Jehovah's Witnesses

Men, well, it's good to be here together singing God's Word, truths found in His Word. I just want to express to you guys my love for you and how grateful I am for you listening! And being hungry for God's Word, that's encouraging to me. And so I want to serve you guys and help you guys. And Wednesday nights are a means to that end. Well, tonight we're continuing our series, and we're going to cover Jehovah's Witnesses. And we left the denominations category a few weeks ago, and we're now thoroughly planted in the deceived category. And so Jehovah's Witnesses are a legit cult, like a definitional cult. So before we get to Jehovah's Witnesses specifically, I want to think about what's the difference between a denomination and a cult. Okay, so Roman Catholics and Church of Christ are in error, but I wouldn't call them a cult. So what's the difference between maybe a denomination like Methodism and a cult? Well, a denomination would be a Christian group that holds to the essentials of our faith. So a denomination wouldn't deny something that's essential to salvation. And so someone can be a Methodist or a Baptist or a Presbyterian or a

Lutheran and be a Christian. Now a cult would be a group that claims to be a Christian, but denies something that's essential to the faith. They deny something that's essential to salvation.

And so if you're a part of a cult, you cannot be a Christian because by definition, a cult denies something that's essential to Christianity. Now what if you don't know what a group believes?

Sometimes these cults are pretty secretive. We'll look at that in just a moment. If you don't know what they believe, what are some signs that someone may be in a cult or that a group might be a cult?

A few signs of a cult. They have hidden teachings that they won't come out front with. They've got some hidden doctrines, some hidden teaching that they won't give to you until you've spent a certain amount of time in the system, so to speak. And we'll see some of that, especially with Mormonism next week. But only the elite have access to some of these true teachings that are hidden.

Another thing, cults are very controlling over the lives of people that are in them. And so they'll tell you, hey, you can't have Amazon Prime. They'll just make up weird rules like that to completely control the people who are in their group. And another thing is cults will also isolate you from the outside world. They do not want you to be influenced by those outside their group.

They don't want you to hang out with certain people. They will control and even choose your relationships for you. And then last thing, if you leave a cult, they will completely cut you off.

And so if someone leaves a cult, they will get renounced by their family. They will lose all their friendships, all their relationships, because they will completely cut them off. And so anyone who leaves is formally shunned. And that's actually language that Jehovah's Witnesses will use.

And so when I talk about the essentials of our faith, the things that are essential to salvation, what am I talking about? Well, things like the Trinity, who God is, things like the person of Christ, the atonement, that Christ died for our sins and was raised on the third day, what salvation is, what it looks like, how it's obtained, is the Bible God's word? Things like that are essential to our faith. And if someone denies one of those things, they are not a Christian. So let's get into Jehovah's Witnesses in particular. Let's look first at the background of Jehovah's Witnesses. They are part of the Restorationist movement. We saw that with the Church of Christ. We saw that a little bit with Pentecostalism. And so this came about in the late 1800s or early 1900s, and they think they're restoring the purity of the first century church. They're trying to restore the church back to what it was when it first started. And so groups that came out of this Restoration movement would be

Church of Christ, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Pentecostals. Quite a roster there for the Restorationist movement. But where does their name come from? They're called Jehovah's Witness.

Witness. The name Jehovah comes from the name Yahweh in the Old Testament. And they kind of combined it with the vowels from the word Adonai. And so it's Jehovah. And so sometimes if you've got a King James Version or someone in your family uses King James, Jehovah will show up in the Old Testament when it says Yahweh. And then they're called Witnesses. They're Testifiers. And their kind of theme verse is Isaiah 43 verse 10, which says, you are my witnesses, declares the Lord. Or in certain versions, including theirs, it says, declares Jehovah. And so Isaiah 43 10 is where they get the name Jehovah's Witness. It started in the late 1800s, 1879 to be specific. And their founder, the guy that started them started it because he claimed that the Bible actually had errors in it. The Bible had become corrupt over time. And so they made their own. Major red flag. And their translation is called the New

World Translation. The New World Translation. And just a little pro tip. If you're going to make your own translation of the Bible, give it a less creepy name. Like New World Translation. Why do you name it that? That's spooky. But anyway, so they call themselves Jehovah's Witnesses. They have their own Bible, the New World Translation. It's got a lot of commonalities with our Bible, but some key changes to reflect their heretical theology. And I mentioned that cults will cut you off if you leave.

