They Learned the Truth About Jehovah’s Witnesses

HIS mother was visiting him. As she was sitting down she spotted a copy of the Watchtower magazine in his bookcase. She jumped up, ran across the room, grabbed it and shouted, “Where did you get this trash? These people do not believe in Christmas! Do not ever get mixed up with anyone that does not believe in Christmas!” Why did this mother react this way? Well, she was sincerely seeking to protect her son and his wife from what she thought was wrong doctrine and from persons whom she thought would mislead them into error. However, did this mother know all the facts? Did she really know why Jehovah’s witnesses do not celebrate certain holidays?

Let us see what happened. After a few minutes of excitement, her son, who was studying the Bible with Jehovah’s witnesses, managed to calm her down. Then sitting down together he patiently discussed several Bible truths with her all afternoon. His mother then invited him and his wife to her home for supper and they went. Afterward they talked about God’s truth until late that night. During the next weekend there were more discussions, and by the time the son met with the Witnesses for his study his mother and sister were with him and ready to learn more.

Now both of them asked for a subscription for the magazine that they used to call “trash.” They also obtained a copy of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures and confessed that they had never seen or even touched a Bible before that evening. Why did these persons change? They learned the truth about Jehovah’s witnesses. Now they knew that Christ never commanded his followers to celebrate his birth and that Christmas was rooted in paganism. And upon what did the mother base her formerly prejudiced views? She later confessed that she had developed a hatred for Jehovah’s witnesses because she did not know why they refrained from celebrating certain holidays. This blinded her until she learned the facts. Now she told her grandson that there will be no celebrating of Christmas in her home.

INVESTIGATING FOR ONESELF

Sometimes persons hear things about Jehovah’s witnesses that are not true. These slanderous remarks can blind them or make them fearful of the Witnesses. However, not all gullibly believe what they hear. Such ones want to learn for themselves if what they are being told is true. In this way they have learned the truth about Jehovah’s witnesses. For example, a married couple had been studying the Bible with the Witnesses for several months. The wife wrote to her father about the things they were learning. What did her father reply? “My dear daughter, do not have anything to do with Jehovah’s witnesses; why, they are Communists!”

“Communists?” roared the husband. “They can’t be, I just do not believe it! Communists do not believe in the Bible.”

“Well, sweetheart,” answered his wife, “we do not want to get involved, do we?”

“Look!” said the husband, “I will settle this once and for all time. I will call the F.B.I. [Federal Bureau of Investigation].”

He dialed the number and a voice on the other end of the line answered, saying, “This is the F.B.I. Lieutenant R————here!”

“Sir,” said the husband, “I am studying the Bible with Jehovah’s witnesses and I have been told that they are Communists, are they?”

The voice answered loud and clear, “Well, no sir! They have been labeled everything but what they are. They are good, honest folks and we give them a clean bill of health!”

“Well, thank you, Lieutenant R————,” replied the husband, “I surely appreciate this information because I am going to become one of them.” Not too long after this revealing phone call this young man and his wife were baptized. Yes, they learned for themselves the truth about Jehovah’s witnesses. They were not content to let others do their thinking for them.

CONDUCT OF WITNESSES REVEALS TRUTH ABOUT THEM

Some persons think that Jehovah’s witnesses are just like any other religion in Christendom. They feel that they are out to make money from their members. However, the conduct of the Witnesses has often dispelled this erroneous idea. Here is how one person learned the truth about them in this matter:

“In the early 1950’s my father, who was a retired engineer, was living in Chicago. He was spending much of his money to help remodel a building into a Kingdom Hall. I was deeply disturbed about this almost to the point of being bitter. I felt that another religion had hooked an old man and was heartlessly draining him of all his savings. Whenever I visited Dad I would speak to him about all the time and money he was spending on that Kingdom Hall. He would smile and begin telling me about what was going to happen to ‘this system of things.’ Of course, I did not understand what he was talking about and neither was I interested.

“Well, one day in 1958, I received a phone call telling me that Dad was very sick. As he lived alone, my wife and I planned to leave our home and move in with Dad to look after him. I remember going to his home that day. Two women who are Jehovah’s witnesses were there looking after him. They were the kindest, most gentle women I had ever met. Later on, my wife started to scrub the kitchen floor. She was about eight months pregnant. The presiding minister of the local congregation of Jehovah’s witnesses was there at the time. To my utter amazement, he took the brush from her, rolled up his sleeves, got down on his hands and knees and began scrubbing the kitchen floor.

