Engaging a Jehovah Witness

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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July 27, 2014

00:00: Well, it's good to see everybody this morning.
00:02: I hope you're as happy to see me as I am to see you.
00:05: We are going to, this morning, be looking at a week of Jehovah's Witnesses.
00:09: And I call it that because this week, for some reason, God has saw fit to bring into my path two Jehovah's Witnesses.
00:20: One by the medium of Facebook and one face-to-face.
00:26: So we had one Facebook and one face-to-face.
00:28: And what happened earlier in the week, I woke up Monday morning.
00:33: I do my, beginning my sermon preps on Monday morning.
00:37: I wake up.
00:38: I pull out my text.
00:39: I start reading.
00:41: I start reading commentaries.
00:42: I pray.
00:43: I, you know, I start putting down notes of things that I think are important.
00:47: And, you know, I'm looking at the original languages and stuff.
00:49: Monday morning is a precious time in my week because it sort of sets the stage for all the week.
00:56: Well, as typical in the morning, I also get up and check my email and check all my, you know, kind of my inbox thing and see what's going on.
01:04: Well, I open up my Facebook feed and a relative of a relative of a relative, so a person that, you know, is probably three or four deep as far as how they're connected to me, who I've only met once in my life, and I know is a Jehovah's Witness, had put on their news feed a very harsh diatribe opposing the Trinity and saying that it was pagan and, you know, three frog gods and blah, blah, blah, comparing it to Egyptian frog gods and all.
01:40: It was a very harsh statement.
01:44: And being as I am not a man who is good at letting such things go by, and I was tempted, you know, because I have other things to do.
01:54: I have to get to my sermon prep and I have things to do.
01:56: I was tempted to just, you know what, he's ignorant, he doesn't know, I'll let it be.
02:00: That thought lasted for about ten whole seconds.
02:04: And then I said, you know what, no, I don't think he's ever been challenged on this and he needs to be.
02:10: So I challenged him and we ended up going back and forth for about six hours, but it wasn't like all the whole six hours.
02:17: I would say something, you know, 30, 45 minutes later he'd say something back and we went back and forth.
02:21: And so it was, when I say six hours, I didn't spend six hours, you know, wondering what I'm going to say.
02:26: In fact, I normally, I was prepared for his response because I've dealt with Jehovah's Witnesses in the past.
02:33: I kind of knew what was coming.
02:34: So I was sort of prepared to give a response to wherever direction he would take the conversation.
02:41: So it ended, you know, after about six hours.
02:46: And that night I decided, you know what, this would be a good, valuable thing to share with the church.
02:51: So I took our conversation.
02:53: It's public because it's on Facebook anyway.
02:56: So I took the conversation, I copied it, I put it into a file where he was written in red, I was written in blue, so it's easy to differentiate between who's who, and I put it on our website.
03:05: And I published it as an article, sent it out to everyone.
03:09: Well, the next day he added one more comment.
03:11: He had to close it out.
03:13: Jack Bunning said he was probably calling people to ask him so he could have answers to the things I was saying.
03:19: Because it took him a day later before he answered back, but he finally did answer back.
03:23: And when he answered back, I answered, he said, this will be our final conversation.
03:26: I don't want to talk to you anymore, you know, kind of thing.
03:28: So I posted my last comment and it was over.
03:31: But it's been interesting because I've gotten calls this week from other members in the family.
03:37: And everybody's been very positive.
03:40: It's been, you know, hey, I'm glad somebody finally stood up to him.
03:43: I'm glad somebody finally said something.
03:44: All the ministers in this family, this is a, like I said, this is not my immediate family.
03:49: This is a long distance, but there's a lot of folks down there that claim ministerial authority.
03:54: And yet had never said anything to this man.
03:57: And so I said, well, I'm glad I was able to help.
04:01: And a lot of them said, well, I didn't have any idea what you were saying, but it sounded good.
04:04: So anyway, all that happened.
