I was stopped by two Jehovah’s Witnesses and was very thankful that I had the scriptural knowledge and the courage to dispute some of the things they said.\u00a0 As a member of the church, I fully understand the nature of Christ’s kingdom and provided scriptural evidence for its current presence on earth.\u00a0 They posed a question I need help answering, and I would like for you to share your thoughts with me.\u00a0 They quoted their version of Matthew 6:9 and asked if I thought His will was being done on earth and wanted to use that phrase to dispute the presence of the Kingdom.\u00a0 What should my response have been to that?<\/p>\n
Thank you.<\/p>\n\t
My first question would be: “You mean mere men can thwart the will of God?”<\/p>\n
“Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,’ Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man who executes My counsel, from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it<\/em>” (Isaiah 46:9-11).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
God does not need the cooperation of men to accomplish His will.<\/p>\n
“In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven<\/em>” (Matthew 6:9-10).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Prayers are requests and it should be our prayer that people obey God. As Jesus said, “For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother<\/em>” (Matthew 12:50). Jesus did not say in his example prayer that everyone on earth would be obedient to God’s will on earth. It is a prayer that more will be willing to obey God and submit to His will.<\/p>\n
“God be merciful to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us. Selah That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You. Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You shall judge the people righteously, and govern the nations on earth. Selah Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You. Then the earth shall yield her increase; God, our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him<\/em>” (Psalms 67:1-7).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The existence of the Gentiles did not mean God’s kingdom Israel did not exist. The presence of non-Christians does not mean that Jesus’ kingdom, the church, does not exist.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I was stopped by two Jehovah’s Witnesses and was very thankful that I had the scriptural knowledge and the courage to dispute some of the things they said.\u00a0 As a member of the church, I fully understand the nature of Christ’s kingdom and provided scriptural evidence for its current presence on earth.\u00a0 They posed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[355,345,735],"class_list":["post-34079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-jehovahs-witnesses","tag-kingdom","tag-sovereignty"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":46755,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-144000\/","url_meta":{"origin":34079,"position":0},"title":"The 144,000","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Revelation 14:1-5 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses teach that the kingdom of heaven will be established after the \u201cend times\u201d with 144,000 faithful saints chosen by God to becomes spirits and to rule with Christ for the millennium. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0These rulers, they say, will govern the earth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1387,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-are-the-jehovahs-witnesses-beliefs-about-the-godhead\/","url_meta":{"origin":34079,"position":1},"title":"What are the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ beliefs about the Godhead?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 24, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What are the Jehovah's Witnesses' beliefs concerning the Godhead Answer: According to The Truth that Leads to Eternal Life\u00a0published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society in 1968: \"God's personal name is made known to us through his Word, the Bible, and that name is JEHOVAH\" (page 17).\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46671,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-gods-original-plan-to-have-humans-live-on-the-earth-forever\/","url_meta":{"origin":34079,"position":2},"title":"Was God’s original plan to have humans live on the earth forever?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Question: Thank you, sir, for using the word of God in answering questions. God bless you for that. Sir, I was studying the Bible with two Jehovah's Witnesses members. I was told most of the righteous will be in the big crowd and enjoy paradise on earth. I was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10289,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-you-a-jehovahs-witnesses-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":34079,"position":3},"title":"Are you a Jehovah’s Witnesses church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 8, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Would you consider your church to be a Jehovah's Witnesses church? I really enjoy reading the question and answer section of your website. It is very enlightening. Keep up the great work. P.S. I mean no disrespect. I'm just curious. God bless you brother. Answer: The Jehovah's Witnesses are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2482,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-new-world-translation-an-accurate-translation\/","url_meta":{"origin":34079,"position":4},"title":"Is the New World Translation an accurate translation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 8, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What do you think about The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures? Is it an accurate translation? Answer: The New World Translation is the product of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, the publishing arm of the Jehovah's Witnesses denomination. Though it claims to be a literal translation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13203,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-new-world-translation-accurate\/","url_meta":{"origin":34079,"position":5},"title":"Is the New World Translation Accurate?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 3, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Isaiah 8:19-22 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Members of the Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses have become excited in recent times. An author with a Ph.D. after his name has written a book saying the New World Translation and the New American Bible (a Catholic translation) are the most accurate translations. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34079\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}