Witnessing to Witnesses

How do you witness to a Jehovah’s Witness? Simply say this: “I have a knife in my back, and I am dying. I have three minutes to live. How can I enter the Kingdom?” Then listen to what he says. He will be thrown into a flurry, because his religion is based on works (as apposed to the biblical truth that salvation is a gift--see Romans 6:23). A Jehovah’s Witness must do things to be saved, and that scenario exposes his motives--he is trusting in "self-righteousness." From there, ask if he thinks that he is a good person. He will more than likely say that he thinks he is. The reason for this is because his self-righteous efforts reveal it. He knows that he is a sinner, but he believes that his sin isn’t so bad that he can’t earn his own way out of it, and “merit” Heaven.

So, you have to take him through the Ten Commandments to show him that what he is trying to do it impossible. The small leap he is trying to make is a gigantic chasm. To be saved he first must understand that God is perfect and holy, that He considers lust to be adultery, hatred to be murder, and He will see to it that absolute justice is done. That means that adulterers, murderers, liars and thieves will be damned forever. Once a person sees that he is a Law-breaker (a criminal who is trying to bribe the Judge of the Universe with his "works") he will hopefully trust in His mercy alone to save him. That’s how the thief on the cross was saved--through mercy alone. He didn’t do anything to be saved. He couldn’t go door-to-door or do good works. He couldn’t, because he was nailed to the cross. That’s what God's Law does to us. It nails us because of our guilt. The only thing we can do is turn to Jesus on the cross, and say, “Lord, remember me.” And even that ability to “turn” to Him is given to us by God. He “gives repentance to the acknowledging of the truth” (see 1 Timothy 2:25-26). We are saved by grace, through faith, and that not of ourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man boast” (Ephesians 2:8,9). So plant that seed in the hearts of those who think they can be saved by their own works, and then pray that God causes it to grow and produce fruit.