The Watchtower — July 1, 1953

A Peace Measure?

THE house-to-house ministry might be said to be the backbone of the activity of Jehovah’s witnesses. That it is very effective cannot be denied. Not only have their numbers in the United States seen an increase of some 50 per cent over the past three years but even in that Roman Catholic stronghold, the province of Quebec, Jehovah’s witnesses saw an increase of 17 per cent during 1952.

As to how the Catholic clergy feel about this house-to-house activity of the witnesses we learn from the Montreal Star, April 4, 1953, which quotes one Abbé Maheux, M.A., D.D., O.B.E., F.R.S., Laureat de l’Academie francaise. Under the heading of “A Peace Measure” this abbé tells of Paul’s concern for young Christianity as noted in his words to Titus: “There are people who must be blamed, those who upset all the members of families, by teaching that which must not be taught, and that for gain, a shameful thing.”

Applying this text (Titus 1:11) to our time the abbé says: “It is a matter of making converts and drawing profit from it. It is still seen today: doctrine peddling continues.” And objecting to the house-to-house activity he continues: “I would gladly suppress all the agents and door-to-door vendors who have become a plague to family homes. In the case of religion, of ideology, this peddling is infinitely more detestable and blamable. That we have a legally recognized temple; that we preach; that we invite the citizens by discreet advertising, well and good; freedom remains. But direct solicitation from door to door is, after all, a violation of the home, and that in the most sacred realm of the religious conscience.”

That the abbé is referring to the activity of Jehovah’s witnesses, although not mentioning them by name, is obvious, as they are the people in Quebec that ‘peddle doctrine from door to door’, to the ire of Catholic clergy. Can they be accused of preaching for selfish gain? What are the facts? True, they do leave books, containing from 300 to 400 pages each, with the people on a contribution of 50 cents; but, in view of publishing costs today, how much profit does that represent? Besides, they offer with each book to spend one hour a week for a year or more, helping the obtainer to understand it without the cost of another penny. How much profit is there in that? The facts are that even if Jehovah’s witnesses received the maximum contribution for every piece of literature placed, they would be receiving six cents in contribution for every hour they spend in preaching on the streets, from house to house and in the homes of the people. But they give much literature away free, so that the actual contributions received would be more like four cents per hour, and that does not even cover the cost of the literature. Could anything be more fantastic than to claim that Jehovah’s witnesses engage in their activity from profit motives?

Nor is that all. When people come to their Kingdom Halls, they are not asked to contribute, no collection plate is passed. Nothing is said about membership dues, for there are no membership rolls. They hear nothing about bazaars, bingo games, or other gambling devices for the purpose of raising money. There is no fee, stipulated or implied, for the performance of marriages, for baptismal or funeral services. Can other religious organizations say as much? Can Abbé Maheux’s church say as much?

As for the methods used by Jehovah’s witnesses. Is freedom to preach to be limited to “legally recognized temples”? Legally recognized by whom? By Roman Catholic political officials? Or does the abbé mean that freedom requires that one be not molested in his home by Christian ministers? If so, then he is finding fault not only with Jehovah’s witnesses but with their great and illustrious founder Christ Jesus and his immediate disciples, the apostles. Christ Jesus could not have thought calling at the homes of the people to be “infinitely more detestable and blamable” than hawking commercial wares, for the Scriptures contain more than 130 references to his preaching in the homes of the people.

And within a few days after Pentecost the apostles were busy, “every day they ceased not, in the temple and from house to house, to teach and to preach Christ Jesus.” And what about the apostle Paul? Years later, he was doing exactly the same thing, as he told the overseers of the congregation at Ephesus: “I have kept back nothing that was profitable to you, but have preached it to you, and taught you publicly, and from house to house.” (Acts 5:42; 20:20, Dy) Clearly, none of the apostles thought that they should limit their preaching to “legally recognized temples”.

In fact, the abbé ought to investigate his own church, for in the past year the Catholics in the diocese of San Diego engaged in a four-month house-to-house campaign, under the direction of Bishop Buddy. Our Sunday visitor, American Catholic weekly, told of the results: 95,000 non-Catholic homes had been called upon; some 5,000 Catholics reclaimed; and almost 2,000 non-Catholics “converted”, that is, enrolled in Catholic instruction classes. And we are told that this San Diego campaign “gives a striking demonstration of the effectiveness of lay workers in recruiting prospects”. Actually, the Catholics of San Diego are paying Jehovah’s witnesses a compliment by temporarily imitating their chief form of activity. And, Abbé Maheux, would it not be better to do that than to try to enforce “peace measures” such as banning house-to-house activity?

Every single follower of Christ Jesus is commissioned to go and “make disciples of people of all the nations”, and the prophetic command tells that “this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness”. Since Jehovah’s word cannot return to him unfulfilled, Jehovah’s witnesses will continue to preach in every possible effective manner regardless of the objections of opponents and their “peace measures” of ‘mischief framed by law’. (Ps. 94:20; Isa. 55:11; Matt. 24:14; 28:19, 20, NW) That being so, let all opposers, such as Abbé Maheux, note Paul’s words: “For we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth.”—2 Cor. 13:8, NW.

Too Big for God?

THE challenging subject for an address, not too long ago, by “Reverend” M. R. Nelson of Minneapolis, was “Too Big for God”. Bemoaning the sad state of affairs found in politics, the prevalence of gambling, large numbers of drunks, low morals, etc., the minister explained: “To effect the changes that we should make is too big a job for God alone. . . . Making life better is too big a job for God alone.” This address was enthusiastically received by a large gathering. Hence, it appears that there is a growing belief that Almighty God is not so almighty any more. Must God now depend on man? And is there really anything “too big for God alone”?

There was a time when God was completely alone. Yet without anyone’s help he created the Logos or Word who later became Christ Jesus. As a mighty spirit creature the Logos was “the beginning of the creation by God”, and “all things came into existence through him”. (Rev. 3:14; John 1:3, NW) Through God’s power this master workman created myriads of spirit creatures and inanimate bodies. All this he did without first creating man; in fact, God did not need man’s advice in the creation of our home-town planet. Jehovah himself declared his absolute independence of man: “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have insight. Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loosen the girdle of Orion? Can you send forth Mazzaroth in its season, and lead forth the Bear with its satellites? Can you send forth the lightnings that they may go and say to you, ‘Here we are!’?”—Job 38:4, 31, 32, 35, AT.

There is no instance in the Bible where a job was ever too hard for God. Jehovah’s power is supreme and unqualified. “For he spoke and it was! He commanded and it stood fast!” (Ps. 33:9, AT) Man plunges into puny insignificance whenever God demonstrates his power. The universal deluge of Noah’s day overwhelmed all mankind except those who believed in Jehovah’s promises and power. Supreme power was also demonstrated when, with fire and sulphur, Jehovah devastated Sodom and Gomorrah, the incorrigibly wicked inhabitants not being too big a problem for God. In fact, Jehovah sent just two angels to Sodom, they themselves declaring: “We will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxed great before Jehovah; and Jehovah hath sent us to destroy it.” (Gen. 19:1, 13, AS) Was it a big job, then, for God to blot out Sodom? No! for only two angels were sent to do the job, and Jehovah has at his command all the armies of heaven, numbering not less than 200,000,000!—Rev. 9:16, NW.

CHRIST VERIFIES GOD’S OMNIPOTENCE

Jehovah has repeatedly demonstrated that he will make life better for man in His due time. By means of the healing miracles that Christ Jesus performed, Jehovah gave a preview of what his power will accomplish in the new world on behalf of his people. It is interesting to know that the miracles of Christ recorded in the four Gospels are so numerous that, for example, nearly one third of the book of Mark contains descriptions of them. These miracles are woven so inextricably into the text that they cannot be removed without disrupting the continuity. Out of all the miracles that Christ worked about three fourths of them pertain to healing and health. No disease or deformity was ever too big a job for Jehovah’s physician: “And they brought him all the ailing ones afflicted with various diseases and severe complaints, demon-possessed and lunatic and paralyzed persons, and he cured them.” (Matt. 4:24, NW) Lunatics cured without psychiatrists! Diseases cured without penicillin! And there was no lack of power when Christ resurrected Lazarus.—John 11:17, 40-44.

When he was betrayed by Judas and the mob closed in to seize him, Jesus raised a provocative question: “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father to supply me at this moment more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matt. 26:53, NW) To rescue Jesus from the mob would have been a big job for his disciples, but it was made plainly clear to them that there was a tremendous heavenly army available should Jesus request it. Today the word “legion” may not seem so significant, but to the ancient Romans and to people under their control the word immediately conjured up catapulting and colossal power, for it meant a body of soldiers numbering, at different times, 4,500 to 6,000. Would not Jesus’ disciples understand, then, that he had an army of more than 72,000 angels at his command if he should request them from the Father? Again it should be remembered that it took only two of Jehovah’s angels to annihilate Sodom and Gomorrah!

How do the holy angels themselves appraise God’s power? We have the testimony of the angel Gabriel: “With God no declaration will be an impossibility.” (Luke 1:37, NW) What all-embracing power that means! We have no reason to question the truthfulness of Gabriel’s statement, for he said he “stands near before God”; moreover, his message to Mary of Jesus’ impending virgin birth occurred exactly as stated.—Luke 1:18, 26-38; 2:1-21, NW.

And what more reliable testimony do we need than that of Christ Jesus, “he that descended from heaven”! He declared: “The things impossible with men are possible with God.” (John 3:13; Luke 18:27, NW) Thus the Son of God revealed there would be jobs too big for men but never too big for God.

WHY THE “TOO BIG” THEORY?

By virtue of Jehovah’s omnipotent power and infinite wisdom, he is the great timekeeper of the universe. To him time is limitless. To man time is limited, so limited that he is always saying: “I don’t have time for this or that.” And no wonder! “The days of our years are threescore years and ten, or even by reason of strength fourscore years.” (Ps. 90:10, AS) Naturally, then, man wants things done in a hurry. Seldom does he realize that God’s time schedule is run on a vastly different basis from our 24-hour-a-day one. “One day is with Jehovah as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.” (2 Pet. 3:8, NW) Because God does everything in his time, nearsighted man is inclined to view it as a weakness, as if something were too big for God.

