"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." Philippines 4:8
Continuing our examination of Islam this article dives into one of its more horrific teachings. Let me say before we start that in no way do we condone any sort of domestic violence. It’s extremely sad to know there are women who are being abused by their own husbands. It’s my hope that this article will serve to shed light on an evil practice found in Islam, and anyone involved in such a practice would be convicted of their sin and come to Christ Jesus for forgiveness.
Christians we hold the Bible as our sole authority, it’s in God’s word alone that we gain our understanding as how to conduct ourselves. In the religion of Islam Muslims have the Quran as their highest authority, the difference is that Muslims also have other books in which they use as a lens in understanding the Quran. These books are called the Hadith’s (the sayings of the prophet) and lastly the Tafsir which is a collection of Islamic scholarship writings on subjects.
Dr. Shabir Ally an Islamic scholar and debater was recorded on his show Let the Quran Speak on Sep 16, 2016 as saying “In essence generally in classical Islamic thought it is taken for granted that a Muslim man can have up to 4 wives at once in addition to the 4 wives he can have an unlimited number of concubines which refer to women who are basically have slave status when they are owned by her master freely has to give up herself to the master the master has the right to have sexual relations with her as though she were one of his wives”.
This quote is backed up by a Quran verse found in Chapter (4) sūrat l-nisāa (The Women). It speaks about women who are taken captive and the Muslim men are allowed to have sexual relations (rape) with the women slaves.
Pickthall: And all married women (are forbidden unto you) save those (captives) whom your right hands possess. It is a decree of Allah for you. Lawful unto you are all beyond those mentioned, so that ye seek them with your wealth in honest wedlock, not debauchery. And those of whom ye seek content (by marrying them), give unto them their portions as a duty. And there is no sin for you in what ye do by mutual agreement after the duty (hath been done). Lo! Allah is ever Knower, Wise. — Surah 4:24
Islam teaches is Halal (permissible) for women who are held captive as slaves to be treated as sex slaves. This is a deplorable act no woman should be treated this way.
Muhammad’s 6 year old wife Aisha is recorded in the Hadiths as receiving shoves to the chest which caused pain. If this caused pain they must have been strong shoves.
Sahih al-Bukhari 5825, Book 77, Hadith 42, Vol. 7, Book 72, Hadith 715
In contrast men are taught from the Bible how we ought to treat our women/wives.
In the book of Proverbs chapter 31 we find the words of king Lemuel which his mother taught him, he received godly counsel from his mother in what he should look for in a wife.
Women are highly esteemed in the Christian faith, they are our sister, daughters and mothers. God made woman to help and complement man. Adam needed Eve, therefore, the woman is not beneath man neither is she above man. Just as God made woman from the side of Adam (his rib) to be his equal and also under the man’s protection (the rib is located under the arm). So we men are to treat our wives as our equals and protect them by taking them under our arm.
Lemuel’s mother asked a rhetorical question “Who can find a virtuous woman?” in other words, when you do come across that special woman you’ll know. There will be no need of spoil (nothing else needed) and you’ll trust her with your whole heart. If you read the entire chapter it will portray what a godly woman is like giving us Christian men a “map” on what to look for in a virtuous woman.
Moving into the New Testament the apostle Paul writes to the believers found in Ephesus exhorting them to “love your wives”. The context Paul is addressing is on the matter of headship, the roles men and women have in relation to each other and God. While the wives are to “submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord”, the men are to “ love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it”.
This is a tall order whenever we’re told to do something as the Lord Jesus being He’s completely perfect. Still we are to follow our Lord and love our wives just like Christ loves those who have been redeemed the Church. Christ Jesus gave His life for the Church which denotes a sacrificial love, an unselfish love which knows no boundaries.
The apostle Paul even compares the love we men have for our own bodies should be likened to how we love our wives. He explains that we are to “nourisheth and cherisheth” our wives, this shows a tender loving care for the women we love.
Again husbands are told to “love your wives” that we should not be bitter against them. This is in the context of the family unit, if we have a home which has the love of Christ permeating throughout our homes. Then we will not have bitterness in our lives. Because bitterness breeds anger and contempt which brings contention between loved ones.
This is why love extremely important in the Christian life (1 Corinthians 13), love helps and motivates us to treat our loved ones with tenderness and compassion. Love also moves us to reach out to Muslims, they who are without Christ. What a stark comparison between what the Quran and Bible teaches. It’s our sincere hope that Muslims would come to know the Prince of Peace Jesus Christ, the God of love, that they would know what true love is and treat their wives with love.
The entire Islamic religion is contingent upon if Muhammad was a “true prophet” sent by God. Muslims compassionately profess that Muhammad was the last prophet sent by God, but is this true? Can we test this claim?
Each prophet from the beginning spoke about the One who would come. The prophets successively followed after another proclaiming the same message without contradiction from Genesis 1445-1405 BC, until the Messiah came James 44-49 AD till the book of Revelation 94-96 AD.
Muhammad arrives on the scene hundreds of years later being born in 571 AD, and started Islam in 613 AD (7th century). That’s 580 years after Christ, additionally Muhammad was illiterate, therefore, the Quran was written by his companions. Muhammad died in the year 632 AD the companions completed the Quran at least 200 years or more after Muhammad’s death.
The manuscript on which the Qur’an was collected, remained with Abu Bakr till Allah took him unto Him, and then with ‘Umar till Allah took him unto Him, and finally it remained with Hafsa, Umar’s daughter. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 6, Book 60, Number 201)
No text of the Quran was compiled during Muhammad’s time. Further proof from the following traditions.
[Zaid b. Thabit said:] “The Prophet died and the Qur’an had not been assembled into a single place.” (Ahmad b. Ali b. Muhammad al ’Asqalani, ibn Hajar, Fath al Bari [13 vol., Cairo 1939], vol. 9, p. 9)
With that background let’s compare Muhammad to the prophets who came since the time of Moses until Christ and see if Islam’s message lines up with the them.
Muhammad claims to follow the same footsteps of the prophets before him.
Pickthall: Lo! We inspire thee as We inspired Noah and the prophets after him, as We inspired Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes, and Jesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomon, and as We imparted unto David the Psalms; — Surah 4:163
Here, the Quran claims Allah inspired Noah, the prophets after him, Abraham etc. Notice: one of those names doesn’t seem to fit among the rest. The Arabs wanted a prophet so badly that the name of Ishmael is among them. If you’re familiar you’re aware that Ishmael was not a prophet according to the Torah. In fact God told Abraham bring your son your only son Issac.
Genesis 22:2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only [son] Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
The God of the Bible never claims Ishmael to be Abraham’s son even though he was the first born of Abraham biologically. Ishmael was not part of the line in which the Messiah would come. God did tell Hagar He would multiply her seed (Genesis 16:9-12) this is the line in which Arabs came, Muslims claim Muhammad is of the line of Ishmael and try to assert he “prophethood” in this way. But Ishmael was cast out and was never part of God’s plan.
Ishmael lived in Paran and married an Egyptian woman and had twelve sons (Genesis 21:13-21). The scriptures locates Paran near Israel and Egypt, below Judah. If Muhammad is born in Mecca this would place him nowhere near Paran.
Muhammad is told to follow and to confirm his message with the scriptures that proceeded.
Therefore, Muhammad’s message must be in agreement with the previous prophets before him right? The problem is Muhammad’s message contradicts the prophets before him. The Bible says Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that all prophets must speak in his name or authority and preach the Gospel.
Daniel 3:25 He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.
Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Because Muhammad contradicts the message of Jesus Christ, denying He’s God, therefore, Muhammad cannot be a prophet from the true God. Muhammad in essence is calling God a liar thereby he’s an antichrist.
1 John 2:18, 22 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. … Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
Muslims it’s quite obvious that Muhammad contradicts the Lord Jesus Christ. The Quran is a book riddled with plagiarism taking sources from the Jewish Talmud, Targums and Bible. Muhammad gets all the facts wrong further proving he’s not a messenger from God but instead a false prophet.
My Muslim friends Jesus Christ calls you to repentance, to place your faith in the One who has holes in His hands and feet. The only One who came into His own creation to save sinners from hell. The true God of the Bible, come to Him in faith and He will save you from the darkness of Islam. The Lord Jesus says:
John 5:39-40 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
Muslims believe that Muhammad was a “prophet of God”, yet Muhammad’s message contradicts every prophet (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel etc.) before his time which came with the consistent message of Jesus Christ. For example in Isaiah we read that the one who would be born through a virgin is called God.
Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Muhammad and his followers reject that Jesus Christ is God, yet their Quran tells them the Torah, Psalms and Gospel (Injeel) are from Allah (Surah 2:87, 4:163, 3:3, 5:46) and its preserved because the Quran says Allah’s words cannot be changed (Surah 6:34, 6:115, 10:64).
Why Did Muhammad Attempt Suicide?
The point of this article is to prove Muslims follow a man who was demonically influenced to the point that he wanted to commit suicide. Early Muslim sources dictate that Muhammad attempted to commit suicide. Sahih al-Bukhari tells us that Muhammad attempted suicide on more than one occasion. The various accounts agree on how Muhammad tried killing himself (jumping off a cliff), they fail to agree on why. Here are the different narrations.
…But after a few days Waraqa died and the Divine Inspiration was also paused for a while and the Prophet (ﷺ) became so sad as we have heard that he intended several times to throw himself from the tops of high mountains and every time he went up the top of a mountain in order to throw himself down, Gabriel would appear before him and say, “O Muhammad! You are indeed Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) in truth” whereupon his heart would become quiet and he would calm down and would return home. And whenever the period of the coming of the inspiration used to become long, he would do as before, but when he used to reach the top of a mountain, Gabriel would appear before him and say to him what he had said before. (Ibn `Abbas said regarding the meaning of: ‘He it is that Cleaves the daybreak (from the darkness)’ (6.96) that Al-Asbah. means the light of the sun during the day and the light of the moon at night). — Sahih al-Bukhari 6982
Sahih al-Bukhari 6982, Book 91, Hadith 1, Vol. 9, Book 87, Hadith 111
Sahih al-Bukhari explains how Muhammad became sad (depressed) and several times tried throwing himself of a mountain. This is obviously not the acts of a sane man.
On the authority of Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah (the biographical account of the life of Muhammad), the “prophet” attempted to end his own life because he believed he was possessed by an evil spirit. After a terrible nightmare about a spirit attacking him while forcing him to recite the Quran. Muhammad thought hurling himself off a cliff was the best thing to do.
Ibn Ishaq, p. 106—[Muhammad said,] “So I read it, and he departed from me. And I awoke from my sleep, and it was as though these words were written on my heart. (T. Now none of God’s creatures was more hateful to me than an (ecstatic) poet or a man possessed: I could not even look at them. I thought, Woe is me poet or possessed—Never shall Quraysh say this of me! I will go to the top of the mountain and throw myself down that I may kill myself and gain rest. So I went forth to do so and then) when I was midway on the mountain, I heard a voice from heaven saying, “O Muhammad! thou art the apostle of God and I am Gabriel.”
Al-Tabari also provides narrations depicting Muhammad’s suicide attempts in Ta’rikh al-Rusul wa’l-Muluk. Apparently Muhammad tries to kill himself before receiving the first Quranic revelation. During Muhammad’s yearly pagan retreat, a spirit came to him and said, “Muhammad, you are the Messenger of God.” Muhammad then fled to his wife Khadijah and begged her to cover him. After this Muhammad considered killing himself.
Al-Tabari, Volume VI, p. 68—He (Muhammad) said: I had been thinking of hurling myself down from a mountain crag, but he appeared to me, as I was thinking about this, and said, “Muhammad, I am Gabriel and you are the Messenger of God.” Then he said, “Recite!” I said, “What shall I recite?” He took me and pressed me three times tightly until I was nearly stifled and was utterly exhausted; then he said: “Recited in the name of your Lord who created,” and I recited it. Then I went to Khadijah and said, “I have been in fear for my life.”
Muhammad was not a stable individual he was depressed and tried killing himself on several occasions. How are followers of Islam comfortable following a suicidal man? None of the prophets found in scripture thought of killing themselves. As we continue to critique the teachings of Islam we will realise more how Muslims are blindly following someone who was demonically possessed.
Our Muslim friends need their eyes open to the reality that Muhammad was nothing but a self proclaimed false prophet. The path of Islam only leads to a lost eternity. There’s only hope in the one who has the nail prints in His hands and His feet, the Lord Jesus Christ who is God and offers all Muslims eternal life.
The Quran presents Muhammad as the perfect example Muslims are to emulate. We’ve heard from Muslims that Islam is the religion of peace, but is this true? Most non-Muslims don’t understand how Islam works. There are underlying rules as to how Islam goes about in establishing itself.
