Did John the Baptist Go to Heaven?

Jehovah’s Witnesses have serious problems with their doctrines concerning being born again. They say that only 144,000 good Jehovah’s Witnesses are born again. The others aren’t born again, and they will not go to heaven, but to paradise on earth. The thing about that is we were all born dead in our sin (Ephesians 2:1, 5) and we must be born again to come to life. If Jehovah’s Witnesses aren’t born again, they are still dead in their sins, and they will go to neither heaven nor paradise on earth. I wrote a tract about this, and you can take a look at it here: A Choice For Life.

After making this concept into a Youtube video, and talking about it on this blog, a JW finally responded to it, and we’ve been having an e-mail conversation. It turns out to be a very deep subject. On the surface it’s a pretty convincing argument against their doctrine, but as you dig deeper it becomes even more convincing. I’m grateful this guy is taking the time to write to me; he’s the only one who has even attempted to respond.

His main objections are:

1. Old Testament people weren’t born again, but weren’t dead in their sin, so we have the same hope as them.
2. Matthew 11:11 says John the Baptist isn’t going to heaven.
3. The verses talking about passing from death to life (such as Ephesians 2:1, 5) aren’t talking about being born again. Therefore, JWs can have life without being born again.

Were Old Testament People Born Again?
This is an interesting topic, and I would say they were not born again during their lives. When they died, they went to Abraham’s Bosom to await the Messiah and being born again. We know they are born again today, and in heaven. We know they are in heaven, because Matthew 8:11 says Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are in the kingdom of heaven. Luke 13:28 says those three and all of the prophets are in the kingdom of God. Since they are in heaven, they must be born again (John 3:3). Those two verses (Matthew 8:11 and Luke 13:28) seem very valuable in doing away with their whole concept of 144,000 people in heaven.

John the Baptist and Matthew 11:11
What does Jesus mean when he says whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the Baptist (Matthew 11:11)? This verse doesn’t say anywhere that when John the Baptist dies he’s not going to heaven or Abraham’s bosom. It just means that those of us who proclaim the New Covenant are better off than those who proclaimed the Old Covenant (Hebrews 7:22-24).

Is passing from death to life the same as being born again?
What does born again mean other than being reborn because we were born dead in our sins? If passing from death to life makes the 144,000 born again, why doesn’t it make everyone else born again? If Jehovah’s Witnesses want to claim to be alive without being born again, I think it goes against the meaning of the analogy of being born again, and it doesn’t matter anyway, because Ephesians 2:6 says, that anyone who has passed from death to life is going to heaven (and must therefore be born again).

So while they’ve managed to muddy the waters on another straightforward concept, there is no way out of the tangled web they’ve woven for themselves. By their own admission they aren’t born again. Only God can convince them that they are dead in their sins and headed for hell.

For a fantastic opportunity to witness to Jehovah’s Witnesses, check out their 2008 convention schedule.  One of the reasons they think they are in the true church is because they think they are the only ones who are out witnessing. You can help refute that idea for possibly hundreds of them by showing up at a convention and passing out tracts.

New Blog

I’ve been invited to take part in a new blog called, “Defending. Contending. ” I’ll probably be posting there more often than here.

Planetary Evolution Miracles

Evolutionists believe that in the Big Bang theory: Nothing exploded, creating everything. The dust resulting from the explosion coalesced into bigger and bigger chunks, eventually becoming the sun, planets, and moons. This process resulted in very hot planets, which are cooling to this day. According to evolutionists, the universe is about 15 billion years old. Is it a foregone conclusion that the planets of our solar system came about in this way?

Mercury
Mercury is so dense that it is thought to have an iron core occupying ¾ of its diameter. This density conflicts with the evolutionary model of slow formation and gradual cooling. How do evolutionists explain this? An evolutionary miracle! The planet was struck by a large object that removed all of the less dense material.

Saturn
If Saturn were billions of years old, it wouldn’t have rings. Furthermore, the rings are thought to be made of particles that are coated with reflective ice. The ice wouldn’t take too long to accumulate dust, and the rings would be much darker than we see them. These factors are thought to limit the age of Saturn’s rings to 100 million years (about 1/150th of the suspected age of the universe). How do evolutionists explain this? An evolutionary miracle! Saturn used to have a moon that was struck by a large object, shattering the moon, and creating the rings.

