‘Following His Steps Closely’
As told by George J. Rowan
I HAVE a book published in 1889 that explains all about this war and saying it would come in 1914.” So said my brother-in-law in April 1915 as we two discussed the then deteriorating world situation. I asked to see this book, and it turned out to be The Time Is at Hand by Charles Taze Russell, founding president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. Right away I devoured its message.
Seeing that I was so gripped by what I read, my brother-in-law offered me this book and two others by the same author. How delighted I was with their treasures of Bible knowledge! I studied them all carefully, beginning with The Divine Plan of the Ages. Not having been indoctrinated with any of Christendom’s false teachings, my mind was open to facts and Bible reasoning.
I was and still am a slow reader, with only a moderate education, so it all took time. But from the first I was certain that I had found the truth about the Bible. I wrote the Watch Tower Society’s office in Melbourne and obtained all other books and Bible references available. By the time two years had passed I had read all six of Pastor Russell’s “Studies in the Scriptures.” What a spiritual feast! And to think that the perfect Creator was offering heavenly life to those who would be patterned after the image of his own Son!—Rom. 8:29.
But who was I to aspire to such a glorious goal? Gleniffer on the Bellinger River, New South Wales, Australia, was the place of my birth in December 1888. We lived on a dairy farm, and there I continued until I was twenty-five. From November 1913 I was a tram conductor in Sydney up to and following the time I began to take a keen interest in the Scriptures. But now a big change in my life was to take place.
THE START OF THE COURSE
One morning in February 1917, in the course of a conversation with a man riding on the tram, I started to tell him what I had been learning from the Bible. Jesus Christ reported to his disciples the things he had heard from his Father. How could I do other than tell people about what I was learning? Well, this man turned out to be a Bible Student (as Jehovah’s witnesses were then known) and he invited me to attend a study group. Imagine my joy at finding fifty others with whom I could study and discuss the precious truths. From that time on I never looked back. The more I studied, the more valuable the truth became, the more I wanted to follow in Jesus’ steps.
Then came the publication of The Finished Mystery. This book created quite a controversy. It was surely an outspoken condemnation of false religion! Though some felt timid about pushing its distribution to the public, I wanted to have a share in getting out as many copies as possible. We had studied about “Babylon the Great” and it was now our opportunity to share in exposing what the Bible called “the great harlot.” Jesus, too, had exposed false religion during his ministry. His followers can do no less.—Rev. 17:1, 5.
In due course I received fifty copies of this much-debated book and had the privilege of organizing a few fearless ones for house-to-house distribution on the weekends. I was baptized in October of that same year, 1917. I was now obligated to conform my life to the perfect example left by Jesus. The few of us in those days had the whole city of Sydney as our territory. It was truly “virgin” territory, with marvelous opportunities for arousing interest. There is still a “pioneer” or full-time preacher of the Kingdom good news here in Sydney to whom I was privileged to bear the first enlightening Bible publications he received.
LEAVING ALL TO FOLLOW
Time and again these words from The Divine Plan of the Ages would keep recurring to my mind:
“To obtain this knowledge and this strength, which God thus proposes to supply to each runner for the heavenly prize, will surely test the sincerity of your [dedication]. You have [dedicated] all your time, all your talents, to the Lord; now the question is, How much of it are you giving? . . . But think not that the giving will end with the giving of the needful time and energy to this study: it will not. The sincerity of your sacrifice of self will be tested in full . . . If you give diligence to the Word of God, and receive its truths into a good, honest, [dedicated] heart, it will beget in you such a love for God . . . and such a desire to tell the good tidings, to preach the gospel, that it will become the all-absorbing theme of life thereafter.”
In the fall of 1918 I left my secular employment and made arrangements to start out in the full-time preaching work in Melbourne. My partner had a horsedrawn van and I had a bicycle. Off we went into rural territory, camping out wherever night overtook us. The first day—no placements! But next day, making fresh effort to overcome initial nervousness, I shall never forget the thrill of placing that first set of books with someone really interested in the Bible!
Back to Melbourne, then, for a convention at The Tabernacle, our meeting place attached to the Society’s branch office. What a joy to meet with about one hundred Witnesses from all parts of the land and have fellowship together for four days! We had much in common—especially a keenness to learn more about Jesus’ example and to follow it.
In 1920 we had the first “pilgrim” visit by a representative of the Society from Brooklyn, New York. He toured all the larger cities of Australia, giving the talk “Millions Now Living Will Never Die.” Sharing with him in advertising the lectures and hearing his spiritual talks to the local congregation gave me a real boost. It was just what I needed as encouragement to stick with the full-time ministry of preaching. To endure in the race for life a person must keep his eyes on the perfect exemplar, Jesus.—Heb. 12:1, 2.
MANY HAPPY MEMORIES
In 1922 I was invited to serve at the Society’s branch office, then in Melbourne, and there I remained for three years. Then, in 1925, I married, and my wife and I kept on as pioneer preachers in the Sydney area. Eleven years passed and once more I was invited, with my wife, to serve at the Australian branch office, now moved to Sydney. The use of gramophones and records had now come to the fore, and it was one of my jobs to make hundreds of cases and assemble machines for use by the Witnesses in the field.
