The Watchtower — November 1, 1952

Efforts to Undermine the Bible

“Everyone that hears these sayings of mine and does them will be likened to a discreet man, who built his house upon the rock-mass. And the rain poured down and the floods came and the winds blew and lashed against that house, but it did not cave in, for it had been founded upon the rock-mass.”—Matt. 7:24, 25, NW.

THE quickest way to destroy a building is to knock its foundation from under it. Gravity will do the rest. The quickest way to destroy Christian faith is to knock its foundation from under it. Doubts and skepticism will complete the ruin. The foundation of our faith is a book. That book is the Bible. Today there is an avalanche of knockers trying to sweep that foundation out from under Christianity. In times past Bible writers were killed, Bible believers were tortured, Bible translators were burned at the stake, and copies of the Bible were fed to the flames. Yet the book lives today. It is still under attack, but the assaults are more varied, more subtle. They converge upon the Bible from many quarters: from science, from atheism and, surprisingly enough, from those who pose as its friends, the clergy of Christendom.

² Do you have faith in the Bible? Is your faith founded on fact? Do you both hear and heed the Bible’s words, or is your faith shown to be dead by the absence of works in harmony with it? Many do not build a Christian life on a rock foundation, but base their religious life on the sands of superstition and tradition, on credulity and ceremony. Faiths based on such false foundations will not survive stormy assaults, but the true faith that is founded on knowledge of and obedience to God’s Word will stand like a house on a rock-mass. Neither will attacks by men that try it severely undermine it, nor will judgments from God that weigh it in the balances find it wanting. Both the faith that endures and the kind that collapses are embraced in Jesus’ illustration: “Everyone that hears these sayings of mine and does them will be likened to a discreet man, who built his house upon the rock-mass. And the rain poured down and the floods came and the winds blew and lashed against that house, but it did not cave in, for it had been founded upon the rock-mass. Furthermore, everyone hearing these sayings of mine and not doing them will be likened to a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand. And the rain poured down and the floods came and the winds blew and struck against that house and it caved in, and its collapse was great.”—Matt. 7:24-27, NW.

³ Science has sought the collapse of the Bible, and it has made the creation account its chief target and evolutionary theories its flaming arrows. These burning missiles have reduced to ashes the unfounded faith of multitudes, but they have not penetrated the shield of true faith. (Eph. 6:16) Why, even advancing scientific knowledge quenches evolution’s fiery darts! Evolutionists at one time held strange ideas about spontaneous generation of life, but new knowledge forced them to abandon such theories. They claimed characteristics acquired from environment were passed on to offspring, but had to relinquish this attractive theory when modern genetics proved such were not inheritable. In arguing for the survival of the fittest, Darwin failed to explain the arrival of the fittest, which is the key problem. Hugo de Vries explained the arrival of small, inheritable changes in life forms by mutations, but now science is saddened to discover that these rare mutations are harmful instead of helpful, and could possibly account for a degeneration or deterioration, a devolution downward, but not an evolution upward. But if science allowed itself to be stripped of these past contentions its theory of evolution would be bankrupt, and such state of bankruptcy it will not honestly declare. So propagandizing evolutionists still offer these falsehoods as fodder for a gullible and uninformed public.

⁴ During June in New York city an International Symposium on Anthropology was held, and in reporting on one session the New York Times of June 12 headlined their conclusion, “Evolution of Body Is Declared at End.” This matches the opinion of Lucien Cuénot, one of France’s outstanding biologists, who, in discussing the evolutionary tree, said in his book L’adaptation, “The evolutionary sap no longer circulates.” Incidentally, before he died last year Cuénot abandoned the evolution theory as untenable, to the great consternation of his scientific colleagues. It is very convenient for evolutionists to declare that evolution has ended. They do not have to show it taking place now. They are not embarrassed by their inability to show it in operation now.

⁵ Another interesting point was disclosed by this meeting of anthropologists in New York city. The New York Times of June 10, under the headline “Age of Cave Man Is Cut 35,000 Years”, reported their belief that “the ancestors of modern man in Europe are perhaps 35,000 years younger than has been previously believed”, that “new study indicates that the cave man was extinct in Europe by the year 13,000 B.C.” This slash in the cave man’s age, from 50,000 years to 15,000 years, was forced by the newly developed radiocarbon clock. It was the advent of this clock that caused the Chicago Sun-Times of May 27, 1951, to report that evolutionists had cut the age of modern man from 1,000,000 years to 50,000 years. Science shaves the figure ever nearer to the Bible’s 6,000-year age for man. That the present carbon clock figures may not be final was recognized by the symposium, for the Times reported: “Carbon dating techniques may be subject to revision later if differences in the natural rate of formation of the radioactive isotope can be detected or if anomalies in the rate of carbon utilization by growing materials are discovered, it was suggested.”

ARCHAEOLOGY DENIES EVOLUTION

⁶ The science of archaeology contradicts instead of supports evolution. Note the following: “Strangely, in view of the consistent demands of the evolutionary school, we find no evidence of human evolution in the land of Egypt. More than this, the doctrine that man began with a brutish intellect and gradually developed his high and peculiar culture is refuted by the evidences from this country. In fact, the contrary is strikingly the case. Instead of proving a process of evolution, the history of man as found in the archaeology of Egypt is a consistent record of degeneration. The eminent Sayce, one of the ablest archaeologists in the whole history of that great science, expressed his wonder and amazement at the high stage of culture met with in the very earliest records of the Egyptian people. Other authorities, such as Baikie, have written voluminously upon the subject. It had been hoped that when excavators finally reached undisturbed tombs of the first dynasty, they would find themselves in the dawn of Egyptian culture. . . . Through the first tombs, we peer back into an older preceding culture that dazzles and amazes the human understanding. Instead of finding the dawn of a developing humanity, we see mankind already in the high noon of cultural accomplishments. . . . Egypt, as elsewhere, shows us no dim, brutish beginning, but a startling emergence of this people in a high degree of culture. . . . It must not be presumed that this condition is unique in Egypt, or peculiar to any one race or country. The same queer discrepancy between the fallacious theories of the philosophy of organic evolution and the facts of human history is observed wherever archeology has been able to hold the torch of discovery over a given area.”—Pages 41, 42, 49, 50, Dead Men Tell Tales, by H. Rimmer.

⁷ Notwithstanding the continuing vindication of the Bible by advancing knowledge, some of the clergy of Christendom oppose the Bible to side with science. On May 3 the Morning Call of Allentown, Pennsylvania, reported the “Reverend” Joseph B. Mohr as saying: “It is regrettable that the doctrine of the infallibility of the Bible has been interpreted by many to mean that the Scriptures in all their parts, even their pre-scientific parts, are of equal value to us today, and equally binding.” What this cleric is trying to say in his roundabout, flanking attack on the Bible is that God’s Word is not reliable, that if the men who wrote it had known science they would have written it differently, that if God who inspired it had known what today’s scientists know he would have caused it to be written differently, that when we must choose between science and the Bible, we should choose science. This is only typical of so many clergy in Christendom today. They build on the shifting sands of science, not on the immovable rock of God’s Word.

Basis for Believing the Bible

“Your word is truth.”—John 17:17, NW.

1. How does the fundamentalist tear down faith in the Bible?

THE clergy of Christendom fall into two general classes: the fundamentalists and the modernists, or higher critics. They hold different views on the Bible. The fundamentalist takes it all literally; the higher critic takes it all apart. The fundamentalist contaminates it with paganism, by teaching such doctrines as trinity, eternal torment, purgatory, and other beliefs taught by pagans long before Christ. When apostate Christianity became catholic or universal from and after the fourth century it embraced pagan teachings, in order to appeal to pagans and convert them to a nominal Christianity. In a futile effort to avoid conflict with God’s Word, the fundamentalist clergy twist certain texts to fit in with their paganisms, as Peter said: “The meaning of which the untaught and unsteady are twisting, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.” (Matt. 15:6-9; 2 Pet. 3:16, NW) Though claiming to build on Bible truth, fundamentalists found their faith on pagan myth. Their misrepresentations of God and Christ cause many to turn away from the Bible. They thus lend themselves as tools for tearing down faith in God and his Word.

2, 3. What position does the higher critic take regarding the Bible?

² Paul warned against “the philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men”, and said that after his going oppressive wolves would rise and waste the flock of God. Such ravenous wolves, Jesus cautioned, would come in sheep’s covering. (Matt. 7:15; Acts 20:29; Col. 2:8, NW) They do now come out of clergy schools, masquerading behind a theological seminary sheepskin to appear as authoritative ministers of God. But whether they are fundamentalists or modernists, they devour rather than build up faith. The modern higher critic does this by saying that the Bible is only myth and legend, that it is not historically accurate, that much of it is fiction and deliberate forgery. As proof note this from the pen of one of such higher critics:

³ “The authors and compilers of the biblical books often had a variety of traditions, legends and writings before them, and they edited these for their purpose, which was not primarily to convey historical information, but to declare God’s message to their contemporaries through these memories of the nation’s past. They employed literary devices, usual in their time, such as putting into direct discourse on the lips of their characters the points of view for which they were reported to have stood, or even writing an entire book in the name of a revered figure of a bygone day. Daniel and the Second Epistle of Peter are examples of this practice.” This critic adds that it is immaterial that the “writing does not give an accurate account, according to modern historical perspective”.a

ARCHAEOLOGY SUPPORTS THE BIBLE

4. What argument was once used against Moses’ writership? and why is it no longer used by informed critics?

⁴ Just as in the case of the evolutionary scientists, the higher critics have been forced to retreat from former positions by the advance of knowledge, particularly knowledge unearthed by archaeologists. During the nineteenth century the higher-critic scoffers were loud in their denunciation of the Bible’s position that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, one of their arguments against it being that writing was unknown at the time of Moses. When they had to give ground on this point they did so grudgingly, and arbitrarily said that even if writing was known it was not widely used and Moses did not know the art. But further discoveries made the rout of the higher critics complete. Now it is acknowledged that writing was widespread in Abraham’s time, that it was used by not only adults but children, whose textbooks have been found. Writing was known before the Noachian flood. Clay tablets with writing on them go back to the fourth millennium before Christ, reaching into the life span of Adam. In fact, archaeology indicates that Adam wrote, and along with others such as Noah, Shem, Isaac and Jacob provided written documents from which Moses compiled the book of Genesis, down to Ge chapter 37 verse 2.b

5. What are the facts concerning the creation and flood accounts, and monotheism and polytheism?

⁵ Adam was used to write the account of creation, and Noah and his three sons wrote of the global flood they survived in the ark. This contradicts the contention of higher critics that Moses merely purified the many different creation and flood stories widely circulated among the heathen. Archaeological discoveries indicate that by his very style Moses showed he was quoting the records of Adam on creation and Noah and his sons on the flood. The higher critic’s claim here is similar to his position regarding monotheism and polytheism. He says polytheism was first, then the Hebrews by a purifying process developed monotheism. Archaeology disputes this. The Sumerians are about the most ancient people known to archaeology, and at the end of their culture they had a pantheon of 5,000 gods. But as their past is penetrated the number diminishes, for earlier they had only 750 gods. Farther penetration takes us back to the time when there was but one deity, the Sky-God, from whom the Sumerian pantheon of 5,000 gods descended.c As monotheism was corrupted into polytheism, the true, original accounts were also corrupted to fit in with the variety of false gods. The Bible account of creation and of the flood was spread by word of mouth and new writings as peoples migrated, and variations and distortions flooded in. Tales are not purified by repetition, but undergo much change, some parts being exaggerated, others minimized or omitted, and still other parts twisted. The Bible contains the true, original accounts, and shows monotheism as being first. Polytheism and corrupted accounts followed. Archaeology supports this position, the higher critics notwithstanding.

