Part 13

Every cult without exception denies the doctrine of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.  Although they may utilise concepts such as grace and faith, what is written outside the box is never what’s inside.  In the world of cults, grace becomes synonymous with payment because when everything has been said and done, the cult member is working to earn salvation.  At the very best Jesus died on the cross to give mankind the possibility of obtaining salvation.  He has merely opened the narrow gate but now it’s left to those who would obtain it to labour.  It is for this reason that whether Jehovah’s Witness or Seventh-day Adventist; whether Mormon or Roman Catholic, when the question is put to them; “If you die tonight, do you have 100% assurance that you are saved”?  The answer that one will be met with again and again is; “I can’t say for sure, it’s up to God”.  With this one simple question and the answer returned, the futility of the cult's works-based system of salvation is revealed for what it is, vanity of vanities!!  

There is a world of difference between what the Bible teaches about how a man is saved, and what the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society teaches.  In this final teaching part, these differences shall be discovered and the way of truth exposed.

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Judges 8:22-28

The secret to obtaining heaven’s revival blessing; the key to unlocking heaven’s grace is humility. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time” (1 Pet. 5:6).  But when God exalts a man, it’s then when things have the potential to go desperately wrong.  My greatest fear is not this side of the victory, it’s what happens on the other side — after God has given the victory. 

In this first of two sermons, we examine the warning against making idols of God’s blessings.

Part 12

Anyone who has had any interaction with a Jehovah’s Witness will know that it doesn’t take long for the topic of the 144,000 to arise.  There is almost an obsession with this number.  In sharing personal testimony with the Witness at the door of how one came to be a child of God by grace through faith – the adoption as children, the sealing of the Holy Spirit, the heavenly calling and the heavenly hope, one will discover upon the face of the Witness a look of pity.  “Oh, they say, you’re talking about the 144,000, not the great crowd It’s the 140,000 who have the heavenly hope, the great crowd have only an earthly hope!  Only 144,000 have been adopted as children. Theirs is the seal of the Holy Spirit, the heavenly calling, to them alone belongs the heavenly hope!” If one has never heard these sentiments expressed, one may be taken aback!  “The great crowd? 144,000? I remember reading somewhere in Revelation about a great crowd that no man could number in Revelation Chapter 7.  But if my memory serves me right, they were standing before the throne of God in heaven?  If they have an earthly hope as you say, what are they doing in heaven?  Regarding the 144,000; Revelation 7, says that they are literal Israelites and Revelation 14 that they are virgins.  Are these the 144,000 that you refer to with the heavenly hope?  I’m confused!!”  In this teaching, all shall be revealed and brought into the light of God’s Word.

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Judges 8:4-28

Following the awesome victory that God gave into the hands of Gideon His servant – 135,000 Midianites lay dead.  Not content with this victory over the host, Midian pursued the 15,000 that remained and slew them dead.  The two Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna, were the last two enemies to be destroyed.

This sermon is a plea from God for the same zeal to be enacted on behalf of His people toward sin.  We must deal thoroughly and decisively with sin in our lives until every last Midianite is slain.  Let us heed the command of God and go up to the fight in the grace and power of the Holy Spirit.  

Part 11

If one has ever been greeted by a Jehovah’s Witness at the door, after the short and brief courtesies of “Hello, my name is… etc.”, the conversation will inevitably begin with a question like; “What do you think of all the wars in the world today?” or, “Do you think the world is a nice place to live in with all the evil that is in it?”.  These questions are leading and are designed to provoke a response of sympathy from the hearer. From this point on, the Witness at the door will proceed to tell of a coming kingdom of peace on earth where wars will cease, and death will be no more.  For Jehovah’s Witnesses, Paradise Earth is what the Millennial will be for Christians, except for a few major differences.  Firstly, Paradise Earth in Watch Tower eschatology is not restricted to a thousand years but is forever!  Secondly, and more importantly, Jesus will be nowhere present on Paradise Earth, He will be in heaven with Jehovah and the angels, governing over the affairs of the earth with the 144,000!  I have a question for Jehovah’s Witness: "How can paradise be paradise without Jesus being there?”.  Furthermore, what about the new heaven and the new earth which the Bible speaks of, along with the new Jerusalem wherein shall dwell the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb forever, and the Saints shall come in through the city gates?  These things along with more shall be the focus of this eleventh teaching part as the beliefs of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society are compared with the Bible.

