My Story

I accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord as a young boy and became a second-generation pastor. Little did I know that the Lord would have an interesting purpose in life for me to fulfill.

My family has multiple generations of Jehovah’s Witnesses – mostly on my father’s side and a few generations on my mother’s side. Although I grew up as a Christian, I saw firsthand what my family was experiencing with the “JW side” of the family – the do’s and don’ts, etc.  My family’s history in the Watchtower organization goes back to the 1920’s. A few uncles of mine served as Elders and as Overseers in their Kingdom Halls.

In 1979, I had developed a interest in reading about how to witness to the Jehovah’s Witnesses. A few of the books I read had scenarios of conversations between the Christian and Jehovah’s Witnesses with the Christian “winning” the debate, of course. Much to my shame, I would take glee at the Christian winning – thinking that they “scored points” in proving their case. I was 19 at the time and obviously immature in my thinking. Witnessing to Jehovah’s Witnesses should never be about “scoring points.” It should be about extending God’s love through grace with patience.

A former co-worker of mine had become one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Any discussion we had always proved fruitless. I would also write one of my aunts who had been in the organization since the 1940’s. Through correspondence, we would “debate” our beliefs; but what I noticed was something I had not realized before: My JW aunt would plagiarize Watchtower articles in her letters to me. I knew how she communicated; but her manner of explaining her position was not her. It was the Watchtower articles she would copy – as her answers.

It was then that I realized that the issue with the Witnesses is not so much of a Bible issue, or even one of theology: It’s an issue of dependence and yielding to the authority of a very powerful organization. As the years went by, I would converse with the Witnesses at my door. I always noticed their answers were to appeal to the Watchtower’s publications. In other words, the Witnesses do not think for themselves. They rely heavily on what the Watchtower has to say to form their world view. It was then that I recognized that I was no longer talking to an individual, but to organizational/group thinking.

Worldwide, the Witnesses sing the same songs, and read the same Watchtower articles. Independent thinking outside of the Watchtower organization is absolutely forbidden. Personal views on Biblical interpretation are absolutely forbidden; but pushing the Watchtower’s message, well — that’s the message which stands at your door through the Witnesses of Jehovah.

It was no wonder that my conversations with them would go in a never-ending circle – each of us trying to prove our points with nothing getting accomplished – only two frustrated parties. Witnessing to the Witnesses is like talking to a wall – a wall that is represented by a very powerful organization which has robbed people to think independently for themselves.

In four decades of witnessing to Jehovah’s Witnesses, I have never helped a Witness exit the Watchtower due to scriptural debates. What I did do, however, was focus on the authority that feeds the belief system. The idea is to kill the root system that feeds their dependency on the organization by breaking the relationship the Jehovah’s Witnesses have with the Watchtower organization.

When I ask why they are Witnesses, I will hear them say that they are the only organization the proclaims God’s name, Jehovah. I will also hear them say that they are God’s organization on earth – that He has always had an organization to represent Him. Those answers, my dear friend, is the Watchtower identity talking. The idea in witnessing to these precious people is to separate them from that dependency and focus on who God made them to be – people made in God’s image with their own identity and God-given purpose; but the Watchtower has taken that identity from them and replaced it with their own — robbing them of living a life apart from the Watchtower organization and a real relationship with Jesus.

My dear friend, the Watchtower organization is the wall that you face in your witness, not the individual Jehovah's Witness. This ministry will help you overcome these barriers so you, too, can present a more effective witness for the Kingdom of God.