Sermon

Week 13: What's Wrong With the New World Translation? | September 14, 2025 Sunday School

Sermon Podcast—LBC Easton

Open publisher episode ↗

Publisher transcript

Transcript

View source ↗
  1. Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.

  2. The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist

  3. Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us

  4. or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look

  5. us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this

  6. message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.

  7. Well, today we're going to be talking about the New World

  8. Translation as we continue our series looking at world

  9. religions and cults. And of course, today or the last

  10. few weeks we've been looking at the Jehovah Witnesses.

  11. And with me today, I have a copy of the New World Translation.

  12. Now I have this Bible, or rather I have this book, I think would

  13. be a better way of calling it. I have this in my office.

  14. I picked it up a few years ago at Savers, and I saw it there

  15. for a couple of dollars. And I thought, you know what,

  16. this would be a good thing to be able to have in my office.

  17. Now, if you look at this and you look at your Bible, you'll see a

  18. lot of similarities. Won't you see a leather cover?

  19. It actually says Holy Scriptures right here on the front.

  20. If you were to open it up, you'd find 66 books inside chapters

  21. and verses. The font even looks exactly like

  22. you would find in your Bible. There's a lot of similarities to

  23. the Bible that you have in your hands to the New World

  24. Translation of which I'm holding in my hand.

  25. However, while those similarities might make you

  26. think that there is no difference between your King

  27. James Bible and the New World Translation, the chasm couldn't

  28. be any wider between what this book represents and the actual

  29. Bible. While this may say Holy

  30. Scriptures, this is not a copy of the Holy Scriptures.

  31. And Jehovah Witnesses used this book, distorting the very basic

  32. doctrines of the Word of God to be able to support those things

  33. that they peddle, whether they're going door to door or

  34. whether they have a rack of literature at any of the major

  35. thoroughfares like we've talked about before.

  36. Well, as it's been our tradition over the last few weeks, I enjoy

  37. being able to take video to show to you to kind of help you

  38. understand the mindset of one of these groups that we have talked

  39. about. And again, the videos we've been

  40. watching are not someone from the outside, but rather someone

  41. who's on the inside. And again, this video that we'll

  42. be watching today is from jw.org, and it is in reference

  43. to the creation and then the propagation of the New World

  44. Translation. Where did it come from?

  45. How was it created? And I think that you'll see some

  46. things that might set off some alarms in your mind.

  47. And then we're going to talk about some of.

  48. And then as we go along this morning, we're also going to

  49. have you open your Bibles and compare verses that you see in

  50. the Bible to the New World Translation to see why it's such

  51. a major difference. So we'll go ahead and watch this

  52. video and then we'll have some discussions.

  53. So let's do it. In carrying out the Commission

  54. to preach the good news of God's Kingdom, Jehovah's Witnesses

  55. have published hundreds of books and distributed millions of.

  56. Copies throughout the world. Of these, one particular book

  57. stands above. All the rest.

  58. This book has a long history and was the triumph.

  59. Of years of research. The book we're talking about is

  60. the New World Translation of the.

  61. Holy Scriptures. It is a record of the.

  62. Sacred writings of God and held by some to be among the best

  63. translations of the. Bible ever produced but.

  64. How did it come to be and what makes it important for those

  65. interested in the? Truth about God by the.

  66. Mid 19th century Bible translations into English were.

  67. Readily available Charles Tays Russell used a.

  68. Variety of Bibles in his. Research, he shared.

  69. His suggestions with the readers of the magazine Zions Watchtower

  70. writing in 1880, Russell recommended to other Bible

  71. students the emphatic diaglot and versions done by Titsendorf

  72. and the American Bible Union. By 1884, Russell along with

  73. others interested in promoting Bible.

  74. Education legally. Registered the Zions Watchtower

  75. Tract Society. Zions Watchtower grew to become

  76. a Bible. Distributor as a.

  77. Service to its readers. The Society.

  78. Drew attention to informative Bible translations, in fact.

  79. They bought large. Quantities so as to get.

  80. Good rates. And then made them available.

  81. At greatly reduced cost. A Bible.

  82. Student could purchase editions such as the King James Bible and

  83. the so-called. Teachers, Bibles.

