THE WATCHTOWER

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WATCH TOWER BIBLE 6 TRACT SOCIETY 117 Adams Street •   • Brooklyn 1, N.Y., U.S A.

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N. H. Knobb, President               Grant Suiter, Secretary

“And all thy children shall be taught of Jehovah; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” - Isaiah 54:13.

THE BIBLE CLEARLY TEACHES

THAT JEHOVAH is the only true God, from everlasting to everlasting, and Is the Maker of heaven and earth and Giver of life to his creatures; that the Word or Logos was the beginning of his creation and his active agent in creating all other things ; and that the creature Lucifer rebelled against Jehovah and raised the issue of His universal sovereignty;

THAT GOD created the earth for man, made perfect man for the earth and placed him upon It; that man yielded to unfaithful Lucifer, or Satan, and willfully disobeyed God’s law and was sentenced to death; that by reason of Adam’s wrong act all men are born sinners and without the right to life;

THAT THE LOGOS was made human as the man Jesus and suffered death In order to produce the ransom or redemptive price for obedient men; that God raised up Christ Jesus divine and exalted him to heaven above every other creature and-clothed him with all power and authority as head of God’s new capital organization;

THAT GOD’S CAPITAL ORGANIZATION is a Theocracy called Zion, and that Christ Jesus is the Chief Officer thereof and is the rightful King of the new world; that the faithful anointed followers of Christ Jesus are Zion’s children, members of Jehovah’s organization, and are His witnesses whose duty and privilege it is to testify to Jehovah’s supremacy and declare his purposes toward mankind as expressed in the Bible;

THAT THE OLD WORLD, or Satan's uninterrupted rule, ended AD. 1914, and Christ Jesus has been placed by Jehovah upon the throne, has ousted Satan from heaven, and now proceeds to vindicate His name and establish the “new earth”;

THAT THE RELIEF and blessings of the peoples can come only by Jehovah’s kingdom under Christ, which has begun; that His next great act is to destroy Satan's organization and establish righteousness completely in the earth; and that under the Kingdom the people of good-will surviving Armageddon will carry out the divine mandate to “fill the earth” with righteous offspring, and that the human dead in the graves will be raised to opportunities of life on earth.

ITS MISSION

HIS Journal Is published for the purpose of enabling the people to know Jehovah God and his purposes as expressed in the Bible. It publishes Bible Instruction specifically designed to aid Jehovah’s witnesses and all people of good-wllL

It arranges systematic Bible study for Its readers and the Society supplies other literature to aid in such studies. It publishes suitable material for radio broadcasting and for other means of public instruction in the Scriptures.

It adheres strictly to the Bible as authority for its utterances. It is entirely free and separate from all religion, parties, sects or other worldly organizations. It is wholly and without reservation for the kingdom of Jehovah God under Christ his beloved King. It is not dogmatic, but Invites careful and critical examination of Its contents in the light of the Scriptures. It does not indulge in controversy, and Its columns are not open to personalities.

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“BLESSED ARE THE DEAD WHICH DIE”

Many of the earlier readers of The Watchtower will be interested to learn of the passing of a faithful servant of the Lord who till recently was quite prominent in the work of the Watch Tower Society. At 6 a.m. Thursday, September 25, 1947, Charles A. Wise finished his life work upon earth at the age of 84 years, dying at the Brooklyn Hospital not a great distance from the Brooklyn Bethel home. He was baptized as one of Jehovah’s witnesses March 18, 1890, and was one of the two hundred “ministers” that attended the Memorial assembly in Allegheny, Pa., April 3 of that same year. On January 4, 1919, he was elected vice-president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, in which capacity he acted continuously until October 1, 1941, his 79th year. He came to the Bethel home October 1, 1918, and remained a member thereof until the time of his death. One of his last joyful privileges was to attend the “All Nations Expansion Assembly” at Los Angeles in August of this year. In view of his course of constant faithfulness we have reason to believe him one of the “blessed” ones whose grand privilege of immediately entering into the Lord’s presence at death was foretold at Revelation 14:13.

“FEARLESS AGAINST CONSPIRACY” TESTIMONY PERIOD

October is annually a special testimony-period month, and this year it is designated “Fearless Against Conspiracy” Testimony Period. The fact today of world conspiracy against Jehovah God and his kingdom by Christ cannot be denied, and it falls not amiss that during this special testimony His fearless publishers will offer the challenging book “Let God Be True”, making it their initial offer on a contribution of 35c, American, or the equivalent of this in foreign lands.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES

Week of November 23: “God’s Ministers of Good News,” fll-20 inclusive, The Watchtower October 15, 1947.

Week of November 30: “God’s Ministers of Good News,” fl 21-41 inclusive, The Watchtower October 15, 1947.

EASTERN SEABOARD CONVENTION

For the benefit particularly of the brethren living east of the Mississippi river a late autumn convention has been arranged for November 21, 22, 23, in the eastern seaboard city of Philadelphia, Pa. The spacious Convention Hall at 34th Street near Spruce, in that city, has now been engaged for the three-day assembly. At this convention the president of the Watch Tower Society and other official members will be present to serve on the platform as part of a specially prepared program. The public address will be upon the subject, “Permanent Governor of All Nations.” Brethren that can manage their affairs so as to attend should at once get in touch with the Watchtower Convention Committee, at 1343 W. Venango Street, Philadelphia 40, Pa., for rooming assignments or other information. Kingdom publishers may also consult the October issue of the Informant for additional details.

ffieW/WCHTOWER

ANNOUNCING JEHOVAH’S KINGDOM

Vol. LXVIII                           October 15, 1947                                 No. 20

GOD’S MINISTERS OF GOOD NEWS

"Jehovah hath established his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all. Bless Jehovah, all ye his hosts, ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure."—Ps. 103:19, 21, Am.Stan.Ver.

TEHOVAH observed his own appointed times and I seasons when he set up his kingdom A.D. 1914, J in order to renew his special control over our earth. In that year the “seven times" which he had appointed for permitting the uninterrupted Gentile control of the earth came to their end, 2,520 years from when they began at the overturning of Judah’s kingdom at Jerusalem in 607 B.C. (Dan. 4:16, 23; Ezek. 21: 25-27) The due season then arrived for him to give the kingdom of a new world of righteousness to his chosen One whose right it is to rule as Jehovah’s representative, namely, the One pictured in prophecy as “the Son of man”. (Dan. 7:13,14) That is good news, the best news in more than five thousand years of human history. It brings close to realization the divine promise, namely, that the Seed of God’s woman should bruise the head of the Serpent and should bring deliverance to groaning mankind and vindicate the name of the Ruler over all, Jehovah God. (Gen. 3:14, 15) Now, since 1914, is therefore the time for all of his hosts to bless him, and particularly all the ministers of God who would now do His pleasure on earth. They bless him by telling of his glorious works, and showing forth his praises, and commending his Theocratic rule to all persons of good-will who love righteousness.

² Persons that are disposed toward righteousness, and who hunger and thirst for a righteous rule over a united world, should look around to detect who are the ones really performing the part of minister of God. These are the ones fulfilling the foretold qualification : “All thy works shall give thanks unto thee, 0 Jehovah; and thy saints shall bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glory of the majesty of his kingdom.” (Ps. 145:10-12, Am. Stan. Ver.) Solely through such genuine ministers of Jehovah God will the hungry seekers of truth and of righteousness hear the message of the Kingdom that will safeguard them against the great deceptions of this critical century.

^s Who are the ministers of God? is a question that

1. Why, since 1914, should God’s ministers bless him. and how? 2. Why look around tor those doing the part of minister of God? 3. How have true ones made the proof of their ministry stronger? was thrust to the fore particularly when the nations of Christendom were girding themselves for World War K The deciding of the question was left mainly to human courts and boards of jurisdiction under the passions of war. Many that were parading around as ministers of God were exempted from the wartime demands of the embattled nations, whereas thousands of others whom the sacred Scriptures certify to be God’s approved ministers were contradicted, their true position was discounted and ignored, and their rights and proper exemptions were denied them to the extreme point of imprisonment. But by the faithful endurance of such injustices and by keeping on with their ministerial work to whatever extent possible they have made the proof only stronger that they are the ministers of God.

* By an appeal to the inspired sacred Scriptures as the suprahuman authority and the final say on the matter, we must agree that a faithful minister of God serves the One whose minister he is, that is, God. (Rom. 6:16) He does not serve this world, because the service and friendship of this world are declared, at James 4:4, to be outright enemyship toward God. He does not serve the nations of this world, nor of Christendom, neither the political governments of this world. He could not do so and at the same time hold his ministerial rank with the Lord God, because the prophecy foretold that the nations and their kings and rulers would be angry and enraged when the Lord God Almighty would take his great power to himself and would begin to reign. They would not bless him and give him thanks for making this move to bring in the new world of righteousness for “men of good will”.—Rev. 11:15-18.

⁶ A minister of God is necessarily a servant on His side of the great dispute over universal sovereignty, that is to say, over the question, Who shall rule the world? The ministers of the religions of Christendom do not act as His servants, but conduct themselves as lords of the common people and mix in with the political bosses of this world, of which Christendom is the dominant part. Their adulterous conduct with the

4. Whom does a faithful minister serve, and whom not serve’ 5. What belles the religious clergy's claim to be His ministers?

crooked, unclean powers of this world belies their claim to be God’s official representatives, but just so long as they have the man-created and man-bestowed titles of “Doctor of Divinity”, “Reverend,” “Pope,” etc., they think they are the real thing beyond denial or dispute. In this manner they deceive both themselves and the mass of mankind.

