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this armour, not hang it on. In the tow er of London there are statues on which armour is hung because these images have no life. Sometimes men “ dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1) “hang on” the armour of God, and try to produce the graces of the Spirit in their own strength. They need first to be born again, for to “put on the whole armour of God” requires life—new life in Christ Jesus. What are the errors taught by Je hovah’s Witnesses? I know they are false teachers, and do not believe some of the fundamentals of the faith. In the first place the Russellites, known now as Jehovah’s Witnesses, are Unitarians. They claim the doctrine of the Trinity was well suited to the Dark Ages, which Pastor Russell claimed produced it. Therefore they deny the deity and personality of the Holy Spirit. They also deny the eternal deity of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, for they teach that He was a god, but not the God. They teach that, before His incarnation, He was none other than the Archangel Michael. Thus they make our Lord a created angel, not the Creator. They teach that Jesus was a human being during His earthly ministry, but that in His incarnation He was not the spiritual being He was before. They teach that at the cross His humanity was annihilated, that after His death His body was either secretly taken away by God, or “ dissolved into gases.” They teach that man is not saved by God’s grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, but by doing good works. Pastor Russell taught that Jesus Christ returned in October, 1874, and went into hiding with some of His dis ciples, and that in October, 1914, He was to be manifested with the living disciples known as “ the true wheat.” The number of these disciples was to be 144,000. (He took this number from the reference in the book of Revelation to the 144,000 Israelites.) Jehovah’s Witnesses teach soul-sleep, and are bitterly opposed to any and all orthodox teachers concerning hell and the lake of fire. According to the plain teaching of the Word of God, no one can be saved who believes what is taught by Jehovah’s Witnesses concern ing the Lord Jesus Christ, to say nothing of other errors taught by the system. We would, therefore, warn our readers against it as a dangerous and pernicious perversion of the truth of God.
Ephesians 5 :25, 26 says, “ Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.” What is this washing of water? Here we are told that we are cleansed from the penalty of sin by the blood of Jesus; and that we are cleansed from the power of sin by the Word of God, which is “ quick [living], and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword . . . and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). Someone has said, “the blood is for judicial cleansing; the water for moral cleansing.” Furthermore because we have accepted the shed blood of the Lord Jesus as an atonement for our souls, “there is therefore now no condemna tion” to us before our holy God. (Read Rom. 8:1.) And as we let the Holy Spirit cleanse us from the defilement of sin, even after we are saved, by the “washing of water by the word,” we confess our sins, and are cleansed from all unrighteousness on our pilgrim walk with our Lord. (Read 1 John 1:9.) Let us put before us this whole ar mour of God described in Ephesians 6: 10-13. “ Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” When the inspired Apostle wrote of our wrestling not against “ flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the dark ness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places,” he gave us an insight into the power of Satan and his hosts. If the devil were flesh and blood we should be more equally matched against him. But he is a wicked angel, very powerful, very sub tle. We can never fight against him to win the battle except by the power of God’s Holy Spirit through the Word of God, protected and shielded by the whole armour of God. Furthermore, we are told to put on Please explain what is the “whole ar mour” of God mentioned by the Apostle Paul.
Dr. Louis T. Talbot Some years ago in a radio broadcast I heard you say that Christianity was better than Judaism. I am very anxious to hear your explanation. Christianity is better than Judaism, as seen in its Pounder, Christ. Christ is better than the prophets, better than the angels, better than Moses and Joshua, and better than Aaron, the first high priest of Israel. He offers a better sacrifice in a better tabernacle, under a better covenant, established upon a bet ter promise of a better resurrection, to an eternal inheritance in a better coun try than that given to Abraham, even in that “ city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 1 1 : 10 ). Of all these good things in Judaism —good because they were shadows of better things to come—the shedding of the blood of the sacrifices was the very heart. All the sacrifices were offered by faith in the Lamb of God who was to come to take away the sins of the world. He came. He died. He rose again from the dead. Concerning His finished work on Calvary, the Holy Spirit wrote to those perplexed Hebrew Christians, saying that the Levitical sacrifices were no longer needed. The prophet Jeremiah said very plainly, “ And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of sin is, there is no more offering for sin” (Heb. 10:17,18; cf. Jer. 31:34). Thus it is seen that all the Levitical sacrifices were but the acknowledgment of sin, the calling to “ remembrance” of sin, daily, yearly (Heb. 10:3). They re minded the sinner of his guilt and of his inability to pay the penalty of his sins, at the same time pointing him on to the One who was to come, who had planned from eternity to pay the debt of sin for a guilty world.
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