The Watchtower — February 15, 1952

“Hold a Good Conscience”

“LET your conscience be your guide,” is a popular slogan of these times. But differently educated consciences guide their owners down widely divergent paths. A conscience developed in an environment of polygamy accepts the practice without a twinge. Another reared in surroundings of general sexual laxity and common-law marriages takes such wrongs for granted. Still another spawned in an atmosphere of sly business methods or general graft or political corruption silently condones such evils on the grounds that they are the accepted ways. Such improperly educated consciences are not safe guides. They have become so contaminated by their surroundings and so calloused through abuse that they are no longer clean and sensitive to sound out warnings and give safe guidance.

Their owners are more like animals, in that beasts have no conscience. Conscience, which is an inward sense of right and wrong that excuses or accuses us, is a gift from God to men. An animal may be trained to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It does not conform to this training out of a sense of right and wrong; it does so out of a fear of its master’s wrath. Fear of a beating, or harsh words, or some deprivation of liberty or privilege. When men correct wrongs only when exposure is near and punishment imminent, they are prodded by fear of consequences, and not by the conscience that knew all along about the wrongdoing yet did not guide its owner to corrective measures. To thus act on the fear of wrath alone is selfish and brutish. Some contend that President Truman now moves to crack down on government corruption out of a fear of political consequences rather than out of a good conscience and love of rightdoing, as shown by the following editorial comment: “Mr. Truman too often clings to old friends, to employes of old friends and to friends of old friends right down to the point where he either has to stop clinging or get into bad trouble.”—New York Times, December 14, 1951.

Christians obey God not only out of a fear of his wrath, but also and primarily out of a good conscience, a conscience trained in its sense of right and wrong by God’s Word. Paul made that point when he was admonishing Christians to be subject to the Higher Powers, Jehovah and Christ: “There is therefore compelling reason for you to be in subjection, not only on account of that wrath but also on account of your conscience.” (Rom. 13:5, NW) It is the divinely educated conscience with its prickings and proddings that helps in safely guiding Christians, much as the ancient goads kept the oxen plodding in the right way. (Acts 26:14, NW) Christians request of God this gift of a good conscience, made available to them through Christ. (1 Pet. 3:21, Ro) Receiving it, they treasure it and keep it clear and clean, that it might guide them safely. (Acts 23:1; 24:16) It helps them apply righteous principles to their daily living, making unnecessary detailed and written laws of conduct. The activity of the conscience in this capacity is shown by Paul, as follows:

“The hearers of law are not the ones righteous before God, but the doers of law will be declared righteous. For whenever people of the nations that do not have law do by nature the things of the law, these people although not having law are a law to themselves. They are the very ones who demonstrate the matter of the law to be written in their hearts, while their conscience is bearing witness with them and, between their own thoughts, they are being accused or even excused.”—Rom. 2:13-15, NW.

The conscience must be protected from defilement and scarring. We should not contaminate it with false reasonings and rationalizations to silence its legitimate protests. If one’s conscience forbids his doing something, he should not do it. If there is no wrong in the act, he should seek to further educate his conscience to that fact by absorbing additional Scriptural truths before doing it. Then he will maintain his conscience in a state of peace, untroubled and at ease. This regard for conscience is necessary if it is to remain sensitive to wrong. We must not go roughly and heedlessly against its cries and thereby wound it, and forcing it to callous and scar over for its own healing and protection. We should not practice hypocrisy, doing things unconscientiously. Paul warned that in the last days some would fall away “by the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, marked in their conscience as with a branding iron”. (1 Tim. 4:2, NW) The mark left by a branding iron becomes scarred tissue void of the sense of feeling. A conscience so marked is incapable of sensing right or wrong.

Paul was very much aware of the voice of conscience, not only that of his own but also that of others. He would refrain from doing things his own conscience would allow, if those things would have offended the weaker consciences of others. Hence we read: “‘Conscience,’ I say, not yours, but that of the other person. For why should it be that my freedom is judged by another person’s conscience?” (1 Cor. 8:7-13; 10:27-29, NW) Contrary to some views, Paul was not here defending his personal rights and contending that his freedom of action should not be restricted by the judgments of others. Rather, he was saying that he would refrain from using the freedom his conscience granted him, if by using it he would be judged adversely by another person with a weaker conscience. He preferred to forego his conscientious freedom, if by using it he would trouble his weaker brother’s conscience.

But, on the other hand, Paul would not refrain from conscientious obedience to God’s Word just because that might offend consciences miseducated according to the false religions of his time. The remedy in such circumstances was not the abandonment of God’s service by Paul, but corrective, Scriptural education of the consciences defiled by false religions. The good things of God’s pure worship may seem unclean to defiled consciences, but clean to the divinely trained conscience. Hence Paul wrote: “All things [of the true faith] are clean to clean persons. But to persons defiled and faithless [because of contamination by false religious fables] nothing is clean, but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They publicly declare they know God, but they disown him by their works, because they are detestable and disobedient and disapproved for every good work.”—Titus 1:13-16, NW.

So we must obey our consciences if they are trained according to the righteous principles of God’s Word. We must show a high regard for the weaker consciences of some of our less mature brothers in the faith. But we must not let the defiled and faithless consciences of worldlings be our guides, nor allow them to turn us from rightdoing. To hold to our godly conscience may call for fortitude, but that will be agreeable to us and to God: “If someone because of conscience toward God bears up under afflictions and suffers unjustly, this is an agreeable thing.” (1 Pet. 2:19, NW) At all times and under all circumstances, “Hold a good conscience.”—1 Pet. 3:16, NW.

The Memorial—Are You Entitled to Partake?

Every year early in the northern spring the nations have witnessed the celebration of religious meals by certain systems of belief and which seem to be related. This year the Jews eat their passover meal Wednesday night, April 9, and the Roman Catholics and Protestants celebrate Good Friday on April 11, whereas the Greek Catholic systems celebrate on the following Friday, April 18.

The thousands of companies of Jehovah’s witnesses throughout the earth in 121 lands celebrate the supper memorializing Christ’s death Thursday night, April 10. The reason that the Jewish celebration and professed Christian celebrations are so close as to time is that the meal for memorializing Christ’s death was instituted on the passover night, right after Jesus and his faithful apostles had partaken of the passover supper, as they were all Jews by nature. There Jesus Christ gave out instructions for his followers to celebrate yearly on that anniversary date. Jehovah’s witnesses strictly obey his instructions, celebrating the memorial meal on the anniversary date, namely, the 14th day of the Jewish month Nisan, whereas the Catholic and Protestant sects hold a celebration on the day of the week, Friday, nearest to Nisan 14, Friday being the day he was nailed to the stake on Calvary to die a martyr’s death.

“First let a man approve himself after scrutiny, and thus let him eat of the loaf and drink of the Cup.”—1 Cor. 11:28, NW.

1, 2. What is here the question, and what did Paul say for our advice?

TO PARTAKE or not to partake—that is the question. Catholic or Protestant, Christian or not Christian, you must decide the answer to this question respecting the Lord’s Memorial evening meal. Here is what the apostle Paul says for the advice of us all:

² “I received from the Lord that which I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was going to be handed over took a loaf and, after giving thanks, he broke it and said: ‘This means my body which is in your behalf. Keep doing this in remembrance of me.’ He did likewise respecting the cup also, after he had the evening meal, saying: ‘This cup means the new covenant by virtue of my blood. Keep doing this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this loaf and drink this cup, you keep proclaiming the death of the Lord, until he arrives. Consequently, whoever eats the loaf and drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty respecting the body and the blood of the Lord. First let a man approve himself after scrutiny, and thus let him eat of the loaf and drink of the cup. For he that eats and drinks eats and drinks judgment against himself if he does not discern the body. That is why many among you are weak and sickly and quite a few are sleeping in death. But if we would discern what we ourselves are, we would not be judged. However, when we are judged, we are disciplined by Jehovah, that we may not become condemned with the world. Consequently, my brothers, when you come together to eat it, wait for one another. If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, that you may not come together for judgment.”—1 Cor. 11:23-34, NW.

3, 4. About what spiritually disordered people do we ask, and why?

³ Are you among those who Paul in his day said were sleeping in death while many others were weak and sickly, spiritually so? Why we ask is because hundreds of millions today go through at least a form of celebrating the Lord’s supper or Eucharist, as they call it, and yet what is their spiritual condition? These hundreds of millions of Catholics and Protestants of Christendom are very sick spiritually, very weak in Christian faith and practice. Quite a few are spiritually dead when it comes to responding and becoming alive to the glorious message of God’s kingdom which Jehovah’s witnesses are proclaiming worldwide today. Their social, moral and religious condition agrees with the description given by the apostle Paul in these words:

⁴ “Men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, self-assuming, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, without gratitude, with no loving-kindness, having no natural affection, not open to any agreement, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, without love of goodness, betrayers, headstrong, puffed up with self-esteem, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God, having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power; . . . wicked men and impostors will advance from bad to worse, misleading and being misled.”—2 Tim. 3:2-5, 13, NW.

5, 6. (a) What does this worsening condition of Christendom mean, and what is the root of the trouble? (b) What question must we intelligently decide to avoid incurring judgment?

⁵ That condition grows worse in Christendom every year. What is the meaning of it? It means the “last days” for Christendom and for this world. Yes, and all those who remain in that low spiritual condition face destruction in the universal war of Armageddon with which this worldly system of things will end. For the apostle prefaces the description above with the words: “But know this, that in the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here.” Most of those religionists with a form of godly devotion try at least once a year on their Good Friday to take what they call “holy communion”. So what is responsible for their dangerously poor spiritual health? The same apostle diagnoses the root of their trouble, saying in his discussion of the Lord’s evening meal: “First let a man approve himself after scrutiny, and thus let him eat of the loaf and drink of the cup. For he that eats and drinks eats and drinks judgment against himself if he does not discern the body.” Ah, there is the trouble! “That is why many among you are weak and sickly and quite a few are sleeping in death.”—1 Cor. 11:28-30, NW.

⁶ They do not understand the meaning of the Memorial supper emblems which Jesus used. They do not appreciate or take seriously their responsibility in partaking of those emblems, even in pretense. Hence they prove false to the power of real godly devotion in their lives and are weak and sickly in that respect, if not already in a death sleep. The anniversary date of the Lord’s evening meal is now getting close. It must keep on being observed “until he arrives”. Will you partake or are you worthy to partake of that Memorial meal with Christ’s followers? Are you obligated by the Lord’s command to partake or are you excluded from it? That is a question each one must decide for himself after scrutiny. Partakers must be alive to discerning the Lord’s body and must appreciate what their taking the Memorial emblems means for them. Else they will partake to their judgment.

