Jehovah's Witnesses, tracing back to Charles Taze Russell, enforce a centralized New York governance rejecting the Trinity and predicting failed end-times in 1844, 1914, and 1975. Their doctrines demand loyalty over grace, mandate blood refusal risking child deaths, and utilize abusive shunning via a two-witness rule to suppress dissent. Applying Steve Hassan's BITE model, hosts argue these groups create artificial identities, contrasting with rising "neo paganism" where individuals craft isolated faiths enforcing new blasphemy laws. Ultimately, human-made systems cannot fill the God-shaped hole, leaving only Christ's blood for true reconciliation. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: CohereLabs/cohere-transcribe-03-2026, WAV2VEC2_ASR_BASE_960H, sat-12l-sm, script v26.04.01, and large-v3-turbo
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Jehovah's Witnesses Origins00:06:46
Founded in the late 19th century by Charles Taze Russell, Jehovah's Witnesses emerged from the Bible student movement and underwent significant organizational and doctrinal development under the leadership of Joseph F. Rutherford.
The organizational structure of Jehovah's Witnesses is highly centralized, congregations worldwide being overseen by a governing body headquartered in New York.
Jehovah's Witnesses reject the doctrine of the Trinity, teaching that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
But not part of a triune Godhead.
They view Jesus as a separate being created by Jehovah and subordinate to Him.
Jehovah's Witnesses are perhaps most commonly known for their active evangelism, which often involves going door to door to share their beliefs and literature with others.
Although Jehovah's Witnesses have faced criticism and controversy over various organizational practices, such as their stance on issues such as blood transfusions, disfellowshipping, And shunning, they continue to maintain a significant presence as a religious group with millions of adherents around the world.
All right, here we are.
This is our 10th and final episode of this series covering lots of different false religions and cults.
And this episode is on Jehovah's Witnesses.
So, Jeremiah, why don't you just start us off, Jehovah's Witness?
If you want to get into some of the key doctrines, The big thing that we're covering in all these episodes is key doctrines, the big red flags, where it differs from Orthodox Christian faith and the Bible.
But then also, we're getting into not just the doctrine, but some of the history.
Yes.
Yeah.
In fact, I think the best way to open this up is to take.
So, some of you who are in your audience may have followed us for a while.
So, I want to take you all down a memory lane to the infancy of cultish.
This would have been, I'm going to take you back to 2018, the very beginning of 2019.
when we did our first ever podcast on Jehovah's Witnesses.
And it was called Leah Remini and the Jehovah's Witnesses.
So we talked in an earlier episode on Scientology, we mentioned quite a bit Leah Remini from the King of Queens and Mike Rinder, who was the ex-Scientologist.
He was David Miscavige's right-hand person.
They did this bonus episode in their series on Jehovah's Witnesses.
And I remember we did this response to it because what was very interesting, Is that we did our show to really try and emulate what the late Dr. Walt Martin did with giving a Christian answer, reasons for faith, and specifically to engage the world of the cults.
Because they, as much as there's emphasis to put missionaries in other countries and in other areas of the world and hostile nations, in many ways, the cultist is really the mission next door, the mission within your neighborhood.
You're probably, you have neighbors, I'm assuming, that are.
Mormon, Jehovah's Witness, Christian Science, like that's all in close proximity.
And again, that's more of a centralized hub in an area like Utah where you live, Andrew.
But the kingdom of the cult is it's big leagues.
You need to know what you believe and why you believe it.
Most Christians would be twisted, as Walter Martin would say, into a doctrinal pretzel by even a brand new 90-day wonder coming out of the Watchtower because they are taught to understand and to make arguments that a lot of times Christians are not prepared for.
So you need to know what you believe, but why you believe it.
and where the chapter and verse is, and also to understand why they believe it.
And when they say something, what do they mean by that?
What do they mean when they're saying Jehovah?
So I want to take you to this episode that we did back in 20, around the beginning of 2019.
We did it because this show, and you could look at it.
This is in our archives.
We did it because this is a show that was a very well-produced show, but it was done through a secular approach.
They're only kind of viewing it through the lens of the aftermath of the spiritual abuse and effect that people felt from different topics within Jehovah's Witnesses that they will talk about.
But what's very interesting.
Is at the very beginning of our episode, and also the very beginning of this television show that Leah Remini and Mike did, they played clips from this documentary that was produced by a group called a Christian company called Jeremiah Films, which shows that there were Christian media agencies taking dominion over the media at that time.
And they produced this very excellent documentary called Witnesses of Jehovah.
You can view it on YouTube, it's excellent.
They even interview ex members of the governing body that we will talk about.
And what you end up seeing is that this secular show is.
Borrowing from this Christian documentary to kind of give credence to their show.
And so, in the same way, a lot of the secular modern day approaches to cultism, they're only giving a band aid to the aftermath of the effect.
Because while there is a lot of hurt and spiritual abuse from some of the practices that we'll talk about, all these practices, whether Jehovah's Witnesses or any other cult, come about by way of revelation.
from what they believe to be the true God, in this case, from Jehovah.
So if you're dealing with Jehovah's Witnesses, there'd be someone that would be a notable ex-Jehovah's Witness like Lloyd Evans, who is very outspoken against the Watchtower, but from best of my knowledge, still would be someone who would be an atheist agnostic.
The majority of those who do leave the cults, they do end up in that realm because it's kind of like, hey, you get out of a crazy abusive marriage, you're not in a rush to set up a eHarmony profile, at least most of the time.
So there would be a similarity in that regard.
So one of the areas, again, is that when we talk about bad theology hurts people, this always comes about by way of revelation, in this case, false revelation.
So what you will see as we kind of unpack some of the doctrines of Jehovah's Witnesses, we're going to talk about the practices, but also it's in correlation to who they believe their doctrine of God to believe.
But it very much would be indicative of the scripture where it says, the sars of those who go after another God shall multiply.
And that's what you're really going to see as we impact this episode.
Apocalyptic Cult History00:13:17
Man, that was good stuff.
So, thinking about a brief historical overview of Charles Taze Russell and the beginning of the Watchtower Tract Society, which was first before that the International Bible Students Association, we have to think of the timeframe in which this is being developed.
And within this timeframe of the Restorationist movement, we have someone who's not necessarily part of the Restorationist movement, but this is where we see a lot of doomsday calculations, right?
We talked about this actually in the last episode, but here's one person specifically.
His name's William Miller.
He started something called the Millerites.
He was born in the late 1700s.
Essentially, he took Daniel's prophecies and he tried to calculate them to a specific date.
I'm giving you a nutshell overview here.
And that was supposed to occur in 1844.
Jesus Christ was going to return.
He had thousands of followers, okay?
Thousands.
I think it was upwards to maybe 60,000 followers who believed that the end of the world was going to be occurring in 1844.
Needless to say, we're sitting in these beautiful chairs.
It didn't happen, right?
