The Watchtower — September 1, 1950

Taking In Life-giving Knowledge

“This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.”—John 17:3, NW.

1. At Hosea 4:1-9 what did Jehovah long ago say for our day?

JEHOVAH, the Lord God, spoke of our own day, when he said long ago by his prophet Hosea: “Hear the word of the LORD, O Israelites! For the LORD has a quarrel with the inhabitants of the land; because there is no fidelity, no kindness, and no knowledge of God in the land. Cursing, lying, murder, theft, and adultery—they break out, and one crime follows hard upon another. Therefore the land mourns, and everything that dwells therein languishes, even to the beasts of the earth, and the birds of the air; and the fish of the sea also are swept away. Yet, let no one make charges and let no one accuse; for with you is my quarrel, O priest; and you shall stumble by day; the prophet also shall stumble with you by night; and I will destroy your people. My people are destroyed for want of knowledge—because you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you from being my priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I likewise will forget your children. The more they increased, the more they sinned against me; they have exchanged their glory for shame. They feed on the sin of my people, and for their guilt they whet their appetite. So it has become ‘like people, like priest’; and I will visit his ways upon him, and requite his deeds to him.”—Hos. 4:1-9, AT.

2. What is the cause responsible for destruction? Due to whom?

² A few years after Hosea finished his prophesying the northern kingdom of Israel fell to pagan conquerors, and in the following century the holy city of Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed and the Jews were uprooted from their land. A like destruction in the near future faces Christendom. Do students of world conditions want to know the cause responsible for such destruction? With modern Christendom in mind let them mark those words of the prophet: “cursing, lying, murder, theft, and adultery—they break out, and one crime follows hard upon another,” and at the bottom of all this, “no knowledge of God in the land.” At whose door does the Lord God lay the responsibility for this ignorance? At the door of the religious leaders, the priests and the prophets, for it is their duty to teach the people about God, and the people look to them for such instruction. And now the people are about to be “destroyed for want of knowledge” in a world destruction. But the God of justice decrees that it will become “like people, like priest”, and the priests and clergy will fare no better than the people. They have led the people in rejecting the knowledge of the truth; and if the blind guides the blind, then both will fall into the pit, but the guide is the one with the greater responsibility.—Matt. 15:14.

3. What spiritual state has come upon Christendom? For what reason?

³ God’s written Word, the Bible, has been spread by the hundreds of millions of copies, and yet the religious clergy have not turned this great opportunity and advantage to good account, so as to incite the people to study that Holy Word and inform themselves of God and his kingdom. Is it any wonder, then, that, go where you will in Christendom, you will find the people in religious confusion, none of them clear on why God Almighty has permitted this reign of wickedness and woe till now and what he purposes to do now about this state of affairs and what his will is for lovers of life and security to do? Because the Bible with its divine information has been so available to the clergy and they have rejected its truths and enlightening prophecies, the great God of spiritual plenty has rejected them as his spokesmen and channels of Scripture information and instruction. They are rejected from being his priest, for it is written: “The priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Jehovah of hosts.’ (Mal. 2:7, AS) Thus spiritual famine has struck Christendom as forewarned: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord Jehovah, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Jehovah. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of Jehovah, and shall not find it. In that day shall the fair virgins and the young men faint for thirst [for the waters of truth].” (Amos 8:11-13, AS) In place of finding the words of Jehovah among the clergy and religious systems of Christendom, you come face to face with the nasty fact of religious persecution against the witnesses of Jehovah who speak His word.

SUCCESSFUL RUNNING TO AND FRO FOR INFORMATION

4. Why is knowledge needed so much now? What results in its increase?

⁴ The anguished cry of the people today is for life. How are they to find the way to it? If the rule God announces holds true that “my people are destroyed for want of knowledge”, then the converse must hold true, that the people will be saved and preserved alive by the possession of knowledge. This is the time of greatest need for life-giving knowledge, because all the developments since the year 1914 prove that this world has entered its “time of the end” and is now nearing the disastrous close of that period. The much needed information God has mercifully promised, for he long ago said to Daniel the prophet: “Shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” (Dan. 12:4) But if the people’s running to and fro through the midst of Christendom fails to locate the words of Jehovah for the relief of the spiritual famine, then what running to and fro is it that results in the promised increase of knowledge? It is the running to and fro in the written Word of God, that is to say, the scrutinizing and examining of the Holy Bible for our direct instruction. If the paid religious clergy and spiritual advisers reject the Bible in favor of worldly philosophy and traditions of men contrary to God’s Word, then the people who earnestly want life must themselves run to and fro through the pages of the sacred Book if they are ever going to get the life-giving increase of knowledge. So let the people act independently of the religious leaders who have failed them. Let them exercise faith and run to and fro through God’s now unsealed and opened Book. His spirit that searches the “deep things of God” has been poured out. His marvelous time for spiritual illumination has come.

5, 6. (a) What greatest of services have the clergy missed out on? (b) with what consequences to themselves and to the people of Israel?

⁵ The greatest service any man or woman could possibly render to humanity today is to impart to them the knowledge of God and encourage them to run to and fro through His Book in personal Bible study. The religious clergy have missed out in this service of most urgent importance, the same as in Jesus’ day. The Son of God courageously pointed out the ones whom God held accountable for the death-dealing state of ignorance of the people. At the risk of stirring up the combined opposition of the priests and religious leaders he said: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you shut up the kingdom of the heavens before mankind; for you yourselves do not go in, neither do you permit those on their way in to go in.” “Woe to you who are versed in the Law, because you took away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not go in, and those going in you hindered!”—Matt. 23:13 and Luke 11:52, NW.

⁶ By thus withholding the truth from the people those clergymen of Jesus’ day were leading the people to destruction and their nation to ruin. Because of their responsible part in it the religious leaders were earning for themselves also annihilation. Hence Jesus cried out to them: “Serpents, offspring of vipers, how are you to flee from the judgment of Gehenna?” (Matt. 23:33, NW) By keeping the people ignorant they led them into having Jesus killed on a torture stake at Calvary. Thirty-seven years later this willfully cultivated ignorance led to its fatal consequences, the destruction of the city of Jerusalem with an enormous loss of human lives, just as Jesus had predicted, and the breaking up of the Jewish nation till this day. And now in this “time of the end” the revived nation of Israel with capital at the modern city of Jerusalem chooses to go on in the steps of its forefathers, ignoring the counsel of Jehovah God. It has again chosen “Caesar” as its friend in preference to God’s kingdom by Christ. It has gone after and gained membership in the United Nations of this doomed world. There is only one outcome possible: destruction with this world because of taking the wrong course for want of the knowledge of Jehovah God and his Messianic kingdom.

THE EXEMPLARY COURSE

7, 8. (a) Than what two oft-quoted men was Jesus wiser? (b) What experience of Israel shows man’s way of salvation is not in himself?

⁷ Jesus Christ was the greatest Jew, for he was the Jewish Messiah, the Christ. King Solomon of Jerusalem, as long as he walked in Jehovah’s way, was the wisest man of ancient times; but Jesus Christ was something greater than Solomon. He knew what we need to know in order to gain everlasting life. He was wiser than the ancient pagan philosopher, Thales of Miletus, who said: “Know thyself.” Yes, wiser than the English poet, Alex. Pope, who is considered famous for saying: “The proper study of mankind is man.” Jesus pointed to a greater knowledge as absolutely vital to life. Certainly if a man seeks to know himself, the only honest conclusion he can come to is that he is imperfect like all other men and is a sinner and that the means of salvation is not in himself or other men. Even what relics of conscience he has inherited from Adam, the once perfect man, will remind him he is a sinner and will condemn him.

⁸ The way of salvation, the means of gaining everlasting life, is not in man himself, even when given a perfect law. For fifteen centuries the Jewish nation lived under the law Jehovah gave them through Moses. But that good and holy law of God was more than they could measure up to, and it only showed them up all the more to be sinners. The lesson to be learned from this the apostle Paul summed up in these words: “Now we know that all the things the Law says it addresses to those under the Law, so that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become liable to God for punishment. Therefore by works of law no flesh will be declared righteous before him, for by law is the accurate knowledge of sin.” (Rom. 3:19, 20, NW) How glad we can be today that we do not need to go through Israel’s fifteen centuries of experience to find out that our salvation is not by our own attempts at self-righteousness!

9. What did Jesus establish as being the highest vocation for us?

⁹ To be wise for eternal salvation we must heed the words of the One who is greater than Solomon, Jesus Christ. When on earth he told men and women to follow him and imitate him. We can do so by taking up the work which he did. Being born a perfect man by the miracle of Jehovah God his heavenly Father, Jesus was the only man that could lay down his life as a ransom sacrifice for mankind to gain everlasting life in the new world. But before laying down his life, what work did he take up as pleasing to God and of highest importance? To what did he devote himself as being the most pressing need of the people who were facing destruction? At the appointed time marked out in prophecy he abandoned his carpenter work and took up preaching. Though he knew it would lead to a martyr’s death in public disgrace, he devoted himself to spreading the knowledge of Jehovah God. He thus established preaching God’s Word as being the highest vocation. This world may sneer at preaching the Bible as being foolish and most impractical, especially in this crucial period of world history; but all the world with its political offices and Big Business jobs and honored religious pulpits could never offer us a higher vocation than that which Jesus set as a pattern for us. For his loyal course in the midst of a hostile, unappreciative world he earned for himself the title, “The faithful and true witness.” (Rev. 3:14; 1:5) Can we today enjoy any higher privilege than to be witnesses like him, witnesses of Jehovah, and to prove ourselves faithful as such? Jesus’ example says No!

