Peace in God’s Way Firmly Upheld
DURING the week prior to the opening of the “Peace on Earth” International Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses in North America tens of thousands of persons poured into the assembly cities. From Europe, Central and South America, Africa, the Orient and the islands of the sea they came for a week-long spiritual feast.
Special interest was focused on the final day of the assembly. Thousands of placards, tens of thousands of lapel cards and hundreds of thousands of handbills all were used to invite the public to be present for the discourse “The Approaching Peace of a Thousand Years.” On July 13 this faith-building talk was heard simultaneously by a combined audience of 234,546 gathered in large stadiums in New York city, Atlanta and Buffalo. At the same time assemblies were getting under way in Pomona, California, and Vancouver, British Columbia. On just that one day the grand total of 298,589 were gathered at these five cities for the “Peace on Earth” International Assembly, and this was only the beginning of a series of assemblies that would reach into all parts of the earth.
In full harmony with the Bible, the officers of the Watchtower Society who delivered the discourse on “The Approaching Peace of a Thousand Years” declared: “No lasting world peace can be hoped for from the nations, either in a united organization or singly. No political ruler or nation will yet step forward and be the one that divine history will greatly honor with the title of Peacemaker.” For that we must look to the one anointed by Jehovah God, namely, his own Son Jesus Christ. He will clear away all obstructors to peace in the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Armageddon. This will be followed by a time of rest from the violence that has torn apart human society for the past six thousand years. Earth will become a paradise. The dead will be restored to life. Satisfying activity will fill the lives of all mankind, it was explained. Jehovah’s Christian witnesses of today are joyfully preparing for this approaching peace of a thousand years.
On the day preceding this public discourse, a powerful Declaration was enthusiastically adopted by the conventioners. It exposed Christendom and her clergy for fomenting war. It made clear that “peace and prosperity will never be brought by radical political governments of men who are not at peace with God.” And it expressed the determination of Jehovah’s witnesses to continue to point men everywhere to God’s Messianic kingdom as the only hope for enduring peace.
As this “Peace on Earth” assembly made plain, Jehovah’s witnesses are not interested in peace with those who are enemies of God. They do not endorse the misguided efforts of men who seek to bring peace in their own way. They advocate only the enduring peace that Jehovah God will bring in his way for the blessing of all who love righteousness.
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122,011 Packed Out Yankee Stadium and Nearby Tents to Hear “The Approaching Peace of a Thousand Years”