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Judges 7:24-25

The world has always been obsessed with outward boast and human glory.  Sadly, much of the Western Church is on par with this thinking.  If a man has charisma and can hold an audience captive with stories and personal anecdotes, we make him a minister!  The pulpits up and down the length and breadth of this country are full of such men.  They look more like action men than they do God’s men.  It’s not what a man is on the pulpit that counts so much as what he is off it!  Character my friends is where it’s at! 

How a man conducts himself amid conflict says a lot about his character.  Leaders are called to be peacemakers.  Having beheld Gideon the man, in this sermon, we behold Gideon the peacemaker.  Through one man’s leadership, a nation is spared from civil war. I pray the Lord ministers to your heart through Gideon’s example.

Part 10

Jehovah’s Witnesses have long been a cult that has aggressively opposed the doctrine of hell, as can be seen in their literature and publications. Charles Taze Russell, the founder of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, was himself an ardent opponent of this doctrine, as has been every presiding president over Jehovah’s organisation since.  Though beginning within the ranks of conservative orthodoxy, by the time Russell had outgrown his teens, he had left both Presbyterianism and Congregationalism because he could not reconcile the idea of a loving and merciful God sending billions to an eternal hell. To this day, after nearly a century and a half, Russell’s disciples continue to hold to his beliefs and teachings. 

In this teaching, we examine the beliefs of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society as they relate to the doctrine of hell and contrast this with what the Bible teaches. 

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Judges 7:15-23

The Western Church in this hour wants method and process.  If the Church down the road marches around the walls AND God gives them the victory, we write a book on it “How to take a city for God!”  But in the valley on the borders of Moab, God had His people dig ditches!! In the wilderness of Tekoa, the people praised the Lord! At the Red Sea, He had them stand still!  On the hilltop in Rephidim, Moses held up his hand to God! Friends, you can’t make a method out of this, our eyes must be towards the LORD!!! 

Oh the that God might perform a work in this hour as He did in the days of Gideon.  A work that our only boast may be in the Lord saying; by His right hand and by His holy arm has He gotten Himself the victory!

Part 9

When one begins collating the teachings of the Christian cults, it’s no coincidence that there are many shared common beliefs that the Church has long rejected as heretical.  The doctrine in question in this ninth teaching part is no different.  While it may not be on the same damnable par as the rejection of the Trinity, the deity of Jesus Christ or the personhood of the Holy Spirit; to deny the immortality of the soul is a false teaching and one that must be strongly repudiated.  It should come as no surprise to learn that the Watch Tower along with its siblings – Seventh-day Adventists and Christadelphians, reject the belief in the immortality of the soul.  What is surprising is that increasingly, Evangelicals are choosing to adopt the same position as the cults regarding this doctrine.

In this teaching, the doctrine of the immortality of the soul is defined and the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses are examined and refuted from the Word of God. 

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Judges 7:9-15

If God is going to get the glory from your life, it is going to require that we trust Him!!!  There’s no escaping this reality!!  When the call of God comes to service, it never comes in a neatly packaged parcel with a cute sticky label on the front.  We want all the I’s dotted and the T’s crossed.  We want it safe and predictable, secure and tested, but that’s not how it works.  God called Gideon to a work above his natural ability and out of his human capabilities.  At every single step along the way, he was a man pressed out of measure and therefore completely reliant upon God.  In the two previous signs given to Gideon as a means of encouragement, they came about at the request of Gideon!!  Gideon was the instigator!  However, in the passage before us, without so much as a request on the part of  Gideon, God takes the initiative to offer him a third sign as further proof on top of the further proof he had already given him — GIDEON, I’M WITH YOU FOR GOOD!!!

Part 8

So far, the studies in this series have largely focused on the person of Jesus Christ.  Whilst Jehovah’s Witnesses are monotheistic in belief, they are aggressively antitrinitarian in expression. They, like us, believe in one eternal God. The point of divergence comes however when they maintain that the singular being of God is without a plurality of persons.  The doctrine of the Trinity affirms that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society denies this truth and attacks this position throughout its written literature. 

The purpose of this teaching is to address the heresy of the Watch Tower as it relates to the person of the Holy Spirit.  Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the person of the Holy Spirit and instead teach that the Holy Spirit is God’s active force.  Journey with us as we examine this heresy in light of Biblical truth.

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