Take, for instance, the increase of God’s visible organization, which, at one time, seemed impossible. But it was not impossible, for it had to come in God’s due time. Even in 1938 there were only 47,143 publishers proclaiming world-wide the good news of God’s kingdom, but by 1952 the figure had zoomed to 456,265! “The little one shall become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation: I, Jehovah, will hasten it in its time.”—Isa. 60:22, AS.

Moreover, how did man’s living become so degraded that its improvement presents such a formidable job? Is it not because man has failed to live by the principles set forth in God’s Word, the Bible? A world deteriorating in morals and teeming with greedy, ruthless and blood-stained hands would not be the result if man had followed the excellent advice of the Master: “All things, therefore, that you want men to do to you, you also must likewise do to them; this, in fact, is what the Law and the Prophets mean.” (Matt. 7:12, NW) Plagued with a wretched condition in the world, some people now say, “It’s too big a job for God alone.” Again man fails to listen to the Scriptural rule: “Sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily.”—Eccl. 8:11, AS.

Really, then, the job is not too big for God. The trouble is that man is not big enough for the job. Man’s scientific achievements have inflated his ego; now he has a “big head”. But it is not big to God, no bigger than the head of a grasshopper, and that is not very big. “Have ye not known? . . . It is he [Jehovah] that sitteth above the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers.” (Isa. 40:21, 22, AS) What does a grasshopper understand about the power of man? And what does man know about the power of God? “Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power.”—Job 37:23, AS.

The truth is that when man says a work is too big for God, he is impressed by his own importance. Today we have political luminaries from sixty different nations assembling at the U.N. in New York endeavoring to make the earth abound with peace and security. Said President Truman a few days before the inauguration of General Eisenhower: “If we can get peace and safety in the world under the United Nations, the developments will come so fast we will not recognize the world in which we now live.” And in his inaugural address, President Eisenhower called the U.N. the “living sign of all people’s hope for peace”. Soon now Jehovah will thwart the combined efforts of the nations: “The LORD [Jehovah] annuls the counsel of the nations; he frustrates the plans of the peoples.” “Whenever it is that they are saying, ‘Peace and security!’ then sudden destruction is to be instantly upon them.” (Ps. 33:10, AT; 1 Thess. 5:3, NW) Armageddon’s sudden destruction will leave the U.N. in smoldering ruins, and the earth littered with the bodies of the “slain of Jehovah”.—Jer. 25:33, 34, AS.

Finally, the biggest job of all, the annihilation of Satan the Devil, is accomplished with great ease by Jehovah’s “King of kings”, Christ Jesus. Christ merely seizes the Devil and hurls him into the abyss. (Rev. 20:1-3) By that awe-inspiring display of Jehovah’s matchless power a new world will be ushered in for the complete betterment of mankind. (Rev. 21:1-4) Then no one will ever again say that a job is too big for God. Rather, all the living will understand the rich meaning of the Most High’s words to Abraham: “Is anything too hard for Jehovah?”—Gen. 18:14. AS.

Letter from Kyoto

From seven Watchtower Society missionaries in Kyoto, Japan

Dear Friend:

Our assignment for location is beautiful. It is a paradise completely engulfed by mountains. The city of Kyoto is a treasure in itself, filled with ancient palaces, sculptures, paintings, landscape gardens and lovely, tiny people arrayed in brilliant-colored kimonos.

The other day we had occasion to visit the world-famous flowering cherry blossom festival. Our first stop was the Imperial palace and park. Throughout this park of some 200 acres were the most gorgeous blooming cherry trees that you can imagine. We were told that there were only ten different varieties of these flowering trees and some of them are to be found only in Kyoto.

As we neared the Imperial palace we were literally swamped with hundreds of little vendors selling everything from dried squid and octopus to beautiful dolls, for which Kyoto is world-famous. This little episode reminded us of our circuses and carnivals in America. Before entering the Imperial gardens there was an arch that we had to duck under, but when we lifted our eyes we simply were spellbound, awe-struck at the most magnificent clouds of pink petals drooping to the ground. Most of the branches had to be propped with stakes to prevent them from breaking. When we finally recovered from our “ohs” and “ahs”, we continued on down a blossoming lane to see the entire garden, known also for its irises. It appeared to us that the spirit of Japanese gardens was found in the way of the use of water and the unique arrangement of stones. Needless to say, we were deeply impressed by the array of beauty fixed against a background of simplicity. The surroundings were enough to leave a person speechless.

Since we were plagued with hunger, a nearby Japanese restaurant came in handy. We ordered curried rice and a cup of ocha (Japanese tea). Take it from us, these people really know their rice. They never fail. It is always very light and fluffy. We topped the meal with soft ice cream made, by the way, in an American machine.

What seemed to be (at least to us) a second dessert was the high light of the Cherry Festival where the famed Cherry Dance is performed by two companies of the most beautiful geisha (artist) girls in Japan. These young ladies are trained from childhood in the arts of dancing, singing, tea ceremony officiating and playing the harp. What amazed us was that when we entered the theater it was nearly deserted. But five minutes before curtain time people began flowing through every door, even to the balcony. That is all the time they needed, because within but a few minutes there was not a place that was not occupied.

The lights dimmed. The curtain rose very slowly, and the crowds gasped at the magnificent display of pink blooms over the heads of the lovely geishas dressed in multicolored kimonos. Their movements were unusually precise and graceful and were enhanced by the large folding fans each of them used in the dance. There were several parts of the performance that were dramatic, starring actors dressed in ancient costumes. But we missed the plot, not understanding the language.

We cannot help but say our assignment is wonderful, colorful, instructive and lots of fun. We are fascinated with the countryside and in love with the people.

Are Images an Aid to True Worship?

ACCORDING to certain religious organizations, the use of images is a great aid to worship. Thus when a stranger visits a religious edifice such as St. Peter’s basilica in Rome he is struck with the many images found therein, of popes, of saints, of the apostles, of Mary the mother of Jesus, of Moses and of others. A particularly striking image in that basilica is the life-size black bronze statue of Peter, before which he may see several devout Catholics waiting their turn to kiss the big toe of the right foot.

Jesus said that God is looking for those to worship him who do so with spirit and with truth. (John 4:23, 24, NW) Does such reverence and worship of images aid in true worship? Does it find any support in the Scriptures? What is its origin?

When God gave his law to the Israelites at Mount Sinai he purposely revealed no likeness of himself, so that they could not even have an excuse to make an image and worship it. (Deut. 4:15-23) At that time God plainly commanded them: “Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them.” And later God further commanded them: “Ye shall make you no idols, neither shall ye rear you up a graven image, or a pillar, neither shall ye place any figured stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am Jehovah your God.” (Ex. 20:3-5; Lev. 26:1, AS) True, God commanded the making of cherubim for the mercy seat, but these were always hidden from public view.—Num. 4:5.

Nor was the use of images authorized in the new system of things inaugurated by Christ Jesus. No, but Christians were plainly told that images were nothing and they were warned to keep themselves from idols, to flee from them.—1 Cor. 8:4-6; 10:14; 1 John 5:21, NW.

And so history records that during the first three centuries of the Christian era images were unknown to the followers of Christ. Says the Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol. XII, page 750 (1907 edition): “The early Christians were absolutely unanimous in utterly condemning all heathen image-worship and the various customs, many of them obviously immoral, with which it was associated; it is needless to multiply citations from the fathers in proof of so undisputed a fact.” “In point of fact it was a common accusation brought against Christians by their enemies that they had ‘no altars, no temples, no known images’; and that ‘they set up no image or form of any god’, and this charge was never denied.”

While some would attribute this fact to such circumstances as fewness of numbers, persecution and poverty, it cannot be denied that had they venerated images they would have found a way to have at least some images. Their complete absence proves that it was principle, not circumstances, that governed this. In fact, Christians were even accused of being atheists because of the total lack of images in their places of worship.

ORIGIN OF IMAGE WORSHIP

Image worship was the outgrowth of creature worship, concerning the origin of which the apostle Paul tells us: “Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God nor did they thank him, but they became empty-headed in their reasonings and their unintelligent heart became darkened. Although asserting they were wise, they became foolish and turned the glory of the incorruptible God into something like the image of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed creatures and creeping things.” (Rom. 1:21-23, NW) Although repeatedly warned by Jehovah God not to engage in such practices of the nations round about them, the Israelites time and again fell away from the worship of the invisible God to the worship of things seen, until at last there was no remedy.—Lev. 26:28, 30; Deut. 7:16; 2 Chron. 36:15, AS.

But what about the image worship practiced today by professed Christians? Is it likewise of pagan origin? Yes, unquestionably it is. For example, Cardinal Newman, in his work, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, page 373, states that among the things “of pagan origin and sanctified by their adoption into the Church”, that is, the Roman Catholic Church, are images.

And the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. VII, pages 666, 667, states that the early Christians got their idea of making images and paintings from “the statues of emperors, of pagan gods and heroes as well as pagan wall paintings. In the fourth century the Christian Roman citizens in the East offered gifts, incense, even prayers to the statues of the emperor. It would be natural that the people who bowed to, kissed, incensed the imperial eagles and the images of Caesar (with no suspicion of anything like idolatry), who paid elaborate reverence to an empty throne as his symbol, should give the same signs to the cross, the images of Christ, and the altar”.

But here the argument in favor of the use of images, while clearly showing their origin, also acts as a boomerang. Christians certainly had strayed far from the pure worship, which is commanded to keep itself unspotted from the world, when with a clear conscience they could offer prayers to, bow down to and kiss the statue of the emperor, and could pay elaborate reverence to his empty throne. Those that could do such things were in fact Christians in name only; and being able to do such things, why, of course, they would find no objection to bowing down and adoring statues of Jesus, etc.—Jas. 1:27, NW.

In endeavoring to justify the worship of images, the claim is made that such worship is relative, different from the worship directed to God, that the worship is merely directed through the image to the one represented by it, as a visual aid, and that God’s law was not meant to forbid that. Let it be noted, however, that God commanded the Israelites not only not to serve any images but also not even to bow down to them.—Ex. 20:3-5.

