David Henke, Watchman Fellowship, slightly edited with permission 5/4/25 David Henke, Watchman Fellowship, slightly edited with permission 5/4/25

Who Joins Spiritually Abusive Groups?

The question of who joins high control religious groups seems like it would have a simple answer. It does not. Nor is there a simple answer to how it happens. The starting place should be the question of what disposes a person to spiritual abuse? Why is a person vulnerable? What differences in people make one vulnerable and another not so vulnerable?

Here is a list that may help you think it through. Which of these statements fit you?

Lindsay 4/27/25 Lindsay 4/27/25

Excommunicated

Back in 2008, I was excommunicated as Jehovah’s Witness from the Watchtower Society. I did not yet know the Lord Jesus. But that night—the same night I was excommunicated—I felt a ball and chain fall off of me. I paid the price of losing my relationship with my parents and sister. I went on to live a very sinful life, as I thought I was free to live how I wanted to.

I had to endure heartache, guilt, rejection, depression, anxiety, and fear, at times in and out of the emergency room for panic attacks and health related issues, not realizing these were lies from the enemy.

David Henke, Watchman Fellowship, slightly edited with permission 4/20/25 David Henke, Watchman Fellowship, slightly edited with permission 4/20/25

What Is God’s Name?

Jehovah’s Witnesses have very little understanding of the Name they have taken for themselves. The origin of the Name is in Exodus 3, where a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus as “the angel of the Lord” says His name is I Am. In Hebrew the Angel of the Lord said, “ehyeh asher ehyeh” which was translated as “I Am that I Am.” It means “I Am the Eternal” which tells us the Angel of the Lord was the pre-incarnate Jesus. The Hebrew behind I Am is the origin of Yahweh.

David Henke, Watchman Fellowship, slightly edited with permission 3/30/25 David Henke, Watchman Fellowship, slightly edited with permission 3/30/25

The Bodily Resurrection

When we share the Bible with a Jehovah’s Witness, we should emphasize what is most important for them to know. We must let them know that the bodily resurrection is of “FIRST IMPORTANCE.”

My recommendation is that we should focus our witness to them on a topic that is essential to the Gospel. It also helps that this doctrine is very clear in the New Testament. There are no interpretive or textual problems. There are also a lot fewer verses to cover than other key doctrines like the Trinity [which, in Make Sure Ministries’ opinion, is not a subject that should be approached in early conversations, but rather just the deity of Christ].