• ⁶ In itself, the very word minister emphasizes the thought of service, because it shows the subordinate place of the person that ministers. The word, which is of Latin origin, is drawn from the term minus meaning less and the comparative ending ter; just as the word of opposite meaning, magister or master, is drawn from the term magis meaning more and the comparative ending ter. In the Hebrew Scriptures of the Bible the term generally translated “minister” is also and just as well translated “servant” and “servitor”, thus revealing the real duty of the person having this position. In the Greek Scriptures of the Bible the word in question is diakonos; and it is made up from two words, did meaning through and kdnis meaning dust, thus pointing to one who is dusty from hastening or running in the service of another.

’ The ministers of King Solomon, on all of whom the queen of Sheba gazed with wonderment, were in fact servants of him, carrying out certain assigned duties of a public kind or of an official kind. They attended upon the lung, and stood in his presence for this purpose. (1 Ki. 10:5) By loyally serving him they also served Jehovah God, because Solomon “sat on the throne of Jehovah as king instead of David his father”, something that absolutely cannot be said of Christendom’s kings and rulers. (1 Chron. 29: 23, Am. Stan. Ver.) The Levites that cheerfully ministered to the high priest of Israel, Aaron the brother of Moses, were simply his servants; but at the same time they were the servants of Jehovah God, because He had commanded Moses: “Bring thou near unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office, even Aaron.” (Ex. 28:1, Am. Stan. Ver.) “And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him. And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle.”—Num. 3:5-7, Am. Stan. Ver.

ANGELS AND MEN

• ⁸ The greatest official servant of the Most High God is his own firstborn Son, his only begotten Offspring now known as Christ Jesus. He holds this exalted place because he is one of “The Higher Powers” with Jehovah God. Every God-fearing soul should there

• 6. How does the word “minister” in itself point to service?

• 7. What were the ministers of King Solomon and of priest Aaron?

• 8. Who Is God's chief minister? Why higher than other spirits? fore be in subjection to him as well as to the Supreme Power Jehovah God, because God has ordained him to this place. He is the One of whom the apostle Paul wrote to the .Christian congregation at Rome, saying: “Wouldest thou have no fear of the power! do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise from the same: for he is a minister [diakonos) of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is a minister of God, an avenger of wrath to him that doeth evil.” (Rom. 13:1-4, Am. Stan. Ver.) The great Minister Jesus Christ has at his disposal legions of holy angels; but these spirit creatures are, in a primary sense, ministers of Jehovah God, “who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire.” (Ps. 104:4) To prove from the Bible that Jesus Christ is one of the Higher Powers and loftier than the holy angels, the apostle quotes this verse and says: “And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire: but of the Son he saith, Thy throne is God for ever and ever; and the sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.”—Heb. 1: 7, 8, Am. Stan. Ver.; margin.

’It was altogether fitting, then, that after Jesus had been baptized and had resisted the Devil’s temptations forty days in the wilderness the following occurred to him, as reported at Matthew 4:11: “Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.” (Also Mark 1:13) Doubtless they, at God’s command, supplied the hungry Jesus with food which Jesus had refused to selfishly use his miraculous power to create when he said to the Devil: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”—See 1 Kings 19: 5-8.

• ¹⁰ When on earth as a man Jesus Christ was the model minister of God. Necessarily all who would be real ministers of God must follow the pattern that he cut. He declared that his main purpose in coming to earth was, not to be popishly glorified, but to render service for truth and righteousness. He said to his followers: ‘"Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Matt. 20:26-28) He cared for his followers who were in personal touch with him just as a shepherd cares for his sheep; and he served in defense of their eternal interests even to a martyr’s death. To fulfill prophecy, he confined his direct services almost wholly to the circumcised Jews of the house of Israel, saying: “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matt. 15:24) Those circumcised Israelites were the natural descendants of the fathers Abra-

• 9. Fittingly, what did the angels do to Jesus after temptation?

• 10. How was Jesus on earth a model minister of God? ham, Isaac and Jacob, to whom Jehovah God had made promises of blessings. With these facts in mind the apostle Paul said: “I say that Christ hath been made a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, that he might confirm the promises given unto the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.”—Rom. 15: 8, 9, Am. Stan. Ver.

• ¹¹ Thus the circumcised Israelites got the first benefits of Jesus’ earthly service, but Jesus was primarily God’s minister. Why so! Because he preached the gospel or good news of God’s kingdom, which God had anointed him with the spirit to preach. He quoted the prophecy, Isaiah 61:1, 2, and said: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; ... to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:17-21) By faithfully holding himself to carrying out this appointed service with the help of God’s spirit, Jesus proved himself to be a minister of the gospel of God. No politics, commercialism or militarism for him; but, we read, “he went throughout every city arid village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him, and certain women, . . . which ministered unto him of their substance.” (Luke 8:1-3) His preaching the gospel with absolute neutrality toward the political controversies of this world did not spare him from persecution, but his religious adversaries had him impaled on a stake under this charge: “We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a Kang. . . . He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place.” (Luke 23:1,2,5) In suffering so to the death for persistently and uncompromisingly preaching the gospel Jesus set the example for gospel-preachers.

HOW TO BECOME ONE

• ¹² How can a person become one of God’s ministers of the gospel, in imitation of his Son Jesus Christ! The religious clergy of Christendom will reply, By being ordained by the clergy or by being recognized and approved by their religious organization. But that much could not be said for Jesus Christ. He was not approved or ordained by the clergy and religious system of his day. No man ordained him, not even John the son of priest Zacharias, who baptized him in the Jordan river. He was not born of the priestly family of Aaron or tribe of Levi, but he consecrated himself to God, saying: “Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will, 0 God.” (Heb. 10:7; Ps. 40:7,8) To symbolize in a public confession that he thus dedicated himself to do God's will as set forth in the Book or Bible, Jesus insisted that John baptize him. Then Jehovah God his Father 11. How was he primarily God's minister, yet not free from what?

• 12. How did Jesus become God’s ordained minister of the gospel? ordained Jesus to be his minister of the gospel news by pouring out his spirit upon him, saying: “Thou art my Son the Beloved! On thee I have set the seal of my approval.” (Mark 1:11, Moulton’s Prol.) Thereafter Jesus, anointed with the spirit, declared that God had sent him to preach the gospel. By preaching God’s kingdom he was doing the will of God that he came to do, and he was serving or ministering to God.

• ¹³ Having the all-important and all-necessary ordination from the Most High God, Jesus did not have to apply to the theological schools of rhe Jews’ religion of his day conducted by Rabbi Gamaliel or other prominent rabbis. His failure and refusal to attend such recognized theological schools was well known, for we read: “Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. And the Jews marvelled, saying, How know-eth this man letters [or, learning], having never learned!” He therefore did not have man’s doctrine to teach, but the doctrine of the One ordaining him, for which reason Jesus said: “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.” (John 7:14-16) If not at the religious theological schools, where, then, did Jesus study! Why, while he was a carpenter till thirty years of age, and also during the forty days that he fasted in the wilderness after he was baptized in water and was anointed with God’s spirit.

• ¹⁴ How did Peter and John become God’s ministers of the gospel! It was well known concerning them also that they had not attended religious theological schools but had until recently been fishers on the sea of Galilee. Their speech showed them to be uneducated men, so that when they appeared before the theologically schooled members of the Jewish Supreme Court for trial, we read: “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13) All the same, Peter and John were ordained ministers of the gospel of God, whereas those educated, cultured justices of law were not such.

• ¹⁵ How did Peter and John become such! This way: They heard John the Baptist preaching repentance toward Jehovah God, and they repented and were baptized with John’s baptism for the Jews, and they became John’s disciples. Through John they got introduced to the baptized and anointed Jesus after his return from forty days spent in the wilderness. Jesus did not require them to go to any religious theological school, but he called them to follow him and keep in his company, and he taught them doctrine and demonstrated to them how to serve God and he gave them practical training in preaching the 13. Where did Jesus study and acquire learning for this ministry?

• 14. What do we know about Peter and John’s early education?

• 15. How did they get practical training for the ministry? true gospel. (John 1:35-51; 2:1-12; Matt. 4:17-22) As his heavenly Father sent him to preach, so Jesus sent his disciples out to preach, saying to them after his resurrection from the dead: “All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”—Matt. 28:18-20, Am. Stan. Ver.

• ¹⁸ Ten days after Jesus ascended and returned to heaven, Jehovah God fully ordained Peter and John and all the other believing remnant of the Jews by pouring out his holy spirit or active force upon them while the feast of Pentecost was going on among the Jews. Because Christ is His chief minister to whom he has given all needed authority in heaven and on earth, Jehovah God ordained them through Jesus Christ as their Head and Leader. God used him to pour out the holy spirit or invisible energy upon the disciples. Hence Peter, filled with this spirit at Pentecost, said to the wondering multitude: “This Jesus did God raise up, whereof we all are witnesses. Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the holy spirit, he hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear.” (Acts 2:32,33, Am. Stan. Ver.) In this manner they received ordination and power to be God's ministers of the gospel, as Jesus had told them just before his ascension: “Ye shall be baptized in the holy spirit not many days hence.... ye shall receive power, when the holy spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1: 5, 8, Am. St an. Ver.) Religious theological schools and organized religious denominations are thus seen to perform no part in the valid ordination of the true ministers of the gospel of God.

NOT ORDAINED BY MAN

" However, from then on was not the apostle Peter, and so-called “successors” of him, necessary for the ordaining of others to be Jehovah’s official servants and gospel representatives'? The record in the Acts of the Apostles answers No! At Pentecost there were about 119 besides Peter that received the holy spirit of ordination, not from or through Peter, but from Jehovah God through his glorified Son Jesus. All of them, and not just Peter alone, preached by the impelling force of that spirit. As for the multitude that heard all of them preach, we read, “they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren [not merely, Brother Peter], what shall we do?” (Acts 2:4,37, Am. Stan. Ver.)

• 16. Why and how were they fully ordained to be gospel ministers? 17. How do we know whether Peter was necessary to ordaining others? The record further tells us that, following their repentance and baptism, “they devoted themselves to the instruction given by the apostles [not by just Peter alone] and to fellowship, breaking bread and praying together.”—Acts 2:42, Moffatt.

