I like to share some of my encounters with those of false ‘christian’ beliefs as it can be a very thought-provoking experience and also it is necessary to express our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We must also endeavour to do this with ‘gentleness and respect’ as stated in 1 Peter 3v15 (NIV – last part).
If someone says something that can potentially be irritating, I try to smile as I talk, that helps! (unless it’s a very religious muslim man challenging me – he might misinterpret my smile as the loose morals of the West).
So, this morning, I had my music playing through my phone earplugs and opened my front door to go out… and nearly jumped out of my skin. There was a lady standing right on my doorstep, and I hadn’t heard her ring the doorbell. Another lady was also standing to the side on my steps. They were, of course, from the famous Watchtower organisation – the very active Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The first lady proceeded to offer me a magazine to read entitled ‘You can be close to God’. This was my cue to let her know that I have become close to God through Christ Jesus, which led to an interesting discussion/debate on relationship with God. I stated that I am a ‘born again Christian’ and asked these two pleasant ladies if they would consider themselves to be ‘born again’. One of them said “not in the way you mean” (my slight paraphrase).
This led to the obvious glaring problem that the Watchtower has indoctrinated into it’s subjects. One of the difficulties JW people have is regarding the Holy Spirit being able to dwell ‘in’ believers. They are taught that the Spirit of God is just a ‘force’ that helps us, not part of the Godhead. So the concept of having God ‘in’ us in some way baffles them. However, they sounded quite confident about their faith in Jesus, as the first lady stated that she has accepted Jesus as her Saviour. I stated that Jesus taught how we must be ‘born again’. This then led to another issue of false indoctrination from the Watchtower – that many JW people will not be going up to heaven, but are looking forward to an earthly paradise. The ladies were keen to tell me that they are looking forward to this earthly kingdom. I told them that in Philippians it is written “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ…” (Philippians 3v20). One of the ladies actually commented about not needing to go to heaven, because of waiting for the earthly kingdom. http://www.jw.org/what-is-gods-kingdom/ They are taught that only 144,000 believers will go to heaven. The rest are simply waiting for God’s kingdom to be established on earth. This is a due to a misinterpretation of God’s Word in Revelation. Therefore, when they pass away from this life, they believe they will just be plain old dead until the earthly Paradise comes.http://www.jw.org/myth-the-soul-is-immortal. When you read this link, also look at the right hand column for a list of ‘myths’ – you will see that one false teaching leads to a whole doctrine of false teachings about the afterlife. So, the Lord Jesus telling us to be born again to enter the kingdom of heaven did not have the great meaning that it should for these two dear ladies, because their understanding of heaven is mixed up.
Anyway, one of the ladies proceeded to refer back to the beginning, and how Satan deceived Adam and Eve. However, I wanted to stick to the matter of needing to be ‘born again’. I told these two ladies that if they are not born again, they are unregenerated – still in their sins, and that I hope one day that will change. I told them I take the words of Jesus Christ seriously when He says we must be ‘born again’. Unfortunately, it is an area of blindness for the JW person. It’s ironic that they should have a magazine entitled “you can be close to God” and yet not have a personal relationship with the Almighty. I therefore left the encounter praying that God will show them truth.
If you have any neighbours, friends or relatives who are Jehovah’s Witnesses, pray for them, and be confident in expressing your faith in Christ. Maybe one thing you say will stick in their thoughts, you don’t know how God can use your witness of Him to bring someone to salvation.
Truth Prevails 