Islam is a 3 stage approach, to have a deeper understanding a quick history lesson is in order. When Muhammad first received his “revelation” from angel “Jibril” as being “the last of the prophets”, he preached in his own city of Mecca. It was not well received only Muhammad’s closet friends and family followed his new religion.
Muhammad then went to Medina as he intended to bring his new religion to the Jews who lived in Medina which at the time was a Jewish business hub. He thought if he could get the Jews to follow his religion this would give him more authenticity, respect and stature among the Arabians which would make them more willing to accept him.
Muhammad then plagiarised from the Old Testament, this is why you’ll find similar stories in the Quran for instance verse 5:45 in the Quran says:
Pickthall: And We prescribed for them therein: The life for the life, and the eye for the eye, and the nose for the nose, and the ear for the ear, and the tooth for the tooth, and for wounds retaliation. But whoso forgoeth it (in the way of charity) it shall be expiation for him. Whoso judgeth not by that which Allah hath revealed: such are wrong-doers. — Surah 5:45
Does this sound familiar? It should if you’re familiar with your Bible you’ll know that this comes from the Torah, in Exodus we’re given this verse.
Exodus 21:23-25 And if [any] mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
There are verses and stories such as these plagiarised in the Quran as it’s a book which takes from the Bible and Talmud. Muhammad did this in order to make his religion more palatable to the Jews, hence why you’ll find similarities with Judaism and Islam like Yom Kippur and Ramadan, kosher and halal.
Muhammad went to Medina trying to recruit the Jews into his religion but was rejected. This is when Muhammad started to wage war killing Jews and non-Muslims.
Islam’s Model of Dealing with Enemies
Stage 1:Preach tolerance when outnumbered by unbelievers/No retaliation stage. In this stage Muslims will preach “tolerance” quoting “peaceful” verses. These verses are usually referred to as the Mecca verses, this is when Islam was more peaceful as Muhammad didn’t have an army yet. This is why you’ll hear Muslim’s who live in non-Muslim countries saying “there’s no compulsion in religion”, “To you your religion, and to me my religion!”.
Pickthall: There is no compulsion in religion. The right direction is henceforth distinct from error. And he who rejecteth false deities and believeth in Allah hath grasped a firm handhold which will never break. Allah is Hearer, Knower. — Surah 2:256
Pickthall: Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion. — Surah 109
Stage 2:Permit Defensive Fighting when there are enough Muslims and weapons to successfully carry it out. Muhammad at this stage bought his time building an army but stood on the defensive. This is what you’re currently seeing in countries such as the United Kingdom or in the United States (Dearborn Michigan)
This is when verses teaching Muslims to fight back is instituted such as Surah 2:190-194 which says:
Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress. Indeed. Allah does not like transgressors. And kill them wherever you overtake them and expel them from wherever they have expelled you, and fitnah is worse than killing. And do not fight them at al-Masjid al- Haram until they fight you there. But if they fight you, then kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers. And if they cease, then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful. Fight them until there is no [more] fitnah and [until] worship is [acknowledged to be] for Allah. But if they cease, then there is to be no aggression except against the oppressors. [Fighting in] the sacred month is for [aggression committed in] the sacred month, and for [all] violations is legal retribution. So whoever has assaulted you, then assault him in the same way that he has assaulted you. And fear Allah and know that Allah is with those who fear Him. — Surah 2:190-194
Do you see the progression? Islam becomes more violent as the Muslims become more in number in any particular place. This is why we see Sharia zones in the UK.
Stage 3:After amassing a large number of soldiers and resources permission is given to carry out Offensive Warfare in order to kill the pagans and humble the Christians and Jews. This is when the true face of Islam is on display, countries like Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries treat non-Muslims as second class citizens.
[This is a declaration of] disassociation, from Allah and His Messenger, to those with whom you had made a treaty among the polytheists. So travel freely, [O disbelievers], throughout the land [during] four months but know that you cannot cause failure to Allah and that Allah will disgrace the disbelievers. And [it is] an announcement from Allah and His Messenger to the people on the day of the greater pilgrimage that Allah is disassociated from the disbelievers, and [so is] His Messenger. So if you repent, that is best for you; but if you turn away – then know that you will not cause failure to Allah . And give tidings to those who disbelieve of a painful punishment. Excepted are those with whom you made a treaty among the polytheists and then they have not been deficient toward you in anything or supported anyone against you; so complete for them their treaty until their term [has ended]. Indeed, Allah loves the righteous [who fear Him]. And when the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them and capture them and besiege them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they should repent, establish prayer, and give zakah, let them [go] on their way. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful. And if any one of the polytheists seeks your protection, then grant him protection so that he may hear the words of Allah . Then deliver him to his place of safety. That is because they are a people who do not know. — Surah 9:1-6
The message is clear in Islam the call is to overtake anyone who’s not a Muslim, to capture and to kill them; these are the teachings of Islam. Muhammad was not a man of peace but one of war.
Contrasting the Bible and what the Lord Jesus Christ taught from that of the Quran and Muhammad, we are given a completely different message.
Christians are commanded to love our enemies, bless them, do good to them and pray for them. Our LORD shows mercy to our enemies, therefore, we should also. He gives them rain and sunshine. If we only love other Christians then we are likened to a Publican; they only love those who love them.
Christ commands us to love them unconditionally, this is how we become perfect in love.
Again we are to love our enemies, do good to them and lend wishing for nothing in return; as well as we need to show mercy as our Father in heaven shows them mercy. We also read in the Gospel of Luke about The Good Samaritan.
Notice how this man who was most likely an Israelite was beaten and left for dead. Those who first saw him were prominent “religious” individuals who didn’t show love. They were involved in outward appearances. Then a Samaritan man the least likely person to help being that the Jews and Samaritans had very poor relations. The Samaritans were viewed as a lower class, yet the Samaritan man was willing to help by bounding his wounds and taking him to an inn.
The Bible teaches compassion, love, grace, mercy and truth. The Old Testament does have violent passages we can’t deny that, but it was not because of the God of the Bible. Violence in the Old Testament was on the account of the sin of man. Moving into the New Testament which is where Christians derive all of our foundational teaches like the beatitudes and how we’re to treat others.
The Quran is the opposite, a have a sinful man named Mohammad commanding his followers to rape, murder, lie, marry young girls, idolatry, jihad and polygamy. Muslims are trapped in an ideology which teaches to slay unbelievers everywhere. Muslims leave the darkness of Islam and come into the Light of the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
Muslims make a few astounding claims (1) they say that Islam is the only true path. (2) That the Bible has been corrupted with the biggest claim they make is (3) the Quran is perfectly preserved. They say all Qurans in the word are exactly identical, every word, dot, letter and sound.
Let’s answer these claims. If you’re familiar with Islam Muhammad contradicts the Bible in many ways. One that comes to mind is the Quran says Jesus Christ was never crucified. Muslims deny the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
This verse from the Quran says Christ was never crucified.
This is clearly a contradiction, therefore, who do we believe Jesus Christ or Muhammad? The sinless man (Jesus Christ) or the sinful man (Muhammad)? This was just to demonstrate the Quran contradicts the Bible in many places. Lastly the Quran claims that the word of God is preserved and says the Torah, Psalms and Gospel (Injeel) are God’s words which cannot be changed see (Surah 6:34, 6:115, 10:64) using phrases such as “None can change His words”.
Arabic Quran Variants
Our Muslims friends say all Qurans are the same, every word, dot, letter and sound. Let’s put that claim to the test. To date there have been found over 30 different Arabic Qurans with about 9000 variant readings. Here’s one of these verses from the Quran.
Most Muslims use a Quran called Hafs, it’s the most popular version of the Quran used. There’s another version called Warsh this version is typically used in countries such as Algeria, Morocco, parts of Tunisia, West Africa and Sudan. Below you can clearly see from the 2 highlighted portions the words are not the same, neither the sound one is “aw ain yuzhir” the other being “wa ain yuzhir”.
Chapter (40) sūrat ghāfir (The Forgiver God)
Chapter (40) sūrat ghāfir (The Forgiver God) Pickthall: The Fire; they are exposed to it morning and evening; and on the day when the Hour upriseth (it is said): Cause Pharaoh’s folk to enter the most awful doom. — Surah 40:26
As you can see the above words in the verse are written differently in the Arabic. This is something Muslims have a hard time grasping because they have been lied to in regards to the Quran being the eternal word from allah and it’s perfectly preserved from any corruption.
The question is why are Muslims making the claim that all Qurans are identical word for word, dot for dot, letter for letter and sound for sound? Here are just a few more variant readings proving there are differences between the Hafs and Warsh Qurans. Reminder this is not including the other 28 or so versions which also have different readings.
The following examples are of the same word(s) in the same verse from these two Qurans. Occasionally the verse number differs because the two Qurans number their verses differently as they don’t equal the same amount of verses.
The call to our Muslim friends still rings out, the gift of salvation which is freely given by God not because of anything you done but because of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for guilty lost sinners. Islam cannot be the “true path” as the evidence shows. If you’re a Muslim reading this be thankful that you still have the opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, He’s willing to save you from your sins. Muhammad can’t do anything for you.
Islam claims that Muhammad is the perfect example of what humanity should be. Muslims even go as far to claim that he was not a sinner pretty much stating he was a sinless man. I have to seriously disagree there’s only One sinless man I know of and that’s the Lord Jesus Christ.
Just to be fair let’s give our Muslims friends the benefit of the doubt and put those claims to the test. Truth is able to withstand scrutiny but false ideas will not, we’re going to take a look at some of the Quran and Hadith which describe Muhammad’s life as Islam’s “prophet”.
It’s well known that Muhammad was fond of little girls, he was especially fond of a 6 year old girl named Aisha, let’s see how he loved her from Islam’s Hadith.
Muhammad’s Wife Aisha
Sahih al-Bukhari 5133: “the Prophet (ﷺ) married her [Aisha] when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old….”
We’re told from al-Bukhari that Muhammad consummated his marriage with Aisha at the age of nine. This is not a good start for someone who is supposed to be a prophet of God. We’re given more insight of Aisha’s experience by Sahih Muslim.
Sahih Muslim 1422 c: “’A’isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported that Allah’s Apostle (ﷺ) married her when she was seven years old, and she was taken to his house as a bride when she was nine, and her dolls were with her.”
According to Sahih Muslim he confirms that Muhammad married Aisha when she was still a little girl, and was taken to Muhammad’s house at 9 years old along with her dolls. Let’s look at one more.
Sunan Abi Dawud 4931: “I used to play with dolls. Sometimes the Messenger of Allah (May peace be upon him) entered upon me when the girls were with me. When he came in, they went out, and when he went out, they came in.”
Sunan Abi Dawud also agrees with Sahih Muslim and Sahih al-Bukhari that Muhammad had sexual relations with a prepubescent girl. This is Islam’s great prophet who is to be an example to others and how they should live their lives.
Let’s compare this to the Lord Jesus Christ its only fair, because as Christians we have nothing to hide or fear.
Hebrews 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as [we are, yet] without sin.
Christ went through everything we could ever experience in life and while we fail miserably, the Lord Jesus was triumphant in every way because He never sinned.
1 Peter 2:21-22 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
We’re told again from the apostle Peter that Christ never sinned and never lied. Yet He was willing to suffer for us on our behalf, bearing our sins and taking the wrath of God upon Himself.
1 John 3:5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
John the apostle tells us there’s absolutely no sin found in Christ, He’s the spotless Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world. Contrast this to Islam’s Muhammad who’s morality was that of a sinful man who slept with under age girls.
It’s our hope that our Muslim friends would flee from the twisted religion of Islam and come into the Light of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.
Very recently the world of Islam has been shaken to its core, a well renowned Muslim scholar by the name of Dr. Yasir Qadhi was interviewed by a fellow Muslim named Muhammad Hijab. During this interview Hijab was pressing Qadhi on the “perfect preservation” of the Quran. In which Qadhi responded making a shocking statement. Qadhi in regards to the Quran said “the standard narrative has holes in it” (pic above).
Muslims have always said that the Quran has been perfectly preserved, that every Quran in the world is exactly the same word for word, dot for dot, sound by sound, letter by letter. That there are no 2 Qurans which are different in all the world. In later articles we’ll be diving into this claim deeper to see if this is true? But for now let’s talk about the crucifixion of Christ and how the Quran get’s it wrong.
As a Christian if you’ve ever had the chance to speak with a Muslim you may hear “Muslims believe in Jesus as a prophet.”Islam teaches Jesus Christ is only a prophet, He’s not the Son of God and He was not crucified on the cross. In-fact they teach at the last moment before Christ was crucified allah sent angel Jibril (Gabriel in Arabic) to save the Lord Jesus from dying on the cross. The idea comes from the Quran in Surah. 4:157-158:
And [for] their saying, “Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, the messenger of Allah .” And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to them. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption. And they did not kill him, for certain. — Surah 4:157-158
Here in Surah 4:157-158 it says “they did not kill him (Jesus) nor did they crucify him” the text also says “another was made to resemble him to them” in other words, because allah is the greatest of deceivers he tricked everyone into believing that Jesus Christ was crucified but it was not actually Him. Somehow allah did the switcheroo, instead of Christ on the cross it was someone else who “resembled” Him.
