JWs (Part 1)

No Compromise Radio

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

00:07

No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

00:16

Apostle Paul said, But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

00:24

In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

00:30

By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the

00:37

Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

00:44

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. Mike Abendroth here. What do we do today?

00:49

What should we talk about today? Well, let's see. I'm just waiting for God to whisper in my ears.

00:56

What was that again? What was that? Do a show on Jehovah's Witnesses. Okay. I have to be obedient to the call.

01:02

If you don't do what God says, it's sin, right? Well, I wasn't told by God to do anything, but I think it's smart and wise and just appropriate to talk about those religions that would denigrate

01:19

Christ's work on Calvary, denigrate Christ himself and Christ's work.

01:25

And my job is to warn you. My privilege is to warn you. I am supposed to teach sound doctrine and refute those who contradict.

01:33

When you think about Jehovah's Witnesses, I think to myself, there is nothing new under the sun.

01:42

I say to myself, self, history is valuable. Studying history is valuable.

01:49

Studying historical theology is valuable. Jehovah's Witnesses are basically

01:55

Aryans from the fourth century. They follow many of the teachings of Arius of Alexandria.

02:02

And if you understood him, you understood the battle with Athanasius, you would understand

02:07

Jehovah's Witnesses. You would understand that if God the

02:13

Father gave birth to God the Son, Jesus Christ who was born had an origin of existence.

02:18

That's what the Aryans would say in the fourth century. They would say, therefore, the Son was not. There was a time when the

02:24

Son was not, that he was created out of nothing, and the Aryans could not understand the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

02:33

So we are going to be very close to that when we study Jehovah's Witnesses. Listen to what

02:39

Watchtower Magazine says, 1973, page 402. Consider to the fact that Jehovah's organization alone and all the earth is directed by God's Holy Spirit, our active force.

02:52

Only this organization functions for Jehovah's purpose and to his praise.

02:58

To it alone, God's sacred word, the Bible, is not a sealed book. How very much true Christians appreciate associating with the only organization on earth that understands the deep things of God.

03:10

Doesn't it sound the same? Some kind of cult, some kind of theological cult that says, we're the only way, everybody else is wrong.

03:19

We've got the inside scoop, and follow us are else.

03:27

Watchtower, 1957, page 274. If we are to walk in the light of the truth, we must recognize not only

03:33

Jehovah God as our Father, but his organization as our Mother. That sounds like Roman Catholicism.

03:40

Today also, God requires and exacts from his children obedience, honor, and respect. These must be rendered not only to the living

03:47

God himself, but to his wifely organization as well. Jehovah's witnesses are not witnesses to Jehovah, and we need to understand a little bit more about them.

04:00

And so I always think of, what's their source for authority? If you ever want to do cult watching, if you'd ever like to try to examine things, ask them what their authority is.

04:12

And what you'll find very quickly, that with all these, whether it's Mormons, Catholics, or anyone else, including

04:18

Jehovah's Witnesses, that it's not the Bible alone. They will deny sola scriptura, and they will say things like, you can't understand this without our insight.

04:31

And I quote from Watchtower, September 1910, page 298. Furthermore, not only do we find that people cannot see the divine plan in studying the

04:41

Bible by itself, but we see also that if anyone lays the scripture studies aside, even after he has used them, after he has become familiar with them, after he has read them for 10 years, if he lays them aside and ignores them and goes to the

04:58

Bible alone, though he has understood his Bible for 10 years, our experience shows that within two years he goes into darkness.

05:06

On the other hand, if he had merely read the scripture studies with their references and had not read a page of the

05:13

Bible as such, he would be in the light at the end of two years because he would have had the light of the scriptures.

05:19

Now that is sick. That is horrible. That is enough to make you think when you get a knock on the door from the heretics outside your door trying to give you spiritual cyanide, that you ought to say, something's wrong.

05:35

My spidey sensors are going off. I should not engage. I should proclaim. At the end of the day, if you've got

05:42

Jehovah's Witnesses friends, I'm glad you have them as friends, but I hope you evangelize them because their

05:48

God is not going to save them. Their God is a made -up God. Their God is a God energized by demons.

