The Watchtower — July 15, 1955

Should the Bible Be Your Guide?

THERE is a common view that Bible principles do not apply today, that they will not work in this twentieth century. What the Bible says about honesty, justice and integrity is often far from the world’s mind. In fact, even some religious leaders do not think these principles really apply now. One clergyman went so far as to say that those who preach the Sermon on the Mount “have no expectation of trying to practice it, for if they did they would be summarily entombed in wards for the mentally ill.”a

Rather than the Bible’s high principles, enlightened selfishness is often honored today. There is a general view that if you are a businessman a little crime may pay; that if you are a lawyer a certain amount of dishonesty may be the best policy; that integrity is of value only so long as it is financially profitable. A world following the Bible’s principles of peace, unity, upright morals and real Christian love would be so drastically changed from today’s customs that it would seem almost beyond human recognition!

But is the rejecting of such Bible principles practical? Has the materialistic view proved better than the Biblical one? Are two world wars within this generation practical? Is political corruption? the soaring divorce rate? the rising tide of crime and dope addiction? Or do these things show that Jeremiah’s words are true: “It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps”?—Jer. 10:23.

Vast quantities of books have been written and published giving men’s ideas on morals, ethics, human guidance. Probably millions of hours have been spent reading them. “Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.” (Eccl. 12:12) But have these books solved the moral and ethical problems? No, these problems are getting worse. The shoddy contention of self-centered men that God’s Word is impractical falls flat in the light of the evidence that Bible principles do work today. Men who say they will not work identify themselves as men who have not tried them. If they say Bible principles are “visionary,” then they are men without vision. “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”—Prov. 29:18.

Bible principles are the basis of the laws of many nations. They have found their way into our everyday speech, and are the foundation of many of our common ideas. Most people will say that they agree with the Bible’s principles. Probably you do too. But, unhappily, today’s world is not really living by those principles. The Southern Baptist Convention, representing the third-largest religious group in America, stated that the cause for the decay in the standards of public and private morality lie in the thinking and practices of a public that has “all but lost sight of such virtues as honesty, integrity and truthfulness in both public and private and civic affairs.”

This has reached such a point that when we say that the narrow principles of Christianity are of the greatest value today, you may be asking: “What! Do you mean that Bible principles really work now? and that I should apply them even when the people with whom I am dealing do not?” Yes, that is exactly what we mean. An intelligent person cannot afford to overlook them. Come with us through the next article to see that this is true.

[Footnotes]

How Bible Principles Apply to Your Life

The most vital book of all time! What do you really know about it? How will it make you genuinely happier, healthier, more contented? What does it really mean to you? This article presents the clear and simple answer.

DO YOU think Bible principles really apply today, that they are a sound guide for your life? Some people will admit that they do not think these principles are practical. Other people, while not admitting this, will show by their course of action that they do not believe such principles apply now. But let us assure you that the Bible’s principles really do work, that they will make your life a healthier, happier, longer and more enjoyable one.

For example, delinquency could be eliminated through following the Bible’s principles on child raising. Divorces and broken homes can be saved through following its principles on family life. Feelings of anxiety, hostility, inferiority, envy, etc., can be overcome through following its instructions. Even further, religious differences are abolished when the Bible really is accepted by both sides. These are practical matters; they concern your everyday life. But they are only the beginning of the information that the Bible has for you. That further information will be considered in this article after we first see how it is that the Bible’s principles really will improve your daily life.

FAMILY LIFE, CHILD TRAINING, MORALS

The instructions the Bible gives about family life are pointed, simple and clear. Anyone can understand and apply them. Note, not the part that applies to the rest of the family, but the part that applies to you. Apply it, and your family life will be a much happier one: “You wives, be in subjection to your husbands, as it is becoming in the Lord. You husbands, keep on loving your wives and do not be bitterly angry with them. You children, be obedient to your parents in everything, for this is well-pleasing in the Lord. You fathers, do not be exasperating your children, so that they do not become downhearted.” (Col. 3:18-21, NW) Do you say there is no reason for you to apply this instruction to your life because the rest of the family does not? Then remember, their part of it is not your responsibility; your part is. Would the rest of the family’s attitude change if yours changed? Are you setting the right example, or the wrong one? Following this right instruction that puts everything in proper order will overcome contentiousness and reduce personal family dissensions. Try it; it really does work!

The instructions about child training? The responsibility is upon the parents to train the children in the right way. “Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proper parental authority must be exercised: “Withhold not correction from the child; for if thou beat him with the rod, he will not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from Sheol.” However, this should never be in anger, just to ease the parent’s emotions, but should be tempered with mercy, justice and love, and should be consistent, just as Jehovah tempers his discipline with mercy, justice and love and is always consistent. To parents who themselves set the right example, and who properly discharge this obligation, delinquency is no problem.—Prov. 22:6; 23:13, 14, AS.

What about adult morals and the increasing crime that fills our prisons to overflowing? Following the one command, “You must love your neighbor as yourself,” would solve the entire problem. The people do not follow that command? Then their religious leaders have fallen down in teaching the real importance of following such principles today, as the previous article shows. True Christians really do follow that instruction. Further, they remember Paul’s instruction to the Corinthians: “What! Do you not know that unrighteous persons will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be misled. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men kept for unnatural purposes, nor men who lie with men, nor thieves, nor greedy persons, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit God’s kingdom. And yet that is what some of you were.” Yes, any previous course can be changed to the high standard that the Bible commands. And if one wishes to be a true Christian he has no choice but to conform to those high principles.—Matt. 19:19; 1 Cor. 6:9-11, NW.

Jehovah’s witnesses today are living testimony to the fact that Bible principles really are practical in this second half of the twentieth century. The joy, orderliness and unselfish co-operation shown at the assemblies of these people cause much comment. Following the Bible’s principles there are no social inequalities, racial prejudices or nationalism, but these have been replaced with love. It is recognized that all men who serve God are equal. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor freeman, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in union with Christ Jesus.” There is no room for racial hatreds, social inequalities or nationalism among such people. Bible principles have overcome these divisive problems.—Gal. 3:28, NW.

EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCES

Is anxiety a problem? Then practice love, love of God and love of your fellow man. “Practice giving, and people will give to you. They will pour into your laps a fine measure, pressed down, shaken together and overflowing. For with the measure that you are measuring out they will measure out to you in return.” Remember, too, Jesus’ counsel: “Quit being anxious about your souls as to what you will eat or about your bodies as to what you will wear. Who of you by being anxious can add a cubit to his life span? If, therefore, you can not do the least thing, why be anxious about the remaining things?” And, as Paul pointed out, Jehovah has promised his servants: “I will by no means leave you nor by any means forsake you.” Thus, to the true Christian, anxiety should be no problem.—Luke 6:38; 12:22, 25, 26; Heb. 13:5, NW.

Are you hostile, having personal hatred toward others? Then follow the instruction: “Let the sun not set with you in a provoked state.” Do you feel inferior? Then remember: “God chose the ones who are poor respecting the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him, did he not?” Do you envy others? Then remember that all that we have that is of real value comes from God, and if we have his favor we have the greatest thing. And remember, also, that the antidote for envy is generosity, loving one’s fellow as oneself. “Love is long-suffering and obliging. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, does not get puffed up, does not behave indecently, does not look for its own interests, does not become provoked. It does not keep account of the injury.” How many of today’s problems love would solve!—Eph. 4:26; Jas. 2:5; 1 Cor. 13:4, 5, NW.

Such love allows no room for hostility, inferiority or envy, and removing these things from the mind improves not only your mental but also your physical health, because the mind has a great effect upon the body’s well-being. Thus, it is true that “a liberal man will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.” And, “A man who is kind benefits himself.”—Prov. 11:25, 17, RS.

WHY APPLY SUCH PRINCIPLES?

“But why should I practice these principles when other people do not?” “Why should I show love to people who hate me?” “Why should I be honest with people who steal?” “Why should I take my time to help people who have never helped me?” These are common questions. But why not do these things? Why restrict your own happiness just because others throw theirs away? Why follow their bad example rather than letting them see your good one? Just to spite the world, do not take a course of greed that adds to your own unhappiness. You can avoid that by following the right course that Jesus set out. “To this course you were called, because even Christ suffered for you, leaving you a model for you to follow his steps closely. He committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. When he was being reviled, he did not go to reviling in return. When he was suffering, he did not go to threatening, but kept on committing himself to the one who judges righteously.” Can you find a better course to follow than that one? Are you really happier for trying to follow a different course? Then show the strength, determination and integrity necessary to follow the sound, life-giving Bible principles that have here been set out.—1 Pet. 2:21-23, NW.

Serving God may not always prove the most profitable course financially or socially, but it is better even to take a material loss than to lose God’s favor and everlasting life. Not just a more contented life today, but the spiritual benefit that the Bible provides is the most important thing for us. Right thinking is needed. Not religious formalism—the lighting of candles, counting of beads, fasting, singing or just attending a Sunday sermon—but a real warmhearted devotion to righteousness is what we must have. The world’s thinking is vastly different from what God outlined in the Bible. Why is this true? Because Satan is responsible for the world’s thinking. “The god of this system of things has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, that the illumination of the glorious good news about the Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine through.” But you do not have to follow the world’s wrong thinking. You can reject the ways of the present system sponsored by the father of disobedience, Satan, and take the course that is outlined in the Word of the Father of life, Jehovah. To do this you must gain a right knowledge of God’s Word and “quit being fashioned after this system of things, but be transformed by making your mind over, that you may prove to yourselves the good and acceptable and complete will of God.”—2 Cor. 4:4; Rom. 12:2, NW.

THE COURSE TO FOLLOW

We must remember that while today’s clergy often try to please almost everyone, the Bible does not try to please anyone. Anyone who wants to put things in their right order and please God can follow it, but it does not come down to the level of those who do not wish to do that, no matter how many of such people there might be. This Book offers safeguards for the minds and hearts of the men who will accept it. It reveals the mind of the Creator. Through getting a right knowledge of what it says we can make our minds over, putting things in the right order and pleasing God. Psalm 119:9 (AS) puts it very simply: “Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word.”

