100 Years of Kingdom Rule - THE WATCHTOWER (STUDY EDITION) JANUARY 2014

100 Years of Kingdom Rule—How Does It Affect You?*

This article is clearly asserting that God's Kingdom was established in 1914. Then what Kingdom was Paul talking about at Colossians 1:13? "For he has... brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves."

Watchtower: "The first mission of God’s newly installed King was to wage war against his Father’s chief Adversary, Satan." "Jesus then used his kingly authority to appoint a “faithful and discreet slave.”

Jesus: “So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them." Matthew 24:26

Watchtower: "Jesus Christ had begun to rule in heaven as King of God's Kingdom in 1914." 

Jesus: “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him." Matthew 24:23

I will listen to Jesus rather than the men writing this article! He said not to listen to people who say that they know what he is doing!

http://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/w20140115/100-years-kingdom-rule

How do I know that I have been born again?

How do you know you have been born again? The only way to really know is to take God at His Word. To cling to His promises. He says that you are born again when you are baptized into Christ. He says "Whoever eats of my flesh and drinks of my blood has eternal life." So we receive these gifts from Him, and we believe. Why do we believe? Because the Holy Spirit also provides the gift of faith. Is our faith weak? It is okay, our assurance isn't in our own faith. It is in His.


Galatians 3:26: "For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes.n 28There is no longer Jew or Gentile,o slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true childrenp of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you."

John 6:54: "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day."

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." and that, the assurance and conviction, isn't my work at all. It is a gift. "And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee" (Hebrews 11:1, 2 Corinthians 1:21-22)

Ephesians 2:8: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God."

Faith is the assured expectation of things hoped for...

When I was a JW faith was something I had to work at... try to believe. I would read and read the literature and pound the belief into my head... also it is like God was a historical figure or a character in a book. I also read a lot on creation science and convinced myself that God must have created things...

But God gave me the gift of Christian faith. His Holy Spirit is a deposit guaranteeing what is to come. Guaranteeing. It is completely different. It is knowing. It is assurance. "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." and that, the assurance and conviction, isn't my work at all. It is a gift. "And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee" (Hebrews 11:1, 2 Corinthians 1:21-22) and this I know from my experience, and my experience matches God's Word.

Do Jehovah's Witnesses believe in Jesus?

•  Jehovah's Witnesses belive that Jesus is a real historical figure, that he created all things besides himself (though they never say that, they always say Jehovah made such and such), they believe that he died and somehow came back (like a cloning). They call him Savior because without his death canceling out Adam's sin we wouldn't have a chance of everlasting life.

  
  Christians believe that Jesus is a real historical figure. That He is begotten of God, eternal. (Micah 5:2) That He created everything, (John 1:3) He is almighty, (Matthew 28:18) His body died on the cross (James 2:26) and the same body was resurrected (John 2:21), They call Him Savior because both His death and His life save us, make us righteous, (Romans 4:25) and we trust Him to save us (1 Thess 1:10). When we worship Jesus we are worshipping God (John 5:23, 1 John 2:23, John 12:44)

When Religion Divides

Jesus did not come to bring peace between people. He came to reconcile people to God. So, when one is a Christian and one is of the devil, there is division. Jesus let us know ahead of time:

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than ME is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for MY sake will find it.- Matthew 10:34-39

It is not the Christian that is set against the non-Christian. Christians love their enemies and bless them. (Luke 6:27-28) and pray for them. It is the non-Christian that hates.(John 15:19)

Christians can remember Christ's promise:

Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. - Mark 10:29-30

Faith without works is dead.

Faith without works is dead. This is used to automatically shut down anything a non-Jehovah's Witness has to say about their faith. After all, they are not going door to door...

Our first response to this was to read the book of James to see what kind of works he was talking about. Caring for orphans and widows. Judging impartially. Feeding the hungry and clothing the naked when you see their plight. Not the works that the cults promote.

Here is another response:

“At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:3-5

Notice that it is after salvation, and after being justified (declared righteous), and after becoming heirs that this is said in verse 8: "The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people."

"We all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Ephesians 2:3-9

Once again we notice that it is being saved by receiving the gift of God, that enables us to do good works in verse 10: "For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Jehovah's Witnesses base their teachings on the Bible?

"Logically, to enjoy God’s backing, one must teach only what God reveals in his Word and reject teachings based on human wisdom or tradition." - The Watchtower, June 1, 2001, pp. 12-17

Compare:
"All who want to understand the Bible should appreciate that the "greatly diversified wisdom of God" can become known only through Jehovah's channel of communication, the faithful and discreet slave." - The Watchtower, Oct. 1, 1994; p. 8
 

"to rely simply on personal Bible reading and interpretation is to become like a solitary tree in a parched land."- The Watchtower, June 1, 1985, pp. 19-20

"They say that it is sufficient to read the Bible exclusively, either alone or in small groups at home. But, strangely, through such 'Bible reading,' they have reverted right back to the apostate doctrines that commentaries by Christendom's clergy were teaching 100 years ago..." - The Watchtower, Aug. 15, 1981, pp 28-29