  84. These were the. King James translation along

  85. with the concordance maps and marginal references.

  86. The emphatic. Dialogue.

  87. It featured a Greek. To English interlinear rendering

  88. Leiser's translation, it placed English text alongside the

  89. Hebrew. Also the Newberry Bible, which

  90. had marginal references that drew attention to the

  91. occurrences of the divine name Jehovah in the original

  92. language, and Tischendorf's New Testament it had footnote

  93. references. That clarified the variations.

  94. In Ancient Greek Bible Manuscripts, Zion's Watchtower

  95. Society arranged for a special printing of the New Testament by

  96. Joseph Rotherham. This was the first.

  97. Time a Bible was published bearing the society name.

  98. In 1896, the corporation legally changed its name to the

  99. Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.

  100. This organization did not print and bind Bibles at that time.

  101. Instead, it arranged with commercial firms to do that

  102. work. However, it can be said that the

  103. organization was an active publisher of Bible translations.

  104. In time, the organization would take the production of Bible

  105. translations into its own hands in December 1926.

  106. The Watchtower. Printed and bound the Emphatic

  107. Dyaglot in its Concorde St. factory.

  108. It would be in 1942 when a complete Bible, the King James

  109. with marginal references, was produced.

  110. As useful as these various publications.

  111. Were the organization was determined to convey.

  112. God's Word in the. Best manner possible at Yankee

  113. Stadium on Wednesday, August 2nd, 1950, then President of the

  114. Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Nathan Noor.

  115. Revealed to the 82. 1075 in attendance that something new

  116. had been obtained. The accumulation of years of

  117. modern Bible scholarship was bearing fruit.

  118. But now, by Jehovah's undeserved kindness, I have the extreme

  119. pleasure of releasing to the international theocracy

  120. increased assembly of Jehovah's Witnesses, the new Wow

  121. translation of the Christian Greek Scripture.

  122. The scholarship for the New World Translation would continue

  123. with the gradual publication. Of the Hebrew Scriptures, the

  124. Bible would be released. In sections over the span of the

  125. next 11 years, culminating in a single volume produced in 1961.

  126. The cost to obtain this complete New World Translation of the

  127. Holy Scriptures, $1.00. At last.

  128. A translation that sincere Bible.

  129. Students could be. Confident in in the past.

  130. Many of the brothers and sisters have had to use a Bible that

  131. Christendom has translated, and because of Christendom's belief

  132. in the Trinity, Hellfire, and other things, the brothers

  133. continually, when they're reading the text, I have to ask

  134. themselves a question. Does it really say this in the

  135. original language? But now that they have a Bible,

  136. whether it's in English or another language that has been

  137. prepared by Jehovah's organization, by those who

  138. understand the Scriptures, that breeds confidence.

  139. And the brothers, then when they read the Bible, they don't have

  140. to be thinking about does it really say this?

  141. But they can start to think about what does this mean for

  142. me? The original New World

  143. Translation Committee left behind an amazing legacy of

  144. Bible scholarship. These are some of the documents

  145. produced by the committee. Over a 12 year period.

  146. This is essentially the entire Bible, produced painstakingly by

  147. manual, typewriter and hand. When you open these binders, you

  148. gain insight on a tremendous work done decades ago, for

  149. example, on the first page of Genesis, the handwritten note of

  150. when the translation work began on this portion of Scripture.

  151. 11:30 AM Tuesday, February 12th, 1952, Genesis 24.

  152. The. First occurrence of God's name,

  153. Jehovah in the Bible. Detailed typewritten footnotes.

  154. Handwritten marginal references of Romans chapter 1.

    Romans 1 chapter mention

  155. Handwritten edits that would ultimately be used in the final

  156. production. Genesis 1. 4 After that, God saw

  157. that the light was. Good Genesis 2/5.

  158. Now there was as yet no shrub of the field found in the earth,

  159. and so. The work would go through 66

  160. books of the Bible. They did this work without

  161. computers, without all the electronic reference items that

  162. we have these days, and yet when we look at how they consistently

  163. tried to translate God's word in a manner that would be clear and

  164. understandable and yet still faithful to the original,

  165. personally, it amazes me how they're able to accomplish it.

