Understanding Jehovah's Witnesses Part 1

INTRODUCTION

Last year I was sitting in my garage after exercising, cooling down.

I saw two men pass by my garage window heading for my front door.

I actually thought one of the men was our dear saint, Mel Collins, so I eagerly ran out there to see why Mel was coming to see me in a suit on a Saturday morning.

But once I got out there, I realized it wasn’t Mel at all. It was an older man that looked like he could be Mel’s brother and an African-American man who looked to be about my age.

I asked them if I could be of help to them and they said they had stopped by to offer me some literature.

I looked down into their hands and saw the unmistakable religious art of the Watchtower Magazine!

I couldn’t believe it—the local Kingdom Hall had sent a couple of proselytizers to the Baptist parsonage!

We spent about a half an hour talking over the differences in our beliefs and they asked if they could come back next week.

Next Saturday, they showed back up at my door and this time we sat in the living room for another half an hour.

At the end of the conversation, they said, “Clearly we will just agree to disagree,” and then they left.

Since then I have gotten to know quite a few of the folks from the Yorktown Kingdom Hall.

You can find them at Yorktown Beach when the weather is good, six days a week from 7am-9am.

They are out there warning the morning walkers of the annihilation to come for anyone who doesn’t subscribe to the beliefs of their organization.

And if you engage them, they will talk.

And they are nice folks.

And they will listen to you share the Gospel as well.

So as we discuss the Jehovah’s Witnesses over our next couple of times together in this study, we are not discussing some fringe group that you will never come in contact with.

We are discussing a group that is actively spreading a false gospel in our own backyard, trying to convince you and your neighbors of damnable heresy.

Trying to convince them that...

Jesus is not God

That He did not bodily resurrect

That He returned invisibly 110 years ago

That there is no eternal Hell

That the Holy Spirit is an impersonal force that emanates from God

And that if you do not work for your salvation, you will lose your salvation

So as we are taking a look at their beliefs and considering where the inconsistencies are, be sure to earnestly seek to absorb the information so that you will be more prepared when their false gospel comes to your door or your neighbor’s or your co-worker’s.

Absorb it so that you can be prepared to engage them at Yorktown Beach and share the Good News of the true Christ with them.

Because right now, these people do not have a Jesus that can save them.

THE SCRIPTURE THAT SPARKED IT ALL

When we discuss the Jehovah’s Witnesses, we have to start with the Scripture that sparked it all.

Luke 21:24 ESV

They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

This Scripture is from Jesus’ Olivet Discourse.

The Olivet Discourse is one of the hardest passages to interpret because in the same breath, Jesus is going back and forth from talking about the Day of the Lord to talking about the destruction of Jerusalem.

As I preached through it a couple of years ago, I remember that it was no small task.

On one hand, Jesus is talking about things that are going to occur in 70 AD, when Rome would besiege Jerusalem.

On the other hand, Jesus is talking about the Day of the Lord—the Day of His Return.

And He speaks of both events in the same breath because He is showing how what is going to happen when God’s judgment comes down on Jerusalem in 70 AD, is a snapshot of what will take place when His judgment comes down upon the entire world.

When Jesus says that “Jerusalem will be tramped underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled,” He is speaking of how Jerusalem will remain a place of turmoil, due to Gentile oppression and violence, all the way to the end of the Gospel age.

The “time of the Gentiles,” is the time in which God is gathering His people through the preaching of the church to Gentile nations.

Here is Tom Schreiner saying this with his usual helpful clarity:

Matthew–Luke Comment

The land of Israel will face incredible pressure, and God will pour out his wrath on the people of Israel (3:7). She will be cut down by the Roman sword and exiled to other nations, and Jerusalem will fall under the control of other nations as well (cf. Deut. 28:64; Ps. 79:1; Isa. 63:18; Ezek. 32:9; Tob. 14:4–6). World history has confirmed this fate. This state of affairs will last “until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled,” which suggests that Jerusalem’s subjugation will last until the end of history. The “times of the Gentiles” describes the period of Gentile mission.

