Jehovah's Witnesses in a Nutshell

Jehovah's Witness Theology of God, Creation, and Redemption

According to the Jehovah's Witness theology, God is a single person, not a trinity, who does not know all things and is not everywhere. He first created Michael, the archangel, through whom he created all other things, including the universe, the earth, Adam and Eve.

The creative work of God, according to Witnesses, took 42 ,000 years. At one point, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society even taught that God ruled a universe from somewhere in the Pleiades star system.

They have since modified this and said that, well, they don't really know where he is ruling the universe from still. Such changes and even contradictions in the teachings of the Watchtower Society are frequent, and the organization justifies it by saying, well, the light is getting brighter, the truth is just becoming more known.

After Adam sinned, the paradise which God had created for them was ruined, so God instituted a system of redemption which was revealed in the Bible and would ultimately lead to the crucifixion of Jesus, the Messiah.

The Watchtower as the Only True Theocratic Organization

But in the meantime, God needed a visible, theocratic organization on earth to accurately represent him. Throughout history, this true organization had a remnant of faithful Jehovah's Witnesses, such as Noah and Abraham, Moses and David.

But it wasn't until the late 1800s that Charles Taze Russell formally began what is now known as the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, which is run out of Brooklyn, New York. This organization claims to be the only true channel of God's truth on earth today and that it alone can properly interpret God's word, since it is angel-directed and it is the prophet of God on earth.

When it came time for the Savior to be born, according to the Witnesses, Michael the Archangel became a human in the form of Jesus. Jesus grew and kept all the laws of God and never sinned. Finally, when Jesus died, it was not on a cross, but on a torture stake where he bore the sins of mankind.

But this did not include Adam's sin. Jesus rose from the dead as a spirit, not physically. His body was dissolved and taken by God. During his visitations to people on earth, he manifested a temporary physical body for them to see and touch.

Christendom, Apostasy, and the Rise of the Watchtower

Thus began the true Christian church of the Jehovah's Witnesses, at least according to them. Throughout history, there have been many faithful Jehovah's Witnesses who have managed to keep the truth, in spite of the demonic doctrine of the Trinitarians that have permeated the Christian church in Christendom.

Christendom, according to them, is filled with pastors who are antichrists, in churches run by Satan, and who support the earthly governments, which are all of the devil. In other words, all of Christianity is false and only the Jehovah's Witnesses' theocratic organization, led by several men in Brooklyn, New York, is true.

In the late 1800s, a young man of 18 years by the name of Charles Taze Russell organized a Bible class in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1879, he sought to popularize his ideas on doctrine, so he co-published The Herald of the Morning magazine, with its founder N. H. Barber.

By 1884, Russell controlled the publication and renamed it The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom. He founded Zion's Watchtower Tract Society, now known as the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.

Russell served as the teacher and guide for the organization, which taught that Jesus returned invisibly in 1914 and is now reigning in heaven. When Jesus finally returns, physically to earth, they say, which will happen at the time of the Battle of Armageddon, he will set up his earthly 1 ,000 year kingdom.

During this 1 ,000 year period, people will be resurrected and have a second chance to receive eternal salvation by following the principles of Jehovah's organization on earth, known as the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.

After the millennium, those who reject God and his organization will be annihilated, that is, they will cease to exist. The rest of Jehovah's Witnesses who have faithfully followed God's organization on earth will be saved from eternal annihilation and reside forever on paradise earth.

The 144,000, Resurrection Hope, and Congregational Rules

Heaven, however, is a place for a special group of 144 ,000 Jehovah's Witnesses. They are the only ones who are born again, and they are the only ones who alone are allowed to take communion in their annual communion service.

These are the ones who have immortal life. All other Jehovah's Witnesses have everlasting life. Those with immortal life do not have resurrected bodies. They have spirit bodies. Those on paradise earth have everlasting life and consist of a resurrected body that must be maintained through eating and rest and stuff like that.

When you study with the Jehovah's Witnesses, you agree to attend five meetings a week where you are taught from Watchtower literature. You cannot be baptized until you have studied their material for at least six months and have answered numerous questions before a panel of elders.

Men are not supposed to have long hair or wear beards, and women are to dress in modest apparel. They refuse to vote, salute to flags, sing the Star Spangled Banner, celebrate birthdays or Christmas, won't take blood transfusions, and they can't join the armed forces.

A schedule of door-to-door canvassing is required where they distribute the Watchtower literature, acquire donations, and forward all monies to the headquarters in Brooklyn, New York. If you ever leave the Jehovah's Witness organization, however, you are considered an apostate and are to be shunned.

Just beware. The Jehovah's Witnesses is not a Christian religion.