My friends this is the great deception of Islam, this is why many Muslims are in a darkness which is leading them into the pit of hell. When engaging Muslims a good first step is to get them to understand that their own Quran affirms the Bible. Muslims are shocked to hear this because they have been told the “Bible is corrupted.”
In order to prove to them this is not true you can point them to these verses. First the Quran says that allah sent the Torah (5 books of Moses) to Moses, the Psalms to David; and the Gospel (Injeel) to Jesus Christ.
Torah “We gave Moses the Book and followed him up with a succession of messengers,”— Surah 2:87
Psalms “We have sent thee inspiration, as We sent it to Noah and the Messengers after him: we sent inspiration to Abraham, Isma’il, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes, to Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and Solomon, and to David We gave the Psalms,”— Surah 4:163
Gospel – “It is He Who sent down to thee (step by step), in truth, the Book, confirming what went before it; and He sent down the Law (of Moses) and the Gospel (of Jesus) before this, as a guide to mankind, and He sent down the criterion (of judgment between right and wrong),” — Surah 3:3 Also, “And in their footsteps We sent Jesus the son of Mary, confirming the Law that had come before him: We sent him the Gospel: therein was guidance and light, and confirmation of the Law that had come before him: a guidance and an admonition to those who fear Allah,” — Surah 5:46
Because the Quran contradicts the Bible in many places this poses a huge dilemma for Muslims. If the Quran is correct in saying the Bible is preserved and affirmed then Islam is false. If the Quran is incorrect then Islam is false because the Quran is wrong. Either way Islam crumbles.
There are verses in the Quran which says allah’s words cannot be changed, but Muslims claim the Bible is corrupted. If this is true that means the Quran is wrong because allah’s words have been changed. Christians do not believe in the Quran and allah is definitely not the God we Christians serve. I’m just providing the means how you can shackle a Muslim and cause them to self-destruct with the huge contradictions from the Quran.
If a Muslim denies the Bible they are confirming the Quran is false and Muhammad is a false prophet which is true. If the Quran is true in saying the Bible is not corrupted then Islam crumbles. Here are the verses which says allah’s words cannot be changed or altered.
“Rejected were the messengers before thee: with patience and constancy they bore their rejection and their wrongs, until Our aid did reach them: there is none that can alter the words (and decrees) of Allah. Already hast thou received some account of those messengers,” — Surah 6:34
“The word of thy Lord doth find its fulfillment in truth and in justice: None can change His words: for He is the one who heareth and knoweth all,”— Surah 6:115
“For them are glad tidings, in the life of the present and in the Hereafter; no change can there be in the words of Allah. This is indeed the supreme felicity,”— Surah 10:64
With that established we know the Bible is the Word of God and is truth. Muslims ask the question, where in the Bible did Jesus Christ say He would die? In the Bible we find the words of Christ Himself who prophesies His own death.
Matthew 20:17-19 And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify [him]: and the third day he shall rise again.
Mark 10:32-34 And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus went before them: and they were amazed; and as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again the twelve, and began to tell them what things should happen unto him, [Saying], Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles: And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him: and the third day he shall rise again.
Luke 18:31-33 Then he took [unto him] the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: And they shall scourge [him], and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.
This is a problem for Muslims because we’ve just learned that the Quran affirms the Bible is preserved, and we just read in the Bible Jesus Christ said He would be put to death and rise again. To our Muslim friends, you must abandon the darkness called Islam, Muhammad didn’t die for you but Jesus Christ did. And through Him (Jesus Christ) you can have eternal life. Islam can never provide the full assurance Christians enjoy knowing we have a home in heaven.
Learn more about how this all got started and shook the Muslim world with “the standard narrative has holes in it” which is forcing many Muslims to leave Islam.
Jehovah Witnesses claim “Jehovah God” refers to only the Father. They deny Jesus Christ is the “The Alpha and the Omega” in this article we will seek to identify if Christ is “The Alpha and the Omega” or not.
If we examine the context of the verses in Revelation we can come to a clear understanding who “The Alpha and the Omega” is. Reading the surrounding text is paramount in understanding a passage. Let’s focus on Revelation 1:8, I’ll include the text before and after highlighting the verse in focus.
v1 is speaking of this individual who’s (1) coming in the clouds, that’s the first point to keep in mind (2) every eye shall see Him, and (3) “and they [also] which pierced him:”
The question we have to ask are there other scriptures which speak of this individual coming in the clouds? We sure do let’s take a look.
On 4 separate occasions the Lord Jesus referred to Himself as the one coming in the clouds, the cloud rider which is a Yahweh reference.
Here we have 4 verses in-which the Lord Jesus says they will see the Son of man (Jesus Christ) coming in the clouds. Also it’s a well known fact Jesus Christ was pierced when He was on the cross.
Ok, so we’ve dealt with verse 7, let’s move onto verse 8. While reading from v7 to v8 there’s a continuous narrative, the one who’s coming in the clouds speaks and says “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”
Here the speaker says (1) I am Alpha and Omega (2) the beginning and the ending says who? The Lord in the Greek it’s κύριος used not the Tetragrammaton which is where we get the name Jehovah from. (3) which is and which was and which is to come.
Let’s work backwards “which is and which was and which is to come” as we established Jesus Christ is the one coming not the Father. Also which is speaks to the deity of Christ, which was points to the death of Christ and which is to come of course is referring to when Christ second coming in the future. And lastly, the same speaker says He’s the Alpha and Omega.
v9 is without a doubt speaking of Jesus Christ not the Father. (1) I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, (2) the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, (3) for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
John the apostle says he’s a companion or partaker in tribulation. Jesus Christ mentions that believers will have tribulation in this world.
Jesus Christ is called the King of kings and Lord of lords, the King of the kingdom is Christ; He’s the One who has established an everlasting kingdom sitting on the throne of David.
Jehovah Witnesses try to twist these verses to say that the Alpha and Omega is not Jesus Christ but “Jehovah.” JW’s always refer to the Father as “Jehovah” only therefore they try to diminish the deity of Christ. As it was just proven through methodically going through the verses we see plenty of proof that the Lord Jesus is the Alpha and Omega spoken of in Revelation.
If the Trinity were true, it should be clearly and consistently presented in the Bible. Why? Because, as the apostles affirmed, the Bible is God’s revelation of himself to mankind. And since we need to know God to worship him acceptably, the Bible should be clear in telling us just who he is.
Should You Believe in the Trinity? pg 5
The Watchtower Society claims the doctrine of the Trinity is not “clearly and consistently presented in the Bible.” Before we prove this statement to be untrue we have to understand how the Watchtower is structured. The governing body (8 men) are the ones who call all the shots, they’re responsible for disseminating Watchtower doctrine to its members.
The everyday Jehovah Witness in my personal view are people who are sincere, but in all their zeal they are sincerely mistaken. In fact they are kept in the cult by confusion and manipulation of the scriptures. On the other hand the governing body in my opinion are deceivers and are fully aware of what they are doing. For this reason when dealing with Jehovah Witnesses I try to view the every day Witness as someone who’s lost and deceived by a group of deceivers. Therefore, a little compassion goes a long way in dealing with the JW’s at the carts.
Why are the JW’s confused about the Trinity doctrine, well first and foremost is because they’ve failed in knowing who the Lord Jesus is; if you get Christ wrong then all your doctrine will be erroneous.
Let’s go through some scriptures which lays out the Trinity doctrine. And we will aim to make it consistently clear and present it for our Jehovah Witness friends.
Jesus Christ is the Creator of the heavens and the earth:
Notice the LORD created the heavens alone and spread abroad the earth by His self. Let’s move on, if God created everything then what do Jehovah Witnesses do with John 1:1-3, 10.
Is this a contradiction when God says He’s created all things alone? Well if you’re a Jehovah Witness it is because according to their theology Jesus is not God yet Jehovah used Jesus to create everything other than Himself.
Question if Jesus is a created creature as Watchtower teaches that would place Jesus in the created category with everything else besides God who is uncreated/eternal. But wait the scriptures especially Colossians 1:16 which says Jesus created all things. This means Jesus Christ can’t belong in the same category otherwise Christ would have to create Himself.
Watchtower takes Colossians 1:16 and instead of saying “all things” they altered the scripture to say “all other things” in order to fit with their own theology claiming Jesus is a created lesser god. Can you see how adding the word “other” completely changes the meaning of this text? these are just 1 of the sneaky tricks the Watchtower is known for.
This would make Jesus Christ God because He created the heavens and earth.
The Bible is clear that the Holy Spirit is God. We can determine the Holy Spirit is God in the following ways: (1) He’s called God. (2) He’s treated on an equal basis with God the Father and God the Son. (3) He has the attributes of God. (4) He does the work of God.
It certainly clear the Trinity can be seen in just these few verses and there are many more found in our Bible. This is a big dilemma for Jehovah Witnesses, and because this information is damaging to the Watchtower theology JW’s are instructed by the governing body not to research in order to keep them in the dark.
The Watchtower teaches that Christians believe in 3 gods, they cannot grasp like all non-Christians the understanding how 3 individuals of the Godhead can all be the Almighty God (Jehovah). JW’s agree the Father is God Almighty no argument there. When the subject of the Son or the Holy Spirit comes into play this is when the JW mind shuts down.
A logical illustration is imagine two persons named John and the other Mark. We are indeed talking about two distinct persons, one named John the other Mark; they are distinct one from another. Yet John and Mark are both human, John isn’t more human than Mark or vice versa. When grasping the difference between being and person then we can understand how it’s possible for the 3 Persons of the Godhead to be the 1 God.
This is clearly laid out in the scriptures more strongly in the New Testament but I will endeavour to show this in the Old Testament as the Trinity is all over the Bible.
Before Sodom and Gomorrah had fire and brimstone rained down upon, Abraham was visited by 3 men one of those men was called the LORD. In the beginning of Genesis chapter 18 we read:
Genesis 18:2 tells us the LORD came with 2 others, these other two turn out to be angels, later go ahead towards the city of Sodom and Gomorrah in order to witness what’s taking place in those cities.
Abraham eats food with God, the LORD then ask “Where is Sarah thy wife?” (Genesis 18:9) and goes onto tell Abraham how she will give birth (Genesis 18:10).
The covenant keeping God tells Sarah she’ll give birth and Sarah laughs because she’s been struggling with the fact that she’s been unable to give birth (Genesis 18:11). Additionally, she and Abraham are well in age and in unbelief thinks it’s not possible but we know that with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26, Mark 10:27).
The following verse says that “Sarah laughed within herself” (Genesis 18:12) the LORD then replies:
But wait the Jehovah Witnesses in their attempt to deny the deity of Christ will quote verses which highlights the humanity of Christ, Him being fully man while neglecting the verses which proves His deity. There’s 2 verses written by the apostle John which says:
Being that the Bible has no contradictions, then who did Abraham sit down with who is called the LORD in Genesis chapter 18? We can only come to the conclusion that’s it’s not God the Father nor God the Holy Spirit. That leaves only one Person and that’s the Lord Jesus Christ. It was the pre-incarnate Christ who makes numerous appearances in the Old Testament.
God is beyond His creation but understanding the Godhead is not completely out of our reach. I would have to disagree with the statement “there is nothing like this in creation”, if we look around we can see the stamp of God in creation, while yes it is true God is beyond His creation but He didn’t leave us utterly without being able to grasp the understanding of how God is 1 yet comprised of 3 distinct Persons.
This is just one example but as was demonstrated God has fixed the truth of Himself in all that before our eyes. This is why in the book of Romans says that we are without excuse.
Trinitarians are not without understanding, the Watchtower would have people think we’re scratching our heads in confusion but it’s just not so. Jesus Christ is of the same substance or nature as the Father, the same is true of the Holy Spirit. God is the perfect being who doesn’t need anything outside of Himself, all 3 Persons of the Godhead have eternally enjoyed perfect love and fellowship among the 3. The apostle John sums it up clearly in John 1:1, 1 John 5:7.
God didn’t leave us stranded without understanding how the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are the 1 God spoken of in scripture. He left us His word and we can see it in creation itself.
Here we have the comment “Trinitarians are not agreed among themselves” this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Those who hold to the Trinity doctrine all agree on the fundamental teachings. Unfortunately, there are doctrines which may seem similar but in actuality are not the same as Trinitarianism.
