Scripture teaches the reality o f hell. The Lord Jesus Christ spoke more of hell than heaven and informs us that hell is a furnace of fire, Matt. 13:49-50); a place for Satan and his emissaries, (Matt. 25:41); and unquenchable fire, (Mark 9: 42-48). Furthermore, He insisted upon the fact that hell is eternal. The Greek word aionios, which is defined as that which is without end, and which is used to describe the everlasting life mentioned in John 3:16. The etemality o f God in Romans 16:26 is deliberately used by Christ to describe the duration of hell (Matt. 18:8), and by John in Revelation 14:11. Aionios does not have a double meaning. If it means that God is eternal and the life which the believer receives is eternal, then it must mean that hell is also eternal. Without any warrant from Scripture, the Wit nesses teach that the Millennium, the thousand- year reign of Christ upon earth, will afford all man kind from Adam onward, who will be resurrected, an opportunity, under favorable conditions, to earn salvation. Where is there a single Bible verse sup porting this? The Lord Jesus Christ has purchased our salvation on the Cross, Romans 3:21-26, and it remains for man to believe and be saved (Eph. 2:8, 9 and Acts 16:30, 31). Salvation is wholly apart from any human effort (Rom. 3:27, 28). 10. The Jehovah’s Witnesses Deny the Perfect Salvation of Christ's Cross 11. The Jehovah's Witnesses Deny Patriotism and the Salute to the Flag Scripture enjoins all believers to be loyal citi zens. The careful student will see this in Romans 13:1-7; I Peter 2:13-15 and Matthew 22:21. 12. The Jehovah's Witnesses Are Confused About the 144,000 Through good works and sincere effort, it is the hope of a Jehovah’s Witness to become one of the 144,000. In the two chapters in which the 144,000 are mentioned, Revelation 7 and 14, the student of Scripture notes that 144,000 are literal Jews of the ancient tribes with no Gentiles among them (7 :4 -8 ); are all males (14 :4 ); are virgins (14 :4 ); will minister during the Great Tribula tion (14:6-13); and do not earn their office by works but are appointed by God (7 :3 ). By no stretch of the imagination can sound Biblical in
terpretation allow a Gentile sect to claim for its devotees a place among the 144,000.
13. The Jehovah’s Witnesses Use a Perverted Translation of the Bible The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scripture is a fumbling translation o f the New Testament which no reputable Greek scholar will endorse. The Translation has been altered to fit the heresy. For instance, the Greek word for “ other,” alios, does not appear in the Greek text of Colossians 1:16, 17 but is inserted four times in their translation to make Christ appear as part of the creation, and hence fit their doctrine that He is “a created son, another god” “ . . . because by means of Him all other things were created.” This and dozens of other passages make the New World Translation a travesty of God’s Word. In 1874 a Brooklyn haberdasher, Charles Taze Russell, announced that he possessed all the truth. In his many volumes, Russell “ left scarcely one great truth or fundamental doctrine untouched with his unholy and unwarranted conclusions” (Dr. Wm. E. Biederwolf). As a careful study will re veal, Russell’s writings serve as a broad base upon which the Jehovah’s Witness structure is erected. Presently the Jehovah’s Witnesses are following the fallen conclusions of a rascal who was divorced by his wife, was in trouble with the courts and who fleeced his followers with “miracle wheat” sold at an exorbitant price, which he claimed would produce 15 times as much wheat as an ordinary bushel. Rutherford and all who followed Russell simply re-echo and reprint his heresies. 15. The Jehovah's Witnesses Neglect a Vast Area of Scripture Truth A careful analysis of the numerous books, pamphlets and magazines turned out by the Watch Tower Publishers, reveals that only a small per centage of the Bible is used. A mere 6 ^ % of the Scripture is quoted, leaving untouched the rest of the Word of God. ¡J b ] The Rev. Robert B. Mignard is the pastor o f Moun tainside Union Chapel in Mountainside, New Jersey. This article is taken from the VOICE, with permission of its Editor. Taken from the June issue, 1966. 14. The Jehovah’s Witnesses Doctrinal System Is Based Upon the Interpretations of Charles Taze Russell
JULY, 1967
15
Made with FlippingBook Online document