Many—including myself—believes that at the end of this period of Gentile mission, there will be a sort of Jewish revival, which Paul outlines in Romans 11:25-27.

But Charles Taze Russell, who is for all intents and purposes, the founder of the Watchtower organization, read this verse and through the twisted teaching of some Seventh Day Adventists and some weird Bible math, came to believe that:

Jesus would return invisibly

The time of the harvest would carry on until “the time of the Gentiles would be fulfilled”

At the end of the time of harvest, the world would be judged

1914 AND THE END OF THE HARVEST

After adjusting his calculations a few times, by the late 1880’s and early 1890’s, when he was around 40 years old, Russell began to say that Jesus returned invisibly in 1874 and that the harvest would last for forty years.

In 1914, the time of the Gentiles would conclude and there would be an immediate transition from this age to the next.

In 1894 he wrote:

We see no reason for changing the figures—nor could we change them if we would, They are, we believe, God's dates, not ours. But bear in mind that the end of 1914 is not the date for the beginning, but for the end of the time of the trouble.

Charles Taze Russell

Russell had even calculated things down to an exact day—September 21st, 1914—the beginning of the Jewish New Year.

How did he get there?

He contended that in 607 BC, the Babylonians took the Jews into Exile.

We know from history that date isn’t even right. Archeology has shown us that the Babylonian Exile occurred in 586 BC.

Regardless, he took the prophecy from Nebuchadnezzar’s dream about “seven periods of time,” and then he jumped over to Revelation where 3 and 1/2 years is represented as 1260 days.

Russell said, “Well a day could be a year and 3 1/2 and 3/12 equals 7. So 1260 years plus 1260 years is 2025 years.

2025 years from 607 BC is 1914.

Clear as it can be, right?

So again, he believed that in 1874, Jesus returned invisibly and cast off the nominal churches and began gathering his true church—which would be those following Russell’s teachings—and it would all come to an end in 1914 with Armageddon.

In fact, in May of 1914, he encouraged his followers not to doubt or waver.

There is absolutely no ground for Bible students to question that the consummation of this Gospel age is now even at the door, and that it will end as the Scriptures foretell in a great time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation. We see the participants in this great crisis banding themselves together [...] The great crisis, the great clash [...] that will consume the ecclesiastical heavens and the social earth, is very near.

Charles Taze Russell

What we can gather from all of this, is that this organization, at its roots, is just an end times cult.

They were doomsday people following the teachings of a raving doomsday teacher who was doing weird Bible math.

1914 COMES AND GOES; RUSSELL DIES

So what happened when 1914 came and went?

Well Russell did something that would become standard practice for this cult throughout its existence—they would re-frame and re-interpret their prophecies in order to cover up their failed prognostications.

He said that, “Well actually, Armageddon DID begin in 1914. It’s just going to take a few years to transition from this world to the next.”

He even denied that he had claimed 1914 would be the end.

Studying God's Word, we have measured the 2520 years, the Seven symbolic Times, from that year 606 B.C. and have found that it reached down to October, 1914, as nearly as we were able to reckon. We did not say positively that this would be the year.

Charles Taze Russell

That is an outright lie. Remember this?

But bear in mind that the end of 1914 is not the date for the beginning, but for the end of the time of the trouble.

Russell passed away on Halloween, 1916. By the time of his death, he had moved the end of the world date to 1918.

Many of his writings were re-written after his death to cover up his failed prophecies.

JUDGE JOSEPH RUTHERFORD

After Russell’s death, the organization was taken over by Judge Joseph Rutherford.

In many ways, Rutherford was more influential than Russell on cult as we know it today.

Under Russell, they were called, the “Bible Student movement.” Rutherford would oversee the official name change to “Jehovah’s Witnesses.”

Under Russell, there was the belief that the end would come in 1914. Under Rutherford, the doctrine was established that 1914 was actually the invisible return of Christ—not 1874.

And he taught that the generation of 1914—meaning anyone who was at least 15 in 1914—would not pass away before the end of the harvest and Armageddon.