05:54

They cannot help you. And they, at least I will give them this credit, that they will say, you better not go to the

06:01

Bible alone. Go to our stuff for the inside knowledge. Don't go to the Bible alone. Now the people at the door that come, they won't be educated enough to know that, and they'll say, oh yes, we believe the

06:12

Bible and all that, but here, don't go to the Bible alone or else pretty much you can't understand

06:17

God. The Watchtower describes God as, describes itself as, quote,

06:23

God's sole collective channel for the flow of biblical truth to men on earth. That's the

06:28

Watchtower, 1960, page 439. And so you've got

06:34

Russell, this man I'll call him, I don't know if I want to call him Mr. Russell or not, I guess I can, Mr.

06:39

Russell, and he would be seen as God's channel for the truth.

06:44

He would see this organization as God's only instrument for delivering truth.

06:53

1922, page 132, Watchtower. There is no one in present truth today who can honestly say that he received a letter of knowledge, excuse me, a knowledge of the divine plan from any source other than by the ministry of Brother Russell, either directly or indirectly, end quote.

07:09

If your only source is the Bible, you won't come up with these crazy things that they come up with, these things that denigrate

07:16

Jesus Christ. But if you've got some other machinations, if you've got some other kind of revelation, if God has revealed himself allegedly in another way, it's going to contradict

07:26

Scripture, especially when Scripture says the canon is closed. How did

07:32

Christ view the Scriptures? I think that would be a good question that would answer a lot of this, but we don't have time.

07:39

I've already done shows on how Christ would use the Scriptures, and I don't think Jesus saw the

07:44

Scriptures plus other things. I don't see Jesus acting with the Old Testament. The 22 books of the

07:50

Old Testament in the Hebrew canon are the 39 in our canon. I don't think it was, well, you've got to know this other stuff in order to know the

07:59

Bible. And since the Jehovah's Witnesses weren't around for a long, long time, I don't know how anybody could understand the

08:04

Bible, but I need to get to the second issue when it comes to looking at cults.

08:10

I think of S's, source. What is the source of truth? And for cults, it's never the

08:17

Bible alone. Secondly, second S, the Savior.

08:22

Who is the Savior according to the Jehovah's Witnesses? And you will see very, very quickly that they do not believe in the triune

08:31

God. Let God be true, page 10102, published in 1952.

08:39

The obvious conclusion is that Satan is the originator of the Trinity doctrine. Page 102, since persons who want to know the true

08:48

God and serve him find it a bit difficult to love and worship a complicated, freakish -looking, three -headed

08:54

God, and I won't even finish the rest of the sentence. So what does the Jehovah's Witness do?

09:01

They say that the Trinity represents a complicated, freakish -looking, three -headed

09:07

God. They will say things like, the Trinity is not in the

09:13

Bible. Well, that is a statement of ignorance. That is a smokescreen. The word

09:18

Jehovah is not in the Bible. The word Bible is not in the Bible. The word rapture is not in the

09:23

Bible. The word millennium is not in the

09:29

Bible. Theocracy is not in the Bible. And yet these terms are biblical terms.

09:34

That is to say, they represent biblical truth. It's just a way of using words so we can summarize biblical truth.

09:41

And so, just because the word Trinity is not found in the Bible, it means absolutely, categorically, positively nothing.

09:50

It means nothing. There are no English words in the Bible. How about that? The word the is not in the

09:55

Bible. The word dumb is not in the Bible. The word cult is not in the Bible. No English words are in the

10:00

Bible because it's written primarily in Hebrew, followed by Greek with a little bit of Aramaic. The Bible clearly teaches the unity of God.

10:11

One by nature. Deuteronomy 6, 4. Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the

10:16

Lord is one. And it uses the word not just one, but it uses the word only.

10:24

And so instead of a unified word like one by nature, it uses a word only.