THE TEACHERS

10. What did Jesus say to show what man needed for gaining life?

¹⁰ Next to vindicating Jehovah’s rulership as being the only rightful sovereignty of the universe, Jesus was interested in the abundant, everlasting life for the people. God had given him power over all flesh, and Jesus was interested in giving mankind perfect life in God’s image and likeness, free from sin. He knew what we needed to gain this, and he devoted himself to giving this to us. He knew the value of knowing God, and so he said: “I am the right shepherd, and I know my sheep and my sheep know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I surrender my soul in behalf of the sheep.” And in his last prayer on earth with his sheep he said: “Righteous Father, the world has, indeed, not come to know you, but I have come to know you.” (John 10:14, 15; 17:25, NW) It was his personal knowledge of God that made Jesus strong to stand up for God’s universal sovereignty and to carry out God’s loving purpose toward mankind, cost what it might. So in his final prayer to God with his faithful apostles he said to his heavenly Father: “Glorify your son, that your son may glorify you, according as you have given him authority over all flesh, that, as regards the whole number which you have given him, he may give them everlasting life. This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.”—John 17:1-3, NW.

11. Why is that a higher study and knowledge and leading to life?

¹¹ No, the counsel that leads to endless life is not: “Know thyself.” The greatest study of man is not man, either yourself or other men. The greatest study of man is God and God’s Chief Agent, Jesus Christ. True, God himself is invisible and infinitely high beyond the reach of man, and yet God has made this study of him possible for man by means of his written Word and with the aid of his illuminating active force or spirit. Such a study deals with the highest things and leads to the results of highest importance to us. We must pursue this study if we want to take in the knowledge which means everlasting life in the new world. Why so? Because it is the taking in of knowledge of the great Fountain of life, Jehovah the only true God, and also the knowledge of the Chief Agent which God uses for making this life possible to us, Jesus Christ, whom God sent forth into this world to declare God to us as no other prophet had done. When we study man, we are studying a dying creature. When we study God, we are studying the life-giving Creator. Certainly it is more vital to get acquainted with the Creator and get into relationship with him than to study sinful creatures of earth who are condemned to death. Certainly, too, it is more important to get to know the Creator’s Chief Agent of life than to interest ourselves in creatures who need life and have no means of saving themselves. The higher study leads to everlasting life.

12. To whom does Jehovah become Teacher? According to what promise?

¹² When we turn to God and Christ and take up a study of God’s Book, then He becomes our Teacher, and surely he knows how to teach us the way to attain eternal existence in peace and happiness. God caused it to be written in the prophets. “And all thy children shall be taught of Jehovah; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” (Isa. 54:13, AS) These words were addressed to God’s “woman”, that is to say, Jehovah’s Theocratic organization called “Zion” which brings forth those who become the spiritual children of God. The chief one of her children is Jesus Christ, who was anointed to be Jehovah’s King for the promised kingdom. The others of her children here spoken of are the footstep followers who are anointed with God’s spirit to be associated with Jesus Christ in the heavenly kingdom. On bringing forth these royal children, beginning with Jesus, she is told to sing and cry aloud for joy at having ceased from her barrenness. (Isa. 54:1) The apostle Paul shows that this woman is Jehovah’s Theocratic organization and that her children are Jesus Christ and his body of faithful followers, by saying: “The Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written: ‘Be glad, you barren woman who does not bear children; break out and cry aloud, you woman who does not have childbirth pains; because the children of the desolate woman number more than those of her who has the husband.’ Now we, brothers, are children belonging to the promise the same as Isaac was. Wherefore, brothers, we are children, not of a servant girl, but of the free woman.”—Gal. 4:26-28, 31, NW.

13, 14. (a) By whom does Jehovah do the teaching? (b) Who are admitted to His school, and with what blessings to them?

¹³ How precious it is to have Jehovah God himself for our Teacher! There could be no education higher than this, for it is a receiving of knowledge from the highest source in the school of life. And God has called into service as his fellow teacher his royal Son Jesus Christ. For that special reason Jesus said to his followers: “But you, do not you be called ‘Rabbi’, for one is your teacher, whereas all you are brothers. Neither be called ‘leaders’, for your Leader is one, the Christ.” (Matt. 23:8, 10, NW) So we must be taught by Jehovah God through Jesus Christ.

¹⁴ Because the teaching is through Jesus Christ as Chief Instructor, many refuse to be taught, for they do not wish to be made like their Teacher. Hence not all men and women are admitted or do apply for admittance into this school of highest learning, but only those who love and fear Jehovah God and whom he draws. Jesus made that fact clear when he said: “No man can come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draws him, and I will resurrect him in the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by Jehovah.’ Everyone that has heard the Father’s teaching and has learned comes to me.” (John 6:44, 45, NW) According to Jesus, the learning a Christian gains in this Theocratic school leads to resurrection from the dead and everlasting life in the opening thousand years of the New World. Those taught in this school are blessed with peace and prosperity and are kept from the selfish, deadly conflicts of this old world. Let us see to it, therefore, that our teachers are not men with their dead precepts, traditions and worldly philosophies, but that our teachers are the two great Instructors of the universe, Jehovah God and Jesus Christ. It signifies life for us to do so.

15, 16. How did Jesus meet the qualifications of a true instructor?

¹⁵ Jesus met all the qualifications of a trustworthy instructor. He did not sit in the teacher’s seat of Jehovah’s school of life and then turn aside to the empty philosophies of this world and teach his followers something contrary to the topmost Educator, Jehovah God, just to be popular with this world. What God requires of all those who profess to represent and speak for him is that they tell the truth about God and impart the real knowledge of him to the people. On two occasions Jesus is reported as quoting from Hosea’s prophecy, chapter 6, which reads: “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.” (Hos. 6:6, 7; Matt. 9:12, 13; 12:7) That was why Jesus wielded God’s prophetic Word like a sword and drove it into those religious clergy and slew their religious pretensions.

¹⁶ Hosea’s prophecy in the preceding verses foretold this action of Jesus, saying: “O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away. Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.”—Hos. 6:4, 5.

17. Hence to be God’s faithful witnesses what course must we pursue?

¹⁷ The whole teaching of the Bible from cover to cover is that the people are being destroyed for lack of knowledge of God the Creator and Savior. To supply the need God offers the people the knowledge in his inspired Book. Therefore let us who want to be his faithful witnesses bear this in mind and not he turned aside to something else. Let us hold strictly to dispensing the pure Word of God to his honor and to the saving of the people. It is because the religious clergy of Christendom have turned from doing this and have imitated the clergy of Jesus’ day that now it has come their turn to be ‘hewed by the prophets and slain by the words of God’s mouth’. Like it? Well, of course, they do not; and they hate Jehovah’s witnesses for declaring the prophecies and publishing the words of God’s mouth, which has such a slaughtering effect on the clergy before the people.

ROUNDED-OUT INSTRUCTION NEEDED

18, 19. Why is partial knowledge not enough for gaining salvation?

¹⁸ When we take God’s instruction through the Bible, let us take all it teaches. The Supreme Teacher warns us that we must neither add worldly false knowledge to his Word nor take away from it. We must have the full information for the obtaining of the salvation which He provides. For thousands of years godly men and women had been seeking information on the One whom God was to send forth and were wanting to identify him and unite with him. In due time the Messiah came in the person of Jesus Christ. If we were to follow the course of the religious clergy of Jesus’ day and reject the facts about him as foretold in the prophecies, we would never gain everlasting life. We would be like those Jews who perished for rejecting this knowledge. The knowledge of God minus his Son Jesus Christ is only partial. Life by the law of Moses is impossible. Likewise the knowledge of Jesus Christ minus Jehovah God is only partial, as in Christendom’s case today. To know Jehovah God and to know Jesus Christ are inseparable for salvation.

¹⁹ John 3:35, 36 (NW) tells us: “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. He that exercises faith in the Son has everlasting life; he that disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.” And 1 John 2:22, 23 (NW) says: “Who is the liar if it is not the one that denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one that denies the Father and the Son. Everyone that denies the Son does not have the Father either. He that confesses the Son has the Father also.” And to this 1 John 4:15 (NW) adds: “Whoever makes the confession that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God remains in union with such one and he in union with God.” There is no other way about it: our taking in knowledge of the only true God and of his Sent One, Jesus Christ, as well is what means everlasting life to us.

From infancy you have known the holy writings which are able to make you wise for salvation though the faith in connection with Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.—2 Tim. 3:15-17, NW.

Living According to Superior Knowledge

1. Why must we fear God, and why must we honor Jesus Christ?

IF WE imitate Jesus Christ we shall never go wrong. He feared God and taught others the fear of God according to the truth. We must have this correct fear of God if we aim at getting the information that leads to life that really is life. Proverbs 1:7 (AS) tells us: “The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge; but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.” Such fear of the only true God is the beginning, that is, the chief part or the first thing in knowledge. Because the wise, brainy, powerful people of this world do not have that fear of Jehovah, all the knowledge they accumulate and hand out does not save the world or result in life. By the Holy Bible we are taught the fear of God. And it is wise that we fear him, for he is the Source of all life. For us not to fear him but to reject him means cutting ourselves off from the great Fountainhead of life. This would spell absolute annihilation for us. God’s own Word tells us also to honor Jesus Christ because of the key part that he performs in the life-giving arrangements of God. So we gladly accept the Son of God. For us to reject him means we are cutting ourselves off from the central connection with God, the one channel of life from God; and this would likewise spell utter destruction for us. How grand and beneficial it is, then, to take in knowledge of both the Father and the Son!

2. (a) To continue in this fear and knowledge what must we do? (b) How do we gain faith and hope, and are these all that is needed?

² Our doing this can never stop. We must advance to perfection. We have gained real enlightenment only by going to the Book of truthful information, that is, the Bible, God’s gift to us. What knowledge we have already gained has been by studying that Book. But to continue in the fear and knowledge of God and of his Son Jesus Christ we need to keep on studying that Book, and to do so with all the faithful helps which the heavenly Father provides through his Theocratic organization. From what we have learned out of the Holy Scriptures we have faith in God and Christ and are able by this to please God. This faith, Hebrews 11:1 (NW) tells us: “is the assured expectation of things hoped for.” And so we have hope, a wonderful hope of a perfect new world, with a new heavens and a new earth, in which we may enjoy the promised everlasting life in unspeakable happiness. But faith and hope are not all that is necessary. They are quite proper in themselves. It is written: “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.” (Prov. 13:12) We do not know what heaven is to be like for the 144,000 Christian overcomers of this world, but we could write a book and paint a vivid picture of the paradise that is to be renewed on earth and we could set this hope before people of good will now seeking life in it. But powerful as this hope might be as a stimulant, it is not all that is necessary to keep a person faithful.

