Watchtower: 1969 Convention, Los Angeles

8/20/2019 Watchtower: 1969 Convention, Los Angeles

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2/96

YOU

ARE

INVITED

COME TO THE

MTERMAT ONAb

ASSEMBLY

OF

JEHOVAH S

TNESSES

Dodger

Stadium

1000 Elysian

Park

Ave.

Los Angeles

Calif.

Dates: July 14-20

Adrnission Free No Co8lections

Rooms for assembly delegates may be listed

with:

Watehtower Convenfion,

5921

Eeko St. kss Angeles, Calif.

90042

Phone:

(Area

code 213 254-3044

For details about the assembly and the organization that

i s

sponsoring it, read:

Assemblies That Are Delightfully Different

PAGE

Special Features of This Assembly

8

Largest Rooming Hun) in History

People Who Really Believe the Bible

1 2

The World Headquarters

15

Here Are the Assembly Cities

19

The Program 32

Published by: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Ne w York Inc.

Printed in U.S.A.


3/96

"Peace on earth " Who would not like to see t h a t ? Yo u

yourself can see

a

foregleam of

that

very thing

during a

week

immediately ahead. Horn so? Because you are invited to the

"Peace on Earth " Chris tian

assenibly that is coming t o ~ a r t v ttended an assemblv of

your ciiy. T h e delegates Xo it

not onlypractice peace them-

selves but foresee from Bible

prophecy peace on earth world

wide in th e near fu ture .

a ro u nd t he woGd. ~ c e ~l e all

international assemblies. And

you are invited to attend.

But

what will you see and hear

that

will make

them

delightful-

ly different

ie1l&ah3s witnesses in th at Goun-

try to write down anything that

might be said against his party.

He

heard nothing of that

na-

ture. In fact, he was so aston-

ished at what he heard and at

Where will these assemblies

be hel d? They wil l be held

in

t w e nt v - f i ve ~ r i n c i ~ a lities

businessman who wa s shown

around the convention grounds

at Allentown, Pennsylvania, in

1967, was so impressed that he

promptly phoned , a friend in a

nearby TV station and said : In-

stead of t he newspapers and TV

s~end ingheir time showing news

finding that there mas no bad

language and no

that he

began studying the Bible with

the Witnesses.

of war< robberies, rape, and so

Expressions from Outsiders

forth, they should come here to

Allentown and see Jehovah's

outsiders, public officials, news

reporters and others who have

found these assemblies to be de-

lightfully different.

When city officials toured the

convention facilities used by Je-

hovah's witnesses in Pasadena,

California; in 1963, their espres-

sions were "Amaaing " "DZar-

velous " "Never saw anything

like it in my life " A person a t

City Hall said: "It is amazing

to have more than 100,000 visi-

tors in a city for niore than a

week and not one incident from

the group to be reported to the

police."

I n Oxford, England, a stadium

official said:

I'm

amazed to see

a happy spirit and willing co-

operation between all your work-

ers and especially when they are

not being paid for what they

are doine." I n Zambia. Africa.

witnesses. ,Thez have the right

way and make* Sense."

A news reporter who walked

about the grounds of this as-

sembly wrote in his paper:

"Therr are no parades, no ban-

ners. There were onl$ persons,

young and old, quietly trying to

better themselves in t he pyes of

God. To one walking around the

Fairgrounds during the evening

program it was a cross-section

of America. There were teen-

agers with neat haircuts, matrons

with three or four children in

tow, men in working clothes and

others in well tailored suits.

One of th e most st riking fea-

tu re s was the good behavior of

the children."

Thus these persons were im-

pressed with what they saw at

a n assembly of Jehovah's wit-

nesses. If you attend one this

year you also will End it to be

refreshingly different from the

usual run of conventions.

a secretary of a local political

Live dr m s of Bible events are part of the program


4/96

P E A C E Q N E A R T H I N T E R N A T I O N A L A SS E MB L Y O F J E H O VA H ' S W I TN E S S ES

In fact, many persons \vho at-

The fine Bible tallis at the as-

tend a n assembly of Jehovah 's sembly biiild up respect for the

witnesses for the Grst tirue tind Bible as being God's Word. Thrg

it so delightful tha t they decide help delegates tu expand their

to take in more than oue sessiorr. kl~owle dge nd understa nding of

man in Columbus, Georgia, had it. Oftentimes new aid s to Bi-

this experience with an assemble study are released.

b l ~ eld in that city. The as- The program always t ~ a some-

se nl bl ~ such an imWet on thing in it for ' ev er go ne yo ~l ng

him that he came back for every people, adults, single persons

session. Another lnan who at - and married persons. I t strength-

tended the Allentown assembly ens their faith , helps them to

was so amazed a t what he saw cope with personal problems and

and heard tha t he arranged to temptations. I n 1968, there \\*as

attend another assembly of Je-

a tv70-hourdrama entitled

'What

hovah,s witnesses held

two

weeks Young Folks Are Doing in the

later in Trenton,

'Ilinistry. With a cast of about

thirty characters it frankly and

He

This

has

to

be

dramatically portrayed the prob-

vah's organiza tion I'v e been in lems facing modern-day Chris.

the world, and from what I see

Jehovah's witnesses are a mir- counsel for them.

acle. The assembly pr og ra~ nusually

begins each day in the afternoon

m e

Prograna

At a ll assemblies of Jehova h's

witnesses, the program is dif-

ferent every day. There is vari-

ety in the progra:n, Bible talks

being

iilterspersed

witll

9 :

05 p.m. Music from an orches-

t m of volunteer players and

a1 experiences and thrilling Eli

ble clra~nas. live, costnmed Bi-

Observing the ir interrac ial ha r-

ble drama will tilake any inter-

mony at an assembly

in

Florida,

national assembly of Jehovah's

he

People

witnesses that you attend this

year a delightfully diRerent ex-

perience for you if you have

never attende d one before. them to be wide-eyed fanatics,


5/96

IN

LL P RTS OF TH E WORLD t 969

gether.' The Jehovah's Witnesses

don't sing about

it, they just

practice it. Not only has the con-

vention been a massive example

of racial harmony with black

and white worshiping together,

but it has tucked some

700

Spanish-speaking Witnesses into

it s programs witho ut a murmur.

At international assemblies of

Jehovah's witnesses there are

usually delegates present in the

native costumes of their coun-

tries. In t he series of around-

the-world assemblies in

196.3

such

delegates were a most interest-

ing sight to all who attended

these assemblies, I n Stockholm,

Sweden, many of the local peo-

ple went out to the assembJy

grounds just to have a good look

a t the se unusua l costumes.

You will be impressed by the

great many young people in at-

tendance an d a t how Well be-

haved they are. This in itself

makes the assemblies of Jeho-

vah's witnesses different in these

days when so many young people

are rebellious, noisy, violent and

not the least bit interested in

religion.

Regarding the young people

present a t a n assembly in Den-

mark a local newspaper ob-

served: This is not an old peo-

ple's affair-there are many

younger married couples and sin-

gle young people, youths, teen-

agers and children. A11 listen

attentively a nd confidently to th e

talks and Biblical explanations

given by their elders. There is

no youth rebellion among

Je-

hovah's witnesses.

You wi ll a ls o see whole fam-

ilies a t t he assembly because e

hovah's witnesses do things to-

gether a s families. Commenting

on th e presence of families at

an assembly in Rochester, New

York, the newspaper Democrat

and hronicle

of July

13, 1968,

said: The Witnesses give the

impression of living their reli-

gion daily. Walking among them

and watching them a t worb

makes it impossible not to be

aware that these are warm, ani-

mated, clean-living people. At

a

time in our society when so

many

parents and children seem

to go their own ways, the prom-

inence a t the assembly of family

groups is noticeable.

It s

a plea-

sure to have them in town.

aptism

At every assembly arrange-

ments are niade for the baptism

of persons who have studied

with the Witnesses for a while

and want to demonstrate their

dedication to God and their will-

ingness to do his will. They do

this by being completely im-

mersed i n water a s Jesus was.

His baptism set the example.

111 the series of around-the-

world assemblies held by Jeho-

vah's witnesses in

1963

there

were

16,653

ersons baptized and

acknowledged by the Witnesses as

fellow ministers of Jehovah God.

Before candidates for baptism

are accepted they are required

to meet certain qualifications.

One of these is tha t they have

a n accurate understanding of the

tr ut hs of God's Word.

I n the big New York assembly

of

19.58,

there were

7,136

per-

sons baptized a t a nearby beach.

Reporting on this, t h e New York

Times of July

31, 1958,

said:

With a precision t ha t would do

justice to the military,

7,136

Je-

hovah's witnesses were baptized

by total immersion yesterday in

a two-and-a-half-hour ceremony.

There were no emotional

outbursts, no horseplay in the

water. Each Witness gave the

impression of a person bent on

a serious mission. Th e only voices

raised were those required to

direct the baptism traffic.

