1924​—One Hundred Years Ago

The brothers at Bethel had been working for more than a year to build the WBBR radio station on Staten Island, New York City. After clearing the land, they constructed a large home for the workers and a separate building for the equipment. When this work was completed, the brothers began to assemble the equipment necessary to go “on the air.” But they would need to overcome several obstacles.

The brothers found that installing the main antenna for the station proved difficult. The 91-meter-long (300-ft-long) antenna needed to be hung between two wooden masts that were each 61 meters (200 ft) tall. The first attempt failed. Trusting in Jehovah’s help, the brothers finally succeeded. Calvin Prosser, who worked on the project, observed, “If our first attempt had succeeded, we would have patted ourselves on the back and said, ‘Look at what we did!’” The brothers credited their success to Jehovah, but their problems were not over.

Radio broadcasting was in its infancy, and commercially built equipment was not readily available. So the brothers obtained a used, crudely built 500-watt transmitter that was available locally. Instead of purchasing a microphone, they used one from an ordinary telephone. One night in February, the brothers decided to test all this makeshift equipment. They needed a program to broadcast, so the brothers sang Kingdom songs. Ernest Lowe recalled with amusement that while the brothers were singing, they received a call from Judge Rutherford,b who heard their singing on his radio in Brooklyn, about 25 kilometers (15 mi) away.

“Stop that racket,” quipped Brother Rutherford. “You sound like a bunch of cats!” Slightly embarrassed, the brothers quickly shut down the transmitter, but they were confident that they were ready for their first broadcast.

On February 24, 1924, during the first official broadcast, Brother Rutherford dedicated the radio station “to the interests of the kingdom of the Messiah.” He stated that the purpose of the station was “to enable the people to understand in the light of the Bible, regardless of creed or denomination, the meaning of the times in which we are living.”

That first broadcast was a great success. For the next 33 years, WBBR served as the hub of the organization’s radio broadcasting efforts.

In July 1924, the Bible Students assembled for a convention in Columbus, Ohio. Delegates came from all over the world, and they heard talks in Arabic, English, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Lithuanian, Polish, Russian, the Scandinavian languages, and Ukrainian. Portions of the program were broadcast over the radio, and plans were made for the Ohio State Journal to carry daily reports of the convention.

On Thursday, July 24, more than 5,000 conventioners participated in a service day. They placed almost 30,000 books and started thousands of Bible studies. The Watch Tower called this day “the happiest part of the convention.”

Another highlight of the convention came on Friday, July 25, when Brother Rutherford read an indictment, a bold proclamation against the clergy. In the style of a legal document, the indictment charged political, religious, and commercial leaders with “keeping the peoples in ignorance of God’s provisions for blessing them with life.” Additionally, the indictment noted that these men had “endorsed the League of Nations and declared it to be ‘the political expression of God’s kingdom on earth.’” The Bible Students would need bold persistence to take this message to the people.

Summing up the effect of the convention, The Watch Tower stated: “This little army of the Lord assembled at the Columbus Convention went away strengthened in faith . . . , invincible to any power or fiery darts that the enemy may launch against them.” Leo Claus, who attended the convention, recalled: “We left the assembly feeling enthusiastic about distributing the indictment in our territory.”

In October, the Bible Students began distributing millions of copies of the tract Ecclesiastics Indicted, the printed version of what Brother Rutherford had presented. In the small town of Cleveland, Oklahoma, Frank Johnson finished distributing the tracts 20 minutes before he was to be picked up by other publishers. He couldn’t just wait in the open because men from the town who were angered by his preaching work were looking for him. Brother Johnson decided to hide in a nearby church. Finding it empty, he left copies of Ecclesiastics Indicted in the preacher’s Bible and at each seat. He exited the church as quickly as he had come. He still had some time, so he visited two more churches, following a similar pattern.

Frank rushed back to the spot where he was to be picked up. He hid behind a fuel station, keeping an eye out for the men who were after him. The men drove by, but they didn’t see him. As soon as they were gone, Frank’s fellow preachers, who had been witnessing nearby, arrived to pick him up and they all drove off.

“As we were leaving town,” one of the brothers recalled, “we passed by the three churches. There were as many as 50 people standing out in front of each church. Some of the people were reading the tract, others were holding it up for the preacher to see. Well, we had a very close call! But we thanked Jehovah our God for his protection and the knowledge to outwit these enemies of the Kingdom.”

In other countries, the Bible Students followed a similar pattern of bold witnessing. In northern France, Józef Krett preached to immigrant Polish mine workers. He was scheduled to deliver a talk entitled “The Resurrection of the Dead Soon.” When invitations were delivered to residents of the town, a local priest warned his parishioners not to attend. His warning had the opposite effect. More than 5,000 people attended the lecture, including the priest! Brother Krett invited the priest to defend his beliefs, but he refused. Brother Krett placed all the literature he had, noting that the people he witnessed to had a thirst for God’s Word.​—Amos 8:11.

In Africa, Claude Brown brought the good news to the Gold Coast, now known as Ghana. His lectures and the literature that he distributed helped to spread the truth quickly in that country. John Blankson, who was studying to become a pharmacist, attended one of Brother Brown’s lectures. He quickly realized that he had found the truth. “The truth made me buoyant,” John remembered, “and I talked about it freely at our pharmacy school.”

One day, John visited an Anglican church to question the priest about the Trinity, which John now understood clearly to be an unscriptural teaching. The priest chased him away, shouting: “You are not a Christian; you belong to the Devil. Get out of here!”

When he got home, John wrote a letter to the priest, inviting him to defend the Trinity at a public gathering. The priest responded by summoning John to the office of the pharmacy school’s principal lecturer, where the lecturer asked him if he had indeed written to the priest.

“I did, Sir,” replied John.

The lecturer demanded that John write the priest an apology. So John wrote:

“Sir, My instructor has asked me to write an apology to you and I am prepared to write the apology provided you will admit that you teach false doctrines.”

Incredulous, the lecturer asked, “Blankson, is this what you want to write?”

“Yes, Sir. That is all I can write.”

“You are going to be dismissed. How can you speak against the priest of the government’s church and hope to remain in the government’s employ?”

“But, Sir, . . . when you give us lessons and there are points we do not understand, do we not ask you questions?”

“Of course you do.”

“Well, Sir, that is all that took place. The gentleman was teaching us the Bible and I asked him a question. If he is unable to answer the question, why should I be made to write an apology to him?”

Blankson was not dismissed. No apology was sent.

Summing up the year’s activity, The Watch Tower stated: “We can truly say, with David: ‘Thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle.’ (Psalm 18:39) The year has been one of great encouragement, because we have observed the hand of the Lord . . . His truly consecrated ones . . . have been joyfully giving a witness.”

Late in the year, the brothers made plans to expand the radio ministry. Work began on another radio station near Chicago. This new station had the appropriate call sign WORD. Using a 5,000-watt transmitter, WORD would transmit the Kingdom message for hundreds of miles, even to the north in Canada.

The year 1925 would soon bring exciting flashes of spiritual light, clarifying the Bible Students’ understanding of Revelation chapter 12. It would be a stumbling block for some. Many others, though, would welcome this insight into events related to the invisible heavens and the impact this understanding would have on God’s people on earth.