00:00:01 Through his prophet Isaiah,
00:00:03 Jehovah made a wonderful promise,
00:00:05 one that’s being fulfilled today.
00:00:08 We can read about it at Isaiah 60:17:
00:00:13 “Instead of the copper I will bring in gold,
00:00:17 “and instead of the iron I will bring in silver,
00:00:20 “instead of the wood, copper,
00:00:22 “and instead of the stones, iron;
00:00:24 “and I will appoint peace as your overseers
00:00:28 and righteousness as your task assigners.”
00:00:32 Well, now, this reference to “overseers”
00:00:35 and “task assigners” —that sounds like organization, doesn’t it?
00:00:39 So, what is Jehovah telling us?
00:00:41 He’s saying that we can expect
00:00:44 to see organizational arrangements getting better and better.
00:00:48 Well, if you’ve been associated with the truth for a while,
00:00:52 I’m sure you’ll agree that Isaiah’s prophecy is being fulfilled today.
00:00:56 So for this broadcast,
00:00:59 I thought we’d review some of the improvements
00:01:01 we’ve seen just since World War II.
00:01:04 That’s the period most of us are familiar with.
00:01:07 Now, some of you will be hearing about these things for the first time.
00:01:11 Others will have lived through it all,
00:01:14 and for them it’ll bring back fond memories.
00:01:17 So let’s go back. It’ll be fun!
00:01:20 I call this part “Do You Remember When . . . ?”
00:01:25 Before World War II and for a number of years after that,
00:01:29 many congregations didn’t have a Kingdom Hall of their own.
00:01:33 They were actually encouraged
00:01:35 to meet in private homes
00:01:37 or in rented facilities.
00:01:39 The thinking was that if you
00:01:42 were in a rented facility or a private home,
00:01:44 you had more flexibility.
00:01:46 You could move the meeting place
00:01:48 from one place to the other very easily.
00:01:51 But there were problems; there were drawbacks.
00:01:52 Sometimes the space
00:01:54 would be shared with other organizations.
00:01:57 So you couldn’t leave your
00:01:58 literature, magazines,
00:02:00 speaker’s stand, and maybe even a sound system
00:02:02 in the hall at the end of the meeting.
00:02:04 When the meeting was over, you’d have to pack it all up
00:02:07 and take it away.
00:02:10 But that’s not all.
00:02:12 Sometimes you had to arrive very early and clean the place up
00:02:17 after a particularly rowdy group of people had used it.
00:02:20 And if there were cigar smokers in that group, you were in trouble.
00:02:24 It was very difficult to air the place out in time for the meeting.
00:02:29 Now, remember, in those days, people could smoke in a private hall,
00:02:34 and you could smoke in an airplane —they could smoke almost anywhere.
00:02:38 So this was a real problem for us.
00:02:41 There were other problems.
00:02:43 Before we had a Kingdom Hall in my hometown,
00:02:46 the congregation met in a rented facility.
00:02:49 Now, in October, the place was decorated for Halloween,
00:02:52 and in December, there was a great big Christmas tree on the platform.
00:02:57 We couldn’t move it!
00:02:58 Now, this was in Canada,
00:03:00 and portraits of the King and Queen of England
00:03:03 as well as the British flag were permanent fixtures in the hall.
00:03:07 You couldn’t remove any of it for the meeting.
00:03:10 Yet, to their credit,
00:03:12 many interested persons attended our meetings.
00:03:15 And to them, it wasn’t the meeting place that was important;
00:03:18 it was what they were learning there that counted.
00:03:23 Speaking of our meeting places,
00:03:25 at first, congregations were on their own
00:03:27 when it came to building them.
00:03:29 Now, at times, the most a congregation
00:03:32 could afford was to purchase the land,
00:03:34 and sometimes that land would sit there
00:03:36 for years because it would
00:03:37 take years to get the money together
00:03:39 to build the hall.
00:03:42 And then once they had the money together,
00:03:45 were there enough brothers who could take
00:03:47 the lead in the construction?
00:03:49 Sometimes on a weekend, you’d see
00:03:51 just one or two brothers working away
00:03:53 at the site of the new hall.
00:03:56 You had to love them for their perseverance.
00:03:59 Nowadays,
00:04:00 our Kingdom Hall construction is supervised by the LDCs,
00:04:04 with lots of qualified volunteers,
00:04:06 and practical Kingdom Halls can be constructed in a short period of time.
00:04:11 What about the meetings?
