Jehovah’s Witnesses

This is not a mean-spirited attack on Jehovah’s Witnesses. 

We must separate the people whom the Lord Jesus Christ died for from these organizations whose teachings deceive people. 

At CCT, we do not hate Jehovah’s Witnesses. Our issue is with the false religion that propagates false teachings that cause division and keep people in bondage to the organization.  

The Founder and Origin

William Taze Russell was born in a small town in Pennsylvania before moving to Philadelphia, and then later to Pittsburgh.

He was raised in a well-to-do home. He helped his dad in his Haberdasher, a Men’s fine clothing store. He was raised in the Presbyterian Church.

When he was 13 years old, he left the Presbyterian Church to join the Congregational Church. 

When he was 16 years old, a childhood friend led him to question his Christian faith. 

Beginnings

In 1870, at the age of 18, he was being influenced by Adventist teachings. He and his father, and others formed a group in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to study the Bible. 

Russell disputed many of mainstream Christianity's teachings. 

·      In July 1879, Russell began publishing the magazine Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, 

·      From 1879, Watch Tower supporters gathered as independent congregations to study the Bible. There were 30 churches planted, and during 1879 and 1880, Russell visited them to provide the format he recommended for conducting meetings. 

·      In 1884, Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society was incorporated as a nonprofit business to distribute tracts and Bibles. 

·      By about 1900, Russell had organized thousands of part-time and full-time peddlers of books, magazines and periodicals. He was also appointing foreign missionaries and establishing branch offices. 

·      By the 1910s, Russell's organization maintained nearly a hundred "pilgrims", or traveling preachers. Russell engaged in significant global publishing efforts during his ministry, and by 1912, he was the most distributed Christian author in the United States. 

·      Russell moved the Watch Tower Society's headquarters to Brooklyn, New York, in 1909, combining printing and corporate offices with a house of worship; volunteers were housed in a nearby residence he named Bethel. He called the religious movement "Bible Students", and more formally as the International Bible Students Association. 

·      By 1910, about 50,000 people worldwide were associated with the movement and every year congregations reelected him as their pastor. 

·      Russell died on October 31, 1916, at the age of 64 while returning from a ministerial speaking tour. 

Reorganization (1917–1942)

In January 1917, the Watch Tower Society elected James Rutherford as its next president. His election was disputed, and members of the Board of Directors accused him of acting in an autocratic and secretive manner. The divisions between his supporters and opponents triggered a major split and loss of members over the next decade. 

·      In June 1917, Rutherford centralized organizational control of the Watch Tower Society. 

·      In 1919, he instituted the appointment of a director in each congregation, and a year later all members were instructed to report their weekly preaching activity to the Brooklyn headquarters. Significant changes in doctrine and administration were regularly introduced during Rutherford's 25 years as president, including the 1920 announcement that the Hebrew patriarchs (such as Abraham and Isaac) would be resurrected in 1925, marking the beginning of Christ's thousand-year earthly kingdom. 

·      Because of disappointment over the changes and unfulfilled predictions, tens of thousands of people defected from the organization during the first half of Rutherford's presidency, leading to the formation of several Bible Student organizations independent of the Watch Tower Society, most of which still exist. 

·      By mid-1919, as many as 1 in 7 of Russell-era Bible Students had ceased their association with the Society, and as many as ¾  by the end of the 1920s. 

·      On July 26, 1931, at a convention in Columbus, Ohio, Rutherford introduced the new name Jehovah's witnesses, based on Isaiah 43:10: "'Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me'" (King James Version). It was adopted by resolution. The name was chosen to distinguish his group of Bible Students from other independent groups that had split from the Watchtower Society.

·      In 1932, Rutherford eliminated the system of locally elected elders and in 1938, he introduced what he called a theocratic (literally, God-ruled) organizational system, under which appointments in congregations worldwide were made from the Brooklyn headquarters. 

·      In the mid-1930s, they began to teach that Christ's presence had come, and his kingdom  started in 1914. 

Nathan Knorr was appointed as the 3rd president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society in 1942. 

·      He commissioned a new translation of the Bible, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, the full version of which was released in 1961. 

·      He organized large international assemblies, instituted new training programs for members, and expanded missionary activity and branch offices throughout the world. Knorr's presidency was also marked by increased use of explicit instructions guiding Witnesses' lifestyle and conduct and a greater use of congregational judicial procedures to enforce a strict moral code. 

