1922 Cedar Point, Ohio Convention

[The Librarian]

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From the:

 

[The Librarian]

If you have anyone has more photos from this convention (or audio) please add it to this post. Thank you - The Librarian
 

[The Librarian]

THE temperature had already started to climb that Friday morning in September 1922 as 8,000 people crowded into the auditorium. The chair- man announced that during this important ses- sion, anyone was free to leave, but no one would be allowed to reenter the hall.

Songs were sung during the opening “Praise Service,” after which Joseph F. Rutherford stepped up to the speaker’s stand. Most in the audience sat in suspense. A few restlessly paced about in the heat. The speaker earnestly urged them to sit down and listen. As the talk began, did anyone notice the large cloth roll neatly tied and hung high overhead?

Brother Rutherford spoke on the theme “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For about an hour and a half, his powerful voice reverberated through the hall as he discussed how the proph- ets of old had fearlessly announced the coming Kingdom. Reaching the climax, he asked, “Do you believe that the King of glory has begun his reign?” The audience responded with a mighty shout: “Yes!”

“Then back to the field, O ye sons of the most high God!” Brother Rutherford thundered. “Be- hold, the King reigns! You are his publicity agents. Therefore, advertise, advertise, adver- tise.”

At that moment, the cloth roll overhead grace- fully unfurled, revealing the slogan: “Advertise the King and Kingdom.”

“The audience was electrified,” recalled Ray Bopp. Anna Gardner described how “the rafters shook with the applause.” “The whole audience rose to its feet as one,” stated Fred Twarosh.

Evangelos Scouffas said, “It was as if a mighty power pulled us up from our seats, and we stood up and our eyes filled with tears.”

Many at that convention had already been spreading the Kingdom good news. Yet, they now felt infused with a new sense of purpose. Ethel Bennecoff related that the Bible Students went forth “with more zeal and love in [their] hearts than ever before.” Odessa Tuck, who at the time was 18, left the convention determined to answer the call “Who will go?” She said: “I did not know where or how or what. The one thing I did know was that I wanted to be like Isaiah, who said: ‘Here I am! Send me!’” (Isa. 6:8) “That celebrat- ed day,” said Ralph Leffler, “was the real begin- ning of the Kingdom advertising campaign that today has encircled the earth.”

[The Librarian]

@ARchiv@L originally posted this photo