04:08: And then Friday, I went to have breakfast at Hardy's.
04:15: I was going to the hospitals.
04:16: We were going to go visit Sybil and Bobby and do a few other things.
04:20: So Jennifer and me and the baby were out hospitaling.
04:23: And I'm not sure you can make that a verb, but I just did.
04:25: We were out going to the hospitals, and the kids were home.
04:30: We walked into Hardy's, and there's a lady who's got a table set up with Watchtower literature.
04:38: And I don't know how she did it.
04:40: I don't know if the owner lets her do it or if she just takes it upon herself to use her table as a stand.
04:46: And she has a little thing that says free take one.
04:49: So I sat down with my breakfast, and again, this is what made me write the article about pet issues.
04:57: Because there was a lot of me that said, don't get involved, don't talk to her, you don't need to say anything, you don't need to start anything.
05:04: And then I got to thinking about it.
05:05: You know, if it was anything else, I would say something.
05:08: Like I told Jimmy this morning, if she was over there saying the Constitution's wrong, America's wrong, or whatever, I'd probably go say something to her about that.
05:14: I would have words for her on that.
05:17: How can I not stand for Christ? So I was trying, I was praying, trying to figure out what am I going to say.
05:27: And it actually ended up being a very positive interaction.
05:34: Because I'll tell you what I did, and I don't know if you'll get it, but I walked over to her, I looked down at her table, she looked up at me, and I said, I can see by your pamphlets that you're very religious.
05:49: No, what was I doing? I preached this last Sunday.
05:53: The Apostle Paul in Athens.
05:55: I can see by your idols that you're very religious.
05:57: I was quoting Paul.
05:58: I can see by your pamphlets that you're very religious.
06:02: I was trying to get her attention, and I did.
06:07: She looked up at me, and I said, you're Jehovah's Witness.
06:11: And she goes, yes.
06:12: I said, I want you, if you don't mind, to write down two things.
06:19: I said, if you would, I want you to write down two things.
06:22: And she said, I sure will.
06:23: What do you want me to write down? I said, I want you to write down Psalm 102, 25 to 27.
06:35: And I said, I want you to write down Hebrews 1, 10 and 11.
06:45: I said, your group claims that Jesus is just a man.
06:52: Actually, it claims that Jesus is the angel Michael.
06:56: They believe that Jesus is the archangel Michael.
06:59: I said, but Jesus is Jehovah.
07:04: And I said, this passage teaches that, and I want to show you all this morning.
07:08: If I ever have to deal with a Jehovah's Witness, I don't go to John 1.1.
07:13: John 1.1, in the beginning was the Word, speaking of Jesus.
07:16: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
07:19: If you go right to John 1.1, you might as well join the Olympics, because they're about to put you through the loops.
07:25: Because they've got all kinds of ways that they've misinterpreted John 1.1.
07:28: And unless you understand the Greek and the concepts of things like predicate nominatives and things like that, then you don't even need to engage them on that, unless you feel confident that you can.
07:41: If you don't understand an anarthous noun and things like that, that's where they're going to get you.
07:47: They're going to try to tie you up.
07:50: But I said, no.
07:51: I said, I want you to look at Psalm 102.
07:57: And that's what we're going to do this morning.
07:58: Go to Psalm 102, 25 to 27.
08:17: Verse 25 says, I'll let you guys get there.
08:22: I know some of you still turn to Psalm 102.
08:31: 25 says, If you remain, they will all wear out like a garment.
08:49: Wait a minute.
08:50: I lost my place.
08:50: Okay.
08:51: You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away.
08:54: But you are the same, and your years have no end.
08:59: Now, Psalm 102, 25 to 27.
09:01: Who is the object of that passage? Go up further.
09:08: Verse 24.
09:09: Oh, my God, I say, take me not away from your midst.
09:11: Okay, well, we could say God is the object of that passage.
09:13: But go up even further to verse 22.