6. How has archaeology brought some outside support to the Bible account of the tower of Babel?

⁶ Scorn has been heaped upon the story of the tower of Babel. (Gen. 11:1-9) Yet in Mesopotamia archaeologists have discovered the remains of a number of temple towers, and one of these is believed by many Bible scholars to have been the tower of Babel. Under the picture of a restoration of this site we read: “A restoration of Babylon and the Tower of Babel. The tower . . . was begun in the third millennium B.C. but not completed until Nebuchadnezzar’s reign.”d George Smith, staff member of the British Museum, in his book Chaldean Account of Genesis, translates the writing found on an ancient fragment which tells of the destruction of one of the Babylonian temple towers, as follows: “The building of this temple offended the gods. In a night they threw down what had been built. They scattered them abroad, and made strange their speech. The progress they impeded.” On this Joseph Free observes: “This account may be a later reflection of what actually occurred when God came down at the time of the building of the Tower of Babel and scattered the people abroad, confounding their language.”—Archaeology and Bible History, page 46.

7. How is Bible accuracy shown in the case of heathen kings?

⁷ Another striking evidence of the historical accuracy of the Bible account is the case of forty-seven monarchs, aside from those of Israel and Judah. They are mentioned in the Bible, but their names were missing from secular history. “For this reason the learned leaders of ‘higher criticism’ relegated these forty-seven monarchs to the columns of mythology. They were grouped among ‘the fables and folklore of the Old Testament’ which this deluded school mistakenly taught was one of the basic weaknesses of the text. Then one after another these disputed monarchs began to rise from the dead in an archaeological resurrection. In some cases a burial mound was uncovered; in others, an annalistic tablet, a boundary marker, or a great building inscribed with the monarch’s name. Now, all forty-seven of these presumably fabulous characters have been transferred from the columns of ‘mythology’ to the accepted records of established history.”—Page 22 of Dead Men Tell Tales, by Dr. Harry Rimmer.

8. How was Moses vindicated as a historian when Herodotus clashed with him?

⁸ Another vindication of the Bible’s accuracy occurred when there arose a clash between Moses and the famous Greek historian, Herodotus, commonly called “the father of history”. Herodotus lived in the fifth century before Christ, and he wrote that the Egyptians grew no grapes and drank no wine. More than a thousand years earlier Moses had written about a cupbearer whose duty was to supply wine for Pharaoh’s table. (Gen. 40:9-13) The critics, in harmony with their policy, accepted Herodotus as their authority and rejected the Bible account as erroneous. But now archaeologists have found among the frescoes that decorate the tombs of Egyptian antiquity some that picture the Egyptians caring for the vines, gathering the grapes, pressing out the juice and storing it in stone or clay jars and skin bottles. Some of the juice was doubtless drunk in an unfermented state, but one of the murals depicted an Egyptian party, at the close of which slaves are shown assisting their inebriated masters home, and one of the revelers is shown dead-drunk under the table.e

9. In the light of Israel’s crossing of the Jordan, what recent happening is interesting?

⁹ Leaving Egyptian scenes and skipping down to the time of Israel’s entry into Canaan, we come to the miraculous fall of the walls of Jericho and that city’s overthrow by the Hebrews under Joshua. When no archaeological confirmation of the Bible account was available the historicity of it was glibly disputed. This is no longer possible. The Bible tells us that when the Israelites crossed the Jordan that river’s waters stopped flowing, heaping up and backing up for some time to allow the Israelites to cross the flood-stage Jordan dry-shod. (Josh. 3:14-17; 4:18) This stoppage of the waters of the Jordan was miraculous; but these waters have since been stopped by natural means. At flood stage they were stopped for sixteen hours when a landslide of the high west bank cut off the flow of waters, A.D. 1267. Centuries later, in 1927, a similar landslide at the same place dammed up the river for twenty-one hours. During that time persons crossed and recrossed the river freely on foot. Incidentally, these two blockages of the river occurred at the same place as did the stoppage of Jordan’s waters in Joshua’s time.f

10. How has archaeology confirmed the Bible account of the fall of Jericho?

¹⁰ As for Jericho itself, the Scriptural account shows that the walls were to fall down, but apparently not every section, for Rahab’s house on the wall was to remain a place of safety for her and her family. The city was under a curse and not to be looted, but was to be burned. Joshua pronounced a curse upon anyone who rebuilt it. (Josh. 2:15; 6:5, 17, 18, 20, 22-24, 26) According to the Bible account, all these conditions were met in the city’s destruction. Does archaeology confirm it? Yes. Professor Garstang began excavations at Jericho in 1930. He found that the double walls surrounding the city had fallen down the slope, as if toppled by an earthquake or some such unseen hand. Houses had been built on rafters that bridged the tops of the two walls, and in one section part of the wall still stood, and could have been where Rahab’s house had been preserved in the Biblical catastrophe. The excavators found evidence of intense fire. The city had been burned. This is not unusual in such cases, but this was no ordinary burning, because the layer of ashes was unusually thick and it appeared that all available fuel had been gathered to accomplish a thorough destruction. The city had not been looted, for provisions of dates, barley, oats, olives and other foodstuffs were found, charred by the flames. Also, the archaeologists estimated that there had not been any substantial rebuilding of the city until five hundred years later.g This would be about the time of King Ahab, when the Bible tells that it was rebuilt.—1 Ki. 16:33, 34.

REFUTING THE ATTACK ON DANIEL

11. (a) How do higher critics view the book of Daniel, and why? (b) How are they seen to be inconsistent?

¹¹ In paragraph three we presented the statement of a higher critic to the effect that the book of Daniel is a forgery. This is the opinion of higher critics generally. They say the book was not written by Daniel in the sixth century before Christ, as the Bible states, but was written about 165 B.C. by an unknown person who merely used Daniel’s name to give stature to his writing. One reason they do this is that they think Daniel’s statements concerning the abomination that makes desolate were based on Antiochus Epiphanes’ polluting of the temple at Jerusalem in 168 B.C. (Dan. 9:27; 11:31; 12:11) They deliberately put the writing of the prophecy after what they consider its fulfillment, since they do not believe in the power to prophesy. “Critics treated prediction as incredible, so they based their work on the assumption that prophecies were written after the events predicted had already occurred.”h But that Daniel’s prophecy about “the disgusting thing that causes desolation” was not fulfilled in 168 B.C. is apparent, for when Jesus mentioned it two hundred years later its fulfillment was still future. The higher critics should date the book’s composition after Jesus’ time. More than that, to be consistent they should date the writing of the book after 1914, for that is when Christ’s second presence began invisibly and he spoke of this abomination as being a part of the visible sign of his second presence! (Matt. 24:15, NW) How unscholarly the higher critic’s folly!

12. What two occurrences once thought myths by higher critics are now supported by excavations?

¹² Another objection raised against the book of Daniel is that certain stories in it are nothing but myths. They point to the account of the three Hebrews thrown into the fiery furnace, and say such things were not done. However, excavators at Babylon found what they thought at first to be a brick kiln, until they read the inscription on its base: “This is the place of burning where men who blasphemed the gods of Chaldea died by fire.”i Scoffers also ridicule the story of Daniel in the den of lions, saying that there is no evidence that such type of punishment was practiced. Mere failure to confirm something does not condemn it as false. However, in this case some confirmation was forthcoming, for excavators revealed a deep pit having this inscription: “The place of execution where men who angered the king died torn by wild beasts.”j We do not say this pit and this kiln are the ones the Bible mentions, but they show such things existed.

13, 14. What points concerning Belshazzar and Nabonidus are now known, and which silence former charges?

¹³ One point the critics worked overtime was Daniel’s mention of Belshazzar as king of Babylon. Secular history indicated that Nabonidus was the last king of Babylon, and it knew nothing of any Belshazzar. So the higher critics claimed this as further proof that the book of Daniel was written centuries after Daniel’s time, and that that explains how the writer made this terrible blunder of listing a mythical character as the last king of Babylon. They thought another slip was made when the writer spoke of Daniel’s being raised to “third ruler in the kingdom”, for one made prime minister was usually second in the kingdom. (Dan. 5:1, 29, 30) But now these criticisms are heard no more, for inscriptions by Nabonidus himself relate his prayers for his eldest son, Belshazzar.k One Babylonian cuneiform text says concerning Nabonidus: “He entrusted a camp to his eldest, first-born son; the troops of the land he sent with him. He freed his hand; he entrusted the kingship to him.”l King Nabonidus was often away from the city of Babylon, and in his absence his son Belshazzar acted as king. Belshazzar made Daniel third in power instead of second because he was second in power, first place being held by his father Nabonidus.

¹⁴ While Belshazzar was acting king, Babylon was taken by Darius and Cyrus. Darius said he slew the king when he took the city, but an inscription of Cyrus claims that he took the king captive.a There is no conflict. As the Bible shows, the night Darius entered the city King Belshazzar was slain. (Dan. 5:30, 31) But later Cyrus took King Nabonidus captive.

15, 16. What points of evidence are presented that prove Daniel wrote the book bearing his name, and did so when the Bible indicates he did?

