Watch Tower Deception

WHO IS GOING TO HELL?

2008-07-06T14:40:00.002+01:00

What an awful thing for a person to go to hell-to be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone and there to suffer eternally. There is no possible deliverance from the flames of hell (Revelation 14:11): "The smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and they have no rest day nor night."

That is, no relief from the torment. Not like a night of pain when one cannot rest and yet finds rest in the morning. Not like thirty years of affliction. But forever, without any possible pause-eternal torment. To be in the company of the Devil and his angels, experiencing precisely what sin which is committed against God deserves.

Will God cast people into hell?

Yes. He has. He does. And He will.

The question is not whether or not you choose to believe in hell. That is not the question. The question is whether or not you believe in the Bible. For the Bible testifies that the Son of man (Matthew 13:42) "will gather all them which do iniquity and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Nor can you come to the Bible and select what you will believe out of it and what you will not. If you do not believe the Bible as one unity in all of its truth, you do not believe any truths of the Bible. You cannot believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and simply dismiss the truth of hell and those who go to hell.

It is from this punishment of eternal hell that Jesus Christ has delivered repentant believers given to Him of His Father. And it is standing by the grace of God alone through faith in Jesus Christ alone that we have perfect assurance over the flames of judgment and hell.

By nature we, or ourselves as Christians, would live with all men and women under the supposition that we really do not deserve the hand of God. We think that we are really good people-at least better than others. But the grace of Jesus Christ changes this and gives us to confess: "There, but for the grace of God, go I."

There are many who grit their teeth at the reality of hell. They will not believe that. They say, "How can that be?" These, says the Word of God, are willingly ignorant (2 Peter 3). They are blinded by the god of this world, they are blinded to their sin and to a holy God. There are others who try to modify the Scriptures. They say that all infants who die in infancy go to heaven, denying depravity, denying the need that each soul that goes to heaven must be born again with the spiritual resurrection life of Jesus Christ. And that life must also be implanted then in an infant according to God's power and Spirit. There are those who say there is a purgatory-that is, the place where a person goes to suffer for the deeds that he has not atoned for in this present life. When that suffering is done, he may go on to be with God. This is the imagination of man. There is nothing of this in God's Word. There are many who outrightly deny the truth of hell. Many churches no longer preach the gospel at all. Rather, they preach the word of self-improvement. Let us not mention hell. Let us not mention curse and sin and the judgment of God. Let us talk about self-worth and self-betterment and self-improvement.

"And my people love to have it so," says Jeremiah in his prophecy.

But the Bible, God's Word, is clear. Take it up and read.

If you do not repent and trust in Jesus Christ as seen in new obedience, you shall all likewise perish (Luke 13:5): "Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."

Who are going to hell?

God's answer is the only one that counts. And the answer of the Word of God is: everyone who does not repent and sincerely trust in Jesus Christ as seen by new obedience. 2 Thessalonians 1:8, "In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Jesus Christ is our only Savior. Not a savior, not an expression of a God somehow or some way. There is no way to heaven but through faith in Jesus Christ. I said "way to heaven." For the grounds on the basis of which one goes to heaven is the work of Jesus Christ. Christ gives Himself for the elect of God upon Calvary's tree to remove our guilt. But then Christ also works in those for whom He died, the elect of the Father, a saving faith whereby they believe in Christ and repent of their sins.

There are other things that the Bible reveals of those who will perish eternally. The Bible tells us that they are not written in the Lamb's Book of Life (Revelation 20:15): "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." The Bible speaks of God's eternal reprobation, of God's eternal determination of those who will be lost in hell, in the way of their sins. Romans 9 speaks of vessels prepared by the potter who are fitted for destruction. 1 Peter 2:8 speaks of those who stumble over Jesus Christ, who are disobedient, who are offended in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And Peter adds these words, that they were appointed to do so. The Bible teaches that there was an eternal determination of God, what we call a sovereign decree of God, from the very beginning appointing certain men and women to eternal death and destruction.

Still more. The Bible says that those who worship the Beast and receive his mark upon their foreheads will be those who go to hell (Revelation 14:9-11): "And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, … and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever." And the Beast is explained to us in Revelation 13 as the antichristian kingdom, the kingdom of man which shall arise at the end of the world, inspired by Satan, who will deceive men to worship him, claiming to be God-to worship the Beast, to worship man, and to take his mark as identifying you as belonging to this world of rebellion and unbelief. All who take this mark shall end eternally in hell. They are those who mind earthly things and whose god is their belly (Philippians 3:17).

We know that. That is the Word of God. God's sovereign predestination, His eternal determination of who will be saved and who will be lost. His election and His reprobation. Romans 9:11: "That the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth.)" And verse 13: "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." We know that the elect, by grace, will reveal themselves as those who seek the things which are above and who will not worship the Beast, nor receive his mark. These things we know.

But we must also understand that those chosen and delivered from damnation through Jesus Christ will show, will manifest, will give evidence of that election in repentance and faith. The command of the gospel is: Repent and believe the gospel. Those who go to hell lack, are in hatred of, true repentance and saving faith. So we examine ourselves in the words of 1 John 4, that we might assure our hearts before Him: this is the gift of God; this is the gift of grace through the Holy Spirit, that you experience godly sorrow over your sin and a sincere trust in Jesus Christ.

Those who go to hell are those who repent not and those who believe not.

Before setting those two marks before you from the Word of God, the two marks of all who perish, I must bring out a truth of eternal damnation which reflects upon each one of those truths.

There are degrees of eternal punishment in hell. This is determined by one's proximity, or closeness, to the revealed truth of God in Jesus Christ. In respect to the duration of the punishment of hell, all shall be punished alike. Forever are the flames of hell. But as to the degree of the torment, not all will be punished alike. Those who have the least punishment in hell shall have enough. But some shall have a hotter place, a greater damnation. They shall be beaten with greater stripes. We read in Mark 12:40, "These shall receive greater damnation," referring to the hypocrisy of the Pharisees in their religious pride.

We read in Luke 12:47-48, "And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes."

The degree of punishment corresponds to the closeness in which a person stood to the light. Matthew 10:15: "Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city." That passage is very striking. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by God for their gross violation of God's law, for homosexuality, for sexual uncleanness, for violation of God's purity and holiness. Yet, the measure of accountability, the degree of punishment before God, is determined by the light of revealed truth in which a person stood. Sodom and Gomorrah will be punished in the day of judgment; but it will be more tolerable in the day of judgment for those cities, than for the city which has heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, the city in which Christ has stood by proclaiming His Word of faith and repentance in Him as the only Savior, the city which nevertheless rejects that light of Christ. It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah, punished for their homosexuality, than for that city which has turned its back upon the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That is the Word of God. That is not my word, that is the Bible. And that makes me tremble. Not to repent and not to believe is treason, defiance of God. How much worse when that is done under the light of God come to a person, when one rejects the Word, and then sneers and scorns at those who do repent, and says, "Oh, goody-goody two shoes!" It is better that you had never been born than that you had heard the Word of God and turned not from your sins.

I will not hide from you the place in which you stand now. You stand close to the light of the gospel. You may have heard the gospel. That is a great blessing. But it can also lead to the greatest of all curses.

Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall one be counted worthy, having heard that gospel of Christ and not repented and believed?

Do you repent and believe, by the grace of God?

No, not perfectly! Not looking to yourself as if your repentance and your faith is now good enough to bring you to heaven! No, no!

But do you experience these two realities in your life, by God's grace: the sorrow for sin before God, and trust in Christ?

The Scripture makes very plain that those who are destined of God to suffer the torments of hell reveal themselves as those who do not repent. Revelation 9:20-21, "And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts."

Here the Word of God speaks of men who are under the most severe physical judgments of God. There are judgments which are falling all around them, even as the brimstone fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah. They see that their life is tortured in misery and that they are being ruined. Judgments which prefigure the final judgment. Yet, they repented not of their murders or of their sorceries or of their fornications.

In Revelation 16:9-11 we read: "And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain. And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds."

Take note of that! That establishes the closest possible tie between the state of one's heart towards God and repentance.

What are the two things spoken of those who repented not?

They gave not God the glory, and they blasphemed God. Repentance involves, at its core, a fundamental, crucial, basic change of heart toward God, as He is revealed in His Word. A change from resentment, from resentment of God's power and sovereignty, from hatred of His holiness, to bowing before Him in joy and praising His virtues.

What is repentance?

Repentance is the change of heart that God makes in a person-a change of heart toward God and toward sin. Most people have a general idea of what repentance is; they say, Repentance is giving up sin, turning away from sin. But repentance is much more-much, much more than simple human enlightenment. Repentance is not simply when a person wakes up, becomes a changed person, sees things in a different light, understands that the way of his life was bringing all kinds of problems, simply outgrows a certain sin, does not get any pleasure out of it, says it's not worth it anymore. No, repentance is more than that. Repentance is when God changes a person. Those in hell who repent not are those God willed not to change, determined not to give them the grace of repentance, but to leave them in their sins as monuments to His own justice. Repentance is not simply realizing how terrible hell is and then fleeing from it. People do not repent even in hell. When they know from experience how terrible hell is, yet they repent not. Only God can cause you to repent and be saved. If He changes you in your heart, bringing you the Word of God and showing you what kind of person you are, you repent. If He does not, you will not. Not threats, not death, not accidents. God must confer repentance. It is a gift of God. Acts 5:30-31: "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins."

Acts 11:18:
"When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life."

2 Timothy 2:25:
"In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth."

Give them repentance!

The Living Bible (some of you may be acquainted with that-"Good News for Modern Man" it is sometimes called) takes each of the above passages and translates it this way: That God gives opportunity to men to repent. Now if they had done that once, I could have given them the benefit of the doubt. But when the Living Bible translates it that way each time, rather than saying that God gave men repentance, then I will say that the Living Bible is nothing but a deliberate perversion of God's Word in order to give the glory to man, in order to take from God what alone is His and supposedly entrust it to the will of man.

