(We began this study in the 5-19 issue of the ENON ENDEAVOR.  It is a study of the movement now known as JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES.  We are taking their words and comparing them to the word of God.  We offer this in an effort to convert them from the error of their way and to warn and arm others against the damnable heresies they teach.)

IV. WITNESSES TEACH:  "When a man dies, he is as dead as a dead dog." (Rutherford, DELIVERANCE, page 324).
     THE BIBLE TEACHES:  "And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him" (Matthew 17:3).  Moses and Elias were still in existence, though dead.  The Bible disproves Rutherford once again.

V. WITNESSES TEACH:  That the body of Jesus was never resurrected.  "It was necessary...that the man Christ Jesus should never live again, should remain dead,...for the MAN Jesus is dead, forever dead" (STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES, Volume V, page 454).
     THE BIBLE TEACHES:  "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself:  handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have" (Luke 24:39).

VI. WITNESSES TEACH:  "The 'ransom for all' given by 'the man Christ Jesus...' does guarantee to every man another opportunity or trial for life everlasting" (ibid. Volume I, page 150).       THE BIBLE TEACHES:  "Now is the day of salvation..." (II Corinthians 6:2).  "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark 16:16).  And what about Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16?  Besides all of this, how can one have a second chance at salvation if he "is dead like a dead dog" after death?

VII. WITNESSES TEACH:  That there is only one person in the Godhead.  "The careful student of the preceding chapters has found abundant testimony from the scriptures to the effect that there is but one Almighty God" (STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES, Volume 5, page 166).  "Verily, if it were not for the fact that this Trinitarian nonsense was drilled into us from the earliest infancy, and the fact that it is soberly taught in Theological Seminaries by gray-haired professors, in many other ways apparently wise, nobody would give it a moments consideration" (ibid.).
      THE BIBLE TEACHES:  That there is a Father, a Son, and a Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19).  That the Father would send the Spirit at the request of the Son to the apostles (John 14: 15, 16, 26, 15:26).  At the baptism of Jesus we see Jesus standing on earth, the Father speaking from heaven, and the Spirit descending from heaven to earth like a dove (Matthew 3:16-17).  The Bible teaches what they call "Trinitarian nonsense".

VIII. WITNESSES TEACH:  That Christ was a created angel before he came to this earth:  "As He (Christ) is the highest of Jehovah's creation, so also He was the first, the direct creation of God, the only begotten" (STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES, Volume 5, page 84).
       THE BIBLE TEACHES:  "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made...And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth" (John 1:1-3, 14).

IX. WITNESSES TEACH:  That Christ is forever dead:  "It was necessary, not only that the man Christ Jesus should die, but just as necessary that the man Christ Jesus should never live again, should remain dead, should remain our ransom-price for all eternity" (ibid. Volume 5, page 443).
     THE BIBLE TEACHES:  "The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:  To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God" (Acts 1:1-3).

X. WITNESSES TEACH:    That Christ is not our mediator:  "In our issue of 1906, page 26, we said, "Our Lord Jesus, in His own person, has been the Mediator between the Father and the household of faith during the gospel age."  This statement is incorrect.  No scripture so declares.  It is a part of the smoke of the dark ages, which we are glad to now wipe from our eyes" (Watchtower, September 15, 1909, page 283).
    THE BIBLE TEACHES:  "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (I Timothy 2:5).

XI. WITNESSES TEACH:  That the kingdom is not yet established:  "To whom it is the Father's good pleasure to give the kingdom in an age to follow this" (STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES, Volume 1, page 172).  That the kingdom is not to be established until the Millennium: "In the end of this age, and the dawn of it's successor, the Millennial age, Satan is to be bound and his power overthrown, preparatory to the establishment of Christ's kingdom" (ibid., Volume 1, page 73).
     THE BIBLE TEACHES:  "The kingdom is at hand" (Matthew 3:2).  The kingdom would come in the lifetime of some in the first century (Mark 9:1).  The kingdom came, and the christians were translated into it (Colossians 1:13).

XII. WITNESSES TEACH:  That there is no Hell:  "The theory of eternal punishment is inconsistent with the statements that 'the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all' and that Christ 'died for our sins'." (STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES, Volume 1, page 159).  "It is absurd to suppose that God would perpetuate Adam's existence forever in torment for any kind of sin which he could commit, but especially for the comparatively small offense of eating forbidden fruit" (ibid., page 159).
      THE BIBLE TEACHES:  "...these shall go away to everlasting punishment..." (Matthew 25:46).

XIII. WITNESSES TEACH:  That the apostles and Christ have been living on the earth since 1874 as invisible spirits in bodily form:  "1874 was the exact date of the beginning of the times of restitution and hence our Lord's return" (Volume 2, pages 170-171).  "And while we therefore conclude that their resurrection is now an accomplished fact, and hence that they as well as the Lord are present in the earth, the fact that we do not see them is no obstacle to faith when we remember that, like their Lord, they are now spirit beings, and, like Him, invisible to men" (Volume 2, page 234).
       THE BIBLE TEACHES:  "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God:  and the dead in Christ shall rise first:  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air:  and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (I Thessalonians 4:16-17).
(Space is gone for now, but we plan to continue these thoughts in a future issue.)

     Are you a christian?  Have you heard and believed the gospel (Romans 10:17, Hebrews 11:6), repented of sins (Luke 13:3, Acts 17:30-31), confessed Christ (Matthew 10:32, Acts 8:37), and been baptized (Acts 2:38, 22:16)?  Are you being faithful (Revelation 2:10)?  If we may assist you in obeying the gospel or being restored, please call on us at the Enon church of Christ.

THIS ISSUE WAS PRINTED EARLY

VOLUME XIX                June 16, 1996           Number 24