  166. But on the other hand, I shouldn't be amazed because I

  167. know it was Jehovah's spirit. That's that was with those

  168. brothers that helped them in that regard.

  169. All this work was. Accomplished by a committee of

  170. Bible. Scholars who wish to.

  171. Remain anonymous. Their desire was that this.

  172. Bible should bring attention to God and not to them.

  173. Without question, the translation's greatest

  174. accomplishment is the conscientious effort to render

  175. God's name Jehovah in all the places it would have been

  176. featured in the original writings.

  177. The New World Translation was not the first to present God's

  178. name, but it perhaps became the first to be consistent with its

  179. renderings in both the Hebrew and Greek portions of the Bible.

  180. The Greek scripture rendering of Jehovah has brought criticism

  181. from some The critics claim that Jesus.

  182. Followers would have. Observed the Jewish superstition

  183. that. Forbids the.

  184. Speaking of God's name, it should be noted that other

  185. translations of the Bible also render the name Jehovah in the

  186. Greek Scriptures. The reason for doing?

  187. So is very logical. And we see that Jehovah's name

  188. clearly is in the Hebrew text. So if quotations are made from

  189. the Hebrew Bible, they should be there in the Greek text as well.

  190. So by Jehovah's people being honest in trying to do what they

  191. see needs to be done, no matter what the world may offer as an

  192. opinion, that builds confidence as well in the translation.

  193. When we see how the newer translation really holds

  194. Jehovah's name up on high, that warms our hearts and and helps

  195. us to get to know Jehovah's as a person and as a friend.

  196. The New World Translation did not go unnoticed by those

  197. interested in Bible scholarship. This work reflects an honest

  198. endeavor to achieve an understanding of the text that

  199. is as accurate as possible. I have never discovered in the

  200. New World Translation any biased intent to read something into

  201. the text that it does not contain.

  202. The most? Scholarly Bible ever produced.

  203. Is the new World translation Reference edition of 1984

  204. containing the most advanced study aids evidence of.

  205. The depth of research available. Is the fact that it's some of

  206. the organization's Bible schools.

  207. Students will spend 5/2 hour sessions learning its marginal

  208. references, footnotes, and appendices.

  209. The results are more than just an academic appreciation of the

  210. translation. The attention to detail touches

  211. hearts. When the class finishes, usually

  212. the reaction of the students is they're totally amazed.

  213. And that is a joyous occasion when we see the practical

  214. benefit that it's not an academic feature.

  215. It's not just something to to look at for the sake of

  216. studying, but something that will help them every day of

  217. their lives so that they can search the scriptures more

  218. thoroughly. This afternoon we released the

  219. new World translation, The Complete Bible, both in the

  220. Slovak and in the Czech languages.

  221. Since 1961, the New World Translation has been released in

  222. over 120 languages, with a printing of over 200 million.

  223. The means. By which it is offered.

  224. Includes printed books, sound recordings, Internet pages and

  225. by means of video, sign languages for the deaf.

  226. While it certainly stands as an achievement of.

  227. Great scholarship. More than that, the New World

  228. Translation has been instrumental in bringing

  229. millions of honest hearted persons to an accurate knowledge

  230. of the truth. All thanks and praise.

  231. Go to the author of the Bible, our God Jehovah.

  232. Right. Again, that was from jw.org.

  233. If you were watching at home. I'm not sure exactly how all

  234. that translated, no pun intended for you, but I had a little bit

  235. of issue here in the building, but I think we got it through.

  236. So thanks for the guys sticking with it and making sure that we

  237. were able to show that. A word that stuck out to me when

  238. I was listening to that, it was said again at the end, but it

  239. was also prominent in the middle, as well as the word

  240. honest. This has been honest and honest

  241. translation that an honest effort was made.

  242. And if I was to use a word to explain the New World

  243. translation, honest would not be one of them.

  244. In fact, it's intellectually dishonest to be able to present

  245. this book as the Holy Scriptures.

