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Faith on the March
A.H. Macmillan
Copyright 1957
| CHAPTER 14
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| EXPANDING THE EDUCATION FOR LIFE
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| PAGE 192
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EVEN BEFORE World War II came to an end, in fact while the work was closing down on all sides, N. H. Knorr turned his attention to providing even further strength to the organization with the thought of expansion. He began with the individual minister. Knorr knew that the organization could be no stronger than the individuals who compose it. He knew the New World society could accomplish no more than its associated ministers were qualified to do. He knew that if each one of Jehovah's witnesses were to fulfill his own personal vow of dedication to Jehovah he must individually be trained and equipped. (See Luke 12 47.) After he became president he wasted no time in setting in motion what has probably become one of the most extensive educational campaigns ever conducted. This is the way it came about.
| page 193
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| KNORR ORGANIZES FOR EXPANSION
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Knorr's close association with Rutherford in his last days enabled him to know precisely what he had in his mind concerning the operation of the organization. Of course, he had thoughts too where the work could be expanded; so when the theocratic organization began to operate in 1938, even before he became president, Knorr saw the need of training those in the organization to handle their work efficiently, and to coordinate all efforts for expansion of the work. He encouraged and succeeded in setting in motion an arrangement whereby all countries would be divided into zones, each zone composed of twenty congregations. A zone servant was appointed to visit the congregations in his zone. In addition assemblies were arranged for all the congregations in a zone. Rutherford recognized the benefits such an arrangement could bring, and on October 1, 1938, set it in operation. Within three years the number of active ministers in the field had more than doubled. However, Rutherford felt the work had accomplished its purpose by that time, and it was discontinued December 1 1941 In a special letter issued to all congregations he encouraged all of Jehovah's witnesses to stand on their own feet and maintain their ministry, come what may. This certainly seemed like needed counsel because, within a few days after his letter was circulated throughout the United States, this country was involved in World War II, and only a little more than a month later Rutherford himself was dead. Knorr realized much work lay ahead and that many more people were yet to see the need to dedicate their lives to Jehovah God and serve him before the full end was to come at Armageddon. Because of the severe trials coming on Jehovah's witnesses, they would need further counsel and training, especially new ones associating with the work. So in the fall of 1942, his first year as president, he reorganized the zones into circuits and set in motion a revised arrangement of the work. Four years later, he further revised the work and again arranged for assemblies to be held twice a year in each circuit. Again expansion came rapidly.
| page 194
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| PERSONAL MINISTRY RECEIVES ATTENTION
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Organizationally we were now on solid footing, and the maturity of the Society as a whole was quite evident. But Knorr realized that every minister must be personally equipped to preach. Rutherford had brought unity to the work by carrying the one message to the public through his radio talks, transcriptions and phonograph recordings. Now Knorr embarked on a campaign to bring maturity to every one of Jehovah's witnesses and especially prepare them to preach individually yet without contradicting one another. Have you ever noticed how different ministers, representing the same religious organization, teach somewhat different ideas on the same subject? Conferences within their church systems are continually trying to iron out these differences, yet they persist. Knorr believed that not only should all Christians be ministers, but all should teach in exact unity of thought. Would this be possible without making "parrots" of them? Knorr believed it could be, and set out to do it. About forty or fifty years ago we had many associated with the work who were well-informed as far as the doctrines of the Bible were concerned; but to get a few men to go out and give lectures to congregational meetings or to the public, even in small halls, was a task. It would have been difficult to get as many as thirty or forty to do that. Well now, as far back as 1902 we saw the necessity of training, but our efforts along that line were limited. I was out in Kansas City where we had a home for our full-time workers or "colporteurs." There were five of us who knew little of the art of public
speaking, so we established what we called the School of the Prophets, the object being that we would meet certain nights of the week and each one would be allowed ten minutes' talking. We used a chart depicting the ages of man's history in God's purposes and talked from that, and the others would counsel or criticize him. It was mostly criticism and some of it would certainly sound strange to us today. Of course, speaking from the public platform in the early part of this century was totally different from what it is now.
