AboutDerrick Holland Expertise I was raised in the religion known as Jehovah`s Witnesses for 13 years. Since becoming a born-again Christian, I have researched extensively this religion, especially their doctrines and their history. I can answer questions about their doctrines from the perspective of Biblical Christianity.
Experience 23 years of Biblical research into the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith, and how they differ from the teachings of the Watchtower.
Question hi derrick i wrote this question to this dude,i will pray for this man to come to the knowledge of CHRIST, may GOD give you much wisdom derrick. please answer this one, cause GOD prophet dont make mistakes, watch tower does...(question)The Watchtower organization has claimed to be the prophet of GOD (The Watchtower, April 1, 1972, p. 197) yet it has made numerous false prophecies. The excuse given for their false prophecies has been to quote Proverbs 4:18 which says, "But the path of the righteous ones is like the bright light that is getting lighter and lighter until the day is firmly established." Whether or not the "light gets brighter" or not does not change the fact that the Watchtower made false prophecies. The Bible says in Deut. 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. And in case you should say in your heart: "How shall we know the word that Jehovah has not spoken?" 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..."
If the NWT condemns false prophesying and states that it is proof that God is not speaking through that prophet, then doesn't this prove that the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society is not speaking for God?
Janko Answers -
Hello Nancy,
You are right in saying that the light gets brighter and brighter because it has indeed. God's holy spirit is directing his visible organization here on earth,which is a perfect one in itself but made up of imperfect sinful humans
so there is always going to be problems or mistakes made and repentance and forgiveness asked for,which it has always done.This is why Jesus died for us so we can be forgiven our sins and move on and correct them and not repeat them again.Our organization is pure and clean and heeds every command that Jesus bestowed upon us and live by Jehovah's high standards,which no other can make the same claim.We are God's chosen people,special possession and Jesus Christ's true disciples and that's a fact.Just remember none of us are perfect and we all make mistakes even Jehovah's Organization,but always rights their wrongs with the help of God's Holy Spirit.You can't hold grudges for past mistakes and then hold it against them in your own defense and condemnation of someone or something as you are
referring to.Accept the truth,dedicate yourself to Jehovah and get baptized and hop on the"ark"of salvation before Jehovah's fear-inspiring day when all who are alienated from him will perish forever with no hope and no resurrection either.You can either be for or against and no in between on the fence on that"day"so think hard an long where you want to be when that"day"arrives that nobody knows
but be safe on the"ark"if you want to live forever. Janko
Answer Hello Jorge and Nancy. Thank you for writing. I would like to make a couple of comments here.
You are exactly right when you say that the Watchtower is guilty of false prophesying. The fact is, the Watchtower likes to play both sides of this issue. There have been a number of times where they have claimed in print to be a prophet of God. Yet, when their false prophecies are shown to them, then they will claim that they are not prophets, and are imperfect human beings who make mistakes.
The fact that they are overlooking is that being imperfect human beings has no bearing on whether or not one is a false prophet. And as you correctly stated, the "light getting brighter" has nothing to do with whether or not the Watchtower is a false prophet or not. This is actually very simple....If the Watchtower has made false prophecies, then they are a false prophet. This issue really isn't that complicated. And being imperfect, or the "light getting brighter" has NOTHING to do with it.
They seem not to realize that true Biblical prophets of God were ALSO imperfect human beings who made mistakes in their lives, but when they were SPEAKING FOR GOD, their utterances had to be perfect and without error. And Deut. 18:20-22 gives the prescribed penalty for falsely prophesying. It is worth mentioning that, when a prophet was proven false in the Bible, he wasn't allowed to quote Prov. 4:18 and claim that "the light was getting brighter", and that we should expect "new light" on the matter in the future. He was simply viewed as a false prophet, and was to be avoided. I am convinced that the average JW is not the false prophet....It is the Organization that is the false prophet, and the millions of JWs worldwide are simply deceived by and following the false prophet. Sadly, they are not heeding the Bible's instructions about avoiding this false prophet.
Also, a quick comment on Prov. 4:18, the JWs favorite verse to justify error. In context, this verse has NOTHING to do with changing doctrine, making it o.k. to falsely predict something, or justifying the Watchtower's history of flip-flopping on issues. Instead, when read in context from verse 1, we find that this is a conversation between a father and his son. The father is presenting a contrast between the path of the righteous person, and the path of a wicked person. While the path of the wicked leads to increasing darkness, the path of the righteous leads to increasing light. This is a FAR CRY from the Watchtower's "light", which can change any time. The Watchtower has often taken one doctrinal position, changed it, then changed it back again to the original position again. Rather than a "shining light", this is actually more like a blinking light, and I think the Scripture that might actually apply would be Ephesians 4:14....
