We are called to demonstrate fruit of the Spirit that he may work regeneration in them, too.
They always come at the wrong time. The moment you climb up the ladder to clean out the gutters, two strangers will appear and try to sell you a Watchtower magazine.
These indefatigable disciples of Charles Taze Russell have been involved in their own saturation evangelism for a hundred years. A recent survey of evangelical churches in 10 eastern states disclosed that no less than 86 percent of an average congregation have had a Jehovah’s Witness come to their door. As Christians we cannot accept the false gospel the Witnesses bring, but we are awed at the Watchtower Society’s ability to mobilize members in lay evangelism.
Beginning with about 44,000 members in 1928, the society peaked at almost a million and a quarter members in 1968. At that time it was predicting 1975 as the date of Armageddon, when non-Jehovah’s Witnesses would be annihilated and the millenium inaugurated. The failure of this prediction shook the society, and it has since suffered a 27 percent drop in membership. It now faces a major shakeup in its leadership. In spite of this, however, you or a member of your family may well encounter a pair of Jehovah’s Witnesses this year. What will you do when they come knocking?
The Problem
Most Christians run into serious difficulty when they consider witnessing to the “Witnesses.” We should remember that a primary aim in evangelism is to share the gospel with sinners. Our intention is to get past a person’s preconceptions so that he hears the gospel as God has given it in
Scripture. This involves working hard not to provoke his prejudices unnecessarily, and taking care to present Christ in a winsome manner.
Christians often forget this when they meet a Jehovah’s Witness. They seem to have concluded that the Watchtower publicist is somewhat subhuman, beyond salvation, and a dangerous expert in seduction. It is also assumed that he knows the Bible better than most Christians. His zeal and sacrifice make orthodox believers feel inferior. Consequently, they avoid him or roughly rebuke him as though the cultist were not a man made in the image of God.
We found in a survey that some Christians responded in the wrong way when the Witnesses came. Over 27 percent told them to go away. This kind of response solidifies the Witnesses’ martyr complex, and it hardly portrays the compassion of Christ. Other typical responses included shutting the door on them, or sending them to the pastor.
To be sure, some Witnesses are hardened men and women whose hearts are directed by guile. From such we are to turn away. These will not “cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord” (Acts 13:10). But many cultists are simply acting out of zealous ignorance. They are not willfully perverting the gospel. They have been brainwashed into accepting a legalistic system of salvation, but in some measure they are still willing to listen to Scripture.
So we must not treat them rudely, but show by our fruit of the Spirit that the triune God is alive.
Myths About Jehovah’S Witnesses
First, it is a myth that Jehovah’s Witnesses never give up their religion. Former Witnesses have become sound believers in Christ as the God-man, having rejected the heresy that would reduce the Son of God to a created being. William J. Schnell (Thirty Years a Watchtower Slave [Baker]) estimates that over 12,000 were freed from the Watchtower system over a period of nine years. (Several hundred ex-Witnesses meet every October in Rhinegold, Pennsylvania, for a convention headed by William Cetnar.)
Because of the current trouble and defections at the Bethel headquarters (Brooklyn, N.Y.), many Witnesses are discouraged. This has resulted in a marked decrease in the number of baptisms and the amount of literature published. The Bethel chaos offers a golden opportunity to share the gospel with disillusioned Witnesses.
Second, it is a myth that Witnesses know the Bible well. They do not study the Bible at first hand, but always use a Watchtower book on the Bible. Some of them have a good grasp of Watchtower theology, but once you get beyond a few pat answers you discover that the vast majority of Witnesses are ignorant of the Bible and how to interpret it.
A third myth is that Watchtower people are too brainwashed to listen to the gospel. There is some truth in this, but it is not the whole story. In the past, this movement has had great appeal to the disillusioned and embittered in society. Add to this the highly negative character of a system that teaches its adherents to glory in persecution. (According to Dr. Jerry Bergman, Witnesses have more mental illness than any other religious group in America.) This has resulted in an aggressive I-can-talk-you-down approach to those who are not Witnesses.