DIFFERENCE OF UNDERSTANDING

7, 8. What results from difference of understanding show poor spiritual health, and over what words is there great dispute?

⁷ Difference of understanding on what the Memorial emblems mean has caused great religious splits, controversies, yes, religious wars and persecutions in which much human blood has been spilled and shocking unchristian cruelties been perpetrated. All this is a proof of very poor spiritual health owing to a failure to discern the Lord’s body. The great dispute over what words mean has led to all kinds of ungodliness. That we may have before us the account of Jesus’ words and of the privileges he conferred upon his followers, we here quote the account of his introducing the Memorial evening meal to his true disciples:

⁸ “And the disciples did as Jesus ordered them, and they got things ready for the passover. When, now, it had become evening, he was reclining at the table with the twelve disciples. . . . As they continued eating, Jesus took a loaf and, after saying a blessing, he broke it and, giving it to the disciples, he said: ‘Take, eat. This means my body.’ Also he took a cup and, having given thanks, he gave it to them, saying: ‘Drink out of it, all of you; for this means my “blood of the covenant” which is to be poured out in behalf of many for forgiveness of sins. But I tell you, I will by no means drink henceforth any of this product of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in the kingdom of my Father.’”—Matt. 26:19-29, NW; Mark 14:22-25, Mo.

9. Why will many object to the above translation, and what do they insist on and claim?

⁹ Many are sure to object to the translation above quoted from. Why? Because it reads, “This means my body,” “This means my blood.” This, although Moffatt’s translation reads, “It means my body,” “This means my blood”; and Chas. B. Williams’ translation reads, “It represents my body,” “This represents my blood.” (See also the footnote of Weymouth’s translation on Matthew 26:26.) The objectors will claim this is interpretation or exposition, and not translation. They insist on the reading of the Catholic Douay Version or the Protestant King James Version or Luther’s Version, all of which read: “This is my body,” “This is my blood.” They claim that by Jesus’ pronouncing these words some change was brought about materially or essentially in the unleavened bread and wine which he then handled.

10. What are the clergy claims for transubstantiation and what do they thereby pretend to create and sacrifice?

¹⁰ Catholic clergy teach the doctrine of transubstantiation, that is, that the bread and wine were literally changed in substance and became Jesus’ flesh and blood when he said those words. The Orthodox or Greek Catholics also call this transmutation. But they claim that it is the holy spirit that transmutes the bread and wine into Jesus’ literal flesh and blood, and not the Orthodox priest who consecrates the bread and wine used. The priest prays over them for the holy spirit to produce this miraculous change. The Roman Catholic clergy claim that it is the officiating priest who miraculously changes the wafer and wine into human flesh and blood by pronouncing the words which Jesus said when he offered these emblems to his faithful apostles. Thus, since by virtue of their trinity belief they claim that Jesus is God Almighty, the priest calls down God from heaven upon their altars of the mass and creates him for sacrifice. God is their creation, and this time they are the ones who bring about the sacrificial death, not the Roman soldiers who at the orders of Pontius Pilate and under the instigation of the Jewish priests and scribes and Sanhedrin did it nineteen centuries ago.

11. What is the doctrine concerning the “Mass”, and how does it make God subject and the people dependent?

¹¹ In its definition of “Mass” The National Catholic Almanac of 1948 says: “The Mass is the unbloody renewal of the Sacrifice of Our Lord upon the Cross.” Question 365 of A Catechism of Christian Doctrine (Revised Edition of the Baltimore Catechism), published in 1949, asks, “Who said the first Mass?” It answers: “Our divine Saviour said the first Mass, at the Last Supper, the night before He died.” Today the Roman Catholic Church generally offers to the congregation of the laity only the bread of the mass. To excuse this giving only the bread to them this Catechism gives the following answer to its question 366: “(b) It is not necessary that we receive Our Lord’s body and blood under the appearances of both bread and wine. Christ is entirely present under the appearances of bread, and also entirely present under the appearances of wine. Therefore, we receive Him whole and entire under the appearances of bread alone or of wine alone. (c) In some Eastern Churches the faithful receive Holy Communion under the appearances of both bread and wine. In the Western Church the faithful receive Communion only under the appearances of bread.” Since such doctrine limits the power to cause transubstantiation to the religious priests, it glorifies them as having God himself under their power. It makes the congregation of the laity absolutely dependent on the priests, so that if no priest is present, the people cannot celebrate the Lord’s supper.

12. What is consubstantiation, and what shows that it and transubstantiation are not the discerning of the Lord’s body?

¹² Many Protestants believe in what is called consubstantiation. According to this, the bread and wine still remain such in fact, but because of their consecration by the officiating clergyman the person who partakes of them receives the true body and blood of Jesus Christ along with (con) the bread and wine. Like transubstantiation, all this demands a great deal of faith, for it still leaves the partaker seeing and tasting only literal bread and wine. Really, now, is this what is meant by ‘discerning the body of the Lord’? All such celebrations to which consubstantiation and transubstantiation are imputed are said to impart great grace. But if they are the correct discernment of the Lord’s body, why are they not accompanied by such divine grace? Why is the spiritual condition of the people of Christendom so weak, so sickly, or even dead? The actual condition of Christendom’s religious sects denies that they truly discern the Lord’s body, for the great spiritual grace expected to result from it is woefully lacking. If those hundreds of millions of communicants in Christendom had discerned the Lord’s body and had harmonized their lives with it, two world wars within one generation would never have crippled Christendom, aside from all the other blood-spilling conflicts fought during the centuries in the very heart of Christendom. That transubstantiation and consubstantiation over which such controversies have raged are not apostolic, and hence are unchristian, becomes clear when we examine them in the light of the Holy Scriptures.

ANY CHANGE OF SUBSTANCE INDICATED?

13. What wording shows the bread did not become sacrificial flesh and that the wine was still wine?

¹³ Let us examine Jesus’ words themselves. The Catholic Douay Version reads: “And taking bread, he gave thanks and brake and gave to them, saying: This is my body, which is given for you. Do this for a commemoration of me.” (Luke 22:19, Dy) If he had meant that the bread had been turned into his flesh, he would properly have said, ‘Do this in sacrifice of me.’ Instead, he said to do it “for a commemoration of me”, indicating that the bread was still bread and was merely a symbol of his body. We note the same fact regarding the wine. Matthew 26:27-29 (Dy) reads: “And taking the chalice, he gave thanks and gave to them, saying: Drink ye all of this. For this is my blood of the new testament, which SHALL BE shed for many unto remission of sins. And I say to you, I will not drink from henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I shall drink it with you new in the kingdom of my Father.” (Mark 14:23-25, Dy) Note that Jesus here indicated that the liquid in the chalice was still literal wine, for he said: “I will not drink from henceforth of this fruit of the vine,” not, drink from henceforth of this blood.

14. What other fact shows the wine had not become Jesus’ blood?

¹⁴ Another fact which shows it was not his blood is that Jesus said: “This is my blood of the new testament, which SHALL BE shed.” This plainly shows his blood was not there being shed by transubstantiation and by the apostles’ pouring it down their throats. Not only does the Douay Version say here, “shall be shed,” but also the original Latin Vulgate from which it was translated reads that way. Mgr. R. A. Knox’s translation of 1943 says, “is to be shed.” And at Luke 22:19 Knox makes it read: “This is my body, which is to be given for you.” The New World Translation also reads, “is to be poured out,” and, “is to be given,” indicating a future time, namely, when Jesus hung on the torture stake at Calvary. So by his words Jesus did not mean the bread and wine were his own flesh and blood, any more than the apostle Paul meant that a literal rock was Jesus by his words: “They drank of the spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock was Christ.” (1 Cor. 10:4, Dy) The rock from which the Israelites drank merely pictured or symbolized Christ. The same way the Memorial emblems merely symbolized or stood for Christ’s body and blood.

15. If transubstantiated, what kind of blood would it have to be? Why?

¹⁵ For the wine in the cup to be blood it would have had to be synthetic blood, just the same as when Jesus turned the water at the wedding feast in Cana into wine it was synthetic wine, for it did not come direct from a grapevine. Jesus said the wine in the Memorial cup was the fruit of the vine. It came from a vine, and not from Jesus’ veins. Hence by a miracle it could have become only synthetic blood, for Jesus still had his normal pints of blood in his body. When we think of the thousands of church buildings in which the mass is celebrated daily each year, more “blood” is thus produced than a normal human could provide in a day or than could be drawn off for medical blood transfusions. According to the theory of the mass, Jesus would have to be a large reservoir of blood, to be tapped like a blood bank for transfusion to the communicants via the communion chalice. This is most unreasonable. It accounts for it that the clergy say it is a mystery, a mystery as to how it could be true.

16. Of what do the clergy by their mass make themselves guilty, and why could not an unbloody sacrifice cleanse sins away?

¹⁶ By their very theory the clergy make themselves guilty of shedding Christ’s blood afresh. Some Catholics have been frightened against testing whether the bread put into their mouths is real flesh, by being warned that if they do not swallow it but hold it in the mouth, extract it outside the church and stick a pin into it, blood will come out. And yet the Catholic definition of the mass is that it is the “unbloody renewal of the sacrifice” of Christ. If it is unbloody, then how is it able to do what they claim it does, effect the remission of human sins? The apostle says: “Almost all things, according to the law, are cleansed with blood: and without shedding of blood there is no remission.”—Heb. 9:22, Dy; Knox.

AGAINST THE RANSOM

17, 18. Why could not transubstantiated bread and wine be Jesus’ sacrifice and provide redemption and remission of sins?

¹⁷ If converted into flesh and blood by either the holy spirit or by the priest’s magical words, how could the bread and wine on the altar of the mass be Jesus’ sacrifice? At most, the bread could represent only that much weight of human flesh and the wine that much quantity of human blood, certainly not the quantity of flesh and blood making up the normal human body. But Jesus Christ sacrificed a whole, entire, perfect human body with its full complement of blood. At most the bread and wine of the mass could amount to merely a fragment of the body and blood.

¹⁸ A fragment or small part could not be acceptable to God as a ransom for sinners. Regarding the requirements of a ransom God’s just and perfect law through his prophet Moses says: “Require life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” (Deut. 19:21, Dy; Ex. 21:23-25) Adam, the perfect human son of God in Eden sinned and so forfeited for himself and his future offspring perfect human life and all right to it. Jesus said he came to “give his life a ransom for many”. He could do so, because he was a perfect man with full right to human life and so was the “last Adam”. By laying all these human assets down in sacrifice he provided the corresponding ransom. The apostle tells us: “There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all.” (Matt. 20:28; 1 Cor. 15:45 and 1 Tim. 2:5, 6, Catholic Confrat.) A ransom required the whole sacrifice, not a mere part of it, whereas by weight, size and quantity the bread and wine could not equal by transubstantiation more than part of the sacrifice required. It could never be a sufficient ransom for mankind and bring about redemption and remission of sins.