¹⁵ “Come now, and let us reason together” on some of the evidence that Daniel wrote the book in the sixth century B.C., and not some faker four centuries later. (Isa. 1:18) No secular history before Christ preserved any record of Belshazzar’s existence. How would a forger of 165 B.C. know it, when everyone else, including the historians, were oblivious to it?b The vaunted Herodotus did not even record it, and he wrote three centuries earlier. Or, how would a second-century-B.C. impostor know Nebuchadnezzar was the one who had conducted the extensive building operations in Babylon? (Dan. 4:30) Secular history had not handed down that fact, and archaeologists have unearthed the evidence only in comparatively recent times. One higher critic lamely alibied: “We shall presumably never know.”c But the writer of the book knew, for it was Daniel, and he lived during the reigns of both Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar! And did not Christ Jesus say Daniel wrote the book? (Matt. 24:15) So of what weight are the idle vaporings of the higher critics?

¹⁶ The Jewish historian Josephus indicates that the book existed before the time of Artaxerxes (probably Artaxerxes III, who began reigning about 474 B.C.).d He claims some of the prophecies of Daniel were pointed out to Alexander the Great when he entered Jerusalem in 332 B.C.e The book of Daniel is found in the original copies of the Septuagint, which was translated from Hebrew into Greek during the third and second centuries B.C.f A fragment of the book of Daniel was found with the recently discovered Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah, which the radiocarbon clock has allowed Biblical scholars to date in the second century B.C.g So the book of Daniel existed during that second century, it had been copied, it was well known enough to be accepted into the Bible canon, it had been translated as a part of the famous original Septuagint, and was associated with the venerated scroll of Isaiah. It could not have been a recent writing by an impostor of that second century, known by everyone as a book that was a stupid hoax. Also, the first book of Maccabees, which is almost contemporary with the events of the second century related in it, not only presupposes the existence of the book of Daniel but actually betrays acquaintance with it. (Compare 1 Maccabees 2:59, 60 with Daniel 3:26, 27; 6:22.) This proves Daniel must have been written long before, and had become established as an authentic record. In all the above the evidence is overwhelming. Just as Daniel was delivered from the lions’ den, so the book of Daniel has been delivered from the liars’ den!

SOME TESTIMONIAL EVIDENCE FOR THE BIBLE

17. Whom may we properly associate with the higher critic?

¹⁷ We have gone into some detail on the book of Daniel because it has been at the center of the higher critic’s target, and in turning back the fiery darts aimed at it we quench some of the higher critic’s hottest missiles. His attacks on the other parts of the Bible can be similarly withstood. Actually, these hypercritical skeptics and doubters are camp followers of the agnostics and atheists. They appear to be first cousins of the former and second cousins of the latter. They certainly seem to speak the same language. But the speeches of all three classes are vain and empty, and archaeology has voided many of the arguments they aim at God’s Word. Though not having space to present more archaeological details, we do offer as interesting testimonial evidence of the Bible’s accuracy a few statements by archaeologists and other scholarly sources.

18-20. What interesting statements are made concerning (a) the Hebrew Scriptures? (b) the Bible as a whole? (c) higher criticism?

¹⁸ Here are two statements concerning the Hebrew Scriptures. “I do not think it will be long possible, even if it is now possible, for us to deny the remarkable accuracy of detail in the narratives of the Old Testament. Incidents hitherto regarded as legend, have been proved historical by recent discovery. . . . There is actual history at the back of all of the narratives.”h “It is therefore legitimate to say that, in respect of that part of the Old Testament against which the disintegrating criticism of the last half of the nineteenth century was chiefly directed, the evidence of archaeology has been to re-establish its authority, and likewise to augment its value by rendering it more intelligible through a fuller knowledge of its background and setting. Archaeology has not yet said its last word; but the results already achieved confirm what faith would suggest, that the Bible can do nothing but gain from an increase of knowledge.”i

¹⁹ Following are some statements relating to the Bible as a whole. “No major contention of Scripture has been proved unhistorical.”j “Archaeology contains irrefutable proofs of Biblical statements. Detailed accounts of almost innumerable discoveries dug up by pick and spade from ancient tombs and buried cities in Bible lands ably support the Scriptures.”k “This writer once thumbed through the book of Genesis 1-50 and mentally noted that each of the fifty chapters are either illuminated or confirmed by some archaeological discovery—the same would be true for most of the remaining chapters of the Bible, both Old and New Testament.”l Concerning the wealth of archaeological findings as they relate to the Bible, one archaeologist said: “In the bewildering mass of all this evidence which together would weigh so many tons that the figure, if computed, would appear fabulous, there is not one word, one testimony, or one fact that has contradicted or disproved a single line of the Holy Bible.”a

²⁰ Three final quotations relate to higher criticism. “The asserted historical inaccuracies in Daniel are not statements which are disproved by history, but only statements which have seemed difficult to harmonize with the meager accounts of secular historians. The asserted historical inaccuracies have, moreover, been steadily diminishing before the increasing knowledge of the times of Cyrus. . . . The growth of our knowledge of this period shows how cautious one should be in doubting the historical accuracy of the Biblical records.”b “During the last ten years the science of Biblical archaeology has shown Bible criticism to be unsound in its premise and wrong in its conclusions.”c “One of the most brilliant modern archaeologists, representing one of the greatest universities in the world, said in Iraq: ‘I was brought up a “Higher Critic”, and consequently disbelieved in the actual truth of the early narratives of the Bible. Since then I have deciphered thousands of tablets, and the more I learn, the more I believe the Bible to be true.’”d

21. What better testimonial evidence for the Bible is there?

²¹ All of this testimonial evidence for the Bible’s truthfulness is a welcome confirmation of faith, but in view of much better testimonial evidence it is not required by true Christians. That better testimony we have in Jesus’ prayerful expression to Jehovah: “Your word is truth.” (John 17:17, NW) Archaeology is required by some to provide a basis for their belief in the Bible. But there is a better basis than that.

[Footnotes]

Legal Papers in Cookie Jar

● The ancient people of Israel may not have kept their housekeeping money in the teapot or in a clay piggy bank, but they did keep important legal documents and manuscripts in what looked like a cookie jar. One of these jars has been received at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. It had been put together like a jigsaw puzzle from over 100 fragments found in the Dead Sea Scroll cave. . . . Mention of the custom of putting legal documents in jars occurs in the Bible, Jeremiah 32:14, where the prophet charges Baruch, “Take these deeds, this deed of purchase which is sealed and this deed which is open and put them in an earthen vessel that they may continue many days.” Description of the jar is reported to the American Schools of Oriental Research by Dr. Carl H. Kraeling.—Science News Letter, March 22, 1952.

A Better Basis for Belief

“The things that are coming announce to us, that we may know their issue. Tell us the things that are coming hereafter, that we may know that you are gods.”—Isa. 41:22, 23, AT.

1. What should our faith not be dependent upon?

FAITH in the Bible does not hinge on what scientists say. When their advancing knowledge comes ever closer to conforming to the Bible, that does not make them become Christians. They still cling to their religion of evolution. Faith does not depend on the archaeologists for establishment either. Their discoveries merely confirm what the Bible has always said, but this confirmation does not convert them to Christianity. And when there is an apparent clash between the Bible and the interpretation they place upon a find, they lean toward their own understanding and not the Bible. (Prov. 3:5) Science and archaeology are not essentials. They may serve a purpose in bringing infidels and atheists to their senses and cause them to examine the Bible more seriously, but faith should not be dependent upon such studies of science and archaeology for its foundation. Our faith should not be dependent upon any discovered harmony between the Bible and such sciences as biology and geology. That harmony in itself does not make the Bible God’s Word. Nor is it any confirmation of the Bible by archaeology that makes it God’s Word. The mere fact that the Bible contains history that archaeology has now confirmed is not the vital point, for men can write true histories. Accurate histories can be written by both God and men.

2. What constitutes a test of inspiration and godly origin for writing?

² But only Jehovah God can cause history to be written in advance. In other words, he can prophesy, can foretell the future. That is the acid test for disclosing godly qualities and powers. Jehovah God declares that this power of prophecy springs from him alone, and that because of his knowledge of the future his people need not dread any unforeseen events: “Who is like me? Let him come forward with his claim, let him set out his case before me. Who foretold the future long ago? Pray let us hear what is still to be! Fear nothing, dread not in the days to come; have I not foretold it and announced it long ago? You are my witnesses whether there is any god, any Power, any, besides me.” (Isa. 44:7, 8, Mo) If any wish to vie with him as gods, they are invited to support their claims of godship by demonstrating their power to prophesy: “Let them approach and tell us what is to happen: tell us what the former things were, that we may lay them to heart; or the things that are coming announce to us, that we may know their issue. Tell us the things that are coming hereafter, that we may know that you are gods.” (Isa. 41:22, 23, AT) So it is not the ability to write what is scientifically sound that counts, nor is it the power to pen what is historically true that is essential, but it is the producing of that which is prophetically accurate that is vital in establishing it as inspired by God. He is the sole source of prophetic power.

3, 4. What did Peter rely on for confirmation of God’s Word, and on what grounds do you so answer?

³ Peter showed that it was this power, and not scientific or archaeological studies, that confirmed God’s Word. It was the fulfillment of prophecy that made him speak of the “word made more firm”. On one occasion Jesus said to a group of his disciples: “Truly I say to you that there are some of those standing here that will not taste death at all until first they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.” This was a prophecy. It was soon fulfilled: “Six days later Jesus took Peter and James and John his brother along and brought them up into a lofty mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone as the sun, and his garments became brilliant as the light.” Out from a bright protecting cloud God’s voice came: “This is my Son, the Beloved, whom I have approved; listen to him.” (Matt. 16:28; 17:1, 2, 5, NW) That this appearance in Kingdom glory was in fulfillment of Jesus’ promise made six days earlier is made certain for us by Peter. When speaking of the power and presence of Christ he said that he and others knew of this glorious time of coming in Kingdom power, not on the basis of “artfully contrived false stories”, but because of “having become eyewitnesses of his magnificence” “in the holy mountain”.—2 Pet. 1:16-18, NW.

⁴ So Peter referred to fulfilled prophecy, and because of it he said “we have the prophetic word made more firm”. The vision in fulfillment of Jesus’ words made more firm other prophecies about the actual coming or presence in Kingdom power at the end of the times of the nations. (Luke 21:24) As more and more prophecies are fulfilled light increases and conviction strengthens, and we must be guided and enlightened by these things: “Consequently, we have the prophetic word made more firm, and you are doing well in paying attention to it as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until day dawns and a daystar rises, in your hearts. For you know this first, that no prophecy of Scripture springs from any private release. For prophecy was at no time brought by man’s will, but men spoke from God as they were borne along by holy spirit.” (2 Pet. 1:19-21, NW) Sound scientific findings and true historical narrations may spring from private release by man’s will, but not prophecy and its fulfillment.