This was known as the Great Disappointment.
After the Great Disappointment, we had two different branches of belief that came from Millerites.
We have the Seventh day Adventists and another Adventist belief, okay?
This was profoundly shaping to young Charles Taze Russell.
So Charles Taze Russell was born in 1852, I believe, February 16th.
Yep, he was born in 1852.
And he grew up actually as a Presbyterian when he was young.
However, his mother died when he was very young.
It was in 1861.
So after that, he was just living with him and his father, right?
And his father had opened up a shop, a haydashery store, where they would actually sew clothing and do things of that nature.
And little Charles began writing up contracts at a very young age.
So he's a very smart young man.
Later, at the age of 13, he left the Presbyterian church.
He joined a Congregationalist church.
So he was eventually challenged by another friend later in his life, late teenager years, on questions of creeds and the Christian historic faith.
And eventually, he kind of lost his faith until he actually saw an Adventist preacher who had come and, like, had not necessarily like a revival, but went and was preaching somewhere.
This guy, his name was Jonas Wendell.
And this actually put a fire in Charles, right?
And Charles ended up creating his own little Bible studies with his father, okay?
And these Bible studies started kicking off, but they were underneath the Adventist type of movement.
So that's really where Charles Taze Russell gets his wings.
At first, they're teaching Trinitarian doctrine.
Right.
But later it starts changing.
Charles starts developing his own theology, which is we don't believe that the apostles show that there should be a central organized church.
This is what Charles was believing at first.
Okay.
That there should be these groups of people just studying God's word for themselves.
Really, that's not necessarily how it was working.
He was the main teacher.
They even already like unofficially installed him as like a pastor.
So they're listening to everything he was saying.
Right.
However, there was not this one governing.
Body at first with Charles Taze Russell.
He eventually started creating all of these little groups that were all around the area.
He was a very wealthy man.
Him and his father did very well.
Eventually, what happens is they change their name from the International Bible Students Association into the Watchtower Tract Society.
I believe that was like in 1881.
Needless to say, it starts becoming a more formal type of organization where they get a building in one area, they're publishing a bunch of tracts.
And that was really the main point get all this information.
Out there, but it wasn't without a lot of controversy.
Uh, do you remember this story, Jerry?
You're really good at telling stories.
Uh, when um Charles Taze Russell was actually tried in court and for the miracle wheat, yeah, it this has been a while.
So, Walter Martin does a great job in Kingdom of the Cults of sort of giving a lot of um, a lot of real historical uh background.
I mean, you could make a mini series just based off of what.
Walter Martin did.
And one of the things I want to say, like, he really kind of paved the ground in regards to Christians doing excellence in regards to investigative journalism.
Like, he talked about how he, when he first tried to create a bibliography for his first book, like, it didn't exist.
He said he had to literally go into the different cultic headquarters just to gather the materials.
He would go in and buy the materials out of these cultic organizations.
And he said, I had a whole room full of materials.
And that's what he would do.
And so there's a lot of great groundwork that he laid.
And so, yeah, there was, he had, he's just one of those people that's kind of similar to Joseph Smith in the sense to where he's very ambitious with a lot of different things.
But there is one example where I think he had some sort of wheat that he claimed had special abilities, I think, or there's something special about the wheat that he propagated, which turns out wasn't true.
So I believe there were areas in which he chased that out of town.
What's really interesting is that.
And you can tell me what you think.
I think there might be just a difference between the type of adherence that someone right now active in the Watchtower would really adhere towards Charles Taze Russell.
I feel there's an intimacy that Mormons have with Joseph Smith that is really not there with Charles Taze Russell.
Mormons, there's even hymns when they talk about Joseph went out in the woods to pray, and this kind of like true devout Mormons get caught up in the mythical experience of that.
And I've talked with Mormons who they said they went out.
Into that exact location in New York, where they believe is the location where Joseph Smith went to pray, and they get caught up in that experience.
It's like it's a very sacred place for them.
You don't really see that with modern day members of Jehovah's Witnesses in relation to Russell.
Yeah, they kind of separate themselves from Charles Taze Russell.
The reason why I was stating what he believed about the International Bible Students Association with these little groups is definitely different than what the Watchtower Tract Society believes today.
I misspoke earlier.
I meant in 1881 is the first time we find that he denied the Trinity.
1896 is when they changed their name to the Watchtower Tract Society.
I just want to state that.
So many dates going around here.
But yeah, they kind of separate themselves from Charles Taze Russell.
Yeah, he did travel a lot and he also had a big fascination as well.
Another commonality he did have with Joseph Smith is that he was very, very interested in Egyptology.
Really, in the 19th century, you would see a lot of fascination with that.
And also, you saw the rise of a bunch of pseudo historians as well.
But Charles Taze Russell, he had a big fascination with Egyptology.
Did he travel there to Egypt?
I don't remember whether he did or not.
Again, my memory is a bit rusty when it comes to the history of Charles Taze Russell, but he did utilize his studying and his understanding of Egyptology, in which he utilized that to give his end of the world predictions.
That's one area that is very unique to Jehovah's Witnesses.
So the very first prediction that they gave of the end of the world would have been in 1914.
Yeah, it sounds about right.
So 1914, I pulled up an old newspaper that you can see this.
I love looking at it.
This is the cool thing when you do different research.
Yeah, actually, Russell's chronology.
So this is Russell's, Charles Hayes Russell's chronology.
In 1799, the last days began.
1874 would have been the start of Jesus' invisible presence.
In 1878, Jesus became king in heaven.
And then 1914 would have marked the end of the world.
And what you end up seeing that day came and went.
And I think it's been again being redefined.
You would see here would be an example of an old newspaper, and this is just from Wikipedia, like them predicting the end of the world.
And then you had so you had 1914.
Bro, bro, hold on.
What's really interesting about that is in 1914, prior to this occurring, he actually made an eight hour movie called The Photodrama of Creation.
Over 9 million people viewed it, and it was to try to prep people for this end of the world, which eventually didn't happen.
I heard about that.
I was like, I want to watch this movie.
I want to know how crazy it was.
Did you ever watch it?
No, I haven't watched it.
I kind of want to, though.
Yeah.
Imagine an eight hour film that was made in 1914.
That sounds terrible.
With their own reinterpretation of the creation story and things of that nature.
Yeah.
And just to get a visual, I mean, this would have been artwork from the 1800s.
Maybe we can post this on the video if you want to do like a quick frame.
Yeah, sure.
This is the type of artwork that they would have seen.
So usually if someone has had an encounter with now Jehovah's Witnesses, knock, knock, knock, giving your door, like at your door, they usually will have a magazine.
They also have literature.
I mean, the amount of literature they print.
And this is where Walter Marwood said how the cults, they outwork us.
They outproduce literature.
The majority of even good Christian ministries that do evangelism, think about, you know, Living waters, the amount of track distribution that they do.
