Blessings "in Favorable Times and Difficult Times"/AS TOLD BY TROPHIM R. NSOMBA

CONCLUSION OF ARRESTED AND IMPRISONED 

The warden of that prison was happy that I came; he wanted me to be the "pastor" for the prison. He removed the current pastor, telling him:  "I don't want you to teach God's Word here again, for you were put in prison because you stole from your church!" So I was given the responsibility of teaching the Bible each week at the meetings that were arranged for the prisoners.

Later, things changed for the worse. Prison officials interrogated me to find out how many Witnesses there were in Malawi.  When I didn't answer them to their satisfaction, they beat me until I passed out. Another time, they wanted  to know where our headquarters was located. I said, " you have asked a simple question, and I will tell you."  The policemen were happy and turned on their tape recorder. I explained that  the headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses is described in the Bible. They were surprised, and asked, "Where is the Bible?"

"At Isaiah 43:12," I replied.   They looked it up and read it carefully:"  'You are my witnesses, "declared Jehovah,' and I am God.' "  They read that passage about three times.  Then they asked:  "How can the headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses be here in the Bible and not in America?"  I told them:  "Jehovah's Witnesses in America also see this scripture as describing their headquarters."  Since I would not tell them what they wanted to hear, I was transferred to Dzaleka Prison, just north of Lilongwe.  

Next time: Blessings "in Favorable Times and Difficult Times"/ AS TOLD BY TROPHIM R. NSOMBA - BLESSINGS EVEN IN DIFFICULT TIMES

From the Watchtower magazine