Searching for “Sheep” in the Liberian Bush
A TALL Mandingo shepherd stands silently atop a “bug-a-bug” (termite) mound, a long blue gown protecting his body from the heat of the African sun. Under his watchful eyes, his flock enjoys the succulent grass growing beside the mangrove swamps and salt marshes of Sutter Creek. It is a mixed flock, the goats having smooth brown-and-white coats and the sheep being tall, lean and white.
As we pause to observe the flock, we are reminded of Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats. He foretold that all the nations would be gathered before him and that he would separate sheeplike persons in line for everlasting life from goatlike ones deserving destruction. (Matt. 25:31-46) Hence, we may well ask: How is this separating work progressing? Have “sheep” been found in the Liberian bush?
JEHOVAH SEARCHES FOR HIS “SHEEP”
There are over 1,000 sheeplike servants of Jehovah in Liberia. Would you like to learn how God has found and tended his “sheep” in this country? Then why not join us as we visit a few places where they live and congregate?
Starting out in the capital city, Monrovia, we meet a young man studying the Bible at the Crown Hill missionary home. He once lived in the interior, far from any of Jehovah’s Witnesses. How did he find them?
“I was not satisfied with my father’s religion,” he explains. “So I prayed to God for direction. A few days later, at a neighbor’s house, I saw a copy of the book The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life. I borrowed it and read it. Convinced that I had found the answer to my prayer, I wrote to the office of the Watch Tower Society in Monrovia. But I was too anxious to wait for the reply; so I traveled to Monrovia, located the Witnesses and they started a Bible study with me.” When an acquaintance asked him, “Who dragged you into Jehovah’s Witnesses?” he replied, “No one but Jehovah himself.”
About 100 miles (160 km) down the coast from Monrovia, we come to the city of Buchanan. Established in the 1830’s by Americo-Liberians who had been slaves in America and had settled here among the native Bassa people, Buchanan today prospers as a port where iron ore from the Nimba mountains arrives by rail, is processed and then shipped out. As we enter the city we see a small green Kingdom Hall perched atop an embankment above the asphalt road. Shall we go inside?
We are greeted by 40 smiling faces. Kollie has a special reason to smile. He is one of the many baptized in recent years. “When I was attending high school in Kakata,” he says, “some of my schoolmates used to talk to me about Jehovah, and they invited me to their Kingdom Hall; but I declined because I felt that their laws were too restrictive. However, after I graduated and moved to Buchanan, I began to notice that the lives of the Witnesses were turning out better than mine because they were more disciplined. So I wrote a letter to the congregation and asked for help. One of the elders started a study with me, and today I am happy to be a dedicated servant of Jehovah.” Yes, by his holy spirit Jehovah has found such sheeplike ones and has directed them to his congregated flocks.
JEHOVAH FEEDS HIS “SHEEP”
Many who are now enjoying “good pasturage” among Jehovah’s “sheep” once foraged for spiritual food in the churches of Christendom. Lovingly, Jehovah has led such persons to those who have heeded Jesus’ admonition to “feed [his] lambs.”—Ezek. 34:2, 14, 15; John 21:15.
Among those looking for spiritual food was Francis. He lives in one of the many houses crowded along the edge of Bushrod Island, in a part of Monrovia called Clara Town. How did he find spiritual food?
“I belonged to the Pentecostal Church,” he explains, “but was disturbed by the fact that special seats were reserved for certain members. I wanted to understand the Bible, but the minister spent most of the time talking about money. He said that if we did not donate money to the church, we could not go to heaven. Then one day one of Jehovah’s Witnesses left me a copy of The Watchtower. By reading it I saw differences between the teachings of the Bible and the practices of my church. The Witness returned and gave me regular assistance in understanding the Bible, and my knowledge increased as I began attending the meetings. My cousin joined me in the study, and we were both baptized.”
Leaving Bushrod Island behind, our taxi takes us over the Montserrado River, past the business district and into Sinkor, the most modern section of Monrovia. Jehovah’s Witnesses meet here in a beautiful Kingdom Hall. Here, too, we find someone who was searching for answers. He tells us:
“While in high school, I was disturbed by the attitude of my Bible instructors. For example, one book we studied presented Jesus as being ignorant and superstitious because he believed that demons exist and can possess humans. I longed to know whether the Bible was God’s Word or the word of men. I was bothered, too, by the multiplicity of religions calling themselves Christian.”
Later association with the Bahai religion “seemed to intensify the emptiness” that the young man felt inside. He continues:
“I accepted a teaching job in Ganta, where my mother lived. She was studying with Jehovah’s Witnesses. In time, I, too, accepted a home Bible study but with the idea of proving to the Witness that he was being misled. After our first discussion, in which he amazed me with answers from the Bible to all my questions, I had to conclude that I was the one who was misled. . . . I decided to read some older Watch Tower publications to see if I could find any contradictions. But this literature only strengthened my faith in the Bible as God’s Word and in the Witnesses as his people.
