Joys, Trials and Blessings in the Service of Our God
as told by Richard Blümel
IN THE summer of 1918 Germany was fighting a desperate battle, its men distributed on all fronts. Behind the lines women and children were starving and many thousands died daily from malnutrition and influenza. How the multitudes now longed for peace! In the large industries most of the work was being performed by older men, women and the youth of the land. I was eighteen years of age and was employed in a Leipzig bookbindery, where I had but lately concluded an apprenticeship as gold-embosser and bookbinder.
It was during this time that I first received a message of hope. It came from a middle-aged woman who talked much about her convictions with others. One day she told me about a marvelous book, The Divine Plan of the Ages, and, noting my keen interest, gave me a tract called “Old Theology Quarterly,” containing proof that the “times of the nations” had run out. (Luke 21:24) I read it over and over again, so absorbing did I find this message from the Bible.
Later that same lady told me about weekly meetings where similar subjects were discussed, so I accepted her invitation to attend. On the agreed date I was waiting at the entrance to the school auditorium where the meetings were held, and when the lady arrived she took me inside. About fifty people were present. The topic of discussion was a chapter in The Divine Plan of the Ages, and my interest was now thoroughly aroused. I decided to procure the book and started reading. In fact, I became so engrossed in its pages day after day that my parents began to worry about me, and I had to find some quieter spot to do my reading. What quieter place than the nearby cemetery, where I felt I would be unseen and undisturbed. It was marvelous to learn from this book that God had long ago foreknown and foretold the rise and fall of the world powers and how they would all come to their end.
The taking in of this thrilling information brought me so much joy and satisfaction that I just had to begin talking to others about it. Naturally, my parents were the first to hear from me, but did not at this time respond. At the meetings I was attending I obtained a supply of tracts and began going from house to house introducing the Bible prophecy at Daniel 2:44, in which is foretold the establishment of God’s kingdom and the dissolution of all the kingdoms of the world. One day I happened to call on one of my fellow workers at the factory, and he was quite surprised to hear what I had to say and curious to learn how I came to be a preacher of the Bible’s message.
Thereafter I started to use opportune moments to speak to other employees at the factory, inviting them to attend the Bible-study classes or the special public lectures on Bible chronology as it relates to our times. By October 1918 I was gratified to see some fruits from those labors, for five of my fellow workers responded and eventually took the same course that I did, namely, dedicated their lives to Jehovah God and submitted to water baptism. Since the war was still raging, my baptism had to be conducted quite secretly.
Soon I had thoroughly considered the six volumes of Studies in the Scriptures published by the Watch Tower Society as well as the booklet Tabernacle Shadows of Better Sacrifices. How thankful I was to be enjoying such spiritual plenty at a time when famine for both material and spiritual food was so widespread! My desire to help many others to enjoy these same blessings continued to grow. People must be told about the end of all human kingdoms and the righteous government that would replace them according to the promises of God.
In 1919 the seventh volume of Studies in the Scriptures was published in German, having been printed in a commercial printery. Entitled “The Finished Mystery,” it discussed the fall of Babylon as described at Revelation, chapters seventeen and eighteen. The 21st day of August was the date set for a wide distribution of this book, and tracts entitled “The Fall of Babylon” would be used to publicize it. With great anticipation we awaited that date. How happy I was that I had already heeded the command recorded at Revelation 18:4: “Get out of her, my people, if you do not want to share with her in her sins, and if you do not want to receive part of her plagues.”
On the way to the territory assigned me, pulling my handcart loaded with The Fall of Babylon tracts, I passed a monument commemorating Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, champion of Protestantism. On the plaque I read: “Gustavus Adolphus, Christian and hero, by [the battle of] Breitenfeld saved freedom of religion for the world.” As I proceeded with my ministry I could not help thinking that I was one of a group of true freedom fighters. Later that evening, tired but content, I returned home with my empty cart. All my tracts were gone.
“MILLIONS NOW LIVING WILL NEVER DIE”
The following year, 1920, the theme “Millions Now Living Will Never Die” was proclaimed in Germany as in so many other parts of the world. The German booklet bearing that title was released and public lectures on the subject were presented wherever a hall could be engaged. I can well remember following up the lectures with distribution of the booklet, and keeping record of people who manifested interest. Handbills and placards advertised the talks. One night I had the privilege of pasting signs on traffic centers throughout Leipzig. How satisfying to see the Alberthalle, largest lecture hall we could get, crowded out by an audience of 4,000, many of whom had to stand!
Our efforts to spread the Kingdom message had not ended with the war’s end. Rather, we were moved to redouble our efforts when the Watch Tower magazine called attention to our serious obligation in the light of Jesus’ prophecy that “on account of the chosen ones those days [of great tribulation] will be cut short.” We discerned that it was the responsibility of God’s servants on earth to give a wide witness to the Kingdom so that some “flesh would be saved.”—Matt. 24:21, 22.
In 1921 the Dresden Bank in Leipzig offered me a job as bookbinder with an annual income of $2,460. However, it was intimated that there would be days when I would have to work longer than the usual eight and a half hours. I turned down the offer. It was my fondest desire to give God’s service first place in my life.