They do an excellent job.
To this day, the Watchtower still outdoes them by the amount of literature that they print out.
I mean, and now they're back in droves.
I just saw Jehovah's Witnesses.
I saw two or three booths just in the airport in Austin.
And they're now back in Phoenix all over the place.
So you have that.
And then really the second end of the world prediction, and this is where they kept on predicting it.
It would have been in the next one, would have been, yeah, 1975.
That would have been another.
Prediction that took place.
So 1914, then the next is 1975.
Yes.
And what you end up seeing is that, and this is a portion when that day came and went, that's when you saw a really large amount of really people who were truly believers and really had banked all of their savings, chips, and all their cash in, all of their any Western you've seen where somebody pushes in all their chips and someone folds out the ace of spades and they realize they lose everything.
Like that was the case for.
Many people.
So you had just a significant reduction in membership.
I mean, people left in droves.
And that's just something that is indicative of a lot of the different apocalyptic cults.
They're always utilizing end times visions.
You saw that just a couple days ago, like I said, with the eclipse, people are reading in end times, they're reading in apocalyptic visions of Matthew 24 and trying to talk about signs in the sky.
Right.
And by the time, you know, the listener, you know, by the time this video is published, Like it, you know, and you're listening to this, it could be, you know, July or August or September of 2024.
But we're recording this, if you remember.
So for you, the listener, it's been months.
But if you remember, it was Monday, what was the date?
April 8th.
What?
April 8th.
April 8th.
So if you remember, that's what we're actually just recording this just a couple of days after that.
So to give the context, that's what Jeremiah is talking about is the April 8th solar eclipse.
And you're right.
Like there was, I mean, leading up to it, you know, there were tons of, You know, people making predictions and prophecies and doomsday and where the sign of Jonah people were saying, you know, it's like, right, sign of Jonah is talking about Jesus, right, weird, you know, and then being buried, you know, three days and rising again.
But then they were talking about, because where we are right now, you guys probably didn't know this, but there's a small little town next to us called Jonah.
Oh, and it's just a couple miles away.
And so, and they were like, well, the path of to see the total eclipse, because you can see the eclipse anywhere in America, but you don't necessarily have, you have to have the, The viewpoint, the perspective, geographically in the right place on Earth to get those three points of you and the moon and the sun to see a total eclipse.
And so, from the perspective, it started in kind of for US citizens down in Texas and then kind of this diagonal line that went up north and started in our neck of the woods.
This is where earliest views of the total eclipse happened, right where we're at in one of the towns.
Right in our vicinity is Jonah.
So, there were guys, you know, making, you know, giving their prophetic words about it's the sign of Jonah and using the name of the town to somehow exegete, you know, the words of Jesus.
So, anyways, my point is just, you know, it dime a dozen false prophecies and predictions.
And this has been going on for a very, very long time and it has not stopped.
Yeah, nothing new under the sun.
So, just a quick, a couple of quick theological facts, then we're going to get in maybe some of the practices of Jehovah's Witnesses.
So, I think when it comes, what Walter Barton would state.
Counterfeit Money Theology00:02:18
Because again, we've covered a lot of topics.
So, in the same way, how I said when it comes to understanding the New Age and the occult is understand one versus two.
I would recommend if you want to get a thorough overview of it, get Peter Jones' book, One or Two, Seeing a World of Difference.
He gives a great, great general breakdown, just understanding how to view neo-paganism.
But in this case, when it comes to dealing with definitive non-Christian cults, Walter Martin gave this great illustration.
I may have vaguely referenced it in a previous episode.
But he would talk about he had a friend who worked in banking and this person oversaw loss prevention and specifically dealing with fraud and counterfeit money.
So how he would train and what they normally do to train people to detect counterfeit money is you don't study counterfeit money.
Because those are a diamond dozen of all different ways that they do it.
So with his, Walton Martin's friend, he told him that they would go to this one, one of the U.S. mints.
And for three to four weeks, all his team would do is they would study all the intricacies of dollar bills and of the coins and all the currency that typically would be counterfeited.
So, the moment he said, the moment that a counterfeit bill slips through your hands, you don't even have to look down.
You know it.
Again, just and I think I meant, like I mentioned this before, this just the how the ink is pressed, how the different minting and there's different parts that are like printed and stamped.
You know what it's like when you feel something that's.
Off.
In the same way, anybody who is a jeweler, when you see a bunch of costume jewelry uh versus fool's gold or something else like you know you don't even have to test it, you just know visually it's like that.
So in the same way, if you want to deal because colts are a diamond dozen we're tying anytime, like right now.
We're living through a time of political tension, political uncertainty.
That's always when cults tend to arise is that Walter Martin would say.
I urge you not to become an expert on the colts as much become an expert On the person, of who Jesus Christ is.
It's the people who become that, and you'll never be fooled by anyone.
It's the people who are uninformed who get sucked into the cults.
Understanding Jesus Christ00:03:04
So, understanding that, who is Jesus Christ according to the Jehovah's Witnesses?
Well, what's different is that they believe that Jesus Christ is Michael the Archangel.
They believe that he is Jehovah's first creation.
So, when they look, and also not only that, that he helped work alongside God.
To help create the world.
So Jehovah's witnesses will look at Proverbs chapter 8, when he talks about the person who worked alongside me in the creation of the world.
They are Jehovah's witnesses, are seeing Micah, Jehovah's first creation uh, utilizing that, and what they also have Michael, Michael the archangel.
That's what they adhere to and what you'll see.
And as far as revelation goes, they have a translation called the New World translation of the holy scriptures, and that's kind of that's their authoritative source and that's because That's what the Watchtower Bible Tract Society says, what the Bible is supposed to say.
But you will see deliberate alterations that do not match up with any Greek manuscripts.
They twist John 1 1.
They say, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was a God.
And there's any notable verse that would be attributed to Christ's deity.
You think of almost every, if you read The Forgotten Trinity by James White, nearly every scripture that he references, they find a way to change that because they want, they've had in their mind who God is.
It's not in accordance with scripture.
So rather than conform themselves to the Word of God, they want to conform the Word of God into their image and likeness.
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Yeah, Colossians 1 16, New World Translation states, because by means of him, all other things were created in the heavens and on the earth.
All other, they have the word other.
And then John 1.
Salvation and Medical Care00:15:33
Right.
Have you guys, are you familiar with the view?
So we mentioned in a previous episode, or you did, Jeremiah, Doug Van Dorn.
He's a Reformed Baptist, solid dude.
And he's written like, Well, he's written books on Reformed Baptist covenant theology and the doctrines of grace and a lot of good gospel, you know, doctrine stuff.
But he's also written some stuff on the giants, you know, and so he holds to the Nephilim fallen angel view.
And, um, but I remember speaking with him recently and it threw me off at first.
Like, I, you know, my spidey sense was tingling.
