The Watchtower — February 15, 1956

Do You Believe Only What You Can See?

SOMETIMES you hear people say: “I believe only what I can see.” What they really mean is that since they cannot see God they do not believe he exists. The fact that they cannot see him, they think, is sufficient justification for their lack of belief in God, and for their lack of interest in anything that points to God’s Word, the Bible, for an explanation of the reason for earth’s present difficulties. But is their position a sound one? No. Their statement is not even true. They believe many things that they cannot see.

As an illustration, take the example of electricity. Have you ever seen electricity? What does it look like? What color and shape is it? Can you watch the wires that bring it into your house and say: “Here comes some electricity now”? Well, then, if you cannot see it, why should you still believe that electricity exists? You believe it because you see its effect, you see the work it does. When you flip on the light switch, electric current flows through the wires, meets resistance in the bulb’s filament, and light is produced. The fact that the light is produced is clear evidence to you that electricity, which you have never seen, actually does exist, and therefore you accept and believe that fact.

Further, have you ever seen the radio waves that are at this moment passing through the room in which you are sitting, flowing between your eyes and this page, invisibly carrying sounds and voices and even television pictures? No, you cannot see them. They are invisible. But certainly you would not argue that just because you cannot see them such radio waves do not exist, and that the entire process of radio and television is a fabulous hoax to delude gullible people. Such an argument would be ridiculous. True, all you have seen is the evidence that radio waves exist, the result of their work. But the effect (the sounds and voices in your radio and pictures on television) must have a logical cause (the waves that bring them) and this leads you to accept the understandable explanation that radio waves actually are a reality, even though you have never seen them.

Then, too, how long ago was it that you last saw an atom, or the even smaller electrons, protons and neutrons of which atoms are composed? You never did? Many people who contend that they believe only what they can see are quite convinced of the existence of these minute particles, and frequently are heard expressing great fear over the way they believe something they have never seen may drastically affect the future of the world.

Thus, the statement “I believe only what I can see” is false and misleading. Everyone believes things he cannot see. He believes them because he sees the effects produced by these unseen things. Invisible electric current produces heat and light; unseen radio waves produce sound and pictures; minute particles within the atom can be made to release tremendous power.

But what does this have to do with belief in God? It has a great deal to do with God, for just as the effects produced by invisible electricity, radio waves and atomic particles prove that these things exist, so the fact that there is an invisible Creator, an Almighty One whose name is Jehovah, is proved by the equally clear observable effects of his power. What effects? The following article answers.

Why Believe in God

Is that belief logical? What are the evidences for it? Why should you accept the Bible as being God’s Word?

SOME people say they believe only what they can see. We reply most emphatically: Believe it! Yes, believe what you can see! The apostle Paul said the visible creation shows God’s power: “For his invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are understood by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship.” (Rom. 1:20, NW) Most people do believe that the things they see are proof of God’s existence. A Gallup Poll survey showed that even in presumably “materialistic” America 96 percent of the people interviewed said they believe in God. They have looked at the order and majesty of the world around them, at the existence of man and at the Bible itself and have seen convincing arguments that God does exist.

One writer put it this way: “If we start with an open mind, ready to believe or not believe according to the evidence, it is quite probable that we shall discover that it is easier to believe in God than to decide that plants, animals and man himself, body and mind, had their origin as the product of blind, purposeless chance. It is perhaps fitting to add that many persons do not wish to believe in God. They realize that it would rebuke their past and change their future to an unpleasant degree if they did.”a

What do you think about the origin of the universe itself? Was it pure chance, just an accident, a combination of many fortuitous events? Or does it bear witness to the existence of another mind that is higher, more intelligent, and that existed long before man did? Remember that the universe is not chaos, as it might well be if it were accidental, but is in order. Does this indicate to you that conscious thought is responsible for it? that it was designed by an intelligent creator?

Are the orderly laws that extend from the light-year expanse of the starry heavens to the tiny atoms that compose all matter just an accident? Are the exact motions of the heavenly bodies that form the standard for our timepieces an accident? Did accidents produce earth and man and all living creation—not just one such accidental occurrence, but a whole series of thousands of millions of them that marvelously combined, without other accidental happenings occurring that would destroy it all?

Is a power greater than chance involved in the universe’s origin? Scientist Arthur H. Compton said of the parts of the tiny atom: “If the simple yet prolific set of pushes and pulls to which the electrons are subject result from pure chance, then chance is more ingenious than the most clever of our scientists.”b

Not only do the origin of matter and the order in the universe present problems for those who deny the existence of a Creator, but there is the far greater problem of the origin of life itself. There was a time when spontaneous generation (called abiogenesis, meaning origin from nonlife) was believed to produce life. Worms developed out of putrid flesh, lice from dirt, frogs from the mud of pools, etc. But Pasteur’s experiments of nearly a hundred years demolished that theory. If it is argued that abiogenesis does not occur now but did occur in bygone ages, that is merely speculation. It is not a scientific argument, since it would not be based upon observation and experiment, but rather upon blind assertions that can neither be observed nor proved. Dr. J. Gray, a leading experimental zoologist, explained: “The spontaneous origin of living from inanimate matter must be regarded as a highly improbable event, and as such can be assumed not to have occurred.”c

The question is simple: Did matter, order, the marvelous universe and the unexplainable miracle of life occur purely through the outworkings of chance, or were they produced through the design of a great Creator? The former is so implausible that it takes more faith to believe in the materialistic theory of evolution than it does to believe in God! It remains true that “the heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.”—Ps. 19:1; Job 9:8; Isa. 40:26; Jer. 10:12.

EVEN GREATER MARVELS

But there is much more to be considered. Man, through the diligent use of his intelligence, has attained great accomplishments, but even in simple things nature’s wisdom came long before man’s. Aeons before man developed levers they existed in animals’ bodies. Unknown time before man made his first force pump the heart existed. Further, valves to control the movement of fluids exist in the heart and veins. Brushes to remove mucus are found in the windpipe. Electric batteries have been the possession of eels from time immemorial. Heatless light is manufactured by glowworms and fireflies. Heavier-than-air flying has long been the prerogative of birddom. Were these things just accidents, just the outworkings of chance, or is there an intelligence behind them that is far greater than man’s? That they were an accident is far more difficult to believe than is the Christian view that they were created!

Further, man’s intelligence lets him plan for the future. But how is one to explain the same foresight that is evident even in the unreasoning parts of nature? A tree produces seeds so there will be other trees when it is dead. Is this of importance to the tree? A squirrel stores nuts for the winter. What gave it the foresight to do so, and how does it know that the weather will turn cold? A bird produces eggs to perpetuate its kind. Why burden itself with offspring? Instinct does it? Nature perhaps? That is just begging the issue. Wherever you look Supreme Intelligence is present, it cannot be bypassed.

One authority explained: “The less a living animal seems able to think, owing to the inferiority of its organs, the more, judging by the acts of wisdom of which it is capable, does it become evident that some One has thought for it.”d If no Creator exists, who could have done that thinking?

But even more amazing is human life, which presents the greatest problems for those who deny creation. Why do the atoms and elements of the body combine to make organic compounds that conspire to develop various tissues and organs and to perform their functions in a unified structure that goes so far beyond the capabilities of these atoms and elements as they normally exist? What intelligent force produced this? Nature? Then why not call it by the name of the Supreme Being who produced the laws of nature, namely, JEHOVAH?

Nature has many wonders, and the development of a new human life is one of the most amazing. With no conscious thought on the mother’s part the bones, nerves, eyes, ears, feet, hands, heart, lungs and many other such structures and organs are produced in a manner that no human can explain. Is it by accident that the human cells follow such a carefully outlined process? Without a question of doubt there is an Intelligence far greater than man’s behind such production of life! Why hide the identity of that Intelligence by refusing to call it God?

When evolution says that creation did not occur, just remember that evolution does not know the origin of matter, the origin of life, how the tremendous gaps between the various life forms are to be filled, or the reason for the marvelous wisdom called “nature.” Marvelous laws that the wisest of scientists have spent decades, even centuries, trying to fathom did not come into being by chance. Believe what you can see! Accept the fact that there was an intelligent creation and therefore an intelligent Creator, Jehovah God!

KNOW THE CREATOR!

Reason, referred to above, reduces the stumbling blocks and misunderstandings that stand in the way of many persons’ accepting God, but we are not basically interested in your accepting just what logic and reasoning have to say about him. Far more important is what he has to say about himself. It would be unreasonable to think that, having created man, the Creator would now leave us without an explanation of why not all is in harmony in the world today. The Bible gives that reason. It shows why trouble and hardship exist, and it shows that soon these will end with the destruction of the great rebel, the instigator of wickedness, Satan the Devil. Thus, of our day it says: “Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.”—Rev. 12:12, NW.

If the Bible were just another book of man’s imaginations it would be of little value. But it is far more than that. It is a book that shows us what God is like, relates his instructions, gives evidences of his power and majesty and is a prime builder of faith.

The Bible is its own greatest proof of its reliability. First, those who had a part in its writing contended that it was from God. David said: “The spirit of Jehovah it was that spoke by me, and his word was upon my tongue.” Paul wrote: “All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching.” And “the holy spirit spoke beforehand by David’s mouth.” And Peter said: “Prophecy was at no time brought by man’s will, but men spoke from God as they were borne along by holy spirit.”—2 Sam. 23:2; 2 Tim. 3:16; Acts 1:16; 2 Pet. 1:21, NW.

Yet the Bible does not just claim to be from God; it proves that claim! God’s challenge to those who claim divine inspiration is: “Let them approach and tell us what is to happen: . . . Tell us the things that are coming hereafter, that we may know that you are gods.” (Isa. 41:22, 23, AT) This test is conclusive because no man, of his own power, can reliably and in detail foretell specific future events. How does the Bible meet this test? Victoriously! Note the following examples of its reliable, accurate and detailed prediction of such future events—a power that no man has, a power that comes from God.

Years before Judah fell to Babylon the prophet Jeremiah not only foretold that fall, but specified the exact seventy-year length of the land of Judah’s desolation, and said that at the end of that seventy years Babylon would be destroyed, becoming “a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, a horror and a hissing, without an inhabitant.” How could any man have predicted the nation’s captivity, the exact length of the land’s desolation and the time and manner by which the conquering nation would itself fall into ruin? Yet this prophecy came true exactly as foretold, despite the fact that, as one writer said: “None but a madman would have dreamed of prophesying the overthrow of Babylon in the days when Isaiah and Jeremiah were alive. The Babylonians were among the fiercest warriors of their day. They had conquered the world and bent it to their yoke.”e The accurate predictions made by Isaiah and Jeremiah unquestionably prove that their claim to have been true prophets of God really was true.—Jer. 29:10; 51:37, AT.