For instance modalist believe God is 1 being, where they differ is they claim God is absolutely 1 person. Modalism (also Sabellianism, Monarchianism) teaches the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are 1 Person, The Father changed into the Son at some point in time; and the Son turned into the Holy Spirit. Modalist deny the distinction of Persons within the Godhead, and it was classified as heresy by the early church. People who believe in modalism are not identified as Trinitarians.
Another heresy that exist is arianism which teaches the Father as Almighty God alone with the Son as a lesser created god such is the case with the Jehovah Witnesses in which they have a lower demi god. They also claim the Holy Spirit is not a Person but God’s “active force.” This heresy came about by Arius of Alexandria and has been the biggest criticizer of the Trinitarian doctrine.
The Godhead has been always present in scripture, Christians has always believed since the beginning there’s one God, who exists as three co-equal, co-eternal and co-substantial divine persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And while we do not get our doctrine from the early church fathers we can certainly establish they also held to the Trinity doctrine from these few early quotes.
Origen: “If anyone would say that the Word of God or the Wisdom of God had a beginning, let him beware lest he direct his impiety rather against the unbegotten Father, since he denies that he was always Father, and that he has always begotten the Word, and that he always had wisdom in all previous times or ages or whatever can be imagined in priority . . . There can be no more ancient title of almighty God than that of Father, and it is through the Son that he is Father” (De Princ. 1.2.; PG 11.132).
“For if [the Holy Spirit were not eternally as He is, and had received knowledge at some time and then became the Holy Spirit] this were the case, the Holy Spirit would never be reckoned in the unity of the Trinity, i.e., along with the unchangeable Father and His Son, unless He had always been the Holy Spirit.” (Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds., The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975 rpt., Vol. 4, p. 253, de Principiis, 1.111.4)
Ignatius of Antioch: “In Christ Jesus our Lord, by whom and with whom be glory and power to the Father with the Holy Spirit for ever” (n. 7; PG 5.988). “We have also as a Physician the Lord our God Jesus the Christ the only-begotten Son and Word, before time began, but who afterwards became also man, of Mary the virgin. For ‘the Word was made flesh.’ Being incorporeal, He was in the body; being impassible, He was in a passable body; being immortal, He was in a mortal body; being life, He became subject to corruption, that He might free our souls from death and corruption, and heal them, and might restore them to health, when they were diseased with ungodliness and wicked lusts.” (Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds., The ante-Nicene Fathers, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975 rpt., Vol. 1, p. 52, Ephesians 7.)
Tertullian: “We define that there are two, the Father and the Son, and three with the Holy Spirit, and this number is made by the pattern of salvation . . . [which] brings about unity in trinity, interrelating the three, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are three, not in dignity, but in degree, not in substance but in form, not in power but in kind. They are of one substance and power, because there is one God from whom these degrees, forms and kinds devolve in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” (Adv. Prax. 23; PL 2.156-7).
The Jehovah’s Witnesses, argue that the doctrine was “made up” during the time of the Council of Nicea (325). This council was brought together by Emperor Constantine to deal with the heresy of Arianism which was threatening the Christian Church. The council defined what was already established in the Bible concerning the Godhead, the nicene council sought to defend against the attack on the Person and deity of Christ. Which is what arianism is all about and continues today with such cults as the Watchtower.
What proof does the Watchtower have to substantiate such a claim? The Watchtower consistently misrepresents the biblical teaching of the Trinity, a organisation which makes the following statements.
“The doctrine, in brief, is that there are three gods in one: ‘God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost,; all three equal in power, substance and eternity.” (Let God Be True, 1952, p. 100).
Christians never taught “three gods in one” this misunderstanding of the Watchtower is the basis why Jehovah Witnesses do not understand the Trinity; as they continually misrepresent the teaching.
In this regard, Jesuit Joseph Bracken observes in his book What Are They Saying About the Trinity?: “Priests who with considerable effort learned . . . the Trinity during their seminary years naturally hesitated to present it to their people from the pulpit, even on Trinity Sunday. . . . Why should one bore people with something that in the end they wouldn’t properly understand anyway?” He also says: “The Trinity is a matter of formal belief, but it has little or no [effect] in day to day Christian life and worship.” Yet, it is “the central doctrine” of the churches!
Should You Believe in the Trinity?
It’s clear that if individuals seek to approach the Trinity doctrine purely through a carnal mind it’s beyond their understanding. This statement only proves there are people who find the Trinity perplexing not that the teaching itself is hard to understand. It becomes more understood if you can make the distinction between “Being” and “Person”, the first refers to nature while the second refers to an individual.
Catholic theologian Hans Kung observes in his book Christianity and the World Religions that the Trinity is one reason why the churches have been unable to make any significant headway with non-Christian peoples. He states: “Even well-informed Muslims simply cannot follow, as the Jews thus far have likewise failed to grasp, the idea of the Trinity.
Should You Believe in the Trinity?
Just because Muslims cannot grasp the Trinity doctrine doesn’t make it not true, the same way Catholics have a hard time understanding faith alone in Christ alone is how an individual is saved. The children of Israel sinned multiple times, they didn’t understand the LORD’s ways, we are not to follow the Jews but Christ Jesus Himself. Christ said He is the Way (John 14:6) not the Jews. The book of Isaiah tells us that the Jews eyes are closed to the truth (Isaiah 6:10, Isaiah 44:18), but there’s coming a time in which God will open their eyes to the truth.
As for this portion of the statement “Even well-informed Muslims…” according to their own sources Muslims deny Jesus died on the cross, that He’s the Son of God, and the Trinity is “the Father, Son and Mary.” How can the Watchtower even begin to think Muslims are an authority on scripture, their own Quran and Hadiths are contradictory to the Word of God. We certainly cannot take Islam’s word for how we are to understand doctrine.
The distinctions made by the doctrine of the Trinity between one God and three hypostases do not satisfy Muslims, who are confused, rather than enlightened, by theological terms derived from Syriac, Greek, and Latin. Muslims find it all a word game. . . . Why should anyone want to add anything to the notion of God’s oneness and uniqueness that can only dilute or nullify that oneness and uniqueness?”
Should You Believe in the Trinity?
It’s strange that the Watchtower would appeal towards Islam as a source of authority. Groups like Jehovah Witnesses, Muslims, Unitarians etc. Will over emphasise the “oneness” of God at the expense of the plurality in the Godhead. Witnesses will agree with the Christian on every point when it comes to God being 1, even though the Witnesses actually are not monotheist technically.
They are blinded by the fact that just as God the Father works, the Son also works (John 5:17). Anything the Father can do the Lord Jesus can do, this is a devastating passage for the Witnesses. Just as the Father raises the dead the Son does likewise (John 5:21). The Son of God gives eternal life (John 10:28), this can not be spoken of a mere angel; not even an archangel such as Michael can be spoken of giving eternal life. Eternal life can only come from God Himself and this is why while the word “Trinity” is not found in the Bible the doctrine is.
“Not a God of Confusion”
HOW could such a confusing doctrine originate? The Catholic Encyclopedia claims: “A dogma so mysterious presupposes a Divine revelation.” Catholic scholars Karl Rahner and Herbert V orgrimler state in their Theological Dictionary: “The Trinity is a mystery . . . in the strict sense … , which could not be known without revelation, and even after revelation cannot become wholly intelligible.”
Should You Believe in the Trinity?
The Watchtower loves to partially quote sources using dots and gaps in quotes to try to support their view, making it seem as if the other party is agreeing with their position, here’s the above quotes in their entirety.
“It is manifest that a dogma so mysterious presupposes a Divine revelation. When the fact of revelation, understood in its full sense as the speech of God to man, is no longer admitted, the rejection of the doctrine follows as a necessary consequence. For this reason it has no place in the Liberal Protestantism of today. The writers of this school contend that the doctrine of the Trinity, as professed by the Church, is not contained in the New Testament, but that it was first formulated in the second century and received final approbation in the fourth, as the result of the Arian and Macedonian controversies. In view of this assertion it is necessary to consider in some detail the evidence afforded by Holy Scripture. Attempts have been made recently to apply the more extreme theories of comparative religion to the doctrine of the Trinity, and to account for it by an imaginary law of nature compelling men to group the objects of their worship in threes. It seems needless to give more than a reference to these extravagant views, which serious thinkers of every school reject as destitute of foundation.”
Another use of the dots and gaps by Watchtower is in this statement by Karl Rahner and Herbert V orgrimler “The Trinity is a mystery . . . in the strict sense … , which could not be known without revelation, and even after revelation cannot become wholly intelligible.” That statement goes on to say: “Its import is as follows. (1) The one God exists in three “Persons” (Subsistence) which are the one divine Nature (the one divine essence, of divine substance) and therefore are equally eternal and almighty.”
However, contending that since the Trinity is such a confusing mystery, it must have come from divine revelation creates another major problem. Why? Because divine revelation itself does not allow for such a view of God: “God is not a God of confusion.”-1 Corinthians 14:33, Revised Standard Version (RS). In view of that statement, would God be responsible for a doctrine about himself that is so confusing that even Hebrew, Greek, and Latin scholars cannot really explain it?
Should You Believe in the Trinity?
Deception at its finest by the Watchtower. The source by Rahner and Orgrimler clearly states that God did reveal the trinity doctrine in the scriptures. Even God Himself couldn’t be understood without revelation and even after cannot be fully known. The Jehovah’s Witnesses use deception to make an argument against this fact. The LORD created all from nothing, does the Watchtower understand how God did this? God did not disclose how exactly He created everything, does that mean He’s a God of confusion? Definitely not! How can the finite creature explain the infinite the nature of the Creator? God is omniscient, how can God be all-knowing? That’s only for God to know and not us.
Furthermore, do people have to be theologians ‘to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent’? (John 17:3, JB) If that were the case, why did so few of the educated Jewish religious leaders recognize Jesus as the Messiah? His faithful disciples were, instead, humble farmers, fishermen, tax collectors, housewives. Those common people were so certain of what Jesus taught about God that they could teach it to others and were even willing to die for their belief.- Matthew 15: 1-9; 21:23-32, 43; 23 :13-36; John 7:45-49; Acts 4:13.
Should You Believe in the Trinity?
One must be born again to know the Father and Jesus Christ who sent into the world to save sinners. The Watchtower in the above statement is appealing to “knowledge” claiming the Pharisees who were educated didn’t recognise the Lord Jesus as the Messiah. Are Christians now to follow the Pharisees or Christ Himself? We do not get our doctrine from the Jewish religious leaders but from the risen Lord.
As the Bible says the Comforter who is the Holy Spirit, He will teach believers all things concerning Jesus Christ our Lord; He will testify about Christ and this is the only true way to know who God is.
Unfortunate for the Jehovah Witnesses who don’t believe in having the Holy Spirit, nor being born again. The Watchtower consistently goes against the teachings of Christ to their own detriment. If you’re an active Jehovah Witness leave the Watchtower and run to Jesus Christ for salvation, He’s the only salvation one can have.
Like all Black Hebrew Israelites, Sicarii believes Black people as well as Spanish and Indian people are the “true Hebrews.” Recently Sicarii visited Spanish Harlem in order to “wake people up to who they truly are”, claiming they are the “real Israelites.” Where do they get this idea from? Well, like all cults they use Bible verses out of context in order to indoctrinate others.
They claim minorities such as blacks, West Indians, Haitians, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Dominicans, Guatemalans & Panamanians, native American Indians, Seminole Indians, Colombians, Uruguayans, Mexicans, Argentinians and Chileans. Are from the 12 tribes spoken of in the Bible who have disobeyed the LORD and are suffering the curses spoken of in Deuteronomy 28 (we’ll dive more deeply at a later article), they say it refers to the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
Sicarii and other Black Hebrew Israelite camps use eisegesis to read themselves into a text found in scripture instead of using exegesis. For the purposes of this article it would be best to define what these 2 words mean to get a clearer understanding.
Eisegesis Definition: the interpretation of a text (as of the Bible) by reading into it one’s own ideas. First Known Use of eisegesis was in 1892.
Exegesis Definition: Exposition, Explanation especially : an explanation or critical interpretation of a text.
A tactic you’ll find executed by Sicarii is they’ll have 1 or 2 others reading portions of scripture while a 3rd members adds his eisegesis into the text to prove a point. The paring up of 1 main person (the speaker) will have 1 to 2 others by his side reading scriptures one after another in order to disorient the individual they are looking to indoctrinate.
While never reading verses in their entire context, it’s important to know when interpreting scripture to read a few verses before and after the text in question to get the full understanding of what’s being said; especially when you’re engaging BHI.
Preferably it’s better to understand the entire chapter and book to have fuller knowledge of what the author is telling us. This can be done in 2 ways, (1) is narrowing down to the text you’re focusing on. A visual of this is knowing the theme/background of the book for instance Galatians.
