Distributing Flyers

Returning from the youth conference in Turkey to Düsseldorf, Germany, August 16, I met thousands of enthusiastic Catholic youth groups at the extremely busy airport and train station. They seemed all to arrive the same day, yet this went on for several days. But the day the Pope was to arrive in Cologne, August 18, (where he was to greet the youth from all over the world from a ship at the Rhine River and at the famous Dome of Cologne) was certainly for everyone a memorable one, though for different reasons. For us from the Reform Movement it was an interesting experience to give out flyers to thousands of Germans who were all kind and gladly took the little brochures, which had the title of the Catholic Youth Conference, “They all came to worship him.” So, everyone thought we belonged to them, but the content was not about the Pope but of Jesus Christ, with a coupon for free Bible Correspondence Course Lessons, Steps to Christ, Great Controversy, etc.

We were two little sisters from a little group in Iserlohn and myself, two hours from Cologne. Meanwhile, the Bible worker from Düsseldorf and his wife were distributing with others already days before in their city, because there were programmes held previous to the visit of the Pope, also in Bonn. Cologne could not accommodate so many people from all over the world, so they stayed in the surrounding cities.

Thursday, August 18 was to be the big day for the truly ecstatic young people and also older ones. We left for the train to Cologne at 9:30 a.m. and arrived with thousands of others in Cologne near noon. The train service almost collapsed, and there were delays as expected. We picked up our pamphlets from a news shop agent, who was kind enough to keep them for us. We could not get in touch with our Bible worker, for the roads to the train station and the bridges over the Rhine River were to be closed in the early morning, so he deposited the papers for us in that shop the day before.

We filled our bags and the two sisters had their own wheeled shopping bags, so we could take them all at once with us. We needed not go anywhere; the train station was the perfect place. Situated right at the dome, it was the spot where all the action was, people streaming in by the ten thousand every hour, and meeting before the dome and around. One sister went beside the dome by the subway entrance, the other before the dome at the square, and myself stood right at the exit from the train station before the dome. We were very sorry, we had only German flyers, so we had to let many others go by, who came from so many different countries. You could see they were foreigners as each group carried their own flag before them. Some of them were so eager to get a flyer, they came to us to take them. Later we collected those thrown away and handed them out again. All went peacefully, the people were all in a happy, excited mood; some made such noise by singing and shouting, it was hard on the ears. The noise inside the building was much harder to bear than outside; the sun beating down, the masses of people streaming non-stop beside you through the exit, and many going back in, was tiring after several hours. 3500 flyers in a few hours, and had we had English and Spanish flyers, could have done double the amount.

Some people came to ask questions of all kinds, not rowdy, always courteous. But at the end, when I had only 4 flyers left in my hand, a woman rushed towards me, looked at the paper, said some strange things I could not make any sense of, then all of a sudden snatched the flyers from my hand, tore them up in a frenzy and began to shout, “Jesus speaks to me, you are all the whore Babylon, etc.” She would not let you say anything, she shouted the weirdest things, nobody had any idea what she meant. She was so fierce, her eyes bulging, hands waving in a craze. I almost thought she would attack me. I stayed calm and just went away, but she followed and I came to Birgitta, from her she also grabbed the pamphlets and tore them up. A man told her to leave us alone, she still shouted full of hatred, and always said Jesus speaks to her. This was the only incident, otherwise everyone behaved very well. Police were everywhere, but had nothing to do. They let the people sing and shout; nobody had anything else in mind than to see the Pope.

This event is surely another milestone to the future of the Catholic Church; such a success in a once Protestant nation, which does not protest any more. There were certainly no protesting pamphlets given out. We did not see anyone, at least not on this busy place. The youth came for what? “They all came to worship him.” The Pope’s agenda for them is: to worship Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. But the excitement is for the Pope and him alone, and he is the one they worship, if they realize it or not. Jesus Christ is secondary; it is the realization of, “and all the world wondered after the beast.” (Rev. 13:3). “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Rev. 13:8).

May God grant the poor deluded souls the light of the Holy Spirit to see their error, worshipping a mere man, and learn to behold the true King of the Universe, Jesus Christ, to whom alone is adoration due, as their personal and only Saviour. May some of the pamphlets handed out do just that to His glory and honour.
AMEN.

Edda Tedford, Canada