God must change a person from the inside out. He works a work of grace in the heart. He gives a new heart, which He alone can give, out of pure mercy. The impenitent heart must be changed. It must be changed in its position before God and sin. When a man with an impenitent heart says, "I repent," he means, "I'm sorry about going to hell. I don't want to go to the everlasting furnace." But he does not have a sorrow for sin, only a sorrow about suffering for sin. The old heart still loves sin. It just does not love the consequences of sin. It will do anything to avoid hell.

How severe is the bondage of sin, and how great is the grace of God to free!

May God give repentance to the acknowledging of the truth to you and to me, a gift of His grace worked through the gospel of Jesus Christ which comes to you today and says: Repent and believe the gospel.

We have began to discuss the question of who is going to hell. We have shown from the Word of God that hell is a reality which is taught by the Bible and that if one refuses to believe in the reality of hell, then one must refuse to believe in the Bible itself. For the Bible proclaims that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the One who has delivered God's children from the flames of eternal hell.

We have seen, further, that the fruits of God's grace in the life of those who are saved are the fruits of repentance and faith. Those who will perish eternally in hell are those who repent not and who believe not the gospel. The Bible makes very plain that repentance and faith is a gift of God-a gift that God has given to those whom He has chosen in Jesus Christ. It is a gift that they experience in their lives which brings them to sorrow for sin and a lively trust, a personal faith, in Jesus Christ the Lord.

We have also discussed the need of repentance. We have seen, from the Word of God, that God must change the heart from the inside out, and that God must give repentance unto the acknowledging of the truth of Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 2:25). We have reflected upon how horrible sin really is, impenitence; how severe is the bondage of sin; how great is God's grace to free us. A person, apart from the grace of God, would rather die in hell than to be without sin. The impenitent heart says, I love sin, I live in sin. Even hell's fires cannot burn the love of sin out of a person. And the impenitent get their wish, for in hell they sin to eternity, and are in the company of sinners all the time. Those in hell repent not at all. For one sin committed there is no repentance.

We must be changed. When God gives a new heart it is a heart of repentance, a heart that bleeds, a heart that is soft, a heart that hates sin in principle. It is a heart which gives up sin as sin. Not simply giving up sinful things, saying, No more drunkenness; no more beating of my wife. But it gives up the love of sin in principle. You see that the consequences of your sin are just. You do not pout about the consequences. You do not say, It's unfair that I have to suffer for these things which I have done. You do not try to get out of that punishment. You used to hate to be found out. You stole money, and you only worried about getting caught. But now you restore and you accept the penalty. Those who, by grace, admit that hell is the just reward for sin do not go to hell. Those who say, "Hell is not just," because they are haters of God's holiness and lovers of sin, go to hell.

Who are those who go to hell?

Those who repent not, those who find no place of repentance (Hebrews 12). Those who have many tears for being cheated and having to suffer for what they have done, but have no tears for a sinful heart. Imagine that! To love sin, to find no place of sorrow for sin, never to say with self-knowledge, "I am undone in sin," to remain proud before God.

Such shall receive the wages of sin which is eternal death (Romans 6:23).

But also those who believe not the gospel are those who shall go to hell. The Scriptures make very plain that all those who do not trust in Jesus Christ by a living, Spirit-worked faith shall perish. All who continue in unbelief shall be cast into the lake of fire. The Scriptures say to us in 2 Thessalonians 1:8 that Christ, with flaming fire, takes vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, in that chapter, is counseling the Thessalonian believers who were suffering persecution for Jesus Christ. He says, Now you must rest, you must find your comfort in Christ's second coming. God will then take vengeance on those who believe not the testimony of the gospel, upon those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel.

The apostle says again, in 2 Thessalonians 2:12, that they all will be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. All who receive not the love of the truth, all to whom God sends strong delusion (verse 11): "and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie." All will be damned who believe not the truth.

We read in Revelation 21:8, "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolators, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."

Again, in Matthew 11:20-30, Jesus upbraids the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida because they repented not and did not believe Him through His mighty works. He calls to faith His own: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Faith in Jesus Christ, the gift of God, that is the way of salvation. And all who believe not the gospel shall perish.

But what is faith?

Faith is union to Jesus Christ. Faith is seen in trust and confidence in Jesus Christ. Faith is seen in sincere obedience to Christ. Faith is not simply an acknowledgment that God is. The devils also believe that and tremble, says James in the second chapter of his epistle. It is not the mere knowledge of a system of truth. It is very important to understand the truth, for the truth, said Jesus, shall set you free (John 12:31). But it is not simply a matter of the intellect, of the mind. Faith is an attachment, a living attachment to the Son of God, bringing knowledge of Him and confidence in Him. 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." And always that faith is evidenced in obedience. To believe is to obey the command of the gospel, to delight in the ways of God, and to follow the path of righteousness in Christ. Faith, you see, brings one to the battlefield. Spiritually you fight the good fight of faith, you lay hold on eternal life (1 Timothy 6). You hold fast to the word of truth. You follow after righteousness and holiness in your life.

And this faith, this union to Jesus Christ, this loving and living attachment, is the gift of God. All are unbelieving and blind and ignorant and hardened of themselves. Faith in Jesus Christ does not find its origin, its genesis, its root in the will of man. A person, of himself, does not choose to believe. God must plant in him the power of faith. God gives faith. Philippians 1:29: "For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake."

Ephesians 2:8:
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God."

Those who perish are unbelieving. They are left by God, in His decree of election and reprobation, in their natural state of unbelief. Unbelief is pride; it is the natural man exalting himself and saying, I will determine what is right; I will determine what I want to believe and what I will not. Unbelief is folly. It is the rejecting of the truth of God. It is the rejecting of the living God who is truth. And it is the putting forth of one's own folly in its place. It is to place one's own darkened understanding as the standard of truth. "I'll believe this and I'll not believe that…." It is to subject the Bible to one's own reason. It is to fashion one's God after one's own thoughts. It is to make a God who is convenient for oneself, suited to one's own desires. Then, to trust for help and comfort in one's own strength, to turn to man, to think of this world as the end-all-that is unbelief. Unbelief is the rejecting of the truth of the Bible, the Christ of the Bible, the God revealed in the Bible. And it is placing one's trust in any other thing than God revealed in the Bible, and His Son, Jesus Christ. It is pride, folly, ignorance.

Who will perish?

Those who die in unbelief-unbelief of the truth of the Scriptures; unbelief of Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, the life; unbelief of Jesus as Savior and as Lord, the Lord of their life.

Those whom Christ knows not, those who know not Christ as their Savior. Instead of Christ on the throne of their heart, they sit on the throne as usurpers. God never intended man to be autonomous, that is, self-governing. He placed a throne on man's heart. And the only rightful king for that throne is God. But, you see, unbelief is a rebel! Unbelief is a usurper on the throne. It places self upon the throne. And for that heinous offense, anarchy against God, an attack upon His throne-rights, all unbelievers are cast into the lake of fire.

What is the Word of God?

Repent and believe the gospel. We are shut up to the grace of God, for both repentance and faith are His gracious gifts given to those who are His children, the elect out of the pure, sovereign good-pleasure of God.

But we can know whether we are one of those children. We can know for certainty our own election. For when God elects in love He makes known to you that precious love in your own heart. 1 Thessalonians 1:4: "Knowing, beloved, your election" (Paul says you can know your election). God gives you to know it. He gives you to know that you are delivered from wrath. And He gives you to know it by working in you these two heavenly, spiritual graces: repentance toward God, and faith in Jesus Christ.

Repentance, which is a shattered heart, over sin before God. An abhorrence of sin, an abhorrence of self as the sinner, and a cry to God for mercy and faith. Faith which is a trust in Jesus Christ alone-a commitment and assurance in Christ as Savior, who has saved and has saved me for no other reason than out of His own mercy and love.

All who are strangers to this repentance and faith perish eternally in hell. They hate God. They believe the lie. Their sinful self sits enthroned upon the throne of their lives. Their damnation is just!

But we are persuaded better things of you, beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ. Everyone who, by the wonderful power of God's grace, by the working of the Holy Spirit, repents and sincerely trusts in Jesus Christ shall have life. Everyone who repents and believes the gospel as seen in a life of new obedience shall never perish but shall have eternal life.

May God make His Word both powerful and effective in our life, turning us daily to repentance from our sins and faith in Jesus Christ, the wonderful, perfect, and only Savior, who has delivered us from so great a destruction of hell and has brought us forever into the fellowship of God.

By Carl Haak

WHAT IS HELL?

2008-06-06T13:10:00.001+01:00

Heaven is the dwelling place of God with His people. It is the place where God’s people shall have perfect communion with their God and where salvation will be perfected. Heaven is a place of everlasting rest for the saints, where sin and sorrow and struggle will be forever gone, and God’s people shall enjoy the perfect work and salvation of Christ. Heaven is the ardent hope of every believer. A believer lives now in the hope of heaven. He looks for, yearns after, and sets his heart upon the hope of eternal glory.

Who are going to go to heaven?

The answer must come from God’s Word. In the book of Revelation we see in four statements. We see from the book of Revelation that only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life go to heaven, that is, those whom God chooses and gives to Jesus Christ, a choice that He made before He created the world, a choice He made in free grace and love. We see, more, that those who go to heaven must be washed from the filth of their sins in the blood of Jesus Christ; that they themselves are corrupt and filthy sinners, and before they could ever appear in God’s presence in heaven, they must be washed clean from their sins. Still more, we see that the answer to the question of who is going to heaven was that one must be freed from the power of sin in his life, one must be made a servant of Jesus Christ who desires, already now, to serve Him and obey His Word.

Today we will ask another important question:

What is hell?

Can you conceive of a more sobering thought than hell—hell, which, the Bible says, is everlasting torment of the body and soul in the lake of fire, prepared for the devil and all who do not repent?

My heart trembles over the truth of hell.