But he said, um, he was talking about a view, but within orthodoxy, within Protestant, of Michael being a name for Jesus.
And as soon as he said, I was like, you know, I just thought, Jehovah's Witness.
I was like, you know, but he was like, no, no, no, no.
He said, it could be wrong.
He said, I'm not saying, you know, 100%.
It could be wrong.
He said, but let me just at least, you know, be fair and fairly representing the view.
I'm not saying, in this view, I'm not saying that Jesus was created.
He is the eternal second member of the Trinity who was not first made by God, but who is God through whom all things were made.
So, Jesus is eternal.
He's creator, not creature.
And he is the word, the eternal logos by which all things that have been made were made.
And Michael was one another name.
A title, yeah.
A title.
Have you guys heard that before?
Yes, in the book, The Angel of the Lord, he does detail that there were reformers that held that view.
I had never heard that before.
So, when I heard it, I was like, this sounds like Jehovah's Witnesses.
You know what I mean?
Red flag, red flag.
But then when he fleshed it out, it's like, okay, well, he could still be wrong, but it's not heresy.
Yeah.
Right.
Do you agree with that?
Yeah.
Their form of it is heresy.
Their form is creation of because they're saying Jesus is a creature.
Right.
Like, that's what they mean when they say Michael.
They mean he is the first of the created beings.
Yep.
Whereas, yeah, that's, and that is different than saying Michael might be a title for Jesus.
And if it is, either way, you know, Jesus always was, he has always been.
Yeah.
And also, another area in regards to doctrine, I mean, Jehovah's Witnesses are very works oriented.
They believe that salvation really just entails being, you know, following the adherences, laws, and ordinances of Jehovah's kingdom.
They specifically, their congregations are called Kingdom Hall, and there are a lot of different rules and regulations that they follow.
Anyone who is a devout Jehovah's Witnesses, I'm not quite sure what the regulations are now, but normally, depending on how many hours you log in of going door to door and knock, that's a big part of that.
And usually that is the case.
And so you will see that.
There are tenants of Abina.
I'm trying to remember, do they have restrictions as far as what they can and can't eat or drink?
Not off the top of my head.
I know according to their website, they have four essential things that must be adhered to in order to obtain salvation.
Right.
Food isn't one of them.
What are they?
Yeah.
So, number one, Jesus Christ identified as a first requirement when he said in prayer to his Father, This means everlasting life.
They're taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.
Knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ includes knowledge of God's purposes regarding the earth and of Christ's role as earth's new king.
And it says, Will you take such knowledge in by studying the Bible?
Number two, many have found the second requirement more difficult.
It is to obey God's laws.
Yes, to conform one's life to the moral requirement set out in the Bible.
This includes refraining from a debauched, immoral way of life.
So maybe food might be tied in somewhere in there.
Number three, a third requirement is that we be associated with God's channel, his organization.
God has always used an organization.
For example, only those in the ark in Noah's day survived the flood, and only those associated with the Christian congregation in the first century had God's favor.
Similarly, Jehovah is using only one organization today to accomplish his will to receive everlasting life in the earthly paradise.
We must identify that organization and serve God as part of it.
Number four, the fourth requirement is connected with loyalty.
God requires that prospective subjects of his kingdom support his government by loyalty or by loyally advocating his kingdom rule to others.
Jesus Christ explained, The good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth.
Will you meet this requirement by telling others about God's kingdom?
So, what we find here is something interesting.
Do you hear?
Salvation by living in the kingdom, right?
We're not talking about salvation as living with Jesus Christ or being with him and ruling from heaven after dying here.
Well, that's because they don't believe that all people can have that.
It's not obtainable anymore.
So, with their false prophecies, have also come new changes in doctrine.
I believe there's a generation, it's the 1914 generation after them.
After that failed prophecy, they stated, well, this generation within 1914 are going to be the 144,000.
And only the 144,000 will be able to reign in heaven.
But that generation is pretty much dead and gone now.
So all of those seats are taken up.
So once a year, there's a, what would you call it?
Like how we talked about earlier, like cults will go to Mecca.
There's a general conference, there's a Mecca, there's the Burning Man.
Well, the Jehovah's Witnesses have one in New York as well.
And this is the only time of the year that they take sacrament.
But the only people who are allowed to take the sacrament are of the 144,000.
There's only a few people left.
No one else can take sacrament.
And so you're seeing the 144,000 even dwindle out today.
So, everyone who dies today who meets those requirements according to the Jehovah's Witnesses will enter into a soul sleep, right?
And then they'll wake up and they will be living on a new earth.
They're not with Jesus, they're on a new earth in a kingdom.
But the 144,000 for them, allegedly, when they die immediately, they would be with Jesus in heaven?
Or do they have a soul sleep as well?
I'm not sure off the top of my head.
Okay.
Yeah.
Real quick, another thing I wanted to ask, you know, and with all cults, like you notice, like, Out of those four things, like number three and four, so half of the four things were, and what's really, really important, most of all, is loyalty to us the organization.
We have a monopoly on truth.
There is no salvation apart from Christ, no salvation apart from us.
But I was wondering, what about some of the practical things, aside from those four things, speaking of salvation, some of the weird, kind of more just traditional, cultural things?
Adherences like blood transfusions.
I've got a friend who his brother ended up dying because he couldn't, you know, get a blood transfusion.
So there's that.
There's also military, right?
There's no, you can't serve in the military or as a politician in any civil office.
There's a lot of interesting things like that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
There's a uniqueness in regards to what they don't celebrate.
They wouldn't celebrate for the July.
They would see that as giving credence to the nationality of America, but they see a distinction in a separation of Levi kingdoms.
So they wouldn't celebrate Fourth of July.
They wouldn't celebrate Christmas, any of the known holidays they don't celebrate.
They also don't celebrate birthdays.
The only understandable reason, even talking with ex Jehovah's Witnesses and those who have left the Watchtower, is that they really don't want people attributing or getting any sort of identity or anything that gives them a unique sort of distinction outside of Jehovah's kingdom.
So there is something about your birthday that's like, oh, this is. my day.
This is the day where you turn that.
And so anybody who sees that, so you have that.
And then there's restrictions as far as holidays go.
It is very interesting when it comes to the area of blood transfusion.
And that's not because really this, it's because the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society said so.
And it's been heartbreaking because the one commonality that so many cults have, and again, you talk about this is the jurisdictions of government that God has.
given.
There's the approach of self-government and family government.
And what you choose to do regarding medical decisions, that falls under the category of self-government and family government.
Familial fathers would have the final say, not a pastor.
Right.
And so, you know, and this comes from everything.
Or Dr. Fauci.
Yeah.
You better believe me, I'm science.
The father of all science.
Yeah.
Right.
The godfather, the dawn.
But yeah, it's usually what you have is a cult will jump.
In and we'll talk about what you can and can't do, specifically when it comes to medical treatment.
