Jehovah's Witnesses
How to Witness to Jehovah's Witnesses
How to Witness to Jehovah's Witnesses
Guides on how to witness to Jehovah's Witnesses
abound but tend to be light on the specifics of how to witness to them. This
section presents two guides, both comprehensive, on how to witness to Jehovah's
Witnesses and refute their false claims.
One of them is easy: simply refer Jehovah's Witnesses to read this page. The other, presented below, is a step-by-step guide on how to witness in person to Jehovah's Witnesses, who comprise exceptional witnessing targets for these four reasons.
I. Safe and willing
Sharing the Gospel in frontline mission fields to Muslims, Hindus and Communists risks decapitation, incineration and incarceration, respectively, while most people in the West now claim no time or desire to talk about God. The Jehovah's Witnesses who knock on doors or stand on sidewalks are there to talk about God and on their best behavior, hence mission fields at our doorsteps.
II. No other book
Witnessing to Muslims, Catholics, Mormons, etc. requires dealing with their Quran, Catechism of the Catholic Church, Book of Mormon, or some other blasphemous book, which the Jehovah's Witnesses do not have. Although they are taught out of their The Watchtower magazines and read their translation of the Bible primarily to support what they are taught, Jehovah's Witnesses claim to be Bible-based, which lowers the key hurdle to showing them how their New World Translation has butchered the original text of the Bible to support the lies they have been taught. As shown below, that isn't hard to do.
III. Proven soldiers
Unlike most self-declared "Christians," who have never shared the Gospel in their life, most Jehovah's Witnesses witness, and witness regularly. When you witness to them and they become Christians, they will continue to witness, but this time to share the true Gospel.
IV. Honor Jesus
If someone stands on a busy sidewalk in your town telling passersby that your mother is a female dog, would you just walk by? If you did, how would your mother feel about you? Jehovah's Witnesses misrepresenting the Bible and telling passersby that our Creator is a mere creature is a far bigger insult than your mother - a creature - being called another creature. If you love Jesus, you will defend His honor as you would defend your mother's.
You don't need to be a pastor, a missionary or a Greek scholar to witness to Jehovah's Witnesses. But you should be a born again Christian who firmly believes the Gospel and can defend your beliefs from Scripture. If you are used to citing people instead of Bible verses to defend your beliefs, or qualifying churches based on how nice its people are instead of what they believe, do this Bible study first, and then proceed as below.
Here are the 10-steps on how to witness to Jehovah's Witnesses in person and refute their false claims.
1. Approach without fear
Jehovah's Witnesses don't have some special power or knowledge that can damage your faith. The question on their sign above - "What does the Bible really teach?" - insinuates that Christians have been lied to, yet it is the Jehovah's Witnesses who have been lied to, as you will see below. You have the true Gospel that leads to heaven instead of hell, so approach them with confidence and without fear. If heeded, the Gospel will turn their world upside down, so approach them also with loving compassion.
2. Start gently
The Jehovah's Witnesses on the sidewalk have been told to evade "argumentative" Christians who come to share the Gospel with them, so they will size you up to see if you are someone they should talk to or evade. If they see you coming with your eyes fixed on them from 30 yards or meters away, they will raise their shields. So walk toward them while looking down at the sidewalk until their poster enters your peripheral vision, then casually look toward it, stop walking, read it, and keep reading it until they greet you. It is harder for them to break off a conversation that they initiated, so wait for them to say hello to you first.
And if you respond by blazing away with Bible verses from the beginning, they will refer you to visit their website and end the conversation before it even starts. If an older Jehovah's Witness is nearby, he will come, send the others away "to take a break," refer you to their website, and end the conversation. To have them size you up as someone they can talk to, start gently, even mundanely. Below is an example of the opening exchange.
Jehovah's Witness - Hi.
Christian - Hi, how are you?
Jehovah's Witness - Fine, thank you, and you?
Christian - I'm fine
as well, thank you... Have you been out here for a while?
Jehovah's Witness - Oh, not too long.
Christian - Have you had many people stop and chat?
Jehovah's Witness - Not really.
Christian - Are you both from around here?
Jehovah's Witness - He is. I'm
originally from the UK.
Christian - Oh, from whereabouts in the UK?
Jehovah's Witness - London.
Christian - Very nice. How are you liking it here?
Jehovah's Witness - I like it very much.
Christian - Are the locals being nice to you?
3. Let one go
Jehovah's Witnesses typically witness in pairs. At this point or later, the one less engaged in the conversation may excuse himself and step away, especially if another passerby has stopped to read their poster, because he sees that you are not a threat and the conversation isn't interesting to him.