The world today mocks hell. They make it an object of their ridicule and laughter. In fact, they even challenge God to cast them into hell. Other people imagine hell to be something in this life. They say that their life is a living hell, referring to all the suffering and miseries that they have had. There are others who readily tell other people to go to hell. Or, the moment they hurt themselves, they say, “Oh, hell.” They use it as a curse-word.

When one comes before the Bible, one finds that the truth of hell is the most sobering truth that can be imagined. It is the truth of God’s Word that wakes the child of God out of the daze and stupor of this world. The devil seeks to have the children of unbelief, the children of the world, deceived. He seeks to keep them in blindness and darkness to the reality of the fact that eternal hell awaits all who do not repent and believe in Jesus Christ.

A believing child of God stirs up his mind over the subject of hell. He sees the reality, not the myth, of the place Jesus called outer darkness, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. We see the seriousness of our sins. And we understand that sin is not a plaything, sin is not an excusable thing. Sin is a horrendous thing that deserves eternal punishment in hell.

Still more, we see the wonder of belonging to Jesus Christ who has delivered us from hell.

If the truth of hell does not produce in your heart trembling, if, perhaps, there is just a little, fleeting trembling, but you have never contemplated the truth of hell and never truly fled for refuge to Jesus Christ, then the Word of God to you right now is: Repent. If your life is only one of hypocrisy, if your confession of Christ is only outward, and if, in all seriousness, you have no foundation under you, no foundation to keep you from the flames of hell, then the Word of the gospel to you now is: Repent! Jesus said, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” The sober reality of hell is used of God to bring His children to the wonderful reality of belonging to the Savior Jesus Christ.

If heaven were the only eternal state that God tells us of in His Word, we could stop our series on heaven. But the Word of God makes very plain that there is not only a heaven but also a hell. If it were true that a soul could be annihilated, simply cease to exist; or if it were true that we could hold out the possibility of amnesty (that a person, at death, would get another chance), or somehow receive a pardon, or that there would be a period of probation—then, too, perhaps, the human mind could have peace apart from Christ. But the Word of God speaks very solemnly of the truth of eternal hell.

Most people choose not to believe in hell. They say that death is the end, or the great unknown (we don’t know what happens after death). So they try to push death and hell out of their daily consciousness. There are many who call themselves Christians and do not believe in hell. They say, “My God would never send anyone to eternal torment.” In fact, it is commonly believed today that a Christian, by definition, is one who rejects the truth of hell. Scarcely anyone believes that he is going to go to hell. Man insulates himself from the reality of eternal punishment.

Yet the Bible is plain for any who will read it. God’s Word speaks of hell. And hell is not, as many modern Bible expositors teach, a garbage pit outside of Jerusalem. No, the Bible says that hell is a bottomless pit (Revelation 9:1), it is a lake of fire, burning with brimstone (Revelation 19:20). It is the place where men and women are tormented, held in chains of darkness, where the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and they have no rest day or night (Revelation 14:11).

Do you believe that hell exists?

The question really is this:

Do you believe the Bible?

Do you subject yourself to the truth of God’s Word?

If we examine all the testimony that is found in the Bible concerning hell, we will see that there was one who spoke more of hell than any other, and warned of it, and lived in the consciousness that impenitent sinners go to hell. That One was Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was the One who told us (Matthew 10:28) that we must not fear those who kill the body and after that have nothing more they can do. He told us whom we should fear. Fear Him who can cast body and soul into hell fire. It was Jesus Christ who described (Matthew 8:11-12) hell as a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, a place where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. It was Jesus Christ who said (Matthew 22) that those who would not be found in the last day robed in the garment of His righteousness would be cast out into outer darkness. It was Jesus Christ (Luke 13) who warned that a failure to repent meant that one would perish forever in the damnation of hell. Jesus Christ talked of hell with His disciples. He brought it up when He spoke of our personal relationships. He warned us that whoever calls another person a fool would be in danger of hell fire. He spoke of the fact that when we refuse to forgive one another, we will be held over in the prison of death.

Then Jesus Christ said (Matthew 11) that it would be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for those who heard His word and did it not. Sodom and Gomorrah, you may remember, were cities in the Old Testament that were destroyed by fire and brimstone for their sin against God. Jesus said, in the day of judgment it will be better for Sodom and Gomorrah, men who were filled with wickedness, than for those who heard His Word and did not repent. He said to the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida, where He had done His mighty works and preached His wonderful sermons, “Woe unto you, Chorazin and Bethsaida.”

Hear now the word of God. Repent. Then go to your house, by faith, confident of refuge—refuge that is found in belonging to Jesus Christ, the only One who can deliver and has delivered His people from so great a death as eternal hell.

Jesus spoke of hell often. He spoke of it very pointedly in Matthew 25. In verse 41 we read, “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.” There Jesus describes hell as the place where the curse of God is inflicted upon a person, to be endured for ever and ever. He says that hell is where the wicked are shut up under the curse of God in everlasting misery, in the company of the devil and his angels. The time will come when men will hear the words, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Jesus, in Matthew 25, was speaking of the final judgment, when all men will be gathered before Him. And He says that He will divide them as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats.

Just as the Bible teaches that at death the soul of a believer goes up to heaven and his body goes to the grave to await the resurrection day, when the body will be raised to go into final glory, so also does the Bible teach that the soul of an unbeliever at death goes to hell. Jesus taught in Luke 16:24 that a man who did not believe or repent awoke in death to the torments of flame in hell. Further, the Bible teaches that the body of an unbeliever will also be raised up at Christ’s return. In John 5:29 we read of the resurrection of the good and of the evil, a resurrection unto life and unto death. So, body and soul, a person will go into everlasting punishment, where all the haters of the Lord, all who despise His Word, all the unbelieving, are damned under the curse of God.

What is the curse of God?

When Jesus spoke of the curse of God He was referring to the just penalty of the holy God for the breaking of His law. We read in Galatians 3:10, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.”

The law of God, the Ten Commandments, express the will of the holy God for the life of men and women, boys and girls—of all men and all women of every age and every place. The curse is the infliction of God’s wrath upon those who would presumptuously stand in defiance of His law and transgress that law.

The Word of God says to us in Galatians 3 that that was the curse that was also due unto believers. It was the curse that Christ redeemed us from when He was made a curse for us upon the cross of Calvary. To be cursed, then, is to appear before the face of God, before the face of the eternal Judge, to stand before the judgment seat of Christ as a transgressor, as one who has broken the law of God — not having faith in Jesus Christ, not belonging to a Christ who has delivered you from that curse, but rather agreeing, in your heart, with your transgression, standing before the holy God in enmity and saying in your heart to His law, “I will not, I never will bow to that holy law.” Then to hear the words of holy indignation, the most horrible words that a soul could ever hear: “Depart from me, ye cursed.” To have the full penalty of a holy God’s wrath fall down upon a person, pressing him down to the pit for an eternity in suffering—that is hell.

Let all who now curse inwardly, let all who in the pride of their heart set themselves up over against God’s law, let all whose mouths are filled with cursing and bitterness repent and flee to Jesus Christ in faith. Let all who would, in the words of Psalm 50, imagine that, after all, a little transgression will never hurt a person, all who are willing to consent with the thief and with those who curse and swear and say, “Well, it’s all right to sin”—let all such hear the Word of God: Repent, lest God descend upon you and tear you in pieces.

I said that this was the curse from which Jesus Christ has delivered believers, the penalty for our rebellion and sin against God, the penalty for our repeated offenses against God. Jesus Christ has delivered us from this curse because this curse was actually inflicted upon Him in our place. So we know how dreadful this curse is. We know how dreadful it is from what it did to our Savior upon the cross. Our Savior upon the cross was banished from the smile of God. He was lashed with all the blows of God’s holy wrath, which should have been directed against us. Paul says, in 2 Corinthians 5:11, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” Those who are confident of their deliverance from sin in Jesus Christ, but who know how terrible is the judgment that their sins deserve, do not simply go out and forget the penalty that their sins deserve. Rather, they go out, says Paul, and persuade men, they urge men, “Are you going to go on in the way of sin and rebellion and clothe yourself with the curse of God?”

Although our society professes widespread belief in God, yet the knowledge of the curse of the holy God against those who break His holy law does not exist for our culture. That is evidenced, for example, in homosexuality. Romans 1 says that homosexuality is the depths of breaking God’s law. Yes, homosexuality is a sin that Jesus Christ delivers from, that the grace of God pardons from. He takes us out of that sin. But that very act of homosexuality today is promoted as being right. It is condoned by the church, so that, if we listen to much of the church that claims that it has the gospel, we would conclude that God ought to apologize for what He did to Sodom and Gomorrah, for He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for the sin of homosexuality. Today, salvation is no longer declared as deliverance from the curse of God against sin. Today, salvation is simply freedom from frustration. Jesus has come to remove our frustrations, to save us from anxieties, to teach us to live with our doubts and our fears.

The curse of God?

Threatened upon a man or woman for breaking His law?

That is no longer declared.

But let it be heard today! The Bible, the truth, is this: Salvation is to be delivered from the curse that was due to us. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. That is salvation! And hell is when that curse is inflicted upon you.

Hear the Word of God. Repent. Forsake your sins. Go to Jesus Christ in the gift of faith. For there alone is refuge.

By Carl Haak

Quotes From The Watchtower Promoting Christmas

2008-05-26T13:26:00.004+01:00

It is quite immaterial the day Christmas is celebrated: we may properly join.
(Watchtower - December 15th 1903 - Page 3290)

Don't quibble about the date; join in with the world and celebrate Christmas.
(Watchtower - December 1st 1904 - Page 3468)

The Studies in the scriptures suggested as Christmas gifts.
(Watchtower - November 15th 1907 - Page 4094)

Christmas is so important, regardless of the date.
(Watchtower - December 15th 1926 - Page 371)

HOW CAN YE ESCAPE HELL?

2008-04-04T13:25:00.000+01:00

In Matthew 23 the Lord Jesus is coming down hard on the scribes and Pharisees of His days. He does not spare. The time is Tuesday morning, in the temple, right under the nose of the scribes and Pharisees, three days before the Lord Jesus is going to be crucified.

