1924—One Hundred Years Ago
“AT DA start of da year, az good fo ery baptized Christian . . . fo look fo ways fo do moa fo Jehovah,” it tell in da January 1924 issue of the Bulletin. a Az da year wen go on, da Bible Students wen do dat by having plenny courage an preaching in new kine ways.
DEY WEN USE DA RADIO FO PREACH
Fo moa den one year da braddahs at Bethel wuz working on building da WBBR radio station on Staten Island, New York City. Afta dey wen clear da land dey wen build one big house fo da workas an one odda building fo da equipment. Wen dey wen pau dat, da braddahs wen start fo put togedda da equipment dey wen need fo go live on da radio. But dey wuz goin have problems fo deal wit.
Wuz supa hard fo put in da main antenna fo da radio station. Da 300 foot long antenna wen need fo hang between two wood poses dat wuz 200 foot tall. Da firs time dey wen try um, it neva work. Wit Jehovah’s help da braddahs wen figga um out. Calvin Proceser, who wen work on da projeck wen tell, “If we wen do um right da firs time den we would come big head.” Da braddahs wen give da credit to Jehovah fo helping dem, but moa problems wuz goin come dea way.
Radio broadcasting wuz still new, so no wuz easy fo buy da equipment dey wen need. So da braddahs wen find one janky 500-watt transmitter fo use dat somebody wen build close by. Radda den buying one microphone dey wen use one from one regula telephone. One night in February, da braddahs wen choose fo tes dea homemade set up. Dey wen need someting fo put on da radio, so dey wen sing Kingdom songs. One braddah name Ernest Lowe tell one funny story about wat wen happen dat day. He tell dat wen da braddahs wuz singing, braddah b wen call dem, cuz he wen hea dem singing on his radio in Brooklyn, about 15 miles away.
Judge Rutherford“Eh turn dat ting off,” Braddah Rutherford wen tell, “You guys stay hurting my ears!” Small kine shame, da braddahs wen turn off da transmitter fas, but dey wen kno fo shua dat dey wuz ready fo start dea firs broadcast.
On February 24, 1924, on da firs official broadcast, Braddah Rutherford wen tell dat da radio station wuz goin get use fo do da work dat Christ da King wen give dem fo do. He wen tell da main reason fo da radio station, wuz fo “help peopo undastan da Bible an da importan time we stay living in.”
Dat firs broadcast wen go real good. Fo da nex 33 years, da radio station WBBR wuz use fo broadcast programs of Jehovah’s peopo.
ONE HEAVY MESSAGE AGAINS DA RELIGIOUS LEADAS
In July 1924, da Bible Students wen get togedda fo one big kine meeting in Columbus, Ohio. Bible Students wen come from all ova da world an dey wen hea talks in Arabic, English, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Lithuanian, Polish, Russian, da Scandinavian languages, an Ukrainian. Peopo could lissen to some of da talks on da radio, an da braddahs wen ask guys from da Ohio State Journal fo write articles about da big kine meeting program eryday.
On Thursday, July 24, moa den 5,000 braddahs an sistahs wen go preach in da city wea da big kine meeting wuz. Dey wen place almos 30,000 books an wen start tousands of Bible studies. The Watch Tower wen call dis day, “da bestes paht of da big kine meeting.”
Anodda big ting fo da big kine meeting wen happen on Friday, July 25, wen Braddah Rutherford wen read one heavy message agains da religious leadas. He wen tell dat political, religious, an business leadas wuz stopping da peopo from learning da trut about God’s Govament dat God goin use fo bless erybody. An he wen tell dat dese guys wuz wrong cuz dey wen back up da League
of Nations an tell dat it wuz God’s way of ruling da eart. Da Bible Students wuz goin need plenny courage fo preach dis message to da peopo.Layta, one article in da The Watch Tower wen tell dat dis big kine meeting in Columbus wen build up da fait of dis group of braddahs an sistahs. It wen give dem da courage fo go out an preach no matta guys go agains dem. Leo Claus, who wen go to da big kine meeting tell, “afta da big kine meeting we wuz pumped up an no could wait fo share dis message in oua territory.”
