Religion Today: A Better World is Near – Special Worldwide Campaign Brings Positive Message to Community

Visalia will be one of the thousands of communities around the globe that will receive a powerful message of hope this November as Jehovah’s Witnesses embark upon a special campaign focusing attention on the Bible’s hope for a better world.

The goal of the campaign is to distribute a special edition of The Watchtower magazine containing the cover series, “A Better World is Near.” More than 36 million printed copies of the magazine are expected to be distributed in some 230 languages to communities in 240 lands around the globe. In addition, the digital publication is available on various platforms in nearly 400 languages.

“People are longing to hear a positive message and this is the best news possible,” said Robert Hendriks, U.S. Spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses. “A better world is not just a dream, it’s inevitable. In fact, it is the central theme of the entire Bible.”

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The magazine addresses the age-old “doomsday” question “Is this world going to end?” with a comforting answer that may surprise many readers. While many religions have predicted the “end of the world,” the magazine reveals the Bible’s clear message: the earth is here forever and will never end! However, the magazine also explains the powerful truth that wickedness will soon be gone, quoting the Bible book of Psalms, where it promises that the “lawless one” will be no more. (Psalm 37:10, Rotherham translation)

This positive message has been the hope of millions around the world who have prayed for God’s Kingdom to come, a familiar refrain of many Christians taught by Jesus in what some refer to as the Lord’s Prayer.

After a life of drinking, drug abuse, and making poor decisions – including one as a teenager that left him wheelchair-bound – three years ago Leon Richardson III began studying the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses. The life transformation and happiness that followed has brought him, and his family, untold joy. Photo Courtesy of Jehovah’s Witnesses

Born and raised in Visalia, Leon Richardson III knows how the Bible’s message of a better world can save lives. As a young man, Richardson often gave in to fits of anger, overdrinking and drug abuse. His family was most affected by his actions. One poor decision in his teenage years resulted in a bullet in his back, consequently restricting him to a wheelchair.

Richardson longed for a better life but did not think it was possible. “I always wanted a happy family – to be peaceable,” he expressed. “I believed in God, but I had no relationship with him.”

Three years ago, Richardson started to study the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses. He began to apply the Bible’s advice, and his personality began to change. Instead of reacting in anger, he learned to be peaceable. His daughter recently told him, “I like you better this way.”

Richardson spends most days calling or writing to his neighbors to share the Bible’s message of a brighter future. Sharing his faith with others brings him great joy. “I look at what’s ahead and what I can give to others.”

Seventeen years later, Richardson struggles with chronic pain. He comments, “Every day I wake up to the wheelchair, but I know it’s temporary, so I deal with it the best I can.”

The Bible’s message has given him hope for a better world ahead. A world filled with happiness and free from pain.

The Watchtower has been carrying a similar message about God’s Kingdom for more than 100 years and remains the most widely translated and circulated magazine in the world. The 2021 number two edition is available at no cost online at jw.org, where anyone can also request a free printed copy by scrolling down on the homepage to “Request A Visit.”

For more information, please call (718) 560-5600, or click here for a direct link to the online version of the magazine.

Submitted by Jehovah’s Witnesses – Public Information Desk

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Contact the editor: [email protected]

Trevor Montgomery, 50, moved in 2017 to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source (RCNS) and Shasta County News Source (SCNS).

Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County-based newspapers Valley News, Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; the Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County; and Mountain Echo in Shasta County. He is also a regular contributor to Thin Blue Line TV and Law Enforcement News Network and has had his stories featured on news stations throughout the Southern California and North State regions.

Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)

During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.

Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.

Trevor has been married for more than 30 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 18 grandchildren.