The theme of Galatians is Paul is confronting men who were spreading false doctrine saying a person must believe in Christ and be circumcised. Did you catch that? These men were coming unto the assembly of believers and told them they must believe on Christ plus keep the law in order to have salvation, this would be a false Gospel. The message was a mixture of Christianity and Judaism, this is exactly what the Black Hebrew Israelites teach.
(2) We look at the surrounding text in the book for this example lets take Galatians 2:4 which says:
Isolating the above text gives us a small understanding of what’s happening and cults love to do that in order to confuse you. Reading the surrounding text gives us more context to Galatians 2:4.
Galatians 2:1 Tells us Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem and took Titus with them. Galatians 2:2 tells us Paul went there by revelation and preached the gospel most likely there was a mix of Jews and Gentiles. Galatians 2:3 Paul tells us Titus a Greek, was not compelled to be circumcised: Galatians 2:4 And false believers came in spying our freedom in Jesus Christ to bring us into bondage (the Law). Galatians 2:5 Paul and Barnabas opposed those false believers that the truth of the gospel might continue with the believers in Galatia.
Then we can focus on the text being discussed which is Galatians 2:4 and it makes perfect sense being that we took the time to look at the context of that particular verse. (1) Theme of book (2) surrounding text (3) text in question. In a perfect world we would have the time to do this always, but when debating with the BHI we don’t have the time really to dive that deep.
The best thing to do is to look at the first 1-2 verses before Galatians 2:4 and the verse after to get a quick understanding of the context. Never allow them to isolate a verse as they will try to chain verses together which have no basis to be paired together.
As in Galatians 2:4 Sicarii takes it further saying you must be of a certain “nationality” to have salvation. This is the reason you’ll hear the BHI ask “what’s your nationality?” depending on your answer is how they will treat you. BHI believe only certain people are in God’s favor and all others cannot be saved. For instance anyone of German descent is from “Esau” and they believe that God hates Esau and will quote this verse.
From the verse above they claim it’s ok to hate others because God “hates Esau.” This of course doesn’t mean God actually hated Esau in fact God blessed Esau. God preferred Jacob over Esau as Esau was not in the lineage of Christ. How can we know this to be true? The Bible has no contradictions and we can gain better understanding of how words such as “hate” were used back then.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the One all believers should want to model after and we read from the Lord Himself in Luke 14:26 which says:
Here we see that Christ is saying if you prefer your father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters and your own life above Jesus Christ then you can’t be a follower of Christ. The love a believer has for the Lord must supersede and be first in our life. Now the question is was Christ telling us to actually hate our families and friends? Of course not because Jesus Christ is without sin, and to hate someone is sin.
Unless the Black Hebrew Israelites are ready to charge Jesus Christ with sin which I’m sure they don’t then their argument fails. If they are willing to say that God actually hates “Esau” would contradict His own word and Holy character and being.
If the Lord tells us to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:27, 35) then how can anyone think Christ would tell us to hate those closest to us but love our enemies? The Lord tells us to love all people, but He must be our first love, and that’s all Romans 9:13 is saying. Sicarii would take this verse to mean to hate others who are not minorities i.e. blacks and latinos. This is a gross misinterpretation of the scriptures.
Another belief Sicarii holds is that the Bible is only for Hebrew Israelites. They deny Gentiles are non-Jews found in the Bible by saying those who identified as Gentiles were in actuality Hebrews living in other lands and when the word Gentile us used it means “a gentile state of mind” in other words lost Jews. This is how they try to get around verses which clearly teach a distinction between Jews and non-Jews.
There are 2 words used in the Bible to describe an individual who is not from the nation of Israel. As mentioned earlier (1) Gentile and the other (2) nations, here are the definition for both.
Nations גּוֹיgôwy, go’-ee; rarely (shortened) גֹּי gôy; apparently from the same root as H1465 (in the sense of massing); a foreign nation; hence, a Gentile; also (figuratively) a troop of animals, or a flight of locusts:—Gentile, heathen, nation, people.
Outline of Biblical Usage masculine noun: I. nation, people A. nation, people i. usually of non-Hebrew people ii. of descendants of Abraham iii. of Israel B. of swarm of locusts, other animals (fig.) proper masculine noun C. Goyim? = “nations”
Gentiles ἝλληνHéllēn, hel’-lane; from G1671; a Hellen (Grecian) or inhabitant of Hellas; by extension a Greek-speaking person, especially a non-Jew:—Gentile, Greek.
Outline of Biblical Usage I. a Greek either by nationality, whether a native of the main land or of the Greek islands or colonies II. in a wider sense the name embraces all nations not Jews that made the language, customs, and learning of the Greeks their own; the primary reference is to a difference of religion and worship
One way around the objection that only Hebrews can be saved is by pointing them to Acts chapter 10. We have the account of Cornelius who was a centurion (Act 10:1) during the time Jerusalem was under the rulership of Ceasar and the Roman empire.
Cornelius is spoken of as being “devout man, and one that feared God with all his house” this is evidence that Cornelius obviously had some kind of belief in God. He didn’t know who God was at this point and time but he prayed to God always (Act 10:2). He had a vision an angel visited him and told him his prayers “come up for a memorial before God.”
Cornelius is told by the angel Simon Peter is in Joppa send for him (Acts 10:5) and he will tell you want to do (Acts 10:6). Cornelius sent men to bring Peter from Joppa and now Peter after receiving his own vision in Joppa is told by the Spirit to come to Cornelius (Acts 10:17, 10:19). When Peter comes into the house of Cornelius, he’s told about the vision Cornelius received and that he was visited by an angel.
Peter starts to preach the Gospel to Cornelius and everyone that was there from Cornelius’ household, and something extraordinary happens. Just like in Acts chapter 2 the Holy Spirit indwelt the believers in the upper room and they spoke in touges. So did Cornelius and all they of his household. Now remember Cornelius is a Roman centurion, there’s no chance that any Jew could be part of the Roman army as the Romans hated the Jews.
This plus many other verses prove that salvation is not only for the Hebrews but also for Gentile believers in Jesus Christ. I’ll leave you with a few more verses from the Old Testament which prove God wants to save both Jews and Gentiles. The word stranger(s) is another word which refers to non-jewish people.
Strangers (non-Jews) are to be treated as one born among the Hebrews. How are they keeping the commandments of God when the LORD says to “love him (the stranger) as thyself” is Sicarii loving the stranger as themselves?
Hebrews are called to love the stranger who lives among them, but so called “Black Hebrew Israelites” hate white people (non-minorities). But God Himself says that He loves the stranger and gives the stranger food and clothes. Therefore, God commanded the Hebrews to “love ye therefore the stranger” because the Hebrews are to be reminded when they were strangers in the land of Egypt.
The LORD tell the Israelites to give a fair portion of the inheritance to the strangers and themselves, these strangers are once again living among the Israelites.
In this passage of Isaiah the LORD is saying Egypt are His people and Assyria are the work of the LORD’s hands and Israel is His inheritance. Three sets of people are shown favor by the LORD.
Again the Lord Jesus is spoken of as the One who would gather Jacob (Israel) again to God. Even though Israel is not gathered Christ would still be glorious in the sight of God. This is the same glorious One will be a “light to the Gentiles” because Christ is the LORD’s salvation for all people not only Israelites.
In the last two articles we’ve been examining the teachings of a small influential cult called the Christadelphians. The Christadelphians deny the personhood of the Holy Spirit and believe He’s not distinct from the Father. Let’s dive into this one and see if that’s what the Bible teaches? If you’ve missed the last post you can view it here: Christadelphians “Doctrines to be Rejected” 2
We reject the doctrine that the Holy Spirit is a person distinct from the Father.
Other non-Trinitarian cults agree with the Christadelphians on the personhood of the Holy Spirit, calling Him an “it” and would say the Holy Spirit is “God’s active force” sort of like an electrical current or invisible power.
In the word of God we can gather that the Holy Spirit possesses all the traits and attributes of Personhood, He has a will, a mind, He speaks; and feels just like you and I. If these are not the characteristics of a person then I’m not sure what is?
I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter
The Lord Jesus told His disciples that He must go away, if not then the Holy Spirit wouldn’t come. The Holy Spirit was sent into the world by the Lord Jesus and the Father (John 14:16), just the same as Christ was sent into the world also by the Father (John 10:36, John 3:17, John 17:18). Only a person could be sent into the world, not a force or idea. In this article it’s my task to present to you the Personhood of the Holy Spirit.
The wonderful truth is we can only fellowship with a person, therefore, how important is it to the believer to recognise the Personhood of the Holy Spirit? There are no disagreements as to the Father and the Son (Jesus Christ) being distinct persons, so is the One who lives in believers is a person as well.
He possesses all components of personhood as you and I. Non-Christian cults such as the Christadelphians would refer to the Holy Spirit as an “it.” Confusion from text such as Romans 8:16 reads “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit” this can cause some to think the Holy Spirit is an “it” instead of a person.
This difficulty comes with the English translation. Do not be mistaken Christ refers to the Holy Spirit multiple times as being a “He.” In John chapters 14-16 the Holy Spirit is referenced as “He”, “Him.”
Note these 3 scriptures of many shows forth the characteristics of a person. The Lord Jesus says in John 14:17 the Holy Spirit is called “Him” and we can “know Him” but the world “cannot receive or see Him”, but believers can because “He” will dwell in us.
Christ continues in John 15:26 saying “when the Comforter is come” only a person can “come” only a person can “send” another person. And the verse says the Holy Spirit will “testify of me” that’s of Christ Jesus. Then in John 16:13“the Spirit of truth” is called “He” and will “guide” believers into all truth. He “speaks” and “hears” lastly He will show believers things to come. Look at all the personal pronouns just in 3 verses.
The Holy Spirit also possesses all the categories of personality that is intelligence,emotion and will. 3 more scriptures which come to mind in regards to these categories are:
Intelligence gives a person the ability to think, know and understand things. This is shown in the book of Romans chapter 8 in which apostle Paul explains to believers the Spirit has a mind of His own “the mind of the Spirit” (Romans 8:27). The verse before tells is the Spirit “maketh intercession” (Romans 8:26) for believers only a person who has consciousness can perform such an act.
Emotion is the capacity to feel whether those feelings are sadness, joy or anger; these are only displayed from a person. We find in the book of Ephesians the Holy Spirit can be grieved. The definition of “grieved” is (1)to cause to suffer distress (2) to feel or show grief over (3) to submit a formal grievance concerning. Believers are told “grieve not the Holy Spirit” or don’t cause distress to the Holy Spirit.
The biblical definition of grieve: λυπέωlypéō, loo-peh’-o; from G3077; to distress; reflexively or passively, to be sad:—cause grief, grieve, be in heaviness, (be) sorrow(-ful), be (make) sorry.
Outline of Biblical Usage I. to make sorrowful II. to affect with sadness, cause grief, to throw into sorrow III. to grieve, offend IV. to make one uneasy, cause him a scruple
How can an impersonal force be caused grief or sorrow? It can’t, it’s just not possible for electricity or wind to be grieved or have emotions. The Christadelphians like other cults that deny the Trinity fail to understand the Personhood of the Holy Spirit. We agree the Father and Son are persons but when it comes to the Holy Spirit they fail to see these scriptural truths.
Will is the ability to make choices, in the book of Acts we’re given insight as the Holy Spirit gave direction to Paul and Barnabas asking for them to separate which was accompanied with speech.
Acts 13:2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
It’s simple to see the Holy Spirit possesses the same characteristics of personhood we do (intellegence, emotion, will), the Holy Spirit is called “He” and “Him” and is able to think, feel and make decisions. If this doesn’t constitute Personhood then what does? In our future article we’ll answer the question does man have an immortal soul.
Hello it’s been a little while since our last post. We will be doing a series, examining the Brochure from the Watchtower called “Should you believe in the Trinity?” The Jehovah Witnesses are but a few groups who deny the doctrine of the Godhead/Trinity and call it satanic. It’s our endeavour to search out and see if the Trinity doctrine holds up to scrutiny or crumbles under critical observation.
1. Should You Believe It?
DO YOU believe in the Trinity? Most people in Christendom do. After all, it has been the central doctrine of the churches for centuries. In view of this, you would think that there could be no question about it. But there is, and lately even some of its supporters have added fuel to the controversy. Why should a subject like this be of any more than passing interest? Because Jesus himself said: “Eternal life is this: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” So our entire future hinges on our knowing the true nature of God, and that means getting to the root of the Trinity controversy. Therefore, why not examine it for yourself?—John 17:3, Catholic Jerusalem Bible (JB).
Should You Believe in the Trinity?
Often Jehovah Witnesses cite verses such as John 17:3 as a “proof text” is teaching against the Godhead/Trinity but they seem to miss the context of the verse. It’s perhaps the most intimate chapter of the Bible, we get to listen in on the Lord’s High priestly prayer.
