The Watchtower — October 15, 1956

Is God a Segregationist?

SOME people say that God is the one who segregated the races; others say that racial segregation is just the opposite of the Christian principle of love. Last June 27 the American Baptist Association unanimously adopted a resolution putting God on the side of segregation. According to reports in the public press this resolution included these four points:

“God created the races distinct from one another. God scattered the races over the face of the earth at a time when they attempted to integrate and become one (Genesis 11:8). All flesh is not the same flesh (1 Corinthians 15:39) and just as animals, fishes, and birds are of a flesh peculiar to their kind . . . so He has also drawn the lines of demarcation between the black and white races. A great segment, if not the majority, of the Negro population of the South does not desire integration.”

The American Baptist Association represents only a small part of the Baptists in America, but these arguments are quite common and they deserve investigation. The following paragraphs will consider the four points made in this resolution.

First, God does not say that he created the races distinct from one another. Instead, he says that they all are one. “Eve . . . was the mother of all living.” Of “the three sons of Noah . . . was the whole earth overspread.” God “hath made of one blood all nations of men.” These are the things the Bible says. When such differences arise, between what men have said and what the Bible says, whom do you believe, God or men?—Gen. 3:20; 9:19; Acts 17:26.

Further, the Bible does not say that God scattered men because they began to integrate. The scattering was at Babel, and all the men there were of the same general family anyway, this being only a short time after the Flood. Integration was not the issue; false religion was. When the men at Babel went to “build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and . . . make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth,” then God divided these false worshipers, not according to color, but according to language. So, again, the Bible does not support the segregationists’ claim.—Gen. 11:4.

The resolution continues: “All flesh is not the same flesh (1 Corinthians 15:39) and just as animals, fishes, and birds are of a flesh peculiar to their kind . . . so He has also drawn the lines of demarcation between the black and white races.” But 1 Corinthians 15:39 says: “There is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.” On its face this text disproves the American Baptists’ argument. It says there is “one kind of flesh of men,” not two kinds, as these people say. Again, whom will you believe, God or man?

The final point: “A great segment, if not the majority, of the Negro population of the South does not desire integration.” This statement, whether true or false, is of no point to our discussion here, for it has no effect on whether God can be blamed for segregation.

Some people argue that the colored race was sentenced to a secondary status by Noah after the flood, in that he cursed Canaan, the son of Ham. However, the facts show that the colored race sprang not from Ham’s son Canaan but from his son Cush. Therefore not even Noah’s curse as recorded at Genesis 9:26, 27 can be used to argue that God is responsible for segregation.

Some people argue that God segregated the Israelites. But this too dealt with religion, not with race. The Law given to Israel said: “You must form no marriage alliance with them. Your daughter you must not give to his son, and his daughter you must not take for your son. For he will turn your son from following me and they will certainly serve other gods, and Jehovah’s anger will indeed blaze against you and he will certainly annihilate you in a hurry.” (Deut. 7:3, 4, NW) However, the Israelites could marry people who accepted true worship. Salmon married Rahab, and Boaz married the widow Ruth, both of whom were non-Israelites, and both of whom became ancestors of Jesus.

But still some segregationists say: “If God didn’t segregate the races, then why are they of different colors?” Skin color, slant of the eye, color of the hair, etc., are inheritance factors. All the variations, including the many shades of skin color that the human race knows, were available in the genes provided in the first man and woman. Skin color is a result of the genes a person inherited, just as blonde hair or blue eyes are. God allowed for great variety, but it is man’s activity that has put one group into a superior position over another.

Far from teaching segregation, the Bible condemns it. Paul publicly rebuked Peter for being ashamed to be seen with the uncircumcised Gentile Christians. And he wrote: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, . . . for you are all one in union with Christ Jesus.”—Gal. 3:28, NW.

But whether the Bible teaches it or not the issue of segregation will remain. Actually, it is one of the most power-charged issues of our times. Even many people who think they oppose segregation actually practice it when the issue comes to their neighborhood instead of its being in the other person’s.

Then what should the true Christian do about it all? He does not spend his time trying to solve all such social problems, because neither Jesus nor the apostles took such a course. They did not agitate against Rome’s occupation of Palestine or even against the actual slavery that was common then. They stayed free from such issues so that they could do their far more important work of pointing to God’s kingdom as man’s only hope.

Today true Christians follow that good example. They follow the Christian principles of love, pointing to the blessings of God’s kingdom as the only real solution to all of earth’s problems, and announcing that under that kingdom rule there will be no segregation on any basis but a oneness of all mankind under their Creator, Jehovah God.

