Breaking Free From False Religion

For most of her life, Babilina Kharatishvili was a devoted member of the Georgian Orthodox Church. When she was in her 30’s, she traveled from town to town and from village to village teaching people about the lives led by the saints.

But Babilina wanted to know more about God. So she decided to attend lectures at a Georgian Orthodox seminary. On one occasion, a clergyman showed the book Knowledge That Leads to Everlasting Life to his listeners and encouraged them to obtain a copy of it from Jehovah’s Witnesses. He told them, “This book can teach you a lot about the Bible.”

Babilina was shocked. She had always avoided the Witnesses, and now a clergyman recommended their books! She told herself, ‘If I should learn about God from Jehovah’s Witnesses, what am I doing here?’ She immediately contacted the Witnesses in the city of Poti and started studying the Bible.

As Babilina learned more from the Bible, she made important changes in her life. She once said: “When I saw with my own eyes that the Bible says it is wrong to worship icons, I shunned all forms of idolatry. I was convinced that it was the right thing to do.” In her late 70’s at the time, she decided to become one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Sadly, in 2001, Babilina became ill and passed away before she could get baptized. But her granddaughter, Izabela, later got baptized and is now faithfully serving Jehovah.

She Wanted to Become a Nun

Eliso Dzidzishvili was 28 years old when she decided to become a nun. Since there was no convent close to her hometown, Tkibuli, she moved to Tbilisi in 2001. While searching for a vacancy in a convent, she took a part-time job as a private teacher. One of her pupils happened to be the daughter of a sister named Nunu.

Eliso relates: “We often talked about the Bible. I fiercely defended the Orthodox religion, while Nunu patiently showed me one verse after another. One day, she offered to read me the brochure What Does God Require of Us? As we read paragraphs and looked up Bible verses, I realized that worshipping icons is in direct violation of God’s command.”

Later, Eliso went to the local church and asked a priest some questions. From his answers it was clear that the church’s teachings were not based on the Bible. (Mark 7:7, 8) Convinced that she had found the truth, she immediately started to study the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses and soon got baptized.