Today, however, this cult’s leaders are concerned to upgrade the image of their cause, to make their Bible study appear less shoddy, and their house-to-house campaigns less truculent. This new “friendliness” makes it much easier to talk to a Witness about Christ, for now some of them will listen.
Fourth, it is a myth that all Witnesses are antagonistic and argumentative. The average Witness will try to be friendly, and he will try to listen if you are willing to reciprocate. He needs to experience the compassion of Christ. Christian love does far more than harsh rebuking.
Witnessing To Witnesses
Many Christians have asked for guidelines in talking to door-to-door Witnesses. Here are some I have found helpful.
We might begin by inviting our visitors into our home. It is even better to ask them for an appointment to come back to study the Bible. When they are involved in their visitation program they do not have the time to enter an extended conversation, so we should be sensitive to their schedules. Above all, we must tell them that we are inviting them because we have certain questions to ask about Jehovah’s Witnesses. This is critical or we will seldom find them disposed to make it a two-way conversation. We will simply find ourselves treated to a canned presentation.
When they arrive at the appointed time, we should show them Christian courtesy, taking their coats and inviting them to sit down. Their spokesman is often straining to launch into his prepared speech, so if we want to offer them tea or coffee, we must do it quickly. Our friendly, positive spirit can disabuse Witnesses of their martyr complex. They may well believe that all Christians hate them, and that only Jehovah’s Witnesses love people. We can make a point of affirming that we have invited them into our home because we love God and seek to understand his Word.
I have found it wise to tell my guests that I will be happy to discuss Scripture with them, but that first I feel it necessary to lead in prayer. The spokesman will object to this, for he does not believe we pray to the same God. But that should not deter us. We can gently explain that we understand his problem, but we have a zeal for the knowledge of God, and need to distinguish man’s words from God’s.
Next, we can just go ahead and pray, beginning by addressing Jehovah God. Witnesses will not interrupt as long as we use the name Jehovah; they probably will not close their eyes. If we speak from our hearts, we can ask the Father to give us an understanding of free grace, and of Christ’s blood, and of the New Birth as a work of the Spirit. Our awareness of God’s majesty, our sin, and Christ’s glory may help the Jehovah’s Witness stand in the presence of Jehovah God for the first time in his life.
When we have prayed, we will probably find that the Witnesses will try immediately to control the situation in order to go through their memorized presentation. This is a serious problem and we must not let it occur. If the spokesman tries to take over, we can remind him that we have invited him to our home because we have some questions to ask concerning certain biblical passages.
Are Only 144,000 Reborn?
One question we need to ask concerns how many people experience the New Birth. Watchtower teachers divide their followers into two classes: the exclusive group, the 144,000 or “little flock,” who alone have experienced the New Birth and go to heaven; and the remaining great mass of Witnesses, “the great crowd,” who will enjoy endless life here on earth.
Thus it is rare to meet a Witness who will maintain that he is born again. John 10 and Revelation 7 are used to support this view.
But in John 3:3, Jesus says that “unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Consider what this means for our visitors: such unregenerate men cannot see (that is, understand) the kingdom! Our question for these Witnesses, then, is: How can you be sure you have the truth if you cannot see God’s kingdom?”
As we read John 3:3 and explain our question, the Witness acting as spokesman will probably interrupt at least once, but we must graciously and firmly move the conversation right back to the verse.
The visitor may answer by maintaining that it is not necessary for him to be born again in order to know the truth. I find John 18:36–37 helps here, because Jesus links the kingdom of John 3:3 with the truth. Especially note verse 37, which stresses that Jesus is the King of the truth. This poses a huge problem for the Witness: How can he be sure he is right if he does not know this King of truth through a heavenly rebirth?