Now, in all probability your home has a Bible. Most homes do. But just having it is not the important thing. You must know what it says, believe it, apply its instructions, use it as your life guide. As Paul advised Timothy, you must be “a workman with nothing to be ashamed of, handling the word of the truth aright.”—2 Tim. 2:15, NW.

What do you learn from God’s Word? First, that you must avail yourself of Christ’s ransom sacrifice, doing something about it. We read that “the Son of man came . . . to give his soul a ransom in exchange for many.” Note: not for all, but for many. Yes, it is a free gift, but it takes two to make a gift, a giver and a receiver. To accept the ransom you must take a positive action, taking advantage of its provisions. You must recognize Jehovah God as the Supreme Ruler of the universe, the Father of the ransomer, the one to whom “salvation belongeth,” and you must obey the instructions that are contained in his Word. It is through thus faithfully serving him that you show appreciation for the loving provisions that he has made.—Matt. 20:28, NW; Ps. 3:8.

Further, you learn that this is not an isolated action on your part but that you must faithfully and regularly assemble with God’s people, “not forsaking the gathering of ourselves together, as some have the custom, but encouraging one another, and all the more so as you behold the day [of the old world’s end] drawing near.” (Heb. 10:25, NW) Where can you assemble with such people to study such things? Certainly not in the majority of church organizations today where people have been members for forty or fifty years and still are unable to explain the elementary doctrines of Christianity. But you do meet people who can give you such encouragement, and you really do study God’s Word when you attend the regular meetings at the more than 14,000 Kingdom Halls of Jehovah’s witnesses throughout the world.

A third thing you learn when you study the Bible is that you must be diligent in presenting this message to others, telling them of the good things you have learned. In true Christianity there is no room for the apathy that marks most of today’s religions. One whose heart really is filled with joy at receiving the truth will feel compelled to speak it out. “For out of the heart’s abundance his mouth speaks.” It is commanded that the Christian publicly declare this good news, telling it to others; thus this is necessary for your own salvation as well as for the salvation of those who listen to you. “For if you publicly declare that ‘word in your mouth’, that Jesus is Lord, and exercise faith in your heart that God raised him up from the dead, you will be saved.”—Luke 6:45; Rom. 10:9, NW.

You learn, too, that this activity is not just a hobby, diversion or casual pastime, but that it is of vital importance and is a permanent way of life. It is in fulfillment of such a vital mission that, world-wide, Jehovah’s witnesses go from house to house with the message of God’s kingdom, visiting the people in their homes with the good news of his Word. Like the psalmist, they say: “I will sing unto Jehovah as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have any being.” Can one honestly claim to be a Christian while offering God less than that? How much of your effort is thus being spent in helping others to learn of God’s way?—Ps. 104:33, AS.

THE VALUE OF THIS SERVICE

Why is this course of such great value? First, it brings happiness and contentment now. Second, and far more important, it provides Jehovah’s protection through the impending time of trouble. The Bible’s prophecies refer to our day. They warn that ours is earth’s most crucial period when the “accomplished end” of Satan’s wicked rule is at hand. (Matt. 24:14, NW) The graft, violence, insecurity and worry that are so evident today are soon to be abolished. They will cease and righteous conditions will replace them. God has promised: “I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” Would you like to live under those conditions? Then follow the instructions of God’s Word and receive his favor, because “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear, though the earth do change, and though the mountains be shaken into the heart of the seas.”—Isa. 65:17; Ps. 46:1, 2, AS.

Thus, following the Bible’s principles will improve your family life, will help you to raise better children and to have a more peaceful, contented mind. Further, you will see that Christ’s ransom makes it possible for you to benefit from God’s provisions, but that to accept that ransom you must take a positive course of action, must assemble with other Christians and participate with them in God’s service. So, study God’s Word, learn how it will benefit you and what is expected of you. Then follow its sound principles and obey its righteous instructions. Doing so is of vital importance, because it means your very life!

Training to Be a Clergyman

At Pasadena, California, 22-year-old Bernard York, a theological student at Pasadena Nazarene College, pleaded guilty in municipal court to a charge of cat-torturing. The youth admitted that he doused a cat with alcohol and then set the cat ablaze, watching the flames and hearing the shrieks. The judge, who placed the boy on a year’s probation with no jail term, commented that the youth is a “normal, intelligent and industrious student with a background of Christian training and anxious to become a minister.” (Los Angeles Examiner, April 16, 1955) One cannot help but wonder if the boy is training to become a teacher of the sizzling flames and shrieks that make up the fictitious clergy-inspired hell of eternal torment.

Modern History of Jehovah’s Witnesses

Part 14—Fight Carried into the Law Courts

THE Watch Tower Society’s bitter religious opposers next tried to put a legal stop to the thunder of phonographic activity that from 1933 onward had circumvented their radio censorship stranglehold. In a Connecticut court, on complaint of two Roman Catholics, one of Jehovah’s witnesses was convicted as having incited a breach of the peace on April 26, 1938, by playing in their hearing the phonograph record of Judge Rutherford’s speech entitled “Enemies,” boldly exposing activities of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy. That wrongful conviction was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. On May 20, 1940, the high tribunal’s nine justices (including Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes) unanimously ruled in favor of Jehovah’s witnesses. It was held that playing in the hearing of Catholics a phonograph record containing a strong attack upon all religion, and particularly Roman Catholicism, is right conduct fully secured by the United States Constitution and does not amount to a breach of the peace or incitement to commit a breach of the peace. The court said:

“In the realm of religious faith, and in that of political belief, sharp differences arise. In both fields the tenets of one man may seem the rankest error to his neighbor. To persuade others to his own point of view, the pleader, as we know, at times, resorts to exaggeration, to vilification of men who have been, or are, prominent in church or state, and even to false statement. But the people of this nation have ordained in the light of history, that, in spite of the probability of excesses and abuses, these liberties are, in the long view, essential to enlightened opinion and right conduct on the part of the citizens of a democracy.”a

And in 1948, in another Supreme Court triumph for Jehovah’s witnesses, that court said:

“Loud-speakers are today indispensable instruments of effective public speech. The sound truck has become an accepted method of political campaigning. It is the way people are reached. . . . Annoyance at ideas can be cloaked in annoyance at sound. The power of censorship inherent in this type of ordinance reveals its vice.”b

So in the decade of the 1940’s Christendom’s archers failed again to stop the sound witness work that Jehovah’s people kept on performing, globally. As to their way of worship, the witnesses came off the religious battlefield victors, by Jehovah’s undeserved kindness!

In modern American history Jehovah’s witnesses have left their indelible mark as fighters for civil liberties not only for themselves but for all honest, upright people. Consider what historians say:

“Seldom, if ever, in the past, has one individual or group been able to shape the course, over a period of time, of any phase of our vast body of constitutional law. But it can happen, and it has happened, here. The group is Jehovah’s Witnesses. Through almost constant litigation this organization has made possible an ever-increasing list of precedents concerning the application of the Fourteenth Amendment to freedom of speech and religion. . . . More recently the same test has been applied to state legislation under the Fourteenth Amendment. And so, a body of precedent crystallizing rules regarding the limits of encroachments by the States has been developing. To this development Jehovah’s Witnesses have contributed the most, both in quantity and in significance.”c

“ . . . Whatever may be said about the Witnesses, they have the courage of martyrs. And they have money to hire lawyers and fight cases through the courts. As a result in recent days they have made more contributions to the development of the constitutional law of religious liberty than any other cult or group. Believe me, they are making it fast. Sometimes they win and sometimes they lose.”d

“It is plain that present constitutional guaranties of personal liberty, as authoritatively interpreted by the United States Supreme Court, are far broader than they were before the spring of 1938; and that most of this enlargement is to be found in the thirty-one Jehovah’s Witnesses cases (sixteen deciding opinions) of which Lovell v. City of Griffin was the first. If ‘the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church,’ what is the debt of Constitutional Law to the militant persistency—or perhaps I should say devotion—of this strange group?”e

What is the background of this story of the battle in the courts of the nations?—Phil. 1:7, NW.

As already indicated, Christendom’s crusade of arrests of Jehovah’s people began in 1928 at South Amboy, New Jersey. Arrest statistics were not at first kept, but in 1933 for the United States alone there was record of 268; in 1934, of 340; in 1935, of 478, and in 1936, of 1,149.f In New Jersey and neighboring states repeatedly Kingdom publishers were brought into court falsely charged with selling without a license, disturbing the peace, peddling without a permit, violating Sunday sabbath laws, and being classed as solicitors or itinerant merchants rather than ministers of the gospel.g Jehovah’s people felt it their duty and high privilege to resist such lawless encroachments. The Society established a legal department in Brooklyn to render counsel and aid in the all-out fight that was developing. An “order of trial” was issued and all publishers carefully studied it, so that they could make their own defenses in court.h A policy was pursued of appealing all adverse decisions. Had the thousands of convictions entered by the magistrates, police courts and other inferior tribunals not been appealed, a mountain of adverse precedents would have piled up as a mammoth obstacle in the field of worship.i But by appealing they have achieved an opposite result, because the superior courts have come to the rescue of the witnesses to confirm their rights of freedom of worship and speech as ministers of the good news “announcing Jehovah’s kingdom.”

So once again Jehovah’s witnesses had seized the initiative in defiance of this clergy crusade of framing mischief against them by law. At Revelation 9:7-9 the witnesses are likened to “locusts” in battle performance. This began to appear in a remarkable way in 1933. Then 12,600 publishers volunteered as being ready on quick call for house-to-house field service on special missions in areas of civic opposition. They were organized into 78 divisions throughout the United States.j Ten to 200 automobiles with five workers each comprised a division. Special tactics of witnessing were employed, depending upon the type of clergy-police opposition anticipated and encountered. When some witnesses were arrested in the ordinary field work, a report was sent forthwith to Brooklyn, whereupon a call was flashed to the nearest division to go into operation on a Sunday soon thereafter for a thorough witness, covering in one or two hours every home in the entire community. Whenever an emergency call was sent out for the division to respond for duty, all car groups reported at a specially announced rendevous field some miles away from the town to be “besieged.” Here detailed instructions and individual car groups were duly assigned. When the “locusts” were in action in these communities where civic agents, at behest of the clergy, tried totally to forbid and suppress the Kingdom preaching work, the interrupters were overwhelmed by a host of witnesses. There was nothing they could do except arrest 20 or 30, the local jail’s capacity quota. In this way no matter how “hot” the territory, practically every house was preached to by sheer numbers.

