The Watchtower Society is the organization that governs Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide. Jehovah’s witnesses believe God personally set up this organization as His visible representative on earth. It is through this organization, and no other, that God allegedly teaches the Bible to humankind today. According to the Watchtower Society, people are unable to ascertain the true meaning of Scripture without its vast literature.

The Watchtower society is viewed as God’s voice on earth. JW’s are expected to unquestionably obey the Watchtower. JW’s are instructed to depend on the Watchtower for the correct interpretation of the Bible Reading the Bible alone without the Watchtower literature will lead a person astray The penalty for failing to obey the Watchtower is disfellowshiping

The JW’s have created their own version of the Bible, ignoring factual and credible processes in order to support several false doctrines. The JW’s…

Misinterpret key verses in supporting its own authority Have a track record of false prophecies Changed its position on important issues over the years Their version of the Bible is called the New World Translation

Look with me at two verses that are illustrations of the whole:Col 1:16-18 – For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ESV-Great verse speaking of Jesus being at work in creation and creating things from eternity past, He was and is forever past and future.

The NWT, JW’s Bible says…“by means of him all [other] things were created in the heavens and upon the earth, the things visible and the things invisible, no matter whether they are thrones or lordships or governments or authorities. All [other] things and by means of him all [other] things were made to exist.” NWT-In other words God created Jesus, He is not eternal and has no attributes of God. God created Him then God allowed him to create everything else. The word to draw attention to here is “panta” which means “all” not “other”

John 1:1-2 – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ESVThe JW’s render the last part of the verse; “The Word [Christ] was a god.” Little “g”. Of course this is a wrong translation because of several reasons…The full deity of Jesus is supported by many other references in John as well as the rest of the NT. (Jn 8:58; 10:30; 20:28; Col 1:15-16; 2:9; Titus 2:13; Heb 1:8)

Scripture says that Jesus is the Great I AM of the OT (Jn 8:58; Ex 3:14) Jesus is Yahweh that was “pierced” on the cross (Rev 1:7; Zech 12:10) Jesus’ role as Yahweh is proved in His role in creation (Col 1:16; Isa 44:24) Both Yahweh and Jesus are described as having a voice like the roar of rushing waters. (Ez 43:2;

Rev 1:15)

Three of the most egregious prophecy claims are: The JW’s predicted that 1914 would mark the overthrow of human governments and the full

establishment of God’s kingdom on earth. The JW’s predicted that in 1925 select Old Testament saints (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) would

rise from the grave and live in San Diego. The JW’s predicted that in 1975 human history would end and the 1,000-year reign of Christ

would begin.

The JW’s embrace evolutionary concepts as well. They also believe…

Jesus was created by the Father as the Archangel Michael billions of years ago Jesus is a mighty god, but not God Almighty like the Father Jesus was crucified on a stake not a cross Following His death Jesus spiritually raised from the dead The spiritual second coming of Christ happened in 1914 The spirit and soul of a person cannot be separate from their body Only 144,000 are going to heaven, this is the “anointed class” and they will rule everyone else

in the “second class”

The Father is God Jn 6:27 – God the Father – Most people agree that God the father is God. Even cult leaders get this right. Pagans get this right.Jesus is God – Jn 1 – In the beginning was the Word and … vs `14 – The Word became flesh.-Jn 8:58 – Before Abraham was born – I Am. The religious leaders took up stones to stone him for blasphemy because he kept saying he was God. Jn 20:28 – Thomas worshipped Him as God. Ro 9:5 – Christ is God over all. 1 Jn 5:20 – There is one true God, Christ JesusThe Holy Spirit is God. – The Holy Spirit is a He not an “it”. HS is not an “it”, not like the force. -He can be grieved – Scripture says when we sin, we grieve the HS. Gravity cannot be offended.Some good questions to ask a JW would be…

In whose name should we meet together? Demons are subject to whose name? Repentance and forgiveness should be preached in whose name? In whose name are you to believe and receive forgiveness of sins? Why whose name, and no other, do we obtain salvation? Whose name are we to use in prayer when we come to God? In whose name is the Holy Spirit sent? Whose name did the disciples invoke in healing the sick and lame? Whose name did Paul tell us to call upon? Whose name is above every name?