The Last Three Woes (Matthew 23:25-33)

Matthew 23:25-32
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.

Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,

And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.

Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

Matthew 23:33
Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

The last words in this passage, “how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” are the words I want to focus on today.

And thus the title of this article is, “How Can Ye Escape the Damnation of Hell?”

A common theme throughout this passage is: “Clean on the outside but dirty on the inside”.

It applies to the cup and the platter, it applies to the whited sepulchres, and it applies to the tombs of the prophets whom they pretend to adore, but history proved that they have persecuted every one of them, even unto death. And thus the outside of the tombs are nice and garnished, but inside are the remains of those whose souls now in heaven under the altar cry, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” We know not how long, but it is getting close.

The Cup and the Platter (Matthew 23:25-26, Revelation 16:19)

Matthew 23:25-26
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

Why does the Lord focus on the cup and the platter?

It is because the scribes and Pharisees are very busy fulfilling their ceremonies, and making every thing clean that they may appear to be God honoring people.

What is the meaning of the cup in the Bible?

Most of the time the cup refers to the cup of God’s wrath. For example, we read in Revelation 16:19, “And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath”.

This tells us that the cup of the wine of the fierceness of God’s wrath is hottest when it concerns the apostate church. Likewise the Old Testament congregation has gone severely apostate in Jesus’ days, because of the works gospels that the scribes and Pharisees were preaching in those days.

How could they escape the damnation of Hell?

They would have to read the Bible again and pray that God would enlighten them in understanding the Scriptures like Jesus did.

Whited Sepulchres (Matthew 23:27-28, Romans 3:13)

Matthew 23:27-28
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.

Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

The Lord compared the scribes and Pharisees with sepulchres that have been painted white on the outside, but within they are full of dead men’s bones.

Why does the Lord Jesus compare them with sepulchres?

God speaks about such sepulchres in Romans 3:13, where He says, “Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips”.

Why is their throat an open sepulchre?

It is because with their tongues they speak the lies of the works gospels that the scribes and Pharisees were so fond of. That is why the poison of asps is under their lips, for with their speech they plant their poison in the hearts of the hearers and lead them astray into works gospels. This is why the Lord Jesus accused them of being full of hypocrisy and iniquity within. On the outside they appear like holy men, clean and white, but they carry within a graveyard full of dead disciples whom they have killed with their false gospels. They have learned these false gospels from their fathers, who killed the true prophets of the Lord. That is why we now read about the sepulchres of the prophets.

The Sepulchres of the Prophets (Matthew 23:29-32, Luke 11:47-48, John 8:44)

Matthew 23:29-30
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,

And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

They claimed to be innocent of the blood of the prophets. The Lord says that they are not innocent, for they inherited the guilt of their fathers, for the Lord is visiting the iniquity of the fathers unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate His true identity. Furthermore, The Lord Jesus said in Luke 11:

Luke 11:47
Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.

Luke 11:48
Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres.

Truly, the children of them which killed the prophets of God act like their fathers, for they are imitating the works of their fathers. The Lord Jesus referred to this in the Gospel of John, chapter 8. He says,

John 8:44
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

The scribes and Pharisees are demonstrating that they are of their father the Devil, for they have murder on their mind. They intend to kill the Lord Jesus before the week is over.

How Can Ye Escape the Damnation of Hell? (Hebrews 2:3, Matthew 23:33)

Now we need to examine the question that the Lord Jesus placed before the scribes and Pharisees. In Matthew 23:33 the Lord Jesus said

Matthew 23:33
Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

The scribes and Pharisees did not answer this question. We know the answer, because we have heard the Gospel of salvation through the cross of Christ, and God the Holy Spirit has revealed unto us that this is the truth. Even today there are many in the world who do not know this, and who deliberately refuse to pay attention to God’s Word, the Bible. Yes, they have deliberately chosen other pursuits to their own happiness in the here and now, and so they are neglecting God’s Word regarding their life hereafter. But the Bible is very clear that they are fools who neglect God’s Word. God says in Hebrews 2:3,

Hebrews 2:3
How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

How shall we escape the damnation of Hell if we neglect so great a gift, whereby God Himself took on the likeness of sinful man, and came down to earth to make atonement for sinful man, and suffered the equivalent of an eternity in Hell in our place, so that we can go to heaven?

The answer is: We shall not escape the damnation of Hell if we neglect so great salvation, for we would have spurned the gift of God, and we would be trampling on the One who gave His life and His soul as a gift for mankind. God will be the Avenger of anyone who does this. All they who neglect so great salvation are refusing to serve God by not giving Him glory, and are denying that God made man to give Him glory. All they who neglect so great salvation are placing themselves on the side of Satan and his fallen angels who also refused to serve the one and only God. That is why the Lord Jesus labeled the scribes and Pharisees as serpents and vipers. In God’s eyes they are serpents, for Satan showed himself as a serpent in the Garden of Eden where he deceived the woman by putting doubt in her mind about what God has said. In God’s eyes they are poisonous vipers, for this is the effect of lending an ear to the lies of the Devil. And God says that all those who follow the lies of the Devil are like him, and are comparable to serpents and vipers. No one on earth can claim that he has never heard this, for the Bible has been a best seller for more than 500 years over all the world. God did not keep this in a secret corner. The Gospel of Christ crucified has been spread for more than 1950 years, and today we can say that the Gospel has been preached to all nations on this earth. And thus, the day of reckoning has come very close.

The Lord Jesus says to the scribes and Pharisees, “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?”

And what exactly is this condemnation?

What is Hell?

We want to examine this place, Hell, for today there are many fables and lies spread in many churches about Hell.

What Is Hell? (Matthew 18:8, 25:41,46, Mark 3:29, 9:44, 46, 48, 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9, Hebrews 6:2, Jude 7, Revelation 14:10-11, 20:10)

Let us hear what the Lord says about Hell in the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew 18:8,

Matthew 18:8
Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.

Here the awfulness of Hell is said to be worse that cutting of your own hand and foot. We all can envision the horrendous pain that accompanies the mutilation of our hands and feet. Well, the pain of Hell is much worse. This is the reason why the Lord says, “cut them off, and cast them from thee”. The Lord is not saying this as a command to cut off our hands and feet, but to give us a picture of how awful Hell really is.

Moreover, the Lord says that Hell is an everlasting fire. Today there are many lies spread that Hell is a place of incineration. It is a place where people are incinerated: poof, they are gone forever No more existence and no more suffering. That is a lie.

Why would God create an everlasting fire if the use of it would be only temporary?

Many people try to reason that a good God would not cast people into an eternal Hell. But we should not trust our human reasoning; we should trust what God says in the Bible. And the Bible is very clear that both the saved and the unsaved have eternal existence in heaven or in Hell. God says in Matthew 25:41,

Matthew 25:41
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:

Again, the fire is everlasting, and it is prepared for the Devil and his angels. Do not trust the word “angel” when you see it in your KJ Bibles. This word should have been translated “messenger” in every case where we find it, for that is the real meaning of this word. An angel can be a messenger, but a human being can also be a messenger, for every unsaved person is a messenger of Satan, in contrast to a saved person, who is a messenger of Christ. Many cults derive their false doctrines from the KJ Bible, letting people believe that the English translation of the Greek or Hebrew text is the infallible Word of God. That is a lie. The English translation is the work of man, and cannot be the infallible Word of God. But the Greek text declares to us here that Hell is like “an everlasting fire created for the Devil and his messengers” and that includes all the human beings who remain unsaved, for God knew from before the foundation of the world which human beings would remain in rebellion, and remain in their sins. God repeats His message from verse 41 in verse 46. Please drop down to verse 46 where the Lord says,

Matthew 25:46
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

You see, the punishment in the fires of Hell will be everlasting, meaning without end. It is absolutely certain that Hell is a place where people are punished everlastingly, or eternally, for their sins. Hell is forever, because people’s sins cannot be purged by their works. Sins cannot be purged in purgatory, and sins cannot be purged by enduring sufferings in Hell for a while, for that would be equivalent to the work of Christ, and Christ alone was able to do that because He is fully man and fully God at the same time. And so, when people believe that they will endure the pain of incineration for a few moments, they are in fact subscribing to a salvation from their sins by a works gospel, where they do their own work of washing away their sins through suffering in the fires of Hell, as if they were equivalent to the Lord Jesus Christ. But this will not work, for no one can pull themselves up by their bootstraps to the level where the Lord Jesus Christ is. Let me give you a few more passages that prove Hell is forever. They are all listed in the sermon outline in your bulletin of today so that you can save them for your witnessing.

Mark 3:29
But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:

Mark 9:44, and 46, and 48, Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

Notice:

If in Hell the worm does not die, why would people die?

Are worms better than people?

2 Thessalonians 1:8-9
In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;

Hebrews 6:2
Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

Jude 1:7
Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Revelation 14:10
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:

Revelation 14:11
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.

Revelation 20:10
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

The objections to this conclusion that are brought up many times are as follows:
Why does God in 2 Thessalonians 1:9 speak of “everlasting destruction”, and God speaks of Hell more often as “destruction”?

And why does God say in Ezek 33:11 that “He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked”?

Let us look at:

Is Hell the Destruction of Body and Soul? (Matthew 7:13, John 17:12, Romans 9:22, Genesis 2:17)

In Matthew 7 we have a passage where the Lord Jesus warns us not to follow the majority of mankind, for the majority remains under the wrath of God. It is only a minority of mankind that will find the way to eternal life. In this verse the Lord Jesus said that the majority of mankind is on the way to destruction. We read in Matthew 7:13,

Matthew 7:13
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction <684>, and many there be which go in thereat:

In this verse the Greek word # 684 has been translated “destruction”. But when we search the New Testament we find that this Greek word has more often been translated “perdition”. I wish the KJ translators would have been more consistent in translating this word as perdition, for perdition in the case of vessels refers most of the time to utter destruction, but in the case of people it refers to eternal damnation in Hell.