5. How are men as prophets? and how does God compare with them?

⁵ We know from experience that men cannot prophesy accurately. Just in our own generation men told us that the first world war was to make it safe for democracy. It did not. The League of Nations was to be the political expression of Christ’s kingdom on earth. It was not. The second world war was to rid the earth of dictators. A bigger one now flourishes. The United Nations was to bring the nations together in peaceful co-operation. But they are split into eastern and western blocs, and the two factions fight their wordy battles in the United Nations and their bloody battles in Korea. No, men are not true prophets. They do a lot of predicting, but they do not do much fulfilling. But it is different with Jehovah God. He prophesies, and fulfillments follow. And logically, the more of his prophecies we find fulfilled, the more firmly do we hold in confidence to the yet unfulfilled words of God. So to strengthen still further our faith in the Bible let us ponder a few of the many fulfillments.

SOME STRIKING FULFILLMENTS OF PROPHECY

6. How was God’s power to prophesy shown in the case of Tyre?

⁶ Some one hundred fifty years before Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the land city of Tyre Isaiah foretold it, and several years before this event both Jeremiah and Ezekiel foretold it. But scores of years afterward Zechariah was still foretelling it. Why? Because about a half mile out in the water from the seacoast city of Tyre was an island on which was the water city of Tyre, and when Nebuchadnezzar overthrew the land city most of the inhabitants had evacuated with their possessions to the island city, and Nebuchadnezzar never did take it. But Alexander the Great did, 333-332 B.C. To do it he built a mole or land bridge out into the water and to the island, and this mole he made out of the ruins and debris of the old land city of Tyre.a Thus were completely fulfilled Ezekiel’s words, “Your walls shall be torn down, and your happy homes destroyed; your stones and timber and dust shall be sunk in the heart of the waters.” (Isa. 23:1-13; Jer. 27:1-11; Ezek. 26:1-14; Zech. 9:2-4, AT) Complete fulfillment came, nearly two hundred years after Zechariah said it, nearly three hundred years after Jeremiah and Ezekiel said it, and more than four hundred years after Isaiah said it!

7. How was it shown in the case of Nineveh?

⁷ Before the fall of Nineveh the prophet Nahum predicted concerning it: “With an overflowing flood he will make an end of his adversaries; . . . The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace melts away. And Nineveh is like a pool of water, . . . To your foes the gates of your land will be opened wide; fire will devour your barriers.” (Nah. 1:8; 2:6, 8; 3:13, AT) Nineveh was overthrown by the Chaldeans and Medes in 632 B.C. But note how. The swollen Tigris river made a breach in the city’s wall and overflowed the city, opening the way for the easy entry of the enemy forces. One historical account states that the Assyrian king made a large funeral pyre in the palace, on which he and many of his servants and concubines died when the torch was put to it. The burning and sacking of the city was completed after the foe entered the burning and partly inundated city. Though now known through excavation, Nineveh’s desolation was so complete that it later became like a myth. We read: “They were greatly aided by a sudden rise of the Tigris, which carried away a great part of the city wall and rendered the place indefensible. So complete was the desolation that in Greek and Roman times the departed Nineveh became like a myth. Yet all the while part of the city lay buried under mounds of apparent rubbish.”b Through his prophet Nahum Jehovah foretold its fate and the manner of its fall.

8, 9. What prophecies did Jehovah cause to be made concerning Babylon?

⁸ Even more remarkable are the prophecies regarding Babylon. Years before Judah fell to Babylon Jeremiah foretold it, yet said a restoration would follow a seventy-year period of desolation. This would be made possible by the overthrow of the Babylonians, at which time they would put up no real fight: “The warriors of Babylon have ceased to fight, they stay in their strongholds; their strength is exhausted, they are turned into women.” The once-mighty world power would become ruins: “Babylon shall become a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, a horror and a hissing, without an inhabitant.” (Jer. 29:10; 51:30, 37, AT) That is all Babylon is today, a heap of deserted mounds.

⁹ Fully one hundred fifty years before the Jews were taken captive to Babylon Isaiah foretold it, and more than two hundred years in advance he foretold the restoration made possible by Babylon’s overthrow, even giving the name of the conquering general. After stating that Jehovah “confirms the word of his servants, and fulfils the predictions of his messengers”, that Cyrus would serve as his shepherd, that Jerusalem would be rebuilt, that the foundations of the temple would be laid, the divine record continues: “Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to bring down nations before him, and to ungird the loins of kings, to open doors before him, and that gates may not be closed: ‘I will go before you, and will level the rugged heights; the doors of bronze will I break in pieces, and the bars of iron will I cut asunder.’”—Isa. 13:17-22; 14:1, 4, 8, 12-16; 39:6, 7; 44:24-28; 45:1, 2, AT.

10, 11. How were these prophecies concerning Babylon’s fall and Israel’s release and restoration for true worship fulfilled?

¹⁰ In fulfillment of these prophecies, Cyrus took Babylon in 539 B.C. The city was in the midst of a drunken orgy, the gates had been left unbarred, there was no real resistance put up by the surprised soldiers. In his first regnal year Cyrus issued this proclamation, according to the Scripture record: “All the kingdoms of the earth hath Jehovah, the God of heaven, given me; and he hath charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whosoever there is among you of all his people, his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of Jehovah, the God of Israel, he is the God who is in Jerusalem.” (2 Chron. 36:22, 23; Ezra 1:1-3, AS, margin; AT) Note that he attributes his victory to God. On his own cylinders he records his triumph over Babylon and gives the credit to divine aid, and on one of his bricks he says: “The great gods have delivered all the lands into my hand.”c

¹¹ To allow the Jews to return to Jerusalem to re-establish true worship of Jehovah there was in accord with Cyrus’ policy. Of course, Cyrus was polytheistic in worship and not monotheistic, so we cannot say he became a true worshiper of Jehovah himself. Jehovah used and maneuvered Cyrus for His purpose, as shown by Ezra 1:1 and Isaiah 44:28 and Isa 45:1. He used Cyrus for his purpose in bringing about the Jewish restoration in 537 B.C., just as he had used another heathen king seventy years before to carry faithless Judah into captivity, calling that one “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant”. (Jer. 25:9) But Cyrus’ policy was to restore images to their former shrines, for one of his cylinders reads: “I returned the gods to their shrines.”d Cyrus recognized that Jehovah was the God of the Jews, and that his temple had been in Jerusalem, so his proclamation ordered the restoration of Jehovah’s worship to be made there, “since he is the God who is in Jerusalem.” (Ezra 1:3, AT) Regardless of Cyrus’ policy, however, the point is that Jehovah foreknew and foretold these things centuries before they happened.

12. What did Daniel foretell at Da chapter 8 verses 3-8 of his book?

¹² Jehovah’s prophetic preview of the rise and fall of human governments continues. While Babylon was still the third world power and seemingly impregnable in that position, Daniel identified the fourth and fifth world powers to come, and showed how they would themselves fall in time. We read: “I raised my eyes, and looked, and lo! standing in front of the stream there was a ram with two horns, both of them high, though one was higher than the other, and the higher came up behind the other. I saw the ram butting westward, northward, and southward; none of the beasts could stand before him, nor could anyone rescue from his power; he did as he pleased, and accomplished great exploits. As I was considering the matter, lo! a he-goat from the west advanced over the whole face of the earth, without touching the earth; and the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. When he came to the ram with the two horns, which I had seen standing in front of the stream, he ran at him in the impetus of his might. As I saw him come close to the ram, he was moved by fierce rage against him, and he smote the ram, and broke his two horns; and as the ram had no power to stand before him, he cast him down to the ground, and trampled upon him, there being none to rescue the ram from his power. Then the he-goat accomplished very great exploits; but when he had reached the height of his power, the great horn was broken, and in its place there came up four other horns, facing the four winds of the heavens.”—Dan. 8:3-8, AT.

13. What is the correct interpretation of these things, and how did fulfillment come about?

¹³ We are not left in doubt as to the correct interpretation of these things: “The ram which you saw, with the two horns, is the king of Media and Persia. The he-goat is the king of Greece; and the great horn between his eyes is the first king. As the horn was broken, and four others arose in its place, so four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, though not with a power like his.” (Dan. 8:20-22, AT) Some years after Daniel was used to predict these momentous events the dual nation of Medo-Persia did overthrow Babylon to become the fourth world power. It is well symbolized by the two-horned ram, the higher horn coming up last, because the Median power came first, but the Persian power that followed surpassed it in strength. More than two centuries after Daniel recorded this prophecy Alexander the Great rose to power and cast down Medo-Persia, and upon his death in 323 B.C. the fifth world power of Greece was divided into four parts, each part ruled over by one of Alexander’s four generals: Ptolemy in Egypt, Seleucus in Asia, Lysimachus in Asia Minor, and Cassander in Macedonia. Thus did four little horns follow the breakage of the big horn of the he-goat. How utterly impossible for man to make such amazing predictions, and how strikingly does it confirm the Bible as God’s inspired Word!

FULFILLMENTS IN OUR DAY

14. What present developments show Revelation 17:8, 10-14 to be now in course of fulfillment?

¹⁴ Still more prophetic insight into the parade of human governments unfolds at Revelation 17:8, 10-14, NW: “The wild beast that you saw was, but is not, and yet is destined to ascend out of the abyss, and it is to go off into destruction. . . . And there are seven kings: five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet arrived, but when he does arrive he must remain a short while. And the wild beast that was but is not, it is also itself an eighth king, but owes its existence to the seven, and it goes off into destruction. And the ten horns that you saw mean ten kings, who have not yet received a kingdom, but they do receive authority as kings one hour with the wild beast. These have one purpose, and so they give their power and authority to the wild beast. These will battle with the Lamb, but, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, the Lamb will conquer them.” At the time the apostle John was used to write this, five world powers had come and gone, the sixth, the Roman empire, then existed, and the seventh, the Anglo-American world power, was yet to come. It is here now, but so is an eighth, the international combine known as the United Nations, which owes its existence to the nations and receives its authority from them. It first existed as the League of Nations, then went into the abyss of inactivity and death, but now has ascended out as the present United Nations. It and all the nations will go into destruction when they war with the Lamb of God, Christ Jesus, at Armageddon. Then Christ’s kingdom will hold undisputed sway over a new earth arrangement.

