WHO ARE THE RUSSELLITES?

NOTE: This article has been written by Pastor 'D' (Grace Covenant Church) to educate the members on the Jehovah's Witnesses. I thought i'd share it although many may find the reading 'heavy' specially if you're not passionate about the study of the WORD OF GOD :-)
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The Jehovah’s Witnesses are an organisation founded by Charles Taze Russell in the 1870s. Hence, they are also known as Russellites. Although they claim to be Biblical in their beliefs, most of their doctrines are unbiblical, as we will prove in this short document.

1)The Name of God

They usually open a discussion by asking why Christians don’t use the “correct name of God” at our services, and argue that the only correct name of God is “Jehovah.” This argument is nonsense, as the Bible clearly shows that there are many names of God.

In the Creation Account in Genesis Chap.1, the Hebrew name translated as “God” in English Bibles is “Elohim.” The actual meaning of “Elohim” is “Gods,” which supports the truth that the Godhead is a Trinity. Other names of God found in the Old Testament are:

Adonai (usually translated as “The Lord” in English Bibles)

El Shaddai (translated as Almighty God)

Yahweh (“I am that I am” speaking of God’s timeless and eternal existence)

Yahweh M’kadesh (God my Sanctifier)

Yahweh Tsidkenu (God my Righteousness)

Yahweh Jireh (God my Provider)

Yahweh Rapha (God my Healer)

Yahweh Shalom (God is my Peace)

Yahweh Nissi (God my banner of Victory)

Yahweh Shammah (God is there)

 

The names of Jesus in the New Testament are:

Emmanuel (God with Us)

Jesus Christ (which is the English version of the Greek Iessus Christos which is the Greek translation of Yahshua ha Meshiach. The meaning of this Hebrew name is “I am the eternal God your Savior, the Anointed One”)

 In the New Testament, Jesus, the Second Member of the Trinity always called the First Member of the Trinity “My God and My Father” (eg. John 20:17). The NT shows that the only method of salvation or receiving eternal life for mankind is to accept the Son of God, who was crucified and died for our sins, as our personal Lord and Savior. Those who do so become children of God and access the same relationship with God the Father as Jesus Himself has (John 20:17; John 1:12-13; Rom.8:29). In eternity, we will share Christ’s inheritance (Rom.8:15-17; Rev.21:7). For this reason, Jesus, our Eternal King, Leader and Savior specifically instructs all believers to call God by no other name other than “Father” (Matt.6:9; Rom.8:15).

 The above answers the Russellites’ question why we call God “Father” and not “Jehovah.” The simple answer is that we call God “Father,” because Jesus, our personal Lord and Savior, instructs us to do so. The Old Testament makes up 79% of the pages in the Bible and the New Testament 21%. Yet in the entire Old Testament, God is spoken of as “Our Father” only 4 times. But in the New Testament, Jesus in His very first sermon, “The Sermon on the Mount,” found in Matt.Chaps.5-7, speaks of God as “Our Father in heaven” 17 times, and specifically instructs us to address our prayers to “Our Father.” Who should we follow – Jesus or Russell?

2) The Trinity

The doctrine of the Trinity has been accepted by billions of Christians from the days of the apostles of Jesus until today. The most learned theologians and Bible Scholars have accepted and proclaimed The Trinity for 2,000 years. But C T Russell, an unknown self-proclaimed Bible teacher,  decided by himself in the late 19^th Century that there is no Trinity.

 

Simply stated, the doctrine of the Trinity is “Three Persons, One God.” At face value, this may seem to be a mathematical impossibility, until we understand the correct meaning of “One” in the Bible. There are 2 Hebrew words for “one”: “Yachead” which is the absolute numerical singular; and “Echad” which is used for a collective unit, eg. one family, one team, one group, one nation, etc. Every time the Bible speaks of “One God,” the Hebrew word used is not “Yacheead,” but “Echad.”

So, many times when the Bible uses the word “one,” it is simply speaking of a group of people who are strongly united, eg.

“Indeed, the people (of Babel) are one.” (Gen.11:6)

Praying for Christians of all ages, Jesus said: “that they all may be one.’ (John 17:21)

So, a simple explanation of The Trinity is that there are 3 completely separate persons, each one of them having His own mind, emotions and will. This is seen throughout the Bible, but clearly noted in:

“I (Jesus) will pray to the Father, and He will send you another Helper (The Holy Spirit) that He will be with you forever.” (John 14:16)

When His disciples asked Jesus to tell them the day and hour of His return, Jesus informed them that He did not have that information, saying, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” (Matt.24:36)

Other verses which show the three persons interacting with one another: (Isa.48:16-17; Matt.3:16-17; Acts 10:38; 1 John 5:7). 

The Bible clearly shows both in the Old and New Testaments, that there are 3 completely separate persons who have divine nature, and each one of them is rightly called “God.”