• ¹⁸ Paul, the former Saul of Tarsus the persecutor, raised a question for the sake of arguing it out, and said: “Are they Hebrews ? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. Are they ministers of Christ?” To this last question Paul confidently answered: “I more; in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths oft.... The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed for evermore knoweth that I lie not.” (2 Cor. 11: 22-31, Am. Stan. Ver.) Well, if Paul was a minister of Christ, had he been ordained by or through Peter? The facts on record reply with a decisive No! Peter and his fellow apostles were carrying on underground in Jerusalem because of the persecutions, whereas Paul, or Saul of Tarsus, was at or near Damascus, over 250 miles distant from Jerusalem, when he repented and became converted and was ordained as a minister of Christ. By a miraculous vision the Lord Jesus appeared to him in the way to Damascus and smote him with blindness at the glorious sight and told him to go on to Damascus to learn what to do. Then the Lord Jesus sent, not Peter, but a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias, who said: “Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, who appeared unto thee in the way which thou earnest, hath sent me, that thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the holy spirit.”—Acts 9:17, Am. Stan. Ver.

• ¹⁹ Paul tells us what else Ananias said to him, namely: “The God of our fathers hath appointed thee to know his will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice from his mouth. For thou shalt be a witness for him unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name.” (Acts 22:14-16, Am. Stan. Ver.) Note that Ananias said God appointed or ordained the converted Saul to be his minister and witness to all men. It was God who, through Jesus Christ the Righteous One, filled him with the holy spirit, thus ordaining him. He did not go up to Jerusalem to Peter to get ordained, and Peter did not send Ananias as “apostolic delegate”, so called. The record says concerning the converted and spirit-filled Saul: “He was certain days with the disciples that were at Damascus. And straightway in the synagogues [or, among the Jews, not Gentiles] he proclaimed Jesus, that he is the Son of God. And when many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel together to kill him.” (Acts 9:19, 20, 23,

• 18. What led up to Paul’s becoming a 'minister of Cbrist’?

• 19, 20. What facts of record further show that neither Peter nor any other man ordained Paul to be a minister?

Am. Stan. Ver.) It was first after three years of such preaching and ministerial activity that Paul went south to Jerusalem and met the apostle Peter and James. (Acts 9:26-29) To show no human ordination was given him, Paul said:

• ²⁰ “But when it was the good pleasure of God, who separated me, even from my mother’s womb, and called me through his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles; straightway I conferred not with flesh and blood: neither went I up to Jerusalem to them that were apostles before me: but I went away into Arabia; and again I returned unto Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and tarried with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother. Now touching the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not. Then after the space of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus also with me.”—Gal. 1:15-20 and 2:1, Am. Stan.Ver.

• ²¹ In the first letter that Paul wrote, that to the church which he established at Thessalonica in Macedonia, he speaks of “Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God”. (1 Thess. 3: 2) How did Timothy become such, so that Paul could write to Timothy himself and say to him: “If thou put the brethren in mind of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Christ Jesus”? (1 Tim. 4:6, Am. Stan.Ver.) Did Timothy become such by being ordained by Paul or other elder brethren of the Christian congregation ? A third time the answer is No! How, though, about this? Paul said to Timothy: “Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.” “Stir up the gift of God, which is in thee through the laying on of my hands.” (1 Tim. 4:14; 2 Tim. 1: 6, Am. Stan. Ver.) How about this? Well, this does not refer to being ordained to preach or be minister of God. It refers to “the gift”, “the gift of God,” which gift was bestowed upon the believers consecrating when the apostles laid their hands upon them. It was the gift of the spirit, whereby miraculous ability was conferred upon the Christian receiving it, so that he could prophesy, or talk with a foreign language, or interpret, or perform cures. On Paul’s first missionary visit to Lystra, in Asia Minor, he met up with Timothy’s Jewish mother Eunice and grandmother Lois, and they became disciples of Christianity. Both of them taught the child Timothy, inasmuch as his father was an unconverted Greek. There Paul and his fellow missionary Barnabas appointed a “presbytery” or body of elder brethren to serve in responsible positions in the church.—Acts 14:6-23.

• ²² Sometime after a special conference of the

• 21, 22. (a) Was Timothy ordained by Paul or a “presbytery”? (b) What did prophecy and laying on of hands accomplish for Timothy? church’s governing body in Jerusalem, Paul made a return visit to Lystra, accompanied this time by Silas. In the meantime Timothy was giving great promise as a Christian worker. Possibly some Christian with the gift of prophecy had made some predictions concerning Timothy’s future service as a “minister of God”; or else the “presbytery” or body of elder brethren in the Lystra company, noting Timothy’s progress, had sent advance information (prophecy) to Paul about him and recommended him for some appointment. The elder brethren in office in Lystra could not themselves alone bestow any “gift of the spirit” upon Timothy, no more than the evangelist Philip could bestow it upon the believing, baptized Samaritans or than the man that had proclaimed John’s baptism to the twelve believers at Ephesus could bestow it upon them. But Paul could. (Acts 8:12-18; 19:1-7) So when Paul returned to Lystra, he laid his hands in the customary manner upon Timothy, and then Timothy received the “gift of the spirit” which was from God. Likely the presbytery or body of elders joined Paul in laying the hand upon Timothy, or possibly the elder brethren laid the hand upon Timothy in commending him to the apostle Paul for this consideration. So we read: “And he came ... to Lystra: and behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewess that believed; but his father was a Greek. The same was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium [likely such good report being the ‘prophecy’ on account of which Timothy was given the special gift]. Him would Paul have to go. forth with him.”—Acts 16:1-3, Am.Stan.Ver.

• ²³ Because of Paul’s part in connection with Timothy’s faith and service, he spoke of him as “Timothy, my own son in the faith”, and said: “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee [or, predictions made long ago about thee], that thou by them mightest war a good warfare.” (1 Tim. 1: 2,18; An Amer. Trans.) Since the death of the twelve apostles the bestowing of gifts of the spirit by them stopped of necessity, as foretold by Paul at 1 Corinthians 13:1-8. Hence the practice of laying on of hands would cease with them. Thereafter any laying on of hands by any persons would, at most, be symbolic of appointing someone to a responsible position or work, but not of ordaining that one to be a “minister of God”. It would accomplish no bestowal of the “gift of God” or “gift of the spirit” upon such one upon whom hands might be laid in symbol.

• ²⁴ It therefore remains clear that ordination to be a “minister of God” is not by man or through man, but is by Jehovah God and through Jesus Christ his Prime Minister. “And he ordained twelve, that 23. Since the apostles, what does laying on of hands do or mean? 24. For one to be ordained, what procedure must there be? they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach.” (Mark 3:14) As God’s Minister he said to his faithful disciples: “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit.” (John 15:16) To ordain signifies simply to appoint, place or set down in a position of service or responsibility. To be ordained one must, as is shown by the cases examined above, believe in Jehovah God and in his appointed King and Savior, Jesus Christ. One must prove this belief to be vital in his life by repenting of his former sinful worldly course, and then converting or turning from this world under Satan’s rule, and devoting himself fully and completely to God through the Savior Jesus Christ, with the declared purpose of doing God’s will henceforth. God ordains such consecrated one to be his minister. When? When He accepts that one’s consecration through Christ and then appoints or assigns him to His service in company with all other consecrated ones, namely, to preach the gospel. In order to give effect to such ordination or appointment, God puts his spirit or energetic force upon the consecrated one.

• ²⁵ In the case of the person whom God chooses to be associated with Christ Jesus in the heavenly kingdom, God begets that consecrated one by His spirit to become a spiritual son like Jesus Christ and anoints him, baptizing him with the holy spirit. In the case of a person of good-will of today whom God receives into his service but reserves for eternal life on our earth under the heavenly kingdom, God puts his holy spirit upon him. He does so, just as he did upon the faithful men before Christ, including John the Baptist, respecting whom the angel Gabriel said: “He shall be filled with the holy spirit, even from his mother’s womb.” (Luke 1:13-15, Am. Stan. Ver.) Peter, anointed with the spirit, said concerning the faithful men before Christ: “Men spake from God, being moved by the holy spirit.” (2 Peter 1: 21, Am. Stan.Ver.) In this way the anointed Christian remnant today and their companions, the spirit-filled consecrated ones of good-will, are together “ministers of God”. They have their ordination from Him through Jesus Christ, to fulfill the special foretold assignment of service: “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”—Matt. 24:14.

AT WHAT AGE?

• ²⁸ How old must one be to become an ordained “minister of God”? Aaron, the great grandson of Levi, was 83 years old when he was ordained to be Jehovah's high priest for the nation of Israel. His brother Moses was 80 years old when he was specially 25. In ordaining the remnant of Christ’s body and their good*will companions, how does the holy spirit figure in?

• 26. How old were Aaron, Moses and Jesus when ordained to serve? ordained or appointed to be Jehovah’s prophet and mediator who specially foreshadowed Christ Jesus. (Ex. 7:7; 28:1-4) Jesus, however, was 30 years old when he was ordained with the holy spirit to be the great High Priest, Prophet and Mediator typified by Aaron and Moses. (Luke 3:21-23) As to the male Levites that acted as Aaron’s assistants at the tabernacle, they actively entered upon their duties at the age of twenty-five to serve therein up to fifty years of age, after which they continued to be serviceable in an advisory way. (Num. 8:23-26) However, as respects the Levite Samuel the son of Elkanah, he was specially dedicated to God from before his birth, and he was put to service at the tabernacle right after he was weaned from the breast of his mother Hannah.