Still, much improvement was made since then in a general way in our ability to present matters from the public platform. In fact, a number of those in the organization were recognized as accomplished speakers. But Knorr wanted everyone in the organization to be "ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you."1
| INDIVIDUAL TRAINING BRINGS MATURITY
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Now the training program began in earnest. In April of 1943 special schools were organized in every congregation of Jehovah's witnesses which became a regular part of congregational activity. These schools provided for an intensified course in public Bible speaking. All male persons attending the meetings were invited to enroll, since training was to be voluntary, and most did. Each week an instruction talk on some feature of public speaking, composition, grammar and related subjects was considered and, later, the Bible itself was discussed from every aspect. Then three student talks were given by those enrolled, each taking his turn. They spoke on assigned Bible topics and then were given counsel for improvement by the one in charge of the school.
These schools, called Theocratic Ministry Schools, are still
a vital part of the program of each congregation, and as new male persons become associated they are encouraged to participate. Since the continuous course began, the entire Bible has been summarized through talks given by students. It has also been read through, as well as its outstanding doctrines discussed. No one graduates. They keep on giving student talks and keep on working for improvement--many, like me, having been enrolled since the schools started. Is it any wonder that now there are associated with Jehovah's witnesses literally thousands who are seasoned speakers from the public platform? Many of these speak regularly at our conventions before hundreds and thousands of people. So it is that individual preaching finally began to come into its own in 1943. Two years after our Theocratic Ministry Schools had been started we began an extensive public meeting campaign. Our purpose was to preach to all the world that Jehovah's kingdom under Christ had begun, and now that qualified public speakers were being developed in the organization we began to use them. Everyone had a part. It was not just a matter of someone's preparing and delivering an hour's lecture to an audience. An extensive campaign of house-to-house advertising was conducted in the neighborhood of each talk. Interested persons were given personal invitations and in many instances those lacking transportation would be picked up and taken to the hall. All of those associated with the congregations shared in this advertising work. Saturday afternoons handbills were distributed at busy intersections as well. As a result of this work more people became acquainted with the message of Jehovah's witnesses and many who are now actively engaging in the ministry themselves had their first contact with the organization at one of these public Bible lectures.
| page 197
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| GILEAD SCHOOL SPEARHEADS THE GLOBAL FRONT
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Our schools of advanced ministerial training and the public meetings organized in the congregations were really like an extension of something else that had previously been set in motion to expand the training to the ends of the earth. Much work had been done in the United States beginning back in the 1880's and it had expanded to most of the major countries of the world as we have seen. But in many places where there were none of Jehovah's witnesses--or very few, as in Africa, Italy, Japan and so on; there was considerable need to organize the work in a theocratic way. Knorr found the solution in the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead. The school was established on a seven-hundred-acre farm of the Society in the beautiful "Finger Lakes" region of upper New York State, about 250 miles from the Brooklyn headquarters. A rigid curriculum was provided in a wide variety of subjects, particularly suited to prepare these young ministers for the advanced field of foreign missionary activity. In 1943 the first class of one hundred students graduated from the school and was ready to go to foreign lands for an indefinite stay as missionaries. Their new assignment was to be their new home. That was the agreement they made when they volunteered to accept whatever location Knorr selected for them, according to the needs of the field. It was planned that two groups of approximately one hundred students each be given the complete course each year, and by 1955 those enrolled had been drawn from forty-five countries, trained and sent out to one hundred lands. Over 1800 are now happy in their assignments and busy preaching. Missionaries of Jehovah's witnesses don't carry on their work the same way other missions do. In these out-of-the-way
places they carry top good news right to the homes of the people, no matter if they have to go back into the bush of the native jungles to do it. It means learning the language of the people and respecting their customs, although in their own missionary homes they are free to maintain American or European standards as much as is practicable. Many cases are reported where those who were illiterate have been taught to read the Bible for themselves so they might become proficient in the true doctrine. Some missionary societies obtain converts by setting up establishments for feeding and clothing the natives, but I think you'll readily agree a full stomach doesn't necessarily make a man a Christian. Jehovah's witnesses, on the other hand, have endeavored to teach these people how to live by God's standards, to clean up their lives and their homes, and they show them what is required of those who will share in the New World after Armageddon. Those who dedicate themselves to God with this kind of understanding are not easily shaken from their faith and their new course of life makes them more highly respected in their community as clean-living people. Invariably this changed outlook enables them to improve their own living standards, and they learn to stand on their own feet and not depend on some foreign society for continued handouts. The objective of Jehovah's witnesses in these countries as in all our activity is not to get a large following, but to have only persons of genuine faith in God and Christ associate with our organization. If you're taught the pure Bible truth and encouraged to claim Christianity because of true belief and not for personal gain, you'll endure even under great persecution or trouble and will hold to your faith. The history of those associated with the Society is proof of this. That's pleasing to God. We believe in God and want to do what is pleasing to him.