The New Jersey battle front, being the hottest, frequently required the large New York and New Jersey divisions of 200 car units each (comprising a thousand “locusts” each) to go into action alternately, depending upon the weekly arrests. For further enlightening residents of the “besieged” community, the effective services of Watchtower radio station WBBR were regularly tied in with these eastern divisional-campaign exploits.—Dan. 11:32, 33, AS.

At Brooklyn Bethel a number of experienced actors, good at imitating, formed what was called “The King’s Theatre.” They became expert in faithfully reproducing modern court scenes and Bible dramas.k When during the week a clergy-influenced judge conducted a trial of the handful of witnesses of Jehovah falsely charged before him, a full stenographic record was made of all that took place. Indeed there were almost always some choice, prejudicial, uncontrolled and misaimed remarks by the ecclesiastical and civic spokesmen, clearly proving their purpose and attempt to “frame” the accused witnesses. Quickly rehearsing from the prepared script based on the stenographic record, and after wide advance publicity to build up a large radio audience, the following Sunday the King’s Theatre actors openly demonstrated to uncounted eager listeners the travesty of justice in the local courts. Turning this floodlight of publicity upon misguided police, prosecutors and petty judges soon made many of such public servants more astute as to their handling of Jehovah’s witnesses.

However, for years this struggle went on in New Jersey until finally November 22, 1939, the United States Supreme Court gave the victory to Jehovah’s witnesses in Schneider v. New Jersey.l This decision was based on the initial victory for Jehovah’s people in the case of Lovell v. Griffin. (The Lovell case, 303 U.S. 444, had been unanimously decided by the Supreme Court of the United States, the court’s opinion being written and announced by its Chief Justice, Charles Evans Hughes, on March 28, 1938, on an appeal from the State of Georgia.) After that eleven-year struggle New Jersey and adjoining states almost wholly discontinued their persecuting prosecutions in which they had kept on falsely applying irrelevant municipal ordinances and state statutes.

FLAG SALUTING

By 1934, irked by yet another vexation, opposers of Jehovah’s witnesses began to try to “frame” them as to their exclusive allegiance to the Supreme Sovereign, Jehovah. The flag-salute issue was unfurled. Two years before, the Nazis in Germany pushed compulsory flag salute to the fore as a means of regimenting the people in continental Europe under Hitler’s swastika. Now a similar wave of false demonstration of patriotism swept the United States and Canada. In the autumn of 1935 the press gave much publicity to the case of Carleton B. Nichols, Jr., an American schoolboy of tender years, son of one of Jehovah’s witnesses, who declined to salute the American flag.a The Associated Press asked the Watch Tower Society’s president to state the official view of Jehovah’s witnesses on this new issue.b On October 6, 1935, by means of a radio broadcast, Judge Rutherford gave the reply in his famous lecture “Saluting a Flag,” which immediately was published in a 32-page booklet entitled “Loyalty” and distributed in millions of copies. In this Scriptural reply to the American press it was pointed out that Jehovah’s witnesses respect the flag but that their Biblical obligations and relationship to Jehovah strictly forbade them to salute any image or representation, which, to them, amounted to an act of worship contrary to the principles of the Second of the Ten Commandments. (Ex. 20:4-6) Furthermore it was shown that Christian parents have the primary responsibility to teach their children the true religion and right conduct as they see it defined in the Bible.

Thousands of innocent children of Jehovah’s witnesses were caught in the very core of this national controversy. What a wonderful testimony these little hearts boldly gave of their primary devotion to the living God, Jehovah, above any for the state! Their noble stand against jeers and ostracism of the majority of their schoolmates put to the test the quality of the parental home Bible training of these youngsters. By remaining steadfast in their loyalty to Jehovah they made history, also bringing consternation into the highest councils of the nation. On November 6, 1935, Lillian and William Gobitis, children of Walter Gobitis, one of Jehovah’s witnesses, refused to salute the flag and were expelled from the public school at Minersville, Pennsylvania.c Their case, pressed in the federal courts, attracted nationwide attention, becoming the test case for the entire country. It was fought up to the Supreme Court at Washington. Seventy-year-old lawyer J. F. Rutherford, president of the Watch Tower Society, personally appeared before the United States Supreme Court and argued the case on behalf of Jehovah’s witnesses.d While the federal and state judiciary was taking half a decade to make its top decision, Jehovah’s witnesses, for the education of their children, had to organize and finance private schools, known as “Kingdom Schools.” These private boarding schools were operated in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland and Georgia.e Finally on June 3, 1940, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled 8 to 1 against Jehovah’s witnesses, rendering the opinion that it was up to the school boards, not the courts, to determine what rules shall be enforced upon children in the schools.f A major loss in the struggle for freedom of worship was this. This blow of defeat set off a further wave of bitter persecution until June 14, 1943, when the Supreme Court reversed itself. As to the reaction of the 1940’s, this is described in the next part.

(To be continued)

If God is for us, who will be against us? Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation or distress or persecution or hunger or nakedness or danger or sword? To the contrary, in all these things we are coming off completely victorious.—Rom. 8:31, 35, 37, NW.

[Footnotes]

Part 2—Visiting Jehovah’s Witnesses in Central America

IN British Honduras for weeks and months Jehovah’s witnesses had been looking forward to the announced visit of N. H. Knorr, the Society’s president. They had arranged for a three-day assembly, December 3, 4 and 5, to be held in the Memorial Park in Belize.

December begins the rainy season, with uncertain weather; so a temporary assembly structure was put up. The president had not been here for five years. Local witnesses of Jehovah did considerable advertising, putting signs in stores, on buildings, cinemas, trucks, boats, etc. There were newspaper announcements, letters of invitation and thousands of handbills. Also, a large banner was stretched across the main street of the capital city, and announcements were broadcast regularly on the radio. Jehovah’s witnesses were planning a big assembly and wanted every willing one to attend.

The Memorial Park is certainly situated at a pleasant spot. You look out onto the turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea. The octagon-shaped bandstand served as a fine speakers’ platform, and the brothers had beautifully decorated the grounds immediately in front of it with flowers and plants. It was a surprise when 241 persons gathered at the opening session to hear N. H. Knorr speak on “Not Forsaking the Gathering of Ourselves Together.” This was most unusual, for there were only 90 publishers reporting in the month of November; so there must be many other persons interested in the convention and in the message of the Kingdom.

On Saturday nineteen symbolized their dedication to Jehovah God by being baptized in the Caribbean. After this immersion a bicycle parade covered the city advertising Sunday’s lecture, “God’s Love to the Rescue in Man’s Crisis.” The local brothers, all descendants from their ancestors in Africa, certainly enjoyed riding with Brother Knorr in this bicycle parade that wound in and out of the streets of the city for ten miles. They had a motorcycle-police escort. This final reminder helped along with all the other advertising, because at eight o’clock Sunday evening 689 persons gathered in the park. That surely stimulated this country’s 90 regular witnesses to see that still many others are desirous of hearing the good news, and it is going to keep them busy helping such.

After the assembly was over, a gentleman who had complained about Jehovah’s witnesses’ getting the use of the park changed his mind about their actions, for he stated that they did not beg for money but simply gave plain and pointed instruction from the Bible. They were nothing like those revivalists who used the park a year ago. A policeman also told one of the witnesses that he enjoyed the assembly very much and wished other people would follow the example of Jehovah’s witnesses, for it would make his work much easier. Another interested person said, “I have heard dozens of evangelists and preachers, but that is the first man to visit here that really convinced me we are in the last days.” She wanted to get the magazines, The Watchtower and Awake! regularly.

The brothers saw results from the assembly, because their January report showed 104 engaging in preaching this good news of the Kingdom throughout all of British Honduras.

HONDURAS

Two days before President Knorr’s arrival in Honduras the constitutional government had fallen. The political situation was tense. Also, a very grave situation had developed within the congregation of Jehovah’s witnesses itself. Brother Knorr would have to appoint a new branch servant because the one formerly in charge had disqualified himself and he was therefore disfellowshiped. Here for Jehovah’s people there was tension within and without. For the past four years Jehovah’s witnesses had been blessed and many were being gathered into the New World society. In 1950 there were 208 publishers in the country and by the time the service year of 1954 had closed there was an average of 410. The missionaries along with the local publishers had done well, but when corruption was found within the organization it disturbed some of the weaker ones, as they were looking to man rather than to Jehovah God. In checking the February, 1955, report it is found that there are now only 392 publishers, a decrease from the 1954 average and far below the peak of 460 publishers in April, 1954. It will take hard work on the part of the missionaries and other mature brothers in the congregation to aid, strengthen and bring on to maturity those who once had taken a stand for the Kingdom. Those who corrupt Jehovah’s organization by immoral living have something to answer for before Jehovah God.

A little sister reported the misconduct of the branch servant to one of the missionaries. It was this information that led to the uncovering of the scandal that had corrupted the local organization. This girl had told how she had seen the branch servant, a married man, making regular calls at the one-room house of a prostitute. It was hard for the missionary to believe the report. So then she wanted to see with her own eyes. She did, and she reported the matter to some brothers, missionaries, and for several days the branch servant was watched and his conduct checked. Some days he made as many as three calls to see this girl of ill fame. Sometimes he would take her to the theater. The matter was then reported to the president’s office and instructions were sent out to make a very thorough check and to have a sufficient number of witnesses watch this man’s actions. Even the branch servant’s wife was invited to go along on a back-call near the harlot’s home so she too could see exactly what her husband was doing before the charges were presented to him and disfellowshiping would take place.

The Society’s president had given instructions for the man to have a fair hearing, but from the very start he tried to lie his way out. He even said he had not gone to the place. But there were a sufficient number of witnesses who were wholly devoted to Jehovah God observing daily what had taken place and in the face of all of his lies the man was disfellowshiped.

