-
Part 1—Witnesses to the Most Distant Part of the EarthJehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom
-
-
Before the four-month world tour by the IBSA committee was completed, Brother Russell had arranged for R. R. Hollister to be the Society’s representative in the Orient and to follow through in spreading to peoples there the message of God’s loving provision of the Messianic Kingdom.
-
-
Part 1—Witnesses to the Most Distant Part of the EarthJehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom
-
-
[Pictures on page 420]
C. T. Russell and six associates made a trip around the world in 1911-12 to further the preaching of the good news
-
-
Part 1—Witnesses to the Most Distant Part of the EarthJehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom
-
-
A World Tour to Further the Preaching of the Good News
A further major effort was put forth in 1911-12 to help people of the Orient. The International Bible Students Association sent a committee of seven men, headed by C. T. Russell, to examine firsthand the conditions there. Wherever they went they spoke about God’s purpose to bring blessings to mankind by means of the Messianic Kingdom. Sometimes their audience was small, but in the Philippines and in India, there were thousands. They did not endorse the campaign then popular in Christendom to collect funds for world conversion. Their observation was that most of the efforts of Christendom’s missionaries were being expended to promote secular education. But Brother Russell was convinced that what the people needed was “the Gospel of God’s loving provision of Messiah’s coming Kingdom.” Instead of expecting to convert the world, the Bible Students understood from the Scriptures that what was to be done then was to give a witness and that this would serve toward the gathering of “an elect few from all nations, peoples, kindreds and tongues for membership in [Christ’s] Bride class—to sit with Him in His throne during the thousand years, cooperating in the work of uplifting the race as a whole.”a—Rev. 5:9, 10; 14:1-5.
After spending time in Japan, China, the Philippines, and other locations, the members of the committee logged an additional 4,000 miles [6,400 km] of travel in India. Some individuals living in India had read the Society’s literature and had written letters to express their appreciation for it as early as 1887. Active witnessing had also been done among the Tamil-speaking people since 1905 by a young man who, as a student in America, had met Brother Russell and learned the truth.
-
-
Part 1—Witnesses to the Most Distant Part of the EarthJehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom
-
-
Brother Russell had made speaking trips to hundreds of cities in the United States and Canada, had undertaken repeated trips to Europe, had spoken in Panama, Jamaica, and Cuba, as well as in principal cities of the Orient. Tens of thousands of persons had personally heard his stirring Bible discourses and had observed as he publicly answered from the Scriptures questions raised by both friends and foes. Much interest was thus aroused, and thousands of newspapers in America, Europe, South Africa, and Australia regularly published Brother Russell’s sermons. Millions of books, as well as hundreds of millions of tracts and other pieces of literature in 35 languages, had been distributed by the Bible Students.
Outstanding though his role was, it was not only Brother Russell who was preaching. Others too, scattered around the globe, were uniting their voices as witnesses of Jehovah and of his Son, Jesus Christ.
-
-
Part 1—Witnesses to the Most Distant Part of the EarthJehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom
-
-
Millions of books and hundreds of millions of tracts had been distributed before the Gentile Times ended. In addition to that, by 1913 as many as 2,000 newspapers were regularly publishing sermons prepared by C. T. Russell, and in the year 1914 audiences totaling over 9,000,000 persons on three continents saw the “Photo-Drama of Creation.”
-