10:29

The exclusivity of God and God alone. Deuteronomy 4. To you it was shown that you might know that the

10:35

Lord, He is God, and there is no other besides Him. Know therefore today and take it to your heart that the

10:42

Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below there is no other. There's only one God. So with words like one and with only, we don't worship some complicated, freakish -looking, three -headed

10:53

God. We don't do that at all. This is No Compromise Radio Ministry. We're ten minutes into the show today about Jehovah's Witnesses.

10:59

I don't think I'm going to finish today, so this is going to have to be a two -parter. I like two -parters, don't you? I like two -parters.

11:06

Isaiah 43. Before me there was no God formed, and there will be none after me, even from eternity.

11:12

I am He. It is so clear that the Bible teaches there's one God. Isaiah 44.

11:18

I am the first and I am the last. There is no God beside me. Is there any God beside me? Or is there any other rock?

11:25

I know of none. Isaiah 46. I am God and there is no other. I am

11:30

God and there is no one like me. Even when it comes to the Ten Commandments, you listen to the priority of the

11:36

Ten Commandments in Exodus chapter 20, you shall have no other gods before me. Even in the New Testament, Jesus, as He reiterates the

11:44

Shema, hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. First Corinthians chapter 8.

11:50

We know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no god but one. For even if there were, there are so -called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one

12:03

God, the Father, from whom all things, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him.

12:10

The Bible clearly teaches that there is a unity to God, a oneness of God. Now, what do we do with the

12:21

Trinity? How do we reason three gods, three persons, one

12:30

God? What do we do? Well, first of all, I'd like to say that it is very, very important that you believe the

12:35

Trinity. Peter N. says, The Trinity of God is the doctrine that is fundamental to Christian faith.

12:41

Belief or disbelief in the Trinity marks orthodoxy from unorthodoxy. Human reason, however, cannot fathom the

12:48

Trinity, nor can logic explain it, and although the word itself is not found in Scriptures, the doctrine is plainly taught in the

12:55

Scriptures. The early Church was forced to study the subject and affirm its truth because of the heretical teachings that arose opposing the

13:02

Trinity. Trinity. The term Trinity is not the best one because it emphasizes only three persons, but not the unity within the

13:11

Trinity. The German word for three -slash -oneness better expresses the concept.

13:17

A proper definition then must include the distinctiveness and equality of the three persons within the Trinity, as well as a doctrine of unity within the

13:25

Trinity. And so, one God, three persons. But that easily turns into tritheism.

13:32

Three gods. We would not believe that. John Asconages and John Philoponus taught that there were three gods.

13:44

We would deny that. We would deny modalism, where there's one

13:49

God but three modes of existence. He first was the Father, he came down as the Son, and now he is the

13:56

Spirit. And we would deny Arianism, which had its roots in Tertullian, who somehow had the

14:03

Son so subordinated to the Father that he was some created being that was not equal to God by nature or essence.

14:13

We believe there is one and only one God who is eternal and immutable.

14:19

We believe there are three persons, eternal persons, described in the Scripture. The Father, the

14:25

Son, and the Spirit. And we believe that the Father is not the Son, and the

14:30

Son is not the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father. We believe that the Bible teaches that God is one, that the

14:36

Father is God, the Son is God as taught in Scriptures, and the

14:42

Spirit of God is God taught in Scriptures. But they are not the same. The Father is not the

14:48

Son, and the Son is not the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father. You see some examples where all three must exist.

14:59

When Jesus is baptized, the Father says, this is my beloved Son in whom

15:04

I'm well pleased. Jesus is in the water. I don't think he's throwing his voice. I don't think he's being some kind of, what was

15:12

Candace Bergman's father's name, Mr. Bergman, some kind of throwing his voice kind of thing, and then the

15:19

Spirit, the form of the dove, comes and sits on Jesus's shoulder.

15:25

But you can see some of the stuff even in the Old Testament. And you'll see things like Isaiah 48 16, the

15:33

Lord God, the Father has sent me, the Son and his Spirit, Isaiah 48 16.