They will completely shun you. And so here's a list of sins that will get you shunned from Jehovah's Witnesses. Here's a list of sins they will cut you off for. Saluting the flag. Celebrating holidays. Celebrating birthdays. Celebrating birthdays. Voting. Military service. And blood transfusions.

Now, I can't figure, I've tried to study that. I can't figure out why. But they will disown you for getting a blood transfusion. And members are not allowed to question any doctrines that Jehovah's Witnesses hold to. They're not allowed to question them or challenge them from the Bible. They believe their leaders are infallible. That they speak directly for God and from God. And so no questioning is allowed. And so part of the reason for this list of sins is they think that any government is automatically evil and satanic. They think it's opposed to God by very nature of its existence.

They are against holidays because they think they all have pagan origins and are under satanic influence. Birthdays are wrong because they honor people instead of honoring God.

But wedding anniversaries are fine. They allow you to celebrate wedding anniversaries, just not birthdays. So those are some of the silly things they believe, but there's some more serious theological things that they're wrong about. They're wrong about the Bible, wrong about the Trinity, wrong about Christ, wrong about the Holy Spirit, wrong about the bodily return of Christ, and they're wrong about hell. So basically all of it. Like, I don't know if there's anything else they could corrupt.

They're just completely heretical in basically everything. Over the years, they've faced some criticism. They've lost a lot of followers at some key points because of failed predictions about the future. They've tried to predict the return of Christ several different times. And so we'll walk through a few of these predictions that have failed. They believe that Jesus returned invisibly in 1874. And so somehow someone figured out that invisibly Jesus returned in 1874, and that in 1914, the kingdom of God would be brought fully to earth. Wrong. Then they taught that in 1925, Abraham and Isaac would be resurrected, and that that would start Jesus' 1,000-year reign on earth.

Wrong about that too. They believed that only 144,000 people would be saved based on revelation talking about these 144,000 witnesses. And by saved, they mean joining Jehovah's witnesses.

Well, they were wrong about that because they got 144,000 people and nothing happened. And so they said, oh, okay, so after 144,000 get saved, everyone else that gets saved after that won't go to heaven.

So the 144,000 will rule with Christ in heaven. Everyone else will just rule here on earth without experiencing heaven in the presence of Christ. So all converts after 1935 are in that group. All converts to Jehovah's Witnesses are in that group that will stay on earth. In 1966, Jehovah's Witness leaders started writing about Jesus' earthly kingdom beginning in 1975. Wrong again. But based on some of that teaching, people started quitting their jobs. People started selling their houses.

People stopped going to school because Jesus was coming back, because the kingdom was being set up, and they were wrong. And then the Jehovah's Witness, the group blamed the people for believing wrongly, even though they're the ones that predicted that 1975, Jesus' kingdom would come. And now currently, they don't have any predictions for the end of the world, but previously they've predicted 1914, 1925, and 1975. Over three so far. Hopefully they get it right someday. But they do believe currently that we're living in humanity's final empire. America's humanity's final empire that will eventually be destroyed by the United Nations. I don't know what you believe about the United Nations, but they're probably going to be wrong about that prediction too. But they don't encourage anyone to get educated beyond high school. Because Jesus is coming back so quickly, it's a waste of time to get further education. They'll send you to trade school. They'll encourage you to volunteer as a Jehovah's

Witness, sharing their gospel with other people. But they do not encourage you to get further trained or further educated because the world is about to end. This is why theology is important.

