The Watchtower — December 15, 1954

What Is This Christmas Spirit?

WHAT is it that men call “the beautiful spirit of Christmas”? Is it a crowded department store, charged with emotion, packed with excitement, loaded with gadgets and glimmering with inflated “cut-rate” prices? Is it the electrified commotion of mobs surging through the streets, the frenzy to board overcrowded buses, the dash to squeeze in crammed subways or the honks of automobiles snarled in endless traffic jams? Is it haggard-looking women with their arms full of gaily wrapped bundles and their hands full of children? Or is it the resigned husband who condescends but wishes it were not so?

What is this spirit of Christmas? Is it the carillon at Sts. Peter and Paul, filling the gray morning air with the timeless chimes of tradition? Is it the choral concerts and organ music and the tinkling of noisy bells? Or is it the blaring of a thousand jukeboxes ringing out the cynical sentiments of “Santa, Baby”?

What is this Christmas spirit? Is it the Salvation Army musicians marching from corner to corner reminding passersby that it is more blessed to give? Is it a legless man in front of Hotel Ritz selling pencils on a cold sidewalk waving a “merry Christmas” to prospective customers as they step out of their long shiny limousines? Is it the wreath at the entrance of Pearl Street flophouse, with a sign on it that says, “Please do not steal this”?

Is this the Christmas spirit? An exhausted elevator operator at Mixie’s dress shop hoping for a generous bonus that she will never get? A huge diamond ring or a pearl necklace being fondled by Mabel with cold, avaricious lust? A loud necktie that Dad will never wear?

What is this Christmas spirit? Is it a week’s vacation, a respite from work, an escape from school, a breath of country air, a moment with family, a word with friends, a retreat to quiet solitude? Is it a table covered with candy and nuts, gingerbread and mince pie, a roast pig or fried chicken? Is it a cocktail party with loud music, the making up of a big batch of eggnog for uninvited guests, or becoming “good and drunk” or licentious, or that of being “a jolly good fellow”?

What is this spirit of Christmas? Is it junior staring transfixed at an electric train as it spins in crazy circles, or sister cuddling her tiny doll that says “Mommie”? Is it the feverish search for the right gift that cannot be found, the evergrowing anticipation in the eyes of the young that want toys but cannot read price tags? Is it the endless chain of Christmas cards that flutter across the desk on their way to the wastebasket? Is it the Christmas tree covered with artificial snow and laden with colored bulbs that tell of pagan star gods? Is it the candles that chase away the evil spirits, the mistletoe that commemorates superstitious legends, or the yule log that repeats a pagan lie?

Just what is this spirit of Christmas? Is it the spirit of God and Christ? Is it the spirit that proclaims “peace on earth, good will toward men”? Is it the spirit that magnifies the great God of the universe? Or does this spirit defame and abominate the pure worship of God? “Beloved ones,” said the apostle John, “do not believe every inspired expression [“spirit,” footnote], but test the inspired expressions [spirits] to see whether they originate with God.” “Make sure of all things,” urged Paul, “hold fast to what is right. Keep yourselves free from every form of wickedness.” What is this Christmas spirit, its origin, and what does it have to do with God and Christ? In the following article let history and the Word of God answer for us.—1 John 4:1; 1 Thess. 5:21, 22, NW.

Origin of Christmas and Its Spirit

Did your parents celebrate your birthday before you were born? Would they think of celebrating it on another day, other than the day you were born? As Christians would they think of honoring it by transferring the day to a pagan festival, by drinking ale out of skulls of enemies, or by offering live human babies to demon gods? If not, why, then, do professing Christians so commemorate the birth of Christ? This article answers.

THE Christmas spirit is not Christian, because it did not originate with Christ. It predated the Christian era by many centuries. Shortly after the Flood the spirit and the whole celebration of Christmas had its beginning. It began with Nimrod, grandson of Ham the son of Noah, a wicked, ruthless dictator, responsible for the great organized worldly apostasy from God that continues to this day. In contempt for God and all decency Nimrod married his own mother, Semiramis. After his untimely death, his mother-wife, Semiramis, taught the lie that her husband-son was a spirit god. She claimed a full-grown evergreen tree sprang overnight from a dead tree stump, which symbolized the springing forth to new life of the dead Nimrod. She taught that on the anniversary of his birth, which was December 25, Nimrod would visit the evergreen tree and leave gifts upon it. The historian, Professor Hislop, says: “Now the Yule Log is the dead stock of Nimrod, deified as the sun-god, but cut down by his enemies; the Christmas-tree is Nimrod redivivus—the slain god come to life again.”—The Two Babylons, pages 97, 98.

This is the beginning of Christmas with its spirit. This is also the origin of the yule log, the Christmas tree, the celebrating of birthdays, the spirit of exchanging gifts, the spirit of feasting and merrymaking, visits and salutations, jocularity, revelry and drunkenness. All of this is an outgrowth of the first lie, nurtured by the spirit of Satan the Devil, who told it. In Eden to Eve he said: “You positively will not die. For God knows that in the very day of your eating from it your eyes are bound to be opened and you are bound to be like God, knowing good and bad.” Like Eve, Semiramis believed Satan’s lie and proclaimed Nimrod as a spirit god. With this proclamation a wild celebration began on his birthday that has stuck down through the centuries to our day. In.the Western world it is called Christmas.—Gen. 3:4, 5, NW.

Nimrod became worshiped as the “divine son of heaven,” “the Messiah, son of Baal the sun-god.” Devil-worshiping pagans believed that life and immortality proceeded from Nimrod, and so they worshiped the never-dying sun in the heavens as the personification and representation of Nimrod’s “divinity.” Mother and child, Semiramis and Nimrod, became chief objects of worship. The pagan world idolized this combination. In Egypt they were worshiped as Isis and Osiris, in Asia as Cybele and Doius, in pagan Rome as Fortuna and Jupiter-puer. Even in China, Japan, Tibet and in other non-Christian lands is to be found the counterpart of the Madonna, held sacred in Christendom. Pagans adored these symbols long before the birth of Christ, yet Christendom hails these as Christian and adoringly speaks of them as “the beautiful spirit of Christmas.”

Jehovah God, on the other hand, commanded his people Israel: “Learn not the way of the heathen, . . . For the customs of the people are vain.” “You must not bow down to their gods or be induced to serve them, and you must not make anything like their works, but you will without fail throw them down and you will without fail break down their sacred pillars.” “You must not serve their gods, because that will be a snare to you.” Jehovah’s declaration against pagan gods has not changed, nor has his attitude toward pagan worship, because, says he: “For I, Jehovah, change not.”—Jer. 10:1-3; Ex. 23:24; Deut. 7:16, NW; Mal. 3:6, AS.

The Bible studiously avoids the recording of the date of anyone’s birthday, nor is there any record of birthday celebrations by Jehovah’s servants, either before or after Christ. The conspicuous silence of the Bible regarding birthdays is powerful testimony that the same were not kept, that they were frowned upon as pagan. Origen of Alexandria (A.D. 185-254) wisely discerned: “In the Scriptures sinners alone, not saints, celebrate their birthday.” The only birthday celebrations mentioned in the Bible are that of Pharaoh, when a man was hung, and that of the adulterous King Herod, whose step-daughter Salome danced to make the celebration “merry,” yes, merry by having the head of John the Baptist chopped off.

FROM PAGAN SATURNALIA TO “CHRISTIAN” CHRISTMAS

How, then, did these pagan customs become a part of the greatest “Christian” holiday, Christmas? That first-century Christians did not celebrate Christmas is borne out by early “Christian” writers. The Catholic Encyclopedia makes the following admission: “Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church. Irenaeus and Tertullian omit it from their list of feasts.” When apostate Christians began to fall away to pagan practices, Tertullian complained: “By us, who are strangers to Sabbaths, and new moons and festivals, once acceptable to God, the Saturnalia [and other pagan feasts] are now frequented, gifts are carried to and fro, . . . and sports and banquets are celebrated with uproar.”—Gal. 4:10, 11; Col. 2:8.

In an effort to gain pagan converts the Roman Catholic clergy in the fourth century after Christ took in this pagan Saturnalia on December 25 and sponsored it as the “mass of Christ” or “Christ-mass.” Christmas, therefore, is nothing more than a carbon copy of the pagan Saturnalia. This is generally admitted by historical and religious scholars. Says a world history, On the Road to Civilization, page 164: “The feast of Saturn, the Saturnalia, was a winter festival which lasted a week beginning on the twenty-fifth day of December, and was celebrated with dancing, the exchanging of gifts, and the burning of candles. The Saturnalia was later taken over by the Christians as their Christmas, and given a new significance.”

Elaborating on the customs of the Saturnalia, the New Americanized Encyclopedia Britannica, 1900, Vol. IX, page 5236, says: “Saturnalia . . . celebrated on the 19th . . . lasted seven days. The time was one of general joy and mirth. The woolen fetters were taken from the feet of the Image of Saturn, and each man offered a pig. During the festival schools were closed. . . . Gambling with dice, at other times illegal, was practiced. All classes exchanged gifts, the commonest being tapers and clay dolls. These dolls were especially given to children. Varro thought that these dolls represented original sacrifices of human beings (children to the ‘Infernal God’).”—Jer. 32:34, 35.

Last December, “Rev.” A. E. Palmer of Holy Trinity Church was reported by the Examiner to have said: “‘Why choose December 25 as the date of the sacred festival? Wouldn’t any other public holiday do just as well for this jollification?’ There was no evidence, he said, that Jesus was born on December 25 but the Church took over a great many of the ancient pagan festivals and gave them Christian meaning. On December 25 was celebrated the return of the sun, with the days becoming longer, and the Church chose this as being symbolic of the light that shone through the darkness. Christmas without Christ, he said, was nothing but a pagan festival.”

James M. Gillis, C. S. P., editor of the Catholic World (December 2, 1945), makes this candid confession: “It is a well-known fact that the popes and councils in the early Church deliberately placed a Christian festival on or near the day of a previously existing pagan carnival, with the purpose of ousting the heathenish and generally licentious celebration.” Like Haman of old, the Catholic Church became ensnared with her own scheme.—Esther 7:10.

Behind its newly, loosely fitted “Christian” mask Christmas was and is nothing more than the ancient pagan Saturnalia. And it is the spirit of this pagan holiday that is hailed as “the beautiful spirit of Christmas.” What is so beautiful about a pagan holiday that dishonors God? What is so beautiful about a festival that is kept in defiance of God’s commands? What is so beautiful about a celebration that has perpetuated a lie? That makes hypocrites out of its participants? That has blinded men to truth and righteousness? What is beautiful about a “disgusting” thing?

IDENTIFYING THE “SPIRITS”

The spirit of God that produces fruits of “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control” is not identified in the Saturnalia borrowed from the pagans. As the well-known Biblical and historical authority, James Murdock, reports in a footnote in his translation of Mosheim’s Institutes of Ecclesiastical History: “From the first institution of this [Christmas] festival the Western nations seem to have transferred to it many of the follies and censurable practices which prevailed in the pagan festivals of the same season, such as adorning the churches fantastically, mingling puppet shows and dramas with worship, universal feasting and merry-making, visits and salutations, presents and jocularity, revelry and drunkenness.”—Gal. 5:22-25, NW.

Instead of converting pagans to “Christianity” the apostate Christians fell victim to their own passions and desires and were swept out to sea by pagan practices. This God foretold: “You must not serve their gods, because that will be a snare to you.”—Deut. 7:16, NW.

The campaign that is now being waged to “put Jesus Christ back in Christmas” is an open admission that Christ is not in its celebration. And, as “Rev.” Palmer stated, “Christmas without Christ is nothing but a pagan festival.” So it is. Christ was never in Christmas, nor was Christmas ever in Christ. More apropos and in line with Christian principle would be the slogan: “Away from Christmas and back to Christ.” Simply to label the pagan Saturnalia as Christian does not make it so. A wolf does not become a lamb simply because we call it such. No, nor does Christmas become Christian because professing Christians take part in its celebration. Its celebration by certain religious organizations does not make it Christian, any more than bingo games, lotteries or card parties in religious parish houses or parish schools are for that reason Christian.

Is the spirit of God to be found in the practice of exchange handed down by demon-worshiping pagans? Is the spirit of God found in the annual $50-million Christmas-tree business that commemorates the lie of human immortality? Is it found in the glittering balls of gold that pay homage to Balder, god of the ever-mystical sun? Is the spirit of God found in the millions of toy soldiers and tanks, guns and planes that glorify war and not “peace on earth, good will toward men”? Is it found in the gluttony, the drunkenness, lasciviousness and murder committed on this day called “Christmas”?

Hardly. “Do not be misled,” says the inspired Paul. “God is not one to be mocked. For whatever a man is sowing, this he will also reap; because he who is sowing with a view to his flesh will reap corruption from his flesh, but he who is sowing with a view to the spirit will reap everlasting life from the spirit.” The Christmas spirit is well described for us by apostles Paul and Peter at Galatians 5:19-21 and; 1 Peter 4:1-4. By these fruits we know her.—Gal. 6:7, 8, NW.

IDENTIFYING FRUITS OF “CHRISTMAS TREE”

The Christmas spirit is supposed to be one of good will toward men. After fifteen hundred years of Christmas celebrating, how much good will is there in the world today? How much good will is practiced during the holiday season itself? How Christlike are the people during this “most sacred festival”? Read and decide for yourself what spirit predominates.