This belief was evidenced by the the tile of Rutherford’s 1920 book, “Millions Now Living Will Never Die.”

More on that later.

Under Russell, the organization would become a publishing machine, producing and distributing thousands upon thousands of pieces of literature.

But he wasn’t without his own dose of crazy. In that 1920 book, Rutherford said that Old Testament patriarchs and prophets would resurrect in 1925 as a sign that the end was near.

It didn’t happen, but he didn’t let go of it.

In 1929, they bought property in San Digeo and built a giant Spanish mansion on it! This was going to be the house of the resurrected patriarchs and prophets!

In 1948 they sold the mansion.

In 1950, they abandoned the doctrine all together..

Just said, “Ummm…nevermind about all that.”

OTHER HISTORY

Before we start getting into beliefs and doctrine, I’ll wrap this history up by giving you a few key dates:

1931 is the year they officially became Jehovah’s Witnesses.

In 1942 Rutherford died and Nathan Knorr took over.

In 1950 they publish the New World Translation in the New Testament

In 1961, the Old Testament is released

In 1977, Fred Franz became President. He served all the way into the early 1990’s.

In 1992, after the death of Franz, Mitchell Henschel becomes President

He is actually the final one because they make a decision to have no organizational head.

In 1995, they stop talking about the “generation of 1914,” not passing away before Armageddon, because the generation was literally passing away.

They start to use more general language, saying the end is imminent

The best I can tell, their official stance now is that the generation of 1992 overlapped with the generation of 1914.

Anyone who was a Witness of at least 15 years old in 1992 will still be alive when Armageddon occurs.

More re-framing. More re-interpreting.

THE DOCTRINE OF THE JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES

Now, in talking through this history, we understand something of what these folks believe about the end, but what about the rest of their doctrine?

That’s what we will dive into now.

Notice as we go through their beliefs, there is a lot of language that is borrowed from historical, biblical, orthodox Christianity.

And because of that, the language confusion and conflation we talked about in our first session of this study runs rampant.

Walter Martin identifies 12 Core Beliefs of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

I will actually add one additional core belief to that twelve and make it thirteen in order to give us a chance to talk about where they stand on the Holy Spirit.

We will go through them and along the way stop to elaborate on some things and also provide a Christian defense or apologetic in response to the teaching of the cult.

JEHOVAH

BELIEF #1:

The Kingdom of the Cults Handbook: Quick Reference Guide to Alternative Belief Systems 4. Jehovah’s Witnesses

1. There is one solitary being from all eternity, Jehovah God, the Creator and Preserver of the Universe and of all things visible and invisible

As we consider this first statement regarding their beliefs, it gives us the opportunity to address two crucial points of distinction.

THE NAME OF GOD

First of all, let’s deal with something very important to Jehovah’s Witnesses—the name of God.

A question that Witnesses love to ask you is this— “What is the truth about God? Does He have a name?”

And if you say, “Well, God goes by many names,” they will say, “That’s not true.”

They will show you Psalm 83:18 in their translation of the Bible, which says:

May people know that you, whose name is Jehovah, You alone are the Most High over all the earth.

Psalm 83:18, New World Translation

And then they might ask to see your Bible and flip to the very same verse. My ESV renders it:

Psalm 83:18 ESV

that they may know that you alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.

And they will say— “Your Bible says Lord, but that is not God’s personal name. It is Jehovah. Would you like it if someone called you by a name that is not your own?”

And depending on how aggressive they are, they might then try to convince you that your Bible has been corrupted.

Now maybe you will remember the moment when God does indeed reveal His name to Moses in Exodus 3:14-15

Exodus 3:14–15 ESV

God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

This was God’s name that He revealed to His covenant children.

In knowing this name, it showed how He was their God and they were His people.

The name Yahweh comes from the Hebrew word for “I AM.”

However, most of us don’t use Bibles that has the name “Yahweh” in it.

In fact, the only one that I know of which does it regularly is the Legacy Standard Bible.