"That we henceforth be no more children, TOSSED TO AND FRO, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive."
Now, a couple of comments on what Janko wrote. I have read a number of Janko's responses in the past, and he usually likes to tell people that everyone who is not in the Organization is headed for destruction.
He said...."God's holy spirit is directing his visible organization here on earth,which is a perfect one in itself but made up of imperfect sinful humans so there is always going to be problems or mistakes made and repentance and forgiveness asked for,which it has always done.This is why Jesus died for us so we can be forgiven our sins and move on and correct them and not repeat them again."
This would seem to imply, at least to me, that Janko is saying that Jesus died for the Watchtower Organization, so that when they make mistakes, they can be forgiven of these mistakes. Unfortunately, he does not believe that a person can come to Jesus on an individual basis, like the Bible teaches, and be forgiven through faith in Christ's blood.
He then says...."Our organization is pure and clean and heeds every command that Jesus bestowed upon us and live by Jehovah's high standards,which no other can make the same claim.We are God's chosen people,special possession and Jesus Christ's true disciples and that's a fact."
This is such an incredible statement, that it hardly deserves a response. All I can say to that is, this guy doesn't have a clue what he is talking about, and THAT'S A FACT. If he thinks this Organization is pure and clean, then he and I should talk. And again, you see this attitude that says...."No one else does right or follows the Bible, if he is not a member of the Watchtower Society". This guy seems to just make assertions right out of the blue, and everyone is just supposed to accept them as fact....even though he didn't even list a single Scripture to support his statements.
Now here is what I wanted to focus on mainly....There is one way to know for sure whether or not you are dealing with a cult religion....Just look at how they emphasize, or de-emphasize Jesus Christ. Let me explain....
In Jankos' statements as to how to gain eternal life, it was all about coming to the Organization for salvation. We are told to "accept the truth" (the WT publications), "dedicate yourself to Jehovah and get baptized" (as a JW), and "hop on the ark of salvation" (the Organization), and then perhaps we will be o.k. There was NOT ONE WORD about coming to Jesus Christ for salvation!! Not one mention of the shed blood of Jesus Christ as the payment for our sin debt, or the fact that He is the ONLY mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5). What he has done, in effect, is to replace Christ with the Organization as the means by which we must come to God.
The only reference to Jesus' death was in the context of Jehovah God forgiving the Organization for its mistakes. And notice, too, that he seems to be saying that your reward or punishment is dependant on whether you are "for" or "against" the Organization. To summarize, Janko believes it is IMPOSSIBLE to be FOR Jehovah God, but be in disagreement with the Watchtower Society.
I said all that to say this....Where is the SCRIPTURE for ANY of these ridiculous statements? Where is ONE Scripture that speaks of coming to an Organization for salvation, or that an Organization is the "ark" of salvation? And why were we not told even once that we need to come TO JESUS for salvation? (John 3:16-18, John 5:40, John 10:1, 9-10).
Above all else, this is proof that this religion cannot give you salvation. Yes, they are guilty of false prophesying. This is well-documented, and some JWs are honest enough to admit it. But more than that, you can see how the Organization is elevated, and Jesus' mediatorship is not even mentioned.
I wish to also refer you to an article on my web page, which deals with some of the false prophecies made by this group. Please see it at www.jehovahswitnesses-thetruth.com, and refer to the article about Prophecy. I think you will find it interesting, and hopefully helpful.
At the end you asked me...."If the NWT condemns false prophesying and states that it is proof that God is not speaking through that prophet, then doesn't this prove that the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society is not speaking for God?"
Yes, it does. You must understand that there are 2 sets of standards at work here....The ones the Watchtower applies to themselves, and the ones they apply to everyone else.
I have an article somewhere, and I can probably find it if you would like, but in this article the Watchtower speaks of others who have predicted events that did not happen, and accuses these people of "falsely prophesying". These people were not given the luxury of receiving "new light", nor did the article take into consideration that these were "imperfect people". Yet, when the Watchtower does the same thing, it is supposed to be seen as proof that God is leading and guiding His Organization, and that He is purging it from error.
This is one of the things that can make reasoning with JWs so frustrating....Everyone else's errors are "proof" that God is not leading them, yet THEIR OWN ERRORS are "proof" that God IS leading them into greater truth. And this is the way they are taught to think.
I hope this answer has helped. In closing, let me say that if I can answer any other questions for you, or help in any way, please let me know. Take care, and God bless.
