I am always surprised to find that many people (even some Christians) consider Jehovah’s Witnesses to be just another denomination of Christianity. Many people are under the impression that our differences are minor and that we should not label them a ‘cult’ but rather just another expression of Christianity. I’ve recently been in discussion with a Jehovah’s Witness who vigorously defended the Watchtower that is until I showed him how the Watchtower selectively ignores certain passages of Scripture. Once it is shown how the Watchtower misleads its own members, even onlookers can agree that this is a group that one should avoid joining.There are literally hundreds of examples of deception that could be shown to demonstrate how the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society misleads its members even in their own publications. I have found, more often than not, that most Jehovah’s Witnesses are unwilling to examine their own literature for error. You can offer references and even show them original publications, if you have them, but generally speaking most Jehovah’s Witnesses will not look at them. This is because they are taught that older publications are ‘old light’ so they don’t need to read them. Pointing out error in older publications will only help after they have begun to question the integrity of the Watchtower. There is one Watchtower publication however that they will have no problem looking at with you and that is the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures. Another one is the Watchtower publication called Reasoning From the Scriptures.

Reasoning From the Scriptures is a text book designed for Jehovah’s Witnesses to answer common objections to Watchtower teachings on subjects like the Trinity, abstaining from celebrating Christmas and birthdays, abstaining from blood transfusions and many others. Although these two books have worked well together to bring many members into the Watchtower there are Scriptures in the New World Translation (NWT) that have not been covered in the Reasoning book. Looking to these passages will help us greatly in our dialogue with our Jehovah’s Witness friend. This is because their Reasoning book does not give them answers to memorize to explain away the truth of these passages. Our Jehovah’s Witness friend will now be forced to examine the Scripture for themselves to see what the Bible really teaches.

We must keep in mind that these dear folks are more loyal to the Watchtower organization than they are to Jehovah God who they claim to serve. They believe so strongly that the organization represents God here on earth that questioning the organization is tantamount to blasphemy. Once we can show our friend that the organization has misrepresented the God they claim to honour, then we can start looking at older publications to find out what our friend might think of these things.

We must also keep in mind that the Jehovah’s Witness at our door has come to you to teach you. They have not come to listen to you. As far as they are concerned you don’t know anything about the Bible unless of course you are one of them. So with this in mind, if you point them to Scripture and say, “See, the Scripture clearly says …” you must realize that they will only tune you out because they have “the truth” and you don’t. Instead, we need to allow them to ‘teach’ us by asking questions like, “I’ve heard it said that the Watchtower teaches that the Holy Spirit is an impersonal ‘active force’ like electricity. Is this true?” The honest Jehovah’s Witness (and most of them are) will answer “Yes.” Now you must ‘ask’ a question. Ask for ‘help.’

When you ask the Jehovah’s Witness for help you are allowing them to teach you so they will not be defensive or looking for an argument. Say something like, “I was wondering if you could help me understand this passage of Scripture?” then point them to Isaiah 63:10 which reads in the NWT, “But they themselves rebelled and made his holy spirit feel hurt. …” Have them read it out loud and ask, “How can an impersonal force like electricity feel hurt?” If you say this with a “Ha! I’ve got you now!” attitude, you will have lost them. They will interpret your attitude as persecution and get defensive and no longer listen to anything you have to say. If however you ask this as though you really don’t understand the contradiction and need their help to figure this out, this will force the other person to think about it without getting defensive with you. You will now have successfully planted a seed of doubt that with prayer will grow and, Lord willing, bring that soul to a saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Dr. Ron Rhodes has written an award winning book called Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Jehovah’s Witnesses which not only helps us look at Scriptures that the Jehovah’s Witnesses are not prepared for but also helps us to question the ‘reasoning’ that is given them in their own ‘Reasoning from the Scriptures’ book for Scriptures that they are prepared for. If you haven’t already read this book, I highly recommend it. You can find it at your local Christian bookstore or order it directly from Ron Rhodes online ministry book store.

In the meantime, I offer you six examples of questions with Scriptures that you can ask your Jehovah’s Witness friend to ‘help’ you with. For each one I have given you three translations of the same verse so that you can see that they, although slightly different in wording, are all in agreement in meaning. These are The New World Translation of The Holy Scriptures (NWT), The Authorized King James Version (KJV) and The New International Version (NIV).