According to a report by Gerhard J. Falf, University of Pennsylvania sociologist, “more murders are committed on Christmas day than on any other one day of the year.” Is this the Christian spirit? A chief detective of a department store declares: shoplifters and pickpockets “increase in numbers” when Christmas arrives. Is this spirit Christian? Last year, in Detroit, Michigan, Carl Ross tried to defend his truckload of trees from a crowd. An unidentified man “grabbed a stake from the truck and beat him unconscious with it. As he lay there while the crowd looted his trees, someone stole $400, his day’s receipts, from his pocket. His father finally got the truck in motion and fled for his life with about a third of his load.” Another man complained that a dealer had beaten him when he offered him fifty cents for his last tree. “An unusual number of persons reported that their front lawn evergreens had been cut down during the night,” the Detroit News announced. Is this the spirit of Christianity?

In the spirit of Christmas “a Santa Claus bandit who said ‘my kid is going to have a real Christmas,’ robbed a Brooklyn toy store of $900.” As “jolly good fellows” during this carnival of self-indulgence 1,200 drunks were gathered off the streets of Los Angeles alone. “I’ve never seen anything like it!” exclaimed a bewildered policeman. “They’re stacked up here like cordwood.” A tabloid headline noted breezily, “Los Angeles Staggering into Christmas.”

As Jesus accurately said: “This people honors me with their lips, yet their hearts are far removed from me. It is in vain that they keep paying respect to me, because they teach commands of men as doctrines.” This was true in Jesus’ day, and it is true regarding Christendom today. It is true regarding all her feasts and practices, Christmas not excluded.—Matt. 15:8, 9, NW.

ABOMINATION IN GOD’S SIGHT

The Christmas festival is held high among men of the world. But, as Jesus stated: “You are those who declare yourselves righteous before men, but God knows your hearts; because what is lofty among men is a disgusting thing in God’s sight.” While church bells ring out and men make a pretense at prayer on this day, yet God views their festivities as a disgusting pagan celebration. To Christians that fell away to similar practices Paul said: “You are scrupulously observing days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that somehow I have toiled to no purpose respecting you.” From these things men were made free by Christ, but Christendom has returned to them. She has become as disgusting to God as a dog that “has turned back to its own vomit, and the sow that was bathed to rolling in the mire.”—Luke 16:15; Gal. 4:10, 11; 2 Pet. 2:22, NW.

What, then, is the spirit of Christmas? It is “earthly, animal, demonic.” It is the spirit of paganism parading in Christian garb. It is the spirit of the Devil that has intoxicated the whole world. The keeping of Christmas cannot pass as innocent fun for children, because the name and worship of God are involved. The festivities and decorations are demonic, because they glorify paganism, which is demonism. The associating of God’s name and Word with pagan customs is desecrating that name, taking it in a worthless way. One of the Ten Commandments is: “You must not take up the name of Jehovah your God in a worthless way, for Jehovah will not leave the one unpunished who takes up his name in a worthless way.”—Jas. 3:15; Ex. 20:7, NW.

Cannot Christians celebrate Christmas out of a pure heart to the honor of Jehovah God? God himself answers through his Word: “Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? Further, what harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what portion does a faithful person have with an unbeliever? And what agreement does God’s temple have with idols? . . . ‘Therefore get out from among them, and separate yourselves,’ says Jehovah, ‘and quit touching the unclean thing,’ ‘and I will take you in.’ ‘And I shall be a father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to me,’ says Jehovah the Almighty.” So it is a choice of accepting Christmas with its spirit and losing God, or accepting God and receiving his spirit and favor and losing Christmas. The right choice should not be hard to make.—2 Cor. 6:14-18, NW.

[Picture on page 741]

October

December Nimrod’s Birthday—Jesus’ Birthday

Dedication and Annual Meeting

EVER since Abel’s day Jehovah has had witnesses on earth who worshiped him with spirit and truth. (Heb. 12:1) However, their worship has not always been before the public eye with the same degree of prominence. Thus, after Nehemiah’s day, Jehovah’s pure worship was almost lost sight of in a maze of Jewish tradition and formalism. (Matt. 15:1-9) Likewise, after the apostles fell asleep in death the professed followers of Christ departed from the pure worship even as Paul warned. (Acts 20:29-31) And just as John the Baptist, Christ Jesus and his apostles and disciples were used to restore pure worship in their day, so Jehovah has directed the restoration of pure worship in modern times.—Mal. 4:5, 6.

This modern restoration of pure worship actually began in the 1870’s with the coming together, in Allegheny, a suburb of Pittsburgh, of a group of sincere Christians and open-minded students of the Bible. As a result of their studies they began to understand Jehovah’s Word more clearly in keeping with his promise that the path of the righteous would shine ever brighter until the perfect day. (Prov. 4:18) To expedite the work of making known to others the good things they were learning, in various languages as well as in various ways, these Christians organized the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society in 1884. In 1909 the Society’s headquarters were moved to Brooklyn, New York, and today it has branches in seventy-five different lands and directs the preaching of the good news of the Kingdom in 159 countries and islands of the sea.

In the seventy years of its existence this Society has published scores of bound books and booklets in some hundred different languages and to the extent of hundreds of millions of copies. Since 1884 it has been publishing The Watchtower (first published in 1879) and since 1919 what is now the Awake! magazine. Appearing semimonthly and in many different languages, these two journals have a combined circulation well over three million copies.

In accordance with the law the Society has had a registered office and has held its annual meetings in Pittsburgh. Demolition proceedings making it necessary to find new quarters, a beautiful building was constructed at 4100 Bigelow Boulevard and Parkman Avenue. The building is modern, very attractive, spacious, light, clean, providing excellent Kingdom Hall facilities for two local congregations in addition to office facilities for the Society. It is a place that is fitly representative of New World interests and one that Jehovah’s witnesses in passing through Pittsburgh will rejoice to see and where they are most welcome.

On the evening of September 4, 1954, a dedication program was presented, the principal speaker at which was T. J. Sullivan, a member of the Society’s board of directors. He showed what it meant to dedicate this building to Jehovah and stressed the obligations of all those who would be using it as their Kingdom Hall both as regards their ministry and their daily conduct. At the conclusion of this address the chairman read a resolution that called upon all in attendance to live up to the high principles of Christianity and that pledged the support of all those associated with the two congregations using the building for their Kingdom Halls to the pure worship of Jehovah and to faithful co-operation under the direction of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. The resolution was unanimously adopted.

About four weeks later, the Society marked its seventieth year at its annual meeting on Friday, October 1, by meeting for the first time in its new registered office. This meeting of the members of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society was truly a joyful occasion, striking a note of confidence from the outset. It was called to order at the appointed hour, 10 a.m., by the Society’s president, N. H. Knorr, who presided, and who called on one of the members present to offer prayer. Of the 484 members 482 were present either in person or by proxy. All together an audience of 820 overflowed the main auditorium, which comfortably seats 500.

After adopting a resolution to change the registered address of the corporation to its new location and directing the filing of notice of this change as required by law, a unanimous vote approved the action of the board of directors in designating the new address as the location for the annual meetings from now on. There were vacancies in the board of directors to be filled by the members at this annual meeting; three in fact, the terms of Nathan H. Knorr, Milton G. Henschel and Lyman A. Swingle expiring. By unanimous vote the members re-elected these three brothers to serve in the capacity of directors of Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society for the ensuing term of three years. There are seven members of the corporation’s board of directors and at the time of each annual meeting two or three vacancies occur.

The corporate membership is truly representative of the world-wide New World society. Twenty-nine different nationalities are represented, serving in all forty-eight states of the United States and the District of Columbia and in a total of sixty-nine different countries. They are mature and two thirds of them are of the remnant. Their average age is nearly sixty years and all but twelve have been in Kingdom service prior to 1940, and the majority for more than twenty-five years. Of course, being so widely scattered, most of them voted by proxy.

Following the business of the annual meeting the Society’s president spoke on Psalm 112, about the man who fears Jehovah and the blessedness of this man of God, this anointed class. He pointed out that this 112th Psalm contains the yeartext chosen for 1955. It was a reassuring and confidence-inspiring talk gratefully received and it sharpened the appetite of all the assembly for the material eventually to reach them as part of the 1955 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The officers of the Society are elected by the board of directors, and so following the annual meeting the board of directors met on October 5 at the executive offices of the Society in Brooklyn and re-elected all of the Society’s officers to serve a term of one year until the next annual meeting of the directors in October, 1955. So the corporate structure is complete and properly functioning to Jehovah’s praise. The officers continuing: N. H. Knorr, president; F. W. Franz, vice-president; Grant Suiter, secretary-treasurer; and H. H. Riemer, assistant secretary-treasurer.

[Picture on page 747]

The new modern registered office of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U. S. A.

Prospects of Fearers of Jehovah for 1955

“He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in Jehovah.”—Ps. 112:7, AS.

1. On what basis may we entertain the best of prospects for 1955 and shout “Hallelujah”?

AS YOU face 1955 and the years beyond, do you feel like shouting “Hallelujah”? There is every reason for you to do so if you are a fearer of the One most high over all the earth, the God who alone has the name Jehovah. By practicing the fear of him you can entertain the best of prospects for 1955 and for all the years ahead, prospects of prosperity with happiness. That means a prosperity that will benefit you in heart as well as body and mind, for it is a spiritual prosperity that gives happiness now and leads to endless happy life in the righteous new world, the foundation for which God has now laid. When we come to know and appreciate that real prosperity with happiness comes from Jehovah God and is guaranteed to those who fear him, we cannot hold back from exclaiming “Hallelujah!” for that cry means “Praise Jehovah!”

2. How does Psalm 112 open, and what marks it as unusual?

² “Hallelujah. Happy is the man that feareth the LORD, that greatly delighteth in his commandments.” That is the way the inspired song, Psalm 112, opens, according to the translation by a Jewish scholar of the last century.a “Hallelujah. Happy the man who reverences the Eternal, who finds rich joy in his commands!” is the way a translator of the present century renders the words from the original Hebrew language.b This opening exclamation makes Psalm 112 one of the many Hallelujah psalms of the Holy Bible. Another thing that marks this psalm as unusual is that it is an alphabetic psalm or acrostic psalm, in which each of its lines begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet of twenty-two characters in their regular order. Thus there are twenty-two lines to the psalm. Two letters of the Hebrew alphabet serve as initial letters to each of the first eight verses and three as initials to each of the last two verses. In this respect it is like the preceding psalm and it is its twin in structure.

3. What makes Psalm 112 important for us to consider now? And therefore what personal questions arise?

³ But what makes Psalm 112 important for us to consider now is not merely that it describes the truly happy person on earth but especially that it is prophetic. It points forward and identifies the happy man or class of men in our own time. That is, it foretells not merely one individual, but a man in a collective sense, a composite man made up of many members who are alike happy for a common reason. Are you a member of this happy collective “man”? Or are you keeping company with this “man” in the most pleasant of companionships? To know, consider the psalm.

4. To whom does Psalm 112 point prophetically, and how do we get the unerring answer to the question?

⁴ The inspired writer of the psalm, an Israelite or Jew, may have had a Jehovah-fearing Israelite or Jew in his own mind, not understanding the full prophetic value of what he wrote. (Dan. 12:8; 1 Pet. 1:10-12) Well, then, does Psalm 112 apply to the natural Jews or Israelites over in Palestine or elsewhere on earth today? How could the psalm thus apply? Will any unprejudiced person claim that the natural Jews or Israelites are a happy people, an outstandingly happy people, because some of them in various lands do enjoy a material prosperity and prominence? Are they even happy religiously? The true-to-fact answer must be No! There is a vital, critical reason why they do not fulfill the description of Psalm 112: it is because they neither fear Jehovah nor keep his commandments but persist in hiding his very name and trust in human traditions and follow the commandments of men in place of the Word and the commandments of the one living and true God. (Matt. 15:1-9; Isa. 29:13, 14) Who, then, is the class of people, the collective “man” of our day, to whom Psalm 112 points prophetically? We are not left to ourselves to make an answer that might call forth the indignant cry of partiality, racial prejudice or national pride! The divine Inspirer of the psalm himself supplies the unerring answer, using one of his writers of the Bible to quote from this psalm and apply it to the class of people whom God himself had in mind. It is the spiritual Israelites, those who are Jews inwardly, of whom there is a remnant of some thousands yet on earth. (Rom. 2:28, 29) In 1931, that they might be correctly identified before all the world, they embraced the name marked out in the Holy Bible and that has since become notable throughout the earth, Jehovah’s witnesses.—2 Cor. 9:9; Ps. 112:9; Isa. 43:10, 12, AS.

5. According to the psalm, who should be the happiest people on earth in 1955, and why were they never happier?

⁵ Were the psalmist to behold this people who bear God’s name today he would again exclaim: “Praise ye Jah! O the happiness of one fearing Jehovah, in His commands he hath delighted greatly.” (Ps. 112:1, Yg) According to this, Jehovah’s witnesses should be the happiest people on earth in 1955 and ever after. And is their happiness really such as to excite comment like that of the psalmist? Yes. Never was the world more unhappy, for it is in its “time of the end” and it looks forward in dread of what it sees coming. Never have Jehovah’s witnesses been happier, for they know from the prophecies of God’s Word that they are living in the “time of the end” of this joyless world, now that God’s kingdom for which they have long prayed has been set up in the hands of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God in the heavens.—Luke 21:28.