TASTING THE JOYS OF FULL-TIME SERVICE
An announcement in The Watch Tower early in 1923 invited those with bookbinding experience to apply for service at the Watch Tower Society’s branch office, then located at Barmen. After prayerful consideration of my circumstances I determined to respond, and soon received a telegram, saying: “Please come immediately.” I sold some of my valuables, bought a ticket to Barmen, and arrived there on May 11, 1923. This was the start of a new life for me, the happiest period of my whole life.
That year the Society’s own presses began to print The Watch Tower and The Golden Age (now Awake!) for Germany. It was my privilege to run a small hand-operated trimming machine. Soon the building and the presses were inadequate for the growing volume of the work. President J. F. Rutherford of the Watch Tower Society directed that a larger building in a more central location be acquired. On June 19, 1923, we began moving all our equipment to new and larger quarters in the city of Magdeburg.
But, again, the expansion of the work in Germany required further enlargement of our facilities. Following a visit by the Society’s president, it was arranged that extra land adjacent to the headquarters property be purchased. On this a much larger building was constructed, including a spacious assembly hall and improved equipment for printing and binding. It was wonderful to reach the stage when we were producing 7,000 bound volumes each day—helps to the study of the Bible.
The year 1931 was memorable, for it was then that special conventions of Jehovah’s people were conducted throughout the world, and the name “Jehovah’s witnesses” came to the fore. I had the pleasure of attending the assembly in Paris that year. It was quite a novel experience for me to go from house to house with a printed card explaining my mission. You see, I did not know any French. It was in September of the same year that I took up the auxiliary pioneer ministry, that is, an arrangement under which I spent half my time preaching from house to house. My aim was to have a larger personal share in the spread of the booklet released that year, The Kingdom, the Hope of the World. We started off the campaign by forming a long line and marching through the center of the city carrying placards showing an enlarged picture of the booklet. We offered them to people right on the street. In four weeks millions of copies were put into the hands of the people.
On one occasion we narrowly missed being mobbed by a gang of Communists who had just ended a rally in their own hall. As they emerged and caught sight of our group they began threatening us with a beating. Just then the police flying squad arrived on the scene and stood, pistols drawn, between us and the Communists.
THE TESTING OF OUR FAITH
In April 1933 Hitler declared the work of the Witnesses illegal and forbade their meetings for Bible study. Nevertheless, our worship and service of the Creator continued, though underground. On October 9, 1934, a resolution was sent to the dictator informing him that we were determined to hold to our worship of Jehovah. During that trying time I can recall enjoying the privilege of visiting seven small groups of Witnesses each week. Eventually many of the places of meeting were discovered, and in due course I was one of thousands arrested merely for being a Witness, reading the Bible and talking to others about its message.
In 1937, about a year after my arrest, the court trial opened. One hundred and eighty-six of us were named in the lengthy indictment. Some twenty heavily armed men were posted in court as the long line of men and women, many of them elderly, entered. All present well knew that these witnesses of Jehovah had never done anything injurious to anyone, yet they were objects of fear. When The Watchtower had been strongly condemned as a source of political agitation, and I was later asked if I had anything to say, I replied: “I consider The Watchtower to be revealed truth from Jehovah God.” The majority of us received prison sentences of from ten months to five years.
During my imprisonment I was, on one occasion, brought before the prison officials and asked what I thought about the defense of my country. I answered: “‘All those who take the sword will perish by the sword,’ just as Jesus declared, and if I were ever to forsake his lead I would be the most miserable person on earth.” (Matt. 26:52) They told me that with that kind of attitude I would never be released. In reply I stated: “That lies in someone else’s power.” And happily it came about that on September 7, 1940, the recruiting office removed me from draft eligibility.
OUR CUP WELL FILLED
Shortly after the war’s end my wife and I offered our services to the Watch Tower Society in whatever capacity we could be of service. The response brought us great happiness, for on October 1, 1945, we had the privilege of resuming full-time service. True, by this time the Magdeburg office had been reduced to a desolate state, but soon willing hands promoted a wonderful restoration. At first, paper was so scarce that we had to press old paper into bundles for sale to the paper mills in order to get some new paper. Half of Magdeburg had been wiped out, and it was not at all unusual to receive as many as eight whole streets as a personal territory in which to preach, so few people lived there now.
In October 1948 I was called to the Society’s headquarters, now located at Wiesbaden, where once again I enjoyed the privilege of serving in the bookbindery, while my wife served in the office. To this day we have experienced the joy of full-time service of the interests of God’s kingdom, a service that has so filled our lives with satisfaction that the past twenty years have flown by, it would seem. It is true we are not as young and vigorous as we once were. We have had trials and hardships, but we have also had many offsetting joys and privileges. We are thankful to Jehovah for his undeserved kindness in permitting us to continue on as his servants, and to witness the vast expansion of his Kingdom preaching work in all the earth. It is also a source of deep satisfaction to look back on the time of youth and be able to say that one has heeded the wise counsel: “Remember, now, your grand Creator in the days of your young manhood.”—Eccl. 12:1.