THE WATCHTOWER CULT
Written by Rev. Peter Bloomfield   
The "Jehovah’s Witnesses" were back in the news recently when one of their members made the wise decision to defy the JW dogma banning blood transfusions. His wife had lost most of her blood after childbirth in Melbourne, and was within an hour or so of death, when he permitted the doctors to give her the life saving blood.

How sad that this new father in Melbourne expressed his fear that he is not going to heaven because he did this! If only his religion taught him that heaven is assured for all who have sincere faith in Christ: but the Watchtower denies the true Christ. A spokesman for the JW’s made the Bible look odious by claiming that it was not the Watchtower Society that invented the edict against blood transfusions. He said "It is in the Bible".

We could easily fill a book with their absurd interpretations which twist Scripture tortuously out of shape. They have proved themselves false prophets in numerous ways, especially in predicting the end of the world in 1874 and then 1914 and then 1925. They deny blood transfusions by twisting texts like Leviticus 17:14, "For as for the life of all flesh, its blood is identified with its life. Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, ‘You are not to eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood; whoever eats it shall be cut off". A moment’s reflection shows that the text deals with animal blood not human blood, and the prohibition is about eating it with the mouth as food, a very different thing to receiving it medicinally into the veins. Moreover, the reason behind this law is that God had appointed the blood of these animals for a special purpose: atoning for sin. An innocent victim which knew no sin was substituted for the guilty humans who did sin, thus typifying the work of Christ "the Lamb of God". Such blood had a rich gospel significance, and therefore was not to be used for the common use as food.

Another example of Watchtower perversion is their doctrine of God. In denying the Trinity, they teach that the Father is Jehovah God, Jesus is the first thing Jehovah ever made (the first creature) and that Jesus was created as "a god". They teach that the Holy Spirit is neither Jehovah God, nor "a god" nor even a real person. They define the Holy Spirit as "the invisible active force of Almighty God". The Watchtower Cult is thus an incredibly weird mixture of three things:

  • UNITARIANISM (teaching there is only one person who is God)
  • POLYTHEISM (teaching there are many gods, including Jehovah and Jesus)
  • ARIANISM (denying the deity of Jesus Christ).
Or, take their doctrine of creation. They say Jehovah God created everything but not as the Christian Church has always seen it (creation out of nothing all in the space of six days). The Watchtower sees creation over various points of time. First, Jehovah created Jesus. Previously the Father was alone, indeed He was not yet a Father because He was sonless. He created Jesus as a "spirit son" out of nothing, not using a female partner as the Mormons insist. Second, and somewhat later, Jehovah and Jesus cooperated to create the other "sons of God" (ie the spirits, the angels). Hence they are the ‘brothers’ of Jesus. Here the JW’s agree with the Mormons in the blasphemous notion that, since Satan was originally one of those angels then he is also a brother of Jesus.

What should you say when they knock on your door? Here is one suggestion. Open the Bible to Colossians 1:16-17:
"For by Him all * things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all * things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all * things, and in Him all * things hold together".

The words above correctly translate the Greek text. In each of the four places marked with ( * ) the Watchtower Society’s New World Bible inserts the word "other". It is absent from every Greek text. Indeed, it is even absent from their own printed Greek text! So why do they add to the word of God? Why do they insist that Jesus only created "all other things" and only existed before "all other things"? It has nothing whatever to do with honest translation. On the contrary, it is exceedingly dishonest. It is done simply because they will not accept that Jesus is Jehovah God in all His fullness. They will not accept that Jesus (before His Incarnation) was the glorious second person of the trinity, the divine "word" (logos) of John 1:1, who not only WAS God, but was WITH God. Thus, there was equality with God ("the word was God") yet there was distinction and relationship within God ("the word was with God"). So point out their deliberate twisting of Colossians, adding what is not there, and require an answer.

We should not hesitate to hammer home these points to them. Don’t let them off the hook! We want to sow seeds of doubt in their minds so they will begin to suspect the corruption of the Watchtower. We want to break up their idolatry. We want to bring them to see the truth about Jesus. So don’t be side-tracked. Keep bringing them back to the text. Keep showing them that they have perverted Scripture. And then send them on their way. Who knows, God may use that effort of yours to trouble them and eventually rescue them.