16. How do the good-will people also make a test of Jehovah, and with what blessed results?

¹⁶ In the face of such a coming differentiation between the two classes let all the people of good will out of all nations now go up with the remnant to Jehovah’s house bearing the spiritual tithes with them. In this way take courage to act on his invitation and put him to the test. Making this test leads to your abundant blessing now, to spiritual prosperity. It will lead to your being spared with the remnant through the war of Armageddon to enjoy everlasting life in Jehovah’s new world with material as well as spiritual prosperity on earth.

Part 2—The “Triumphant Kingdom” Assemblies of 1955

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada June 29–July 3, 1955

FROM Chicago the Society’s president and his secretary and the vice-president flew westward to serve at the five-day assembly in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the second in the “world sweeping series of Christian assemblies,” as one Canadian newspaper termed it. The fact is, this assembly turned out to be the biggest gathering ever to be staged in the history of the province.

The public relations servant of the Watch Tower Society was early on the job, and from the middle of May the newspapers were publishing advance information regarding the coming assembly. German and Swedish newspapers joined in publicizing the assembly, and even the Chinese newspapers from May 13 on. So the general public were alerted well in advance. They were encouraged to receive the thousands of conventioners into their homes by news that requests for accommodations had been received from thirty-four American states, seven Canadian provinces, and England, Hawaii and Australia. Nine thousand room requests were filled and the householders were pleased with their guests. The public was informed that an enormous house-cleaning job was taking place as 400 of Jehovah’s witnesses scrubbed the Empire Stadium, with its seats for 25,557, from top to bottom.

The great oval stadium was given a “religious atmosphere” by the erection of the speakers’ platform with its background of an unusual design and with the convention title above it. Jehovah, too, added his own background, foothills of the Canadian Rockies that stood out boldly in the distance. At the opposite curve of the oval stadium was suspended a huge banner with the year’s text upon it, Psalm 112:7.

The general attitude of the public was friendly, and most of the large department stores, hotels and motels were glad to put up “Welcome Jehovah’s Witnesses” signs. Notices of welcome by business firms were also published in the newspapers, but doubtless no attention was paid to the announcement by one religious organization of a “Special Service for Jehovah’s Witnesses” Sunday night. During the assembly the newspaper publicity grew to grand proportions, 2,112 column inches, all of which amounted to good advertising for the New World society. Add to this the interviews that were had with the Society’s officials and recorded and radiocast, or broadcast direct.

The Vancouver assembly in the polished-up stadium opened up under clouded skies and with cold weather, the friends sitting with their overcoats on or wrapped in blankets. They had come from thirty states of America, eight provinces of Canada and the Yukon, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Hawaii, Japan and Australia. Many who had come up from warmer weather in the South had to act on the welcome of the business firms in town and furnish themselves with heavier garments for the inclement weather. Convention chairman P. Chapman had to give his address of welcome with the rain in his face, and many bright-colored umbrellas “blossomed” throughout the uncovered parts of the stadium. Only two sections on the east and west of the stadium were roofed over, or about only one third of its expanse. While many sat in the rain, others stood and listened to the speeches in the passageways or shelters under the stands. The temperature recording was 56 degrees Fahrenheit, but the conventioners proved that they were not “fair weather Christians.” They supported the assembly and also the speakers, at the cost of good endurance. They were amply repaid, and great was their joy and thanksgiving at receiving the new publications released day after day.

For the president’s opening address there was an attendance of 11,641. The inclement weather continued, and Thursday afternoon the president was obliged to speak while it not only blew and rained but also snowed and hailed. But the program went on, and the attendance had risen to 13,110. The friends were determined to lick the weather, and they did. Outside the stadium they zealously pushed ahead with their united field activities.

Friday morning the sun battled with storm clouds and there was some drip, but as the baptismal candidates stood up to answer Yes to the questions concerning their full dedication to God the sun broke through upon them. In spite of the temperature around 60 degrees F. there were 500 baptized, only two of them privately, all the rest in the open Empire Pool of Vancouver, B.C. Motion pictures taken of this immersion were televised that evening over channel 2, which covers much of British Columbia, and were viewed by many at the stadium.

Saturday afternoon an audience of 17,414, in cloud-dimmed sunshine, received the release of the book You May Survive Armageddon into God’s New World with exclamations of Oh! and hearty applause.

The Sunday morning talks were given in the rain to 13,689 who braved the weather. Knowing that our heavenly Father makes it rain upon the just as well as the unjust, they had no complaints about the weather; they could not imagine Jehovah God as saying: “What a shame that it rained at Vancouver!” Dampened, yes, in body, but not in spirit, they went out to bring householders and people of good will to the public lecture, and many of the public responded of themselves to the tremendous advertising. Though it kept raining up until the public talk, the biggest turnout ever in the records of British Columbia—21,877—filled the greater part of the stadium, where many umbrellas were up. Many sat in parked cars. Many were in the corridors. As the talk by the president on “World Conquest Soon—by God’s Kingdom” progressed, the rain stopped for good. The many newcomers there were invited by the speaker to attend the meetings at the twenty Kingdom Halls in Vancouver. Many hundreds of them remained for the closing remarks of the president, for a crowd of 18,161 were present at the assembly’s close, in bright sunshine.

The Vancouver assembly was a fine demonstration of Christian fortitude and faithfulness to all observers. It registered a fine triumph for God’s kingdom. At a time when the Fraser River flowing past Vancouver was reaching its highest levels since the 1948 flood year, British Columbia was swept with a flood of truth and truth bearers. Of all Canadian provinces British Columbia is most dense with Jehovah’s witnesses; in fact, one of them to every 124 inhabitants. In all Canada there are 29,178 active witnesses, in 723 congregations, which means one witness for every 480 inhabitants. The effect of the Vancouver assembly should be to raise the proportion of witnesses still higher. The assembly provided a mass of news material for a great deal of postconvention newspaper publicity in the local communities of all homecoming conventioners.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A. JULY 6-10, 1955

The third assembly in the summer series now loomed up in Los Angeles. The day preceding its opening the Society’s president, accompanied by his secretary and the vice-president, flew from Vancouver, B.C., in the region of the towering Douglas fir trees, southward to this California metropolis of stately palms and subtropical vegetation. Again the same assembly place, Wrigley Field, was engaged as had been used for the national assembly back in 1947. Then 45,729 gathered in this baseball park to hear the public talk, thousands being seated in chairs on the grass of the baseball diamond’s outfield; and 705 were baptized. Now the estimate, as published in the newspapers, was that 30,000 would attend the public event of the 1955 regional assembly here.