“Then I began making changes in my life. I stopped smoking, resigned from the Methodist Church and started sharing my faith with others, including my fiancée. She, too, accepted the truth in spite of family opposition and being expelled from school for maintaining Christian neutrality. We were married and got baptized in 1971.”
Since then this couple has had the privilege of helping several others to become servants of Jehovah. The man now serves as an appointed elder in the congregation.
JEHOVAH HEALS HIS “SHEEP”
Before Jehovah found them, many “sheep” had strayed far from the righteous principles of his Word. Please consider the following examples:
Living across Sutter Creek in Gardnersville is a husky Kru man, once such a rowdy that his friends nicknamed him “Fire Brigade.” His wife, Zoe, has cooked some potato greens and rice. As we eat in the shade of a mango tree, he tells us:
“While in the police force, I was disappointed when my scholarship to train abroad as a pilot was canceled. I decided to go to a ‘country doctor’ [spirit medium] to get some ‘medicine’ [fetishes] to aid me in achieving my ambition. But this did not help. Then two Witnesses called on us and started a Bible study. Our interest grew as we learned of Jehovah’s purpose to make this earth a paradise where justice and righteousness will prevail. But our conscience bothered us because we knew that we weren’t living according to God’s righteous standards. After learning the truth about wicked spirits, we destroyed the ‘medicine’ and other spiritistic objects we had. We decided to clean up our lives, but this took some time because Zoe was still legally married to her former mate. In time she was able to obtain a divorce; we were married and we got baptized the next month.”
Next we will visit Jerome at Bong Mine. To get there, we take a car from Monrovia to Kakata, a distance of just over 40 miles (64 km). Along the way, we pass row after row of rubber trees. At Kakata we switch to a bus and an unpaved road. Scattered among the rubber farms and tropical bush are some typical Liberian villages—clusters of mud houses with palm thatch roofs. Finally, we arrive at the iron-mining camp and find Jerome by the creek, where he has just finished washing his clothes. While we wait for some other Witnesses to come home from work, he tells us this about the way that Jehovah helped him:
“I used to like smoking and heavy drinking, and I had two women. One day, while I was drinking beer with some friends, a Witness talked with us about the Bible and offered us the Truth book. My friends tried to discourage me from accepting it, but I reasoned that if I could afford to waste so much money on beer, surely I could afford to spend [a small amount] for the book. They said that I would never see the Witness again. But he returned at an appointed time and started a Bible study with me.
“As I came to know Jehovah, I realized that the way I was living was not pleasing to him and that I would benefit economically by applying Bible principles in my life. With Jehovah’s help, I was able to stop smoking and heavy drinking, and I broke off association with my girl friends. I am happy that, instead of wasting my life, I can now use it to help others learn about Jehovah God and his Son, Jesus Christ, doing so as a full-time proclaimer of the ‘good news.’”
We return to Kakata for a circuit assembly where we hear the following experience related by a sister from Gbarnga: “When I used to sell clothes in the market in Yekepa, the other market women would complain that their boyfriends did not support them but, instead, took some of the money that they made from marketing. I would explain to them what the Bible says about honorable marriage and how applying Bible principles can bring peace and happiness to a family. But they just laughed at me. Then one day, while auxiliary pioneering, I met one of those market women. Her boyfriend had encouraged her to have an abortion, and she had almost died from it. She remembered the good things that I used to tell her and said that she wanted to study the Bible and change her life. This woman was baptized last year and recently got married to a Christian.”
JEHOVAH’S BLESSINGS CONTINUE
We hope that you have enjoyed your visit to Liberia, and that it has helped you to appreciate how Jehovah has found and cared for his spiritual sheep here. But what about the future? We are confident that God will continue to bless our efforts as we diligently seek more of his “sheep.”
In December 1979 there were 1,956 persons in attendance at our “Living Hope” District Convention and we rejoiced that 17 were baptized. Also, we have strong indications that there are additional “sheep” in need of help, for a total of 3,931 persons gathered throughout Liberia on March 31, 1980, to commemorate the death of Jesus Christ.—1 Cor. 11:23-26.
As the flock continues to grow in this land, there is also a need for expanded facilities to care for it. In May 1979 we were excited to learn that the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses had authorized the branch committee in Liberia to incorporate a nonprofit society and purchase land upon which to build our own branch office and Bethel home. Since then, a very fine parcel of land has been purchased. Recently, further advancement was made when our building plans were approved by the local authorities. Now we keenly anticipate the time when we can begin the actual construction.
Truly, we have reason to rejoice when we consider how Jehovah has gathered and blessed his people here in Liberia. From the softly flowing waters of the Mano River to Cape Palmas in the south, and from the tropical rain forests in Nimba to the palm-dotted beaches of the Atlantic Ocean, Jehovah’s “sheep” are being found. And we pray that he will continue to bless our zealous efforts to proclaim the good news of his kingdom and make disciples of sheeplike ones.