• Peace in the Far East—When?
    Awake!—1970 | January 22

    • South Korea Learns About Lasting Peace

      The assembly in Seoul, South Korea’s capital, is a case in point. At the first afternoon’s sessions, over 14,500 listened to the talk “Loyal Advocates of the Word of God.” Joyfully they accepted the new book Is the Bible Really the Word of God? in Korean, released by the speaker at the close of his talk.

      As emphasized by both the talk and the book, “not Christianity based on the Bible, but Christendom with its divided churches must bear the guilt for prejudicing millions of persons against the Bible,” so preventing those multitudes from gaining peace with God. Without that peace there can be no real peace among men and nations.

      Here, as at all of these assemblies in the Pacific area, the appearance of one or more of the officers of the Watch Tower Society’s Brooklyn headquarters on the program heightened the interest of those assembled.

      Many were the interesting experiences heard among the delegates. For example, one Witness told how he had been a soldier of the South Korean army undergoing missile training in the United States when he was first contacted with the Bible’s message of peace. Now, instead of pointing deadly missiles at large urban populations, he is an advocate of peace among peoples of all nations and races.

      On Monday afternoon, a highlight speech was the one entitled “Peace with God amid the ‘Great Tribulation.’” Ah, yes, peace with God is the vital need in a peaceless world! An attentive audience learned that now of all times is the opportune time to acquaint ourselves with the ever-living God who bears the name Jehovah. That acquaintanceship is the key, not to a superficial worldly peace, but to a stable lasting peace among men.

      The number baptized at this assembly as disciples of the “Prince of peace” was 1,511​—15 percent of the total number of Witnesses in Korea! Onlookers from the hillside above the baptismal pool could see, beyond this peaceful scene, a parade ground where soldiers were drilling. What a contrast!

      In Korea, where there were only eight Witnesses in 1949, there are now more than 10,000. These have found peace with God. Despite aggressions, infiltrations, shootings and killings along the country’s north border, conditions that keep most South Koreans in a state of fear, here was an assembly that featured faith in God’s Word and pointed Go the source of peace that it advocates.