1. The Watchtower teaches that Jesus was created by God. The Bible teaches in Isaiah 9:6,
NWT - “For there has been a child born to us, there has been a son given to us; and the princely rule will come to be upon his shoulder. And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”
KJV - “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, the everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
NIV - “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

and in Matthew 1:23,
NWT - “Look! The virgin will become pregnant and will give birth to a son, and they will call his name Immanuel, which means, when translated, “With Us Is God.” ”
KJV - “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”
NIV - ” “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” - which means, “God with us.” ”

and in Hebrews 7:3,
NWT - “In being fatherless, motherless, and without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor an end of life, but having been made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually.”
KJV - “Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.”
NIV - “Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever.”

and lastly, Revelation 1:8,
NWT - ” “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says Jehovah God, “the One who is and who was and who is coming, the Almighty.” ”
KJV - “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.”
NIV - ” “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” ”

Ask your Jehovah’s Witness friend to help you understand these verses in the ‘light’ of the Watchtower teaching.

2. The Watchtower teaches that Jesus returned invisibly in 1914. The Bible teaches in Matthew 25:13,
NWT - “Keep on the watch, therefore, because YOU know neither the day nor the hour.”
KJV - “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”
NIV - “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”

and in Matthew 24:36,
NWT - “Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father.”
KJV - “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”
NIV - “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

and again in Matthew 24:42,
NWT - “Keep on the watch, therefore, because YOU do not know on what day YOUR Lord is coming.”
KJV - “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.”
NIV - “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”

and lastly in Revelation 1:7,
NWT - “Look! He is coming in the clouds, and every eye will see him, and those who pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in grief because of him. Yes, Amen.”
KJV - “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.”
NIV - “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.”

Ask your Jehovah’s Witness friend how it is that the Watchtower seems to know when Christ returned and no one else does? Also, how can He have returned invisibly when the Bible says that ‘every eye will see him?’ let your friend know that you really need their help to sort this out.

3. The Watchtower teaches that Jesus was resurrected as a “spirit being.” The Bible teaches in Luke 24:39,
NWT - “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; feel me and see, because a spirit does not have flesh and bones just as YOU behold that I have.”
KJV - “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.”
NIV - “Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

Now you need to ask, “What did Jesus mean? Was He lying?”

4. The Watchtower teaches that salvation comes only by being a faithful Jehovah’s Witness. The Bible teaches in Ephesians 2:8-9,
NWT - “By this undeserved kindness, indeed, YOU have been saved through faith; and this not owing to YOU, it is God’s gift. No, it is not owing to works, in order that no man should have ground for boasting.”
KJV - “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
NIV - “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast.”

You may want to ask your friend, “Why does the Watchtower require Jehovah’s Witnesses to go to so many meetings (3-5 per week) and do so many hours of field service (70 hours per month minimum) in order to be in good standing as members when the Bible says salvation is God’s gift? Gifts are free. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be gifts, they would be payment for services rendered. So I’m wondering why the Watchtower requires so much of you. Can you help me understand this?”

5. The Watchtower teaches the the Holy Spirit is an impersonal “active force.” The Bible teaches in Matthew 10:20,
NWT - “For the ones speaking are not just YOU, but it is the spirit of YOUR father that speaks by YOU.”
KJV - “For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.”
NIV - “For it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”

and in Luke 12:12,
NWT - “For the holy spirit will teach YOU in that very hour the things YOU ought to say.”
KJV - “For the Holy Spirit shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.”
NIV - “For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”

and again in John 14:26,
NWT - “But the helper, the holy spirit, which the Father will send in my name, that one will teach YOU all things and bring back to YOUR minds all the things I told YOU.”
KJV - “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
NIV - “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

see also John 15:26,
NWT - “When the helper arrives that I will send YOU from the Father, the spirit of the truth, which proceeds from the Father, that one will bear witness about me.”
KJV - “But I will send you the Comforter the Holy Spirit, the source of all truth. He will come to you from the Father and will tell you all about me.”
NIV - “When the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me”

John 16:7-8
NWT - “Nevertheless, I am telling YOU the truth, It is for YOUR benefit I am going away. For if I do not go away, the helper will by no means come to you; but if I do go my way, I will send him to YOU. And when that one arrives he will give the world convincing evidence concerning sin and concerning righteousness and concerning judgement.”
KJV - “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”
NIV - “But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but If I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment.”

