This Biblical Argument Can Take Down Many False Religions!

 Today, I hope to provide you with a very interesting Biblical argument to take down Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Seventh-Day-Adventists.

This argument has two criteria:

A. The false religion must believe the Bible is a spiritual authority and a source of truth. Just because a religion holds to the Bible as a source of truth doesn't mean they are a right religion. Some such as Mormons hold to the Bible along with their prophets and Joseph Smith's books. Jehovah's Witnesses also hold to the Watchtower as a source of truth and equal with the Bible in authority. SDA (Seventh-Day Adventists,) hold to Ellen G. White as a prophetess and trust her authority to bring new doctrine. The right belief system must hold to the Word of God as the only authority, which those listed above clearly don't.

B. The false religion must have at least 1 failed prophecy.

Now that we have established the criteria, lets look at Deuteronomy 18:22.

Deuteronomy 18:22 “When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.”

So the Bible gives us a clear test to determine whether someone is a false prophet or not. The criteria is if that prophet has failed prophecy, then they by that verse,  they are condemned a false prophet by the Bible.

So now lets apply that to the false religions.

1. Jehovah's Witnesses

Now here is something very important to understand before we dive into their prophecy. Charles Taze Russell (their founder) early in his ministry provided a test to determine whether or not someone should follow a prophet. 

“Jehovah, the God of the true prophets, will put all false prophets to shame by either not fulfilling the false prediction of such self-assuming prophets or by having his own prophecies fulfilled in the way opposite to that predicted by the false prophets.”-Paradise restored to mankind by Theocracy, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1972, page 353

A later Watchtower book also lays forth several ways of distinguishing true prophets from false ones.  

“The three essentials for establishing the credentials of a true prophet, as given through Moses, were: the true prophet would speak in Jehovah’s name, the things foretold would come to pass, and his prophesying must promote true worship.” Insight on the Scriptures, 1988, Volume 2, page 696. 

So according to the JW’s (Jehovah's Witnesses), the test to determine a false prophet is by looking at whether or not their prophecies are fulfilled. And to the JW’s discredit, many of their prophecies have not come to pass.

In 1925, the second President Joseph Rutherford predicted the "resurrection of the patriarchs.” The patriarchs they mentioned were old testament men like Abraham and Isaac. So Rutherford bought a mansion called Beth-Sarim in San Diego for them. However, the patriarchs didn’t come. A failed prophesy.

In 1975, a massive campaign suggested 6,000 years of human history would end that year. Many followers sold homes and quit jobs to preach full-time. When it failed, nearly 400,000 members left the movement. Another failed prophesy

 Any honest Jehovah's Witness will admit these dates as they are very well known. These and many more prophesies are false.

So in conclusion to Jehovah's Witnesses, we can point out that their leaders test to determine false prophets has come back to bite them. Secondly, this religion cannot escape from the Biblical reality of Deuteronomy 18:22.

Deuteronomy 18:22 “When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.”

Interestingly enough, we can do this with many other false religions that meet the criteria we discussed at the beginning. From this one verse, a Christian can point out that Mormons, and Seventh-Day-Adventists have failed prophesy in their past as well. With a small amount of research, you can easily find what are the exact failed prophecies for these religions.

Now before we end today's post, here are the most common objections to this argument.

 Objection A. The Prophets were only mistaken.

I have found that the Seventh-Day Adventists coined this argument.

“Far from being an indictment, it is a point in favor of Adventism that we are able to move on from error into greater truth.” Adventist.org in the article, Answers to Objections,60. 

The SDA (Seventh-Day Adventists) might respond that Ellen G. White was only mistaken. Yet Deuteronomy still plainly states that when a prophet speaks a prophecy in the name of the Lord, and it fails, then they are a false prophet. From this verse, we can recognize that being a prophet is a position that God takes very seriously for someone to have been "mistaken" over and over again.

The SDA might also say that Ellen G. White (their founder) was never a prophet. Yet a prophet is defined as someone who proclaims to have a special message directly from God for people. That definition, is what Ellen White told others she was.

 "My work includes much more than this name signifies. I regard myself as a messenger, entrusted by the Lord with messages for His people"

Objection B. Biblical prophets have failed prophecy.

If a false religion says this, ask them which Biblical prophet. Most likely, they will point to the prophet Nathan in 2 Samuel 7. Yet when you read the verse in context, Nathan was speaking not in the name of the Lord which is very important to take note. He was saying a personal suggestion, not a prophesy. He was also not speaking a prophesy either.

3 And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart; for the Lord is with thee.

Lastly, this argument can be dismissed, because God corrected Nathan's personal suggestion to the king and had Nathan tell the king something different. Even if it was a prophesy, it didn't have a chance to fail.

So in conclusion, I hope to of provided you with a very interesting argument for false religions that comes from the Word of God!