Because bad theology ruins people's lives. And it doesn't just ruin their earthly life, it ruins their eternity if they're deceived. And so be a good neighbor and have good theology.

Be a good theologian biblically. And I've heard that as of today, we just missed the rapture, right? Allegedly. People are crazy. Oh, it was yesterday? Okay. Man, well, better luck next time.

But there is one Jehovah's Witness church in Mustang. It's called the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses. It's on 152, right by McNeil's Funeral Home. If you've ever been to a funeral there, it's the only Jehovah's Witness church in Mustang. Number two, let's look at some positives of Jehovah's Witnesses. Some positives. Number one is evangelism.

They don't understand the gospel, but they want to tell you about it. But they do get out. They do, they are urgent with spreading their false beliefs. Number two, they hold to biblical ethics, mostly. They are against homosexuality and abortion. They're pro a biblical definition of marriage. So those things are good. I say mostly because they're really weird on politics and again, blood transfusions. Third positive thing. It's easy to see that they're a cult. That's helpful for us. That's a positive. But the reason we're talking about them is because they do claim to be Christian. They do claim to follow Christ. And so it's worth covering them.

They're in Mustang. And they do claim to be Christian. And so we'll look at some of their beliefs. So thirdly, let's look at specific beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses. And you can open with me in your Bible to John 1. We'll get there in just a minute. I want to look at a few specific beliefs that they hold to.

And the first thing we'll consider is the Bible, their stance on the Bible. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the Bible has been corrupted over time to the point that it's no longer reliable. And so they corrected it for us. How nice of them. How considerate. They've got their own version of the Bible, as I said, called the New World Translation. Again, creepy name. But they didn't like what the Bible said. And so they just changed it. And they changed it under the leadership of guys who had zero language training whatsoever. And if you ever try to translate something and you don't know the language, you can't translate it. And so it's a flawed translation. And it's biased to reflect what they already believed. This is obviously a problem in its own right. And it really shows itself, especially when we start getting into the person of Christ and members of the Trinity, which we'll look at next. But first, I want to look with you at John chapter 1.

I'm reading from an ESV. If you have a faithful Bible translation, it should read similarly to what I'm reading to you. John 1 verse 1. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. There's a very clear statement about the deity of the Word. And we find out later in this chapter that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Word is Jesus. The Word is the Son of God.

And so when it says the Word was God, this is talking about Christ. Let me read you how the New World translation reads. The very end of verse 1 says, and the Word was a God, lowercase g.

And so they insert the word a God, lowercase g, implying that Jesus is a special creature. He's a special being, but he himself is not divine. He himself is not on the level of God the Father.

And so this is one place where they wrongly translate it as reflecting that Jesus is not divine. They do not think that Jesus is the Son of God. They think he is merely a creature.

And so we'll cover that more in just a moment. That's just one taste of their version of the Bible. And they view that the Bible isn't God's final revelation, but that God is continually revealing himself through the church's leadership. And the church's leadership is called the Watchtower Society. Again, super creepy name. But God is continually speaking to his church through these select leaders in the Jehovah's Witness group. So they have a bad view of the Bible. Number two, they have a heretical view of the Trinity. The Trinity. Jehovah's Witnesses completely reject the Trinity. They completely reject that Jesus is God. They completely reject that the Holy Spirit is God. And I think it'd be helpful just for us to consider what does the Bible teach about the Trinity. What is the Trinity according to God's Word. And so we believe that there is one God who exists eternally in three persons. One God who exists eternally in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And I want to look at a few passages that name all three members of the Trinity just within one sentence. So if you want to go with me to Matthew chapter 28.

The Trinity is at the core of Christianity. And so by them denying this doctrine, they're cutting themselves off from the God of the Bible. In Matthew 28, we'll look at verses 18 through 20.

