And take the helmet of salvation,
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
(Ephesians 6:17)

For the Word of God is quick, and powerful,
and sharper than any twoedged sword...
(Hebrews 4:12)

INTRODUCTION

RUSSELLITES SUBTRACT FROM THE DEITY OF CHRIST

   *  They deny the Trinity altogether.

   *  They teach that the Word (Christ) is a created being.

   *  They deny Christ's bodily resurrection.

RUSSELLITES ADD TO THE WORD OF GOD

   *  Their source of authority is not the Bible,
      but their voluminous writings.

RUSSELLITES MULTIPLY THE REQUIREMENTS FOR SALVATION

   *  They deny the efficacy of Christ's blood atonement.

   *  They deny salvation by grace.

   *  They deny the security of the believer.

   *  They deny that eternal Hell is the just reward for Christ
      rejectors, and teach annihilation for the lost in stead.

CONCLUSION
 

INTRODUCTION:

Jehovah's Witnesses are that in name only.  They are not really Jehovah's Witnesses, but a cult of the worst kind.  They claim to follow Jehovah God, but they actually follow a man named  Charles Taze Russell.  So we'll call them Russelites.  Russell founded his cult in 1879

God loves these precious people, but hates their false teachings.

I will not spend time on their relatively trivial false doctrines such as refusing blood transfusions (allowing death to their members), or disloyalty to one's nation by not allowing flags or national pledges of allegiance.  Instead, I will go directly to the most damnable heresies that they hold.

Russelites have all three of what I call "The 3 Marks of a Cult" which are:

1.  They subtract from the Deity of Christ.

2.  They add to the Word of God.

3.  They multiply the requirements for salvation.

Here are some of their heresies:
 
 

RUSSELLITES SUBTRACT FROM
THE DEITY OF CHRIST:

*  They deny the Trinity altogether.

This can be refuted with:

1 John 5:7:  "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one."

They falsely say that Christians teach:  "The doctrine, in belief, is that there are three gods in one....[S]incere persons...find it a bit difficult to love and worship a complicated, freakish - looking, three - headed God." (Let God Be True, pp. 100, 102)

They say:  "...John was not so unreasonable as to say that Someone ('the Word') was with some other individual ('God') and at the same time was that other individual." ("The Word" Who Is He?, p. 53)

This can be refuted with 1 Thessalonians 5:23 showing that people were made in the image of God (Gen 1:26), but each individual consist of body, soul, and spirit.  Similarly, God consists of 3 parts, "...the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are One."  The 3 persons of the Trinity were all spirit before Christ took a body.  They all have the same attributes (love power, etc.), and are of the exact same essence.  They are in total agreement, but have agreed to preform different functions.

*  They teach that the Word (Christ) is a created being.

This can be refuted with:

Revelation 1:8:  "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."

John 8:58:  "Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am."

Russellites say:  "...[Christ] was the first and direct creation of Jehovah God." (The Kingdom is at Hand, p. 46)   They bring the Creator down to the level of a created being, an angel, Michael the Archangel to be specific.

This can be refuted with John 1:1-3, 20:28; Matt 1:23; Heb 1:3; Phil 2:6-8; Micah 5:2. (Note: Christ as the "firstborn" in Col 1:15-18 has to do with His "preeminence" and birth right as an elder son, not His beginning for He has no beginning [Rev 1:8].)

*  They deny Christ's bodily resurrection.

They teach:  "...Jesus did not take his human body to heaven....This firstborn from the dead was raised from the grave, not a human creature, but a spirit." (Let God Be True, pp. 40, 276)

This can be refuted with the following:

Luke 24:39:  A spirit does not have "flesh and bones."

John 20:17, 27:  A spirit cannot be touched.

Luke 24:42-43; John 21:13:  A spirit does not eat.
 
 

RUSSELLITES ADD TO
THE WORD OF GOD:

*  Their source of authority is not the Bible, but their voluminous writings.

For example Charles Taze Russell, says this about his 6 volume set called SCRIPTURE STUDIES,  "...[P]eople cannot see the divine plan in studying the Bible itself, but...if anyone lays the SCRIPTURE STUDIES aside...and goes to the Bible alone...he goes into darkness.  On the other hand, if he had merely read SCRIPTURE STUDIES...he would be in the light..."

In other words they put their writings on a par with or better than God's Word.  This can be refute with:

1 Corinthians 13:8-12 (Show that "that which is perfect" and the "glass" are the completed Canon of Scriptures -- James 1:18-25,  and that prophecy has ceased.)

Deuteronomy 18:22 (Show that the Russellites have made many demonstrability false prophecies concerning the end of the world.  The Russellites have predicted the end of the world at least 5 times: 1914, 1918, 1925, 1975 and 1989)

Jude 3 and Revelation 22:18-19 (The Faith has been delivered and it is not to be added to).

Isaiah 8:20:  "To the Law and to the Testimony: if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them."
 
 

RUSSELLITES MULTIPLY
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR SALVATION:

*  They deny the efficacy of Christ's blood atonement.

Russellites teach that "Christ gave Himself a ransom that He might give to every man an individual trial for life.  The ransom does not guarantee everlasting life, to any man, but guarantees a second chance." (Scripture Studies, Vol 1, p. 150)

This can be refute with:

1 John 1:7:  "...the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."

Hebrews 10:5, 7, 10:  "Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me....Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God....By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."

Hebrews 9:28:  "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation."

1 Peter 3:18:  "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God..."

1 Peter 1:18-19:  "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;  But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot."

*  They deny salvation by grace.

Russellites teaching says,  "Immortality is a reward for faithfulness. (Let God Be True, p. 74)

This can be refute with:

Ephesians 2:8-9:  "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."

Romans 6:23:  "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

John 1:12-13:  "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:  Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

Titus 3:5:  "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost."

Romans 5:15, 18:  "But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many....Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. "

*  They deny the security of the believer.

Russellites say,  "...[A] person could fall away and be judged unfavorably...into everlasting distruction." (From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained, p. 241)

This can be refute with:

John 10:27-30:  "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.  My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.  I and my Father are one."

Romans 5:10:  "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Hebrews 7:25:  "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."

2 Timothy 1:12:  "...I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day."

*  They teach annihilation for the lost, and deny that eternal Hell is the just reward for Christ rejectors.

Russellites teaching says,  "The doctrine of a burning hell where the wicked are tortured eternally after death cannot be true, mainly for four reasons:  (1) Because it is wholly unscriptural;  (2) it is unreasonable; (3) it is contrary to God's love; and (4) it is repugnant to justice." (Let God be True, p. 99)

Is Hell really unscriptural?

Psalm 9:17:  "The wicked shall be turned into hell..."

Mark 9:47-48:  "And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:  Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."

Isaiah 66:24:  "And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh."

Luke 12:5:  "But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him."

Luke 16:22-25:  "...the rich man also died, and was buried;  And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments...And he cried and said...I am tormented in this flame.  But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things,..:but now...thou art tormented."

Matthew 25:41, 46:  "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels....And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."

Revelation 14:10-11:  "The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name."
 
 

CONCLUSION:

The group know as the Jehovah's Witnesses holds to teachings that will damn the souls who believe them to Hell forever.
 

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Check out these links on the Russellites (JW's):

http://www.watchman.org/jwa.htm

http://www.geocitiessites.com/Heartland/2919/

http://www.serve.com/larryi/menu.htm

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