3. What quality is most essential for right living now? Why?

³ Long ago miraculous gifts passed out of the life of the Christian congregation, but the things that now remain are not only faith and hope but also love: “these three, but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor. 13:8-13, NW) The new world for which we hope is at the door, but we are still living in the degraded old world, and, besides faith and hope, love is most essential for right living amid these debasing conditions. We need love now while surrounded with this selfish world, for without love we are nothing in God’s sight. We are in most perilous times, and living now is a great problem. We must keep on studying God’s Word in order to learn how to live right and how to show love that is godlike. The new world is still a hope, but this old world is a present reality. We must yet face it, and this creates difficulties for us. We have to meet these without compromising God’s cause. So we must know how to meet them, and this calls for knowledge right now. Hence the need for us to study the Bible further on what it has to say with regard to our relations with this existence, for if we do not handle these aright, we shall not be found worthy of life in the future world.

PRESENT PROBLEMS

4. What problem must we meet living under present governments?

⁴ The “appointed times of the Gentiles” expired in 1914, but the Gentile governments still continue as going concerns, wrathful against God’s established kingdom. “Caesar” still holds the reins of earthly government, and totalitarian governments are more powerful than ever. We need to know from the Bible that the “superior authorities” to whom Christian souls must be subject are Jehovah God and Christ Jesus, if we want to escape divine wrath. We need to be taught how our first duties are to God, obeying Him as Ruler in preference to men, and then giving to Caesar only what belongs to Caesar.—Rom. 13:1-4 and Matt. 22:21, NW.

5. What problem does sex present? And children?

⁵ Another problem is to know the places men and women occupy in the Theocratic organization of Jehovah God. It is true that in the Christian congregation “there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in union with Christ Jesus”. (Gal. 3:28, NW) But we are still male and female in the flesh; we can still marry and produce children, we can still be moved by passion and be tempted to commit sexual abuses. So woman’s position in the congregation and in the home needs to be adjusted according to God’s will for the safety and happiness of all concerned, that the Theocratic rule may be carried out and no reproach be brought upon God’s name and his organization. Children are still being brought into this world. We love them and we long to see them succeed in the most important thing. But how to bring them up under present conditions of increasing parental and child delinquency poses a serious problem. We need to know how to bring them up “in the discipline and authoritative advice of Jehovah”, that we may educate and train them for everlasting life with us in the blessed new world. (Eph. 6:4, NW) How glad we are that we have God as our Teacher by Jesus Christ and have the Holy Bible for our book of instructions!

6. What problem of destiny now presents itself?

⁶ We are living at a time when God by his Right Shepherd not only is gathering the remnant of his ‘little flock’ and is almost through, but in view of the new world near at hand, is now also gathering a numberless flock of “other sheep” whose destiny will be, not immortal life in heaven with the “little flock”, but complete human life on earth in the restored paradise. We have to determine our destiny and act accordingly. Has God called us to heaven to reign with Christ or to the paradise earth? To determine this is a problem with many, and to solve it each one must study God’s Word further and be convinced in his own mind.

7. What faith must we ascertain? What must we do about it? Why?

⁷ We are living at the climax of this wicked world and at the culmination of Christendom’s existence. Pagan philosophies and doctrines of demons and man-made religious traditions masquerade under the guise of Christian doctrine and practice. Evil-minded men slyly watch for an opening and try to creep into our Christian companies for immoral purposes and to abuse God’s undeserved kindness and corrupt the faith and manners of those whom they can victimize. We are living, indeed, in among seductive conditions, and lest we stray there is every need for us to do as it is written: “Ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.” (Jer. 6:16) We need to go back direct to the inspired Scriptures themselves, examining them daily against what is taught us by men, and by this course get back to the “faith that was once for all time delivered to the holy ones”. And having rediscovered what it is, then we must “put up a hard fight” for it, to hold it and to practice it, as Jude 3 says (NW).

8. On the moral problems what is it our duty according to the faith?

⁸ In harmony with the original faith it becomes our duty toward God to resist those impure-minded persons who try to sneak in and lure unsuspecting Christians into sexual abuses by wrongly claiming God’s mercy for willful sins. It is part of our fight for the faith to hold high the Bible principles concerning human marriage and the pure relations between men and women in the congregation. Stick by these. Let the evil-designing sneaks and all worldly persons know what high moral principles the true knowledge of God and Christ stands for. Let the world know the position of morality that Jehovah’s Theocratic organization takes, that they may know that it is a pure organization. Keep the organization that way, as far as in you lies, that the organization into which you invite the Shepherd’s “other sheep” may be a clean, purifying organization. True love is pure. The fear of Jehovah is clean. Love and godly fear will help you meet the moral problems which are still with us while we are in this old world.—1 Cor. 13:5, 6, NW; Ps. 19:9, AS.

MANIFESTING IT TO OTHERS

9. Why must we keep taking in knowledge? What does Christendom exemplify?

⁹ Thus for our own selves to gain everlasting life we must continue taking in knowledge of the only true God and of Jesus Christ, whom He sent forth. Mankind are not yet in paradise. Satan and his demons are not yet bound nor his wicked seed destroyed from the earth. On the contrary, he has been cast out of heaven and is now restrained to the earth and is bringing great woes upon the people and creating many problems for God’s righteous people. So be on guard. Proverbs 11:9 (AS) assures us: “Through knowledge shall the righteous be delivered.” Conversely, through lack of knowledge those who profess to be God’s people are destroyed. In Christendom we see exemplified what this lack produces, in harmony with what the apostle said, at Romans 1:24-31: “Therefore God in keeping with the desires of their hearts gave them up to uncleanness, that their bodies might be dishonored among them, even those who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and venerated and rendered sacred service to the creation rather than the One who created, . . . And just as they did not approve of holding God in accurate knowledge, God gave them up to a disapproved mental state, to do the things not fitting, filled as they were with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, injuriousness, being full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malicious disposition, being whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, insolent, haughty, self-assuming, inventors of injurious things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, false to agreements, having no natural affection, merciless.”—NW.

10. Contrary to ignorant Christendom, what must Jehovah’s witnesses now do under the provisions of the new covenant?

¹⁰ Hence not merely heathendom, but Christendom has magnificently demonstrated what the want of knowledge of Jehovah God will do to the hurt and disgrace of the people. Now it is the turn of you who are Jehovah’s witnesses to demonstrate what the true knowledge of God will do for a people, an organization of people on a world-wide scale. You who are Jehovah’s witnesses are living at the culmination of God’s new covenant through Christ, when it is being crowned with success by taking out the final members to complete the “people for his name”. Besides the forgiveness of sins through the Mediator of that covenant, one of its blessed provisions is this: “I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah; for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith Jehovah.” (Jer. 31:31-34, AS; Acts 15:14) Jehovah’s witnesses, indeed, now know him from the least to the greatest of them; but Christendom, by her willful ignorance of Jehovah God, proves she is not in the new covenant and that she is not the “people for his name” which he has been taking out of all nations during the past nineteen centuries.

11. How must we show what knowledge does for us, especially now?

¹¹ One of the ways by which we must manifest to all the world what the knowledge of God does for the people is by acting as his witnesses to mankind both in word and in action. We must speak and act in harmony with the will of God. What is that? It is written: “This is right and acceptable in the sight of our Savior, God, whose will is that all kinds of men should be saved and come to an accurate knowledge of truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, a man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a corresponding ransom for all—this is what is to be witnessed to at its own particular times.” (1 Tim. 2:3-6, NW) Now is the time of all times to be bearing witness, NOW, when God by his Right Shepherd is gathering under his Theocratic organization a “great crowd” of persons of good will “out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues”, “all kinds of men.” By the witness we are giving in all nations this “great crowd” know where their salvation comes from. What a joy it is to us now to hear them in their hundreds of thousands crying with a loud voice before the divine throne: “Salvation we owe to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.” (Rev. 7:9, 10, NW) Let the numbers of this great crowd increase by our intensifying the witness in all nations as never before.

12. For what purpose has God given us knowledge? Why do we have a grand opportunity for this now?

¹² Jehovah God has given us knowledge under his new covenant for the express purpose of our being his witnesses. He reminds us: “Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may KNOW and believe me, and understand that I am he: . . . I have declared, and I have saved, and I have showed; and there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and I am God.” (Isa. 43:10-12, AS) And what an opportunity for witnessing we now have! We have the Book of books, the Holy Bible; and now, too, we have the 1950 New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures. To aid us to gain knowledge of God from his Book, we have the supplementary Bible literature published by a proved instrument of God and Christ, the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society.

13. Who is opposed to spreading this knowledge? To what must we rise?

¹³ The great enemy of life, Satan the Devil, is opposed to the spreading of the life-giving knowledge, even though in Eden he pretended to want to increase mankind’s knowledge by seducing Eve into disobediently eating of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. Evil, yes! But he has never favored mankind’s gaining a knowledge of good. He is the “god of this system of things”, and all along he has “blinded the minds of the unbelievers, that the illumination of the glorious good news about the Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine through”. But by the irresistible power of God the light has broken through the devilish opposition and has reached us, and He “has shone on our hearts to illuminate them with the glorious knowledge of God by the face of Christ”. (2 Cor. 4:4-6, NW) Let us, in turn, rise and shine, reflecting the light on to others. If the people are being destroyed for lack of knowledge, let it not be because of any negligence and failure on our part. If a great crowd of good will is now being led to salvation, let it be by God’s use of us through his Shepherd.

“THEY SHALL KNOW”

14, 15. (a) Why will Christendom be made to know Jehovah, and how? (b) What will Jehovah do to Gog and his forces? How affecting the nations?