IMAGES VERY REAL TO MANY

Further, it does not at all follow that all those bowing down to an image fully appreciate the fact that it is merely a symbol. According to Du Bois, one of the early Roman Catholic missionaries in India, “the common people indubitably worship the image itself”.

And the same is true of the less educated in Roman Catholic lands. Regarding image worship in the eighth century A.D., we again quote from the Catholic Encyclopedia: “The way in which some people treated their holy icons [images] argues more than the merely relative honour that Catholics are taught to observe toward them. . . . Icons were crowned with garlands, incensed, kissed. Lamps burned before them, hymns were sung in their honor. They were applied to sick persons by contact, set in the path of a fire or flood to stop it by a sort of magic.”—Vol. VII, page 668.

Note here an inconsistency. On a previous page this authority used the fact of some professed Christians’ kissing, bowing to and incensing the statue of the emperor as justification for doing the same to “Christian” images, while here the doing of such things is tacitly condemned. Nor is the using of statues, as if they had magical powers, limited to Catholics of the eighth century. After twelve more centuries of instruction by the Catholic Church we still find her people doing the same.

According to a special dispatch to the Providence Sunday Journal, December 24, 1950, back in 1928 the angry villagers of Mascali left the statue of their patron saint, St. Leonard, to burn in the onrushing lava because it had failed to stop the flow of the volcano. We may feel amusement at their chagrin, but must also feel pity at such blindness. The same dispatch credited St. Andrew with stopping the flow of lava for the villagers of Milo, in 1950. In 1944 Italian peasants placed their images in the path of the flowing lava from Mount Vesuvius in a vain attempt to stop it.

The Catholic Herald, London, December 15, 1950, published a picture showing the inhabitants of Milo carrying a statue of “Our Lady” right to the edge of the advancing avalanche of lava during a recent eruption of Mt. Etna. But all in vain; the village had to be abandoned. And to this very day the unlearned Catholic people of Mexico, Central America and South America daily place food and drink offerings before the images of their “saints”, exactly the same as did the ignorant folk back there in the eighth century A.D.

According to Gregory I, “the Great,” deceased A.D. 604, images “are the books of the ignorant”. With only such books no wonder the ignorant of such lands have continued ignorant for more than twelve centuries! More helpful was Augustine’s observation that some were looking for Christ and his apostles “on painted walls” instead of looking for them in the written Word of God.

It is unthinkable that the apostle John wanted to give an angel the worship due only to God; yet the angel would not permit John to give him even “relative” worship. Cornelius, being a devout man, likewise would not have thought of giving Peter the worship due only to God; yet Peter did not allow even a “relative” worship. If neither Peter nor an angel could be given “relative” worship, then how could we properly give it to inanimate images?—Acts 10:24-26; Rev. 19:10.

True worship bows down only to Jehovah God. It directs its prayers only to him, even as commanded by Christ Jesus. For its aid God has provided, not images, but his Word, his spirit and his organization. It walks by faith and not by sight.—Matt. 6:9; John 16:13; 2 Cor. 5:7; 2 Tim. 3:15-17, NW.

Their idols are but silver and gold, the product of men’s hands. They have mouths, but cannot s peak; eyes have they, but cannot see; ears have they, but cannot hear; . . . Those who make them will become like them, everyone who trusts in them.—Psalm 115:4-6, 8, An Amer. Trans.

Religious Bird Fails to Snatch Seed

In his illustration of the sower Jesus told of some seed as falling by the wayside and which the birds of the air picked up, resulting in no increase. On the other hand, the seed that fell in the right kind of soil or heart yielded thirty-, sixty- and a hundredfold. The following experience shows the failure of a “bird” to take away the seed, because it had been planted in the right kind of soil, and of the increase that resulted from this seed.—Luke 8:4-15.

A very devout lady living in a Flanders village went to visit her aunt in France. It so happened that this aunt had become one of Jehovah’s witnesses, and so took advantage of the visit to tell her niece all about God’s kingdom and what the Bible actually taught. The niece returned to her Flanders home with a copy of the Bible and some textbooks to assist her in her study. As she studied her Bible and her knowledge increased she could not help but talk about the good news to the clients of her beauty parlor. It was not long before all this came to the ears of Monsieur le Cure, the parish priest. He had not called on our friend for fifteen years, but suddenly he developed a great interest in her health and called to inquire after it.

It was not long before he got around to the real purpose of his call. He said he had been informed that she was studying the Bible, and then he proceeded to explain why she should surrender to him her personal copy of the Scriptures. Said he: “You wouldn’t think of giving beefsteak to this one-year-old child, would you? Well, I am your spiritual father, I can read the Bible without harm, but it is not good for you, my child.” However, the lady was familiar with Jesus’ words, “Do not call anyone your father on earth,” and also knew that the Bible was just as much for her as for any other God-fearing person on earth. She refused to give up her copy of the Bible, but continued to study it and to talk its contents to others.

This started what we might call a “chain reaction” in this little village, for before long seventeen others had followed her example and were gaining accurate knowledge. Shortly her hairdressing parlor was converted into a meeting place for Jehovah’s witnesses, and at the first public lecture 140 persons heard more of the good news from the Bible, which the parish priest had endeavored to keep from the people. Later on, a well-to-do businessman offered his home for a series of public talks. His friends exclaimed: “Do you realize what you are doing? Why, you may lose your home because of this!” His calm reply was: “Well, if I lose it, I lose it; but this is more important than my home.” Well, he did not lose his home, and now he and his wife and his two sons are active witnesses of Jehovah, along with about forty other people in the little town. The truth has gained a firm foothold here in the battle against ignorance.

Tens of Thousands of Years Wrong!

● From a June 30, 1952, Associated Press report: “The National Capital Parks reported proudly today that there was a blossom on an Indian lotus plant at the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens here. It is no ordinary blossom. It bloomed yesterday on a plant grown from seeds that are tens of thousands of years old. The seeds from which the Indian lotus grew were found in geologic deposits in southern Manchuria two years ago by Dr. Seido Endo, paleontologist at Sendai University in Japan. Dr. Endo said the seeds were found under a layer of rocks and were at least tens of thousands of years old.” Presumably the readers believed this fantastic age claim. How were they to know that this claim, which would contradict the Bible, had already been disproved by the radiocarbon clock, which had set the age of these lotus seeds at merely 1,000 years? (See “The Radiocarbon Clock”, Awake! February 22, 1952.) That in itself is quite an age for seeds, and would have made an interesting news item, but the earlier, though false, age estimate was more spectacular. Apparently a few “tens of thousands of years” matters little to a “scientist” talking for publicity, or to the news service that reports his words.

Showing Appreciation at Assemblies

IF THERE is any time, place or occasion at which the dedicated servants of Jehovah in modern times really “taste and see that Jehovah is good”, it is at an international assembly. At such an assembly Jehovah literally pours out so many blessings that they cannot contain them all. No wonder, then, that his servants were glad when the Watch Tower Society said to them, in effect, “Let us go unto the house of Jehovah,” by arranging for another international assembly. It is to be held at Yankee Stadium, New York city, July 19 to 26, 1953.—Ps. 34:8; 122:1-3; Mal. 3:10, AS.

No question about it, Jehovah will pour out many blessings at that assembly, and, knowing that, every one of us that can possibly attend will do so. But merely being present in person at Yankee Stadium during those eight days is not enough. To what extent will we be drinking in those blessings? Will our conduct be such as to show that we really appreciate them? Or will our conduct make apparent to all that we are thoughtless and indifferent regarding the assembly blessings?

To illustrate: Suppose a friend gave us tickets for an evening at the opera because he knew we were music lovers. Would we go to the opera and then spend most of the evening walking around in the lounge, visiting outside with others, or eating at the refreshment stand, and be in our seats listening to the beautiful vocal and instrumental music coming from the stage and orchestra pit only part of the time? Of course not! We would be in our seats before the orchestra began to play the overture or prelude, and if we stepped out for refreshments between the acts we would make sure to be back in our seats before the next act began; and we would stay until the final curtain fell. We would not want to miss a thing.

But suppose that we were not only music lovers, amateurs, but professionals, singers or instrumentalists whose vocation in life is music. We would have all the more reason for not wanting to miss anything. Knowing more about music we would get more out of the opera. We would note how every bar of music was being interpreted. We would be alert for ideas and effects, for greater appreciation and understanding of the music, all of which would serve us well as professional musicians. Yes, as professionals we would not only enjoy the opera more but learn a great deal from hearing it.

Now let us apply this illustration: This summer at Yankee Stadium there will be theocratic music such as never has been heard before. And we will be there, not only as music lovers, but also as professionals, as singing fighters! As such we will not only be thrilled by the beauty of the spiritual music but be alert to take note of the many fine points, the new thoughts, the practical suggestions that will be presented and which we shall be able to use as professional singing fighters when we get back to our home territory. Right?

If we have that appreciation, will we be milling around in the long passageways under the stands during the time the programs are being given? Will we be visiting with some old acquaintance or taking a nap during the programs? Will we?

SHOWING APPRECIATION AND CONSIDERATION

Or suppose a dear friend invited you to dinner, preparing for you many courses consisting of your favorite dishes. Would you come a half hour late, bolt down the food while reading a newspaper and then rush off before the dessert was served so as to listen to your favorite radio program, leaving your friend alone and not even thanking him for having been such a generous and thoughtful host? How unthinkable!

Jehovah as a generous and thoughtful host is providing a feast of fat things at the coming assembly. How many of us will come late for the various programs? How many will be munching a sandwich, sipping soda water or licking at an ice-cream cone during our spiritual feasts? Or be rushing away before the closing song? Will we treat our heavenly Friend and Host in a manner we would not think of treating an earthly one?

Or what would you think of a member of a family who was continually competing with his fellows for the best of everything? Who at mealtimes could not wait for the blessing to be said to grab the choicest or largest portions of food? Or who hurried through his meal so as to have the best seat in the parlor for watching the TV show? Or who rushed to get the front seat of the auto every time the family drove anywhere? How childish, how immature! you say?

