Benefits From Public Talks

Public Bible talks have played an important role in spreading the truth. Alfred Joseph, who had originally come from Guyana, had his initial contact with the truth at an open-air Bible lecture at Brandons Beach, close to the Bridgetown port. About 50 persons were in attendance to hear the talk “Where Are the Dead?” This start of his Bible education led to his baptism in 1915, which was held not far from the very location where he first heard that Bible lecture.

When Brother Joseph returned to Barbados 18 years later, he played a leading role in delivering open-air lectures. On one occasion, he took a group of brothers and sisters to work Waverly Cot in the parish of St. George. As was their custom, they spent the morning preaching to people in their homes and inviting them to a public meeting to be held in the afternoon. A public hall was rented for that purpose. However, as soon as the lecture started, with only the brothers and sisters inside, the members of the Church Army of St. Luke’s Church assembled right outside with a bass, or “boom,” drum and a kettledrum. The loud beating of the drums, accompanied by singing, was designed to drown out the speaker. A crowd gathered. The noise was overwhelming. Brother Joseph, with no sound equipment, could hardly be heard.

Then, much to the surprise of the brothers and the crowd outside, there was a sudden downpour of rain. Yet, the sky had been clear, with no hint of an impending storm. Since the hall in which the brothers were assembled was the only place that offered any shelter, all the people that were gathered outside, including the ones beating the drums, came scrambling into the hall, which quickly became filled to capacity. Everyone stayed for the hour-long lecture and enjoyed it, too. When the brothers left for their homeward trip, they discovered that strangely the rain had fallen only in the area where the hall was located!