Jesus has died on the cross, paying for the sins of his people, has risen again three days later, and has spent 40 days with his disciples. He spent 40 days instructing them about the kingdom, teaching them and preparing them for his absence, his bodily absence from them.

And here's some of the final words, the last words that Matthew records him speaking to his disciples. Verse 18, and Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. He's conquered death. He's risen from the grave, never to die again. And so he has all authority.

Verse 19, he says, go therefore and make disciples of all nations. How do they do that? Well, they preach the gospel to them. They're baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy spirit. Verse 20, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you. He says, and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. Now, verse 19, all three members of the Trinity are mentioned in this baptismal formula, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy spirit. And it's not just significant that all three members of the Trinity are mentioned here, but it's significant how Matthew describes them. Notice he does not say in the names of the father, son, and spirit. There is one name. There are three persons in the Trinity, but there is just one God. There is just one name. And so we baptize in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. Let's go to one more place. Second Corinthians chapter 13.

Paul ends the letter of second Corinthians on a Trinitarian note. There are many sections of Paul's writings that are thoroughly Trinitarian where he'll, he'll mention all three persons of the Trinity.

But here in second Corinthians 13 verse 14, all three are mentioned within close proximity. Second Corinthians 13 14 says, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy spirit be with you all. And so here, Paul is very clearly ending this letter to this church on a Trinitarian note. May the father, the son, and the Holy spirit be with you brothers. And so this is a thoroughly Christian doctrine and Jehovah's witnesses would look at the doctrine of the Trinity and they would call it satanic. They actually teach that Satan is the one who came up with this doctrine in order to deceive people. And so they'd say the Trinity is a doctrine that comes directly from Satan. And so they would say that there's only one God and they call him Jehovah and that Jesus Christ is not God and the Holy spirit is not God, but is merely a force. And one of their arguments is that the word Trinity doesn't actually appear in the Bible. And they're correct. If you read the entire Bible cover to cover, the word Trinity will not show up, but it's a terrible argument.

And here's why, because the question isn't whether this specific word shows up, but whether the concept is there, whether the idea is there, whether the teaching that, that goes, lends itself to the name Trinity is there. And so you've got a couple of other key words that also aren't in the Bible that we hold to and use. One of them is the word Bible. The word Bible doesn't show up in the Bible, but they freely call it the Bible. Another one is when we think about what Christ did, that Christ died on the cross for our sins. What we do is we call that atonement. Christ atoned for our sins. That word actually doesn't show up in the new Testament. Shows up a lot in the old Testament, but in the new Testament, it never describes Christ's death specifically as an atonement. And yet that idea is there. The idea is communicated. And so we can use that word to describe it. And so the question isn't whether the word Trinity shows up in the Bible, but whether the term Trinity accurately reflects what the Bible teaches about God. And so we can use words that don't show up in the Bible to describe biblical teaching, because that's the logical conclusion of what the Bible teaches. So if your friend tells you, Hey, I've got $2 and my mom gave me two more. And then you repeat that story to someone else. And you say, Hey, he's got $4. Your friend wouldn't come back to you and say, I never said the number four. You're being unfaithful to what I said. No, we understand that two plus two is four. And so when it's called two plus two or four, we're saying the same thing. That's how the word Trinity is functioning.

That word itself doesn't appear, but it's faithfully reflecting what the Bible teaches. They would also deny the Trinity on textual grounds. And so they would point to places like Deuteronomy 6, 4, which says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And so they would say, See, he's one, so he can't be three. That's a contradiction. But we're not saying there are three gods. We're not saying there's more than one God. We're not saying that God is one in the exact same way that God is three. We're saying there is one God, there's one divine nature that exists in three persons. And I think a helpful picture of this is actually marriage. If you write down Genesis 2, 24, the word one is used to describe this couple. In Genesis 2, 24, the Lord says that the two shall become one flesh. This marriage is a one flesh union. Same word one that's used in Deuteronomy 6.