Of course, we would not consciously think of acting so childishly; yes, and so selfishly, for a child instinctively thinks only of itself; it must be taught consideration of others. But how often do we thoughtlessly act in this way when we come together as a big family at our international conventions? Do we compete for choice seats and insist on an excessive reserving of them? Do we rush off before the close of the program so as to be first in line at the cafeteria, at the refreshment stands or in obtaining a new release? Are we so concerned about not having to wait that we do not mind how long the others behind us have to wait, just so long as we are in front of them?

Then there is the matter of the rooming accommodations. What would you think of a friend whom you had invited to spend a week end with you, who, after accepting the invitation, disappointed you by not showing up? Or who came a day later than he had advised you, causing you to wait away into the night, all in vain? Or who, after coming and taking a glance at your home and guestroom, spurned your hospitality by going to a hotel instead? Would you still consider him your friend?

We have many potential friends, householders in New York who have consented to house Jehovah’s witnesses during the assembly and who will have been advised by the convention committee that some of us will stay with them. Then how will they feel when we fail to show up? Or when we come a day late? Or come and then leave because of not being satisfied with the accommodations? Where is the concern about the impression we give to those on the outside? Where is the care that we do not stumble a prospective “other sheep”? Where is the doing to others as we would have them do to us?—Matt. 7:12; Luke 17:1, 2; 1 Tim. 3:7, NW.

SUPERVISING CONDUCT OF CHILDREN

And as regards the children. Could we imagine a school where children are allowed to amuse themselves as they please? Go and come as they please? Where they are permitted to play or quarrel with each other during the time the school teacher is trying to instruct them? Or could we imagine little Samuel acting that way when his mother brought him to the temple for service there? Or Jesus behaving in such a manner when his parents took him to Jerusalem for the annual feasts?—1 Sam. 1:23, 24; 2:11; Luke 2:46-52.

Children may not be able to grasp all the fine points made by every speaker, but that is no reason why they should not sit quietly with their parents and try to get as much benefit from the programs as possible so that it will have been worth while for their parents to bring them along. By paying attention they will become better acquainted with theocratic words and phrases. And regardless of what they may understand they can profit greatly from the sincerity, earnestness and enthusiasm manifested by the speakers. Many of our foreign brothers will not be able to understand every word, yet it will be well worth while for them to attend. Parents who appreciate these facts will exercise proper authority so that their children may receive the greatest possible good from the assembly.—Ps. 34:11, AS.

Yankee Stadium, for the duration of the assembly, will be “the house of Jehovah” for Jehovah’s witnesses, a mammoth Kingdom Hall. And in view of the quality and abundance of the spiritual food being provided there at that time we should show even more respect for its presentation than we do at our local Kingdom Halls. Let us not in effect sniff at these provisions or say “the table of Jehovah is contemptible” by milling around in the passageways or by visiting with others when we should be in our seats in the stadium listening to what is being said from the platform.—Mal. 1:7, AS; Mal 1:13, Mo.

Let us show appreciation of this spiritual treat by giving it our whole-souled attention, by being entirely absorbed in what is being presented, coming on time and remaining to the end of each program.—Eph. 6:6; 1 Tim. 4:15, NW.

Let us be considerate of each other, being concerned not only with our own welfare but with that of others, remembering that love is long-suffering and does not look out for its own interests.—1 Cor. 10:24; 13:4, 5, NW.

Let us also not overlook our obligations and privileges regarding the householder to whose rooms we have been assigned. What are a few minutes of travel or a few physical comforts compared with the opportunity of putting someone in the way of getting everlasting life? Think of the inconveniences our missionaries put up with for the sake of having opportunities to witness!

And finally, let us remember our obligation to our children. The Society is urging that we take them along, not so that they can have a good time in a worldly way, but so that they will profit spiritually. Let their attendance at Yankee Stadium be a milestone in their training for life in the new world.

So, one and all, old and young, let us keep in mind that “the kingdom of God does not mean eating and drinking, but means righteousness and peace and joy with holy spirit”. Let us show appreciation for the spiritual feast by putting first things first.—Matt. 6:33; Rom. 14:17, NW.

Assembling with the New World Society

JEHOVAH is causing a New World society to be formed today. It consists of his dedicated servants organized and drawn together by means of God’s revealed truth, by means of his holy spirit or active force, and by means of his earthly instrument or channel, the “faithful and discreet slave”. (Prov. 4:18; Matt. 24:45-47; Acts 20:28, NW) They are being prepared for service in Jehovah’s new world of righteousness, which will function after Armageddon makes a clean sweep of this present wicked system of things.

Just as Jehovah’s dedicated servants in days of old regularly came together in their three annual feasts, and as the Christians regularly assembled in the days of the apostles, so it is essential that all dedicated servants of God in our day assemble with the New World society. In fact, assembling together is even more important in our day, for Paul states: “Not forsaking the gathering of ourselves together, as some have the custom, but encouraging one another, and all the more so as you behold the day drawing near.”—Heb. 10:25, NW.

Is that day drawing near? It certainly is. We have been living in the day of Jehovah since 1914; in the day of Christ since 1918; and even Satan knows the time is short until “the war of the great day of God the Almighty”. (Rev. 16:14, NW) And why is it all the more urgent that we assemble now? Because conditions are growing ever worse; never before have there been such severe tests on the integrity of God’s servants: there is increasing lawlessness; critical times hard to deal with are here; having been cast down to the earth the Devil is making a final all-out attempt to corrupt the human race and to destroy God’s servants.—Matt. 24:12; 2 Tim. 3:1-6; Rev. 12:12, 17, NW.

Now, just as the individual Christian finds the need of associating himself with a local congregation of Christians, and just as the individual congregations benefit greatly from meeting together in circuit and district assemblies, just so it is of great value for God’s servants to come together from various lands in a great international assembly.

Just how will the attending of an international assembly benefit us? In the first place it will give us much happiness. Since all God’s servants are happy, there is bound to be the greatest of happiness when so many of them come together. Secondly, such association for eight days with servants from different lands, of different races and languages, etc., getting acquainted with them and working and worshiping Jehovah together, eating at the same spiritual table, all this will have a most powerful effect of drawing them together in love, into one compact body. Third, on such occasions there is provided a sumptuous spiritual banquet of increased light and stirring admonition to increased zeal and faithfulness that will certainly strengthen each dedicated servant present for the tests of integrity that lie ahead. Finally, by each servant’s making use of every opportunity to give the witness, a great testimony will be given to the honor of Jehovah’s name.

That is why the Watch Tower Society urges all dedicated Christians and persons of good will who can possibly do so to attend the international assembly of the New World society held July 19-26 at Yankee Stadium, New York city.

Shadows of Family Unity Hold Forth Promise

“For a certainty I perceive that God is not partial, but in every nation the man that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.”—Acts 10:34, 35, NW.

1, 2. (a) What condition in Christendom has made her worship of God a vain thing? (b) What similar condition exists in heathendom, but what purpose of God is certain?

NO ONE who is faithfully carrying out the righteous requirements of Jehovah need ever feel inferior or out of place in the midst of God’s people. The principles of justice and impartiality that prevail in the Christian congregation were established by Christ Jesus even before the first company of Jehovah’s witnesses began to operate in Jerusalem immediately after the outpouring of God’s active force upon the one hundred and twenty assembled disciples, Pentecost, A.D. 33. The peoples of Christendom have in this regard, as in many others, made worship a vain thing by setting up a special class of educated clergy who claim a preferred place in the organization and who, by the example that they set, exalt certain others who may be influential and debase the majority until many sincere ones feel unwelcome and unwanted.

² Nor is this condition limited to Christendom. All over the world divisive barriers have been erected that might seem to some to have forever disunited mankind. Family is set above family, clan above clan; classes are split into subclasses, and within the borders of some nations castes are erected that fatalistically determine one’s associations and order the course of his entire life from birth. But what can be done about it, some will inquire? Certainly there is no hope for relief within our generation! “Do not be misled: God is not one to be mocked.” (Gal. 6:7, NW) Jehovah’s purpose of unity and oneness of family relationship earth-wide will not fail to be carried out; and those who rely on the outworking of his purpose eagerly insist that the impartiality of recognition and equality of opportunity, which already exist within his true modern-day congregations, be guarded as zealously as they were in the early days of his people.

EARLY PROVISION IDENTIFIES PURPOSE

3. What far-reaching purpose of God was manifested in Adam’s powers of procreation?

³ Adam and Eve, in Eden, had prospects of a family that would one day fill the entire earth. The powers of procreation given them by Jehovah, their own great Parent, were indeed an evidence of the oneness that was to exist among all this vast human family. For could not this first man truthfully say that all flesh in the earth, formed in the image and likeness of his great God and Father, would spring forth from his own body? Had not his wife and partner in this far-reaching procreation project herself been fashioned from his own rib so that she was ‘bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh’? And now, the union that Jehovah God had authorized for them and for their offspring was to produce from these first parents hundreds, thousands, yes, millions of their own kind, all related to one another, all children of Adam and sons of God.—Gen. 1:28.

4. What was the result of Adam’s disregard for God’s purpose, and how did Cain aggravate the situation?

⁴ What a tragedy that before the first beautiful baby could be brought forth in honor of the Creator, Adam willfully threw away his legal right to this inheritance of eternal life from God and was literally ousted from God’s great family organization! And what a mockery of Jehovah’s stated purpose when Adam’s first son, spawned in his bitterness, was ambitiously called Cain by his hopeful mother, for, she said, “I have gotten a man with the help of Jehovah”! (Gen. 4:1, AS) Truly did he prove himself a son of his fleshly father, however, when he rose up after an act of faulty worship and violently ruptured what was left of Adam’s family unity by foully murdering his own brother. “And for the sake of what did he slaughter him? Because his own works were wicked, but those of his brother were righteous.”—1 John 3:12, NW.