6. With what attribute is their happiness associated, and why?

⁶ Their happiness is not of a frivolous kind; it has a solid foundation. It is associated with the highest wisdom, the wisdom that is from above. It is because they fear Jehovah that they have this heavenly wisdom. The psalm preceding the one we are considering closes with the words: “The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.” (Ps. 111:10, AS) Some understand the expression “beginning of wisdom” to mean the principal thing, the crowning feature, of all true wisdom. Fearing Jehovah begins real wisdom; we must have that fear of our Creator at the very start and we must retain that fear of him uppermost always.

7. (a) What does fear of Jehovah do as respects the fear of man? (b) How is his name to be treated, and by whom is it so treated?

⁷ Having that fear makes it impossible that we fear man, for the fear of both at the same time cannot exist. The fear of the One makes a person wise for gaining everlasting life in the endless new world; the fear of the other is a foolishness that ends with the fool’s everlasting destruction in Gehenna. The most fearless man ever on earth said to his disciples: “Do not become fearful of those who kill the body but can not kill the soul; but rather be in fear of him that can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” (Matt. 10:28, NW) So fear of Jehovah counteracts and removes the fear of man and devil or of what these can do to us by God’s permission. Jehovah’s witnesses recognize Him as reverend, that is, as the one to be feared, and they bear and utter his name in a reverent manner. As the psalm preceding the one now under examination says: “Holy and reverend is his name.” Or, “Holy and to be revered is his name.” (Ps. 111:9, AS; Ro; RoPss) His is a “glorious and fear-inspiring name,” and it is because so-called “Christendom” as well as Jewry does not fear his name and carry out his law that it suffers the way it does. (Deut. 28:58, 59, NW) Jehovah has assigned great achievements and fear-inspiring things to his name. All peoples ought to praise it, but his holy name is respected as reverend and fear-inspiring only by men of good will among all the peoples and nations.—1 Chron. 17:21; Ps. 99:3; Mal. 1:14, Yg; Ro.

8. How do such fear and wisdom manifest themselves, and in what does this result, even if there is suffering to undergo?

⁸ Fear of Jehovah and the wisdom from above show themselves in an obedience to His commandments, and this results in a happiness that cannot be taken away. In the face of general lawlessness, not only toward all constituted earthly authority, but primarily toward the authority of God the Creator, the witnesses of Jehovah like to be lawful, especially toward Him. Keeping his commandments is not grievous to them, even when there is a collision between his divine commandments and those of God-defying men. They consider themselves happy if obliged to suffer for sticking to the apostolic principle: “We must obey God as ruler rather than men.” (Acts 5:29, NW) Always this works out to the best results and hence the happiest results.

9, 10. In what does this Jehovah-fearing “man” delight, and in which ones now, for example?

⁹ Concerning the happy fearer of Jehovah the psalmist says: “In His commands he hath delighted greatly.” (Ps. 112:1, Yg) He studies and determines which of the commands in Jehovah’s prophecies apply to this “time of the end” and then he delightfully carries these out. For that reason all the nations of the world today see Jehovah’s witnesses obeying Jehovah’s commandment through his Son Christ Jesus: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness to all the nations, and then the accomplished end will come.” (Matt. 24:14, NW) The remnant of the Jehovah-fearing spiritual Israelites know they are shortly to be members of the heavenly “bride” of Christ. So they catch the spirit of Jehovah’s prophecies and now delightedly carry out the Revelation picture: “The spirit and the bride keep on saying, ‘Come!’ And let anyone hearing say, ‘Come!’ And let anyone thirsting come; let anyone that wishes take life’s water free.” (Rev. 22:17, NW) They invite and assist every thirsty person of good will that wishes to the life-giving water of Kingdom truth and then encourage and help them to say to still others, “Come!”

¹⁰ In happy obedience the Jehovah-fearing spiritual Israelites act as a watchman and warn all mankind of the coming of Jehovah’s sword of execution at the battle of Armageddon to destroy all haters, despisers and ignorers of Jehovah. They keep in mind God’s commission and command to them: “Son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.” (Ezek. 33:1-7; 3:16-21, AS) Zealously they inform themselves on God’s will, running to and fro through the pages of his Word that their knowledge may be increased. Also they do not forsake gathering themselves together at all arranged meetings, but they come together in study groups and in congregations and in large conventions that they may encourage one another, and all the more so as they behold the great day of God’s victorious fight drawing near. (Dan. 12:4; Heb. 10:25, NW) So they draw continual delight out of lovingly keeping God’s commands.

PERMANENCE OF HIS GENERATION

11. How do the Jehovah-fearing man’s seed become mighty upon earth?

¹¹ The haters of Jehovah cannot wipe out the Jehovah-fearing man. What is more, his household will continue on the earth. “His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed.” (Ps. 112:2, AS) If we view the Jehovah-fearing man of the psalm as a collective person made up of all members of Christ’s spiritual congregation or “body,” then the man’s seed or offspring are the sheeplike persons of good will, the “other sheep.” The Right Shepherd has been using this collective “man” to gather these into one flock. Their everlasting destiny is in this earth cleansed and everywhere made a “garden of Eden” or “paradise of delight.” They will remain in it for all time. They become mighty in it, but not just automatically. No, but because the Jehovah-fearing spiritual remnant have ‘become their father through the good news.’ This remnant have preached to them the good news concerning the Kingdom and now they obey Jehovah’s command to inculcate his words in this seed of theirs. (1 Cor. 4:15; Deut. 6:4-6, NW) In their turn, the “seed” obey like children the inspired command at Ephesians 6:1-4 to be obedient and co-operative toward the Jehovah-fearing “man” who has fathered them by the power of “this good news of the kingdom.”

12. How are the “generation of the upright” now blessed?

¹² As the two lines of Psalm 112:2 are parallel in thought, the “generation of the upright [ones]” in line 2 is the same as “his seed” in line 1. Hence the upright ones are those spiritual Christians who form the Jehovah-fearing “man.” The remnant still on earth of this “man” are part of the “seed of Abraham” in whom all the families of the earth are to bless themselves. Already the remnant have become a means of blessing to this rising generation of “other sheep.” (Ps. 71:18; 145:4) As they are an “upright” class, the seed or generation that they father stand in direct line for a blessing. “All the day he is gracious and lending, and his seed is for a blessing.” (Ps. 37:26, Yg) But remember, too, that the seed or generation of the upright ones are prospective children of the “Everlasting Father,” Jesus Christ, who is primarily the Abrahamic seed of blessing. (Isa. 9:6, AS) The blessing that his “other sheep” are already receiving consists in their being turned away from their sins and being taken into the true worship and service of Jehovah God.—Acts 3:25, 26.

13. To what is their being mighty due, and how long will their mightiness last?

¹³ Since they are in a figurative sense the seed or generation of the Jehovah-fearing man of Psalm 112, they themselves become fearers of Jehovah, and this leads to wisdom and might. Due to the great number of them now within the New World society, into which they have flocked in their hundreds of thousands, they already occupy a strong position in the earth. Under the spiritual remnant of Christ’s body they are doing a mighty work of witnessing to God’s kingdom and expanding the New World society, but this they do, not by sheer force of numbers, but by the help of Jehovah’s spirit. (Zech. 4:6) Surviving the “war of the great day of God the Almighty,” they will continue to be mighty in the “new earth” of the new world for the post-Armageddon work. Their position in the cleansed earth will never be shaken, even during the “little while” that Satan and his demons are loosed from the abyss at the close of Christ’s millennial reign. Maintaining their Jehovah-fearing integrity during that trialsome “little while,” they will be blessed with receiving at Jehovah’s hand the grant of the right to everlasting happiness in the earthly paradise.—Matt. 25:40; Rev. 20:1-3, 7-15, NW.

14. Why will the riches of the nations not profit them in the day of God’s wrath, and so how is the Jehovah-fearing “man” advantaged in this regard?

¹⁴ Especially since the year 1919 God’s wrath has been upon all the nations belonging to Satan’s organization and it will reach its breaking point at the war of His great day. In that war the material wealth and riches will not profit the nations, for they do not have the righteousness of God. The only thing that will work for deliverance from death and destruction by Jehovah’s executional forces then will be his righteousness. (Prov. 11:4) The Jehovah-fearing “man” has this, he being ‘justified by his faith in God through Jesus Christ’ and also ‘engaging in righteous acts in God’s sight.’ (Rom. 5:1, 9; Rev. 19:8, NW) He has more than that. Psalm 112:3 (Yg) goes on to say: “Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness is standing for ever.”

15. What kind of riches and wealth does he have in his house?

¹⁵ In his house, or where he dwells within Jehovah’s theocratic organization, he has riches and wealth, but not the kind that takes wings and flies swiftly away like eagles toward heaven and out of reach. (Prov. 23:5) He has the riches and wealth that wisdom imparts, for divine wisdom says: “Riches and honor are with me; yea, durable wealth and righteousness.” (Prov. 8:18, AS) He has an heirship in God’s heavenly kingdom with Christ; and what could be more precious than that? He has the treasure of the ministry or service of God’s Word; and what on earth could be more honorable than that? He stores up treasures in heaven by living and working to gain God’s approval and blessing and a worthiness to receive the fulfillment of God’s promises. He lays up a foundation for what are riches in the new world. He is “safely treasuring up for [himself] a right foundation for the future, in order that [he] may get a firm hold on the real life.”—1 Tim. 6:17-19, NW; Matt. 6:20, 21; Rom. 8:15-17; 2 Cor. 4:1-8.

16. How is it that “his righteousness is standing for ever”?

¹⁶ But what is more important than riches and wealth in the house is this: “His righteousness is standing for ever.” That means his preservation in 1955 and forever, that he may continue on in his righteous course. It means that the results of his righteous acts will be permanent, not being wiped out at Armageddon, whereas the works of this wicked world will be burned up in that war and their effects be completely obliterated. By sticking to righteousness he keeps his integrity toward Jehovah, whom he fears, and by his being preserved for life in the New World righteousness is preserved in the earth, where we pray that God’s will may be done the same as it is up in heaven. The earth as God’s creation is properly the place for righteousness. The way of the defiers of Jehovah will vanish and their wickedness will vanish from the earth. (Prov. 2:21, 22) The seed or generation of the upright, Jehovah-fearing “man” will carry on like him in righteousness in the earth forever.

17. How was it true in his case that “unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness”?

¹⁷ The class that is today the Jehovah-fearing “man” once needed enlightenment and a brightening of their earthly situation. Many translators of Psalm 112 would bring out that thought in their rendering of Ps 112 verse 4. For instance, the American Standard Version renders it: “Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious, and merciful, and righteous.” Historically, this was true of the spiritual remnant in 1919. At that time they were lying in the darkness of bondage and oppression under the great organization of darkness, mystic Babylon. They had been taken into captivity to the nations of this world during the years of World War I and deprived of their right of freely and fearlessly worshiping God according to his Word. The darkness of religious misunderstanding and of this captive condition was dispelled in 1919, when Jehovah God rose as a light to them and sent his Son Jesus Christ to free them from this spiritually killing bondage in Babylon and to put them back in their proper place and freedom inside God’s organization as his fearless witnesses. The prophet Micah had been used to foretell this: “Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy [Babylon]: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, Jehovah will be a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of Jehovah, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.” (Mic. 7:8, 9, AS) Other prophecies had also announced in advance this brightening of the remnant’s earthly situation, such as Isaiah 60:1, 2; Psalm 18:8; Job 33:28; and Psalm 107:10-14.

18. How do other translators render this part of Psalm 112:4, and what obligation does this show resting on the spiritual remnant?

¹⁸ However, as Psalm 112 is describing the life and action of the Jehovah-fearing spiritual “man,” this verse may properly be translated from the Hebrew another way, to show the obligation that now rests upon the spiritual remnant. Thus various other renderings of Ps 112 verse 4 by other competent translators read as follows: “He hath arisen in darkness a light to the upright.” (RoPss) “Unto the upright he shineth as a light in the darkness.” (Soncino) “For the upright ones he arises [as] a light in the darkness.” (C. Kautzsch, German) “In the midst of the darkness he arises like a light for the upright hearts.” (Maredsous, French) “As a light in darkness he shines for the good.” (Bover-Cantera, Spanish) “In the darkness he beams as the light for the upright ones.” (Nácar-Colunga, Spanish) The “man” that meets this description is under obligation to do as Jesus said: “You are the light of the world. . . . Likewise let your light shine before mankind, that they may see your right works and give glory to your Father who is in the heavens.” (Matt. 5:14-16, NW) Being enlightened by the heavenly Father, he must reflect the heavenly illumination to others by his right works, that the darkness-blinded ones may see and learn to know and fear Jehovah and glorify him. What a blessed privilege it is to enlighten others and thus drive back the forces of darkness!

19. With what other divine commandment does this link up that the remnant now delight to obey, and who benefit from their obedience?

