The Trouble With Desperation

Oh how low we can go when we are in desperate need of any support for a belief we have that is not Biblical. Such is the case with the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society and the man pictured above, Johannes Greber.

Just who though is Johannes Greber and what is his involvement with the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society? He was a Roman Catholic priest who lived from 1874 to 1944. He also was involved in spiritism, and was used by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society in support of their rendering of John 1:1 calling The Word "a god".

5 But most controversial of all is the following reading of John 1:1, 2: “The Word was in the beginning, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god. This Word was in the beginning with God.” This reading is found in The New Testament in An Improved Version, published in London, England, in 1808. Similar is the reading by a former Roman Catholic priest: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god. This was with God in the beginning. Everything came into being through the Word, and without it nothing created sprang into existence.” (John 1:1-3)* Alongside that reading with its much-debated expression “a god” may be placed the reading found in The Four Gospels—A New Translation, by Professor Charles Cutler Torrey, second edition of 1947, namely: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was god. When he was in the beginning with God all things were created through him; without him came no created thing into being.” (John 1:1-3) Note that what the Word is said to be is spelled without a capital initial letter, namely, “god.”
Footnote: The New Testament—A New Translation and Explanation Based on the Oldest Manuscripts, by Johannes Greber (a translation from German into English), edition of 1937, the front cover of this bound translation being stamped with a golden cross. (Watchtower 1962 September 15 p554 paragraph 5 in the article “The Word”—Who Is He? According to John)

A translation by the former Roman Catholic priest Johannes Greber (1937 ed.) renders the second appearance of the word “god” in the sentence as “a god.” (Aid to Bible Understanding 1971 pg. 1669)

What though about Mr. Greber being involved in spiritism? Was the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society aware of this involvement? Well.......

It comes as no surprise that one Johannes Greber, a former Catholic clergyman, has become a spiritualist and has published the book entitled "Communication With the Spirit World, Its Laws and Its Purpose." (What do the Scriptures Say About "Survival After Death?", 1955, p. 88)

It comes as no surprise that one Johannes Greber, a former Catholic clergyman, has become a spiritualist and has published the book entitled “Communication with the Spirit World, Its laws and Its Purpose.” (1932, Macoy Publishing Company, New York) In its Foreword he makes the typical misstatement: “The most significant spiritualistic book is the Bible; for its principal contents hinge upon the messages of the beyond to those existing in the present.” (Watchtower 10/1/55 page 603 paragraph 33)

I believe that all of the above does prove that the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society did use a known by them spiritist in support of their rendering of John 1:1.

That leads to having to wonder why they were less than honest about how long they knew about Johannes Greber being a spiritist.

Questions From Readers• Why, in recent years, has The Watchtower not made use of the translation by the former Catholic priest, Johannes Greber?This translation was used occasionally in support of renderings of Matthew 27:52, 53 and John 1:1, as given in the New World Translation and other authoritative Bible versions. But as indicated in a foreword to the 1980 edition of The New Testament by Johannes Greber, this translator relied on “God’s Spirit World” to clarify for him how he should translate difficult passages. It is stated: “His wife, a medium of God’s Spiritworld was often instrumental in conveying the correct answers from God’s Messengers to Pastor Greber.” The Watchtower has deemed it improper to make use of a translation that has such a close rapport with spiritism. (Deuteronomy 18:10-12) The scholarship that forms the basis for the rendering of the above-cited texts in the New World Translation is sound and for this reason does not depend at all on Greber’s translation for authority. Nothing is lost, therefore, by ceasing to use his New Testament.(Watchtower 4/1/83 page 31 Questions from Readers

So they were aware, but were not aware, but yet needed him for support of this mistranslation of John 1:1

1874? 1914? Jesus Returned When?

Here is a compilation of comments from various publications from the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society regarding the invisible return of Jesus Christ and when this event supposedly happened. I have added my thoughts/comments and questions as they popped up and I realize they may seem like 
rambling, for that I apologize. Make sure to pay attention to all the dates and the text in blue.

