How to Evangelize the Jehovah’s Witness

How to Evangelize the Jehovah’s Witness

There is a great need to evangelize all creatures that also includes to evangelize the cults such as the members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.  My intention is not to denigrate the people who have faithfully devoted themselves to the Watchtower but rather to have the tools to evangelize them.  I am not going to focus on false prophecies that they have thought and published through the years, because it will not make any difference to them as it is only a theological interpretation.

Charles Taze Russell was the founder of what is now known as the Jehovah’s Witnesses cult. The name Jehovah’s Witnesses, incidentally, was taken at Columbus, Ohio, in 1931, to differentiate between the Watchtower organization run by Judge Rutherford, Russell’s successor.

The Watchtower published more literature in six months than all Christian groups combine in one year, they have more full and part time missionaries on the field than any other Christian group.  They can combust city after city and door by door with an enormous power to turn in literature. 

The early church preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and He is the foundation of The Church of God. Our main concern is the doctrine of God, therefore I am going to focus on the doctrine that the Watchtower most successfully attack and most constantly attack on the doctrine of the Trinity.  If a person misses the understanding of who is Jesus Christ, their souls will be lost for all eternity.

The watchtower teaches about the doctrine of the Trinity, “The doctrine in brief, is that there are three Gods in one, God the father, god the Son and god the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit is not a person therefore not one of the gods of the trinity, the trinity doctrine was not conceive by Jesus or the early Christians, the obvious conclusion is the Satan is originated to the trinity doctrine.” The message is clear the Watchtower does not believe in the trinity.

I will be very clear; you cannot prove the doctrine of the trinity to a Jehovah’s Witness by rallying a bunch of verses that are generally found on doctrinal books. You cannot prove them by citing the great commission verse or citing the verse that there are three in heaven giving testimony. You will have no effect on them using this type of reasoning, but there is a reasoning that they will recognize even above their Watchtower literature, that is the Bible the Word of God.

What is the doctrine of the Trinity to us the Church, what do we mean? What the Watchtower it means we believe in three gods.  But to us the Church, the Trinity is three distinct persons in One God, they all share the same attributes. Just a reminder of the basic rule of interpretation is that you always interpret the Old Testament in the Light of the New Testament never in reverse, the New Testament completes the Old Testament.

Therefore there is a question that I have found to be almost irresistible to the Jehovah’s Witness (JW).  “If we can demonstrate in the New Testament that there are really three persons, and that their all are called God or Jehovah and that there is only one God, we must come to the conclusion that the three persons are the One God”.  They are so sure that you cannot prove that Jehovah is the Father, Jehovah is the Son and that Jehovah is the Holy Spirit.  So most of the times we have that opportunity to evangelized them on this doctrinal point.

Let me just advise you that the Jehovah’s Witness Bible is different than our King James Bible.  There are words added, modified and excluded, don’t panic or get stress about it. They will argue that our King James Bible is incorrectly translated, therefore their bible had to be translated correctly.  You can ask them “Are you an expert on Greek and Hebrew?” They will respond NO.  You can tell them neither you are an expert, therefore the point translation argument is pointless.  At that point we can then say “Let us use a common bible that everybody uses”.  We then can use the King James Bible.

The verses we are going to use in this article are verses that exist in the Jehovah’s Witness Bible, they have no way out.  They can read it in their own bible and they have no answers for these verses. In 1950 the JW published the New Testament Interlinear Translation, at the right column they have their translation and at the left column they have the greek with English below each word.

I would like to start by asking, What is the name of God according to the scriptures? You will get responses that the true name is Yahweh, or Jehovah. Remember that in the original Hebrew Text, the name of God was always in four consonants YHWH, they have no vowels, and therefore no one knows how to pronounce them. The name of God is so sacred for any common men pronounce, the writers only wrote the Tetragrammatons’ of the four letters with no vowels. When the seventy scholars translated the Old Testament from Hebrew to Greek, known as the Septuagint 132-125 B.C., they added the vowels to get closer to a pronunciation, and the word Jehovah came to us. The Septuagint was the translation of our Jesus Christ use in the synagogues.

The bible in Exodus 3:14-15 Authorized (King James) Version gives us the closes name to God. "14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.  15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.”  The name ehyeh asher ehyeh is a repetition verb of To Be. I Am that I Am (אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה,) ehyeh ašer ehyeh. The Jews always referred to God as the One who was, the One who is, and the One who always will be.  The bible does not dispute the existence of God, it is taken as a fact.