Further, in Daniel 8:3-8, 20, 21 it was shown that the Medo-Persian empire would succeed Babylon as a world power. The Median power would come first, and the Persian power would follow and surpass it in strength. After the Medo-Persian victory over Babylon the Grecian empire would cast Medo-Persia down. Later the mighty Grecian empire would split into four separate parts. All of these things occurred exactly as predicted, the final event occurring more than two centuries later when Alexander the Great cast Medo-Persia down, and then when, at Alexander’s death, his empire was split into four parts, each ruled by a different general. How utterly impossible it would have been for ordinary men to make such amazing advance predictions as are common in the Bible!

MODERN PROOFS

Would you prefer present-day examples to these ancient ones? Modern examples of the fulfillment of such amazing prophecies are equally convincing. For more than thirty-four years prior to the outbreak of world violence in 1914 (or since 1880) The Watchtower had faithfully and regularly pointed to 1914 as marking the end of the Bible’s “Gentile times” or “times of the nations.”f It showed from the Scriptures that the end of the “times of the nations” would be marked by the worst time of trouble earth had ever known. Before World War I started many people had scoffed, but the Bible’s prediction held true. The Bible writers could not of their own knowledge have known these events, or even have guessed at them, so far in advance. Such specific advance predictions cannot be man’s wisdom, but again the Bible prediction held true!

In Revelation 17:8 it was foretold that man’s political peace organization (the League of Nations) would go into the abyss of nonexistence, as it did during World War II, and would later come to life again, as it did in the United Nations, but that it would not succeed in its promise to bring lasting peace. Would any man have known this on his own? Again the Bible prediction, written nearly 1,900 years in advance, has held true!

This Book of books has stood the test, coming through with flying colors! Its reliable prediction of the future vindicates its claim to inspiration and proves its genuineness. And further, the existence of this obviously inspired book proves unquestionably that its Inspirer, Jehovah God, does exist!

The most important source of faith in God is the Bible itself. If you lack such faith, it is probably through lack of study of that Book; if you wish to gain faith you can do it through studying it. True faith is not blind but well informed. It is based upon facts, logic, understanding and trust. Such faith must be sought, and is gained through the pages of the Book of faith, the Bible. As Paul wrote: “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”—Rom. 10:17.

The Bible describes faith as “the assured expectation of things hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities though not beheld.” Faith is the sum of our beliefs concerning Jehovah God and his kingdom. It is our confidence in him that has been developed through our examination of what is contained in the Scriptures. It is our well-founded conviction that things do exist that we cannot see, that these things can be laid hold upon with confidence and that the promises made in God’s Word will be kept.—Heb. 11:1, NW.

In summary: we believe many things that we cannot see. We believe them because we can see evidence of their working. Similarly, we can see like evidences of God’s activity. The existence of matter, the marvel of life, the amazing intelligence in nature, the scope of the human mind, the miracle of birth, the unerring accuracy of the Bible’s ability to predict the future, and the amazing extent of its ability to engender faith in the minds of its readers—all these and many other evidences point to the sure existence of a Supreme Intelligence, an almighty and all-wise Creator, who is identified in the Bible as being named JEHOVAH. The next step, after recognizing that God exists, is to look into his Word, the Bible, to see how it builds faith and what he requires of you.

[Footnotes]

The Lure of Comic Books

● A recent survey shows Americans spend more money on comic books each year than on elementary and secondary school textbooks. The survey, made by the Bureau of Public Administration at the University of California, says many hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of comics are sold each year—about four times the combined annual book-purchasing budgets of all public libraries in the country.

Modern History of Jehovah’s Witnesses

Part 28—International Assemblies (1946-1950)

THE 1946 Cleveland assembly further set a pattern as to operating departments required for efficient mass congregating of Witnesses.a Needed was a volunteer service department, to register volunteer workers—willing to serve their brothers during convention time in whatever operating department an assignment was given them. On the first day of the 1946 convention 1,100 had been assigned to work. An engineering department was necessary to assure functioning of all mechanical equipment. An installation department of skilled craftsmen made all necessary temporary erections of cafeteria equipment, putting up of the platform, enlarging electrical and plumbing facilities, and similar preparations. A first-aid department, comprising doctors and nurses, took care of those who needed health attention. Other departments that functioned as parts of the great convention establishment were lost and found, transportation, attendants, publicity, information, public-address system, bookroom, convention orchestra and music, administration, chairman’s office (which supervised the program) and editorial. The editorial department published five convention reports containing pictures and comment on convention events during course of the assembly. For the eight-day assembly 650,000 copies of the Cleveland convention report known as “The Messenger” were printed.

Experiences, joys and spiritual uplift shared by scores of thousands at the 1946 “Glad Nations Theocratic Assembly” in Cleveland proved to be just a sample of what was to be in store for Jehovah’s people at the 1950 Yankee Stadium world assembly. It was called “‘Theocracy’s Increase’ Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses,” meeting in New York city July 30 to August 6, 1950. What a joyous eight-day theocratic festival it was—never to be forgotten by those who attended! The war having now ended by some five years, it was possible for ten thousand non-American witnesses from sixty-seven different countries to travel to New York for this truly world assembly. Hundreds came from war-torn Europe itself. Other hundreds came from Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Asia, too, was represented. Latin Americans came by the hundreds and many also from isles of the Pacific. Thousands came from Canada. All these world travelers journeyed in every conceivable way, by sea, by rail, by air. The influx of foreigners was so great in New York city for the days prior to the convention that the U.S. Immigration Service blundered, bringing certain discriminatory indignities upon visiting witnesses that later were vigorously protested by the convention. In spite of the difficulties 79,247 attended the opening day of this colossal gathering. The record-shattering number of 123,707 attended the last day at the public meeting to hear N. H. Knorr speak on “Can You Live Forever in Happiness on Earth?”

The convention organization, patterned on the Cleveland style, was set in motion months prior to the assembly. The rooming accommodations for 75,000 conventioners amounted to the greatest, most concentrated room-hunt ever held up to that time. A trailer city was established forty miles away from the stadium, in New Jersey. Here thousands of witnesses were accommodated in a well-organized, well-serviced, well-administered community of 15,000 inhabitants. When opening day arrived the entire convention machine, including all its member departments with a total staff running into the thousands of volunteer workers, went into high gear to assure a most successfully operated assembly within the limited and congested area of Yankee Stadium. The functioning of the convention proved to be such a modern spectacle from every angle that great publicity resulted in the national and international press, the radio and television. The Society’s radio station WBBR broadcast most of the sessions of the entire convention to a potential audience of millions.

The opening day, Sunday, July 30, was entitled “Gilead Graduation Day,” which signified the principal opening event. Nearly 80,000 heard the graduation proceedings in the afternoon when the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead graduated 120 students of its 15th class. The graduation address was entitled “The Way of Success,” as delivered by the school’s president, N. H. Knorr. At the opening session that morning the first surprise occurred, the release of a book of new, delightfully composed songs of praise. For the eight days thereafter the vast throng had fellowship in learning these new songs. On the Monday, “Jehovah’s Undeserved Kindness Day,” foreign-language sessions were held in the morning in various parts of Yankee Stadium and then general sessions in the afternoon and evening, giving reports by branch servants from various countries. The effective booklet Defending and Legally Establishing the Good News was released on this day. Tuesday, “Theocratic Devotion Day,” saw the release of the attractive new-size Watchtower magazine. Also on this day 84,950 enthusiastically adopted the stinging resolution against communism offered at the conclusion of the key address “The Increase of His Government.” The booklet Evolution versus The New World made its existence known at this time.

“‘Preach the Word’ Day,” Wednesday, August 2, proved to be one of historic moment when the Society’s president presented to an amazed and totally surprised audience the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures amid heightened expressions of enthusiasm and delight. The morning, afternoon and evening sessions of “Missionary Day,” Thursday, were devoted to hearing exciting reports from Gilead missionaries. Also on this day 3,381 were immersed. Friday was “Branch Day,” filled with news of world-wide theocratic expansion. “Knowledge of God Day” on Saturday was highlighted by the release in Spanish and English of the new book “This Means Everlasting Life”. On Sunday, “New World Living Day,” the climax, 123,707 came to hear the heart-stirring public talk “Can You Live Forever in Happiness on Earth?” Truly a spiritual feast of fat things was abundantly set before Jehovah’s witnesses at this till then grandest of assemblies.b

Before leaving the convention city the witnesses were invited to visit the beautiful new Bethel headquarters at 124 Columbia Heights and also the vastly expanded printing factory at 117 Adams Street in Brooklyn. For several days after the assembly thousands passed through to see all the points of interest at these two centers of theocratic activity. The new Bethel home had been dedicated January 30, 1950, and the new factory April 3 of the same year.c The full occupancy of these two modernly equipped buildings completed the vast expansion program approved so enthusiastically at the 1946 Cleveland assembly.

The new Bethel building is a well-designed ten-story brick structure with a three-story tower at its top, visible to all river and bridge traffic. Inside Bethel one finds a lovely lobby leading to elevators and also to a well-appointed lounge. Below there is a colorful Kingdom Hall with seating capacity of 500. Next below is the large dining hall, seating 450, and kitchens. The modernistic studios and Watchtower organ of radio station WBBR also are located in this building. On its eighth floor is a delightful library. The home also contains the offices of the Society’s president as well as the offices of its treasurer, the legal department and editorial rooms. In this building, too, are rooms sufficient to house 450 Bethel workers, together with laundry and other household-service departmental quarters.

The new factory building contains the general offices of the Society as the headquarters of the American branch. However, most of this other new building (completed in 1950) is devoted to printing operations on huge presses and other machines of latest design to facilitate efficient high-speed book, booklet and magazine production. The Watchtower and Awake! magazines are printed at and distributed from this plant. Here also is done printing of Bibles and many other publications of the Society.d

(To be continued)

[Footnotes]

Turning Tables on the Pranksters

● Halloween has its origin in demonism, in the religious teaching that the dead are not dead but are more alive than ever. On that night mischievous youngsters call at the homes of their neighbors and demand a “treat” in the way of food or money or else they will do some mischief, a “trick.” How one of Jehovah’s witnesses handled the situation at the last Halloween is shown in the following:

●“On the night of October 31, a group of youngsters dressed up as witches and goblins called and demanded the usual ‘trick or treat.’ They were told that we did not have the usual treat but that if they returned in a few minutes we would tell them a Bible story. So they left to make a few more neighborhood calls. In the meantime we got our Bible out, but wondering whether they would return or not. Sure enough they did, and they were told the story of King Saul and the witch of Endor, which was tied in to an explanation of the real nature of Halloween. The children enjoyed it so much that they chose to visit a good while and when they left they said: ‘That’s the best “treat” that we’ve had all night.’”

Soviets Printing Bibles

● In spite of the Communists’ official position that religion is an opiate for the people, they have been unable to stamp out the peoples’ need for religion or their clamor for the Bible. Thus the New York Times, September 4, 1955, tells that “the Soviet Union’s printing houses are producing 25,000 Bibles, containing both the Old and New Testaments, on popular request. The printing is being done under the auspices of the Russian Orthodox Church, which also will have charge of distribution.” Just another link in the chain of evidence that “the word spoken by Jehovah endures forever.”—1 Pet. 1:25, NW.

