C MacGregor Ministries 1994

The purpose of this article is to acquaint both Jehovah's Witnesses and Christians with some of the beliefs of the Watchtower Society, examine it's history briefly, and take a close look at some of the scriptures altered by the Jehovah's Witnesses. All quotes are well documented and J.W.'s can look them up for themselves in their own local or national libraries.

A favorite scripture of the Jehovah's Witnesses to explain away their changes in doctrine and dates is Proverbs 4:18 in their New World Translation (NWT) which reads,

"But the path of the righteous ones is like the bright light that is getting lighter and lighter until the day is firmly established."

But is their "bright light" getting "lighter" all the time, or is is a hodgepodge of confusion, stumbling back and forth? Jehovah's Witnesses should read on to verse 19 of Proverbs Chapter 4:

"The way of the wicked ones is like the gloom; they have not known at what they keep stumbling".

This article will show "at what they keep stumbling". Many recent Jehovah's Witnesses simply do not know of the changes and deceptions revealed in this booklet....read on.

Jehovah's Witnesses rely on their New World Translation for bible truth. They also have two editions of The Kingdom Interlinear Translation. These are supposed to contain the best light available, indeed be the last word in bible translations, but are they? Can their "light" be trusted?

When we read the Society on the subject of their own Bible translation, we find many claims for accuracy. For example, in the Kingdom Interlinear Translation, they state on pages 9 and 10.

"by rendering the truth of his inspired Word as purely and as consistently as our consecrated powers make possible. There is no benefit in self-deception."

"We offer no paraphrase of the Scriptures. Our endeavor all through has been to give as literal a translation as possible,where the modern English idiom allows and where a literal rendition does not for any clumsiness hide the thought. That way we can best meet the desire of those who are scrupulous for getting as nearly as possible, word for word, the exact statement of the original."

Sounds good! But let's examine the Interlinear Translation to see if the Society really does translate literally, or is their translation altered to suit their doctrine? The Jehovah's Witnesses teach that Jesus Christ is not God Almighty, but a lesser, secondary god, who is also the archangel Michael. Note the changes where the original Greek scripture disagreed with their aberrant doctrine on Christ.

The late Dr. J.R. Mantey (who is quoted out of context on pages 1158-9 of the Witnesses' own Kingdom Interlinear Translation) really says,

"A shocking mistranslation". "Obsolete and incorrect." "It is neither scholarly nor reasonable to translate John 1:1 "The Word was a god."

Dr. Mantey wrote a letter to the Watchtower Society before his death demanding a retraction. They never replied. (See Dr. Mantey letter in our file index)

Where are the endorsements from known Greek Scholars for the New World Translation if it is accurate as claimed?

The above rendering is contrary to all known rules of Greek grammar. Dr. B.F. Wescott (whose Greek text is used in the Kingdom Interlinear Translation) said of John 1:1

"The predicate (God) stands emphatically first, as in iv. 24. It is necessarily without the article...No idea of inferiority of nature is suggested by the form of expression, which simply affirms the true deity of the Word...in the third clause the "Word" is declared to be "God" and so included in the Godhead."

Reputable Scholars are ignored!

There is a "godship" or a "godhead" or "Deity". The one God of scripture has manifested Himself as Father, Son, And Holy Spirit. "ALL THE FULLNESS OF DEITY" dwells in Christ, even in the flesh! Christ is truly God.

The Jehovah's Witnesses cannot accept the godhead, but rather than alter their doctrine to agree with scripture, they MISTRANSLATE the word "deity" and make it "quality". The word "quality" is found nowhere in the original Greek.

When the New World Translation was released, the Society drew for their support of their John 1:1 translation "and the Word was a god" from three main sources continually quoted in their literature. They chose "The Johannes Greber New Testament", "The New Testament in an Improved Version" (upon the basis of Archbishop Newcome's Translation), and , finally, "The Emphatic Diaglott" by Benjamin Wilson. We will examine each one in turn.

The Watchtower quotes this translation on page 5 of "The Word, Who is He? According to John"; page 489 in "Make Sure of All Things, Hold Fast to What is Fine (1965)", and "Aid to Bible Understanding" pages 1134 and 1669.

Johannes Greber was an ex-Catholic priest married to a wife who was a spirit-medium. He received his " translations" during seances and by other occult means. Further information may be obtained by writing the Johannes Greber Memorial Foundation, 139 Hillside Avenue, Teaneck, N.J, 07666, U.S.A. He also wrote an occult book, "Communication With the Spirit World" which the Watchtower Society also ordered.