Honesty

If you lose something of value

while a t th e assembly you will

most likely find i t a t the Lost

and Found Department. The

honesty of Jehovah's witnesses

is another factor tnat makes

their assemblies different and

that impresses outsiders.

fo r international assembly of Jehovah's Wit nesses in

968


6/96

PEACE O N E A R T H I N T E R N A T I O N A L ASSEMBLY

Q JEHOVAH S

WITNESSES

Delegates

enjoy warm

associstion

in

assembly

cafeteaia,

During an assenibly a t @rock-

ville, Ontario, Canada, a dele-

gate went to make a purchase

in a local store but found that

her wallet was missing from her

purse. She espleiiicd to the clerk

that perhaps she had accidental-

ly dropped il at the assembly

place? and she hurried back to

see if it had been turned in to

the Lost and Found Department.

Sure enough, it was there. Si:e

returned to the same store and

to the same clerk to con~ylete

her pnl-chase. The clerk was as-

tonished that the mallet had been

found and turned in.

In Pomona, California, a dele-

gate to an assernblg of Jeho-

vah's witnesses there lost $1,000

worth of camera equipment.

After notifying the police he tlis-

covered that the equipment had

been found a t the assembiy arid

turned in to t h ~ost and 'onnd

Department. He promptly noti-

fied tlle police that it had been

found, and police officer came

to the assembly grounds to reri-

fy this. The officer sairl: "If

had n't seen this, I wouldn't be-

lieve it." At that very nloment

s young child tnmed

n

some

money he had

fonnd. The officer

remarked "If people ever)-where

were li le this, wouldn't have

a

job very long."

Cafeteria

For the convenience of the

fhonsa.nds of delegates in at ten -

dance a t an asseiubiy of ,Jeho-

vah's \vitnesses, volnnteer work-

ers prepare three meals a

day.

T h e ~ e re served in a temporary

cafeteria that they set np under

tents or in some other suitable

location on the g:otuicls. The

rafeteria is so well organized

th at tho1:sands of people car1 be

scrrcd a hot meal in a rery

short time. During a x~eek-long

conrention in London in

1903,

there Tere 2,000 volunteess who

serred regular meals ro 50.000

delegates. The bole serving ar-

rangement malrit:ii~ied an aver-

age of allnost 500 meals a minute

at the busiest moments.

During their big Sew York as-

sembly

in 1958

t ~ oafeterias

mere prepared to feed the 150.-

000 persons present for the daily

sc ssiotls. They mere capable of

handling as many as 67,000 per-

sons an hour. The ability of t he

Witnesses to feed huge cro\vds

a t

i

ghelio mell~ l spccd has

arolisecl the inte rest of officials

of tlie Civil Deferlse and

Rt?d

Cross. .4t an assenrbly in Costa

Xesa, Californ.ia, the c:rfeleria

operation was observed by ofi-

ciais of these oi.gnnizations. They

fired question after question as

they v i e ~ e d tile mass-feeding

operation, the kitchen, food prep-

aration, tray washing and bak-

cry. They were dee~lympressed

By what they saw,

Allhongh many tons of food

are processed during the course

of an assembly so a s to provide

meals in the cafeteria, the Wit-

nesses have

110

problems with

food poisoning o~ other sickness

from the food serred.

A

hi h

degree of cleanliness is main-

tained in connection T ~i th the

preparing

:tnd

se rr ing of food.

When a 5,000-pound shipment of

turkey was found to be slightly

soured at one

assembiy.

t h e

whole

shipment was set aside

and

not

used. The menu was prolnptly

changed to safeguard the health

of the delegi~les.

Llurinz the 1963 assembly in

New York representatives of the

Health Drpa rtmn~ lt ndorsed the

cleanliness of the Witnesses. They

said that they rollld grant griv-

ileges to the convention organi-

zation

far hepond what theg

mould to others, because, as theg

sta ted? "you hnvc such interest

in your people thnt rou would

do nol lil:g thnt mould

jeopardize

their health."

R%en visiting the cafeteria

you

will

see Inany serving lines

with food being served on trays

in nil assembly-line manner.

Prom the ,~ervingines each del-

egate carrics his t r ay to waist-

high tables where he eats the

food rvllile standing.

olua~tserWorkers

Ko matter how large an

as-

sembly might be, all the work

neccssarx for nialrinq it a suc-

cess is done by volunteer work-

ers

Witnesses

with skills voiun-

teer their help to rnstall the

sourld sy-tern, to erect an attrac-

tive platform for the speakers,

to itlstall steam I ret tl~ s, o lay

piping, to cook for the cafeteria,

and so forth. Others operate thr

cafeteria and refreshment stands,

direct traffic, help people find

seats, sweep the floors, clean the

rest rooms. asbig11 rooms for thc

delegates, and do any number of

other tasks that are llecessary

for the successful operation of

a n assembly.

Much work is necessary hefore

a n assembly eren begns . Tne

stadium or auditorium has to be

thoroughly cleaned, and all the

equipment

s t

up for operating

the various departments of the

assembly. Gleauing lhe audito-

rium or stadium is a standard

practice vith the Witnesses. Re-

gardlna the huge assembly held

In Yankee Stadium in Xen- Torl;

in 958 a t mhich 250,000 people

were in attendance on the

lasr


7/96

ularly is in accord with the

Scriptural admonition at He-

brews 10 : 24, 25, which says:

Let us consider one another to

incite to love and fine works, not

forsaking the gathering of our-

selves together, a s some have the

custom, but encouraging one an-

other, and all the more

S

as you

behold the day drawing near.

The fact that the program of

each assembly does indeed incite

those present to love an d fine

works makes the assemblies of

Jehovah's witnesses delightfully

different.

-4ccept the invitation to at-

tend a n assembly of Jehovah's

witnesses.

It

will cost you noth-

ing, but you will gain much in

a s~ i r i t ua lway from the ex-

N

A L L P A R T S O F TH W O R L D

IN

969 7

U work at the assemblies is done free by volunteers

perience.

day, the

1959

Arena Auditorium

Sta diuq Guide stated:

Not so much as a match stick

or discarded candy wrapper could

be found in the stadiums and

other areas they had rented.

Thousands of their members,

men, women and children, made

up a committee to leave every

square foot of area

as

clean or

cleaner, than they had found it.

Every night during the 1963

assembly a t Yankee Stadium

four hundred volunteer workers

pitched in to sweep the entire

stadium. Within an hour and a

half the job was done. Regard-

ing an assembly held in Winston-

Salem, North Carolina, the news-

paper Twin-Citu Sentinel of July

16, 1968, quoted the coliseum

manager as saying

:

Without

reservation, that's the cleanest,

most orderly bunch of people

that has been in the coliseum in

the nearly 10 years

I

have been

there.

In connection with another as-

sembly, a t Lewiston, Maine, the

Lewiston Daily Sun of July 9,

1968, reported: And when the

three day convention had ended,

the lawns and grounds of the

two public buildings were as

clear of lit ter a s could be, in

sharp contrast to their condition

after far-smaller gatherings and

events are held there.

. . Re-

gardless of one's religious belief,

and whether it agrees with the

feelings

of

the witnesses, this

was an unusual demonstration

of faith which was in itself up-

lifting.

Financial Support

No collections ar e taken a t as-

semblies of Jehovah's witnesses.

Perhaps you wonder, then, how

the assemblies ar e financed. I t

is expensive business to rent a

big auditorium or a huge sta-

dium such a s Yankee Stadium

for a week. But it

is

not just a

matter of only one stadium. In

1968, a tota l of 120 dist rict as -

Semblies mere in the

ern Hemisphere encorn-

passing twenty-five countries.

Despite the expense, you will

never hear a single plea for

money a t any assembly you may

attend. All expenses are covered

by unsolicited voluntary contri-

butions.

Other Features

Oftentimes the assembly pro-

gram is multilingual. In the

United States there is frequently

a simultaneous Spanish progrgm

for the Spanish-speaking Wit-

nesses. This is put on in an ad-

jacent building or tent. At the

1958 assembly in New York there

were separate language meetings

for parts of the program p r e

sented in Arabic, Dutch, Fin-

nish, French, German, Italian,

Portuguese, Spanish, Albanian,

Danish, Greek, Hungarian, Po-

lish, Slovak and Ukrainian. Del-

egates from 123 lands attended

that

assembly

At the Stockholm assembly in

1963, a special platform Was built

in the shape of a four-leaf clo-

ver. From each of the four leaves

of the platform the program was

translated simultaneously into

the languages of the four Nordic

countries. Each language was

broadcast to a specfic section of

the stadium that was set aside

for tha t language. Several of

the 1969 assemblies will have

Spanish sessions.

provisions

are

even made for

deaf-mutes to benefit from the

fine piogram. At Yankee Stadium

in 1958 there were six Witnesses

who were deaf-mute interpreters.

They took half-hour turns to re-

lay the convention talks to those

persons unable to hear or speak.