| page 199
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| SCHOOLING THE UNLEARNED TO READ
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A few years ago a niece of mine graduated from the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead and went to Chile with other missionaries. That was in December, 1949. At that time there were only around two hundred of Jehovah's witnesses in the whole country. Now there are over 1,100.
An experience she wrote me of some time ago demonstrates the response to their work and the general attitude of the people there.
She was in the bank one day cashing a check from the Society to cover her expenses. Waiting in line was a native clergyman. When she got up to the window the priest said to her, "I see you have a check from New York. Are you an American?"
"Yes, I am," she answered.
"Well, what are you doing down here, just visiting?"
"No," she said, "I'm a missionary."
"A missionary? Don't you know who I am?"
"Yes, I judge by your attire that you are a clergyman."
"Don't you think we will take care of the spiritual needs of the people here?"
"Well sir, it's hard to figure why it is that we have to come down from New York to teach your people how to read what's in the Bible. Why don't you do it?"
Then the cashier spoke up, "Yes, Father John, I wondered about that myself."
My niece reports that ended the conversation.
Chile is just one of the countries in South America that has had such surprising success. Seeing this growing interest in Bible education on the part of the people of the world is gratifying indeed, so I am always a little amused when I read what some writers have to say about it. For instance, Our Sunday Visitor recently stated, 2 "The masses of newly transplanted Puerto Ricans of New York and the Mexicans of California
and the Southwest have contributed substantial numbers to the sect's membership. Indeed, the organization is making some of its most sizable gains in backward countries where illiteracy abounds." Yet some of those countries where these "gains" are being made are those where this writer's own religion has controlled the education of the people for centuries.
But what of Europe? Would you think this was a field for missionaries? Probably many Europeans wouldn't. During the war years, as I've already mentioned, the work tripled, but since 1942--the year before any graduates of Gilead were sent out by the Society--the work has increased ten times! This shows expansion is not the result of persecution. In 1942 there were 22,896 preaching Witnesses. In 1955 there were 227,374. That means that in a little over a dozen years each witness of Jehovah has become ten in Europe. Doesn't that sound like the prophecy in Zechariah that says: 3 "In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you."
| NO DOCTRINAL MATCH FOR THE NOVICE WITNESS
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There are millions of people in the world today who are in the same mental attitude I was when I found the faith that has carried me through more than half a century. They realize there is much about God and the Bible that they should know and would like to know, but which they have not been taught although many have attended their church for years. If you are one of these then think seriously on the things I have been telling you. There will be many who will try to discourage you. I have met some but I have always tried to find out the facts. Those who do not have the truth cannot argue against it. If they are opposed to the truth for some reason of their
own, then they will try to counteract it by telling things that are not true. But the truth cannot be hidden for long if you are really interested in finding it. Jesus said: 4 "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
You may be told you can't understand the Bible, that you are too young or too old or not educated enough or that it is a mystery intended for only a select few who spend their entire lives at it as "specialists" in the field. But in the days of the nation of Israel Jehovah God commanded that everyone assemble to hear the Law read, even the babes in arms,5 and instructed the parents that they were to teach their children in their own homes.6 That means even those who were not priests were qualified to talk about God's Word. You will remember, too, that Jesus said, 7 "Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me for of such is the kingdom of heaven." The apostles Peter and John were trained by Jesus, yet were looked down upon as "unlearned and ignorant men."8
Jehovah's witnesses make a thorough study of the Bible, which equips them far beyond any natural abilities they might have. This requires those who are opposing our work to try to prejudice inquiring persons away frown the message we are preaching. An interesting instance of this appeared recently in Our Sunday Visitor.9 It carried a series of articles on Jehovah's witnesses with the usual misrepresentations of the personalities of Russell, Rutherford and Knorr. If the name and truth of Jehovah God were not involved, many of the statements would be laughable to me. I've lived through most of the entire history of the Society and I've seen these things first-hand. Furthermore, sufficient factual evidence is available to show anyone really seeking information the truth of the matter. But the real significance of the series to my mind was contained in a letter that appeared in the publication a few weeks later.