And yet this one flesh union is shared by two persons. And so this word one can be used to communicate unity, even though there's a plurality of persons. There's a one flesh union in marriage shared by two people. Let's look at what they specifically say about Christ. Still under the heading of the Trinity, but what do they teach specifically about Jesus? They believe that Jesus was created. They believe that he's a unique creature. They believe that he's the only thing that God created directly. So he's unique, but they do not believe that he is the son of God. And so they think that there was a time in the past when Jesus did not exist. They think there was a time in the past where Jesus came into existence, where he began existing. They also believe that Jesus was the archangel Michael in the Old Testament. I think he was the archangel Michael and that he gave up his angelic status to enter Mary's womb. They don't think that Jesus had a bodily resurrection. They think his humanity died and that his resurrection was back to a spiritual creature. So he basically was resurrected as an angel, essentially. They also believe that when he returns, it won't be bodily.

It won't be a bodily return. It'll just be a spirit body that he has, but not an actual human body. And so they teach that Jesus is no longer human. And when it comes to the person of Christ, this is by far their most serious error. And many who have believed this have had a rude awakening in hell after they die, because to get Christ wrong is to get the gospel wrong. Now, there are no new heresies. So Jehovah's witnesses are heretical in many ways, but specifically in what they believe about Christ. There are no new heresies because Satan cannot create anything. He can only pervert and corrupt what God has created. And so these false beliefs, these false religions are just recycled ideas from the past. And that's true of Jehovah's witnesses as well. The Jehovah's witnesses are a relatively new group, but the heresy they hold to is really ancient. This heresy that Christ was created is called Arianism. And it goes back to a guy named Arius.

Now, how many of you guys have heard of St. Nick? All of you. Very good. So Santa, St. Nick, we think of him. Well, St. Nicholas was an actual person. He was a pastor. He was a bishop in the early church. And in 325 AD, Emperor Constantine called a council in order to make a decision about what to do with Arius and his teaching. Arius thought that Jesus was a creature and not the eternal God. And so these pastors gathered from all over the known world to deliberate and debate on what the Bible actually taught about Christ.

And Arius had to testify to this group and make plain what he believed about Christ. And at some point, Arius said, there was a time when Jesus did not exist. There's a time when the Son of God did not exist. And so in other words, there's a point in time when Jesus was created. And legend has it said that at that moment, St. Nick walked over to him and slapped him in the face. We don't know if that's exactly true, but it's a very ancient legend. It's all over church paintings and some church architecture from the ancient world. And we've got a couple of those pictures Landry's going to put up on the screen. So here's one of them in a church. Sorry, it's fuzzy. St. Nick's obviously the guy that's grabbing the other one by the beard about to give him the business. And this has led to a pretty extensive meme culture as well. So we've got some memes. I came to give presents to kids and punch and I just ran out of presents. St. Nicholas. Another one. Bam. Right there. Poor Arius. And one more.

There it is. Modern rendering. Jolly old St. Nick. All right. Thank you, Landry. So again, we don't know if that's exactly how it went down. I picture Will Smith and Chris Rock in my mind personally, and I think it's a fun story. My kids love St. Nick punching Aries in the face.

And my sister and brother-in-law got me a Christmas ornament that's a picture of Santa. On the back, it says, punching heretics in the face since 325. So a cool, cool story about St. Nick.

But this council of pastors decided that Arius was a heretic. And what came out of this meeting was what's known as the Nicene Creed. And so this is a very ancient heresy. And Jehovah's Witnesses don't only deny the deity of Christ, they also deny his true humanity. He just took on humanity and then died and will no longer be a human ever again. That's heretical. The Bible teaches that Jesus rose bodily, that he will return bodily, that currently his body's at the right hand of the Father. And this is what the apostles themselves taught. So go with me to 1 John chapter 1. John is very clear on this matter in particular.

The apostle John was very close to Jesus, perhaps the closest of the 12 disciples to him. And he's writing at the beginning of 1 John to combat people who are saying that Jesus didn't actually come as a human being, that he wasn't actually here in a truly human body.