First, the Society exposed Greber and his demonic leanings in their February 15th, 1956 Watchtower. Later, in 1961, they released their New World Translation in its entirety, using Greber for support. Then they turned right around and denied they knew his sources were demonic in the April 1st, 1983, Watchtower, page 31. Don't they read their own magazines? Every Jehovah's Witness needs to know their translation is really based on an occult one.

The Watchtower quotes this translation on page 5 of "The Word, Who Is He? According to John" and the Kingdom Interlinear Translation page 1160 (1969 Edition). Archbishop Newcome, the original author of this text, was a believer in the Deity of Jesus Christ and translated John1:1 correctly. After his death, a Mr.Thos. Belsham, a Unitarian, altered Newcome's text to read, "and the Word was a god" to conform to his cult's doctrine. (See page 394 of "Manual of Biblical Bibliography"). J.W.'s loved this distortion and adopted it.

The Watchtower Society publishes this interlinear translation on their presses. Benjamin Wilson, the author, translated John 1:1 as "the LOGOS was God", but under the Greek/English side he put "a god". Mr. Wilson never studied Biblical Greek in a college but was a Christadelphian, a cult denying the Deity of Christ, and tampered with the Greek text to support his pre-conceived ideas about Christ. This is exactly what the New World Translation has also done. They adopted his distortion.

Why would the Watchtower Society choose sources that are false and even demonic for their New World Translation? Every Jehovah's Witness needs to answer this question!!

Why will not reputable scholars endorse their translation? Something is wrong!!!

Douay (Catholic); Rotherham; King James Version; Jerusalem Bible; The New Life Testament; The Berkley Version; New Testament (Darby); Modern King James Version; Revised Standard Edition; American Standard Version;The New International Version; Numeric English New Testament; The New Testament in Basic English; Young's Literal Translation of the Bible; The New Testament in Modern Speech (Weymouth); The New Testament in Modern English (Montgomery); The New Testament in Modern English (Phillips); etc. (This is only a partial list).

These bibles affirm the Deity of Jesus Christ and bear witness against the scholastic dishonesty of the New World Translation.

THE WORD OF GOD

The Watchtower has gone to great lengths to cover up the biblical teaching that Jesus is Jehovah, manifest in the flesh. In John chapter 8, Jesus told the Jews that he knew Abraham's day .They countered with the fact that He was not yet 50 years old (vs.57). Jesus then spoke a great truth.

John 8:58 IN THE GREEK

"Before Abraham to become I am"

Jesus was here quoting Exodus 3:14, taking Jehovah's divine name unto Himself.

The Greek "Ego Eimi" is in the present tense and translates "I Am".Jesus said in John 8:24,

"Before Abraham came into existence, I have been".

In the New World Translation in the footnote referring to John 8:58,1950 edition the Society claimed this phrase was in the"perfect indefinite tense". Scholars pointed out that there was NO SUCH TENSE in any language.

In 1961 the footnote read "the perfect tense". The 1971 footnote says "the perfect tense indicative". None of these are correct!

The Watchtower is also not honest in their rendering of the Greek word "in", which they translate "in union with" every time it refers to Christ's supernatural indwelling of the believer. Yet, they translate it correctly as just plain "in" if Christ's indwelling is not involved.

Check out also the following scriptures that teach that Christ indwells the believer, in every case "in" believers

Galatians 2:20, John 15:4,5, Colossians 1:27, etc.

IN THE NEW WORLD TRANSLATION

Jehovah's Witnesses doctrine is that Christ does not indwell the believer, and so they alter the Word of God to make their followers rely on "the organization" as represented by the "anointed" remnant as their mediator. Christ becomes the mediator only for the "anointed", not for the "earthly" class Dishonest!

Besides distorting scriptures on the Deity of Christ, the Society has attempted to reduce Christ to a creature rather than the Creator. In the NWT, . note the addition of the word "other" four times in Colossians 1:16 & 17, reducing Jesus from Creator to a creature. The Society tried to claim that Jesus was only a "master worker" helping with creation, but Jehovah says He was all alone during creation. (Isaiah. 44:24).

Nowhere in scripture does it say that Jesus is, was, or ever will be the Archangel, Michael. Just as Gabriel is Gabriel, so Michael is Michael. Jesus is better (meaning "higher in nature") than the angels (see Hebrews chapter 1). He is no angel!

In the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, page 1453, (1961 edition), it is stated that when the Hebrew definite article "Ha" precedes the word "Adon", this "limits the application of the title to Jehovah God."