Now ask your friend to help you understand, “Just what exactly does the Watchtower mean by ‘impersonal active force like electricity?’ These verses seem to give the Holy Spirit a number of attributes that apply only to a personal being. Am I reading these verses wrong? Can you help me?”

6. The Watchtower teaches that all governments belong to Satan. The Bible teaches in Colossians 1:16,
NWT - “because by means of him all [other] things were created in the heavens and upon the earth, the things visible and the things invisible, no matter whether they are thrones or lordships or governments or authorities. All [other] things have been created through him and for him.”
KJV - “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:”
NIV - “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.”

and in Colossians 2:10,
NWT - “And so YOU are possessed of a fullness by means of him, who is the head of all government and authority.”
KJV - “And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:”
NIV - “and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.”

Now you might be wondering, “How can governments belong to Satan when the Bible says that they were made by Christ and He is the head over all government?”

Please remember that you must ask for their ‘help’ in understanding these contradictions. By asking for their help with these questions rather than pointing them out as obvious flaws in Watchtower teaching you will force your friend to try to help you. They will have to try to help you because that is what they are taught to do in the Kingdom Halls. They are obligated to help you understand Scripture when you ask for it.

All too often we as Christians will try to show the Jehovah’s Witnesses the truth of Scripture and instead only end up in a game of Scripture ping-pong back and forth with the subject changing every two verses. Your friend will try to quickly change the subject when they find that they are unprepared to answer these these questions. Don’t let them. Politely remind them that you haven’t had your first question answered yet and you would like to stick with that until you get it solved before moving on.

It is true that they are deceived and in need of correction but ‘how’ we correct is just as important as the correction itself. Once we understand how the Jehovah’s Witnesses are trained to dialogue with people and how they are deceived themselves, we are that much closer to reaching them for Christ. We must try to keep in mind that these dear folks are not our enemy. Satan is our enemy. He has hardened hearts and blinded eyes. Christ shed His precious blood for these folks too.

“Should I not be concerned?” - Jonah 4:11

With Father’s Day coming up this weekend, I just realized that this is the third Father’s Day that I’ve had without my Dad. I’m glad he’s in a better place and not in pain anymore but sometimes I wish he was still here.The following is dedicated to my Dad, Douglas Upton, who at the age of 62, succumbed to the ravages of cancer April 20th 2001. This is the eulogy that I gave at his funeral April 24th. I love you Dad and I miss you.

It’s been a long difficult year for those of us who are close to Dad. This past week has been exceptionally hard. Besides this past year of challenges, I have thirty-something years of memories of him. How can I share all that with you without being long winded and boring you? Well I can’t so I’ll have to be short winded and just give you some snapshots.

I remember when I was about four or five years old, my brother Dan came to me with a small sand snake. “Here Dave. Give this to Dad. He wanted it.”

“What for?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Dan replied, “He just told me to get this for him and give it to him.”

“So why don’t you give it to him?”

“I can’t. I have to go somewhere right now and I don’t have time.”

Dad was sleeping in a lawn chair in the back yard (or so we thought). “But Dad’s sleeping Dan. He’ll get mad if I wake him up.”

“I know. He told me if he was sleeping when I got back to just leave it in his hand and he’ll get it when he wakes up.” So, being the trusting soul that I was, I did as I was instructed. Dad was not asleep. That poor lawn chair didn’t stand a chance! It was totaled in two seconds flat. I won’t repeat what he said except for the obvious question, “WHY!?” I turned to look for my brother calling out “Danny….Danny?” He was nowhere to be found. Thankfully Dad always asked questions first and struck out after. Danny got the lickin’ not me.

I remember the man who rushed me to the hospital when I accidentally swallowed floor wax (that was a smooth move, pun intended), and cried when the doctor told him I would be all right.

I remember the man who, when I was struck by a car at age sixteen and the doctors didn’t know whether I would make it or not, stayed at the hospital until I woke up three days later. That’s my Dad.

What about Dad’s character? I know some of you are thinking, “He was a character all right!” No doubt remembering his rousing rendition of Rod Stewart’s “Do you think I”m sexy?” and The Village People’s “Macho man.” Yes he was a character all right and loved to show people a good time. but besides being a fun loving party animal, I want him to be remembered for some other character traits that may not have been so obvious to everyone.