¹⁹ This links up with another commandment that the Jehovah-fearing class now delight to obey, addressed to His great “servant” class: “Saying to them that are bound, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and on all bare heights shall be their pasture.” (Isa. 49:9, AS) This prophetic command must now be performed by Jehovah’s “servant” class, the “faithful and discreet slave” class, toward the “other sheep” that are still bound in Satan’s organization and held in the darkness of religious ignorance and hopelessness. Revelation 7:9-17 shows that this is how the prophecy of Isaiah must be applied in this era of deepening world darkness. By this action the “servant” class heed the command that applies to Zion, their heavenly mother, and hence to themselves as her spiritual children: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee. For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples; but Jehovah will arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.” (Isa. 60:1, 2, AS) Yes, “seen upon thee” only if Zion’s spiritual children rise as a light in the darkness. Only in that way can the upright ones of all nations come out of the world darkness to the bright-shining organization of light. The forces of darkness hate the light and try to escape its exposures by suppressing the light bearers. But the lovers of the light of Kingdom truth show their sheeplikeness by coming to the light and doing good to even the least one of Christ’s spiritual brothers.

20. By being “gracious, and merciful, and righteous” whom does the remnant resemble, and to whom must they show these qualities?

²⁰ This courageous work of enlightening the “other sheep” blindly stumbling about in the world’s gloom agrees well with the remainder of Psalm 112:4: “He is gracious, and merciful, and righteous.” In this how like Jehovah he is! For Ps 111 verse 4 of the preceding psalm says: “Jehovah is gracious and merciful.” (AS) And Jehovah, when declaring his name to Moses at Mount Sinai in Arabia, himself said: “Jehovah, Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious.” (Ex. 34:6, NW) The man that fears him copies him in these qualities by exercising them toward others. We need to exercise these qualities toward others, even as the heavenly Father did to us: “You must accordingly be complete, as your heavenly Father is complete.” “Continue becoming compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.” (Matt. 5:48; Luke 6:36, NW) The fearer of Jehovah can copy him and display these qualities closely by endeavoring to enlighten the bedarkened “other sheep” and bringing them to the theocratic organization of light. However, he must also be gracious and merciful to his own brothers within the New World society, that all there may get along together in peace, harmony, purity and mutual helpfulness.—Eph. 4:1-3.

21. To what extent is the fearer of Jehovah “good,” and how does this mean blessing to his “seed” or “generation”?

²¹ Jehovah God is the only one really good within himself, he being goodness personified. The goodness of any of his creatures, including Jesus Christ himself, must all be borrowed from Jehovah God. Jesus himself said so, when he rejected the title “Good Teacher” by saying: “Why do you call me good? Nobody is good, except one, God.” (Luke 18:18, 19, NW; AS) To the extent that the fearer of Jehovah copies him in kindness and generosity, he becomes good like him. “Good is the man—gracious and lending.” (Ps. 112:5, Yg) “The good man is gentle and gives.” (Fenton) Jehovah himself is gracious, gentle in dealing, undeservedly kind, and thus he gives to earth’s inhabitants, to wicked people and good, to righteous people and unrighteous. He is the Befriender of the poor and needy. The “man” that fears him makes it his aim to imitate him in these regards. He gives generously of his spiritual gifts, not expecting a material reward; and he does so gently, not trying to embarrass anyone, not threatening or reproaching or addressing in abusive terms even the ones that refuse the good news of the Kingdom unselfishly preached to them. He gives generously of the best thing he has to offer, the lifesaving Kingdom message. This course of action cannot help but mean blessing for his seed or generation, for it is by means of this very “good news” that he fathers this seed, even in his old age, so to speak. Long ago the psalmist stated the fact: “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. All the day long he dealeth graciously, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.” (Ps. 37:25, 26, AS) What a happy family they all are within the New World society!

22. According to Psalm 112:5, why should the New World society be a well-conducted organization?

²² The New World society of the Jehovah-fearing “man” and of his seed or generation must be a well-conducted organization. We should expect it to be, for Psalm 112:5 says of him: “He will guide his affairs with justice.” (Le) “He shall guide his affairs with discretion.” (Kirkpatrick) “Who conducts his business with justice.” (AT; Mo) “He shall sustain his affairs with justice.” (Ro) That is, he uses good judgment in conducting the affairs and safeguarding the interests of the New World society. He uses discretion in his choices of things; and in the appointing of overseers and of ministerial servants with the congregation of Jehovah’s sheep he tries to determine the divine will and select and empower men who have the spirit of God, men of Scriptural viewpoint, men with a sense of justice, and men who are progressive and concerned with making the organization prosper and increase to Jehovah’s glory. He is alert to the spiritual needs of the New World society and is always busy in making provision for these, that the members of the Society may all be kept in good spiritual condition, equipped to “contend for victory in the right contest of the faith” and strong and zealous to carry out Jehovah’s commandments with delight and do unitedly the work He lays upon the organization. Without partiality the “man” endeavors to help, educate and fit every member alike to be an active witness of Jehovah, a preacher of the good news of God’s established kingdom from door to door.—1 Tim. 6:12, NW.

23, 24. (a) Who try to move the Jehovah-fearing “man”? (b) But can he and will he be moved, and why or why not?

²³ In the case of a society thus guided, maintained and regulated what should we expect for 1955 and for the years following? Our reply comes from Psalm 112:6 (AS): “For he shall never be moved; the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance.” In 1955 or at any time before the end of the battle of Armageddon the righteous fearer of Jehovah God cannot expect to escape the assaults and persecutions of this world; “in fact, all those desiring to live with godly devotion in association with Christ Jesus will also be persecuted.” (2 Tim. 3:12, NW) The wicked of this world will try to make him totter, trying to involve him in conflicts with the political governments and bringing him into courts and passing laws making it illegal for him and his seed to exist, all this in order to move him out of the way and have his righteous, charitable activities suppressed and so bring about his spiritual death and destruction. But till now the enemy have been unable to move him off the earth or out of the field of witnessing, and they will be unable to do so in 1955 or at any later time. This spiritual Israelite “man” practices the fear of Jehovah, for which reason he will not be allowed to totter in his integrity.

²⁴ As it was prophetically stated for Jesus Christ so it is stated for his follower: “I have set Jehovah always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” (Ps. 16:8, AS) Jehovah, in whom he takes refuge, is his high tower and defense. His hope and citizenship are in Mount Zion above, where the King Jesus Christ reigns. Jehovah and his Mount Zion can never be moved. Most certainly, then, neither can Jehovah’s worshipers. He will shake all Devil-engineered, man-made things, the human kingdoms and the corrupt earth and the wicked seas of humanity, to their complete removal; but never will he let those who fear him be removed from the earth. The way he proceeds means destruction to his haters but life in the new world to his lovers. “The way of Jehovah is a stronghold to the upright; but it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity. The righteous shall never be removed; but the wicked shall not dwell in the land.”—Prov. 10:29, 30, AS.

25. In what way will the righteous one be had in everlasting remembrance, and why is this important?

²⁵ Behold the good thoughts of Jehovah toward the righteous and upright ones! These are never out of his mind. He will never forget them. They will always live to him, even if it means he has to resurrect them from the dead. It is no wonder that Psalm 112:6 adds: “The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance.” (AS) Or, more literally expressed: “An age-abiding remembrance shall the righteous man become.” (RoPss) The Jehovah-fearing, righteous man will always be something to remember on earth. To all eternity the inhabitants of earth will remember Jesus Christ, the most righteous man ever on earth, whose righteousness on earth even amidst Satan’s world worked for the salvation of humankind. Likewise men will always remember his righteous followers, including his remnant now. But more important by far than the remembrance by mankind in the new world is the remembrance by Jehovah God, for that means life eternal for the righteous class. The former wicked things of this world will be destroyed and be forgotten and never come to mind with any attractiveness, but righteousness will never be forgotten. Jehovah will always keep the righteous in remembrance and see that they enjoy life to the full, forever. What precious Scriptural thoughts these are! They offer us grounds for the brightest prospects for all fearers of Jehovah during 1955 and afterward.

[Footnotes]

Freedom from Fear in 1955

1. How do mankind enter the year 1955, and why?

DO YOU know the secret of freedom from the fear that grips all mankind today? Do you want this freedom? You may still remember the saying that was popularized not so long ago: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” This saying was taken up by the late president of the United States of America,a but well over two hundred years before him it appeared in a book published early in the seventeenth century.b But did that saying provide the solution? Who has become absolutely fearless by fearing fear? Who can now help getting afraid? Faced with frightful possibilities, mankind have developed no fear of fear itself. Hence they enter the year 1955 with fear and dark foreboding, with no formula for realizing that one of the Rooseveltian “Four Freedoms” known as the “freedom from fear.” Rather, a greater bondage to the heartless slave driver Fear is certain to fasten upon them.—Luke 21:25, 26.

2. What class will enjoy freedom from fear during 1955 and why so, in spite of the bad tidings concerning this world?

² Not by fearing fear but by fearing Jehovah we learn the secret of freedom from fear. That is why there will be one class on earth that will enjoy freedom from fear during 1955 and all the years to follow. That class is the “man” described in Psalm 112, that man that fears Jehovah and that delights in His commandments, together with the seed or generation of this righteous, upright man. What this psalm in its Ps 112 seventh verse says of this collective “man” or class of persons will be true during 1955, yes, true until the victorious end of the battle of Armageddon: “He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in Jehovah.” (AS) He faces the new year fearlessly. The tidings or news about the world is all evil these days; there is nothing consoling about it. Added to this, in God’s own Word there are no good tidings for this world, but only doom by the execution of God’s vengeance against the wicked. The Jehovah-fearing “man” already knows this and so is not disturbed by the trend of world events and the ominous future that is shaping up for this world. From God’s prophecies he knows that this world under Satan must end shortly at the climax of this “time of the end,” to be followed by a bright new world of all good things.

3. How does he not “fear the roar of the bad,” and what course against fear does he follow?

³ Even if “evil tidings” come under the form of threats from the enemy, this does not make the fearer of Jehovah afraid. “He will not fear the roar of the bad,” as one translator renders the verse. (Fenton) He knows that God Almighty, his Protector, is more powerful than the combined forces of the enemy, seen and unseen. Strengthened with this knowledge, he cannot get afraid, but fearlessly goes on doing his Christian work in obedience to God’s commands, declaring His name and bearing witness to His kingdom by Jesus Christ. He refuses to get afraid of what worldly rulers and peoples get afraid of. He follows God’s instructions, namely: “Even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are happy. However, do not become afraid of what they are afraid of, neither become agitated. But sanctify the Christ as Lord in your hearts, always ready to make a defense before anyone that demands of you a reason for the hope in you, but doing so together with a mild temper and deep respect.” (1 Pet. 3:14, 15, NW) “What they fear you shall not fear, nor shall you dread! But the LORD [Jehovah] of hosts—him shall you call holy; he shall be your fear, and he your dread!” (Isa. 8:12, 13, AT) Hence the Jehovah-fearing man is not scared into following the course the world recommends and thinks practical. In fearing the Most High Jehovah the man’s superior wisdom stands forth. Worldly fears do not paralyze him with terror, but he does all he can to dispel such fears from the people of good will by giving them the Bible message of peace and comfort.

4. How is his heart fixed and led to trust in Jehovah?

⁴ “His heart is fixed, trusting in Jehovah.” (Ps. 112:7, AS) By Bible prophecy Jehovah has warned his fearer concerning the fate of this world and concerning the enemy assaults against him. So the man has prepared his heart for the coming of these things that he may not give way to fear or be stumbled and confused. (John 16:1-4) He has taken time to study God’s Word and practice its teachings and thus build up a confidence and trust in Jehovah. Hence his heart does not fluctuate between Jehovah and this world; it remains steadfastly fixed with Jehovah. He keeps a complete heart toward God. His heart never turns to the idols of this world. He has familiarized himself with Jehovah’s promises and has observed how the Promiser has fulfilled them toward his faithful fearer. Knowing the fate that awaits this world, he realizes there is no safety in it and that it cannot win in its fight against Almighty God. He trusts in the certain Winner. Free from torment with worldly fears, he is happy.

5. In what way is his heart sustained, and so what is thrown out?

⁵ “Sustained is his heart, he is not afraid, until that he gazeth on his adversaries.” (Ps. 112:8, RoPss) Now he faces many adversaries, but he does not back down from his uncompromising position for the kingdom of God. He has his heart braced upon the unbeaten and unbeatable God. Neither fears that men express for the fate of their own system of things and what this will mean to mankind nor the threats that the adversaries make against the New World society cause his heart to tremble and vacillate. It is upheld by Jehovah because of his love for Him. He is stronghearted in his love and attachment to the righteous new world that God has promised. He has no spiritual heart disease in these critical, difficult times when men are lovers of pleasures more than of God and have merely the form of godly devotion but not their hearts in it. So copy his example. To keep from worry and from the tyranny of fear strengthen your heart in its love and devotion to Jehovah. The rest will follow: Love will throw out fear.—1 John 4:18.

6. What should you expect from your adversaries, but how can you keep from getting afraid at the sight of them?

⁶ Of course, if you love and fear Jehovah, the adversaries who hate him will also hate you. But that is no cause for alarm, especially if you know whom you love. If you love someone you will do anything, yes, suffer and endure anything, for that one. If you love Jehovah and know him, take his viewpoint toward the adversaries. Take his estimate of them. Believe in his prophecy concerning them. Then fear of the adversaries will depart. Just now the adversaries may look quite frightful in their numbers and their increased power to harm Jehovah’s witnesses and the New World society. But look at the harm that God can do to them, and also to you, more harm than they can do to you. Do not, then, be afraid of them. Do not quit preaching because of them, but just go on letting your heart be sustained and upheld by Jehovah’s spirit and his Word.

