Residents of Halstead have had enough door knocking by Jehovah’s Witnesses in their village. Halstead in Essex, England, is a town of about 11,000 residents just a 20-minute drive northeast of London. They’ve finally spoken out and complained to authorities that Jehovah’s Witnesses have become a nuisance and nothing seems to deter them.
A local JW elder, Mike Woodison, expressed his concern over the complaints, but did not promise any reduction in the level of door knocking. Instead, he offered a possible solution to the problem: Let the residents take the initiative and notify the local Kingdom Hall in writing that they wanted to be put on a “no-call list.”
“…[We] are anxious to avoid confrontation with householders or to force our message on others…[We] kindly reassure them that we will comply with their wishes should they prefer us not to call.”
One Halstead resident complained that despite his telling them that he is not interested “…they knock every couple of days on [my] door…”
“I often see cars pulling up and ten to 15 of them piling out when I am at work.”
One described their style of preaching as being his main complaint. “The Jehovah’s Witnesses can be quite rude because they won’t take no for an answer…”
The truth is that most Kingdom Halls do not maintain “Do Not Call” lists. Many claim that they do, but most do not. And those that do keep up such records do not give copies to the JW publishers they send out to work in a territory. The exceptions to this “truth” are that some individual JWs, especially Special Pioneers who work the same neighborhoods often, will keep a notebook listing addresses that have asked them not to call and those with potentially dangerous pets.
Add to the mix some Witnesses simply don’t care and will ignore signs, mad dogs, and clear indications they are not wanted. They feel that by going and knocking on doors of those who have made it clear they do not wish to be bothered is their “standing up against Satan.” They love to tell stories they’ve heard about someone who “rejected Jehovah’s message for dozens of years and was an active opposer” who suddenly stopped and listened out of desperation and then “accepted Jehovah’s word.”
There are more effective methods to stop JWs from knocking on your door. One way is actually to engage them at the door or invite them in and then don’t let them deliver their canned presentation but ask them very direct questions about their beliefs, policies, and history. Then ask them to prove it to you in Bible right then and there – but by including and reading all the scriptures around their proof reference. This strategy works especially well when the subject of the “144,000 anointed” comes up. Most often the JWs will make a hasty exit “to prepare a proper response” and then never come back.
One former JW taught his harassed neighbor this “144,000 trick” of dealing with Witnesses coming to his door: Make them read all of Revelation chapters 7 and 14 and then ask them to try explaining all the details. A few months later the neighbor said that it worked well the two times he used it. In fact – he missed having the JWs come by so that he “could try it again.”
Many will quickly turn tail when asked about the “Conti child abuse lawsuit” or “Judge Rutherford’s 1925 prophesy” or “Fred Franz’s 1975” and “1914 generation” prophesies. Another way one former JW handles them is to always answer “No” to absolutely every question they ask and nothing else. “Can I read you a scripture from the Bible?” NO. “Were you aware that we are living in the ‘end times’?” NO. “May we come in?” NO. “Would you like a free Bible study?” NO. “Would you accept an invitation to our Memorial?” NO. The “NO” is best if delivered with a deadpan expression and no emphasis.
The fact remains that Jehovah’s Witnesses will continue their “door-to-door” preaching for the foreseeable future. Eventually, the Watchtower may find that the use of the long despised Internet and JW.org will be far more effective in getting their message out to non-believers. But they are also learning that by their critics are recording videos and audio of their teachings and will use them as they have the writings of Joseph Rutherford, Charles T. Russell, and Fred Franz. Those videos will come back to haunt them years later when their victims and the public will use their very own words to expose their false teachings and hypocrisy.
thank you Barbara for the very interesting articles you poste.
In Australia the Witnesses are pretty good about putting anyone who says they don’t want them calling on the ‘Do Not Call’ list (at least they used to be when I was one in the sixties and seventies). One of the elders will visit these people every 6 months or so to check if the same person/family still lives there.
But they are relentless! There was one Witness ‘old-timer’ in my congregation who had the reputation of putting his foot in the door to prevent the householder from shutting it before he had his say. But that was the sixties – I don’t think he would get away with it today!
I’m reminded of one stalwart circuit overseer who used to proudly tell the story of going to a door and ringing the bell and a young boy appearing and announcing that his mummy had gone shopping. The C.O. said that he noticed a large mirror at the end of the hallway and when he looked closely he could see the boy’s mother’s legs reflected in it. He turned to the boy and said in a voice loud enough for the woman to hear, “Well you tell your mummy that next time she goes shopping to take her legs with her!”. Apparently the reflected legs shot out of sight quicker than you could say ‘Jack’! I used to find that story amusing, but how things have changed.
Mrs. Barbara is possible to have this warning label by it self so I can print and stick at the back of my car?
Rikos, I’m not Barbara (I’m not as good-looking) but if you right click onto the image on Internet Explorer, there should be an option to print the image. Left click onto that and it should print out for you.
I think that sign is brilliant! i remember seeing that sometime ago in a facebook group Who thought that up and how do you obtain it? Its giving me food for thought i mean you could put to a certain degree anything up in a notice. Such as JWs im happy for you to call here as long as we can discuss tfirst he recent Royal commission which took place in Austrailia and the Candace Cont case
That paragraph re using the 144,000 tactic is hilarious!