"In 1943 the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society published the book "The Truth Shall make You Free." In its chapter 11, entitled "The Count of Time," it did away with the insertion of 100 years into the period of the Judges and went according to the oldest and most authentic reading of Acts 13:20, and accepted the spelled-out numbers of the Hebrew Scriptures. This moved forward the end of the six thousand years of man's existence into the decade of the 1970's. Naturally this did away with the year 1874 C.E. as the date of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ and the beginning of his invisible presence or parusia." Footnote at the bottom of page 133 of the Jehovah's Witnesses: Proclaimers of God's Kingdom book

"So when Christ's invisible presence began in 1914, happy were these Christians to have been found watching!" (Watchtower 12-1-84 p.14)

What were they watching for? In 1914, if I understand the proclaimers book, they believed that it was 1874 when Christ's invisible presence began.

Since the Proclaimers book informs us that in the above quote of the change in doctrine regarding the invisible presence of Jesus Christ, what does it make of quotes in WTBTS publications that indicate they were looking forward to Christ's invisible presence prior to 1914 and comments that say they believed such prior to 1943?

Let's look at a few quotes and see if they agree with the above quote from the Proclaimers book.

"Why, then, do the nations not realize and accept the approach of this climax of judgment? It is because they have not heeded the world-wide advertising of Christ's return and his second presence. Since long before World War 1 Jehovah's witnesses pointed to 1914 as the time for this great event to occur. (Watchtower June 15, 1954 p.370 paragraph 4)

So, prior to 1914 they pointed to 1914 as the time for Christ's return and second presence, though they didn't change their belief that this event happened in 1874 until the year 1943. Why am I seeing 
a problem here? What am I not understanding?

To add to the problem, let's look at a quote from the book Prophecy written by the 2nd President of the WTBTS J.F. Rutherford and published in 1929.

"The Scriptural proof is that the second presence of the Lord Jesus Christ began in 1874 A.D. This proof is specifically set out in the booklet entitled Our Lord's Return. " (Prophecy 1929 p.65-66)

Again I ask, what was being watched for in 1914? I also ask, how do you reconcile the obvious disagreement between the June 15, 1954 Watchtower and the Book Prophecy? Since the official teaching was that the invisible return of Christ happened in 1874, why did the writers and publishers of the 1954 Watchtower not correct this obvious error? Why the dishonesty about their history?

Let's look at another two quotes and see what we find.

"After the war ended in 1918, there was no work available in England, so I rejoined the army and went off to India as part of the peacetime garrison. In May 1920 the malaria flared up again, and I was sent up into the hills to recuperate. There I read all the books I could get my hands on, including the Bible. Reading the Scriptures intensified my interest in the Lord's return.Months later, down in Kanpur, I started a Bible study group, hoping to learn more about the Lord's return. It was there that I met Fredrick James, a former British soldier who was now a zealous Bible student. He explained to me that Jesus had been present since 1914, invisible to man. This was the most thrilling news I had ever heard." (Testimony of Jack Nathan in the Watchtower September 1, 1990 p.11)

"The time of the Lord's second presence dates from 1874, as above stated." (The Harp of God 1921 p.231)

So even though in 1921 it was taught and believed that Jesus had been present since 1874, we have Jack Nathan testifying he was told in what was most likely late 1920 that Jesus had been present since 1914. Something just is not adding up here.

To make matters even worse in the March 15, 1990 issue of the Watchtower in the article `The Faithful Slave' And It's Governing Body. Check this out:

"On arriving to inspect his slaves in 1918, whom did the Master, Jesus Christ, find giving to his body of attendants their measure of  food supplies at the proper time? Well, by then, who had given sincere truth-seekers the correct understanding of the ransom sacrifice, the divine name, the invisibility of Christ's presence, and the significance of 1914?" (Watchtower March 15, 1990 p.13)

Again, we see from the above evidence, in 1918 it was taught in Watchtower publications that the invisibility of Christ's presence, was in 1874, so who was giving the correct understanding in 1918?

My big question though, is, why the seeming, though maybe not deliberate, dishonesty from the WTBTS about their own history?