15:40

And in the New Testament you're going to see that the Father is God, John 6.

15:46

Even God, the Father, has set his seal. You'll see the Son is

15:51

God. Hebrews chapter 1 verse 8. Here's a good verse for your Jehovah's Witnesses friends.

15:57

But of the Son, the Father says, Hebrews 1 8, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. Can you imagine?

16:03

The Father calling the Son God. They would have to be equal. There'd have to be a triunus to God, because otherwise there is another

16:13

God, we've got two gods. No, there's only one God. And we believe the Holy Spirit is

16:18

God as well. He is not a force, he is a person.

16:23

And you can read Acts chapter 5 and quickly find out that they have lied against God, and they have lied to the

16:30

Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit therefore is God. You find in the

16:35

Bible, as you study the Trinity, the three persons are recognized as equal.

16:41

They are recognized as equal, even in the Great Commission, in the name of the Father and the Son and the

16:47

Holy Spirit. In the name, a singular name, not in the names of, that would be three gods, but in the name of, singular

16:54

God, three persons. The name of the Father and the Son and the

17:00

Holy Spirit. You'll see it in 2 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 14. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the

17:06

Holy Spirit be with you all. These members of the

17:12

Trinity, Erikson would say, while the three members of the Trinity can be distinguished numerically as persons, they are indistinguishable in their essence or substance.

17:20

They are distinguishable as persons, but one and inseparable in their being. They are distinct.

17:26

I think of 1 Peter chapter 1, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the

17:32

Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood. Now back to the

17:38

Jehovah's Witnesses. When it comes to their denial of the Trinity, you can't have the

17:43

Holy Spirit as some person, because that's gonna throw a monkey wrench in their theology. So what do you think they do with the

17:48

Holy Spirit? They would make a he into an it. They would take he, the

17:54

Spirit of God, never called an it in the Bible. The Holy Spirit, they'd say, is not a person.

18:02

In their book called Knowledge that Leads to Everlasting Life, published in 1995, page 31, it is

18:08

Jehovah's active force used by the Almighty to accomplish his purpose. So you have some kind of spiritual energizing force.

18:19

From Jehovah's Witnesses' official website, we have this statement.

18:26

No, the Holy Spirit is not a person, and it is not part of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is God's active force that he uses to accomplish his will.

18:33

It is not equal to God, see how they call it an it, but is always at his disposition and subordinate to him.

18:41

But friends, the Holy Spirit has a personality. The Holy Spirit is a he.

18:47

The Holy Spirit acts like a person would act. The Holy Spirit can be shown as an identifiable person in relation to other persons, and he is an important person, not some kind of impersonal force.

18:59

That's the conclusion. That's what Trevor Craigan says in his theology syllabus at Master's Seminary.

19:05

He's an important purpose, and he has intellect, the mind of the Spirit, 1 Corinthians chapter 2.

19:11

He has emotions, Romans 15, 30. Does a spirit energizing force have emotions?

19:19

I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, he has a will, 1

19:25

Corinthians 12, but one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as he, the

19:33

Spirit, wills. So you have mind, intellect, emotions, will.

19:39

You grieve the Holy Spirit if you sin, that's in Hebrews 4. You can insult the

19:45

Holy Spirit, Hebrews 10. You can lie to the Holy Spirit, Acts chapter 5. You can obey the

19:50

Spirit, Acts 10. You can resist the Spirit, Acts 7. You can test the Spirit, Acts 5.

19:58

I don't think you can grieve a force. I don't think you can insult the force unless you believe in some kind of nonsense from Star Wars, the force.

20:06

Do you know you can blaspheme the Holy Spirit? You can't blaspheme an energizing force. I just blasphemed the lightning.

20:13

I just blasphemed the electricity in my outlet. No. Did you know the personal actions of the

20:18

Holy Spirit? He calls people to service, Acts 13. He convicts of sin, John 16. He directs,

20:24

Acts 8. He forbids, Acts 16. He glorifies Christ, John 16. He guides into truth,

20:30

John 16. He intercedes for us and prays, John chapter 8. He leads us,

20:37

Romans chapter 8. He regenerates us, John chapter 3. He restrains sin, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.