19. What does the theory of the mass mean for Jesus’ original sacrifice and also the new covenant, and so why is it wrong?

¹⁹ But the clergy say it is necessary to sacrifice Jesus daily in the mass in order to secure the remitting of sins that have been committed by a Catholic after he becomes a confirmed member of the church. This would mean that the sacrifice Jesus laid down at Calvary was insufficient, inadequate, and needs renewing. If, to gain remission of our daily sins, Christ’s sacrifice has to be renewed and repeated often, then it would mean that the “new covenant” would also have to be renewed by a sacrifice afresh of the Savior. If the one sacrifice did not hold good for sins, it did not hold good for the new covenant according to which God forgives sins and remembers them no more. Remember that Jesus said concerning the wine: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.” (Luke 22:20, Cath. Confrat.) But such a renewal of the new covenant is unscriptural. The old law covenant which God made with Israel through Moses as mediator was replaced by the new covenant with Jesus as Mediator. The inaugurating of the old Mosaic law covenant foreshadowed the inaugurating of the new covenant by the glorified Jesus at Pentecost A.D. 33. The old law covenant was not inaugurated and renewed every year with fresh sacrifices. The one set of sacrifices which Moses offered at Sinai sufficed for the entire life of that law covenant. At that time the mediator Moses said: “This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded for you.” (Heb. 9:17-20, Cath. Confrat.) Likewise the new covenant needs no renewing by fresh sacrifices. The sacrifice of the mass is supposed to provide at each celebration fresh “blood of the new covenant”. So it is wrong.

20, 21. Why could Jesus not die again, and what about the value of his original sacrifice does the mass deny?

²⁰ How could Jesus Christ be sacrificed even once again? The apostle Paul writes us: “Christ, rising again from the dead, dieth now no more. Death shall no more have dominion over him. For in that he died to sin, he died once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.” (Rom. 6:9, 10, Dy) By the power of an immortal life he lives on and so can mediate for faithful believers till their release from sin is completely accomplished. His immortality, received by him at his resurrection from the dead, forever prevents his dying again. So he can now be High Priest forever, because he has now the “power of an indissoluble life”. As the apostle says concerning him: “This, for that he continueth for ever, hath an everlasting priesthood: whereby he is able also to save for ever them that come to God by him; always living [not, always dying] to make intercession for us. Who needeth not daily (as the other priests) to offer sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, in offering himself.”—Heb. 7:16, 24, 25, 27, Dy.

²¹ The one sacrifice of Christ Jesus holds enough value to be applied at all times for the sins of mankind until they are at last wiped out. The theory of the mass denies this Bible truth.

22. What about the atonement-day sacrifices shows that the mass because of needing repeating does not take sins away?

²² Why it does so was illustrated by the Jewish sacrifices under Israel’s law covenant. Each year on the atonement day the sacrifice of the bull and of Jehovah’s goat had to be made anew and their blood had to be carried into the most holy and sprinkled before the sacred mercy seat. Why? Because those sacrifices were not human and could never take away human sins and leave the human conscience free of sin’s guilt. If they had actually cleansed man’s conscience of the sense of sinfulness, they would have stopped being offered. “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things, by the self-same sacrifices which they offer continually every year, can never make the comers thereunto perfect. For then they would have ceased to be offered: because the worshippers once cleansed should have no conscience of sin any longer. But in them there is made a commemoration of sins every year: for it is impossible that with the blood of oxen and goats sin should be taken away.” (Heb. 10:1-4, Dy) The very fact that Catholics have a sense of sin requiring them to attend a repetition of the mass proves that the so-called “sacrifice of the mass” no more takes away their sins than those sacrifices of oxen and goats did.

23. Why does Jesus not need to come down from heaven repeatedly to be sacrificed?

²³ But Christ’s one sacrifice of his perfect human life does bring the believer justification and a conscience free from sin. So Jesus does not need to come down from heaven at the beck and nod of the Catholic priest every time he says mass and to synthesize flesh and blood to be sacrificed, eaten and drunk cannibalistically by priest and congregation. As High Priest, Jesus is subject to no priest on earth. Otherwise, how is he High Priest? Forty days after his resurrection from the dead he ascended to heaven and sat down at God’s right hand. Since he presented to God a perfect and forever-sufficient sacrifice, he does not need to leave his seat and come down and be made flesh and blood again to be sacrificed. Hence he can stay seated up there and wait until it comes God’s due time to fulfill his promise recorded at Psalm 110:1-4 (AS): “Jehovah saith unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Jehovah will send forth the rod of thy strength out of Zion: Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. . . . Jehovah hath sworn, and will not repent: Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” (Ps. 109:1-4, Dy; Cath. Confrat.) He therefore waited in heaven without interruption until the “time of the end” of this world began in 1914.

24, 25. How does the apostle prove this fact at Hebrews 10:10-18, and thus why is only the one sacrifice necessary?

²⁴ Note, now, how the apostle uses this fact to prove that Jesus has not repeated his sacrifice for the reason that he does not need to, his original sacrifice holding good throughout all the duration of human sin. At Hebrews 10:10-18 (Cath. Confrat.) he says: “It is in this ‘will’ that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest indeed stands daily ministering, and often offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but Jesus, having offered one sacrifice for sins, has taken his seat forever at the right hand of God, waiting thenceforth until his enemies be made the footstool under his feet. For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are sanctified. Thus also the Holy Spirit testifies unto us. For after having said, ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws upon their hearts, and upon their minds I will write them,’ he then adds, ‘And their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more.’ Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer offering for sin.”

²⁵ Sins forgiven by God according to the new covenant are really canceled and those who are sanctified are perfected forever “by one offering”, the “offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all”. So there is absolutely no need for Jesus’ “blood of the new covenant” to be spilled even once again. No other offering for sin is needed besides the one Jesus made at Calvary.

UNCOVERING A GROSS FRAUD

26. How does the mass compared with the atonement-day sacrifice show the Roman Catholic priests view Jesus’ sacrifice?

²⁶ The ancient Jewish high priest had to offer atonement-day sacrifices of a bull and goat only once a year for all the nation of Israel and at one temple, that at Jerusalem. Strange that Roman Catholic priests feel obligated to offer mass 365 or 366 days a year, a number of times a day, on many altars, and not at the city called by God’s name, Jerusalem. Plainly they do not believe that Jesus’ one sacrifice was superior to the yearly Jewish atonement-day sacrifices which could not take away sins. But, aside from that, their “sacrifice of the mass” does not and could not gain redemption and remitting of sins for people who attend the mass, for still another mighty reason.

27, 28. For what other mighty reason does the mass not remove sin?

²⁷ What is that? It is this fact: the priest who claims to break the body of Jesus afresh and to shed his blood afresh does not ascend to heaven with the sacrifice and present it to God in behalf of himself and his parishioners. Even for Jesus it was not enough to lay down his sacrifice on earth. Jesus also had to ascend and present his sacrifice to God in heaven. He did not take his human body with him to the King’s throne up there, for “flesh and blood can obtain no part in the kingdom of God”. (1 Cor. 15:50, Cath. Confrat.) When the Jewish high priest on atonement day entered the Most Holy of the temple, picturing God’s presence, he did not take the fleshy bodies of the bull and goat with him. He took only the blood, as it represents the life. So, too, Jesus did not take his fleshy body to heaven and appear with it in God’s presence. He took with him the merit or value of his human life, symbolized by blood. He presented that to God as a sin-removing ransom sacrifice. (Heb. 13:11, 12; Lev. 17:11-14; 16:14-16) By presenting his sacrifice in heaven he laid the foundation for the coming righteous new world. Hence he does not need to suffer often in sacrifice anymore. We read:

²⁸ “It was necessary, therefore, that the copies of the heavenly realities should be cleansed by these things; but the heavenly realities themselves require better sacrifices than these. For Jesus has not entered into a Holies made by hands, a mere copy of the true, but into heaven itself, to appear now before the face of God on our behalf; nor yet has he entered to offer himself often, as the high priest [of Israel] enters into the Holies year after year with blood not his own; for in that case he must have suffered often since the beginning of the world. But as it is, once for all at the end of the ages, he has appeared for the destruction of sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed unto men to die once but after this comes the judgment, so also was Christ offered [how many times?] once to take away the sins of many; the second time he will appear with no part in sin to those who wait for him, unto salvation.”—Heb. 9:23-28, CC.

29. Why does Christ Jesus make it necessary for the Catholic priest himself to carry through with his sacrifice of the mass?

²⁹ According to all this inspired Scriptural testimony Jesus considers his one sacrifice of nineteen centuries ago sufficient. Hence he would not accept the sacrifice of the mass as an indispensable addition to his one perfect sacrifice, and so he would not present it to God. For it to be presented to God, the Catholic priest offering the mass would himself have to imitate Jesus and ascend to heaven in order to get it into God’s presence. Since the sinful clergyman priest cannot do this, his sacrifice of the mass must fail to bring about cancellation of sins for Catholics.

30. How does God view the sacrifice of the mass, and what will he do about it?

³⁰ Would God, who has already accepted the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice of his High Priest Jesus Christ, consider such a sacrifice of the mass with any favor? No, never! He detests it as a gross fraud perpetrated on the Catholic people and as a blasphemy against the only valid sacrifice of his dear Son Jesus Christ. At the battle of Armageddon God will make all this perversion of the Memorial supper and of Christ’s sacrifice to cease by destroying the religious systems guilty of this deceitful abomination. “The sacrifices of the wicked are abominable, because they are offered of wickedness.” (Prov. 21:27, Dy) The wearing of a man-made priestly uniform does not alter the matter.

APOSTOLIC EXPLANATION

31. So from what standpoint has Christendom tried to discern the Lord’s body, and with what consequences to the world?

³¹ Noting from the above how the Catholics and Protestants of Christendom are guilty of “not discerning the body of the Lord”, we can appreciate why the whole religious system is infirm, weak, asleep, and sick to death. (1 Cor. 11:29, 30, Dy) Effects trace back to due causes. Christendom has dropped to this low spiritual condition because of centering her attention too much upon the literal flesh and blood of Jesus Christ in connection with her communion or Eucharist or the Lord’s supper. She has not followed the apostolic explanation of the Lord’s evening meal. Of all the Bible writers none offers more information regarding that meal than the apostle Paul does. True, Matthew, Mark and Luke each give us an account of how the supper proceeded, but they offer no explanation. Paul, though, gives both an account of the Lord’s evening meal and also considerable comment explaining it, in his first letter to the Corinthians. In the purpose behind his comments we can understand why, if Christendom had properly discerned the Lord’s body, we should not be threatened with more world war.

