Kingdom Proclaimers Report

A Former Opponent Learns the Truth

MUCH has been reported in the news regarding the civil war in Liberia. Tens of thousands lost their lives, and even more were exiled. In spite of these hardships, honesthearted people continue to embrace the truth, as the following experience illustrates.

From the age of ten, James was educated by the Lutheran Church. After becoming an editor of a church paper, he used his position to write against Jehovah’s Witnesses. This was in spite of the fact that he had never met one of them.

In time, James left the church paper and became a successful motel owner. One day as he was sitting in the reception area of his motel, two well-dressed sisters called on him. On seeing their neat clothing, he invited them in. But when they explained the purpose of their visit, he said, “I am too busy to talk.” The Witnesses offered him subscriptions to the Watchtower and Awake! magazines, and he accepted just to get rid of them. For 12 months the magazines came to his home, but he put them in a plastic bag without even removing their wrappers.

A civil war was raging, so James packed a bag with money and valuables in order to flee at the first sign of attack. One morning a grenade exploded behind his back door, and in a panic he grabbed his bag and ran for his life. Joining thousands of retreating civilians, he had to pass through a number of checkpoints. There, innocent civilians were often robbed and killed for no apparent reason.

At the first checkpoint, James was asked a few questions and then told to open his bag. When he did, he looked into his bag and could not believe his eyes. To his horror he saw that the bag he had brought was not the one containing his valuables. In his panic, he had picked up the bag containing all the unopened Watchtower and Awake! magazines. However, when the soldier saw the magazines and read his name on the labels, he said: “Oh, you are one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. We are not looking for you people, we know you do not lie.” After taking a few magazines out of the bag, the soldier told James to move on.

The same thing happened at nine different checkpoints, as all the commanders presumed that James was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses and let him go through unharmed. James was now grateful that he had not brought his valuables because from what he had seen, he would almost certainly have been killed for his belongings.

When he finally reached the last and most feared checkpoint, he was horrified to see a number of dead bodies lying around. Terrified, he called upon Jehovah’s name. He prayed that if God would help him through this killing field, he would serve him for the rest of his life.

James presented his bag to the soldiers, and once again they said: “We are not looking for these people.” Turning to him, they added: “One of your brothers lives down this hill. Go and be with him.” By this time James’ opinion of the Witnesses had changed completely. He immediately contacted the brother, and arrangements were made for a Bible study in the book You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth.a

A few days later, an attack forced him to flee the area. This time, James ran into the bush clutching only his Live Forever book! During 11 months of isolation from the Witnesses, he studied through his book five times. When he was finally able to return to the city, he resumed his Bible study with the Witnesses and made rapid progress. A short time later, he was baptized, and he now serves faithfully with his spiritual brothers.

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