I sent a list of statements about current WTS teachings to a friend who is being carefully recruited by a seasoned Witness.
Hi EM....
Just a quick summary of what all “good” Jehovah's Witnesses believe...even though some of these things Witnesses are not always willing to be transparent about. This is your crash course. I have quotations for every item listed if you want or need them.
Witnesses believes that:
a. the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses is the one true religion
b. all other religions are part of Satan's organization, referred to as the Whore of Revelation 18...Babylon the Great, defined by the Watchtower Society as “the world empire of false religion”.
c. God is soon going to destroy all churches of Christendom, Catholic and Protestant during the coming “tribulation” or at Armageddon as well as all their followers.
d. with rare exceptions, only faithful JWs will survive Armageddon. The billions who perish at Armageddon will be forever destroyed without any hope of a resurrection.
e. Witnesses are to accept every official teaching that comes down from Watchtower headquarters and if they, as adults, vocalize any disagreement and persist in it will be disfellowshipped and shunned by friends and family. Unity at all costs
f. proper disfellowshipping offenses include ongoing unrepentant celebration of birthdays including Christ's birthday, unrepentant acceptance of blood transfusions or willing ongoing association with a known disfellowshipped or disassociated person or persons.
g. the 8 member Governing Body serving at Warwick New York headquarters represent the channel of truth for mankind. Together they are the Faithful and Wise Servant spoken of in Matthew 24:45-47.
h. that in October 1914 Jesus second coming occurred invisibly; he became king and from 1914 on has been ruling in the heavens giving his attention to the earth initially by examining the churches. The last generation which according to Jesus surely would not pass away...began in 1914. (note...since babies born in 1914 are 107 years old today, this generation teaching is just nonsense)
i. in the spring of 1918 the apostle Peter and all anointed ones who died (less than 144,000) were raised to heavenly life. The rest of mankind good and bad remain in the grave until the second resurrection which will take place soon.
j. In the fall of 1918, Jesus finished examining the churches and rejected all of them.
k. early in 1919, Jesus found a group of faithful Bible Student leaders serving at Brooklyn New York and appointed them to exclusively channel his truth to the nations via the publishing company they were using (Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania) This group of men was the original Faithful Slave whose office, mandate and ability to interpret the scriptures accurately was passed down to all subsequent Watchtower leaders. These leaders are not perfect and they can err in doctrine or organizational instruction, but they must be believed and obeyed nonetheless.
l. that prior to the 20th century (from AD 33 to 1900) there were less than 145,000 faithful Christians that ever existed. So this means that the millions who perished as martyrs before the twentieth century were not real Christians in the Watchtower eyes.
m. a new group of Christians began being called early in the 20th century; today there are only 8.5 million of these Christians in the world. These are not born-again; they do not have a heavenly hope; they are not entitled to partake of the bread and the wine symbolizing Jesus' death; they do not have eternal life, the indwelling Holy Spirit or the imputation of Christ's righteousness. They will only have a chance to earn eternal life if they survive Armageddon and serve during the millennium and prove themselves faithful.
One can read each of these statements to a Witness and if they are honest, they will affirm their truthfulness.