Since Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that God the Father is God, I will only give below verses which speak of Jesus and the Holy Spirit as “God.”

Jesus is called “God” in: John 1:1 (although the Jehovah’s Witness Bible, called ‘The New World Translation’ has been altered to give a different reading of this verse from normal Christian Bibles); John 20:28; Rom.9:5; 1 Tim.3:16; Heb.1:8, among other scriptures. He is also called the “Son of God” in numerous scriptures.

The Holy Spirit is called “God” in Acts 5:3-4. Moreover, in Matt.12:22-30, Jesus warns men that blasphemy against the Father and the Son will be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, which assigns the Holy Spirit a special level of importance within the Godhead.

All these 3 persons, who have divine nature and are specifically seen to be God in many scriptures are perfectly united in will, purpose and character. This is the basis of Trinitarianism, which is the accepted belief of 2 billion Christians worldwide. The Russellites, who number less than 8 million, believe in Unitarianism (ie. one God in one person).

 

3) “Soul Sleep”

Another Russellite heresy is that the physically dead know nothing. They derive this unbiblical idea from Eccles.9:5 which states that the “dead know nothing.” But when we read this passage from verse 3, we find that Solomon, the writer of Ecclesiastes, is writing here about physical death only, or things that happen “under the Sun,” or on this material earth.

The Bible clearly shows that human life is a combination of 3 kinds of life: Spirit, Soul and Body (1 Thess.5:23; Luke 1:47; Heb.4:12).

When God created man, He assembled a physical body made up of atoms and molecules (which the Bible calls “dust” because there were no microscopes and no knowledge of molecular physics at the time that Genesis was written 3, 400 years ago). But Gen.2:7 tells us that this physical body was still without life, until God put His breath (or Spirit, because spirit and breath are the same word in Hebrew) into this physical sculpture, and only then did Adam become a living soul (most English translations say “living being,” but the actual Hebrew of Gen.2:7 is ‘living soul.”

The word “Adam” means ‘dust” in Hebrew, and when Adam sinned, God punished him to suffer physical death among other things and said that Adam’s physical body will go back into the earth, “for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” (Gen.3:19).

The Bible shows that physical death is nothing but the separation of the 3 kinds of life that are in human beings and even in animals. Solomon himself in Ecclesiastes, has this to say in describing physical death:

“All are from one place: all are from the dust, and return to the dust. Who knows the spirits of the sons of men, which go upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth?” (Eccles.3:20-21)

Describing death, Solomon again writes: “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return toi God who gave it.” (Eccles.12:7)

The Bible clearly shows that the souls and spirits of men continue to live after their bodies die. In 1 Sam. Chap.28, King Saul consults a medium who brings up the spirit of the dead prophet Samuel. Jesus promised one of the robbers who was crucified beside Him: “today you will be with Me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43), and the very last words of Jesus were: “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” (Luke 23:46).

When the first martyr, Stephen was being stoned to death, he saw heaven opened and God and Jesus waiting to welcome his soul and spirit (Acts 7:55-60). In Rev.Chap.20, we see the dead standing before the Great White Throne of Jesus on Judgement Day (Rev.20:11-15), and in Rev. 5:9-10, we see and hear the blood-redeemed Christians of every nation, tribe and people singing the praises of Jesus, who died on the cross to give them eternal life in paradise.

There are numerous other examples which conclusively prove that the souls and spirits of human beings continue to live after our bodies die, but I believe I have provided sufficient biblical proof for the purposes of this short thesis.

4) The Russellite Claim that Jesus is the Same Person as the Archangel Michael

Yes, it is indeed true that this is one of the more extravagant claims of C T Russel’s fertile imagination, but there is not a single word in the Bible to justify it!

5) The Russellite Claim that the 144,000 Tribulation Saints have been Living on the Earth since the Early 20^th Century

This is another wonderful piece of Russellite fiction, but unfortunately they have not identified even one of the 144,000 saints who must now be over 100 years old. Moreover, the Bible clearly shows that the 144,000 will only have their ministry after the Antichrist begins to rule the earth. Moreover, the Bible shows that they are Israelites made up of 12,000 from each of the original 12 Tribes (Rev.7:4-8).

Conclusion

It is obvious that the Russellite (Jehovah’s Witness) evangelists do not know the Word of God. If they did, they would not be fooled by the false propaganda of this unbiblical cult. What they are brainwashed to believe are the booklets given to them with a few selected verses by their cult mentors. Please share this document with them, so that those who are open minded among them may come to know the truth and be led to salvation and eternal life by accepting Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior (John 8:32; John 3:16). Unfortunately, those among them, who are stubborn and have closed minds, will have to face the Great White Throne Judgment and end up in the Lake of Fire for all eternity (John 3:36).