Mars
Evolutionary scientists believe that at one point Mars’ atmospheric pressure must have been 1 to 5 bars. The pressure now is .008 bars. This means the atmosphere used to be much thicker. How do evolutionists explain this? An evolutionary miracle! The planet was struck by a large object that blew the atmosphere away.

Uranus
Uranus’ axis of rotation is offset 90° from the other planets; it appears to rotate on its side. The magnetic field on Uranus is tilted and offset from the center of the planet, relative to Uranus’ axis. This is contrary to the evolutionary models. How do evolutionists explain this? An evolutionary miracle! The planet was struck by a large object, knocking it off kilter.

Venus
While Uranus’ axis is tilted 90°, Venus’ axis is tilted 180°, and it rotates the opposite direction of the other planets. The law of conservation of angular momentum would indicate that the Big Bang would cause all planets to rotate in the same direction, but this isn’t the case with Venus. How do evolutionists explain this? An evolutionary miracle! The planet was struck by a large object, causing it to rotate in the opposite direction.

The planets we see today disprove the evolutionary model. When a theory of the planets’ beginnings is proved wrong time and again, it’s not scientific to stick dogmatically to that model, invoking miracles to explain the model’s veracity. The scientific thing to do is to throw out the Big Bang, and move on to a different theory.

Happy Atheist’s Day!

“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Psalm 14:1, KJV).

A Great Fisher of Men

In Matthew 4:18–20, Jesus commanded Peter to drop everything and follow Him—when the Almighty Creator of the universe commands, obedience is the only option—and He would make him a fisher of men. Peter did obey Jesus, and he became a great fisher of men. He didn’t just stay in the upper room and pray for people to get saved, he didn’t just start a church and invite people to come, and he certainly didn’t take his wife to Rome and become the first pope. He went out on the street and preached the gospel.

In Acts 2, Peter went to downtown Jerusalem and open-air preached that Jesus had risen from the dead. On that day, 3,000 people were born again. He wasn’t the invited speaker; he just stood up and preached the gospel. Another divine appointment is described in Acts 10. Peter went to Cornelius and his family to explain the gospel. While he was still speaking, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they were saved.

Were these people saved because they had a long-term friendship with Peter? Did they see how much Christians loved each other, and they wanted to be a part of it? I don’t think so. They realized they were sinners deserving of hell, and the Good News was really good news to them. They understood that they desperately needed their sins to be forgiven. They repented and put their faith in Jesus.

The Bible tells us what brings people to salvation:

• Godly sorrow (2 Corinthians 7:10).
• God’s kindness (Romans 2:4).
• The law (Galatians 3:24).
• The gospel (Romans 1:16).
• The message of the cross (1 Corinthians 1:18 )
• The LORD (2 Samuel 22:3).
• The Holy Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:15).
• The grace of God (Titus 2:11).

The coolness of Christians isn’t anywhere on the list. God saves people when they hear the gospel. If there’s someone we want to get saved, our main task is to make sure they understand what the Bible says about the punishment they deserve, and what God has done to save them.

The Invisible and Impossible 1914 Return

As a part of their doctrine, Jehovah’s Witnesses believe Jesus returned—invisibly—in 1914. They base this on a prophetic dream of Nebuchadnezzar, which Daniel interpreted in Daniel 4. Nebuchadnezzar dreamed that a huge tree was chopped down, and was passed over for “seven times” (verse 16).

The JW who I talked with the other day on my porch left me the booklet What Does the Bible Really Teach? If a JW offers you a copy, take it. If it didn’t have a false gospel in it, it would be funny to read; I’ve seen atheists twist Scripture much more convincingly than these guys. This book explained how the Watch Tower interprets this prophecy to arrive at the date of October 1914.

The tree of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, they say, represents human government. They skip over to Revelation 12, and say that seven times means that this government lasts 2,520 days or years (whichever suits your false doctrine better) before Jesus returns. If you take the time of Jerusalem’s destruction, when “God’s rulers” stopped reigning (which they say is 607 B.C.), and add 2,520 years, you arrive at 1914. It’s clear that Jesus returned in 1914. Only a wicked heathen who will be cut down at Armageddon could disagree.