They did this by means of sign

language, translating what was

said from the platform almost

as rapidly as it mas said.

ccept the Invitation

In many ways you will find

the Peace on Earth ht er na -

tional Assembly of Jehovah's

Witnesses delightfully different

from any assembly you ever at-

tended. A man who went to an

assembly of the Witnesses for

the first time in Sedalia, Mis-

souri, remarked

:

It warms my

heart to see you people. I t is so

different frhm what

I

have

read. local businessman in

Shreveport, Louisiana, who went

to an assembly there observed:

It's so different from any other

time

I

have been to the fair-

grounds, it just doesnY Seem like

the

same

place.

you

people

have I

certainly

wish

I

had.

Their assembling together reg-


8/96

THE APPROACHING PEACE OF A THOUSAND PEARS

-t,his i s t h e t i t l e o f a t h r i l l i n g o n e -h o u r t a l k t o b e g i v e n o n

t h e l a s t d a y o f t h i s i n t e r n a t i o n a l a ss em b l y D o y o u l o n g f o r e n -

d u r i n g p ea ce ? T h e n do n 't m i s s

t h is p r o F a m .

It

wil l b r in g you I f possib le , wh y not be on hand

c omf or t , e nc o u r a g e m e n t a n d the ver y f i rs t da y of the a ss em-

great hope

in

these bly when the keynote address is

days . delivered. The subject

:

"Ac-

quaint Yourself with God and

Fo r weeks pr ior to the assem- Keep Peace."

bly, and during the assembly

week itself, you will see this Bible Dramas

discourse advertised everywhere. Almost every day of this in-

Pos te r s a round the c i ty wi l l d raw te rna t iona l assembly wil l in -

atten tion to i t . Lapel car ds worn clude, not only l ively discourses ,

by assembly delegates will fea- but a lso a Bible drama. Some

ture it. Ten s of thou san ds of of these will hav e modern-day

handbills will be dis tr ib uted to sett in gs; others will be pu t on

invite a ll interested persons to in th e dress of Bible t imes. Fo r

atten d. I n addition to t he out- example, you will be able to see

ofitown delegates , thousands f rom a dra m a featur i ng Kin g Saul

the assembly c i ty a re expec ted an d h is son Jona than , David the

to be on ha nd to hea r thi s pr in- son of Jesse, an d lovely Abigail.

c ipal ta l k of th e program. Wi ll And a s you wat ch, yon will come

you he among them? W e s incere- to rea l ize wha t i t a l l means to

ly urge you to plan now to be us today.

present.

I n a dif ferent kind of dram a,

Not only this imp ortant par t by means of aud io presentation,

of the program, but a l l sessions you will be able to live th e un-

of th e assembly ar e open to the usua l experiences of the prophet

public , a nd no collections ar e Jo na h; a lso those of Daniel a t

ever taken. I i in g Belshazzar 's court just be-

fore the collapse of the Babylo-

When to Come nian Empire. And, remember,

Every session of the assembly

the r e i s no c ha rge to a t t e nd a ny

fea tur es a dif ferent program, of these dramas.

alive with practical value, and

you a re inv i ted to a t tend them The Bible Is God's Word

all. L iv ing a s we do in a n a ge whe n

On mos t days the program wil l

the Bib le has been subjec ted to

begin in the a fte rnoon a t :40 cons tan t a t tack to undermine

and c lose a t 4 : 35 Evening ses - fa i th , i t is mos t appropr ia te tha t

s ions begin at 6 :

30

an d end a t a fu l l a f te rnoon of the assembly

9: 05.

On some days, a s shown be devoted to a discussion of th e

on page

32,

there is a program evidence tha t t he Bib le rea lly

in th e morning too. I f you w ant is the Wo rd of God. When you

to come for the en t i re day , you hear o thers say tha t pa r ts of the

ar e welcome to have your meals Bib le a r e jus t "myth," or a r e

with us in th e assembly cafe- unscientif ic , can you produce

te ri a . f a c t s to p rove tha t the y a r e

wrong? How many so l id a rgu-

ments do you know that prove

tha t the Bib le is no t mere ly the

wr i t ings of men but t ha t i t r ea l -

ly is th e Word of G od? Thi s

program w ill for tify your faith.

The Book of Revelation

When d id you las t t ry to read

the Bible book of Revelation?

Did you wish you could under-

s t a n d i t ?

You

can . The ta lk

"Fin al W oes to Enem ies of Peace

with God," which focuses at-

tention on Revelation, can help

you. Be on hand to hear i t .

Problems of Family Life

By m e a ns of t a lk s a nd d r a ma s

with modern-day sett ings. this

"Peace on Earth" assembly will

come to gr ips with the problems

of family life.

Is

your homelife

really happy? Do the members

of your household truly commu-

nica te wi th one another the way

they shou ld? Do problems tha t

ar ise in connection with your

children cause you anx iety? We

believe that you will appreciate

the portions of the program

tha t d iscuss these mat te r s in a

s traightforward way.

Attitude Toward Authority

Another problem , tha t has

pressed itself on the attention

of people everywhere

is

the mat-

ter of respect for authority.

Youths a re in rebellion ag ainst

parents and teachers . Adul ts

openly defy government officials.

You are affected by these things,

but do you know wh at th e Bible

says about the course to pursue

in the mids t o f them? Regard-

less of your position in life, you

will benef it greatly f rom the dis-

cussion of this subject

on

the

assembly program.

International Reports

Another colorful portion of

the

assembly will be firsthand re-

por ts f rom a l l par t s of th e ear th .

Today there a re fas t -moving

developlnents in the Eeld of reli-

gion. Th e lives of ten s of thou-

sands a re be ing dramat ica l ly

changed each yea r as a result

of Bible education. Eyewitness

reports a re pa r t of the program.

Yes , there is much a t th is

assembly that is of intense inter-

es t to you . The program is prac-

tical, enlightening and encour-

aging.

You a r e inv i ted Wh y not

ma rk the assembly da tes on your

calendar r ight now. Details as

to the day and t ime of each

program ar e on page

32.


9/96

n History

T h e l a rg e s t r o o m i n g

hunt

in t h e h i s t o r y o f t h e w o r l d i s u n d e r

w a y . Y o u r c i t y

is

n o d o u b t i n v ol v ed . G o od , c l e a n C h r i s t i a n

p e o p l e w i l l b e l o o k i n g f o r r o o m s .

C a n y o u o ffe r r o o m ? f

so, p l e a s e c o n t a c t t h e W a t c h -

to we r C o n v e n t i o n R o o m in g

D e p a r t m e n t .

Rooms are needed for the del-

ega tes to the "Peace on Ear th"

International Assembly of Jeho-

vah's Witnesses. For how long

will they need

a

room? About a

week, and in some cases less

t h a n

a

week. The delegates will

be a t the assembly most of th e

day, and they wil l have their

mea ls a t the assembly grounds ,

but they do need a place to sleep.

Hote l s and motel s in your a rea

will not be able to accommo-

da te al l the convention delegates,

so rooms a re needed in p r iva te

hom es I n th e ci ty of M ilwaukee,

Wisconsin, where some 34,217

delegates came to a convention

of Jehovah's witnesses in 1963,

13,010 we re accom modated by

hotels and motels , but a total

of 21,207 delegates had to be

housed i n pr ivate homes. P ro-

port ionately the same general ly

holds t rue for other c i t ies where

conventions ar e planned. Some

rooms are offered free, others a t

nominal cost.

What kind of people are the

delegates to these Chris t ian as-

sembl ies? Perhaps the bes t way

to answer that is by expressions

of people with whom they have

stayed.

Expressions by Others

One householder wrote the

Watchtower Convention Room-

ing Depar tment, say ing We had

the p leasure a few years ago

of hav ing a fam ily of your or-

ganizat ion l iving with us . The

party lef t good memories for us .

Al l your members a re good and

gen tle people. now can offer

you again my two bedrooms with

four beds."

A n o t h e r h o u s e h o l d e r s a i d

"Your rep resenta tive 'made such

a wonderful impression th at .we

r e a r r a n g e d o u r p l a n s t o t r y t o

have s leeping quarters for you.

I 've ha d me i~ibers f your group

in my home during three con-

ventions and would be pleased

to have them this year . I 've al-

ways found your group, those

I 've met, very sincere, and a

credi t to any place they go to .

I 've been more than pleased to

have them."

A business couple a t Americus,

Georgia, was approached by one

of Jeho vah's witnesses. Th e ma n

spoke up an d said, "My w ife and

were talking about you people

the other day." After telling

about another rel igious group

that left his motel in a mess, he

said "My wife an d said, Wh y

couldn't they have been like Je-

hovah 's witnesses? When they

were here they lef t their rooms

so neat and clean that we didn ' t

have to do much a f te r the i r as -

sembly. Even the maids men-

tioned the difference in Jeho-

vah's witnesses. We're so glad

to have you folks backl"

At ano ther p lace , the lady in

charge of a motel said: I would

l ike to ask one favor of you.

would l ike you to send the

same people in here a s had

a t your las t assembly. They were

the nicest and neatest people

1

ev er met Of cou rse, th a t

could not be promised, but she

was assured tha t o thers o f Je -

hovah's witnesses would be just

as nice and neat . S he replied:

"I'm su re th at they wil l be just

the same, but just thoug ht so

much of the o thers th a t want -

ed to have them back."