20:44

He speaks. He teaches. He testifies. He works. I don't think forces can do that.

20:52

There would even be personal association, listen to Acts chapter 15, with the apostles and elders of the

20:57

Jerusalem Church. This is what's said, for it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.

21:03

It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us. Now let's make that some kind of energizing force. It seemed good to electricity and to us.

21:11

That is ridiculous. But if you've got a certain doctrine, you got to reinterpret these verses.

21:17

And it helps if you put tradition, writings, Russell's works, on par with Scripture, because then if you got a tie, well then you go with what fits your theology, because you've got to have a cult system wrapped up like this.

21:30

So before I go on any further, here's what I would say. If you're in a Jehovah's Witness organization, if you hand out

21:38

Watchtower magazines, if you go to Kingdom Hall, stop. Repent.

21:44

Run. Because you need to be saved from your sins.

21:50

You need to be saved from the nonsense that puts the Bible on par with tradition.

21:55

You need to be saved from the cloaked, ignorant statement that says, we are the only church, we're the mother of all churches, and you've got to go through us.

22:06

If somebody ever says that, that's a first time to run. I don't think you're gonna make it to any further bit of truth, because when

22:15

I hear you're the only deal, I'm out of there. That is not good. It is not true. And if you're in the

22:21

Jehovah's Witnesses, you need to get out, and you need to say, do you know there's something more important than carrying on this tradition, something more important than being a vital part of the family, there's something more important than my friendships at Kingdom Hall.

22:32

I need to do what God says, and that is look to the Son as the

22:38

God -man. And he, here's what they forget. Jesus had to be both man and God.

22:43

Why? Well, he was the eternal God, and in time he cloaked himself with humanity, so he could identify with us as a substitute for humans, because he had to be a human.

22:53

And he also had to live a life that humans would live, a perfect, acceptable life, living a righteous life before God at all points of the law, in all points of the law, doing all points of the law, so he could be our substitute.

23:07

But he had to be God as well, because if you've got a man who lives a perfect life, then he can't die for a bunch of sinners.

23:16

Maybe he's a substitute for one sinner, but how can he be a substitute for lots of sinners, a world full of sinners from every tribe and tongue and nation, people that need to be redeemed of their sin?

23:28

How can he die for more than one other person? And the answer is, because his righteousness is not just human righteousness, it's an infinite human righteousness, because he is

23:38

God. So he has a righteousness that's infinite, and it's able to be dispensed to as many as the

23:45

Father is pleased to dispense, through faith. Not the Father's faith, but through people's faith.

23:52

And so, if you deny Jesus as God, you don't have a substitute who can forgive you all your sins.

23:59

So then you need to figure out a way to work yourself into heaven. Hence, we have the works that try to earn people their spot into heaven.

24:08

We'll talk about the 144 ,000 and all that next time. And so, once you denigrate the Scriptures, and once you denigrate the work of Christ, you're hopeless, and you're without God in this world.

24:17

You're not going to heaven. So lay down your arms, lay down your watchtower, lay down your Kingdom Hall attendants, and ask

24:23

God for clemency based on the work of another. And take his word for it, that if you look to the Son, Jesus Christ, the

24:29

God -man, the one who the Father calls in Hebrews chapter 1 .8, God, then there's hope for you.

24:38

And while you're alive, there's hope. So, as you get ready to face your Creator and surely die one day, and then judgment, you need the risen

24:47

Savior. You need the Savior who can save as many as would look to him and live, and who dispenses his goodness and his pleasure by the work of the person named the

24:59

Holy Spirit. He is your only hope. And so, you want to look to him and live. It's Mike Abendroth, No Compromise Radio Ministry.

25:07

Write us at info at nocompromiseradio .com No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

25:17

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's Word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

25:26

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston.

25:34

You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

25:42

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.