15. What prophecies were fulfilled concerning Christ’s first presence, relative to both chronology and physical events?

¹⁵ There are many other equally remarkable prophecies that have been fulfilled in vindication of the Bible as Jehovah’s inspired Word. Space limits us to a brief consideration of only a few concerning the first presence of Jesus as Messiah and his second presence as enthroned King. More than five centuries in advance Daniel foretold the exact year of Messiah’s appearance, and when that year came the Jews were expecting some development concerning Messiah. (Dan. 9:24-27; Luke 3:15) Daniel’s prophecy also foretold that Jesus would be put to death three and one-half years later.e Other Hebrew Scripture prophecies predicted that he would be born in Bethlehem, of a virgin, be hated, rejected, betrayed by a follower for thirty pieces of silver, convicted by false witnesses, impaled with sinners, lots being cast for garments, be resurrected, and many other points. (Ps. 16:10; 22:16, 18; 35:11; 41:9; 69:4; Isa. 7:14; 53:3, 8, 12; Mic. 5:2; Zech. 11:12) In fact, one Bible scholar computed that “there are three hundred and thirty-two distinct prophecies in the Old Testament which have been literally fulfilled in Christ”. A mathematician figured out that the chance of one man’s fulfilling all those things was one in eighty-four followed by ninety-seven zeros!f The possibility of its happening is so overwhelmingly remote that we must acknowledge Jehovah as the author of these prophecies.

16. What chronological and physical evidences prove we are now in the time of his second presence?

¹⁶ As for the time of Christ’s second presence, Daniel’s prophecy is again the one that gives the chronology for it. (Dan. 4:16) It was figured out as pointing to A.D. 1914, and The Watchtower called notice to the significance of 1914 in the year 1879. The Christian Greek Scriptures foretell many physical evidences that would be observable at the time of Christ’s second presence, so that persons on earth would know of his presence, Christ himself being a spirit creature and invisible to human eyes. (John 14:19) Predicted were world war, famine, pestilence, earthquakes, sectarian divisions, persecution of his followers, world-wide preaching of the good news of the established Kingdom, widespread delinquency and general breakdown of morals, and many other developments that we have seen since 1914. The generation experiencing the beginning of these things will survive to see their end at Armageddon.g (Matt. 24:1-34; 2 Tim. 3:1-5, 13) Thereafter eternal life in endless blessings will begin for obedient persons in a new world.—2 Pet. 3:13.

17. Why should our reliance on God’s prophecies be stronger now than ever before?

¹⁷ But can we rely upon these predictions concerning Armageddon and the new world of righteousness that will follow? Well, if someone has told you the truth a hundred times, are you suddenly going to doubt him when he tells you something new? If you have never found him a falsifier, if he has been correct a hundred times, will you suddenly doubt his integrity for no cause? How unreasonable and illogical that would be! Jehovah has caused to be recorded many prophecies, and in remarkable ways many of them have been fulfilled, as we have seen in this study. The fulfillments of some of his prophecies are yet future. Can we not confidently rely upon their coming to pass in his due time, in view of the record he has built up, the reputation for truthfulness he has earned despite the opposing views of scientists and atheists and higher critics? They have been wrong so often, but Jehovah never. So when men dispute his Word and judge him false, we know the men are false and God is true: “Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, even as it is written: ‘That you might be vindicated in your words and might win when you are being judged.’”—Rom. 3:4, NW.

18. What has happened to the worldly assailants of God’s Word?

¹⁸ When the wisdom of this world ranges itself against the Bible it can only meet defeat: “It is written: ‘I will make the wisdom of the wise men perish, and I will shove the intelligence of the intellectual aside.’ Where is the wise man? Where the scribe? Where the debater of this system of things? Did not God make the wisdom of the world foolish?” (1 Cor. 1:19, 20, NW) Scientists have used their knowledge to down the Bible, but their own further findings shatter their theories and they have to concoct more. On the gallows of science that they make to hang the Bible their own theories perish. (Esther 7:10) Atheists and higher critics use their secular history to prove the Bible false, but as more historical facts are dug up their own weapon turns on them and vindicates the Bible. “They set a net to catch my feet, and they were caught in it themselves; they dug a pit in front of me, and they fell into it!” (Ps. 57:6, Mo) Fundamentalists accuse us of denying God by our teachings, and their own teachings are pagan. They try to use the Bible to prove us wrong, and it boomerangs and proves them pagan. “The pagans have sunk in the pit they dug; in the net they set, their feet are snared.”—Ps. 9:15, Mo.

19. How is faith gained? and how can it be now strengthened?

¹⁹ The multitudinous assaults against our faith that come in these modern times may test it, but if it is founded on knowledge and not credulity it will endure. “Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you meet with various trials, knowing as you do that this tested quality of your faith works out endurance.” (Jas. 1:2, 3; 1 Pet. 1:6, 7, NW) To the Hebrews Paul wrote: “Faith is the assured expectation of things hoped for, . . . without faith it is impossible to win his good pleasure.” (Heb. 11:1, 6, NW) So we must have it, and our expectations concerning it must be held with assurance, confidence, without waverings or doubts. (Jas. 1:6-8) Unshakable faith comes from knowledge. Paul said: “‘Anyone that calls upon the name of Jehovah will be saved’. However, how will they call upon him in whom they have not put faith? How, in turn, will they put faith in him of whom they have not heard? . . . So faith follows the report.” (Rom. 10:13, 14, 17, NW) You have to hear the report of these things from God’s Word before you can build up real faith, a faith that is not credulous or superstitious or dead, a faith that is alive and shows its aliveness by works. (Jas. 2:14-26) That faith is not just blind credulity, but is based upon knowledge is shown by Jesus’ prayer: “I make request, not concerning these only, but also concerning those putting faith in me through their word.” (John 17:20, NW) It is through the words preached that new disciples to come would put faith in Jesus. Fulfilled prophecies now learned about confirm faith and buttress the basis for belief.

20. How can we endure, along with God’s Word?

²⁰ “The word spoken by Jehovah endures forever,” quotes the apostle Peter. (Isa. 40:8; 1 Pet. 1:25, NW) Jehovah God assures us that his Word will be fulfilled, that it will not return unto him void, but will accomplish the purpose for which it is sent out. (Isa. 46:10, 11; 55:11) Yes, God’s Word will endure. But will we endure with it? Will we by our study of it and works in harmony with it make our faith strong enough to endure all trials, to withstand all the assaults that come against it in these last days? We can if we study, for though worldly men like to smear us and say only the ignorant believe the Bible, advancing knowledge is proving the reverse to be true! It is the willfully ignorant that shut their eyes to its vindication by means of scientific findings and archaeological diggings, and above all to its vindication made manifest by the increasing number of fulfilled prophecies illuminating our times. So study God’s Word, act in accord with it, build on rock foundation, and your faith will stand the assaults of men now and the storm of Armageddon later. Thus we can endure along with God’s Word to enjoy life in the foretold new world of righteousness.

[Footnotes]

The Complete Cycle

● The Christmas tree has now made a complete cycle. Pagans first used it in midwinter celebrations. Those calling themselves “Christians” did not take time to really convert the pagans they absorbed, just gave their corrupting ceremonies a Christian name. The pagans were satisfied, so were the “Christians”, even though the midwinter celebration was at a time of the year when Christ could not have been born. Now the Communists believe, as did early so-called Christians, that there is no need to oppose the people’s customs, right or wrong; so they merely performed another name-change. According to the Romanian News, February 3, 1952, the new name is the “Winter Tree Celebration”, or “the children’s winter vacation”, or the “Winter Festival”. Bucharest had a Christmas tree (we beg your pardon, Winter tree) seventy feet tall, “thousands of lights, ribbons, golden globes and little metal bells.” A “fairy tale city” was set up, with “Father Frost, painted on a huge panel, advancing with gifts”. With the evergreen tree decked with lights and spangles, and “Father Frost” to give the gifts, the Christian name has been removed and a non-Christian celebration is back to its pagan origin.

What partnership do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? Further, what harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what portion does a faithful person have with an unbeliever? And what agreement does God’s temple have with idols?—2 Cor. 6:14-16, NW.

Keeping Christ’s Mental Attitude

THE uppermost thing in Jesus’ mind was the knowing and doing of his Father’s will that he might please him. From the very beginning his mental attitude was one of delighting himself in his Father, Jehovah God: “The LORD formed me as the first of his works, the beginning of his deeds of old. When he established the heavens I was there, when he traced the vault over the face of the deep. I was beside him as a ward of his; and daily was I filled with delight, as I sported before him all the time.”—Prov. 8:22, 27, 30, AT.

Jesus found delight in considering his Father’s Word and instructions: “Thou hast done great things, O LORD my God; wonderful are thy thoughts toward us; there is none to compare with thee. Were I to declare and tell them, they would be too many to enumerate.” “How precious are thy thoughts to me, O God! How great the sum of them! Were I to count them—they would outnumber the sands! Were I to come to the end of them, my life-span must be like thine!” Throughout his ministry he manifested the greatest familiarity with his Father’s Word, appealing to it to prove his positions and to refute the positions taken by his opponents.—Ps. 40:5; 139:17, 18, AT.

Regardless of what it meant in the way of suffering, Jesus’ mental attitude was one of delighting to do his Father’s will: “Then I said, ‘Look! I am come (in the roll of the book it is written about me) to do your will, O God.’” (Heb. 10:7, NW; Ps. 40:7, 8) That is why the apostle Paul counsels us: “Keep this mental attitude in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although he was existing in God’s form, gave no consideration to a seizure, namely, that he should be equal to God. No, but he emptied himself and took a slave’s form and came to be in the likeness of men. More than that, when he found himself in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient as far as death, yes, death on a torture stake.”—Phil. 2:5-8, NW.

That the doing of his Father’s will was uppermost at all times in the mind of Jesus is apparent from his own testimony: “I cannot do a single thing of my own initiative; just as I hear, I judge, and the judgment that I render is righteous, because I seek not my own will but the will of him that sent me.” “Because I have come down from heaven to do, not my will, but the will of him that sent me.” And again: “My food is for me to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work.”—John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38, NW.

WHAT WAS HIS JOY?

Concerning the example Jesus set for us we further read: “Look intently at the leader and perfecter of our faith, Jesus. For the joy that was set before him he endured a torture stake, despising shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12:2, NW) What was this joy that was set before Jesus enabling him to endure all the shame and suffering? It was the joy of being able to make his Father’s heart glad by vindicating him. “My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproacheth me.” As the psalmist prophetically expressed Jesus’ sentiments: “I have proclaimed thy vindication in the great assembly. Lo, I do not close my lips; O LORD, thou knowest. Thy vindication I have not concealed within my heart; thy faithfulness and thy victory I have told.”—Prov. 27:11, AS; Ps. 40:9, 10, AT.

