Kingdom Proclaimers Report

“God Is Not Partial”

NINETEEN hundred years ago, the inspired apostle Peter said: “God is not partial, but in every nation the man that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.” (Acts 10:34, 35) Among Jehovah’s Witnesses are to be found people from all races and religious backgrounds. They desire righteousness, and they fear God. Jehovah welcomes all of them into the new world society, as, for example, he did a certain woman in Chad.

This woman was not satisfied with her religion. Years previously she had accepted a copy of the book Your Youth​—Getting the Best Out Of It, published by Jehovah’s Witnesses, and she appreciated the fine counsel the book contained. A Bible study was started, and she was always there for the study. However, when encouraged to attend meetings at the Kingdom Hall, she did not respond. Why? Though her husband did not oppose her studying, he refused permission for her to attend meetings at the Kingdom Hall.

When the wife wanted to attend the circuit assembly, the Witness conducting the study showed the husband the program, highlighting the fine counsel to be presented. He consented to his wife going “just once.” She attended and thoroughly enjoyed the program. After she explained to her husband what she had learned, he did not oppose her attending other meetings. She was impressed by the fact that the congregation was composed of people from different ethnic groups who cared deeply for one another. Later she attended the district convention and was overwhelmed at seeing her children sitting on the laps of Witnesses from other countries. The Witnesses shared food with the children and treated them like family. This was the turning point for her.

But opposition followed. Although timid by nature, she began commenting at meetings and standing up to negative comments made by relatives and neighbors. While she had lived many years with her husband, they had only the traditional consensual marriage. How was she to broach the subject of getting legally married? After sincerely praying to Jehovah, she spoke to her husband, who said that he would look into it. Finally he did, and the couple were married legally.

A sister-in-law living with them caused many problems, but the husband took a stand in favor of his wife. Then the husband’s father came for a visit. He ordered his son to divorce his wife, as she had changed her religion. The father told his son that he would pay the bride price for a “much better wife.” The son’s reply was: “No, I will not do that. She is a good wife. If she wants to go, that is different, but I will not tell her to go.” The wife was very polite to her father-in-law, and he was ashamed of his conduct. However, when he returned to his village, he wrote his son, this time giving an ultimatum. He said that if his son refused to send his wife away, he was no longer a son. Again the son stood by his wife. Imagine the wife’s joy at seeing her husband take such a definite stand.

Now their two small sons love to accompany their mother to the Kingdom Hall. They even asked their father for neckties, since they saw all the brothers who gave talks wearing them. Today this woman is a baptized sister.

She is one of the 345 happy Witnesses in Chad declaring the good news of Jehovah’s Kingdom and appreciating that, truly, “God is not partial.”