Having this in mind, let us read John 8:51-59 “51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. 52 Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.  53 Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?  54 Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God:  55 yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.  56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.  57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?  58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. 59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.”

Let us note that in this scripture, Jesus use the Devine title and apply it to himself.   Look at the instant reaction in verse 59 cause so much furor among the Jews. They understood the language, they understood the culture, they understood what he meant.

Let us see John 10:30-33 “30 I and my Father are one. 31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.  32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?  33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.” Notice in verse 33 they knew exactly what Jesus meant, and that is why they took stones to stone Jesus. With these two verses we have proven that Jesus called himself God.

We are now going to prove even more thoroughly that God is the Father, God is the Son and God is the Holy Ghost.  Remember, before you use all the verses you know about the trinity the JW have answers for. I want to use verses that the JW does not have answer and they exist in their Bible.

2 Peter 1:17 “For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” In this verse we prove that God is called the Father, and Jesus is the Son, the JW will agree with you.

JW love the book of Revelations, so let us see the book of Revelation to show us in Revelations 1:8 “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” The Alpha and the Omega is the Almighty.  The JW will tell you that the Almighty is Jehovah God. Mark this verse as the JW will declare Jehovah is the Alpha and the Omega. The Alpha and the Omega means the First and the Last.

Revelation 22:7, 12, 13 “7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. 12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.  13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” The JW will say Jehovah God is coming. 

Let us keep reading to see who is the Alpha and the Omega and who is coming more clearly, Revelation 22:16, 20 “16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. 20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly.  Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Now Jesus himself is declaring that He is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last and He is the one who is coming.

Revelations 1:12-18 “12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;  13 and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.  14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;  15 and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.  16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.  17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:  18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” At this point remember the JW declare that Jehovah was the Alpha and the Omega, but the scripture is telling us Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega. Now the questions is, are there two Alpha and Omegas? Are there two First and Last? Or the same person is God the Father and the Son. 

If the JW is honest, it will admit that God is the Father and God is the Son therefore is the same Alpha and Omega. If the JW is dishonest it will argue there are two First and Last. At this point we can turn to Isaiah 44:6 “Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.”

We have proven that the Son is Jehovah.

Now let us see if there is a third person called God or Jehovah.

The JW state that the Holy Spirit is an active force. What is an active force? The dictionary defines “in a state of action; moving, working, or doing something” such as energy, electricity, etc. Let us read the scripture Acts 5:3-4 “3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?  4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.” You cannot lie to electricity, you cannot lie to energy, only to a common personality. Peter the one who recognized the Father as God, is now recognizing the Holy Spirit as God.

Acts 13:2 “As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.” You do not quote impersonal beings, you only quote personality.  The Holy Ghost called Barnabas and Saul, Energy or Electricity cannot called anyone.

With this scripture we have proven there are three persons called God.  There are not three Gods, the Church is not polytheism (believe in multiple gods), the Church is monotheism (believe in One God). When the Jehovah’s Witness are trapped and have no answer, they will change the subject and go to something else.  They will try to state that Jesus is a god, but not the Almighty God, meaning that there are two Gods.  At this point we can remind them that Isiah 43:10 “Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.” And Isiah 45:22 “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.”

John 20:28 “And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.” The Apostles recognized Jesus as God.

At this point let us use verses that speaks about the trinity, as we have proven that there are three persons called God and they are the Same Deity.

The Trinity at the Incarnation Luke 1:35 “And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”

The Trinity at the baptism Mathew 3:16-17 “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:  17 and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” and 28:19 “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:”

The Trinity at the Resurrection

Acts 3:26 “And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.”  and 1 Thessalonians 1:10 “and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.” states the Father resurrected Jesus.

John 2:19-21 “Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.  20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?  21 But he spake of the temple of his body.” states Jesus resurrected himself.

Romans 8:11 “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” The Holy Spirit Resurrected Jesus.

2 Corinthians 13:14 “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.” Paul dismiss his letter using the Trinity.

Luke 4:8 “And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” Jesus declared that we cannot worship anyone or anything but God. But in Hebrews 1:6 “And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.” God told all the angels to worship the first Begotten Son.    And if we continue reading in Hebrew 1:8 “But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.” God calls the Son God. 

I hope this will help those who are brave enough to speak to the JW, remember that the only way to penetrate to their hearts is with Prayer and the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.

 

By Pastor and Minister Noé A. Solís from Oxnard, CA