  246. For instance, it was mentioned that Jehovah's name was restored

  247. in the New Testament. And the fact of the matter is

  248. the name of Jehovah as it's found, the Greek, is not really

  249. found in the New Testament, but it's been inserted over and over

  250. and over and over again, which is why they made brief mention

  251. of that. There had been some controversy,

  252. but then created a straw man, meaning there was an argument

  253. that really wasn't the argument of why people are talking about

  254. the name of Jehovah, the New Testament, and they beat that

  255. straw man and while not actually acknowledging the fact, well, go

  256. to the Greek, it's not there. It's not the fact that that God

  257. is not Jehovah and the God of the Old Testament is.

  258. We understand that Jehovah God is the same yesterday, today and

  259. forever. Amen.

  260. But the fact of the matter is, is that the Jehovah Witnesses

  261. over and over and over again have taken the Word of God and

  262. literally cut and paste their own version to be able to fit

  263. their own the doctrines. Again, the Jehovah Witnesses,

  264. the Watchtower Society as it started in the late 1800s, but

  265. then grew into the Jehovah Witnesses that we know today.

  266. They started enlighteningly enough from that video by using

  267. the King James Bible along with other Bible translations as

  268. well. And yet to remember that really

  269. up until somewhere around the mid 1900s, that became the

  270. proliferation of translations that we have today.

  271. But for the most part, people just read the King James Bible.

  272. A lot of those, those other ones that were mentioned were really

  273. Bibles that people just didn't use or wouldn't have had in

  274. their homes. They were specialty Bibles or

  275. things that have been made by some sort of academic that

  276. really didn't have any kind of standing within churches

  277. whatsoever. Particularly Tischendorf's

  278. Bible, which I don't want to get in to, but the basis of using

  279. Tischendorf's Bible, which is literally garbage.

  280. Say, pastor, you shouldn't say something like that.

  281. No, the signee Atticus, a codex that it was based upon, was

  282. literally found in the trash of a monastery on Mount Sinai.

  283. And So what? I'd say that it is garbage.

  284. It's not even being hyperbole to be able to say so.

  285. That's literally what it was that even those monks said.

  286. You know, that's really not the Scriptures, but it suited the

  287. needs of those who want to deny the Word of God and to make

  288. changes to the Word of God. And again, that's what many of

  289. the, really all of the modern translations are based upon

  290. today. Tischendorf and the work of

  291. others like Wescott and Hort. But the idea that this is an

  292. honest translation is very, very much not true.

  293. Now turning your Bible to Revelation chapter #22 because I

  294. want to show you what's at stake when the word of God is

  295. mishandled and treated in the way that's been treated by the

  296. Jehovah Witnesses and other groups as well.

  297. As you're turning there. Consider Proverbs chapter 30

    Proverbs 30 chapter mention

  298. verses 5:00 and 6:00. Every word of God is pure.

  299. He is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.

  300. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou

  301. be found a liar. Listen, when God has spoken, man

  302. is silent. That man is not allowed to

  303. change the Word of God in any way.

  304. We'll see that here in Revelation chapter 20.

    Revelation 20 chapter mention

  305. In fact, let's go ahead and read that beginning in verse #17.

  306. And it says, And the Spirit and the Bride say, come, and he that

  307. heareth say, come and let him. That is a thirst come.

  308. And whosoever will let him take the water of life freely.

  309. By the way, aren't you glad that invitation was made to all of

  310. us, that God calls all to repent and come to Jesus Christ as

  311. Savior? Come and drink of the living

  312. water. Verse #18 For I testify unto

  313. every man that here at the words of the prophecy of this book, if

  314. any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him

  315. the plagues that are written in this book.

  316. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book, of

  317. this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of

  318. life, out of the holy city, and from the things that are written

  319. in this book, He would testify these things.

  320. Say it surely I come quickly. Amen.

  321. Even so, come Lord Jesus, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ

  322. be with you all. Amen.

  323. What does it said? Don't add to it.

  324. Don't take away from it. Judgment is real for those who

  325. add or take away from this book. And the Jehovah Witnesses have

  326. haphazardly taken the Word of God and change it to suit their

  327. own needs. By the way, may I remind you,

  328. when it comes to the issue of the Word of God, it is to change

  329. us. We don't change it.

  330. The Word of God is written to change us, not for us to change

  331. it when we come in contact with it.