One day I recall saying to the servant in charge of the branch office: “Have you ever thought of witnessing to the men who sail in ships?” “I think it would be a good idea,” he replied. “Give it a try and let me know how you get on.” Well, I did just that, commencing in 1946 when my wife and I resumed the pioneer ministry.
Since that time the ships have constituted my chief field of labor. I made it my business to study the ways of ship life and how I must speak and act so as to obtain a welcome for the Kingdom message aboard ships. I found it necessary to obtain two passes from the shipping authorities, and these entitled me to go on board “all ships at all times.” To date I have been privileged to witness on more than 12,000 ships of all nationalities, and the work becomes daily more interesting.
It has been a pleasure to observe the fruitage of this service. I know of several seamen who have become dedicated servants of Jehovah. Others accept the literature readily, and then on the next trip there is further discussion, perhaps even a Bible study started. The approximate quantities of Bibles and Bible literature that I have placed with men on ships since 1948 have been 6,000 clothbound books, 6,000 booklets and 20,300 magazines. Surely a mountain of testimony!
During the years of my full-time service I have spent many thousands of hours witnessing, and, looking back, it is wonderful to think on how swiftly the time has gone. Then, too, it has been most rewarding to see some whom I have helped reach out for greater privileges, training others in turn, and going on to become overseers in many parts of the field. Of course, it is Jehovah who provides the growth as long as we faithfully plant and water.
Now it is more than fifty-one years since I started serving the Kingdom interests full time. I have had many tests and severe trials, some from unexpected quarters, but I have striven hard to prevent any personal feelings from adversely affecting my loyal love for our heavenly Father and my determination to go on being conformed to the image of his dear Son. Psalm 91:4 has brought grand assurance under any and all circumstances.
My wife and I have precious memories of the marvelous international assemblies of 1958 and 1969. The 1958 assembly at Yankee Stadium, New York city, fulfilled a desire I had entertained for over thirty years—to gain firsthand knowledge of the theocratic arrangements at the Brooklyn headquarters and meet some of the older men whose talks we had read for years in the Convention Reports. Of course, throughout the years, I had never doubted but that Jehovah was richly using the Watch Tower Society in connection with his kindly purpose to have the “good news” preached world wide.
The “Peace on Earth” Assemblies have been unforgettable. We were overjoyed at being able to attend at Auckland and Suva as well as at Melbourne during 1969. Imagine our feelings as we compared the 25,837 at Melbourne’s Showgrounds with the one hundred who gathered in the same city in 1918! The subjects presented from the platform were instructive and stimulating, especially in showing us how we must live and serve in the “time of the end” of this doomed system of things. And what a joy to meet our fellow Witnesses from far and near, and to incite one another to even greater works of faith in the days ahead!
Surely it has been by Jehovah’s spirit that those assemblies were arranged and carried out successfully! Truly, we can expect as a result a still greater influx of God-fearing men and women into the organization that Jehovah is so markedly using for his own praise! For our part, we are determined, with His help, to keep on sounding out the wonderful life-giving message to others. Jehovah has given us added strength.
A FRUITFUL FIELD
Back in my assignment now, I am having some wonderful experiences among sailing men. I often think of how Jesus, too, had a lot to do with men familiar with boats, even selecting some of his apostles from among such. In one instance I had placed the book From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained with one man, and as I returned after two or three weeks and was walking up the gangway he called out: “George, you’re just the man I want to see. That was the most interesting book I ever read. I want to see how many more you have like it.”
Another man who received the Paradise book from me said, when I called back: “When I read that book I knew I had found the truth. It fully convinced me. I want other books that will help me to do God’s will, that I may gain life.”
Still another who had been taking books and magazines for some eighteen months said: “George, if I don’t go on to the point of doing God’s will and dedicating my life to him, I know I will end up with this old system of things in destruction.” He then inquired how he could do witnessing like I did on board ship. I advised him to keep a small literature supply in his cabin and speak to the men during lunch hours or at other free times. Now he has taken three months’ leave so as to study and dedicate his life to God before returning to his ship.
There are at least three chief stewards who are interested and who invite me to partake of their hospitality each time their ships berth here. One captain regularly takes the magazines and is always happy to have me as his guest. Some I have contacted have even kept in touch by correspondence. These experiences we have keep reminding me of the words recorded at Ecclesiastes 11:1: “Send out your bread upon the surface of the waters, for in the course of many days you will find it again.” It seems so applicable when one keeps in mind that “waters” in the Scriptures are often symbolic of “peoples.”
It is appropriate, too, to mention here our appreciation of the faithful, fearless service performed by the Society’s three presidents, C. T. Russell, J. F. Rutherford and N. H. Knorr. As they have, in conjunction with diligent associates, carried out the Master’s will in serving spiritual food to the whole body of God’s servants on earth at the proper time, they have been and are a real inspiration to us.—Matt. 24:45-47.
As one who is now eighty-one years of age, and laboring under a number of physical disabilities, I would like to urge all who can to take up the full-time preaching activity and stay with it just as long as they can. I have gained much satisfaction from doing so, always hearkening to the apostle Peter’s reminder: “To this course you were called, because even Christ suffered for you, leaving you a model for you to follow his steps closely.” (1 Pet. 2:21) With Jehovah’s aid I purpose to continue in this service, reserving my dwindling energies for the praise of the One who furnished us his own Son as a sacrifice for our sins and as the Model of devotion to his God and our God.