T h e aily ilot of Costa Me-

sa, Cal ifornia , edi tor ia l ly s ta ted

"The hospitality (of Costa Dle-

sans) is m a f an ted . I n the i r

previous convention here, th e Je -

hovah 's witnesses have proved

to be welcome guests We're

happy to have them back." I n

Costa Mesa, 47 percent of the

rooms l is ted in pr ivate homes by

th e Rooming Department m ere

given free by the hospitable peo-

ple of that city.

Why Rent Your Room2

Of course, your reaction to in-

v i t ing s t rangers in to your home

may be a negat ive one. This is

understandable in this era of

crime and violence. You have a

r ight to be concerned for your

l i fe and proper ty ; in fac t , you

should be. But , a t the sa me t ime,

does this mean that one should

lock up all th e fount ain s of good-

ness within himself to surviv e

these fearful t imes? No, i t does

no t mean tha t a t a ll .

To l ive in such a fea r fu l way

not only would be ignoring the

commandment of God to be hos-

pitable but would be doing in-

jury to oneself . T he Bible , there-

fore, wisely advises "Follow

th e cou rse of hospitality." "Do

not forget hospitality, for through

it some, unknown to themselves,

entertain ed angels." (Rom. 12

13 ; Heb. 13 Yes , the course

of hosp italit y is a w ise one, a

godly one, when judiciously ex-

tended.

The people coming to this con-vent ion are Chris t ians who sin-

cerely endeavor to l ive in harmo-

ny with the wholesome principles

of the Bible. And, a s you hav e

already noted in the expressions

from those who provided rooms

for them in ' the past, th is makes

them p leasan t =es t s to have in

one's home.

Having some of the delegates

in your home can also br ing a

special blessing to you. How so?

Well, if you ar e a person who

would l ike to get a bet ter under-

s tanding of the Bible , they wil l

be g lad to t ake t ime dur ing the i r

s tay in the c i ty to ass i s t you .

They do not press their re l igion

on those with whom they s tay.

Bu t they a r e g lad to go ou t of

the i r way to answer the ques -

t ions of those who want to know

what the Bible says.

Also, there will be delegates

f rom o ther l ands a t th i s assem-

bly , a s wel l as f rom a l l pa r t s

of your country. t can be en-


10/96

I P E A C E O N E A R T H IN T E R N A T I O N A L A S SE M B L Y O F J E H O V AH ' S W IT N E S S E S

joyable to get acquainted with

people from other places.

We hope that you will be able

to rent a spare bedroom to one

or 111ore of the convention delp-

gates. Such generous gestures

are not overlooked either on

earth or in heaven. Jesus Christ

derlared: "Whoever gives one of

these little ones only a cup of

cold water to drink because he

is a disciple, tell you tru ly, he

will by no means lose his re-

ward." (Matt.

10:42)

If a cup

of cold water warrants a re-

ward from the heavenly Father,

how much more so will your

oeering of a bed

olunteer Workers

Th e job of Ending rooms for

thousands of convention dele-

gates is all done by volunteer

workers. This means that thou-

sand s of Jehovah's vit nesses

spend many thousands of hours

hunting for rooms. City hlock

after city block is carefully

searched. Some blocks a re worked

three to six times

The people, a s a rule, a re quite

sympathetic. They seem to un-

derstand the need for the many

calls. Often they respond by urg-

ing their own relatives and

friends to open their homes. In

fact, these later calls yield more

accommodations than the first

calls prinlarily for this reason.

Also the assemblies usually re-

ceive additional publicity by

means of radio, newspapers and

television. And, too, people know

by the second, third or fourth

tirrle around whether they will

be going on a vacation or not,

if they will be having visitors

durin g the week of t he assem-

bly, and so forth.

One of the greatest boons to

the rooming search is the land-

ladies themselves who remember

Jehovah's witnesses from pre-

vious assemblies.

A

Witness in

charge of t he rooming work in

R'ew York said : "A very la rge

number of our accomn~odations

were called in to us by land-

ladies. Our phones were kept so

busy that some of them waited

till after midnight to get a call

through, or sent us a wire. Many

others just came to the Rooming

Department in person to offer

us accommodations." What is i t

like to engage in this rooming

hunt?

esting experiences.

For

example,

one girl was rudely turned away

from the door by a man who

did not even give her an oppor-

tunity to esplain why she had

called. The next clay he stopped

her on the street and apologized

by saying that he thought she

was one of Jehovah's witnesses

but Inter had learned that she

was looking for rooms. He had

a room, he said, an d if she want-

ed it, she could have it. The

girl thanked him, disclosed that

she was one of Jehovah's wi t-

nesses, expla ined about t he co l-

vention and said she would still

be glad to list his room. Shocked,

he reconsidered for a moment.

Then he said he did not wish to

make another blunder and hap-

pily let her have the room.

When a rabbi's wife asked her

husband about listing some rooms

with Jehovah's witnesses, he

told her: "By all means list

them, and with no charge." He

said that Jehovah's witnesses

a re t he only people t ha t h e would

trust in his home.

One kind landlady offered her

rooms free, a s well a s free meals,

happy over the prospect of hav-

ing real Christians in her home.

"It is a small thing to do for

God who has been good to me,"

she said.

At &ledicine Ha t, Alberta, Can-

ada, one lady told a young wit-

ness of Je hovah tha t, though

unable to offer a room for the

use of our visiting delegates, she

wished she could. The house-

holder continued, "You see, the

minister of our Dutch Reformed

Church told the congregation

that they should give rooms to

Jehovah's witnesses a s they were

Those who engage in this Witnesses arriving a t home where accommodations have been

rooming hunt have many inter-

provided for assembly delegates


11/96

IN

ALL PARTS

OF THE

WORLD

teaching about God's kingdom."

I n this same city another land-

lady unable to list rooms gave

the Witness who called $5 as a

donation to cover the cost of

room elsewhere.

A householder in Trenton, New

Jersey, asked if the delegates

would pay for the rooms. She

was assured that they would.

She thought she might get her

children to double up, but was

not certain. Then she gained

courage and listed three rooms.

She also gave an address

of an-

other woman, who had her son

sleep on a mattress on the floor

so that the room could be avail-

able for Jehovah's witnesses.

This was amazing because her

own Baptist church was having

an association meeting,, at the

same time an d they were in need

of rooms too. But she said that

she would rather list her rooms

with Jehovah's witnesses.

When a householder was ap-

proached in Salina, Kansas, she

said that out-of-town guests were

arriving and that she could not

possibly list any rooms. After

the Witness left, the householder

decided to write

to her guests

and explain to them that she

would be having her house filled

at the time with other guests,

Jehovah's witnesses. She told

them that they could arrange to

stay somewhere else, because

there was always a possibility

of having them but she could not

always have Jehovah's witnesses

in her home. Eight delegates

were housed.

Rooming Headquarter s

"Beehive"

At the Rooming headquarters

there is a hum and efficiency

like those of a beehive as

volunteers take car e of the cleri-

cal details. The volunteer work-

ers carefully match

a c commo~a

tions and requests, a s to price,

location, arrangement

of

rooms,

and

so

for*.

pamily

roups have

to be kept together. convention-

ers from countries with currency

restrictions

may

have to

be

housed in free rooms.

The landlady's interests are

also looked after. cross-refer-

ence card is typed out and filed

under the landlady's name. Two

notification cards are made out.

One card goes to the convention

delegate, and the other is sent

to the landlady, giving her the

name and address of the con-

IN 969

ventioner who will be staying

at her home. The date of the

delegate's ar riva l is also given.

The delegate

is

thus able to

communicate with the landlady.

A ~ S O pecial attention must be

given to the requests of the del-

egates who might be blind or

deaf or ha& some other handi-

cap.

~ h , ast few weeks

prior

to

the convention the ~~~~i~~ D ~ -

partment is about the busiest

place

in the whole city. ~~ ~~~

one recent assembly, from eight

in the morning till

nearly

mid-

night it was difficult to reach

the Rooming headquarters

on

any

of

its telephones.

One

after trying for

three days to call on the tele-

phone, finally took a

subway

from

home and spent an hour

traveling across town, just to see

if

the

telephone

could actually

be that busy. She

absolutely

astourlded at the whirl of

ac-

tivity that she

saw.

Rooms Needed

Throughout the Earth

since

nternational assemblies

of

Jehovah,s witnesses will be

held

in twenty-five

principal tit-

ies around the world this year

the great rooming hunt will

d

carried on

in

each of them.

some

of the

excitement can be recap-

tured by reflecting on what has

happened at

past

conventions. In

~ ~ ~ ~ k h ~ l ~ ,weden,t was ex-

petted

that

the

job

of

finding

rooms

for delegates

would

take

a t least four months. ~ u the

response on the part of the Swe-

dish people was so generous that

the rooming work was brought

to a close four ahead

of

schedule. ~~d there

were 3 000

beds available

in case

of

TO overcome a shortage of ac-

commodations in the cities of

Korea where assemblies were

held, dormitories were set up in

Kingdom Halls, school classrooms

and judo halls. Patiently Jeho-

vah's witnesses put up with the

inconveniences of having families

split up so that men and men

Could be in separate dormitories.