  332. You say, you know, I've not looked at life that way before.

  333. Well, we don't just ignore that part of the word of God.

  334. We say, well, I guess I need to change my thinking.

  335. Well, we're not Bible correctors in the sense that any of us, if

  336. I imagine taking our Bibles and started, you know, taking

  337. scissors to it like, you know, Thomas Jefferson did.

  338. Or anything like that. But at the same time, we can

  339. also be guilty of editing the word of God in our own minor

  340. way. But really, again, a way that is

  341. ungodly when we take the word of God, say, you know, I don't know

  342. if that applies to me. I don't think, I don't look at

  343. life that way. That was written 2000 years ago.

  344. I don't know that it's really applicable to be careful,

  345. because that's the same spirit that you find here in Revelation

  346. chapter #22 that God so greatly condemns.

  347. Well, we also found from the video the fact that the New

  348. World Translation is the culmination of the world finally

  349. being able to have a Bible. Did you catch that?

  350. That Christendom had actually messed up the Bible?

  351. That really there is no Bible until the copy of the New World

  352. Translation was given at that stadium, the Yankee Stadium in

  353. the 1950s, ironically enough as well.

  354. And again, the Jehovah Witnesses just can't help themselves in

  355. being able to embellish and not tell the truth.

  356. They were told that 80,000 people were there at Yankee

  357. Stadium. I gave the exact number and

  358. Yankee Stadium never held that amount of people.

  359. You saw the photograph of all the people there.

  360. So again, embellishing something that's so simple and so easily

  361. verifiable. But we are promised in the Word

  362. of God that the Word of God abides forever.

  363. We are promised in the Word of God that while heaven and earth

  364. shall pass away, the Word of God shall never pass away.

  365. But the Jehovah Witnesses would contend to you that until they

  366. came along, nobody had the Bible.

  367. And that would mean that God would be untrue.

  368. That would be that God was a liar, that He had not preserved

  369. His word. And it was only by the work of

  370. the brothers and sisters. It was only by the work of the

  371. faithful and discreet slave, as we saw last week.

  372. It was only by their work that the world had the Bible once

  373. again. And certainly that is not the

  374. case. I also make mention to you the

  375. fact that they said that the translators were anonymous and

  376. they use that as a way of kind of saying, well, isn't it good

  377. that they wanted to give God the praise?

  378. And academically speaking, anonymous work that cannot be

  379. independently verified is not something to be proud of.

  380. In fact, it's something that is quite the opposite of what would

  381. be typical Bible translation or typical academic work.

  382. They were anonymous for a reason, by the way.

  383. The reason they were anonymous was because none of them had

  384. real understanding of biblical languages.

  385. Did you know? And I'm going to be careful with

  386. my time because a lot of different things that I want to

  387. get to you here this morning. And my brains kind of scrambled

  388. a little bit more than normal this morning anyway.

  389. Amen with everything that I was dealing with yesterday.

  390. But there were six Bible translators that over the years

  391. their names have leaked 1 by 1. Five of the six had no

  392. understanding of biblical languages.

  393. There was one who had a very rudimentary and very small

  394. ability to understand biblical languages and understood, I

  395. believe Hebrew, but yet not Greek, or rather Greek but not

  396. Hebrew. I had that mixed up.

  397. Let me read this. Eventually the list of 6

  398. translators became known. Frederick Franz was the main

  399. translator. Raymond Franz, who eventually

  400. left the Jehovah Witnesses, wrote the following in his 1983

  401. book, The Crisis of Conscience about his uncle.

  402. So there's a man who left and he's writing about his uncle who

  403. was the main translator of the New World Translation.

  404. And he said this. His uncle, Fred Franz, was the

  405. only one with sufficient knowledge of the Biblical

  406. languages to to attempt translation of this kind, but he

  407. had studied Greek for two years at the University of Cincinnati

  408. and was only self-taught in Hebrew.

  409. Frederick Franz, the primary translator, had only 21 hours of

  410. classic Greek training at the University of Cincinnati and

  411. only two hours of Biblical Greek or Konye Greek.

  412. This information was provided. Listen to this, you say, well,

  413. how did he know this? Well, Frederick Franz had

  414. provided this information in 1911 in his autobiography when

  415. he published his own college transcript.

  416. So it's not even up to debate of how much he knew about it.

  417. He had released this information at a time when he probably

  418. wouldn't have thought his knowledge of Greek and Hebrew

  419. would come into question some 40 years later.

