words came true. Using this as a test, the JWs fail miserably. Deut. 18:22 "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."

• The Watchtower, 4/1/72 "So does Jehovah have a prophet to help them, to warn them of dangers and to declare things to come? These questions can be answered in the affirmative. Who is this prophet?…This ‘prophet’ was not one man, but was a body of men and women. It was the small group of footstep followers of Jesus Christ, known at that time as International Bible Students. Today they are known as Jehovah’s Christian Witnesses."

• *Use 7 page article from the Watchman expositor on "Jehovah’s Witnesses and the History of 1914" for a good overview of how their prophetic dates and predictions have changed.

• 1899: "…the ‘battle of the great day of God Almighty’ (Revelation 16:14), which will end in AD 1914 with the complete overthrow of earth’s present rulership, is already commenced." The Time is at Hand, page 101, 1908 edition.

• 1897: "Our Lord, the appointed King, is now present, since October 1874" Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. 4, p. 621.

• 1916: "The Bible chronology herein presented shows that the six great 1000 year days beginning with Adam are ended, and that the great 7^th Day, the 1000 years of Christ’s Reign, began in 1873." The Time is at Hand, page ii.

• 1918: "Therefore we may confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the faithful prophets of old, particularly those named by the Apostle in Hebrews 11, to the condition of human perfection." Millions Now Living Will Never Die, page 89.

• 1922: "The date 1925 is even more distinctly indicated by the Scriptures than 1914." The Watchtower, 9/1/22, p. 262.

• 1923: "our thought is, that 1925 is definitely settled by the Scriptures. As OT Noah, the Christian now has much more upon which to base his faith than Noah had upon which to base his faith in a coming deluge." The Watchtower, 4/1/23, p. 106.

• Compare Matt. 24:24 "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."

1. Witnessing to JW’s
1. Try to establish a rapport
2. When they are canvassing, set up a later conference to talk to them about spiritual matters. This will give you time to prepare and to pray.
3. Do not attack the Watchtower directly. Refer to the deceptive practices of other groups first.
4. Ask questions
1. Do you believe the Bible was written to all people?
2. Do you think a person should examine not only the teachings but also the history of an organization before deciding if it is true or not?
3. What are the marks of a false prophet? Both Deut. 18:20-22 & Matt. 24:11, 23-27 warn us to be aware of them.
4. What should I do if a group that I joined or was about to join was found to have fraud or false prophets among them?
5. What would you think of any religious group that would not allow their members to read any outside literature or to dialogue with anyone that is critical of or can expose corruption of that organization?
6. Has the Society ever taught anything scripturally incorrect?
7. Has the Society ever taught anything scripturally incorrect?
8. Might the Society be teaching anything scripturally incorrect now?
9. Are Moslems as certain their religion is right as Witnesses are?
10. At Armageddon, will ALL non-Witnesses die? (If not, who lives?)
11. Do you believe a loving God would kill over 5,000,000,000 people?
12. Why has the Society said the end is "soon," every day since 1884?
13. Why would God insist that Jesus be murdered to cancel out sin?
14. If life is sacred, why is our immune system designed to kill germs?
15. Where did smallpox and leprosy come from? Did God create them?
16. Who besides the Society says the temple was destroyed in 607 BC?
17. Why do Witnesses say "Jehovah", when that pronunciation is wrong?
18. The Bible is full of miracles; does it say why they stopped?
5. In Witnessing, rather than arguing deity, argue whether or not Jesus is really Michael the arch-angel
1. Michael mentioned 5 times and in none is he equated with Jesus.
2. Jesus is "Lord of lords and King of kings" Rev. 17:14 NWT and is "far above every government and authority and power and lordship and every name named, not only in this system of things, but also in that to come" Eph. 1:21 NWT.
3. Michael would not rebuke the devil Jude 9 while Jesus told the devil "Go away, Satan" Matt. 4:10 NWT
4. Thess 4:16 not that Jesus is the archangel but that an arch angel will herald his coming
5. Heb. 1 is a whole chapter devoted to the argument that Jesus is better than the angels
6. Angels refuse worship Rev. 22:8-9 while Jesus accepts worship
6. Other Witnessing Pointers
1. Use Is. 43:10-12. This is the verse from which they take their name. From these verses you can show that either Jesus must be Jehovah or that he must be a false god. The Jehovah’s Witnesses do not want to admit to either of these positions.
2. Use the Deity of Christ handout, especially the section on OT verses that speak of Jehovah that are applied to Jesus.
2. Answering Watchtower Objections

Point out that the terms millennium, theocracy, and rapture are also not found in the Bible. These are terms that they use often

"the combination of the two elements involves no logical contradiction, because they refer to the Godhead in different respects, one to nature, the other to persons. The mere fact of incomprehensible mystery is no objection, every truth respecting God being no less mysterious." Rev. John S. Banks in A Manual of Christian Doctrine, p. 108.

Is the Trinity a pagan doctrine?

There are pagan trinities which date back to Babylon, but these are a corruption of the true knowledge of God that was lost over the years. Remeber, without revelation, man’s view of God has degenerated over time. In actuality, these support the idea of a Trinity. Alexander Hislop, in The Two Babylons, says, "All these have existed from ancient times. While overlaid with idolatry, the recognition of a Trinity was universal in all ancient nations of the world, proving how deep-rooted in the human race was the primeval doctrine on this subject, which comes out so distinctly in Genesis." p. 18

In the fourth century the issue was over the person of Christ and how his humanity and deity were related, not over the Trinity. The church precisely defined the doctrine of the Trinity at the Councils of Nicaea and Constantinople in order to combat some heresies (e.g. arianism)