32, 33. How does Paul apply Jesus’ words at the Memorial, and so to what “body” does Paul refer?

³² Christendom’s clergy argue that in Paul’s comments he supports the literal application of Jesus’ words, “This is my body,” “This is my blood of the new covenant.” Honest-minded examination of Paul’s comments proves the clergy argument false, forced. According to Moffatt’s translation, Paul said: “Let a man test himself; then he can eat from the loaf and drink from the cup. For he who eats and drinks without a proper sense of the Body, eats and drinks to his own condemnation. That is why many of you are ill and infirm, and a number even dead.” So what “Body” is Paul here speaking about? Why, about “Christ’s Body”, which is composed of the members of his congregation under him as Head: “Now you are Christ’s Body, and severally members of it.” (1 Cor. 11:28-30; 12:27, Mo) This understanding is bolstered by what Paul says again in this same letter. Here it is in Catholic translation:

³³ “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not the sharing of the blood of Christ? And the bread that we break, is it not the partaking of the body of the Lord? Because the bread is one, we though many, are one body, all of us who partake of the one bread.” (Cath. Confrat.) “The chalice of benediction which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? And the bread which we break, is it not the partaking of the body of the Lord? For we, being many, are one bread, one body: all that partake of one bread.”—1 Cor. 10:16, 17, Dy.

34. Hence when a person eats the Memorial bread what must he discern or recognize in order not to incur judgment?

³⁴ So, then, a person who partakes of the bread at the Memorial must discern or recognize that there is such an organization or congregation as “Christ’s body”. More than that, he must by testing or scrutinizing himself prove to himself that he is a member of Christ’s body, that he is a member of that congregation of Christians who are dedicated to God completely, begotten by him as his spiritual children, anointed with his holy spirit to be preachers and joint heirs with Jesus, and faithfully holding to Jesus as the one Head of their congregation or Body. So doing, he then confesses by eating the Memorial bread that he also partakes of the “body of the Lord”, that is to say, he is a member of it. Thus he does not eat hypocritically or without discernment and so does not incur divine judgment against himself.

35. When he drinks the Memorial wine, what does he confess regarding the new covenant?

³⁵ When such a self-scrutinized Christian drinks out of the Memorial wine-cup he confesses that Jesus’ blood was the means to put God’s new covenant in force. Also, that by means of this new covenant the divine forgiveness of sins is gained and a people is taken out of all nations to be a people for God’s name, to act as witnesses of Jehovah.—Acts 15:14; Ex. 19:5, 6; 1 Pet. 2:9, 10.

36, 37. What else does the Memorial wine signify to the person drinking, and what is he therefore determined to do?

³⁶ Another thing: the poured-out blood of Christ signifies death, not merely for a new covenant to be made over a dead victim, but primarily for vindicating Jehovah’s sovereignty, name and word. And in this death for Jehovah’s vindication the “body of the Lord”, Christ’s body-members, share. They are planted with him in the likeness of his death, buried together with him by a common baptism into his death, that they may be raised to heavenly spirit life in the likeness of his resurrection. “Know you not that all we who are baptized in Christ Jesus are baptized in his death? For we are buried together with him by baptism into death: . . . For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.”—Rom. 6:3-5, Dy.

³⁷ So to the wine-drinker the cup pictures the sufferings which the heavenly Father has poured like a potion for all the Christ company, the Head and the body. As Jesus said to Peter in Gethsemane: “Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?” He did, and he also assured those followers who would prove faithful to death and share in the Lord’s blood: “Of the cup that I drink, you shall drink; and with the baptism with which I am to be baptized, you shall be baptized.” (John 18:11 and Mark 10:39, Cath. Confrat.) By drinking of the Memorial cup one confesses that he is determined to suffer with Jesus till death.

What About Those Not Partaking?

1. When did Jehovah’s witnesses celebrate Memorial last year, how many attended it and how many partook?

THE Memorial or Lord’s evening meal is celebrated by Jehovah’s witnesses each year on its anniversary date with the understanding given above. Last year at the Memorial celebration 623,760 of Jehovah’s witnesses and kindly disposed persons attended, but only 21,619 partook of the emblems. Why did so many not partake of them?

2. How many attenders did not partake, and why not?

² The Memorial emblems were passed around for everyone to partake of and each one was at liberty to do so if he wished. Why did 602,141 not do so? Because, by self-scrutiny and after their hearing the Memorial discourse, they honestly acknowledged to themselves and to others that they were not members of Christ’s body, which the Scriptures show is made up of only 144,000 members under Jesus the one Head. Those not partaking may all have been dedicated to Jehovah God through Jesus Christ. But they had no proof within themselves that they had been begotten by God’s spirit to a spiritual resurrection and to spirit life in heaven. They had no proof that they had been anointed with God’s spirit to a place with Jesus in his heavenly throne. So they had no hopes of reigning with him and being priests of God for a thousand years. They had not sacrificed their human hopes of an earthly paradise for spiritual, heavenly hopes. They did not expect to be baptized with Jesus in his death and drink the cup of such an experience with him. As all that is what taking the Memorial emblems would have symbolized, they did not do so.

3. Though one flock with the remnant, what could they not say respecting the Lord’s body?

³ Those 602,141 nonpartakers could not say to themselves in clear conscience: “Because there is one loaf, we, although many, are one body, for we are all partaking of that one loaf.” (1 Cor. 10:17, NW) They knew they were associated with the small remnant (the 21,619) of Christ’s body, but they could not say to themselves that they are “one body” with that remnant nor with the entire 144,000. True, they have been brought into touch and unity with the remnant so that they are now “one flock” with them under one Shepherd, as Jesus Christ once prophesied concerning our day: “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; those also I must bring, and they will listen to my voice, and they will become one flock, one shepherd.” (John 10:11, 14, 16, NW) But this does not mean that all those sheep are of Christ’s body, abiding in union with Jesus the Head. For the “other sheep” who are outside of Christ’s body to eat the Memorial bread and drink the Memorial wine at the Lord’s evening meal it would mean to say the bread and wine represented merely Jesus’ personal flesh and blood which he sacrificed as a ransom. They would take Christendom’s view of the matter which has resulted in such confused sectarianism, vicious strife and sanguinary conflict among professed Christians.

4. If the other sheep took the Memorial emblems, what would it be symbolizing and why would it misrepresent their case?

⁴ If the other sheep took the Memorial emblems, they would in actuality be symbolizing that they were eating Christ’s flesh as well as drinking his blood and thus they were in union with him and he with them. This would mean they would have life in themselves as the heavenly Father has life in himself and as he has granted to his beloved Son to have life in himself. (John 5:26; 6:53-57, NW) But it is not true of the “other sheep” that Jesus and they are mutually in union with one another as members of his body. One flock they are indeed with the present-day remnant of Christ’s body, but they do not share the same hopes with the remnant and will not share the same destiny with them. They do not feed on all the Bible promises that the remnant do, but they recognize only the earthly promises as reserved for them in the righteous new world. So they do not partake of the Memorial emblems, for they are not commanded by Jesus Christ the Right Shepherd to do so. They do not want to misrepresent themselves and eat and drink judgment against themselves because of sinning against what the body and blood of the Lord signify. They let those who are worthy eat and drink.

5. Why is that no excuse for debarring them from attending?

⁵ That is no excuse for debarring them from attending the Memorial celebration. The Catholic clergy used to dismiss from the church assembly the new converts or catechumens and penitents before the worthy ones of the congregation partook of the communion bread and wine. But this practice does not befit the “one flock” of the Right Shepherd. Each sheep must himself determine whether he is worthy to partake of the emblems, and so he must be present and be given the opportunity to partake when they are passed. Even if he does not partake, he honors the occasion by his presence and does so in commemoration of Jesus Christ.

6. Why do they not fight with the remnant as though being deprived of something rightful?

⁶ The remnant of the “little flock” of heavenly heirs properly discern the body of Christ and their membership in it. Consistently with this they take the emblems. The great crowd of “other sheep” present also discern the body of the Lord and their not being members in it, and consistently they do not take the emblems. They do not fight with the remnant over it as though they were being deprived of something rightful. Certainly during Christ’s thousand-year reign when this remnant will be glorified with him in heaven these other sheep on the paradisaic earth will not feed on the same spiritual food that the remnant do now. So what hurt is there to the other sheep if they are not fed on all the promises of God now, including the Memorial? None.

7. What shows whether the other sheep will partake of or celebrate the Memorial during the Millennium?

⁷ The Memorial will not be in vogue on earth throughout the Millennium and forever, for the apostle Paul wrote to the congregation of Christians who are sanctified in union with Christ Jesus this Memorial instruction: “As often as you eat this loaf and drink this cup, you keep proclaiming the death of the Lord, until he arrives.” (1 Cor. 1:1, 2; 11:26, NW) So, when the Lord Jesus takes the remnant from earth to Kingdom glory in heaven, then the Memorial celebration on earth will cease. The “other sheep” will not partake of it then any more than they do now.

8. Did the faithful ones of ancient times enjoy the same spiritual food as the remnant does now, and do the other sheep now suffer spiritual famine? Why your answer?

⁸ The faithful men and women of ancient times before Christ did not celebrate the Memorial, not even Melchizedek, who refreshed the battle-worn Abraham with bread and wine. Nor did they enjoy the spiritual food and promises that the remnant do now. Yet those ancient ones are to be resurrected to human life on earth under the Kingdom and to become part of the Right Shepherd’s “other sheep”. Despite their not partaking of the Memorial and of the heavenly promises with the remnant of the “little flock”, the great crowd of other sheep are suffering no famine for hearing the Word of Jehovah and they are not starving. They are satisfied with the Scriptural food and privileges which the Right Shepherd gives them through his “faithful and discreet slave” class. It is the “evil slave” class that claims too much attention is being paid to the other sheep and not enough spiritual food being served to the spiritual class for their exclusive selves. Not only are the other sheep satisfied, but they prefer their particular diet. The things which the righteous men of old wanted to see and understand but did not, the other sheep now see and understand and they rejoice and grow spiritually strong. They hunger and thirst no more, for the Lamb of God has guided them to green pastures and to “fountains of waters of life”.—Luke 12:32; Amos 8:11, 12; Matt. 24:45-51; Rev. 7:9-17, NW.

