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Jehovah​—A Secure Height

In a South American country a former union official studied with Jehovah’s Witnesses, accepted Bible truth and was baptized. In that same month he was stopped on the way home from work by the military police who asked for his identification card. Upon presenting it he was ordered to get into an army truck. He asked the officer in charge if he could notify his wife but was told that was impossible. It appears that because of his previous union connections he was suspected of being a Communist.

He was blindfolded and driven to a barbed-wire enclosure where there were about 100 men who likewise were suspected of being Communists, as well as some hardened criminals, including one charged with the murder of six men, also a journalist. As night came on it got cold, but the men were given no bedding, so they curled up and slept on the ground like animals. Early the next morning one of the commanding officers lined them up and ordered them to sing the national anthem and salute the flag. The Witness refused to do either, for which the officer ridiculed him.

The prisoners received one meal a day at noontime. The others noticed that the Witness silently prayed before eating, and began to ridicule him, even heckling him. On the third day while this was going on the murderer came over to them, and said: “I’ve been listening to you guys for three days now. The next one who says something bad about this man will be the seventh one I murder. Believe me, I’ll find a way to shut you guys up for good!” That same day another man called all the men together and asked the Witness if he could pray for them, and the following day they asked him to offer prayer before the meal. In time, he was able to witness to all the men.

Every afternoon a number of prisoners were taken for interrogation. Some they never saw again. When the journalist returned, he looked glassy-eyed and did not seem to know where he had been. In the meantime, the wife of the Witness had been trying in vain to get some information regarding the disappearance of her husband.

On the ninth day it was the turn of the Witness. He was led blindfolded to the interrogation point where he was severely beaten and questioned for some eight hours. In reply to their questions, he told them about Jehovah and Christian neutrality.

Finally, he was informed that he was to be hanged. They asked him if he had any last words. He requested that they tell his wife what had happened to him. They then asked him if he was not afraid to die so young. He replied: “If you had picked me up some months ago I guess I would have been very afraid of dying. But the Bible says that death is like sleeping. And I firmly believe that Jehovah will resurrect the dead. One day you, too, Sir, will have to face death.”

They then led him to the gallows, the Witness praying for Jehovah to strengthen him to keep faithful and for God to care for his wife and children. They put the noose around his neck. The order was given to release the trapdoor, but he only fell to his feet. It had been a trick. After that he and some others were blindfolded, handcuffed and driven to the place where he had been seized nine days before. It was Sunday, and so he headed for the Kingdom Hall where he found his wife and children. It was as if he had been resurrected.

Jehovah had indeed proved to be a “secure height” for this newly baptized Witness during those days of trial.​—Ps. 144:1, 2.