In SO doing, they reflected the

fruitage of God's spirit, namely,

love, kindness and mildness.

I n Munich, West Germany, th e

city officials allowed Jehovah's

witnesses to use ninety-one of

the Munich schools a s dormi-

tories. I n this way the Kit ne ss s

were able to make room for 41 -

286

persons.

he

German people

showed their appreciation of the

privilege of being hosts to

a

Christian assembly in many

ways; some of them sheltered

in their homes from twenty to

thirty Persons-

The job of obtaining enough

rooms was no small problem

in Milan, Italy. House-to-house

rooming work had never been

done in Milan before. This is

because the law of th e land for-

bids private families to receive

guests or roomers in their homes

on payment, even for just one

night. So in order to surmount

this legal barrier it was neces-

sary for Jehovah's witnesses

there to obtain special permis-

sion from the government in

Rome. The government authori-

ties readily appreciated our prob-

lem and granted special permis-

sion for a house-to-house search

for rooms in private homes. The

response mas very gratifying.

Accommodations were offered for

10 027

conventioners

In

1963

Jehovah's witnesses in

the Republic of the Philippines

sent out some 600 volunteers

from many congregations in

search for rooms. They located

enough accommodations for 9 000

delegates, and the majority of

these mere offered free of charge.

Some Witnesses even built ad-

ditions to their houses at great

cost to themselves so that they

could accommodate more dele-

gates. The chief of police of

Manila, as well as the wife of

the may0r Of the city, made

arrangements to house dele-

gates. A businessman in Caloo-

can City offered accommodations

for eighty delegates

The largest rooming hunt in

is On The is

for roo s Will you express your

by Offering your spare

free

but

at

a rate?

f You have not already availed

yourself of the opportunity to

accommodate some of Jehovah's

witnesses in your home during

this assembly, why not do so

the next time they call a t your

door to ask if you have a spare

room to rent to their delegates?

Better still, seek them out by

telephone. You will have assisted

in the largest rooming hunt in

history.


12/96

Jehovah's witnesses believe in

using God's name, especially

since Jesus Christ said: I have

made your name known and

will make it known." (J oh n

17:

26) In fact, Jehovah's witnesses

Bet their own name from the

Bible, as at Isaiah 43

12,

where

it says : 'You are

rnT

wit-

nesses,' is th e att er ance of .Te-

hooah. 'and I am God.'

What distinguishes the delegates

that

you may mee t a t the

""Peace on Earth" Int erf iati ona l Assembly of Jehovah's Wi t-

Eesses? Yo u will find t ha t it basically lies in the fact that they

really believe

the

Bible to be

They ee

a Paradise for the uture

Today many scientists fear for

the future of the ea rth an d hu-

mankind. Among the grounds for

such fears are nuclear weapons,

contamitlation of the eart h, sea

and air, and the population es-

p osion. Recently Professor Bich-

ard A. Falk of Princeton Uni-

versity said

"Man may be skeptical about

following the flight of the dodo

into extinction, but the evidence

points increasingly to just sneh

a pursuit. The planet and man-

kind a re in grave danger of ir-

reversible ca tastrophe if t he po-

litical structure tha t now prara ils

is not drastically changed dur-

ing the next few decades.

There are four interconnected

threads to the planet-wars of

mass destruction, overpopulation,

pollution, and the depletion of

resources. . The basis of al l

f o ~ ~ rroblems is the inadequacy

of the sovereign states to man-

age the affairs of mankind in

th e 20th century."-New YorB

Times

April 7, 1960.

Bu t t he witnesses of J ehovah

do not share such fears, real

though such dangers are. Why

not? Because they really believe

what the Bible says about

a

change in government for the

whole earth and that this change

bY means of God's kingdom will

make it

a

Paradise,

What reason do they have for

entertaining such a hope? Well,

the Word

of

God. They are

unl ike great

numbers

of pro-

fessed today in-

eluding many clergynlen, who

consider

the Bible to be old-

the Bible when i t tells then, th at

the Creator is "the living God,"

that He is "from everlasting to

everlasting" an d "the King of

etertlitv."-Heb. 10 31

; ps.

90

2, ~fl;'l Tim.

:

7.

fashioned o r fiction. T hey be-

God s Name

l ieve

that what Jesus Chr i s t

Additionally, Jehovah,s

wit-

spoke is indeed ' the tr ut h that

nesses believe

that

God has a

be

he ar d f ro m God.'--John personal name, just a s the Bible

8 0. shows. Perhaps you have seen

T~~~ l]ristian witnesses of Je-

this name in your Bible. Many

hovah thus believe the sixty-six

churches and cathedrals, ewe-

books

comprising the

Bible

to

cialls those dating back to the

be

the inspire,j \Tor,j of God.

sixteenth and seventeenth cen-

N~~

ollly

that,

but

they believe

turies, feature the divine name

in

folloiving the

Bible as their

in Tetragrammaton forrh (;lm 1.

guide in life. Yes,

fax,

f rom con

The Tetragrammaton is defined

sidering the Bible

to

be as "the four Hebrew letters

fashioned, the

Q T ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

re

toll-

usually transliterated YHWH or

rinced that it is as up-to-date JHVH that form a biblical prop-

as

today,s newspaper. They

be-

e r name of God." Many churches

lieve

that Jesus Christ knew in Europe have tinis name of

what he

was talkillg about when God in frescoes and murals that

he stated of his Word:

"Your word is truth,"-John

17 7.

To the Witnesses the

conclusive testimony that the Bi-

ble deserves to be believed is the

accuracy of its prophecies. KO

human can accurately foretell

the future, but the Bible has

done this ever so many times.

Thus numerous prophecies fore-

told outstanding events in the

history of God's ancient people

Israel. Ever so many prophecies

give details regarding the life of

Jesus Christ. And other prophe-

cies describe in detail the events

of our own day.

No Unce rtsb ty

About Goa

Great is the uncertainty about

God today. Many noted theolo-

gir ~ns each a death-of-God the-

ology. But the Witnesses believe

2


13/96

PEACE ON EARTH INTE RNAT IONA L ASSEMBLY OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES 3

did not Jesus te l l h is fol lowers

to p ray f or God's w il l to be done

on ea r th a s in heaven? H e ce r -

tain ly did. (M att.

6:

1 0 ) C a n

you imagine wh at t ha t wi ll mean,

God's will done on earth as in

heaven? What is God's will for

men? Tha t they love Jehovah

God with a l l their hear t , mind,

sou l and s t reng th and tha t they

love their neighbor as them-

selves. When that is done world

wide there will be no violence,

no crimes, no injustices, no war.

-1sa. 2

: ;

M a r k 1 2

:

9-31.

But that is not a l l . Jehovah 's

witnesses bel ieve that i t never

was God ' s wi l l fo r man tha t he

should suffer f rom many kinds

of diseases, grow old and then

die . I t is only because of the

sin of the f i rs t man, Adam, that

we do. (Rom. 5 : 12 ) Jehovah 's

witnesses thus teach that God's

o r ig ina l purpose was tha t man

should l ive forever in perfect

hea l th in a Para d i se ea r th . Tha t

was the p rospec t he ld ou t to

Adam and Eve whi le in Eden .

And so God's Word assures us

t h a t

as

a result of God's King-

dom rule, he will wipe ou t ev-

e ry t ea r f rom the i r eyes , and

death w il l be no more, nei ther

wil l mourning nor outcry nor

pa in by an y more. -av. 2 1 4.

The Chris t ian witnesses a lso

believe what else is implied by

such promises . And wha t is tha t?

Tha t th i s ea r th wi l l ab ide fo r -

ever . In th eir minis t ry the Wit-

nesses of ten quote the inspired

psalmist who said of God: He

h a s f o u n d e d t h e e a r t h u p o n i t s

es tabl ished places; i t wi l l not be

made to to t ter to t ime indef i -

nite, o r forever. -Ps. 104 5.

But do Jehovah's witnesses be-

l ieve that the bless ings of that

Parad i se a r e l imi ted on ly to those

who happen to be l iv ing when

it

begins to hold sway over the

ea r th ? No, they be li eve tha t th e

Bible holds out hope for untold

mi l l ions tha t have d ied and a re

s leeping in the grave. And what

is tha t hope? Tha t they wi l l

come back to life through a res-

u r rect ion, jus t a s Jesus C hr i s t

p romised : Do no t marve l a t

th is , because the hour is coming

in which a l l those in the memo-

r ia l tombs wil l hear his voice

and come out.''-John

:

28, 29.

But pe rhaps you wonder why

Jehovah's witnesse s believe this.

tha t man has an immor ta l sou l

th a t a t dea th goes e i the r to heav-

en or to a fiery hell. However,

Jehovah's witnesses really be-

l ieve the Bible when i t p la inly

te l ls us tha t a t the t ime of m an 's

c rea t ion he

bec me

a living soul.