Listen to what John says in 1 John 1, starting in verse 1. 1 John 1, that which was from the beginning. And remember John 1, in the beginning was the word. He's talking about Jesus here who's from the beginning.

Which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life. The life was made manifest and we have seen it and testified to it and proclaimed to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us. That which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

John is not writing about things that he heard from someone else. He's writing about things he heard with his own ears. He's writing about things that he saw in person. Jesus was truly human.

And this is important for us if you flip over to chapter 3 of 1 John. Because what the gospel promises us, what the Bible promises us, is that we as human beings, through belief in Christ, will be raised from the dead.

And we will be transformed to be like Christ. And we see this in 1 John 3 verse 2. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears, this is Christ, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. John is saying that the glorified and resurrected Christ is going to return, and that when we see him, we will be glorified like him. Our humanity will also be glorified.

And so if Jesus is no longer human, if Jesus is just a spirit being, then what John writes here makes zero sense. Jesus' body was raised from the grave.

He is still incarnate in the flesh. And one day when we see him, we will be glorified along with him. Now let's think about briefly the Holy Spirit, still under the category of Trinity.

Jehovah's Witnesses think that the Holy Spirit is a force and not a person. It's just the force that God uses to accomplish his will. It's the force he sends out to create and to renew creation.

But if you write down Acts 5, verses 3 and 4, Ananias and Sapphira tell a lie. They tell a lie to the apostles about how much money they sold their property for.

And what Peter tells them, he says, why has Satan tempted you to lie to the Holy Spirit? And in the very next verse, he says, you have lied not to man, but to God.

And so Peter equates the Holy Spirit and God. The Holy Spirit is divine and he's a person. If the Holy Spirit is just a force, you cannot lie to a force.

You lie to a person. You cannot lie to gravity. Gravity will not be deceived by you. You can lie to a person though. And so the Holy Spirit is not just a force.

He is the third person of the Trinity. And number three, third specific belief is the doctrine of hell. Doctrine of hell.

Jehovah's Witnesses think that unbelievers who die just enter a state of unconsciousness. Unconsciousness. There's no eternal torment. There's no afterlife for them.

They just stop existing at death. Their punishment is to go into a state of non-existence or a state of unconsciousness.

That's not what the Bible teaches. That's not what the Bible teaches about hell. And so I just want to go to one place with you, John chapter 5, to look at what Jesus himself says about the eternality of punishment.

John 5 will be in verses 25 through 29.

Jesus is speaking here and he says, Verse 28, Do not marvel at this for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out.

Those who have done good to the resurrection of life. And notice this, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. What Jesus is teaching us here is that everyone will be raised from the dead.

Everyone will be raised in a new body from the grave. Those who are his people will receive a glorified body that is fit to be in his presence in heaven.

Those who have rebelled against him will receive a body that is able to bear God's wrath for all eternity. But look at how Jesus describes it. These things are very similar. There's a resurrection to life forever.

There's a resurrection to judgment forever. The unbeliever, when he dies, does not stop existing. The unbeliever goes to hell where God's wrath is forever poured out on him.

And if we tamper with the consequences of this, we're tampering with not only God's word, but the gospel itself. And so they're heretical on their doctrine of hell as well.

If you want to write down Revelation 20 verse 10, it describes the lake of fire, consuming those and the smoke of their torment goes up day and night forever and ever.

There's no end to their torment. So those are three specific beliefs that they're heretical on. They contradict scripture on. And I want to conclude tonight with some advice in talking to Jehovah's Witnesses.

Jehovah's Witnesses are likely to show up at your door or you're likely to see them in public. As I mentioned earlier, they're very evangelistic. They want to get their false gospel out to other people.

