Search for Truth Always Rewarded
IN THIS world, life sometimes seems like a “treadmill,” with no one getting anywhere. Searchers for truth ask, What is the purpose of life? What is the end of it all? Is there not some happier way to spend our lives—a way with a purpose?
Jesus Christ said: “Keep on seeking, and you will find.” (Matt. 7:7) And the apostle Peter said: “For a certainty I perceive that God is not partial, but in every nation the man that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.”—Acts 10:34, 35.
It makes no difference where one lives. People who are searching today are finding the truth and are changing their outlook on life. Nowhere is this more evident than in the vast country of Brazil, South America, where, in a land of more than three million square miles (about 7,800,000 square kilometers), people live in nearly every circumstance—in large modern cities, in the torrid and the more temperate areas, in remote villages in the dense Amazon jungle, in the mountains, even in leper colonies. Nevertheless, the Bible’s good news is reaching them.
At this time, out of Brazil’s population of 107 million, there are probably not more than 20 percent who have not been reached, in some measure, or who do not at least have access to the good news of God’s kingdom and its coming righteous rule over the earth.
VISITING VILLAGES IN THE AMAZON VALLEY
In the Amazon area there are sparse populations and tremendous distances, but in some of even the most remote villages there are congregations or representatives of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Despite the lack of roads, the danger from wild animals and snakes and torrential rains, great effort is put forth by the Witnesses to gather for their Bible meetings, as many of them live at considerable distances from the villages in which meetings are held.
The only means of transportation in the Amazon’s dense jungle country are small boats and canoes. These people show real appreciation for the Bible truth that they learn. Whenever they can they reach out to untouched areas. On one occasion, two boatloads of these Christian men and women went out to call on the villages and isolated houses along the river banks. Since there is no electricity, they borrowed a portable generator to present a Bible talk, using slides. They stopped at the village of Botafogo and several other settlements near Lake Castanho, speaking to a total audience of 719 persons. At Jaiteua, where four of Jehovah’s Witnesses live, the pastor of the Assembly of God Church warned his flock not to attend the talk. Nevertheless, seventy-three turned out, including his own daughter!
FORMER VOODOO PRACTICERS SERVE GOD
Boa Vista, Roraima, about three degrees north of the equator, is on a large tributary of the Amazon. There one of the Witnesses called on a man and his wife, practicers of voodoo for thirty-four years, and arranged for a Bible study. This couple saw that God condemns all voodoo and other spiritistic practices, and they immediately stopped their voodoo rites. (Deut. 18:10-12; Isa. 8:19) Then they read Acts 19:18, 19, which says of those to whom the apostle Paul preached in the Asian city of Ephesus: “Many of those who had become believers would come and confess and report their practices openly. Indeed, quite a number of those who practiced magical arts brought their books together and burned them up before everybody.” Promptly this sincere man and his wife searched out all their voodoo objects and did just that.
It turned out just as in ancient Ephesus, concerning which the account goes on to read: “Thus in a mighty way the word of Jehovah kept growing and prevailing.” Yes, the congregation in Boa Vista increased by twenty-one active proclaimers of the good news within the next six months.—Acts 19:20.
YOUNG PEOPLE SEEK AND FIND TRUTH
As in other parts of the earth, children in Brazil, particularly in more populated areas, are often quite unsettled and confused, many tending to be rebellious. They are looking for something that offers a hope and a satisfying purpose in life. Therefore, to schoolteachers it is refreshing and a relief to find children who give them respect and who want to learn. These children are often able to help other disillusioned ones to find the truth and the incentive to make their lives productive.
In Rio de Janeiro a schoolteacher requested that one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, a mother of two children aged six and seven, call at the teacher’s home. For about two hours the teacher conversed with the mother about the fine behavior of her children and the parental training that they were receiving. The teacher remarked: “Their conduct is above reproach. They never share in riots or accuse their schoolmates. They do not lie or participate in festivities contrary to their conscience.”
At the end of the school term the teacher divided her students into groups. Each group was required to discuss a religion. One group brought along a priest to answer the questions prepared by the teacher. The teacher asked questions that dealt with the Christian stand on certain issues. These had come up in her discussion with the mother of the two children. The priest, unable to give clear-cut answers, felt very embarrassed, so that the class booed. Annoyed, he called for attention and said, “You are all naughty except for those two children who, as good Catholics, are well-behaved and do not disrespect a priest!” The teacher answered, “Those children are well-behaved because they are not Catholics but Jehovah’s Witnesses.” The class applauded, saying, “We want to be Jehovah’s Witnesses.” This occasion provided opportunity for later Bible discussion with many of the children.
In the city of Curitiba, about 445 kilometers (276 miles) from Argentina, a Portuguese language teacher gave his class an assignment to prepare a subject of their choice, to be presented orally. One of the students was a witness of Jehovah. He chose to speak on “The Origin of Man.” The teacher allowed the students to bring along persons for interview, so the young Witness brought along a mature member of the congregation. The time allowed was fifty minutes, but the discussion was so absorbing that two such periods were used. When the bell rang for an intermission, all the students stayed in their seats to ask questions. They wanted to know where the Witnesses got their answers. It was explained that the Bible had the answers, and that a book that they had, entitled “Did Man Get Here by Evolution or by Creation?” pointed to the Bible answers, besides giving logical and scientific arguments. Another period was used for discussion, and at the end forty-three out of the forty-six students accepted the fact that God created man, and they took many Bibles and books from the Witnesses. The young Witness relates: “Several Bible studies were started and at least one of the students present, who did not believe in creation before, does so today, for he has become one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.”