7. Why and with whom may we laugh at our adversaries now, and with what work do we go forward?

⁷ Doing this, you will at last gaze upon your adversaries when they will no longer appear so fearsome but their own fears will have been realized upon them. “The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him; and the desire of the righteous shall be granted. When the whirlwind passeth, the wicked is no more; but the righteous is an everlasting foundation.” (Prov. 10:24, 25, AS) So laugh with Jehovah at them: “The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth. The Lord will laugh at him; for he seeth that his day is coming. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken; but Jehovah upholdeth the righteous.” (Ps. 37:12, 13, 17, AS) It is wise to laugh fearlessly from this standpoint, for divine wisdom says to the heedless fools of this world: “I also will laugh in the day of your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as a storm, and your calamity cometh on as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish come upon you.” (Prov. 1:26, 27, AS) So the present roar of the adversaries against us does not frighten us, but with loving, strong, healthy hearts braced on Jehovah we go forward unafraid bearing witness to his kingdom all the world over. Shortly, when we gaze upon our adversaries, it will be a feast to our eyes.

FEARLESS DISTRIBUTION TO THE POOR

8. Why is Psalm 112:9 an assurance that the witness work will go ahead in 1955?

⁸ During 1955 the earth-wide work of the Jehovah-fearing witnesses will by his kind favor and spirit advance still more. Strong assurance of this is given us in Psalm 112:9: “He hath scattered abroad, he hath given to the needy, his righteousness standeth fast for aye; his horn shall be exalted with honour.” (RoPss) To whom these words apply is certain. The apostle Paul quoted them and applied them to his fellow Christians at the time they were giving aid to their needy brothers in Christ. He said: “(Just as it is written: ‘He has made a distribution, he has given to those of little means, his righteousness continues forever.’ Now he that abundantly supplies seed to the sower and bread for eating will supply and multiply the seed for you to sow and will increase the products of your righteousness.) In everything you are being enriched for every kind of generosity.” (2 Cor. 9:9-11, NW) The generosity of the Jehovah-fearing Christian does not limit itself to giving material things to needy brothers, but concerns itself greatly with distributing the Kingdom news to all “men of good will,” the scattering abroad of the seed of Kingdom truth upon those whose hearts are like good, productive ground.

9. Who are the “poor” to whom the fearers of Jehovah give, and why?

⁹ The earth today teems with people materially poor, but the poor to whom the wise fearer of Jehovah gives are those who are “poor in spirit,” that is, “conscious of their spiritual need” and hence disposed to accept the satisfying Kingdom message. These are the kind of poor Jesus sent his followers to hunt and feed, saying: “You received free, give free.” (Matt. 10:8; 5:3, NW) What they are able to “give free” must be the spiritual riches that God has bestowed upon them free, because, as regards material riches, God has chosen the “ones who are poor respecting the world to be rich in faith.” (Jas. 2:5, NW) By giving the Kingdom message instead of giving mere money or material things they reach those who are really “poor in spirit,” “conscious of their spiritual need,” rather than just the self-seeking poor of this world who do not care to belong to Jehovah. Thus the unappreciative worldly poor who prefer to belong to Satan the “god of this system of things” are screened out.

10. In giving to such poor, to whom are they really lending, and why?

¹⁰ The poor and needy are not able to repay us fully in material ways for the spiritual gifts we give them free, but this does not beggar us. We never go without a compensation that more than repays us. Why not? In answering, the words of Psalm 112:5 bear repeating: “Good is the man—gracious and lending.” (Yg; page 754, ¶21) It is to the poor and needy that the “man” lends, not only hoping for no interest on the loan from the poor receiver, but not hoping for any material return at all. From where, then, does his compensation come? Listen: “He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto Jehovah, and his good deed will he pay him again.” (Prov. 19:17, AS) In having pity and giving to the spiritually poor without receiving material repayment, does one really lend to Jehovah? Yes; and that is because the poor, especially the poor in spirit, the ones conscious of their spiritual need and craving spiritual relief, really belong to Jehovah. That is why he has said: “He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker; but he that hath mercy on the needy honoreth him.” (Prov. 14:31, AS) Jehovah pronounces it a sin to oppress or neglect them. (Deut. 24:14, 15) Their dependence is upon Him: “The meek also shall increase their joy in Jehovah, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.” (Isa. 29:19, AS) The poor and needy who belong to Jehovah cannot pay back materially; so Jehovah undertakes the indebtedness of these who belong to him.

11. How does Jehovah consider himself to the giver to the poor, and how does he dispose of this position?

¹¹ Thus the Jehovah-fearing Christian, in giving free the Kingdom good news to the poor, is really lending to Jehovah God until Jehovah pays him again for his good deed. It is amazing to think that the King of the eternal universe, the Owner of all things, considers himself obligated to the Kingdom announcer who gives free to the poor who are conscious of their spiritual need. Jehovah discharges all debts or obligations thus acquired by fulfilling all his promises to care for and sustain those who fear him and keep his commandments.

12. What promise does Jehovah make to the righteous giver, and how does he fulfill this promise now?

¹² Hence Jehovah makes the promise concerning the one who gives His message free to the poor and needy: “His righteousness standeth fast for aye.” (Ps. 112:9, RoPss) This is a repetition of His promise in verse three of Psalm 112. According to Jesus’ own words at Matthew 6:1-4, the Jehovah-fearing man’s righteousness consists largely of his publishing the Kingdom message, giving the good news free to the poor. Those who oppose the Kingdom and the good news of it will not be able to stamp out this form of righteousness. Jehovah will always back up and preserve the Kingdom publishers and supply them the means to carry on this preaching of the good news, that they may be “enriched for every kind of generosity.” He will “supply and multiply the seed for you to sow and will increase the products of your righteousness.” (2 Cor. 9:10, 11, NW) Because God continually replenishes the righteous and generous distributor of the good news, the Christian fearer of Jehovah never has to go begging because of such liberal giving. He is always kept in position to carry on his good works of scattering the benefits of a spiritual kind to the needy ones. Thus, although being poor materially himself, he can make many rich spiritually. (2 Cor. 6:10) The products of his righteousness, namely, the people of good will who are enriched and gathered into the New World society, increase steadily. Instead of impoverishing the giver, the free giving and scattering of the good news result in increased returns: “There is that scattereth, and increaseth yet more; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth only to want. The liberal soul shall be made fat; and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.”—Prov. 11:24, 25, AS.

13. What reason has such righteous man for being alive and being preserved on the earth?

¹³ Jehovah wants such a righteous kind of man to be on the earth. He is pleased to use him as an instrument in scattering far and wide His spiritual benefits. For this reason the free and generous giver serves a purpose in God’s works and has a proper and useful place among earth’s inhabitants; he has a good reason for being alive and for being preserved by divine power. He wins the appreciation of God and also of grateful men and so is loved for his work’s sake. (1 Thess. 5:12) The very existence of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society down to this day proves this very truth.

14, 15. (a) How does the Society’s existence down to this day prove this truth? (b) What do Jehovah’s witnesses want to have in 1955, and how can they have it?

¹⁴ From the very time of its incorporation, in 1884, the Society has followed the rule of maintaining itself by voluntary contributions. It has had literature printed and distributed either free or at a nominal contribution that merely covered the cost of producing and distributing. To all who wished to attend them, the meetings and conventions of Jehovah’s witnesses have always been open under the public declaration, “Seats free—no collection!” The religious clergy who charge for admission or for seats and who pass the collection plate one or more times during religious services have expressed sorrow that Jehovah’s witnesses advertise a “Seats free—no collection!” rule for religious meetings. (See The Watch Tower, January 1, 1914, page 5.) Jehovah has blessed this principle of giving free or at bare cost and holding meetings with no money collections, in order to put out more Bible information. For an organization the size of the Society, the output of Bibles and Bible literature each year is enormous, and the number of hours Jehovah’s witnesses give free to the work of distribution and the number of Bible studies they conduct free in homes of interested people each year are remarkable.

¹⁵ In 1955 Jehovah’s witnesses want to have the biggest distribution of literature yet in any one year, because the time shortens to get out the lifesaving message, now that the world destruction at the battle of Armageddon gets ever closer. Working economically, we can do more than others because we try to have as little overhead in expenses as possible. We can achieve the greatest results by the generous giving of the lovers of Jehovah, particularly in terms of time and energy freely spent in distributing and scattering abroad the Kingdom message. According to God’s rule, we can be sure we shall be the happier because of giving the more and doing it free of charge.

16. How will the horn of the Jehovah-fearing “man” be honored, and how is it exalted even now with honor?

¹⁶ Never shall we bow in disgraceful defeat. The divine promise to the righteous giver and distributor to the poor is: “His horn shall be exalted with honor.” (Ps. 112:9, AS) The horn is a symbol of strength and power, a warning to all would-be assailants. Its being exalted with honor denotes victory for us, in vindication of Jehovah’s power which backs us up. Trusting in him and keeping toward him an integrity that warrants our trusting in him, we can say: “My horn hast thou exalted like the horn of the wild-ox: . . . Mine eye also hath seen my desire on mine enemies, mine ears have heard my desire of the evil-doers that rise up against me. The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.” (Ps. 92:10-12, AS) The honor with which the horn is exalted comes from God, not from men. But men are forced to recognize the divine source of that honor. Ultimately the honor of lasting victory will be ours, but even now we enjoy the honor of being in Jehovah’s service as his witnesses. The great crowd of persons of good will who are already thronging Jehovah’s house to serve and worship him there are also a glory and honor to the Jehovah-fearing spiritual class who have labored to father this earthly seed or generation. As the apostle Paul said of the brothers at Thessalonica whom he had fathered by means of the good news that he had preached to them: “For what is our hope or joy or crown of exultation—why, is it not in fact you?—before our Lord Jesus at his presence? You certainly are our glory and joy.” (1 Thess. 2:19, 20, NW) By our continuing to give the Kingdom good news freely and generously to the poor and needy, that honor of increased membership in the New World society at God’s temple is bound to be added to until Jehovah exalts our horn as victors at Armageddon.

17. Why does the wicked, at seeing this, grieve?

¹⁷ The wicked haters of Jehovah have gloated over seeing us under oppressions, injustices, bans and proscriptions, but their gleeful gloating is turning to chagrin and dismay at seeing the increasing honor that Jehovah confers upon his people who fear and serve him and magnify his name. Ah well, this was all foretold in Psalm 112:10 (AS): “The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.” The wicked is destined to see this crowning victory and honor of Jehovah’s witnesses before he is destroyed. He is ill-willed and has no love of righteousness and hence does not rejoice at the exalted horn of Jehovah’s righteous fearers. This is why he seeks to destroy the spiritual prosperity of the restored spiritual Israelites and their companions of good will. He takes offense at Jehovah’s goodness to his people. He wants the worldly favor and success and the divine favor and spiritual prosperity also, but he cannot have both at the same time. (Jas. 4:4) He does not scatter abroad and give the Kingdom message to the poor. So he is discontented. His consciousness of being rich in worldly goods and favor does not fully satisfy him, for he has only the form of godliness but proves false to its power to transform the heart and make one truly happy. Eaten up with envy at the spiritual prosperity of the witnesses, he grieves.

18. Why does the wicked gnash his teeth, and when and how will he melt away?

¹⁸ The wicked cannot overthrow the spiritual prosperity of those who fear Jehovah. He gnashes or grinds his teeth at the sight he is obliged to behold, but that is all he can do in his rage. He cannot truly harm the righteous or destroy the New World society. He suffers torment now, not only from the preaching of the good news of God’s established kingdom but also at the prosperity of Jehovah’s witnesses. In 1955 he will keep on grinding his teeth in his rage and prepare to join the great Gog of Magog in his world-wide pre-Armageddon assault on the New World society. When Jehovah stops that furious, malicious assault by the “war of the great day of God the Almighty,” the wicked crowd will still not see the desire of their eyes but will have one last look at a sight grievous to their eyes, the enduring prosperity of Jehovah’s witnesses and the triumph of the New World society on earth. Then the wicked will ‘melt away,’ yes, melt like a snail that leaves a slimy trail. They will melt like a snail, which, as it moves, “dissolves into slime.” (Ps. 58:8, RS; Mo) Just as a snail is halted by the salt sprinkled about its haunts, what can the slimy wicked do against the fearers of Jehovah who are like the “salt of the earth”? Nothing, only melt away in an inglorious end at the grand display of Jehovah’s battle power at Armageddon.

19. What will happen to the desire or craving of the wicked, and who will have happiness, even in 1955?

¹⁹ “The desire [craving] of the wicked shall perish.” Their wicked schemes against the righteous will not prosper, except to their own destruction, and all the things upon which they have set their eyes as desirable in this world will perish with them, to their everlasting disappointment. In glorious contrast, the righteous Kingdom publishers will see their desire fulfilled as they gaze upon their adversaries, for they will be on Jehovah’s winning side and will survive into the triumphant new world where Jehovah’s vindication will forever be celebrated. Oh, the unhappiness of the man that does not fear Jehovah and that does not delight greatly in His commandments! But, oh, your own happiness if you will be a fearer of Jehovah in 1955 and keep his commandments with God-given freedom from fear!

[Footnotes]

Questions From Readers

● What is meant by the “high places of Isaac” mentioned at Amos 7:9, and is it not contradictory for the Bible to say that certain kings removed the high places, yet later on say they failed to abolish them?—A. M., Turkey.