·      From 1966, Witness publications and convention talks built anticipation of the possibility that Christ's thousand-year reign might begin in 1975 or shortly thereafter. 

·      The number of baptisms increased significantly, from about 59,000 in 1966 to more than 297,000 in 1974. By 1975, the number of active members exceeded two million. 

·      Membership declined during the late 1970s after expectations for 1975 were unfulfilled. Watch Tower Society literature did not say that 1975 would definitely mark the end, but in 1980 the Watch Tower Society admitted its responsibility in building up hope for that year. 

·      In a major organizational overhaul in 1976, the power of the Watch Tower Society president was diminished, with authority for doctrinal and organizational decisions passed to the Governing Body. 

·      In 1995, Jehovah's Witnesses abandoned the idea that Armageddon must occur during the lives of the generation that was alive in 1914. 

The Jehovah’s Witnesses Today

Organization

·      Jehovah’s Witnesses are equipped to defend views from their materials.

·      They are known officially as, “The Watchtower Bible & Tracts Society.”

·      They distribute over 25 million pieces of literature twice a month in 148 different languages.

·      They are the largest religious publisher in the world.

·      All members of the Jehovah’s Witness Church are required to distribute their literature door to door, or in public places.

·      When Covid put a restriction on public interaction, they resorted to mailing letters to people in replacement of door-to-door evangelism and handing out literature in public places.

·      Jehovah's Witnesses have an active presence in most countries. 

·      In 2023, Jehovah's Witnesses reported approximately 8.6 million publishers—the term they use for members actively involved in preaching—in about 118,000 congregations. For the same year, they reported over 1.8 billion hours spent in preaching activity, and conducted Bible studies with more than 7.3 million individuals (including those conducted by Witness parents with their children).

·      In 2023, Jehovah's Witnesses reported a worldwide annual increase of 1.3%. 

·      The 2008 US Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life survey found a low retention rate among members of the denomination: about 37% of people raised in the group continued to identify as Jehovah's Witnesses. The study also found that 65% of adult U.S. Jehovah's Witnesses are converts.

·      It is among the most ethnically diverse U.S. religious groups.

They are known for.

·      Living in tension with society.

·      Imposing tests of merit on potential members.

·      Exercising stern discipline, regulating the declared beliefs and the life habits of members and prescribing and operating sanctions for those who deviate, including the possibility of excommunication.

·      Demanding sustained and total commitment from its members, and the subordination, and perhaps even the exclusion of all other interests in life.

The Jehovah’s Witness Organization

Jehovah's Witnesses calls their organization “a theocratic organization,” because the believe that they are God's visible organization on earth. The organization is led by the Governing Body—an all-male group that varies in size. 

·      People undergoing baptism must affirm publicly that dedication and baptism identify them "as one of Jehovah's Witnesses in association with God's spirit-directed organization.

Sources of doctrine

Jehovah's Witnesses believe their denomination is a restoration of first-century Christianity.

·      Doctrines of Jehovah's Witnesses are established by the Governing Body, which assumes responsibility for interpreting and applying scripture. 

·      The Governing Body does not issue a single, comprehensive statement of faith, but expresses its doctrinal positions in a variety of ways through publications published by the Watch Tower Society. The publications teach that doctrinal changes and refinements result from a process of progressive revelation in which God gradually reveals his will and purpose, and that such enlightenment or "new light" results from the application of reason and study, the guidance of the holy spirit, and direction from Jesus Christ and angels. 

·      The Society also teaches that the holy spirit helps the Governing Body discern "deep truths", which the Governing Body considers before making doctrinal decisions. 

·      The group's leadership, while disclaiming divine inspiration and infallibility, is said to provide "divine guidance" through its teachings described as "based on God's Word thus ... not from men, but from Jehovah." 

·      The Governing Body, through Watch Tower Society publications, carry almost as much weight as the Bible. 

·              Adherents are told to have "complete confidence" in the leadership, to avoid skepticism about what is taught in the Watch Tower Society's literature, and to "not advocate or insist on personal opinions or harbor private ideas when it comes to Bible understanding." 

·      Witnesses are taught they are under a biblical command to engage in public preaching. They are instructed to devote as much time as possible to their ministry and required to submit an individual monthly "Field Service Report". Those who do not submit reports for six consecutive months are termed "inactive".

New World Translation

As of today, the Watch Tower Society has produced over 227 million copies of the New World Translation in whole or in part in over 185 languages.

