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My wife is attending JW meetings. It's about to destroy our marriage and I can't seem to get her to be objective about the teachings at all. HELP PLEASE The above is one example of many, many emails I receive asking for help. Unfortunately, most of the time, help comes too late. When someone you love begins to exhibit signs that he/she is getting involved in the Jehovah's Witness cult group, IMMEDIATE action must be taken without delay if you are going to have any success in squashing their involvement in this family destroying cult. The way to do this is not with scripture or with arguing doctrines; rather, it is to undermine your loved one's faith in the Watchtower Society (Jehovah's Witnesses) as being "the Truth" and "God's sole Channel of Communication to mankind". You need to be astute to observe the following signs: · Suddenly reading the bible and Watchtower literature (little books, magazines like Awake! and, the Watchtower). Check your house for any signs of these materials. It is a visual early warning sign. Also, the Watchtower Society produces audio/visual 'aids'. Check for the presence of these as well. If you find these materials, talk to your spouse openly and frankly. If he or she trivializes it with words like "oh, it's nothing" or, "I'm just curious and like to read", do not accept this response. Tell them that you have concerns and would like to investigate the Society (not its doctrines) by speaking to religious authorities and former members to make sure that your time and resources will be invested wisely by joining. Let them know that honest investigation will only serve to help uncover the truth further. · The person begins to isolate his/herself from family and friends. Perhaps he/she belonged to some volunteer group or club and they have suddenly resigned from it. · Talk of how evil the world has become or how worldly materialism is. · A marked change in personality. The loved one is more serious and quiet. They are like a different person. He/she seems to be more in contemplation and "off" into another world. · The taking on of prayer before meals especially where this wasn't the case before. Sometimes the person may not pray out loud but may quietly bow his/her head and close their eyes for a few seconds. · Talking about the Jehovah's Witnesses and a lot of talk about the "last days" or the "end times". Other key words you should look out for are: Armageddon, Satan the Devil, things "satanic", Jehovah, the "world", the New System of things, the 1,000 years reign of Christ, the millennium, the resurrection of the dead, the friends, the Great Tribulation, paganism, the Kingdom, Kingdom Hall, materialistic, the 'Anointed', the 144,000, the Great Crowd, Jesus dying on a stake not a cross, religious holidays being pagan or having no scriptural basis. · If there were religious images or jewelry before and there is a sudden absence of these then this just about guarantees their involvement. A key indicator is when the loved one removes a cross from a neck chain saying "would you wear the method by which your loved one died?" or "if your loved one was executed in the electric chair would you wear an electric chair around your neck?" or something to that effect. · Suddenly making a big deal about "lies" and "lying" and not using or complaining about profanity. Listen if they suddenly begin using substitute words for profanity or vulgarity. · Talking about the bible and the things to come excessively to you and others. If any of the above proves to be the case, take swift action -- that very moment! You will need to go to a Christian bookstore and obtain "opposing literature" written against the Jehovah's Witnesses. You must read it and get your loved one to read it. One that helped me was a workbook entitled "Question for Jehovah's Witnesses Who Love the Truth" by Bill Cetnar available at Personal Freedom Outreach. This shows photocopies of Watchtower mistakes, false prophesies, vacillating back and forth between doctrines, and outright lunacy. In fact, the PFO web site -- www.pfo.org has many good materials to reach JWs. Remember, the point is to undermine the Watchtower Society and shake your loved one's faith in the Society and not to argue doctrine. If you can prove to them that the Watchtower Society is not who they make themselves out to be ("God's Channel of Communication on earth") and there is no way God could even be remotely using them, then you have basically won the battle. But time is of the essence. How so? If your loved has begun studying with the JWs -- depending on how far or how long they have been studying -- will determine the measure of success you will have in squashing their involvement. JWs use a Watchtower book to indoctrinate people calling it a "Bible" study. They visit once a week for one hour and study one chapter in the book. In the study books of the past, usually by chapter 3 (the third study), the indoctrinee is taught that "Satan the Devil would use loved ones to try to stop their involvement with the only true faith on the earth today…the Jehovah's Witnesses." If they get to that point, things will be looking very grim (see the section on this web site: "The True Religion Syndrome"). If your loved one has been attending meetings (even for the first or second time) then chances are it's too late to pull him/her out of the cult because if they go through the bother of preparing for and attending meetings that means they are far along into their indoctrination and now have decided that "this is the Truth". Using coersion will only serve to reinforce that the Devil is using loved ones to try to stop their involvement in the "true faith" and will cause him or her to dig their heels more deeply into the cult. If your loved one is becoming more and more involved in the Jehovah's Witnesses then you need to use tact and creativity in reaching them. One effective method is to jointly research other religious groups such as the Mormons or the Moonies. If you take this approach your loved one's guard will be down and not on the defensive since you are not researching the JWs. However, the groups are similar in the way members are controlled and he/she will actually be able to identify with it deep within. I would suggest going to a Christian bookstore and renting the following video: The Godmakers (this is about Mormonism). Ask your loved one to watch it with you because you are interested in Mormonism and want to see what they are all about. The parallels are the same for Mormons and the JWs. He or she will not feel threatened by watching it. There are three other videos from Jeremiah Films you should rent but don't force him/her to watch it with you because they won't watch it and will feel threatened: - Witnesses of Jehovah Watch it and learn yourself. If the Godmakers video caused him/her to think, ask him/her to watch the above videos critical of the Jehovah's Witnesses and ask him/her to point out where the videos are "lying" just so that you could understand the JW religion a bit better. Check the following sites and subscribe to any newsletters those ministries may print and publish (which you could leave lying around the bathroom or coffee table) and don't ask him/her to read them. If the videos have caused your loved one to think he/she may at first "glance" at them and then when you're not around they may actually read them.
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