The Lord Jesus is moments away from being taken captive to be brought before Pontius Pilate and later crucified. He [Jesus Christ] lifted up his eyes to heaven and spoke of the intimate fellowship the Son has with the Father and that believers also will enjoy.
Christ says “that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” the JW immediately would say see Jesus calls the Father the only true God. They place emphasis on the Father being God alone, but they never look at the verse in its entirety. The text says the Father and the Son are the one God.
The Bible doesn’t only call the Father God it also ascribes this to the Son Jesus Christ as well. 1 John has a similar text which is speaking only of the Lord Jesus and it says:
Why don’t Jehovah Witnesses take this verse in 1 John 5:20 in context with John 17:3? The Watchtower teaches them Jesus is not God Almighty and practice Arianism a heresy the early church condemned.
Various Trinitarian concepts exist. But generally the Trinity teaching is that in the Godhead there are three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; yet, together they are but one God. The doctrine says that the three are coequal, almighty, and uncreated, having existed eternally in the Godhead.
Should You Believe in the Trinity?
The Jehovah Witnesses understanding of the Trinity is wrong, when they say they don’t believe in the Trinity they are attacking the teaching of modalism. Christians have never taught modalism to be the doctrinal teaching of the Godhead.
Notice they start by saying “Various Trinitarian concepts exist” this is not true for there is only one true doctrine of the Trinity which Trinitarians believe. Which is we believe there is one God, who exists as three co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial divine persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Each one of the persons in the Godhead share the same nature which is the one nature of God. We do not believe in 3 separate gods, neither do we believe the Father at one time changed into the Son and the Son changed into the Holy Spirit.
This is not what Trinitarians believe. Trinitarians believe all 3 persons of the Godhead exist at the same time in perfect fellowship before all creation even began. We find this wonderful truth in the very beginning of our Bible.
Elohim or God is a plural word the text also mentions the Spirit of God that’s the Holy Spirit. There are many passages in the Old Testament that teaches the doctrine of the Trinity, it’s just more plainly seen in the New Testament.
אֱלֹהִיםʼĕlôhîym, el-o-heem’; plural of H433; gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative:—angels, exceeding, God (gods) (-dess, -ly), (very) great, judges, mighty.
Outline of Biblical Usage
(plural)
rulers, judges
divine ones
angels
gods
(plural intensive – singular meaning)
god, goddess
godlike one
works or special possessions of God
the (true) God
God
Others, however, say that the Trinity doctrine is false, that Almighty God stands alone as a separate, eternal, and all-powerful being. They say that Jesus in his prehuman existence was, like the angels, a separate spirit person created by God, and for this reason he must have had a beginning. They teach that Jesus has never been Almighty God’s equal in any sense; he has always been subject to God and still is. They also believe that the holy ghost is not a person but God’s spirit, his active force.
Should You Believe in the Trinity?
In speaking of the Almighty God the book of Revelation informs us on this matter.
As we examine the verses it say “Behold, he cometh with clouds” is the Father the one coming in the clouds? Reading on it also says “every eye shall see him, and they [also] which pierced him” every eye will see Him, are they going to see the Father? The Bible says the Father dwells in light which no man can approach. The one who’s coming was pierced, was the Father or the Son pierced? By asking these simple questions we see it can’t be speaking of the Father in Revelation 1:7-8.
The same person in Revelation 1:7-8 speaks saying “Amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” We see here this individual calls Himself the Almighty, but not only that He says “which is to come” who’s coming if it’s not the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
Supporters of the Trinity say that it is founded not only on religious tradition but also on the Bible. Critics of the doctrine say that it is not a Bible teaching, one history source even declaring: “The origin of the [Trinity] is entirely pagan.”—The Paganism in Our Christianity.
Should You Believe in the Trinity?
The above quote is very misleading, first it was taken by Arthur Weigall and his book called “paganism in our christianity.” Arthur is a modernist and doesn’t believe the Bible is God’s word, in his book not only does he speak against Christianity but he also speaks against the Watchtower calling their own beliefs “Angel-Christology.”
The Watchtower uses strawman arguments in their attack against the Trinity trying to assert something Christians do not believe in the first place. Christians believe in only 1 God, we don’t believe in 3 gods as Watchtower claims. Trinitarianism is monotheistic because the doctrine teaches there’s only 1 God and within the 1 God exist 3 co-eternal co-equal Person’s the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. The 3 distinct Persons are all fully God and share the one nature of God.
Jehovah Witnesses are actually not monotheist because they believe in Jehovah and reduce Jesus Christ to a lesser “godlike” angel or “a god.” This means they are actually polytheistic in their belief, more specifically Henotheism.
Henotheism is the belief of one particular God in this case “Jehovah” out of several others namely Jesus (a god) and many others. Watchtower teaches there are others who also can be called god even though they are not Jehovah God they get this from 1 Corinthians 8:5 by pulling the text out of context saying Paul the apostle taught there are many legitimate gods. This of course is not the meaning of that particular text. By reading the surrounding text we can get the true context of that verse.
1 Corinthians 8:4-6 As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol [is] nothing in the world, and that [there is] none other God but one. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us [there is but] one God, the Father, of whom [are] all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom [are] all things, and we by him.
Paul was addressing the believers in Corinth that any other “god” is actual not god at all but an idol and therefore it’s nothing. When the Jehovah Witnesses claim Jesus is not God but “a god” they are placing Jesus in the category of a false God. Christians never would agree to this because we believe Christ Jesus is the Almighty God along with the Father and the Holy Spirit. All 3 Persons of the Godhead are the 1 Almighty God.
Lastly, the doctrine of the Trinity/Godhead didn’t derive from pagan triads of deities. It was formulated by Christians strictly on the basis of the teachings of God’s word. The Watchtower points to Babylonian religion which was polytheistic and makes the statement that the Trinity came from such. This is of course not so, the Babylonians believed in not just 3 separate gods but a plethora of gods. Christians don’t believe in a multitude of gods we only worship 1 God.
If the Trinity is true, it is degrading to Jesus to say that he was never equal to God as part of a Godhead. But if the Trinity is false, it is degrading to Almighty God to call anyone his equal, and even worse to call Mary the “Mother of God.” If the Trinity is false, it dishonors God to say, as noted in the book Catholicism: “Unless [people] keep this Faith whole and undefiled, without doubt [they] shall perish everlastingly. And the Catholic Faith is this: we worship one God in Trinity
Should You Believe in the Trinity?
Watchtower claims it’s “degrading to Jesus” to say He was never equal to God if the Trinity is true? Christians have always believed the Lord Jesus Christ is equal to the Father because they share the same nature. The watchtower argument against the deity of Christ is that Jesus is not Jehovah but “a god.” If the Father alone is Jehovah (the true God) then what does that make Jesus if He’s not Almighty God?
Is Jesus Christ a true God or a false god? There are no other choices either Christ is the True God just as His Father is also the True God, or Jesus is an additional god who is not truly God. This brings a big problem for the Jehovah Witness theology, when they started teaching Jesus was a created being it made them have 2 God’s.
Watchtower’s teaching of Jesus is merely a created creature as opposed to being God Almighty is degrading to Jesus Christ to demote Him to an angel or “godlike one” is completely heretical on their part. The Bible tells us that the Son should receive the same honour the Father receives.
Does the Watchtower honour the Son even as the Father is honoured? According to them the Father (Jehovah) alone is to be worshipped. Yet we have abundant proof that Christ was worshipped in the scriptures.
There are good reasons, then, why you should want to know the truth about the Trinity. But before examining its origin and its claim of truthfulness, it would be helpful to define this doctrine more specifically. What, exactly, is the Trinity? How do supporters of it explain it?
Should You Believe in the Trinity?
The Watchtower consistently misrepresents the doctrine of the Trinity, they assume Christians believe the Father and Jesus Christ are the same Person. This statement couldn’t be farther from the truth, Christians have consistently believed there is only 1 God and that 1 God consist of 3 distinct Persons. Each Person of the Godhead are fully and equally God because all 3 share the same nature.
Christians reject the notion of 3 separate gods, we are not tritheist, we affirm Deuteronomy 6:4 but can’t over look the distinction between the 3 Persons of the Godhead laid out in the scriptures. If you want to know more about The Doctrine of the Trinity feel free to read our past article. Moving forward we’ll continue to examine the Watchtower’s “Should You Believe in the Trinity?”
It came suddenly a knock on the door, but you’re not expecting anyone who can this be? As you open the door you’re confronted with a well dressed individual, a Jehovah Witnesses. Immediately the Jehovah Witnesses goes into their well trained presentation, depending on the message that particular day they will ask leading questions.
All in the attempts to get you to agree to a “home bible study”. This is one of the main ways JW’s lure in unsuspecting people into the Watchtower cult. They will speak of subjects which are appealing to the flesh. What they won’t tell you upfront is that Jehovah Witnesses believe you must be part of the organisation in order to be saved.
If you visit the FAQ page on their website there’s an article called “Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Feel That They Are the Only People Who Will Be Saved?” if you ask “must I be a Jehovah Witness in order to be saved?” they will tell you no, as the following quote says:
It’s pretty clear that the Watchtower is deceptive in what they teach, on JW.ORG they will paint the organisation one way claiming “No. Many millions who lived in centuries past and who weren’t Jehovah’s Witnesses will have an opportunity for salvation.” but truly say “survival of individuals today depends on their faith and their loyal association with the earthly part of Jehovah’s universal organization.”
There’s double talk when speaking to Jehovah Witnesses and any group which claims exclusivity on salvation is a cult. Salvation is only found in Jesus Christ alone. Not in any organisation or group, the Lord Jesus said:
John 11:25-26 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
This is the first article concerning the World Mission Society Church Of God. We’ve been warned time and time again by our Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles to remain steadfast in the faith because many deceivers and false teachers would teach heretical doctrines.
It’s in our best interest to remain focused on Christ and by doing so we come to know our Lord more each day, as we study the scriptures we’ll not be in a dangerous position to be lured into any cult. Because we’ll be able to distinguish true teachings of the Bible from the false. We’re starting with a high level view of WMSCOG’s beliefs otherwise known as the “Mother god church”. I myself am learning what they teach so bare along with me.
Any group which claims exclusivity on “the truth” or makes any statement that you need to be part of their church in order to have salvation is a cult. According to the WMSCOG website it claims (1) “The church that Jesus established and the apostles attended is the Church of God” (2) “The Church of God, which we are attending today, is the only legitimate church that God has established to save human beings” (3) “Let us confirm that the Church of God is the true church that has inherited the truth.”
In this statement they claim Jesus established their church, it’s the only legitimate church established to save human beings and they alone are the true church. We can conclude WMSCOG is saying all other churches are not “legitimate.”
The issue is any group which comes along with a “new teaching” or “revelation” cannot be Christian. This is how cults start with some new teaching no one ever heard of. If this is true then why didn’t the Lord Jesus or any of the apostles preach about “mother god?” That’s because what WMSCOG teaches is not in the Bible, they take specific scriptures and pull them out of their context in order to deceive others in believing what the cult teaches.
The WMSCOG is reminiscent of the Jehovah Witnesses with a different twist. They’re both legalistic teaching their members they have to observe rule keeping, both have a distorted view of who Jesus Christ is. This group in particular claims a dead Korean man named Ahn Sahng hong is Jesus Christ and God the Father. Which highly blasphemous on many levels.
Nowhere in the Bible will you find “god the mother”, the scriptures the WMSCOG uses in order to get you to believe this are (Mt 6:9) and (Gal 4:26). Let’s look at those verses closely and see if “god the mother” is spoken of. By looking at the surrounding text we can get the context of what’s being said.
The Lord Jesus was asked by His disciples to teach them how to pray.
AhnSungHong the false Christ renounced Buddhism and was baptised in 1948, at the time he was attending the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Afterwards he was excommunicated in the year of 1962 from the Seventh-day Adventist over disputes he held against the cross. A few others left the SDA and followed Ahn and in 1964 he then established his own group called Witnesses of Jesus Church of God.
Some beliefs Ahn’s taught was baptism as the first step towards salvation. Everyone must adhere to keeping the Sabbath day, and not worship on Sundays. He also considered the cross to be idolatry. The Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread should be kept. As well as other feasts found in Leviticus 23.
During the course of Ahn’s Witnesses of Jesus Church of God another member by the name of Um Sooin, created a division with a new teaching. She claimed through tying in different verses using eisegesis that she was “the only bride”, “the Heavenly Jerusalem”, “the New Jerusalem” on earth, “the comforter sent by God.”
This in turn caused Ahn to write a book refuting Um Sooin called Problems with the New Jerusalem, the Bride and Women’s Veils in which Ahn said:
Ahn Sahng-hong, Problems with the New Jerusalem, the Bride and Women’s Veils, 1980 & 1983
Even within this cult they cannot agree on doctrine, it shows the confusion within the World Mission Society Church of God. The Bible tells us that God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33) and if God is not the author of confusion then this means satan is the one working within this group.