9. Why are those of the “one flock” now spiritually healthy in contrast with Christendom, thanks to Paul’s instruction?

⁹ As a result of this Scriptural discernment of the Lord’s body at Memorial time all the sheep, the remnant and the great crowd of other sheep, are vigorous, healthy and energetically alive to God’s service as witnesses to the universal sovereignty and name of Jehovah. Because of the correct discernment of the body they are at peace and harmony with one another even though dwelling in worldly nations that are at war with one another for the domination of the earth. If the hundreds of millions of so-called “church members” and clergymen of Christendom discerned the body of the Lord and conducted themselves accordingly as Jehovah’s witnesses have done during the past two world wars, there would have been no such global conflicts nor would there be the nightmare of a third one plaguing all peoples now. It was to correct the disunity, the immorality and the sectarianism of the early congregation of Christians at Corinth that the apostle Paul wrote his first letter to them and brought up the subject of the Lord’s supper or evening meal. It was in order to help them discern the Lord’s body and to promote peace and unity among those Corinthian Christians that Paul drew lessons from the meaning of the Memorial emblems.—1 Cor. 1:11-13; 3:3, 4; 5:1-13; 11:17-22; 2 Cor. 12:20, 21; 13:10.

10. (a) In harmony with what illustration do the members of the remnant not fight with one another? (b) How do they and will they yet get along with the other sheep?

¹⁰ The members of the human body do not fight with one another but work unitedly for the body’s physical health and preservation. The true members of Christ’s body do not succumb to the selfish, disunifying influence of Satan and this world and fight among themselves. Nor do they fight the other sheep of the Lord. As the remnant today partake of the one Memorial loaf, they discern that they are one body under Jesus Christ the Head and are dying the one death with him in vindication of Jehovah. So they keep filled with the unifying spirit of God and together they hold fast to their Head Jesus Christ and so worship, study and serve God in unbreakable unity and peace and mutual love. They recognize the other sheep whom their Lord Jesus Christ has now made one flock with them, and they lovingly serve the interests of his earthly sheep. The other sheep respond to such loving-kindness. Together, they and the remnant work to keep it “one flock” under the one Right Shepherd. Under the Shepherd’s protection and guidance they will pass through the final war of Armageddon together and enter upon the eternal destinies which await them in the radiant new world of clean, everlasting living. It is with this bright prospect in view that they come together this year on Thursday, April 10, after 6 p.m., Standard Time, for the celebration of the Memorial meal.

Too Many Blood Transfusions

● A doctors’ journal questioned today the need for so many blood transfusions in British hospitals. “If things continue at this rate,” the Medical Press warned, “it would seem as if a time must soon come when one fraction of the population will be living on the blood of the remainder.” The journal said the amount of blood transfused in hospital cases in this country has more than doubled in the last five years.—Associated Press dispatch in Washington, D.C., Evening Star, December 19, 1951.

A Lost Sheep Finds the Right Shepherd

IN THE December 15, 1951, issue of The Watchtower a brief reference was made to an old monk who had embraced the truth. More details regarding this incident having come to hand, we are herewith giving our readers the benefit of them, as related by one of Jehovah’s witnesses.

“Here in the wilderness near the Dead sea and 25 kilometers (15 miles) from Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Jericho, in a high mountain is situated the very old Greek Monastery of Holy Sabbas. Only monks and priests are living there and whoever enters cannot leave it until death. The founder of this monastery, Sabbas, once called all the monks and priests to him and said: ‘Beware of apples and of women; because it was the apple that deceived Eve, and the woman Eve that deceived Adam.’ For this reason no women may come into the monastery. Every year there is a festival of the Holy Sabbas, at which time many from Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Jericho flock to the monastery.

“Early one morning I noticed that masses of people were leaving the city and going to the mountains. I stopped a few of my acquaintances and asked them where all these people were going, and they said: ‘We are going to the Holy Sabbas to pray. Come with us to the Holy Sabbas and see what kind of holy prophets live there. They prophesy much about the end of the world. They live in caves and walk around in ragged robes, not like you Jehovah’s witnesses, who dress up elegantly. They live on wild grass and pray day and night.’ I asked them: ‘Could I talk with them about the Word of God?’ They answered, ‘Certainly you can.’ So I went with them, and all the way there I was talking to them about God’s kingdom.

“The walls around the monastery were very high and appeared as ancient as those around the city of Jerusalem itself. They rang a bell and the people went into the church to pray. I noticed one old priest praying in Russian. He said: ‘Holy Mother of God, save me, a sinner!’ Then he went to a wooden cross and said: ‘Holy wood, save me, a sinner!’ I followed him and, after he had finished praying, said to him: ‘May I speak to you a little?’ He was happily surprised to find one who could speak Russian, and so invited me into his cave in which he had been living and praying for twenty-six years. His cave was very old and his bed consisted of bare boards, and there were many holy Greek pictures hanging on the walls. I learned that he was eighty-one years old.

“I began witnessing to him: ‘I heard you praying to the mother of God. Listen, my friend. What do you think? How could Mary be the mother of God, when God created her?’ ‘No, that could not be so,’ he replied. Then from the Bible I showed him that Mary did not give birth to God, but to Jesus Christ, who was God’s first heavenly creation. I showed him the scriptures which forbade the making and worshiping of images, and which commanded that we worship and serve God. I counseled him: ‘Study God’s Word; learn the truth and the truth will set you free.’

“After this he began to weep like a child and said: ‘What should I do?’ I told him that there was no salvation in the cave; that Jesus went from house to house and taught the people the Word of God in their homes. I told him to ask for a Bible and then study it. With that I left him and returned to Bethlehem on foot.

“About a year later I was returning from my ministerial activities in Jericho, and as I got off the bus in Bethlehem someone grabbed me by the shoulder and said: ‘George, I’ve been looking for you in Jerusalem for two days! Remember when you came to Sabbas in the wilderness? I’m that same man, the hermit!’ I at once recognized him and asked, ‘What do you want?’ He answered: ‘I would like very, very much to listen to you and learn more about this new doctrine. Ever since you left the wilderness I could not forget you. You know the Scriptures very well, and God is with you. Teach me the Scriptures.’ Even though I was very tired and hungry, we sat down by the side of the road in Bethlehem and I talked to him for two and a half hours, and he was crying during all that time. Then he asked me: ‘Could I come to your tent tomorrow and learn more?’ I said to him: ‘Please come,’ and gave him my address.

“It was just dawning, six o’clock in the morning, as he appeared at my tent. I asked him how he escaped from the monastery. He then told me that because he had asked for a Bible, had refused to pray to Mary, kiss the images, etc., they had put him in the prison in the monastery and fed him on bread and water, but not enough of even that. So he decided to escape from the monastery at night. He found a piece of rope and used it to go over the wall. However, as he was halfway down the wall the rope broke and he fell to the ground, breaking his nose and injuring his head. He had with him a sack full of holy books which he had received in times past from the monastery because of his good behavior. We talked together all day and until four o’clock the next morning.

“I got him a Russian Bible and he is studying it very diligently, from morning to evening. He then showed me his books and asked: ‘What do you say, Brother George? Are these books good or not?’ Looking them over I said: ‘No, my friend, these books are worldly.’ He then asked: ‘What should I do with them?’ I suggested that he return them to the monastery. So he took them to the Greek patriarchs in the monastery, and placing them on the writing desk, said: ‘Take these, your false teachings. I have been praying for twenty-six years in the wilderness, and there is no salvation in them. But now I have found a Book of salvation which is from Jehovah God, the Bible. I study it with great joy.’ As he was leaving they insisted: ‘Take your books with you and go wherever you want to.’ So he took the books and went to a cemetery. Finding a fresh grave, he dug a hole with his hands and dumped the books into it. Then he covered them up, put a big stone over it and said: ‘Let the dead read these books.’

“He had kept a psalter and a silvercovered prayer book; but upon learning that these also were not the Word of God, he said: ‘Burn up these books. They’ve wasted my youth away. For twenty-six years I was dead, but now I have arisen from the dead, like Lazarus.’ I told him that the big wooden cross hanging from his neck was cursed wood. Immediately he took it off and said: ‘Burn it also. I have been praying to this cursed wood for twenty-six years.’ And upon learning that his monk’s robe was also pagan he said: ‘As soon as I find some other clothes, I will throw this robe away, cut my hair short, shave off my beard and burn up everything that I have that is pagan in front of all the friends. I only want to learn the way to life on earth.’

“He is now located with some friends in Beit-Jala, where we are preparing a place for him to live, and he has since been baptized. All the Orthodox clergy in Beit-Jala, Bethlehem and Jerusalem are wrought up over this incident.”

Should We Go to School or Quit?

THAT old question of last summer still haunts our minds. We still are wondering if we did the right thing in returning to finish high school. Or would it have been better if we had entered the full-time ministry in the service of our God Jehovah? You see, because of our dedication to do the will of God, we are not like the others here in school, whose only ambition is to get ahead, attain a high social position and make a lot of money. We know this old system of things will soon be destroyed at Armageddon, so why the reasons for attending high school when we could be out warning others? And besides, there is a great risk that one will be caught in the quicksands of immorality or lose one’s faith altogether due to the godless conditions in the schools today. However, our parents and closest friends whom we asked for advice were so divided in their opinions we are now back in school. But as we look out this window we still wonder what is the right answer.

Here is a simple formula by which the complex problem can be solved. List all the reasons for not attending high school in one column, and in another add up all the reasons why one should attend. Then by simple subtraction the correct answer is obtained. To illustrate:

The educational systems are very faulty and the curriculum is of little practical value to a Christian. The short remaining time before Armageddon should be spent as profitably as possible. The pressure on one’s faith and integrity is great from every side of school life. On the one hand, evolution and infidelity are constantly forced upon the mind, and from another direction the forces of immorality attempt to undermine and destroy one’s foundation in Christianity. And if one takes an open stand for God’s kingdom of righteousness as man’s only hope, then he is oftentimes maliciously slandered, ridiculed and persecuted by student body and faculty. Here then is a partial list of the objections raised against attending high school. How do they add up?

All informed persons will freely admit there is a great deal wrong with the present systems of education. And they are fast going from bad to worse. To quote one AP dispatch: “A Chicago educator says the college freshman is growing increasingly illiterate, unable to read or think. But it isn’t the student’s fault. High schools, says the president of the University of Chicago, are serving a watered-down educational potion. In an attack on the American school system, Dr. Earnest Cadman Colwell remarked in an interview yesterday: ‘More go to school longer and learn less every year. . . . There are too many distractions in the curriculum.’” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jan. 24, 1950) But refusing to go to school does not improve the system. Refusing to go in order to avoid evils makes one miss the good also.

It is good to impress on your own and other people’s minds the nearness of Armageddon, but you do not need to quit school to do so. (2 Pet. 3:11, 12) Instead of running away to a distant pioneer territory why not accept your high school as an assignment, thus showing neighbor love toward these nearby ones? Get the basket off your light that others may see it and “give glory to your Father”.—Matt. 5:15, 16, NW.

