The theme for the Watchtower’s 2002
district conventions was "Zealous Kingdom Proclaimers."
The Jehovah’s Witnesses are zealously proclaiming the kingdom of "Jehovah God."
They are so zealous because they have
to be.
According to the Watchtower, there are
four requirements for salvation; taking in knowledge of the Father and Jesus
Christ, obeying God’s laws, being associated with God’s channel (The Watchtower
Bible and Tract Society), and loyally advertising his Kingdom rule to others
(WT, February 15, 1983, p. 12).
"Loyally advertising" means going
door-to-door to hand out The Watchtower and Awake!
magazines. The Witnesses must work their way to
salvation. They’ve got to fill out the "record card." While they believe that
Jesus’ death atoned for Adam’s sin, it does not make up for their own sin. In
order to become righteous they have to keep working and working and working,
with no assurance of salvation until after the millennium has ended and
they are again tested by Satan.
But the Bible knows nothing of the above
concepts!
Jesus’ death and resurrection
immediately and forever atoned for all the sins of all
men:
"For Christ died for sins
once for all,
the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring
you
to God." 1 Peter 3:18a
"But you know that he appeared so that
he might take away our sins.
And in him is no sin." 1 John 3:5
"He
himself bore our sins in his body on the
tree, so that we
might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds
you
have been healed." 1 Peter 2:24
There is no waiting and wondering, only a
guarantee of your salvation; if you believe, you are saved now!
"‘Whoever believes in the Son
has
eternal life’" John 3:36a
"‘I tell you the truth, whoever hears my
word and believes him who sent me
has
eternal life and will not be condemned; he has
crossed over from death to life.’" John 5:24
"‘I tell you the
truth, he who believes
has
everlasting life.’" John 6:47
"And this is the testimony: God has
given us
eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who
does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who
believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may
know
that you have eternal life."
I John 5:11-13
There are no works required.
Works are evidence of your faith, a result of faith, not a requirement
for salvation. (The Bible doesn’t say, "He that believes, and is baptized,
and does good works will be saved.") You are saved based on your faith,
apart from works!
"For
it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith-- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not
by works, so that no one can boast."
Ephesians 2:8-9
"What then shall we say? That the
Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it,
a righteousness that is by faith;
but
"‘Do not work for food that spoils, but
for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will
give
you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.’ Then they asked
him, ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’ Jesus answered,
‘The
work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.’"
John 6:27-29
The Jehovah’s Witnesses take their name
from the following Old Testament passage and claim that today it refers to them,
exclusively:
"‘You are my witnesses,’
declares the LORD [YHWH], ‘and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may
know and believe me and understand that I am he’". Isaiah 43:10
In the New Testament the
apostles spoke in the Name of
Jesus Christ
and they proclaimed “the
gospel of Christ”.
Paul says in Romans 15:19b:
"So from
The apostles are witnesses for
Jesus Christ.
"And with great power the apostles
gave witness to the resurrection of
the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon
them all." Acts 4:33
"‘We
are witnesses of everything he did in
the country of the Jews and in
It is simply this:
"Now, brothers,
I want to remind you of the gospel
I preached to you, which you received
and on which you have taken your stand.
By this gospel you are saved,
if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed
in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that
Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures, that
he
was buried, that he
was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that
he
appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve." 1 Corinthians 15:1-5
This is the same Gospel that the
Patriarchs saw and looked forward to. This is the same Gospel that is both
foreshadowed and proclaimed in the Old Testament. This is the same Gospel that
the entire Old Testament points to, the death and resurrection of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.
From the Protevangel
of Genesis 3:15b,
"And I will put enmity between you and
the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you
will strike his heel."
Through the patriarchs,
"The Scripture foresaw that God would
justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham:
‘All nations will be blessed through you.’" Galatians 3:8
And the kings,
"David said about him: ‘I saw the Lord
always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.’" Acts
2:25
And the prophets,
"But he was pierced for
our
transgressions, he was crushed for
our
iniquities; the punishment that brought
us
peace was upon him, and by his wounds
we
are healed." Isaiah 53:5
And finally to Jesus Christ himself:
"Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this
temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’" John 2:19
This is the Gospel we
proclaim! It stands today just as it did
in the beginning of Genesis. It still speaks to us today, unchanged, just as
surely as it did then through God’s word. For the word of God is living and
active, sharper than any double-edged sword.
All of our sins were washed away by
Jesus’ blood. By His death and resurrection, we have eternal life.
The only condition is faith,
and faith is a gift (Eph. 2:8). It sounds unreasonable that God would forgive us
with no effort on our part, but as all
of the above scriptures attest, it’s true! It shows just how great God’s love
for us is.
"But God demonstrates his own love for us
in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since
we have now been justified by his
blood, how much more shall we be saved
from God's wrath through him!" Romans 5:8-9
In closing, I pray for the Jehovah’s
Witnesses the prayer Paul prayed for the Israelites:
"Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer
to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.
For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God,
but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the
righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did
not submit to God's righteousness.
Christ is the end of the law so
that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes."
Written by Scott
Diekmann
www.soundwitness.org
Click here for more articles on the Jehovah's Witnesses