If a person wants to live as the world lives, then let him stay in the world. When we find men in the organization like those Jude described—“ungodly men, turning the undeserved kindness of our God into an excuse for loose conduct and proving false to our only Owner and Lord, Jesus Christ”—then they should be removed from the organization, and quickly.—Jude 4, NW.

In Catholic countries, like those of Central and South America, common-law marriage and having a mistress is not an uncommon thing. So, many of the Catholic people look upon this course of action as a usual practice of all men everywhere. The Catholic Church does nothing to correct these immoral practices but allows such men to remain in the Catholic organization. Not so with Jehovah’s witnesses. Many newly associated with Jehovah’s witnesses were not surprised when announcement of the disfellowshiping was made in the congregation, because many of the world already knew of the unclean conduct of the offender and were talking about it. However, with Jehovah’s organization it makes no difference whether one guilty of brazen immorality is in high or low place, for he will be disfellowshiped as any other baptized person would be. The organization, the New World society, must remain clean. The native brothers and missionaries in Honduras are of heavy heart because Jehovah’s name and his organization have been brought low in Honduras. Our faithful brothers in Honduras pray that ‘Jehovah will show undeserved kindness toward them.’ Further they stated that ‘they hoped the reproach brought upon Jehovah’s name from this land will be removed by their own proper conduct in the future, and they pray that in the future they will with faithfulness await the time when he again will prosper them.’

Undoubtedly Jehovah’s witnesses everywhere will pray to Jehovah that he will bless our faithful brothers in Honduras, to give them strength to feed properly and bring on to maturity those of good will, and that this blot of immorality will not stand in the way of those loving righteousness.

So with this sense of distress and sorrow Jehovah’s witnesses went ahead with their three assemblies. The first assembly opened on Sunday, December 5, in the San Pedro Sula football stadium. Not far distant there was another assembly under way in La Lima.

But something else was going on in Honduras. The political situation was a bundle of nerves around the capital building in Tegucigalpa, and the army was on guard with rifles and machine guns. The government had fallen; the president desired to keep peace and to preserve it at all costs. Therefore announcement was made that all public gatherings were to be banned. Curfews went into effect in troublesome areas. While the brothers in the stadium were having their evening meal in a well-arranged cafeteria, soldiers arrived with orders from the government that there were to be no further meetings and that they had to vacate the stadium. However, permission was granted for them to retire to their local Kingdom Halls and to have their customary study of The Watchtower. So both conventions came to a close as far as a central assembly was concerned. In La Lima a curfew went into effect at 6 p.m. and at San Pedro, at 9 p.m.

It was in the middle of all this that the president of the Society, Brother Knorr, arrived at San Pedro Sula. Because of the tension throughout the land only a few of the missionaries and the acting branch servant met him at the airport. After passing customs, the Society’s president went to the American consul to get the latest information on the existing emergency. He learned the facts; so meetings continued on in the Kingdom Hall. They were joyful, enthusiastic and thrilling.

Necessary admonition to the brothers was given as to keeping the organization clean, and going on faithfully in serving Jehovah. Also there were admonitions to use the spirit of a sound mind in preaching the good news in the present political emergency, to avoid doing anything rash or out of line with orderly authority. On that first evening in Honduras, at San Pedro Sula, all of those who were attending the convention crowded into the back yard of the missionary home and there a delightful assembly was carried on. The Kingdom Hall that was in the home was too small to hold all, so they gathered in the back yard or patio. The spirit on the part of the brothers was high and they were anxious to go ahead regardless of internal or external trouble. Many in the city wanted to know where they now could hear the lecture “God’s Love to the Rescue in Man’s Crisis,” and 265 came to the missionary home. The next day the president of the Society went over to La Lima and there also all convention activities had been transferred to the Kingdom Hall, but a joyful time was had by everyone, 108 being present. However, before 6 p.m. the travelers had to leave town because of the curfew, so all meetings were held during the afternoon. The big convention was to be held in Tegucigalpa, but everyone was advised not to travel because of prevailing difficulties.

Thursday Brother Knorr flew to Tegucigalpa by plane along with some missionaries, including Brother Muscariello, newly graduated from the 23d Gilead class, who was now to be appointed as the branch servant. In Tegucigalpa, too, it was impossible to use the large city stadium. So all meetings were confined to the Kingdom Hall, but this proved to be much too small. Some 198 persons packed out the hall and crowded into the streets outside. Windows and doors were opened so that everyone could hear. The meeting was very orderly and there was no disturbance whatever, even though it was in the heart of town. Busy days were these, with much to do, and the responsibilities of carrying on the witness work in the entire country had to be turned over to the new appointee. We have full confidence in Jehovah God and in His organization that our brothers in Honduras will work together in unity, and even though now there are fewer publishers, a drop to 392, we trustingly look to Jehovah God to pour his spirit upon these and make them strong, so that they will use the spirit of a sound mind and keep on preaching the good news regardless of the failure of one. It strengthens us to see that we are not following man, and while a man may stumble some, still the corrupted one will be removed, to keep the New World society clean in every country of earth, for they are one society under the holy Sovereign Ruler of the universe, Jehovah God. It behooves everyone to be careful and, with his brothers, to walk circumspectly before Jehovah. It makes one determine anew to seek not his own pleasure, because everything rightfully should be done for the good of Jehovah’s organization. “Do not be loving either the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because everything in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one’s means of life—does not originate with the Father, but originates with the world. Furthermore, the world is passing away and so is its desire, but he that does the will of God remains forever.”—1 John 2:15-17, NW.

(To be continued)

Disappointed Boy Burns Church

The Bible counsels Christians to instruct their children at a very tender age in the truths of God’s Word. When this is done the parents avoid much heartache and pain. But when parents become negligent, even in instructing youngsters on proper prayer, the consequences could be disastrous. At Milwaukee, Wisconsin, an eight-year-old boy confessed that he set a fire in St. Stanislaus church, causing some $200 damage. The boy’s motive? He said he “wanted to get even with God” for not answering his prayers. Could the church have failed to instruct the parents on right matters for prayer?

War from Heaven Brings Peace to Earth

“Come, behold the works of Jehovah, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariots in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. Jehovah of hosts is with us.”—Ps. 46:8-11, AS.

1. What difficulties are encountered when trying to climb earth’s highest mountain?

IN THE Himalayas there is a peak that towers skyward twenty-nine thousand feet. Its slopes are sheathed in snow and ice. Temperatures drop far below zero. Freezing winds shriek their way through the surrounding crags and passes. The air on this highest peak on earth is so thin that a man suddenly placed on its heights would be unconscious very quickly because of oxygen shortage. At such high altitudes muscles, nerves and mind itself begin sharply to deteriorate and a lassitude that is dangerous sets in. Nevertheless, for many years men have tried to scale the pinnacle of Mount Everest. Only after years of training and experience do mountaineers tackle its challenging slopes and brave its many dangers. Yawning crevices of dizzying depth open up at the feet of the climbers, and avalanches of snow and ice thunderously hurtle down from the heights above. Despite being bundled up in the warmest of clothes, the climbers are quickly robbed of their heat and energy by the raging winds, and frostbite is an ever-present menace. Burdened by packs and oxygen tanks on their backs for breathing, they chop their way step by step with ice axes and toil upward with an unspeakable weariness over treacherous footing where one slip would send them plummeting thousands of feet downward to their death. Many have tried to conquer its heights, many have died in the attempt. On May 29, 1953, two men triumphed and stood on its windswept crown. To do it they had the backing of an expeditionary force of more than four hundred and fifty men. Four hundred and fifty to get two to the top!

2. What proves the mountains we are to flee to are not literal?

² Do you think you could do it? Christ Jesus warned us to flee to the mountains. These mountains symbolize a place of refuge which is associated with God’s mountain: “And it shall come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of Jehovah’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many peoples shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” (Isa. 2:2, 3, AS) Note that this mountain of Jehovah is on top of all other mountains, above all other hills. If it is literal, it means it is higher than Everest! If you cannot climb Everest, how could you hope to scale this still higher one? Yet the Bible shows men and women and children from all nations, a great crowd of them, making a successful climb to the mountain of Jehovah. Obviously, the mountain we ascend is not a literal one but is something symbolized by mountains.

3. Of what are mountains symbols, and what is the mountain we flee to?

³ Mountains are used as symbols of governments or world ruling powers that rise above the seas of humanity that support or bear them up. When Babylon was a world power laying waste many nations Jehovah spoke of it as a mountain: “Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith Jehovah, which destroyest all the earth; and I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.” In Revelation the seven world powers are referred to as seven kings and are pictured by the seven heads of the beast there described, and of these heads or world powers it states: “The seven heads mean seven mountains.” Even Christ’s kingdom and its realm are spoken of as a mountain. In the book of Daniel it says that Christ’s kingdom “shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.” This is pictured by a stone smiting and toppling an image that represents Satan and his demons and the kingdoms of this old world, and it states: “The stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.” The symbolic mountain, the mountain we are to come to, is the Kingdom arrangement under Christ with the new system of things now being set up on earth. From this new royal government Jehovah’s law and word go forth, and to it persons of all nations are now coming to learn Jehovah’s ways and to walk in his paths.—Jer. 51:25, AS; Rev. 17:9, NW; Dan. 2:44, 35.

4. Why would flight to a literal mountain be useless?

⁴ Ascending a literal mountain higher than all others would be not only impossible for most of us but also ineffective in securing safety from Jehovah’s wrath: “Though they dig into Sheol, thence shall my hand take them; and though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down. And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and it shall bite them.” (Amos 9:2, 3, AS) But flight to Jehovah’s new system of things is now made possible for peoples of all nations, and since it is of Jehovah’s making it will be a place of safety, untouched by his wrath. And just as Isaiah’s prophecy spoke of the mountain of Jehovah as being above all other mountains, so this holy place of worship under Christ is superior to and above all earthly governments of this old world.

THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON

5, 6. How do men of the world view Armageddon?

