It must be remembered that Spain had for centuries been kept in ignorance of the Bible, so much so that even in the 1950’s it was considered to be a dangerous Protestant book, not to be read by Catholics unless they were well educated. This ignorance is epitomized by an experience that Vicente Páramo had while preaching to a cobbler in Madrid. His presentation was interrupted by the cobbler’s exclamation: “But you have come here to speak to me about the Bible as if I did not already know the Bible! I’ll tell you that I have read Don Quixote seven times!” Don Quixote is, of course, the famous novel by the Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes.

Use of the Bible in the Kingdom-preaching work was not without its problems. For instance, one day a boy came to the home of Sister Engracia Puñal in Toledo bearing a letter that invited her to return to a certain house to explain more about the Bible. She had visited there twice and had spoken to a woman, but now the husband wanted to speak to her. As things turned out, Engracia’s son, Manolo, went there, along with Vicente Páramo. A lady appeared at the door and said that she would call her husband. He came out and asked Manolo to show him the book he had. It was the Nácar-Colunga Bible. The man took it and said, “Since you are making wrong use of this book, if you want it back, you will have to go to the parish priest to get it tomorrow!” The man then resorted to crude language and struck Manolo, ordering the two Witnesses to leave.