WITNESSING TO A JEHOVAH WITNESS

LAPSED BUT NOT IGNORANT
Last week I shared the gospel with a lapsed Jehovah Witness. I did'nt have time to attend the meetings and I gradually slipped away, he remarked. It was quite obvious, after having conversed with him for a few minutes, that his grasp of JW doctrine was not superficial. We worked our way through JW end-time beliefs and his understanding of Christ. It was tough but worth the effort. He did not appear to cede any of his beliefs.

I sensed however an openness as I shared the Trinitarian faith with him from the Bible and began to kick into proclamation. At some point in any evangelistic encounter there has to be a confident declaration of Christ's uniqueness in human history and his work of salvation and redemption of creation.

ONLY A CRACK
He looked pensive as I shared with him Christ's divinity; its not the church nor an enlightened sect that saves but Christ, the eternal Son Of God. A human or adopted "christ" is impotent and unable to save anyone, be it on a cosmic or existential level. I sensed a crack in his "works-salvation-gnostic-sectarian" mental grid. Sad to say it was only a crack.

He did not reject Christ but could not commit himself to pray and deepen his knowledge of our Lord. Evangelism is more than an intellectual encounter but a collision of spiritual forces. Maybe the Lord will send someone to help work through the issues which prevent him from taking the vital step of faith in Christ.