⁵ Why did Jesus advise “fleeing to the mountains”? To escape “great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again.” That tribulation is a war, a war from heaven, and the field where it is waged is “called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.” (Matt. 24:16, 21, NW; Rev. 16:16) Is the war at Armageddon a man-made war? Men fight modern wars in the skies, and from the immediate heavens their flying fortresses rain bombs on the earth—and what was a city becomes rubble, what were homes become ashes, what were peoples become mangled and scattered flesh. As modern warfare has become more and more horrible men have become more and more prone to refer to their wars or prospective ones as Armageddon. Especially is this so since the explosion of the hydrogen bomb.

⁶ In calling for a showdown with Russia on control of atomic weapons the New York Daily Mirror said editorially: “Or shall we wait and let the world drift to Armageddon?” A Los Angeles newspaper remarked concerning the next war: “It will be the most titanic in history. It will be Armageddon.” Tempo magazine referred to an approaching “nuclear Armageddon.” Addressing a joint session of Congress General MacArthur repeated a warning he had previously sounded: “Military alliances, balances of power, leagues of nations, all in turn failed, leaving the only path to be by way of the crucible of war. The utter destructiveness of war now blocks out this alternative. We have had our last chance. If we will not devise some greater and more equitable system, our Armageddon will be at our door.” Senator Flanders declared: “In very truth the world seems to be mobilizing for the great battle of Armageddon.” Lastly, in the wake of the hydrogen bomb tests in the Pacific a staff writer of the New York World-Telegram and Sun said: “In blunt words, American, free-world and Soviet leaders are frightened. The past eight or ten weeks have made them all aware that they are face to face with Armageddon. . . . Today fear is a blanket that hangs over both capitals, Washington and Moscow.”

7. What is Armageddon, and who fight it?

⁷ Actually, for men to call one of their wars Armageddon is robbery. It robs a word of its true meaning. It throws men off guard as to what Armageddon really is. It is not a war by men, and to envision it as the possible atomic holocaust of World War III is to be blind to the real meaning of Armageddon. It is a Bible term, and therein it is specifically defined as “the war of the great day of God the Almighty.” (Rev. 16:14, NW) It is Jehovah’s war fought by heavenly forces under Christ and it will uproot all wickedness from earth and plant instead permanent peace: “And I saw the heaven opened, and, look! a white horse. And one seated upon it is called Faithful and True, and he judges and carries on war in righteousness. Also the armies that were in heaven were following him on white horses, and they were clothed in white, clean, fine linen. And out of his mouth there protrudes a sharp long sword, that he may smite the nations with it, and he will shepherd them with a rod of iron. He treads, too, the press of the wine of the anger of the wrath of God the Almighty. And he seized the dragon, the original serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.”—Rev. 19:11, 14, 15; 20:2, NW.

8, 9. How do Zephaniah and Isaiah and Jeremiah describe Armageddon?

⁸ Jehovah’s fury descends upon men and nations and their armies because they have sinned against him, and no bribes can avert Armageddon: “The great day of Jehovah is near, it is near and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of Jehovah; the mighty man crieth there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fortified cities, and against the high battlements. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against Jehovah; and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of Jehovah’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he will make an end, yea, a terrible end, of all them that dwell in the land. Therefore wait ye for me, saith Jehovah, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger; for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.” “For the wrath of Jehovah is against all the nations, and [his] fury against all their armies: he hath devoted them to destruction, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.”—Zeph. 1:14-18; 3:8, AS; Isa. 34:2, Da.

⁹ Jehovah’s power unleashed at Armageddon will be earth-shaking, the widespread slaughter left in its wake will be appalling: “Behold, Jehovah maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. The earth also is polluted under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are found guilty: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. The earth is utterly broken, the earth is rent asunder, the earth is shaken violently. The earth shall stagger like a drunken man, and shall sway to and fro like a hammock; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall, and not rise again.” “And the slain of Jehovah shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the face of the ground.”—Isa. 24:1, 5, 6, 19, 20; Jer. 25:33, AS.

10. How does Armageddon’s destruction differ from men’s wars, yet how do men pervert matters?

¹⁰ When worldly men hear of this slaughter to come from Jehovah’s hand they set up a howl and protest that it is fiendish for God to do that. They think it is all right for them to dig the metals from the earth and forge them into tanks and guns, ships and planes, rockets and bombs, and to hurl these instruments of destruction at other men, bathing the planet with the blood of the innocent and the guilty alike, the good and the bad indiscriminately. They do not own the earth, or the peoples on it, or even themselves; yet they feel justified to pollute the land and slaughter the people. But Jehovah, to whom the earth and its fullness belong, the Owner of every living, breathing thing on or above or beneath its surface, must not take life, they say. Their wars sweep multitudes into the grave, without distinction as to guilt or innocence. Jehovah’s war will be selective, killing only the wicked, none of the lovers of righteousness that seek him. Yet they say their brutal and wanton wars are good, but Jehovah’s just one is bad. Their perversion of matters earns woe for them: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isa. 5:20) Men can spray a field with chemicals that kill weeds but spare crops; too bad they cannot spray cities with bombs that blow the bad to bits but leave the innocent intact.

11. How is Armageddon in harmony with Jehovah’s attributes?

¹¹ The battle of Armageddon is righteous and in harmony with Jehovah’s attributes of justice, power, wisdom and love. It is just because it is selective in its destruction. It kills those deserving to die. It does not slaughter those of good will seeking to serve Jehovah. This battle displays Jehovah’s power, and it will be exerted to the extent necessary to accomplish the destruction determined. It is wholly adequate. There is no other power great enough to counter it. Armageddon is an evidence of Jehovah’s wisdom, for only by sweeping the troublemakers and peace-disturbers from the earth can permanent peace be established. And it shows love for those who want to serve God and Christ and to dwell peacefully with their fellow man. How can they enjoy peace when wicked men and nations continually foment and fight wars?

PREPARING FOR ARMAGEDDON

12. What two classes are warned, and how do they respond?

¹² Also it is out of Jehovah’s love that he causes a warning of Armageddon’s approach to be sounded. It gives those who want to live time to make peace with him, and it allows those who want to fight him time to prepare. He advises those wanting peace: “Seek ye Jehovah, all ye meek of the earth, that have kept his ordinances; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye will be hid in the day of Jehovah’s anger.” He invites those itching for a fight: “Prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.” (Zeph. 2:3; Joel 3:9, 10, AS) The nations respond to the invitation to prepare for war instead of to the advice to seek meekness. In 1952 at the Eucharistic Congress in Spain Cardinal Spellman said: “Security and stability are nowhere on the horizon. We see immense armies massing. We see the furnaces and the forges of the world turning plowshares into guns and swords. We see scientists in laboratories inventing annihilating engines of war. Propaganda is stoking up insane hates to inflame the hearts and drive the mind of man with a frenzy to kill and destroy. Perhaps we see the world hurrying to Armageddon from which no nation may hope to survive.”—New York Times, May 29, 1952.

13. How are Jehovah’s words, “Let the weak say, I am strong,” appropriate?

¹³ Note Jehovah’s words, “Let the weak say, I am strong.” Weak men of earth are awed and frightened by their own power. They tremble at the staggering power of their A-bombs and H-bombs, and the cobalt bomb now possible to make it too deadly even to test. Men live in fear and dread of the unleashing of their own military strength in atomic warfare. And yet, after data on the hydrogen bomb tests were released, a United Press dispatch of April 7, 1954, stated: “Some scientists say that while the hydrogen bomb is powerful nature is still the champ. One weather expert says earthquakes and hurricanes have more power than the most powerful H-bomb that could be devised. He says one moderate earthquake is more powerful than one million atomic bombs. He says H-bombs lack the power to set off earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. Another weather bureau scientist says he doubts the H-bomb’s ability to start or stop hurricanes. He says an H-bomb equal to the explosion of twenty million tons of TNT only gives off enough energy to keep a hurricane going for twenty-five seconds, and hurricanes last for days or weeks.” The Scientific American of June, 1954, calculated: “A mature hurricane spends kinetic energy at the rate of five hundred trillion horsepower, the equivalent of several thousand atomic bombs per second.” Jehovah is the Creator of the elements, can control them, and can use them to fulfill his word relative to Armageddon: “Fire, and hail; snow, and vapours; stormy wind fulfilling his word.” With all their bombs, how weak these men that think themselves so strong!—Ps. 148:8.

14. How will Jehovah reply when worldly men cry to him for help at Armageddon?

¹⁴ Nevertheless, by their own freedom of choice the men and nations of this old world choose to trust in their own strength, to rely on military might, to seek security behind growing stockpiles of atomic weapons. Modern men, even those who give lip service to God and his Word, brush the Bible aside as impractical and put reliance in money and armaments. In effect, they make such materialistic things their gods, looking to them for security and protection. Having turned their backs on Jehovah and chosen instead materialistic gods their faithless eyes can see, they will cry in vain to the Almighty when his war blazes against them: “As for you, you abandoned me and took up serving other gods. That is why I shall not save you again. Go and call for aid to the gods whom you have chosen. Let them be the ones to save you in the time of your distress.” Again Jehovah says of such selfish ones: “They have turned to me their back, and not their face; yet in their time of trouble they say, ‘Arise, and save us!’ But where are your gods whom you made for yourself? Let them arise, and save you—if they can!—in your time of trouble.” Rather than trust in the gods men have made, we should trust in the God that made men.—Judg. 10:13, 14, NW; Jer. 2:27, 28, AT.

15. What is better than “dying with your boots on”?

¹⁵ Men have a saying about “dying with your boots on.” At Armageddon Jehovah God will grant their wish and let them “die with their boots on.” He will allow them to build up to peak strength and go down fighting. Let worldly men die with their military boots on if that is their wish. But we who serve Jehovah do not want to be in their shoes. There are other shoes that we wish to wear, and that is the footgear mentioned at Ephesians 6:14, 15 (NW): “Having . . . your feet shod with the equipment of the good news of peace.” Our preparation for Armageddon is to put on now this theocratic footgear by learning of the good news of Christ’s established kingdom and walking forth to preach it from door to door, in the homes, on the streets, at public assemblies—anywhere and everywhere that appropriate opportunity arises. Thus we seek meekness and righteousness, obey Jehovah’s commands, and put ourselves in position to receive his favor and protection at Armageddon. And not only ourselves, but many others also. So let this old world die with its military boots on if it wishes, but let us live with our theocratic boots on, preaching the good news of peace and singing the praises of Jehovah God!