• ²⁷ Was this young boy indeed a minister of God at so early an age? Listen to this quotation from the record: “And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child did minister unto Jehovah before Eli the priest. . . . Samuel ministered before Jehovah, being a child, girded with a linen ephod.” And the chapter telling about his first prophecy begins by saying: “And the child Samuel ministered unto Jehovah before Eli.” And after the delivery of the prophecy it says: “And Samuel grew, and Jehovah was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of Jehovah.”—1 Sam. 2:11,18; 3:1,19, 20, Am. Stan. Ver.

• ²⁸ That was, indeed, a case before Christ and his apostles; but Timothy is a case since. At 1 Thessalonians 3:1, 2 the apostle Paul calls Timothy a “minister of God”, when he says: “Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone; and sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God, and our fellowlabourer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith.” Timothy was still a very young man when Paul wrote that of him, likely yet in his teens. Paul wrote this letter one year after he left Lystra taking the young Timothy with him in his missionary work. When he was obliged to leave Thessalonica, and then Berea, he left Silas and Timothy at Berea, and came down alone to Athens. While at Athens, and before moving on to Corinth from where he wrote his letter, he sent word to Timothy at Berea to make a visit to Thessalonica and find out how the brethren there were faring under the persecution. In his letter (1 Thess. 3:6) he tells of Timothy’s finally coming to him at Corinth with the report and how comforting it was. (Acts 17:13-16; 18:1, 5) That was in the year 50 (A.D.). More than ten years later, about A.D. 60-64, Paul

• 27. What shows Samuel was God’s minister although a young boy? 28. What shows Timothy was a tender youth when ordained? still speaks of Timothy as being a youth, for then he wrote and said to him: “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” (1 Tim. 4:12) Timothy’s case is a concrete one to prove that a young man or woman can still be under twenty years of age and yet be an ordained “minister of God”, without having attended a theological seminary.

WOMEN

” Women, too, can be “ministers of God”, even though the apostle Paul gave out the organization instructions: “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.” That set of instructions to Timothy applied to women as teachers within the organized congregation of consecrated believers. (1 Tim. 2:11,12) This is apparent from instructions to the congregation at Corinth, to whom Paul wrote this: “God is not a God of confusion, but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints, let the women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but let them be in subjection, as also saith the law. ... it is shameful for a woman to speak [as teacher] in the church.”—1 Cor. 14: 33-35, Am. Stan. Ver.

• ³⁰ Nevertheless, the apostle demonstrated that women can be gospel ministers and ministers of God. How so? Paul used concerning Phebe a Christian woman the same expression (didkonos) meaning minister as he used concerning himself and Timothy and Christ Jesus. Cenchrea was the eastern port of ancient Corinth; and from Corinth Paul wrote to the Romans: “Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister [didkonos] of the circumcision for the truth of God, . . . I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant [didkonos] of the church which is at Cenchrea: that ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you: for she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus.”—Rom. 15: 8‘ 16:1-3.

• ³¹ Phebe as a minister or didkonos may have minis-tered in somewhat the same way that the women did to Jesus. Regarding Jesus when engaged in his ministry of preaching we read of the assistance given by women: “He-went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him, and certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, 29. Why can women, ruled against as teachers, yet be ordained?

• 30. How did Paul demonstrate women can be "ministers of God”?

• 31. How may Phebe have ministered as servant of the church?

Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.” —Luke 8:1-3; Matt. 27:55; Mark 15: 40,41.

• ³³ Likely Priscilla ministered to Paul in a manner like that, but she did more than that, for Paul says of her and her husband Aquila: “Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.” Then Paul mentions other women, saying: “Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on us. Salute Try-phena and Tryphosa, who labour in the Lord.” (Rom. 16:4, 6,12) Doubtless, the service of these women as ministers of God, and that of Phebe as a servant in the church at Cenchrea, included more than such helpful items as doing washing, laundering, preparing meals, etc., for the male ministers of God. It included giving verbal witness concerning God’s kingdom to those outside the church. The prophecy of Joel 2:28-32, which Peter declared had gone into fulfillment since Pentecost onward and which applies now particularly since A.D. 1919, said, to quote Peter’s words: “It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my spirit; and they shall prophesy.” (Acts 2:16-18) Prophesy here means to publicly tell forth the things stated in the prophecies of God’s Word, the Bible, although, by the spirit of God which was poured out at Pentecost, the gift of prophecy in the sense of foretelling things was also bestowed upon some.

• ³³ It may be with reference to this latter gift of prophecy that Luke writes, to say: “We that were of Paul’s company departed, and came unto Caesarea; and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven [named at Acts 6:5]; and abode with him. And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.” (Acts 21:8,9) But, certainly, if anointed with the outpoured spirit, the other women such as Phebe, Mary, Priscilla, Tryphena and Tryphosa, prophesied in the sense of telling out to others not yet of the church the things contained in God’s prophecies or occurring in fulfillment of such prophecies. In thus prophesying they were, in the highest sense, ministers of God. Hence it is altogether Scriptural that consecrated women today, young and old, virgins and married, who have God’s spirit upon them and who go from house to house spreading God’s message by word and by printed page, be considered and treated and classified as “ministers of God”. It is also Scriptural that all of Jehovah’s consecrated witnesses of today, women and men alike, be viewed and dealt with as

• 32. What did the ministry of the women Paul mentions include? 33. From their prophesying what conclusions do we draw for today? God’s ministers of the gospel; and that they recognize and confess themselves as such.

SOCIETY OF MINISTERS

• ⁸⁴ In Volume 8, Opinion No. 14 (amended), issued from National Headquarters by the then director of the Selective Service System on November 2, 1942, it declared under the subject, “Ministerial Status of Jehovah’s Witnesses," to wit: “Jehovah’s Witnesses claim exemption from training and service and classification in Class IV-D as duly ordained ministers of religion under . . . section 622.44, Selective Service Regulations, Second Edition, which read as follows: . . . Section 622.44: . . . ‘(b) A “regular minister of religion" is a man who customarily preaches and teaches the principles of religion of a recognized church, religious sect, or religious organization of which he is a member, without having been formally ordained as a minister of religion; and who is recognized by such church, sect, or organization as a minister.’ ”*

• ³⁵ Take note of these last words: “Who is recognized by such church, sect, or organization as a minister.” Jehovah’s witnesses are fully consecrated to the Most High God, whose name alone is Jehovah, and they co-operate with the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society as an instrument which He has been pleased to use since its legal incorporation in 1884. This Society has always recognized all its adherents, men and women alike, who are consecrated to Jehovah God through Christ Jesus, as being ministers of God and of His gospel. It has regularly so spoken through its official publication The Watchtower, which began to be published in July, 1879. Relative to a convention of such consecrated ones, namely, the Memorial assembly at Allegheny, Pennsylvania, on Thursday, April 3, 1890, which was attended by about 75 persons from outside the city, The Watchtower said in its issue of April, 1890, in paragraph 5:

• ³⁶ “About two hundred of God’s ministers were in attendance, all told—for all are ministers, servants of the truth, from our standpoint and from the standpoint of god’s word ; in which all are recognized as priests—of the royal priesthood—who, justified by the precious blood, have offered themselves living sacrifices to God and his truth. Among these two hundred were some who had been public pastors in various human organizations and who had been formerly accustomed to the title of Reverend, etc., but here all of God’s priests stood on a common footing and recognized the one Chief Priest of our order, Christ Jesus, and each other as brethren. Among these ex-Reverends were some who had served the

• • See Consolation No. 611, of February 17, 1943, pages 13-15.

• 34. During World War II, what exemptions did Jehovah’s witnesses In the United States claim, and under what ruling?

• 35, 36. (a) W’hat has the Watch Tower Society recognized as respects its consecrated adherents? (b) How did The Watchtower show this? Lutherans, Presbyterians, United Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Protestant Methodists and United Brethren. It was a glorious sight to see these all confessing only the one Church, whose names are written in heaven, and the one creed, God’s Word, and the one Lord and Teacher, Christ Jesus, and the one title of brethren, and the one holy order, the Royal Priesthood. ...”

³⁷ To this day The Watchtower and the legal corporation of which it is the official organ have not moved away from this position. It maintains that all those consecrated to Jehovah God through Christ Jesus and upon whom God has put his spirit are “ministers of God”, both those of the anointed remnant and those of the far greater number of persons of goodwill who are the “other sheep” that the Good Shepherd has gathered to his fold. In fact, the unincorporated society of Jehovah’s consecrated witnesses all over the earth is a Society of ordained “ministers of God”. Does this confuse you, as it has confused many judges, draft-board officials, police officers and religious clergymen? Are you asking, as they asked, If all of Jehovah’s witnesses are gospel ministers and there is no clergy class and laity class among them, then where is the congregation of each such ordained minister of the gospel? The answer is simple.

³³ Ask yourself, Where was the congregation of Jesus Christ, who bears the title “the faithful and true witness”? and where was the congregation of his twelve apostles? None of them built religious buildings, settling themselves in them and organizing a congregation over which to set up themselves as a clergy class, spiritual bosses. For this were they any less the ministers of God? Not at all! God put his spirit upon them as his true ministers; and the clergy of the religious nation of that day went without it, in proof that they were not God’s ministers, but those of Satan the Devil. Well, then, where was the congregation of Jesus Christ and his twelve apostles and of the seventy other evangelists that he sent forth? Why, their congregation was made up of the persons with hearing ears among all the lost “sheep” of the house of Israel. Jesus was sent to these lost “sheep”. He indicated that they were the congregation of his disciples when he said to them: “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matt. 10:5-7; Luke 10:1-5) Later, after his resurrection, Christ Jesus said: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them.” “That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” (Matt. 28:19; Luke 24: 47) By saying that, Jesus widened

37. What kind of Society are Jehovah’s witnesses?

33. Where was the congregation of Jesus and of his apostles? out the congregation to include all the persons of receptive mind and love of truth in all Gentile nations.

