Jehovah, Jesus, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses

by Pastor Larry DeBruyn for Cults

Is Jesus Jehovah, or Yahweh (YHWH), of the Old Testament?

For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.” 2 John 7, NASB

Jehovah’s Witnesses exhibit commendable moral characteristics, especially when set against the backdrop of our culture’s moral meltdown. Members are generally “clean cut” and family oriented. In raising their children, they enforce outward standards of holiness and dress, standards which shame much of what is acceptable in today’s pan-evangelical churches. Unlike many professing Christians, they also possess a missionary zeal as evidenced by their neighborhood visitations. Few after all, have not been visited by them at their front door.

But despite credible characteristics, Jehovah’s Witnesses do not possess a right understanding of the doctrine of Christ. They refuse to accept the obvious New Testament assertions that Jesus is God (Colossians 2:8-9; Philippians 2:6; John 1:1; etc.). Like Unitarians, Witnesses believe that Jehovah alone is God.

The name Jehovah is the English paraphrase of the common Old Testament name for God, Yahweh (with vowels “a” and “e” added, the name Yahweh derives from the Hebrew name YHWH). About himself Yahweh states, “Hear, O Israel! The LORD (YHWH) is our God (Elohim), the LORD (YHWH) is one!” (Deuteronomy 6:4). In his indictment of the idolatry of Israel, Yahweh declared through Isaiah, “Thus saith the LORD (YHWH) the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD (YHWH) of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God” (Isaiah 44:6). In light of Old Testament texts like these, Jehovah’s Witnesses rightly equate that Jehovah is singularly God as opposed to the idolatry, pantheism and polytheism of the pagans. But in their zeal to protect Jehovah’s unity, they deny Jesus’ deity.

So when looking at the Bible, the question arises, does the Jesus of the New Testament equate to be the personal and self-disclosed Yahweh/Jehovah of the Old? There is strong evidence which indicates that both Jesus and His disciples believed He was the incarnation of YHWH.


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Scientology: Religion of the Stars

by Pastor Larry DeBruyn for Cults

The “smoggy” spirituality of L. Ron Hubbard.

The lamp of your body is your eye; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when it is bad, your body also is full of darkness. Then watch out that the light in you may not be darkness.” Jesus, Luke 11:34-35, NASB

Many Hollywood celebs have embraced the religion Scientology, the teachings of the late L. Ron Hubbard (1911-1986). In 1950 L. Ron, a prolific science fiction author, wrote a book Dianetics that set forth his teachings. To promote these teachings, he realized the value of celebrity endorsement and to this day famous persons publicly align themselves with Scientology teachings, among them being such notables as Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Fox News legal analyst Greta Van Susteren. Through information and techniques offered at expensive seminars, Scientology offers people a method for coping with the stresses of life. The method works something like this.


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god Makers, God Fakers

by Pastor Larry DeBruyn for Cults

Mormonism and the divine-spiritual DNA of human beings.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” John 1:1-3, KJV

The religious group headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, claims to be Christian, but their teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ makes their claim suspect. Mormons, known officially as The Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints, would like for us to view them as within Christendom’s pale, but the fact of the matter is, their professed Christology invalidates any such claim, and here’s why.

A key question differentiating true from false Christian profession is the one Jesus asked the Pharisees who like the Mormons, regulated their religious life according to a formalistic-legalistic system. To them Jesus personally asked this question: “What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?” (Matthew 22:42; Compare Matthew 16:13 ff.). The New Testament provides one answer to that inquiry, while Mormonism gives an altogether different one. To see the difference, we need to understand the Mormon view of the human soul-spirit, both that of Jesus and the rest of humanity.


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