Triumphing over Wicked Spirit Forces

“We have a fight, not against blood and flesh, but against the governments, against the authorities, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the wicked spirit forces in the heavenly places.”—Eph. 6:12, NW.

1, 2. What Scripturally predicted manifestations of demon power are now seen to have occurred during the time of the first world war?

“DEMONS TO WRECK SOCIETY—Psychic phenomena are attracting the attention of some of the greatest men of the land. These men claim that they are able to communicate with the dead. That they receive messages from some hidden source cannot be questioned. This psychic science is called Immortalism. In truth and fact it is demonism. And these demons, exercising greater power over the human mind, will, as the Scriptures foreshow, soon wreck all society.”

² With this spine-tingling introduction the magazine The Watch Tower in its issue of March 1, 1918, proceeded to advise its readers to examine what the Holy Scriptures had to say on the subject of spiritism. During those dark days of World War I it did appear to Bible students that the demons, the enemies of mankind, were about ready to wreck all human society. Little did the world then realize that invisible, superhuman forces had operated to plunge human society into its first world war in 1914. Amid the throes of war, revolution had broken out in Russia, the Bolsheviks had seized control of the government and the former Russian czar, Nicholas II, was under arrest and shortly to be executed on July 17, 1918, in Siberia. Whether general revolution was to spread all over the earth, to be followed in a chain reaction by society-wrecking anarchy, was not certain. For long many had understood the Bible prophecies to read that way, and now events seemed working in that direction, with mankind helpless in the vicelike grip of the demons. It was a time to inform oneself on the long-range purpose of the demons. But more months of 1918 passed. Suddenly in November World War I came to a halt, an armistice was signed between the warring sides, leading to a peace, an uncertain peace indeed that was to last only ten months more than twenty years. Still it left human society, although bleeding and crippled, far from a total wreck. What had happened? Had the demons’ plans miscalculated or had they been misinterpreted?

3. Biblically speaking, what are demons?

³ By “demons” we mean wicked spirits of the invisible realm. To peoples of the Orient the subject of “demons” is nothing strange, for demons play a large part in their religions. But by “demons” we mean malicious spirit creatures, not those grotesque creatures described by these Orientals, but the powerful, superhuman spirit creatures of which the scriptures of the Holy Bible speak.

4, 5. Why is a serious attitude regarding the demons necessary and Scriptural?

⁴ True believers in God, true, informed Christians, take the subject of the demons very seriously. The outstanding champion of Christianity, the apostle Paul, warned us to be most serious about the demons, for when we are in a life-and-death fight with those stronger than we are we have to be serious. In one of the fourteen books of the Bible that he wrote he said: “You at one time walked according to the system of things of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit that now operates in the sons of disobedience. . . . Put on the complete suit of armor from God that you may be able to stand firm against the machinations of the Devil; because we have a fight, not against blood and flesh, but against the [non-blood-and-flesh] governments, against the authorities, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the wicked spirit forces in the heavenly places.”—Eph. 2:2; 6:10-12, NW.

⁵ Paul wrote those words directly to Christians at Ephesus. Quite a number of them had practiced magical arts and, after accepting the “word of Jehovah” preached by Paul, they “brought their books together and burned them up before everybody.” Others of them had worshiped the demons at the world-famous temple of the goddess “Artemis [Diana] of the Ephesians.” (Acts 19:13-20, 27, 28, NW) So those Christians at Ephesus felt the full force of the apostle Paul’s words; they had had experience with the demons.

6-8. What is spiritualism? How has it affected learned men and others?

⁶ More and more people of Christendom are becoming aware of the existence of these spirits, such as the demons are. How? Through the spread of the religion generally known as “spiritualism.” As defined by the dictionary, spiritualism is the belief or the religious movement based on the belief that departed spirits hold intercourse with mortal humans by means of physical phenomena, as by rapping, or during abnormal mental states, as in trances or the like, commonly manifested through a medium; it is the theory that mediumistic phenomena are caused by spirits of the dead.

⁷ Spiritualism is about four thousand years old, but it has staged a vigorous modern reappearance in the West. The American spiritualistic movement had its beginning in 1848 with the young Fox sisters of Hydeville, New York, who later moved to Rochester, New York, to continue with their mediumship there, attracting nation-wide attention. However, for about a hundred years before the start of the American phase of spiritualism, Germany and Switzerland had their spiritualists who developed or believed in psychic phenomena almost identical with those connected with the American movement. They had spirit vision, spirit writing, foreknowledge of coming events from the spirit realm, and daily direct communication with inhabitants of the spirit realm. From America the movement spread into England, the two most active spiritualists there being D. D. Home, a remarkable medium, and W. Stainton Moses, an Episcopal minister and an Oxford man. For years these two startled England. At seances Mr. Home used to pick up live coals from the fire by the handful and carry them around without being burned. He trained many of his pupils to do the same thing, and he himself was even known to wash his face in fiery flames unharmed. The phenomena of spiritualism became so notorious that they led to investigation, serious, scientific investigation. Many came away from these investigations convinced—clergymen, philosophers and other men of learning and of science. As to their conclusions regarding spiritualism The Encyclopedia Americana (volume 25, 1929 ed.) says:

⁸ “The conclusions of the higher intelligences who have expressed themselves as being convinced of the reality of Spiritualism may be summed up as follows: Through mediumship is proved the continuity of life beyond the grave; it is no longer a religious dogma but a living fact. Spiritual intelligences are as anxious to communicate with us as we with them, but the lower and grosser intelligence seem to be the nearest to us, and most likely to be heard from in communication, and they like to impersonate great individuals and personal deceased friends of those present. This is held to account for much of the ‘information’ that comes through, and is valueless. For many years the Banner of Light, published in Boston, was the leading organ of this cult. In common with other Spiritualist papers it has disappeared. They have apparently given way to Psychological publications and New Thought periodicals. While the great public includes a vast number who are virtually Spiritualists, they are less and less known by that name, but are affiliated with New Thought, Mental Science, Theosophy, Oriental cults, Psychical Research and other modern movements. Spiritualistic teaching is largely in accord with the writings in the Bible.”

9, 10. (a) How is the widely held doctrine of the ‘immortality of the human soul’ related to spiritualism?

⁹ In harmony with this last statement of the Americana, it is the claim of many spiritualists that this psychic religion is based on the Bible or that the Bible supports and agrees with spiritualism. Especially is this true of Catholic and Protestant clergymen who have become spiritualists. They claim that the Bible teaches survival after death or the immortality of the human soul, which is the teaching upon which spiritualism rests. For this reason it is also called Immortalism, and was first called so by a Protestant clergyman. In 1909 the New York World published an interview with this clergyman, namely, Bishop Samuel Fallows of the Reformed Episcopal church, Chicago, Illinois, in which he said: “There are great truths in Spiritualism. Many Spiritualistic phenomena we cannot understand, but we have to admit them. I have called the new science ‘Immortalism’ because it depends for its existence upon the immortality of the soul, in which we all believe, and the preservation of identity beyond the grave. Immortalism is simply Spiritualism with all the fraud and trickery eliminated. On account of these frauds Spiritualism has been shunned by many right thinking people, but immortalism will claim their most earnest attention.” Four years earlier he said: “As a Christian and a believer in the Bible, I must believe in communication between the two worlds—that in which we live and that to which our friends have gone. . . . I believe in apparitions, however, and think it possible that there are persons possessed of a certain mysterious psychic power which enables them to make of their spirits a channel, as it were, through which the earth-bound spirit can communicate with the friend from the other side.”—The Watch Tower, June 1, 1905; December 1, 1909.

¹⁰ Says Johannes Greber in the introduction of his translation of The New Testament, copyrighted in 1937: “I myself was a Catholic priest, and until I was forty-eight years old had never as much as believed in the possibility of communicating with the world of God’s spirits. The day came, however, when I involuntarily took my first step toward such communication, and experienced things that shook me to the depths of my soul. . . . My experiences are related in a book that has appeared in both German and English and bears the title, Communication with the Spirit-World: Its Laws and Its Purpose.” (Page 15, ¶ 2, 3) In keeping with his Roman Catholic extraction Greber’s translation is bound with a gold-leaf cross on its stiff front cover. In the Foreword of his aforementioned book ex-priest Greber says: “The most significant spiritualistic book is the Bible.” Under this impression Greber endeavors to make his New Testament translation read very spiritualistic.

11, 12. (a) What is a questionable translation of 1 John 4:1-3? (b) What right understanding of this passage is derived from its accurate translation?

¹¹ Spiritualism claims that there are good spirits and bad spirits and that it does not want to have anything to do with the bad spirits but tries to communicate only with the good spirits. At 1 John 4:1-3 the Bible says: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.” Greber’s translation of these verses reads: “My dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to learn whether they come from God. For many false spirits have emerged from the abyss and gone out into the world, and are speaking through human mediums. This is how you can find out whether a spirit comes from God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ appeared on earth as a man, comes from God. While every spirit who seeks to destroy belief in Jesus as our Lord incarnated does not come from God, but is sent by the adversary of Christ. You have been told that such spirits would come, and they are already appearing in the world.” Very plainly the spirits in which ex-priest Greber believes helped him in his translation.

“TRY THE SPIRITS”

¹² However, when the apostle John says, “Try the spirits,” or, “Test the spirits,” he does not mean for us to dabble in spiritualism and get in touch with the spirits by means of spirit mediums, ouija boards or planchettes or other spiritistic paraphernalia and try out which is a good spirit and which is a bad one. By “spirits” here John is referring, not to invisible spirit creatures, but to the purpose, the intent or the motivation of the prophesying or public declaration made by men respecting God and Christ. Hence An American Translation reads: “Do not believe every inspired utterance, but test the utterances to see whether they come from God, for many false prophets have come out into the world.” And the New World Translation reads: “Do not believe every inspired expression, but test the inspired expressions to see whether they originate with God.” To test these inspired utterances or inspired expressions of the prophets or mouthpieces of various religions to see whether they are inspired by God’s spirit or not, we do not have to go to spiritualist séances or mediums. Long ago Jehovah God inspired his prophet Isaiah to say: “Bind up the testimony, seal the teaching among my disciples. And when they say to you, ‘Consult the mediums and the wizards who chirp and mutter,’ should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? To the teaching and to the testimony! Surely for this word which they speak there is no dawn. They will . . . be thrust into thick darkness.” (Isa. 8:16, 19-22, RS) Obediently those who seek true, reliable information concerning the human dead and future events go to Jehovah’s teaching and testimony as found in the Bible.

13-15. (a) Does the Bible’s teaching as summarized by Paul justify the claims of spiritualists? (b) How does a recognized writer on spiritualism inform and counsel his readers regarding the Bible?