And so you're very likely to talk to them or talk to a Mormon at some point in your life. We'll look at Mormons next week, but just some practical tips, some advice for talking to Jehovah's Witnesses. When we were on the passion trip back in the spring, we went to Austin and there were several guys who we passed some Jehovah's Witnesses as we were going onto the bridge to take our group picture.

They're standing there at the corner of the bridge and the road passing out some books, passing out some magazines that were theirs. And so you're likely to bump into these guys out in public. The number one piece of advice I could give you in talking to a Jehovah's Witness is to focus on Christ.

Focus on Christ. He is the one they've misunderstood. He is the one they've believed wrongly about. And he is the one who can save them.

He is the one who can change their hearts and open their eyes. And so I want to look at some places you can go in your Bible and in their Bible that will prove and demonstrate that Christ is divine.

And so I want you to be ready to turn but also write these down for future reference. We already looked at John 1. It's a very good text to go to. They have a mistranslation there where it says the word was a God.

So just be aware of that if you're going to that text. But John 1 is very clear on the deity of Christ. But another place you can go. We're already in John. So go to John chapter 20 with me.

John 20, 28 in particular. Jesus has risen at this point but there's a disciple who's struggling with doubt.

There's a disciple who's struggling to trust that Christ actually rose from the dead. And his name is Thomas. He says, unless I see with my eyes and put my hands inside his wounds I will not believe.

And Jesus appears to him and shows him his hands. He says, put your hand in my side where the spear pierced me. The end of verse 27 he says, do not disbelieve but believe.

Verse 28, Thomas answered him, my Lord and my God. My Lord and my God. And if you read this from the New World Translation it also says my Lord and my God.

And so even in the New World Translation Thomas is very clearly worshiping Christ as God. It's a very good text to go to with Jehovah's Witnesses.

Another one is Colossians 1 verses 15 through 17. You don't have to turn there but just write it down. Colossians 1 verses 15 through 17. They also mistranslate that.

In the ESV it says all things were made through him. Thinking, talking about Christ creating all things. the New World Translation says all other things were created through him.

Because they're thinking of Christ as a creature but everything else was created through Christ. But Colossians 1 is a very clear statement of Christ's deity. Hebrews 1 you can just write that one down. Another very clear open statement about Christ being divine.

And then one more place I want you to turn with me is Philippians chapter 2. This one in particular is quite powerful in confronting their false view of Christ.

In Philippians chapter 2 we'll be looking at verses 5 through 11 just briefly. verse 5 Paul says have this mind among yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied himself.

How did he empty himself? By taking the form of a servant. Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross.

Verse 9 therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

So Jesus is exalted he receives the divine name of Lord at his exaltation because of what he suffered. But here's why this one can be particularly powerful because what Paul is doing here especially in verses 10 and 11 is he's borrowing from the Old Testament and so write down Isaiah 45 verse 23 and in Isaiah 45 23 Yahweh or Jehovah as their Bible says is saying that he will not share his glory with anyone he will not share his praise or what he's due with anyone he will receive all glory and honor and praise and in Isaiah 45 23 it says every tongue will swear allegiance to Jehovah and here Paul is quoting that and saying that everyone will call Jesus Lord everyone will call him

Jehovah in worship of him and so this is another clear statement of Christ's deity but also borrowing from a text that even in their Bible says Jehovah receives this kind of worship and so Philippians 2 and Isaiah 45 are incredibly powerful in speaking to Jehovah's witnesses promises but if you're talking to them focus on Christ don't let them escape Christ show them the Bible show them their Bible and pray that God would open their blind eyes let me pray for us and we'll go to small groups our father we thank you for the gospel we thank you for the mercy you've shown us in Christ your son who has eternally existed with you was made known to us in the flesh revealing your glory and paying for our sin through atoning by giving his own blood giving his own life in our place I pray we'd believe him I pray we'd continue to look to him and that he would sanctify us and that we'd look like him and ultimately one day when we're glorified that we would continue to worship him forever and ever and it's in

Christ's name we pray amen