Preaching the Good News in Nyasaland

NYASALAND is a mountainous country in the southeastern part of Africa. Though its many peaks do not compare with those found in the Alps and the American Rockies, one of them does rise to a height of 10,000 feet. Larger than Scotland but smaller than England, its 37,000 square miles compares favorably with the State of Indiana. It has a population of 2,750,000, and one out of 183 is a witness of Jehovah. During 1958 upward of 15,000 shared in preaching the good news in Nyasaland.

As throughout the rest of the world, materialism is making itself felt in its own way in Nyasaland. One of these ways is by a violent agitation for greater political control by the Africans themselves. This has resulted in stonings, mobs and riots. Jehovah’s witnesses have steadfastly held to their neutrality throughout it all.

When one of the African political leaders was visited by one of Jehovah’s witnesses, the conversation came to a close with the Witness asking: “If you gain control of this country what will be your position toward Jehovah’s witnesses?” The witness was told: “We are not concerned with Jehovah’s witnesses; we know that you people are law-abiding, and that you willingly support the present government, by paying taxes and rendering other required services, for that is your religious teaching. We also know that if and when we get in power you will support us in the same way. We also recognize that you are neutrals, and if you are not fighting with us for independence, neither are you fighting against us, and so we are content.”

Yes, while such men agitate for political control, Jehovah’s witnesses in Nyasaland, as in 174 other lands, continue to preach the good news about the only government that really will end all inequality and completely dissolve racial barriers and that forever. That kingdom is the one for which Jesus Christ taught us to pray.—Matt. 6:10.

Jehovah’s witnesses in Nyasaland call upon the vendors in the market places scattered throughout the “bush” country, even as their brothers in other lands go from store to store in the business sections. The reception accorded them here, however, may be quite different. Thus a vendor, evincing interest, may request that the minister give a lecture right then and there. Soon others take up the request and the market activity slows down, and the minister is expected to address everyone present on a Biblical topic.

After he concludes he will find others that want Bible literature and often he can arrange for Bible studies in their homes. The African enjoys listening to a discussion and will give his undivided attention to the minister as long as he chooses to continue speaking.

Attending congregational meetings during the five-month rainy season presents a real problem. How would you like to walk from seven to fifteen miles in the rain and swim a river or two infested with crocodiles to attend a meeting? Many Witnesses here have to do this, and not just once but often three times a week.

We are unable to hold meetings in the evening for a number of reasons, chief of which is that of safety. One is very likely to encounter a lion or leopard searching for a meal when walking through the “bush” country after nightfall. Most congregations have their meetings scheduled for the late afternoon so that all can return home safely.

Typical of the esteem in which the Witnesses are held by some is the following experience had by a special pioneer minister. A truth-hungry pastor asked him to give a Bible lecture to his congregation, which he did. All appreciated it except the elders, who went to court over it. After all the facts were presented the one presiding announced his decision:

“Why are you elders so concerned? You should be happy to have your people learn the truth. Why hide the true facts from the members of your congregation? If they want to hear the truth as presented by Jehovah’s witnesses, then let them. You have no case against the pastor for what he has done.”

Among the greatest problems facing us in this country is the overcoming of such customs as polygamy, rites of puberty, witchcraft in its many forms and funeral customs; but no one can become a Witness until he discards all such. It is impressive to ourselves as well as to outsiders to see the change that the truth of God’s World makes in regard to these things. This in itself is a wonderful testimony to the power the Bible can exert on the minds of those who study and understand it.

[Map on page 510]

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NYASALAND

Belgian Congo

Tanganyika

N. Rhodesia

S. Rhodesia

Union of South Africa

Indian Ocean

Communism a False Religion

In his discourse “Political Creed and Character,” Dr. Robert Lindner discussed the reason why communism appeals to many people: “Every prerequisite for institutionalization as a religion—a secularized religion, it is true, yet still a religion—is present in communism. Almost from the moment of its conception it has borne the hallmarks of a system of faith and worship. To its slightest details it satisfies the necessary conditions for a commanding theological system, thus lending itself effortlessly to the deepest motives of men. The parallels between the biography of Marxism and that of any great religion are inescapable. Portents and a time of troubles—of wars, bloodshed, suffering and unrest—nourished the soil that was to become the seed-bed for a new faith. An outrider and prophet . . . appeared in the form of a generation of preachers finally embodied in the person of the German philosopher Hegel. Following him, there arrived the bearer of the Word, the messiah, Karl Marx. His deification requires no documenting. . . .

“Nor is this all that establishes the true nature of communism to be a religion in fact. Together with all other theologies, it possesses an eschatology embracing judgment and a vision of last things—the green pastures of a proletarian heaven when the state finally withers away and a classless society of joyful equals obtains, and the blackhell of social coventry to the remotest generations for the unregenerate. A hagiography, too, it can count among its attributes: what amounts, in effect, to a Calendar of Saints and a roll of canonized martyrs is an intrinsic part of its devotional appeal. An assertive body of dogma embedded in sanctified texts inscribed with the ineffable Word, a hierarchy of priests and functionaries entrusted with ceremonial rituals and protocols, a set of mysteries and initiatory rites—these, and more, eloquently complete the picture and proclaim what has been disguised as a social and political system to be, in actuality, a full-panoplied, bona fide religion. To recognize this real nature of communism and to see its point-for-point correspondences with every great theological system of which we have any knowledge is to begin to solve the mystery of its magnetism for all men, especially for those without a faith, those who suffer from the unfulfillment of this deep need. . . . We should not wonder at the success of communism, for so much of its success is rather that of religion.”—Must You Conform?

Questions From Readers

● How can we harmonize the accounts in Acts 7:2-4 and Genesis 11:31–12:4? The account in Acts indicates that it was while Abraham was in Mesopotamia that God commanded him: “Go out from your land and from your relatives and come on into the land I shall show you.” The Genesis account seems to indicate that this command was given to him in Haran following the death of his father Terah.—G. O., U.S.A.

The account in Acts makes it very clear that God’s command to Abraham to leave his home country and move into the land that God would show him was issued in Mesopotamia before he took up residence in Haran. This command is clearly the same one that is recorded in Genesis 12:1. The wording of the command here shows that Abraham was still in Ur of the Chaldeans, for God commands him: “Get out from your land and from your relatives,” and Haran, about 575 miles northwest of Ur, was not Abraham’s “land,” for it