However, upon a closer look, this “theology” has multiple issues. Later in Daniel 4, the prophet Daniel interprets the dream, and explains what the tree is. Verse 22 says the tree is Nebuchadnezzar—not wicked human government in general. This prophecy was explained and fulfilled in Nebuchadnezzar’s life in the very same chapter. The seven times were seven years that passed during Nebuchadnezzar’s life (verses 32–34).

Second, the date given for Jerusalem’s destruction is generally agreed to be 586 or 587 B.C., not 607 B.C. as the Watch Tower states. The JWs are the only ones who use that date. I don’t think that they can claim that historians changed the dates in a big conspiracy against them. (I really don’t think the Watch Tower is on many scholars’ radar.). This is just one more issue that illustrates how confused the Watch Tower is.

Finally, the Bible says Jesus won’t return invisibly. The JW theory is a fulfillment of what Jesus prophesied in Matthew 24:23–27: “At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time. So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”

Revelation 1:7 says, “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.”

Matthew 26:64 says, “Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Either the Bible is right, or the Watch Tower is. I choose to believe the Bible—and I pray that many Jehovah’s Witnesses do, too.

Jehovah’s Witnesses Come Knocking

I’ve been intent on trying out a couple of new apologetics on Jehovah’s Witnesses, and lo and behold a couple knocked on my door on Saturday. It was definitely the friendliest conversation I’ve ever had with a JW. While I’m sure I have matured in my witnessing abilities, the guy seemed to be especially good humored.

My sister, a Christian, has been approached to have a theological discussion with a JW friend of her husband’s family, and she was reluctant to agree, but I urged her to agree so I could attend. I didn’t realize it at the time, but the guy who was on my doorstep on Saturday was that friend. (We live in a small town.)

He was very talkative, but I got a chance to ask him about John 12:40–41. I recently learned that this passage completely blows the Watchtower teaching that Jesus is not God out of the water. (See my previous post for an explanation.) The guy didn’t really have an answer. He said the Bible has many illustrations in it and changed the subject. I don’t think he was prepared to answer this objection. I didn’t press him on it, because I know he would never admit that it bothered him. I can only hope and pray that he goes home and does an in-depth study with his wife.

We went on to discuss why he believes Jesus returned invisibly to earth in 1914, and why Protestant churches are so terribly divided. I admit that even though I knew JWs believed Jesus returned in 1914, I didn’t know how to refute it, so that’s something I will have to study for his next visit. As far as how divided Christianity is, I told him that while it may appear that it is divided, all born-again Christians agree on certain principles, and we’re free to go to different churches if we disagree on how long the pastor should talk, what kind of music should be played, or whether we should speak in tongues.

I also asked him whether he’s born again, and he said that since he hopes only to spend eternity on earth rather than heaven, he doesn’t need to be born again. I explained to him that he was born dead in his sins, and he agreed. I said that if he’s not born again, he’s still dead in his sins, and he disagreed, but couldn’t explain any further and, again, changed the subject. I tried to press him a little bit on this, and said that he’s either dead or alive, and that I’m really not aware of any in between on the matter. He said he thought there was an in between, but he just said we could talk about it next time. We looked up a couple verses:

• “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Rom. 8:14).
• “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God” (1 John 5:1).

He assured me that he is led by the Spirit, and he believes Jesus is the Christ, but he said that “everyone” was not to be taken literally because of the context. (Ironically, context is what blows many of the JW proof texts out of the water.) I just told him that he’ll have to assure himself of the context.

We talked for more than an hour. At the end of our conversation, I took his invitation to the Kingdom Hall and a fairly thick booklet, “What Does the Bible Really Teach?” I’ve heard taking what JWs offer makes them less inclined to remove you from their list of homes to visit. I certainly didn’t want to close the door on an opportunity to share the truth. After he gave me the literature, I asked if he’d take something of mine. I told him it’s mostly just a list of verses on a ½ sheet of paper. At first, he said he couldn’t take it, but then he agreed. I gave him one of the tracts I recently wrote; I jotted down John 12:40–41 on the bottom of it.