Here’s another paragraph from the WMSCOG in which they claim to believe in the Bible and its entirety then say “come to God the Father and God the Mother.” The Bible never teaches anything about god the Mother, therefore, we can conclude the members do not believe the Bible but what they are told by their leaders what the Bible means.
All cults operate in this way they indoctrinate people in regards to certain teachings to the point when the individual tries to read the Bible for themselves they do so with a filter which was provided by the group in question in this case WMSCOG.
This is only meant to be an introductory insight into what this particular group believes, it’s our intention to dig deeper into the World Mission Society Church Of God doctrines in later issues. Thanks for reading, stay safe and God bless.
The term “born again” refers to a new beginning in the relationship between God and the person who is born again. (John 3:3,7) God adopts those born again as his children. (Romans 8:15, 16; Galatians 4:5; 1 John 3:1) Similar to those who are legally adopted, they experience a change of status, becoming part of God’s family.—2 Corinthians 6:18.
What Does It Mean to Be Born Again? Bible Questions Answered
Jehovah Witnesses believe only a small amount of people called the “anointed class” more commonly known as the 144,000 can be born again having a heavenly hope. They pull these verses out of context from (Revelation 7:9, Revelation 14:1, 4-5) and take the number (144,000) literal yet they will also say all other references concerning them are figurative.
Does the Bible say can only a small group of 144,000 individuals be born again or is it possible that more than 144,000 people can be born again?
In John 1:12 it states “as many”, there’s no limited number here telling us only 144,000 people can only be born again. The words “as many” means an unlimited number can receive Jesus Christ. To be born again means to be made a new creature in Christ(2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 6:15), to be justified(Romans 5:1, 9, Romans 8:30, 1 Corinthians 6:11, Galatians 2:16) and reconciled to God(Romans 5:10, 2 Corinthians 5:20).
Paul the apostle touches upon teaches this truth, that Christ has only one body found in the book of Ephesians.
Seen from Ephesians 3:1-7 “That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body” this gives clarity pertaining to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ in John chapter 10. When He spoke of “other sheep” it was in revealing those “other sheep” as Gentiles, non-Jews. We know this because He was speaking concerning “this fold” meaning the Jewish people in this chapter.
Jesus said: “Unless anyone is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) So being born again prepares a person to rule with Christ in God’s Kingdom. This Kingdom rules from heaven, so the Bible describes the “new birth” as providing an inheritance that is “reserved in the heavens.” (1 Peter 1:3, 4) Those who are born again are given the conviction that they will “rule together as kings” with Christ.—2 Timothy 2:12; 2 Corinthians 1:21, 22.
What Does It Mean to Be Born Again? Bible Questions Answered
The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society teaches there’s 2 classes of Christians, a small group named the “anointed class”. This special class are the only Christians who have the Holy Spirit. The other group called the “great crowd” are Christians who don’t have the Holy Spirit. These unbiblical teachings from the Watchtower are taught from Revelation 7:9 (great crowd) and Revelation 7:3,4 (144,000).
This doctrine of a 2 class system created by Joseph Franklin Rutherford in 1935, prior to his teaching the founder Charles Taze Russell taught Christians, “Jehovah Witnesses” all had a heavenly hope. Russell said the “heavenly calling” was closed, only 144,000 had been chosen by 1881. Rutherford as second president moved the date of 1881 to 1931.
The Bible shows that the “Great Crowd” are located in heaven. The current Watchtower teaches believers in Jesus Christ having two hopes this is contradictory with biblical teaching of the Other Sheep becoming “one flock” found in Ephesians.
Notice one body and one hope, one body in Christ. The Jehovah Witnesses teach there are two bodies and two hopes, the bible never teaches two hopes or classes of Christians.
How is a person born again?
When Jesus discussed the subject, he said that those born again would be “born from water and spirit.” (John 3:5) This expression refers to baptism in water followed by baptism with holy spirit.—Acts 1:5; 2:1-4.
What Does It Mean to Be Born Again? Bible Questions Answered
What was the Lord Jesus referring to when He said “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit”? If we take the Watchtower’s interpretation that being “born of water” means baptism this would contradict the rest of scripture. We read in the Bible that salvation is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
Baptism is a command the Lord gave for those who have already been saved by trusting in Christ. Baptism was not given as a means of salvation. The mention of water can refer to the Word of God (Ephesians 5:25, 26, 1 Peter 1:23, James 1:18). This can also refer to the Holy Spirit who is often a likened to water (John 7:38, 39), we also remember the Lord speaking of rivers of living water.
The Watchtower completely misunderstands and misapplies John 3:5 teaching a works based salvation.
Jesus was the first person to be born again. He was baptized in the Jordan River, after which God anointed (or, baptized) him with holy spirit. Jesus was thus born again as a spiritual son of God with the hope of returning to life in heaven. (Mark 1:9-11) God fulfilled this hope by resurrecting Jesus as a spirit creature.—Acts 13:33.
What Does It Mean to Be Born Again? Bible Questions Answered
The Lord Jesus DID NOT have to be born again because He’s sinless, undefiled and separate from sinners (Hebrews 7:26). Only sinners need to be born again so why did Jesus Christ get baptized by John the Baptist? The Lord tells us why it was to fulfill all righteousness.
This was done by the Lord to fulfill all that the Old Testament and New Testament saints did in accordance to God’s word. For instance the Bible in the Old Testament speaks of sprinkling when it came to blood or anointing with oil etc.
The Lord by being baptized was confirming all which was done back then all the way to present and future acts such as baptism by immersion. This was the real meaning behind Jesus being baptised.
Notice what the Watchtower says here “with the hope of returning to life in heaven” yes the Lord did return to heaven but they won’t tellyou that they believe Jesus returned as “Michael the arc-angel” Jehovah Witnesses do not believe Jesus is a real man in heaven but and angel.
Another very important fact to point out is this “God fulfilled this hope by resurrecting Jesus as a spirit creature.” The Jehovah Witnesses deny the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is very serious to deny the bodily resurrection is a salvific problem. Anyone who denies the physical body resurrection of Jesus Christ cannot have salvation.
The Christian faith hinges on the resurrection of Christ if the resurrection never happened then everything else falls our hope would be in vain.
This is why no one involved in a non-Christian cult can be saved; world religions for that matter as well. Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and others deny Jesus Christ in many ways especially the resurrection. With the JW’s they say Jesus body was disintegrated and He rose as a “spirit creature.” Jesus didn’t rise from the dead in the same body which was on the cross. Very dangerous for those who reject the resurrection.
Jesus Christ rose bodily all you need to prove this is see that the Lord had His disciples to touch the wounds in His body, He also ate food with them. If He was not raised in the same body then He would not have wounds, additionally a spirit would not as for food to eat and continue to ingest food before them. Lastly He told them He’s not a spirit but that He does indeed have flesh and bone.
Yet the Jehovah Witnesses will believe the Watchtower’s teaching over what the Bible says.
Others who are born again are also baptized in water before they receive the holy spirit. (Acts 2:38, 41) They then have the sure hope of life in heaven, which God will fulfill in the resurrection.—1 Corinthians 15:42-49.
What Does It Mean to Be Born Again? Bible Questions Answered
It’s obvious by this quote from the Watchtower they don’t understand that a Christian is saved first and given the Holy Spirit at the point of salvation. Afterwards then is the believer baptised to signify that they have died with Christ and are raised in newness of life.
Baptism doesn’t save anyone on Jesus Christ saves, people received the Holy Spirit in the Bible before baptism. Read Acts chapter 10 and you’ll see that Cornelius was given the Holy Spirit before he was baptised.
Misconceptions about being born again
Misconception: A person must be born again to gain salvation or to be a Christian. Fact: Christ’s sacrifice provides salvation not only for those who are born again as the ones who will rule with Christ in heaven but also for the earthly subjects of God’s Kingdom. (1 John 2:1, 2; Revelation 5:9, 10) That second group of Christians have the opportunity to live forever in Paradise on earth.—Psalm 37:29; Matthew 6:9, 10; Revelation 21:1-5.
What Does It Mean to Be Born Again? Bible Questions Answered
The Watchtower teaches it’s a “Misconception” that an individual must be born again. Again we see the great damage being done by cults they undermine the very words of the Lord Jesus, distorting the Bible thereby deceiving its members in this case Jehovah Witnesses who aren’t allowed to research outside of the societies publications.
The Lord Jesus told Nicodemus “you must be born again.” How can a group which claims to believe in the Bible contradict it so much?
Please note what the Watchtower says here “Christ’s sacrifice provides salvation not only for those who are born again as the ones who will rule with Christ in heaven but also for the earthly subjects of God’s Kingdom.” The Watchtower teaches a 2 class system, they believe there’s a small group of anointed Christians who will live in heaven and a larger group which will live on earth who aren’t anointed.
Nowhere will you find this doctrine in the Bible, the “2 class system” was invented by Joseph Rutherford 1935.
The Bible specifically tells us there’s one body (Romans 12:4-5, 1 Corinthians 10:17, 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 20, Ephesians 2:16, Ephesians 4:4, Colossians 3:15) and one hope (Ephesians 4:4). How is it then the Jehovah Witnesses have two bodies with two hopes? The doctrines of the Watchtower are erroneous to say the least. Lastly you will not find the phrase “paradise earth” anywhere in the Bible.
Misconception: A person can choose to be born again. Fact: The opportunity to have a relationship with God and gain salvation is open to all. (1 Timothy 2:3, 4; James 4:8) However, God chooses those who will be born again, or anointed with holy spirit. According to the Bible, being born again “depends, not on a person’s desire or on his effort, but on God.” (Romans 9:16) The expression “born again” can also be rendered “born from above,” confirming that the selection of those who are born again comes “from above,” or from God.—John 3:3, footnote.
What Does It Mean to Be Born Again? Bible Questions Answered
Another misunderstanding the Watchtower makes is that God chooses some to be born again, while God chooses others not to be born again yet somehow these individuals who are not born again are Christians. They would lead the reader to believe Christians are teaching anyone “can choose to be born again.”
This is far from the truth, Christianity teaches that God draws the guilty sinner and at the point of conversion the individual is sealed by the Holy Spirit indwelling the new believer. No where will you find in the Bible a person who is a believer in Jesus Christ but yet not born again.
The Watchtower is caught between a rock and a hard place. A core teaching for witnesses is that only 144,000 people will enter heaven. And they will rule as kings with Jesus. This number is based on misinterpretation of Revelation 7 and 14, and proven untrue by Watchtower’s own numbers of those who partake of the emblems during the “memorial”.
Watchtower would have people believe that since the 1st century Christians on the day of Pentecost till 1935 those who would be called to be part of the 144,000 has “closed.” Does the Watchtower expect us to believe the that number 144,000 was not reached before the Society was even formed?
On the day of Pentecost we’re told three thousand souls were saved after the apostle Peter preached Christ to the people (Acts 2:41). In Acts chapter 4 we have the apostles Peter and John going into the temple again they preached Christ crucified and five thousand people believed (Acts 4:4). Afterwards we’re not given the number of converts but we see how fast the Church was growing.
In Acts 5 we have another multitude of people who believed in the Lord Jesus and added to the church.
This is the theme of the book of Acts so thousands of people were saved in the 1st century alone. Is it logical to believe that the number 144,000 wouldn’t be reached way before 1935 when the Watchtower claims “the heavenly calling was closed?”
In the year 95 A.D. 40,000 Christians are said to have been martyred alone. We can conclude that the number 144,000 would have been quickly reached way before Charles Taze Russell came and formed the Watchtower. There is not a two class group of Christians, the Bible tells us that there’s One Body and One Hope. All believers in Christ are anointed and heaven bound.
We hope and pray that if you’re a Jehovah Witness you’ll research the history of the Watchtower Society outside of their own publications if you’d like to know the true history, because the Watchtower has whitewashed their own history to hide the facts from you.
It’s truly a sad day when we see how sinful mankind is, here we are smack dab in the middle of a global pandemic. People are dying by the truck loads, world wide according to the Wikipedia’s Template:2019–20 coronavirus pandemic data chart which has live updates, we now have 2,310,572 confirmed cases worldwide.
In the epicenter of this pandemic New York, there’s 236,732 in New York State confirmed with COVID-19, New York City bears a little more than half of that number tallying 131,263 and has resulted in 8,893 death thus far.
You would think this would wake people up to the fact of sin in the world. That individuals hearts would be open and there are those whose hearts have been opened to the fact that one day we all will be faced with death. None of us are immortal and have an appointment with death which we cannot change.