• ³⁹ Today, then, all persons of hearing ears to whom they are sent to preach the gospel of good news of God’s established kingdom are the congregation of this society of ordained ministers of God, Jehovah’s consecrated witnesses. In their work from house to house every doorstep at which they introduce the Kingdom message becomes their pulpit, and the listening inmates become their congregation or part of it. Every home in which they institute and carry on private Bible studies becomes a place of meeting with their congregation. Every public location, to which they invite all persons hungering for Kingdom truth, becomes the unsectarian place to which the members of their congregation may come without regard to their previous religious beliefs and connections. What a congregation! It is not one just to preach to, but to make ministers of God out of, a great multitude of them, all praising Jehovah God and his King Christ Jesus, and serving God day and night in his temple.—Rev. 7: 9-15.

• ⁴⁰ The ministerial status of Jehovah’s witnesses has been denied by their enemies who envy them for their position with God. They say Jehovah’s witnesses are peddlers, peddlers of books, because these preach not only by word of mouth but also by printed page and distribute books and booklets containing printed sermons, which they leave with the people free or at a nominal contribution of money to help in 59. Who are the congregation for Jehovah’s witnesses of today’ 40. How do enemies classify Jehovah’s witnesses, wrongfully? the expense of printing and distributing. They classify Jehovah’s witnesses, therefore, as book peddlers, and they try to have the courts misapply the commercial laws against them and to require a costly license of them and to tax them and their literature and printing establishments. They purposely overlook the rule set forth by the apostle Paul, namely: “Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? . . . Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.”—1 Cor. 9:13,14.

• ⁴¹ Jehovah’s witnesses will therefore continue to recognize, confess and contend for their status as “ministers of God” in the true sense. Like them, Paul was accused of being a fraud, being in the preaching business for the purpose of making gain from his congregation. But Paul contended he was God’s minister and was qualified to be such. Said he: “Who is qualified for this task ? I am! For I am no peddler of God’s message, like most men, but like a man of sincerity, commissioned by God and in his presence, in union with Christ I utter his message.” (2 Cor. 2:16, 17, An Amer. Trans.) In the language of the apostle Paul, who tells us to follow him as he followed Christ, Jehovah’s witnesses boldly declare to their false accusers: “I am no peddler of God’s message.” Unabashed, they press forward in all nations, against mounting opposition, proving themselves to be God’s ministers by preaching his Kingdom message.

• 41. For what do Jehovah’s witnesses, like Paul, continue to contend, and with what practical proof?

FOLLOW THE BIBLE

NO MATTER where you are on earth, at no time follow the advice of men that is not in harmony with God’s Word. The Bible is His written Word. It is true, correct, and right. By a personal study of it make it your own. Remember its instruction in truth and righteousness. Then when difficulties, trials and temptations come, you will know the divine answer on what to do. You will not have to run to another person and ask: “Now what would you do under the circumstances?” Ask the Lord God direct by consulting his Word. Go to him in prayer; ask him to open your heart to the reception of pure instruction. Search his Word with whatever other helps He provides; get his advice. Then follow it.

Too often a person with his own selfish ideas makes up his mind as to what he wants to do, and then goes hunting around, presumably for advice, until he finds someone to agree with him. Such person then says: “Well, he said I can do it.” Thereafter, should anything go wrong, he points the finger at such adviser and says: “It is his fault.” Let advisers turn seekers to the Bible. Let seekers of guidance sincerely turn to God’s Word. Following its advice, they will not go wrong. Their course will have His approval and blessing.

CENTRAL EUROPE

rIE three Americans N. H. Knorr, president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, his secretary, M. G. Henschel, and H. C. Covington, legal adviser to the Society, were keenly looking forward to their arrival in Frankfort, the first and only stop the plane made in Germany. Since 1933 no Ampri pan official of the Society had visited the German brethren. The travelers had read much in the written reports that male them all the more eager to visit the German brethren and see them face to face. Also they had regretted the failure of Germany to be represented by delegates at the Glad Nations Theocratic Assembly in Cleveland in 1946. This was due to restrictions imposed by United States authorities that prevented Germans from traveling to America. So it was the plan of the president of the Society for many months to go to Germany and serve them in assemblies. In spite of rigid regulations that curtailed travel to Germany by Americans, the authorities gave permission to all these travelers to visit Germany. The permit was granted by the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the American Military Government for Germany. So all papers were in order for the visit to Germany.

Shortly after two o’clock in the afternoon of May 26, 1947, the three travelers were waving from their plane to the small crowd of greeters who had followed them to the airport. The plane roared down the runway of the Zurich airport. In a few seconds it was soaring northward to the German border. After reaching a safe flying altitude, the plane settled down on its course headed for Frankfort.

In spite of the overhanging low white clouds and the haziness of the atmosphere, a good view of the landscape below was afforded. The platted rectangular-shape cultivated plots, green fields and dark-green forest-covered hills girded with winding rivers passed beneath at a rapid gait. The ever-changing, beautiful landscape marked by thousands of roads and hundreds of small villages and towns was restful to the eye. As the plane approached Frankfort the silvery-appearing Rhine, with tall poplar trees on both banks standing like soldiers at attention, could be clearly seen. Soon the plane began to circle around the airport at Frankfort. From the sky bomb craters and the earth, scarred and scorched by war, could be clearly observed around the airport. Within one hour and twenty minutes after leaving Zurich the plane was smoothly running down the broad concrete runway of the army air force field at Frankfort. After taxiing about one mile to the passenger station, where the plane came to a stop, the travelers stepped out of the plane. Waiting at the entrance of the passenger station were several brethren who had driven from the Wiesbaden Branch office to greet the American brethren, the first of whom was Eric Frost, the Society’s Branch servant in charge of all the work in Germany. After taking care of certain formalities of registration with the military authorities, the three travelers were driven to near-by Wiesbaden, about twenty-five miles from Frankfort airport. In Wiesbaden is situated the Society’s Branch office for the American, British and French Zones, or the Western part of Germany.

On arrival in downtown Wiesbaden the three travelers registered with the visitor’s bureau and billeting office of the Army Air Forces. There they were assigned space to sleep in. They were billeted in the Schwarzebock hotel, an army officers hotel. Privilege of eating in the officers mess hall at the hotel also was arranged. The hotel and the mess were operated at a cost basis by the government on American standards through American provisions shipped in from the United States by the army air forces.

When the travelers had checked in at the hotel they immediately made plans for the work to be done during their short stay with the brethren in the American Zone of such war-torn country. The schedule of the round-the-world travel of the president and his secretary did not permit a stay longer than eight days in Germany. They had to quickly attend to such business as could be taken care of and then leave on their journey to other countries. So plans were made to spend every minute possible at work with the German brethren in the Branch office to accomplish as much work as could be accomplished.

So the first evening at Wiesbaden was spent visiting a number of the brethren who work in the Branch office there. After the American brethren got acquainted with each German brother present and exchanged greetings, the president began checking on the conditions of the service and management of the work in Germany. All this had to be done through interpreters. One of the first things to check on was a rumor that had been brought out of Germany by an English brother and circulated throughout England. It was against the German brethren. It had reached the Continent and had spread through parts of France. It was brought to Brother Knorr’s attention in Zurich. The rumor was to the effect that many brethren in parts of Germany were isolating themselves from the people of good-will. Also it was charged that some companies had been organized only of brethren from concentration camps and that such brethren would not permit persons who had not spent time in concentration camps to participate in any service meeting or Watchtower study, or go from door to door. Satisfactory proof was submitted by the brethren in the office at Wiesbaden that these rumors were lies viciously circulated against the organization by a group of murmurers and complainers who live in Hamburg, Germany. A thorough investigation showed that the faithful brethren who endured years of cruel torture and suffering in concentration camps had not done any of the things falsely reported against them. On the contrary, the investigation revealed that a special effort was made by these brethren to gather the Lord’s “other sheep”, the people of good-will. This was proved in the tremendous increase in the number of publishers in the field in Germany since 1945. They have thrown open wide the doors to the people of good-will in all of Germany, who are now flocking in. The faithful brethren are not dismayed or disturbed over the lies of the “evil servant” class who spread poison. They continue to work together in the gathering work.

After a friendly conversation between all the brethren, the first night with them at Wiesbaden was concluded by a report by Brothers Knorr, Henschel and Covington on their travels from the United States to Europe. _

From Tuesday, May 27, to Friday night, May 30, eighteen hours each day were spent working with the problems of the brethren. Brother Knorr found no internal trouble in the organization in Germany. It is sound and was found to be resting on solid Theocratic basis, by God’s grace and spirit. Unity and peace abounds everywhere in the organization in Germany. In spite of tremendous obstacles encountered by the brethren in Germany, they have, by God’s spirit, been able to accomplish wonders in reorganization of the work, and reconstruction of worship of Jehovah in that land first scourged by totalitarianism, then devastated by war and now suffering from the shortages of a conquered nation.

The three American visitors did all within their power to help the German brethren in overcoming some of their difficulties in getting more material and obtaining more privileges from the authorities. Interviews were had with the officials of the American military government for Wiesbaden about a license to import a large stock of German books from the United States for use in door-to-door work, and also about permission to send some graduates of Gilead School to assist in the work in Germany. Also preliminary negotiations were made for the purpose of bringing some of the German brethren who speak English to the United States for special training at Brooklyn and to send them through the Bible School of Gilead. Also, inspection was made of part of a large unfinished building in the suburbs of Wiesbaden for the purpose of determining whether it could be completed for location of a printing plant for the supplying of literature to the brethren in the American and British Zones. Brother Knorr found it to be suitable also for housing of the Bethel family at the Wiesbaden Branch when finished. Accordingly, Brother Knorr and his companions called on the German mayor of the city of Wiesbaden to get the building. It was agreed that when repairs are finished, which may be twelve or eighteen months, the building will be turned over to the Society. This will be of great aid in reorganizing the work in Western Germany when the building is finished. The delay in completion of the building is due to shortage of critical building materials such as cement, bricks, iron and wood, much of which is now being shipped out of Germany to satisfy war reparations incurred by loss of the war by the Nazi government.