The Witness At Your Door/The Witness Goes Out

Here are two video's done by friend Keith MacGregor and his wife Lori. Lori was raised as a Jehovah's Witness. It's a bit old but still has some very helpful tips in how to witness to a Jehovah's Witness.

Keith has a brief part as a man watering his lawn and Lori plays the part of Beverly Williams.

The Gospel in the Jehovah's Witness Bible

The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (NWT) is the Bible that was translated and published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York Inc., and is the preferred Bible of use for the Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW’s).

One of the things the translators of the NWT had to do to make the NWT fit with the theology of the JW’s was make every attempt to remove the Gospel of grace from its pages and replace it with their works based theology. In many places they did in fact succeed in doing this. John 1:12 and John 3:16 are two examples where the New World Translation takes the takes the beautiful word ‘believe’ and renders it as ‘exercising faith’ even though the Greek word used in bother verses is pisteuo and means: to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), i.e. credit; by implication, to entrust (especially one’s spiritual well-being to Christ):–believe(-r), commit (to trust), put in trust with.

Yet in spite of their best efforts, I fully believe that God Almighty allowed the true Gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone to be found in the pages of the NWT.

To begin with, both JW’s and Christians believe that all of us have sinned and that due to this sin condition we destined for eternity separated from God. No, I am not going to get into other topics here, I want to just focus on the Gospel.

For each verse that I will be posting we will look at the verse from the NWT in blue, and below it will the same passage from the King James Bible (KJV) in red.

First let’s look at Romans 3:23:

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God

We agree on this, and the wage that sin pays as we see by looking next at Romans 6:23a:

For the wages sin pays is death

          For the wages of sin is death

A key point to keep in mind here is that wages are something earned, not something given to us as a gift. Thus, we have all earned death since we have all sinned.

Then, without getting into the issue of the denial of a literal hellfire by the JW’s, I want to point out that both translations say that those who are not found written in the book of life will be sent into the lake of fire. We see this at Revelation 20:14-15:

And death and Ha´des were hurled into the lake of fire. This means the second death, the lake of fire. Furthermore, whoever was not found written in the book of life was hurled into the lake of fire.

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. – KJV

So, we have established so far that the NWT says that we have all sinned and that death is the wage sin pays. The NWT also tells us that those not found written in the book of life will hurled into the lake of fire.

As with all true Gospel presentation this is the bad news. It would continue to be bad news if we had to do anything to earn our salvation. However, the NWT does in fact contain some very good news. Let’s look at the true Gospel in the NWT, and not the false gospel of salvation by works the JW’s believe and have inserted many times into the NWT.

The NWT does say that salvation is a gift. One place it does this is in the second half of Romans 6:23. Let’s look at Romans 6:23b:

but the gift God gives is everlasting life by Christ Jesus our Lord.

but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

A church has never died for us, thus a church can never save us. A religion has never died for us thus a religion cannot save us. An organization has never died for us, thus an organization cannot save us. We have not died for our own sins, thus we cannot save us. We simply must have a Saviour, and Jesus Christ IS that Saviour.

Let’s also look at another passage in Romans that mentions salvation being a gift, but also mentions something else about it. Romans 5:15-16:

But it is not with the gift as it was with the trespass. For if by one man’s trespass many died, the undeserved kindness of God and his free gift with the undeserved kindness by the one man Jesus Christ abounded much more to many. Also, it is not with the free gift as it was with the way things worked through the one [man] that sinned. For the judgment resulted from one trespass in condemnation, but the gift resulted from many trespasses in a declaration of righteousness.

But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.

Did you notice the words in bold? Yes, salvation is not just a gift, but a free gift. There is nothing we can do to earn it; otherwise it would be a wage and not a gift. If we have to earn it, then it’s of works, and Paul refutes this false teaching at Romans 11:6:

Now if it is by undeserved kindness, it is no longer due to works; otherwise, the undeserved kindness no longer proves to be undeserved kindness. 

And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.