09:17: When the people gathered together in kingdoms to worship the Lord.
09:20: You notice how the word Lord there is all capitalized? That is because that is the Hebrew for Yahweh, which is the sacred name of God, which the Jehovah's Witnesses called Jehovah.
09:34: So, who's the object of Psalm 102, 25 to 27? Jehovah is the object.
09:41: Psalm 102, 25 to 27.
09:42: They wouldn't argue that.
09:43: In fact, if you sat down with Jehovah and said, who is the object of Psalm 102, 25 to 27? It's Jehovah.
09:51: Now turn to Hebrews 1.
09:54: Hebrews chapter 1, verse 10.
10:13: It says, And you laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
10:17: They will perish, but you remain.
10:19: They will all wear out like a garment, like a robe.
10:21: You will roll them up like a garment.
10:23: They will be changed, but you are the same, and your years have no end.
10:26: What is the passage that's being quoted here? Psalm 102, 25 to 27.
10:34: Who is the object of this passage? Verse 8.
10:38: Of the Son it says these things.
10:44: Psalm 102 says it's Jehovah.
10:47: Hebrews 1 says it's of the Son.
10:49: The Son is Jehovah.
10:51: The Bible teaches that Jehovah is Father and Son and Holy Spirit.
10:56: They are three, but yet at the same time they are one in essence.
10:59: They are three persons, but one in essence.
11:03: This passage is indisputable.
11:05: It is, to me, inarguable.
11:08: The passage says here it is of Jehovah, but in Hebrews it said it is speaking of the Son, which tells me the Son is Jehovah.
11:15: We don't have to argue about John 1.
11:17: We don't have to argue about all these other passages.
11:19: We have to say that the Son is Jehovah and the Bible clearly teaches it.
11:23: Now, that would probably be very difficult for her to hear, but she has to hear it.
11:32: The Jehovah's Witness has to hear this truth, because their biggest problem is they have a false Jesus and a false God.
11:40: The very name that they have given God, the very name of Jehovah, is itself an expression of ignorance.
11:49: Now, I say that knowing that a lot of good people use the name Jehovah, so I'm going to be nice and explain why I would say such a hurtful thing.
11:57: The name Jehovah, number one, is not in the Bible.
12:03: It's in my King James.
12:04: It's not in the Bible.
12:05: It's in your King James, but it's not in the Bible.
12:08: Because when I say the Bible, I'm talking about the original thing that was written by the apostles and the prophets.
12:13: I'm not talking about the English translation that you carry.
12:16: The word Jehovah is taken from the Hebrew, which is Yahweh, or Yahweh.
12:27: Why did it become Jehovah? Because this is a sacred name, and the Jews, in not wanting to express the sacred name, combined the term Yahweh with the term Adonai.
12:45: Adonai means Lord.
12:48: It's an expression of the word Lord without the sacred title.
12:52: So if you take Yahweh and you lay it on Adonai, you take the middle vowel and you put it in Yahweh, it becomes Yahoah.
13:00: And if you change that into German, because there is no juh-juh-juh sound in Hebrew, there is no J in Hebrew, which is why Jesus wasn't Jesus.
13:11: He was Yesus.
13:13: Jacob wasn't Jacob.
13:14: He was Jacob.
13:15: There is no J in Hebrew.
13:20: We Germanize words, and we add the juh-juh sound, thus Yahweh becomes Jehovah.
13:33: But I don't get into this with a Jehovah's Witness because you're spitting into the wind.
13:39: They don't care.
13:40: She had a thing on her desk that said, the sacred name will stand forever.
13:44: Well, the sacred name is not Jehovah.
13:47: I don't mind using it because I understand the foundation from where it comes, and every once in a while you may hear me say the name Jehovah, but very rarely.
13:55: I normally say it only if it's in a song because there are some songs that are written with the name Jehovah in them.
14:04: Yahweh, not Jehovah's Witnesses won't.
