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I Prayed and Was Met By a Witness …
It is common in Watchtower experiences to include stories of people that prayed for the truth, and within a short span of time they were met by Jehovah's Witnesses. Soon thereafter they converted to Jehovah's Witnesses. This is held up as a great proof that Jehovah's Witnesses have the truth and Jehovah answers the prayers of those genuinely searching for him. This is a non-sequitur logical fallacy, for several reasons.
The first point to recognise is the statistical probability of a person praying and being met by a Jehovah's Witness. Witnesses spent nearly 2 billion hours preaching, predominantly from house to house. People that pray for God to reveal himself or show him truth are often repetitive in their prayers. There are going to be constant occasions where a person prays and is met within a short timeframe by a Witness that just happens to be going house to house in that territory. It is not as if a person prays, and a Jehovah's Witness is moved by holy spirit to drive to that particular house alone and knock on the door. They are just two events that coincide in time. Unfortunately, the person praying will be more vulnerable to the Watchtower message if they connect the Witnesses on their doorstep with the prayer for truth.
The next point to note is that this concept of "I prayed and was met by a …" is a common story in every religion. Following are a number of experiences, none of which are regarding Jehovah's Witnesses. Interestingly, in one of the experiences, a person prayed and was not met by any Witnesses for 5 months, but rather converted to Catholicism.
The Importance of Missionary Work
Sister Petra G. de Hernandez of Monterrey, Mexico, told her story:
"Nineteen years ago my husband died in an automobile accident. It was then that I felt the need to find God, so that he could help me with my family. My youngest daughter was eleven months old.
"One night, in the midst of my desperation, ... I prayed to the Lord as if I were talking to another person. I asked him to show me the path to take in life. I told him that I knew he existed, but I didn't know where. I asked him to show me how or where to find him. I did it with such faith and desire to find the truth that I shall never forget that prayer.
"The answer to my prayer was not long in coming. One morning two young missionaries knocked on my door and said they were from the Mormon Church and that they brought me a very important message. I had heard about the Mormons, but I had not been the least interested in them. I let them come in and they began the first lesson. As I received the first lesson, I felt that what they were saying was true, and I told them I wanted to be baptized with my family. ...
"Since the day we accepted the gospel our lives have changed completely. I was now sure that God hears our prayers. ...
"I can say with assurance that we are a united family due to the gospel and to those two missionaries who knocked on my door fifteen years ago.
lds.org
In that 5 month time period from when I prayed to the Lord to send me to a church that was accurate to His teachings.....the only people that came to talk to me about God was an ex-Roman Catholic Christian woman and her ex-Roman Catholic dad that had become a Pastor. In that 5 month time period from when I prayed to God up until the day I got saved, no Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses came knocking on my door and they would always come to my house on Saturdays. As soon as I got saved though, guess who came back knocking on my door again....yup the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses...lol. Then the Lord wanted me to talk to them and tell them His true Gospel and my testimony too. In the 5 month period also from right after I prayed that prayer until the day I got saved, I just want to add that unfortunately no Roman Catholic's came to talk with me at all either in that time period. Only Christian Born Again believers, followers of Jesus Christ. 2praisegod.com
I Prayed You Would Come- Artur Arakelyan
I am a Global Mission pioneer. I was selling books door-to-door in a city in Armenia. I knocked on one door in an apartment house, and a woman answered. I introduced myself and my work. She welcomed me in and listened as I told her about the books.
She looked up with tears in her eyes and said, "Just before you came to my door, I was praying that God would send someone to help me know more about God and the Bible. I believe God sent you." The woman, Alvart, said that her 11-year-old daughter had been attending a Protestant church and often told her things she was learning about God. Although Alvart wasn't attending the church, her daughter's comments created a hunger to know more.