¹⁴ Christendom will go on refusing to accept the knowledge of Jehovah God at the mouths and hands of his witnesses. But the awesome hour draws near when she will be made to know that these have been God’s witnesses, his “prophet among them”, and that He is Jehovah and that since 1914 his King, Jesus Christ, rules in the kingdom for the new world. But being MADE to know Jehovah at that time will be no blessing to her or the rest of this world. It will mean her own destruction amid a world destruction! Because of Christendom’s willful lack of knowledge, she is opposing Jehovah’s kingdom by his Christ. She is lining herself up with all the forces of Gog of Magog for the final assault upon the visible Theocratic organization of Jehovah’s people on earth. The propaganda inspired by the demons is hurrying all her rulers blindly, madly, on to the warfront of Armageddon. (Rev. 16:14-16) Shortly, at a thieflike hour, the Supreme Warrior for truth and righteousness will make himself known to all his opposers in a language that they will understand, the language of cosmic forces that will speak destruction to them. There was never anything like it before except the great deluge of Noah’s day. Meaning Gog and all his forces, Jehovah says:

¹⁵ “And I will call for a sword against him unto all my mountains, saith the Lord Jehovah: every man’s sword shall be against his brother. And with pestilence and with blood will I enter into judgment with him; and I will rain upon him, and upon his hordes, and upon the many peoples that are with him, an overflowing shower, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. And I will magnify myself, and sanctify myself, and I will make myself known in the eyes of many nations; and they shall know that I am Jehovah. And I will send a fire on Magog, and on them that dwell securely in the isles; and they shall know that I am Jehovah. . . . neither will I suffer my holy name to be profaned any more: and the nations shall know that I am Jehovah, the Holy One in Israel. Behold, it cometh, and it shall be done, saith the Lord Jehovah; this is the day whereof I have spoken.”—Ezek. 38:21-23 and Eze 39:6-8, AS.

16. Who will act as God’s executional officer? How will he reward the obedient ones and those willfully ignorant?

¹⁶ Christ Jesus the King will act as Jehovah’s executional officer amid that world destruction, and the fact that he is now present in his kingdom and owns the earth as his domain will be forcibly revealed to all his opposers. Their destruction will bring welcome relief to all of us who choose to know and obey God. As it is written: “It is righteous on God’s part to repay tribulation to those who make tribulation for you, but, to you who suffer tribulation, relief along with us at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels in a flaming fire, as he brings due punishment upon those who do not know God and those who do not obey the good news about our Lord Jesus. These very ones will pay the penalty of everlasting destruction from before the Lord and from the glory of his strength, at the time he comes to be glorified.” (2 Thess. 1:6-10, NW) What an INGLORIOUS end for their disobedient failure to take in now the knowledge of the only true God and of Jesus Christ, whom he has now sent forth as King!

SURVIVAL

17. What do we expect for ourselves at Armageddon? So what must we do now respecting knowledge?

¹⁷ However, that is not the way WE want to learn to know Jehovah God and his Christ. We want to know them in a way that means everlasting life, not destruction. God has given us his holy spirit, and he has baptized his faithful remnant of Kingdom heirs with his spirit and enlightened them with the deep things revealed by that spirit in God’s Word. But Christendom will shortly be baptized with fire, the fire of destruction at Armageddon. (Matt. 3:11, 12) We do not await destruction at the battle of Armageddon, but confidently expect to survive through that fiery time into the new world. Nevertheless, to realize such preservation at the end of this world, just as Noah and his ark companions enjoyed preservation at the watery end of the former world, we must live according to knowledge. The knowledge which God has revealed to us by his spirit in these last days sets up high principles of living. We must live up to those principles. We must hold fast to this knowledge by living according to it and by giving it out to others. We must increase in knowledge in harmony with the predicted increase of knowledge, to make us strong to bear all the pressures of these perilous times. “A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth might.” (Prov. 24:5, AS) So let us wisely continue taking in knowledge from on high.

18. Do we know the time for Armageddon? How, then, must we live?

¹⁸ We may not know now the day or the hour when the battle of Armageddon will break out and the wicked heavens and earth of the Devil’s world will be dissolved to make way for the new heavens and earth of the precious new world. We do not need to know, but every day we can live in the consciousness that it is near. We can live lives that harmonize with our steadfast hope of soon entering the glorious new things which Jehovah God will create. No more living for the old world for us!

19. What sort of persons does Peter say we ought to be?

¹⁹ The apostle Peter looked forward to this new world, and he tried to live worthy’ of entering it. And especially for the benefit of us living at this world climax he wrote telling us how he tried to live and how we ought to live. After describing the world-wide flood of Noah’s time and then the thieflike arrival of Jehovah’s destructive day upon the Devil’s heavens and earth, Peter wrote: “Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in holy acts of conduct and deeds of godly devotion, awaiting and keeping close in mind the presence of the day of Jehovah, through which the heavens being on fire will be dissolved and the elements being intensely hot will melt. But there are new heavens and a new earth that we are awaiting according to his promise, and in these righteousness is to dwell. Hence, beloved ones, since you are awaiting these things, do your utmost to be found finally by him spotless and unblemished and in peace. Furthermore, consider the patience of our Lord as salvation.”—2 Pet. 3:11-15, NW.

20. What does living that way mean for us at the world’s end? So what will we do?

²⁰ As we are expecting to enter the new world in which righteousness is to dwell, then let us live in righteousness. We know the Lord God’s day is coming for the destruction of all those who are spotted and blemished with this world and not at peace with God. He will approve only those whom he finds spotless, unblemished and in peace. These he will preserve through the world’s end. And if we daily do our utmost to be found finally, at that last day of this world, in a spotless, unblemished and peaceful condition, what else could this mean but that we will win his approval and protection and will survive the fiery end into the bright new world with its glories? What a wonderful possibility! What an opportunity of all opportunities! By the undeserved kindness from on high, we will avail ourselves of it by faithfully taking in the knowledge of the true God and of Jesus Christ, for “this means everlasting life”.—John 17:3, NW.

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Life

Death

Clergyman Notes Faith of Jehovah’s Witnesses

One of Jehovah’s witnesses preaching from door to door in Arkansas met a householder who said, “I wish all you Jehovah’s witnesses could have heard our pastor yesterday. He gave a wonderful sermon on faith.” Then this person quoted the clergyman as saying: “I don’t know how you feel about it, but in my estimation there is only one organization on this earth that really has faith in what they believe, and that is the organization of Jehovah’s witnesses. Would you [pointing to congregation] have the faith and courage to stand on the street corner and put forth your views and be laughed at, scorned, mocked, arrested, beaten and put in prison and still continue to do it? Would you have the faith and courage to stand there in the snow, rain and heat and not become discouraged? Would you have the faith and courage to ring door bell after door bell and receive in return doors slammed in your face and still continue in your belief? I don’t believe you can say that you have that kind of faith. If our church had the kind of faith that this group of Jehovah’s witnesses have, we’d have a tremendous organization.”

Victory over Death

THE majority of men fight death with the wrong weapons. The first human pair blundered, for they sought to retain life by disobeying God. Rejecting Jehovah’s warning that disobedience to him would mean death, Eve listened to Satan’s prescription that godlike living safe from death would come to her by eating forbidden fruit. Adam, though not deceived, foolishly followed his wife’s diet that she supposed would lead to an enlightened existence as gods. But instead it opened the door to death, not only for Adam and Eve but for all their descendants.—Gen. 2:17; 3:3-6, 19; 5:5; Rom. 5:12.

Satan had said to Eve “Ye shall not surely die” and “Ye shall be as gods”; and since false religion’s beginning till now it has taken up these satanic lies as its chief assurance against death. Religious teachings of reincarnation and of immortality of the human soul are as false as their foundation laid by Satan the Devil. The following Bible texts prove them so: “What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave?” “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” “That which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.” “The living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” “The wages sin pays is death.”—Ps. 89:48; 146:4; Eccl. 3:19, 20; 9:5, 10; Ezek. 18:4; Rom. 6:23, NW.

VICTORY EFFORTS OF FALSE RELIGION

But false religion in ancient times had more to offer than Satan’s lie that death was just the doorway to spirit immortality. It sought to heal through the practice of medicine, and from ancient times the priests of pagan religions were the doctors and physicians, and claimed to possess supernatural powers to cure both body and soul. They believed sickness the work of an evil spirit or visitation from a deity, and the prescription involved sorcery or occult divination. If the ailment was from a demon, the patient was subjected to horrible treatment in the belief that if the demon’s abode, the patient’s body, was made miserable enough the demon could not stand it and would flee. So the medicine men made deafening noises and terrifying faces, while the sick one underwent heat or other pain and inhaled nauseating odors. Quite a bedside manner, those religious doctors had.

Some of the Jews that fell away from God’s worship used as medicines such items as fish gall, saliva, cowdung, urine, and bat’s blood. Chinese medicine men brewed superstitious prescriptions with quackery and black magic. Powdered turtle shells were to give long life, tiger bones soaked in wine were to give the tiger’s strength, gorilla blood for feminine ailments, powdered snakeskin for rheumatism, and powdered lizardskin for stomach trouble and hiccups. Herbs were used to a degree, especially by the Hebrews and Egyptians, and the latter gained a meager knowledge of anatomy and produced a few surgical instruments. The Greeks combined the superstitions of Babylon and Persia with the medical learning of the Egyptians, and medical schools sprang up, one of which is attributed to Hippocrates, who is called the father of medicine.

Medical knowledge with which to fight death was on the advance, but with the rise of papal dictatorship by a religious organization during the Dark Ages this advance was halted and turned back. The prevailing religion of that time was opposed to the invasion of the field of healing by scholarly doctors, was against the spoiling of pastures long dominated by the priests. Surgery and bodily cleanliness and other health measures were opposed, and in their stead were practiced such superstitions as carrying horse chestnuts in your pocket to cure rheumatism, placing a catfish on your brow to cure epilepsy, wearing amulets and religious medals to cure anything and everything, and even eating pages of the Bible that told of miracles was practiced to gain miraculous cures. But during all this time priestly medicine men of these false religions gained no victory over death.