14:10: Jehovah's Witnesses will call Him Jehovah.
14:12: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
14:16: So, my point is when we talk about Jehovah, we talk about Yahweh, the Bible clearly teaches that Jesus is Yahweh, that Jesus is Jehovah, that He shares the nature with the Father, that the two together, along with the Holy Spirit who is the third person, are together the one God.
14:37: And they still are in relationship.
14:40: There is within the Trinity still a relationship.
14:45: And this is where a lot of people have problems.
14:46: They say, well, if Jesus was God, who did He pray to? He prayed to His Father in Heaven.
14:53: The Son, the second person of the Trinity, was the only of the three to take on a human nature.
15:01: And if we don't understand that in Christ coming into the world that there was a humiliation that took place.
15:13: See, she told me a verse back, 1 Corinthians 11.3.
15:16: She said, what about 1 Corinthians 11.3? 1 Corinthians 11.3 says the Head of Christ is God.
15:22: And I said, there's no problem with that verse because the Head of Christ is God, if you take that for what it means simply, is that when Christ came into the world, He came submitting Himself to taking on human nature.
15:37: And as such, He submitted Himself in every way to the Father to take on that nature and to become our Savior.
15:47: In that sense, there is within the Trinity relational authority.
15:52: The Father sends the Son, and the Son and the Father together send the Holy Spirit.
15:57: And in that, there's relational authority.
15:59: But that does not mean that there is not equality in the Godhead.
16:04: It's the difference between what we call the economic Trinity and the ontological Trinity.
16:11: What's ontological mean? In relation to being.
16:15: That's what ontos, being.
16:18: Ontological means in relation to being.
16:20: So when I talk about my ontology, I'm talking about my being.
16:24: I am a man, and I'm a human.
16:27: That's ontologically what I am.
16:29: I'm flesh, and I'm spirit.
16:33: Together in one body, that's my ontological being.
16:37: Everybody understand what I'm saying? Now you understand where ontological comes from.
16:40: So when I talk about God's ontological being, we say He has one in essence and three in person.
16:46: That's the ontological being of God.
16:48: Three are co-equal and co-eternal.
16:52: That's the ontological understanding of God.
16:55: But the economic understanding of God is that the Father begets the Son, and the Son and the Father together send the Spirit.
17:04: And that is the economic sense in which we understand the Trinity.
17:08: It's not hard, it's deep.
17:12: And don't ever let you think that you're not smart enough to understand these things, because you are.
17:20: Every one of you is smart enough to understand these things.
17:22: Don't sit and go, oh, he's just talking over my head.
17:25: I'm not.
17:26: This is not hard stuff.
17:28: This is not hard stuff.
17:31: For instance, they say God can't be three persons in one being, because that doesn't make sense.
17:40: Let me explain it like this.
17:42: A single-celled organism, we all know there are those out there, right? There are organisms that are made up of just one cell, right? Hmm? They're one-celled, single-celled organisms.
17:55: I am a multi...
17:58: what, billion? Million? How many cells in the human body? How many make up the human body? Billions, yeah.
18:07: If that amoeba looked at me, he would say, wow! Not that he could say wow, because you don't have a brain in that little amoeba body of his, that little one cell.
18:16: But that little amoeba, look up at me! And he'd say, wow! Look at all those beings, because I'm all those cells.
18:28: But I'm only one being.
18:30: So we look at God, who is three persons, and we say, look at those three persons.
18:34: No, it's only one being.
18:38: God is on a different plane of existence than we are, in the same way that we're on a different plane of existence than the amoeba.
18:48: You say, well, I don't quite understand that.
18:49: You think the amoeba understands you? And does that keep you from being you? Then does your lack of understanding of God keep Him from being God? No.
18:59: We trust the Word of God and what it says.
19:01: And what it teaches us is simple.
19:02: It teaches us that there are three persons, all of which who are called God, and all of which who are in a relationship with one another.
