Dear Friend, Thank you for your visit today. I believe that among your strongest motivations for having taken of your time to share your beliefs with me was your genuine concern for the misguided. It is that same motivation that prompted me to pen this response to give to all Jehovah’s Witnesses that visit my home. First, let me say I am sorry I declined to invite you in and speak at length with you about the matter you came to share. I did this because, like you, I am firm in my beliefs and there is nothing you could tell me or show me that could convince me otherwise. My beliefs come, not from a denominational doctrine, but from the Bible itself, which I believe when it calls itself “God-inspired.” I know the Bible is also central to your faith, and so we have that in common. Where we differ is on points that were first introduced in the late 1880s and have been modified a number of times, even in our lifetimes, by the founders and leadership of Jehovah’s Witnesses. (I learned this on Wikipedia, which if not correct, you can and should correct. It is quite easy to do for any computer-savvy person.) I have to tell you plainly, and in love, there is no way you can convince me that God’s revealed will has been added to in the last two centuries. I firmly believe His revealed will is in its entirety in the book of the Bible. I believe that if I had given you more of a chance to speak with me, our discussion would have degenerated and perhaps raised both of our blood pressures a bit. And God’s word says to “avoid foolish arguments” (II Tim 2:23). It would have been foolish because we both would enter into it unwilling to concede anything to the other. So, instead, we were, as God’s children should be, courteous to each other. You have left me with some literature and I think it only fair that you also receive this letter from me, and I pray you will read it to its end (I promise to be brief). I want to direct you to only one chapter of Scripture that has been in the Bible since the Bible was called the Bible. It was part of the Scriptures the early church held on to during persecution until death and part of the Scriptures that sustained faith throughout more than 1,500 of relatively dark ages and until the reformation of the Church. And most importantly, it was written by an eye-witness to the life of Jesus – the Apostle John. In I John 2: 21, John says, “…no lies comes from the truth.” And yet you and I believe quite differently on some points. And so, whereas I don’t believe either of us is intentionally lying, one of us has believed a lie. Then the text asks, “Who is a liar?” Isn’t that just what we should be wondering? If our beliefs differ so greatly, who has lied to us? The text answers the question as well: “It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist – he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.” The Bible is clear that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Father. In case you’re noting that connection is missing here, you can find it in I John 4:15, when in the continuation of this text, John says, “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.” I believe this text is the one God wants me to share with you for two reasons. First, any hope of salvation must rest alone in the finished work of Jesus here on Earth and the fact that He sits now at the
right hand of the Father in Heaven (Acts 2:33). From what I understand, Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Jesus was actually Michael the Archangel rather than the Son of God, and that salvation comes through believing plus… other things. As John’s letter makes clear, Jesus is the Son of God and those that believe in Him have the Father too – in other words, are children of God our Father (I John 3:1). The second reason I believe this text is fitting is given in the text itself, in verse 26, “I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray.” This chapter even specifies that those who are trying to lead us astray will be coming at the last times (verse 18). I would just like to ask you to consider I John 2 in the following way: At home alone in your quiet time, first confess to God any sins intentional or unintentional and offer yourself a living sacrifice to Him on this day. Ask the Lord to bind any evil and lying spirits as you consider His word and to reveal the truth of His word to you. Then open your Bible to I John 2 and read – without any preconceived notion of what it might mean, not even recalling what I am pointing out in this letter. With a fresh and clean mind, just read with the genuine motivation to know God’s truth. That, friend, is all I am asking. Surely you can agree to reading one chapter of the Bible with an open mind. I have noted you in my prayer book and each time I pass that page, I will remember you in prayer. Your dedication is admirable. What you do requires a great deal of courage. Sadly, many Christians have never approached the level of dedication you demonstrate in sacrificing of your time and risking embarrassment and possible hostility to act on your beliefs. With such a disposition, I am confident you can be mightily used of God. My prayer is that He would use you to deliver the truth of the Gospel of Christ to others. Please read I John 2. In Love,