Also, while in Wiesbaden the president made a survey of the relief work done by the Society in Germany. During the last two years many carloads of food and clothing had been shipped to the German Branch for redistribution among the needy brethren. An inspection was made of the clothing redistribution depot in Wiesbaden. It was found that a fair and equitable distribution of the material shipped to Germany had been made. However, it was discovered that the food and clothing shipped was not adequate because of the great need and tremendous shortages of necessities of life in all of Germany. Shortages of food are especially acute in the large cities. The food at every meal at the Branch office consisted of soup made mainly of potatoes with no fat or seasoning. These are what are called “hunger rations” by the German people. The food is insufficient to satisfy from one meal to the next. This condition of food shortage is bad throughout all of Germany, that is, in each of the four zones, Russian, French, British and American, with it being perhaps a little better in the American Zone because American soldiers are not permitted to live off the German people, but must live on food shipped from the United States.

It became apparent to the president that the Society’s relief shipments of food and clothing should continue to Germany, else the Kingdom service might be reduced. So the brethren in the Branch office were informed of the Society’s plans to make larger shipments of food and clothing to Germany before the winter of 1947 strikes with its suffering. This would be done if the needed permits were forthcoming from the proper authority.

A convention had been announced to the German brethren, to be held in Stuttgart, in the southern part of Germany, on Saturday and Sunday, May 31 and June 1. This city is about 150 miles south of Frankfort. The visitors were hurrying all week to finish business in Wiesbaden in time to reach the convention on the first day. Stuttgart being also in the American Zone, no difficulty was experienced in travel as would have been if there were a zonal border to cross. On Wednesday night, May 28, a local meeting was held in an assembly hall of the Oranien German schoolhouse in Wiesbaden. Nine hundred seventy-five were present. On that evening the American brethren spoke of their travels, the work accom-plishd in other countries, and talked on service matters for the encouragement of the German brethren.

On Saturday morning, May 31, a group of German brethren in the Wiesbaden office, together with the three American visitors, left by automobile for Stuttgart. The group arrived in Stuttgart after the assembly had started, but before the American brethren were scheduled to talk.

The convention could not be held in Stuttgart city limits, because there was no hall or public meeting place still standing that was large enough to accommodate the brethren. All the auditoriums and meeting-places had been destroyed by fire of the incendiary bombs or leveled to the ground, along with other buildings, by the “block-buster” bombs dropped on the city by the Americans and British during the war. The city of Stuttgart is over a half-million in population. It was destroyed more than thirty-five percent and damaged to a much greater extent. A place for the assembly was arranged for in Kornwestheim, an adjoining suburb of Stuttgart. Two large halls and the surrounding grounds enclosed by a high wire fence were rented from the Salamander shoe factory. One of the halls was an assembly room for the workers, and the other was a dining room for the workers of the factory. The halls were tied in by loud-speakers, and the grounds on the outside were also accommodated by loud-speakers.

By Saturday afternoon 5,500 brethren had reached the assembly point. Most of them had traveled by train from far and near in the American and British Zones. Many had hitchhiked rides. Some had come in crowded trucks. Few private passenger-car automobiles were used. Not many brethren had automobiles. Those who traveled by train had to endure the discomforts of travel worse than hitchhiking, because the people are crowded into the cars like cattle or perhaps worse—something like the crowded New York subways during the “rush hour", commonly called the “crush hour”.

In traveling on a German train the people often find no standing room inside the cars; so some sit on top of the ears, hang on to the outside and sit over the couplings between the cars. In addition to travel inconvenience, the brethren had to face a housing shortage in the place of assembly, which meant that hundreds and perhaps thousands had no place to stay except on the convention grounds. Also the food shortage was another trouble to them. But in spite of all this the five thousand joyful conventloners had increased to seven thousand by Sunday, the last day.

On Saturday Brother Knorr spoke to the brethren on service matters after having delivered to the happy audience the love of their brethren all round the world from Brooklyn west through Asia and Europe picked up in his travels. He talked about the importance of not being bothered over little matters that sidetrack the publishers from service, especially instructing the brethren against becoming offended against other brethren because of the way of eating, dressing or other personal matters that are of no concern to the publisher or person offended. Other Scriptural counsel was given on the importance of giving praise to Jehovah by service and using the lips to tell of the goodness of Jehovah.

Brother Covington spoke to the brethren on the importance of continuing to fight to preserve their freedom of worship and to strive for even greater freedom. Also, he stressed the importance of insisting that Jehovah’s witnesses are preachers and missionaries, and not peddlers. Also, a review of the persecution of Jehovah’s witnesses in the United States for a period of ten years was related. Brother Frost and several of the German brethren also talked to the assembly enthusiastically on important matters.

The brethren gratefully received the discourses and talks. There was enthusiastic joy on the faces of all in attendance as the Saturday sessions ended. The hardships that make the whole German people gloomy and stoical showed no presence on the faces of these happy people who have little of worldly goods but much of the truth. They sang the Kingdom service songs with a ring that was unsurpassed by the huge crowd at Cleveland’s 1946 Assembly. There was a sound of sincerity and a conviction of Jehovah’s backing that struck deep into the heart of all who heard.

Inasmuch as the- place of the assembly was in a suburb of Stuttgart far from the center of town, it was not wise to hold the public meeting there, because few people of good-will would walk such great distance. So a bombed-out showhouse, rebuilt and covered over with a circus tent, situated in the center of Stuttgart’s devastation was rented. The talk “The Joy of All the Peoples” was delivered to an audience of about 3,300 persons, more than two thousand of whom were newly interested or strangers. Brother Knorr had the rapt attention, of the audience throughout the entire talk. The crowd showed their appreciation by hearty applause.

Then the three visiting American brethren with their companions returned to the assembly grounds outside Stuttgart in the afternoon. The buildings and overflow crowds on the grounds had grown until everything was packed out. The three American brethren spoke to the intensely interested assembly about their travels and observations of the increase of the work in the lands where they traveled. The president also interviewed pioneers and members of the Bethel family, Wiesbaden and Magdeburg Branches, who could speak English, about coming to Gilead. Now all pioneers and others who cannot speak English are trying hard to learn the language so that when the time comes they will be able to qualify for application for Gilead training.

The closing session of the convention Sunday afternoon passed too quickly. It was soon time to close so that a thousand brethren could catch the train to Munich. Brother Knorr closed the convention with final words of admonition to faithfulness. He informed them of their wonderful privilege of holding forth the only light of hope to the people in these troublesome times. Then the convention was brought to a close by a lively song enthusiastically sung by the ringing-clear voices of the thousands in attendance. With a prayer the meeting was dismissed.

The three American brethren were invited by Brother Frost to go to the near-by railroad station and watch the Munich brethren board a connecting train to near-by Stuttgart, from where the special train to Munich departed. Because it was chartered, it was not overloaded like the ordinary German passenger train, but every available seat and standing space in it was filled. As many of the brethren as could get their heads out the windows on the platform side did so. Before the train started to move out of the station the brethren in one of the cars started singing the lively German march song of Jehovah’s witnesses. By the time the train started moving the whole trainload burst out in singing and the voices of the passengers of the moving train drowned out the noise of the train and filled the entire station with music, which faded out as the train pulled out of the station. The windows of the platform side of this long train of a dozen coaches were filled with waving arms and rippling white handkerchiefs as long as the train was in sight after leaving the station. So all in attendance, including the speakers, at the convention left the assembly with a high feeling of gratification to Jehovah for the blessings of the two-day, Stuttgart convention.

After spending the night at Stuttgart the three travelers and their companions left early for Frankfort. There they completed some necessary business with the military authorities before going to the Frankfort airport. Thus the eight days of work and joy with the brethren in Germany came to an end, as the travelers waved good-bye to the group of Wiesbaden Bethel family members before their plane slowly moved away toward the runway for the take-off. Within ten minutes Frankfort was disappearing beneath and behind the three travelers as their plane roared southward over the beautiful green fields and forests toward Zurich, Switzerland. But the memory of such visit has not so quickly disappeared. It still remains indelibly.

The next day, June 3, after a twenty-hour stopover in Zurich to attend to certain important business with reference to the change of the work in Switzerland, the three travelers were boarding the plane for Prague, Czechoslovakia. This time they were accompanied by Brother Alfred Ruetimann of the Berne office of the Society. He went along as an interpreter. The plane flew out from Zurich to the northeast, over Lake Konstanz, beautifully nestled in the mountains in the northern part of Switzerland. Then over the rolling hills and fields of Czechoslovakia. Over Pilsen much war damage from shell fire and bombs could be seen. Within two hours after taking off the ground at Zurich the plane was gliding down upon the runway of the Prague airport. On alighting from the plane the four were greeted by Brother Muller, the Branch servant of Czechoslovakia. They were driven by car to the Branch office and home situated in a suburb of Prague. After an inspection of the property a check was made of the affairs and operation of the Branch office. Also a report of the progress of the work in the land of Czechoslovakia was made to Brother Knorr by Brother Muller. An interesting part of this report was that in the Catholic part of the country, where there is much persecution of Jehovah’s witnesses, there has been a greater increase in number of publishers than in the Protestant part of the country. In the Protestant section of the country there has been little or no persecution. But significant is the fact that such section has less than half as many publishers as in the part where there has been much persecution. Early the next morning the travelers were joined by Brother Muller and another brother from the Czechoslovakian Branch office in a flight by airplane to Brno [Brunn], a principal city of Moravia, located in the heart of the country. There a three-day convention had been going on one day. The public talk, “The Joy of All the Peoples,” was advertised by placard and billboard throughout the city as well as by handbill It was to be given on Thursday night, June 5, as the last talk of the assembly.