For example, in John 17:12 the Lord Jesus spoke of Judas Iscariot as the “son of perdition”, which means the “son of Hell”. Earlier, in John 6:70, the Lord Jesus referred to Judas Iscariot when He said, “Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?”

Another example is found in Romans 9:22, where we read:

Romans 9:22
What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction (or perdition):

Fitted to perdition would have been a better translation. It is from this imperfect translation of the Greek word # 684 in the KJV that the cults have derived that nobody actually goes to Hell, but that on the Last Day the unsaved will go through a process of “destruction”, or “incineration”. Actually, their deviation begins already in Genesis 2:17.

In Genesis 2 we read of God laying down the Law to Adam. Yes, God is laying down the Law. It is not often understood that God was laying down the Law, for when Adam sinned he transgressed the Law of God, for sin is a transgression of the Law, and where no law is there is no transgression. God says here,

Genesis 2:17
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Here again the cults are taking the KJ translation as infallible words. But the words “thou shalt surely die” is not an accurate translation. Literally the Hebrew text reads, “dying thou shalt die”.

“In the day that thou eatest thereof dying thou shalt die”. What God promised Adam came to pass literally. When Adam ate from the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, in his soul existence he died instantly. In his soul he became like as all men come into the world, dead in trespasses and sins; spiritually dead in the sense that he could not do anything that was pleasing to God, and spiritually dead as someone who has come under the wrath of God, deserving to be condemned in Hell. In his body he underwent a process of dying that gradually overtook him and caused him to die at the age of 930 years. But this does not mean the end of Adam’s existence. When God created Adam He created him in the image of God, which implied that in his soul existence he would live forever. And since like begets like, everyone of his posterity was also to live forever in their soul existence. Therefore, those of Adam’s posterity who are deserving to be condemned in Hell, will be given on the Last Day a resurrected body, and will be cast both body and soul in Hell where they will again undergo the process of “dying thou shalt die” in Hell. They will be in a painful process of dying, but will never get to the end, for Hell is forever. God will give them a resurrected body to fulfill His promise of “dying thou shalt die”. It is only in this way that we can understand all the Scripture references to “the second death” that God described in Revelation 19.

And so, does Hell mean the destruction, or incineration, of both body and soul in the Lake of Fire?

Absolutely not, for God says that it is the process of dying thou shalt die in the Lake of Fire. It will last forever.

Let us now consider why God says that “He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked”.

The Death of the Wicked (Ezekiel 33:10-12, John 6:44, Ephesians 1:3-5, 2:1-3, Romans 9:11-13, Psalm 5:5, 7:11, 11:5, John 17:3)

God appointed the prophet Ezekiel to be a watchman unto the house of Israel. He must warn the house of Israel when he sees the enemy coming. But look now at the circumstances when God is giving this command to the prophet. Ezekiel and the entire house of Israel are captives in Babylon. Ezekiel cannot possibly be a physical watchman who stands on the walls of Jerusalem to warn the house of Israel that the enemy is coming. His function must refer to a spiritual watchman:

#1, he must warn the wicked of the house of Israel that the Lord is coming to take revenge;

#2, he must warn those who are resting in the certainty that they are going to heaven since they are sons of Abraham.

Ezekiel is like John the Baptist who must warn the publicans and the harlots that they are wicked, and that they must repent, and he must warn the scribes and Pharisees, who think they are righteous, that one sin is enough to cast them into Hell.

Ezekiel 33:10
Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?

Ezekiel 33:11-12
Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth.

What is the context in which we find the words of verse 11, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked”?

The context deals with repentance. Verse 10 is a call to repentance, and verse 11 is a call to the wicked for repentance, and verse 12 is a call to the wicked to repent as well as a warning to those who call themselves righteous that they sin not.

Who are these wicked whom God calls to repent?

Well, we can see it in the case of John the Baptist, for these are the publicans and the harlots who know that they are wicked and indeed they turn to repentance. Why did they repent and why did they turn to the Lord Jesus? The Lord tells us why in John 6:44, where the Lord says,

Joh 6:44
No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.

This was the reason why the publicans and harlots turned to the Lord Jesus, because the Father drew them to Jesus. It was God’s plan to draw those who realize that they are wicked, and He drew them to repent and to come to Jesus, because they were the elect of God who were destined to become saved.

And let us now apply this result from the New Testament to the prophecy of Ezekiel. When God calls the wicked in Ezekiel 33:11 and calls them to repent, God is addressing the people whom He intended to save, and He calls them the “House of Israel”, and He knows that they will repent for they are the elect of God.

Which House of Israel does God have in mind?

God does not have in mind the physical descendants of Jacob, for God is not giving us here a history lesson. The elect of God that God has in mind are all those who were chosen from before the foundation of the world to be in Christ. This is the Israel of God. God says in Ephesians 1:3-5,
Ephesians 1:3-5
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

And this refers to the remnant chosen out of all nations and kindreds and peoples and tongues from the whole earth. This is the true House of Israel whom God is calling in Ezekiel 33:11, so that this passage becomes profitable to this day and age to all the remnant of the earth whom the Father is drawing to Jesus. In other words, God loves them and calls them to repentance. These are the “wicked” of who God says in Ezekiel 33:11, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked”.

Can you see that we were among the wicked before we became saved?

Ephesians 2:1-2
And you (addressing the Ephesian saints) (hath he quickened), who were dead in trespasses and sins;

Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

Ephesians 2:3
Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

We were by nature the children of wrath, even as others who never become saved. We were wicked before we became saved, and that was the reason why we were under God’s wrath. And God was addressing us in saying “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked”.

The Bible is very clear on this principle: God loves His elect, and God hates those who are not His elect.
We can see this principle clearly when we consider God’s declaration about whom He loves and whom He hates. We have here in a nutshell the story of Jacob and Esau, of whom much was written in the OT. But here in Rom 9 God added some information that we do not find in the Old Testament. God added this information so that we have a clear picture of what election is.

Romans 9:11-13
For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;

It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.

As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

This is the added information: God loved Jacob and hated Esau before the children were born, and before they could have done any good or evil. God did not say this to give us a history lesson on Jacob and Esau, but God said this to tell us of the principle that God loves His elect, and God hates those who are not elect. In other words, all whom God elected from before the foundation of the world, according to Ephesians 1:4, are in the category of Jacob, and God loves them. All whom God did not elect from before the foundation of the world, according to Romans 9:13, are in the category of Esau, and God hates them. Let me now take it one step further. When we read about the righteous and the wicked in the Old Testament we must keep this principle in mind: God loves His elect and God hates the non-elect. Thus when we read in Psalm 5,

Psalm 5:5
The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.

Who are the foolish and the workers of iniquity?

They are the non-elect. Then we read in Psalm 7:11

Psalm 7:11
God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.

Who are the righteous here?

They are the elect.

Who are the wicked here?

They are the non-elect. We must always base our interpretation on the context, for the context determines what the meaning of a particular word should be. The elect are not called wicked in this verse. Then we read in Psalm 11:5,

Psalm 11:5
The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.

The righteous belong to the elect, but the wicked and him that loveth violence belong to the non-elect for they are hated by God. And so, let us now come back to the question that the Lord Jesus asked of the scribes and Pharisees, “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?”

The answer is, they cannot escape the damnation of Hell for the Lord calls them “serpents”, and He calls them “vipers”. In other words, they are serpents and vipers because they belong to the master-serpent, Satan, whose clutches have taken a firm hold on these scribes and Pharisees so that they are proclaiming false gospels in the name of God, but actually they speak in the name of Satan. They are continuously blaspheming, for they are bearing the Name of the Lord in vain.

How can they escape the damnation of Hell?

They must escape the clutches of Satan. But without God’s might there would not be the slightest chance that they would want to escape the clutches of Satan, and that they would want to preach the true Gospel. No, the sovereignty of God in choosing to save whom He will from all nations of the world was the farthest from their minds. But not every one of the scribes and Pharisees did belong to Satan. For example there was Nicodemus who came to Jesus by night. Another example was Joseph of Arimathaea who asked for the body of Jesus to give Him a decent burial. These two Pharisees did not agree with the others in the Sanhedrin. And herein we can see that God has His chosen people, the remnant saved by grace, in every class of society, for our God is not a respecter of persons. More importantly, we should think about the question:

How can WE escape the damnation of hell?

We can escape the damnation of Hell if God has drawn us to the Lord Jesus. And the evidence of this is that we believe what the Bible says WHO God is and WHO the Lord Jesus Christ is. The Lord tells us in John 17:3, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent”.

Let us then remember that this God, this sovereign God, loved us even when we were dead in trespasses and sins, and that He gave His only begotten Son to us for a complete atonement for all our sins. This sovereign God, who loved His Son Jesus Christ more than He loved us, was willing to offer His only Son to make us escape the damnation of Hell. We cannot fathom such great salvation. We only can worship and adore Him. AMEN.

By Alfred Chompff

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FOR JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

2008-01-23T16:22:00.001Z

QUESTIONS TO ASK JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

2008-01-01T13:54:00.000Z

(Some quotations are from the Jehovah Witnesses’ [JW] New World Translation [NWT])

1. In John 20:28, Thomas refers to Jesus (in Greek) as ho kurios moi kai ho theos moi. This translates literally as “the Lord of me and the God of me.” Why does Jesus in John 20:29 affirm Thomas for having come to this realization (“thou hast believed”)? If Jesus really wasn’t the Lord and the God of Thomas, why didn’t Jesus correct him for making either a false assumption or a blasphemous assertion?

2. Jehovah says in Isaiah 44:24, “I, the LORD, am the maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by Myself and spreading out the earth all alone.” How do you reconcile this with the Watchtower teaching that Jehovah first created Christ and then Christ created everything else?