00:04:13 For years, the Theocratic Ministry School, Service Meeting,
00:04:17 Congregation Book Study, and Watchtower Study
00:04:19 were all about an hour in length.
00:04:21 So were the public talks
00:04:23 —when we had them.
00:04:25 Now, at first, a public talk wasn’t scheduled every week.
00:04:29 There’d be a series of four or eight talks,
00:04:32 if you could schedule that many speakers.
00:04:34 And then, for a while, the congregation wouldn’t have a public talk.
00:04:39 Why was that?
00:04:40 Remember,
00:04:42 the Theocratic Ministry School
00:04:43 didn’t get under way until 1943,
00:04:46 and it took time for the brothers to develop
00:04:48 the skills to deliver an hour talk.
00:04:50 But in time, they were delivering
00:04:53 excellent public talks!
00:04:56 And do you remember
00:04:57 when we had individual handbills
00:04:59 for each public talk
00:05:01 with the name of the speaker printed on them?
00:05:06 Until 1959,
00:05:08 only brothers were enrolled in the school.
00:05:11 For some years, during the first few minutes
00:05:13 of the school there was a roll call,
00:05:16 and the names of all the brothers enrolled in the school were read out.
00:05:19 Now, when your name was read out, you were to answer, “Present.”
00:05:23 A few rebels would say, “Here.”
00:05:25 But you were supposed to say, “Present.”
00:05:28 Now, initially, according to the instructions,
00:05:31 if anyone was deliberately
00:05:33 and habitually absent over a period of time,
00:05:36 he was dropped from the school.
00:05:39 Later, that was discontinued.
00:05:42 Now, the roll-call arrangement got me into a bit of trouble.
00:05:46 You see, in our congregation when the roll was being called each week,
00:05:50 I noticed that there were a few young brothers
00:05:52 who were just a little bit older than I was who would answer, “Present.”
00:05:56 So one night after the school, I asked the school servant
00:06:00 if I could have my name read out at the next meeting.
00:06:03 He warmly commended me.
00:06:05 And sure enough, I got my name read out the following week.
00:06:09 Everyone congratulated me after the meeting.
00:06:12 I couldn’t understand why.
00:06:14 I only said, “Present.”
00:06:16 The problem was that I didn’t know that when you got your name read out,
00:06:20 you were agreeing to give a talk.
00:06:22 I thought I was just signing up to have my name read out.
00:06:26 Well, a couple of months later, on April 8, 1953,
00:06:31 I delivered my first eight-minute talk on the theme
00:06:34 “Proclaiming the World’s Doom.”
00:06:37 Now, why an eight-minute talk?
00:06:39 Well, we didn’t have Bible readings yet.
00:06:41 So when you were on the school,
00:06:43 you were giving an eight-minute talk.
00:06:46 Well, today, we make sure everyone understands what’s involved
00:06:50 in being a student in the midweek meeting.
00:06:53 In 1950,
00:06:55 we received the New World Translation
00:06:57 of the Christian Greek Scriptures in English,
00:07:00 and we were encouraged
00:07:01 to bring it to the meetings.
00:07:02 So for the Hebrew Scriptures, you would have the American Standard Version
00:07:06 or the King James Version
00:07:08 —mostly the American Standard Version
00:07:09 because it had Jehovah’s name.
00:07:12 So you’d have two Bibles to bring to the meeting.
00:07:14 There’s the one for the Hebrew Scriptures
00:07:16 and then the New World Translation for the Greek Scriptures—two Bibles.
00:07:20 It wasn’t too bad.
00:07:22 But later, the New World Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures
00:07:26 was released in installments.
00:07:28 So you’d get a volume every year or two.
00:07:31 And as we received each new volume,
00:07:33 we were encouraged to bring it to the meeting.
00:07:36 Now, in time, those volumes started to pile up
00:07:40 so that by 1960,
00:07:42 you might have volumes 1 through 5 of the Hebrew Scriptures,
00:07:45 also the Greek Scriptures, and your regular study aids!
00:07:49 And we had thick study aids in those days.
00:07:52 We had big briefcases and strong backs in those days.
00:07:56 We were really happy to get the complete New World Translation
00:07:59 in just one volume in 1961.
00:08:05 Now, let’s say a word about music.
00:08:07 That’s something that’s near and dear to my heart.
00:08:10 For many years, it was left up to the local servants
00:08:14 to decide which songs the congregation would sing at the meetings.
00:08:17 So the chairman of a particular meeting would select the songs,
00:08:21 but his choice wasn’t always final.
00:08:24 Many Kingdom Halls had a piano
00:08:26 or some other instrument
00:08:27 to accompany the singing.