MAINTAINING FAITH AND INTEGRITY

What is that? You say you are afraid to let your light shine while going to school, afraid you will be laughed at, scoffed at and persecuted even more than you are now? Well, if anyone thinks it is possible to escape persecution and abuse and still remain a Christian he certainly is misinformed. As long as this system of things under Satan’s rule remains, true followers of Christ will be hated and persecuted. Jesus said so: “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. . . . If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” To which the apostle Paul adds: “All those desiring to live with godly devotion in association with Christ Jesus will also be persecuted.” “We must enter into the kingdom of God through many tribulations.” No, you cannot escape this trouble; “but cheer up!” Jesus says, for it is possible to overcome. He did.—John 15:18-20; 16:33; Acts 14:22; 2 Tim. 3:12, NW.

Comparing the truth with error only strengthens the truth. So if you build your foundation of faith on the solid truth of God’s Word, then be sure it will remain immovable when tested with pagan fables of evolution and godless theories of communism. Moreover, in this day and age servants of the Lord should be well acquainted with all false religions, including those taught by the scientists and communists, in order to aid sincere ones who are deceived to learn the truth.

Morally the high schools are in a deplorable state of affairs. Each year these fertile breeding grounds for all kinds of immoral practices turn out on society an ever-increasing number of derelicts, including sex perverts and dope addicts. But it is folly to think one can escape from this kind of pressure by leaving school, for, if anything, moral conditions in the world outside are even worse. These are the ‘last days with their critical times hard to deal with’.—2 Tim. 3:1-5, NW.

Integrity to God is an individual matter. Parents are responsible to give their children theocratic training and instruction in the laws and commandments of God, but by the time children are of high school age they are individually responsible in large measure for the course they take. If they cannot stand up for godly righteousness amid juvenile temptations and seducements in high school they will certainly fall later when bigger trials come upon them. Eaglets learn to fly and take care of themselves before they reach adulthood.

It thus becomes manifest that the reasons above mentioned for not going to high school, when tested and analyzed, seem rather weak and insufficient. But what about the positive side? Are there good, sound reasons why those dedicated to God should pursue such secular high school studies in this day and age in lands where compulsory education is enforced?

ADVANTAGES OFFERED STUDENTS

At whatever age persons make a dedication of themselves to the Lord, whether in their advanced years or when quite young, from that day forward their desire and obligation is not only to devote what substance and possessions they already have to the Lord’s service, but also to increase their efficiency, abilities and talents. One’s ability to read, spell, write and speak, for example, should be improved for the ministry’s sake. Whatever education a student gains can and should be used to the honor of Jehovah God.

There is a great deal of valuable information contained in the general high school courses. Facts on history and geography, whether ancient, medieval or modern, basic chemistry, physics and biology, mathematics, foreign languages, etc., can be very useful in later years. And even if the material offered in a course is of no practical value, yet by going through the prescribed course students can learn how to study, learn the art of concentration, learn how to remember. They can learn to reason, use logic, sift evidence, weigh arguments, lay aside their prejudices and be open-minded.

It is also important to learn a practical trade for part-time employment to keep one in the ministry. It is commendable that a true minister work to support himself as the apostle Paul did, in order that he be not a burden on the congregation. (Acts 18:3; 1 Cor. 4:12; 2 Cor. 11:9; 1 Thess. 2:9; 2 Thess. 3:7-9) Typing, bookkeeping, home economics and mechanical courses may therefore be very useful.

In addition to the regular academic studies there are other beneficial things high school students can learn. There is the matter of learning to deal with other people, to be free and easy in the presence of others, both in speech and manner. Poise and tactfulness are very necessary requirements for God’s public ministers, and such social lessons can never be learned at home or when isolated from association with other people. There are many backward individuals in the world who are handicapped all through life simply because they were caged in isolation during their formative teen-age.

DIRECT STATEMENT OF POLICY

Recognizing the many advantages of a high school education, and appreciating that many lacked a good education, the Watchtower Society introduced the Course in Theocratic Ministry in 1943. In discussing this, the 1944 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses, pages 64, 65, said further:

“The question has been raised by some of the younger publishers in the companies as to how much education they should receive in the public schools before they engage in the full-time pioneer service or some other activity. Education along proper lines has always been beneficial, and a knowledge of how to study is vital. The training of a mind when it is young along proper lines of study and research will always be appreciated by the person in later years. It is a responsibility of parents to see that their children get this training in their youth. The schools throughout the country have been a great aid to the American people in getting a better education in reading and writing, and have, undoubtedly, prepared many of them to be in position to read, study and accept the message of the Kingdom.

“To the young people who are undecided as to just what they should do in regard to their regular schooling, it is suggested that they continue on through high school and get as much education in grammar school and high school as possible, particularly where the state law fixes an age limit. Probably the so-called commercial course will do them the most good as to preparing themselves for future service work in the field. If they take up bookkeeping, typewriting, shorthand, mathematics, and other general subjects, such may be useful at some future time, as well as chemistry, physics, or a language. English and history are always beneficial; for they broaden the mind. Some vocational courses, such as carpentry, printing, etc., would not be amiss. Remember, Jesus was a carpenter, and Paul a tentmaker; others were fishermen. A trade may come in handy some time. Learn when you are young. While taking up these various courses in high school, which require only 6 to 8 hours of study a day, in most schools, it is well for those of the Lord’s organization who have dedicated their lives to the Kingdom to refrain from participating in school athletics and the social events of the high school. By keeping separate from the things of this world, one can more fully associate with the Lord’s people in the field-service activity. Many high schools close their doors to the pupils in the early afternoon, and some of the summer pioneers who are now going back to school find it possible to get in their 60-hour quota by spending a few hours in the afternoon and evening in the field service, and particularly on week ends.

“Such a course in younger life will prepare these young people, who are looking forward to the pioneer work and the Watchtower Bible [School] of Gilead, for that [school]. A young person’s proper early education and training will be a real benefit and aid to him in the Watchtower Bible [School] of Gilead, or in any place he is privileged to serve his Creator. Young people wholly dedicated to the Lord should prepare themselves for future years of service. Knowing that everlasting life is set forth before them, they should fit themselves the very best possible to honor the Lord’s name and to sing praises of his glorious kingdom. All of these young folks should take a very active part in the course in theocratic ministry. Many plan to enter the pioneer service when they graduate from high school and put in the full two-year pioneer requirement, preparing themselves for the call to Gilead, and then on to whatever fields the Lord directs. What a future! May the Lord’s rich blessing continue with these young folks and their preparation for this glorious work. Proper education under the direction of righteous parents is a gift to be cherished for life, and one’s acceptance of it will never be regretted.”

Being now fully convinced that it is proper and right to complete high school before entering the full-time ministry, go ahead with resolute determination to get as much as possible out of school. Remember the old saying, ‘you get out of it what you put into it.’ So study well. Do not be the dummy of the class. “Borrow” heavily from the modern-day Egyptians and Babylonians, even as Moses and Daniel and Daniel’s three companions did, that “in all matters of wisdom and understanding” you may be found “ten times better” than your classmates, so that those beholding your countenance may give honor and praise to your God Jehovah and his people.—Dan. 1:20; Acts 7:22.

Thus through your conscientious and serious efforts as a student you will make friends with your teachers. Make friends also with fellow students, not by joining their clubs or running with them to the same excesses in loose conduct, but rather win their trust, friendship and admiration by your loving-kindness, tender mercy, integrity, uprightness and dependability. Strong fish swim upstream, against the current. Above all, show friendliness and love to both teachers and students by your sincere efforts to give them the same comfort and hope you have in a knowledge of Jehovah God’s purposes to establish his kingdom rule over all the earth—truly man’s only hope!

Theocratic Assemblies in Sweden and Norway

THE Stockholm convention, September 14-16, was foremost in the minds of the Kingdom publishers. The brothers all over Sweden were very eager to get to this convention, not the least because of the enthusiastic reports from the 270 Swedish brothers who had attended the London “Clean Worship Assembly”. The Government Railway Board upon request granted a 25 per cent reduction in the fares for the conventioners and this made it possible for some to go who were short of sufficient funds.

Arrangements for advertising the public meeting included the usual means, smaller placards to be borne on the persons of the publishers in street work and bigger ones to be carried on sticks, 200,000 folders, and ads in the dailies. Besides this the brothers wanted to advertise in the streetcars and buses, and the company in charge of such advertising was very willing. But before a contract is valid the wording of the sign must be submitted to the Street Car Company Board for approval. When it came before them they denied approval.

The streetcars themselves were not carrying any signs for the public talk, but that did not prevent the doing of streetcar and bus advertising, as the chairman pointed out to the conventioners on the opening day. All the delegates were provided with lapel signs to pin on and, since most of them had to make frequent use of the public transportation, the streetcars and buses had to carry living advertisements, and that to no small extent. These slips also served as identification documents in rather unexpected situations. One brother went to a post office to get some registered mail and having no other identification with him he pointed to the slip and declared himself to be one of Jehovah’s witnesses, whereupon his own signature was accepted without further trouble. Another publisher had lost his transfer ticket for the underground but was admitted to the next line on the strength of his wearing the slip identifying him as one attending the convention.

A peak attendance of 4,000 had been anticipated for the Eriksdalshallen sports arena, but it was a glad surprise to see the hall practically filled for the opening session. By Friday night the number had grown to 3,335 and on Saturday the attendance rose to 4,050. That night 141 were baptized. Outside of the public meeting, the greatest attendance for the assembly was on Sunday night, when 4,205 filled the hall and all gangways where loudspeakers had been permitted.

The theme of clean worship showed itself in parts of all the discourses, and the listeners were pointed to their duties and privileges in connection therewith. The brothers gave many expressions of gratitude and joy because of the strong and emphatic expressions brought home to them in Brother Knorr’s discourses on “Making Your Mind Over for New World Living” and “The Triumph of Clean, Undefiled Worship”. Brothers Henschel and Jensen from the Brooklyn Bethel gave excellent counsel and instruction. Three Swedish graduates of Gilead serving in Sweden spoke in a symposium on “Showing Full Godly Devotion”, in the home, in the place of work and in the company of Jehovah’s witnesses. Brother Eneroth, the branch servant, counseled the brothers on how to act in harmony with clean worship when the new law regulating religious freedom goes into effect in January and how it will then be possible to withdraw from the State Church without having to join another church that is recognized by the government. Another much enjoyed feature was the interview with five young publishers nine to fourteen years of age.

The public talk “Will Religion Meet the World Crisis?” was held Sunday afternoon. Any anxiety as to whether it would be possible to have the overflow crowd seated on the football ground behind the hall was dispelled when the sun shone forth and a light breeze cleared away the clouds that were left in the sky. Every inch of space inside the hall was occupied by seated or standing people and its published capacity number was far surpassed. On the football ground there were over a thousand people and, all together, a crowd of 6,211 heard the stirring lecture and received it favorably.

