Many who have read the above exhortations may not be aware of the rapidly increasing demand for printed matter all over the world, which springs from the spread of " literacy "—i.e., the ability to read
and write. Dr. Laubach of the U.S.A. has been visiting many countries, introducing his simplified system of teaching to read. It is so simple that a very ignorant and unlettered person, who learns by his method,
would be able to instruct somebody else. He therefore has a slogan: " Each one teach one." In result it is estimated that quite twenty million new readers are found in the world every year.
And what are they going to read? All too frequently there is hardly anything for them but printed matter of an evil and subversive kind. Yet, thank God, the Holy Scriptures, or parts of them, are to be had in over a thousand languages. Our first conclusion must certainly be that each of us ought to do what we can to help and support godly men who give themselves to the production and circulation of the Word of God in these many tongues.
But even so, the number of those who read English is constantly enlarged. This is mainly due to the greatly increased importance in world affairs of the U.S.A. English becomes the mother-tongue of its rapidly increasing population; and further, in most countries a large number of people are learning English, and so can read anything in that language. That is why Gospel literature in English, from a small tract to a substantial book, is of great importance, and may be sent to the furthest corners of the earth.
Should any of our readers be skeptical, or unimpressed, by what we have written in this leaflet, let us close by a few facts concerning one of the most active and pushing of the false cults of today. The last half-century has seen the uprising of a system of error, first started by one, " Pastor Russell," and continued under " Judge Rutherford." It has operated under a variety of names, and is now generally known as, " Jehovah's Witnesses." Recently they staged a big demonstration in London, so big that they took Wembley Stadium for the occasion. Not long before they held an international convention, representing 67 countries, in the Yankee Stadium, New York. The daily attendances were estimated at 70,000.
Now their propaganda consists almost entirely in printed matter. All their members give themselves indefatigably to the sale of their literature. They stand in the streets offering it. They canvass most persistently from door to door, and there seems to be hardly a place in the land where they have not been. The amount of public preaching they do is practically negligible. In a lesser degree the same thing is true of several others of the erroneous systems that abound.
The enemy came and sowed tares, " while men slept " (Matt. 13:2525But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. (Matthew 13:25)). Let us not sleep but be busy sowing the good seed of God's Word.
May these few words stir all of us up to greater zeal in serving the Lord, and particularly in the scattering of Gospel literature.
F. B. HOLE.
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