As he resists this challenge, we might turn to a passage like John 17:3, where Jesus speaks of “life eternal” as enjoyed now by those who personally know God and Christ. The Witness will want to restrict this to the 144,000. But we can insist that we personally know this God and this Jesus. When the Witnesses limit rebirth to a mere 144,000, we can legitimately question our unreborn visitors’ ability to discuss God authoritatively.
The Deity Of Christ
So far we have not raised the issue of Christ’s deity. Our guest, however, will probably have broached the subject, eager to show the “true” interpretation of John 1:1 and the supposed inferiority of the Son to the Father in John 14:28. While we must answer this, it helps to direct him to less familiar passages on the deity of Christ.
For example, we can pose this question: Do you believe it is possible for Jehovah God to take to himself a human form? He is almost certain to say “No” if he understands the question, thus rejecting the possibility of the Incarnation. But we can then ask him to interpret Genesis 18, in which Jehovah appeared to Abraham (v. 1). Jehovah, then, has taken to himself a human form. His feet are capable of being washed, and he eats with Abraham (vv. 4–8). He converses with Abraham (v. 13), rebukes Sarah (v. 15), walks with Abraham (vv. 16–17), and hears Abraham’s intercessory plea for Sodom and Gomorrah (vv. 22–33).
We could then open the Bible to Isaiah 9:6, where the “mighty God” is said to be born as a child. When the Witness replies that Christ is a mighty God but that Jehovah is the mighty God, we can gently but directly rebuke him for having two Gods.
Jehovah’s Witnesses also object to bodily resurrection as a vindication of Jehovah and a triumph over the dust of the earth. They will cite 1 Peter 3:18 as proof, but we can ask them to consider it in light of a passage like 1 Corinthians 15, or Christ’s invitation to Thomas in John 20:27.
The Personal Emphasis
If we are realistic, we will keep the discussion personal. If we use Genesis 18, we can relate it to John 17:3. Point out that God says he “has known” Abraham, an act of personal, loving election that results in his being called out of idolatry to serve God. Thus we know God (John 17:3) because he first knew us (Gen. 18:19). Like Abraham, we who are known by God are called friends of God. This personal relationship emerges in such passages as Isaiah 41:8–10 and John 15:13–16.
We can use this biblical emphasis on personal religion to confront the Watchtower zealot with his own spiritual state. We can refer to such passages as Jeremiah 17:9 and Romans 3:10–23. They all describe guilty human nature. He can come to feel the condemnation of the law of God as we ourselves have felt it in passages like Galatians 3:1–13, and as Christ bore it at Calvary (Matt. 27:46). We can explain how our guilt drove us to repentance and saving faith in the Lord Jesus.
The Question Of Authority
The majority of the ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses we contacted stated that they did not doubt Watchtower theology until they first began to doubt the society’s claim of absolute religious authority. This claim may at present be the society’s most vulnerable point, so we should pay special attention to it.
Since the Witnesses claim allegiance to the Bible as the Word of God, we can turn to Deuteronomy 18:20–22 to show that we can test any prophet’s claim to authority by examining his predictions. If any of them fail to occur, we must reject the prophet’s claim to religious authority. Even one false prophecy can identify a false prophet.
In applying this to the Witnesses, we can first call our visitors’ attention to the following passage from the Watchtower, official magazine of Jehovah’s Witnesses, which accepts the Deuteronomy test and calls Witnesses prophets:
“So, does Jehovah have a prophet to help them [the Witnesses], to warn them of dangers and to declare things to come? These questions can be answered in the affirmative. Who is this prophet? This prophet was not one man, but was a body of men and women. It was the small group of footstep followers of Jesus Christ, known at the time as International Bible Students. Today they are known as Jehovah’s Christian Witnesses. Of course, it is easy to say that this group acts as a prophet of God. It is another thing to prove it. The only way this can be done is to review the record. What does it show?” (Watchtower, April 1, 1972).