00:08:29 But often the musician couldn’t play all of the songs in the book,
00:08:32 so we’d have to sing the songs he could play.
00:08:36 We got to know those few songs really well!
00:08:40 But those humble musicians did their best to accompany our singing.
00:08:44 Now, as a result of all this,
00:08:46 the words to those songs we sang nearly 70 years ago
00:08:50 still come readily to mind.
00:08:54 Do you remember the written review?
00:08:56 Maybe you don’t.
00:08:59 Congregations periodically
00:09:01 had a written review of material that had been covered
00:09:04 in the Theocratic Ministry School over the previous weeks.
00:09:06 Now, we had a half hour to answer
00:09:08 about 25 questions.
00:09:11 But then, when the half hour was up,
00:09:13 we would write our name on the paper,
00:09:15 hand it in to the school servant,
00:09:18 and he would take all the papers home to grade them.
00:09:22 Now, if there were 25 questions, you’d get 4 points apiece
00:09:26 for each correct answer—100 points total.
00:09:29 And then a week later, he’d return the papers to us at the meeting.
00:09:33 Now, in the early years of the arrangement (I remember well),
00:09:37 he’d announce the highest and lowest grade to the congregation.
00:09:42 Now, thankfully, he didn’t mention the names
00:09:44 of the one who got the highest and lowest score.
00:09:47 Well, later, that arrangement to announce
00:09:49 the highest and lowest grade was discontinued.
00:09:51 Do you remember when circuit assemblies
00:09:54 began on Friday evening
00:09:56 and continued through Sunday afternoon?
00:09:59 A full program
00:10:00 was presented Saturday afternoon and evening.
00:10:04 There was never a dull moment
00:10:05 on Saturday night.
00:10:07 There were lively demonstrations
00:10:08 that kept our interest
00:10:10 right up to the end of the program.
00:10:13 Sometimes the sets were very elaborate.
00:10:17 For example, suppose a publisher was demonstrating
00:10:20 a presentation from door to door.
00:10:22 Now, today we’d just imagine there was a door.
00:10:26 But back then at the circuit assembly,
00:10:29 there might be a frame with a painted door on the stage,
00:10:32 and maybe even a doorbell for the publisher to ring.
00:10:36 Now, if the householder was supposed to be interested,
00:10:39 you knew it because the house number was 777.
00:10:43 And if the householder was going to be opposed,
00:10:46 you knew that as well because the house number would be 666.
00:10:51 Now, on one program that I remember,
00:10:53 the publisher knocks on the door and a brother dressed as a priest answers.
00:10:58 He puts up a real argument about the Trinity.
00:11:01 Talk about visual aids
00:11:03 —but you never forgot what you saw and heard!
00:11:08 And do you remember when each congregation had a congregation servant
00:11:13 and up to seven other servants:
00:11:15 the assistant congregation servant, the Bible study servant,
00:11:18 the accounts servant, the Watchtower study servant,
00:11:21 the magazine-territory servant, the literature servant,
00:11:25 and the Theocratic Ministry School servant?
00:11:27 Now, at that time, apart from book study conductors,
00:11:30 you couldn’t have more than eight servants in the congregation.
00:11:35 So unless someone moved,
00:11:38 a young man had no chance of becoming a servant.
00:11:41 So how could a young man reach out for more responsibility?
00:11:46 And how would the prophecy recorded
00:11:49 at Micah 5:5 ever be fulfilled?
00:11:52 There Jehovah promised:
00:11:54 “We will raise up against him seven shepherds,
00:11:58 yes, eight princes of mankind.”
00:12:01 Well, seven represents completeness.
00:12:04 So eight princes—that would indicate
00:12:07 that there would be more than enough men in the congregations
00:12:10 to provide theocratic direction.
00:12:12 But how could that be when there was basically
00:12:14 a limit of eight servants per congregation?
00:12:18 The answer came in 1971.
00:12:22 We were thrilled when we understood
00:12:24 that each congregation has a body of elders,
00:12:27 and there is no set number of elders or ministerial servants.
00:12:31 As many as are qualified can be appointed.
00:12:36 Now, when I was baptized 66 years ago,
00:12:40 you didn’t have to be approved for baptism by the congregation.
00:12:44 The only questions asked of baptism candidates
00:12:47 were the two they answered at the conclusion of the baptism talk.
00:12:52 That led to a few strange situations.