A lot of times, we did a podcast in a group called the Church of Wells, and one of the first things they do when they try and recruit and bring members into their organization is that they say, they tell them unequivocally, you cannot take any medication, whether or not it's aspirin or whether it's something to do with mental health or anxiety medication, even something that's been prescribed.
Unequivocally, you can't take that.
Any sort of medicine whatsoever, that's pharmakia.
Like they could take it to the nth degree.
That would be an example of that.
Have that with Christian Science Christian Science because of their pre commitments and beliefs.
That was a difficult moment in one of our earliest episodes where it's like, how do you?
You probably have times too, where you're doing pastoral counseling and someone shares something that happened to them and it's like you're there to minister to them.
It's like, how do you not just like break down in front of them like there's, they're the one that's supposed to be doing that, but you're the pastor.
It's like, how are you not whole?
How are you holding it together?
This person uh, who was uh, his name is Tanner Johns wrote, I think it was, and he's a grew up in Christian Science and he just broke down.
He said I I lost count of how many people died that should have lived because they would not get medical attention for this, that, and the other.
And he literally said, bad theology kills people.
And I, we, we, I, there's a gentleman that one time, I remember Andrew, we talked with him and he had just this guiltiness on his conscience because he went camping with a friend that was Jehovah's Witnesses.
They had a three or four wheeler and it rolled over in it.
And this, uh, his, The girl.
His niece.
It was his niece.
It was his niece.
And then she was in the back of this four-wheeler.
It was a four-wheeler?
It wasn't a three-wheeler?
Is he a three or four-wheeler?
I can't remember.
Three-wheelers are notorious.
It's very dangerous.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, I would never drive one of those.
I think it was an ATV.
I'm pretty sure it was a four-wheeler.
Yeah.
But it rolled over and she got artery lacerated.
And so she was going to die.
And it wasn't that, if it wasn't for a particular law in Arizona that says that if the medical doctor can proceed, that unequivocally, the under the minor's life is in danger, they can actually override uh, the parents.
So it was because of that instance that she was alive today, because the parents were saying no.
They parents say no, don't give her blood.
And the doctor knew if she does not get a blood transfusion, she will die.
Um, and so you have a numerous amount of folks who are loyal and believe that this is they are in the truth.
That's another thing that Jehovah's witnesses will discuss with each other, the language that they use.
They'll say, how long have you been in the truth?
That's one of the things that they'll refer to.
But you have a plethora of people, including mostly even children who have died because they will not get blood transfusions.
In fact, they go as far as at their conference, they will actually put on a pedestal the children who have died because they would not get a blood transfusion as smart.
They view it as martyrdom.
But that's funny.
It's like, and who were the perpetrators who?
It's like these are the martyrs, yeah.
Uh huh.
And who uh killed them?
You, you leaders of this organization who are lying to people and deceiving them.
The enemy always wants the blood of children, doesn't he?
Yeah, one way or another.
Yeah, right.
And it's on it is heartbreaking because when you look at like how Christians have advanced civilization and what West the true you know, and obviously there's an area of Western medicine, you would say, no, that's that's industrial commercialized medicine, but as a whole.
There's so much in the Western world that was advanced because of the Christian worldview.
The person who invented anesthesia, that was someone who was a Christian who saw that he wanted to help people because they were getting, you know, there's no way to, aside from like chugging some whiskey before they sawed off your leg.
No, he saw how the Lord put Adam into a deep sleep before he moved his rib.
And he said, there has to be a way to help this person go into a deep sleep so they don't feel the pain while they're doing this procedure.
So you have anesthesia.
I mean, a lot of the even the concepts of of hospitals and there's so much medicine that has been advanced because of really primarily the Christian worldview that has advanced that.
And this is taking something and turning it on its head.
Like the very thing that gives us life is now determined to be taboo.
So that's one area that's very destructive.
And we did talk about that quite extensively, giving that perspective in our episode, Leah Remney and the Jehovah's Witnesses.
Talk about this too, Jerry.
You're doing an excellent job.
So I want you to keep going here.
So talk about the two witness rule.
Talk about what we would say in Theonomy two to three independent lines of testimony would be, and see, talk about how they butcher that.
Right.
There have been a plethora of cases of abuse when it comes to the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.
And a lot of their big expenses that they had have been having to settle lawsuits when it comes to abuse because they have a two witness policy to where in order to affirm an accusation of sexual abuse, there have to be two people who witness the event.
Like where does it even happen when it comes to usually when a predator tries to isolate someone into an isolated area?
Well, they'll say, no matter what, if the second person wasn't their witness, we can't give any adherence to it.
Whereas the true general equity principle is that it can be anything from a camera, from anything from a camera to even to a semen sample to, you know, there's a lot of different areas that would constitute an independent line of witness, not just a testimony and witness.
So what they do is they take a twisted, inverted position of that to where it ends up being a breeding ground of abuse because there's no, there's no, there's not even a.
you have to have the two witnesses but there's an unwillingness even while the matter is investigated to get that individual away and into a safe place while the matter can be investigated and really following the general equity principles of deuteronomy 19.
Spiritual Abuse Effects00:09:34
so you really have um this this breeding ground of abuse so you have that and then really what you see when it comes to you know birds of a feather flock together and it's just the same practice just given a different title in scientology uh it's somebody who's considered a suppressive person where who speaks out against the Church of Scientology, where they are completely cut off, disconnected.
There is the same thing that happens within the Watch Tarot Bible and Tract Society, which is something referred to as being disfellowshipped.
This is a twisted and distorted version of church discipline, where the purpose is to shun them and to shame them.
And this was a heartbreaking moment in this show that, again, years ago they watched and we did a review of.
They have this panel of just people who are ex-Jehovah's Witnesses.
And they said, you know, You could look in a court setting, someone may have committed a horrific crime, but do you know who's typically still going to be there?
Their family.
And they'll still be along.
They don't like the family doesn't affirm or acknowledge or justify the action that was taken, but they are still there to represent them.
But he said, what crime have we done to where we are not, they're not even allowed to look in our eyes.
That is what they are.
They're told not even to look into their eyes.
And to shame them and to shun them and to and somehow that is a good way uh, of glorifying Jehovah.
Now, like that is abuse of an image bearer of god.
Like the when, that's when you understand the biblical church discipline.
The whole purpose and intent of that is to when you say you're told to treat someone as an unbeliever.
As Christians, how are we supposed to treat someone as unbeliever?
How do we treat unbelievers?
We are trying to bring to repentance?
We evangelize them, we love them, we pray for them, we're brokenhearted over them, Like, that's the approach.
We don't shun them.
We don't like, and if I'm sure there's Christians who do, and that's something they need to repent of.
Like that, the authentic model is to love them and to pray for them, to be brokenhearted for them in hopes that they may have this moment of sobriety and come back to the fold.
Right.
And the nature of the relationship does change.
Yeah.
Like we're not just shooting the breeze.