19:09: The Spirit and the Father and the Son all relate to one another.
19:12: And they were all three present at multiple times in Scripture, specifically at Jesus' baptism.
19:17: Jesus is being baptized.
19:19: The heavens open.
19:20: The Father says, This is My Son in whom I am well pleased.
19:23: And the Spirit descended upon Him as a dove.
19:26: If we weren't supposed to be Trinitarians, why do you think Jesus said, When you baptize, baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit? He would be making us idolaters if those three were not all co-equal, because we would be taking a baptism in the name of someone who was not God.
19:52: The Jehovah's Witnesses are not only wrong, they are dead wrong.
19:55: And they're dangerously wrong on this issue.
19:59: They have followed a false prophet.
20:01: They have ran behind a false teacher.
20:05: And I don't hate them.
20:07: That lady and I had a nice conversation.
20:09: We shook hands.
20:12: I wasn't ugly to her.
20:13: Somebody who reads my conversation with the Facebook guy may say I was ugly with him because I called him a heretic.
20:18: He called me a pagan.
20:21: I'm not saying that's right.
20:22: No, no.
20:23: No.
20:25: He said that what I teach is paganism.
20:29: And I responded.
20:30: I said, Sir, I'm not going to read the whole conversation to you.
20:33: I said, Sir, the heresy which you are promoting is a damnable heresy.
20:43: It is.
20:45: It is something that the church has not stood for for 2,000 years.
20:51: You are leading people to hell.
20:54: They don't even believe in hell.
20:56: See, here's the great thing about being a Jehovah's Witness.
20:58: If we're wrong, it doesn't matter.
20:59: We don't believe in hell anyway.
21:02: They don't believe in hell, and they don't believe even that all of them will be in the celestial heaven.
21:09: They believe only those who are, and I forget the term exactly, but there's those who are particular among them that are of the 144,000 who will be in the celestial heaven.
21:20: And then, of course, you have those who are going to be in the new earth, but they won't be in heaven.
21:32: They won't be annihilated.
21:33: See, the hell for the Jehovah's Witness is ceasing to exist.
21:39: And that is scary to me, the idea that one day my lights just go out and my whole life meant nothing because I don't have anything to look forward to.
21:45: It just all goes out like a light.
21:46: That is kind of frightening, but it's not hell.
21:50: I sure as fire would like that than burning for eternity.
21:55: And see, that's one of the things that my relative who knows this person told me.
22:00: She said the reason why he converted to Jehovah's Witness so many years ago was because he had questions about hell that no one can answer.
22:11: And I said, well, I ain't going to keep him out of hell.
22:14: Do they have a set number of people that are going to...
22:19: Well, the 144,000 is mentioned in Revelation, but their view of the 144,000 is that they've ripped that text from any intended meaning.
22:29: And that particular passage of the 144,000 talks about the 144,000 to the 12 tribes of Israel.
22:36: So I always, if they say, well, I'm one of the 144,000, I say, what tribe are you from? Are you a Jew? Because it says it's 144,000 Jews.
22:45: But yeah, that number is in the scripture, but they're ripping it from its context, chewing it up and spitting it out.
22:52: You were going to ask a question? Oh, that's a good question because I...
23:02: By the way, this thing here, the Bible that they have is the New World Translation.
23:08: It is absolutely terrible.
23:11: They translated the Bible their way so that they would not have to deal with the issues that are obvious in the scripture.
23:20: For instance, John 1.1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
23:26: They add the phrase, the indefinite article, and it reads like this.
23:31: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a God.
23:36: They add the A and make Jesus a God, but not the God.
23:42: And they go through these linguistic hula hoops to prove why that's necessary, but it is not necessary.
23:50: In fact, one of the greatest Greek scholars of the last century said that they demonstrate nothing by doing so except for their own ignorance of the Greek language.
23:59: Yes? No, it's not.
24:08: The four-letter name is in the Hebrew.