MODERN MEDICINE SEEKS VICTORY

After the Reformation medical knowledge surged ahead, and in this atomic age its discoveries rocket along at supersonic speed. The attacks on the enemy death come from many battle fronts—from physicians, surgeons, herbalists, dieticians, chiropractors, osteopaths, etc., and even from some religionists who say that your ruptured appendix or your gallstones are only in your head. But, despite it all, the enemy death continues laying low patient and healer alike. Against the penalty of death is directed the full force of what men hail as science’s brilliant accomplishments, as different brands of doctors massage muscles, manipulate bones, jab with their needles, inject their serums, pepper you with pills, reduce you, fatten you, fast you, feed you, exercise you, and even slit you with the surgeon’s blade to cast as a peace offering to the enemy death an appendix, a tonsil, a kidney, a leg or an arm—but even this desperate retreat before disease soon comes to a stone wall as some vital organ is cornered and death collects its prey.

Do not misunderstand. Doctors today relieve much suffering, prolong many lives, render praiseworthy service to humanity, and deserve credit for the good they do. But the point being made is that their battle against death is only a delaying action, not a final victory. Any deliverance from disease they effect only hands the patient over to the clutches of old age. The delaying action is but brief postponement, and death is so patient, the grave can wait. And it never has to wait long, even if man reaches the Biblical life span of “threescore years and ten” or “fourscore years”. (Ps. 90:10) At best, man’s present life on this earth is fleeting. As Job said: “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.”—Job 14:1, 2; Ps. 102:11; 144:4; Isa. 40:6, 7.

Today’s doctors may not lay a fish on your head to cure epilepsy or give you powdered lizardskin for hiccups, but for all their scientific advances they are no nearer to a real victory over death than the witch doctor of antiquity. What if science has brought a torrent of brilliant medical weapons up to the front to fight death? Death continues to stalk through the fields of humanity and leaves in its wake windrow upon windrow of felled corpses. Several causes might be cited as contributors to death’s rising toll, but the two vital ones are man’s continuing degeneration and Satan’s foretold woes of wars and calamities, famines and pestilences, for these last days of this evil world.—Matt. 24:3, 7; Rev. 12:12.

HOW VICTORY COMES

Yet this flood of death-dealing woes is no cause for being disheartened or downcast, for after predicting such things Christ Jesus said: “But as these things start to occur, raise yourselves erect and lift your heads up, because your deliverance is getting near.” (Luke 21:28, NW) Deliverance from suffering, sickness and death by this world’s end and a righteous new world’s beginning. But by whose hand does deliverance from death come? From men? Psalm 49:7, 14, 15 answers no: “None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him. Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave.”

Jehovah God redeems men by meeting the law requirement of a ransom, by sending Jesus to earth “to give his soul a ransom in exchange for many”. (Lev. 17:11; Deut. 19:21; Matt. 20:28, NW) And how in a practical way does this victory over death come through Christ Jesus? By a resurrection of the dead! By opening the graves, emptying them, releasing from them the numberless human dead that the death penalty has stored up for the past thousands of years! Scriptural testimony abounds on this point. “Since death is through a man, resurrection of the dead is also through a man. For just as in Adam all are dying, so also in the Christ all will be made alive.” “There is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.” “The hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.” (1 Cor. 15:21, 22; Acts 24:15; John 5:28, 29, NW) Those who then obey will live forever, for it is concerning that resurrection time that Jesus said, “Everyone that is living and exercises faith in me will never die at all.”—John 11:23-26, NW.

Proverbs 30:15, 16 discloses that the grave is one of those things that never says, It is enough. For centuries it has gorged and stuffed itself, but the gluttonous grave will be emptied by the resurrection of the dead and the “second death” in Gehenna will be avoided by the eternal obedience of those who attain to Jehovah’s new world. And why will the Armageddon survivors and the resurrected ones that prove faithful not eventually die again? Because the sin and degeneration inherited from Adam will be erased by the ransom, and because the Devil that possesses the power of death will be destroyed. (Heb. 2:14; Rev. 20:10) At Jehovah’s battle of Armageddon it is Satan that will be laid low, and he will not be revived for a thousand years, and then only a little season elapses till he has the tables turned on him forever, being destroyed by Christ Jesus. As Satan has sown, so shall he reap. He has sown sin, he will reap destruction for himself. At his annihilation there will be no funeral, no mourners, no tears, only joy and happiness.

ETERNAL LIFE IN A NEW WORLD

In that new world, with earth’s inhabitants freed of the overlord Satan and properly organized under the Kingdom reign of Christ Jesus, the death that has for so long ravaged mankind will have been defeated, swallowed up in victory. No more will war take a toll of human life. “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” (Isa. 2:4) No famine, for “then shall the earth yield her increase” so abundantly that “the plowman shall overtake the reaper”, who because of heavy yields will still be gathering in produce when it is time for the plowman to prepare the ground for next season’s crops. (Ps. 67:6; Amos 9:13) Disease then? Jehovah promises to heal all diseases, to bring in health and cure, and that no more will man say, I am sick. (Ps. 103:3; Isa. 33:24; Jer. 33:6) Old age? No, for Job 33:24, 25 says: “Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom. His flesh shall be fresher than a child’s: he shall return to the days of his youth.” In short, nothing shall hurt or destroy in that new world without end.—Isa. 11:9; Eph. 3:21.

Now you may be surprised to hear this, but it is true that when some persons are told about a new world of righteousness wherein joy and happiness reign to the exclusion of all adversity and suffering, they say that they would not care to live in such a world, that it would become boresome and monotonous. Doubtless you have heard persons say that they were so tired, so sick, so sad, or so miserable that they wished they were dead. But have you ever heard anyone say that he was so happy that he wished he were dead? Did any suicide ever leave a note stating that he was having such a good time that he could stand it no longer? Of course not. And none will ever tire of living in a new world where no sorrow nor sickness nor death will mar happy existence, but all will long enjoy the work given into their hands at that time by their Creator.—Isa. 65:22; Rev. 21:1-5.

To sum up, death has been having its day for nearly 6,000 years. Soon life will have its day forever. Death has won many battles, but in the end it will lose the war. It is not men who thrash it. It is not whipped by religious doctrines of immortal souls. Reincarnation can take no victory bows. Neither penicillin nor pills nor powdered lizards can pose with a foot on the corpse of the enemy death and give vent to a victory cry. Death is vanquished only by Jehovah God through the kingdom of Christ. The way to share in the fruits of that victory over death is to now follow the way of life. Would you care to share in the spoils of victory, namely, eternal life? Then heed the divine prescription for life: “This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.”—John 17:3, NW.

Good News from Greece

OUT of war-torn and clergy-ridden Greece come both good and bad reports about Jehovah’s witnesses. The bad news tells about the terrible suffering that continues to be inflicted upon these humble Christians. The good news, on the other hand, relates how Almighty God is not only upholding and sustaining his witnesses in their affliction, but also how he is giving them marvelous opportunities in which to tell others about both Jehovah’s loving-kindness and tender mercy toward the meek of the earth, and his fierce and terrible anger shortly to be unleashed upon all of mankind’s wicked oppressors. This thrilling news report will cheer and comfort the hearts of all persons of all nations who love and fight for freedom and truth.

Last year on April 12, in Athens, nine of Jehovah’s witnesses were cruelly arrested while celebrating a most solemn feast, the Memorial supper instituted by Christ the night in which he was betrayed. These brethren of Christ were sentenced to many months in prison. This year, notwithstanding the fact that there was neither martial law nor emergency measures in force as a pretense for such wicked action, God’s enemies again swooped down on Jehovah’s witnesses. This time the incident occurred at Serres in Macedonia, where 35 of the Lord’s people and 4 interested persons of good will were assembled for the Memorial in obedience to Christ’s command. All were arrested, tried by a prejudiced court, and sentenced to jail terms ranging from 3 to 7 months in prison, and fines from 100,000 to 300,000 drachmas, and one year police paroles to follow.

You will be interested to know upon what the judges in that tyrannical country based their decision. A translation of that portion of the infamous sentence, No. 233, reads:

“ . . . that is to say, these, belonging to the heresy of Jehovah’s witnesses, put in operation a prayer-meeting home, having used for the purpose a room in the house of John Duzulikopulos, located at 33 Megalou Alexandrou street, which was properly arranged for the occasion by placing seats, benches, one suitably laid table, whereon they had placed unleavened bread and other vessels of their mass and various books of the heresy of Jehovah’s witnesses, such as The Watchtower and the like, seized by the authorities, and intended for their celebrating Christ’s Memorial (Passover). . . . ”

There is, however, another and a brighter side to this black inquisitional cloud of persecution. The trial lasted a whole day and was attended by about 500 persons who heard a tremendous witness about the work and faith of Jehovah’s people. Even the court had to deliberate for 2 ¹/₂ hours in order to reach a decision. Comments on the trial were published by the newspapers at Serres, Salonica and Athens. So in the end, everything proved to the glory of Jehovah’s name. As for the judgment handed down, an appeal was taken to a higher court at Salonica.

GOSPEL-PREACHING IN GREEK PRISONS

The assistant company servant in the Athens group of Jehovah’s witnesses recently completed a 120-day sentence in prison, not because he had done wrong, but because he serves God. In a letter he recounts the wonderful experiences that were his during his imprisonment, and from this letter the remainder of this article is taken.

“At first I was put in a provisional prison together with 27 to 30 other prisoners, all of which were put in one cell intended for only 5 or 6 persons. But it was a relatively tolerable room in point of cleanness and type of prisoners. Most of the others were merchants, military officers, lawyers, physicians, professors, gendarmes and other professionals.

“I was kept there 14 days and during that time 84 different prisoners passed through the room. By the Lord’s grace it was possible to hold two-hour public meetings every evening at which time talks were given about Jehovah’s kingdom by Christ and about God’s blessings of the future. All heard the witness that was given. Even the chief of department, his assistant, and all the jailers and gendarmes also heard. Thereafter, two of them manifested exceptional interest in the truth and today I started a home Bible study with one of them.

“Afterwards, I was taken to another prison in Athens, and because I did not want to disown Jehovah the God whom I worship, as demanded by the chief guardian, I was locked up with about 73 dangerous evil-doers and hashish-smokers. [Hashish is an intoxicating narcotic with the stupefying power of opium.] These people, in spite of their degenerate condition, were well aware of the Bible truth, having learned considerably from others of Jehovah’s witnesses who in times past had also been caged there.