And while the numbers of deaths continue to climb due to COVID-19 New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo said this:
“The number is down because we brought the number down.” And emphasized: “God did not do that. Faith did not do that. Destiny did not do that. A lot of pain and suffering did that . . . That’s how it works. It’s math. And if you don’t continue to do that, you’re going to see that number go back up. And that will be a tragedy if that number goes back up.”
Andrew Cuomo Governor of New York
Here’s a man who has blasphemed God, who has undermined people’s faith in the God who can save people from this pandemic. If Andrew Cuomo has no belief in God that’s his choice but to come out on a public forum a try to denounce the God who made you.
All of the things he enjoy’s car, home, political career as well as having a family, health and financial stability how are these things possible without God? Andrew Cuomo is not exempt from sin, he also needs the living Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ. Andrew Cuomo not only spoke blasphemous against the LORD GOD our Creator, Cuomo has also advocated for abortion rights signing the expanded abortion rights into law.
Many of us have taken all that God has given us for granted, and because of man’s pride and sinful nature the nation has become ungodly by the day. By the removing of God from our schools, the open celebrations of homosexuality and pride parades; and by neglecting to teach our children the word of God. By the secular universities which teach evolution and the growing religion of atheism. This world has become a dark place.
Andrew Cuomo doesn’t realise it now but there’s coming a day when he will have to stand before the God of the universe to give an account for all he’s said and done. And for his sake I hope he does it as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and not as a secular humanist.
It’s up to Christians everywhere to continue to pray for all those people who lost their loved ones, those who are providing medical help in hospitals. For the homeless who are on the streets hungry and fully exposed to this disease, for police who are trying to keep order, for MTA workers keeping transportation running, for supermarket workers providing available food.
We need to continue to pray for America, Canada, Italy and all the countries of the world. People need God more than ever and nows the time for us to pray that they would seek the Lord while He may be found (Isaiah 55:6-7)
The Watchtower taught to worship Jesus until 1954, afterwards they changed their beliefs saying to worship Jesus Christ was idolatrous. Now The Jehovah Witness religion is in reality a polytheistic religion claiming Jesus is not God but a god.
Most Jehovah Witnesses are ignorant of the history of the Watchtower and what they taught. Charles Taze Russell taught the worship of Jesus Christ in the initial Watchtower Charter’s. In the 1950’s and onward worshipping the Lord Jesus Christ became viewed as idolatry.
First, we have to understand what Paul meant here by worship. He used the Greek word pro·sky·neʹo. Unger’s Bible Dictionary says that this word literally means to ‘kiss the hand of someone in token of reverence or to do homage.’ An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, by W. E. Vine, says that this word “denotes an act of reverence, whether paid to man . . . or to God.” In Bible times pro·sky·neʹo often included literally bowing down before someone of high stature.
Is It Proper to Worship Jesus? Awake! April 8, 2000
προσκυνέωproskynéō, pros-koo-neh’-o; from G4314 and a probable derivative of G2965 (meaning to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s hand); to fawn or crouch to, i.e. (literally or figuratively) prostrate oneself in homage (do reverence to, adore):—worship.
to kiss the hand to (towards) one, in token of reverence
among the Orientals, esp. the Persians, to fall upon the knees and touch the ground with the forehead as an expression of profound reverence
in the NT by kneeling or prostration to do homage (to one) or make obeisance, whether in order to express respect or to make supplication
used of homage shown to men and beings of superior rank
to the Jewish high priests
to God
to Christ
to heavenly beings
to demons
The Watchtower changed the word “worship” which all bibles use in order to show Jesus Christ is to be worshipped as God, and replaced it with “obeisance” in the verses which speaks about Christ deity.
Here are Watchtower quotes which prove they used to teach to worship Jesus Christ as God.
Russell’s understanding of who the Lord Jesus Christ is was incorrect because he thought Jesus was God the Father. That aside Russell did teach Jesus was to be worshipped. When Russell died the new president Joseph Franklin Rutherford continued teaching the same.
In the 1950’s, the Watchtower organisation changed their teaching on Jesus to correspond with their manipulated the New World Translation. In opposition to other scholarly translations, the Jehovah Witness “bible” translates the word proskuneō as obeisance rather than worship when pertaining to Jesus Christ. Every other occurrence, in the New World Translation translates the word proskuneō as worship.
With all the flip flops in doctrine we can clearly see that the Watchtower is not being used by God in anyway. We have verse upon verse which proves the Lord Jesus is to be worshipped as God.
Apocalyptic groups use fear tactics in order to spread panic in order to gain more followers. Once such group is the Watchtower organisation. This global pandemic is a gold mine for them. Some of the grandiose claims made by the Jehovah Witnesses is astounding, quotes stating to join their organisation for salvation.
‘Stay Awake and Keep Your Senses’ The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom—1981
Instead of leading people to the only One who can save the Lord Jesus Christ, the Watchtower would direct you to their organisation for salvation. Does this sound right what does the Bible say about salvation?
The Bible says salvation belongs to the LORD God not an organisation (Watchtower). With that said lets look at some of the content of the new Awake magazine.
As mentioned earlier apocalyptic groups will use fear as a catalyst to gain membership and will offer themselves as a “saviour” but as we’ve just seen only Christ Jesus alone is the Saviour. Here are the topics listed in the latest Awake.
1 Is God to Blame for Our Suffering? – People have been deceived by teachings that misrepresent God. What is the truth? 2 Are We to Blame for Our Own Suffering? – If the answer is yes, then it might be in our power to reduce our suffering. 3 Why Do Good People Suffer? – The Bible helps us to understand the answer. 4 Were We Meant to Suffer? – Would a God who created such beauty in the world consign us to a life of suffering? If not, what went wrong? 5 Will Suffering Ever End? – The Bible tells us exactly how God will eliminate suffering. Help Is Available – Even if our problems seem unsolvable, there is a reliable guide that can help.
After reading these titles can you see a common theme? I’ll give you a hint the common theme is suffering. The Watchtower thrives on catastrophic events and will lay claim that they “predicted” the event.
They took information from a medical “The medical journal Vaccine reported in 2003” and made it seem as the Watchtower predicted this current global pandemic. The quote from the The medical journal Vaccine was a hypothetical question put forth by the journal. It was not a prediction.
Another failed prophecy by the Watchtower is the claimed prediction of WW1.
This is exactly what a doomsday cult does they use fear in order to recruit and keep their members by telling them they need to associate with the organization in order to have salvation.
In one of the subjects “God rejects religion that misrepresents him.” Here’s what the Watchtower had to say: “This includes religions that teach that God causes our suffering and those that are involved with warfare and violence.” they go on to quote a verse from Jeremiah.
It’s quite ironic that a group who’s well known for multiple false prophecies would point to a verse which speaks against the very thing they are doing themselves. Just to list a few of their false prophecies.
1799 LAST DAYS BEGIN – 1914 THE END OF THE WORLD. “The careful student will have observed that the period designated ‘The Time of the End’ is very appropriately named, since not only does the Gospel age close in it, but in it, also, all prophesies relating to the close of this age terminate, reaching their fulfillments. The same class of readers will have noticed, too, the special importance of the last 40 of these 115 years (1874-1914), called ‘The End’ or ‘Harvest.'”
Studies in the Scriptures Series III – Thy Kingdom Come p.121
“The Scriptural proof is that the period of his presence and the day of God’s preparation is a period from 1874 A.D. forward. The second coming of the Lord, therefore, began in 1874; and that date and the years 1914 and 1918 are specially marked dates with reference to his coming. Prophecy can not be understood until it has been fulfilled or is in the course of fulfillment. From 1874 to 1914 the prophecy concerning the Lord’s coming was being fulfilled and could be understood, and was understood, by those who were faithful to the Lord and who were watching the development of events, but not by others.”
Creation 1927 2,175,000 ed. p.289
“The prophecy of the Bible, fully supported by the physical facts in fulfilment thereof, shows that the second coming of Christ dates from the fall of the year 1914.”
It goes without saying that the verse in Jeremiah 14:14 really fits the Watchtower in all of the failed prophecies they have passed off in their publications.
The last heading states “Jesus denounced religious hypocrisy” this couldn’t be said better. The Lord Jesus does denounce hypocrisy and the organisation is full of it. Do you remember last years Jehovah Witness convention? It was named “love never fails international convention 2019.”
Yet ex-Jehovah Witnesses are being shunned because they no longer want to be a Jehovah Witness and they risk losing their families, friends, jobs and work colleges. Unless you choose to remain a Jehovah Witness only then will the “love never fail” but if you choose to leave then does the love fail? Looks to be so.
Jehovah Witnesses pride themselves on “working” for the kingdom, they believe in a works based salvation. If so what were these people the Lord Jesus was speaking about trusting in? Their own works. Notice “have we not and in thy name” they trusted in themselves and not in the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
During this weekend besides hearing more about the Coronavirus another event infinitely more important is taking place. Tomorrow many people will observe “Easter Sunday” biblically known as the Passover or Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Bible does indeed tell us that the Lord Jesus rose from the dead after 3 days on the first day of the week (Sunday), but it never gives us an actual date when this occurred.
Have faith of ye Christian saints for the Lord Jesus is risen indeed! The focus in this article is to bring to light the erroneous teachings of the Watchtower from their 2016 article Why Did Jesus Suffer and Die? Did It Really Happen?
We want to shed some light to particular and extremely important aspect of the Resurrection the Watchtower seemed to neglect in their article. The opening paragraph begins with
In the spring of 33 A.D., Jesus the Nazarene was executed. He had been falsely charged with sedition, savagely beaten, and nailed to a stake. He died in excruciating pain. But God raised him back to life, and 40 days later, Jesus ascended to heaven.
The Watchtower | No. 2 2016
Yes it’s true that Jesus the Christ was charged with sedition and other false charges such as wanting to “destroy the temple” and the Jews didn’t want to believe the claims of Christ. They were angry because Jesus Christ made claims to His deity as being God and their Messiah.
You see the Jehovah Witnesses don’t believe Jesus Christ is Almighty God but a lesser god who was created to be precise Michael the archangel. This is something they won’t tell you at first when they come knocking.
I want to also direct your attention to this statement from the above Watchtower quote “But God raised him back to life,.” Yes it’s true God raised Jesus from the dead but they’re being vague. In truth God the Father raised Him (Jesus Christ) from the dead,
All three raised the Lord Jesus from the dead, because all three are the one God we read about in the Old Testament and New Testament.
This extraordinary account comes to us from the four Gospels of the Christian Greek Scriptures, commonly called the New Testament. Did those things really happen? That is a pertinent and serious question. If they did not, Christian faith is valueless and the hope of eternal life in Paradise is nothing more than a wishful dream. (1 Corinthians 15:14) On the other hand, if those events really did happen, then there is a bright future for mankind, one in which you can share. So, are the Gospel accounts fact or fiction?
The Watchtower | No. 2 2016
The Watchtower gets something right here by asking the question about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ saying “Did those things really happen? That is a pertinent and serious question. If they did not, Christian faith is valueless and the hope of eternal life in Paradise is nothing more than a wishful dream.”
I agree it’s very serious to know if Jesus Christ truly conquered death by being raised from the dead after 3 days. The Christian faith hinges on the Resurrection if it didn’t happen then our faith is in vain, but if it did then those who haven’t placed their trust in Christ are in grave danger.
The tragedy is that Jehovah Witnesses will affirm Jesus Christ rose from the dead but what do they really mean? You’ll find out that Watchtower teaches Jesus didn’t rise from the dead physically. They teach Jesus rose spiritually, and they go even further to say He later took on a different body. This is yet another thing they will not tell you at the door.
The body He appeared with to the disciples in the upper room was “not the same body” which hung on the cross according to the Watchtower. This is a huge error which is a salvation issue. All Christians since the time of the apostles affirm that Christ rose from the dead in the same body He was crucified. To prove this point Thomas was shown the wounds of the nails in Jesus Christ hands and side. If it was a different body then He wouldn’t have any wounds from the crucifixion.
When a Jehovah Witness ask if you’d like to have a “bible study” what they’re really want is to indoctrinate you with Watchtower theology a little at a time. They’ll gloss over Bible truths such as they don’t believe Jesus was crucified on a cross, they deny the bodily resurrection, they deny Jesus Christ is God, they also deny the Godhead (Trinity) and other foundational truths of the Christian faith.
It’s our sincere prayer that those trapped in the organization would wake up and leave this non-Christian cult and come to the true Jesus Christ of the Bible. The only One who has the power to save guilty sinners.
Many Witness are afraid to leave, if they do they will lose their families from being shunned. Therefore they feel stuck, the Jehovah’s Witness life is completely wrapped up in the organization so the Jehovah’s Witness has much to lose; family, friends and job all gone in a matter of moments.
It’s a huge sacrifice to follow Christ but there’s nothing more satisfying or fulfilling for you soul. If you’re a Jehovah Witness or just an unbeliever place your trust in the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. God bless.