¹³ But, someone will protest, the spiritualists themselves claim to go to the Bible also. Yes, but this is all as a bait, as a disguise, to calm the conscience and to entice one into spiritualism as something Biblical, Scriptural, having God’s approval and being thoroughly Christian. It follows the tactics of false apostles of Christ, of whom the true apostle Paul wrote: “Such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself keeps transforming himself into an angel of light. It is therefore nothing great if his ministers also keep transforming themselves into ministers of righteousness.” (2 Cor. 11:13-15, NW) So the hidden aim is to get you to believe less and less in the Bible and to rely more and more on your experiences with observed phenomena of spiritualism, to get you to perverting the Bible and believing just the opposite of what it teaches, yes, to destroy your faith in the Bible. This is illustrated in the case of the prominent British spiritualist Arthur Findlay. In his book The Rock of Truth or Spiritualism The Coming World Religion (thirteenth impression, 1949) he says:

¹⁴ “All impartial students of the past can come to no other conclusion than that the belief in the inspiration of The Holy Bible, though it has given strength and help to millions, has nevertheless been one of the greatest hindrances to the progress of humanity. This being so, is it not strange that this book is still called ‘Holy’ and ‘The Word of God’ in any civilized place of worship? . . . How different indeed would much of the world have been had the Bible never been considered inspired, and how much happier Christendom will be when all come to look on it as they do other books, admiring its beauties, but ignoring its mistakes and falsities. In view of past mistakes, and the crimes and atrocities it has committed in the name of its founder, the Church today should be humble and penitent instead of arrogant and reactionary.”—Pages 120, 131.

¹⁵ In the index of this book we read these references under the heading “Bible”: “Advocates barbaric cruelties; evidence of divine inspiration lacking; not Word of God; now taken less seriously; of no historical value; other faiths just as efficacious; stories cannot be verified; stories preached as if true; study of, waste of time; stumbling block to Spiritualism; to be read as other books,” etc. We also read under the heading “Jehovah”: “Not the creator; ordered war”; and under the heading “Jesus”: “Many lived similar lives; no historical evidence that he lived; resurrection of, doubtful tradition; The Talmud, account of; virgin birth, death and resurrection copied from other saviour-gods; virgin birth thought of later,” etc. Page references accompany such topical entries.

16. Is it rightly said that the Bible is a “stumbling block to spiritualism,” and why?

¹⁶ The evidence is clear that the spirits with whom this leading spiritualist communicates are against the Bible and its Author Jehovah God and his Son Jesus Christ. Why so? Because the Bible and Jehovah and Jesus Christ are against those spirits; which Mr. Findlay admits, when he says the Bible is a “stumbling block to Spiritualism.” We do not have to dabble in spiritualism to find out whether those spirits with which this religion communicates are good or bad spirits. They are all bad spirits, for they are all acting out a lie, the way the “ruler of the demons,” Satan the Devil, did at his beginning in Eden. As admitted by Bishop Fallows, who coined the word “Immortalism” to take away the reproach upon mediumistic communication with spirits, spiritualism rests upon the teaching of the immortality of the human soul, hence of survival after death of the human body.

17, 18. (a) Scripturally, how are “immortality” and the human “soul” accurately defined? (b) Spiritualism’s basic claims are how affected by those Bible definitions?

¹⁷ Only one writer of the Bible, the apostle Paul, mentions immortality, and his three mentions of it do not refer to the human soul at all, but refer to the resurrected Jesus Christ and to the resurrected faithful followers of Christ. The apostle Paul himself states that the human soul is the human creature himself, not some unseen, untouchable, spiritual something that resides inside the human body, in it but not of it, and able at the body’s death to depart and take up separate residence in the spirit realm. Paul quotes the inspired description of the creating of the first human soul, at Genesis 2:7, by saying: “The first man Adam became a living soul.” (1 Cor. 15:45, 53, 54, NW; 1 Tim. 6:14-16) The human soul is not immortal and therefore cannot survive the death of its body.

¹⁸ Yes, indeed, the Bible is a “stumbling block to Spiritualism,” for from its first book to its last it teaches that the human soul is mortal and dies, ceasing to exist. (Gen. 12:13; 17:14; 19:19, 20; 37:21 and Rev. 8:9; 12:11; 16:3, NW) The Bible teaching concerning the mortality of the human soul reaches its most pointed expression in Jehovah God’s own warning: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” (Ezek. 18:4, 20) This plain-spoken, unchanging teaching of all the Scriptures blasts the very foundation from under the spiritualist movement. It proves that the spiritualists do not communicate with the immortal souls of the human dead in a spirit world but do communicate with the demons, bad spirits, and that spiritualism is simply a deceptive misnaming of demonism. When spirits take on a false identity, pretending to be spirits of the human dead in order to support the lie that the dead are not dead, but their souls are immortal and have survived after death, as the spirit did who impersonated the prophet Samuel to King Saul by the spirit medium of Endor, then they are all bad. They are lying spirits, even if they do make some correct predictions of the future, for they are acting under a false identity, doubly deceitful. (1 Sam. 28:3-20) They are denying the need of the resurrection under God’s kingdom for the human dead to live again.

19, 20. (a) As for spiritistic practices, Jehovah’s people of the past and present are given what mandatory advice by his authorized spokesmen? (b) What penalty is now applicable for one’s failure to listen to Jehovah’s Chief Spokesman, and why?

¹⁹ Jesus Christ once said: “God is a Spirit, and those worshiping him must worship with spirit and truth.” (John 4:24, NW) Since he himself dwells in the spirit realm, he knows full well who these spirits are and he warns his people against having anything to do with them. He forbade his theocratic people to let those who practiced spiritism of any kind live among them, saying: “As for a man or woman in whom there should prove to be a mediumistic spirit or spirit of prediction, they should be put to death without fail. They should pelt them to death with stones. Their own blood is upon them.”—Lev. 20:27, NW.

²⁰ Instead of using these spirits as channels of prophecy, Jehovah God raised up his prophets, particularly the great Prophet Jesus Christ. Hence he said to his people: “There should not be found in you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, anyone who employs divination, a practicer of magic or anyone who looks for omens or a sorcerer, or one who binds others with a spell or anyone who consults a spirit medium or a professional foreteller of events or anyone who inquires of the dead. . . . For these nations whom you are dispossessing used to listen to those practicing magic and to those who divine, but, as for you, Jehovah your God has not given you anything like this. A prophet from your own midst, from your brothers, like me [Moses], is what Jehovah your God will raise up for you—to him you people should listen.” (Deut. 18:10-15, NW) And since the apostle Peter said that Jehovah had raised up his Son Jesus Christ as that great Prophet, to whom to listen, the choice is one of either listening to him or listening to the demon spirits by means of spirit mediums. (Acts 3:20-23, NW) The true Christians are obliged to shun spiritualism and listen to Jehovah’s Chief Prophet Jesus Christ, for the apostle Peter said: “Indeed, any soul that does not listen to that Prophet will be completely destroyed from among the people.”—Deut. 18:18, 19, NW.

21. What other Bible testimony reveals the true position of Jesus on spiritistic practices?

²¹ Jesus showed where he stood respecting the demons by casting out more than a legion of them who possessed people. He empowered his twelve apostles and the seventy evangelists to cast out demons by use of his name, and in the last book of the Bible he pictured his glorified congregation in heaven as a glorious city and said: “Outside are the dogs and those who practice spiritism and the fornicators and the murderers and the idolaters and everyone liking and carrying on a lie [as spiritists do].”—Rev. 22:14, 15, NW; Matt. 4:24; 8:28-33; 10:1, 8; Luke 8:1, 2; 9:1; 10:1, 17-20.

22. How did Paul classify the practice of spiritism?

²² Spiritualism is not spiritual, but is one of the works of the flesh, having nothing to do with God’s kingdom, for the apostle Paul said: “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, and they are fornication, uncleanness, loose conduct, idolatry, practice of spiritism, . . . and things like these. As to these things I am forewarning you, the same way as I did forewarn you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s kingdom.”—Gal. 5:19-21, NW.

INSANITY THROUGH OBSESSION

23. Is or is not humans’ insanity possible through control by demons, and why?

²³ The purpose of the demons through spiritualism is not merely to destroy your faith in God’s Word the Bible but, more than that, to gain possession of your mind and body, to control you completely, thus leading you to insanity. Even the East Indian spiritualist V. D. Rishi, in his book Spiritualism in India, admits the danger of obsession with resulting insanity and refers to cases. Under the subheading “Pit-Falls of Communications” he says: “During our stay in Delhi we could once witness a tragic case of obsession which clearly brings home the pit-falls of spirit-communication. . . . This is a warning and an eye-opener to those who try these methods unsystematically without caring to have some preparatory knowledge. It reflects no discredit on the subject [?] but on the persons who practise it in an unscientific manner.” (Pages 175-178) Under the subheading “How the Table Tilts?” Rishi says: “Regarding the qualifications necessary for good mediumship a spirit said: ‘ . . . Spirit communication does not cause any derangement in the medium’s brain if practised moderately.’” (Page 180) But the Bible furnishes cases showing that spiritism does cause derangement of the obsessed person’s mind, especially where a number of demons control a man.

24-26. What pertinent points in the testimony of physicians and other observers link insanity and the practice of spiritism?

²⁴ On January 23, 1906, the London Daily Mail devoted nearly a page to the subject “Are the Dead Really Communicating?” and, among other things, said: “As far back as 1877 Dr. L. S. Forbes Winslow wrote on ‘spiritualistic madness.’ ‘Ten thousand unfortunate people are at the present time confined in lunatic asylums on account of having tampered with the supernatural. . . . I could quote many instances where men of the highest ability have, so to speak, neglected all and followed the doctrines of spiritualism only to end their days in a lunatic asylum.’” (The Watch Tower, March 15, 1906, pages 87, 88) In a pamphlet entitled “The Nature of Insanity; Its Cause and Cure,” J. D. Rhymus shows that in many cases insanity is merely demoniacal possession or obsession and quotes a letter from a Philadelphia physician, dated November 12, 1884, in which he says: “Judge Edmonds of New York [a noted spiritist] has recently expressed the opinion that many so-called lunatics in asylums are only under the influence of spirits.” The Judge himself said,—‘Some fifteen cases of insanity, or rather obsession, I have been instrumental in curing. This I said to the Academy of Science, in New York.’ “The Judge has had Catholic priests, after a thorough trial of their ‘holy water and prayers,’ send [to him] their mediumistic members when wickedly disordered, to be demagnetized and released from the grasp of obsessional spirits.”—The Watch Tower, July 15, 1897, pages 210, 211.

²⁵ Dr. Edgar M. Webster, member of the mental section of the American Medical Association at the beginning of this century, said: “I often see the spirits who cause insanity in my patients and at times I even hear their voices. Persons who are spoken of as helplessly insane are frequently simply lost under the overwhelming control of a spirit or, at times, a crowd of spirits. . . . A large percentage of the insane are persons who have attempted to become spiritualistic mediums and who, by laying themselves open to spirit influence, have found the wrong or an evil spirit taking advantage of their susceptibility for the purpose of giving vent to spiritual desires and ideas through an earthly medium.”—The Watch Tower, August 1, 1905, page 229.