Romans 3:24 says:

and it is as a free gift that they are being declared righteous by his undeserved kindness through the release by the ransom [paid] by Christ Jesus.

Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Friends, I love grace. God’s grace is so wonderful, and I am thankful that it’s by His grace we are saved and that it’s not because we have to earn it.

Our next three passages help bring this point home. First, we have Ephesians 2:4-5:

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, made us alive together with the Christ, even when we were dead in trespasses—by undeserved kindness YOU have been saved

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

Then a passage that I am sure most Christians have memorized, Ephesians 2:8-9:

By this undeserved kindness, indeed, YOU have been saved through faith; and this not owing to YOU, it is God’s gift. No, it is not owing to works, in order that no man should have ground for boasting.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Our third passage makes it abundantly clear that we are not saved, nor will any ever be saved by the works they do. Let’s look at Titus 3:5:

owing to no works in righteousness that we had performed, but according to his mercy he saved us through the bath that brought us to life and through the making of us new by holy spirit.

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

Earlier, I made reference to John 1:12 and John 3:16 and how the NWT translators used the words ‘exercising faith’ (aka: good works) in place of ‘believe’ or as the KJV says ‘believeth’. So, if salvation is in fact a free gift that we cannot earn, is there any place else we can look at in the NWT to find out how to get saved God’s way? Is there anywhere else we can look to see how to be saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone?

Well, we can look at Ephesians 2:8-9 again. We see there we are saved by grace through faith. Romans 6:23b is clear that we get this gift by Jesus Christ our Lord. We can look again at Titus 3:5 and be reminded that we are saved by God’s mercy and not our works of righteousness.

Let’s look at some more verses that show us the Biblical plan of salvation.

First, we have John3:14-15:

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of man must be lifted up, that everyone believing in him may have everlasting life.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

I want to point out, that the Greek word here in verse 15 that the NWT renders as believing, is the word pisteuo that we saw used at John 1:12 and John 3:16. Here we see an instance where the translators got it right.

Next we have another verse that uses the Greek word pisteuo, let’s see how John 20:31 reads:

But these have been written down that YOU may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and that, because of believing, YOU may have life by means of his name. 

But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

Again, we see where the translators of the NWT got the meaning correct, and again we see that we are not saved by our works.

Lastly, let’s go and take a look at the one passage in the entire Bible where someone asks the million dollar question. The one and only place where we see asked, “What must I do to be saved?” Let’s look at Acts 16:30-31:

And he brought them outside and said: “Sirs, what must I do to get saved?” They said: “Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will get saved, you and your household.” 

And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

So, here when Paul and Silas were asked what to do to be saved, they had the perfect opportunity to share either a salvation by works message, or a Biblical, God based salvation message. What did they say to do? The said to “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved…” Could anything be any clearer?

It is my prayer that through this article, whether on a blog, a web page, through e-mail, or through you just keeping this handy, that we can see many JW’s set free from the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society and come into a relationship with Jesus Christ by realizing they are lost in their sin, and turning to God and calling on Him to save them from hell as they put their complete and total trust, not in a manmade system of works, but in the person of Jesus Christ and what He did for them by dying on the cross and shedding His blood for the remission of their sins.

May God richly bless you and you go forth bearing precious seed.

Clear Prophecies?

The following was published in 1929 by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (Jehovah's Witnesses) in the Preface of the book PROPHECY written by their second President J. F. Rutherford.

"Never before has there been a book published that makes clear so much of the prophecies of the Bible as this book. The author claims no credit therefore. He does not even attempt to interpret the prophecies. He sets forth the facts, well known to all, showing fulfillment of the prophecies and the proof that it is God's due time to reveal to man the understanding thereof." (PROPHECY p. 5)

Now keep in mind, this book stated on pages 65-66 "The Scriptural proof is that the second presence of the Lord Jesus Christ began in 1874 A. D. This proof is specifically set out in the booklet entitled Our Lord's Return."

Also keep in mind, they now teach that the Scriptural proof is that the second presence of Jesus Christ happened in 1914, a doctrinal change that wasn't made until 1943 according to their Proclaimers book.