Charles Taze Russell, founder of the religious movement known today as Jehovah's Witnesses, who also was believed and said to be that 'Faithful and Wise Servant' of Matthew 24, which office represents to the Witnesses, the discerner and provider of God's truth at the appropriate time and for the 'last days'. Yes, Russell's tendency to set dates for the fulfilment of future events in God's prophetic timetable, such as 'the battle of the great day of God Almighty and the complete overthrow of earth's present rulership in 1914', is well documented, but I want to focus on the bigger picture, as it were.
Russell, in his writings, namely the Watch Tower, sought to provide for all a definitive answer to this self-imposed question. What Is Truth? This is what he wrote:
Truth from Satan is as true as truth from God? I should accept truth anywhere I find it?
If I may use a popular modern day phrase to express my reaction to this statement, "Don't even go there!"
Not only is it disturbing to think that Russell's readers might accept his assertion as spiritual food, but also that it has no basis in Scripture. Why do I say that?
Well, the Bible is the only absolutely reliable source that Christians use to measure the validity and spiritual helpfulness of the words and ideas of men and women is it not? The Holy Scriptures do give definitive insight into the nature of Satan, in that he has never told the truth.......ever; even when he uses words of truth. (John 8:44 & 2 Corinthians 11:14) Let me give an example to illustrate.
When Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by Satan, who came and set Him upon the pinnacle of the temple and began speaking the 'truth' saying,
Here Satan reminds Jesus of the promise of God's protection and security upon Him, as he quotes the 'Word of God' from Psalm 91 verses 11-12. Now, by Pastor Russell's definition, It would certainly seem that Jesus should have accepted the 'truth' where he found it.......presented by Satan himself. But did He? Absolutely not! Jesus knew that Satan was lying because He knew the nature of Satan. But the devil presented the 'truth' right? Not truly. If we look closely at Psalm 91:11-12 we find that the 'father of lies' failed to include part of verse 11, which changed the context and thus the meaning and consequently would alter the plan of God for Jesus and the direct path He was to follow, all the way to the hill called Golgotha or Calvary.
Now read carefully the truth presented by God, not Satan.
Verse 11 begins,
Let's read the whole verse again so that we can see the context.
And so then verse 12, still in context, guarantees the protection of God upon Jesus' life to keep Him in all His ways, that is to complete and not be in any way detoured from that which he was sent to Earth to do.......to be the Saviour of the world! Verse 12 concludes,
Do you see the utter deceit and craftiness in this fallen angel and author of the lie?
Had Jesus accepted a 'truth' from Satan, sadly there would have been no salvation for us to receive by the means of God's undeserved kindness, because He would have bypassed His impalement, as the Lamb of God, the unblemished sacrifice for our sins. (John 1:29) Likewise, if we accept 'truth' presented by Satan, as Charles Russell was open to do, the gospel that we receive will be false and unable to save us, and consequently the gospel we present to others will also be false and unable to save them. The application of truthful words for one's own selfish gain does not constitute presenting the 'truth' and Satan's motives are always selfish. Scripture describes him as the father of lies, the destroyer of lives, and tragically, humanity has given him access as the 'false' god of this world. (Jn 8:44; Jn 10:10; 2 Cor 4:4)
Who are you going to listen to?
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Gary@DoorwayChristianOutreach.info
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Is it your intent to share your faith with me? I'm a devout Latter-day Saint.
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Let's add, the keys to Death and Hades (Revelation 1:18) the key of David (Rev. 3:7) the key of knowledge (Luke 11:52) and the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matt.16:19) only given to Simon/Peter.
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Intuitive
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Checked out the great video. 👍 Thumbs up!
The Mormon Religion was officially founded by Joseph Smith Jr. on April 6. 1830 after the Book of Mormon (BOM) was published in that same year.
Joseph Smith Jr. was born in Vermont on December 23, 1805. He claimed that when he was 14, he received a vision from God the Father and Jesus Christ in a grove of trees near his home where he received instructions not to join any of the Christian churches because they were all wrong.
Three years later, Smith claimed that an angel named Moroni (a character found in the BOM) appeared to him in his bedroom whom he said revealed to him that he was selected to translate "Reformed Egyptian" (a language that does not exist) from gold plates into old English. These plates were supposedly hidden near Palmyra, New York and are said to be written around the 4th century. The BOM was named after Moroni’s father, Mormon. Mormons view the BOM as sacred. No one is able to study the original plates because Joseph Smith claimed the angel took them back on May 2, 1838 (History of the Church 1:60).
Smith had a scribe named Cowdery. Smith did not actually translate directly from any plates. Rather, in his writings, he said he placed a "seer stone" in a hat and covered any light from entering it as he placed his face in the hat. According to Martin Harris, “By aid of the seer stone, sentences would appear and were read by the Prophet . . . , and when finished he would say, ‘Written,’ and if correctly written, that sentence would disappear and another appear in its place, but if not written correctly it remained until corrected,” Smith said, “By the power of God I translated the Book of Mormon from hieroglyphics".
Despite such methods of translation, there have been at least 3,913 changes made in the BOM from the time it was first published. Joseph Smith stated, “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” Smith also claimed that John the Baptist appeared to him on May 15, 1829 while he was translating the BOM, and instructed him to restore the church by preaching the only true gospel.
Mormons regard the BOM as sacred writings, and view it in higher standing than that of the Holy Bible. Mormon Missionaries will ask you to pray that it is true. (See our page Pray to Know)