His Father’s name was in need of being honored and vindicated because of the reproach brought upon it by the covering cherub, who later became Satan the Devil. That one, instead of having a mind that delighted to do God’s will, had a mind filled with lawlessness; and, instead of pursuing the wise course of humility and obedience as Jesus did, corrupted his wisdom with pride and rebellion. He heaped reproach upon Jehovah’s name by his own wicked course and by influencing others to take a like course.—Job, chapters 1 and 2.

Christ Jesus, in striking contrast with that rebellious cherub, loved his heavenly Father and was jealous for the honor of his name. Fully appreciating the reason for his coming to earth he made use of every opportunity to bring honor to it by telling others how good and loving his Father is. Repeatedly we read of his preaching in the homes of the people, in their synagogues, in the temple, on the mountainside and at the seashore. Even while resting at a well he made good use of an opportunity to preach to a Samaritan woman of ill repute, with the result that a great witness was given to her city.—John 4:6-42.

Because the honoring and vindicating of his Father’s name was uppermost in his mind Jesus was filled with a burning zeal to expose those who were reproaching it. That is why he lashed out so strongly time and again against the scribes, Pharisees and doctors of the law, and why, both at the beginning and at the end of his earthly ministry, he in righteous indignation drove the money-changers out of the temple. Exclaimed he: “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a cave of robbers.”—Matt. 21:12, 13; 23:1-39; John 2:13-17, NW.

Knowing for a certainty what God’s will for him was, Jesus exercised his will to have an unbending determination to permit nothing to turn him aside. The subtle and flattering darts of the Devil bounced harmlessly off his shield of faith in his encounter with that one in the wilderness. Nor would he let the Jewish multitude seize him by force and make him king, for he knew that that was not God’s will for him and he was not ambitious to exalt himself. When Peter tried to dissuade him from taking the lowly course of suffering marked out for him by his heavenly Father, he rebuked him: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumblingblock to me, because you think, not God’s thoughts, but those of men.” Fully knowing what awaited him, when the due time came he “firmly set his face to travel to Jerusalem”.—Matt. 4:1-10; 16:23; Luke 9:51; John 6:15, NW.

Clearly identifying his purpose for coming to the earth, Jesus said to Pontius Pilate, when on trial before him: “For this purpose I have been born and for this purpose I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth.” And that that truth primarily concerned his Father’s name Jesus indicated in his prayer to his Father on the night of his betrayal: “I have glorified you on the earth, having finished the work you have given me to do. I have made your name manifest to the men you gave me out of the world.”—John 17:4, 6; 18:37, NW.

The mental attitude of Jesus is well summed up by the words of the prophet Isaiah (42:19, AT): “Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like my messenger whom I send? Who is as blind as my devoted one, and as deaf as the servant of the LORD?” Yes, Jesus was blind and deaf to both the blandishments and the reproaches and threats of Satan and his dupes. All he saw and heard was what his Father had for him to consider and to do.

IMITATING CHRIST JESUS

From the foregoing we can see that although Jesus was guileless, undefiled and entirely without sin, to have Christ’s mental attitude requires far more than merely avoiding the grosser sins. (John 8:46; Heb. 7:26) Also that the possession of a sanctimonious mien and the wearing of a religious garb is absolutely no indication that one has Christ’s mental attitude; in fact, it argues just the opposite.

Would we have the mind, the mental attitude of Christ? Then first of all we must delight ourselves in God’s Word, even as Jesus did. We must store in our minds a knowledge of Jehovah God and his purposes; information regarding his attributes of wisdom, justice, love and power; about his chief purpose to vindicate his name and sovereignty, which is the primary reason why he extends salvation to creatures, why he has tolerated the wicked, and why he will eventually destroy all the wicked; about the part Christ Jesus has played in providing our ransom and in vindicating his Father’s name and the part he will yet play therein; and about the presence of the kingdom for which we have been praying and the blessings it will soon bring in the new world of righteousness. Around these cardinal truths revolve all other Bible truths.—Ex. 9:16, AT; Ps. 83:1-18; Ezek. 36:20-22, AS; Matt. 6:10; 20:28; 24:1-44, NW.

However, storing these truths in our hearts or minds by means of study and faith in them is not enough. To have Christ’s mental attitude we must exercise our wills regarding them. We must determine to do something about these truths and then stick with that determination regardless of what men or demons may bring to bear against us. That means, first of all, dedicating ourselves to God’s service as Jesus did, going on record that we delight to do God’s will. (Ps. 40:8) And as it was for him, so for us God’s will primarily is that we preach the truth regarding his name and kingdom.—Matt. 24:14; 1 Pet. 2:9, NW.

To have Christ’s mental attitude we must be jealous for the good name of our heavenly Father; and so we must expose the false teachings that bring reproach upon him, at the same time being careful not to do anything ourselves that will cause reproach to come upon Jehovah’s name. We may never be ashamed to confess Jehovah’s name before men nor may we soft-pedal the truth to avoid the wrath of men. Like him we must be blind and deaf both to the blandishments the world offers to lure us away from our determination and to the threats and reproaches it makes in an effort to discourage us. Our motive at all times must be, not to gain the approval of men, but the approval of God.

And in our relations with fellow Christians we must heed the counsel of Paul: “If, then, there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any sharing of spirit, if any tender affections and compassions, make my joy full in that you are of the same mind and have the same love, being joined together in soul, holding the one thought in mind, doing nothing out of contentiousness or out of egotism, but with lowliness of mind considering that the others are superior to you, keeping an eye, not in personal interest upon just your own matters, but also in personal interest upon those of the others. Keep this mental attitude in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”—Phil. 2:1-5, NW.

Preaching in West Africa

MISSIONARIES who leave their native land and people to preach the good news of God’s kingdom in the far corners of the earth among strange circumstances are richly rewarded with many blessed experiences. For example, note the following taken from a report recently received from a missionary serving in Accra, Gold Coast, West Africa, on his two-week trip in British Togoland.

“While witnessing at one house in the village of Klefe an educated man came up and quietly sat down. After I had given the witness the man asked if we could go to some place to talk. He took me to his school. He told me he was a Presbyterian teacher who had had no use for the Bible nor for any of our books explaining it, but today he had heard the Bible taught in a way different from anything he had heard before. ‘Religion is useless,’ he said. After our discussion on the authenticity of the Bible he obtained the book ‘Let God Be True’ and asked that someone come to study this textbook with him. This was arranged.

“In Peki I made a return visit on a woman who had manifested some interest. She said that what I was telling must be the truth, for a white man would never come to her humble home and sit with her to explain the Bible and from such a faraway country if it was not the truth. ‘Since I was a little girl I was taught in the Presbyterian Church, but never in all these years have I seen a white minister of that church go from house to house preaching,’ she said. When asked to go with us to preach she replied, ‘Why not? You have shown me that I must preach. I will go.’

“In Toh we used a large horn to call the people to assemble for a public talk. The farmers had just returned from hard work in the hot sun and took their places on roots of a large shade tree. After the talk, which was heard by 106, the chiefs of the village expressed regret that we had not announced our coming ahead of time so that more could have heard it. One of them expressed astonishment that a white man would come into their midst, sit on roots and speak with them just as though he were black.

“A native brother was giving the witness to a Catholic priest on the subject of hell, proving his points from the Douay version. The priest asked the brother to come to his home for a further discussion. Although he had been to the theological seminaries in Akropong and Kumasi, he had never heard such a presentation on the subject of hell, the priest observed. Where did the brother obtain such information? Upon being told that it was to be found in the textbook ‘Let God Be True’, he immediately obtained a copy, but cautioned the brother, ‘Do not tell anyone I have purchased this book.’ An almost identical experience was had with a Catholic catechist.

“Two years ago a European brother from the branch office visited the leper colony not far from Ho where one brother lives among the 200 lepers. At that time the prejudiced attitude of the European Catholic manager of the colony brought much persecution upon this brother, even threatening the removal of the brother from the colony. While there I had the privilege of giving a message of real hope to 34 lepers whose bodies had been so badly eaten by leprosy that they presented a horrible sight. To look into the faces of some was most difficult. The talk was given in a newly completed auditorium by permission of a new European manager who gladly accepted three Bible study aids as a contribution to their library. The brother, whose fingers have been eaten away by the leprosy, has an amazing knack of turning pages as he reads. He has been put in full charge of the colony or settlement as an overseer of construction works, he being an accomplished builder. He is very happy in spite of his affliction.

“At Ho two public meetings were held, with a total attendance of 288; at Dene 74 heard the public lecture. It took us an hour and a half by foot to travel the three miles over a rocky mountain pass to reach Tsito where, in addition to preaching from house to house, we gave a public talk with 60 present. Back near Avetile-Peki 260 and in Jaki 320 assembled for public lectures. For the two weeks 1,142 heard the call ‘Prisoners, go forth!’”

Jehovah Makes Peace, Creates Evil

“I FORM the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I am Jehovah, that doeth all these things.” (Isa. 45:7, AS) This reference to Jehovah’s creating darkness and evil has been gleefully seized upon by skeptics, atheists and other critics of the Bible to support their position that it is not the inspired Word of God but merely a collection of ancient writings of a primitive people. However, their prejudice, doubtless begotten by a lurking suspicion that their position is not as strong as they would like it to be, has blinded them to a reasonable consideration of this text as well as of the rest of the Bible. Instead of following such a course, let us heed the counsel of the Bible’s Author, “Come now, and let us reason together,” and see just what light reason and the Bible itself throw on the meaning of this scripture.—Isa. 1:18.

How does Jehovah form light and create darkness? He forms light by causing his Word to be understood through the fulfillment of its prophecies. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and light unto my path.” “The path of the righteous is as the dawning light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” Such light, however, is not for the wicked. “Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.” To the wicked Jehovah sends darkness. “God did not hold back from punishing the angels that sinned, but, by throwing them into Tartarus, delivered them to pits of dense darkness to be reserved for judgment.” And concerning men who slip into the Christian congregation for base purposes we are told that for them “the blackness of darkness stands reserved forever”. (Ps. 97:11; 119:105; Prov. 4:18, AS; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 4, 13, NW) Such was the case in the ninth plague upon ancient Egypt. The Egyptians were enveloped with a darkness that could be felt, whereas the Israelites had light in their dwellings.—Ex. 10:21-23.

“I MAKE PEACE, AND CREATE EVIL”

The Scriptures speak of Jehovah as the God of peace: “The God who gives peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.” (Rom. 16:20, NW) That text, however, also implies that Jehovah is the God of war, in that he will crush his enemies. How can he be both the God of peace and the God of war? In that there is a proper time and occasion for peace and for war. “For everything there is an appointed time; and there is a time for every purpose under the heavens: a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.”—Eccl. 3:1, 8, AT.