16. Does Jehovah need to prepare for Armageddon, and why your answer?

¹⁶ And what about Jehovah God? Does he prepare for Armageddon? Well, would you prepare to kill a fly? Would you prepare to squash a bug? Would you do calisthenics every morning for weeks to get in condition to swat a fly? Would you train with barbells for months to make your muscles bulge and give you strength to step on a bug? Would that be necessary? Could you not cope with the fly or the bug without special training? Would not such a course of preparation be useless and a waste of time, as far as dealing with an insect is concerned? For the same reason it is wholly unnecessary for Jehovah to prepare for Armageddon. Men are as grasshoppers in his sight. He created the universe, and the earth is a mere speck in its vastness, and men must appear microscopic in the universal view. Jehovah does not need to specially train angels in warfare or engage in an armaments race with puny nations of earth. He can fight and win Armageddon without an instant’s notice.—Isa. 40:15, 22.

17. Despite the warning, why does Armageddon overtake men like a thief?

¹⁷ His only preparatory work for Armageddon is to have a warning given for the benefit of men. Those of good will toward God can flee to the mountains, the new system of things under Christ, and those preferring this old failing system under Satan can prepare for a losing battle. Armageddon comes as no sneak attack, yet it comes upon worldly men as a thief in the night: “Jehovah’s day is coming exactly as a thief in the night.” (1 Thess 5:2, NW) How can that be? The warning is being given. It is being preached earth-wide by word of mouth and distributed in hundreds of millions of books and booklets and magazines published in more than a hundred languages. Why should such a widely publicized battle come upon this world like a thief? Because the men of this world have eyes that do not see, ears that do not hear, minds that do not discern. (Matt. 13:14, 15) Their eyes are shut, their ears are shut, their minds are closed, but their mouths are always open, open to scoff and ridicule the warning message Jehovah is now having his witnesses declare. This is itself a foretold evidence that we are in the last days of this old world: “In the last days there will come ridiculers with their ridicule, proceeding according to their own desires and saying: ‘Where is this promised presence of his? Why, from the day our forefathers fell asleep in death, all things are continuing exactly as from creation’s beginning.’” Then it goes on to say that the facts escape their notice “according to their wish.” They only have eyes for their own schemes, ears for their own plans, minds for their own theories. According to their own wish they remain blind and deaf and undiscerning relative to the preaching of the good news and the warning of Armageddon.—2 Pet. 3:3-5, NW.

18. Who are not in darkness, and what do they behold after Armageddon?

¹⁸ But to those faithful ones who view the unfolding events of this generation through the prophetic light of Jehovah’s Word these words are spoken: “But you, brothers, you are not in darkness, so that that day should overtake you as it would thieves, for you are all sons of light and sons of day.” To such spiritually awake ones Jesus said: “However, happy are your eyes because they behold, and your ears because they hear.” (1 Thess. 5:4, 5; Matt. 13:16, NW) By now seeing and hearing and discerning Jehovah’s purposes concerning Armageddon and heeding his warning and fleeing to the mountains in obedience to his command, such persons will survive the war from heaven to enjoy the peace it brings to earth. They will retain these senses and perceptive powers through the destructive cataclysm of Armageddon to use them in response to the invitation given to the survivors: “Come, behold the works of Jehovah, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariots in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. Jehovah of hosts is with us.”—Ps. 46:8-11, AS.

More Manufacturing Dextran

More and more, blood and plasma expanders and substitutes are coming into their own. Thus the November, 1953, issue of the trade journal Sugar, under the heading “Dextran for National Defense,” told of the reasons for discontinuing the use of plasma and the important strides being made in the utilization of dextran, “until recently a nuisance product of sugar manufacturing.” Dextran is now being produced by several leading refineries and chemical corporations and the number of pharmaceutical houses that handle it is increasing right along. At present some of these are delivering their entire supply to the government.

The Peace That Follows War from Heaven

“I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea is no more. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be any more. The former things have passed away.”—Rev. 21:1, 4, NW.

1. What is Jehovah’s purpose for the earth?

“THE earth abideth for ever.” This inspired utterance proves false the religious claim that the earth is to be destroyed. Jehovah created the earth not to be a wasteland but “formed it to be inhabited.” This announced divine purpose routs the contention that fire is to reduce the earth to a cinder. Jehovah’s purpose is not to ruin the earth but to save it. Armageddon will not ruin it, but instead will “bring to ruin those ruining the earth.”—Eccl. 1:4; Isa. 45:18; Rev. 11:18, NW.

2, 3. What does the Bible say about the destruction of heavens and earth, and why could it not mean the literal heavens and earth?

² But is it not true that the Bible says the earth is reserved for fire in the day of judgment? Yes, it does, and some might hastily conclude that this contradicts the other text stating that the earth abides forever. Not so, however, for by reading in its setting the statement about fire it becomes obvious that the literal planet is not the thing meant by “earth”: “There were heavens in ancient times and an earth standing compactly out of water and in the midst of water by the word of God, and by those means the world of that time suffered destruction when it was deluged with water. But by the same word the heavens and the earth that are now are stored up for fire and are being reserved to the day of judgment and of destruction of the ungodly men. Yet Jehovah’s day will come as a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a hissing noise, but the elements being intensely hot will be dissolved, and earth and the works in it will be discovered. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in holy acts of conduct and deeds of godly devotion, awaiting and keeping close in mind the presence of the day of Jehovah, through which the heavens being on fire will be dissolved and the elements being intensely hot will melt! But there are new heavens and a new earth that we are awaiting according to his promise, and in these righteousness is to dwell.”—2 Pet. 3:5-7, 10-13, NW.

³ First this statement refers to the flood of Noah’s time, when an ancient world consisting of heavens and earth was destroyed by water. Did the floodwaters destroy the literal planet Earth? Certainly not, for Noah and his household survived the flood in an ark, emerged from it when the waters subsided, and set foot on the same earth they had stood on before the flood. The literal earth survived the flood and abides to this day, carrying the scars of its experience with the watery deluge. And certainly the flood of Noah’s day did not destroy the literal heavens poised many light-years above earth’s surface! Yet a heavens and earth did pass away and were replaced by another heavens and earth, “the heavens and the earth that are now,” and which are the ones to be destroyed by fire. And to replace them are “new heavens and a new earth that we are awaiting according to his promise, and in these righteousness is to dwell.” Just as the starry heavens and this planet survived the Noachian flood, so they will endure through Armageddon’s fiery destruction, continuing on and abiding forever. And incidentally, how can these religionists who insist on such a literal view be taken to heaven when the earth is burned up, inasmuch as even “the heavens being on fire will be dissolved”?

4. What were the heavens and earth ended by the flood, and what heavens and earth will Armageddon end?

⁴ What, then, were the ancient heavens and earth removed by the flood? “Heavens” referred to invisible spirit creatures that had joined Satan in rebellion and materialized to cohabit with women. This arrangement was ended by the flood. “Earth” meant the wicked human creatures living on this planet, and who were destroyed by the flood. This view is not an arbitrary, private interpretation, for very frequently the Bible uses the designation of a place or realm to mean the inhabitants thereof, just as men today speak of Russia or Egypt or Mexico and can mean either the place or the people, depending on the context. Consider: “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth.” “All the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom.” “Sing unto Jehovah, all the earth.” The physical heavens and earth are not being told to listen. They have no ears with which to hear. But the angels dwelling in heaven can listen, and the people inhabiting earth could go hear Solomon and they could sing Jehovah’s praise. Satan and his demons still exist, though not in the same arrangement as prior to the flood, and they are the heavens that will be downed at Armageddon. Peoples organized into nations opposed to Jehovah constitute the earth that will be consumed by Armageddon’s fiery judgments.—Isa. 1:2; 1 Ki. 10:24; Ps. 96:1, AS; Gen. 6:1, 2; 2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 6:12; Rev. 12:9, 12; 20:1, 2.

5. Who has forsaken whom, and how well has man managed his peace efforts?

⁵ Only thereafter will permanent peace come to earth, notwithstanding the contrary opinion of the majority of men. Many persons today think that God is not interested in the earth, that he has forsaken it. They reason as did many in Ezekiel’s day: “Jehovah seeth us not; Jehovah hath forsaken the land.” But Jehovah will forsake neither the earth nor obedient men on it. Actually, the peoples of Christendom have forsaken him: “For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” Instead of drinking the life-giving waters of truth contained in Jehovah’s Word they turn to scientific philosophies and political schemes of men. Rather than look to Christ’s kingdom to establish peace they trust in human diplomacy and inhuman war. The former is stalemated by national selfishness and the latter only sows the seed for future conflicts. As they talk of peace they prepare for war. They say, “Peace, peace; when there is no peace.” Little wonder that “the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly,” for their negotiations end in chronic frustration and failure. And war, never a solution, is becoming an increasingly dangerous alternative in this atomic age, as pointed out by the head of the British Association for the Advancement of Science: “We must face the possibility that repeated atomic explosions will lead to a degree of general radioactivity which no one can tolerate or escape.” So Jehovah is not exaggerating, is he? when he says he must stop them from “ruining the earth.”—Ezek. 8:12; Jer. 2:13; 6:14; Isa. 33:7, AS.

PEACEFUL WORLD AFTER ARMAGEDDON

6. Why is it that Armageddon will not need to be fought again, later on?

⁶ The war from heaven sows no seed for future conflict, for it is a righteous battle that leaves no injustice in its wake. The prophecy states: “What do ye devise against Jehovah? he will make a full end; affliction shall not rise up the second time.” Jesus said this tribulation would not occur again. (Nah. 1:9, AS; Matt. 24:21) Why should it? All of the peace wreckers will have been removed from earth; only the peace lovers will remain. All of them will be devoted to the one true God, Jehovah, and guided by his principles. There will be unity of thought and action. Certainly there will be no revival of human warfare then, when even now in the midst of this fighting, bleeding, dying old world Jehovah’s New World society enjoys the fulfillment of this peaceful prophecy: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”—Mic. 4:3, AS.

