Bridge of Reason

Jehovah's Witnesses teach that “the times of the gentiles” is a time period of 2,520 years, beginning in 607BC and ending in AD1914. According to their doctrine, Jesus was enthroned as King in AD1914 when the “gentile times” ended. 1. Only one verse in scripture mentions “the times of the gentiles”: 'They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.'  Luke 21:24 NIV. The Jehovah's Witness organisation has linked this one verse with other prophetic passages to calculate the supposed length of these “gentile times”, notably a time period which began hundreds of years before the incarnation and ended over 1900 years after it. 2. Simple examination of the text of Luke 21 reveals what Jesus was referring to when he used the phrase “the times of the gentiles”. Let's look at the passage together and distil this into four points which you may...

You have left a cult, or you are helping someone come out; so what comes next? The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth: 'But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it.' 1 Cor.3:1,2 There is a process of growth every Christian needs if they are to come to full maturity in Christ. The same is true for Christians coming out of cults. What are stages of this growth? How might we think about, and identify where people are in this process of sanctification? How are we to help them move on and grow further, from the milk to the meat? Recorded at the Reachout Trust Conference, September, 2024.