The “high places” refer to the sacred high places of the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel, whose capital was Samaria, Jeroboam II being then king of Israel. The ten tribes were descendants of Isaac as well as of Jacob or Israel. Hence the expression “high places of Isaac” runs parallel with the “sanctuaries of Israel” mentioned in the same verse (Amos 7:9). The high places of “Isaac” (equivalent to Israel) refer therefore to the sacred high places of golden calf worship at Bethel and Dan, which were patronized by these ten tribes of apostate descendants of Isaac through Jacob or Israel.—1 Ki. 12:28-33.

Concerning King Asa of the kingdom of Judah it is written: “He took away the foreign altars, and the high places, and brake down the pillars, and hewed down the Asherim, and commanded Judah to seek Jehovah, the God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment. Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun-images: and the kingdom was quiet before him.” Yet later it is recorded concerning his reign: “But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.” And of his successor Jehoshaphat we read: “And his heart was lifted up in the ways of Jehovah: and furthermore he took away the high places and the Asherim out of Judah.” But of his reign also we later read: “Howbeit the high places were not taken away.”—2 Chron. 14:3-5; 15:17; 17:6; 20:33, AS.

How can these apparent contradictions be explained? It seems evident that the high places in Judah fell into two classes, one where pagan gods were worshiped and the other where Jehovah was worshiped. There was to be no toleration of the high places of the Canaanites where their idolatries were practiced: “You must drive away all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their stone figures, and all their images of molten metal you should destroy and all their sacred high places you should annihilate.” But even after the tabernacle was established and still later the temple, there was some sacrificing done to Jehovah on high places which was acceptable to him, the sacrificing done by Samuel and David and Elijah, for example. Also, some improper modes of high-place worship were carried on in Jehovah’s name, and for this reason may have persisted longer than the high places devoted to pagan gods. Even the idolatrous calf worship at Sinai was called “a festival to Jehovah.”—Num. 33:52; Ex. 32:5, NW; 1 Sam. 9:11-19; 1 Chron. 21:26; 1 Ki. 18:30-39.

So it may be that these kings removed all the high places devoted to pagan gods but allowed those where Jehovah was worshiped to remain. If that is the case, then their purging work was not thorough and complete, because in general the proper place for sacrificing to Jehovah was at the tabernacle or temple, and when it was acceptably done elsewhere it was a special case. (Deut. 12:2-14; Josh. 22:29) Yet with the two classes of high places in mind it could be said that the kings removed all of one kind but those of the other class remained.

Or it is possible that Asa removed all the high places of both kinds but that they persisted secretly or cropped up again toward the end of his reign, and were present for his successor Jehoshaphat to smash again, only to have them again go underground and break out later on. Whether we view the explanation to be on the basis of two classes of high places or on the basis of their return after once being overthrown, we must still recognize a revival of the high places, for if they had not returned after Asa overthrew them there would have been none for his successor to smash. Certainly the people were persistent and tenacious in clinging to and returning to demon worship.

Announcements

LIVING NOW AS A NEW WORLD SOCIETY—Matt. 19:28, 29, NW.

The expression “the New World Society” is becoming more and more prominent with each passing day. Just what is it? The New World society is a group of people, Christian people, organized and working together in a common work, meeting together regularly and worshiping the one true God, and striving to live according to a common standard, God’s standard. Being located in 159 different lands its members spread beyond the bounds of any one nation or empire. But regardless of their individual location, one and all look to and serve Jehovah God. During December Jehovah’s witnesses and their companions in all 159 lands will work together, well organized to call at the homes of as many people as they can with Bible truths and aids to Bible study. Three books and three booklets will be offered on a contribution of $1.50, or the New World Translation of the Hebrew or Greek Scriptures and one book on a contribution of $2. The placing of this literature will enable many more to start learning and living for the new world.

ARE YOUR PLANS LAID?

Though it seems almost no time since Jehovah’s witnesses gathered for their 1954 district assemblies, it is already time to lay your plans for the 1955 gatherings. Such cities as Chicago, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Dallas, New York, London, Paris, Rome, Nuremberg, Stockholm and The Hague will be scenes of theocratic rejoicing, Christian fellowship and spiritual encouragement. Thousands of Jehovah’s witnesses will attend four, five or more of these assemblies, especially those in Europe. Will you join this enthusiastic group of conventioners traveling to Europe, benefiting from the rich spiritual feasts that will be provided? being stirred to greater activity through the zeal of the brothers you meet in other lands? and being a strength and encouragement to them by your presence there? If you have not yet decided which assemblies you can attend and how you will get there, then now is the time to talk to your local congregation servant and make definite plans. Do it now! June is only six months away, and the first convention will be under way.

A WORLD-WIDE REPORT

To the headquarters of the Watchtower Society, from all directions, have come reports of the inspiring work Jehovah’s witnesses have done as another year of their activity comes to a conclusion. Compiled into a comprehensive record the 1955 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses brings you the account of their world-wide ministerial work. The entire book is filled with interesting and true accounts and happenings they have experienced in preaching the kingdom of God as the only hope for mankind. You will be amazed and inspired on reading this absorbing report. Also, the Yearbook contains helpful texts and comments for each day of 1955. Order your copy for 50 cents right away. As a companion publication to the Yearbook is the 1955 calendar displaying the yeartext with appropriate illustration. Calendars are 25 cents each or five to one address for $1. Order now.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES

Week of January 16: Prospects of Fearers of Jehovah for 1955, ¶1-22.

Week of January 23: Prospects of Fearers of Jehovah for 1955, ¶23-25; also, Freedom from Fear in 1955.

Check Your Memory

After reading this issue of “The Watchtower,” do you remember—

✔ How the Christmas celebration really originated? P. 740, ¶2.

✔ What part the pagan Saturnalia plays in the history of Christmas? P. 742, ¶1.

✔ What effect the Christmas season has on the number of crimes committed? P. 743, ¶6.

✔ What happened in the 1870’s to start the restoration of pure worship? P. 745, ¶2.

✔ What the order of procedure was at the Watch Tower’s annual meeting? P. 746, ¶1.

✔ What the real source of prosperity is? P. 748, ¶1.

✔ Why Jehovah’s servants are truly happy today? P. 749, ¶5.

✔ What especially precious riches the Jehovah-fearing man now has? P. 752, ¶15.

✔ Why the Jehovah-fearing man is like a light that shines in darkness? P. 753, ¶18.

✔ How to have goodness like Jehovah’s? P. 754, ¶21.

✔ Why the man of God does not fear his enemies? P. 757, ¶3.

✔ What promise Jehovah makes to the giver of spiritual things? P. 760, ¶12.

✔ Why the wicked are offended by Jehovah’s goodness to his people? P. 762, ¶17.

✔ What the “high places of Isaac” were? P. 763, ¶3.

