Many of you are probably familiar with the Jehovah’s Witnesses. You have heard of the teaching regarding the 144,000. They maintain the 144,000 are the only ones who are “born again,” destined for heaven while the rest of the other Jehovah’s Witnesses are unregenerated. And they are the only ones alone who are allowed to partake of the communion elements. Is their teaching faithful to the Scripture? What are the Jehovah’s Witnesses not telling you? 

When Charles Taze Russell, the founder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Watch Tower and Bible Tract Society, was still alive, he predicted that Armageddon would happen in 1914. In his mind, it was his duty to gather the 144,000 “elect” of Revelation 14:1 starting 1874 which he believed marked the beginning of the “harvest work” directed by Christ’s invisible spiritual presence rather than a literal physical coming.¹ According to their publications, 

“The date of the close of the of that ‘battle’ is definitely marked in Scripture as October, 1914. It is already in progress, it’s beginning dating from October, 1874.” ²

“But does not the Bible show that some people will go to heaven? Yes, the Bible does teach that a limited number go to heaven for a special reason.”³

Russell also wrote,

“As already pointed out, we are by no means confident that this year, 1914, will witness as radical and swift changes Dispensation as we have expected. It is beyond the power of our imagination to picture an accomplishment in one year of all that the Scriptures seem to imply that should be expected before the Reign of Peace is ushered in.” ⁴    

As expected, his subjective “prophecy” failed that he has managed to squirm out of this false prediction by saying that only the 144,000 whom they refer to as the “little flock” will make it to heaven (“makalangit na pag-asa”) while the rest referring to the “great crowd” or “great multitude” in Revelations 7:4 are just bound on planet earth (“makalupang pag-asa”).⁵ There came a point in time when Charles Taze Russell predicted that the death of the last Jehovah’s Witness person born in 1914 will surely usher in Armageddon. However, many of them who were born during that time are already in their early 80s. Since in the past, a throng of Watch Tower members left their movement due to failed prophecies, they secretly abandoned this “1914 prophecy” teaching on July 1, 1995.⁶ 

There is no Scriptural truth to what Charles Taze Russell was saying that only 144,000 can only make it to heaven. The fact of the matter is the “great multitude” or “great crowd” who are with the 144,000 (Messianic Jews) in Revelations 7:1-4 are all in heaven as well. This is what their very own New World Translation⁷ says in Revelations 19:1, 

“After this I heard what seemed to be a loud voice of a great crowd in heaven. They said: “Praise Jah!” 

Since they cannot avoid this truth, what they did was to reinterpret this passage or just plainly ignore it as if it’s not there. The fact of the matter is the number of “born again” is not limited only to 144,000. The Scripture says spiritual birth is open to anyone who believes the truth about what God’s word says concerning the Good News about Jesus Christ.

²² Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, ²³ since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; ²⁴ for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, ²⁵ but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you. – 1 Peter 1:22-25

¹ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, – 1 Peter 1:3

And these numerous genuine born again Christian believers have the right to partake of the communion in remembrance of what the Lord has done for them. As a Christian evangelist to the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Wilbur Lingle writes,

“The Watchtower Society and some other cults teach that only 144,000 individuals will go to heaven. The Bible tells us that heaven is open to all who put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. The Watchtower Society took the number 144,000 from Revelation 7:4 and Revelation 14:1. The Witnesses do not take most of the literally, but they do certainly take these verses literally. However, they ignore the surrounding verses.” ⁸

¹ The Battle of Armageddon, 1897, p. 621, The Watchtower, Mar. 1, 1923, 67. 

² Zion’s Watch Tower, Jan. 15, 1892, 22.

³ The Watchtower, Feb. 15, 1984, 4.

⁴ The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence, January 1, 1914, 3.

⁵ They prefer to call them as “great company” in the past.

⁶ John Dart, “Jehovah’s Witnesses Abandon Key Tenet: Doctrine: Sect Has Quietly Retreated from Prediction That Those Alive in 1914 Would See End of the World,” Nov. 4, 1995, accessed March 30, 2021. URL.https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-11-04-me-64883-story.html#:~:text=The%20Jehovah%27s%20Witnesses%20have%20quietly,of%20the%20world%20is%20imminent. According to Wilbur Lingle in his book Approaching Jehovah’s Witnesses in Love, “Up until July 1995, in order to become a member of this governing body a person must have been baptized Jehovah’s Witness before 1935. (Those who joined before 1935 are known as the ‘anointed class’ which is to make up the 144,000.) However, since there are not many of these ‘anointed’ Jehovah’s Witnesses left, they have now completely reversed themselves, and in the July 1, 1995, Watchtower they came out with ‘new light,’ so called, starting that from now on the new members would be chosen from the ‘other sheep’ but ‘trained’ by the present men on the governing body. These new members will be designated as the ‘chieftain class.’” CLC Publications, USA, 2004, 60.   

⁷ The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, a version published by the Jehovah’s Witnesses has no backing of any reputable and prominent Greek scholar. Even Dr. Julius R. Mantey said, “I have not found any so-called translation that goes so far away from what it actually teaches as this book published by the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They are so far away from what there is from the original Hebrew and the original Greek…. You can’t follow… it’s because and it’s deceptive because they deliberately change words in the passages in the Scripture to make it fit into their doctrine. They distorted the Scripture, and many passages, scores and scores of passages in the New Testament dealing with the deity of Christ especially…” Mantey On NWT. September 05, 2009. Video, 0:00-1:23. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnLHvmeNYq4.

⁸ Wilbur Lingle, “Approaching Jehovah’s Winesses In Love: How To Witness Effectively Without Arguing,” (Fort Washington, PA: CLC Philippines, 242.