Why is this the case? Has there been a grand conspiracy in Christian history to not use God’s personal name? Does the lack of use of it show that the church and her Scriptures are corrupted and only the Watchtower organization has it right?

Well there are actually a couple of reasons as to why Bible translators use “LORD” in the places where Yahweh appears.

First of all, the Jewish people developed a practice of not use the name Yahweh, for fear of mispronouncing it and being blasphemous.

So they replaced Yahweh with the Hebrew word Adonai, which means, “LORD.”

Secondly, since written Ancient Hebrew had no vowels, we aren’t actually sure how to pronounce the name.

Yahweh is our best effort, but in truth, the name reads like this, “YHWH.”

Those four letters are what is called the tetragrammaton.

When it is translated into Latin, it becomes “JHVH.”

Bible translators were faced with a decision. What vowels should they put in “JHVH,” to make it pronounceable?

They settled on taking the vowels from “Adonai,” and thus they made the name “JAhOvAh.”

Jehovah isn’t even a name we see written anywhere until 1270 AD.

The Kingdom of the Cults Handbook: Quick Reference Guide to Alternative Belief Systems Dig Deeper

No reasonable scholar, of course, objects to the use of the term Jehovah in the Bible. But since only the Hebrew consonants YHWH appear without vowels, pronunciation is at best uncertain, and dogmatically to settle on Jehovah is straining at the bounds of good linguistics. When the Witnesses arrogantly claim then to have “restored” the divine name (Jehovah), it is almost pathetic. All students of Hebrew know that any vowel can be inserted between the consonants (YHWH or JHVH), so that theoretically the divine name could be any combination from JoHeVaH to JiHiViH without doing violence to the grammar of the language in the slightest degree. So much then for this, another empty claim of the Watchtower’s pseudo-scholars.

So is Jehovah really the personal name of God?

No—Yahweh is.

There’s nothing wrong with Jehovah, but it is a created name based off the Latin transliteration of the tetragrammaton.

There is no conspiracy. Your English translation is not corrupt.

TRINITY

Secondly, this first statement of their organization’s faith gives us a chance to speak on the issue of the Trinity.

As Christians, we understand, from the Scriptures, that God is Triune.

He is One God in Three Persons.

Three Persons in One God.

Now this is the catholic faith:

That we worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity,     neither blending their persons     nor dividing their essence.         For the person of the Father is a distinct person,         the person of the Son is another,         and that of the Holy Spirit still another.         But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one,         their glory equal, their majesty coeternal.

The Athanasian Creed

If you read through the New Testament, the word “Trinity,” is never used. That is a term developed by the early church as a way to explain the doctrine concisely.

Jehovah’s Witnesses will tell you the doctrine was created by the Christians at Nicea, but in truth, it was being used since 170 AD—almost 200 years before Nicea.

The New Testament, instead of using the word, just has a bunch of Trinitarians writing in it Trinitarianly.

Just one example:

2 Corinthians 13:14 ESV

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

But Jehovah’s Witnesses say that Satan is the originator of the doctrine.

They call the Triune God a “freakish-looking, three-headed God.”

And they say the teaching leads to “confusion of mind.”

Granted, there is a level of mystery to the Trinity that will leave us in awe of it forever.

And yet, Witnesses are wrong when they say it leads to confusion of mind.

God is One Being and Three Persons.

He is One WHAT and Three WHOS.

A child can actually grasp it and millions have.

So in the end, their evaluation of the history of the doctrine, as well as their evaluation of the incomprehensibility of the doctrine are off the mark by a long ways.

JESUS

BELIEF #2:

The Kingdom of the Cults Handbook: Quick Reference Guide to Alternative Belief Systems 4. Jehovah’s Witnesses

2. The Word or Logos is “a god,” a mighty god, the “beginning of the Creation” of Jehovah and His active agent in the creation of all things. The Logos was made human as the man Jesus and suffered death to produce the ransom or redemptive price for obedient men.

I’m going to read John 1:1-2 from the ESV and then I am going to read it from the New World Translation and let’s see if you can spot the difference:

John 1:1–2 ESV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.  This one was in the beginning with God.