5. How was God’s purpose to populate the earth through families then demonstrated?

⁵ However, that God’s purpose to populate the earth is still to be carried out through the family arrangement, he clearly demonstrated some fifteen hundred and twenty-six years later in the days of Noah. The divine record states, “Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, namely, of Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood. Of these were the isles of the nations divided in their lands, every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.” (Gen. 10:1, 5, AS) The procreation mandate restated to Noah in a typical way had a token fulfillment in the seventy families mentioned in this tenth chapter of Genesis and which were set up as a patriarchal society. Another eight hundred and fifty-seven years and the point was further emphasized when Jehovah organized the descendants of the family head Abraham into a nation and divided it into tribes and “declared their pedigrees after their families, by their fathers’ houses”. (Num. 1:18, AS) Yes, unquestionably family relationship is of God’s making and he has poured out his rich blessing upon those who recognize and properly evaluate his provision for this strong bond of unity. As the psalmist declared, “Yet setteth he the needy on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock.”—Ps. 107:41, AS.

6. How can it be shown that God was not putting into operation a family caste society?

⁶ But certainly, someone will object, does not this fact actually prove the validity of caste society, that God not only authorizes the family caste system but was in effect putting it into operation in these instances? And would not this division cause disunity and eventually class distinctions that would result in one family’s being elevated above another through an accepted or enforced superiority? Paul, thoroughly versed in the history of God’s dealings with his people, argued, No. Standing in the Areopagus with the Athenians and the many visiting foreigners before him, he tactfully but forcefully made the class-leveling observation, “And [God] made out of one man every nation of men, to dwell upon the entire surface of the earth, and he decreed the appointed seasons and the set limits of the dwelling of men, for them to seek God, if they might grope for him and really find him.” (Acts 17:26, 27, NW) Nor was Paul establishing a new principle in this regard, for some fourteen years previous Peter, in recognizing the first uncircumcised Gentile Christian to be accepted by God, said, “For a certainty I perceive that God is not partial, but in every nation the man that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.” (Acts 10:34, 35, NW) Here again, the natural Jew, Peter, under inspiration of the active force of God, was repeating what Moses, as God’s mediator for the Jewish nation, had himself reminded the Jews in the beginning of their history: “For Jehovah your God, he is God of gods, . . . who regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward.” (Deut. 10:17, AS) It is also noted of the faithful king Jehoshaphat that when he set judges over the nation he cautioned them, “Consider what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for Jehovah; and he is with you in the judgment. . . . take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with Jehovah our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of bribes.” (2 Chron. 19:6, 7, AS) Clearly, then, regardless of the manner he has chosen to carry out his purpose, Jehovah’s principles of justice and equality, which he had established from the beginning of his dealings with mankind and which have been indelibly recorded as an integral part of his own sacred pronouncements, would not permit him to favor individuals because of family relationship, nor would they allow him to show partiality to certain elite family groups. The disunity and class distinction that afflict the world today are not the result of Jehovah’s arrangement with mankind, but rather are the result of an organized effort in direct opposition to God’s will and purpose.

7. What would enable the many family units organized by Noah to maintain a common unity, and what would certainly disrupt it?

⁷ The truthfulness of this conclusion is borne out by the Record in the account of the opposition to God’s arrangement of the patriarchal society after the Flood. As we have already observed, God had made provision through Noah for the peopling of the earth in a token way by the seventy family heads, descendants of Noah. Noah, astute organizer that he was and aware of the pitfalls that beset imperfect man in his ambition, refused to exalt any family above another, or to allow anyone, including himself, to be made a king and thereby rule over his brothers. He knew that man needed no other unifying force than the recognition of Jehovah as the Supreme Sovereign and acceptance of His law as man’s proper rule of action. He wisely maintained by his own course that adherence to these principles would enable all the many families and peoples that were to develop naturally from this beginning “to dwell upon the entire surface of the earth” and to do so in peace and unity. By this same token, any discriminatory class elevation would disrupt this harmonious society. What were the succeeding events that were to prove this to be true? Noah lived to see just such an attempt made in this direction.

“MASTER RACE” PROGRAMS BRING RUIN

8. What was the first organized effort to establish a caste system, and in what did it result?

⁸ From the line of his youngest son Ham arose another upstart like Cain with ambition to occupy a position of prominence. The notorious Nimrod, whose name is still linked with the wanton slaying of animals, set out upon a one-man world-building program in defiance of Jehovah. Rather than adhere to the then well-established and recognized principle of family unity and to Noah’s divinely instituted program of family migration to the ends of the earth, he began to work in the opposite direction and to the accomplishment of different aims. Evidently his program of exalting a centralized human government and of violent subjugation of the people was gaining momentum, for it is written of his adherents, “And they said, Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” To show that this was not his reason for making family divisions and to show his disfavor of such an attitude of “class superiority”, Jehovah enforced the fulfillment of his own purpose by the simple expedient of confusing their languages. “So Jehovah scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off building the city.” (Gen. 11:4, 8, AS) So ended in ignominious defeat man’s first organized effort to establish a superior “caste” system in defiance of Jehovah.

9. What similar effort was made by the first world power, and how did it fare?

⁹ This was by no means to be man’s final attempt. Nor was this lesson so bitterly learned as to keep another nation from further and even more violent efforts to become the “master race”. Spurred on by their Adamic heritage of willfulness and their insatiable desire to dominate their brothers, this time Egypt, the first world power, rose up as the champion of “race supremacy”. Because of fear that the Israelites, whom they had made slaves in the land, would multiply and turn on them in time of war, they organized and set into operation a program aimed at extermination of the Israelites as a nation. “And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.” (Ex. 1:22) By exterminating the males, they reasoned, the daughters of the Israelites would eventually be forced to marry the Egyptian men and the race would gradually become absorbed, and in the meantime the danger to the Egyptians of being overthrown would be gone. However, they reckoned without the power and purpose of Jehovah or the unshakable faith of the Israelites themselves. Jehovah heard the cry of his people and raised them up a deliverer and by the strength of His own arm he brought them out in sight of all Egypt and broke the power of this first world empire. Thus Egypt’s “master race” program resulted in her ruin, condemned by God in another unmistakable demonstration of his position in this matter of class or race superiority.

10. What modern “master race” program followed the same pattern?

¹⁰ Even so in modern times Jehovah God has demonstrated his hand against those who would be exalted as a “master race”. Out of the pages of modern history comes this same spirit of egomania and intolerance in the embodiment of Hitler and his modern-day effort at genocide. The facts are incontrovertibly established as to his hatred for the chosen people of God in these times, Jehovah’s witnesses. And because the fleshly Jews were themselves at one time God’s chosen people they have always been the targets of attack by Satan and his dupes. No wonder, then, that they also felt the iron hand of oppression and were brought near to the brink of extermination in those lands controlled by the nazis. But after this madman’s abuse of Jehovah’s faithful witnesses and after his violent opposition to the Kingdom message he too was leveled to the ground and his “master race” with him. Let all such “master minds” take due notice!

11. For what reasons can it not be said that Jehovah favored race superiority in exalting Israel?

¹¹ At this point someone might again raise an objection. Did not Jehovah show himself unopposed to this principle when he selected the Israelites as his people and exalted them above all other peoples? Could it not be said that Jehovah was favoring race superiority on the part of the Jewish nation? But again we turn to the divine oracles and find an emphatic No! Jehovah did not mislead the Israelites as to his reason for their selection. “Jehovah thy God hath chosen thee to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth. Jehovah did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all peoples: but because Jehovah loveth you, and because he would keep the oath which he sware unto your fathers, hath Jehovah brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” (Deut. 7:6-8, AS) Unquestionably, the superiority of this nation would depend upon their being and remaining a people to exalt the name of Jehovah, for the psalmist sang, “He saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known.”—Ps. 106:8.

12. Why would God not unalterably retain Israel as a people because of friendship with Abraham?

¹² True, God himself had said that it was because of the oath that he had sworn to their fathers. But that he did not thereby unalterably bind himself to maintain the entire nation as his own is clearly shown by what occurred in the wilderness in the second year after they left Egypt. After ten of the twelve spies that were sent into Canaan to spy out the land returned with an unfavorable and fearful report, Jehovah became angry with the nation for this manifest lack of faith. “And Jehovah said unto Moses, How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have wrought among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a nation greater and mightier than they.” (Num. 14:11, 12, AS) Centuries later John the Baptist also gave testimony on this point when he condemned certain ones of the natural descendants of Abraham: “You offspring of vipers, who has shown you how to flee from the coming wrath? Therefore produce fruits that befit repentance. And do not start saying within yourselves, ‘As a father we have Abraham.’ For I say to you that God has power to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.” (Luke 3:7, 8, NW) Clearly Jehovah was not interested in a people just for their own sake or because of some supposed “superiority” that their position with him might give them. Nor was he here erecting a “master race” that could forever claim a favored standing because of God’s friendship for their forefather Abraham. Jehovah God never alters his righteous principles and has consistently maintained the position he established in Eden.

TYPICAL ISRAEL A UNITED FAMILY

13. How did Jehovah emphasize that the priesthood was not a special caste?

¹³ It is not strange, then, that in the organization of Israel no allowance for class distinction was made possible under the Law, neither was Jehovah erecting a caste system when he established the priesthood as an officiating body and a means of approach for the Israelites. Since Jehovah was emphasizing the sin-laden condition of the Jews, it was necessary that some provision be made whereby Jehovah would be accessible in worship. The priests, being consecrated and sanctified to this service, could provide this means of approach through the various sacrifices and oblations arranged for under the terms of the Law covenant. But even though the priests were given this peculiar privilege, Jehovah still emphasized the fact that he was God of all Israel. “At that time, saith Jehovah, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.”—Jer. 31:1, AS.

14. How did the tribe of Levi come into this favored position?

¹⁴ Furthermore, originally it was not the Levites that had been set apart as God’s chosen ones. In Egypt, when the angel of Jehovah went throughout the land and slew all the first-born of the Egyptians, all the first-born of all the families of Israel were sanctified by Jehovah and became his own by reason of their lives’ being spared. Thus all families were represented equally in his possession. Now, according to the practice in ancient times, the eldest sons would normally in course of time serve as priests anyway, but, in establishing his national priesthood, Jehovah, by his own right of independent action, took the Levites in their place. “And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the first-born that openeth the womb among the children of Israel; and the Levites shall be mine: for all the first-born are mine; on the day that I smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the first-born in Israel, both man and beast; mine they shall be: I am Jehovah.” (Num. 3:11-13, AS; see also Nu 3 verses 44-51) Thus it is that Jehovah in inaugurating the Law covenant said to all the families of Israel, “If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be mine own possession from among all peoples: for all the earth is mine: and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.” (Ex. 19:5, 6, AS) Certainly, then, Jehovah was not inaugurating with the Levites an elevated priesthood nor making a class distinction.