In Octoba, da Bible Students wen start fo give out millions of copies of one tract dat had da message dat Braddah Rutherford wen read agains da religious leadas. In one small town in Cleveland, Oklahoma, Frank Johnson wen pau giving out da tract an had fo wait 20 minutes befoa da braddahs an sistahs could come pick him up. But no wuz safe fo him jus wait aroun, cuz guys in da town wuz real mad about his preaching an dey wuz looking fo him. So Braddah Johnson wen go hide in one church close by. Nobody wuz in da church so he wen leave copies of da tract in da preacha’s bible an in ery seat. He wen do dis real fas an den leave. He still had time fo kill, so he wen go in two moa churches an wen do da same ting.
Frank wen run back to da spot wea he wuz goin get pick up. He wen hide behind one gas station an wen watch out fo da guys dat wuz trying fo come afta him. Dese guys wen drive by, but dey neva see him. Right wen dey wen leave, da odda braddahs an sistahs dat wuz preaching close by, wen come pick him up an dey wen all drive away.
“Wen we wuz leaving town,” one of da braddahs tell, “we had pass three churches. Had about 50 peopo standing outside each of dose churches. Some of dem wuz reading da tract an oddas wuz showing um to da preacha. We had hele jus in time. An we had mahalo Jehovah plenny fo da way he wen proteck us an help us kno wat fo do so dat we could share da message an not get caught.”
DA BIBLE STUDENTS NO WUZ SKED FO PREACH
Da Bible Students in odda countries no wuz sked fo preach too. Up north in France, Józef Krett wen preach to mine workas who wen come from Poland. He wuz scheduled fo give one talk wit da title, “The Resurrection of the Dead Soon.” Wen da braddahs an sistahs wen give invitations to da peopo, da local pries wen warn his peopo fo no go. But still yet, dey wen go. Moa den 5,000 peopo wen go to dat talk, even da pries! Braddah Krett wen ask da pries fo defend his beliefs, but he neva like. Afta da talk, Braddah Krett wen give da peopo all of da literature he had, cuz dey really wen like kno moa about da Bible.—Amos 8:11.
Claude Brown wen go to Africa fo preach in da country we kno az Ghana. Plenny peopo wen hea da trut cuz he had give plenny talks an wen leave literature wit choke peopo dea. John Blankson wuz studying fo come one pharmacist, an he wen go lissen to one of Braddah Brown’s talks. Right away he had figga he had find da trut. “Da trut had make me so happy,” John tell, “an I
had talk about um plenny wit peopo at pharmacy school.”John wen learn dat da Bible neva teach about da Trinity. So one day, he wen go da church fo ask da pries about um. Da pries wen get all mad an had yell at him, “You not one Christian, you belong to da Devil. Get outa hea!”
Wen he had get home, John wen write one letta to da pries, an wen ask him fo meet in public an talk about da Trinity. Da pries wen tell John fo go to da office of da main teacha fo da pharmacy school. Ova dea, da teacha wen ask him if he really had write to da pries.
“John tell, “Yeah, I did mista.”
Da main teacha wen tell John dat he gotta write one sorry letta to da pries. So John wen write:
“Mista, my teacha wen ask me fo write one sorry letta to you, an I stay ready fo do dat if you tell dat you teach stuff dass not tru.”
Da teacha wuz all shock an had ask, “Blankson, iz dat really wat you like say?”
“Yeah. Az all I can write.”
“You goin get kick outa skool. How you tink you goin get work if you talk bad about da pries fo da church dat da govament back up?”
“But mista, . . . wen you teach us an get tings we no undastan, az okay fo us ask questions yeah?”
“Yeah, can.”
“Dass wat wen happen mista. Da pries wuz teaching us da Bible an I wen ask him one question. If he no can ansa da question, how come I gotta write to him an tell I sorry?”
Blankson wen stay in school. An neva need write he sorry.
MOA WORK FO DO BUMBYE
Layta The Watch Tower tell, “We can say like David, “You wen make me strong fo fight.” (Songs 18:39) Da year wen encourage us plenny, cuz we wen see how Jehovah had help us in his work. His faitful peopo stay happy fo preach da good kine tings.”
At da end of da year, da braddahs wen make plans fo have anodda radio station. Dat radio station wen get built in Chicago, U.S.A. Da new station wuz called WORD. Using one 5,000 watt transmitter, WORD wuz able fo let peopo hea da Kingdom message moa far away, even all da way up north in Canada.
In 1925 Jehovah wen help da braddahs fo undastan moa clea Jesus Show chapta 12. Some peopo neva like dis new undastanding, so dey wen stop serving Jehovah. But plenny oddas wuz happy fo undastan moa betta da tings dat wen happen in heaven an how it wen affeck Jehovah’s peopo on eart.