“Two weeks later Dad died. The presiding minister gave the funeral discourse, and I was truly surprised at the things I heard. I wanted to hear more and to find out what made these people the way they are. My wife and I began to study the Bible with them, and eleven months later she told me that she wanted to be baptized. I did not tell her that I too had decided to dedicate my life to the wonderful God whose spirit moves people to such kindnesses. Three months later I was baptized. How happy Dad would be if he could know that a few years later I became the assistant presiding minister in the congregation to which he belonged!” Truly, Christian conduct helped these persons to learn the truth about Jehovah’s witnesses.

THE CLERGY HAVE UNWITTINGLY HELPED

There have been occasions when the clergy’s efforts to stop Jehovah’s witnesses have helped opposers to learn the truth about them. Yes, they have unwittingly shown opposers that the Witnesses are teaching the truth from God’s Word the Bible. Consider this case that happened in Wisconsin:

“My wife was a devout Catholic, having attended Catholic schools through college. When one of the Witnesses called as he promised, she ran out of the house. After he left, she returned with a no-other-religion-around-here attitude. I had to drive to a neighbor’s home to learn the Bible, and what I learned I told my wife. She would tell the priest and he, in turn, would laugh and ridicule Jehovah’s witnesses. ‘The end of the world,’ he laughed—‘they have been preaching that for ages! Someday they might be right!’

“This last comment started my wife thinking and moved her to press him for proof that the Witnesses were wrong. He promised to do this, and he gave her some books on philosophy. Since our study had to be moved to my home, I asked my wife to invite the priest. She agreed. He never came, but she listened in on our discussion while waiting for the priest and found it quite interesting. Still she was determined to have the priest defend her faith and finally had to arrange a meeting at his home.

“During our discussion he vainly tried to prove the Trinity, but the Bible verses proved otherwise. When I asked him about John 17:20-22, he replied red-faced, ‘I am not prepared to answer that.’

“‘All your life a priest [forty years],’ I said, ‘and you are not prepared. We have studied with Jehovah’s witnesses only three months, and we are prepared.’

“Then came the real surprise. My wife turned to the priest and said, ‘I am through with your church.’ She decided this, knowing that her relatives would severely oppose her.” Yes, she came to realize who taught the truth of the Bible.

Another incident in which a clergyman unwittingly helped someone to learn the truth about Jehovah’s witnesses happened in Spain. A man began to study the Bible with the Witnesses, but his wife staunchly opposed this because she considered them to be “Protestants.” She tried everything to stop her husband from studying with them. She had her Catholic relatives try to dissuade him and threatened to call the police when the Witness would come for the study. This did not stop him, for he arranged to study with the Witness in another place. He progressed rapidly.

The wife now threatened to leave him and take the children with her, and she did. But after two weeks she returned. After this the man’s relatives came to visit him. They too were studying the Bible with the Witnesses and attending their meetings in the town where they lived. On Sunday they all wanted to go to the meeting in the locality, and they persuaded the wife to come and learn the truth about the Witnesses. She agreed to go with them.

Unbeknown to them, it was on that day that the local priest had learned where the Witnesses were having their meetings, and he informed the police in order to stop them. The police came and arrested everyone, including the opposed wife. She tried hard to convince them that she was not one of Jehovah’s witnesses but that she was, in fact, very much opposed to them. The police thought that she was making up this story to avoid arrest.

She was put in prison with the rest of the Witnesses, and, as it turned out, this was the very thing that made her realize that Jehovah’s witnesses are true Christians and that the priest had acted in a very unchristian manner. Immediately after she was released from prison with the rest of the Witnesses, she asked them to study the Bible with her, and she made arrangements to attend all their meetings. She progressed rapidly and soon was spending many hours a month teaching others the truths of the Bible.

Yes, when honest-hearted persons learn the truth about Jehovah’s witnesses their lives are affected. They want to share in the work that the Witnesses are doing today. Many persons who formerly opposed God’s servants are now in their ranks exulting in the hope of worshiping the only true God forever in a paradise earth where only true religion will prevail.