Men of all races are examining the Scriptures. They are seeing this wise course and are teaching others of the glorious conditions of peace that God’s kingdom soon will bring to earth. The blessings that this God-directed kingdom will provide will prove once and for all that God really does love all men who serve him, and that he is no segregationist.

When Will God’s Kingdom Come?

Do you pray, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven”? If so, then you will be interested in knowing God’s time for that prayer to be answered.

A JUST government, wisely administered, has ever been the desire of all honest men. But without a knowledge of God’s purposes men have groped blindly, hoping against hope that some day such a government would be realized. However, as the years roll by it seems that man has ever less reason for hoping, and certainly the world situation today does not warrant any optimism. If there ever is to be a righteous rule on earth God himself will have to bring it about.

And that he will, for none other than his own Son assured us of a righteous rule that someday would benefit all mankind, when he taught his followers to pray: “Let your kingdom come. Let your will come to pass, as in heaven, also upon earth.” Think what that means—God’s will done on earth as it is in heaven! No more war, no more wickedness, injustice and crime, no more disease, pain and death!—Matt. 6:10, NW.

Because 1,925 years have passed since Jesus taught his followers that prayer, many professed Christians have lost faith that it ever will be answered. Thus The Christian Century, June 29, 1955, editorialized regarding the situation in the United States: “The difficulty over here these days is to find churchmen who believe that the Kingdom of God can ever be realized, much less that it is around the corner.”

But how can we doubt that Jesus’ prayer will be realized? He would not have told us to pray for it if it were impossible, would he? Besides, did he not also say that “with God all things are possible”? Churchmen who doubt that someday the kingdom of God will be realized are blind guides, without faith and without understanding of God’s Word. They are Christians in name only.—Matt. 19:26, NW.

So let us first of all fully settle it in our minds that Jesus’ prayer will be answered, that God’s kingdom will someday be realized. But when? some may impatiently ask. Will it be another 1,925 years, or perhaps even longer? No, it will not. Fulfillment of Bible prophecy shows that the realization of the kingdom of God is “just around the corner.” In fact, the Bible shows that the kingdom of God has already been established and that for some forty years. How could that be? What is the proof?

FULFILLED PROPHECY GIVES PROOF

The Bible gives two lines of proof locating the time of the establishing of God’s kingdom: one is that of chronology and the other is the fulfillment of prophecy. Regarding Bible chronology, suffice it to say that on the basis of time periods indicated in the books of Daniel and Revelation, as far back as 1877 the date 1914 was given as the time for the coming or establishing of God’s kingdom. This information was first published by the first president of the Watch Tower Society in the pamphlet The Three Worlds and shortly thereafter in the columns of The Watchtower.

So thirty-seven years before 1914 it was announced that Bible chronology pinpointed that year as the time for the beginning of God’s kingdom, even though at the time not all the details were clearly understood. And this date has had the strongest possible corroboration in the fulfillment of Jesus’ great prophecy as recorded at Matthew chapters 24 and 25, Mark chapter 13 and Luke chapter 21. In proof thereof note the following:

In that prophecy Jesus stated, among other things, that “nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” Have we seen that prophecy fulfilled since 1914? We certainly have. According to one Harvard University professor there have been many, many times as much havoc wrought by war since 1914 as during all the time that men have been keeping records on wars fought previous thereto, or for more than nineteen centuries.—Luke 21:10, NW.

“And there will be great earthquakes.” Without a shadow of doubt these words have also seen marked fulfillment since 1914. Statistics show that for the 2,000 years that men have been keeping records of earthquakes up until 1914 some 4,700 lives were lost each year. But since 1914 earthquakes have been taking an average of 24,200 lives annually. And in recent years the tempo of major earthquakes has stepped up still more.—Luke 21:11, NW.

The same is true regarding Jesus’ prophecy that there will be “in one place after another pestilences and food shortages.” The Spanish influenza took twenty million lives between 1918 and 1922. According to one authority this was “the proudest figure ever reached by one of the diseases in history known to us.” Neither the dreaded plague, nor typhus, nor leprosy reaped such a harvest with one single attack during the Middle Ages.

And as for famine or food shortages. Here again the evidence is conclusive. The facts show that the famines that followed World Wars I and II affected more than twice as many people as did the four major famines of 1016, 1344, 1790 and 1877.