²⁶ The percentage of inmates of insane asylums or mental hospitals who were victims of demon obsession was once estimated as half their population. Testifying to demon possession of present-day inmates of mental hospitals, in the Autumn Edition, 1952, of the Official Quarterly Newsletter of the International Spiritualist Federation entitled “Yours Fraternally,” Mrs. Rita Barki of Leeds, England, tells of her visit with her husband and daughter to Brazil: “Our first call was made at a modern hospital, situated in beautiful grounds overlooking the hills of Rio. The hospital is divided into two wings, one being for general cases including a maternity section and a surgical section. . . . The other wing is for mental diseases. When a mental case is admitted, a medium is in attendance as well as a psychiatrist to determine whether the case is one of obsession or of mental unbalance. If the case is decidedly an obsession, it is treated by the medium and after the obsessing entity is excluded the case is handed over for rehabilitation by trained psychiatrists. . . . Spiritualism in Brazil has complete constitutional freedom of action and expression although the Church, which is mainly Catholic, is, of course, opposed on principle. A most important point is that no medium or healer can charge for services or demonstrations.”—Pages 5-7.

WHEN IS SATAN DIVIDED AGAINST HIMSELF?

27. Can the exorcising of demons by any of Christendom’s clergy or even by spirit mediums be Scripturally justified, and why?

²⁷ Here we have published cases of where spirit mediums are used to exorcise or cast out demons. Since these demons belong to Satan “the ruler of the demons,” does this mean that Jehovah God is using these spirit mediums or priests or other clergymen of Christendom who may expel demons? Never! For spirit mediums and those who represent religions that teach the basic lie of spiritualism, immortalism or the immortality of the human soul are detestable to God. He would not touch them except to destroy them at the coming battle of Armageddon, as he destroyed King Saul of Israel at the battle of Mount Gilboa for “asking of a spirit medium to make inquiry” of the dead.—Deut. 18:12; 1 Chron. 10:13, 14, NW.

28, 29. Why was Jesus’ reply to his accusers, on how he expelled demons, unanswerable?

²⁸ Well, then, if Satan is doing the casting out, has he become divided against himself? This question reminds us of how the religious Jewish Pharisees accused Jesus, saying: “This fellow does not expel the demons except by means of Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.” Then Jesus, showing that God’s kingdom has nothing in common with the demons, replied: “If Satan expels Satan, he has become divided against himself; how, then, will his kingdom stand? Moreover, if I expel the demons by means of Beelzebub, by means of whom do your sons expel them? This is why they will be judges of you. But if it is by means of God’s spirit that I expel the demons, the kingdom of God has really overtaken you.”—Matt. 12:22-28, NW.

²⁹ Jesus was opposed to Satan the Devil, “the ruler of the demons.” At the end of the third temptation in the wilderness Jesus told Satan to get away from him. At the close of his earthly life, just before he was betrayed by Satan’s agent Judas Iscariot, Jesus said to his faithful apostles: “The ruler of the world is coming. And yet he has no hold on me.” (Matt. 4:10; John 14:30, NW) Jesus died for preaching the kingdom of God, which is destined to destroy the kingdom of Satan at the battle of Armageddon shortly, and what Jesus taught upheld God’s side of the controversy over universal sovereignty. His casting out unclean spirits or demons supported the truth and prophecy of God’s Word. If, now, Jesus cast out demons by means of Satan their ruler, then Satan was indeed divided against himself, for he was using his worst enemy on earth to cast out demons, not in support of the Devil’s side, but in support of God’s side.

30, 31. Demon expulsion by false religionists and spirit mediums differs in what essential ways from such expelling as done by Jesus?

³⁰ The case is different, however, when spirit mediums and other false religionists cast out demons or perform other kinds of healing by means of the ruler of the demons. In that case Satan is using those who are on his side and teaching his doctrines, and his use of them to cast out demons works to the support of his false teachings and demonic kingdom. By using them he is not divided against himself, but by this seemingly good work of undoing the case of demon obsession for which he himself is responsible “Satan himself keeps transforming himself into an angel of light,” to advance his power and influence over the deceived.

³¹ To warn us that the expelling of demons in his name and the performing of many other wonderful works in this day of his second presence, invisibly, in God’s kingdom, was not God’s will, Jesus said: “Not everyone saying to me, ‘Master, Master,’ will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but the one doing the will of my Father who is in the heavens will. Many will say to me IN THAT DAY: ‘Master, Master, did we not prophesy in your name, and expel demons in your name, and perform many powerful works in your name?’ And yet then I will confess to them: I never knew you at all. Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness.”—Matt. 7:21-23, NW.

32. Why is casting out of demons, as done by apostles and evangelists Jesus himself sent forth, not proper practice for today’s Christian witnesses of Jehovah?

³² In the first century of the Christian era the apostles and seventy evangelists of Jesus Christ did cast out demons miraculously in his name. But the miraculous gift of the holy spirit to cast out demons has ceased being imparted, since the death of all those “twelve apostles of the Lamb,” as Paul foretold it would. (1 Cor. 13:8-11) Today the witnesses of Jehovah God are not empowered to cast out demons as a sign of their being Christian witnesses of Jehovah. Neither are Jehovah’s witnesses authorized to do as they were commanded in the days of the typical theocracy of Israel, to kill off all spirit mediums and those who inquired of them or practiced occult arts, as King Saul did. (1 Sam. 28:3) They may not imitate the action reported in the Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) Press of June 16, 1946, believe it or not: “WITCHERY IN 1515! 500 Swiss women were burned as witches in 2 months—600 women were burned in one German town, and during the year one judge alone condemned 15,000 witches.” But Jehovah’s witnesses are under divine command to keep all spiritism, which is demonism, out of the theocratic organization, keeping on the “full suit of armor from God” as a defense against the assaults of the wicked spirit forces. They must also preach the message of the Kingdom, the truth, which Jesus said “will set you free,” and this will drive away all influence of the demons from all victims who seek to be freed from the enticements or the tightening grip of the demons.

33. What are wrong and right ways for breaking demon power now?

³³ Teaching those who are the targets of assault by the demons to pray to Jehovah God through Jesus Christ is also a powerful means to keep the demons at a distance and to rout them. Deuteronomy 18:11 speaks of “one who binds others with a spell.” (NW) The mistake is oftentimes made of thinking God’s power insufficient to break the spell that a voodooist or other demonist may cast upon one and hence going to another agent of the demons, a witch doctor, to break the power of the spell. Thus the relieved person is obliged to thank the Devil and his demons rather than God Almighty for his deliverance. This glorifies the Devil’s organization rather than Jehovah God; it gains, not divine favor but disfavor, and indebts one to the Devil and weakens one’s defense against him. Prayer, keeping one’s mind filled with the things of God and keeping regularly active in Jehovah’s service will break the enemy’s power and fortify one to resist his further assaults.

34. In this time what unlawful works should be avoided and what lawful work should we clearly understand and do?

³⁴ Inasmuch as the miraculous gifts of the spirit have passed away, we do not attempt to do miraculous works such as those religious workers of lawlessness perform whom the Master Jesus Christ will tell to get away from him because they do not act according to God’s law. We remember the apostle Paul’s words, “If anyone contends even in the games, he is not crowned unless he has contended according to the rules.” (2 Tim. 2:5, NW) So in order to be crowned with God’s approval through Christ we want to do what He has made lawful. The work that he has legalized for this time of the world’s end is that foretold by Jesus Christ: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness to all the nations, and then the accomplished end will come.” (Matt. 24:14, NW) By doing this work till the end of this world comes at Armageddon we are sure to have the enthroned King Jesus Christ class us as ‘workers of lawfulness’ and tell us to come near to him as those approved by his heavenly Father and worthy of being spared through Armageddon into God’s new world.

DEMONS DRIVING HUMAN SOCIETY TO ARMAGEDDON

35. Today’s spread of spiritism makes necessary what protective practices by us?

³⁵ We are living in the “wicked day.” It is especially in this day that we are ordered to “stand firm” in the full suit of armor against the onslaughts of the wicked spirit forces in the heavenly places and to use the “sword of the spirit, that is, God’s word,” against these unseen, superhuman forces by obeying God’s law and preaching “this good news of the kingdom” in all the inhabited earth. We are not surprised at the spread of spiritism, which is demonism, even into the highest places of political government.

36. What do Biblical and secular records show regarding spiritistic practices of political and religious leaders?

³⁶ We take it as only a further evidence that the political governments of Christendom are no part of God’s kingdom when the magazine People, in its issue of March 10, 1954, comes out with the announcement “CAPITAL ASTROLOGERS: Top Leaders Seek Her Advice—Jeanne’s Callers Include Mamie Eisenhower, Washington Officials.—In a Washington that constantly scans the horizon for what’s ahead, Jeanne Dixon stands out like a beacon. Using a crystal ball, she has looked into the future, come up with so many astoundingly accurate predictions that today some of the capital’s top leaders and businessmen call on her regularly.” This news confirmed the well-known Drew Pearson’s column published throughout America August 22 to 24, 1953, and carrying headings in different newspapers, such as “The First Lady Enjoys Having Her Fortune Told” and “Eisenhowers Peek into Future.” The Bible as well as ancient secular history shows that kings and emperors as well as the religious leaders engaged in spiritism, seeking information, guidance and help from the demons. Today the wicked spirit forces are making victims of persons high in political and religious circles even in Christendom. History, Biblical and secular, shows that this practice always led to destruction of kingdoms and empires. It will lead to the same result now, at the battle of Armageddon.

37. Scripturally, who today constitute the principal target of enraged wicked spirit forces, and why?

³⁷ The wicked spirit forces are now closer to all mankind than ever before. This is because God’s kingdom by Christ was established in the heavens in 1914. War broke out in heaven immediately and the high heavens were forever cleared of the presence of Satan and all his demon angels. Defeated in that war with God’s newborn kingdom, those demons and their ruler were hurled down here to the earth. Being in a Tartarean darkness as to the details of God’s purpose, they may have thought that Armageddon was immediately at hand and that their being imprisoned in an abyss for a thousand years was therefore near. So they might then have been bent on wrecking human society in order to destroy especially Jehovah’s people who were then in a captive condition to human society. The policy of Satan and his demons who have been the gods and invisible governors of this world is, “Rule or ruin,” but particularly with the ruin of Jehovah’s witnesses in mind.—2 Pet. 2:4, NW; Rev. 12:17.

38. Why have Jehovah’s people of our day kept on successfully withstanding assaults of those wicked spirit forces?

³⁸ However, Almighty God prevented this and foiled the demons’ reckless plan. It was not his purpose to abyss the demons in 1918 or to let them wreck human society as a climax to World War I. He did not let his victorious King Jesus Christ press the war in heaven as far as the Armageddon feature of the “great tribulation” upon Satan’s organization invisible and visible. Jehovah halted that “war in heaven” with the casting of them out of heaven and down to this earth in order that he might let Satan and his demons remain here in their debasement of defeat for a “short period of time” before Armageddon. Thus he cut short the “great tribulation” upon Satan’s world. (Matt. 24:21, 22) He did this, not for the sake of the demons, but for the sake of his “chosen ones,” to enable them to escape destruction with human society of this world. This has meant a constant fight by Jehovah’s witnesses with these wicked spirit forces at specially close range. Yet till now they have been able to “stand firm against the machinations of the Devil.”—Eph. 6:11; Rev. 12:13-17, NW.