“By the way, I deem it my duty to tell you that so far as I have been able to ascertain, the conduct of Jehovah’s witnesses who have served sentences in this and other prisons, and in the Makronesus and Yura prison islands, has contributed to a great advertising of the Lord’s name. This it seems is because of the Christian conduct of the brethren, and their prudence and Theocratic tactfulness during their various discussions. Thus the ground was suitably prepared by the time I arrived, and hence my ‘public speeches’ were greatly appreciated.

“Several among this group, however, heard for the first time about the Bible, about a loving God and his Kingdom, about the coming battle of Armageddon, and the imperative need for them to take their stand now at the right hand of Christ the King. These supposedly ‘evildoers and dope fiends’ listened with enthusiasm and requested that no day or evening pass without the giving of a Bible talk and discussion from God’s Word. As time went on, several of them, full of joy, were heard crying out to the jailers that from now on they are Jehovah’s witnesses! Indeed, they would try to cease their smoking, and two of them actually succeeded. They started to study the Bible, and before I left they took note of my home address so that upon their release from prison they can have a regular home Bible study started in their own home.

“My presence amidst these unfortunate people gave them a further opportunity to hear the good news of the Kingdom, and not only to hear but also to strengthen their hope for life under Jehovah’s kingdom rule by Christ.

“At the end of those 17 days, I was called before the prison’s director, who very civilly and politely recommended that I speak no more and make no more ‘propaganda’, as it was reported to him by his secret agents who are usually found in each of the prison rooms. As part of the bargain, and an inducement for me to comply with his request, the director promised to transfer me to another wing in the prison, thus affording me more freedom and ease.

“In replying to this offer, the director allowed me to explain that the mere discussion of my faith is not ‘propaganda’, and since speech itself, the mere use of the tongue, is not prohibited, it is most pleasant for me to talk about the coming blessings of the Creator and his Kingdom, instead of gossiping and discussing other subjects and things. I added that Jehovah’s witnesses do not meddle in matters and affairs of politics and business; that they are exclusively interested in knowing their Creator. So I availed myself of this opportunity to explain to him in brief our faith and God’s will as stated in the Bible.

“‘But why do you call God Jehovah?’ he asked. In reply I said: ‘The answer may be given to you by the religious inspector of the prisons himself, who is here present.’ With that I turned to this gentleman, who replied without hesitating: ‘God’s name is Jehovah, whether we like it or not.’ Well, my joy was very great, because the director heard from the mouth of an Orthodox clergyman that Jehovah is the name of God!

A MODERN “PAUL” AMONG PAGANS

“After learning that Jehovah is God, the director of the prison, who at first was so severe, ordered me to be taken to a better wing, to a room called Colonaki (meaning the ‘aristocratic quarter’), perhaps because he reasoned that those in there would give no heed to the message, owing to their social station in life and because many of them were scientists and educated atheists. However, developments were altogether different.

“In my immediate cell a broad witness was given to the 12 inmates in the form of lectures and discussions. They recognized that Jehovah’s witnesses are consistent in their practice with what they believe according to the Bible. They knew that orthodox religions have become the instruments of politics, that they are human institutions based on traditions, and that their teachings conflict with the Bible.

“This cell I was in was quite different from all the others I had been in until then, for not only did I have more ease and comfort, but I was also allowed free communication with the crowd of prisoners throughout the whole wing from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. So the Lord permitted me to become acquainted with this multitude of about 600 persons, some of whom proved to be ‘sheep’.

“One of these sheeplike persons was such a fanatical religionist prior to learning the truth that he had bought all the publications written by a professor in the Athens University against the witnesses. These he had donated to the prison’s library in the hope that the other prisoners would not be deluded by what he called the ‘heretic witnesses of Jehovah’. But because this man was honest of heart, like the Pharisee Saul who later became the apostle Paul, so now this person is a zealous witness for Jehovah.

“I must relate still another very interesting experience. A well-known professor in the Athens University published a sort of letter of criticism against Jehovah’s witnesses in the Athens paper Estia, which contained this statement: ‘They [Jehovah’s witnesses] distort the Bible and explain the Revelation, which is a sealed and closed book for all and forever.’ This publication caused quite a stir in our prison cell, and a fellow prisoner, who was a lawyer, after reading the professor’s statement, asked whether I had any different opinion. I told him: ‘First I shall hear your own opinion, but before you speak, read Revelation 22:10.’ So from a copy of the New Testament published by the Orthodox Brotherhood he read the Scripture: ‘Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book.’ Thereupon he exclaimed: ‘It is very obvious that the professor is not right, and I am amazed at his boldness to publicly insult Jehovah’s witnesses and distort the truth so bombastically.’

“The other listeners in the cell also hastened to read the paper’s publication and the verse referred to in Revelation, and they too showed surprise at the professor’s false statement. Giving them more information I said: ‘If you now read Revelation 1:1 where it is written, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants,” you will readily understand that this book is sealed and closed for the professor because he is not a servant of Christ, but the book is not closed to the servants of God and Christ, Jehovah’s witnesses. The very name of the book, Revelation, shows it would not be closed forever.’

“Now how many of those prisoners, who showed interest in this message of truth, will go ahead and progress in their knowledge of the Bible, only the Lord knows. Jehovah God knows His own, and will not permit any of His sheep to be lost. I thank the Lord with all my heart for the blessed experiences granted me during my detention. Out of season for me, but in season for those prisoners, I tried to avail myself of every opportunity to preach the Word. It is most evident from these experiences that all these hardships, persecutions and imprisonments heaped upon Jehovah’s witnesses here in Greece only go to prove the glory and majesty and greatness of our God, whose name alone is Jehovah!”

Isolated Publishers in Hawaii

It was very joyful at Kawaihae last Friday to find at least three isolated publishers in this beach town. One family said they were immersed about ten years ago by an early brother in the territory. One of them had seen us at the Chinese store and later stopped us on the road to contact us. It seems that no one had called here for over three years, and the religionists had tried to get them to burn their books, but they refused and plainly told them why. One family lost their home in the tidal wave of April, 1946, and they lost everything except the Salvation book. Now they would like to get some of these older books again. They took copies of the publications which we had with us at the time and subscribed for the Watchtower and Awake! magazines. The Awake! magazine and Equipped book were entirely new to them, and they were overjoyed when we told them of the many things that had happened since someone called there last. They didn’t know about the Gilead school and the conventions. We arranged to call there again in two weeks and hold a study in the book “Let God Be True” and help them to get organized for the Kingdom service. There are many isolated places on this large island of Hawaii, and, by the Lord’s grace, we hope to be able to reach them soon.—Special pioneer.

Writing Before the Flood

NOT so long ago people believed that Moses was the first to invent writing, doing so in order to carry out God’s commandment: “The LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book.” (Ex. 17:14) But even before this, in the days of Job, this man of affliction had cried out: “Oh that my defence were written, oh that my case could be preserved in writing, cut with an iron pen on lead, or lastingly engraved on stone!” He also spoke of “the scroll which my opponent has written”. (Job 19:23, 24, Mo; 31:35, 36, AT) At times scoffers have sought to discredit the Bible statement that Moses wrote the first five books, by claiming that writing was unknown at his time.

However, in recent years archaeologists have unearthed proof not only that writing was known at the time of Moses and even Job, but that it was used many centuries before the existence of these two men, even before the flood of Noah’s day, in 2370 B.C. The questions arise, How long before the flood did writing start? Where did it start? What was preflood writing like? How was it done? Why did Jehovah have a preflood written record kept? This article, backed by the authoritative sources shown in the footnotes, attempts to answer these questions.

“This is the book of the generations of Adam.” The use of the word book implies writing. ‘Adam’s written history’⁠¹a (Gen. 2:5 to 5:2) covers the period from man’s creation to the time of Tubal-cain, “the forerunner of those who forge vessels of bronze [copper] and iron.” (Gen. 4:22, Catholic Confraternity Version) Since Tubal-cain was a great-great-great-grandson of Enoch, Cain’s son, and Enoch was born near the time that Seth was born; Tubal-cain was probably a contemporary of Seth’s great-great-great-grandson Enoch, the son of Jared.⁠²b Since Enoch, the son of Jared, was born in 3404 B.C., Tubal-cain’s metal-working probably took place in the thirty-fourth century B.C. or a little later.⁠³c And as it is the latest event mentioned in ‘Adam’s history book’, that book was probably written in the thirty-fourth century B.C. or later; but not later than the end of the thirty-first century B.C., because Adam died in 3096 B.C. So ‘Adam’s history book’ was written probably between about 3350 and 3096 B.C.⁠⁴d

But this book is not the first one mentioned in the Bible. Genesis 2:4 says: “This is the book of the generation of heaven and earth.” (Bagster’s Septuagint) While this book of the “story of the heavens and the earth” (Confraternity) was not necessarily written in Eden,⁠⁵e it is probably older than ‘Adam’s history book’.

So writing has been done on earth since Adam’s time. Since he died 726 years before the flood came, writing must have started not later than that many years before the flood and possibly much earlier.

WHERE?

If Adam did not write the ‘history of the heavens and the earth’ in Eden, then we do not know exactly where writing started. Since two of the rivers which flowed out of the garden of Eden (the Euphrates and Hiddekel, or Tigris) rise in or near Armenia, the garden of Eden was probably somewhere in what is now known as Armenia. Genesis 3:24 indicates that Adam was driven eastward out of the garden of Eden, but the Scriptures do not reveal whether he remained there to the day of his death, or whether he moved about. His son Cain moved to the land of Nod, also east of Eden. (Gen. 4:16) While preflood human remains in various parts of the earth show that man had moved to various parts of the earth before the flood came, we know nothing of Adam’s movements after his expulsion from Eden.

Remains of preflood writing have been found in Elam (at Shushan) and in Shinar, and possibly at Ghassul in the southern Jordan valley and at Gebal on the Phoenician coast. Of these remains the oldest are those found in Shinar, if what was found at Ghassul was not writing.