You know, like so there is a change in the relationship.
You know, like Paul even talks about, we would call this within Christian terms the grace of shame.
So shame is a virtue.
It's not whether but which.
Every culture will have certain things that are deemed as.
Bad and worthy of shame.
And it's not whether but which.
Like right now, as our culture is further apostatizing from Christ, Christians are being shamed.
I can't believe you believe that.
So we're the ones who are now incurring shame.
But so there is within true Christian categories, there really is a place for saying, okay, the nature of our relationship, because you have completely, you've trampled the blood of the covenant underfoot, you have turned your back on Christ.
And because you're living in impenitent sin and you have been removed from fellowship, from the church, the nature of our relationship is different now.
But even then, it wouldn't be, I won't even look you in the eyes or I can't ever speak to you again.
There would still be a relationship, but the nature of that relationship would have shifted to where I would still love you.
I would still care for you.
I would still engage with you.
But my primary purpose would be to call you to repentance and share the gospel with you.
But it wouldn't be just cut off, it would be shifting the nature of the relationship.
The relationship wouldn't be cut off.
The relationship would continue, but the nature of the relationship would change.
But with Jehovah's Witness, it sounds like it's not like, and now, father and mother, with your grown child who has left the church, you need to call them to repentance.
No, you need to, for all intents and purposes, they're dead.
Right.
And never contact them again.
They put their photo up in the kingdom hall so they can know exactly who they are.
Do not look at them, do not interact with them.
shun them like they don't even exist.
Right.
So Steve Hassan, he wrote this excellent book, two books I really enjoy, Freedom of Mind and Combating Cult Mind Control.
He is somebody, while he's not, Steve Hassan's not a Christian, he does really give a good, he really breaks down, again, he calls it the bite model, behavior control, information control, thought control, emotional control.
But a big part of a lot of these destructive cults is that the cult takes a unique identity that's sort of a cookie cutter mold and they force that into the identity of the individual.
So what you will see many a times of somebody who is a true believer, whether it's a Scientologist, somebody who is a devout Mormon or whatever would have you, is that you have your true, you have your true authentic self.
And then you have the cult identity.
And so a lot of times when you're interacting with a cult member, you will have sort of like, you'll see the real authentic self come out.
But then there'll be a times where you bring something up that triggers the, uh, the siege mentality and you will see all of a sudden the cult identity resurface.
So it's almost like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. go back and forth.
But what is really interesting when it comes to really the former Jehovah's Witnesses that we've talked to, that we've interviewed, many of them would say, would talk about the sociological environment within Jehovah's Witnesses, how you are always have to be, there's a pressure to always be that shiny, happy person that is always, everything is always wonderful, everything is good in Tinseltown.
So even if your life is falling apart, you have to have it like you're together because that's where all of a sudden you might be on the chopping block to stand before your governing body of elders, say, hey, what is wrong with you?
How is this your fault?
And usually any sort of falling short of the standards that they do, that's your fault.
And that's usually grounds for disfellowshipping.
In fact, one of our previous guests from an old episode we did a long time ago, his sister was sexually assaulted.
And when she went to talk to the elders, so they got the body within that kingdom hall, they basically affirmed that it was her fault.
It was her fault that she got raped.
And they basically told her that that was because she was not falling short of that, of their commands that they adhered to, and they decided to disfellowship her.
Wow.
So you have that.
And that was a catalyst for her to get into alcohol.
So you actually have, he gave a reference to that there's a good majority of people, even in the Watchtower and Bible Tract Society, who are functioning alcoholics.
One of the reasons why is because you are in a place where you're not allowed to have free.
Did you ever see the film Equilibrium?
I think so, yeah.
So it's a movie, it's a dystopian movie.
I love it.
But the premise of this movie is that emotion is illegal.
Anything that induces emotion, you cannot have.
And then you have people who enforce.
So everything from art to pets to anything that would induce emotion, you cannot have.
Spicy food.
Right.
Yes.
And if you have that, you'd be called a sense offender.
And so in the movie, Christian Bale, who is one of the enforcer of this code of emotion being illegal, there's these pills that you're supposed to take.
Somehow, it falls down the seat and he can't take it.
He begins to feel and he begins to live this like double life.
And in many ways, that really describes the environment that many Jehovah's Witnesses live in.
There's a great film.
It's very difficult to watch, but it's excellent.
It's called Apostate.
And it was this independent film that was done that really depicts. life inside the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.
And you see the loyalty that they have, but also the, so it's not just the functioning alcoholics part of it, but those who leave, both who are in the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society and those who leave, the type of mental health issues that they have coming out of it, the one of the primary reasons by is because you can't, you can never be your true authentic self.
There is a sense in which emotion is illegal because you can never be your true authentic self.
You always have to follow, there's, you're always, Walking on eggshells to be this perfect, shiny, happy person as described by them.
And so, therefore, you know, even if your world is falling apart, you have to constantly just be good and be wonderful.
So, usually, and you think about in the contrast, you know, you're a new, now ordained pastor, and, you know, with your pastoral ministry, you think about just the premise of a pastor counseling his flock.
Can you imagine them coming to you, but you, as this minute they open up?
To share what's broken, whatever's going on, whether it's a broken marriage or whether it's them relapsing into addiction or whatever it is, it's like you have to create an environment where they are safe to be able to talk to you because how else, as a pastor, can you prescribe to them their identity in Christ and allow the Holy Spirit to be a counselor?
Spotting Neo-Paganism00:15:09
That requires an environment of trust and vulnerability into people to not be a sense offender.
So even the environment that they give is so antithetical to even as Christians is how we should minister to those who are in our own flock.
So, I think that's really what you see.
And one other thing that's just interesting too, and Andrew, you can give me your thoughts on this as well, too, is that I do think that neo paganism is really the new zeitgeist.
That's the new religion.
That's the new spirit of the age.
I don't think people are really getting Jehovah's Witnesses, is not something people were flocking to and drove them to.
Because all the Mormonism, Scientology, Jehovah's Witnesses, it sounds like these are all just particular expressions of neo paganism that worked at a certain time where you could have more of an iron fist, you know.
Grip on information and control and manipulation and these kinds of things.
But now, with it's kind of like, you know, Rome had like a, you know, Roman Catholicism had like this monopoly on truth, you know.
But then it was God was doing, you know, theological reformation at the same time.
He was also doing technological innovation with the Gutenberg printing press.
And when that happened, Rome really couldn't tamp down, as try as they might, they could not hold the iron fist, you know.
Clenched control on information that they used to.
And so you have the ivory tower, the monopoly starts to break apart, and here's the Protestant faith that comes out of it.
And here we are 500 years later, and it seems like there was another, in a sense, a re reformation, because we need many reformations, simple reformanda, that were reformed and always reforming.
And so there's a fresh reformation theologically within the church, but they're also, again, I don't think it's a Coincidence, but within the providence of God, just like with Luther 500 years ago, theological reformation and technological innovation.