24:30: Again, you're not going to win that battle, but I see where you're going, and I agree 100%.
24:34: I know what you're saying.
24:36: Their Word is not in the Bible, but they make a big deal about it.
24:39: The Word of Trinity is not in the Bible.
24:40: And I pointed this out because he made that argument.
24:43: He goes, well, you're using a word that's not even in the Bible, Trinity.
24:45: I said, well, if I use the word omnipresence, that's not in the Bible either, but certainly the teaching is in the Bible.
24:51: God is everywhere at all times.
24:53: There's nowhere He is not.
24:54: He is in the heavens and in the earth and under the earth.
24:56: The Bible teaches that.
24:57: That's omnipresence.
24:59: But the Bible doesn't use the phrase omnipresence.
25:01: I use that word to describe a concept which is taught in Scripture.
25:05: Same way with Trinity.
25:07: The word Trinity is not in the Bible, but the concept is taught in Scripture.
25:10: The idea is a distillation of a mass of Scripture.
25:15: So without having to go to 15 Scriptures to tell you, I say we're talking about the Trinity, you know what I'm talking about.
25:21: OK, so yeah, but I understand what you're saying.
25:25: But like I said, what I was going to say about their Bible, the New World Translation, it has notes in it.
25:31: It has the reference notes, just like if you open your Bible, it might reference it.
25:34: If you read this passage, it references back to another passage.
25:37: In Hebrews 1, 10 and 11, it references Psalm 102, 25 and 27 in their Bible.
25:43: He steps back.
25:45: It's good because that's it.
25:47: That's the slam.
25:48: You say, let me see your Bible.
25:50: See right here, it tells you I'm right.
25:55: I mean, I would say that to them, not you, but sorry about the whole swish thing.
26:00: I get excited.
26:02: He steps back.
26:03: It's good.
26:04: Anyway, this is for me, is this the strongest absolute argument? No, but it's the argument they've never heard.
26:13: See, the thing about the Jehovah Witness is this.
26:15: You say, well, I don't know if that's the strongest argument.
26:17: It's a good argument.
26:19: But here's the thing.
26:20: When the Jehovah Witnesses come to your house and you pull out John 1, 1, they've been there.
26:25: They've got the t-shirt.
26:26: You might as well be spitting into the wind.
26:28: They've been there.
26:30: If you go to Colossians or some other New Testament passage and say this proves Jesus is God, they'll pull out 15 passages.
26:36: Well, why did Jesus pray if He's God? Well, because He's the second person of the Trinity.
26:39: He's praying to the Father.
26:40: That makes sense to me because I'm a Trinitarian, but I'm sure it would make sense to you because you're a Unitarian.
26:44: By the way, Jehovah Witnesses are Unitarians, meaning they deny the three persons.
26:49: That's what a Unitarian is.
26:50: Islamic people are Unitarian.
26:53: Jews are Unitarian.
26:54: Christians are Trinitarian.
26:56: The idea that we all serve the same God is absolutely false and it can't be true because they are denying the very nature of who God is from our perspective.
27:05: The idea that Jews and Christians and Islamic people all worship the same God is false.
27:14: So, be that being that as it may, they're Unitarians.
27:18: They don't believe that God is a Trinity.
27:21: The Jehovah's Witnesses are...
27:24: I kind of lost my train of thought there.
27:25: I'm sorry.
27:26: That's what you get when I don't preach with notes.
27:29: But the idea of there being this...
27:37: The Jehovah's Witnesses are Unitarians and we'll just stop with that and move on.
27:43: I have something for you.
27:45: I have a gift.
27:45: I come bearing gifts.
27:49: I may one day print these out and hand them out in our neighborhood because we have Jehovah's Witnesses that come all the time.
27:59: But in the meantime, I want you all to have them.
28:06: This is a tract called Warning.
28:12: Photocopy it and share it with your neighbors.
