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Sustained by Their Greatest Friend

ONE friendship especially sustains Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is their precious relationship with their greatest Friend, Jehovah God. (Compare James 2:23.) He supports them during great tests of faith.

The Witnesses’ record of integrity under totalitarian regimes has been praised by many observers. One of them is Jiří Krupička, a doctor of philosophy and natural sciences who emigrated from Czechoslovakia in 1968 after spending many years in Communist concentration camps. In his book Renesance rozumu (Renaissance of Intellect), he comments on the suffering and the steadfastness of Witnesses imprisoned for their neutrality.

Under the Communist government, many Witnesses were sentenced to prison because of their faith. Though imprisoned, they refused to mine uranium for war purposes. (Isaiah 2:4) Krupička describes a scene he witnessed at one of these mines in 1952. He saw two figures standing like icy statues in the severe winter weather. Metal barrels covered their heads and upper bodies.

Krupička writes: “They had been standing out there in prison rags since early morning. How could they manage to stand so long on frozen legs? By power of faith. The barrels were old and rusty. A cruel hand rammed them on their heads and shoulders so forcefully that the jagged rim cut through the jacket and into the skin of one of the men, and blood was dripping from his sleeve.

“The guard halted our column in front of them, and the commander gave us a short talk. Refusing to work, he said, is rebellion and is punished accordingly. No sentimental baloney about war and killing will help these objectors, these enemies of socialism.”

The commander picked up a metal bar and struck one of the barrels. The man in it collapsed with the barrel still covering his head. What happened next is deeply engraved in Krupička’s memory.

He states: “There was singing coming from inside the drums. Soft sounds, a whispered prayer to God, who can hear anything from anywhere—even attempted singing from the inside of old, rusty uranium barrels. He hears it louder than a chorale sung in a large cathedral.”

On September 1, 1993, the work of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Czech Republic received official legal recognition. The Czech Witnesses now rejoice to carry on their Christian educational work in freedom. Yes, they are delighted to tell others about Jehovah, their greatest Friend.

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Conventioners in the Czech Republic