Here we are, half a millennia later, and it's the same thing this fresh reformation theologically, but also teamed up with technological innovation.
What's that?
Well, it's not the Gutenberg printing press, it's a little thing, you know, it's the Al Gore internet.
But, you know, but the internet and social media and podcasting and all these different things.
And so, what do you find?
Once again, those who were counter to the truth 500 years ago, you know, a prime example of that was Rome.
Roman Catholicism.
Well, today, some of those monopolies, ivory towers, when there's fresh Reformation and there's novel technological innovation, whenever God does that, one of the effects, one of the fruits of that, is that some of the old dominant powers that have monopolies on truth, they start to break apart.
They can't keep it together anymore.
They can't control it.
It's like wildfire and it gets beyond them.
So I think, all that to say, I think that.
Some of your single focused, controlled, centralized, you know, where just one round table of elders in New York control everything all over the world.
You know, those very particular forms of neo paganism, like Jehovah's Witness, Mormonism, and Scientology, I just don't think it can hold.
But neo paganism, in a general sense, that's like we talked about in another episode, it's the equivalent of your Build a Bear.
You know, where you just get to go and take a little bit of everything.
And it's not, which I mean, that is what, you know, Joseph Smith did.
That is what these other guys did.
But they got to do it, take a little bit of everything.
And then they said, and now everyone else, I got to build my custom bear.
But now I'm just going to reproduce, mass produce my bear, and everyone has to like it.
And this is the only bear you can have.
Whereas I think that is probably going to go away.
But the idea of the build a bear where you get to be your own Joseph Smith.
And everyone gets to go into the shop and build their own custom bear and take a little bit of Thor and take a little bit of Zeus and some Jupiter and something.
That is not going away anytime soon.
So, while some of these well known cults, like Mormonism, those things I think are going to decline, the general sense of paganism, a bill to bear your own custom neo paganism, that is very much on the rise.
And as Christians, we're going to need to be able to spot it.
We're going to have to be even more familiar with the real dollar bill because it won't just be, oh, I can learn about three cults and I'll be able to cover the bases.
No, no, no.
You're going to have to be really familiar with it because there'll be.
Instead of three counterfeits, there'll be three million counterfeits because every single individual person will have their own version of their neo pagan cultish views.
And you'll say, Well, that's, I know what this is.
It's XYZ.
And they'll say, Actually, mine's different.
And I don't actually believe, you know what I mean?
And so we need to be able to say, Ah, okay, but there are some common denominators, universal principles of all false religions and cults, and they go across the board with neo paganism, the one ism versus two ism.
That we can spot these things so that we don't have to become experts of three million individual isolated examples of neo paganism.
We can just know the true Christian faith, that first and foremost, and the gospel of Jesus Christ, and then also know these basic universal principles that find themselves in every cult so that we can spot it.
Yeah, and the one last thing, too, and I'll let Andrew, I'll let you talk as you rip up here is that one area, again, when the majority of Jehovah's Witnesses that you will see now out.
There are folks who are of an older generation.
There's still people, for the majority part, who are in their 50s and 60s.
Seeing younger, millennial, Gen Z people who are out doing that, it's virtually non existent.
You're looking at really, it's an older generation.
So, in some sense, with Scientology, it's a dying brave, but another part of it is really just the boy who cried wolf.
Yeah, you're right.
At a certain point, you've lost all credibility.
And I think it's the same with cults like Mormonism, Jehovah's Witness.
They are the boy that cried wolf, and they lose credibility.
Credibility, but to be fair, like it, um, it's uh, not just those cults, it's the same with other cults, like, um, not just you know, the branch Davidians, but the branch Covidians, right?
So, like, that, like, um, you know, the atheist, um, is very religious as well, the secular humanist, the Darwinianist, you know, um, the cult of you know, hashtag the science, um, that cult has made many false prophecies.
Like, so if we want to look at false prophecies, because, because here's the thing, the only reason I want to include them is because.
If anybody who would deem themselves, they would fancy themselves to be non religious and they're watching this, they'd say, Yeah, they'd say, I agree with you guys.
I think you guys are wrong too as Christians, but I agree with you guys.
Aren't they silly?
Aren't they dumb?
Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons and stuff.
Meanwhile, how many false prophecies with, most people have forgotten this by now, but we've got a climate crisis.
Before that, climate change.
Before that, global warming.
Here's one everybody forgot.
What about global cooling?
Remember those days?
You know, like how many times have the prophets, because that's what it is.
Dr. Fauci was a priest.
And then, you know, there are other, you know, climate alarmists, you know, like Gretchen, what's her face?
You know, like, you know, there are priests and there are prophets and there's an orthodoxy and there are sacraments too, right?
You know, there are certain things where, you know, having a good carbon, you know, credit score and stuff like that, you know, there are certain sacraments.
There's certain dogma, and there are certain things outside of that that is blasphemy.
You're not allowed to say.
There are priests, there are prophets.
It is a religion, and every religion has prophecies and makes certain predictions.
But with cults, with false religions, the predictions are wrong again and again and again.
And right now, I think part of the reason we're going to see a rise of neo paganism is because you're not going to see, I think, a rise of Mormonism, Jehovah's Witness, and Scientology because they've had too many false prophecies, and everybody knows it.
But I don't think you're going to see a rise of atheism.
Like we did over the previous decades, because they also have had too many false prophecies.
The atheists have made just as many prophecies, you know, whether it be in the climate vein or being this political vein, but they've made prophecies too, and they've all turned out to be false.
So now, you know, I think, you know, then what is it that people are going to turn toward?
I think they're going to like the more individualistic and abstract and custom and, you know, the better, right?
So, like, I'm not going to turn to any of these major dominant, you know, Religious views because all of them are a sham.
All of them have been utterly embarrassed.
So I'm going to turn to Christ in the true Christian faith.
Or if I refuse to do that, I'm going to turn not to whatever ancient cult, whatever.
No, I'm going to turn to my own personal neo paganism that's, I just made it up 15 minutes ago.
So it still has a blank slate, it has a perfect batting average.
It's never gotten anything wrong.
Yeah, and typically their creed right now is science is real, Black Lives Matter, no human is illegal, love is love.
What is it?
Women's rights are human rights and kindness is everything.
Yeah.
You've seen the yard sign.
Right.
That's their orthodoxy.
That's their creed.
Yeah.
And anything outside of that is blasphemy.
And you will be punished.
You will be punished.
If there's not penalties under the law, which I think they're working on.
But if they're, in the meantime, then it'll just, you know, cultural, social penalties.
They'll try to, you know, penalize you by.
Doxing you, getting you fired from your job, or whatever it might be.
But yeah, everything has, every religion has an orthodoxy.
Everything outside of that orthodoxy is blasphemy.
And there have always been blasphemy laws.
