watchtower: 1969 convention, los angeles
TRANSCRIPT
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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.
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"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
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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 assem- ble 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,
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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
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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
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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-
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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.
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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-
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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?'
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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
-
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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
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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
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8/20/2019 Watchtower: 1969 Convention, Los Angeles
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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.
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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