Continuing, Jesus foretold that his followers would be hated and persecuted by all nations. World Wars I and II furnished the excuse for the enemies of true Christians to vent their spleen upon them. As a result the work of preaching the good news of God’s kingdom was banned in many lands, thousands of its preachers were imprisoned, thousands of others were mobbed, and today thousands of still others continue to suffer in lands dominated either by religious or political totalitarian governments. Jesus further stated that men would become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the earth. Certainly the mad race for supremacy in air power and in nuclear weapons gives abundant proof that men are very apprehensive regarding the future.—Luke 21:12-26.

Other features of Jesus’ prophecy identifying 1914 as the time of the establishing of the Kingdom are the “increasing of lawlessness” and the preaching of this good news of the Kingdom “in all the inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness to all the nations,” after which the accomplished end is to come. There is no question about the increase in delinquency and crime; and as for the preaching of this good news of the Kingdom world-wide, the 1956 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses shows that this is being done in some 160 different lands and islands of the sea, and that by more than 640,000 Christian ministers of Jehovah.—Matt. 24:12, 14, NW.

Jesus mentioned many other features, which space does not permit going into, that further established the date 1914. And so does the apostle Paul’s prophecy at 2 Timothy 3:1-7, telling of the perilous times of the last days. And especially does Revelation 11:15-18 point to 1914, for it tells of the beginning of God’s kingdom as being followed by the nations’ becoming angry. Certainly since 1914 the nations of earth have raged as never before. (For a listing of some thirty more features of the Kingdom Sign please see “Make Sure of All Things”, pages 337 to 344.)

WHEN KINGDOM BLESSINGS?

But perhaps at this point someone will ask: “If 1914 marks the coming or birth of God’s kingdom, where is it? Where are the Kingdom blessings and why are conditions on earth growing worse instead of getting better?” We cannot see the kingdom of God because it is a heavenly, spiritual, and therefore invisible, kingdom; humans can see it only by faith. Jesus Christ is its king and he said of himself that the world would see him no more. (John 14:19) And according to Revelation 14:1 and Re 20:6 he will have 144,000 others associated with him in the heavens and therefore also invisible to human eyes. These associate rulers he has been selecting since Pentecost.

The Kingdom was born in 1914, for at that time God commanded his Son: “Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.” Revelation 12:1-12 shows what followed the birth of the Kingdom, there pictured by the birth of a man child. There was war in heaven; Jesus Christ, as Michael, and his angels fought against the dragon Satan and his angels, resulting in Satan and his demons’ being cast down to earth. At that time woe was pronounced upon those on earth because of Satan’s having come down to them with great wrath, knowing that his time is short. This accounts for the increased evil and woes since then.—Ps. 110:2.

We might illustrate all this with the birth of the United States. Born on July 4, 1776, it took a seven years’ war before its thirteen colonies gained their independence from England. The years between 1776 and 1783 can be compared to the years between 1914 when the Kingdom was born and the time when the battle of Armageddon will be fought, which will mark the full end of this wicked old system of things and the beginning of Kingdom blessings for those on earth who survive that battle.—Rev. 16:14, 16.

God has arranged for this intervening time so that men of good will can hear the message of the Kingdom and identify themselves as the “sheep,” which Jesus places at his right hand. (Matt. 25:31-46) When this work has been completed the battle of Armageddon will be fought, in which all the “goats” will be destroyed and Satan and his demons be cast into the abyss of deathlike inactivity. This cannot be very far off, for Jesus said that the generation that saw 1914 “will by no means pass away until all these things occur.”—Matt. 24:34, NW.

So let all men of good will who long for a righteous rule on earth take hope. The kingdom for which Jesus taught us to pray is certain to be realized, and the fulfillment of Bible prophecy locates not only the birth of that kingdom in our generation but also its blessings for mankind. And let all who wish to enjoy those blessings continue not only to pray for it to come in its completeness but also to live in harmony with its righteous requirements, giving their allegiance to it and making it known to others. Yes, let all these “keep on, then, seeking first the kingdom” of God and his righteousness.—Matt. 6:33, NW.

The Hands in the Scriptures

THE hands, by reason of the wonderful way in which they serve man, truly demonstrate the Creator’s love and wisdom. They being so useful and capable of so much skill, it is not surprising that they come in for much attention in the Scriptures, being referred to, literally and symbolically, some two thousand times.

The literal hand was used for measuring. Thus the handbreadth was three inches and the span nine inches or a half cubit.

While nowhere do we read of the hands’ being clasped or folded in prayer as religious pictures so often show, the Bible repeatedly tells of those praying spreading out their palms or lifting up their hands to heaven.

When an oath was sworn in Jehovah’s name the right hand was raised, as when Abram swore that he would touch none of the recovered goods of the king of Sodom at the time he rescued his nephew Lot.