At Ghassul a large number of inscribed objects have been dug up, including stones, pebbles, seals, bricks, and broken pottery. About 150 pieces of broken pottery (potsherds) have only one sign, others have from two to six signs each, and about 170 stones have similar inscriptions. All these marks are scratched on the objects. Most of the lines are straight, while curved lines are very rare.⁠⁶f This writing, if it really is writing, was done after Tubal-cain began to work in metals, for these marked objects appear sometime after copper objects do.⁠⁷g

Later than the inscriptions at Ghassul, inscriptions begin to show up in Shinar. Shinar was the flat plain built up by the mud, clay, etc., laid down by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and was later called also “Babylonia”.⁠⁸h Apparently this flat plain was still under water, and hence uninhabited, when Tubal-cain was working in metals, for copper objects are found in the highlands to the north of it before any signs of human habitation appear in Shinar.⁠⁹i The first to settle in Shinar were highlanders from the region east of Shinar.⁠⁹j They began to go there during the time that the inscriptions were being made at Ghassul. If they could write, they must have done so on perishable materials, for no inscription of theirs has been found. Next, some mountaineers from the center of what is now Turkey came down into Shinar and settled in Erech and other cities.⁠¹⁰k A while afterward their writing began to appear on clay tablets, the first writing to show up in Shinar. From this earliest period of preflood writing in Shinar several tablets have been found: 570 at Erech, one at Kish (just east of the place where the tower of Babel was later built), one at Umma and one from another Shinar site.⁠¹¹l This period is known as the Uruk (Erech) period.⁠¹²a In the next period, known as the Jemdet Nasr period, people from the eastern highlands came down into Shinar.⁠¹³b It was during this period that the flood came, probably toward the end. From the earlier part of the Jemdet Nasr period 34 inscribed tablets have been found at Erech and a few at other places in Shinar.⁠¹¹c From the latter part of that period 194 inscribed tablets have been dug up at Jemdet Nasr itself,⁠¹¹d a site in Shinar about 17 miles northeast of Kish.⁠¹⁴e As will be shown later, the very form of the writing showed that it did not start in Shinar, but that it was brought there from the mountains. Why, then, do the inscriptions not begin to show up as soon as the mountaineers move into Shinar? Possibly because when they first settled there they wrote on perishable materials that have not been preserved to our day, and it was only later that they started to use clay as a material to write on.⁠¹⁵f

WHAT PREFLOOD WRITING WAS LIKE

In Shinar the writing on preflood tablets consists of numbers followed by depicted objects. Thus the tablets were economic rather than historical.⁠¹⁶g If any historical writing was done there before the flood it must have been on perishable materials.

In the earliest Shinar texts found some of the signs are pictographs or pictures of the objects they are intended to represent, but many are used as ideographs too, that is, the sign is used to represent the underlying ideas associated with the things they represent as pictures; for example, a sign made up of three, four, or five intersecting lines, [Artwork—Shinar sign], was evidently a pictograph representing a star, but it was used also as an ideograph to represent the word heaven, sky, or god. However, signs appear in these inscriptions that do not resemble any object, signs that may represent words with abstract meanings.⁠¹⁷h Did they resemble some object in their original forms, or had they never been used as pictographs? Some 900 different signs have been found in the 570 oldest tablets from Erech. Perhaps this is not half the number that were in use. The 194 tablets from Jemdet Nasr have about 400 different signs. Of the 900 signs from early Erech 31 mean “sheep”, perhaps to distinguish their breed or quality. In the 34 tablets from Erech of the early Jemdet Nasr period, only three different signs are used which mean “sheep”. The reason may be that instead of using a totally different sign to indicate sheep of different breeds or qualities, the different breed or quality was indicated by another sign used with the same one for sheep.⁠¹⁸i

In the later Jemdet Nasr period a certain sign is sometimes used not to represent the word for which it stands but the sound of the syllable which was added to a word to make it plural.⁠¹⁹j

Since one sign might stand for several different words, the way that the writer indicated which one of the words he meant was to write with it another sign to indicate the general class to which the word belonged. Such added signs are called determinatives. The sign for god, [Artwork—Shinar sign], became one of such determinatives, and was used with the names of their demon gods. One instance of such use of it may appear on a tablet from Erech of the Uruk period. Another determinative appears on the tablets from Jemdet Nasr.⁠²⁰k One of the evidences that the Shinar writing did not originate there is that the symbol for sun was originally a picture of the sun rising between two mountain peaks, [Artwork—Shinar sign].⁠²¹l If the writing had originated in Shinar no doubt the sun would have been shown rising from the level horizon. Another evidence is the fact that the sign for land or homeland, which was used to designate the flat level plain of Shinar, was the picture of three mountain peaks, [Artwork—Shinar sign]. This shows that these signs must have been used in the mountains before they were used in Shinar.⁠²²a

On the tablets of the Uruk period no attempt was made to break up the text into lines or columns or to arrange the words in logical order. The signs were more or less uniformly distributed over the tablet without regard to the sense. On the larger tablets occasionally horizontal lines divided the text into two or three compartments. During the Jemdet Nasr period the larger tablets often had vertical lines dividing the signs into groups or compartments, though within such bands or columns the signs were still distributed without regard to order. The signs in the right-hand band were to be read first, then the signs in the next band to the left, etc.⁠²³b

At Erech during the Uruk period the lines were drawn in the clay and were thin. During the early Jemdet Nasr period the sign was imprinted into the clay and with a coarser stylus; therefore the lines were thicker.⁠²⁴c The curved lines were dropped and straight ones took their place.⁠²⁵d It was not until after the flood that the lines took on the wedgelike appearance that has given the name cuneiform (wedge-shaped) to all the Shinar writing on clay, stone, etc., preflood and postflood.⁠²⁶e

HOW AND WHY

The oldest tablets were mostly rectangular (square or oblong) one and a half to two inches long and one to one and a quarter inches broad. They were usually made of clay, though sometimes they were made of burnt gypsum mixed with sand. While the clay was still moist and soft, but not so soft that it stuck to the writer’s hand, the signs were written on it with a stylus. Before the flood the tablets were not baked, but just allowed to dry in the sun.⁠²⁷f

From the foregoing it appears that writing started in Adam’s time, centuries before the flood, in or near Eden, but not in Shinar, and became widespread at least in the Near East. Writing was pictographic, at least in part. It was scratched on clay or stone or was put on some perishable material.

And why did writing get such an early start? Evidently so that Jehovah could have a preflood written record of events kept as a safeguard against the lapses of memory of imperfect men, thus insuring an accurate uncorrupted transmission of the vital facts to future generations of God’s people.⁠²⁸g

[Footnotes]

D. Diringir, ibid., page 41: “We are also unable to decide whether the cuneiform system was invented in Mesopotamia or elsewhere, which seems more probable.”

[Map on page 299]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

TURKEY

ARMENIA

Tigris

Euphrates

Gebal

Jordan

Ghassul

Jemdet

Nasr

Shushan

Kish

Erech

Umma

Limits of Shinar and coastline at time of Adam’s creation

Coastline at time of the Flood

Joseph, the Foster Father of Jesus

JEHOVAH God, through his active force, the holy spirit, supervised the recording of the historical facts found in the Scriptures. No doubt for good reasons he did not see fit to have much written down regarding Joseph, the foster father of His human son Jesus. In striking contrast to apocryphal lore which is replete with details regarding Joseph’s life, the Bible contains very little regarding the humble though vital role that Joseph played in the early life of Jesus.

Joseph was a descendant of David through the line of Solomon. He was the son of one Jacob, the son-in-law of one Heli. (Matt. 1:16; Luke 3:23, margin) He was a carpenter and lived in Nazareth of Galilee. (Matt. 13:55; Luke 2:4) Without doubt, Joseph was a meek and humble Jew, one who had faith in God and who desired to do what is right. The few incidents of his life that are recorded in the Scriptures show that he was ever obedient to God’s commands, whether such were given to him directly by means of angels or were contained in the law of Moses.

Joseph was engaged to marry a maiden by the name of Mary. “During the time . . . Mary was promised in marriage to Joseph, she was found to be pregnant by holy spirit before they were united. However, Joseph her husband, because he was righteous and did not want to make her a public spectacle, intended to divorce her secretly. But after he had thought these things over, look! Jehovah’s angel appeared to him in a dream, saying: ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife home, for that which has been begotten in her is by holy spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you must call his name “Jesus”, for he will save his people from their sins.’ Then Joseph woke up from his sleep and did as the angel of Jehovah had directed him, and he took his wife home. But he had no relations with her until she gave birth to a son; and he called his name ‘Jesus’.”—Matt. 1:18-21, 24, 25, NW.

In obedience to the law of God Joseph presented Jesus at Jerusalem with an offering, as was required for all male firstborns. There he and Mary wondered as they heard Simeon utter his prophecy of the great things that Jesus would do. “So when they had carried out all the things according to the law of Jehovah, they went back into Galilee to their own city Nazareth.”—Luke 2:23-39, NW.

In the meantime three wise men, astrologers or magi, from the east were directed to Bethlehem to bring gifts to the child Jesus while there. “After they had withdrawn, look! Jehovah’s angel appeared in a dream to Joseph, saying: ‘Get up, take the young child and its mother and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I give you word; for Herod is about to hunt the young child to destroy it.’ So he got up and took the young child and its mother by night and withdrew into Egypt, and he stayed there until the decease of Herod.”—Matt. 2:1-15, NW.

Upon the death of Herod an angel of Jehovah again appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying: “Get up, take the young child and its mother and be on your way into the land of Israel.” However, hearing that Herod’s son Ar·che·laʹus was reigning in his father’s stead, he feared to return to Judea, and “being given divine warning in a dream, he withdrew into the territory of Galilee, and came and settled in a city named Nazareth”.—Matt. 2:19-23, NW.