Several years before I ever met a JW, I was at the home of fellow workmates whose house was right on Main St. USA out West. They had a brown stuffed Teddy Bear on their front door frame with a wooden stake through its heart! It had a note stuck to it with letters “JW.” I thought it was gruesome so asked, What’s the deal with that? They said it was to scare off the “Jehovah’s Witnesses” who stopped too often at their house on the main drag. So there’s an idea for Do Not Calls! 😉 though your sign may be more agreeable to PETA, lol.
“The truth is that most Kingdom Halls do not maintain “Do Not Call” lists. Many claim that they do, but most do not. And those that do keep up such records do not give copies to the JW publishers they send out to work in a territory”
This was not my experience when I was a witness in the UK. Each territory map had a list of do not call house numbers in that territory on the back. At the field service meeting. before visiting assigned territory publishers would make a note of the do not call house or flat numbers. An elder would visit the do not call numbers once a year to see if the householder still did not want JW’s to call or to see whether or not the house had new occupants.
In my experience reporting a creep that called himself my spiritual brother who was really just a nerdy serial rapist who raped teenage girls at gunpoint, not to mention his two daughters when they turned 13 and they reported it, and his wife whom he hogtied and sodomized who also reported his sociopathic behavior, we were all put on a “Do Not Call List.” His wife divorced him and since the elders say they “do not police the bedroom,” and they told her “incest is not a reason to divorce, it is not adultery,” she decided she wanted no part of a religion that promotes inbred monsters and she disassociated herself from it. The elders felt sorry for the monster, who was contributing financially to the Kingdom Hall by illegal drug sales to minors. To this day, he is not disfellowshipped. His parents are best friends with all the elderly elders that are empathetic to other males that commit crimes against humanity.
Elders here shun anyone who associates with any woman or child that reports rape or pedophilia of the “brothers” they really love and want to rub shoulders with. Nobody calls on the victims, they only call on the rapists and pedophiles for spiritual comfort. Which leaves me to believe that the elders most likely are accustomed to incest which only produces rapists and pedophiles (*without proper psychiatric help) and they feel like kindred spirits among sexual predators. My husband says it is because men generally make more money than women and therefore have more to give to the church, and that money is worth more to them than the “peace and security” of women and children.
What I’ve found is that when people go away from the faith as a Jehovah’s Witness. All they do is make up stories and lies about them because they cannot keep up to the bibles standards. Ok if they want to go away from the faith then just go nobody is stopping them and don’t make up lies saying they are treated badly. If they do wrong as the law says you get punished it’s the same with the faith nobody makes them do wrong they do it themselves there are over 12 million active witnesses who are very happy people worldwide they don’t go saying lies..they get on with there faith. So to all those that don’t want to be jehovahs witnesses ok it’s your choice your life but stop telling lies about things that are not true..
“What I’ve found is that when people go away from the faith as a Jehovah’s Witness. All they do is make up stories and lies about them because they cannot keep up to the bibles standards.”
Peter, you’ve been brainwashed by Watchtower to believe this because it suits their agenda. Why don’t you give us some evidence that these people are making up these stories? The reason I left had nothing to do with not being able to “keep up to Bible standards”, a rumor that the Witnesses in my congregation were spreading – they were the ones lying – but because I started looking into the history of the organization and discovered that it wasn’t it claimed to be. I’m so glad I did!
JWs are nothing but brain washed child abusers and pedophiles. Enough said.
My many encounters with JWs in my local area is becoming annoying. Had 2 adult women and one child come to my door today and when I respectfully told her I wasn’t interested the older woman proceeded to put her foot in my storm door trying to prevent me from closing it. What will it take for them to just leave me alone? Because they’ll be back.
Maryanne D Cruz –
If you have a cell phone with you take it out and point it toward the foot of anyone with their foot in your door or inside your screen door. In most cases, they will realize what you are doing and quickly withdraw it. If they don’t, take the photo and then let them know that you will send it to the police for a possible complaint of “trespass and threatening.” It is unlikely that they will push in any further and will likely hastily retreat. Takes about 30 seconds for them to be back on the street. It would be a good idea when answering the door to always have your cellphone in camera mode just in case someone acts threatening toward you. I know of at least five complaints that were filed against JWs for being too aggressive. In three cases nothing was done. The other two had the video in progress and the event was recorded. Nobody went to jail, but the police did inquire and spoke to someone at the Kingdom Hall letting them know that a “trespass is a trespass” and considered a possible crime or assualt.
In metro Detroit. I do not see why I have to be polite to someone coming to my door in a predominantly Jewish and Catholic neighborhood, to tell me, “being gay is a sin”, “being in a gay marriage is a sin” and “I read the bible with my head covered to please my husband”. I do not understand why anyone can go over my personal boundaries and knock on my door uninvited for any reason. This makes no sense. They aren’t exactly spreading kindness. They are basically trying to make me feel like crap so I go and hang out with them while making me feel guilty about everything my “mixt” family is associated with (Catholic, Jewish, Mormon, anabaptist, LGBTQ, single mom). I honestly felt many times that not answering the door would mean more “casing us out.”