CUL:Salvation in the Watchtower?

   Do Jehovah's Witnesses Benefit from "One Mediator Between God and
Men?"

   Jesus loves everyone. He laid down the glory He had with the Father
(John 17:5) to become a man, the kinsman redeemer to die for everyone's
sins. (See Isaiah 47:4 where the kinsman redeemer, in Hebrew [go'al],
is called by the divine name YHWH.)

   John 3:16 says: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but
have everlasting life."

   Satan hates all people and wants them dead - spiritually dead - by
keeping them separated from God. If Satan can get a person to do
something which God says will kill him spiritually, then he has
succeeded. He succeeded in the Garden of Eden by persuading Eve to eat
of the forbidden fruit. Pay close heed to any Bible verse which
mentions a consequence or penalty involving death.

   The Watchtower Society says to come to the Watchtower for salvation
(The Watchtower, Nov. 15, 1981, pg. 21). The Society teaches that its
anointed class is saved by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. All other
people, referred to as the "great crowd," who are not anointed, are
saved through their relationship with the anointed.

   The Watchtower also teaches that "Jehovah God will justify, declare
righteous, on the basis of their own merit all perfected humans who
have withstood that final, decisive test of mankind (Life Everlasting
in Freedom of the Sons of God, pg. 400).

   The Watchtower says the great crowd is not under the new covenant
(Aid to Bible Understanding, pg. 389), for they are neither
spirit-begotten, nor heaven-bound. This means the Watchtower teaches
that they are not under the shed blood of Jesus Christ and therefore
are not saved by His blood.

   Instead, the Watchtower teaches, those in the great crowd are saved
by their association with the anointed:

   "...then by their associating with the Little Flock of those yet in
that covenant, they come under benefits that flow from the new
covenant" (The Watchtower, April 1, 1981, pg. 26).

   This is another gospel, as warned against by Paul in Galatians 1:8.

   What the Bible really teaches is that salvation comes with the
forgiveness of sin. Sin is what separates man from God (Isaiah 59:2). A
man whose sins are forgiven stands uncondemned before God.

   Before Jesus' death on the cross, a man gained forgiveness by
bringing a substitutionary sacrifice to the temple. Then the man would
confess his sins upon the sacrifice, thus transferring his sins onto
the sacrifice. then the animal was slain and the blood taken into the
temple by the priest, who would sprinkle it for the remission of sins.

   This fulfilled that man's obligation under the law in anticipation
of his being covered by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. God used animal
sacrifices to establish a type of Christ, someone whose blood was shed
for the remission of man's sins (Hebrews 9:22).

   Each year, on the Day of Atonement, the Jewish high priest entered
the Holy of Holies to make a sacrifice for the sins of the people. The
high priest took with him the incense and coals for the fire
symbolizing the prayers of the people. The sins of the people were
confessed upon a goat, which then was led out into the wilderness and
let go. This symbolized the removal of the nation's sins as far as east
is from the west (Hebrews 10:12).

   But Christ fulfilled the law and his death did away with the need
for periodic animal sacrifices and the annual Day of Atonement. Upon
seeing Jesus, John the Baptist said: "Behold, the Lamb of God, which
takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). Christ is our unblemished
Lamb. He has entered the heavenly Holy of Holies and made a blood
sacrifice for the remission of the world's sins.

   No man can claim to be unblemished, as Christ is. All have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), which disqualifies
any man from being able to save anyone else. No church can save a man's
soul, either, for every church is made up of individuals who have
sinned.

   Therefore, the Watchtower's anointed class could not save men unless
it fulfilled the following criteria:

   1. It had shed blood for the remission of man's sins (Hebrews 9:22).

   2. Its members were without sin, for the sacrifice must be without
blemish (1 Peter 1:18-20).

   3. It members were YHWH, God (Isaiah 43:11).

   The Bible says that anyone who tries to gain salvation by any means
except through Jesus Christ is a thief and a robber (John 10:1). Before
dying on the cross, Jesus' last words were, "It is finished" (John
19:30). The word "finished" can be translated "completed" or "paid in
full." Thus a man's debt, sin, is paid in full. That sinner has been
bought by the shed blood of Jesus Christ and has been given the free
gift of eternal life (Romans 3:24, 5:16, 5:18). When a person insists
upon paying for a gift it ceases to be free, but is earned.

   By eliminating Jesus as mediator for the great crowd, the Watchtower
also has cut Jesus out as prayer intercessor. The high priest took the
incense into the Holy of Holies representing the prayers of the people.
If the high priest entered the Holy of Holies without the incense, he
would die.

   Paul, writing in 1 Timothy 2:5, says, "For there is one God and one
mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus." The Watchtower
agrees that there is one God, but does not agree on one mediator or one
hope (Ephesians 4:4). The Watchtower says that Jesus is the mediator
only for the anointed class (The Watchtower, April 1, 1979, pg. 31).

   Jehovah's Witnesses will not pray to Jesus, even though Stephen
(Acts 7:59) and Paul did (2 Corinthians 12:8-11). Witnesses have been
taught that they will become demon-possessed if they do so.

   Satan has found a useful tool in Watchtower theology, which teaches
that man can attain salvation through means other than the shed blood
of Jesus Christ. Those who join the Watchtower will find spiritual
death rather than salvation.
