When Jesus told us to preach, he said that the
“good news of the Kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations“ before the foretold “end” would come. (Matt 24:14)
Who else are known the world over for their witnessing door to door?
Acts 5:42…
”And every day in the temple and from house to house they continued without letup teaching and declaring the good news about the Christ, Jesus.”
They were instructed by Jesus…..
”Into whatever city or village you enter, search out who in it is deserving, and stay there until you leave. 12 When you enter the house, greet the household. 13 If the house is deserving, let the peace you wish it come upon it; but if it is not deserving, let the peace from you return upon you. 14 Wherever anyone does not receive you or listen to your words, on going out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet.”
This was a search and rescue mission, so tell me, who wants those sent by God to miss them because it is annoying or inconvenient to have them call? Jesus’ disciples were sent to those who worshipped the same God, but who brought a different message……their religious leaders said that they were apostates and warned the people not to listen to them. This small band of “heretics” were a blight on the Jewish religious system, which by that time was hopelessly corrupted by centuries of false teachings. (Matt 15:7-9)
God had not sent a prophet to his people for about 300 years because he knew that they were incorrigible.
After Jesus’ arrest, the Jews were in an uproar when Pilate brought him out to the people to pronounce him innocent of any crime deserving of death. Whipped into a frenzy, the crowd demanded that he be put to death, but Pilate appealed to them and said “what did he do?”
So gripped with hatred engendered by their corrupt religious leaders, the crowd shouted that they would accept responsibility for his death, virtually cursing themselves and their children with his blood. (Matt 27:25) They even threatened to report Pilate to Caesar for treason.…which is why he gave in.
Its an example of how people in the first century were “swayed” by the truth that Jesus and his disciples taught. They went out to the people…..they did not expect to sit in a building and wait for people to come to them. Jesus sent them out to preach and they saw that it was their responsibility to do so. (Luke 10:1; Matthew 28:19-20)
There were definitely stirrings around the closing years of the 19th century, but scripturally it was to be expected. Daniel had foretold that at “the time of the end” (the time we are living in right now) God would “cleanse, whiten and refine” his worshippers. (Daniel 12:4,9-10)
Something that needs cleansing, is contaminated with filth. If it needs whitening, then there are unsightly stains. Refining requires that impurities be brought to the surface and removed. So God’s worship was in need of a thorough purging of all the false teachings that had crept in over many centuries.
Unlike Ellen White or Joseph Smith, Charles Russell was not alone, nor did he ever claim to be a prophet. He was a keen Bible student and gifted public speaker, and he was joined by those who also sought the truth of God’s word. They determined to undertake a thorough study of the scriptures to see if what was taught in the churches was actually Bible based…..to their astonishment, they discovered that most of what was taught in Christendom was not supported in the scriptures at all, but could be traced back to pagan religions and human philosophy. They recorded their findings in a newsletter called “Zion’s Watchtower” which became the Watchtower magazine, that has been in print and distributed by Jehovah’s Witnesses for over 100 years.
“Death. People who die pass out of existence. (Psalm 146:4; Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10) They do not suffer in a fiery hell of torment.”
If you check the scriptures, you will find that this is absolutely correct. The Jews had no belief in an immortal soul from their scripture….in fact you cannot find the words “immortal soul” in any passage of scripture. Adam was
not told that he would go to ‘heaven or hell’, but simply that he would die and return to the dust. (Gen 3:19)
“God will bring billions back from death by means of a resurrection. (Acts 24:15) However, those who refuse to learn God’s ways after being raised to life will be destroyed forever with no hope of a resurrection.—Revelation 20:14, 15.”
Again that is absolutely scriptural. The Bible teaches
resurrection, not immediate life after the death of the body in another form, in another place. That notion was adopted from platonic Greek thinking.
There are only two kinds of death mentioned in the Bible…..one that is temporary and one that is permanent. The death we inherited from Adam is temporary because through Christ sacrifice, we are assured a resurrection when God’s kingdom rules this earth. Those who die, simply “rest in peace”, in an unconscious state. There is nothing to fear in this death.
The permanent kind of death is reserved for the incorrigibly wicked, like the Pharisees in Jesus’ day. (Matt 23:33) It’s called “the second death” because no one comes back from “Gehenna”. (Matt 10:28)
Everlasting life is contrasted by everlasting death…..why does God need to do more?
There is no teaching in the Bible that says we all go to one place or the other. Since there is no immortal soul, we did not need to invent places for them to go. Sheol/hades is simply mankind’s grave. (Eccl 9:5,10)
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