Then she told how one day three months earlier she had put her 2-year-old son to sleep in his stroller near the bedroom window and went about her housework. Her daughter, Anna, was playing outside in the apartment courtyard. The baby awoke and climbed from the stroller onto the windowsill and fell out the window from their ninth-floor apartment. A passerby saw the child falling and screamed. Anna looked up to see her baby brother falling toward her.
"Dear Jesus, help me!" she prayed, and instinctively she held out her arms. The baby fell into her arms, and both children tumbled to the ground. Amazingly neither child was hurt.
As Alvart recalled the story, tears welled in her eyes. "At first I thought that God was punishing me for my sins," she said. "But when I realized that God had used my daughter church, to save her brother. Then I realized that God was trying to help me. That's when I began praying to know more about God."
She couldn't afford to buy the books she wanted, so I gave her a small book and offered to study the Bible with her. She gladly accepted. She didn't have a Bible, so I gave her one. She is ready for baptism.
When I first went to this town we had not even one Adventist there. Now we have a group of 10 people who are meeting in a home every Sabbath and studying the Bible. Another 20 or so are interested to know more but haven't committed themselves to Bible studies yet. They're from all walks of life-lawyers, doctors, taxi drivers, and homemakers. I had met them by working as a literature evangelist.
I praise God that our Sabbath School mission offerings help support the work of Global Mission, one way to tell the world that Jesus loves them.
ssnet.org
... i went to our little Bure in front of our house and prayed to heavenly father and asked that if this was the true church and i was to be baptised for him to send back Elder Rigamoto to baptise me. Well it was in November, 2000 when i was coming back from school and i thought to go and pay a visit to the elders so i could meet the new missionary who was to replace Elder Rigamoto. To my surprise when i walked in the house Elder Rigamoto was standing there smiling with no idea that my prayer had just been answered. I was then baptised and i have no regrets and I am also very blessed. ldscompanion.org
I don't want to say that a young and energetic couple - without jobs - would actually be enjoying the quiet of a day at home - since both would clearly welcome employment. But Keithroy and Topeka Charles were at peace with their situation; they pray daily and radiate a confidence that God will provide. On the morning of April 14 they had discussed how wonderful it would be if their frequent online sweepstakes entries in the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes would bear fruit - in the form of a Big Check.
Keithroy, a St. Kitts native, and Topeka, a native Louisianan, were sitting down to a midday meal in their Baton Rouge, LA, apartment when there was an interruptive knock on the door. Who could that be? Their five-year old boy was not due home from school for over an hour, and they were not expecting anyone else - unless ...!! Could this be their morning prayers answered?
Topeka glanced out the window and thought she saw some colorful balloons passing by. Could it be?!?! She and Keithroy ran to the door, pulled it open, then faced the scene they had seen countless times on TV. But this time it was at THEIR front door: the PCH Prize Patrol stood smiling right in front of them - with a video-cameraman, a TV news reporter, bouquets of roses and balloons, champagne, and a Big Check - for $10,000.00! blog.pch.com/
As I was feeling more than sad about the whole thing, I prayed what I pray when I am overwhelmed by the numbers and pain in our villages... And then there was a knock at the door. Sarah went to answer it, and I heard the name Ida. It started slowly to come together in my mind. The Lord heard my prayer before I even prayed it. He sent me a Landcruiser with a doctor and two nurses from the mission hospital at Ilembula which is about 5 hours away. They were here to see Ida's daughters who are studying here at our school, but they also came to my door to see if there were any sick people that I might want them to see!!!! They could help me by traveling around with me to for two hours before they had to leave. villageschools.org
Wessel says he was a child born from an unwanted pregnancy who suffered verbal abuse from his mother, who had mental illness. He was sexually molested, which led him to drinking, drugs, theft and violence, he said. On his way to end his life, he was stopped by a neighborhood pastor who was going door to door inviting young people to attend his church. Believing that knock on the door was more than a coincidence, Wessel decided to give life another chance. heritage.com
Thanks to wannabefree for collating these experiences at jehovahs-witness.net
Paul Grundy 2005 - 2024