MormonismJesus was not created as Michael the Archangel; Jesus is not a lesser god than God the FatherJesus was and is Yahweh; The incarnate Christ was God in human fleshJesus was physically resurrected from the dead; The second coming will be bodily and visibleThe Biblical God is a Trinity; Salvation is by grace through faith One day in the spring of 1820, Joseph Smith was reading the Bible at Jas 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” He determined to ask God what church to join, so he went to the woods to pray. He claims his question was answered in a vision in which he encountered the Father and the Son. He said the Son instructed him not to join any of the churches, for they were all wrong, he said: “The personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight.” Mormonism teaches that total apostasy engulfed the church soon after the death of the last apostle, therefore the one true church needed to be restored. Mormons claim that proper church organization, with its respective offices, was lost, along with continual revelation through God’s appointed representatives. The true gospel was also lost in its completeness from the Bible due to “designing priests” removing its plain and precious truth. Also the priesthoods like Aaron and Melchezidek disappeared after the death of the last apostle. So it was now the responsibility to the

Mormon Church to give the world a new prophet and restore the authority and power of a true priesthood to the world. All other churches of Christendom are said to be apostate.

Total apostasy overcame the church after the death of the last apostle. This apostasy involved the loss of proper church organization, the true gospel, new revelation

from God’s spokesmen, and the priesthood The Mormon church is the restored church

The problem with this crucial portion of their doctrine is that the Bible never gives a promise of a restored church. A revived church yes, but never a church that needed to be restored in the sense of a restoration of the church and of the true gospel through Joseph Smith following a time of total apostasy.

Mormons use: Gal 1:6-8 – I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. ESV Scripture here is clear that Paul warns against believing a different gospel. There is no indication that there would be total apostasy of the entire church throughout the world. And beside that Paul is writing to the church in Galatia concerning some who are creeping around trying to steal the glory of Christ for themselves by inventing stories.

The also use2 Thess 2:3 – Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, ESV Mormons say this verse speaks of an entire apostasy that would engulf the entire church, making a restoration imperative. But Paul is speaking of a specific distinguishable apostasy that is still to come, it is an end-time prophecy. There will be a global falling away, the Antichrist will be revealed.

The Book of Mormon is man-made Joseph Smith once said the Book of Mormon is the “most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” The book is allegedly an abridged account of God dealing with the original inhabitants of the American continent from 2247 BC to AD 421. Mormons claim that it was originally engraved on gold plates by ancient prophets in the language of “reformed Egyptian”, deposited in a stone box, and buried in the Hill Cumorah in New York. It is believe to be God’s uncorrupted revelation to mankind, the fullness of the everlasting gospel, and another Testament of Jesus Christ. Supposedly Smith translated the gold tablets using a “seer stone”. One of Smith’s associates described the translation like this: “Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing. One character at a time would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principle scribe, and when it was written down and repeated the Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear. Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by any power of man.”

After the translation of the Book of Mormon, Smith said he heard a voice from out of a bright light above him that said, “These plates have been revealed by the power of God, and they have been translated by the power of God. The translation of them which you have seen is correct, and I command you to bear record of what you now see and hear. What makes this deception so great is that they take from the Bible Ezek 37:16-17, and believe that this refers to the Book of Mormon…Ezek 37:16-19 – "Son of man, take a stick and write on it, 'For Judah, and the people of Israel associated with him'; then take another stick and write on it, 'For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.' 17 And join them one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. 18 And when your people say to you, 'Will you not tell us what you mean by these?' 19 say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, that they may be one in my hand. ESV

The only way to really get through to an entrenched Mormon is to show that the Book of Mormon cannot be trusted.

There have been thousands of changes introduced into the Book of Mormon since original publication

There are numerous plagiarisms in the book, 3,913 from 1830 to 1970 and 200 more since There is no archeological support for the book The Bible simply put does not refer to the Book of Mormon People should not “pray” about whether the Book of Mormon is true

Mormons may say there are errors in the Bible too. Well there are 40 significant variants in the manuscript copies of the Bible, and none of these affects any doctrine or moral commandment of Christianity. Unlike the Book of Mormon there are thousands of Biblical manuscripts that can be objectively studied and compared to ensure accuracy. The book of Mormon does not have that support. Many thousands of archeological discoveries by both Christian and non-Christian archeologists prove the accuracy of the Bible. The book of Mormon has no discoveries. If the Book of Mormon was first penned between 600BC and AD 421, as claimed, how could it contain such extensive quotations from the 1611 KJV, which was not written until more than 1,000 years later? The Bible is the inerrant Word of God, perfect for salvation, doctrine and living life. Mormons believe that large portions of the Bible are invalid because of poor translation. Friends there has never been more scrutiny over any book in the history of the world than there is the Bible. There are 86,000 quotations of the NT in the writings of the early church fathers. In fact, there are enough quotations from the early church fathers that even if we did not have a single Bible manuscript, scholars could still reconstruct all but 11 verses of the NT. Mormons will claim that there are lost books of the Bible, just because a book is mentioned in the Bible does not mean these are inspired writings. And if you are ever asked about it from a Mormon just say, well if God wanted them restored why didn’t he tell Joseph Smith to restore them. Joseph Smith created his own version of the Bible, the “Inspired Version”. It took the world’s best scholars years to put out the KJV, it took Joseph Smith three years alone to finish his work on translating his version of the Bible and he had no understanding of biblical languages. He even added passages in Gen 50 that predicted his own coming.