  420. It's important to note that Cornier Greek is the language

  421. taught in theological seminaries for biblical studies.

  422. The normal study course lasts for two years or 4 semesters.

  423. And again, he had two hours, two credit hours of Coyne Greek

  424. training and no training in the Hebrew whatsoever.

  425. This means that the primary translator, the New World

  426. Translation, was inadequately trained to perform the task of

  427. Bible translation. The other five translator had

  428. elementary acquaintance with the Greek at the most, ironically

  429. enough, in the 1950s in the country of Scotland, Oh, where's

  430. Diane? In the country of Scotland there

  431. was a Jehovah Witness who was actually took the nation of

  432. Scotland to court over the case of whether the Jehovah Witnesses

  433. were actually a religion or not because of benefits from the

  434. state and trying to be a conscious conscientious objector

  435. in the military. He brought forth that he was

  436. Jehovah Witness and Scotland, the UK said that's not a real

  437. religion. So there was a trial that took

  438. place. Frederick Franz was actually

  439. called as a witness for the gentleman from Scotland.

  440. He said this is, this is a man that I want to be put on the

  441. stand to be able to show you the Jehovah Witnesses are

  442. legitimate. Well, the solicitor, their

  443. attorneys in the UK, the solicitor during the trial asked

  444. Frederick Franz if he was familiar with Hebrew and Greek.

  445. He said that he was, but only to a certain extent.

  446. He was asked on the stand to be able to translate a verse from

  447. Genesis chapter 2 from the biblical language into English

    Genesis 2 chapter mention

  448. or vice versa. I'm not sure exactly which that

  449. it was, but at any rate, the verse, which was fairly simple,

  450. my understanding, would be used in Bible colleges or other

  451. situations to be able to teach Hebrew.

  452. He was unable even to translate that on the stand.

  453. And this was the man that gave us the book that saved

  454. Christendom, that we didn't have a Bible until the Jehovah

  455. Witnesses come along. And the gentleman who says it

  456. gives me extreme pleasure to be able to introduce to you the New

  457. World Translation. And again, this is not the word

  458. of God. This is not the Bible.

  459. It may say Holy Scriptures on it.

  460. It is not the Holy Scriptures. Now you might say, what are some

  461. specific examples of errors in the New World Translation?

  462. Now we have to move fast with our fingers here.

  463. We'll be going back and forth because I do want to show you

  464. some major doctrines. Understand this.

  465. I'm probably going to show you 567.

  466. We'll see how we do with time. But also know that this is a

  467. very small sampling. It's just really to wet your

  468. taste a little bit for some of the major issues that are there.

  469. And so would you please first turn to John 11?

  470. This perhaps could be one of the gravest of all.

  471. John 11. Like hearing those pages of

  472. those Bibles turn and that's nice.

  473. I like that. John 11 and it says this.

  474. You might be even be able to quote this.

  475. In the beginning was the Word and the word was with God and

  476. the Word was God. Now in your Bible, the word Word

  477. is capitalized, meaning who is it talking about?

  478. Talking about Jesus, isn't it? And if you're not sure about

  479. that, you could continue reading and it's very clear it's Jesus.

  480. The same was in the beginning with God.

  481. All things were made by him and without him was not anything

  482. made that was made in him was life, and the life was the light

  483. of men. And it continues on that.

  484. There's no doubt He is the living Word and that verse 14

  485. the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld as

  486. glory in the glory as of the only begotten, the Father full

  487. of grace and truth. There's no doubt it is Jesus

  488. Christ. Now with this the new World

  489. translation say about this because remember they do not

  490. believe in the deity of Christ. They did not believe that Jesus

  491. is God. Well, it says here in the

  492. beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word

  493. was a God. The word was a God.

  494. Do you see how one letter completely changes the entire

  495. verse? That it's not just the fact that

  496. Jesus Christ was God, that he was just a deity among deities,

  497. that he was a minor deity amongst the major deity of

  498. Jehovah. Remember, they believe that

  499. Jesus was Michael the Archangel until his incarnation.

  500. And so just that one letter completely changes the tenor of

  501. the word of God denying the deity of Christ.

