Bulletin, September 1928

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______September, 1928_____

“Seal not [do not keep secret-—20th Cent. N. T.J the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.”—Rev. 22:10.

THE ones to whom this command of the Lord is addressed are unmistakable. The Servant class of the Lord today are se eing the fulfilment of those prophetic wonders which the Apostle John saw in visions and signs and symbols. With stronger force, then, the Lord’s command applies to t hem that they should not keep secret the sayings of the prophecy of God’s Book; especially so since Jehovah himself is no longer making a secret of them, but is revealing his secrets to his Servant class by bringing to pass the things foretold in the prophecies of his Book.

Those who are wide-awake as the Lord’s watchmen; those who are the Lord’s “young men” and “see visions”; such see very clearly that “the time is at hand”. There is no mistaking that our Savior’s words find their proper location in these days: “The gospel must first be published among all nations.” (Mark 13:10) This is therefore no time for those who want to be obedient to the Lord’s commandments to be mere bookworms and churchgoers by studying the Bible and the books explaining the Bible, either privately or in groups, and enjoying these truths by themselves and selfishly keeping these truths to themselves. Such are directly violating the Lord’s command above and are ‘keeping secret the [fulfilled] sayings of the prophecy of God’s Word’.

The Lamb of God has broken the seals of the book, as God’s Executive Officer. Let those who would follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth “seal not” those things which the Lord declares must now be published to all the world for a testimony before the end comes. For this reason the Society is now making a herculean effort to publish millions upon millions of books and booklets for distribution among the peoples in their present suspense; for this reason it employs the radio to give the hungry peoples a luscious foretaste of what the books contain, so as to make them welcome the coming of the Lord’s ambassadors with the books. ‘ ‘ He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous [under the ‘robe of righteousness’], let him be righteous still: and he that is holy [unconditionally devoted to the Lord and his service], let him be holy still,” and let him take the printed message of the Lord and circulate it far and wide among the public and thus “seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand”.

Getting Your Story To the People ,,

Still working Catholic territory. The majority of people bitterly opposed. The priest must have warned them. A fe ware awaken!rfg, hut afraid to take a stand. One woman, after telling me she believed that what I was telling her"was God’s plan, asked me if Pastor Russell wrote some of the publications. I told her that he did. She said she would not have the books if I gave them to her. Before I left she told me she was consecrated to the Lord and not to any church and would consider what I had told her as she believed I told the truth, that never again would she believe evil reports against any one, and wished me success.

S. C. Pierce, Bay City, Mich.

When opposition is shown it is because people have listened to some one they depended upon and thought reliable. Consequently they are honest in their attitude. The worker should remember this. When he answers accusations with a true spirit of trying to help a misinformed one, he can pretty well depend upon truth-seekers’ recognizing the truth of matters when presented to them. In territory where much opposition is manifest feel that one of your jobs is to get the truth to the people.

The Radio’s Voice

If it were not for the radio it seems as though we would not sell any books; for every place where we sell books at the present time, we find that the people either have a radio or listen to our lectures some place else. For instance, I just ran across a place in my canvassing where the man invites people into his home every Monday evening. This is the evening we broadcast, and he has a large attendance.

One day one of the sisters was canvassing and she called on six houses where they all tune in on our lectures. She sold four $1.18 combinations, and of the other two one was very poor and the other a Catholic. We have found that when the people are too poor to buy, they get comfort from our lectures over the radio, and look forward to them; and it sure is making the “Dumb Dogs” angry.

Last week three different churches wanted Mr. Ritche to take us off and put them on the air, and he told them, “No.” If they want to broadcast they can on Sunday, but nothing doing during the week days. That belongs to us. He certainly was proud to be on the hook-up. He told me somebody came to him and told him, ‘ ‘ Why do you line yourself up with a small outfit like that?” Mr. Ritche showed that this isn’t a very small outfit, since this big hook-up. He says that this is the greatest thing that could happen.

It sure makes the Catholics angry, because Mr. Ritche is an ex-4th degree Knight of Columbus, and I an ex-3rd degree. We have something in common, as we both know the inside of Knights of Columbus work. Mr. Ritche says that any time you have a national hookup, count him in on the broadcast free of charge.