28:15: Here, I'll give you some and you some and pass it.
28:18: What this is, is this explains the false teachings of the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons.
28:25: You take it, you laminate it, you put it right next to your front door where your keys and your wallet are.
28:30: That way when they come to the door, you have, well, let's see what you teach.
28:37: And you've got it.
28:41: I just want to read the Jehovah's Witnesses portion because we're running out of time.
28:48: By the way, if I'm here again next week, I'll teach our Mormonism.
28:50: How about that? But Jehovah's Witnesses, I don't know if I'll be here again next week.
28:57: Tony, we still need to be praying for him because his infection is not really clearing up real well.
29:02: He's got to go see a wound specialist.
29:05: So we want to be praying for him.
29:08: Tuesday? Oh, I won't be teaching any in August.
29:13: I've got...
29:16: Thank you.
29:17: Yeah, I'm not...
29:19: You can have all those if you want.
29:22: Alright.
29:22: Alright.
29:23: Let me very quickly just read the second part down here under the first section.
29:28: It says the Jehovah's Witnesses teach.
29:30: This is a good little just...
29:32: And then again, if you want more information, go to www.carm.org.
29:37: This is the Christian Apologetics Research Ministry.
29:39: Matt Slick is the guy who runs this.
29:41: I know Matt.
29:42: I don't know him personally, but I know his work.
29:44: And he does good work.
29:45: So carm.org is very good.
29:47: And here is what he just...
29:49: He puts this out.
29:50: He puts it out as a front and back track, and he literally gives these out in his neighborhood so that his neighbors will know.
29:56: This is what he says.
29:59: Jehovah's Witnesses teach, number one, their organization, their church organization, is the prophet of God.
30:04: The Watchtower represents the prophet of God in the world.
30:08: That's what that is.
30:09: And that's why they're so ambitious to send it out.
30:16: They believe Jesus returned invisibly in 1914.
30:22: And all these are down there.
30:24: He gives references to where you can look these things up.
30:28: But that's, again, that's a prophecy.
30:30: The prophecy was Jesus returned in 1914.
30:32: He didn't.
30:32: So guess what? It was an invisible thing.
30:37: It happened because he said it was going to happen.
30:39: We can't just say it didn't happen.
30:40: So we'll say he returned invisibly.
30:42: Why do you think the Jehovah's Witnesses are having conferences in all this year? 2014.
30:47: It's a hundred years.
30:48: It's a hundred year anniversary of Jesus' return.
30:51: Alright? To establish this group.
31:02: He established the Jehovah's Witnesses and did, you know.
31:06: Alright.
31:07: Blood transfusions are sinful.
31:09: That one doesn't matter to me.
31:11: Don't let yourself get caught up in the minutia.
31:13: If somebody wants to argue blood transfusions with you and why the life of the animal is in the blood and all that, and that's what they're going to talk about, don't.
31:21: No.
31:22: Just like if you read my article of the conversation I had with the Jehovah's Witness, he kept trying to push it off onto other things.
31:28: What did I keep saying? No.
31:29: We're going to deal with this.
31:30: We're going to deal with this issue.
31:31: Not with these secondary things.
31:34: If you let them do that, they will run you ragged.
31:36: You keep them on task.
31:38: Yes, ma'am.
31:47: Yeah.
31:47: Absolutely.
31:48: It happens.
31:48: And it happens a lot, unfortunately.
31:50: Let me finish these up.
31:51: The Holy Spirit is God's impersonal and active force.
31:53: The guy actually said that this week.
31:55: The Holy Spirit is like electricity.
31:56: He's not a person.
31:57: He's just a force.
31:59: Only their church members will be saved.
32:01: Well, that's pretty obvious.
32:04: Jesus was an angel who became a man.
32:06: They believe he was the Archangel Michael.
32:10: Jesus did not rise from the dead physically.
32:12: They believe that the physical resurrection is unnecessary.
