Have you ever argued with a Jehovah’s witness who came to your door? Or maybe someone from another fringe religious group?

I used to spend so much time doing that. Many of them are more familiar with the Bible than a lot of Christians are. I knew the Bible really well too! However, the arguments never led anywhere. We spent hours going back and forth. Sometimes the other people were impressed and told me I knew so much more than most people they argued with, but they still disagreed.

That began to change when I learned about healing the sick. Here’s my most recent experience talking with Jehovah’s Witnesses. And they didn’t come knocking on my door. I went to them.

“Hey, Can I Pray For You?”

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 I was taking my little girl to buy popsicles, and I saw a heavy man in a wheelchair across the street. I’d seen him before, but never talked to him. I thought “Since Jesus lives in me, I have what he needs. I should go minister to him.” He was sitting and talking with a younger guy, who was about 30 years old.

 I walked up to the two and I asked the man “Hey, will you let me pray for you. A long time ago my back was injured, somebody prayed for me, and God healed me. I felt something like a ball of energy rolling up and down my spine, and the pain melted away. Now, I’m always looking for opportunities to pray for other people who need to be healed.”

He responded “Oh, we pray…” and then asked about my denomination and several other things. In several other posts, such as 3 Ways An Antichrist Spirit Tries To Get The Focus Off Jesus, I shared how an antichrist spirit tries to create distractions. I’ve learned to be assertive and get to point, not letting the spirit do all the talking. An antichrist spirit was trying to keep me from praying for him. I said “You pray, but your body still needs to be healed. So will you let me pray for you?” 

He asked me if I know what God’s name is. I said “God has many names which we can find in scripture.”  

“Do you know what name is in Psalm 83:18?” 

“Yes, Jehovah, that’s one of the names of God in the Bible.” I wasn’t going to get into an argument with him about that.

“We’re Jehovah’s witnesses…” He proceeded to ask if I’d talked with Jehovah’s witnesses before and encouraged me to learn the doctrine that the Jehovah’s witnesses teach. He continued to tell me that Jesus did his miracles to show us what God will do when he brings his kingdom. He believed God’s kingdom wasn’t here now—it’s only future…

Slippery Doctrine

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Since an antichrist spirit tries to distract people from Jesus and change the subject, I didn’t want to get into long arguments. So I didn’t tell him that I already know what Jehovah’s Witnesses teach and I disagree with it. Instead, I had to be assertive and get to the point—Jesus has come in the flesh.

I’ve read Jehovah’s Witness literature. Most of the error is quite subtle. They don’t believe that Jesus is really God, but you don’t see that clearly in their evangelistic literature. They teach that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and resurrected. Many of the things they teach are true and seem quite orthodox.

Yet there’s one error in their literature that’s blatant, but many Christians don’t recognize it. Why? Because many Christians have fallen into the same kind of thinking.

That error is that Jehovah’s Witnesses  believe we are waiting for God’s kingdom to come in the future. They believe Jesus came and left, and so is no longer with us. This is the lie of an antichrist spirit. An antichrist spirit denies Jesus has come in the flesh, so it denies that the Spirit of Christ lives in his body, the church. Jesus did leave, but he didn’t leave us alone! He left, but said “I am with you always.” He put his spirit in our bodies and commissioned us to do the same works. (John 14:12) The kingdom of heaven is still at hand! We can reach out and lay hold of it.

Jehovah’s Witnesses teach as if God is currently far-away and inaccessible until he comes and brings his kingdom. The incarnation shows us that the kingdom of God is within us. The incarnation says “Immanuel,” God is with us. If you understand the incarnation, the error of the Jehovah’s witnesses becomes blatant.

Don’t Get Distracted—Proclaim That Jesus Has Come In The Flesh

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I told these guys, “There’s something I didn’t see in the Bible for many years, but it really amazed me when I finally saw it…” I went on to explain from Hebrews 9 and 10 that Jesus’ death makes the way for us to enter heaven now. Since I have access to heaven now, I can experience the joy, peace, and love that are in heaven right now. I can share heaven’s reality with other people.