The Watchtower invites us to look at the record. Here are recorded predictions from official Witness documents:
From a book written in 1889 by the founder of the movement we read: “The battle of the great day of God almighty (Rev. 16:14) which will end in AD. 1914 with the complete overthrow of earth’s present rulership, is already commenced” (C. T. Russell, The Time Is at Hand).
But in 1918, four years after the supposed culmination, we read, “Therefore we may confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the faithful prophets of old, particularly those named by the Apostle in Hebrews 11, to the condition of human perfection” (Millions Now Living Will Never Die).
The year 1925 is mentioned often. In 1920 these words appeared: “As we have heretofore stated, the great jubilee cycle is due to begin in 1925. At that time the earthly phase of the kingdom shall be recognized.… Therefore we may confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham … (Millions Now Living Will Never Die).
In 1931: “There was a measure of disappointment on the part of Jehovah’s faithful ones on earth concerning the years 1914, 1918, and 1925, which disappointment lasted for a time … and they also learned to quit fixing dates” (Vindication).
However, in 1966 the Witnesses published an official book that said: “According to this trustworthy Bible chronology, six thousand years from man’s creation will end in 1975, and the seventh period of a thousand years of human history will begin in the fall of 1975 C.E. [Christian Era]” (Life Everlasting—in Freedom of the Sons of God).
Two years before this date for Armageddon, the magazine Kingdom Ministry, the official in-house equivalent of Watchtower magazine, said: “Yes, the end of this system is so very near! Is that not reason to increase our activity? Reports are heard of brothers selling their homes and property and planning to finish out the rest of their days in this old system in the pioneer service [full-time missionary service]. Certainly this is a fine way to spend the short time remaining before the wicked world’s end” (May 1974).
Do not let your visiting Witnesses excuse the false prophecies as “mistakes.” We all make mistakes—but we do not all claim to be prophets! The Watchtower society claims that it prophesied the end of the world under divine authority. Comparing “mistakes” with false prophecies is like comparing oranges with toads: there is no logical relationship.
We can see why the predictions about 1975 were so catastrophic as to launch a 27 percent drop in membership among Jehovah’s Witnesses. The leaders undermined their own religious authority.
Arm Yourself With Facts
We must come prepared to any discussion with Jehovah’s Witnesses, knowing the background. We can find their main doctrines and a refutation of them in works such as Anthony Hoekema’s The Four Major Cults (Eerdmans, 1963), or Edmond Gruss’s Apostles of Denial (Presby, and Reformed, 1970). These show that the Watchtower religion is a form of Unitarian legalism sharing much in common with the ancient Pharisees.
This is the heart of the matter. As the Watchtower sees it, the kingdom of God is not the free gift of the gracious Father to unworthy helpless sinners, but rather a status to be earned by zealous obedience. Under such a system, personal knowledge of God can hardly exist: God becomes remote and impersonal.
Not only does legalism lead to everlasting hell in the life to come, but the life of the legalist is constantly under pressure here and now. Nothing is ever finished. The burden of uncompleted obligation grows heavier and heavier. The pound-for-pound attitude that goes with legalism makes for abrasive human relationships within the homes of the Watchtower family. Children especially find the large demands of this religious system overpowering, often destroying normal relationships with their parents.
As we talk with Jehovah’s Witnesses, matters will naturally seesaw back and forth. We must keep everything on a biblical basis. We must return again and again to the scriptural doctrines outlined earlier in this article.
But we must also remember that much depends on whether we show the fruit of the Spirit. We want to deal with our visitors in kindness. This is the age of the Spirit, and we are spiritually renewed. We can show this with boldness and compassion. When we serve refreshments, when we pray, and when we are wounded over the zealot’s indifference to the glory of Christ—at every point, we can show ourselves to be living proof that the triune God lives.
Robert A. Morey is professor of apologetics at Perry Bible Institute and pastor of the New Life Bible Church in Duncannon, Pennsylvania. He is the author of How to Answer a Jehovah’s Witness (Bethany, 1980), from which this article is adapted.
