“They Did Not Compromise”

“HAPPY are you when people reproach you and persecute you and lyingly say every sort of wicked thing against you for my sake,” Jesus Christ told his disciples. (Matthew 5:11) Jehovah’s Witnesses today are happy because, in harmony with Christ’s teaching and example, they remain “no part of the world” and maintain strict political neutrality and integrity to God under all kinds of circumstances.​—John 17:14; Matthew 4:8-10.

Concerning the uncompromising stand that Jehovah’s Witnesses took in the former Soviet Union, including those in Estonia, Lutheran theologian and Bible translator Toomas Paul writes in his book Kirik keset küla (The Church in the Middle of the Village): “Very few have heard of what happened in the early hours of April 1, 1951. A campaign was planned to dispose of Jehovah’s Witnesses and all their supporters​—279 persons in all were captured and deported to Siberia . . . They were given an opportunity to sign a standard form renouncing their faith in order to avoid deportation or imprisonment. . . . Together with the ones arrested earlier, there were 353 interned, including at least 171 persons only associating with their congregations. They did not compromise​—even in Siberia. . . . Not many members of the [Estonian Lutheran] Church had a faith similar to that of Jehovah’s Witnesses.”

Jehovah’s Witnesses around the world trust in God to help them remain faithful and obedient to him despite persecution. They rejoice in knowing that the reward for their faithfulness is great.​—Matthew 5:12.