Please pray for Gary and his wife. We parted as friends. He asked when he could come back, and I expect that he will return. I have a few things to study, and I hope that he’ll study the things I presented to him.

The Watchtower Forgot to Check Their Footnotes

John 12:40 quotes Isaiah 6:10; I had heard that even the NWT notes this cross reference. When in a recent encounter with a Jehovah’s Witness, the man opened his NWT, and I saw that it truly was there, I was excited. (Apparently the NWT translators copied many cross references from another translation.) Here’s why: In Isaiah 6, the prophet Isaiah is taken to heaven where he sees the Lord in His glory being worshipped by angels.

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.’…Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying… ‘Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed’” (Isaiah 6:1–3, 8, 10).

John 12 gives an account of Isaiah communicating the Lord’s words, mentioning that the prophet saw Jesus’ glory.

“‘He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.’ Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him” (John 12:40–41).

Even in the NWT, it is clear that Jesus is Jehovah/the LORD (not “a god”), and is worshiped by angels in heaven.

Fast Apologetics Video

Dr. James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries has been putting a lot of videos of his debates and commentaries on YouTube. I learned something new from this video about what Mormons believe.

You can check out his other videos here.

The True Story of St. Patrick

I posted this about this time last year, and I’ve turned it into a tract, which you can download stpatwp.doc. We’ll be passing it out this weekend. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

The truth about St. Patrick is much more fascinating than any myth. He was kidnapped in Britain by Irish pirates and sold into slavery in Ireland. He said that he had two constant companions in his six years of slavery—hunger and nakedness. In those tough times, he remembered the words of his preacher father: “God is able to deliver you.” He committed his life to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and Master of All. Patrick’s life changed, and his captors began referring to him as “that holy youth.”  

Eventually, Patrick escaped back to England. After 20 years at home, he believed God wanted him to go back to Ireland. He returned and told the Druid chieftains about Jesus Christ. Over the next 30 years, he criss-crossed Ireland. Every day he spent in Ireland, he was in mortal danger, but he lived out the Bible verse, “to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21), with a desire to whole-heartedly follow Jesus Christ, and a knowledge that he would one day go to heaven. Because of his dedication to God, 120,000 people decided to follow Jesus, and 300 churches were built. Patrick’s whole life was devoted to telling others how they could repent (turn from sin) and find forgiveness and eternal life in Jesus.  

Why did Patrick do this? And how did he know that “to live is Christ, and to die is gain”? Long before he returned to England, he had remembered the words of his father, and knew that God was able to deliver him not only from slavery but also from his sin. He knew that he had broken God’s law. 

This St. Patrick’s Day, consider this: Have you kept God’s law (the Ten Commandments)? For example, have you ever told a lie? Have you used the name of God or Jesus as a cuss word (blasphemy)? Have you ever looked at someone with lust? 

If you’re like the rest of us, you can honestly say that you have broken all of those at some point in your life. God says if we’ve broken even one of the commandments just once, we’re lawbreakers, and it’s like we’ve broken them all.

Because God is infinitely just, He must punish sin wherever it’s found. And because we’re all guilty of sin, we all deserve to go to hell, a horrible place of eternal punishment. But God doesn’t want you to be a slave to sin on this earth, and he doesn’t want you to go to hell when you die. God’s Son, Jesus, came to earth and lived a perfect, sinless life. When Jesus died on a cross, He took the just punishment for our sins—for all the times we’ve lied, blasphemed, or otherwise broken the law— so He could set us free. Jesus rose from the grave just three days after his death, and He’s alive today.

Justice has been served, and Jesus extends to you a wonderful offer of eternal life. He asks you to simply receive it by turning from your wrongful ways (repenting), and trusting Jesus to remove the shackles of sin, be the leader of your life, and take you to heaven. There is nothing you can do to earn your way into heaven. All you can do is humble yourself before God, and accept this free gift. 

How would you complete that sentence from the Bible? “To live is _________.” If your answer is anything other than Christ, you cannot say the second half of that verse: “to die is gain.” If you’re living for adventure, sex, money, or something else, then to die is to lose it all. To learn more about God and how to follow Him, take time daily to read and obey the Bible, and talk to God in prayer.