John 1:1-2, New World Translation

Did you catch what they did there? Instead of “the Word was God,” they say, “the Word was a god.”

This is because Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Jesus is not God proper, but a secondary god—the very first thing that God created.

He has an elevated status as the Son of God—a copy of God—but he is a god, not God.

He is not equal to Jehovah.

The Kingdom of the Cults Handbook: Quick Reference Guide to Alternative Belief Systems 4. Jehovah’s Witnesses

1. “The true Scriptures speak of God’s Son, the Word, as ‘a god.’ He is a ‘mighty god,’ but not the Almighty God, who is Jehovah” (The Truth Shall Make You Free, Brooklyn: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1943, 47).

But are they right to translate John 1 this way? Not according to the Greek interlinear Bible on their own website, which sets the Greek alongside the English. Notice how “a” is not found in the interlinear because the article simply isn’t there in the Greek.

SHOW PICTURES 1 AND 2 SIDE BY SIDE ON THE SAME SLIDE

They say that Jesus was the firstborn of creation and they take those words literally from Paul in Colossians 1. He was the first thing created by God and then Jehovah God created all other things through him.

Again, let’s compare texts:

Colossians 1:16–17 ESV

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

because by means of him all other things were created in the heavens and on the earth, the things visible and the things invisible, whether they are thrones or lordships or governments or authorities. All other things have been created through him and for him. Also, he is before all other things, and by means of him all other things were made to exist,

Colossians 1:16-17, New World Translation

Again, notice the differentiation.

Instead of “all things,” it says, “All OTHER things.”

And yet, much like John 1:1-2, if you examine their interlinear Bible, available on their own web site, what you will find is that the word “other,” isn’t there.

They can’t act like its there because it is clearly not in the Greek. So just like with John 1, their interlinear from their own website doesn’t match up with the New World Translation.

SHOW PICTURES 3 AND 4, SIDE BY SIDE ON THE SAME SLIDE!

Furthermore, in Colossians 1:15, when Paul says Jesus is the firstborn of creation, what does he mean?

Colossians 1:15 ESV

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

Does firstborn literally mean firstborn?

Well, consider what Psalm 89 says about King David:

Psalm 89:26–27 ESV

He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’ And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.

Now, this Psalm speaks of King David. Is he the firstborn King of Israel?

No. Saul was before him.

Is he the firstborn in his family?

No. He was the youngest of eight sons.

So why is he called “firstborn?”

Because God is making him the “highest of the kings of the earth.”

He is making David a preeminent king.

And this shows us that in Hebrew culture, firstborn was a symbolic way to talk about preeminence or superiority.

Jesus is not the first thing God made. He is preeminent over creation. He superior.

This superiority and equality with God the Father can be clearly seen in Revelation 4 and 5.

In John’s vision of the heavenly worship scene, he sees God the Father being worshipped.

Revelation 4:8–11 ESV

And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

The Greek word for “worship” is proskyneo.

Fast-forward one chapter and what do we see:

Revelation 5:11–14 ESV

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

Once more, the Greek word for “worship” in verse 14 is proskyneo, the same as we saw in chapter 4.

How can it be that if Jesus is not equal to the Father, He is worshipped in the same way the Father is worshipped?

This would be blasphemy in heaven.

Of course, we know why Jesus is worshipped in this way.

Because as the 2nd Person of the Trinity, He is God.

And then one final apologetic regarding the divinity of Christ.

If you go to Isaiah 9, using their own translation of the Bible, here is what verse 6 says:

For a child has been born to us, A son has been given to us; And the rulership will rest on his shoulder. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6, New World Translation

The Hebrew word for “Mighty God,” is El-Gibbor.

Ask a Witness if they believe this verse is about Jesus, they say, “Absolutely, but He is “a god.”

Okay—let’s look at Isaiah 10, again—from their own translation.

In that day those remaining of Israel And the survivors of the house of Jacob Will no longer support themselves on the one who struck them; But they will support themselves on Jehovah, The Holy One of Israel, with faithfulness. Only a remnant will return, The remnant of Jacob, to the Mighty God.

