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Kingdom Proclaimers Report

Jehovah Blessed Their Firm Stand for His Law

IN A Middle Eastern country, a father was fixing a flat tire beside the road when a car hit his four-year-old son and then sped away. With the injured child on the mother’s lap, the father headed for the nearest hospital only to be directed to another hospital 16 miles [25 km] away. The doctor decided that the boy had internal bleeding and that he needed an operation and a blood transfusion. Eight other doctors agreed. Knowing God’s law against blood transfusions, the parents refused. “You have only five minutes to decide or else we will not touch your child even if you agree to a blood transfusion afterward,” threatened the doctor. In the meantime, the child’s stomach continued to swell and was reaching a dangerous state.

The father’s fleshly brother, not in the truth, put pressure on the father to permit a blood transfusion. He even said: “Please consider this boy not yours but mine. Since your conscience is bothering you, I will bear the responsibility, including the hospital cost, to give the child the needed blood. This is your only son.” The pressure was hard to bear, but the parents were firm in their decision.

They took the boy and left, looking for a certain hospital, but they lost their way. By chance they saw the sign of another hospital, and they went to it, although it was not the one they were looking for. After seeing the boy, the doctor said: “The swelling of the child’s stomach may or may not be a sign of internal bleeding. Let the boy sleep, and tomorrow we will make the necessary examinations to find out.” The examinations showed that there was no bleeding, but the swelling was due to the accident. There was no need for an operation. In fact, the doctor said that an operation could have been very dangerous. “Thanks to Jehovah,” said the parents, “for the safety of our son and for directing us to the right hospital and to the right doctor.”

Ten years later, what has been the outcome of this situation? The father relates: “My fleshly brother that put pressure on me in the hospital came to appreciate our stand and see Jehovah’s direction in this case. This aroused his interest in the truth, which he accepted, and he is now baptized and serves as an elder in the congregation. His wife and children are serving Jehovah zealously with him. My two other brothers are also in the truth with their families, and one of them is serving as a ministerial servant. My father and mother were baptized recently despite their old age. So, although it was a terrible experience for my wife and me, because of it some 30 members of my family have accepted the truth; some are already baptized and serving as elders and ministerial servants. Others are on their way to baptism. My son, now 14 years old, is a healthy, zealous publisher, and he looks forward to baptism. How thankful my wife and I are to Jehovah for helping us make the right decision in harmony with his law stated at Acts 15:29”!

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“Keep abstaining from things sacrificed to idols and from blood”