7. How have men measured up to Jehovah’s original purposes for earth?

⁷ But the “new heavens and a new earth” that replaces “the heavens and the earth that are now,” the “present wicked system of things,” will go far beyond the mere elimination of human warfare. It will see the realization of all of Jehovah’s purposes concerning the earth: “I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed, I will also do it.” Jehovah’s original purpose was to have the earth not only populated with righteous persons but also beautified by them. They were to dress and keep and subdue the earth, seeing to it that it be clothed in green growth that would keep the soil from eroding and that would not be choked out of existence by unwanted weeds. They were to subdue the earth, make it subject to their control, keep it in a parklike state and even exercise a loving dominion over the lower animals. How far short men of this world have fallen! Because of commercial greed man has cut the forests from the hills and left the land exposed, to be eroded away by wind and rain. By plowing under the grasses of the plains man has turned these rolling green seas into worthless dust bowls. Some of his greedy mining methods wash away all the soil and leave a ruin of boulder-strewn fields. And what animal life he has not wastefully exploited for monetary gain he has wantonly slaughtered in selfish sport. What a mess man has made while flaunting Jehovah’s purpose for earth! Instead of dressing it he has stripped it, instead of keeping it he has lost it, instead of subduing it he has ruined it, and instead of lovingly dominating the animals he has selfishly exploited them or wantonly slain them.—Gal. 1:4, NW; Isa. 46:11, AS; Gen. 2:15; 1:28.

8. How have men shown a lack of appreciation for the earth as their home?

⁸ Men have shown no appreciation for their earthly home. In the grip of greed they have exploited its animal and vegetable and mineral resources, wholly oblivious of the needs of future generations. And even at the time the earth is being raided and plundered the gain goes to enrich the few, while the majority suffer want. The ruining of the earth accelerates in this atomic age. It does not stop with the looting of natural resources, but earth’s ability to sustain life itself is imperiled. The use of deadly rays in industry and medicine and the testing of atomic weapons are polluting land and sea and air, until many scientists fear contamination will reach the point where life of any kind will be impossible on earth. Though some religionists teach that Jehovah will destroy the earth, the facts declare that man is the one who threatens it. Instead of destroying it, Jehovah will come to its rescue. He must rescue it from depraved men, rising up at Armageddon to ruin those ruiners of the earth.

9. How will obedient men treat the earth after Armageddon?

⁹ Only obedient men will survive that battle of God Almighty. They will appreciate their earthly home, and prove it by caring for it in harmony with the divine will. They will cultivate it, beautify it, convert it into a global paradise, all under the direction of the invisible new heavens. Former conditions of famine will be forgotten as earth yields its increase, with never a drought or plant disease or insect plague to cause crop failures. (Ps. 67:6) Land not used to produce food will be carpeted with grass and flowers, shrubs and forests, providing places for relaxation and recreation for man and dwelling places for birds and animals of all kinds. Permanent peace will flourish between man and the animal realm as man exercises God-assigned dominion.

10. What change must come before human conduct will change?

¹⁰ God’s law will be in the hearts of men. His principles will be instilled in their minds. Consciences trained in righteousness will guide in paths of justice and love. Rules will fade in importance as words and deeds spring from hearts filled with righteousness. Goodness is not legislated, but comes from within, spontaneously, when hearts are filled with Jehovah’s spirit. In spite of many good laws and governmental principles, men today turn to what is immoral and evil, because out of imperfect and sick hearts men speak and act, and from such hearts there rise many wickednesses. (Prov. 23:7; Matt. 12:34; 15:19) Before there can be a real change of mind and conduct, there must be a change of heart. When hearts are filled with love for Jehovah and regard for his will and ways and thoughts, then, and then only, will righteousness and peace settle over the earth.

11. For what will there then be no more need?

¹¹ Then there will be no more war, no more testing of weapons, no more conscripting and training of men to fight and kill. Resources now gorged by war will be used for mankind’s benefit and earth’s improvement. The need for international politics will be over, for all will be one people, Jehovah’s people, regardless of skin color or geographical location. There will be no need for doctors, for there will be no sick; no need for undertakers, for there will be no dead; no need for prisons, for there will be no criminals; no need for divorce courts, for there will be no divorce; no need for orphanages, for who would live there?

12, 13. What prophecy directly applies to earthly conditions after Armageddon, and what picture does it paint?

¹² Revelation 21:1, 3, 4 (NW) testifies directly about New World conditions after the passing of “the heavens and the earth that are now.” Re 21 Verse one says: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea is no more.” Not only will the invisible ruling heavens and the visible earthly rulers of this wicked world be gone, but also the masses of humanity alienated from God, pictured by the restless and agitated sea, will be removed. They cannot serve two masters; they cannot support God and also bear up Satan’s harlotrous system. (Isa. 17:12, 13; Matt. 6:24; Luke 21:25; Rev. 17:1, 15) Remaining on earth will be those who now, prior to Armageddon, seek meekness and righteousness, who study and obediently follow Jehovah’s Word. To them after Armageddon verses three and four of Revelation chapter twenty-one will apply: “And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be any more. The former things have passed away.”

¹³ Actually, this promise alone covers everything. If there will be no tears there will be no sadness, no depressing or oppressing conditions, nothing but contentment and happiness. If there is no pain there could hardly be any crippling accidents. There could be no sickness if there is to be no mourning, no disease if there is to be no outcry. And with no more death obedient mankind will live forever to enjoy forever the paradisaic conditions on the eternally abiding planet Earth. With worry, trouble, sorrow, sickness, pain, war and death gone, what could mar the sublime peace and contentment and satisfaction of Jehovah’s new world of righteousness? Surely every sane person would want to gain eternal life in it.

14. What objection do some raise, but with what inconsistency?

¹⁴ Oddly, however, some amazingly reply that they would not want to live in a troubleless world, arguing that it would be dull and uninteresting, contending that trouble constitutes a challenge that enlivens existence. But these persons are very inconsistent. At other times they bitterly complain that if God is all powerful why does he permit so much trouble on earth. Yet why this complaint? Why not thank God for allowing the trouble? Do they not say it is this trouble that makes their life interesting, that routs dullness? And they find unattractive a new world of righteousness free of trouble. So why should they now rail against God for permitting the trouble they contend makes them happy? Actually, they are being unreasonable and childish, refusing to be satisfied regardless of what Jehovah allows or does. Jesus likened his generation to children that did not want to play either a joyful game or a sad one. They did not like John because he did not eat or drink; they did not like Jesus because he did eat and drink. They just wanted to find fault, to be dissatisfied and critical. In the same foolish category are persons today who complain because there is trouble in this old world and who also complain because there will be none in the new world.—Matt. 11:16-19.

15. What will keep the new world from being dull?

¹⁵ The new world will not be dull. It does not need trouble and sickness and death to keep it from being so. There will be work to do, and the promise is that men will “long enjoy the work of their hands.” There will be an abundance of work, both mental and physical. To dress and keep and subdue the earth will be an absorbing project, and to exercise loving dominion over the lower animals will give thrilling pleasure. Some minds will invent things, others will produce things, and still others will use things. There will be wide varieties of work, each with its problems to challenge the mental faculties and manual skills. Idleness and monotony will not exist and give birth to dullness.

FLEE TO THE MOUNTAINS NOW!

16. Instead of accusing Jehovah of being slow, why should we be grateful for his patience?

¹⁶ Nor should we let idleness exist in our lives now, for it would bring on our destruction. Some think Jehovah is slow in fighting Armageddon and establishing the new world. But he is not being slow, he is being patient, and that for our salvation: “Jehovah is not slow respecting his promise, as some people consider slowness, but he is patient with you because he does not desire any to be destroyed but desires all to attain to repentance.” “As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?” Now is a special period of time allowed for men to flee from the doomed old world under Satan and come under the new system of things under Christ, to flow with the stream of men from all nations that are coming to Jehovah’s mountain.—2 Pet. 3:9, NW; Ezek. 33:11, AS.

17. Why is this old world blind and comparable to a drunk man?

¹⁷ This old world is blind to this message, deaf to it, failing to discern the perilousness of these times. Why? Because of the veil its god spreads over it: “If, now, the good news we declare is in fact veiled, it is veiled among those who are perishing, among whom the god of this system of things has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, that the illumination of the glorious good news about the Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine through.” Have you ever seen a drunk man? Remember the veiled, hazy, filmy look of his eyes? He cannot see clearly, think lucidly or act surely. Yet ask him and he will say he is sober and can do anything or everything at peak performance. His condition is beclouded, but he does not know it. So Satan has spread a beclouding, stupefying veil over the nations of this system of things and blinded them without their knowing it. They think they can see clearly and hear plainly and think lucidly, but actually they are drunk on Satan’s wine, his religious and political propaganda. He has woven a tissue of lies and imposed it on the minds of men and spread it like a veil over the eyes of the nations, and blindly they are led to the slaughter of Armageddon. Satan’s propagandas and “expressions inspired by demons . . . go forth to the kings of the entire inhabited earth, to gather them together to the war of the great day of God the Almighty.”—2 Cor. 4:3, 4; Rev. 16:14, NW; Jer. 51:7; Rev. 17:2; 18:3.

18. How do blind ones view the message we preach, but what is its wisdom?

¹⁸ But do you think these multitudes duped and blinded by the Devil will admit it? No more than the drunk will admit his drunkenness! Preach the truth to them, tell them about Christ’s sacrifice, point out that his kingdom is here, show the evidence that we are in the last days of this old world, warn them of the approach of Armageddon and explain how they can escape perishing in it; and what is their evaluation of it all? It “is foolishness to those who are perishing.” This conceited world is blinded by its own supposed wisdom, as the Bible says: “The world through its wisdom did not get to know God.” Since to know God means everlasting life, and it is the world’s wisdom that prevents acquiring this life-giving knowledge, truly “the wisdom of this world is foolishness.” To escape the shrouds of this foolishness and gain sight and discernment in the light of Jehovah’s Word men must come out from behind the veil Satan has bound over their eyes.—1 Cor. 1:18, 21; 3:19; John 17:3, NW.

