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| Good News of Great Joy To All the People |
Jehovah's Witnesses often claim that they are the only ones who are preaching the "good news" of God's Kingdom. However, the message that the JWs preach falls short of being the "good news of great joy which will be to all the people" that the angel proclaimed because of they have limited that "Good News" by attaching to it the bad tidings of great woe that will be for most of the people that they will be eternally destroyed in Armageddon.
Nevertheless, according to the one of the JWs, their Armageddon message is "good news" because it "is the last war on earth. It will wipe away EVERY government, EVERY corporation, and EVERY wicked person on earth."
While Armageddon will indeed get rid of Satan's kingdom and all its evil institutions, the JW claims is that millions of unregenerated men, women and children who are still blinded by Satan will be eternally destroyed at Armageddon without ever receiving the benefit of the ransom for all. We believe that this message is not scriptural, and definitely falls short of preaching the "good news of great joy that will be for all the people." The JW "good news" would mean that all of these millions of "wicked" who are eternally destroyed at Armageddon would not receive the assured promise of a new trial under the new, more favorable, judgment day. (Psalm 96:13; Isaiah 29:18,24; John 5:29; 12:47,48; Acts 17:31; 24:15) It would mean that millions are to be judged to be worthy of eternal destruction without the benefit of enlightenment which is assured by the new judgment day when the books will be opened so that all may understand. -- Revelation 20:11,12
No, the real Armageddon is not bad tidings of great woe that millions will be eternally destroyed; Armageddon serves to chastise and rebuke the people of the nations, preparing them for the millennial blessing that are to follow. (Isaiah 17:13; 66:15) Yes, there is "woe" and "distress" to the peoples of nations during the Armageddon struggle, but this does not mean their eternal destruction.
Another JW says that their Armageddon message is "good news" because it will end all wickedness. Actually, if Armageddon ends all wickedness, then this would mean that there would be no need for a new judgment day; it would further mean that there would be no period of time at the end of the 1,000 years in which Satan would be again released. It would mean that Satan would be eternally destroyed at Armageddon, not a 1,000 years later.
However, "the words of the prophecy" (Revelation 22:18) show that Satan is still allowed to do wickedness even after the 1,000 years of the new judgment day are over. -- Revelation 20:3,7,8.
Yes, once Satan's kingdom has been removed, those now blinded by Satan and his institutions (2 Corinthians 4:4; Revelation 12:9) will be able to see the truth; that is indeed good news of great joy that will be for all the people. -- Isaiah 2:2-4; 25:6; Luke 2:10.
One states that the JWs preach about God's Kingdom, and all the wonderful things that God will accomplish, and God will sanctifiy His name.
From God's standpoint, His name is already holy -- sanctified; nevertheless, once the blinding influence of Satan and his institutions have been removed, the nations will then see the sanctification of God's name, for his glory will be revealed to all, and then they will know that he is Yahweh (Jehovah) as they will then blessed by means of the seed of Abraham. (Genesis 22:18; Isaiah 2:2-4; 11:9) However, the JW "good news" would have that the vast majority of earth population will never see that time, for, according to them, Jehovah's name is sanctified the eternal destruction of millions of unregenerated men, women and children, without no benefit at all from the ransom sacrifice of Jesus.
We believe that Jehovah's name will be sanctified before all people in that "day" following Armageddon, for then all -- including those who now blinded who may die in the Armageddon struggle -- will learn righteousness in coming to an understanding of the truth (Isaiah 26:9), although the scriptures do indicate that not all will learn righteousness in that righteous time (2 Peter 3:13) in the sense of obeying the truth. (Isaiah 26:10) Thus, there will be those who will not get their names written in the Book of Life at that time; they cannot return to their former condemnation (condemned in Adam -- Romans 5:12-19), but will go in the second punishment, the second death. Yes, such will indeed bring about the sanctification of God's Holy Name before all the nations.
However, if God were to eternally destroy millions of people in the war of Armageddon before the blessings of the nations began without their being released from Adamic condemnation and receiving a knowledge of the truth, then the guarantee of the ransom for all has fallen short, and thus the message for such would not be the good news of great joy that is to be for all the people, but rather bad tidings of great woe for most of the people now blinded by Satan that they will be eternally destroyed in Armageddon without ever receiving any benefit from the ransom for all which is to be testified to all in due time. -- 2 Timothy 2:3-6.
Related:
Armageddon Studies
The Ransom and the JWs
1 comment:
Thank you Ron, you have made a very good case against their inaccurate reasoning which defames our loving and merciful Heavenly Father..
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