32:14: They don't even believe Jesus died on the cross.
32:16: They believe he died on a stake.
32:18: If you ever see their pictures, Jesus has his hands above his head.
32:21: He's nailed like this.
32:22: He's not nailed like this.
32:24: They have a lot of little oddities, which don't matter.
32:27: Don't argue with them about the cross.
32:29: It's not going to matter.
32:30: The issue is Christ, not these minutiae.
32:37: And of course, there is no Trinity.
32:39: And good works are necessary for forgiveness of sins.
32:42: And that's one of the ways I've gotten them.
32:44: I'll finish this story.
32:45: I know we've got to go.
32:46: I'm sorry because of time, but I want to share this.
32:48: Had them come to my house one time.
32:52: And I've walked outside with them.
32:54: And of course, I just woke up.
32:58: They always come earlier than they ought to.
33:02: I'm not a morning guy.
33:04: So I walk out there.
33:07: And the guy, I said, you're Jehovah's Witness, aren't you? I always like to start that way.
33:11: It kind of lets them know, I know who you are.
33:14: Let's cut all the...
33:16: Because I always want to say, don't you worry about the end of the world.
33:19: No, because I'm a sinner saved by grace.
33:21: I'm good.
33:22: The end of the world will come and I will be with Christ and I'm not worried.
33:26: But they're very concerned.
33:28: And they'll always want to start the conversation off something like that.
33:30: And so I looked at the guy.
33:31: I said, I want to ask you a question.
33:33: I said, if you came to my house this morning and you opened my front door and I was laying down and I had a knife in my back and I was dying and I only had one minute to live, what would you tell me so that I could have confidence that I would have eternal life? I'm dying.
33:56: Blood's pouring out of me.
33:57: You only have a minute to preach to me.
33:59: What do you say? And he looked at me.
34:06: The Bible says, he who endures to the end shall be saved.
34:10: I said, sir, the end is here.
34:12: I've only got a minute to go.
34:15: I'm at the end.
34:19: Well, what kind of life have you lived? Probably not a good one.
34:22: I've got a knife in my back.
34:27: And he stopped and I said, the problem is, because he didn't have anything to say, I said, the problem is you are teaching a salvation by works and you would think that you're working your way to heaven because you're a publisher.
34:38: The people who hand out those books are called publishers and unless you're a...
34:41: He would pull the knife out so he would be sure he was being paid.
34:45: The publishers, that's funny, they call themselves publishers because that's what they're supposed to do.
34:51: That's how they earn their place is by putting out the material.
34:56: I said, sir, you believe you're earning your place in heaven and you're taking people to hell with you.
35:01: He got upset and left, but the point is they have no salvation outside of the works which are promoted by their quote-unquote prophet which is the Watchtower.
35:13: This is what the Watchtower said in August the 15th, 1981.
35:18: This is where I'll leave you with today.
35:21: From time to time there have arisen from among the ranks of Jehovah's people those who, like the original Satan, have adopted an independent fault-finding attitude.
35:31: They say that it is sufficient to read the Bible exclusively either alone or in small groups at home.
35:38: But strangely, through such Bible reading they have reverted back to the apostate doctrines that commentaries by Christendom's clergy were teaching a hundred years ago.
35:49: End quote.
35:51: What's the Watchtower saying? You need us.
35:54: If all you read is the Bible you're going to go back to being like they are.
35:57: You can't use just the Bible.
35:59: We have to tell you what it says.
36:02: The sign of a cult the sign of the cult says don't read the Bible.
36:08: We'll tell you what it says.
36:10: Or when you read it read it with our commentary only.
36:17: Let's pray.
36:18: Father, I thank you for this opportunity and week that I've had to engage and I pray that this would be encouraging for others.
36:25: Lord, we know that we're not to entertain heretics but that we are to call them to repentance and I pray that we would be confident that we stand on the truth of the word of God and it's in Jesus' name we pray.
36:38: Amen.