Handshaking was used to make certain a promise, as when certain Israelites promised Ezra that they would put away their foreign wives. (Ezra 10:19, NW) And when Paul and Barnabas were sent forth to preach to the nations the pillars of the early church gave them “the right hand of joint participation.”—Gal. 2:9, NW.

Going surety for another, or giving a pledge, was indicated by striking the hands together in the presence of witnesses.

Hands were laid upon a person by those with authority to appoint such a one to a certain office, as when Moses laid hands on Joshua, thereby commissioning him. Likewise the apostles laid their hands upon the seven that were to serve as ministerial assistants in the distribution of food. Also the holy spirit was repeatedly received by reason of the apostles’ laying their hands on certain ones. When Aaron and his sons were consecrated for the priesthood their hands were literally filled with offerings and figuratively ‘filled with power,’ which is the meaning of the Hebrew word there translated variously “consecrate,” “install” and “ordain.” And when an atonement for sins was made the hands were laid upon the animal victim.—Lev. 8:33, NW.

The Bible also speaks of the hands of sinners having spots on them or being full of blood and they are urged to wash their hands, by faith, repentance and right works. Pilate, feeling guilty, washed his hands literally as a symbol of disclaiming any responsibility for Jesus’ death.

The Bible often speaks of God’s hand, his right hand being a symbol of favor. Christians are told to humble themselves under God’s power or mighty hand. The hand of Jehovah being upon one means that his power is exercised toward that one, either for good, blessing and protection, or for punishment and destruction, as the one may deserve.

Sylvester I, the Man Who Wasn’t There

CHILDREN of the Roman Catholic Church are told not to accept any doctrine that does not originate with the church. Further than that, they are told that the ordinary priest and even the bishops are not authorized to interpret the Bible. It is said that only the popes, as vicegerents of Christ Jesus and successors of Peter, the apostle, are infallibly directed in faith and morals. Many sincere Catholic people have strictly adhered to this policy with little or no question.

Would it surprise and perhaps shock such persons to know that the very foundation teaching of their religion and their church was formulated and established by an assembly of priests and bishops without ever receiving approval of the pope during whose pontificate the council was held?

The Catholic Encyclopedia, under the heading “Nicene Creed,” states: “As approved in amplified form at the Council of Constantinople (381), it [the Nicene Creed] is the profession of the Christian Faith common to the Catholic church, to all the Eastern churches separated from Rome, and to most of the Protestant denominations.”a Would it not be reasonable to suppose, in view of the basic nature of this creed, that the pope himself was instrumental in formulating it?

As to his powers in this regard the Catholic Encyclopedia points out: “As the supreme teacher of the Church, whose it is to prescribe what is to be believed by all the faithful, and to take measures for the preservation and the propagation of the faith, the following are the rights which pertain to the pope: (a) it is his to set forth creeds, and to determine when and by whom an explicit profession of faith shall be made.”b As to the calling of assemblies the same authority says further: “The legislative power of the pope carries with it the following rights: . . . (b) if he legislates with the aid of a council, it is his to convoke it, to preside, to direct its deliberations, to confirm its acts.”c

In view of the significance of the Nicene Creed as a basic confession of faith of Catholics as well as Protestants, its origin and the men responsible for it should be of interest to all professed Christians. So, in answer to our opening question, let us consider the part played in this historic drama by Sylvester I, “Saint, Pope.”

“This was the era of Constantine the Great, when the public position of the Church so greatly improved, a change which must certainly have been very noticeable at Rome; it is consequently to be regretted that there is so little authoritative information concerning Sylvester’s pontificate. At an early date legend brings him into close relationship with the first Christian emperor, but in a way that is contrary to historical fact.”d

NO POPE AT COUNCIL OF NICAEA

Perhaps, though, we might be able to find more positive evidence as to his fulfilling his position of pope in calling the Council of Nicaea. Again we are disappointed: “It is not historically known whether the emperor in convoking the Council acted solely in his own name or in concert with the pope; however, it is probable that Constantine and Sylvester came to an agreement. . . . The Council was opened by Constantine [not Sylvester] with the greatest solemnity. The emperor waited until all the bishops had taken their seats before making his entry. . . . He had opened the session as honorary president, and he assisted at the subsequent sessions, but the direction of the theological discussions was abandoned, as was fitting, to the ecclesiastical leaders of the council [not to the pope]. The actual president seems to have been Hosius of Cordova [again, not Sylvester, who was not even there], assisted by the pope’s legates, Victor and Vicentius.”e

As to these latter two named, they were ordinary priests and apparently the only ones attending from Rome. Their names merely appear among the list of signatures at the end of the documentary record of the council and there is no indication in this record that they had any special authority.