(Gen. 2 : 7) They real ly bel ieve

i t when the B ib le says tha t the

sou l tha t

is

sinning-it itself

will die. (Ezek. 18 4) Th ey

bel ieve that the f i rs t man Adam

real ly died and went back to the

dust from which he came.-Gen.

3

:

9.

J e s u s hrist

Is

T h e i r K i n g

Unlike many persans today

who be l i eve tha t Jesus Chr i s t

was s imply an ordinary human,

a f ine humanitar ian, Jehovah 's

witnesses bel ieve that he is real-

1s th e Son of God. And the y

bel ieve that Jehovah God wii l

use Jesus Chr i s t to b r ing abou t

Para d i se on ea r th . (Luk e 23 :

43

So Jehovah's witnesses teach

f rom the B ib le tha t Jesus Chr i s t

had a prehuman exis tence, and

tha t he came to ea r th to bea r

wi tness to h i s Fa the r and d ie

fo r th e sins of humankind.-John

8 58

;

Phil. 2 : 5-8.

Jehovah's witnesses really be-

l ieve in Jesus Chris t , but not

t h a t he was God incarnate , or

clothed with f lesh, or that he is

a member of a Tri nity , coequal

and coeternal with his heavenly

Father . Why do the Witnesses

no t t each tha t Jesus i s pa r t o f

a T rini ty? Because the Bible

tells us that Jesus is God's only-

begotten Son, the first-born,

and the beginning of God's cre-

ation. So he could not be co-

e te rna l wi th h i s Fa the r . And

fur the r , Jesus re fe r red to h i s

F a t h e r a s m y G od a n d s a i d

the Fa the r i s g rea te r than

I

am. So by no mean s could he

b e co eq u al w i t h h i s F a t h e r a s

the Trini ty doctr ine teaches .

-Col. 1 :1 5 ; John 1 : 14 ; 20 :1 7 ;

1 4 : 8

;

Heb. 5 7,

8

; Rev. 3 : 4.

These ~ e o ~ l eho reallv be-

lie ve t h e - ~ i b l e ls o teach- t h a t

Jesus Chr i s t i s now ru l ing as

God's appointed king in heaven

and that 144.000 others wil l be

associated w ith him in the heav-

enly kingdom.-Rev. 3 : 1

;

1 4 :

1 ,

3 ;

20: 4-6.

S t r i k i n g C h a n g e s C o m i n g S o o n

All these blessings of Christ's

Kingdom ru le a re no t f a r o ff , Je -

hovah's witnesses strongly stress.

How can they be so cer ta in of

that? Because Bible prophecies

s ho w t h a t w e a r e a t t h e e n d of

this system of things. Jesus him-

self foretold how we could tell

that the end of th is o ld system

of th ings i s a t hand . H e sa id

there would come upon one gen-

e ra t ion g rea t wars , f amines ,

earthquakes, increased lawless-

ness ; and th i s same genera t ion

would a lso have the good news

of God's kingdom preached to

it.-Matt. 24

:

-14.

s ince you may have been t augh t

Fsnxidj-

Si~1s

fvxil; i e r.~gmPat mctice l a 3Vif

r1s s~

smfies


14/96

14 PEACE O

So .TehorahVswitnesses believe

that Jesus' prophecy is having

fulfillment in our day and has

been since 1014. We therefore

lave strong assurance that we

are indeed in the last days of

this wicked system of things.

This wicked system will end in

violence in what God's Word

calls Armageddon, Gods king-

dom destroying all governments

in opposition to it.-Rev. 16: 14,

16 ; 19 11-21 ; Dan. 2 44.

They ve b y the Bible

Jehovah's witnesses prove they

really believe the Bible. not oilly

by what they teach, but also by

horn they live. With the psalmist

they sa y: "Pour word is a larnp

to my foot, and a light to my

roadway." (Ps. 119 103 The

Eible serves as a lamp and a

light by reason of its divine prin-

ciples, -laws and comn-iandn~erits.

It makes knon-n to thein what

is right and what is wrong;

wh at is wise an d \vh:xt i s foolish

what is lovinq and kind and

what

is

hateful a ntl selfish. As

a result they enjoy improved

conditions in rve1.y kind of hu-

man relationship.

Because of Bible principles

and comnlandments, the Wit-

nesses refuse to share in fonent-

i ~ l g civil stri fe and disorder.

(Rom. 13 1-7 Not th at th e Wit-

nesses do not feel for those suf-

fering injustices. They do. But

they know that these conditions

ar e primarily dne to the fact

that Satan the Devil is the "god

of this, system of thi igsU and

that he has misled mankind. On-

ly when he and all his de~non

angels are out of the way mill

it be possible to straighteu ou t

mankind's problems. T ha t will

be accoinplished by God's ki n g

dom. Then nothing will harm

or destroy.-2 Cor. 4 :

4 ;

Rev.

1 2 :

9 ; Isa.

1 1 :

9.

Jehovah's wit~iesses ollow the

example of Jesus Christ , who

did not mix in politics or agitate

for social reform. He said of

his followers "They ar e no pa rt

of the world, just a s am no

part of the world."-John

17 16.

Following Bible principles, t hey

show no prejudice or discrini-

ination. Regardless of race or

skin color, nationality or lan-

guage, they treat all others as

they themselves want to be

heated. (Luke 1 They know

EART H INTERNAPEONAL ASSEMBLY O F JEHOVAH'S

WITN SS S

~ h a t od made out of one man

all. th at live on this earth . They

welconle to their Kingdom Halls

nll who would worship God in

spirit and in truth.--4cts 17 26.

the nlatter of sexual morals

they also follow

~~e~

ord the

Bible, ~h~~ know they must

cleanse therllselves

rom

defilement of flesh" and "let mar-

riage be honorable among all,

and th o rllarriage bed be with-

ou t defilement,,, since U ~ ~

judge fornicators and

ers,n

~h~~ callnot

So Jehovah's witnesses put

first the doing of what Jesns

prophesied for these "last days."

And what is that ? He foretold:

"This good nevs of the king

dom \\-ill be preached in all the

inhabited earth for a witness to

all the nations; and then the

end will come." (Mat t.

24 14

This prophecy means preaching

good news. But it also implies

a warning, for it says that when

the IZingdom preachillg is fin-

ished then "the end will come,"

the end of this wicked system

certain ,,Iergymen

of

Christen-

dom a.ho sta te that the re

are

"advantagen

of

adultery," and

that homoa,exual relatiolls can

be "quite virtuous." Rather, they

agree ~y it h Word,

severely conde~nns ll such prac-

tices.-2 Cor. 7 Heb. 13 4 ;

Rom.

1

24-32.

~

the family relationship the

00

lands a nd islands. They

witnesses, recognize the Bibli-

cal principle that the husband

is the lleaC of the family. He

has the to lore his

wife a s his own body and to

rear his children according to

Bible principles. The wife, for

her Dart, is to show deep re-

spect to her husband and as-

sist him in rearing their chil-

dren. I n turn, children ar e to

honor their parents and obey

them in everything. This is

spelled out for them time and

again in the Scriptures, as a t

Ephesians 5 22-6 4.

That this type of training

brings good results

as

noted

la,st year by a

f i e ~ s e

anada's

largest French daily, August

7,

1 Q G 8

h l o n g other things i t stat-

ed "Another usefu l contribution

of Jehovah's witnesses is the

accent this group places on fam-

ily unity, respect

for

the au-

tilority of the falnily head and

participatioll by adolescents in

common enclearors. n these

three spheres we get the im-

pressioll that certain of their

~lle thods might be studied and

profitably used by other religious

denominations."

Interested in Their ellowman

Today many clergymen are

norking for social reform and

econolnic betterment of the nlnss-

es. But Jesus and his apostles

concentrated their energies on

preaching t he kingdom of God.

-3Ia.tt. 9 35.

behavior that he asked one of

the n7itnesses wha t accounted

for it. Th e reply he received

was "It' s just the Bible. We

iive according to the cornmand-

ments." According to that paper,

"that caused Bolton to think:

'If the rest of us could get a

little bit of this rubbecl

off

on

us, we'd be a better world,

wouldn't we?'


15/96

Sixty

Years in Brook

TEINK

f

1 155 826

ministers-far outn umb ering th e world-

wide army of Roman Catholic priests and

all

the Pro tes tan t

ministers

in

the Unit ed State s combined This is, in fa& the

lar ge st single body of preachers

in th e wor ld Th ey devote Up- their worldwide Christian activ-

w rd

of 200.000.000 hou rs it s is the Watch Tower Bible

Bethel home, the headquarters

of the Watchtower Bible and

Ft :

$ ~ ~ ~ t ~ e ~ ~

God. )

The Watchtower Society

is

longtime resident in the -Brook-

>

yearly in Bible education,

and

this

and free o charge.

THINK of their making 89,-

903,578 return calls on people

seeking spiritual guidance and

holding home Bible studies with

was built a short distance away.