Scripture Index for Texts Explained, 1954

GENESIS

1:11, 12, 21 62

1:26 115, 323

1:28 158

2:5, 6 573

2:7 518

2:15 158

2:15-17 585

2:16, 17 244

2:17 627

2:23, 24 561

3:1-5 187

3:4, 5 498

3:4-6 274

3:5, 6 247

3:7 245

3:13 499

3:15 273, 497

3:16 415

3:16-19 247

3:21 286

3:24 245

4:3-5 286

4:26 144

6:1, 2 243

6:1-4 331

6:5-8 190, 421

6:5, 11 331

6:6 190

7:2 127

7:2, 9 127

7:9, 15 127

7:11 382

8:13 382

8:20 127

8:21 281

9:1 575

9:3, 4 286

9:4 282

10:8-11 687

10:9 145

Chap. 14 600

14:17-20 688

23:7, 12 317

24:43 350, 351

31:48-53 246

33:3, 6, 7 317

37:35 518

39:1 703

47:31 318

EXODUS

2:8 350

4:25, 26 433

9:16 106, 466

12:2 382

12:3, 8 287

12:12 688

12:38, 48, 49 703

13:4 382

14:13, 14 702

15:3 687

19:5, 6 209, 249

20:5 250

20:7 744

20:17 94

21:23, 24 81

21:28 286

26:14 286

32:1-14 539

32:5 763

32:32, 33 122

33:11, 18, 19 667

34:6, 7 667

34:14 250

34:18 382

34:22 382

34:22-24 383

LEVITICUS

1:5, 10, 14 286

10:6 447

11:44, 45 306

13:59 286

15:16-18 690

16:29-31 383

17:3-6 286

17:13, 14 286

17:15, 16 287

18:5 251

19:17 234

19:18 234, 563

20:2 250

21:1-3, 10 447

21:16-24 214

24:17-23 703

25:9, 10 383

25:10 730

NUMBERS

1:1-50 697

2:32, 33 697

4:6-14 286

6:6, 7 279

10:2, 8, 10 693

13:2 127

15:15, 16 703

21:14 687

22:1 693

23:19 190

31:1-7 693

33:52 763

34:18 127

35:15 703

35:31 285

DEUTERONOMY

6:15 457

7:16 741, 743

12:2-14 764

12:15, 16, 20-24 286

13:6-10 250

14:21 223

15:7 94

20:1-4 693

20:5-9 695

21:10-13 691

23:1 703

23:9-14 690

23:14 684

23:21-23 598

26:5 703

28:52, 53, 64-66, 68 441

28:58, 59 750

31:10, 11 383

31:12 50, 669

32:2 574

32:4 121

32:4, 5 671

32:43 317, 318

JOSHUA

3:12 127

10:14, 42 688

22:29 764

JUDGES

20:16 243

21:25 534

1 SAMUEL

1:1 703

2:30 543

9:11-19 763

15:1-23 687

15:11 190

15:29 190

18:17 689

21:1-6 689

25:28 689

2 SAMUEL

8:18 699

10:1-7 536

11:6-11 691

12:26-30 536

15:18, 19 699

15:30 447

20:7, 23 699

21:20 127

1 KINGS

1:33, 38, 44 63

1:38, 44 699

2:5 537

2:6 538

2:28-35 538

12:28-33 763

18:30-39 763

2 KINGS

1:8 286

2:23, 24 60

11:5-7 382

1 CHRONICLES

6:22-28 703

16:1 382

18:17 699

21:26 763

24:1-19, 31 382

24:10, 18 382

2 CHRONICLES

5:11 382

7:10 383

8:14 382

13:3, 10-18 694

14:3-5 763

15:17 763

17:6 763

20:1-29 695

20:15 702

20:33 763

23:8 382

31:2 382

35:4 382

EZRA

2:36-39 382

3:6 383

3:10 382

4:7-24 191

NEHEMIAH

2:1 191

5:14 191

10:7, 8 382

12:1-4 382

ESTHER

1:1 191

3:6 721

8:11, 12 721

8:17 731

9:2, 3 731

9:16 721

JOB

Chap. 1 390

1:9-11 275

Chap. 2 390

2:4, 5 275

7:7 490

13:15 468

14:13 518

31:24, 25, 28 496

33:28 753

38:5-7 330

38:31 572

PSALMS

Ps. 2 407

2:1, 2 438, 443, 473

2:11, 12 31

7:13 671

16:8 755

17:8 728

18:8 753

27:14 538

29:9 315

30:5 222

33:12 731

34:7 330

34:14 664

37:11, 29 631

37:12, 13, 17 758

37:21 594

37:25, 26 755

37:34 538

39:1 596

39:11 496

40:7, 8 136

45:9, 10 488

45:16 277, 523

50:16-21 199

58:3 587

58:8 762

68:25 350

71:18 751

84:7 9

89:3, 4 183

89:34-37 474

90:2 319

92:10-12 761

92:12, 14, 15 489

97:7 317, 318

102:13-18 152

103:1-5 8

106:44, 45 190

107:10-14 753

110:1, 2 339

110:2 407, 487

110:2-4 185

110:3 670, 702

111:9 750

111:10 749

Ps. 112 748, 749

112:1 749, 750

112:2 751

112:3 753

112:4 753, 754

112:5 754, 755, 759

112:6 755, 756

112:7 748, 757

112:8 758

112:9 759, 760, 761

112:10 762

118:24, 20 222

119:69, 70 592

122:6, 8, 9 664

132:3-5 213

132:8, 9, 13, 14 213

133:1-3 573

139:21, 22 234

Ps. 145 7, 17

145:4 751

145:6 13

145:11 4

145:14-16 8

149:5 222

PROVERBS

1:26, 27 759

3:5, 6 639

3:9 94

4:18 638, 658

6:16-19 587

6:20-23 54

6:23 327, 539

8:18 752

8:22-36 79

8:22, 30 186

8:30 397

8:36 243

10:7 118, 281

10:13 55

10:24, 25 758

10:29, 30 756

11:2 327

11:4 752

11:7 281

11:13 592

11:14 327

11:17 235, 571

11:24, 25 760

11:25, 17 233

12:18 567

13:10 327

13:24 567

14:5 591

14:12 48

14:25 476

14:31 760

15:22 327

15:23 567

16:4 671

16:18 327

16:32 234

16:33 95

17:10 55

17:17 573

17:22 647

17:27, 28 420

18:18 95

18:19 570, 571

18:24 573

19:2 55, 243

19:12 574

19:17 759

21:23 566

22:6 53

23:26 189, 660

25:11 304, 567

25:21, 22 563

26:26, 18, 19 595

27:11 190, 390

27:12 728

27:17 555

28:1 555

29:21 54

29:23 327

30:5 456

30:5, 6 587

30:19 350, 569

ECCLESIASTES

4:9-12 569

5:4 651

5:8 422

7:16 419

7:18 419

7:29 671

8:11 55

8:11-14 422

9:5, 10 118

9:10 4

12:1 52

12:7 279, 362

SONG OF SOLOMON

1:3 350

2:15 286

6:8 350

8:6 235

ISAIAH

1:15 622

1:18 328, 456

2:2, 3 445, 584

2:2-4 700

5:20, 21 73

6:5-7 343

6:11, 12 342

7:14 350, 351

8:12, 13 729, 757

8:18 351

9:6 751

9:6, 7 78

9:7 153, 159

10:22 442

11:9 201

13:1-4 686

14:13, 14 186, 332

14:24 190, 465

26:2 222

26:3 78

26:14 281

26:21 543

28:15-17 588

28:16 179

28:17 185

28:22 624

29:19 760

30:11 151

32:1 277, 533

32:1, 2 409

32:2 409

32:15-18 659

33:20, 21 156

33:24 648

34:2 356

35:5, 6 166, 648

40:22 474

40:31 9

43:1, 5-7 411

43:9 411

43:10, 11 412

43:13 473

45:18 158

46:9, 10 115

46:11 190

49:9 730, 753

50:1 434

50:6 511

51:15, 16 408

51:16 188, 728

52:7 670

52:11 658, 698

53:2, 3 670

53:3-9 78

54:13 157, 662

54:17 456

55:1, 2 475

55:6-9 328

57:15 668

59:21 662

60:1, 2 753, 754

60:1-3, 8 410

60:4, 8 153

60:9 153

61:1, 2 634

61:4 156

65:11, 12 94

65:25 91

66:7-9 464

66:8 222

JEREMIAH

7:4-14 479

7:16 624

8:8, 9 551

10:23 48

10:23, 24 56

16:5-7, 11-13 447

18:7-10 190

20:9 728

23:5 78

25:33 447

25:34, 35 381

26:14-16 399

31:32 433

32:34, 35 742

33:6 166, 648

33:15 78

48:10 688

51:27-29 686

EZEKIEL

3:16-21 750

3:20 721

4:6 583

9:1-6 208

9:4 190, 304

16:10 286

18:4, 20 695

21:20-22 685

21:27 479, 583

24:14 190

24:15-24 446

24:16, 17 446

Chap. 28 91

28:13-15 186, 466

28:13-18 332

28:15 186

28:15-19 586

33:1-7 750

33:8 167, 721

34:1-15 406

34:24 208

Chap. 38 542

38:4 733

38:4, 12 341

38:22, 23 616

Chap. 39 542

39:1, 2 733

39:4-7 733

DANIEL

2:35, 44, 45 584

2:44 5, 484

2:46 317

4:15-17 583

5:20 325

7:13, 14 179, 374

9:24-27 43, 383

9:26 439

10:1, 13, 20 339

10:12-21 331

11:31 444

11:40 710

12:1-3 338

12:4 751

12:7 338

12:11 338

12:12 343

12:13 87

HOSEA

14:4, 5 574

JOEL

2:32 729

3:9 686

AMOS

7:9 763

8:11 40, 454

9:11-15 149

OBADIAH

vs 16 281

vs 21 214

JONAH

3:10 190

MICAH

3:7 447

4:1-3 700

4:5 414

5:2 78

5:7 574

6:8 593

7:8, 9 753

NAHUM

1:9 328

ZEPHANIAH

2:1-3 408

2:3 327

3:8 477

3:14, 17 664

HAGGAI

2:7 652

2:7-9 701

ZECHARIAH

4:9, 10 346

8:23 732

14:1, 2 341

14:8 346

MALACHI

1:11 615

3:1, 2 380

3:1-4 341

3:6 190, 465

3:16-18 120, 121

3:17 122

MATTHEW

1:22, 23 375

1:25 70

2:2, 8, 11 317

2:22, 23 44

3:2 630

3:4 286

3:11 135, 606, 650

3:13-15 135, 649

3:16 607

3:17 682

4:1-11 486

4:4 291

4:9, 10 331

4:10 31, 318

5:3 759

5:5 631

5:6, 3 291

5:7 571

5:7, 22-24 735

5:14-16 753

5:15 15

5:43-48 666

5:48 754

6:1-4 760

6:5 623

6:7, 8 623

6:14, 15 571

6:20 671

6:22, 23 235

6:24 699

6:33 508

7:6 556

7:7-11 554

7:13, 14 199

7:16-20 94

7:21 39

7:22, 23 476

9:17 286

10:5-15 510

10:8 475, 759

10:14, 15 85

10:16 728

10:17-20 598

10:33 596

10:39 501

10:41, 42 155

11:16, 17 50

11:19 639

11:28, 29 668

11:28-30 233

12:1-8 254

12:3, 4 689

12:30 488

12:34 600

13:28-30, 39 151

13:44 503

13:54-56 70

15:1-6 670

15:8, 9 744

15:14 510

15:30 164

16:1-4 373

16:6, 11, 12 40

16:18 697

16:19 402

16:24 636

16:26 554

17:27 287

18:15-17 594, 734, 735

19:16, 17 246

20:26-28 568

22:21 533

22:30 244, 575

22:46 326

Chap. 23 85

23:12 327

23:38, 39 149

Chap. 24 434

24:2 439

24:3 632

24:3-16 443

24:14 369, 533, 625

24:15, 16 438, 464

24:15-20 356

24:30 374

24:31 151

24:34 221, 375, 478

24:37 575

24:40-42 376

24:45 163, 638

24:45, 46 231, 412

24:45-47 532

24:48-51 370, 377

25:1-13 380

25:15, 23 407

25:21 664

25:21, 23 174

25:31-33 370

25:34-40 277

25:40, 45 443

25:41 301

25:41-46 300

25:41, 46 519

26:17-21 287

26:26 174

26:27, 28 174

26:29 174, 175

26:39 174, 242

26:39-44 479

26:47 607

26:52-54 607

26:63-65 597

26:69-75 598

27:26 511

28:19 651

28:19, 20 138

MARK

2:1-12 511

5:43 165

6:9 286

6:14 45

9:43 164

9:47, 48 519

10:17, 18, 21 666

12:25 575

12:40 623

Chap. 13 434

13:15, 16 440

14:65 511

LUKE

1:5, 8, 9 382

1:5, 19, 23, 24 383

1:26, 36 383

1:36 71

2:6, 7 383

2:7 70

3:3 135

3:9 381

3:23 383

5:4-6 287

6:35 593

6:35, 36 666

6:36 754

6:38 233

8:15 659

8:31 244

9:62 406, 651

10:2 411

10:18 330

11:27, 28 71

12:22, 25-30 233

12:32 630

12:42-44 377

12:45, 46 377

12:47 410

14:7-11 159

14:10 31

14:12-14 95

15:7 190

16:1-8 596

16:9 132

16:10 95

16:19-23 109

16:24-31 111

17:26, 27 488

17:26-30 356

17:34, 35 376, 712

18:6-8 227

18:14 159

18:18, 19 754

19:13 407

19:41-44 439

20:27-33 575

20:34-36 575

20:38 281

Chap. 21 434

21:12, 13 340

21:20, 21 25, 464

21:20-22 438

21:21 439

21:24 407

21:25, 26 105, 431, 483

21:26-31 188

21:28 483, 749

21:29-32 483

21:34 507

22:19 175

22:20 175

22:38 607

22:39-43 278

23:43 575

24:42, 43 287

JOHN

1:12, 13 682

1:29 78

1:29-34 252

2:1-5 71

2:18-21 149

3:3 681

3:5 682

3:13 518

3:16 497

3:16, 17 562

4:14 314

4:22-24 31

4:23, 24 318

4:35, 36 411

5:22, 23 31

5:23 319

5:26 284

5:28, 29 117, 277, 280, 301, 523

5:29 502

5:39, 44 231

7:8 598

7:37 383

8:31, 32, 34, 36 298

8:44 330, 587

10:10 497

10:16 208, 631

10:30 626

10:36 309

11:38-44 63, 283

12:6 593

13:34, 35 573

14:1-3 159

14:2 158

14:6 150

14:6, 14 622

14:12 63, 165

14:27 665

14:28 626

14:30 730

15:1 661

15:8 299, 314, 659

15:16 31

16:23-26 31

16:33 455

17:3 616

17:6-19 307

17:9 624

17:17 309

17:25 614

18:36 179

18:37 469, 587

20:22 683

21:15-17 479

ACTS

1:6-8 639

1:8 63, 340

2:14-41 401

2:26, 27 279

2:27 279

2:29, 34 518

2:30, 31 183

2:38 135, 607

2:46, 47 530

4:12 77, 458

4:25-27 438

5:29 699, 750

5:40, 41 503

5:42 510, 530

7:57 326

8:5, 14, 27-39 703

8:27 703

8:28-31 515

10:9-16 479

10:34 621

10:44, 47 683

12:20-23 47

15:1, 2 535

15:29 286

15:36 16

17:11 588

17:18 402

17:22, 23 403

17:24-28 404

17:29 404

17:32-34 404

18:25, 26 607

19:2-6 607

19:4 135

19:19 735

20:20 510

20:20, 21, 24 531

20:24 405

20:29, 30 443

20:35 233

21:25 286

23:6-10 415

23:11 415

24:15 277, 500

25:10-12 723

26:5 415

26:22 471

26:24 470

ROMANS

1:20 230

1:20-32 297

1:21, 22, 24, 28, 32 73

1:21-23, 25 361

1:25 589

2:1-5 379

2:28, 29 749

3:4 299, 328

3:20 251

3:23 243

4:7, 8 254

4:17 281

5:2-5 504

5:12 247

5:13, 14 249

5:17-19 458

5:18, 19 253

6:12-20 308

6:15 658

7:7 94, 251

8:16, 17 176

8:20 497

8:24 498

8:25 503

8:28 242, 297, 337

8:29, 30 27

8:37 455

9:17 466, 614

9:19-24 281

10:5 251

10:10 509

10:17 465, 635

11:2 241

12:1, 2 298

12:2 89, 281, 552

12:9 564

12:10 568

12:12 503

12:17 93

13:1 347

13:12 506

13:13 663

14:2, 3 426

14:4 415

15:3, 4 528

15:4 504

15:13 496

15:16 310

16:17 510

16:18 564

1 CORINTHIANS

1:10 621

1:18-21 474

1:26-29 328

1:30 309

2:6-10 158

2:9 158

3:6, 7, 10, 13 661

4:1-5 376

4:6, 7 325

4:9 476

5:6-8 174

5:11 735

6:1-10 595

6:9-11 286

7:12-14 316

7:23 555

7:29 691

9:24-27 101

9:25, 27 668

10:3, 4 175

10:16, 17 174

10:23 508

10:25-33 426

11:31, 32 669

13:5 234, 570, 735

13:8, 11 646

13:13 502

14:26-33 511

15:12-20 274

15:19 273

15:20 518

15:20-22 276

15:22, 23 277

15:23 220

15:24 278

15:33 52, 509

15:40 282

15:42, 44, 50 220

15:44, 35-38 282

15:50 158, 458

15:51, 52 277, 501

16:14 563

2 CORINTHIANS

1:20 184

2:11 399

2:14-16 615

2:17 40

3:18 124

4:1, 2 40

4:4 178

4:7 202

6:1 264

6:4, 6, 7 564

6:10 760

6:14-18 745

7:1 202