Now, note in Romans 10:9 in The Kingdom Interlinear ( 1969 ed.), that there is a footnote at the bottom of the page in reference to the use of "HA-ADON". Has to be Jehovah, wouldn't you think in view of the above statement! But no---it says curtly and without further explanation "NOT JEHOVAH". Interesting, isn't it, that the HA-ADON in this scripture refers to JESUS CHRIST---an admission the Watchtower couldn't stand---Jesus is Jehovah!

In the Watchtower of June 15th, 1979, there is a discussion of 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 which clearly identifies the Lord as Jesus Christ. Paragraph 13 begins, "The glorified Lord Jesus Christ descends...."

However, the above statement not withstanding, when we look up this same scripture in their Kingdom Interlinear Translation, (69 ed)., we find in the footnote on 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17 "THE LORD JEHOVAH". It's a good thing for their followers that the Jehovah's Witnesses teach this is all invisible, since nobody can know for sure who's coming, Jesus or Jehovah. Or could Jesus be Jehovah?

In the Watchtower's Kingdom Interlinear Translation (69 ed)., on page 1155, we find them quoting from a book called "De Cruce Liber Primus" by Justus Lipsius. They even show an illustration from his book of a man crucified on a stake and state that this was the way Jesus died.

It's interesting to research what "De Cruce Liber Primus" REALLY says. At least seven illustrations of types of execution are shown .On page 47, the illustration is of Christ on the CROSS, and Justus Lipsius makes this statement,

"In the Lord's Cross, there were four pieces of wood, the upright beam, the crossbar, a "tree-trunk" piece of wood placed below, and the title (inscription) placed above."

"Why would Jehovah's Witnesses ignore this important historical illustration and choose a picture of a common criminal on a stake, when there was an illustration of our Lord's crucifixion right there? Not much "light" there!

Why also ignore the biblical evidence in John 20:25, where Jesus had the imprint of the NAILS in His hands. Jehovah's Witnesses teach that only one nail pierced our Lord's hands. They are in error. The important point here is not HOW Jesus died, but WHY He died. The Jehovah's Witnesses have admitted recently they can't be sure of the manner of Christ's death, but will continue to show a stake. Is this honest? What about "new light"? Another scripture Jehovah's Witnesses avoid is Acts 20:28. Their NWT has added words to the text, but it really says, "GOD PURCHASED THE CHURCH WITH HIS OWN BLOOD"- How much clearer do they need it?

The Watchtower has had great difficulty over the years coming to a position on the worship of Jesus. The early Society worshipped Jesus in the late 1800's. In 1953 in their publication, "Make Sure of all Things", we find the statement on page 85 that "Christ to be worshipped as a Glorious Spirit, Victorious over Death on the Torture Stake".

Jehovah's Witnesses teach that at His resurrection, Christ was re-created as the Archangel Michael. Since in Witness theology the risen Christ is a powerful angel, we wonder at their contradictory statement on page 178 of "Make Sure of all Things" (1953) which states,

"Bowing before men or even angels as "relative" worship forbidden".

Page 283 of "Make Sure of all Things" states emphatically that Jesus is NOT to be worshipped. With this view, Jehovah's Witnesses have removed the word "worship" from their New World Translation. Matt. 14:33

THE NEW WORLD TRANSLATION

"Then those in the boat did obeisance to him saying, "You are really God's Son"

Every other reference to Jesus being worshipped is likewise rendered "did obeisance".

The Society deliberately used a little-known word for "worship" to avoid saying directly that Jesus was worshipped. They teach their members that "obeisance" is just a gesture of respect. Dictionaries say it's "worship".

There are numerous other references to the worship of Jesus Christ, among them Matthew 28:9,

"And behold Jesus met them and greeted them. And they took hold of His feet and worshipped Him".

The Greek word for worship, "PROSKUNEO", is translated as "worship" for Jehovah 22 times in the New World Translation.

The SAME WORD applied to Jesus is translated "obeisance", "reverence", and "homage".

Is this honest scholarship, or did the Society again distort the Word of God to agree with their doctrine? Is this "light"?

Think about it for a minute. Jesus' early followers were all devout JEWS. Would a JEW bow his knee to anyone but Jehovah? Never! Those early Jewish Christians were acknowledging that JESUS is JEHOVAH!

We can all worship Jesus now WILLINGLY in the day of salvation, or we WILL bow our knee UNWILLINGLY in the day of judgment. It's our choice. Jesus receives worship.

"At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth" Phillippians 2:10

WILL YOU BE AT THIS GLORIOUS TIME OF WORSHIP?

What a scene of worship in heaven is shown in Revelation 5:11-14! Is Jesus included? Verse 13 concludes,

"and to the LAMB be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever....and the elders fell down and worshipped!"