3. If, as the Watchtower teaches, the title of the Lord Jesus as the “firstborn” in Colossians 1 refers to “first created” and is not a term of pre-eminence, how do you explain Jeremiah 31:9 where God declares that Ephraim is His firstborn? It is clear from Scripture (Gen. 41:51-52) that Manasseh, not Ephraim, was the firstborn in time. Is Jesus not therefore, as Creator, supreme over His creation and not the first created being produced by Jehovah?

4. If only God can save-and there is no other Saviour than God (Isa. 43:11)-then doesn’t that mean that the New Testament references to Jesus as Saviour point to His deity? If not, then how do you reconcile Jesus’ role as Saviour with Isaiah 43:11 and Hosea 13:4?

5. If Jesus placed Himself on an equal par with the Father as the proper object of man’s trust (as He did in John 14:1), then wouldn’t this have been blasphemous unless Jesus Himself truly is God and Saviour? Similarly, how can it be the Father’s will that “all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father” (John 5:23), if God says in Isaiah 48:11 that He “will not give [His] glory unto another.” Also how do you explain Jesus’ words in John 17:5 in the light of the above considerations?

6. How do you reconcile Jehovah’s statement in Deuteronomy 32:39 that “there is no god with” Him, as well as the statement in Isaiah 45:5 that “there is no God beside” Him, with the Watchtower teaching that Jehovah is God and Jesus is a god beside Him? (See John 1:1 in the NWT.)

7. In Luke 20:38 we read that Jehovah “is not a God of the dead but of the living.” The Greek word theos (“God”) is used without the definite article ho (“the”). Since Jehovah’s deity is not diminished by this Greek construction in Luke 20:38, why does the Watchtower seek to diminish Christ’s deity in John 1:1 which uses the same Greek construction?

8. If Jesus is merely “a god” according to the NWT version of John 1:1, is he a true God or a false god?

9. Since all the “I am” sayings of Christ in the Gospel according to John (“I am the bread of life;” “I am the good shepherd,” etc.) are clearly intended to be related to one another, why does the NWT correctly translate ego eimi as “I am” throughout John’s Gospel except in John 8:58 where it translates ego eimi as “I have been?” Why did the Jews want to stone Christ in John 8 if all He said was “Before Abraham was, I have been,” and did not use the Divine Name, “I AM,” from Exodus 3:14?

10. Since Jehovah is called “mighty God” in Isaiah 10:21, just as Jesus is called “mighty God” in Isaiah 9:6, does this not mean that the Watchtower is wrong when it claims that “mighty God” refers to a lesser deity (cf. Jer. 32:18)?

11. Since Jesus is “the same yesterday, today and forever” (Heb. 13:8), how can the JWs claim that Jesus was an angel, who became a man, and then became an angel again?

12. Since Michael the archangel could not rebuke the devil by his own authority (Jude 9) and Jesus could and did (Matt. 4:10), doesn’t this prove that Jesus cannot be Michael the archangel?

13. Jesus said in Luke 24:39 that He was not a spirit and proved this by the fact that He had a flesh-and-bones body. How does this fit with the Watchtower teaching that Jesus was raised as a spiritual creature without a physical body?

14. Since Jesus declares that He would raise “this temple” (John 2:19) and by “this temple” He means His own body, as John 2:21 teaches (“he spake of the temple of his body”), isn’t Jesus teaching His bodily resurrection in this passage?

15. How can Jehovah be “Lord of lords” (Ps. 136:3; Deut. 10:17) and share this title with Jesus in Revelation 17:14?

16. How can Jehovah be “the first and the last” (Isa. 44:6) whereas Jesus possesses this title in Revelation 1:17?

17. How can Jehovah be the One before whom every knee shall bow (Isa. 45:22-23) and Jesus also have this honour (Phil. 2:10-11)?

18. If in Isaiah 40:3 a way is prepared for “Jehovah,” why does Mark 1:1-3 apply this to Jesus Christ? Was not John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus Christ? How then can we escape the conclusion that Jesus is Jehovah?

19. In Revelation 22:12-13 the One who is coming is clearly the Lord Jesus, who is here designated “Alpha and Omega.” How then can we escape the conclusion that Revelation 1:8 also refers to Jesus Christ (“Alpha and Omega”) and calls Him the “Almighty,” thereby teaching that Jesus Himself is Almighty God?

20. If in 1 Corinthians 8:6 there is “one Lord,” namely Jesus Christ, does this mean that God the Father is not Lord? How, then, can the Watchtower claim that the Father’s title of “one God” rules out Jesus’ being God?

21. If the name of Jehovah is the only name for salvation (Isa. 43:11), why does Acts 4:12 say of Jesus Christ: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved?” Is it not true that Jesus is Jehovah salvation, “God with us” (Matt 1:23) as our Saviour?

22. In the NWT, every time the Greek word proskuneo is used in reference of God it is translated “worship” (e.g., Rev. 5:14; 7:11; 11:16; 19:4: John 4:20 etc.). However, every time proskuneo is used in reference to Jesus Christ it is translated as “obeisance” (Matt. 14:33; 28:9, 17; Luke 24:52; Heb. 1:6 etc.) even though it is the same word in the Greek. What is the reason for this inconsistency?

23. Colossians 1:16, speaking of Jesus, teaches that “all things were created by him, and for him.” The Watchtower claims that Jesus was Michael the archangel at the time of the creation. Would an angel create all things for himself? How do you explain this since God Almighty is said to have created all things for His own pleasure in Revelation 4:11?

24. If the righteous dead have no consciousness how can Revelation 14:13 describe them as “blessed” and enjoying “rest?” Similarly, how can the wicked dead have “no rest day and night” “forever” (Rev. 14:11), if they are annihilated and no longer exist?

25. If the Holy Spirit is God’s impersonal active force, how can He be lied to and called God in Acts 5:3-4? How can an impersonal force be blasphemed (Matt. 12:31)? How can an impersonal force be grieved (Eph. 4:30)? How can an impersonal force have a will (I Cor. 12:11)? How can an impersonal force have a mind since He “searches” (the same word is used in John 5:39) the deep things of God and knows the mind of the God (I Cor. 2:10-11)? How can an impersonal force teach (John 14:26), command (Acts 8:29; 13:2) and intercede or pray (Rom. 8:26)?

26. The Bible uses impersonal things to describe the Holy Spirit such as water and fire. The Watchtower argues from this that He is thereby not a person. What then of God who is called “a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29), an impersonal thing?

27. Since Ephesians 2:8-9 teaches that salvation is by grace through faith, which faith is not of ourselves but is the gift of God (cf. Titus 3:5; Rom. 3:20; Gal. 2:16), why does the Watchtower teach salvation by works?

28. Paul says, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6:14). What do you glory in? Can you truly make Paul’s confession and still retain the JW doctrine of salvation?

WE WORSHIP GOD IN CHRIST

2007-12-25T13:28:00.001Z

We as “Christians” worship God as He identifies Himself in His Word, as He reveals Himself in Christ, and as He draws us to Himself by His Spirit. We worship God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, the true and living God in the Trinity of His sacred Persons.

We worship ONE God who subsists in Three Persons. We cannot fully understand or explain this great truth, but we know it is true because this is how God reveals Himself in Christ by His Spirit to us. Our knowledge, connection, and acceptance with the Godhead is in the Person and finished work of Christ who redeemed and justified us by His obedience unto death on the cross –

“For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.” (Colossians 1:19-20)

… “For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power:” (Colossians 2:9-10)

When we praise, honor, exalt, and worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we praise, honor, exalt, and worship the Godhead – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We can give no greater honor to the Father and to the Holy Spirit than when we trust, rest in, follow, and worship God the Son incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ.

By Bill Parker

THE JESUS OF THE WATCHTOWER

2007-01-23T22:02:00.000Z

WHICH JESUS?

"But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him."
2 Corinthians 11:3-4

The apostle Paul spoke of those who would come preaching another jesus; of those who would receive another spirit and accept another gospel. The question we pose to you, the reader, is:
‘Which spirit have you received, which gospel do you believe and WHICH JESUS HAVE YOU ACCEPTED?’

THE ‘JESUS’ OF THE JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES:

The jesus of the Jehovah’s Witnesses is not God but only a god. He is the Son of God but not God Himself. This jesus was resurrected a divine spirit creature and his birth on earth was not an incarnation according to JW doctrine. The jesus of the Jehovah’s Witnesses is not coming again but is already on earth, only invisibly. This jesus ‘...removed the effects of Adam’s sin by his sacrifice on Calvary, but the work will not be fully completed until the survivors of Armageddon return to God through free will and become subject to the Theocratic will of Jehovah’ (‘The Kingdom of the Cults’, p.99). The JW jesus is a false jesus and no Savior at all.

THE TRUE JESUS:

There is only one True Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible: the One Whom God gives testimony to. The One Who died, was buried and rose again "according to the Scriptures" (see 1 Corinthians 15:1-4). There is only one Savior whom God recognizes as His Son and only His Son saves: the Jesus Who is not only the Son of God but IS God Himself. The true Jesus IS the Second Person of the Trinity (1 John 5:6,7), unlike the Mormon jesus. The resurrected body of the true Jesus was made up of ‘flesh and bones’ (Luke 24:39) and the true Jesus is not already secretly on earth for His coming will be seen by all (Acts 1:9-11 cf. Luke 17), unlike the JW’s jesus. The true Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father and does not appear at the beck and call of Roman Catholic priests upon their altars as bread and wine. Nowhere in Scripture can it be demonstrated that the sufferings of the true Jesus continued in hell for the redemption of man, as they did for the false jesus of the Faith Movement. The true Jesus died on the cross at Calvary and His shed blood, that is his physical death, DID atone for all the sins of everyone for whom He died. His sacrifice was a once and for all substitutionary sacrifice that requires no repetition and no supplementary act on the part of man in order for it to become effective. His physical death IS sufficient to cover every sin—past, present and future—of all those whom God gave to Him.

