The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Panorama City, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from the tape, GC 70-5, titled "Bible Questions and Answers."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE.  Copyright John MacArthur Jr., All Rights Reserved.

Question

I have a friend who, when the Jehovah Witnesses come or the Mormons, says, "Close the door, don't let them in--hide!"  And I have another friend, that when the Mormons come or the Jehovah Witnesses, she says [to them], "You are false teachers; you are liars; you are going to hell.  Repent from your sins.  Get away!  I don't want to listen to you; I don't want to talk to you."  My question is, should we be bold to these people [or hide]?

Answer

I think it depends who you are talking to.  I have done all of those and more.  I've invited them in and tried to love them and sit them down, and I guess, maybe, you sort of experiment with them.  And I've labeled them that way, I've said, "You false prophet; you viper; you wolf; you whatever bound for hell," and I've given them the whole prophetic shot.  I mean, I have done that.

I remember there was a guy in our church who got ripped off by the Mormons and I went over to the house because somebody told me the Mormon Bishops were at his house; so I went to his house.  I just decided that I would make a whip and throw everybody out, in effect.  I just really told them what they were; and I hope that I did it at that time--I thought that the Spirit was leading me to do that--but at the time I thought that I wanted to impress upon their minds so unforgettably how serious their error was, their damning heresy, that I wanted to speak to them in terminology that the rest of their lives they would never forget.  To plant in their minds this lingering reality that this might be true.

I guess the one thing I don't want to do is to give them even a small sense of acceptance.  I can also understand the "lock the door; turn out the lights and hide" approach, because there are times when you just don't want to get into the situation. 

So again, I don't know that there is any right answer on that.  As I said earlier, obviously the best thing to do might be to first of all, try to negotiate an opportunity, and if there is no opportunity there and they are completely closed (this would be my approach), and you can't negotiate the opportunity to communicate the truth to them, at that particular point, with graciousness you might want to tell them the truth about what they are.  I think that they need to know that.

You take a young vulnerable (you know they usually come in pairs: one is a strong one and one is a weak one)--you take that young person and literally put fear in them with the right kind of Biblical picture of a false teacher and it can have a profound effect and a very unsettling effect, and it is certainly a method that our Lord used.