977,503 persons and families Over the years the Watchtower

And all of this is without charge.

w i t h t h e

tent of th e Kingdom-preaching

activity carried on by Jehovah's

witnesses in 200 lan ds in the year

1968 alone

four-story building on Colum-

Without question such a gigan-

bia Heights. Now they have two

tic undertaking indeed takes

attractive twelve-story red-brick

precision organization. And the

buildings, also a brand-new ultra-

organization used by Jehovah's Bethel Home and administrative modern brick structure of seven

witnesses to produce literature

offices of Watchtower Society

stories, with other adjoining

in 165 languages and to direct 1,150 ministers live here buildings. Here more than 1,150

and

Tract

Society.

Th Headquarters in Brooklyn

At the end of the Eas t River

of New Pork's bustling harbor,

just across from the famed Wall

Street financial district, is the

l y n Heights neighborhood. I t

was in 1908 tha t they first pur-

chased property here, and on

January 31, 1909, they dedicated

their new headquarters. This

was some twenty years before

the well-known Towers Hotel


16/96

16

PEACE ON EART H INTER NAT IONAL ASSEMBLY OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

is the first build-

ing of it s kind ever

to be constructed

in a historical

area anywhere in

th e United States.

The plans fo r the

building were ap-

p r o v e d b y t h e

Landmarks Com-

m i s s i o n . T h i s

home will accom-

modate a hundred

persons, two to a

room.

A happy spirit

p e r v a d e s t h e

h o m e . A b e l l

rouses res idents

at 6 30 a.m. They

bathe, dress and

assemble in four

dining rooms for

morning worship,

w h i c h b e g i n s

sharply a t

7.

Mem-

bers sit around

tables that seat

ten. The meals ar e

presided over by

Watchtower Society s factory i Brooklyn covers four city blocks.

the president, if

Bible literature

in 146

languages is produced here

he is in town. The

day's Bible text

men an d women, including all the

officers of t he Watch Tower Bible

an d Tr act Society, live an d work.

Nearly a hundred of them have

personally lived here for more

than twenty years. Here also is

located the Watchtower Bible

School of Gilead.

From here the preachEng of

God's kingdom, as commanded

by Jesus Christ at Matthew 24:

14 and Matthew 8:19, 20, is

directed through

98

branch of-

fices earth wide. Two-thirds of

Jehovah's witnesses live outside

the United States. Into the

headquar ters office flows flood

of some 950,000 pieces of mail

each year, and 470,000 pieces

a r e sent out to all parts of th e

earth in a single year.

Bethel, in fact, is a small city

within the borough of Brook-

lyn. I t ha s its own barber shop,

laundry, dry-cleaning plant, kitch-

en, shoe-repair shop, dentist's

office, infirmary and libraries.

The first two aboveground

floors of one of the twelve-story

buildings are encased in marble

and glass and house the offices

of Gilead School, with i t s class-

rooms, a large lecture hall, and

other offices. The purpose of this

school is to give special ad-

vanced training for missionary

service in a ll pa rt s of the world.

By 1965, graduates had been

assigned to 141 lands.

The remaining floors accom-

modate the 100 Gilead studehts

who enroll for the five-month

course and, of course, the reg-

ular Bethel residents. Others live

in the older twelve-story build-

ing across the street, including

th e presid ent of the Society, Na-

than H. Knorr. When filled to

capacity with two Witnesses to

a room, the buildings shelter

1,150 members. No racial dis-

tinctions are made in living

quarters. Here Chinese, Japa-

nese, Negroes, Spanish, Ger-

mans, Italians, Arabs and Jews

-people representing more th an

th ir ty nationalities--live side by

side in harmony. Truly an in-

ternational family and a happy

one Guided tou rs of the prem-

ises are regnlarly provided for

visitors. Eecently a newsman

after visiting the headquarters

reported: "In three hours of

sight-seeing, I didn't meet sin-

gle bored-looking worker. Every-

body, devoutly convinced he is

doing Jehovah's work, i s happy,

enthusiastic, and eficient." Th at

is

the way it should be in the

house of God.

The new seven-story structure

from the Year-

ook

of Jehovah s WiOzesses is

read and discussed. Various ones

who have been asked to prepare

comments are called upon to

speak. The discussion lasts about

twenty minutes. There is prayer

and then breakfast. The meal

lasts about fifteen minutes. The

dining rooms are tied in by

closed-circuit television, so that

all can see and hear the pro-

grams originating in the main

dining room.

Smoking is not permitted, nei-

the r is profanity.

911 residents of

Bethel, from President Knorr to

the newest member, get the same

allowance: room, board and $14

a month allowance for clothing

and incidental expenses.

The Watchtower Society s

Farms

As you can well imagine, feed-

ing the staff of hard workers

and the Gilead students three

times day is no small task.

The Bethel family on a single

day may conSume 500 pounds of

bulk hamburger or 900 pounds

of t urkey o r, fo r breakfast, 150

dozen eggs One meal can rep-

resent large steer o r three

hogs or 350 chickens. I n a week's

time the family may eat 12,600

eggs, 400 pounds of butter and


17/96

PARTS OF T H E WORLD

IN 969 7

drink 1,300 gallons of milk Th is

food is largely provided by the

Watchtower Society's, farms in

New York and New Jersey.

These farms presently total 2 -

229 acres.

About a two-hour drive north

of New York city is where the

1,500-acre Watchtower Farm is

located. Several hundred feet

back off the road stands

a

new

four-story colonial-style house.

This can house a hundred peo-

p l e t h e farm family, construc-

tion workers, mechanics, and so

forth. I n th e house there is also

a cannery, a 20,000-cubic-foot

deepfreeze, a dining room that

can s eat 120 persons, a kitchen,

laundry, Kingdom Hall, and

other facilities. The farm is

equipped with

a

large root cellar,

a modern slaughterhouse and a

hog house that uses the latest

pig-raising techniques. The poul-

try houses and the Cattle feed-

ing methods are also ultra-

modern.

On the Society's three farms

on a recent date, there were

368 milking cows, 539 beef cat-

tle, 464 hogs, 8,812 poultry. A

cheese fac tory produces 15 tons

of cheese a year. And 8

tons of butter ar e made ciety' s recent ly relea sed

yearly fo r the family. A book The T ruth That Leads

canning factory prepared

to EterrzaZ Life

in one

37,924 qu ar ts of canned year's time is in its 15,000,-

goods and 26,369 quarts of

000 edition

frozen foods las t yea r In this Brooklyn plant

There are vineyards, vege-

nearly 15,000,000 copies of

table gardens, and orchards the Bible in seven lan-

wit h 435 apple trees, 169 guages have been prin ted in

pear trees and 400 grape-

the last twenty-five years

vines. Some 8,158 quarts of

A

complete, hard-cover Bi-

strawber ries were picked ble is prin ted fo r only $1.

last year

Other hardbohnd booksare

This fantastically large

placed with the public for

operation is managed solely

as little

as

25 cents. Last

by ministers of Jehovah's

year more than 12,130,990

witnesses and is operated,

Bibles and books were sent

not for commercial profit,

to 98 branches to serve the

but to keep the headquar-

more than 25,000 congrega-

ters' staff in Brooklyn well

tions of. ehovah's witness-

fed. By raising much of its es throughout the earth.

own food an d employing Bu t in the first eight

various economies, the So-

months of the 1969 fiscal

ciety maintains a healthy

year, more than 17,700,QOO

family a t low cost. I t en-

Bibles and books have al-

ables ministers to devote ready been pr i~ te d. This,

thei r life an d energies to of course, would not be

publishing Bibles, books, possible without dedicated,

booklets and magazines a t

volunteer workers. I t be-

comes obvious that no othe r

very small expense to the

people are more interested

public so th at they can in pri nti ng, dis tri but ing

learn of God's kingdom, an d teaching the Word of

the only hope of mankind.

Modernnew

addition to Bet31el Home God than are Jehovah's

-Matt. 6 , lo recently erected in Brooklyn witnesses.

he Watchtower Sd ety's

Publishingmant

Sprawled over four city blocks

~ ~ ~ W ~ o

~ ~ l y ~ a ~ ~ , " t t ~ ~

B~~~~~~are

printing

plants

of

Jehovah's witnesses. Tile huge

Brooklyn industrial operation

employs 819 persons, I'anging

from skilled print@rs to office

clerks.

Here

are located 22 rotary

presses and 23 flatbed and job

presses. The largest presses each

print 25,000 Bible magazhes an

hour. They each weigh over fifty

tons. They use a five-mile-long,

1,600-pound roll of paper in

about f orty minutes. Eight freight

carloads of paper a re used a

week; over 10,000 tons per year.

Literature is here printed in 146

languages. Some twenty other

languages are printed in for-

eign lands.

Here also are folders and

stitchers that can stitch 100,000

thirty-two-page booklets per day.

One sees thirty-three linotype

machines setting type in haste;

a composing, matt ing a nd plate

department working with the

emciency of a beehive. There

are storage areas holding over

5,000 tons of papei*, or more th an

200 train carloads of

5

tons

each

The bindery is a fascination

in itself. I t

is

spread out on

three floors, with the latest book-

binding equipment. Bere are

casemakers, embossers, cutters,

trimmers, folding and gluing ma-

chines.