A young engineering student in Itajubá, in Minas Gerais State, was concerned with the symbolisms in the Bible book of Revelation (Apocalypse). Nobody was able to give him convincing answers, and he kept praying to God that someone would come to help him to understand the symbolisms. When home on vacation he was called on by Jehovah’s Witnesses. They explained some points to him and helped him to recognize the need to know more about the entire Bible. He studied with the Witnesses, using the Bible study aid The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life and is now witnessing to others.
TRUTH REACHES INTO PRISON
The truth of the good news is available even to those whose past life has been bad. The apostle Peter wrote to Christians: “The time that has passed by is sufficient for you to have worked out the will of the nations when you proceeded in deeds of loose conduct, lusts, excesses with wine, revelries, drinking matches, and illegal idolatries.” (1 Pet. 4:3) God will help persons who turn from their former course and take a right path under Bible direction.
This truth is well demonstrated at the State Prison in the city of São Jerônimo, Rio Grande do Sul, near the southeast coast. The prison director asked one of Jehovah’s Witnesses to give a weekly Bible talk to selected groups of twenty-four to thirty inmates. A little later on, the director remarked on the noticeable change in three of the prisoners. One who had been the leader of revolts and organized escapes, after studying the Bible with the Witnesses, gained the complete confidence of the director. For that reason, the prison administrators requested that talks be given more often than once a week, if possible.
OPPOSITION RESULTS IN SPREAD OF GOOD NEWS
The apostle Paul said to Christians who were undergoing stiff opposition that the knowledge of God that they were spreading was like an ‘odor of death’ to opposers but ‘a sweet odor of life’ to those looking for the truth that leads to salvation.—2 Cor. 2:14-16.
When one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, a full-time preacher, moved to Mandaguaçu, Paraná, there was only one family of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the town. The increased proclamation of the good news infuriated the local priest. During Sunday Mass he showed the Witnesses’ magazines from the pulpit and warned his parishioners not to listen to the people that preached from house to house. As a result, many persons asked the Witnesses, “Why did the priest do this? What is in the magazines?”
One such family, prominent in the community, was really desirous of knowing. They accepted a Bible study with the Witnesses. A little later, when they began to attend the meetings of the Witnesses, others took courage and were ready to study. The man invited some friends to the meetings. One of them, a staunch Catholic, after seeing the slide talk “A Close Look at the Churches” went straight to the priest. “Look,” he said, “I don’t want you to deceive me. I want you to tell me the truth. Is God a trinity? Did Jesus die on a cross?” The priest replied: “Do you really want to know the truth? Then go and study with Jehovah’s Witnesses. They’ll show you the truth.” As a result of the Bible interest stirred up in this small town the congregation has grown from four to sixteen active proclaimers of the truth.
PREACHING IN A LEPER COLONY
When Jesus Christ walked on earth he healed diseases of all kinds, including the dreaded leprosy. (Matt. 11:5) Those miracles were but a token of what he will do during his approaching thousand-year reign.—Rev. 21:3, 4.
This sure hope has penetrated the hearts of many in the country’s leper colonies, like the one called Colônia Padre Damião, Minas Gerais State. Situated in a rural area surrounded by hills, the settlement has the appearance of a typical small town. At the entrance there are the sanatorium and other buildings for treatment. The colony has a population of about 800 persons, many of whom live a normal family life. Although they are there primarily for treatment, most of them do some work in the colony. Some tend a small plot of land, others make bricks, and some work in the local bakery or in the hospital. Only in very advanced cases are the patients conspicuous by their deformed faces and hands.
The local congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses is a group of forty-two cheerful members, regularly speaking about the Bible to the others in the colony. An equal number of interested persons, additionally, attend the meetings in their Kingdom Hall. How greatly they value the knowledge that soon there will be no more sickness! (Isa. 33:24; 25:8) Many more are interested, for at one Bible talk 387 attended.
Some, on learning that they have leprosy, fall into a state of abject despair. The good news from the Bible has lifted some up from this depressed condition. One of the patients, a woman, was ready to commit suicide when one of Jehovah’s Witnesses visited her and showed her from the Bible the glorious hope for the near future. The word took root in her heart, and now she tells others how to become spiritually well. Then there was the man nicknamed “the terror of the colony.” Without hope, his day was filled with fights, troublemaking and immoral conduct. However, he accepted the truth, changed completely and now has a real purpose in life. He is serving as one of the elders of the local congregation, lovingly caring for the spiritual interests of others.
Thus it is clearly evident that wherever a person lives, whatever his background and present station in life, yes, even if under the most unfavorable circumstances of debilitating illness, those who search for truth do not go unrewarded. It is as we read in Acts 17:26, 27: “[God] made out of one man every nation of men, to dwell upon the entire surface of the earth, and he decreed the appointed times and the set limits of the dwelling of men, for them to seek God, if they might grope for him and really find him, although, in fact, he is not far off from each one of us.”
[Map on page 361]
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BRAZIL
Boa Vista
EQUATOR
Amazon River
Mandaguaçu
Curitiba
Itajubá
Rio de Janeiro
São Jerônimo