Judge For Yourself--Look In Any Kingdom Hall Library!!

"...and that the "battle of the great day of God Almighty" (Rev.16:14), which will end in 1914 with the complete overthrow of earth's present rulership, is already commenced."

1915 - STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURE VOL. 2; THE TIME IS AT HAND P.99 (1920 ED)

"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 near the end of A.D. 1915."

"Also, the year 1918, when God destroys the churches wholesale and the church members by millions, it shall be that any escaped shall come to the work of Pastor Russell to learn the meaning of the downfall of "Christianity".

"Therefore we may confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the faithful prophets of old, particularly those named by the Apostle in Hebrews chapter eleven, to the condition of human perfection."

"Receiving the gift, the marching children clasp it to them, not a toy for idle pleasure, but the Lord's provided instrument for most effective work in the remaining months before Armageddon."

1975 - SEE "THE 1975 FIASCO" (Detailed later in this booklet).

Jehovah's Witnesses claim that they have just made "mistakes" in the past and have now corrected them with "new light". It is much more serious. They have claimed to be the Prophet of God, and as such, they bear a prophet's judgment.

"This prophet was not one man, but was a body of men and women. It was a small group of footstep followers of Jesus Christ, known at that time as International Bible Students. Today they are known as Jehovah's Witnesses."

THE DECLARATION OF EZEKIEL 13 APPLIES TO THOSE CLAIMING TO BE PROPHETS

"Thus says Jehovah God, "Woe to those foolish prophets who are following their own spirit, and have seen nothing. They see falsehood and lying divination who are saying "The Lord declares" when the Lord has not sent them; yet they hope for the fulfillment of their word. Did you not see a false vision and speak a lying divination when you said "the Lord declares", but it is not I who have spoken? Therefore, thus says the Lord Jehovah, "Because you have spoken falsehood and seen a lie, therefore, behold, I am against you," declares the Lord Jehovah."

Jehovah's Witnesses are constantly looking for the Battle of Armageddon, after which they expect to live in the 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth. The Watchtower believes each creative day is 7,000 years long, and that we are living in the seventh day.

Since 1,000 years must be taken off for Christ's millennial reign at the far end of the seventh day, they believe that the Battle of Armageddon will occur 6,000 years from the creation of Adam and Eve. They just can't resist setting dates for Armageddon, even though Christ said in Matthew 24:36, "But of that day and hour no one knows..." Let's review some of their publications and the statements therein.

LIFE EVERLASTING IN THE FREEDOM OF THE SONS OF GOD, Page 29

"According to this trustworthy bible chronology six thousand years from man's creation will end in 1975, and the seventh period of a thousand years of human history will begin in the fall of 1975 C.E.".

THE WATCHTOWER, August 15, 1968

"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....It may involve only a difference of weeks or months, not years".

THE KINGDOM MINISTRY, May 1974

"Reports are heard of brothers selling their homes and property and planning to finish out the rest of their days in this old system of things in the pioneer service. Certainly this is a fine way to spend the short time remaining before the wicked world's end"

THUS THE WATCHTOWER COVER-UP The Watchtower, January 1st, 1976

"Why do we not know when God's rest day began and when it will end?....This is so because there was a time lapse of unspecified length between Adam's creation and the creation of Eve."

All of a sudden, the Watchtower claimed it didn't know the date of Eve's creation! Examine the following publications on the date of Eve's creation and judge for yourself.

AWAKE! OCTOBER 8, 1968

"According to reliable Bible chronology Adam and Eve were created in 4026 B.C.E."

THE WATCHTOWER, May 1, 1968

"...it is logical that He would create Eve soon after Adam, perhaps just a few weeks or months later in the same year 4026 B.C.E."

THE BIBLE TEST OF A PROPHET!

"When a prophet speaks in the name of Jehovah, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which JEHOVAH has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him." (Deuteronomy 18:22)

According to verse 20, the false prophet is under death sentence.

OFF THE CHART ON SODOM AND GOMORRAH

1.Yes. Watchtower 7/1879 p.8

2..No. Watchtower 6 /1/52 p.338

3.Yes. Watchtower 8 /1/ 65 p.479

4. No. Watchtower 6 /1/ 88 p. 31

5. Yes. Live Forever (old ed.) p. 179

6. No. Live Forever (new ed.) p.179

7. Yes. Insight, vol 2, p. 985

8. No. Revelation book p. 273

ARE THINGS GETTING BRIGHTER AND BRIGHTER IN THE SOCIETY?