The jesuses promoted in the false gospels of religion failed to fully atone for sin by their ‘death’ on the cross. The true Jesus’ atonement for His people was fully efficacious for the redemption of everyone for whom He poured out His blood:

"Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross"
Colossians 2:14

"...but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself"
Hebrews 9:26

"...we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all"
Hebrews 10:10

"For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified"
Hebrews 10:14

"...unto Him (Jesus) who loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood"
Revelation 1:5

All these Scriptures testify to the fact of the all-sufficiency and all-efficiency of Jesus’ once and for all sacrifice for His sheep on the cross. As the different gospels preached by these false religions are no Gospel at all, so too, their different jesuses are no Jesus at all and, therefore, no Saviour at all! It is of crucial importance that we believe in the right Jesus. In fact it is a matter of life and death. The jesus you have is identified by the doctrine you believe in. There are billions of people on this earth but only one you and one me. So too, there is only ONE God and ONE Lord Jesus Christ. There is only ONE Savior and if one does not abide in His doctrine, if one does not believe in the only Gospel which reveals the Righteousness of Christ, without which no one can be saved, then one is without God and without hope:

"Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God..."
2 John 9

"For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth...For therein is the Righteousness of God revealed..."
Romans 1:16,17

Imagine a room full of different jesuses. Above their heads are written: ‘The jesus of the Mormons’; ‘The jesus of the Faith Movement’; ‘The jesus of Roman Catholicism’; ‘The jesus of Arminianism’ etc. The characteristics, the attributes, the history and the redemptive work of the jesus you follow must be in accord with the Jesus of the Bible or you have accepted the wrong jesus (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Why error is so deadly in this matter of who the Savior is and what He has done, is that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

If one does not hold to the truth about Jesus, how can one be said to have the True Jesus at all?

The doctrine which distinguishes and identifies the jesus you believe in must be in accord with the Scriptures or you have been taught, and do follow, one of the many counterfeit saviors. The true Jesus is the One whose physical death upon the cross, alone fully atoned for the sins of everyone for whom He died. Only this Jesus is the real Savior; only this Jesus provides salvation for His people, the ones whom God chose before the foundation of the world and gave to His Son (Ephesians 1:4 & John 17:2,3). Accept any other jesus, however much he might resemble the true Jesus, however sincerely you believe him to be the true Jesus, and you have embraced a satanic counterfeit who will lead you to an eternal hell.

By Moreno Dal Bello

2007-01-11T02:41:00.000Z

Recently, I received a letter from a person I had never heard of before. The person's initials were M.S., and the envelope contained a booklet from the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society entitled "You Can Be God's Friend!" Written across the top were the words "Hope you read this!" Well, I've read it, and now it's time for a few comments. If M.S. would like to respond, I would be glad to respond to the response.

The booklet opens with the words, "God wants you to be his friend." Now this is definitely the kind of thing most people really want to hear. It's kind of nice to imagine God running after you, offering you all sorts of benefits if only you will consent to be his friend, isn't it?

Well, I don't call it "nice." I call it arrogant. I call it the fulfillment of Satan's original lie, "you shall be as God" (Genesis 3:5). In particular, I notice that you have not provided a single Scripture reference to back up this claim that God wants to be the reader's friend. On the other hand, Scripture clearly testifies that there are plenty of people whom God does not want as friends: Romans 9:13 says that God hated Esau; Psalm 5:5 says that God hates all workers of iniquity (not merely the works); Exodus 9:12 & 16 tell us that God raised Pharaoh to power and hardened his heart in order to destroy him. And in Matthew 23, Jesus calls the Pharisees hypocrites (several times), a brood of vipers, children of the devil, and whitewashed tombs (clean and beautiful to outward appearance, but inwardly full of death). Apparently, Jesus didn't want the Pharisees to be his friends.

For this reason, I have to take issue with another very popular statement on page 16: "You can recognize true religion by watching the people who practice it." Had you been watching the Pharisees, however, you would have seen some people who appeared to be exceedingly good people. They went to church every single Sabbath day. They strictly observed the laws regarding tithing, diet, sacrifices and offerings, circumcision, fasting, and prayer. They strictly refrained from drunkenness, idolatry, and fornication. They were hardworking, zealous, and devout. (Presumably, they even refrained from smoking.) By every observable standard, they were decent, moral, God-fearing folks. Yet, as we have seen, God did not desire to have most of them as his friends.

It is true that there are certain people whom God desires as friends. But, contrary to what the booklet says on page 5, we do not become God's friend merely by learning about him, nor even by addressing him by his first name. Isaiah 65:1 says, "I have been sought, not by those who asked. I have been found, not by those who sought Me. To a nation not calling on My name, I said, Behold Me! Behold Me!" By nature, no one wants to be the friend of God (Romans 3:9-22); by nature, all people are enemies of God (Ephesians 2:1-3). Those whom God desires as friends, he draws to himself, not by pleading and begging, but by his own sovereign power (Psalm 110:3, Proverbs 21:1, John 6:40 & 44). Salvation is not for the convenience of man; it is for the glory of God. Salvation is "not of the [one] willing, nor of the [one] running, but of the [One] showing mercy, of God" (Romans 9:16). It is God and God alone who causes a person to become his friend by causing that person to believe the Gospel.

The Gospel is Good News. It is God's promise of forgiveness of sin, fellowship with himself, and eternal glory in heaven, based exclusively on the blood that Jesus Christ poured out and the righteousness that he established. It is Good News because it means that God has provided for the forgiveness of the sins of his people. It is Good News because it means that God doesn't merely ignore the sins of his people; he causes them to be paid for. It is Good News because, even while paying for the sins of his people, God himself remains just, holy, and righteous.
2 Corinthians 5:21 says: "For He made Him who knew no sin [to be] sin for us, that we might become [the] righteousness of God in Him." This verse makes it clear that in dying on the cross, the sins of the people of God were charged to the account of Jesus Christ, and he paid the full penalty which they deserved. Conversely, the righteousness of Jesus Christ is charged to the account of every Christian, everyone who believes God's promise, making him as holy and blameless as Jesus Christ himself. In this way, God remains just while being the Justifier of him who has faith in Jesus (Isaiah 45:21, Romans 3: 26).

God is an infinite God and an infinitely righteous God. Therefore, all sin is an infinite offense to him (Exodus 20:5, Habakkuk 1:13). Therefore, any sacrifice that is intended to atone for sin must be an infinite sacrifice. Anything less would be insufficient to turn away God's wrath against the sins of his people. It is only as Jesus Christ partakes of the two natures, human and divine, that he is able to become the Mediator between God and Man (Job 9:33; Hebrews 2:17), able to "lay his hand" upon both at once. Therefore, the Gospel absolutely requires that Jesus Christ not only be a real human being but also be God incarnate, God in the flesh.

On page 15, this booklet teaches that "Before he lived as a man on earth, Jesus lived in heaven as a mighty spirit creature. (John 17:5)" The idea that Jesus was merely a "creature" and did not fully partake of the divine nature utterly destroys the Gospel. It means that Jesus could not have fully atoned for the sins of his people, because he, as a finite creature, would not have had enough merit to pay for the infinite demerit of sin.

The fact that Jesus is more than a mere "creature" is inferred from the following facts:
1. Several titles applied to Jesus Christ. Jesus is called "Lord", by Thomas and Stephen (John 20: 28, Acts 7:59-60), and Christians must confess Jesus as "Lord" (Romans 10:9, 1 Corinthians 12: 3). The Greek word here translated "Lord" is kurios, which is the word used to translate "Jehovah" in the Greek version of the Old Testament.

Similarly, Jesus is called "Immanuel" (Matthew 1:23), which means "God with us." And in Revelation 22:13, Jesus is called "the first and the last," a title that is given to Jehovah God in Isaiah 44:6. None of these titles could be given to a mere creature.

2. Several attributes of Jesus Christ. Jesus is described as all-knowing (John 1:48; 2:25; 6:64; 16:30; 21:17), all-powerful (Matthew 28:18; Hebrews 1:3), eternal (Micah 5:2), and unchanging (Hebrews 13:8). And Colossians 2:9 states that in Jesus Christ "all the fullness of the divine quality dwells bodily." (NWT). None of these things can be said of a mere creature.

3. Several works of Jesus Christ. Jesus has the power to forgive sins (Mark 2:5-7; Luke 5:24; Ephesians 1:7), control nature (Matthew 8:26), give eternal life (John 10:28; 17:2), and judge the world (John 5:22 & 27). None of these things can be done by a mere creature.

4. Jesus Christ received worship. Jesus received worship from men (Matthew 14:33; John 9:38) and angels (Hebrews 1:6, Revelation 5:11-13). Yet worship is due to God alone (Exodus 34:14; Acts 14:11-18; Romans 1:24-25; Revelation 19:10). Jesus himself even taught this (Matthew 4:10; John 4:23). No mere creature can legitimately receive worship.

5. The Patriarchs and Prophets expected a Messiah who would also be Jehovah. The Messiah was expected to be not only David's son, but his Lord as well (Psalm 110:1). Job said "For I know my Redeemer [is] living, and He shall rise on the earth at the last; and after my skin has been struck off from my flesh, yet this, I shall see God" (Job 19:25-26). John wrote of Jesus in John 12:37-41 that Isaiah "saw His glory, and spoke about Him." (cf. Isaiah 6:1-5). The Patriarchs and Prophets did not expect that the Messiah would be a mere creature.

Finally, there is Revelation 1: 11-18. In this section, John sees a vision of a person who clearly identifies himself as Jehovah God (vss. 11,14,17). He also has the appearance of a "Son of Man" (v. 13). But this person goes on to say, in v. 18, "I became dead." So how could Jehovah God die? The only possible explanation is that Jehovah God died on a Roman cross, just outside Jerusalem.

The last problem with this booklet is found on page 19. Under the heading "False religion teaches that the wicked will suffer in hellfire," we read the following: "Would a loving God torment people forever? Of course not!" This sentiment is extremely popular because it betrays a fatal ignorance of the infinite heinousness of sin. Anyone who makes such a statement obviously has no knowledge of the infinite glory of God or the infinite punishment that any sin against him deserves.