From one of thirty-three

book-sewing machines (each ma-

chine averages 2,500 hardbound

books a day) the assembling of

a book races along a t an amaz-

ing speed

t

assemblers, gluers,

cutters, rounders, casing-in ma-

ch in a, pressing, d rying and pack-

ing. On the five production lines

100,000 books a day, with two

shifts, caa be bound on the av-

erage, with a peak of 144,000

The circulation of the Soci-

ety's publications wlipses all

other religious periodicals. In

the religious publishing circles

a book that sells more than

25,000 copies breaks into the

best-seller ranks. The Watch

Tower Society's book Let od

e True was issued in a first

edit ion of 10,000,000 copies in 30

languages More th an 17,000,000

copies of th e 320-page book have

been distribnted. The

So


18/96

lincjt ypist s pressmen, bintlery,

shippilig 31111 m:iilin,o ~ o r k e ~

a t t he \ V : I i ( ~ h t ~ ~ c ~ l ':ictor~.

Poll

fintl no mnlinycsrinp, no gin-11p

picr~~rcssn the walls,

no

scl':~ps

of p:lpcsr 0x1 r11e tlotor."

Hut

:IS

one ric\vs this n~otlerli

printillg plant :lntl the tlctlicnt-

~ t lminis1c.r~ \v l~ o Illan it, one

cb:rnl?ot help but :ipl~l,cci:ire ha t

hkrc is a n organiz:~ iion th:lr is

serious :tbout fultilling Jesus'

propi~ccyconce1min.g the pr~:ic'11-

i11.g of the Kingtlom mPss:ige iiu

all

the

ilihnliitctl e:lrth. The

8

PEACE O N EARTHs ' I N T E R N A T I O N A L ASSEMBLY OF JEHOVAH S WITNESSES

Maiii building at

WatcHatowes

Farm,

where food

for

B e t h d Brooklyn Bethel headquarters

family is prodluwd

serves this purpose well.

Tllo Shipping Department is

th e very epi tome of efficiency.

Bible literatwe totaling 115 lan-

guages is stocked, ready to be

shipped. On April

7

of this year

37,562 pounds of literature, rep-

were mailed out of the Brooklyn ation too diffcult to describe in

plan t I t takes three trailer words is managed by 135 persons.

trucks per day to move this

mail, and it weighs ore r 60,- Th e Oth er Depa rtme nts

000 pounds. The magazines ar e Comparative ly speaking, very

mailed to over 200 countries, few people ha ve any idea of the

resenting 83,000 books, was islands and territories. Direct scope of the work th at is done

shipped to London, England ; sacks of mai l a re prepared f or a t th e Brooklyn headquarters. I n

43,339 pounds to Rome, Italy, 363 desti nations in

44

countries, addition to the operations men-

representing 57,000 books

;

75,401 Thirty-five different language tioned, here

is

a modern car-

pounds went to Manila: Philip- magazines ar e mailed in 52 dif- penter shop where all th e work-

pine Islands, representing 145,- fer en t issues per month. This tables, benches, bookcases, and

000 books and 310,000 tra cts : 24,- makes the magazines published fur ni tur e f or th e Bethel home

256 pounds was shipped to and mailed in ~ ~ ~ ~ k l ~lone are made a t a grea t saving. Here

Aucklancl, New Zealand, repre- available to over 60 percent of is a machine shop tha t has de-

senti ng 59,000 books and 10,000 th e world's populatioll. Proof- signed and built wrapping ma-

tracts-all of this was shipped reading and translatills ar e done chines and endsheeters. Pa rt s

ou t of t he Brooklyn plan t i n in over 20 countries for

mags-

and gears and repairs are made

one day And it dces not repre-

zincs mailed froIll the Brooklyn with a sa rin g of tens of thou-

sent a11 the shipping either. office. Magazines explaining th e san ds of dollars every year in

About 54 percent of the liter a- Word of GO^ can here be se t opel'ational expenses, vh ic h man

tu re produced is exported. in any language using Rom an e~ can be used directly to facil-

characters, also Greek, ae br ew , ita te th e preaching work. Here

The agazine De pa rt me nt Russian, Arabic and Armenian. also is an electrical shop, a

Of the four large buildinps Circulation ranges from 1,200 plumbing shop, a sheet-metal

of the Watch Tower Society's -4rmenian magazines per month shop, a cleaning departmen t in-

Brooklyn publishing plant, Build- to English with a circulatioll of volving a k ~ @ rew. Here

ing Number 2 is the home of 2,900,000 copies per issue. Hoj~yev- Brail le is printed fo r th e blind,

th e Watcht ower a nd Awake er, The Watchtotfier and Aqcake international coilventions ar e

magazines. From here the map- have a combined monthly cir- planned and the Word of life

azine s ar e processed and mailed. cula tion of 22,700,000 copies is made available to millions.

The Watchtozoer and Azoalie Some issues th at received spe- He re a t Bethel every week,

ar e printed here in thir ty lan- cia1 distribution, such a s the eight

hours and

forty

minutes a

guages, sixty -fcur different mag- October 8, 1968, Awake an d

day? five and a days a week*

azines being produced every The TYatchtoqoer of October 15,

month, or a t the rat e of two to 1968, in English had a total cir-

thr ee each day. Some day s over cula tion of 12,180,000. If stacked

a

million copies of these Chris- one at op anot her they would

ti an magazines ar e produced make a pile 55?000 feet high or

and mailed out. over 10 miles ~h~ ~ a t c ~ ~ ~ t o ~ ~ e r

If that sounds amazing, then

is

printed in 72 languages and

consider the other figures of this

Azcako in 26 languages.

depa rtme nt New subscription The re a re 2,000,000 zinc ad-

slips come in a t a ra te of 8,000 dress stencils on file. If laid end

to 10,000 a day. They a re checked to end , they would encircle New

for legibility, typed on metal York city, or some 82 miles In

stencils a nd proofread. During this department over 300.000 ad-

th e first si x months of fiscal dress changes ar e processed per

year 1969, 96,013,629 magazines year. This vho le fan tas tic oper-

work linotypists, pressmen, bind-

men, writers, tl.anslatol.s,

typists, artists, secretaries, mail

clerks, men of various national-

ities-all of whom are ordained

ministers-so th at the Kingdom

message might rencli the public

at minimum Said a news

man visiting the plant for the

first time: "All this modern

technology alld efi

ciency really jolted me." Per -

haps you feel the same way.

Many do. A Catholic writer,

William 3 Whalen, said:

1

have never seen

young work

harder Or

at

thei r lobs than t he COmDOSit0rS.


19/96

Twenty-five princip al cities arou nd th e world will host the

"Peace on Ear th" Int ern ati ona l Assembly of Jehovah's Wit

nesses. Early

in

Ju ly th e assembly opens in North America,

and

in

August

it

visits five

European cities. After several

weeks, the assembly resumes

in october in

cities

of the

F a r E as t.

Th en th e assemblv moves to

Australia New zealand, and

otller islands of

the

pacific.

Final ly it concludes in & Iexico

City, December

24-28.

Here are the cities>

with news and interesting re-

ports from these maoy pa rts

of th e world.

stadium.

The largest of these was in

1958, when the nearby Polo

Grounds was used simulta-

neously with Yankee Stadium.

On that occasion more than a

quarter of a million persons

heard the feature Bible lecture

In 1950 there were only 22

congregations of Jehovah's wit-

nesses in all New York city. But

now there are 33 Spanish-speak-

ing congregations alone, and 188

congregations all together. For

just one special meeting this

spring, the annual memorial of

Christ's death, well over 40,000

persons crowded into the meeting

places of Jehovah's witnesses in

New York city.

sembly of Jehovah's witnesses.

But no longer is this the case.

Thus, simultaneous with the as-

sembly in New Tork, another one

will be held in Atlanta, Georgia,

Jul y 6 to 13. Here the new 52,000-

seat Atlanta Stadium will accom-

modate an anticipated 47,000

delegates.

Buffalo

The t hird city to host the open-

ing of the

< peace

on Earth"

International Assembly is Bl1f-

falo, New Tork. From July 6

to 13 it is expected t ha t about

40.000 delegates will be eniosinz

New York City

From July 7 to 1 3 New yol-kers

will be host to tens of thou-

sands of Jehovah's witnesses at -

tending the "Peace on Earth"

International Assembly in Tan-

kee Stadium. However, this is

no new experience for New York-

ers, since this will be the eighth

convention the Witnesses have

held in this world-fatnous sports

Atlanta

In 1958 and prior thereto New

York city had sufficient facilities

to handle an international as-

exactly th;? same program

Bible instruction a t t he TVar

Memorial Stadium in Buffalo as

iS being heard in New Pork city

and

Buffalo's eight congregations

of Jehovah's witnesses ar e look-

ing f

Watchtower: 1969 Convention, Los Angeles

Documents

Transcript of Watchtower: 1969 Convention, Los Angeles