“I’ve seen so many people get free from chronic pain when God’s peace filled their bodies. Jesus sent his disciples to heal the sick and do the same things that he did, and then he passed that commission on to future disciples. He said anyone who believed in him would do greater works. The church is Christ’s body, and we need to grow up in all things in him and do the same works as he did.” I was proclaiming Christ come in the flesh, by telling him that the church is the body of Christ and that God is with us. He tried to interrupt a few times, but I was assertive. I felt God’s glory flooding through my soul as I spoke about having access to God now.

He continued to suggest I go to the Jehovah’s Witnesses site and learn about their doctrine. I asked “Do Jehovah’s witnesses practice healing ministry?”

“No.”

“So why would I want to learn from someone who says God’s kingdom and healing are only for the future, when God has healed me and I’ve seen him heal so many other people when I pray? Why would I want to listen to someone who says that what I know by experience isn’t valid?”

“But what matters, your experience or the Bible?”

“My experience lines up with what the Bible teaches. Jesus went through all the towns and villages, healing every sickness and disease, and he taught his disciples to do the same. If the Jehovah’s Witnesses aren’t doing what Jesus did, why would I want to listen to their religious theories?”  If I’m going to learn something, I want to learn from somebody who’s doing it, not from someone with lots of theories but no experience.

He had nothing to say to that. I had silenced the antichrist spirit which was speaking through him.

“The Bible says Jesus’ name is ‘Immanuel,’ which means ‘God is with us.’ The apostle John said that any spirit that denies Jesus came in the flesh is antichrist. And so an antichrist spirit says God is far away. We can touch God, because Jesus came in the flesh. But an antichrist spirit makes God out to be only a theory, not tangible. Healing the sick like Jesus did shows that God is tangible and his kingdom is at hand. He’s not just a theory, and we can touch him. I have to take my little girl to get her popsicle, but will you let me pray for you first?”

He finally let me pray! “In Jesus’ name, I bless you and I release God’s peace and goodness on your life and in your body. I agree with everything the Holy Spirit is doing in your life. Body, be whole!” We said goodbye, and I took Rebekah to get her popsicle.

 The Difference Between This Exchange And The Arguments I Used To Have

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When I share these situations, it often sounds like I was a bit harsh because I spoke so forcefully. The truth is, if you’d seen the situation,  you’d have seen that we were quite friendly with each other. I had to be forceful because I was confronting the lies of a spirit when I was talking to these people. The force in my words was directed towards the lying spirit, not towards these people. The Holy Spirit helped me to say the truth directly without unnecessary offence.

This was so different than the arguments I used to have long ago with Jehovah’s Witnesses and people from other religious sects. Unlike the religious leaders of his day, Jesus spoke with authority. He spoke with authority because he wasn’t just rattling off religious theories. He demonstrated God’s reality to people.

I spoke with authority to the Jehovah’s Witnesses when I started talking about Jesus come in the flesh. They couldn’t contradict what I said. I was in charge of the situation. I felt God’s glory surging through my soul as I proclaimed Jesus come in the flesh and access to heaven now through Jesus’ body that was torn for us. I felt the atmosphere become charged with the weight of God’s glory as I spoke. We left on friendly terms, and it looked like the younger man was thinking a lot about what I said.

 

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The name “Christ” means “The anointed one.” An antichrist spirit opposes the anointing by denying Jesus has come in the flesh. The truths you must understand to walk in the anointing are summed up in the incarnation—Jesus coming in a human body.

If you understand the incarnation, it will be easy to recognize the lies of an antichrist spirit. Wherever the church is lacking in power, the influence of an antichrist spirit can be found. The doctrine of a spirit denying the incarnation influenced the early church fathers through Gnosticism and Greek philosophy, and it has crippled much of the church throughout history. We can trace every major problem in today’s societies back to the lie of a spirit that denies the incarnation.

Understanding the incarnation took me from a place of frustration and powerlessness to a life of miracles. I’ve just published the third book in the “Heaven Now” series, “Jesus Has Come In The Flesh.” It clearly lays out the implications of the incarnation versus the lies of an antichrist spirit. It’s also full of true stories of God’s power touching people and of confronting (overrunning) antichrist influence within and outside the church.

Purchase “Jesus Has Come In The Flesh”