About the same talks were given to' the- brethren at the Brno [Brunn] assembly by the American visitors as were delivered at Stuttgart convention. Twenty-three hundred persons heard the public lecture delivered by Brother Knorr. Approximately seventeen hundred brethren were in attendance during the three days. They filled the two beautiful auditoriums of the Arena, a building rented by the gymnastic association to Jehovah’s witnesses. While the convention was progressing scores of Czech gymnasts were playing games, doing gymnastics and exercising their bodies on the grounds outside the buildings. But this was no interference to the brethren in attendance, who appeared greatly satisfied to be visited by the president of the Society and his companions.

Since the public talk was to end the assembly, the closing greetings of Brother Knorr were delivered to the brethren at the afternoon session before the public meeting began. A song and prayer formally closed the convention. The public talk later delivered that day ending the convention was greatly appreciated by all in attendance. All went away rejoicing because of the message of the Kingdom.

The next morning the four travelers and the Branch servant were at the Brno [Brunn] airport early to board the plane to Prague. One hour after the plane soared off the ground with its passengers it was pulling up to the air depot at Prague. There the passengers had breakfast while waiting for the Norwegian plane to arrive which was to fly President Knorr and his secretary, M. G. Henschel, to Denmark. While waiting, plans were made for the further travel of Hayden Covington. The governments of Hungary, Rumania and Yugoslavia, including the Military Control Commission dominated by the Russians, had refused him permission to enter these Balkan countries. His next and last scheduled visit was a stopover visit in Vienna.

It appeared advisable that he return to Germany. The brethren there had requested his help in dealing -with American and Russian military authorities in Berlin. The authorities here were the ones who fixed the policy for the military government in all of Germany. Also because brethren in many parts of Germany could not get to the Stuttgart assembly, it was decided by Brother Knorr that Hayden Covington return to Germany and work there, staying until his German Military Travel Permit expired on June 26. Soon the time of separation of the American brethren arrived.

Brothers Ruetimann and Covington had much red-tape and formalities to comply with in arranging their travel back to Switzerland through Austria. Therefore the two travelers hurried from the airport to go to the various diplomatic offices to get the necessary papers fixed. After driving all over Prague almost all day, the necessary papers were obtained so as to permit them also to leave by train the evening of June 6, the day of Brother Knorr’s departure from Prague.

Although Czechoslovakia suffered from German occupation and from battles between the Germans, Russians and Americans on its soil, it has made a quick recovery. Almost everything is back to normal in the country. There is plenty of food and clothing and things are in good shape compared with that of other countries devastated by war. While there was not much bomb damage to its cities, there was much injury to the buildings from street fighting and house-to-house combat between the Germans and Russians. The work of Jehovah’s witnesses is doing much to reconstruct the morale of the people and pure worship of Jehovah in this land.

The train for Vienna pulled out of the Prague station with Ruetimann and Covington waving farewell to the Branch servant, Brother Muller. Early the next morning the train was in the Vienna station. The station was open-roofed with partly standing walls serving as a boundary, the most part having been blown away by falling bombs during the war. A drive through the city streets from the station to the home of the Branch servant and then on to the hotel operated by the American army gave a good view of the city. The famous Austrian city, with all its beauty and glory, is now pitted with bomb scars. Blocks and blocks of buildings are gone. Some stand as ghostly empty towers giving testimony to the holocaust of war. All bridges over the canal through the city were blown up by the retreating Nazis, who also set fire to much of the city before leaving it to the pursuing Russians. It has been damaged more than some of the cities of Germany.

The convention in Vienna had been in progress for one day. Business in Brno [Brunn] and Prague, together with the delay of getting travel permits to Austria, had made the travelers one day late. The Austrian brethren were disappointed on the first day when the travelers had not made their appearance. Because of stringent military regulations against travel into Austria it was thought no one from America would be allowed to come. Great was their joy and surprise on the second day when Brother Covington and his interpreter, Brother Ruetimann, showed up at the assembly.

Both the visiting brethren were introduced to the joyous assembly by Brother Voigt, who, with his wife, went to Gilead School, and is now the newly appointed Branch servant for Austria. The convention on the second day was held in an assembly hall called Stephaniesaal. One thousand brethren and people of good-will attended. A good program was arranged for the day. The two visiting brethren spoke in the afternoon. Brother Covington gave the greetings of Brother Knorr and of the brethren in the countries where he had traveled. Then he spoke to the brethren on the service work and the importance of redeeming the time. A review of the increase of the work world-wide was made. A service talk on fighting for liberty and claiming rights of ministers was made. Then Brother Ruetimann spoke on the use of the tongue, which was based on the Watchtower article on the same subject. This talk was followed by a model service meeting and model Theocratic ministry school given by the Vienna brethren. Then Brother Covington spoke again to the assembly before it was concluded.

The next day, on Sunday morning, a visit was made to the Branch office, which is located in an abandoned, bomb-damaged schoolhouse. 'There a survey of the work and conditions in Austria was made. The brethren have been without literature to work with, but now through Brother Knorr’s arrangements the Society’s Branch office in Switzerland is shipping greatly-needed literature. But having no literature to work with has not stopped the work in Austria. The work has continued to grow. There has been a great increase in number of publishers. A greater increase is expected in the new organization there under the new Branch servant. The brethren in Austria have the same food and clothing shortage as do the German brethren. The present difficulties they have to cope with are almost identical to those of our German brethren.

On Sunday, June 8, the assembly was moved to another hall in another section of Vienna. One thousand brethren attended the last day of the convention. The Mozart Hall of the Concert House was filled to capacity. Following the Watchtower study the brethren were told by Brothers Ruetimann and Covington about the journey of Brother Knorr and of the travel of the brethren in Europe. The brethren were especially encouraged to hear of the work of reconstruction that the brethren in Germany have done since their liberation from concentration camps. The brethren in Austria, having had similar experiences under the Nazis, hope to do the same reconstruction work, by God’s grace.

The happy assembly came to an end all too soon. With the closing talk and final words of encouragement by Brother Covington, followed by song and prayer, the convention ended. The brethren of Vienna rejoiced to know the important position that they occupy in God’s organization through preaching. The enthusiastic crowd was reluctant to leave the beautiful building until the two visitors left. The visitors left from a crowd of waving brethren shouting “Auf Wiedersehen” [Till we meet again] and filling the steps and sidewalk outside the building. They left with a satisfaction that a good witness had been given in Vienna by the pubhc meeting on Friday, attended by 1,700. During the convention 131 had been immersed. They knew this was only the beginning, because there is yet much work to be done in gathering the great multitude of the Lord’s “other sheep” in Austria.

That night the two visitors boarded the midnight train for Zurich and Berne. After a twenty-four-hour ride which took them through the beautiful Austrian and Swiss Alps, they reached Berne filled with joy of their experiences.

Two days were spent by Brother Covington with the brethren in Berne. While there he helped the brethren complete plans for introducing the new method of working in Switzerland, which is to accept contributions for the literature and discontinue the practice of giving it away without accepting donations. Also, he helped give instructions to the brethren on how to deal with opponents at the doors and with laws prohibiting peddling. He also discussed with the lawyer the best methods to use in fighting the cases. He attended a meeting of the Berne brethren where they received their final instructions before launching the method of accepting contributions for the literature on the following day in Switzerland in accordance with the instructions given for the change by Brother Knorr at the Zurich assembly. After this he made plans to leave Switzerland on his second trip to Germany.

The next morning, Thursday, June 12, he left by fast train for Zurich in time to catch a taxi for the airport there, arriving in time to get the early Norwegian plane for Frankfort, Germany. The plane landed in Frankfort at 2: 20 p.m. and by three o’clock the traveler was in downtown Frankfort completing arrangements for travel to Berlin. Some of the brethren from Wiesbaden met Brother Covington in Frankfort. After leaving the Military Travel office, where he registered, he hurried to the railroad station to get the Berlin Express, operated by the United States army, exclusively for military personnel and civilians with military permits and orders. Germans may not travel on these fast trains. The next morning early the train passed through Magdeburg, arriving at a suburban terminal in the American sector of Berlin at eight o’clock. Brother Covington was greeted by Brother Wauer of the legal department of the Magdeburg office of the Society together with an interpreter. After registering with the Berlin Military Travel office, billets in a hotel operated by the United States army were assigned to the traveler.

Germany is divided into four parts by the armies of occupation. The central part between the Russian, French and British Zones is governed by the Americans. Berlin, the principal city of Germany, although situated deep within the Russian Zone, is divided into four parts, each belonging to one of the four powers. Also situated at Berlin is the Allied Joint Control Commission, which constitutes a joint advisory board fixing policies for control of all Germany. It also acts as the liaison or channel through which all relations between the four occupying powers flow. Berlin thus becomes the most important military government center in Germany. This makes it freely accessible to an American citizen authorized to travel in the American Zone of Germany. Also, like Vienna, deep in the Russian Zone of Austria and similarly jointly controlled, once in-the city an American can go anywhere in the city without regard to which power controls the district.

Time and space here do not permit a detailed description of the devastation of the city by bombs. Between forty and sixty percent of the city is entirely destroyed and the damage extends to an additional twenty percent. Downtown Berlin is destroyed to an extent of seventy-five percent. The trains of one railroad that goes to the center of Berlin travel through an area of the city for thirty minutes where not one standing and used building or house can be seen. Almost all hotels and government buildings have been destroyed, as well as all large store buildings.

All railroad stations have been bombed, and only parts of steel frames stand to identify them. Tangled girders of steel, heaps of rubble and devastated walls of bombed buildings stand up like a weird wilderness as far as the eye can see over the city. The Sport Palast auditorium, used by Jehovah’s witnesses for conventions prior to the Nazi han years ago, was struck by incendiary bombs and the steel beams are the only things that stand behind the sign Sport Palast, bordered on both sides by huge heaps of rubble. The streets are all repaired and open to traffic. They are crowded with a constant moving mass of persons walking about with shopping bags in quest of food obtainable only through barter. To sum up the description of the ruination and damage to the city it is estimated by building experts that it will take over twenty-five years to clean up the city and reconstruct the destroyed buildings.