39. What Scripturally foretold conditions have prevailed on earth since the recent debasement of the Devil and his spirit allies?

³⁹ The ‘full suit of the armor of God’ and the wielding of the “sword of the spirit, that is, God’s word,” and the offering of prayer and supplication on every occasion have enabled Jehovah’s witnesses to make this unyielding stand and so to remain unhurt by the heavy concentration of demons now at this earth. But for humanity in general it has meant their being urged on in the way that leads to destruction at Armageddon. Concerning this Revelation 12:10-12 (NW) cries out: “The accuser of our brothers has been hurled down, who accuses them day and night before our God! And [our brothers] conquered him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their witnessing, and they did not love their souls even despite the danger of death. On this account be glad, you heavens and you who reside in them! Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.” Little wonder, then, that the scientific men of the Devil’s world have eventually invented the atom bomb and the hydrogen bomb and other terrifying means of wholesale slaughter. It was war for world domination that speeded up the application of the discovery of splitting the atom, and not the benefits of peace. How demonic that was!

40. What do God’s true worshipers, who obediently follow his Lamb, now see in the invisible realm around our earth?

⁴⁰ Not through the crystal ball of psychic mediums or spiritism, but by the prophetic symbols of The Revelation we see what goes on in the invisible realm surrounding our earth where Satan and his demons are now held down. We see Satan and his demons not gaining victory over Jehovah’s witnesses, not gathering them like goats to a stubborn final fight against God Almighty at Armageddon. Instead, John the writer of The Revelation “saw, and look! the Lamb [Christ] standing upon the mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads.” In addition to the 144,000 spiritual conquerors with Christ on the heavenly Mount Zion, John saw the “great crowd” of others from all nations and tongues worshiping and serving God constantly at his spiritual temple.—Rev. 14:1; 7:9-15, NW.

41. Whom did John foresee and whom do we now see as victims of Satan and his earth-confined spirit allies?

⁴¹ Whom, then, did John foresee and whom do we now see victimized in the gathering made by Satan and his wicked spirit forces? Says John: “I saw three unclean inspired expressions that looked like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the wild beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are, in fact, expressions inspired by demons and perform signs, and they 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. . . . And they gathered them together to the place that is called in Hebrew Har–Magedon [or, Armageddon].”—Rev. 16:13-16, NW, margin.

42. Observing what God-given formula ensures continuous security and triumph for Jehovah’s witnesses over the wicked spirit forces?

⁴² Jehovah’s witnesses do not follow the demon-led “kings of the entire inhabited earth” to their battle lines at Armageddon. They follow “the Lamb [Jesus Christ] no matter where he goes.” (Rev. 14:4, NW) He goes to face all of Satan’s world at Armageddon. By our following him to that battle position there we can triumph over the wicked spirit forces even now during this “time of the end.” At Armageddon we shall witness his own triumph over them.

THE FIGHT MUST GO ON!

43. Why is it needful now, as never before, for us to watch, fight and pray?

⁴³ The fight against the wicked spirit forces is not yet over for Jehovah’s witnesses. The adversary, Satan the Devil, is trying to hold his position as a cosmocrat. He and his demons are cosmocrats, “world-rulers,” as the New World Translation calls them at Ephesians 6:12. Particularly since the destruction of Jerusalem in 607 B.C. and the overthrow of God’s typical theocracy then they have exercised a wicked cosmocracy. Now they are opposed to Jehovah’s witnesses because these preach another cosmocracy, the good news of God’s rulership of the new world by Christ. Jehovah’s witnesses need to watch, fight and pray as never before.

44. In what respects are our days like Noah’s, before the flood?

⁴⁴ It is true that Jesus said concerning this time of his presence in his invisible kingdom: “Just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be.” (Matt. 24:37, NW) In the days of Noah before the flood there were disobedient spirit sons of God that materialized in human bodies without the aid of mediumship and married the daughters of men and raised unusual offspring called Nephilim, evidently supernormal giants, who helped to corrupt mankind and fill the earth with violence. (Gen. 6:1-4, 11, 12, NW) However, the likeness of these days of the Son of man’s presence to those of Noah before the flood does not mean we are to expect similar materializations of the demons and their visibly meddling in human affairs. No more this than that they should intermarry with the daughters of men today and raise a new crop of Nephilim for destruction at Armageddon. The demons are now “spirits in prison” restrained by God from directly materializing. But they do not have to materialize in order to accomplish their purpose. It is sufficient that in the practice of spiritualism they seize mainly upon the bodies of women to serve as spirit mediums. (1 Pet. 3:18-20, NW) Already, more than forty years since the Kingdom’s establishment in 1914, the wicked spirit forces have shown their ability to exercise their cosmocratic power, without materializations, to spread spiritualism, to corrupt mankind, to cause the earth to be filled with violence and to lead the worldly rulers of all kinds of political systems to a showdown fight against Almighty God and his Christ at Armageddon. The wicked spirit forces have succeeded in misleading the entire inhabited earth, but not the New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses.

45, 46. Triumphing now and final triumph result how for Kingdom-preaching members of God’s New World

⁴⁵ Instead of being influenced by the religious and political propaganda, policies and movements of the visible rulers of this world, Jehovah’s witnesses have refused to go along with this world and become a part of it. They have kept separate in full dedication to Jehovah God through his Christ. Courageously they have exposed the demon-inspired expressions that have issued from the mouths of the symbolic Dragon and his political wild beast and false prophet; they have warned others against the machinations of the Dragon the Devil; and they have preached the powerful message of true liberation from the power of the wicked spirit forces, “this good news of the kingdom.” Steadily this proclamation of the good news has pushed back the unseen control of the wicked spirit forces, and hundreds of thousands have come into the New World society where the spirit of Jehovah prevails. Here we stand firm, fighting with the spiritual weapons of our theocratic warfare and praying, triumphing constantly in the power of the Lord and in the mightiness of his strength.

⁴⁶ Final triumph is in sight! Suddenly as in the days of Noah it will be ours, when Jehovah’s day comes as a thief in the night and this world is abandoned to its destruction at Armageddon, all spiritism and the wicked spirit forces are put out of action, and we of the New World society are taken along with the triumphant King Jesus Christ into the demon-free new world of righteousness under God’s universal sovereignty.—2 Pet. 3:10-14, NW.

The “Triumphant Kingdom” Assemblies of 1955

Paris, France, August 3-7, 1955

To crown a successful year of Kingdom service in the field of witnessing in France, along came the second international assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses in Paris during the closing month of the 1955 service year. In the world-wide campaign month of April when the Memorial of Christ’s death was celebrated and the new booklet (Christendom or Christianity—Which One Is “the Light of the World”?) was released, the 183 congregations of Jehovah’s witnesses in France attained a new peak in number of Kingdom publishers, namely, 9,883, which bespeaks an increase of 23 percent over the previous service year. And at the Memorial celebration, although only 225 partook of the emblematic bread and wine, there was a total attendance of 11,894. All of these were now to play host to the assembly of their brothers from the most lands ever to be represented at such a gathering in Paris. In Paris and its suburbs there are about 2,500 witnesses. A record attendance was expected, and the organization at Paris of the New World society made ready for it. French missionaries graduated from Gilead, French pioneers and congregation publishers engaged for many weeks in securing rooms in hotels and private homes to fill the many rooming-accommodations requests.

Paris’ great indoor arena, the Velodrome d’Hiver or Sports Palace, was engaged for the assembly. Four years ago the first international postwar convention of Jehovah’s witnesses in France was held in this same Palais des Sports, and at that time 10,456 attended the public meeting and 351 were baptized, in the meantime the organizational magazine, The Watchtower, in all languages came under ban in France. However, the eternal God, Jehovah, who has made his people a watchman class, continued to feed his people spiritually, and they have grown in spiritual maturity and in numbers in that land of Roman Catholicism and communism. From the Paris branch office it is just a fifteen-minute walk down the Rue de la Tour (Tower Street) and across Passy Bridge over the Seine River and one square beyond Grenelle Quay to the Sports Palace. Just three blocks to the north the 1,000-foot-high world-famed Eiffel Tower rears itself.

Besides the thousands of foreign delegates who converged here, a special train with 1,200 Polish brothers from the northeast of France pulled into the city. Because of the dominant languages to be spoken at this assembly the printed program carried its “Information for Conventioners” in French, English and Polish, and signs of welcome and guidance around the Sports Palace were also in the same three languages. Announcements from the platform were likewise made in those three languages. The literature on the book counters was in many more languages. Though many Polish brothers now understand French, special meetings in Polish were held Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. till noon, and the attendance ran up to 577 Saturday morning.

Besides providing for the spiritual needs, the convention committee provided an ample cafeteria toward the rear of the flower-adorned platform, where substantial meal vivified conventioners at regular intervals, being conveniently served from many assembly-line food counters. Here, too, as at all the preceding “Triumphant Kingdom” assemblies, a fine large orchestra guided and gave stimulus to hearty singing of Kingdom songs. While the majority were singing in French, many visiting delegates sang in English.

For the official opening of the assembly the 9,701 who attended thronged the building, filling the ground-floor arena in front of the platform and sitting on the tiers of seats on the sides of the bowl, some even being in the top gallery away up above. In this velodrome they were watching not a bicycle race but the runners in the race for the prize of life eternal in Jehovah’s new world. Among those runners were fourteen from dictator-ruled Portugal, many from Portuguese-speaking Brazil, and also about thirty-five from Spain under Franco’s regime. These brothers are acquainted with dictatorships under which full religious privileges are granted to only the Roman Catholic Church and so here, at this magnificent free assembly in Paris, they were deeply stirred. Tears welled up in Spanish eyes at seeing for the first time such a crowd of their brothers, Jehovah’s witnesses, thousands upon thousands of them, in open assembly and without fear of police. What if they could not understand the languages of the platform speeches! Just the same, they felt great joy at being among their brothers, the one big family of God, Jehovah. They marveled and thrilled at the freedom that they witnessed as their brothers moved about on the streets of Paris openly identifying themselves with lapel badges as Jehovah’s witnesses, advertising the assembly and its public talk, and passing out literature and preaching the message from door to door without hindrance. Filled they were with many vivid impressions to tell upon their return to their brothers at home under dictatorship!

Most of the speakers from North America spoke in English and their talks from the platform were translated into French by competent interpreters. French speakers on the program presented their talks with the same fervor and vigor as those who spoke in English. The Paris branch servant gave the address of welcome in French. Brother Knorr, the president, gave his opening talk tonight on “The Triumphant Message of ‘The Kingdom,’” and at its close he released the book What Has Religion Done for Mankind? in French. The reaction of the audience was very joyful.