19. Where only can we escape Satan’s blinding veil?

¹⁹ And where can they go to be free of this blinding veil? There is only one place where it has been destroyed: “And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering that covereth all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all nations.” (Isa. 25:7, AS) In the mountain of Jehovah, the Kingdom territory under Christ, the veil of Satan does not exist, and it is to its protection that men and women and children from all nations are told to flee now, and hundreds of thousands have already done so, and many more thousands are in the process of fleeing, and still other thousands will yet wake up and flee, and all together they will survive the war from heaven to enjoy everlastingly the peace it brings to earth.

Questions From Readers

● I understand that the Kingdom is invisible and made up of Christ and the 144,000 body members, yet sometimes the term is used referring to the earthly, visible part of the new world. Why is this?—O. S., United States.

The ruling Kingdom body composed of Christ and the 144,000 is an invisible, heavenly kingdom, and it is with this kingdom in mind that 1 Corinthians 15:50 (NW) says: “Flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s kingdom.” And Jesus said: “Unless anyone is born from water and spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5, NW) Hence the inhabitants of the earth in Jehovah’s new world do not enter the heavenly kingdom or inherit it or become a part of it. But they do inherit a kingdom, for Jesus said concerning this earthly class of sheep: “Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the world’s foundation.” (Matt. 25:34, NW) Christ is spoken of as “the Lamb who was slaughtered from the world’s foundation,” meaning the new world of visible and invisible parts, or earthly and heavenly parts, and for which world he became the foundation when he died and shed his blood and later presented the merit of his shed blood before Jehovah in heaven. When Jehovah created the earth he meant for it to be inhabited and put Adam and Eve on earth to populate it, and he held out the hope of earthly life to faithful men before Christ; so an earthly class was purposed or predestinated long before Christ’s sacrifice laid the foundation for it. Also those who are to reign with Christ in the heavenly kingdom were predestinated or foreordained as a class “before the world’s foundation.”—Rev. 13:8; Eph. 1:4, NW.

The basis for this new world is Christ and his blood, so the presenting of it is the essential, basic preparation for the founding of the new world of righteousness. So Jesus invited the earthly class of sheep to “inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the world’s foundation.” This kingdom is the earthly realm of the ruling heavenly kingdom. “Kingdom” may refer to the king, as at Luke 17:21 (NW): “The kingdom of God is in your midst.” It often refers to the ruling body, Christ and his joint heirs, reigning invisibly from heaven. But this kingdom rules over the earth. The earth is a part of its domain or realm, and the subjects or the territory of the kingdom are spoken of as a part of the kingdom. At Daniel 2:34, 35, 44 it speaks of God’s kingdom under Christ as a stone that strikes and destroys Satan’s organization and that this stone becomes a great mountain that fills the whole earth. It means his kingdom will embrace the earth as a part of its realm, and hence the earthly part of the new world can be spoken of as a kingdom. Its territory and inhabitants come under it and are subject to it, and in this sense a part of it. Not that there are so-called “two phases of the Kingdom,” an earthly phase and a heavenly phase, but that the earth is the Kingdom’s realm and thus its inhabitants inherit the Kingdom (and not Satan’s organization) as their ruling government. This is the kingdom that is ordained and prepared for the earthly sheep.

● Why is Jesus called the “Son of man” in the Greek Scriptures, when actually he is the “Son of God”?—W. H., United States.

The Greek Scriptures refer to Jesus as the “Son of man” because the Hebrew Scriptures use that phrase relative to the Messiah, at Daniel 7:13, 14: “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”

When before the Sanhedrin or Jewish Supreme Court, on trial for his life, Jesus was addressed by the high priest: “By the living God I put you under oath to tell us whether you are the Christ the Son of God!” Jesus replied: “That was for you to say. Yet I say to you men, From henceforth you will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Upon this the high priest ripped his garments and cried: “He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses?” (Matt. 26:63-65, NW) There Jesus applied Daniel’s prophecy to himself, and that was the same as saying he was the Messiah, the Son of man that would in due time receive the kingdom from Jehovah and come with its power. It was this Messianic sign that the Jews wanted to see, but Jesus told them that their wicked and adulterous generation would only be given the sign of Jonah the prophet, that as he was in the fish’s belly three days and three nights, so would the Son of man be in the grave three days. It was not time for the Messianic sign given by Daniel. That coming in Kingdom power was not to be until his second presence, as Jesus himself told his followers.—Matt. 12:38-40; 24:30.

It is appropriate for the prophecy to speak of Jesus as Son of man and for the phrase to be applied to him in the Greek Scriptures, because he was a human creature while on earth. He was born of a virgin woman, and through her had a human descent and a kinship with humanity. The title Son of man is appropriate because it reminds that he is the great Kinsman of man and is the Avenger of blood at Armageddon.—Num. 35:1-29.

Charlemagne Pious? Yes—Christian? No!

RELIGIOUS historians speak highly of Charlemagne, the German ruler who reigned from A.D. 768 to 814. They wax eloquent in describing his being crowned by the pope in the year 800. They also tell of how Charlemagne co-operated with the church, by “encouragement and protection of missions, advancement of Christian culture, organization of dioceses, enforcement and protection of a Christian discipline of life, improvement of the clergy,” etc.

No question about it, Charlemagne was a good Catholic. “The personal devotion of Charles to the Apostolic See is well known.” But when we look at some of his deeds and compare them with the teachings of Christ, can we, by any stretch of the imagination, say that he was a Christian emperor, even though crowned by the pope?

In the latter part of 1954 a new and authoritative biography of Charlemagne was published, termed “Charlemagne: From the Hammer to the Cross,” and in reviewing this “excellent biography” the New York Times, October 22, 1954, had the following to say:

“Young Charles was insatiably ambitious and he had the ability and luck to achieve most of his ambitions.” “Charlemagne waged his wars for two purposes: to expand his power and to convert the heathen, particularly the Saxons. As the Saxons bitterly resisted being conquered and converted Charlemagne resorted to harsh measures. In one day he had 4,500 Saxons beheaded as a lesson to others. He forced many to become Christians on threat of death and he scattered many more around his realm by mass deportations.” After a reign of 46 years, at the time of his death, “he was the most celebrated ruler in the world—Charlemagne, Emperor and Augustus, King of the Franks and Lombards, ruler of all Europe from the Pyrenees to the plains of Hungary, from Denmark to Calabria (in Southern Italy).”

The biographer terms Charlemagne as pious, and zealous for religion as well as for culture and health. Also that he liked to have Augustine’s City of God read to him at mealtimes and that he presided over many religious conferences. And regarding his private life we are told, “his affection for his five wives, fourteen children and numerous concubines was great.”

In view of Christ’s example and teachings can anyone who is ambitious for temporal power be termed a Christian? Anyone who orders the execution of thousands in order to force others to accept his particular type of religion? Anyone who has five wives and numerous concubines?

Announcements

APPRECIATING THE LIFE-GIVING THEOCRATIC ORGANIZATION

All things are made to work together for good to those who love and serve Jehovah God. Thus Jehovah’s witnesses work effectively together, honoring God and being honored by him in so doing. (1 Sam. 2:30, AS) They call on people with life-giving knowledge that can set people free, and Bible study aids that will uplift and bring joy to the sheeplike ones of mankind. During this month they will continue offering a book and booklet combination for the nominal sum of 50c. Are you having a share in proclaiming Bible truths? You may do so. Inquire at the nearest Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s witnesses or write this office.

ASSEMBLIES PROGRESSING

By the time you read this, vast audiences at Chicago, Vancouver and probably Los Angeles will already have thrilled at the stirring public lecture “World Conquest Soon—by God’s Kingdom.” Were you a part of the blessed groups that assembled in those cities? Have you heard this message? If not, then by no means fail to take advantage of the “Triumphant Kingdom” Assembly in Dallas, July 13-17, or New York, July 20-24. Then, further, will you be one of the international travelers taking in the assemblies in London, July 27-31; Paris, August 3-7; Rome, August 5-7; Nuremberg, August 10-14; Stockholm, August 17-21; The Hague, August 17-21? Then remember that the love of your brothers goes with you, keep in mind the importance of properly representing the godly name that you bear, and never overlook your responsibility to listen and observe closely so that you can give a good report to your brothers back home. Have a pleasant trip and happy assembling!

SPIRITUAL “FOOD AT THE PROPER TIME”

Are you getting adequate spiritual “food at the proper time”? Is your “table” well prepared and the food furnished pleasing, adequate and strengthening? Your spiritual table will be all of this if you receive and make use of the Watchtower magazine regularly. This 32-page magazine enjoys the largest circulation of any religious magazine in the world. Published twice a month, the yearly subscription rate is only $1.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

August 21: War from Heaven Brings Peace to Earth. Page 433.

August 28: The Peace That Follows War from Heaven. Page 440.

Check Your Memory

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

✔ What, wrongly, has replaced Bible principles as a standard for conduct? P. 419, ¶2.

✔ What proves that Bible principles really can be applied today? P. 421, ¶3.

✔ Why you should apply the Bible’s standards even when others do not? P. 422, ¶3.

✔ What various historians have said about Jehovah’s witnesses’ vigorous fight for religious liberty? P. 425, ¶7.

✔ What example marks the high standard kept by true Christianity? P. 430, ¶6.

✔ What proves conclusively that the mountains Christ told Christians to flee to are not literal? P. 433, ¶2.

✔ Why it is robbery for men to call their wars Armageddon? P. 435, ¶7.

✔ The difference between Jehovah’s war and men’s wars that makes his just and their unjust? P. 436, ¶10.

✔ How long the energy given off by an H-bomb would keep a hurricane going? P. 437, ¶13.

✔ What proves that the earth the Bible says will be destroyed by fire is not the literal planet? P. 440, ¶3.

✔ In what sense the other sheep inherit the Kingdom? P. 446, ¶3.