• Finland
    1990 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses

    • “The Stones Cry Out”

      Toward the end of the ’30’s, Brother Harteva recorded Rutherford’s sermons in Finnish on phonograph records. Why records? Because of a spanking new invention, the portable phonograph. Phonographs were to be used in the return-visit and house-to-house activity. And at the branch office, their mechanical parts were installed in portable cases manufactured by the brothers. “The Stones Cry Out” was the slogan used when the Witnesses went out in field service toting their “talking” machines.

      A supply of new loudspeakers was received that were so powerful that the brothers called them “audio unit artillery.” Leo Kallio relates: “I had planned to go with my wife and my little son to the beach. That day the postman delivered a card reminding me of the plans to use the large loudspeakers for playing recordings on the beach, where over 200 persons were expected to watch the midsummer bonfire, a heritage from heathendom. It was not easy to make this decision, as my flesh fought strongly against it. I presented the matter to Jehovah, praying that if the seemingly impossible endeavor to get the loudspeakers into the crammed bus succeeded, that would serve as evidence that my efforts would be blessed. The attempt succeeded, although some of the passengers complained.

      “At the crossroads, there was a big pile of boards, and we hid the loudspeakers behind it as people started to arrive. There was a dance hall nearby, and when the bonfire was lit, everyone stopped dancing and came to the beach. At the moment when everybody was by the fire, I put on a music record. It took them all so much by surprise that the bonfire was forgotten, and they all turned to look at the pile of boards for the source of the sound. A policeman, who had arrived to supervise the dancing, came up to me. I explained to him what I was trying to do. He nodded, and I was able to play the recordings of the lecture. They contained very hard blows against false religion, and it caused quite a hubbub in the audience.

      “When the name Jehovah rang out, a group of young men gathered around me and mumbled: ‘Let’s pitch those loudspeakers into the lake.’ But the policeman threw them a stern look. By now someone had called the rural police chief to the spot. Quickly I put a music record on. The police chief wondered who had disturbed him in the middle of the midsummer festivals, and after he saw the smiling policeman, he angrily left. With the assistance of the policeman, we managed to get the loudspeakers into the bus undamaged.”

      The phonograph work peaked in 1938, when 309 machines were in use, and according to reports, 72,626 discourses were played for an audience of 151,879. ‘The stones did cry out!’