8:21 93

9:7 95

9:9-11 759

9:10, 11 760

10:2-7 698

10:4 729

11:5, 12-15 529

12:2 479

GALATIANS

1:4 188

1:14 657

1:18, 19 533

2:14, 16 657

3:3 657

3:23, 24 251

4:9, 10 648

4:10, 11 742

4:26 403, 459

5:18 658

5:19-24 102

5:19, 22 657

5:20 234

5:22, 23 675, 660, 667

5:23 661

5:25 662

5:25, 26 659

6:1 668

6:6 19, 530

6:9 556

EPHESIANS

1:4, 5 27

1:9-12 664

1:18 245

1:21 255

2:1 166

2:8 229

2:20-22 531

3:14-19 31

4:15, 16 600

4:22-24 61, 121, 663

4:24 281

4:25 590

4:26 234

4:26, 32 735

4:28 95

4:32 571, 666

5:1 571

5:1, 2 661

5:3 202

5:8, 9 660

5:24 124

5:26 682

6:1-3 60

6:4 55

6:10-13 697

6:11-17 455

6:11, 17 507

6:12 486

6:14-20 701

6:17 20, 724

PHILIPPIANS

1:7 724

1:20 732

2:1-4 572

2:4, 5 570

2:5-11 318

2:9 276

2:9-11 31

2:10, 11 318

2:20, 21 508

2:25, 27 647

3:5 415

3:8 508

3:11 220

3:13 405, 507

3:16, 17 662

3:20, 21 276

4:2 572

COLOSSIANS

1:18 682

2:8 742

2:14 607

2:16 648

2:23 658

3:5 457

3:5-10 61

3:9, 10 552

3:12-14 572

3:21 55

4:6 567

4:14 647

1 THESSALONIANS

1:3 503

2:19, 20 312, 762

4:1 307

4:1-4 305

4:2 314

4:3 305

4:4-6 313

4:7 316

4:8 312

4:11, 12 93

4:13 502

4:16, 17 277, 377

4:18 567

5:2-5 380

5:8 284, 506

5:12 761

5:21 510

2 THESSALONIANS

1:6-10 90

1:7, 8 370

2:8 370

2:9-12 589

2:13-15 309, 311

3:2 229

3:6 735

3:10, 12 93

1 TIMOTHY

1:5 564

1:11 241

1:16 665

1:19 599

2:1, 2 727

2:4 86

2:5, 6 88

2:14 455

4:2 75

4:6 397

4:8 657

4:15, 16 207

5:1, 2 566

5:3-14 670

5:6 167

5:8 93

5:11, 12 670

5:22 432

5:23 647

6:8, 9 507

6:9, 10 131

6:10 94

6:12 702, 755

6:13, 14 103

6:17-19 752

2 TIMOTHY

1:7 732

2:2, 5 3

2:3, 4 699

2:4 507

2:5 103

2:11, 12 176

2:15 185

2:19 185

2:23 556

2:23-26 510

3:1 185

3:3 668

3:12 755

3:13-17 589

4:8 372

4:10 507

4:13 286

4:20 647

TITUS

1:10-12 593

2:11-14 90

2:12, 13 509

HEBREWS

1:3 276

1:4-6 317

1:6 31, 317, 318

1:7-14 397

2:1 506

2:15 81, 279

2:18 245

3:14 195

4:4, 5, 9 222

4:12 701

5:1 215

5:5, 6, 10 216

5:6 209

6:16 180

6:16-18 505

6:18 181

6:19 184, 505

7:20, 21, 28 182

Chap. 8 182

8:5 116

8:6 182

Chap. 9 182

9:24 215

10:5, 7 136

10:22 599

10:23 509

10:25 751

10:26, 27 90

10:32, 33 505

10:33 476

10:36 503

11:1 230, 455, 499

11:5 285

11:6 114, 259

11:10 181, 499

11:10, 35 277

11:13, 16 500

11:21 318

11:25, 26 500

11:35 519

11:40 500

12:1, 2 116, 503

12:2 664

12:7-11 246

12:9, 11 54

12:11 669

13:5, 6 233

JAMES

1:1 533

1:2, 3 504

1:9, 10 234

1:14, 15 74, 247, 499

1:17 190, 241

1:17, 18 667

1:18 683

1:21 202

1:27 454

2:1-8 563

2:5 759

2:14-17 567

2:17 456, 667

2:23 467, 521

3:5-8 567

3:13, 14 590

4:1-4 701

4:3 624

4:4 434, 679

1 PETER

1:1, 2 697

1:2 312

1:3-5 212

1:4 276, 282

1:13 369

1:22 564

1:23 683

2:4, 5 182

2:4-6 212

2:4-10 697

2:8, 9 184

2:9 465

2:17 568

2:19, 20 600

2:21 510

3:12 622

3:13, 14 726

3:14, 15 757

3:18 629

4:3-8 553

4:8 735

4:17 185, 532

5:5, 6 327

5:6 528

5:7 233

5:8 59

2 PETER

1:4 282

1:5 205

2:4 331

2:4, 5 243

2:5 467

2:7-9 468

2:9 671

2:12 245, 286, 426

3:3, 4 711

3:4, 13 35

3:5, 7, 13 181

3:7 356, 477

3:8 222

3:9-12 380

3:10 543

1 JOHN

1:6, 7 599

1:9, 10 522

2:1 522

2:2 522

2:3, 4 599

2:22 599

3:2 276

3:10-12 563

3:15 234, 285

3:17 567

3:18 567

4:8-10 562

4:10, 11 661

4:17, 18 234

4:18 758

4:20, 21 564, 592

5:4 452

5:19 355

5:21 457

3 JOHN

vs 9-11 538

vs 11 667

JUDE

vs 3, 4 13

vs 9 277

vs 20, 21 567

REVELATION

1:1, 2 318

1:5, 6 213

2:10 338

2:18, 23 585

3:9 31, 318

3:14 397

4:8 479

4:10 31

4:11 213

5:9 86

5:14 31

7:1-3 375

7:4-14 153

7:9 87, 277, 315

7:9, 10 208, 501

7:9, 13 153

7:10 315

7:11 31

7:14 523

7:15 315

9:21 287

11:7-13 342

11:8-10, 15, 18 443

11:16 31

11:18 424, 451

12:1-6 459

12:1, 2, 5, 10 374

12:7, 8 339

12:7-9 375

12:7-9, 12 484

12:7, 9, 12 487

12:7, 10 277

12:9 614

12:12 200

12:17 380

13:7 380

14:1 522

14:7 31

14:2-4 342

14:4 31

17:1, 2 444

17:1-3, 8, 16, 17, 14 680

17:3 444

17:8, 12-14 444

17:11 444

17:14 407, 487

17:15 505

17:16, 17 444

18:4 356, 658

19:4, 10 31

19:6, 7 478

19:10 31, 318

19:11-16 339, 407

19:14 615

19:15 486

Chap. 20 301

20:1-3 484

20:1-3, 7-15 752

20:1-10, 14 523

20:5 278

20:6 209, 218, 276

20:7-9 575

20:11-15 301

20:12, 15 575

20:14 520

21:1 506

21:1, 4 488

21:2-5 113

21:8 585, 732

21:14, 19 182, 529

22:1, 2 314

22:1-3 113

22:9 18, 31, 318

22:10, 11 113

22:14, 15 589

22:16 318

22:17 19, 297, 750

Subject Index for “The Watchtower,” 1954

Actions Belie Preaching 396

Advance of the New World Society in South America 168

Aiding the “Desire of All Nations” to Come In 652

Aid to Understanding 163

All, “Stand Firm” 311

Ancestor Worship—Its Folly 361

“And Walk Humbly with Thy God 302

Apology Accepted 228

Archelaus, the Ruthless Ethnarch 44

Are You Holding Fast Your Confidence? 195

Assemblies in the West Indies 391

Bearing Fruit in Old Age 489

“Become Doers of the Word, and Not Hearers Only” 20

Become Skilled in Your Work 93

Best of Manners, The 357

Better Immoral than One of Jehovah’s Witnesses? 191

Big Brazil Sees Expansion 364

Bishop Decries Losses 447

Brazil’s Religious Crisis 381

Burner of Bible Literature Burns Idols 108

Burning His Juju Converts African 574

Can Christians Change the World? 355

Celebrating the Lord’s Evening Meal 173

Change of Heart Needed, A 303

Chedorlaomer Really Was There 600

Choosing Your Own Food 291

Christian Warrior, The 696

Christians Live the Truth 590

Communists Convert Catholic Clergy 28

Conquering Power of Faith, The 452

Contending According to the Rules? 3

Daily Blessing the New World Sovereign’s Name 606

Death—a Door to What? 516

Declared Righteous by Jehovah 521

Dedication and Annual Meeting 745

Disciplining Children for Life 54

Does God Have a Hand in Man’s Wars? 197

Does God Really Care? 420

Do You Respect Plagiarists? 36

Do You Say, “Send Me”? 620

Educating Ourselves for Peace and Life 549

“Eminent Christian of a Rare Kind, An”? 459

Endurance Through Hope 502

Engage in the Pastoral Work with the Shepherd-Prince 208

European Assemblies in 1955 733

Examples of Recognizing the Organization 534

‘Faint out of Fear and Expectation’ 431

False Shepherd’s Flock Obtains Truth 26

False Shepherds versus The True 319

Fight for Freedom to Preach World-wide 721

Finding Hearing Ears in Thailand 92

Finding the Greater Happiness in Giving 260

Flee for Your Life! 581

Folly of Apathy, The 35

Foxhole Faith Is Not True Faith 259

Freedom from Fear in 1955 756

Freedom from Fear—It Can be Attained! 105

Free Will 297

Fruitage of the Spirit, The 657

Gilead Graduates 22nd Class 264

Giving Impetus to Theocratic Expansion in Chile, Bolivia and Paraguay 236

Giving with the Right Motive 261

Herod Agrippa I, Persecutor of Christians 46

Herod Agrippa II Resists Conversion 47

Herod Antipas, “That Fox” 45

Herod the Great, Wanton Murderer 41

Holding a New World Society Assembly Nationwide in Argentina 265

“Holy Horrors” and “Pius Junk” 363

Hope for the Living and the Dead 707

Hope of a New Earth, The 579

How God Gives Faith 229

Immortality of the Soul 695

In Behalf of Religious Liberty 560

Individually Choosing the Destiny of Eternal Life 27

Is Faith Healing Scriptural? 644

Is Veneration of Mary Idolatry? 457

Is World Unity a Dream? 676

Jehovah’s “Book of Remembrance” 119

Jehovah’s Witnesses Increase in Korea 492

Jew Teaches Moslem Christianity 19

Joyful Work of Spiritual Healing, The 164

Keeping a Clean Organization of Talkers 13

Keeping Integrity in Communist Germany 413

Last Stop—British Guiana 460

Legal Foundations of the New World, The 177

Letter Regarding “New Heavens and a New Earth” 90

Lies Lead to Loss of Life 585

Life with Jehovah’s Witnesses in Africa 524

“Likeness of Melchizedek.” The 216

Living Now as a New World Society 734

Looking Forward to Real Living 547

Maintaining Sanctification 304

Maintaining the Way of Favor 375

Make Wise Use of the Remaining Time 553

Making a Wise Choice 310

Making Friends with the Danakil 557

Making Known the Good News in a Jewish Synagogue 617

Man Created with Urge to Worship 323

Man’s Best Hope for Peace 451

May Christians Eat Meat? 425

Meaning of Baptism Today 136

Meaning of John’s Baptism 133

Meaning of the World’s Woes, The 483

Memory of God, The 113

Message of Encouragement and Value, A 611

Mind of the African, The 349

Miracle of Resurrection, The 273

Missing the Mark of Integrity 241

More Missing than Links 67

Moses versus the Scientists 541

“Most Spectacular in Modern History” 471

Never Fighting Illegally or Quitting World-wide Preaching 727

“Never in Such a Mess” 548

New World Society Advances in Peru 205

New World Society in the Guianas, The 428

1954 District Assemblies World-wide 713

1926 Ushers In a Time of Great Happiness 337

No 100-Yard Dash! 637

“Observe the Commandment in a Spotless and Irreprehensible Way” 101

Observe the Sabbath? 648

“Old Men and Children” Praise Jehovah 140

“On the Other Side of the Elbe” 669

Origin of Christmas and Its Spirit 740

“Past All Moral Sense” 72

People with a Purpose, A 465

Power of Hope, The 496

Preaching Behind the Iron Curtain 272

Pride Destroys, Meekness Saves 325

Priest Apologizes for Lies 125

Priests with the Theocratic Army 692

Prospects of Fearers of Jehovah for 1955 748

Purpose of Your Witnessing, The 472

Ransom Merit of Jesus Christ, The 77

Rearing Children in the New World Society 48

Recognizing the Theocratic Organization for Life 528

“Relaxed Holiday Crowd, A” 368

“Release by Ransom” 83

Relic Finds Uphold Bible’s Authenticity 296

Religion Goes Modern 53

Religion in Politics Means War with God 432

Religious Leaders Marry? 639

Repairers and Restorers of True Religion 141

Requirements for the Ministry 397

Restoration of True Religion Today 149

Resurrection Our Strength-giving Hope 278

Revelation of Jesus Christ, The 369

Rich Man and Lazarus—Parable or Narrative? The 109

Royal Priesthood, The 209

Sacredness of Our Warfare, The 684

Scriptural Aspect of Psychosomatic Medicine 232

Scripture Index for Texts Explained, 1954 765

Sensible View of Money, The 131

Sequel to Solana Attack 601

Sobering News 332

Solving Problems Between Brothers 695

Spiritual Apathy Torments Clergy 99

Spreading Theocratic Cheer Through Argentina 292

Stability and Permanence 184

Subject Index for The Watchtower, 1954 767

Take Flight to the Mountains for Safety 464

Taking Teaching from Jehovah 157

The Watchtower Gives Refugee New Hope 604

They Shall Talk of the Glory of Jehovah’s Kingdom 4

Thirteen-Year-Old Berlin Girl Keeps Integrity 605

This Generation’s Disgusting Alliance 442

“This Good News of the Kingdom” 625

Threats Fail to Shake Converted Sikh 104

“Time of the End,” The 709

Tobacco Habit—Compatible with Christianity? The 201

Today’s Right Kind of Ministers 405

To Listen and Learn? 669

True Love Is Practical 561

Truth About Jehovah Brings Joy to Montreal Family 620

Understanding God’s Word Means Life 515

Uruguay 333

Walking in Good Behavior 663

Walking in Jehovah’s Name Forever 414

Warning of Assault by Gog of Magog 542

Watch Your Strength! 419

Watering Down Christianity 387

Way for Man’s Attainment to Perfect Integrity, The 248

What Hope for Permanent World Peace? 485

What Is This Christmas Spirit? 739

‘What You Sow You Will Reap’ 368

Where Do You Seek Security? 671

Where Is “This Faith” Found? 227

Who Are Born Again? 681

Who Converted? 381

Who Is Jehovah? 613

Why Fear the Future? 643

Why God Permits Evil 388

Why Prayers Go Unanswered 621

Willing Slaves of Jehovah 649

‘Words Fitly Spoken’ 63

Work Without Loitering or Complaining 348

World Peace—by Whom? 675

Would Christ Have Proclaimed a “Marian Year”? 69

“Your Adversary, the Devil” 329