In some things it seems that Joseph let his wife Mary take the initiative. Thus we find that when he and Mary returned to Jerusalem for the boy Jesus, whom they found in the temple, it is Mary and not Joseph who rebukes Jesus. Mary’s reference to Joseph as “your father” is in striking contrast to the boy Jesus’ own words: “Did YOU not know that I must be in the house of my Father?” (Luke 2:48, 49, NW) As Jesus grew up Joseph, no doubt, taught him the carpenter trade, for Jesus was known not only as the son of a carpenter but also as “the carpenter, the son of Mary”.—Mark 6:3.

The Scriptures are silent as to the death of Joseph, but that statement at Mark 6:3 indicates he was then dead. Also it is not likely that he survived Jesus, for had he done so Jesus would not have commended his mother to his favorite disciple and apostle John, “whom he loved,” as he hung on the torture stake.—John 19:26, 27.

Joseph will be among the countless dead that will hear the voice of the Son of man and come forth to a resurrection. (John 5:28, 29, NW) Hearing of God’s provision for eternal life, doubtless he will gladly avail himself of it and will be an obedient subject of the great King, Christ Jesus, even as he was an obedient servant of God when he was the foster father of Jesus more than 1900 years ago.

“Stick to Your Work”

WORK that is worth while is very profitable. The expending of energy and time in doing things and accomplishing tasks, if they are of the right sort, in the end proves to be beneficial. But if you do not know what work is worth while and of the right sort, then pick out a noble example of a profitable workman and follow him. Look to the perfect example Christ Jesus! He became the slave-servant of his Father Jehovah God. “My Father has kept working until now, and I keep working,” he said. (John 5:17, NW) Jesus’ ministry was great and marvelous, his work was righteous and good and of enduring value. Profitable to him? Indeed so, for when it was completed he was exalted to the highest position in the universe next to the Most High God. In addition, his work was most beneficial to all others who will love and serve Jehovah God.

And how did the Model Workman go about his praiseworthy task? “Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.” (Matt. 9:35) This noble Example showed his disciples how to put to work their faculties, talents and abilities in God’s service work. On one occasion he sent them out on a preaching tour with instructions to cover the territory, town by town, place by place, and to stick to it until they had completed the circuit.—Luke 9:1-6; Matthew 10.

But that did not complete the work; more of the same thing must follow. Disciples of Christ as workers would have to go to “all nations” before this important work would be finished. (Matt. 28:19, 20; Acts 1:8) That meant there was still much work to be done. A lot of territory would have to be covered. Much time would be required. Those privileged to engage in it would therefore have to stay with it and not walk off the job.

But how is one today able to stick to this work begun nearly two thousand years ago? An important question, especially in these “last days”, when the Devil is furiously attacking the Lord’s servants in an all-out effort to drive them from their Kingdom work. (1 Pet. 5:8, 9) Make no mistake about it, Satan and his demons will use every trick in the bag in an effort to turn you away from serving Jehovah God. If persecution from the world fails, he may bring opposition from your close relatives. If these snares fail to catch you the wicked one may bait the trap with material things—money, position, glittering entertainment, worldly lusts and vanities. But if you want to get on with your Theocratic work never take time out to sample these attractions. Keep your hands on the plow. Look straight ahead. Never “look back”.—Luke 9:62; 17:31, 32.

Answering the question directly: Stick to your work of gospel-preaching by following the wonderful patterns set by Christ and his disciples. Your time, strength and opportunities are limited. Use them as a true follower of Christ should. Be diligent in attending the instructive assemblies provided for you in the Kingdom Halls of Jehovah’s witnesses. Be regular in your preaching work from house to house. Call back on people that are interested. Start Bible studies in the homes of these people of good will. “Watch yourself and watch your teaching; stick to your work; if you do that, you will save your hearers as well as yourself.”—1 Tim. 4:16, Mo.

How profitable is this work! Not only will you and your hearers have joys with contentment and peace of mind now, but you will gain life in God’s new world.

Questions From Readers

● How many days was Jesus in the tomb? Some say three full days. Is that correct?—Vermont subscriber.

No. But some argue so from Jesus’ words: “As Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matt. 12:40) This would seem to mean a full 72 hours, but we must not ignore other similar expressions that show the actual intent of the words. In the Bible “three days” does not necessarily mean three full days, but may mean parts of three different days. Hence when Rehoboam told the people to return in “three days” they came back “the third day, as the king had appointed”. (1 Ki. 12:5, 12) Jesus spoke of himself as being resurrected “the third day”. (Luke 24:46) Repeatedly the Scriptures speak of Jesus as being raised the third day; but if he had remained in the grave three full days, or 72 hours, it would have been the fourth day. Jesus was put to death on a Friday afternoon, remained in the grave Saturday, and was raised Sunday morning. For detailed consideration of this matter see the March 15, 1944, Watchtower.

● What is meant by the words at 1 John 3:18: “Let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth”?—Reader in Florida.

It means that one cannot be pleasing to the Lord by just being sanctimonious and speaking softly and following forms and ceremonies, but doing no real service to God. In addressing Jewish religionists Jesus quoted Isaiah 29:13, saying: “You hypocrites, Isaiah aptly prophesied about you, when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, yet their hearts are far removed from me. It is in vain that they keep paying respect to me, because they teach commands of men as doctrines.’” Again, “Not everyone saying to me, ‘Master, Master,’ will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but the one doing the will of my Father.” (Matt. 15:7-9; 7:21, NW) Jehovah’s will for Christians is that they now preach the Word, preach the gospel of the Kingdom throughout the nations of earth. (Matt. 24:14; 2 Tim. 4:2) Those who love God will prove it by obedience to his will. “If you love me, you will observe my commandments.” “This is what the love of God means, that we observe his commandments.”—John 14:15; 1 John 5:3, NW.

● Must consecrated women who participate in congregational meetings have their heads covered?—Reader in California.

After stating that the head of the woman is man, the head of man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God, Paul writes: “Every woman that prays or prophesies with her head unveiled shames the one who is her head.” (1 Cor. 11:3-10, NW) Commenting on this, the book “This Means Everlasting Life” states: “In the apostle’s day, and especially there in the scandalously immoral city of ancient Corinth, it was the custom for respectable women to go veiled in public. For a woman to go otherwise to public assemblies was to brand her a woman of low moral standards and easy virtue. . . . In these modern times or in lands where custom does not require women of the community to go veiled as a sign of respectability, Christian decency does not require the woman to comply with that ancient custom for the sake of the faith and organization. . . . But regardless of popular custom, if a woman today should rise in a congregation and pray or prophesy to the believing men and women present, she should veil her head or have a ‘sign of authority upon her head because of the angels’.” (Pages 161, 162) Hence if a Theocratic assignment requires a woman to pray at or to conduct a Bible study meeting she should wear a sign of authority while so performing, to show recognition of the Theocratic headship of the man and “because of the angels”. However, no head covering is necessary when she participates by merely answering questions put to the audience or relating experiences or serving in demonstrations.

Announcements

“IT IS NEARER THAN YOU THINK” TESTIMONY PERIOD

The month of October has been designated “It Is Nearer than You Think” Testimony Period. Do you believe, as do the majority of the readers of The Watchtower, that the final end of all wickedness is very near at hand, much nearer than the uninformed think? If you do, you will undoubtedly desire to join with us in the activity to which this October Testimony Period is to be devoted, namely, the taking of subscriptions for the Awake! magazine. Awake! the companion magazine to The Watchtower, is issued on the 8th and 22nd of every month. It plays a very important part in awakening the people to the nearness of the expression of God’s wrath at Armageddon. You will want your friends and neighbors to have the timely information it presents, and you can aid them by offering a year’s subscription for Awake! at the regular rate of one dollar. We shall be pleased to send you instructions and also helpful forms on which to report your activity as well as to secure the essential information so that the subscriptions you obtain will be correctly addressed.

WATCH TOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY ANNUAL MEETING OF CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP

The annual meeting of the members of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society will be held on Sunday, October 1, 1950, at ten o’clock in the forenoon. The place of the meeting will be at the registered office of the Society located in the Wabash Building, 410 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh 22, Pennsylvania. The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society is a nonprofit Pennsylvania corporation, and at this, the 1950 annual meeting, regular business of the corporation will be transacted. Those who are members of the corporation will receive the regular notice of the meeting together with proxy forms by mail in the usual way, and this announcement supplements the letters of notification. As soon as convenient after receiving the regular notice and proxy form each member should fill out and mail his proxy to the office of the secretary of the Society, 124 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn 2, New York. This should be done by every member whether attending the meeting in person or not, and we should like to have all of the proxies in not later than September 15, 1950.

NEW PUBLICATIONS RELEASED

Watchtower readers will be interested in learning that several new publications were released at the recent International Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses in New York city. So that our friends not associated with a company of Jehovah’s witnesses may obtain personal copies, these publications are here listed, together with a brief description and the contribution necessary to obtain each.

The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures is a completely new translation of the Greek Scriptures, accomplished entirely by consecrated hands. It is accurate to the latest Bible research and contains many splendid study helps. $1.50 a copy.

“This Means Everlasting Life” is a new 320-page bound volume which clearly sets forth the prospects of everlasting life as based upon the promises of God. Publishers’ edition 50c.

Can You Live Forever in Happiness on Earth? is a new 32-page self-covered booklet. It contains the text of the public talk delivered by the president of the Watchtower Society, N. H. Knorr, at the International Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses. 5c a copy.

Evolution versus The New World. This is a 64-page, colored-cover booklet which presents the evidence for both evolution and the Bible’s new world. 5c a copy.

Defending and Legally Establishing the Good News. This new 96-page booklet provides a review of the laws and helpful suggestions to those interested in the guarantees of freedom. 10c a copy.

Songs to Jehovah’s Praise. This new 96-page songbook contains 91 songs, many of which are new. The music is beautiful and the words are in complete harmony with God’s expressed purposes. 15c a copy.

Any of the above publications will be mailed to you postpaid. Send your order and contribution to Watchtower Society, 117 Adams Street, Brooklyn 1, N. Y.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES

Week of October 8: Taking in Life-giving Knowledge, ¶1-19.

Week of October 15: Living According to Superior Knowledge, ¶1-20.