And then came the last talk by Brother Knorr, the one that every one of those present has since said he will never forget, even if some other things received at this convention may in time pass from the memory. It was the wonderfully simple but meaningful story of the absent Father who wrote loving letters, 66 of them, to his son who was being instructed by his mother to accept and understand these letters, and the searching queries to each one present: “Do you believe that those letters are from your Father? Do you read them over and over again? Do you try to conform to the counsel there given?” This extemporaneous heart-to-heart talk deeply moved the big crowd and all hearts went out to the heavenly Father in silent adoration and gratitude. Then, at the close of his talk Brother Knorr, figuratively speaking, put a big exclamation mark after all the exhortations to continued zealous work in the sacred service of God in Sweden when he sprang the glad surprise on the assembly: Expansion in Sweden was to be marked and supported by the providing of a new and enlarged Bethel Home, which was to be built from the ground up, and a printery installed. A local society was also to be formed to carry on the work on a permanent basis. This good and unexpected news certainly took down the house. Even when the brothers were told they could expect to be asked to help finance the proposition by loaning money toward the building costs they clapped their hands most enthusiastically. They had been expansion-minded in Sweden as in other lands. When Brother Knorr had visited the country in 1947 there were 3,092 publishers, but in 1951 a peak of 5,140 had been reached.

NORWAY

The biggest, most encouraging and best organized convention held in Norway till now! Such a description of the national assembly at Lillehammer is no exaggeration. The assembly was held on September 21-23. Lillehammer, a resort town in the center of Norway, is situated at the entrance to Gudbrandsdalen, one of Norway’s biggest valleys. The Mjøsa lake and surrounding green hills are beautiful beyond description.

A thousand years ago this same valley was the scene of bloody oppressive acts, resulting from the worship of unclean, impure religions. Olaf, a Norwegian viking king, had become a Catholic convert and set out to “Christianize” the country. If the peasants in this valley did not renounce their faith but wanted to worship their old heathen gods, such as Tor the Thundergod, or Odin the Allfather, this red-bearded Catholic missionary-king cut out their tongues or burned their intestines out by placing glowing stones upon their stomachs. By such methods he succeeded in converting the country to Catholicism, and for this he got the name Olaf “the Holy one”.

But now, in the year 1951, another message was heard in this valley, a message of clean, undefiled religion. Jehovah’s witnesses were going from house to house, peacefully preaching to the people and at the same time securing rooms for the big Christian assembly to follow.

Lillehammer is no big town. With suburbs the population will amount to 14,000. The rooming committee had to get accommodations for 1,600. They did it, getting rooms for 900 in private homes. The only reason the convention was held at Lillehammer was that it was impossible to obtain a hall in Oslo that was big enough. At Lillehammer an athletic hall with a capacity of 1,300 was used.

The convention hall could not house the various departments; so tents had to be set up outside the building. The army officers in a military camp nearby proved very helpful and provided big military tents. Some of them were brand-new American tents sent from the U.S.A. as part of the help given to Norway under the ERP. So Jehovah’s witnesses were the first to benefit from this particular aid under the ERP. When the tents had been set up Norwegian army representatives came to study how it should be done!

When the convention time drew near conventioners began coming. On Thursday, the day before opening day, hundreds of brothers poured into the little town. They came by all means of transportation, mostly by trains and buses. From the west coast alone 11 buses arrived. Some pioneers cycled all the way from the west coast over the mountains and through snowstorms to get there. More than a hundred witnesses came the long way from above the Arctic Circle, including the world’s northern-most publishers, who work in the town of Hammerfest.

When the conventioners entered the hall they saw the most beautiful platform they had ever beheld at a Norwegian assembly. As a decoration the same motif as found on the front page of The Watchtower was used. On the background was painted the mountain, the river and the valley, but the tower on the left side was a real one and on the right side a real fir tree had been set up. On the front of the platform a row of beautiful flowers had been arranged on top of a low battlement.

The program got under way Friday morning and proved to be a continuous stream of spiritual blessings. In his address of welcome the chairman mentioned that this was the first national assembly since 1947, that it was the biggest ever held in Norway and that the number of publishers had more than doubled since the Society’s president, N. H. Knorr, was here four years ago. Then the peak was 972, now it was 2,066!

After a talk on the practical value of the Bible, Brother M. G. Henschel spoke about how to overcome the different problems that come up in the lives of Christians. The 1,475 persons present surely appreciated his counsel that the only way to overcome their problems is by sticking to God’s Word and service.

In the evening a service meeting stressed the need for more work and more efficient work on Magazine Day. Four Norwegian Gilead graduates took care of that part of the program. Then came Brother Knorr’s first talk to the assembly, “Making the Mind Over for New World Living.” He pointed out how the important thing is to get a knowledge of Jehovah’s thoughts, and then make the mind over according to these divine thoughts. Trying to change the world is futile; if you try, the world is most likely to change you. An audience of 1,603 persons listened to this talk.

Saturday, September 22, proved to be a most blessed day. The weather was fine and in the morning field service was performed while at the same time 89 brothers and sisters were baptized. The greatest number ever baptized at a single convention in Norway!

In the afternoon Brother Klaus M. Jensen, a Norwegian and a long-time member of the Brooklyn Bethel family, spoke on “Our Stand Against Unrighteousness”, explaining why the Society in recent years, as never before, has stressed cleanness in moral matters. His talk was heavily supported with Scriptural illustrations.

Right after this talk the Norwegian branch servant, M. F. Anderson, conducted a very interesting part of the program. He had all the Society’s circuit servants come to the microphone and tell about the need for pioneers in their respective circuits. Besides getting a lesson in geography the audience learned that a large area in Norway gets little or no attention because of the lack of pioneers. In the evening Brother Knorr gave his discourse, “The Triumph of Clean, Undefiled Worship.” This was the keynote talk, dealing with the theme of the assembly, and it was shown how Satan had tried to corrupt the pure religion again and again, but never succeeded. The audience really became wide awake when Brother Knorr began telling how a little group of dissatisfied persons in some Oslo units tried to corrupt the new “sheep” and called the Society “Satan’s organization”. “And if any of them are here at this convention,” he said, “I would like to say that you are not welcome, because we are no part of you and you are not a part of us.” His counsel was that such persons should be disfellowshiped at once. At the end of this talk he released a new instrument to be used in spreading the pure, undefiled religion, namely, a Norwegian translation of the handy tracts that were first released in London. That evening 1,644 persons were present.

Sunday morning experiences were related, and one pioneer told how he had met a young lady who said that her son was very much interested, but on vacation. She showed him her son’s personal copies of “The Truth Shall Make You Free” and Salvation, and he noticed that they were more worn than her son’s schoolbooks. The brother asked how old her son was. “Ten years old,” was the reply.

Another brother had come to a parish priest and they had discussed “hell”. After learning that Jehovah’s witnesses do not believe that God is a torturist tormenting creatures in hell-fire, the priest said: “But in fact, we do not believe in hell-fire either, not that way.” “But the people don’t know that, so you had better tell your parishioners,” the brother retorted. The priest was quite reasonable and after a long discussion he took The Watchtower dealing with “Lazarus” and “the rich man”. “But please, promise me one thing,” he said as the publisher left him. “Don’t use this as an advertisement in the community, that the parish priest bought The Watchtower.”

“Will Religion Meet the World Crisis?” That was the question Lillehammer’s citizens had been continually confronted with for some weeks, and at one o’clock more than 700 of them came to get the answer. The total number present was 2,391; a new peak in attendance at a public meeting in Norway.

Two publishers who did not get the opportunity to attend this assembly were the two Gilead graduates living in the world’s most northern missionary home located at Vardø. They went to the assembly in Helsinki, however. From these brothers came the following report:

“We have our missionary assignment near the border to Russia. It is far up in the Arctic zone. Therefore it is a very cold place. In winter it is about 31 degrees below zero, and the average for summer is about 50 degrees above. People are scattered, living in small villages from ten to fifteen miles apart. During World War II the Germans burned down almost every home up here when they were forced to retreat before the oncoming Russians.

“In our work in wintertime we use skis. Because of the long distances we never can come back to our home the same day, and therefore we spend a whole week in the territory. On such a trip on skis in April 1951 during a heavy snowstorm we came to Kiberg, a small village with around 350 people. This village was also called ‘Little Moscow’ because most people there were Communists. We rented a little hall and began advertising the talk to be given in Norwegian. All at once the whole village began to speak about us and claimed that we were American spies.

“The subject of the talk was: ‘Surviving Global War.’ When it took place almost 95 were assembled. They listened very closely and were thankful to hear the facts about Jehovah’s witnesses’ beliefs.

“After the talk one of the leaders came up to us. He explained that he was glad to hear our message and we should not pay anything for the hall. Most of them were now friendly toward us, and they asked us to come back very soon and give new talks. We placed the book ‘Let God Be True’ in almost every house and obtained 39 subscriptions. Now we have studies with many of them and it is a great pleasure to see how they now believe in the kingdom of Jehovah instead of in communism. This shows why the leaders of communism fear the message Jehovah’s witnesses bring.

“Then we went farther on and after 15 miles we came to Skalleelv, a village with about 300 inhabitants. At once we got the school for the public talk and began to advertise. Here everybody spoke Finnish, and therefore Brother Korttila had to give the talk in their own language. The hall was overcrowded and some even brought their own chairs. When the talk began 75 were there. Most of them belong to a Finnish sect called ‘Laestadians’, and are known as very fanatical in their belief of the hell-fire dogma.

“When the talk finished a great dispute began. Many had questions for the speaker and he had a busy time answering them before we could go home. They asked us to stay there one more day and give a second talk, but we were not able to do that. So we promised to be back very soon.”

The lands of the midnight sun have been visited by the workers Jehovah has sent forth. The seeds of truth have been sown and many have fallen into “good soil”. Fruit has been borne manyfold and more will come in the months ahead. (Matt. 13:1-23) The truth has penetrated throughout all the lands of Northern Europe and a great harvesting is under way. Soon the gathering of the sheeplike ones will be finished and then Jehovah will send forth his executional forces to destroy Satan’s wicked organization.—Rev. 14:14-20.

Questions From Readers

● Why does Acts 15:20, 29 command Christians to keep away from meats sacrificed to idols, and 1 Corinthians 8:1-10 allow the eating of such meats?—J. H., Texas.

Many Gentile Christians, when in their previous heathen state, ate flesh offered to idols, ate it as a feast with the idol, and were thus supposed to have communion with the idol. These were sacred feasts where certain parts of the animal were used on the idol-altar and certain parts were used by the offerer, and thus the eater at such events was a partaker or sharer with the idol or the demon god the idol represented; just as the Israelites were partaking at the altar of Jehovah when they ate part of the animal sacrifices they offered at the temple, and as Christians thereafter were partaking at the table of Jehovah when they used the bread and wine at Memorial. It is this formal, religious, sacred eating of meats sacrificed to idols that Acts 15:20, 29 and Acts 21:25 forbids. It would make Christians partakers with demons, and render them unfit to partake at Jehovah’s table.—1 Cor. 10:18-21, NW.

