00:00:06 Do you enjoy a good story?
00:00:08 If so, you’re in for a special treat.
00:00:12 “A People for Jehovah’s Name”
00:00:14 at world headquarters in Warwick is more than a history museum.
00:00:19 It’s the modern-day story of a people seeking to know the true God
00:00:23 and to do his will.
00:00:25 But this isn’t just any story
00:00:27 —it’s our story.
00:00:29 So let’s take a thrilling journey back in time.
00:00:34 The story unfolds on the narrative wall
00:00:36 and in several galleries along the way.
00:00:40 We begin in the 1870’s,
00:00:42 when a small group in Allegheny, Pennsylvania,
00:00:45 decided to reexamine the Bible.
00:00:48 As C. T. Russell reasoned:
00:00:51 All the creeds of Christendom
00:00:53 claim to be founded on the Bible;
00:00:55 and these are conflicting.
00:00:57 Is it possible that the Bible has been misrepresented?
00:01:01 The more they learned, the more they wanted to share.
00:01:05 So in 1879,
00:01:07 they began publishing Zion’s Watch Tower.
00:01:11 Readers were soon taking a stand for the truths that they were learning.
00:01:15 Listen.
00:01:17 What I want to tell you is this,
00:01:20 I am free!
00:01:22 The truth has made me free!
00:01:25 To-day I was excluded from the Baptist church . . .
00:01:28 So I am all alone in the ‘flesh,’ but not in the ‘spirit.’
00:01:35 They became known as the Bible Students,
00:01:37 and they soon realized that people everywhere should hear the good news.
00:01:43 But how could this small group preach the Bible’s message earthwide?
00:01:49 Transcontinental and international tours
00:01:51 helped them to see how they could expand
00:01:53 their preaching work even further.
00:01:56 In just one tour
00:01:58 beginning in December 1911,
00:02:01 C. T. Russell and his associates
00:02:03 traveled completely around the world.
00:02:06 Let’s imagine what it was like to live in those exciting times.
00:02:12 In this gallery, you can experience what life was like
00:02:16 for a pilgrim, or what we today call a circuit overseer.
00:02:20 Here’s a pilgrim’s formal jacket that he’d wear when giving a public talk.
00:02:26 The Bible Students offered the Studies in the Scriptures series in the ministry.
00:02:30 And they carried lists to locate
00:02:33 and visit Watch Tower subscribers.
00:02:36 Then in 1914,
00:02:38 they presented the exciting “Photo-Drama of Creation.”
00:02:42 Its purpose was to build faith in the Bible
00:02:46 as God’s inspired Word.
00:02:49 It was an innovative combination
00:02:51 of moving pictures,
00:02:54 sound recordings,
00:02:56 and beautiful, hand-colored glass slides.
00:02:59 Hundreds of people reenacted Bible scenes,
00:03:03 some with live animals!
00:03:06 Was this enormous work worth all the effort?
00:03:11 DEAR BROTHER RUSSELL, I want to thank you;
00:03:14 oh, . . . so much, for the privilege
00:03:17 of seeing the PHOTO-DRAMA OF CREATION!
00:03:20 I had never thought to live to see
00:03:22 the everlasting Gospel preached to those who dwell on the earth . . . !
00:03:26 Yet so it is.
00:03:28 Words cannot tell you how my heart rejoices!
00:03:31 —Your sister, F. E. Riley.
00:03:35 By the end of 1914, over nine million had viewed it.
00:03:40 But with such success,
00:03:42 the Bible Students didn’t realize what tests lay ahead.
00:03:53 The Gentile Times have ended;
00:03:55 their kings have had their day!
00:03:59 So we know not what awaits us.
00:04:05 World War I broke out in 1914.
00:04:08 Then in 1916,
00:04:10 the death of C. T. Russell left the Bible Students in shock.
00:04:14 It was a unique time of testing.
00:04:18 Inside the organization,
00:04:20 some struggled over who should take the lead.
00:04:23 Outside,
00:04:25 governments tried to force them to take sides in the war.