Perhaps the most troubling fact concerning Mormon doctrine is they view God has once being a mere man. He was a man that progressed enough to become a god. Joseph Smith said that if you were to see the Father today, you would see him like a man in form… he was once a man like us yea… God himself, the father of us all dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus did. Scripture proves that God is not an exalted man, God is eternal from past to present. This is leads into perhaps one of their biggest problems, since they have believed that God was once a man, they too believe they will all be gods one day. The ultimate goal of Mormonism is godhood. Brigham Young said that “the Lord created you and me for the purpose of becoming God’s like unto our Father in heaven”. This exaltation to godhood by the Mormons is known as attaining eternal life, a life like God’s. Joseph Smith said that “eternal life is the same kind of life possessed by the Father and the Son; it is the exaltation in the eternal realm.Isa 44:6 – Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: "I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. ESV

Alongside this doctrine of godhood is the doctrine of eternal progression. They believe that we do not seek perfection in this life, it begins before birth and continues beyond the grave. Exaltation to godhood ultimately involved not just what a person does in this earthly life, but what the person has already done in the premortality, meaning as a spirit child and postmortality.

According to official Mormon teaching, Jesus was begotten as the first spirit-child of the Father and one of his unnamed wives (heavenly mother). Jesus was the highest of all spirit children, after all he is called the firstborn of creation. Because heavenly father and mother had many spirit children Jesus is referred to by Mormons as “our elder brother.” Mormons believe in many gods they only worship and pray to Jesus. Lucifer is also a spirit son to heavenly father and another mother, so he is Jesus’ spirit-brother.

The Bible is clear that Jesus was and is God Almighty Jesus was not procreated but is the eternal Son of God Jesus is not the spirit brother of Lucifer Jesus is Jehovah and Elohim Jesus in the incarnation was not begotten by the heavenly Father and Mary, but rather the Holy

Spirit overshadowed Mary Jesus as God was worshiped and prayed to Jesus atoned for the sins of all mankind

Once again as with the JW’s the idea of works for salvation is predominate in the Mormon doctrine. But it is only by grace that we are saved, not by works.

Mormon requirements for salvation: Baptism in a Mormon church Regular church attendance Consistent good works Attaining “worthiness” Engaging in “temple work” (rituals)

Eph 2:8-9 – For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ESV

Titus 3:5 – he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, ESVRom 3:20 – For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. ESVGal 2:16 – yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. ESV

So the question was how to witness to them.1 – Understand where they are coming from. For the most part they are sold out. Remember they wouldn’t be there if they weren’t pretty sold on their ideals. Be kind and listen to them patiently. At first ask them a lot about their faith and let them speak. Questions build trust and show an interest in them personally. Also commend them on their work, good works are always admirable, Mormons sacrifice a lot to be “Missionaries”, they can’t have a girlfriend, they fast and pray and work a lot of free hours serving their church.

2 – Be ready for the theological1 – As with both of these religions if you can get them to wrestle with grace you have done a good thing. Good deeds and works do not grant eternal life, only trusting in God’s grace does. 2 – Memorize key scriptures about Jesus being God the Son eternal

He claimed to be the eternal son Jn 19:7 He is presented as already being son before He comes Jn 3:16-17 The Son existed before all things Col 1:17 Jesus says He was eternal past Jn 8:58

3 – The doctrine of the trinity is important, learn how to articulate itAll three persons of the trinity possesses divine qualities: Omnipresence, Omniscience, Omnipotence, Holiness, Eternality, Truth

1 – The Father is the Will of GodJohn 5:30 - "I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. (NAS)2 – The Son is the Word of GodJohn 1:1 – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (NAS)3 – The Holy Spirit is the Work or Ways of God – In Acts 5:3-4 Peter said to Ananias, “How is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit?” Lying to the Holy Spirit is equated with lying to God.

The personalTell your story. These people are both trained to be polite and let you speak, so speak. Tell them how Jesus has transformed your life and that life would be impossible without His saving Grace! Share how the Bible and the Holy Spirit have changed your everyday life and how lost you were before Christ. Learn to say what’s important in a short time. Speak the highlights.