  502. Now go to John chapter 8, verse 58, John 858 and small G, yeah,

    John 8:58

  503. small G as well. That's exactly right.

  504. John 858 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily I say unto you,

  505. before Abraham was, I am. Now why would that be

  506. significant? Well, we understand by looking

  507. at the Old Testament that God was identified by the name I am

  508. that I am. Remember the burning Bush in

  509. Moses? I am that I am.

  510. And that phrase I am was Jesus equating himself to be God.

  511. You say, well, I mean, sure, you can say that, but it I mean, how

  512. could you get that just from that verse?

  513. We'll look at the next verse if you're not sure.

  514. Then they took up stones to cast them, but Jesus hid himself and

  515. went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and

  516. so passed by. What?

  517. What were they doing? They were stoning Him for

  518. blasphemy. They understood exactly what He

  519. meant. What does the New World

  520. translation say? Before Abraham came into

  521. existence? I've been that's a big

  522. difference, isn't it? No longer equating him with God

  523. the father being God the Father, God the son, God the Holy

  524. Spirit. Just saying that Jesus pre

  525. existed Abraham, meaning he could have been Michael the

  526. Archangel because he's just well, he's been around a long

  527. time as a as another created being that he was not the

  528. creator God, that he was a created being created by Jehovah

  529. God. And again, there is no father,

  530. son and Holy Ghost. And so all throughout the New

  531. World Translation, what are you going to find?

  532. A denial of the deity of Christ stripped out of the Bible over

  533. and over and over again. The New World Translation also

  534. undermines Christ's role as creator.

  535. Turn to Colossians chapter #1 Colossians chapter #1 and saying

  536. what I just said, that he was a created being and not the

  537. Creator. It strips him as his role of

  538. Creator. Colossians chapter #1 Galatians,

  539. Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians there in those

  540. epistles, Colossians 115 through 17.

  541. What does it say? Who is the image of the

  542. invisible God? The first born of every

  543. creature. Now when it's talking about

  544. first born, we understand that it's talking about that he is in

  545. rank and authority above all else.

  546. We we see this term every once in a while, the first born and

  547. it's the idea that over all, he is the first in rank and

  548. authority. And you say, well, how can you

  549. say that? Well, he's the image of God we

  550. find in Philippians. He's the express image of God,

  551. meaning this, that when you look at him, you're looking at God.

  552. That's what it's saying. And it is reiterated in verse

  553. 16. For by Him we're all things

  554. created that are in heaven and are in earth visible and

  555. invisible, whether it be Thrones or dominions or principalities

  556. or powers. All things were created by Him

  557. and for him. And He is before all things, and

  558. by Him all things consist. Who is the only creator?

  559. God. God is the only creator.

  560. But look at what the New World Translation says.

  561. It says this. He is the image of the invisible

  562. God, the first born of all creation because by him of all

  563. about because by means of him, all other things were created in

  564. the heavens and on the earth, things visible and the things

  565. invisible, whether they are Thrones or lordships or

  566. governments or authorities. Now look at this.

  567. All other things have been created through him and for him

  568. and he is before all other things and by means of him all

  569. other things were made to exist. The word other is added over and

  570. over and over again, meaning this well, He may have had some

  571. level of involvement with creation on a lower level, but

  572. he is a created being first He was created, then the other

  573. things were created. First Jesus was created, then

  574. other things were created. Again, absolutely stripping away

  575. the the fact that Jesus is God and that he is creator God.

  576. Then of course, distorting the fact that the Trinity, Father,

  577. Son, and Holy Ghost. Again, a denial.

  578. If you don't have Jesus as God, well, you can't have a Trinity

  579. anyway. Can you strip away the Holy

  580. Spirit and his deity as well? Genesis 1/2.

  581. So if you're not sure where that is, flop it over.

  582. All right, you'll find it here in a second.

  583. Genesis 1/2. And the earth was without form,

  584. and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the

  585. Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

  586. Well, right there in verse #2 we find the Spirit of God, don't

  587. we? And we know that as Genesis

    Genesis 1 chapter mention

  588. chapter 1 continues, what happens that God says let us

  589. make man in our image. And there are several references

  590. to God in conference with himself saying us meaning

  591. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, all with one another.