The letter was addressed to John A. O'Brien, author of the
series. It read: 10 "This is to thank you for the splendid articles on Jehovah's Witnesses in O.S.V. They are factual and irrefragable. Last night a young matron of the parish came into the office, all confused by the literature of the Witnesses. She had begun by trying to convert them and--poor thing--with only a grade-school education, she fell before their glib tongues. At first I tried meeting her objections head on and got nowhere. Finally I pulled out the current issue of O.S.V. and read your article to her. That did it. The discussion was closed. 'If their founder was a rascal like that,' she said, 'I'm through with them.' Yours the credit, yours the merit Rev. Richard Grinder."
The writer of this letter probably hasn't realized he is admitting that when it came to a discussion of the straightforward doctrine of the Bible, even with his years of college and Seminary training, he was no match for this woman "with only a grade school education," who had studied with Jehovah's witnesses for only a short time. He had to resort to "name calling" and had a ready tool at hand provided by O'Brien. That's an easy way to argue, isn't it?--if you can get away with it! But even Jesus was called a man who had a "devil, gluttonous, and a winebibber." 11 And he said they would treat his true followers the same way.12
Evidences are mounting every day and every year that not all people are as easily deceived as it is claimed this woman was. The records show that Jehovah's witnesses are increasing in number by leaps and bounds. Not just in "paying members" like so many of the modern revivalists seek, but in live, active preaching ministers who give freely of their time and strength to carry forward the good news of God's kingdom. Not only do these individuals become acquainted with the Word of God themselves but they also become qualified to teach others the things they have learned.
Jesus told Peter that if he would show his love for Christ, then he must feed God's "sheep." 13 How can a man help
someone else to Christianity until he is stabilized and mature himself as a Christian? If he constantly depends on a "pastor" himself for food then he will never be able to demonstrate his own love for Jesus by feeding God's "sheep."
| DOORSTEP PREACHING LOCATES THE SHEEP
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All of the personal training and individual assistance that Knorr has inaugurated has played an important part in the expansion program, and the individual minister using the doorstep as his pulpit has really located the sheep of the Lord. If people of the world are to be instructed in God's will for them, it isn't just a matter of learning the Golden Rule and how to live by it or sitting in a building listening to one man preach. It is really a matter of trained men and women going to the people from house to house.14
Today, if you want to be a mature Christian you must be a minister or servant of Jehovah, for maturity means not only being acquainted with the fundamental doctrines of the Bible but becoming mature in practicing the truths in his Word. As a Christian, then, you must develop in maturity in the study of God's Word, understanding what is written in his Word and applying it in your life, helping those not yet brought to this deeper understanding of God's requirements to do the same thing.15
Ministers should be able to preach, and the special training program being carried on in all congregations of Jehovah's witnesses has equipped them to do that. Now Jehovah's witnesses who call at your door are prepared to give short sermons on a variety of subjects depending on the circumstances and the time you have to listen. The Scriptures are read from the Bible so that we have a common ground for a discussion, and even if you don't accept the Bible as God's inspired Word, at least it gives a recognized foundation for considering cur-
rent world problems. It will be worth your while to listen carefully to the next one of Jehovah's witnesses who comes to your door. Today, there is really no distinction of clergy and laity in the organization of Jehovah's witnesses. This is a society of ministers, each with his own pulpit, the doorsteps of the people. Those who appreciate that there is always something to be gained by an honest and friendly discussion of the Bible listen to us at the doors and, while some do not agree with us, in recent years we often hear the expression, "I think you are doing a good work anyway." What a change in a few years! But it has been persistent walking and talking that has accomplished it. Determined preaching in the face of real adversity, faith in the conviction the people must be warned of Armageddon's approach and comforted with the hope of a New World of righteousness at hand. Don't you think an increase in the last ten years of 350 percent in those now preaching in 160 lands indicates how reasonable it is to believe? But such an extensive operation as this costs money. Have you been wondering how Jehovah's witnesses are financed? Many persons do. Before I finish my story I'd like to tell you something about that.
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