God is indeed a God of love (1 John 4:7-8). And first and foremost, God loves his own righteousness and his own glory (Numbers 14:15-21; 2 Samuel 7: 23; Isaiah 42:8; John 12:27-28; Romans 9:22-23; Ephesians 2:12). Therefore, it is absolutely essential that God display his infinite love for his own glory by punishing those who violate his glory with a punishment equal to the crime they have committed. If God were to treat such rebels against his glory with any punishment that was less than infinite, he would effectively be saying that he did not love his glory or his righteousness or that his glory was less than infinite. Any of these options is blasphemy. The teaching that souls do not suffer eternally in hell dismisses the seriousness of sin and dismisses the righteousness of God.

I hope you can see why I oppose the doctrines taught in this booklet. They blaspheme God, spit in the face of his only begotten Son, and make a mockery of his holiness, righteousness and justice. Anyone who believes these doctrines is obviously lost. I exhort you to repent of this blasphemy and believe the Gospel - the Gospel that glorifies God, the God who is, above all, a Just God and a Savior (Isaiah 45:21).

Endnotes
[1] If the pictures in this booklet are to be believed, you can also distinguish true religion by the clothes that are worn. Men have pressed and pleated suits with ties and neat haircuts. Women have pretty dresses and nicely set hair. The wicked, on the other hand, have rumpled clothes and messed-up hair. (One wonders how Paul and Silas must have looked after several days in jail - Acts 17:24.) The "wicked" men have a heavy five o'clock shadow, most of them smoke, and several of them even wear (gasp!) glasses. And they never smile. This kind of malarkey is so obviously unscriptural that it is hard to examine it with a straight face. Man looks on the outward appearance, but God sees the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). Jesus had no beauty that we should desire him (Isaiah 53:2), but Satan transforms himself into an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).

[2] In Appendix A (below), I have dealt with some verses from the New World Translation that oppose the teaching of the deity of Jesus Christ.

THE WATCHTOWER SOCIETY ANSWERS A FEW QUESTIONS

2007-01-11T00:37:00.000Z

Question - Does the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society claim to be a true prophet of God?

Answer - "The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society is the greatest corporation in the world, because from the time of its organization until now the Lord has used it as his channel through which to make known the glad tidings." (Watchtower January 15, 1917, p. 22)

Question - But how can a person distinguish true prophets of God from false prophets?

Answer - "The best method of proof is to put a prophecy to the test of time and circumstances. The Bible invites such a test." (Watchtower March 1, 1965, p. 151, "Basis for Reliance on Prophecy")

Question - Should the prophecies of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society be publicly examined?

Answer - "The Watchtower ... invites careful and critical examination of its contents in the light of the Scriptures." (Watchtower August 15, 1950, p. 263, "Name and Purpose of The Watchtower")

"Over the years, representatives of different churches have published many books and brochures for the purpose of 'exposing' Jehovah's Witnesses as heretics... Naturally, we are not afraid of this kind of publicity ..." (Watchtower August 1, 1978, p. 12, "A Growing Paradise in Sweden")

Question - What prophecies has the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society made?

Answer - "True, it is expecting great things to claim, as we do, that within the coming twenty-six years all present governments will be overthrown and dissolved ... In view of this strong bible evidence concerning the Times of the Gentiles, we consider it an established truth that the final end of the kingdoms of this world, and the full establishment of the Kingdom of God, will be accomplished at the end of A.D. 1914 ..." (The Time is at Hand [Studies in the Scriptures, vol. II], 1908 reprint [1889 orign.], pp. 98,99)

"The date of the close of that 'battle' is definitely marked in Scripture as October, 1914. It is already in progress, its beginning dating from October, 1874." (The Watchtower Reprints, January 15, 1892, p. 1355)

"We see no reason for changing the figures - nor could we change them if we would. They are, we believe, God's dates, not ours. But bear in mind that the end of 1914 is not the date for the beginning, but for the end of the time of trouble." (The Watchtower Reprints, July 15, 1894, p. 1672)

"The culmination of the trouble in October, 1914, is clearly marked in the Scriptures; and we are bound therefore to expect a beginning of that severe trouble not later than 1910; - with severe spasms between now and then." (The Watchtower Reprints, September 15, 1901, p. 2876)

"The people who are the strength of Christendom shall be cut off in the brief but terribly eventful period beginning in 1918 A.D. A third part are 'burned with fire in the midst of the city.' Fire symbolizes destruction. One large part of the adherents of ecclesiasticism will die from pestilence and famine. (Deut. 32:24.) ... After 1918 the people supporting churchianity will cease to be its supporters, be destroyed as adherents, by the spiritual pestilence of errors abroad, and by the famine of the Word of God among them. The Sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17), which is the Word of God, will be wielded in the hands of 'Present Truth' believers in such a manner as to cause conscientious supporters of ecclesiasticism to cease to be supporters." (The Finished Mystery [Studies in the Scriptures vol. VII], 1917 ed., pp. 398-399)

"They are to be resurrected as perfect men and constitute the princes or rulers in the earth ... Therefore we may confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the faithful prophets of old ... 1925 shall mark the resurrection of the faithful worthies of old and the beginning of reconstruction ... based upon the promises set forth in the divine Word ..." (Millions Now Living Will Never Die, 1920, pp. 89,90,97)

"Are we to assume from this study that the battle of Armageddon will be all over by the autumn of 1975, and the long-looked-for thousand-year reign of Christ will begin by then? Possibly, but we wait to see how closely the seventh thousand-year period of man's existence coincides with the sabbathlike thousand-year reign of Christ. If these two periods run parallel with each other as to the calendar year, it will not be by mere chance or accident but will be according to Jehovah's loving and timely purposes. Our chronology, however, which is reasonably accurate (but admittedly not infallible), at the best only points to the autumn of 1975 as the end of 6,000 years of man's existence on earth. It does not necessarily mean that 1975 marks the end of the first 6,000 years of Jehovah's seventh creative 'day.' Why not? Because after his creation Adam lived some time during the 'sixth day,' which unknown amount of time would need to be subtracted from Adam's 930 years, to determine when the sixth seven-thousand-year period or 'day' ended, and how long Adam lived into the 'seventh day.' And yet the end of that sixth creative 'day' could end within the same Gregorian calendar year of Adam's creation. It may involve only a difference of weeks or months, not years." (Watchtower, August 15, 1968, p. 499, "Why Are You Looking Forward to 1975?")

"The apostle Paul was spearheading the Christian missionary activity. He was also laying a foundation for a work that would be completed in our 20th century." (Watchtower, January 1, 1989, p. 12, "The Hand of Jehovah Was With Them" [as originally published in Watchtower magazine])

Question - Have any of the Watchtower's prophecies actually failed?

Answer - "Ever since 'The Watchtower' began to be published in July of 1879 it has looked ahead into the future ... No, 'The Watchtower' is no inspired prophet, but it follows and explains a Book of prophecy the predictions in which have proved to be unerring and unfailing till now. 'The Watchtower' is therefore under safe guidance. It may be read with confidence, for its statements may be checked against that prophetic Book." (Watchtower, January 1, 1969, p. 2)

Question - If any of the Watchtower's prophecies had failed, what would be the result?

Answer - Deuteronomy 18:20-22: "'However, the prophet who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded him to speak or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die. 21 And in case you should say in your heart: "How shall we know the word that Jehovah has not spoken?" 22 when the prophet speaks in the name of Jehovah and the word does not occur or come true, that is the word that Jehovah did not speak. With presumptuousness the prophet spoke it. You must not get frightened at him.' [New World Translation]

Question - Suppose someone decided that some prophecies of the Watchtower had failed; what would be the Watchtower's response?

Answer - "Yet there are some who point out that the organization has had to make adjustments before, and so they argue: 'This shows that we have to make up our own mind on what to believe.' This is independent thinking. Why is it so dangerous? Such thinking is an evidence of pride." (Watchtower, January 15, 1983, "Armed for the Fight Against Wicked Spirits")

Question - If the Watchtower Society had made any failed prophecies, would they try to conceal such prophecies from the public?

Answer - "God's Word commands: 'Speak truth each of you with his neighbor.' (Eph. 4:25) This command, however, does not mean that we should tell everyone who asks us all he wants to know. We must tell the truth to one who is entitled to know, but if one is not so entitled we may be evasive ... As a soldier of Christ he is in theocratic warfare and he must exercise added caution when dealing with God's foes. Thus the Scriptures show that for the purpose of protecting the interests of God's cause, it is proper to hide the truth from God's enemies." (Watchtower, June 1, 1960, p. 351, "Questions from Readers")

Question - If the Watchtower Society was dishonest with me, what should be my response?

Answer - "God, who is himself 'the God of truth' and who hates lies, will not look with favor on persons who cling to organizations that teach falsehood. (Psalm 31:5; Proverbs 6:16-19; Revelation 21:8) And, really, would you want to be even associated with a religion that had not been honest with you?" (Is This Life All There Is? 1974, p. 46, "What Is This Thing Called 'Soul'?")

WATCHTOWER - FALSE PROPHET ORGANIZATION

2006-11-05T18:40:00.000Z

TRUTH ABOUT THE WATCHTOWER ORGANIZATION

2006-11-05T18:37:00.000Z

THE WATCHTOWER CLAIMS TO BE GOD'S TRUE PROPHET

2006-04-12T23:15:00.000+01:00

Do they really? Yes they do, they said so themselves:

The Watchtower Magazine - January 15 - 1959 - pages 40-41
'Whom has God actually used as a prophet? ... Jehovah's witnesses are deeply grateful today that the plain facts show that God has been pleased to use them.'

The Watchtower Magazine - April 1 - 1972 - pages 198-99
'Thus this group of anointed followers of Jesus Christ, doing a work in Christendom PARALLELING Ezekiel's work among the jews, were manifestly the modern-day Ezekiel, the 'prophet' commisioned by Jehovah...these followers of Christ embraced the name 'Jehovah's Witnesses'...'