While both Jehovah's Witnesses should hear what you have to say, being apart from his partner will allow the one who stays with you to focus on your words instead of worrying about what his partner is thinking about the conversations or becoming confrontational to prove that he is a loyal Jehovah's Witness to his partner, so do not object if one excuses himself from the conversation. The Lord will draw and retain those whom He has timed to hear the Gospel.
4. Witness
Here is the content to use to witness to Jehovah's Witnesses and refute their false claims. You will neither have the time nor need to discuss all of them, but reading through them will give you confidence, heighten your desire to witness to them, let you know where the answers are when the Jehovah's Witnesses make false claims, and help you choose the topic to discuss in the situation you are in. For example, if time isn't limited, starting with Colossians 1:16 will facilitate a long discussion, while Jehovah's Witnesses' False Prophecies and Revelation 1:17-18 will jolt them if you have time to cover just one page or just one question, respectively.
"All," not "All Other" - Colossians 1:16
"Preeminent," not 'Born First' - Colossians 1:15
Wisdom, not Jesus - Proverbs 8:24
Jehovah Died - Revelation 1:17-18
God called God, "God" - John 20 & Hebrews 8
Jesus isn't Michael - 1 Thessalonians 4:16
Holy Spirit is God - Acts 5:3-4
Hell isn't Symbolic - Luke 16:23
"Jehovah" is Incorrect - Psalm 68:4
Jehovah's Witnesses' False Prophecies
Truth about the New World "Translation"
Jason BeDuhn & New World Translation
Jesus wasn't "Begotten" - John 3:16
Jesus is the True God - John 17:3
5. Get contact details
The content above is shocking to most Jehovah's Witnesses. It is actually easier, if not better, for them to face, struggle with, digest, and absorb it in privacy, away from the eyes of other Jehovah's Witnesses or even you. So at some point in your conversation, before it turns contentious or is terminated by another Jehovah's Witness (see section 8 below), be sure to get their phone number and/or email address and send them this page, which will guide them to covers all of the content above on their own.
6. Prevent obfuscation
When confronted by irrefutable evidence from the Bible that one of their claims is heretical, the Jehovah's Witnesses who sincerely seek the truth will simply stare in stunned silence at the Bible verse you have shown them. But other Jehovah's Witnesses are less interested in the truth and more interested in defending their claims even after they have been proven false. What they say to obfuscate and how to rebut them are detailed here.
7. Present the Gospel
If you expose to Jehovah's Witnesses all of their heresies but don't share the Gospel, you will leave them hell-bound. Take them through the content of the true Gospel and the Trinity pages, then have them google "John Bible study," click on this Bible study among the first few search results, and encourage them to study it and to share with other Jehovah's Witnesses what they have learned and will learn.
8. Step aside
Jehovah's Witnesses stand next to their poster in shifts and are monitored by another Jehovah's Witness nearby who will interrupt your conversation with them if it gets contentious and ask you to step aside for a private conversation with him. If you decline his invitation, he will send away the other Jehovah's Witnesses "to take a break," take up their position next to their poster, deem you a threat, be closed to anything you have to say, and then try to get you to leave. Since you will lose the conversation you have been having with the other Jehovah's Witnesses anyway, graciously accept his invitation to step aside. When you do, he will relax a notch and become your new audience for witnessing.
9. Protect the unsuspecting
If a passerby stops, picks up a brochure from the Jehovah's Witnesses and leaves, bid the Jehovah's Witnesses farewell, catch up to the passerby, introduce yourself and mention that you were next to him when he picked up the brochure from the Jehovah's Witnesses, ask him if he knew that they were Jehovah's Witnesses and if he knows much about them, and then share with him both the heresies of the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Gospel.
10. Hold your ground
If the passerby remains to listen in on your conversation with the Jehovah's Witnesses and you are asked to step away - in effect leave the passerby with the other Jehovah's Witnesses - decline the invitation, at which point the Jehovah's Witnesses with whom you have been conversing will be sent away "to take a break." Ask the Jehovah's Witness who sent them away to answer the question that they weren't able to answer, or change the topic so that the passerby can hear the true Gospel and the Jehovah's Witnesses' other heresies and false prophecies.
The discussion may grow louder and contentious, which may draw in more passersby, who become additional ears to hear the Gospel and be warned about the heresies of the Jehovah's Witnesses. At some point, the following exchange may ensue:
Jehovah's Witness - Please step away from our space.
Christian - This is a public sidewalk. Its space is as much mine as yours.
Jehovah's Witness - But we were here first.
Christian - I was here before you came and sent away the two with whom I was
having a conversation. I am not going anywhere until they return to resume our conversation.
The Jehovah's Witness will eventually move, along with his poster, leaving you to continue to share the Gospel with the passersby who have gathered.