In conclusion, after reviewing the record, we find we cannot apply Proverbs 4:18 to the Jehovah's Witnesses as they wish. Their light has not gotten "brighter and brighter" but has bounced about in a state of utter confusion from publication to publication. We can only conclude that the following verse applies to them when judging them by their own "fruits", their own record.

"The way of the wicked ones is like the gloom, they have not known at what they keep stumbling". (Proverbs 4:19 NWT).

WHO IS TO BLAME?

The "gloom" that causes the stumbling comes from the wicked ones at Watchtower headquarters. These are the ones who have deliberately altered the word of God and passed it off as accurate to their unsuspecting, loyal followers. These are the ones who claim Jesus is their mediator, but they must be mediator for all others. They are corrupt. Their prophecy record of failures stretches back over 100 years. They are proven false prophets. You must not be afraid of them, but flee from them for your very life!

HOW CAN A PERSON BE SURE HE IS DOING THE RIGHT THING?

Believers in Jehovah God, you must personally come to the true Jesus Christ of the Bible (not some Watchtower distortion of Him). You will personally receive life and light from HIM, not some organization. Listen to the words of Jesus Christ to you......

"You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me; and you are UNWILLING TO COME TO ME THAT YOU MAY HAVE LIFE". (John 5:39,40)

Jesus Christ further said, not that some organization was the way to approach Him, but that, "I Am The Way,The Truth, And The Life; No One Comes To The Father, But Through Me." (John 5:39,40)

You can right now receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, by inviting Him into your life. The number who receive spiritual rebirth is not limited to 144,000.

"BUT AS MANY AS RECEIVED HIM , to them he gave the right to become Children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." John 1:12 and 13.

Receive the Lord Jesus Christ by praying and inviting Him into your life. When you do this you will be "born again".

Jehovah's Witnesses, your hope has been to live in the Kingdom, believing it will be on earth. Without arguing over its location, remember that Jesus taught in John 3:3 that, unless you are born again you will not SEE the Kingdom. Verse 5 says you must be born again to ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM.

In Conclusion

Jehovah's Witnesses are floundering about in the aftermath of their "last generation" failure. Remember, they predicted that the generation that saw 1914 would see the end of the world. They then defined a "generation" as "seventy or eighty" years. Simple math shows that the end of 1994 marked them as a false prophet once again. Their explanation that they were not "prophesying" is belied by their own cor-poration's charter, which states that their purpose is to "prophesy". They did, and they were wrong!

As usual they quickly had "new light" on the subject and redefined the term "generation" to be of an indeterminate length, thus protecting themselves from another false date. They assured their readers that "1914" as Christ's return (invisibly) was still correct, but quietly removed that date from their magazine masthead. No doubt they are hoping it will fade from memory if not mentioned. After all, Christ was originally to show up in person in 1914, but when He didn't, they claimed he came invisibly!

They are also in trouble with their rapidly aging "remnant of the 144,000" class. These few remaining brothers were to take the "other sheep" (with the earthly hope) through the Battle of Armageddon safely. Since Jesus Christ is the mediator for only this elite heavenly class in their twisted theology, soon the earthly class will be left without a mediator! This is what happens to people who put their trust in an organization, rather than directly in Jesus Christ.

Spaces on the governing board in Brooklyn are already being filled with members without a heavenly hope, and therefore, no anointing! This makes their claim that they are the only true organization on earth, directed by God alone to be a farce. Who wants to be in subjection to a group with no anointing, and no mediator? Every Jehovah's Witness needs to ask himself these questions.

In the March 1st, 1999 Watchtower a new "ruling class" was announced. These JW elders were to be in charge after Armageddon, along with the "Princes" of old, like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This required a contorted twisting of the prophecy in Ezekiel chapters 43 through 48. The new interpretation is so twisted, it even redefines the 144,000. Usually this means the "anointed remnant", but now it has to include "other sheep" (but ONLY in the context of Ezekiel's vision!!). The new "Chieftains" are to be subject to the "anointed"so now JW's have two classes within the l44,000! If JW's would just read Ezekiel chapters 43 through 48 they would find that the "chieftain" is always an individual, never a class. The prophecy is directed to "...the Levitical Priests, who are from the offspring of Zadok", (Ezek 43:19). Hardly modern JW's! This has stretched credibility to its limit!

So, what does the future hold for the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society? If they hold true to form to their latest prophetic failures, they will do two things. First, they will place the blame on the "brothers", the lowly "other sheep" who "ran ahead" with too much enthusiasm. Next, they will regroup and come up with another date. They know only too well that the Organization stagnates without a date to scare the sheep into submission. We wait now to see what transpires beyond the date of this publication.