From 1:20 p.m. to 8:50 p.m. five special trains took many visiting delegates to Rome, which, of course, affected the attendance at Paris. The great mass movement of delegates through the Continent from convention to convention by all the complicated prearrangements skillfully made by the New York headquarters of the Watch Tower Society was now under way. It was an invasion of theocratic warriors from abroad, unparalleled in any age of earth. Concerning this the August 5 European edition of the paper The Stars and Stripes, published at Darmstadt, Germany, for the U.S. armed forces, said on its page 3:

“PARIS, Aug. 4 (AP)—More than 4,000 perspiring Jehovah’s Witnesses from every state in the union flocked to a garish Paris sports arena for an afternoon of sermons yesterday [Wednesday], then grabbed their bags for the next stop on their tour of Western Europe. Members of the pacifist sect, each wearing a red and yellow tag proclaiming ‘The Coming Conquest of the World by the Kingdom of God,’ make up what is probably the biggest mass movement of Americans through Europe since the Allied invasion during World War II.”

From Rome five special trains later took thousands of conventioners to cities in Switzerland. The edition of Wednesday, August 10, of the Berne Daily (Berner Tagblatt) published a picture of delegates arriving there and headed the accompanying article “Invasion in Berne: 2000 Witnesses of Jehovah.” The article went on to say: “Swiss Berne experienced during two days the invasion of more than 2000 witnesses of Jehovah, predominantly from the United States. The people of all shades of color with the pinned-on little placard ‘Jehovah’s witnesses’ dominated for a time the street scene and especially the numerous ‘colored’ ladies of every age and build attracted prolonged looks at themselves. Far more than 4000 witnesses—of whom some hundreds stopped in Zurich and Geneva—traveled in two special ships and 42 special airplanes from the States to Europe, to go here from convention to convention, beginning in London, then in Paris.”

The second day of the Paris convention featured the president twice on the program, and after his evening talk against spiritism he surprised and delighted his audience with the presentation of the booklet Basis for Belief in a New World in French. The following morning he had to fly to Italy to climax the opening day of the three-day international assembly at Rome.

At Paris Friday morning, in the Sports Palace, 774 candidates answered with a firm “Oui!” to the questions put to them by the French speaker on baptism. They were then transported fifteen kilometers out from the Palace to Ville de Chatenay-Malabry, where they were immersed in the Piscine Municipale, an indoor pool, before many witnesses. An eight-year-old boy and an eighty-three-year-old lady were among those baptized. Even a blind woman braved the waters in Jehovah’s strength. Two former spiritists were baptized; this man and his wife greatly appreciated Brother Knorr’s talk last night against demonism, alias spiritualism.

Saturday night Brother Knorr returned by air from Rome to Paris and was on hand to give three speeches on Sunday. There was a grand turnout of Parisians to hear his widely advertised public talk, for the attendance at the Sports Palace soared up to 16,500 persons, who fairly overflowed the assembly place. Highly pleased, too, was Brother Knorr on seeing the lively responsiveness of this audience and he felt great joy at releasing to them the booklet World Conquest Soon—by God’s Kingdom in French. The record attendance had been realized and the foreign brothers rejoiced along with their French brothers. Enemies were frightened; and, as has been its custom after large gatherings of the New World society, a local French Roman Catholic newspaper published a lengthy article against Jehovah’s witnesses, misrepresenting them as predicting that the world was to end August 21. One of France’s most widely heard radio stations made a broadcast about our assembly. It fixed for us the date of the world’s end at August 21, 1955. Also on the station’s own initiative it added in that broadcast that Jehovah’s witnesses had already announced the world’s end 427 times without success. Thus this sensational “date” made the rounds of numerous dailies of Europe, including one in Lisbon, Portugal, and not leaving out one in Lausanne, Switzerland. The August 11 edition of the French Feuille D’Avis of Lausanne published a lengthy refutation of this misrepresentation on its page 19.

Jehovah’s witnesses in France came away from their successful assembly determined to push ahead with their work until Armageddon breaks out at an hour and a day known not to any man but only to God and his Christ. In consequence of the assembly at Paris the number of active Kingdom publishers should soon be reaching a new peak of over 10,000 for all France.

ROME, ITALY, AUGUST 5-7, 1955

All Italy took note of the first international assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses in Rome, August 5-7. The enemies first attacked, with some injuries, but later they turned to ridiculing. One section of the Italian press, while graciously announcing the assembly in Rome, claimed that the date of this assembly had suddenly been advanced in view of the extreme nearness of the end of the world. The effect of this ridicule, however, was only to advertise Jehovah’s witnesses and to focus more public attention on their Rome assembly.

The location of the assembly was enough to excite public attention; it was the Palazzo dei Congressi dell’ Esposizione Universale di Roma (Palace of Conventions of the Universal Exposition of Rome). The Protestant sects in Italy were stupefied at what Jehovah’s witnesses were doing. They asked: “How did Jehovah’s witnesses get the Palazzo?” This building owned by the Italian government was one of numerous Exposition buildings constructed by the late Fascist duce Mussolini, meant by him for the World’s Fair of 1942. Left unfinished by him, it was finally modernized and readied for use at a cost of two million dollars. It is an edifice of commanding appearance, surmounted by a sort of squared dome and with a façade of fourteen tall pillars fronted by a spacious, sloping, tesselated pavement with grooves between its angular stones. All in all, very impressive! It contains a beautiful large convention hall, with natural lighting; also smaller halls and many conference rooms. Inside and outside it presents a neat, trim, clean appearance. Standing atop a hill, it can be seen from other distant heights of Rome. It is situated to the southeast of Vatican City on the other side of the Tiber River.

Jehovah’s witnesses contracted to have the exclusive use of the Palazzo for their assembly. Suddenly, on July 18, the permission to occupy the building was revoked by the prime minister’s office, with the assembly’s scheduled opening just eighteen days ahead. All inquiry as to why brought no explanation. The manager and others in his office agreed that one single source of influence, very high up, had exerted pressure to have the engagement for the Palazzo canceled. Three days followed with feverish search for a new hall—theaters, racetracks, stadiums, etc.—with very poor results. When the brothers were about at the end of hope, a telephone call came to the Watch Tower Society’s Rome branch office: “Cabinet reconsiders and will let you have the building as at first contracted!”

Evidently other pressures had begun to exert themselves. Indeed, the hand of Jehovah God itself was not shortened. Finally the cabinet of the national government of Italy had met, deliberated and had come forth with this decision that Jehovah’s witnesses should, after all, be permitted to use the Palazzo according to the original agreement.

So in ample time Jehovah’s witnesses moved in and set up their departments of convention services, using many of the conference rooms. For the first time the Palazzo electrician had to wire up the edifice so extensively, at our cost, to transmit the convention proceedings to halls, corridors and various other quarters of the great structure. A thousand dollars was expended for renting chairs for the expected crowd.

It is not allowed for non-Roman Catholic religious organizations to hold public demonstrations and to advertise public meetings and invite people in general to any event. So 1,000 personal letters of invitation were sent out to persons known to be interested or friendly. There were no handbills for free distribution, yet there were thousands of personal invitations directly by word of mouth, and the Society’s magazines The Watchtower and Awake! carried notices of the Rome assembly in many languages throughout the earth. Not to be ignored, either, is the great public demonstration that the conventioners themselves put on by wearing, right here in Rome just as at all other assembly cities, the miniature-placard badges on coat lapel or shirtwaist. These badges announcing the assembly and its public meeting provoked great curiosity and inquiry that called for an answer by the wearer, who took advantage of this opening to give a witness and invitation. This demonstration even invaded Vatican City as the sight-seeing, badge-wearing conventioners by hundreds went through its buildings open to the general public.

The printed convention program gave “Information for Conventioners” in Italian and English, indicating also which lectures were to be in English and interpreted in Italian.

Friday morning, August 5, the assembly in the sumptuous Palazzo dei Congressi was officially opened with an address of welcome by the convention chairman, a representative of the Watch Tower Society; and to the special joy of the native Italians present he released for the first time the magazine Awake! in their own language, telling them it would appear twice a month from then on. This opening day was crowned by the final speech at night, given by the Society’s president who had flown there that day from the Paris assembly. For the Italian brothers it was a supreme moment when, through an interpreter, Brother Knorr finished discussing “The Triumphant Message of ‘The Kingdom’” and announced, holding it aloft, the new book in Italian, “New Heavens and a New Earth”. The crowd there astonished the news reporters. The 4,200 in attendance packed out the beautiful, double-balconied main hall. For the first time this had occurred in the Palazzo. Convention crowds of that size are unusual in Italy. Release followed upon release in Italian. At the conclusion of his talk Saturday morning on “Jehovah Is in His Holy Temple,” the president presented a new Italian publication, the 32-page booklet “This Good News of the Kingdom”. Shortly after he left Rome by air to return to Paris the Society’s vice-president arrived by plane from Paris, to take up where the president had left off. That night after the closing speech to 2,859 he displayed the 64-page booklet Basis for Belief in a New World as another Italian newcomer.

Another notable event: 378 candidates presented themselves at the baptismal talk this afternoon and were thereafter quietly baptized, to create no public spectacle. Nine buses were used to transport them to the distant baptismal site.

A number of Roman Catholic priests and nuns in their religious garb tried to “crash the gates” but were told by the doorkeepers that this was a private meeting and was only for the invited. The invited were truly an international gathering from twenty-eight countries and islands, the Philippine Islands, Cyprus, the British Isles, etc. About 150 came up from Sicily, and the delegation of native Italians included not just men but also women. Many of the Italian brothers are quite poor under the prevailing circumstances. To bring children along to the assembly could not be afforded; so these had to be left at home and one member of the family was sent as a representative. Some seemed to be living just on bread as their solid food, which they brought with them. Some packed their suitcases not with clothes but with bread and cheese and with windfall olives, to live on at the three-day assembly. During those days the brothers ate 3,882 meals; 818 free meals were served at the cafeteria to pioneers. Pleasant it was to see many brothers eating box lunches while sitting out under trees of the parklike grounds. Roomless, some slept on park benches, but not on the Universal Exposition grounds; sleeping there was charged for. Quite a number of German-speaking brothers camped on the Exposition tenting grounds. There were 3,741 rooming accommodations for the foreign delegates, 2,750 for Italian brothers. Seventy brothers slept under the stars.

In Rome it is better to hold the principal meeting in the morning than in the afternoon. So the Sunday lecture on “World Conquest Soon—by God’s Kingdom” was programmed at 10:30 a.m. The day was sunshiny. The main hall of the Palazzo and its two balconies were filled with 2,700, hundreds of others were in the adjacent auditorium, while others sat on chairs and benches in the corridors and in the elegant lobby, listening by loud-speakers. The total attendance numbered 4,351, the majority of them being Italians. Clear through the talk by the vice-president (through an interpreter) that eager audience in Christendom’s religious capital were very responsive, somewhat galvanized by the force of the situation and circumstances, and with loud joy they received the new Italian booklet containing the full, unexpurgated text of this challenging public lecture, under Jehovah’s imprimatur and with the nihil obstat of Jesus Christ.

