“Kingdom Power”?

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Although the Jehovah’s Witnesses stress the spreading of the good news of the kingdom of God, their understanding of this is very different from that held by The Restored Church of God.

Just as William Miller had predicted that Jesus Christ would return around 1844, the Jehovah’s Witnesses movement settled upon 1914 as the time of Christ’s Return. Yet it was well after that year when the Watchtower magazine gave special emphasis to this date as the time the kingdom of God was established on earth.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that 1914 marked the beginning of increased world woes. They emphasize that this was prophesied by Christ, stressing that these prophesied signs would appear at the end of the current age. These signs would prove that Jesus was “invisibly present with kingly power.” The signs of world wars, famines, epidemics and earthquakes would prevail as explained in Matthew 24:1-51. Since the First World War started in 1914, there has been an increasing array of lethal weaponry beyond what mankind had ever imagined. The JW movement considers these signs and trends as indicators of the time of the end.

Notice how they explain that the kingdom of God could have been set up in 1914, after Christ’s undetected Return: “It is Satan the Devil who is responsible. When Christ received Kingdom power, his first act was to wage war on Satan in the invisible heavens. As a result, Satan, ‘who is misleading the entire inhabited earth’ was hurled with his angels down to the vicinity of the earth. Knowing that his destruction draws near, he stirs up great trouble…” (Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, 2004).

They continue their explanation as to why the Millennium, with its time of peace and abundance, is not yet manifested on the earth: “Will there be any end to these woes? Yes!—when heaven’s government itself, the Kingdom of Almighty God, goes into action to ‘bring to ruin those ruining the earth’…Never will God permit political powers, false Christians, or anyone else to ruin his handiwork, the earth, with their nuclear devices…Jehovah, through his Christ, will use great forces that he controls in the universe in bringing overwhelming destruction to all who follow Satan on earth. This will be on a global scale, similar in magnitude to the flood of Noah’s day.

“In the Bible this destruction of wicked nations is called God’s battle of Armageddon…Only meek persons…may survive Armageddon into God’s peaceful new system…The grand work of restoring Paradise to the earth will then commence!” (ibid.).

Although they have had more than nine decades to refine their explanation, it still lacks many vital details. The Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Christ received “kingdom power” upon returning to the earth in 1914. From that year, up until the Battle of Armageddon, they believe they are to preach to the world. However, the book of Revelation shows that once Christ Returns, He immediately puts down human rebellion and binds Satan within days (Rev. 19:11-16; 20:1-3).

According to their teaching, only at the Battle of Armageddon will the kingdom of God fully take effect to subdue all evil and put down opposition. Yet, their order of events seriously contradicts the sequence given in Scripture.

Time of Protection—or Delay of Kingdom?

A correct understanding of Isaiah 26:1-21 is crucial here, since the Jehovah’s Witnesses use such scriptures as this to explain the delay from 1914 to the future Battle of Armageddon. Yet, Isa 26:20-21 read, “Come, My people, enter you into your chambers, and shut your doors about you: hide yourself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be over past. For, behold the LORD comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.”

The same event is described in Revelation 3:10: “Because you have kept the word of My patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.” This “hour of temptation” is the Great Tribulation, which Christ warns of in Matthew 24:21-22: “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”

Concerning this protection reserved for God’s servants, we read, “Watch you therefore, and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:36).

In short, numerous scriptures describing God’s future protection of His people during the coming Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord are misapplied.

Christ Returns to Reign on Earth

To show how these end-time events will not become fulfilled in some secret way, unheeded or unnoticed by humanity, note the following passage describing the Day of the Lord: “And I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casts her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” (Rev. 6:12-17).

Likewise, Christ’s Return will not be an obscure event occurring invisibly—the whole world will witness His arrival: “For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matt. 24:27).

He will decisively defeat the armies gathered to oppose Him. After their defeat (Rev. 19:15-21), His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:4). Immediately after this, the seventh and final of the last plagues that complete God’s wrath will take place (Rev. 16:17-21). This greatest earthquake in the history of mankind will be followed by hailstones weighing about 120 pounds, which will complete the quashing of man’s rebellion against God. It is at this time that the voice of the angel will announce, “It is done.”

The next order of business that Christ will address is prophesied in Revelation 20:1-3. Christ will have Satan put away for the duration of the Millennium. This will be done promptly. Nowhere in Scripture do we find that Christ struggles with Satan for more than ninety years (as the 1914 theory supposes). When Christ returns, human rebellion will be put down and Satan will be restrained for a thousand years. Then the kingdom of God will be truly established on earth.

It is clearly not here yet! (Read our booklet REVELATION – Explained at Last! for more details.)

Dramatic Differences

As stated earlier, the teachings of The Restored Church of God are significantly different from those of the Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Beyond this most brief overview, many more differences could be cited. Many great doctrines of the Bible are misapplied or ignored by these two organizations.

But by examining just the nature of God and the sequence of end-time events alone, it is obvious that the differences between RCG and these two groups far outweigh any superficial similarities.

If you would like to know more about us, read our booklet Here is The Restored Church of God.

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