Isaiah 10:20-21, New World Translation

The Hebrew word for “Mighty God,” is…YOU GUESSED IT…El-Gibbor.

Ask a Witness if Isaiah 10:20-21 are about Jehovah God and they say, “Yes.”

And then say, “If Jesus is called El-Gibbor and Jehovah is called El-Gibbor by the same prophet in consecutive chapters of the Bible, wouldn’t it make sense to understand Jesus as God?”

I say this in all honesty—I’ve yet to hear them respond to this with any reasoned defense.

Most say, “I’ll have to get back to you.”

Once I had a woman say, “It can’t mean that. That can’t be the Hebrew word.”

Here is the truth about the way Jehovah’s Witnesses view Jesus.

In making Him this sort of secondary God, they are proving themselves not to be monotheists at all, but henotheists.

Henotheism is when you recognize multiple gods, but you have primary allegiance to one of them.

It is a form of polytheism.

They’ll accuse us of polytheism, but our doctrine could not be more clear—we worship ONE God in THREE Persons.

They are worshipping one God, while recognizing the existence of so-called lesser, inferior gods.

It isn’t just heretical, it is devastating for their souls.

If Jesus is not the God-Man, then Jesus cannot bear the weight of sins on the Cross.

If Jesus is the not the God-Man, then the One who said, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father,” and “Before Abraham was, I AM,” is a liar.

If Jesus is not God, then the New Testament is filled with fraudulent claims about He is deity, like this one:

Colossians 2:9 ESV

For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

In saying He is not God, you reject Him.

And in rejecting Him, you make yourself His enemy.

And if you are His enemy, your soul is in peril.

THE HOLY SPIRIT

And now, I will close us up by briefly looking at their thoughts on the Holy Spirit, which are both easily explained and easily undone.

BELIEF #3:

3. “As for the ‘Holy Spirit,’ the so-called ‘third Person of the Trinity,’ we have already seen that it is not a person, but God’s active force.

The Watchtower folks say that the Holy Spirit is not God and not the third Person of the Trinity.

Instead, they say that He is an impersonal force or energy that emanates from God.

“The Bible’s use of ‘holy spirit’ indicates that it is a controlled force that Jehovah God uses to accomplish a variety of his purposes. To a certain extent, it can be likened to electricity, a force that can be adapted to perform a great variety of operations” (Should You Believe in the Trinity?, Brooklyn: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 2006, 20).

“No, the holy spirit is not a person and it is not part of a Trinity. The holy spirit is God’s active force that he uses to accomplish his will. It is not equal to God but is always at his disposition and subordinate to him” (SYBITT, 23).

But the reality is that their own translation of the Bible leads their belief about the Spirit looking ridiculous.

But Peter said: “An·a·niʹas, why has Satan emboldened you to lie to the holy spirit and secretly hold back some of the price of the field?

Acts 5:3, New World Translation

Question—how do you lie to something like electricity?

You don’t lie to a force. You don’t like to an energy.

You lie to a Person.

And the Spirit is the 3rd Person of the Godhead.

Then we have Acts 13:2—a text we have studied recently:

As they were ministering to Jehovah* and fasting, the holy spirit said: “Set aside for me Barʹna·bas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

Acts 13:2, New World Translation

Does a Force speak?

Or how about Ephesians 4:30:

Also, do not be grieving God’s holy spirit, with which you have been sealed for a day of releasing by ransom.

Ephesians 4:30, New World Translation

CONCLUSION

We will stop there for the night. This has been plenty.

The next time we are together for this study, we will be checking out the Kingdom Hall beliefs on:

The Bible

Satan

Man and Salvation

The Atonement

Resurrection

Souls

Hell

Annihilation

The Invisible Return in 1914

The Kingdom of God

We will also have some custom made Gospel tracts for you to take with you, in case you come in contact with someone from the local Kingdom Hall.

Let’s pray for these folks who deny the Trinity and have such a checkered past with failed prophecies and false teachers.

They need salvation.