That afternoon the program was resumed and many stayed until the closing remarks and packed out the main auditorium once more. Again and again they gave vent to their gladness at the report on the series of international conventions thus far and the account of expansion operations and activities of Jehovah’s visible organization. At the finale of the assembly a number were seen to be weeping with emotion. Said one conventioner from Switzerland: “My heart aches from happiness.”

Eleven startled newspapers carried reports about the assembly, and there were seventeen editions. Up till Sunday morning there had been seven meters in the news columns. The Italian people were stirred by this international assembly, and they especially appreciated the attendance of the many foreign brothers. Many return-visit references were handed in to the full-time pioneer publishers. The assembly toned them up for the entire month. Summer months are generally poor in Italy as far as field activity is concerned, and the month of August has always registered the poorest report of active publishers. In the April campaign with the booklet Christendom or Christianity—Which One Is “the Light of the World”? there was a new maximum number of 3,238 publishers reporting, a 37 percent increase. But in July, in anticipation of the international assembly, there was a participation by 2,948, a 25 percent increase in publishers. In the assembly month of August there was participation by 3,044, a 29 percent increase. The usual slump had been broken. For the first time the August report of publishers went up in a fine flourish for the close of the 1955 service year. Early progress is looked for in the 1956 service year and it is expected to reach the mark of 4,000 publishers for all Italy soon.

After the assembly the brothers began sending special copies of the booklet Christendom or Christianity—Which One Is “the Light of the World”? to the clergy of all denominations and religious editors for their notification and their comment. Quite a few letters have been received from the clergy. Almost all of them were insulting expressions; two were found on the favorable side. One was received written by the hand of the sixty-four-year old Giacomo Cardinal Lercaro, archbishop of Bologna, a noted social worker, who is cited as one of the best prospects for the next pope. His letter of acknowledgment was not an abusive one, but at least took note of Jehovah’s witnesses. It is up to the witnesses in Italy to exemplify the true Christianity to Jehovah’s glory and to the ingathering of all his other sheep there under his one Shepherd, Christ Jesus.

Questions From Readers

● A number of readers have written in proposing a question like this: How can we harmonize Genesis 1:11-13 where it mentions the earth’s bringing forth vegetation on the third creative day with Genesis 2:5, 6, which the New World Translation renders as follows: “Now there was as yet no shrub of the field found in the earth and no vegetation of the field was as yet sprouting, because Jehovah God had not made it rain upon the earth and there was no man to cultivate the ground. But a vapor went up continually from the earth and it watered the entire surface of the ground”?

The New World Translation words this in harmony with the New Commentary on Genesis, by F. Delitzsch, D.D., which reads: “And no plant of the field was yet upon the earth, and no herb of the field had as yet sprung up: for Jahveh Elohim had not yet caused it to rain upon the earth, and men there were not to till the ground. And a mist went up from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.” (Pages 115, 117) Also The Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament, in German, by the Hebrew grammarian E. Kautzsch, translated into English, reads: “But there was not as yet upon earth any shrub upon the plains, and as yet no plants sprouted upon the plains; for Jahwe God had not yet made it rain upon the earth, and men were [as yet] not there, to cultivate the ground; but a mist kept rising from the earth and watering the whole surface of the earth’s ground.” (Brackets his)

The Book of Genesis, by Thomas J. Conant, also reads: “Now there was yet no plant of the field in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for Jehovah God had not yet caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground. And there went up mist from the earth; and it watered all the face of the ground.” Also the Notes Critical and Practical on the Book of Genesis, by George Bush, page 53 of Volume I, says in the footnote with reference to the word “before” appearing in the King James Version Bible: “The Hebrew particle (טרם terem) rendered ‘before’ may mean ‘not yet,’ namely, ‘and every plant of the field was not yet in the earth, and every herb of the field had not yet sprung up,’ which substantially agrees with the former” rendering of the King James Version. An American Translation reads similarly; so does Moffatt’s A New Translation of the Bible.

The above verses are not out of harmony with Genesis 1:11-13; they could not be. Jesus Christ quoted from both chapter one and chapter two of Genesis, and the apostle Paul did likewise, and thus two witnesses established that both accounts are true and hence in agreement with each other.—Matt. 19:4-6; Mark 10:3-9; 1 Cor. 15:45, 47; 6:16; 2 Cor. 4:6; Eph. 5:31; Col. 3:10; Heb. 4:4, 10.

Accordingly Genesis 2:5, 6 quoted above must apply to the third day of creation described in Genesis 1:9-13. But first it describes the earth’s condition just after Jehovah God had made the dry land appear and before he had commanded the earth to bring forth grass and seed-bearing vegetation and fruit-bearing trees. Persons who take the King James Version or a similar version’s rendering to be correct interpret its rendering to mean that God started off such plant life perfect, that is, full-grown, without its germinating from the seed. But this does not necessarily have to be so, not according to the reading of the New World Translation and of other versions. At any rate, for a time the earth was lifeless, without plant life and without animal and human life. The earth was also rainless. To provide for the coming plant life, Jehovah God duly provided an irrigation system, not by rain but by a vapor for all the earth, aside from such rivers as Genesis 2:10-14 indicates there were. So when God caused vegetation to cover the dry land, that did not alter the general conditions with reference to the great water canopy revolving away out in space far above the earth.

Rain was not necessary to cause the vegetation to grow or to keep growing, any more than man was needed to cultivate the earth and make the vegetation grow or keep growing. Genesis 2:5 does not say that the vegetation could not grow because God had not made it rain and had not created man to cultivate the ground. God started off the vegetation without rain and without man, because God produced the necessary moisture that made rain and man unnecessary. Hence the very next Ge 2 verse (6) starts off with the conjunction “But,” and goes on to say that a vapor regularly went up from the earth and irrigated the entire surface of the ground all around the globe. This, of course, was under the great water canopy far out in space that was to fall much later on in Noah’s day and be followed by rains and the rainbow. How dense the rising vapor or mist was we are not informed, but it provided more than a mere dew. It was still enough to water the surface of the ground inside and outside the garden of Eden when man was created and put there toward the close of the sixth creative day; and the vapor did not make the general atmosphere uncomfortable for man.

So this vapor aside from what rivers there were was able to keep the plants in a continually flourishing condition until the flood and to do so without rain. The issue of The Watchtower of September 15, 1954, pointed out, on page 573, paragraph 38, how even a mere dew was more potent in reviving certain plants than when the ground itself was watered and how from dew such plants were able to store up water around their roots even to the weight of the plant or more. How much more would this be true from the third creative day forward in the case of a vapor that regularly ascended over all the earth and which indicated that the earth’s surface held moisture. Instead of the water’s coming down from clouds in the sky to irrigate the earth, God’s Word says the vapor went up, and this state of affairs continued on until after sinner Adam was driven out of the garden of Eden to cultivate the ground as a farmer, yes, even until the flood of Noah’s day and the first rainbow.

The next verse, Genesis 2:7, skips all the in-between history of Genesis 1:14-25 concerning the breaking through of light upon the earth’s surface and the producing of creature life in the sea, bird life in the air and the subhuman creature life on earth. It goes into detail about the creation of man, more so than Genesis 1:27 does. But with man’s creation and being put in the garden of Eden it is not to be reasoned from Genesis 2:5 that now it began to rain upon the earth and man began working like a farmer, plowing the ground and scattering seed and harvesting the yield. His cultivating of the earth like that came after he was run out of the garden of Eden, and Cain imitated Adam and “became a cultivator of the ground.” (Gen. 4:1-3, NW) Thus man and rain did not precede God’s creation of the vegetation on earth, and Genesis 1:9-13 and Genesis 2:5, 6 are found to be in agreement.

Announcements

PROVING TO BE THE RIGHT KIND OF MINISTERS

There are many who claim to be the ministers of God who do not serve as right kind of ministers. How could they be preaching philosophy and psychology rather than the good news of God’s kingdom! Jehovah’s witnesses are interested in the Kingdom above all else and strive to advance the work of the Kingdom in every possible way. They know ‘this good news of the Kingdom must and will be preached in all the inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness’ and delight to prove themselves to be real ministers preaching the Kingdom message as commanded. (1 Tim. 4:6, NW) As a means of aiding others to an appreciation and understanding of the Kingdom, Jehovah’s witnesses use the Watchtower magazine. It is a wonderful Bible study aid available by subscription for only $1 a year. All who subscribe this month will be given three booklets on impelling Bible subjects. Be sure to prove yourself to be the right kind of minister this month by sharing in the preaching work.

1956 MEMORIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Again the time draws near when Jehovah’s people, remnant and other sheep, will assemble as congregations for the observance of the most significant of all memorials, the one that annually commemorates the victorious death of the Lord Jesus Christ. The date this year is March 26, which corresponds to the original date Nisan 14. The meeting, which will start after 6 p.m., will be opened with song and prayer, after which the discourse will be given by a qualified speaker, one of the remnant if available and capable. Then the emblems will be served separately after Jehovah’s blessing has been prayed for upon first the bread and then the red wine. The meeting will be closed with prayer and song after all present have been invited to have part in special field service arrangements. Each congregation should commence making Memorial arrangements.

AN ITEM FOR EVERY HOME

Every field of human interest in a nutshell—that is the Awake! magazine. Published semimonthly, it is designed to keep all members of the family alert and alive to the significant developments of our times. Its thirty-two pages each issue cover current events and natural wonders for the school-aged, items of social and human interest for the homemaker, science and business issues for the breadwinner, matters of history and government for the oldsters and, for every member of the household, brief Scriptural discussions that lighten the day and provide material for the education that really counts—training for life in God’s new world of righteousness now at hand. One year, one dollar. Send today and receive three timely Bible sermons free.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEK

April 1: Triumphing over Wicked Spirit Forces, ¶1-22. Page 108.

April 8: Triumphing over Wicked Spirit Forces, ¶23-46. Page 114.

Check Your Memory

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

✔ What is wrong with saying: “I believe only what I can see”? P. 99, ¶1.

✔ What answer can be made to people who say they do not believe in God? P. 100, ¶2.

✔ What unanswered problems those who deny the existence of a Creator face? P. 101, ¶3.

✔ What proves that the Bible really was inspired by God? P. 103, ¶2.

✔ How the huge assemblies of Jehovah’s witnesses are operated so efficiently? P. 105, ¶1.

✔ Why informed Christians must take the demons’ existence very seriously? P. 109, ¶4.

✔ Whether the Bible, in saying “try the spirits,” approves seances and mediumship? P. 111, ¶12.

✔ What the human soul really is? P. 113, ¶17.

✔ Whether meddling in spirit mediumship can actually lead to insanity? P. 114, ¶23.

✔ What are the wrong and the right ways to break voodoo and other demonic spells? P. 117, ¶33.

✔ How the activity of wicked spirit creatures today is like their activity in Noah’s time, before the flood? P. 120, ¶44.

✔ How many people were at Jehovah’s witnesses’ amazing assembly in Catholic France? P. 123, ¶3.

✔ What Rome’s startled newspapers did about Jehovah’s witnesses’ assembly there? P. 125, ¶5.