00:04:30 Then in 1918,
00:04:32 J. F. Rutherford and seven of his close associates
00:04:35 were imprisoned.
00:04:37 Was this the end for the Bible Students?
00:04:41 Or would they prove to be
00:04:43 a people for Jehovah’s name?
00:04:46 The joy that came with the release of our brothers
00:04:49 from the Atlanta Federal Prison on Tuesday,
00:04:52 March 25, 1919, knew no bounds.
00:04:57 Their further devotion to Jehovah was shown in the fact
00:05:01 that they immediately set to work to herald
00:05:03 forth to the people of God everywhere
00:05:06 the knowledge of Jehovah’s deliverance.
00:05:08 —Thomas Sullivan.
00:05:10 The Bible Students moved forward with renewed zeal.
00:05:15 But the opposition didn’t end there.
00:05:20 In this gallery, you will see how our brothers and sisters
00:05:24 have stood firm for their faith.
00:05:27 In Russia, a father imprisoned for ten years
00:05:31 encouraged his young daughters
00:05:33 with hand-drawn postcards.
00:05:35 In Greece,
00:05:38 a son used the same blanket in prison
00:05:40 that his father used when imprisoned before him.
00:05:44 It was an encouraging reminder of his father’s integrity.
00:05:48 In Korea,
00:05:50 Witnesses were locked in tiny cells
00:05:52 for up to 30 days at a time.
00:05:56 When you stand in the lighted outline, you get a sense of what it was like.
00:06:03 All of these brothers and sisters looked beyond the prison bars
00:06:06 to their firm hope for the future.
00:06:11 As light from God’s Word increased,
00:06:13 the Bible Students humbly let go
00:06:15 of cherished but unscriptural traditions.
00:06:19 Songs used in worship were examined in the light of what the Bible taught.
00:06:25 The people for Jehovah’s name were becoming even more evident.
00:06:29 So in 1931,
00:06:30 they were thrilled to take on their new name
00:06:34 —Jehovah’s Witnesses.
00:06:38 Then in 1935,
00:06:40 Brother Rutherford identified the great multitude of other sheep,
00:06:43 who served alongside the anointed.
00:06:46 At the climax of his talk, he asked:
00:06:50 Will all those who have the hope of living forever on the earth please stand?
00:06:55 With this new understanding,
00:06:57 they saw the true scope of Jesus’ commission to make disciples.
00:07:02 New and innovative methods were needed.
00:07:07 Our third gallery shows the preaching methods used in the 1930’s and 1940’s.
00:07:13 Radio was a powerful way to spread the Kingdom message
00:07:17 to large audiences.
00:07:20 They also used large phonographs,
00:07:23 called portable transcription machines,
00:07:26 with loudspeakers mounted on sound cars.
00:07:30 Brothers played recorded talks wherever people gathered.
00:07:34 Lighter phonographs were also designed and produced so publishers
00:07:39 could take the recorded message directly to people at home.
00:07:43 These methods helped bring unity to the message,
00:07:47 but the time had come to train each one
00:07:51 of Jehovah’s people to be an effective Witness.
00:07:54 Schools were started.
00:07:56 The Course in Theocratic Ministry
00:07:58 trained publishers in the congregation.
00:08:01 And the Bible School of Gilead
00:08:03 began training missionaries for global expansion.
00:08:08 We had entered into a new era of divine education.
00:08:13 And we were about to receive an amazing tool.
00:08:18 In 1950,
00:08:20 we received the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures.
00:08:24 And by 1961, the complete Bible was released.
00:08:28 Since then, we’ve seen our tools continue to improve
00:08:32 with the wise use of modern technology.
00:08:35 From high-speed printing to the Internet and video,
00:08:38 these methods help us to stay unified,
00:08:41 to reach millions with the good news,
00:08:43 and to glorify God.
00:08:46 Yes, this museum’s story is about people,
00:08:49 but not just any people.
00:08:51 We are “a people for Jehovah’s name.”
00:08:54 Only one question remains:
00:08:56 What will you contribute to this wonderful story?
