What about the Jehovah's Witnesses

What about the Jehovah's Witnesses

by Harley Pinon

Watchtower Buildings

in Brooklyn, New York

My experience and background with the Jehovah's Witnesses

My experience with the Jehovah's Witnesses dates back almost 40 years. It began when we lived in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas, Texas. Many Jehovah's Witnesses came by, but the one with whom I became best acquainted was Al. Al was his real name, but I never knew his last name. Al came by on a regular basis, and I decided that I needed to find out more about the Jehovah's Witnesses if I were going to be able to help Al, and hopefully lead him out of the Watch Tower organization.

To help me with my understanding, I purchase a book by the name Apostles of Denial. It was an excellent book. It was clearly researched with multiple footnotes on every page, and probably most were to Jehovah's Witnesses material. I became so impressed with the book that I set about to contact the author, Edmond Gruss, by phone. Years later, I decided to try to contact him again. When I got in touch the second time, I said, "I wasn't sure you would still be alive." He chucked at the thought. I think he is about five years older than I am, but at the time, I had no idea as to how old he was. This book is apparently out of print. Check this list of libraries which are listed as having the book.

Back to Al

On one of Al's visits, he told me that he put in 120 hours each month working in the Watch Tower organization. I said, oh that makes you a pioneer doesn't it? He looked completely shocked, and said, "Yes, it does." I had read that in Dr. Gruss's book.

It's a lot about works.

I definitely got the impression that the Jehovah's Witnesses organization (The Watch Tower Organization) was a very works oriented organization. In his book, Dr. Gruss gave the different level of work, and the rank that you would obtain for the different levels. The highest level that of pioneer. That's what Al was.

Works determines membership.

There are two main categories of membership in the Jehovah's Witnesses organization: Thee are those who are called adherents: they attend, but do not turn in work records. They number 16,675,113. according to the 2007 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses, pg. 31: Then there are those who actually work in the organization. "Peak of Publishers in Kingdom Service — 6,741,444. Average Publishers Preaching Each Month — 6,491,775. Worldwide Memorial Attendance — 16,675,113." A Publisher is defined as an active member who submits a monthly report of time spent preaching." This information is taken from Wikipedia

Not many are Born Again

The official teaching of the Jehovah's Witnesses is that only 144,000 can be born again. The rest of the members can only hope to become "hewers of wood and drawers of water." All of this is based on their erroneous interpretation of Revelation. (Rev 7:4 NKJV) "And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed:" If interested in the 144,000, you might like to refer to my series in Revelation including Revelation 7

The sad reality is that the Jehovah's witnesses are not teaching people the need of being baptized into Christ to be born again. See my article How Does One Become a Christian

Edmond Gruss--Why did he leave?

Edmond Gruss left the Jehovah's Witnesses at the age of 17. Why did he leave? I think basically it was over the issue we have just discussed. Some of his friends found the love of Jesus and they were born again, and Ed was willing to look at what they had. Part of his story is in an interview in a section of Interviews with Jehovah's Witnesses who left

Much more could be said

I have scarcely scratched the surface, but for the time being, I will end this study here. When I was working with Al and some of my high school students, I tried to show them where their theology was wrong as to Who Jesus is. Well, their theology is wrong on that, but I think I took the wrong approach. I think it is far more important to help them understand that the Bible teaches they must be born again. "Jesus answered and said to him, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'" (John 3:3 NKJV) That's very clear, and I'm sorry that I took the wrong track when I tried to show Jehovah's witnesses the error of their way. Wikipedia has a great deal of information about the Jehovah's witnesses, and a Google search can bring up a great deal of information.

I think the organization began with some noble ideas as their was a great emphasis on Bible study. Unfortunately this seems have been largely replaced by an emphasis on studying Watch Tower literature. I visited on meeting of the Jehovah's Witnesses with Al. The members had a book that was published by the Watch Tower Society. The teacher asked questions, and the students gave the answer right out of the book. Then they were highly commended for getting the correct answer. I then asked Al to attend church with me, but he said he could not because we were teaching error. I tried to tell him that I was free and that he was not. I said, "I can attend your services, but you cannot attend with me." He really had no argument other than I was wrong.

Jehovah's Witnesses are often taught that they must be on their guard against us, or we will teach them false doctrine. If you are a Jehovah's Witness, I encourage you to think of the need of being born again and read my article, How Does One Become a Christian. May God bless us all in coming to know and do His will.

Bible Study with Harley

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