In Paphos, a priest-theologian tried to convince three different persons to stop studying the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses. On different occasions, each of the three invited a brother to have a discussion with this theologian. Happily, all three are now actively associated with Jehovah’s organization.” This, of course, annoyed the priest, who commented: “I will never again have a discussion with Jehovah’s Witnesses.”

◻ The following experience from Cyprus shows that keeping integrity under opposition brings blessings. A woman’s husband was killed during the war of 1974, leaving her with a little girl to raise. The woman remarried. Disillusioned by the hypocrisy of the clergy and the uncertainty of the future, she agreed to study the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses. She progressed rapidly and started telling her relatives the good things she was learning. Opposition began. The biggest test came when her 15-year-old daughter remarked: “I have lost my father, and if you do not stop studying with Jehovah’s Witnesses, I will renounce you as my mother. I shall be an orphan.” Nevertheless, the woman continued to study.

One day the girl visited a friend in the hospital. At the next hospital bed, a Witness was visiting his relative when a priest came to see the same patient. A conversation started between the brother and the priest. The brother was calm and tactful, using the Bible to explain his position. The priest, on the other hand, was aggressive. He raised his voice, but not a single time did he open the Bible. The girl watched the scene and was impressed by the kindness of the brother and by the fact that he used the Bible. That very evening, when the brother and his wife visited her mother for the Bible study, the girl explained what had happened at the hospital and asked them: “Could you study with me as well?” Now the girl is studying twice a week, and the husband too is studying. The mother is a baptized publisher.