It's like, well, we're not, that's the Taliban, or that's Hands Maid's Tale.
We're not a Christian nation.
We don't want blasphemy laws.
Well, we have blasphemy laws.
Right now, there are certain things that you cannot say.
It's not whether, but which.
You will have an orthodoxy.
You will have a religion.
You will have sacraments.
You will have sacrifices.
You will have.
Priest, you will have prophets, and you will have blasphemy laws.
The question is just whose?
You know, whose?
Which ones?
Not whether, but which.
And there was a time where, you know, blaspheming Christ, there were penalties.
And now you can blaspheme Christ all day long, but you can't blaspheme the God of LGBTQ, right?
You can burn an American flag, you'll be okay.
But you burn a rainbow flag, and you're in trouble.
In some states right now, in our nation, you burn a rainbow flag, and there are legal penalties.
Yeah, I saw a headline just uh like a few or three days ago, and it was in New Zealand.
They had a they had an uh trans shanga colors all over the sidewalk, and it said there's a nation, there's a countrywide manhunt for three people who have the audacity to get a paint roller because they're just fed up with it, right?
They went out and just put the paint over it.
Now that is a you know that that's that's a that's sacrilege right there, right?
Exactly, that's that's that's throwing that's a that's you know, think about all the outrage over the uh the chart, the we are Charlie uh comics.
Drawing Muhammad, and though they consider that blasphemy laws.
But now I was like, this is the exact same thing.
That's already there.
And yeah, I think that that is happening.
And I think that, you know, one way you'll see it is, I think Gretchen, whatever her name is from the Michigan, the governor of Michigan.
Yeah.
You know, she kind of made a name for herself during 2020, but, you know, she was recently trying to do legislation that it would be criminal penalties for not identifying someone as their pronouns.
Right.
And what is that whole movement?
It's an extension of neo paganism where you're required to worship with your own body.
So you are doing, you are enforcing blasphemy laws already because you're saying you worship.
Worship this person, worship them, worship their body, or else face the wrath and penalties of the state.
Yep, that's it.
Andrew, why don't you have the final word and just land the plane, wrap it up for this episode, but really the whole series, because this is our final episode.
But hit us, you're so good at this.
Hit us, wrap some things up, but then give us that sweet gospel at the end.
When thinking of all of this, which I was actually trying to be, I was thinking about that while you guys were talking.
The reality of the situation is that humanity will always seek to fill a God shaped hole that only God can fill, right?
They will create a religion, whether it be through demonic influence or through the whims of men as inventors of evil.
And it will never satisfy the righteous requirement of the law, ever.
It can't, it's impossible.
The wages of sin is death.
We will all die one day and meet God and be judged according to that law.
Right?
Occultic practices won't save you.
Reincarnation is a lie, right?
Sacrificing your own body will not appease the wrath of God.
The beautiful thing is, in reality, is that God is restoring things to himself, to the glory of God, which you were discussing a few episodes earlier, by the blood of Jesus Christ, the God man who came, who was made like his brothers in every respect, not only so that he could level with us and show us grace and mercy in humility, but also.
That his blood would be an efficacious sacrifice for our sins.
So that through our belief in him, we are declared righteous before the Father, in which when I die, I will stand wearing the righteous robes of Christ.
Just like it says in Zechariah with the angel of the Lord when he's talking to Joshua, he says, Take those filthy garments off of him and put my garments on him, right?
I wear the righteous robes of Christ and in Christ alone.
There's nothing I can do to fill that requirement.
Thank you, God, for that.
And in that belief, I have a reconciled relationship with.
God and dwelt with the Holy Spirit so I can know the mind of God by God Himself and through His Word.
And again, it's not only for me, but it's for His kingdom.
He's restoring the earth.
He's making all things new in which we can find the source and meaning of life in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the restoration of all things by God's attributes, namely His grace and His mercy in undeserving sinners.
Patreon Support and Q&A00:03:51
Amen.
Amen.
Thank you guys for tuning into the series.
If this is your first episode, well, then the last.
Has been first.
But go back and watch.
This is actually episode 10 of a 10 part series dealing with multiple different false religions and cults.
And the whole idea was to give about an hour on 10 different cults.
And so each of the episodes is really just dipping your toes into it, it's an overview.
It gives you big picture stuff.
So you can say, okay, in a general sense, 30,000 foot view, I understand what Mormonism is, or I understand what Jehovah's Witness is.
Obviously, there's much more that can be said.
And by the grace of God, there is much more that has been said by these guys.
And so you should follow Cultish if you don't already.
Check them out.
Join all access with Apologia Studios and check out Cultus, the things they've already done, and new projects that are on the horizon.
And then the last thing for us, because all the episodes by this point are out for our 10 part series with Right Response, because this is the 10th and final episode.
But there is still one more ace up our sleeves.
We've got three different times that we're going to be doing a live QA, but only for our Patreons.
And part of the intent in doing this is not just an incentive so that people would join Patreon, but it's Intentionally, to limit the pool a little bit because we want to actually interact with the audience and we just won't be able to interact with a thousand people.
But on Patreon, the goal is that there would be less people would actually participate in this.
And so, hopefully, by doing it three times, we're going to do an hour and a half each time by doing a live QA three times exclusively for our Patreon members.
We're hoping that just about everyone will be able to get in at least one question that we can actually answer.
So, what we're going to do is at the end of the month of July, The end of the month of July and August and September.
So, by the time you're listening to this, if you're watching on YouTube, then a couple of those QAs have already come and gone.
But we still got at least one more 90 minute QA coming up at the end of the month of September.
And so, I encourage you to go to patreon.com forward slash right response ministries, patreon.com forward slash right response ministries, and sign up and get in your question.
You can even put it in the comment section way before we actually do the QA and get it.
Ahead of time, so we can be thinking about it.
And because we want to do our best to not just give you the fire hose, you know, 10 episode treatment, all this information, all this content, but to be able to follow back up with some of your specific questions and do our best to answer those.
So thanks for following us with the whole series, the whole season.
Thank you guys.
We made it.
We made it.
We're doing this.
Yep.
This has been a marathon.
Yeah, I was going to say we finally reached the end of this.
So this has really been the final end part of the latter reign of our recording.
The final.
Of the latter of the last episode.
This is the last episode of the last day of the last day.
Well, technically, the final part of the final part will be our Patreon.
Yeah, there you go.
Exactly.
So, okay.
Well, thank you guys for tuning in and thank you guys for being here.
Awesome.
And yeah, we just hope that God uses it.
We want, sure, we hope it's entertaining.
We hope it's intriguing and interesting and not boring.
In fact, you know, all those things.
We want it to be fascinating.
We want it to be exciting.
We want it to be good quality content.
But most of all, we hope that it's been helpful.
That has been practically and theologically helpful so that you can be equipped by God and the truth of his word to go and win people out of cults for Jesus, to win them into Christ.