My mother gave me this story and I’m glad she did because it’s not the kind of story that my Dad would tell. This is a story about when I was born. I was born in 1965 with a hare-lip and a cleft-palette. In those days of free-love and sit-ins, there were many unwanted and unloved children born especially if they had a physical defect. In was in this climate that the nurses were surprised that my mother even wanted to see me let alone keep me. In any event, the nurses decided that it would be best to segregate me from the other “normal” babies so that they could save the family “embarrassment” when others looked through the window at all the babies.

When Dad came to his new son, he looked through the window and was looking at all the babies but he couldn’t find his. He was worried and asked the nurses where I was. When they told him what they had done, he went ballistic! He took me in his hands and raised me in the air, you know, the lion king thing, and said, “This is my son! I am not ashamed!” He then proceeded to march me up and down the halls telling everyone he passed, “This is my son and I love him.” That’s unconditional love.

Anyone who knows my Dad knows that he is a very liberal family man. What I mean by that is that he didn’t care about whether or not you were blood related or married or divorced or single - if you had touched his life even by touching the life of someone who cared for him - you were automatically considered family. The idea was, “If you love my son and he loves you, then you are part of my family.” The interesting thing about my Dad is that even if your relationship with his son became strained or broken, he still considered you family. That’s unconditional love.

My sister Pam is a Jehovah’s Witness and I love her. So does my Dad. Part of being a Jehovah’s Witness means that you don’t celebrate Christmas or birthdays or most other holidays like that. So when my Dad tried to give Christmas or birthday gifts to my sister or her son Jacob, the gifts were rejected. This didn’t stop Dad from giving them gifts however. Every Christmas and birthday, he would put money aside for them into a bank account because he wanted to give gifts to all his children, even if they rejected the gifts. That’s unconditional love.

My Dad’s not God but I know for a fact that he’s with God right now. God’s unconditional, unfailing and uncompromising love for his children is reflected in the life of my Dad. God loves us even though we are “defective.” God loves us even if our relationship with His Son Jesus is strained. God even loves us in our rejection of His gifts.

Does that mean everyone goes to heaven no matter how sinful we are or how much we reject His Son? No it doesn’t. Even Dad knew that. We’ve spent a lot of time together the past few months and became closer in those few months than we had been in years. When I asked him if he was afraid, he said he was. When I asked him why, his answer surprised me. He said, “I’ve been living my whole life for myself and now I feel like I’m just begging to get in at the last minute and that’s not right.” After a few moments of reflection, I said, “Yes I can see how you might feel like that’s not fair and God should judge us by our works but thank God He doesn’t! If he did, none of us would make it. No, our entrance to Heaven depends on our faith in Jesus Christ alone. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life and no man comes to the Father but by me.” !

This exclusive claim of Christ surprised my Dad and at the time, he wasn’t sure what to make of it. He had always felt that there were many paths to God and as long as you didn’t murder anybody or some other horrible thing, you would go to Heaven. Yes God’s love is universal but it didn’t come without a price. That price was the sacrifice of His Son Jesus on the cross. All we need to do is trust and believe that Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and rose again on the third day for the remission of our sin and that’s it - that’s the gospel - that’s the good news.

Dad had obviously thought a lot about that conversation we had because Easter Sunday he asked me to pray with him. I’m going to repeat that prayer and I’m going to ask that everyone bow with me when I do. If there is anyone here today that has never prayed this prayer before, I’d like to invite you to do so now now so that you can receive the same gift that my Dad now has. All you need to do is repeat after me silently, not out loud and believe and agree with it. Let’s bow now.

Dear God, I thank you that you are a loving and forgiving God. I believe that you sent Jesus to die for my sins. I ask you now God to forgive me and to come into my life and make me a new person, the person you want me to be. Thank you God for forgiving me. In Jesus name, Amen.

After I prayed that with him, I asked if he understood what we just did. He said yes. I asked if he believed and agreed with what we just did. He said yes. “You know Dad,” I said, “you’ll always be my Dad but now I can call you brother Doug too!” He wanted to laugh but it was too painful so he just smiled.

If you just prayed that prayer with me and believed it and agreed with it then you are now a child of God and part of His family. I want to thank all of you for being here today and being part of my Dad’s family.