00:12:55 On a few occasions
00:12:56 —much to the surprise of the servants—
00:12:58 someone would rush up
00:13:00 to the front of the hall at the end
00:13:01 of the baptism talk,
00:13:03 answer the two questions,
00:13:05 and get baptized.
00:13:07 Something more was needed
00:13:10 —assurance that the individual really knew what he was doing
00:13:13 and especially that he was living in harmony with Scriptural principles.
00:13:18 So in 1967,
00:13:21 questions were provided so that the responsible brothers
00:13:24 could be assured that each candidate was truly qualified for baptism.
00:13:30 Those questions have been refined over the years.
00:13:33 And today, we go over some 60 questions
00:13:37 with baptism candidates.
00:13:39 The copper has turned to gold.
00:13:43 Do you remember when there were
00:13:44 very few pictures in our publications?
00:13:47 And the few that we had
00:13:48 were usually in black and white
00:13:50 or only two colors.
00:13:52 Today, our spiritual food
00:13:54 is served in attractive publications
00:13:56 in full color.
00:13:59 Now, those of us who’ve served
00:14:01 in foreign-language congregations will also remember
00:14:04 when a new publication in English
00:14:06 might not be available in another language for several years.
00:14:11 Study articles trailed by several months.
00:14:15 Now, that’s before it became possible for the branches
00:14:17 to do simultaneous printing.
00:14:19 So here’s how it worked.
00:14:21 Material in English would be mailed to the branches
00:14:25 by regular mail for translation.
00:14:27 If the translators had a question about the meaning of a sentence in English,
00:14:32 they would use regular mail to send their question to headquarters.
00:14:36 In time, headquarters would answer back by regular mail.
00:14:40 This back and forth —it could take quite a while.
00:14:43 And in some countries, mail service was poor.
00:14:47 Now, today, thanks to special computer programs
00:14:51 that our brothers have developed
00:14:53 and the ability to communicate electronically
00:14:55 and some other factors, we’re able to release
00:14:57 most language editions simultaneously with the English.
00:15:01 What an improvement!
00:15:05 Now, speaking of our literature,
00:15:07 do you realize that it’s been some 31 years
00:15:11 since the decision was made that in the United States
00:15:14 we’d no longer ask for a contribution for our literature?
00:15:18 Later, the arrangement was extended worldwide.
00:15:21 That’s been a real blessing for our brothers!
00:15:26 For example,
00:15:28 when we were asking for contributions for literature,
00:15:31 some brothers in Africa and other places
00:15:34 couldn’t afford to have a Watchtower for every member of the family.
00:15:37 They were just too poor.
00:15:41 And what about bound books?
00:15:43 I’ll tell you an experience.
00:15:45 In one African country, a missionary noticed
00:15:48 that a young brother quoted a wide variety of scriptures
00:15:51 in his comments, and he got curious.
00:15:54 One day, he asked the young brother,
00:15:56 “How did you come to know so many scriptures?”
00:15:59 The brother replied: “It’s the Reasoning book.
00:16:02 I read it every chance I get.”
00:16:06 The missionary asked him, “What do you mean
00:16:08 you read it every chance you get?”
00:16:11 Well, he replied: “I don’t have a Reasoning book myself.
00:16:15 “I could never afford one.
00:16:17 “But I know a sister who has one,
00:16:19 “and she lets me borrow it from time to time.
00:16:22 I read it every chance I get.”
00:16:27 Well, you can imagine,
00:16:29 the missionary went out and bought him a Reasoning book
00:16:32 and a New World Translation for good measure.
00:16:35 It was a great investment.
00:16:37 The young brother was later called into Bethel,
00:16:40 and where do you think he was assigned?
00:16:42 To the literature department.
00:16:44 The brothers knew that he appreciated the literature so much
00:16:48 that he’d make sure the congregations had the literature they needed.
00:16:55 Well, looking back,
00:16:57 we can see that the arrangements back then served a purpose.
00:17:00 They were like fine copper.
00:17:02 We do not look down on them.
00:17:06 Rather, we take the view expressed
00:17:08 at Zechariah 4:10:
00:17:10 “Who has despised the day
00:17:14 of small beginnings?”
00:17:16 Now, as those taking the lead saw a better way of doing things,
00:17:20 they didn’t hesitate to make adjustments.
00:17:23 That’s very faith-strengthening.
00:17:25 And the best is yet to come!
00:17:30 As I mentioned in the beginning,
00:17:32 this may be the first time that some of you have heard about these things.
00:17:36 Why not ask someone who has been in the truth for many years
00:17:39 what it was like when he was new in the truth?
00:17:41 That could lead to a very stimulating discussion!
