The Isolation of Jehovah’s Witnesses
| By: Lorri MacGregor; ©January 2001 |
| Lorri MacGregor looks at some of the ways the Watchtower Society isolates Jehovah’s Witnesses from their friends, family and even from the society. |
Isolation
If you become a Jehovah’s Witness, the Organization then begins a process of isolating you from your family. We have come through the Christmas season recently, and have heard from many puzzled and hurting families whose Jehovah’s Witness relatives have avoided them socially, refused their gifts and cards, and isolated themselves. As the year goes on they will also refuse to come to family birthdays, most anniversaries, funerals, Easter celebrations, Patriotic holidays, Thanksgiving, and finally, Christmas again. Relatives are puzzled, but the organization is pleased. They have now succeeded in replacing your family with their “family,” made up of other Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Witnesses will tell their families that these celebrations are “pagan.” How should Christians react?
We, as Christians, should make no apologies for celebrating family birthdays, since God celebrated the birth of His son, a practice we continue down to this day. It’s true pagans or heathens also celebrate birthdays, but we do not become pagans by rejoicing on a certain day.
Teaching their members to avoid their families is not enough for the Organization. They have also found ways to isolate the Jehovah’s Witnesses from the Christian Church in general.
THE CROSS OF CHRIST
One of the most bitter attacks against the Christian Church has been the attack on the cross. Jehovah’s Witnesses have claimed that the cross is a pagan symbol adopted by a corrupt church and has thereby contaminated the church. They shun the cross.
For many years they have taught their gullible members that Jesus Christ did not die on a cross, but on an upright stake. Since the matter cannot be determined by the word used in the Bible, which means “timber” or “tree,” Jehovah’s Witnesses turned to secular records and quoted for their support a book by Justus Lipsius called De Cruse Liber Primus.
In their original Kingdom Interlinear Translation on page 1155, they state, “Such a single stake for impalement of a criminal was called crux simplex, and the method of nailing him to such an instrument of torture is illustrated by the Roman Catholic scholar, Justus Lipsius, of the 16th century. We present herewith a photographic copy of his illustration on page 647, column 2, of his book De Cruse Liber Primus. This is the manner in which Jesus was impaled.”
Such lies! On page 46 of De Cruse Liber Primus Justus Lipsius really said, “In the Lord’s cross there were four pieces of wood, the upright beam, the crossbar, the piece of wood placed for the feet, and the title inscription placed above.”
There then appears a cross just as we all would recognize. In fact, if you look closely at the illustration the Jehovah’s Witnesses used dishonestly, you will notice that it also has a crossbeam upon which the unfortunate individual is sitting! The reprint of the Kingdom Interlinear Translation, published after the exposure of their dishonesty, not only left the lie intact, but made sure the offending crossbeam was more carefully camouflaged by his garment! The Watchtower now says it cannot be certain of the manner in which the Lord died, but they will continue to illustrate it by a stake!
This ploy of attacking the Cross insures the Jehovah’s Witnesses Organization that its members will be fearful of ever entering a building that displays a cross, namely the Christian Churches. They make statements like, “If a gun killed your friend, would you display it around your neck or display it on your building? Why honor an instrument of execution?” They fail to realize that the empty cross of Christ shows that He triumphed over death and is alive today! He paid the price for us all so that we, too, may live forever. The cross is a reminder of that fact.
AN APPEAL DIRECTLY TO JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES
Sadly, Jehovah’s Witnesses have trusted in so many lies that we do not have the time to detail them all, but we would be pleased to have Jehovah’s Witnesses contact us in total confidentiality so they may prove these things for themselves. If they choose, they may dialogue only with those persons who have never been Jehovah’s Witnesses, but are concerned enough as Christians to love them dearly, and want to help them come free.
If they want to dialogue with ones who have been held captive by the Watchtower Organization before being set free by the grace of Jesus Christ, they may do that also. We are here to help. We care for you, and we love you enough to tell you the truth.
Do not be ashamed that you have trusted in a lie. The deliberate deceivers are at headquarters. You are not a deliberate deceiver, but one of the deceived. You became a Jehovah’s Witness because you truly loved God and wanted to serve Him with your life. It is not too late to turn from this pagan organization masquerading as Christian to real Christianity, found in the person of Jesus Christ.
The Jehovah’s Witness Organization has misrepresented Christ as a secondary god, only a good man, and the Archangel Michael. They have misled you. Jesus Christ is truly God, and truly man. If you have the right Jesus Christ, you are right for all eternity. If you have the wrong Jesus Christ, you are wrong for all eternity. Any decisions you make now will count for eternity. Jesus Himself said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep…. I am the good shepherd, and I know My own, and My own know Me…” (John 10:10,11,14).
If you truly love the good shepherd, Jesus Christ, you will not be afraid to come directly to Him, pour out your heart and all your doubts and failings to Him, and allow Him to be the Lord of your life. Jesus is the door, not the Watchtower Society. Jesus is the Way, not the Watchtower Society. Jesus is the Truth, not the Watchtower Society. Jesus is the Way, The Truth, and the Life (John 14:6).
If you will lay aside your Watchtower literature in favor of a valid Bible alone, and really seek God with all your heart, you will find Him!
