Global Brotherhood Is Certain!

THE missionary had not been in West Africa long when he attended a religious convention in a remote region. As he approached a local family, a two-year-old boy, for no apparent reason, began to cry.

The missionary tried to comfort the child, but the boy’s cries then turned into screams. “What’s wrong?” the missionary asked the mother. She replied with some embarrassment: “I think it’s you. He’s afraid of your color. He’s never seen a white man before.”

From infancy we may become aware of the physical differences between peoples. Prejudices are developed later. The views of children are molded as they observe the attitudes and behavior of older persons, such as their parents. In school they are influenced further by their teachers, friends, and classmates.

According to a long-term study in the United States, by the time children reach 12 years of age, they have already developed stereotyped viewpoints and attitudes about the ethnic, racial, and religious groups around them. By adulthood these views are deeply set.

Jehovah’s Witnesses Are Different

In a world where prejudice abounds, Jehovah’s Witnesses stand out as being very different. They are internationally known for their racial harmony. This is often noted by observers at their large annual conventions.

For example, the newspaper States-Item reported this about a large convention of Witnesses in the southern United States: “A sense of brotherhood filled the Louisiana Superdome as young and old, black and white Jehovah’s Witnesses settled down to begin a . . . learning and sharing experience. . . . Racial discrimination . . . is not a problem for the witnesses.”

At a convention of Witnesses, in South Africa, a Xhosa woman remarked: “It’s amazing that here in South Africa people of all races can be so united. It’s so different from what I am used to in the churches.”

When visitors from North and South America as well as Europe attended large conventions of Witnesses in the Far East and the South Pacific, “there was,” according to one report, “not even a trace of racism on their part, nor on the part of their hosts.”

Thus, what is so different about the millions of Jehovah’s Witnesses earth wide is their genuine unity and racial harmony. They are bound together by true Christian love. This is just as Jesus said it would be: “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.”​—John 13:35.

So Jehovah’s Witnesses already have a true, permanent international brotherhood! They take to heart what Jesus said at Matthew 23:8: “All you are brothers.” And this at the very time that racial and ethnic divisions and hatreds are tearing at the fabric of nations.​—See also 1 Corinthians 1:10; 1 John 3:10-12; 4:20, 21; 5:2, 3.

How Unity Is Achieved

Fundamental to this unity is the Bible-based instruction Jehovah’s Witnesses receive at their Kingdom Halls and by their personal study of the Bible. They are like the Christians in Thessalonica, of whom the apostle Paul said: “When you received God’s word, which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as the word of men, but, just as it truthfully is, as the word of God, which is also at work in you believers.”​—1 Thessalonians 2:13.

Hence, the Witnesses believe what the Bible says, and they earnestly try to imitate God’s way of thinking. They take to heart what the Christian apostle Peter said under inspiration: “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.

In harmony with this, Jesus instructed his followers to make disciples of people “of all the nations.” (Matthew 28:19) Consequently, Jehovah’s Witnesses actively seek out lovers of righteousness in all racial and ethnic groups, without exception. And when those of different backgrounds and races unite to worship, work, and socialize together, stereotyped thinking is overcome. They learn to value one another, to love one another.

True, a person who has long been racially prejudiced may not instantly change his views. But when he becomes a Witness, he begins to “put on the new personality” of a true Christian, and he works hard to overcome his previously held views. (Ephesians 4:22-24) He does not try to justify his prejudices by saying, ‘That’s the way I was brought up.’ No, he strives to remake his mind and to “have love for the whole association of brothers.”​—1 Peter 2:17.

Bible Prophecies Being Fulfilled

What is taking place among Jehovah’s Witnesses today is of great significance. Indeed, it was prophesied in the Bible.

Notice what Isaiah 2:2-4 foretold would take place “in the final part of the days,” in these “last days” of this evil system of things. (2 Timothy 3:1-5, 13) That prophecy of Isaiah noted that the true worship of Jehovah would be established in this generation, and ‘to it people from all the nations would stream. And many peoples would certainly go and say: “Come, you people, and let us go up to the mountain of the true worship of Jehovah. And he will instruct us about his ways, and we will walk in his paths.”’

Isaiah’s prophecy also noted the following unusual result, which has been seen on an international scale among Jehovah’s Witnesses throughout this entire century: “And they will have to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war anymore.”

Also, the Bible book of Revelation, speaking of our time, foretold that a great crowd of people “out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues” would come together in true brotherhood to serve God unitedly.​—Revelation 7:9, 15.

This is not wishful thinking. The great crowd from all nations, from all racial and ethnic groups, is already being formed. A true and lasting global brotherhood is being built right now! It is the foundation for an entirely new global society of united, happy people that will take the place of this present corrupt society soon to be destroyed by God. This united society will, as Jesus said, “inherit the earth,” and they will live on it forever under the rulership of God’s Kingdom.​—Matthew 5:5; 6:9, 10; Psalm 37:10, 11, 28, 29, 37, 38.

Why not see this for yourself? You are welcome to visit any Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses and experience their racial harmony. Or the next time Witnesses call on you, invite them in and ask them to show you from the Bible what the basis is for their racial harmony. Have them show you their Biblical hope of a new world where true brotherhood will exist all over the earth.

Almighty God, Jehovah, gives his guarantee that his purpose to establish a brotherhood of all mankind will be fulfilled. He states: “So my word that goes forth from my mouth will prove to be. It will not return to me without results, but it will certainly do that in which I have delighted, and it will have certain success in that for which I have sent it.”​—Isaiah 55:11.

We invite you to examine the evidence from Bible prophecies and from the fulfillment of those prophecies. If you do that, you will see that racial harmony is not only possible but inevitable!

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What is taking place among Jehovah’s Witnesses today was prophesied in the Bible

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Jehovah’s Witnesses are unique in having true racial harmony among themselves