Brother Macmillan delivered the famous lecture “Millions Now Living Will Never Die,” with Brother Ibrahim Atiyeh translating.

A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY

Revolutionary bands of men were active during the 1920’s. Their objective? To bring about the uniting of Syria and Lebanon into one country. One morning while witnessing in a distant village near the Syrian border, Brothers Karam, Aboud, Atiyeh, Boutary and Najib Fayad were arrested by the local gendarmes. Why? Because they were thought to be revolutionaries. News spread rapidly and people began to gather at the gendarme post to see who had been arrested. They kept coming until more than 200 were on hand.

Seeing a fine opportunity to give a witness, Brother Ibrahim Atiyeh began addressing the crowd and answering their questions. The gendarmes looked on without interfering, and a fine witness was given. Eventually, the brothers were released, but only after they had placed some Christian literature with the gendarmes. So this case of mistaken identity proved to be a memorable field experience.

THE WORK SPREADS

One winter evening in 1926, Brothers Hanna Shammas and Ibrahim Atiyeh traveled south from Tripoli along the storm-tossed Mediterranean coast to the fishing village of Enfé. There they visited the fleshly brother of George Shakhashiri. (George, now 88 years of age, is a member of the Brooklyn Bethel family.) At that time two young men, Jiryis Awijan and Salim Demaa, took an enthusiastic part in the Bible discussion. They made rapid spiritual progress. In a few months Christian meetings were being held on Sundays in the home of Brother Awijan, with persons coming from surrounding towns.

During the 1920’s it became the custom of the Lebanese brothers to meet somewhere once a month on a Sunday and to spend the whole day discussing spiritual matters. Since they did not have very much literature in the Arabic language, Brother Atiyeh, who was well versed in English and Arabic, translated material from The Watch Tower and other publications. These articles would be read during the monthly meeting. Thus, spiritual food was being received at the proper time.​—Matt. 24:45-47.