15. (a) What evidences show that families were not given undue prominence in Israel? (b) How was discrimination prevented?

¹⁵ As a further evidence that families were not given unusual prominence in Israel, marriage was permitted between members of differing tribes although it was not allowed in cases where the inheritance of land would thereby pass out of the tribe. (Num. 27:5-11; 36:1-12) Although marriage was forbidden with aliens, there were certain conditions when a marriage could even be made with a woman taken captive in war. (Deut. 21:10-13) It will be remembered that Rahab, an ancestress of Christ Jesus, was welcomed into the tribe of Judah by Salmon, who married her, as was also the case with Ruth, who became the wife of Boaz. (Matt. 1:2-5; Josh. 6:23, 25; Ruth 4:10, 13) In the matter of marriage it is remarkable too that even though a man was a servant he could marry his master’s daughter. (1 Chron. 2:34, 35) From this it is seen that servants occupied a very favored position in Israel. It is true that slavery was permitted, but was it not emphasized that all the nation of Israel was enslaved to Jehovah? (Lev. 25:55, AT) Furthermore it was not permitted that a natural son of Abraham be sold permanently into involuntary slavery to his brothers. (Ex. 21:2-8; Lev. 25:39-55; Deut. 15:12-18) In addition, servants were not to be oppressed in any way but were to be treated with consideration. Injuries resulting to them at the hands of their masters were to be recognized and punishment was to be meted out or proper remedy made even to the extent of letting the servant go free because of the loss of an eye or a tooth. (Ex. 21:20, 21, 26, 27, 32) Neither were wages to be withheld; prompt payment was required at all times. (Lev. 19:13; Deut. 24:14, 15) It becomes apparent then that although classes did appear in Israel the law did not allow for discrimination of any kind against any group or individual because of station in life. Only those who were enemies of the nation were ostracized or considered as outcasts.—Deut. 7:1-3.

16. What is pictured by the one law’s being given for homeborn and stranger alike?

¹⁶ Here again, however, we see the mercy of God manifested. Even though a positive commandment was given to completely destroy all those who were unlawfully in the land the Israelites were given to inherit, Jehovah made provision for those strangers who were favorably disposed toward the Jews. If they would be willing to submit to circumcision and would keep all the laws of Israel, they would be accepted as a part of the nation and would receive many blessings the same as the homeborn Jew. (Num. 15:14-16) Here then in every way in the nation of Israel is a beautiful picture of the unity that exists in the congregations of Jehovah’s people today, the one law for homeborn and stranger alike well picturing the one set of theocratic counsel for the “little flock” of the anointed and for the “other sheep”, dwelling together as “one flock”, a family without division.

Unity in New World Living a Reality

1, 2. How can it be seen that family life plays an important part in theocratic structure?

FAMILY life plays an important part in the theocratic structure of the Christian congregation. That is because Jehovah God has theocratically ordered the family arrangement just as he did in the beginning with Adam and later in the nation of Israel. While on the one hand it was true as regards the Israelites that they were Jews by birth and on the other it is true that Christians today are Jehovah’s witnesses by choice and association, still the family order prevails throughout the entire organization. As one leaves the old-world society and separates himself from the dying family that is under Adam’s condemnation he must of necessity, if he is to receive life, associate with the New World society and become a member of the family of God. This he does by accepting Jesus Christ as his father in the place of Adam and, if he is received by God, he is justified and made God’s own spiritual son or he is reserved for life everlasting on the earth and given this righteous standing at the end of the thousand-year reign of Christ.

² Even those in the congregation that are placed in responsible positions as overseers are selected according to the manner of their control over their own families if they are married. (1 Tim. 3:4, 5) And when Paul shows the proper attitude for those in such positions he likens it to the family association. “Do not severely criticize an older man. To the contrary, entreat him as a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters with all chasteness.” (1 Tim. 5:1, 2, NW) So it is that the theocratic organization is in reality a family and God requires those who share in the activity and benefits of the family to share also in its responsibilities and to work for the best interests of the family.

FALSE FAMILY PRIDE A SNARE

3. What attitude toward family ancestry is taken by some, and why is it unwise?

³ Some might conclude that since God did set in order the human family arrangement, such family relationship is inviolate and that absolute loyalty to fleshly ties is a requirement; that nothing should be allowed to disrupt or break up the family peace or unity and that anything that threatens it, no matter from what source it might come, should be resisted with whatever measures are necessary to repel it. As a result of this belief persons of this mind become extremely “family”- conscious and jealously guard the family name at any price, sometimes even violating righteous principles to do so. They frown upon any association or marriage with anyone not of equal “prominence” and thereby erect for themselves what amounts to class distinction, a self-imposed caste society. However, the reasoning that prompts such a course of action is not based on the sound and unchanging principles of the Most High. Paul wrote to Timothy, “Command certain ones not . . . to pay attention to false stories and to genealogies which end up in nothing, but which furnish questions for research rather than a dispensing of anything by God in connection with faith.” (1 Tim. 1:3, 4, NW) Anyone who is more interested in family ancestry than the life-giving message of faith should consider well this point. All family genealogies, if pursued far enough, end up in Adam; and what real or supposed “superiority” is there to be had in relationship with him? The only thing that can be of real value to receive as an inheritance, namely, everlasting life, was not his to give. So none of his descendants, however “prominent” they may have been in world affairs, are able to make any real claim of superiority in themselves or demonstrate any permanent advantages to be had through relationship to them.

4. What claim was made by the scribes and Pharisees, and yet what, in reality, did it mean for them?

⁴ Perhaps one of the outstanding examples of such family pride is to be found with the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day and, it might be reasoned, if anyone had justification for such pride they did because of the relationship of their nation to God through their forefather Abraham. However, it has already been demonstrated in the preceding article (¶12) that this relationship was not in itself any cause for boasting nor could the family association that the Jews had as descendants of Abraham assure them salvation. (John 8:31-36) If any wish to be children of Adam or of any of his offspring, and wish to boast of such fleshly ties, let them realize that beyond all question of contradiction they are thereby disclaiming a permanent legacy of eternal life in favor of a transient one of extreme poverty and death.

5. What is the responsibility of believing children toward unbelieving parents?

⁵ On the other hand the Christian may not go to the other extreme and claim no respect at all is due fleshly parents. Paul left no room for doubt on this point when he wrote to the Ephesians, “Children, be obedient to your parents in union with the Lord, for this is righteous: ‘Honor your father and mother’; which is the first command with a promise: ‘That it may go well with you and you may endure a long time on the earth.’” (Eph. 6:1-3, NW) It should not be overlooked on this point, however, that Paul does say that obedience is to be rendered to those parents “in union with the Lord”. Does this mean, then, that believing children are not responsible to unbelieving parents? No; in the normal matters of life they would certainly be required to obey their parents as long as they were dependent and to show proper respect for them even though they were not dependent. But, in the event that an issue arose over the true worship of God or the rendering of sacred service to him, certainly the Scriptural rule would apply, “We must obey God as ruler rather than men.” (Acts 5:29, NW) But, you say, that might lead to dissension in the family and perhaps even lead to a division! Perhaps, but Jesus stated quite clearly, “He that has greater affection for father or mother than for me is not worthy of me.” (Matt. 10:37, NW) In fact, he said even more pointedly in this matter, “I came to cause division, with a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a young wife against her mother-in-law.”—Matt. 10:35, NW.

6. Why does God allow divisions to occur within families?

⁶ Is it not strange, some might argue, that since God has authorized the family arrangement he would allow it to be broken up in this way? Again we answer, No. Remember, all families are now outcasts from God’s own great family because of Adam, but it is not reasonable to expect that all in a family would desire to remain outcasts. Yet if some wish to come into God’s family it would not be reasonable either to expect that all others would thereby be acceptable. So it means a separation. But it is to be noted that God does not indiscriminately divide family groups. Rather, it is the unwillingness of some in the home to meet the necessary requirements and to join with those who are taken along into harmony with Jehovah. (Luke 17:34, 35) Since God is no respecter of persons and since he recognizes no class distinctions and has erected no society of castes, he has made provision for those taken along to enter his own select family group and there find peace. “For a certainty I perceive that God is not partial, but in every nation the man that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.” “And everyone that has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive many times more and will inherit everlasting life.” (Acts 10:34, 35; Matt. 19:29, NW) What conclusion do we draw from this point, then? We recognize that although God provided for family relationships from the beginning and although he established the family arrangement and even has his own great family organization, still he has not established nor has he authorized the setting up of families or nations as a caste society; nor does he hold himself subject to existing class distinctions simply because men have themselves erected them through their own discriminations. All of this emphasizes the importance of recognizing and fully appreciating relationship to God, that it supersedes all closest human ties and is the only way to salvation.

CLERGY PROVIDE CLASS DISTINCTIONS

7. What admonition did Jesus give his disciples as to position in the congregation?

⁷ What, then, of the position taken by the clergy of Christendom? Not only is the prominence that they have assumed in the congregation a violation of the righteous principles of God, but it was expressly forbidden by the Founder of the congregation, Christ Jesus himself. When a controversy arose among the disciples as to position in the Kingdom, “Jesus, calling them to him, said: ‘You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them and the great men wield authority over them. This is not the arrangement among you; but whoever wants to become great among you must be your minister, and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. Just as the Son of man came, not to be ministered to, but to minister.’” Then in his stinging rebuke to the scribes and Pharisees, which was his last public discourse, he gave stern admonition to his disciples and to all the crowds listening, “But you, do not you be called ‘Rabbi’, for one is your teacher, whereas all you are brothers. Neither be called ‘leaders’, for your Leader is one, the Christ. But the greatest one among you must be your minister. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matt. 20:25-28; Matt. 23:8, 10-12, NW) It was these leaders in the Jews’ religion at that time that had exalted themselves; so high indeed, that when the Son of God came to them in fulfillment of the Law of Moses they could not see or recognize him. They were a law to themselves.

