Collection of articles on various topics.
From the very beginning, the tiny Bible study group that formed around C.T. Russell believed that Jesus had already returned. When they were sorting out the elementary biblical doctrines from all the rubbish taught by the churches, they were also captivated by the notion of an invisible parousia, which was an idea promoted by George Storrs who was many years Russell’s senior. Russell realized that the [...]
The rapture is a so-called eschatological concept peculiar to American evangelicalism consisting of an end-times event when all believers in Christ, both the dead and the living, will be bodily resurrected. (Wikipedia) The notion of the rapture has been around since the Bible was made available to the English. In the 1800’s, though, it was promoted by one of the forerunners of modern evangelicalism, the [...]
Quite a bit is made of the fact that the Greek Scriptures, the so-called New Testament, does not use God’s personal name, such as it appears in the Hebrew Scriptures thousands of times, most commonly translated as Jehovah. However, even the most ancient Greek texts are copies, perhaps even copies of copies. The oldest fragments date from the early second century and most are much more [...]
Lea este artículo en español The book of Zechariah might be called the Revelation of the Hebrew Scriptures. There are many similarities between the two prophetic books. For one, both were written after Jerusalem was destroyed; yet, they point forward to God renewing "Jerusalem" and to another judgment of God’s house concurrent with the coming of Christ. In the second chapter Zechariah sees a man [...]
This is the third installment of a series on Joel. The world has been in a near-constant state of war for thousands of years —really, since Satan became the god of this world. Europe, especially, has experienced one war after the other, going back to the Hundred Years War between England and France. And as the heart of the realm of Christendom, Europe hosted two world [...]
It may sound odd, but if there is anything that proves Jehovah’s Witnesses are the true faith it is the presence of an evil within. Ironically, an expression of that evil is the belief imposed upon Jehovah’s Witnesses by the leadership of the Watchtower that there is no evil presence. Jehovah’s Witnesses are supposed to be in spiritual paradise --insulated from the Devil's influence. To [...]
The “second coming” of Jesus Christ is a commonly used expression, especially among various Adventists groups, LDS and the many evangelical sects. Catholics, Orthodox, Methodist, etc, not so much. Oddly, though, the phrase “second coming of Christ” does not resonant with Jehovah’s Witnesses at all. And there is a very good reason why that is so. It is because Jehovah’s Witnesses believe the second coming has [...]
This article was originally published as the introduction to the Final Edition of Jehovah Himself Has Become King. The Bible is unique in many ways. It provides a succinct account of the beginning of creation —even the existence of a world that preceded ours in the spirit dimension. From the happy start of Adam and Eve in the garden of pleasure and their tragic expulsion from [...]
When the Israelites crossed the Jordan after their 40 year wilderness trek the first fortified city they encountered in the Promised Land was Jericho. As a vivid demonstration that the invaders had the support of a powerful God the protective walls of the city fell flat when the priests blew their trumpets. What confidence that must have inspired among the Israelites. With God fighting their battles [...]
Since I have been online these past 15 years I have received dozens, probably hundreds, of emails from Jehovah’s Witnesses asking the same basic question: Should I stay or should I leave the organization? There are many and various reasons why Jehovah’s Witnesses might come to the point of questioning their faith. But usually it is brought about by a number of things, not the least [...]