We had large audiences all over the city to hear Brother Rutherford’s address. People were looking forward to it. We have two big write-ups in one paper and one in another. We also ran three big ads. Every word came in plainly, every one that listened in says that they received everything clear from start to finish and look forward to the next lecture.

John Suckle, Pueblo, Colo.

“Anything to stop the message of the truth,” seems to be the slogan of some. Hence it is well to inquire of the people who say that they appreciate the lectures whether they let the station know that they do appreciate them. Too often only those talk who complain. The satisfied ones take it for granted that, since they are not complaining, no complaints are being made; and consequently the great amount of correspondence received by radio stations is only of those who complain. Therefore urge those who appreciate the lectures to drop a card to the station; otherwise, even though the time is paid for, preacher influence can persuade the owner to think that more people would be satisfied with the station if it would broadcast so-called representative talks. In fact, it would be well for workers to drop a line to the owners of the station and tell them how many of those they called on listened to the lectures and appreciated them.

Somewhat Trapped, But Not Caught

I just want to tell you how I made a fool of myself and the Lord came to my rescue.

One day when I was canvassing, a man pointed at the books and said, “Just wait a minute. These are not Catholic books, are they?” This in a tone of voice as much as to say, “I wouldn’t have them if they were. ’ ’

I answered, “No, indeed,” very emphatically.

Then he said, “Well, I wanted to know, because I am a Catholic!”

For about one-quarter of a second I felt like a helpless fool. Then I said, “If you were going to buy an encyclopedia, you wouldn’t ask if it were Catholic, but you would expect it to tell the truth on all subjects, not giving favor to any party or class. These books are non-sectarian. When you were a child you learned the principles of arithmetic by learning the tables, addition, multiplication, etc. You got the key to arithmetic so that you could work any example. Now for instance, take the words “soul”, “spirit,” “hell,” “God,” “mighty one,” etc. These books give the Hebrew and Greek meaning of all such words and passages that give one the key to the Bible. One can not help but understand the Bible when one gets the key. For instance, the Protestants teach and believe the dead go straight to heaven or hell, but when one knows the Greek and Hebrew meaning of the words “soul” and “spirit”, one understands the Bible teaches no such doctrine. He took Deliverance, Creation, The Harp, Where are the Dead? and Last Days.

I can not explain just how I felt. I knew the Lord had turned my foolish blunder into success. I felt humbled and thankful to my heavenly Father and it made me realize more than ever that it is the Lord’s battle and not ours and without him we can do nothing.

It was a lesson to me that I must never be so vehement again. That the books are neither Catholic nor Protestant. We call ourselves Protestant, but we are certainly not like the so-called Protestants. We are the real Protestants and they have ceased to be Protestants.

Mrs. Richard Shaw, Clay Center, Kans.

Resourcefulness often turns what seems to be a lost opportunity into a real sale. When people have a reason for not buying the worker is provided with the best points for a canvass because he can then show them why they should have the books. People who give a reason as to why they do not want tiie literature appreciate that what they have investigated in the past has not been helpful to them. To them the Bible is still vague and almost meaningless. Workers only stand in defense of the Bible and that Jehovah is God, and they can best help inquiring minds to see the advantages that will be theirs if they use what the books offer them. z

The outlook for the coming months is encouraging. Conditions will be even better than they have been during the past months, particularly in the rural sections and smaller towns that depend upon the farmers for business. Crops will be harvested and marketed, and the people in these sections will be better situated to purchase the literature. There will, however, be an obstacle to the work, one which the workers must themselves surmount; and that is to maintain the field activity at the same high level as it has been maintained during the past few months. Duties that encroach quite a bit upon the time that the workers can devote to the service seem to increase during the fall months.

But probably by cooperating one with another the workers can see that, so far as the class itself is concerned, as many as possible can continue to witness each week. This, of course, refers particularly to work aside from Sunday work. Each one has always had the opportunity to use most of Sunday in attending meetings held chiefly for the public, and the same time employed by each one in going to the public with the message is merely time used in a different way and to a better end. It is principally the canvassing during the week that is to be maintained at as high a point of activity as during the past few months.

It would be well if workers would plan what they will do during the next few months, particularly bringing up for discussion at the workers’ meeting the plan that the director has been urged to submit. Discuss this plan and see how the time you can devote to the work can be fitted into the general plan for the ecclesia; and thus make it a success.

Watch Toweb Bible & Tract Society