8. What example have the clergy of Christendom followed, and what is God’s attitude thereto?

⁸ Following their example the clergy of Christendom have made their own regulations as to how the congregation is to be set up and what authority they are to exercise over their “brothers”. Completely ignoring the sound direction of Jesus that the first or foremost among them should be slaves, they have made the same mistake as their Jewish prototypes and have firmly established themselves in an extremely preferred position in society. The wisdom of the Proverbs speaks against such. “As a dog that returneth to his vomit, so is a fool that repeateth his folly. Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him. The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason.” (Prov. 26:11, 12, 16, AS) The class distinction that has been made by Christendom’s leaders and that is condoned and upheld by the masses of deceived adherents is as distasteful to Jehovah God as was that of the scribes and Pharisees, and it is certain to bring the same adverse judgment.

9. What course was followed in the early congregation, and what evidence is there for it?

⁹ In direct contrast with this was the early congregation that Christ Jesus began with the first company of Jehovah’s Christian witnesses in Jerusalem. Certainly Christ’s words and commandments would be brought to mind by the refreshing power of God’s active force, just poured out. “I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.” (John 13:34, 35, NW) That this principle did exist and was emphasized in the early congregation is shown by the admonition of one of the twelve pillars who was himself present with Jesus when the commandment was given. “Shepherd the flock of God in your care, not under compulsion, but willingly, neither for love of dishonest gain, but eagerly, neither as lording it over those who are God’s inheritance, but becoming examples to the flock.” (1 Pet. 5:2, 3, NW) What a difference, indeed, this must have been to the honest-hearted Jews separating themselves from the arrogance and pride of the then caste-ridden Jewish nation! In their new-formed relationship there was no class distinction, no partiality or favoritism among them. The principles of justice and impartiality were firmly implanted in this early beginning, the true body of Christ, for now a new planting was being made, not on sinful dying flesh, but this time on the permanent Seed of Abraham, Christ Jesus.

JESUS’ FRIENDSHIPS NOT FAVORITISM

10. How did Jesus show his impartiality and lack of personal favoritism?

¹⁰ But had not Jesus shown special consideration to certain ones of his disciples? And had he not displayed favoritism in limiting his preaching and healing work to the Jews and spending much of his time in certain homes? Some believe that John, the apostle of Jesus, was Jesus’ favorite disciple. Whatever love Jesus may have had for him he did not give him a favored position in his kingdom. This is revealed in the account of the controversy among the disciples, which was previously referred to. At that time Jesus showed that such positions of favor were not his to give and he refused to show any partiality. (Matt. 20:20-23, NW) Furthermore, although he was specifically sent only to the house of Israel (Matt. 15:24), he did not use this as an excuse to discriminate against honest and sincere persons of the nations, for during the third year of his ministry he made a brief tour into Phoenicia, and performed cures.—Mark 7:24-30; Matt. 8:5-13.

11. What position did Jesus take as to making one home a headquarters in a city?

¹¹ Jesus spent almost the entire first three years of his ministry in and about Galilee and made his headquarters in Capernaum at the home of Peter. (Matt. 8:14; Mark 1:29; Luke 4:38) So much was he here, in fact, that Capernaum, not Nazareth, where he was raised, came to be called his “own city”. (Matt. 9:1; 4:13) That this was a convenience not only to himself but to the multitudes who were interested in his message is evidenced by Mark’s words. “However, after some days he again entered into Capernaum and he was reported to be at home. Consequently many gathered.” (Mark 2:1, 2, NW) Jesus admonished this same course on the seventy disciples when he sent them out to do advance advertising in his public-speaking campaign. He said, “Wherever you enter into a house say first: ‘May this house have peace.’ And if a friend of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. . . . So stay in that house, eating and drinking the things they provide, for the worker is worthy of his wages. Do not be transferring from house to house.” (Luke 10:5-7, NW) This would prevent misunderstandings from arising and was not an evidence of favoritism.

12. How is it possible for close associations to exist today without forming cliques?

¹² In the congregations of Jehovah’s witnesses today many close relationships exist that are apart from association together as brothers in Christ or as fellow witnesses. Are such to be condemned as cliques or as a violation of the principles that have been outlined in this discussion? Those who have the unity of the congregation at heart will be slow to make accusation in this regard as in any other matter relative to judging. They will recognize that long-time friendships are certain to exist among those who have been mature Christians together for many years, no doubt having had many endearing theocratic experiences together. Further, many who are neighbors or who are employed together are naturally drawn into an association of everyday affairs in addition to their association at the Kingdom Hall or in the service. The same situation may exist, though perhaps to a lesser degree, even among those who attend the same congregational book study, especially since they might reasonably travel to and from the Kingdom Hall together and since they, no doubt, form regular car groups in the service. Such associations bind the brothers together and such intimate relation enables them to understand one another better and therefore be of more loving assistance to one another. (Eccl. 4:9, 10) Is it not reasonable, then, that although a sincere love exists in their hearts for the rest of the congregation they still feel especially drawn to these intimate associates?

MODERN CONGREGATION CASTE-FREE

13. What care is exercised particularly by the servants to avoid excluding the stranger?

¹³ How might it be, then, that divisions could occur and distinctions be made among God’s consecrated and dedicated people today? What are some of those practices or conditions that might be considered as improper or showing partiality, and how should they be dealt with? Certainly it would be improper for the servants in the congregation to assume positions as the false shepherds. While they might of necessity be drawn into a closer relationship with certain ones in the organization due to their work, still they will never lose sight of their responsibility toward the weaker ones and the opportunity to be of assistance to them by their association especially in the field. And those who are truly mature, both of the servants and others, even though their very maturity makes for a full schedule, will show their interest in the expansion of the organization by taking as active an interest in those new ones attending meetings as is possible. Many times this can be done by merely sitting with different ones in the meeting and assisting them in this way, or by a few minutes’ greeting after each meeting before the usual assigned duties are cared for. This friendly interest by those taking the lead in organizational activity is very much appreciated by these newcomers and is a loving expression of the principle in the law of Moses regarding the stranger’s right.—Lev. 19:33, 34.

14. What problems of class distinction and division might arise and how could they be dealt with?

¹⁴ Neither will “acts of favoritism” be shown toward some who may have a certain social prominence in the community. It must not be overlooked that the problems of such entering the truth are no greater to them than those being experienced by many others whose presence in the organization means just as much to Jehovah and whose need for the loving attention of the brothers is just as acute. Therefore “class distinctions” cannot be allowed to exist. (Jas. 2:1-9) Neither can “divisions” be permitted to enter if the unity of the congregation is to be maintained. (1 Cor. 1:10-13) Dissension over company matters may cause groups to form holding a closer relationship to certain ideas than to the main body of the congregation. This is sectarianism and has no place in the theocratic structure. Occasionally, too, some who are of a certain age in the company may, by constant association together, become somewhat intolerant of the viewpoint of those differing considerably in age and perhaps even begin to exclude such from their friendship. This again can be avoided by sharing field experiences or by trying to find occasion to work together in the service. James sums up the matter by saying, “For where jealousy and contentiousness are, there disorder and every vile thing are. But the wisdom from above is first of all chaste, then peaceable, reasonable, ready to obey, full of mercy and good fruits, not making partial distinctions, not hypocritical.”—Jas. 3:16, 17, NW.

15. What attitude and relationship should exist between employer and employee?

¹⁵ Now the question might arise as to the proper relationship between an employee and his employer, especially if that one is a brother in the truth. Should the employee expect or demand that his brother grant him certain rights or immunities not given to other workers while he is on the job? Or should the employer expect that the employer-employee relationship should be maintained at congregational meetings? The Scriptural answer is, Neither is proper. “Let as many as are slaves under a yoke keep on considering their owners worthy of full honor, that the name of God and the teaching may never be spoken of injuriously. Moreover, let those having believing owners not look down on them, because they are brothers. On the contrary, let them the more readily be slaves, because those receiving the benefit of their good service are believers and beloved.” (1 Tim. 6:1, 2, NW) Paul’s counsel here given is not contradicted by his words spoken on another occasion when he said, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor freeman, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in union with Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3:28, NW) Rather, he was here showing the proper relationship one with another.

16. What attitude do true Christians take toward class distinctions enforced by law of the nations?

¹⁶ Whereas in the sight of God, and according to his dealing with his anointed sons, all have an equality of relationship in the body of Christ, still in the present wicked system of things it is recognized that certain class distinctions and divisions are made and often enforced by laws of the land. Acceptance of such legal standards does not mean a compromise with God’s law on the part of the Christian. Rather he is heeding Paul’s further admonition: “You slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters in a fleshly sense, with fear and trembling in the sincerity of your hearts, as to the Christ, not by way of eye-service as men-pleasers, but as Christ’s slaves, doing the will of God whole-souled. Be slaves with good inclinations, as to Jehovah, and not to men, for you know that each one, whatever good he may do, will receive this back from Jehovah, whether he be slave or freeman. You masters, too, keep doing the same things to them, letting up on the threatening, for you know that the Master of both them and you is in the heavens, and there is no partiality with him.”—Eph. 6:5-9, NW.

17. What issue for contention will Jehovah’s witnesses reject and what will they continue to uphold?

¹⁷ So, regardless of what restrictions of activity or discrimination may be exacted by worldly governments, Jehovah’s witnesses will not make this the issue for contention, knowing that the righting of social wrongs is not their commission. But while they wait upon Jehovah for this deliverance they will continue to hold high God’s banner of freedom in a new world soon to be ushered in and will continue to insist that within the nucleus of this society already being formed an example be set for all sincere peoples of the world. “Now I exhort you, brothers, to keep your eye on those who create divisions and causes for stumbling contrary to the teaching which you have learned, and avoid them. For men of that kind are slaves, not of our Lord Christ, but of their own bellies, and by smooth talk and complimentary speech they seduce the hearts of guileless ones. For his part, the God who gives peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.” (Rom. 16:17, 18, 20, NW) Only then will true justice and impartiality and the unity which is now a reality within the family of God exist throughout the earth.