However, not all of the meat of animals sacrificed to idols was used in the sacred feasts, but much of it found its way into the shambles or pagan meat markets. It was such meat that 1 Corinthians 8:1-10 allows Christians to buy and eat. Whatever meat was sold in these meat markets, even though the blood of the animal or part of its flesh had been used in idol worship by idol worshipers, could be eaten by Christians. It was not eaten as a part of a sacred feast in honor of an idol. Yet on one point the Christian was to be careful: he was not to stumble a weaker brother. If one not fully mature in knowledge and understanding on this matter objected to a mature brother’s eating the meat, the mature brother would not eat. While free to do so, he would not allow his freedom to be the cause of a weaker one’s judging him adversely. He would refrain from eating rather than stumble his weaker brother.—1 Cor. 8:11-13; 10:23-33, NW.

We might clarify the situation somewhat by this illustration, though it is not analogous. Today we might drink wine and eat bread; but we would not drink and eat these things with false religionists who were unworthily celebrating the Lord’s evening meal. Also, those of the “other sheep” class would not drink wine or eat bread at our own Memorial celebrations; but they might properly drink some of the wine and eat some of the bread that might have been left over, doing this later on in the evening after the celebration, or even the next day, and away from the Kingdom Hall. But if some of the brothers felt keenly on this matter, opposing this later use of the wine and bread, then for the sake of their conscience and to avoid stumbling them other brothers would not so use these leftovers in the presence of such weaker ones, though there would be no wrong against God committed by such use of the bread and wine.

● What is the unforgivable sin against the holy spirit that Jesus spoke about?—B. E., New York.

Jesus had just cured a demon-possessed man who was blind and dumb. The crowds marveled, but the Pharisees scoffed and said Jesus did it by means of Beelzebub. Jesus refuted their claim by showing that if Satan expelled Satan he would be divided against himself and his kingdom could not stand. Also, if Jesus expelled demons by means of Beelzebub, by whose means did their sons expel them? Then he said: “Every kind of sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the spirit will not be forgiven. For example, whoever speaks a word against the Son of man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the holy spirit, it will not be forgiven him, no, not in the present system of things nor in that to come.”—Matt. 12:22-32, NW.

They could speak against the Son of man and later be forgiven on the grounds of their ignorance of the facts about him. Their sins of ignorance are forgivable if they do not resist knowledge of the truth when they are brought face to face with it. However, it was different when the Pharisees said: “This fellow does not expel the demons except by means of Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.” Why so? Because this was a sin against the holy spirit, since manifestly such a cure as Jesus had just performed could not be by human power. To say it was of Satan was illogical, as Jesus showed them. The Pharisees did not say such cures were of Satan when their sons cast out demons. Why arbitrarily say it now, in Jesus’ case? Why say it was God’s spirit when their sons did it, but deny the manifest operation of the holy spirit when Jesus did it? Why? Because they did not love the truth and did not want to be led to the truthful conclusion that they were false teachers and Jesus was the Messiah. To admit this would mean giving up many selfish practices. Too many selfish things were at stake for them.

So they resisted the true conclusion to which Jesus’ works should have led them. Let them speak against the Son of man if they wished; still they should have listened to the witness borne him by his works, works performed by the power of the holy spirit. Jesus said: “If I am not doing the works of my Father, do not believe me. But if I am doing them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works.” (John 5:36; 10:37, 38, NW) When they said these miraculous works were done by Satan they sinned against the spirit. They blasphemed God’s spirit, saying it was of Satan. Willfully and for selfish reasons they resisted the display of its power. To such ones Stephen said: “Obstinate men and uncircumcised in hearts and ears, you are always resisting the holy spirit.”—Acts 7:51, NW.

It was this willful quality of the sin that made it unforgivable, because it made them unteachable, beyond correction, and opposed to God’s provision for forgiveness. As Jesus said: “Whoever blasphemes against the holy spirit has no forgiveness forever, but is guilty of everlasting sin.” (Mark 3:28-30, NW) There is no sacrifice to cover such willful sinning against the holy spirit, “not in the present system of things nor in that to come.” This does not mean such Pharisees will return in the thousand-year judgment day to find themselves still unforgiven; that would accomplish nothing. It means that the operation of God’s spirit will be very manifest then, as it was when Jesus was on earth, and that then, just as when Jesus was on earth, some will sin against the manifest operation of the holy spirit, and especially so at the end of the thousand-year reign when Satan will be loosed for the final test on earth’s inhabitants. Such sin will still be unforgivable, at that distant time.

Writes John: “If anyone catches sight of his brother sinning a sin that does not incur death, he will ask, and he will give life to him, yes, to those not sinning so as to incur death. There is a sin that does incur death. It is concerning that sin that I do not tell him to make request. All unrighteousness is sin; and yet there is a sin that does not incur death.” (1 John 5:16, 17, NW) If one sins in ignorance or because of human imperfections, forgiveness is available. But for willful sinning there is no sin-atoning sacrifice: “If we practice sin willfully after having received the accurate knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice for sins left, but there is a certain fearful expectation of judgment and there is a fiery jealousy that is going to consume those in opposition.” (Heb. 10:26, 27, NW) Willful sin, with eyes wide open to the undeniable operation of God’s holy spirit or active force, is unforgivable and we should not pray for the forgiveness of such sinners. Even before Christ’s time intercession was not to be made for such ones. (Jer. 7:1-16; 11:14; 14:11) Willful sinners, insincere and unrepentant, set in their evil ways and unwilling to conform to God’s requirements, have “no forgiveness forever”; which means that when they die they go into second death.

So we see that one does not have to be of the anointed class to sin against the holy spirit, nor does he have to have God’s spirit upon him as do the “other sheep” class in order to sin against it. Many in Satan’s visible organization sin against the holy spirit by deliberately and willfully disobeying what they know to be written in God’s Word and by not conforming to the new world society when they see the manifest operation of God’s spirit upon his visible organization.

● What Has Religion Done for Mankind? on page 37, quotes Proverbs 8:22-31 according to the Moffatt translation, wherein it refers to Jehovah’s only-begotten Son as “his foster child”. Why is the Logos spoken of as a foster child?—H. J., New Jersey.

Because Jehovah filled his only-begotten Son with wisdom, the Son became the very symbol of wisdom and he speaks of himself as Wisdom in Proverbs chapter 8. In Pr 8 verse 30 where Moffatt uses the expression “foster-child” to refer to the Son, Moffatt is giving a literal translation of the word ah·móhn, which is from the Hebrew verb ahmán, meaning “to nourish, nurse, be guardian to”. In Isaiah 49:23 the participle of this verb, ah·méhn, is translated in the King James Version “nursing fathers”, and “nourishers” in the margin. At Isaiah 60:4 the word is rendered “nursed”. So when Moffatt refers to Wisdom as Jehovah’s foster child he means that this Son is a favorite child, nursed, nourished, cherished, guarded. Moffatt is not meaning to say Wisdom is an adopted child in the modern legal sense of foster child. How could he mean this, when in the preceding verses Moffatt’s translation shows Wisdom was created by Jehovah, formed and fashioned by Him as the “first of his creation”?

Announcements

PUBLISH UPLIFT AND COMFORT FOR THE POOR—Ps. 113:7, 8, AS.

Millions today are in a poverty-stricken condition. The inability of men to improve the lot of the oppressed masses and to lift their burdens makes relief seem unattainable. However, most disturbing is not the lack of material riches, but the spiritual poverty everywhere in evidence. Here the wise words of the Master Prophet come to mind: “Happy are those who are conscious of their spiritual need.” He knew of Jehovah’s promise to raise up the poor out of the dust and to lift up the needy. (Ps. 113:7, 8, AS) Literally millions of such poor people are to be found throughout the earth today. Help them during the month of March by taking the Watchtower magazine to those in your locality, and so publish uplift and comfort for those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Present the Watchtower offer of a year’s subscription and three booklets for $1.

FAITHFUL TO DEATH

Friends of the truth throughout the earth will be interested to learn of the death of one who played a prominent part in the affairs of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society for many years, Clayton J. Woodworth. An editor and textbook writer before coming into the Society’s service; he first became a member of the Brooklyn Bethel family in 1912, renewing this membership after a necessary interruption August 1, 1919. He was the writer of the commentary on The Revelation contained in the noted The Finished Mystery which the Society published in 1917. For his part in this and other Society matters he was one of the seven brothers, including the Society’s then president, J. F. Rutherford, who were sent to Atlanta Federal Penitentiary on false charges at the climax of World War I in 1918 but were released in 1919 and exonerated thereafter.

Following his release in 1919 Brother Woodworth was made editor of the Society’s newly introduced magazine The Golden Age. He remained editor when the magazine’s name was changed to Consolation in 1937, to carry on as such until 1946. Because of advancing years he was relieved of this when the magazine was given a new change of name to Awake! For years he served as a member and director of the New York Corporation, People’s Pulpit Association and Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Inc. He continued joyfully active at other duties assigned to him till his illness made this recently impossible. He died at the ripe old age of 81, loyal to the faith and unwaveringly devoted to the theocratic organization, on December 18, 1951, at 4 a.m. Interment of his remains took place at the burial plot of the Bethel family adjoining Radio Station WBBR on Staten Island, New York, at the same time with two other faithful Bethel family members who had died, hours apart, two days previous at the Bethel home. All three professed to be of the anointed remnant, and we rejoice in hope of their realization of Revelation 14:13.

BIBLE TRACTS

Truth-loving persons desire to see others also gain an accurate knowledge of God’s Word. To assist them we have provided some Bible tracts that fit conveniently into one’s pocket or purse. These small 6-page tracts can be kept readily accessible for passing to friends, acquaintances and others with whom one comes in contact in daily life. These tracts are different, enlightening, interesting. They are entitled: “What Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Believe?” “Hell-Fire,” “Jehovah’s Witnesses, Communists or Christians?” and “Awake from Sleep!” Pithy, revealing thought-arousing, they will serve excellently in setting these important matters straight in the minds of many. Any one of these four attractive and colorful tracts may be ordered in packages of 250 each, at 25c per package. Send order with remittance to 117 Adams Street, Brooklyn 1, New York.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES

Week of March 16: The Memorial—Are You Entitled to Partake? ¶1-22.

Week of March 23: The Memorial—Are You Entitled to Partake? ¶23-37; also, What About Those Not Partaking?