·              Various Bible scholars, including Bruce M. Metzger and MacLean Gilmour, have said that while scholarship is evident in New World Translation, its rendering of certain texts is inaccurate and biased in favor of Witness practices and teachings. Critics of the group such as Edmund C. Gruss, and Christian writers such as Ray C. Stedman, Walter Martin, Norman Klann, and Anthony Hoekema state that the New World Translation is scholastically dishonest. They intentionally manipulate the text to support their false teachings.

·              Most criticism of the New World Translation relates to its rendering of the New Testament, particularly regarding the introduction of the name Jehovah and in passages related to deity of Christ and the Trinity.

The Teachings of the Jehovah’s Witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses have been criticized by mainstream Christians, members of the medical community, and former members and commentators for their beliefs and practices. 

·      The movement has been accused of doctrinal inconsistency and reversals, failed predictions, mistranslation of the Bible, harsh treatment and shunning of former members.

·      They reject the teaching of the Trinity.

·      They reject the teaching of the deity of Christ, or that Jesus is God, but that Jesus is a created being, who then God created everything through.

·      They teach that Jesus is Michael the archangel who became a man. They twist 1 Thessalonians 4:16 to make Jesus, Michael.

·      They teach that the Holy Spirit is not the third person of the Godhead, but merely God’s active force, or an essence.

·      They teach that the Lord Jesus Christ returned in 1914 and that He established His kingdom in heaven, and He rules secretly from the watchtower Society.

·      Jehovah's Witnesses teach that Satan and his demons were cast down to earth from heaven after October 1, 1914, at which point the end times began. 

·      They are known for unfulfilled predictions. They’re known for changing views and dates, supposedly because of a better understandings of biblical chronology, and therefore, they’re not failed predictions.

·      They teach that Jesus did not die on the cross, but on a stake.

·      They teach that Jesus did not resurrect in bodily form, and that He assumed a human form only temporarily after His resurrection. In “Studies in the Scriptures,” volume 5, page 454, it’s stated that, “The man Jesus is dead, forever dead.”

Ø  The Bible teaches in John 20:27 ”Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”“

·      They teach that God, the Father, has a spirit body, and is therefore not omnipresent.

·      They teach that God should be called Jehovah, based on Tetragrammaton, YHVH.

·      They teach that based on Revelation 14:1-5, only 144,000 special Jehovah’s Witnesses will actually go to heaven, while the rest of the good J.W.s live in a paradise on earth. The possibility of being one of the special 144,000 was done away with in 1935.

·      They teach that there is no literal place of eternal punishment, but that the wicked are annihilated.

·      They teach that all Christian organizations outside of the Jehovah’s Witness church are apostate.

·      They teach that there is not salvation outside of the WTS.

·      They teach that salvation can be gained by good works.

·      They teach that salvation can be lost.

·      Baptism is a requirement for membership in the Jehovah's Witnesses. 

·      Baptisms performed by other denominations are not considered valid.

·      Their literature emphasizes that members must be obedient and loyal to Jehovah and "his organization," and that people must remain part of it to receive God's favor and survive Armageddon. 

·      They teach that only the 144,000 special Jehovah’s Witnesses are allowed to partake of communion, which means the overwhelming majority of Jehovah’s Witnesses do not take the Lord supper.

·      They teach a future millennial reign of Christ, which during that time those who died in ignorance, will get a second chance to receive Jesus.

·      They teach an unconscious state after death referred to as, “soul sleep.”

·      They reject blood transfusions.

·      Jehovah’s Witnesses are taught that association with "worldly" people presents a danger to their faith. 

·      They reject war.

·      They reject voting.

·      They do not salute or pledge allegiance to flags or sing national anthems or patriotic songs. 

·      They don’t celebrate the birth of Christ, or the resurrection of Christ.

·      They don’t celebrate birthdays.

·      They blacklist people who leave their Jehovah’s Witness church.

·      They teach their people reject literature that is against the Jehovah’s Witness organization and are forbidden to read it.

·      They teach that the New World Translation is the only accurate authority, and that all other translations of the Bible have been corrupted.

·      They teach that obedience to the eight men, governing body of the Jehovah’s Witness organization is the basis for salvation.

Sharing the Gospel with Jehovah’s Witnesses

·      Do you have any Jehovah’s Witness family, friends or coworkers.

·      Address them respectfully.

·      Share the Truth in love.

·      Finds common ground.

·      Befriend them genuinely.

·      Stick to the Gospel as much as possible.

·      Share your testimony.