• True Christianity Unites All Races!
    Awake!—1988 | June 22

    • True Christianity Unites All Races!

      IN 1982 a black South African prisoner named Mnguni was serving his fourth prison term for involvement in terrorist activities. The authorities had granted him permission to write home for some books. When these arrived, he found among them one that he had not requested. It was entitled The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life, published by Jehovah’s Witnesses.

      What Mnguni read had a powerful effect upon him. “I had believed my terrorist activities were a divinely inspired cause. ‘God is on the side of the oppressed’ was one of our slogans. I was a Lutheran, and not once did my church condemn or discourage me from my acts. Instead, they would attack the government for its actions against me. An organization of churches even helped me and my ‘comrades’ obtain legal representation.

      “The Truth book made me realize that my actions were contrary to God’s Word. It used the Bible to show that no government exists without God’s permission and that all true Christians should submit to the authorities.” (Matthew 5:44; 1 John 3:10-12; Romans 13:1-7) Mnguni quit his terrorist activities and after his release from prison began serving as a minister of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

      Tens of thousands of South Africans​—black and white—​have similarly accepted the genuine Christianity taught in the Bible. Unlike Protestantism, which has proved to be a divisive force, true Christianity unites people of all races. How?

      The Kingdom Message

      “My kingdom,” explained Jesus Christ, “is no part of this world.” (John 18:36) Genuine Christianity centers upon the Kingdom that Christ taught. It is not connected with any political forces of this world, for it is a superhuman government that rules from heaven. Soon, according to the Bible, “it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms” of earthly political rule.​—Daniel 2:44; Luke 21:7-33.

      No, this Kingdom is not, as one exponent of black theology recently alleged, an unrealistic pie-in-the-sky dream. The reality of this Kingdom can be seen in that over 3,400,000 of Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide​—over 40,000 in South Africa alone—​have declared themselves to be loyal subjects of it. They prove themselves loyal Kingdom subjects by carrying out Jesus’ command: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.”​—Matthew 24:14.

      The Bible-based Kingdom message proclaimed by Jehovah’s Witnesses has attracted thousands of South Africans. They have thus been able to rise above the racial and political turmoil and enjoy something unique in South Africa​—racial harmony. Gert, a former member of the DR Church, discovered this. He explains: “Among Jehovah’s Witnesses, there is no discrimination because of race or language​—hence, their worldwide unity. How wonderful to know 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.

      Recently, the South African government agreed to modify another apartheid law by opening some residential areas to people of all races. Meanwhile, existing regulations require that people of different races live apart, and Jehovah’s Witnesses comply with such laws. Nevertheless, the law does not prevent them from working together and doing good to one another. Thus, Witnesses of different races generously share their time and resources in the building of their places of worship, called Kingdom Halls.

      During the past six years, thousands of Witnesses, blacks and whites, have also volunteered their labors in the construction of large new facilities on the outskirts of Krugersdorp, South Africa. After enjoying a lunch with this interracial work force, the manager of a firm that installed specialized equipment said: “They should bring the United Nations here to see how it is done.” Hundreds of Witnesses now use these facilities to translate and produce Bible literature.

      Jehovah’s Witnesses in South Africa also worship together in large conventions. To see thousands of Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, Afrikaans, English, and other South Africans streaming into one united organization is unique​—striking proof that Christianity is very much alive in South Africa today! (John 13:35; 17:23) It adds to the evidence that we are living in what the Bible terms “the final part of the days.”​—Isaiah 2:2-4.