Paradise: Paint It or Preach It—Which?
As told by Randy Morales
I GREW up on the southern coast of the island of Puerto Rico, near the city of Guayama. Our house in the country was set among sugarcane plantations. It was indeed a beautiful location, a veritable paradise. These surroundings, I believe, influenced my desire to become a painter, to capture such beauty on canvas.
So it was that, one afternoon late in August 1948, I set sail from San Juan with great expectations. I was on my way to New York city with dreams of becoming an artist. I was only 18.
SCHOOLING OFFERS SURPRISES
In September I started classes at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. One of our textbooks, Art Through the Ages, was very revealing, as were the weekly lectures on the history of art. We learned that in ancient Egypt huge sums were spent to decorate the temples and pyramids, while the people were kept in ignorance, superstition and fear. It was similar in other nations such as Babylon, Greece and Rome. But the big surprise for me came when we studied so-called Christian Art, especially during the Renaissance period.
I was startled to learn how the Catholic Church obtained the funds to build all those fabulously ornate cathedrals in Europe, especially in Italy and what is now Vatican City. The methods used by various popes to acquire wealth were openly discussed in class. I have since then remembered the following quotation from The New Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia of 1949 regarding Pope Alexander VI:
“He acquired wealth and lived a life of pleasure even after his elevation to the papacy, which he secured by bribery in 1492. . . . He achieved the aggrandizement of the fortunes of his children principally by the thinly disguised robbery of nobles and ecclesiastics, a number of whom he caused to be assassinated or poisoned to that end.”
Yes, the way that the popes exerted their power to secure money, workers and artists to build temples and palaces for church officials was certainly eye-opening to me. In this connection, a special issue of Life magazine, published while I was going to school, really made an impression on me. It discussed the works of the great Italian sculptor and painter Michelangelo Buonarroti from the city of Florence.
That December 26, 1949, issue of Life said that Pope Julius II “literally had to force [Michelangelo] to paint the Sistine frescoes. . . . Michelangelo refused twice to come to Rome and execute the murals. He consented the third time only on the insistence of the Florentine government, which feared that the enraged pope would attack the city of Florence with the papal army.”
I had not been particularly religious. My mother, who was nominally Catholic, taught me and my brother to pray before going to bed. I kept up the habit, praying to la virgencita—the virgin—but from what I was learning in school, my faith in the Catholic Church vanished. Yet I still believed in God, and I felt there must be a proper way to worship him.
SEARCH FOR SOMETHING BETTER
One of my schoolmates invited me to join a club of Protestant students. They would invite members of the clergy, including Catholic priests, Protestant ministers and even rabbis, to give talks. I attended, but was disappointed because the Bible was never used. The clergymen seemed to present simply their own philosophical ideas and opinions.
Early in 1950 I went to visit a lady who had been our neighbor in Guayama but was now living in the Bronx, New York. My mother had asked me to see her since they were very good friends. While there I was given copies of The Watchtower, a magazine I had never seen before.
A couple of months later, in March, a middle-aged couple called at my door, explaining that they were talking to their neighbors about the Bible. I invited them in, and for the first time in my life I heard what the kingdom of God is all about. It is a government that will bring peace to earth, yes, see that it is transformed everywhere into a gorgeous paradise. That was the first time I had opportunity to handle the Bible and see that it really did tell about such wonderful things. (Ps. 37:9-11, 29; Rev. 21:3, 4) The couple left with me the Bible study aid “Let God Be True,” and from then on we had regular Bible discussions.
In June I went home to Puerto Rico for my summer vacation. When I returned to school toward the end of summer, I resumed my Bible discussions and started attending the congregational meetings at 124 Columbia Heights, where the world headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses was located. Soon afterward I began sharing with others the wonderful message about a paradise earth. This I did by going from house to house, thus copying the example of first-century Christians. (Acts 20:20) Then, on May 13, 1951, in symbol of my dedication to Jehovah God, I was baptized.
Finally I had found the truth that makes persons free. As Jesus Christ said: “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32) Yes, free from fear of hellfire, limbo, purgatory and other false doctrines taught in the name of God. Free from subjection to religious leaders who so often are lovers of riches, money and earthly power. Free from the belief that world peace is dependent on political leaders to straighten out world problems. And free from the fear of the destruction of the earth by terrible atomic weapons in the hands of ungodly men.
CAREER AS AN ARTIST OR A PREACHER?
By 1952 I had been studying to be an artist for nearly four years. What would I do? Returning to Puerto Rico, my desire to share what I had learned from the Bible was even stronger than my desire to be an artist. Thus, in August 1952, I began serving in the full-time preaching activity as a pioneer. By the end of the year we had established a little congregation of eight or nine new witnesses for Jehovah in Guayama. Soon the congregation grew to 18.
Then, in July 1954, another Witness and I were invited to become special pioneers. Our assignment was Yauco, a town on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. There were no Witnesses there, but soon we found interested persons, even though the local religious leaders warned the people not to listen to us. Although my partner left after seven months, I remained for two years, helping to support myself by doing some artwork. Today there are three strong congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Yauco.
SPECIAL PRIVILEGES OF SERVICE
In 1957 I was invited to the Gilead missionary school in New York State. The graduation exercises of the 31st class of Gilead were held July 27, 1958, in Yankee Stadium during the “Divine Will” International Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses. An amazing total of 180,291 spectators were present! I was assigned to the missionary work in Honduras, finally arriving there in December 1958.
Soon I was assigned to visit congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses as a circuit overseer. Getting around the country was really an experience! Often I traveled by varonesa (local bus), at other times by train or by cayuco (local oar boat), on occasion by airplane, and even by mule or horse to get to more remote areas.
I will never forget the first time in my life I rode a horse; well, really it was a mule. Somebody put a spur on my right boot, and I guess I kicked the mule too hard and it took off galloping, with me trying not to fall off. Finally I was able to stop it, saving my skin and bones!
In January 1961 I married Johneth Fischer, who had been a missionary in Honduras since 1952. By the end of that year our first daughter, Jeanneatte Rose, was born. After that we stayed in Honduras for almost two years, but due to increasing family responsibilities we moved back to Guayama and started working with the congregation of about 20 Kingdom publishers.
It was our joy to see the Guayama Congregation grow. Among those we were able to help was my mother. She accepted the Bible truths we were teaching, and it brought us real joy when she was baptized. She died in 1970, and I pray that Jehovah will remember her in the resurrection. It certainly is a hope that encourages us to keep on serving our loving Father.
On June 6, 1976, I was invited to become a member of the Branch Committee of Jehovah’s Witnesses, which oversees the activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Puerto Rico. A further privilege of service came in 1978 when I was invited to attend the Gilead Branch School in New York. Also, my wife and I have been blessed with five children, and it is a real joy to see them serving their Creator willingly and putting their trust in him.
It has been many, many years now since painting was my chief pursuit in life. Mind you, it is still important to me. I derive real pleasure from it, and it has helped me to provide a living for our family. I hope that, if it is Jehovah’s will, in his paradise earth I will be able to pursue more fully my desire to reproduce on canvas the marvels of his grand creations.