"Jehovah's Witnesses"

by R.F. Lundwill, Vancouver | Category: Spotlight On | Nov 1981

Part 1: A Personal Testimony>

In 1948 a gospel leaflet was published entitled "A Canadian Veteran's Three Marvellous Escapes". These escapes were:

1 - from the clutches of Jehovah's Witnesses,

2 - from being mortally wounded in World War 2,

3 - from a lost eternity, through salvation by faith in the finished work of Christ.

The writer of this article is that Canadian veteran. My close association with Jehovah's Witnesses has left marks on my memory which are unlikely ever to be erased. Their doctrine is deceitful and erroneous an ingenious work of Satan. They are "false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for even Satan himself fashioneth himself into an angel of light" (2 Cor. 11:13,14).

These people have a varied history. They did not always take the name of Jehovah's witnesses. First, they were Russellites, then International Bible Students. When did they make the presumptuous claim to be Jehovah's Witnesses? The self-styled Pastor Russell was their first leader. He died in 1916 and was followed by Judge Rutherford, who died in 1942. Rutherford was an astute student of human nature, a gift which proved invaluable to him when he became president of the Watch Tower Society. In an unstable world following World War I the Society reckoned that multitudes of professing Christians could craftily be drawn into a revitalized Watch Tower organization. The many "ecclesias" (local groups) had enjoyed some measure of freedom under Pastor Russell. However, under Judge Rutherford this freedom was replaced by a requirement of blind loyalty to a select group of Watch Tower directors.

Rutherford developed an arrangement by which his followers were placed in certain classes. One class would come into existence, serve its immediate purpose, and be replaced by another. First there was the "Mordecai-Naomi" class. They were the elite! They were told they were the last members of the "organized Christ on Earth". Watch Tower doctrine declared this "Christ" to be Christ Himself, and (by falsely relating this class with Rev. 14:1) to comprise 144,000 members. But difficulties arose. Many of this first class began to rebel about having to bow to the select group of directors in Brooklyn, N.Y. So they must be weeded out. My father was among these rebels (my mother remained a Jehovah's Witness at heart, and rejoined two years before her death).

A vigorous campaign resulted in a younger class of recruits. This was known as class 2, the "Ruth-Esther" class. A convenient discovery was made. The door to the heavenly calling was not completely closed. "If you come in now, you will just make it. The door is about to close". When this harvest of recruits was in, "the Christ was complete". They now must create a third class, and this class was called "Jonadabs". They were to be "hewers of wood, and carriers of water". They were an earthly class, and would remain on earth.

There was another class, the "ruling class". This class was known as "The Faithful and Wise Steward Class". They were the supreme aristocracy, a very select group of Watch Tower Society directors. Then another

problem arose. Having committed themselves to a "Christ" of only 144,000 members they would be limiting the expansion of the organization!

So they came up with a new interpretation of the parable of the penny, (Matt. 20:2-16), "another revelation from Jehovah". The parable was said to describe the work done from 1919-1931 by the Watch Tower Society.

These twelve years, were the twelve hours of this parable. The work was now completed. The "Faithful and Wise Steward" declared, "We are about to give you a penny". A convention was held in Columbus, Ohio, 1931. At the end of the convention, the "penny" was handed out. What was this "penny"? Those present were told: "Your new name is now "Jehovah's Witnesses", and thus a vast multitude became the "leg men and women" of the organization.

Part 2: A brief outline of the main aspects of "J.W." teaching

They hold that the Bible is the inspired Word of God but they require all their adherents to accept the erroneous interpretations placed upon it by Russell, Rutherford and their other teachers. They regard the doctrine of the Trinity as "gibberish" and hold that the Holy Spirit is "the invisible force of the Almighty God that moves His servants to do His will".

It is very important to be aware of their view of the Person of Christ. To them, He is "Jehovah's first creation". Their "New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures" has in John 1:1 (alone among the versions): "the Word was a God", so making the Lord Jesus Christ one of God's sons. Their teaching on the resurrection of the Lord is that it was a transformation from His human state to a spirit state.

They say that man is not immortal but dies like a beast, however the redeemed sleep unconscious in Sheol until the resurrection reawakening. Adam sinned and became liable to bodily death, but Christ paid a ransom and gave man a second chance to earn salvation by works.

The "Jehovah's Witness" on your doorstep will produce isolated scriptures which may seem to support these doctrines but there is abundant scriptural proof of their unsoundness.

Most of the information in this section is culled from "The Theology of the Major Sects" by John Gerstner, published by Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

R.F. Lundwill, Vancouver | Nov 1981
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