Jehovah makes peace now for those who seek him in his appointed way. “Jehovah will bless his people with peace.” The new world over which his Son will rule will be a peaceful world: “In his days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace, till the moon be no more.” “Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end.” That is why the angels said at the time of Jesus’ birth, “Peace among men of good-will.”—Ps. 29:11; 72:7; Isa. 9:7, AS; Luke 2:14, NW.

When creatures go contrary to his will then it becomes necessary for Jehovah to make war upon them in his own time and way. Then he becomes the God of war: “Jehovah strong and mighty, Jehovah mighty in battle. Who is this King of glory? Jehovah of hosts, he is the King of glory.” (Ps. 24:8, 10, AS; Jas. 5:4, NW) As such he fought for his people Israel in times past, and he will again show himself as the God of war at the battle of Armageddon, where he will completely destroy his enemies for the vindication of his supremacy and the deliverance of his people.—2 Chron. 20:15; Rev. 16:14, 16.

In what sense can it be said that Jehovah creates evil? Certainly not in the sense of his creating wickedness or moral badness, for it is utterly impossible for him to do anything wrong. “It is impossible for God to lie.” We are assured, “Good and upright is Jehovah: therefore will he instruct sinners in the way.” Addressing him the psalmist stated: “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of thy throne: lovingkindness and truth go before thy face.” And Moses sang of this theme: “For I will proclaim the name of Jehovah: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. The Rock, his work is perfect; for all his ways are justice: a God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right is he.”—Deut. 32:3, 4; Ps. 25:8; 89:14, AS; Heb. 6:18, NW.

Yes, Jehovah is very jealous for his name as a God of justice. That is why when Abraham, in connection with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, asked, “Shall not the judge of the whole earth himself act justly?” Jehovah was willing to grant Abraham’s plea if but ten righteous persons were to be found in those cities. (Gen. 18:20-33, AT) Throughout the Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation, Jehovah appeals to our reason and explains his reasons for executing his judgments so that we may have unshaken confidence in his justice. Particularly is this apparent in the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.—Isa. 1:2-20; 24:1-5; Jer. 16:10-13; 22:1-9; Ezek. 6:1-10; 22:1-16.

Jehovah, however, can be said to create evil, because the term “evil” can be used to designate not only “moral badness or offense; wrongdoing; wickedness”, but also “anything impairing happiness or welfare or depriving of good; injury; disaster”. (Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary) In view of the foregoing scriptures showing that Jehovah is just and righteous we must conclude that the evil that he creates must be that of calamity and disaster.

The two uses of this term are to be seen in the following prophecy, wherein Jehovah told that he would bring evil or calamity upon Israel because of their evil or wicked course. Moses said: “For I know that after my death you will be sure to act perniciously, and swerve from the way that I appointed you; and in after days evil will befall you, because you will be doing what is evil in the sight of the LORD.” Note also the same in the following, which records a fulfillment of this prophecy. “Then the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, by serving the Baals and forsaking the LORD. Then . . . the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had declared.”—Deut. 31:29; Judg. 2:11, 14, 15, AT.

EVIL VERSUS WRONGDOING

Thus we see that there is a great difference between evil and wrongdoing. All wrong or wrongdoing is evil, but not all evil is wrong. An act of injustice is always wrong and it usually results in working evil or injury to another. On the other hand, the administration of justice is always right. Even though it may bring evil upon the one against whom it is enforced, that does not mean that the administration of justice is wrong. Rather, it shows how God does create evil.

Whether his creatures receive good and peace or evil and suffering at the hands of Jehovah depends upon what choice they make. As Moses put it to the Israelites: “See, I put before you today life and prosperity, along with death and misfortune. If you heed the commands of the LORD your God which I am giving you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commands, statutes, and ordinances, then you shall live, . . . If, however, your heart turns away, and you give no heed, but are enticed to pay homage to alien gods and serve them, I tell you today that you shall most certainly perish, . . . I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have put life and death before you, the blessing and the curse; therefore choose life, that you as well as your descendants may live.”—Deut. 30:15-19, AT.

Adam and Eve made the wrong choice and so God sentenced them: “Cursed shall be the ground through you, in suffering shall you gain your living from it as long as you live. By the sweat of your brow shall you earn your living, until you return to the ground, since it is from it that you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you must return.” Such suffering and death were great evils for Adam and his offspring, but they were not wrongs; there were no extenuating circumstances; the infliction of such evils was just.—Gen. 3:17, 19, AT; Rom. 5:12; 6:23.

The deluge of Noah’s day was a great evil, but it was not a wrong; those antediluvians got what was coming to them for choosing wickedness and violence instead of peace and righteousness. (Gen. 6:5; 7:21) The Pharaoh of the time of Moses chose to stubbornly oppose Jehovah, and so God sent ten plagues, and finally had to wipe out Pharaoh and his hosts in the Red sea. All such were great evils, calamities, which entailed great suffering upon the Egyptians. But they were not wrongs. Pharaoh was the wrongdoer, and Jehovah was perfectly within his rights in thus punishing him and thereby settling the issue as to who is supreme.—Exodus, chapters 7 through 14.

At the present time Jehovah is having a warning sounded concerning his judgments soon to be executed upon modern Babylon, but few people are heeding this warning. When ‘the slain of Jehovah at Armageddon extend from one end of the earth to the other, being neither mourned, gathered up nor buried, but lying as dung upon the face of the ground’, that will surely be the greatest evil, disaster, calamity that will ever have befallen mankind; but it will not be a wrong. It will be a righteous execution of judgment.—Jer. 25:33; Rev. 18:4-8, 20.

While Jehovah brings the evil of destruction upon the wicked because they are deserving of it, he does so primarily because his name and sovereignty are at stake, “for he cannot deny himself.” And if he seems to delay the execution of such evildoers, let it be remembered that that likewise is for the vindication of his name, even as he told Pharaoh: “For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, so that you would have been effaced from the earth; but this is why I have spared you: to show you my power, and to have my fame recounted throughout all the earth.”—Ex. 9:15, 16, AT; 2 Tim. 2:13, NW.

CHRISTIANS MAY NOT USE EVIL

Ever since A.D. 325 an apostate Christianity has presumed to inflict evil upon those who claimed to be Christians and who disagreed with its teachings. In this it has been guilty of great wrong and presumptuous sin, because the inflicting of evil as a punishment is primarily the prerogative of Jehovah God and the One to whom he delegated such power and authority, Christ Jesus. (Matt. 28:18; John 5:27; 1 Cor. 15:25, NW) The Christian’s sword is not one of steel but is “the sword of the spirit, that is, God’s word”. Therefore Paul plainly states: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage warfare according to what we are in the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful by God for overturning strongly entrenched things. For we are overturning reasonings and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are bringing every thought into captivity to make it obedient to the Christ.”—2 Cor. 10:3-5; Eph. 6:17, NW.

Not only may Christians not resort to evil, pressure, persecution, or force to spread their message, but they may not even reward evil done to them with evil. “Return evil for evil to no one.” “Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but yield place to the wrath; for it is written: ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says Jehovah.’ But, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by doing this you will heap fiery coals upon his head.’ Do not let yourself be conquered by the evil, but keep conquering the evil with the good.”—Rom. 12:17, 19-21, NW.

It is in keeping with this principle that Christians are counseled not to go to worldly courts of law to settle their differences with each other. Rather than do that they should be willing to be defrauded and wronged. Incidentally, the frequency with which this admonition is violated today of itself proves that Christendom is not Christian.—Matt. 7:20; 1 Cor. 6:5-8, NW.

Not in his punishing of evildoers but in his displaying patience and mercy are we to imitate our heavenly Father: “You heard that it was said: ‘You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ However, I say to you: Continue to love your enemies and to pray for those persecuting you; that you may prove yourselves sons of your Father who is in the heavens, since he makes his sun rise upon wicked people and good and makes it rain upon righteous people and unrighteous. You must accordingly be complete, as your heavenly Father is complete.”—Matt. 5:43-45, 48, NW.

Today Christians can best follow that admonition by bringing the good news of God’s kingdom to the people; by continuing to go from door to door with the message regardless of how few hearing ears they may find and regardless of how many doors may be slammed in their faces; by letting their light shine on the street corners in spite of the reproaches heaped upon them by mockers, scorners and opposers; and by visiting the homes of the people and patiently instructing them even though they seem slow of comprehension. Doing so they vindicate Jehovah’s long-suffering and patience with evildoers in that, as a result of their preaching, others gain salvation.—2 Pet. 3:15, NW.

In summing up we can see that Jehovah God creates light and peace for his people and for men of good will, but darkness and evil for his enemies, the wicked; that the evil he brings upon his foes is not wrong or wickedness but is deserved suffering, calamity and destruction. He has permitted wickedness because it serves in the vindication of his supremacy. Christians, however, are not authorized to inflict evil upon others, neither as a means of spreading their message nor as retaliation for evil done to them. The way they imitate God is by doing good to all as they have opportunity, leaving to him and to his chief Executioner, Christ Jesus, the settling of all accounts.

There is no God else besides me, a just God and a Saviour; . . . Only in Jehovah, it is said of me, is righteousness and strength; even to him shall men come; and all they that were incensed against him shall be put to shame.—Isa. 45:21, 24, AS.

“Hold a Good Conscience”

AT THE time of the flood an entire system of things was baptized by water and to destruction. Noah’s family was spared by being baptized into him and to salvation. This present wicked system of things is due for a baptism by fire, marking its end. Those who would escape its fiery baptism must give their allegiance to the Greater Noah and be baptized into him. How can we, once having been baptized into him, hold on to that baptism and thus ensure our salvation? According to the apostle Peter this is done by “the request made to God for a good conscience”.—1 Pet. 3:21, NW.a

A good conscience toward God comes only from a realization that our sins are forgiven. To have that realization we must exercise faith in the blood of Christ, as Paul states: “How much more will the blood of the Christ, who through an everlasting spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works that we may render sacred service to the living God?”—Heb. 9:14, NW.

Having our consciences made good through faith in Christ Jesus, we must keep them good and clean. This requires more than mere faith, for we can, while confessing him with our lips, deny him by the way we act. We must conduct ourselves so as to be able to say, as did Paul: “I am exercising myself continually to have a consciousness of committing no offense against God and men.” “The thing we boast of is this, to which our conscience bears witness, that with holiness and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but with God’s undeserved kindness, we have conducted ourselves.”—Acts 24:16; 2 Cor. 1:12, NW.