Brother Frost, the Branch servant, could not be with the other brethren sent to Berlin to meet Brother Covington because there were preparations to be made at Magdeburg, in the Russian Zone, for the circuit assembly that was to be held there on June 14 and 15, on the Society’s Branch office property. The highlight of the circuit assembly was the opening of the new Kingdom Hall, rebuilt and redecorated, having seating capacity of about nine hundred persons. The beautiful interior decoration makes it one of the prettiest meeting-places used by Jehovah’s witnesses in the world. Two thousand persons filled the building and an overflow building, and packed out the yard, to hear the public discourse delivered by Branch servant Frost. Most of these were people of good-will, because there were only eight hundred brethren in attendance. One hundred and thirty were immersed at the assembly, showing many were new publishers. It was reported that about ten percent of those attending circuit assembly meetings in Germany have been immersed at the assembles, showing the high percentage of people of good-will who are taking their stand with the Lord’s people in Germany, and the great increase in the growth of the organization there.

The Magdeburg property was damaged by bombs during the war only to small extent. But the greater destruction was done by the German soldiers, Russians and vandals who successively occupied the property after confiscation by the Nazis in 1933. The brethren, on return from concentration camps, following their liberation on the defeat of the Nazis, found everything to be as desolate as if struck by bombs. In spite of extreme shortage of building materials the brethren pooled sufficient materials and labor to restore practically all the buildings and grounds to their former beautiful state. Since in Germany building materials are harder to get than food, the restoration has been a miracle and witness to the entire people of Magdeburg, including even the Russian military authorities and the officials of the local German government. The German officials have declared that if the rest of the German people could rebuild and reconstruct with the speed and efficiency of Jehovah’s witnesses it would take little or no time to rebuild Magdeburg, which has been damaged and devastated more than many other German cities.

On Monday, June 16, the work with the military officials in Am eri can and Russian occupation governments was resumed in Berlin by Brother Covington. This required many interviews, arguments and appeals to higher authorities to carry out the desires of Brother Knorr to accomplish as much as possible for the German brethren and the reconstruction of true worship of Jehovah in Germany. Fast mail privileges through uses of military mails to Brooklyn were looked into and use of the cablegram facilities to American headquarters was negotiated. Arrangements discussed with military authorities at Wiesbaden and Frankfort were confirmed, including right to import German-language books. Also a great improvement in housing conditions was made for the Berlin Branch office. As a result of negotiations with housing authorities, through the commanding officer of Berlin, a priority available only to Americans in Berlin was procured. This gave the Society preference on some fine residences used by the military government which had been released by them. Accordingly a large house in the best residential district of the American sector of Berlin was procured. This will relieve the brethren in Berlin from the handicap under which they have been operating, provide living space for the whole office force and give plenty of room for expansion of the work in Berlin.

According to the spirit of the Potsdam Declaration there is full freedom to preach the gospel in all Germany, including the Russian Zone, in which, however, there has been and now is trouble in some parts. In fact, throughout all Germany the brethren demand and get use of school auditoriums for public meetings and area book studies. The door-to-door and street work go on as in America, except that in Germany the brethren have books and booklets only to loan. None are placed even for contributions; they are worth more than money.

In the Russian Zone since 1945, over forty brethren have been arrested by the Russian military authorities, usually to be released after a short time by higher authorities. But in some parts of the zone the work is at present banned by some of the Russian officials who forget the Potsdam agreement or ignorantly regard that part of Germany under their control to be behind the “Iron Curtain” of Russia. Brothers Covington and Waner called on the higher authorities in the Russian military government in Berlin about the matter. The Russians were told that the local commanders in the places where these arrests had taken place were apparently ignorant of the bulletin issued by the Russians showing Jehovah’s witnesses were on the list of approved religious organizations issued by the High Command. At the request of the brethren, the commander promised to write a letter to the Magdeburg office informing them of the Russian military authority’s approval to be published for use by brethren in dealing with lower Russian authorities in the troubled communities. Also, other commitments and promises for benefiting the work were obtained from the Russians. But to this day there are the cases of three brethren who were arrested in the Russian Zone of Germany by the G.P.U. (Russian Secret Police) while engaged in the witness work and who have disappeared completely. No one knows where they have been taken. The Russians refuse to give any information as to their whereabouts or the charges under which they are held.

Arrangements were made by Brother Frost for Brother Covington to travel with him and the interpreter into other parts of Germany to serve the brethren by delivering talks to assemblies. It was inadvisable to attempt to hold another big convention in Germany, because of travel difficulties and lack of time to prepare. So local meetings were arranged and company servants within traveling distance of each meeting were notified to come or send delegates to the meetings. On Tuesday before leaving Berlin one such meeting was held at which 1,050 local brethren and delegates attended. A small meeting of 250 assembled in Berlin was served later in the week. At these meetings the brethren were given the same information that had been given to the brethren by Brothers Knorr, Henschel and Covington at the Stuttgart convention. Brothers Covington and Frost both together spoke to the brethren for three or four hours at these assemblies. Everywhere the brethren went away rejoicing and enthused because of the benefits received. They were happy that Brother Knorr had taken notice of their inability to travel to Stuttgart and had arranged to see that they got the same message and greetings that the brethren who went to Stuttgart received.

On Friday, June 20, Brothers Covington, Frost and Pohl, the interpreter, went by air, British plane, to Hamburg to take care of certain matters before the assembly on Sunday. Seven hundred brethren heard the talks. They enthusiastically drank in the message received. Here the local people who were responsible for circulating false rumors against their brethren, which rumors had spread to England, were exposed and definitely branded as of the “evil servant” class. Then on with the message of reconstruction in Germany the brethren went to Hanover, where six hundred brethren were gratified by the visit of the American brother and his companions. Before returning to Frankfort and Wiesbaden the brethren went into the famous Ruhr industrial area, where the Coal mines, steel mills and heavy industry are a tangled mass of steel girders and heaps of rubble. The devastation caused by bombs was seen for miles as the travelers proceeded through this area of Germany, almost as great and as well known as the Pittsburgh area of America. The final meeting in Germany was held at Essen, in the Ruhr valley. No building with a hall large enough for an assembly could be found. All had been destroyed and blown away with the other buildings. So the meeting was held in a suburb of Essen, at a coal mine, the building of which had not been destroyed. There the labor assembly room was rented. On June 24 the hall was packed out by a group of around nine hundred brethren. This final assembly was one of the most joyful of all held in Germany on this trip.

With the dose of the Essen meeting Tuesday night, the brethren left on an all-night automobile ride back to Wiesbaden and Frankfort, so as to get some' more important work with the American military authorities done before Brother Covington left Germany. After spending Wednesday and Thursday morning at such work, the brethren rushed him by car to the airport to catch the Danish plane for Zurich. En route to the airport they recounted the joys of being together and the work accomplished. For themselves and all the German brethren they expressed satisfaction and gratitude to Jehovah for the good work accomplished in behalf of relieving their troubles and expediting the rapid advance of the work in Germany. Then after rushing through the checking-out process with the military travel authorities the American brother, regretting to part with such valiant warriors for The Theocracy and outstanding preachers of the gospel, hurried to the waiting plane to depart. The exchange of farewell greetings and best wishes seemed like such a short time since the greetings in Frankfort two weeks before, because the all-too-short joyous days had passed lightning-like while in Germany.

It is well here to state the conclusions reached by the American brethren as the results of their visits to Germany. The many years of cruel torture, imprisonment, persecution and hardship have failed to quench the zeal of the German brethren. Their desire to serve Jehovah by preaching was not killed. They were preaching when they went into prison. When liberated, they immediately took up their preaching work at where they were stopped, and quickly caught up on organization instructions. They lost no time in organizing the work in Germany in harmony with Brooklyn Headquarter policies.

The brethren in Germany are conscious that their long imprisonment was in effect devastation of true worship in the land for many years. It is their determination to redeem the time in the reconstruction of true worship of Jehovah in Germany and, by God’s grace, pay the Devil back double for the injury done to the work of Jehovah in Germany! They are determined to make up for the preaching they lost while languishing in concentration camps.

Shortages of food and clothing and the lack of automobiles do not constitute a harrier to them. They are not stopped even by lack of books and booklets. They are not dismayed by bad living conditions as a result of a housing shortage and the ravages of the war. They have the sword of the spirit, sharpened by regular study of The Watchtower, and are making full use of their feet and tongues to see that the gospel gets to everyone that will listen.

They look not upon their experiences in the concentration camps as the final test in keeping their integrity. They are thankful to Jehovah that they have been preserved to this time. They know it was not food and clothing and material things of this world that brought them through the fiery furnace of persecution.

They are not distracted by the things of this world. They have seen the things of this world disappear, like a veil of mist before the wind and sun, from around their persecutors and the mass of German people. It is the truth that stayed with them during the years of the persecution. The truth is the strong tower and place of refuge in these days of extreme hardship. So they know that it is the Kingdom that is the only worth-while thing. It constitutes the riches that endure.

They are aware of the fact that it was the strength gained from God’s spiritual food and full faith in Jehovah that has brought them through to this day. They know their preservation has not been for them to sit down and muse over the past and wait for Armageddon. They have been saved to this day to gather in the Lord’s “other sheep”, and they are losing no time in saying to all people of good-will, “Come.” They are not stopping there. They are teaching the people of good-will to say, “Come.” And as a result there is a regular and steady increase in the work in Germany each month. They see full proof that there are bound to be many more people of good-will in Germany. The flowing streams in which they are coming are n6t expected to dry up soon, but are expected to reach higher levels. The German brethren really believe that they have a rich missionary field that will produce its share of the “great multitude” that will never die, which is their glorious treasure of service.