JW subtitle extractor

I became one of Jehovah’s Witnesses
in 1975 in Zaire.
Zaire was under a dictatorship at that time.
There was only one political party,
and everyone was supposed to join it.
Therefore, a position at work also required
a position in the political party.
I refused to have anything
to do with these political activities.
One day, they asked me
to be present for the flag salute.
I had to go and explain
to all the workers who had assembled
why I didn’t want to be there.
So as I set off,
understandably, I prayed a lot.
Until then, I would just stay out of sight,
but on that day,
everyone was very angry;
so I had to be present.
On Saturday, a man from the party came.
He came to the office and started to yell,
“Who doesn’t want to participate
in political activities?”
He carried on talking
and called everyone to come outside,
so everyone went outside.
I stayed alone in the office.
On the way home,
I thought that maybe
they were going to arrest me,
but they did not.
We went home, myself included.
Afterwards, besides having to face
peer pressure nearly every day,
I was demoted.
One year
the children didn’t attend school
because we didn’t have enough money
—even for our day-to-day needs
it became difficult.
I didn’t neglect spiritual things.
I always kept busy attending the meetings,
participating at the meetings,
in the ministry,
with my personal study
and, even more so,
with my prayer to Jehovah.
Jehovah has blessed me
because I’m still in the truth.
All this time, he has blessed me.
To be neutral is the best way
to show that we support
Jehovah’s Kingdom
—apart from the preaching work, obviously.
Even when the government
goes against our activity,
we shouldn’t take this
as something bad or negative.
It can serve a purpose.
It can render a witness.
It is a witness
in support of God’s Kingdom,
the name of Jehovah, and his authority.
Understanding it in that way,
we will rely on Jehovah.
Jehovah never allows
something without reason.

Why True Christians Need Courage—To Maintain Neutrality