  592. Well, New World Translation says this.

  593. Now. The earth was formless and

  594. desolate, and God's active force was moving about over the

  595. surface of the waters. God's Spirit has been turned

  596. into an active force that is much different.

  597. Again, when we talk of the Holy Spirit, we don't say it, excuse

  598. me, we say he. Why?

  599. Because, well, he is God. And so he is not just some

  600. lifeless spirit, some lifeless force that has move or even

  601. active force, if you will. No, he is the Spirit of God.

  602. But that verse literally has to be stripped away.

  603. By the way, just to make sure we're clear, there's no

  604. foundation in the original languages for these changes.

  605. It's not the fact that, well, it seems like this has been

  606. mistranslated over the years over and over again.

  607. It's literally a willful ignoring of what the Bible

  608. original languages have said. And simply it's saying this, we

  609. don't like it, we don't want to defend it.

  610. Crossing it out and putting something else in its place.

  611. Absolutely dangerous to be able to do so.

  612. Titus chapter 2, verse 13. We're not going to get to all

    Titus 2:13

  613. these today, and that's OK. Titus, chapter 2, verse 13.

    Titus 2:13

  614. I know I got you going to cover to cover here today.

  615. We literally went from Genesis 1-2 to Revelation 2221, so I'd

  616. say we've covered a lot of ground here in just an hour.

  617. Titus 213. You got First and 2nd

  618. Thessalonians, First and Second Timothy and Titus, all those

  619. books with the letter T all kind of clumped together there in the

  620. epistles. Titus 213 says this looking for

  621. that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great

  622. God and our Savior Jesus Christ. The great God and our Savior

  623. Jesus Christ are one in the same.

  624. There is an equality between the two.

  625. But what do we see in the New World Translation while we wait

  626. for the happy hope and manifestation of the great God

  627. and of the Savior of us, Jesus Christ?

  628. There's been a separation, A subtle separation, but a

  629. separation that has been made nonetheless.

  630. Where it says our great of the great God and our Savior Jesus

  631. Christ, and it turns that one into two and saying, well, he's

  632. not really God. He's a savior, but he's not God.

  633. He's been a savior appointed by God.

  634. Again, subtle, but yet real nonetheless.

  635. I'm just going to read some of these to you for the sake of

  636. time and so you can look some of these up later yourself.

  637. Acts chapter 20 verse 28. It says to feed the Church of

    Acts 20:28

  638. God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

  639. Talking about the atonement and the blood of Christ.

  640. Acts 2028 to shepherd the congregation of God, which he

  641. purchased with the blood of his own son.

  642. Again, talking about the fact that this is not the blood of of

  643. Jesus Christ who is God, but rather that it is a created

  644. being who gave his blood. Zechariah 12/10 they shall look

  645. upon me who may have pierced. Now when it talks about me and

  646. Zechariah 12/10, it's in reference to God because God has

  647. been speaking. So when Jesus was pierced, that

  648. shows from Zechariah 12/10 that He was God.

  649. But here it says they will look upon, they will look to the one

  650. who may have pierced again, meaning this that they're

  651. saying, well, this isn't really God, that Jesus was pierced, but

  652. he was not God. They take that away.

  653. No foundation in the Greek to that.

  654. They misrepresent resurrection and eternal life.

  655. One of my favorites is John 2028 when Thomas says my Lord and my

  656. God, he looks at Jesus my Lord and my God.

  657. You say for some reason that has been retained in the in the new

  658. world translation. We don't have time to read all

  659. this, but this is the study notes that are found next to

  660. John 2028 to make you understand why Thomas really didn't mean

  661. saying that. Look at how much you have to

  662. explain to not believe the word of God and over and over it's

  663. found again Revelation the same and I think we have run around a

  664. time. So what is wrong with it.

  665. I'll just leave you with this. What's wrong with it?

  666. Everything to answer the question, what is wrong with it?

  667. Everything. And so we'll look next week at

  668. comparing the beliefs between them as well as us as believers.

  669. And then we'll talk about how we can actively and effectively

  670. share our faith with them as well.

  671. Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of

  672. Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing

  673. to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us

  674. know by contacting us at [email protected] or you

  675. can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.

  676. May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.