Questions From Readers

● Should not the phrase “for this reason” that opens John 7:22 be at the end of John 7:21 instead? As the New World Translation has it, it does not seem to make sense. What is the “reason” referred to?—A. A., Arkansas.

No, the phrase should not be at the end of Joh 7 verse 21. The New World Translation has placed it properly at the start of Joh 7 verse 22, in agreement with the Westcott and Hort Greek text. Most of the Bible translations put it at the start of Joh 7 verse 22. Some omit it altogether. Some, however, put it at the end of Joh 7 verse 21, but without good grounds for doing so. (AS; ED) As to what it means, standing where it does, we must consider the setting. At the time of a Jewish feast, on a sabbath day, Jesus had healed a man. (John 5:1-16) This angered the religious Jews that were sticklers for sabbath observance, over and beyond what was divinely required, and they were still quarreling with Jesus about this miracle later on during the feast. They said Jesus had a demon, or was demonized. Then John 7:21 states: “In answer Jesus said to them: ‘One deed I performed and you are all wondering.’” (NW) Jesus continued: “For this reason Moses has given you the circumcision—not that it is from Moses, but that it is from the forefathers—and you circumcise a man on the sabbath. If a man receives circumcision on a sabbath in order that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you violently angry at me because I made a man completely sound in health on a sabbath? Stop judging from the outward appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”—John 7:22-24, NW.

For what reason did Jesus perform cures on the sabbath, when such activity on the sabbath seemed to break the rest day prescribed by the Mosaic law? Concerning this very cure here involved Jesus answered that question: “My Father has kept working until now, and I keep working.” (John 5:17, NW) Jesus was not doing secular work on the sabbath. He was doing the work of God. The Jewish priests performed temple service on the sabbath, without breaking it. (Matt. 12:5) So Jesus could perform his divine service, and fulfill the prophecies concerning the Messiah. The work of healing and preaching was an assignment from Jehovah, and Jesus was to keep working at it while it was day, since the night of death was to close over him soon. (John 9:4) So the reason Jesus kept at this work, even on the sabbath, was that Jehovah had commanded him to do it.

For this very same reason the Jews circumcised male babes on the sabbath. Jehovah commanded that it be done, and doing it did not break the sabbath, though some lacking understanding might have so argued. According to the Mosaic law, male babes were to be circumcised on the eighth day, even when that eighth day of their existence fell on a sabbath. To fail to do this, even on a sabbath, would break the law of Moses. When Jehovah specifically commanded a work to be done it must be done, whether it fell on a sabbath day or not. So for the reason that Jesus performed cures on the sabbath, for that same reason the Jews circumcised babes on the sabbath; namely, because to refrain in either case would be a violation of Jehovah’s commands. Jesus healed all the body members of a person on the sabbath to make him completely sound in health, while the Jews “healed” or made right with God one body member of a babe by circumcising it on the sabbath. It was for the same reason that these two different works could be properly done on the sabbath, namely, obedience to Jehovah’s will.

● Deuteronomy 10:1-4 shows Jehovah wrote the second set of the Ten Commandments on the tables of stone, but Exodus 34:27, 28 says Moses wrote this second set. Is there an explanation of this seeming contradiction?—I. Z., Michigan.

Jehovah through an angel representative on Mount Sinai wrote the first set on tables of stone for Moses, which set Moses broke in anger when he descended from the mount and found the Israelites worshiping the golden calf. (Ex. 32:15, 16, 19) Jehovah then wrote a second set on new stone tablets, as is clearly shown by Deuteronomy 10:1-4. A careful consideration of Exodus 34:1-28 shows it to be in agreement, and not in contradiction. Exodus 34:1 plainly states that Jehovah would write on the second set of tables the same Ten Commandments that he representatively wrote on the first tables. Then in Ex 34 verses 10 to 26 we read about the making of a covenant between Jehovah and the nation of Israel, and Ex 34 verse 27 then shows Jehovah commanding Moses: “Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.” The words of this covenant, from verses Ex 34 10 to 26, make no reference to the Ten Commandments. Thereafter Ex 34 verse 28 states: “And he was there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.”—AS.

In view of the fact that at Ex 34 verse 1 it states that Jehovah will write the Ten Commandments, and Ex 34 verse 27 only indicates that Moses was commanded to write the words of the covenant discussed in Ex 34 verses 10-26, it must be concluded that the pronoun “he” in the closing sentence of Ex 34 verse 28 refers back to Jehovah and not to Moses. Bible commentators in general are agreed on this point, and in Rotherham’s translation the last “He” in Ex 34 verse 28 is capitalized to show that it refers to Jehovah God and not to Moses. Thus no contradiction exists between Exodus 34:27, 28 and Deuteronomy 10:1-4.

Swiss Priest Fails to Intimidate Witness

TO BEGIN with, the witness for Jehovah inadvertently called at the home of a priest. Promptly this clergyman began to cross-examine him as though he were a prosecuting attorney.

Said the priest: “Who sends you from door to door?”

The pioneer preacher replied: “Surely you know it is Christ that sends his disciples to preach the Kingdom!”

“Have you a permit of any kind?” next queried the priest.

“Oh yes,” replied the witness, “the same as Jesus gave his disciples to preach his kingdom to the uttermost parts of the earth!”

With this the priest moved to another line of attack. “Well,” said he, “do you recognize the Hierarchy?”

“Which hierarchy?” questioned the witness in reply.

“The Catholic Hierarchy, of course,” said the priest.

To this the witness of Jehovah stated, “The Bible teaches that the church is built up by Christ as its head and foundation cornerstone and with him his twelve apostles. There is no record of any other hierarchy.”

Smugly and confidently the clergyman proceeded, saying, “Of course, you don’t know the Scriptures. Did not Jesus Christ say to Peter: ‘On this rock I will build my church’? Accordingly, the pope is the successor of the apostle Peter and the Catholic Hierarchy alone is authorized to preach.”

The witness was not taken aback by this line of argument, though, for he quickly countered: “These words were spoken in the Aramaic or Syrian tongue. In this language they mean that the stone of which Jesus spoke applied to Jesus himself and not to Peter. Moreover, Peter confirms this himself in his first letter, 1Pe chapter 2, verse 4, showing that Jesus is the stone. But was it not Emperor Constantine, in the fourth century after Christ, who claimed to be Peter’s successor?”

The priest, embarrassed at this point, once again switched to another line of attack: “Have you a permit to go from door to door? I shall telephone the town president.”

“Well, then,” said the witness, “you will be acting just like the religious leaders who denounced Jesus to Pilate.”

A week later this pioneer minister returned to that same village and most people advised him that the priest had warned them against him. But others, eager to learn, accepted literature, and already they are making themselves free by a knowledge of the truth. Five regular Kingdom preachers have come forth from this village to join in the witness work.

Every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of Jehovah.—Isaiah 54:17, Am. Stan. Ver.

Spiritual Blessings at International Assemblies

ASSEMBLIES of Jehovah’s people have always been occasions for spiritual feasting. The nation of Israel was commanded to assemble at Jerusalem several times a year for this very purpose. There they would hear Jehovah’s law read to them; also Jehovah’s righteous acts were rehearsed, how he delivered his people, protected and blessed them. The people were enriched by discourses, demonstrations and the singing of psalms.

Today, we still feast spiritually at assemblies. As in the past the righteous acts of Jehovah are rehearsed. People of good will learn that he is a tender God, long-suffering and affectionate. New light and thoughts are presented, and a more appreciative and broader understanding of Jehovah’s organization in action is received. At Yankee Stadium in 1950 we received a better understanding of the princes that are to rule in justice, our Kingdom songs received a new-world touch, our understanding of the Word of God was enriched with new aids to Bible study. Here, too, the foolishness of the evolution doctrine was unmasked as an “absurd, false, fantastic, unscientific, senseless, silly theory of evolution!” Political communism was exposed as unchristian and a persecutor of Jehovah’s witnesses. And, too, legal battles and victories on many fronts and in many lands were rehearsed. Admonition, encouragement and strength were received by our association and friendship.

With the 1953 assembly so near, what can we expect during our week of spiritual feasting? One thing we cannot expect, and that is disappointment! Rather, we can expect a feast of fat things, a thrilling review of Jehovah’s acts and promises, encouraging discourses from tried and faithful servants, experiences from many lands, on-the-scenes reports of court cases, victories, and joyous singing. The association, admonition, edification and inspiration of the occasion will strengthen us for future service. THIS WE CAN EXPECT!

Announcements

ASSEMBLING WITH THE NEW WORLD SOCIETY

All persons who have faith in the kingdom of God and the blessings it will bring are commanded not to forsake the gathering of themselves together, but to continue encouraging one another to steadfastness in the public declaration of their hope. (Heb. 10:23-25) July will witness a great demonstration of devotion of Jehovah’s servants in the world assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses at Yankee Stadium, New York, July 19 to 26. Unquestionably, it will be one of the largest Christian assemblies of modern times. Every person interested in the progress of the New World society will have his attention fixed upon this assembly. Nevertheless, all publishers of good news will contribute toward the advance of true worship during July by everywhere presenting an offer of three bound books, on a contribution of $1.50, with three booklets free. Any books of your choice may be presented.

1953 CONVENTION REPORT OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES

Following the New World Society Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses at Yankee Stadium, New York city, July 19 to 26, a comprehensive report will be published giving many of the convention high lights and details. This report, with two-color cover, will be 96 pages in length and contain a generous sprinkling of pictures of the assembly. It will be excellent for all people of good will; be sure to order copies for them now, as well as for yourself. Wherever possible, all of Jehovah’s witnesses are encouraged to place their orders through the local congregations. However, individuals may place their order direct if they wish. Specify clearly the number of copies of the 1953 Convention Report of Jehovah’s Witnesses that you want, and enclose a remittance of 25 cents per copy. Type or print your name and address plainly. If your address should change between now and October 1, please be sure to advise us.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES

Week of August 2: Shadows of Family Unity Hold Forth Promise.

Week of August 9: Unity in New World Living a Reality.