Having received the great honor of being God’s ministers, we must carry on this ministry in sincerity and not for any selfish purpose, so that we shall not only have a clear conscience ourselves, but also be able to recommend ourselves to the consciences of others. “Since we have this ministry according to the mercy that was shown us, we do not behave improperly, but we have renounced the underhanded things of which to be ashamed, not walking in craftiness neither adulterating the word of God, but by making the truth manifest recommending ourselves to every human conscience in the sight of God.” (2 Cor. 4:1, 2, NW) Use tact, yes, but be truthful!

If we would appeal to the consciences of others and stir them up to act, we must present the pure unadulterated Word of God, and do so in sincerity, with a clean conscience. It is very easy to get a defiled conscience. How so? By relaxing and adopting the world’s standards of morality instead of the standards set out in the Bible. So let us be careful that we do not suffer for wrongdoing, but that if we suffer it is because we are holding a good conscience toward God by keeping his commandments.

Today the Communist terror so frightens men that they readily admit to things they have not done. But not Jehovah’s witnesses. So if we want to stand when such attacks upon our integrity come, and be able to look such officials squarely in the eye, without guilty fear, and be able to answer them with the courage which our innocence and God’s approval gives us, then we must exercise ourselves to have clear consciences now. And then finally, when we appear before Jehovah God for questioning, we will also be able to make him an answer out of a good conscience and he will judge us with approval through Christ Jesus. Therefore in these wicked days, when the baptism of fire is impending, let us wisely guard against any misbehavior toward God and man. By all means let us request and hold a good conscience toward God.

[Footnotes]

Questions From Readers

● Revelation 20:7 speaks of the loosing of Satan from the abyss after the 1,000-year reign. Does this final testing come in the closing years of the 1,000-year period, or after it? Does it come within the seventh creative or rest day of 7,000 years, or after its close? Also, does Christ turn the Kingdom back to Jehovah before or after the test by Satan?—W. G., New York.

Revelation 20:7 is explicit in stating that Satan’s loosing is after the 1,000-year reign is over: “Now as soon as the thousand years have been ended, Satan will be let loose out of his prison.” (NW) In this section we have previously shown that the 1,000-year reign of Christ and the 1,000-year abyssing of Satan and his demons run concurrently, that they start and end together, and that hence when it says of Satan that “after these things he must be let loose for a little while” it is conclusive that the final test comes after the 1,000-year reign has ended. (See The Watchtower, March 15, 1951, and Revelation 20:1-6, NW.) Then it is that Satan and his demons are brought forth from the abyss “for a little while”.

Christ’s rule for a full thousand years without any encroachment or interference from Satan and his demons allows for the accomplishment of the things foretold at 1 Corinthians 15:24-28 (NW): “He hands over the kingdom to his God and Father, when he has destroyed all government and all authority and power. For he must rule as king until God has put all enemies under his feet. As the last enemy, death is to be destroyed. For God ‘subjected all things under his feet’. But when he says that ‘all things have been subjected’, it is evident that it is with the exception of the one who subjected all things to him. But when all things will have been subjected to him, then the Son himself will also subject himself to the one who subjected all things to him, that God may be all things to everyone.”

All government and authority and power contrary to Christ’s kingship will be eliminated, and at the last even the enemy death will be destroyed. That is to say, the death resultant from Adam will vanish by Christ’s wiping out every evil trace of that death and its consequences in the human family. From then on the human family could live forever in their physical perfection. They would no longer die because they were descendants from Adam, all condemnation inherited from him being gone. Then it is that Christ turns over the Kingdom government to Jehovah God, that He might be “all things to everyone”. It is necessary for Jesus to do this, because Jesus himself cannot grant everlasting life to this group of human creatures. The Scripture principle remains true that it is Jehovah God who justifies, or, in modern translation, “God is the One who declares them righteous.”—Rom. 8:33, NW.

Now, if God is going to justify them or declare them righteous and worthy of everlasting life he must be the one that acts as a judge. Jesus, by his Kingdom for a thousand years, has acted as a screen over mankind so that the wrath of God might not be exercised against them while he is uplifting them to human perfection and sinlessness. Then at the end of the thousand years when he turns over the Kingdom to God he also turns over the human family for God’s attention and for God to act directly as the judge of the human family. In order that he can apply a test on which he can base judgment for or against, he lets the Devil loose. He uses Jesus to loose the Devil because Jesus is the one who abyssed the Devil and demons. Out they come, and they put humanity to the test.

We would not say that it is to tempt them, because humanity will have knowledge then. It is the same as Adam, who was not deceived, because he had knowledge from God, but when the test came upon him he went into temptation because of his own lust and selfish desires with respect to his own wife. Then he sinned, willfully so, and not because he was deceived. So it will be at the end of the thousand years. They are not to be deceived because of any lack of knowledge, but the Devil will work on humanity to stir up evil and selfish desires and to lead them into temptation in that way. God will permit it as a test, to see who really loves him with all his heart, mind, soul and strength. Any who yields to selfishness and follows the Devil and demons is destroyed, and finally the Devil and his demons are pitched into the “lake of fire and sulphur”, the antitypical Gehenna. (Rev. 20:8-10, NW) Thus Jehovah arranges for the test, passes judgment for or against, and executes the sinners and rebels, visible and invisible. He is the one who crushes Satan, as foretold at Romans 16:20, but in doing so he uses Christ Jesus as his executioner and thereby brings about fulfillment of Hebrews 2:14 (NW): “Through his death he might destroy the one having the means to cause death, that is, the Devil.”

While the Scriptures definitely establish that Satan’s abyssing at Armageddon for a thousand years thereafter runs concurrently with the thousand-year reign of Christ, and that the loosing of Satan for the final test comes after the millennial reign is over and Christ turns the Kingdom government over to Jehovah God, we cannot say at this time whether this final testing will fall within the 7,000-year rest day of Jehovah or whether it will come right after its close. We shall have to wait and see when Armageddon ends and the millennial reign begins before we can be definite on where the final season of testing at the end of the millennium will come relative to the 7,000-year day. If Armageddon ends before we reach the 6,000-year mark in human existence, then the 1,000-year reign would also end before the 7,000-year rest day would, and the final test could occur within the 7,000-year day. But on this we cannot be definite, but must await Jehovah’s disclosing of our exact position in the stream of time before we can locate with any reliability the placement of the testing period with regard to the 7,000-year day.

Abandoned Bible Aid Yields Fruit

A young farmer in El Salvador, though having never attended school, used to tuck his books in his waistband and teach himself during noontimes and while his oxen rested from the plow. He could see the wondrous potential in the green fields and forests and could not understand why such a potential should be destroyed. Neither could the clergy satisfactorily explain that to him.

His curious mind continued to search for the answers to these and other perplexing questions. He got the answers in a rather strange way on the eve of his sister’s wedding. During the merriment, a guest tried to kiss the bride. A pistol fight ensued between the groom and the guest as the crowd melted through doors and windows. The lights went out. When the shooting stopped our young friend crawled from under the bench where he had taken cover and had found a green book entitled “Let God Be True” that had been abandoned. From this book and other publications, which he later obtained, he found the answers to his questions. Now he is a full-time minister, preaching the good news of the Kingdom among his neighbors, fording streams, braving storms and sleeping nights in the open, so that more of his humble forest folk can also have their questions answered.

Examples of Unity, Past and Future

NEW YORK is still talking about the 1950 international assembly held by Jehovah’s witnesses. The sixty-seven countries that crowded into the Yankee Stadium spelled out in bold letters, before the eyes of the United Nations and the world, that it is possible through true worship to dwell together in peace and unity. Not only did Jehovah’s witnesses of many nations worship together, but they worked together, ate together, and lived together! Never had the old world seen such harmony ring among a mixed multitude! Meetings were held in twenty different languages, and new releases were in sixteen languages other than English. Firsthand reports were heard from those who labored many years behind the barbed wire of Hitler’s concentration camps. News and experiences were heard from those who crossed the Iron Curtain. Thrilling experiences were heard from brothers who came from the Far and Near East.

“What I learned from this assembly,” said a young brother eleven years old, “will last me four or five years—until the next one, or even more.” The next one is July 19 to 26, 1953! Will you be there? There is more to learn. Once again Jehovah’s witnesses of many nations will have opportunity to prove to the world that they are a united people, a free people, a friendly people. Their experiences will be just as thrilling and touching. To be able to work with these brothers of many nations and to listen to their problems and see their zeal will be encouraging and faith-strengthening. To see the love the brothers have for each other will be a foretaste of new world living. Once again the old world will be made to sit up and take notice that of the “increase of his [Jehovah’s] government and of peace there shall be no end”. Do not miss it. Prepare now that you might be free in ’53 to spend a long week of eight days with a united world in worship at the Yankee Stadium.

Announcements

“TRIUMPHANT CLEAN WORSHIP” WITNESSING PERIOD—Jas. 1:27, NW.

“Clean worship” must be directed toward the one true God. Any other worship is idolatrous and unclean, Scripturally condemned. It is vile unfaithfulness on the part of the creature to ignore the Creator and render worship to idols, demons or men. “Clean worship” triumphs over false worship because it is strong, enduring and unshakable. “The fear of Jehovah is clean, enduring for ever.” (Ps. 19:9, AS) That right attitude of deep respect toward God will produce fruit in right works. It will seek to serve others, bringing them the knowledge that has so abundantly blessed the receiver. So, “clean worship” means to care for bereaved and desolate ones, giving them the comfort the truth contains. During December the following offer will continue to be presented to such people: three bound books, What Has Religion Done for Mankind? “Let God Be True” and “This Means Everlasting Life”, all on a contribution of $1.50. Demonstrate clean worship by presenting this offer to others, and report your activity to the Society at the month’s end. (Address under front cover)

WHO SPEAKS THE TRUTH?

This is a day when the air is filled with varied opinions and teachings. Foremost among those who voice their views, especially in spiritual matters, are the leaders of multitudinous religious organizations. Honest persons are puzzled in trying to determine whom to recognize as speaking the truth on questions of vital concern. For your help we recommend the book “Let God Be True”. In its 320 pages basic truths and sound doctrines are made plain and understandable. God’s Word is plainly set forth, and the erroneous teachings of men are boldly identified and subjected to the uncovering power of that Word. Complete with index of subjects and scripture texts, this book (available in 30 languages) is sent postpaid for 50c.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES

Week of December 14: Basis for Believing the Bible.

Week of December 21: A Better Basis for Belief.