What do Jehovah Witnesses Believe? | Rapp Report Daily Wrap-up 0016 | Striving for Eternity

Andrew Rappaport's Rapp Report

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Welcome to The Rapid Pull, daily edition, where we provide a quick biblical interpretations and applications.

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This is a ministry of striving for eternity. Do you fear when you hear that knock on your door?

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That's right. The Jehovah Witnesses are here! And that makes many people fear and run.

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The reality is, is we don't need to do that. We could actually answer them, because when we understand what it is they believe, we kind of realize they don't have very good, strong beliefs compared to what the

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Bible says. Today, we're going to look at a wrap -up of this week's

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Rap Report Dailies, all together, so we can see what it is that Jehovah Witnesses believe.

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Knock, knock! That's right, the Jehovah Witnesses are at your door! Are you ready to give them an answer to what they believe?

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Well, that's what we're going to talk about this week. We're going to look at the beliefs of the Jehovah Witnesses. First thing we want to look at is their authority.

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As we examine their authority, we realize that they have a different Bible translation than the one that we have.

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They hold to a translation they call the New World Translation. Well, it's not that good of a translation in many areas, but you'll often see that they had to add their own interpretation into their translation, such as when you get to Colossians 1.

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They're going to see that they had the word other four times in verses 15 to 17, because they say instead of saying that Jesus created all things, they're going to say

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Jesus created all other things. We'll get that in a future Rap Report. But what you end up seeing ultimately, their ultimate authority is really the

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Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. Because they believe that only the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, in other words the men that make up that society, are the only interpreters of God's word.

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Therefore, anytime you have someone or some organization that believes they're the only ones that can interpret

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God's word, they ultimately put themselves above God's word, because they say you can't handle interpreting it, you need them.

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And only they can rightly interpret. And that is what makes that the ultimate authority.

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If you want to get more information, get my book, What Do They Believe, at whatdotheybelieve .com One of the key distinctions with Jehovah Witnesses that you'll often see, is the fact that they do not hold to the biblical view of the

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Trinity. In fact, they often will go after Roman Catholics who don't know their

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Bible all that well, or maybe Christians who grew up in a Christian home but don't understand the

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Bible, and they give them a book that talks about should you believe in the

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Trinity. And it is a booklet to supposedly argue that the Trinity is a made -up doctrine.

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So when we come to their view of who God is, they believe that God the

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Father is, and they will use the phrase, Almighty God. Now, that becomes a distinction because when they speak of Jesus Christ, as we'll see tomorrow, when they speak of Him, they will say

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He's Mighty God. So there's a distinction between the Almighty God and just a

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Mighty God. But as we look at the third person of the Trinity, we end up seeing that Jehovah Witnesses believe

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He's kind of like a force, just kind of like electricity, they describe Him. An invisible active force of Almighty God that moves

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His servants to do His will. That is from one of their documents. So what you end up seeing is they believe it's kind of like maybe the

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Jedi force from Star Wars. But the Holy Spirit isn't actually a person. It is just some force that activates

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God's will. So Jesus Christ is not really God. The Holy Spirit's just a force.

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This is their beliefs of who God is. Okay, we mentioned yesterday that when it comes to the

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Jehovah Witnesses' view of Jesus Christ, they see Him as the Mighty God, not the

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Almighty God, making some distinction. One of the things that they're going to hold to is that Jesus Christ was actually

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Michael, the archangel, who became a man known as Jesus Christ. And he preexisted as Michael and then returned as Michael after his death.

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Now, this is the thing. First off, they don't believe when he rose that he rose bodily.

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They think it was just his spirit that returned to be in Michael. And so you end up seeing that they have a very different Jesus than that of the scriptures.

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Now, they believe that God the Father made Jesus, well, Michael, and then through Michael, who became

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Jesus, He created all things that were created. And that's why in Colossians 1, 15 -18, you're going to see that instead of it saying that Jesus created all things, they have to add the word other, that He created all other things, because He obviously couldn't have created

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Himself. And this is a problem that you end up seeing. They remove the deity of Jesus Christ, and in doing so, you end up seeing they have a very different Jesus.

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This is a central thing that they're going to focus on. Now, sometimes they make a big deal. They try to say that Jesus wasn't crucified.

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He was put on a stake, not a cross, not a big deal, but a very different Jesus. If you want to get more details, get my book,

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What Do They Believe, at whatdotheybelieve .com. As we talk about Jehovah's Witnesses and their view of man's sinfulness and salvation, we see that, first off, they actually do hold to a view of original sin, that sin was imputed from Adam and Eve to all people.

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However, they do not believe that the soul is immortal, meaning that it lasts forever.

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And we're going to see that in tomorrow's podcast, because that becomes important when we look at the eternal state.

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However, when it comes to salvation, they believe in a works -based salvation. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that good works do not earn salvation, so they say, but they are a prerequisite for it.

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In other words, you need to have the good works first. So, it's not what saves you, but if you don't have those good works, you can't get saved.

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And how do they define these good works? Well, they call it, quote, taking knowledge, unquote, of God.

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That means by studying the Bible through the guidance of the Watchtower. Obedience to God's laws, that means following the rules laid out by the

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Watchtower. Associating with God's channel, the Watchtower Society.

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And, fourthly, by participating in Jehovah's Witnesses preaching work. That means going around your neighborhoods, knocking on your doors, and letting you know about the

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Watchtower Society. So you see, really what their focus is, for their salvation, is on the

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Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. That's their authority, and that's the prerequisite to salvation.

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Get more information at WhatDoTheyBelieve .com One of the things most people know about Jehovah's Witnesses is their view of end times.

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And this is where, again, they have some differences with the Bible. The Jehovah's Witnesses believe that there will only be 144 ,000, they're called the little flock, that will populate heaven.

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And the rest will populate earth. By the way, the 144 ,000 are already there, so any chance of getting to heaven, sorry, you will be on the new earth.

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And that's what they would end up seeing for the rest of folks that are obedient.

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But what about those people that don't follow the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society? Well, what you end up seeing with them is they go into non -existence.

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This is called annihilationism. This is the view that you do not exist anymore.

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Remember I said that the soul was not immortal. They believe that the soul can be wiped out.

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They would call that, the moment we die, they call that soul sleep. We go into a soul sleep until Judgment Day.

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We are basically woken back up for Judgment Day. We're judged.

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Those that are not good Jehovah Witnesses, they just go poof, out of existence. It's kind of like being asleep and you don't know anything because you're non -conscious.

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And that's how they describe it. However, is that what the Bible says? Not really.

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It speaks about hell quite a bit. And so this is a key element that you see with Jehovah Witnesses. If you want to get more information about Jehovah Witnesses and other religions, get my book,

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What Do They Believe, at whatdotheybelieve .com. This podcast is part of the

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Striving for Eternity ministry. For more content or to request a speaker or seminar to your church, go to strivingforeternity .org.