But since only the pope has the right “to determine when and by whom an explicit profession of faith shall be made,” he must certainly have made some outstanding decree as to the acceptance of these fundamental teachings! Again we quote: “It is not certain whether Constantine had arranged beforehand with Sylvester concerning the actual convening of the council, nor whether there was an express papal confirmation of the decrees beyond the signatures of the papal legates.”f And since there is no evidence in the record itself that Victor and Vicentius acted for the pope, it makes Sylvester’s authorization even less certain.

There is one more point to consider. In one of our quotations it was stated that the Nicene Creed “as approved in amplified form at the Council of Constantinople (381), . . . is the profession of the Christian Faith.” Was official confirmation finally given on this occasion? Turning again to our Catholic authority we read: “The First Council of Constantinople (Second General Council) was called in May, 381, by Emperor Theodosius, . . . to confirm the Nicene Faith, . . . and was presided over by Miletus of Antioch [again, not the pope]; . . . According to Photiusg Pope Damasus approved it, but if any part of the council were approved by this pope it could have been only the aforesaid creed.”h

Sincere Catholics, as well as Protestants, might well ask themselves, In the matter of this most important “Christian” Creed, who did actually fulfill the position of “pope,” Sylvester I, the one officially so designated by the Catholic Church, or Constantine, secular ruler of Rome and only a short time previously “converted to Christianity”? The unmistakable evidence, even from Catholic authority, points directly to Constantine. It was Constantine, not Sylvester, that convened the Council; it was Constantine, not Sylvester, that presided; it was Constantine, not Sylvester, that issued the decrees. In fact, Sylvester was not even there. And it is not unnoteworthy that at the time of his action Constantine bore the title that has since then been reserved for the popes, that is, the title “Pontifex Maximus.”i

In view of its background, then, all professed Christians would do well to view the Nicene Creed with suspicion. This becomes even more certain when its teachings are given unbiased scrutiny in the light of Jehovah God’s inspired Word, the Bible. Such careful analysis will convince all truth-seeking persons that the Nicene Creed is something beyond what was declared as good news by Jesus’ apostles, including Peter, and therefore subject itself to the curse or “anathema” pronounced by Paul at Galatians 1:8 (NW): “However, even if we or an angel out of heaven were to declare to you as good news something beyond what we declared to you as good news, let him be accursed.”

[Footnotes]

‘O Ye of Little Faith’

UNDER the above title the Valley News of Hanover, New Hampshire, of April 11, 1956, published the following common-sense editorial:

“Every once in a while some public official creates a situation that leaves the rest of us wondering if he ever heard of freedom, democracy, and political and human rights. At the very least these actions imply a lack of faith in the peoples’ understanding of freedom. At the most, they are a gross and arbitrary display of official ability to make a mountain out of a molehill. The latest official to breach freedom’s ramparts is Vermont Adjutant General Francis Billado. A group of Jehovah’s Witnesses planned an area meeting in Bennington. They sought to use the National Guard Armory. They signed a formal and legally binding lease of the building as did representatives of the National Guard. The Witnesses then publicized their meeting among their assemblies.

“Then, like a bolt out of the blue, more than a month after the contract had been signed and the Witnesses had concluded advance publicity arrangements, General Billado abruptly cancelled the contract. He cited as his reason the ‘possibility of trouble—a riot or something.’ The Witnesses, being essentially peaceful people, have chosen not to make a legal fight to enforce the lease. One of two things is plainly evident: Either the Guard and Billado did not know anything about the Witnesses when they signed the contract or they were subject to pressure from the outside. If the former is the case, then it is an amazing show of ignorance on a high official level. If it is the latter, then Billado has the duty to speak out forthrightly naming names and revealing why he believes that there is a ‘possibility of trouble.’

“The Jehovah’s Witnesses are a sect that has demonstrated over and over again that it is capable of conducting orderly meetings. Their national assemblies have been so well organized and run as to excite admiration from those who have watched them in operation. Their beliefs are not generally popular, yet the sect is one of the fastest growing religious bodies in America. The great majority of Americans have a pretty firm grip on the principles of freedom. When they see a prominent official backing away from a legal commitment because of the ‘possibility of trouble,’ they have good reason to wonder.

“Governor Johnson has been quoted as saying that he plans to obtain ‘full information’ about the incident. We hope that he does just that and if, as we strongly suspect, there is no evidence of a ‘clear and present danger,’ no ‘possibility of trouble—a riot or something’ he will have the courage to set the matter straight publicly.”

Faithful Transmission

● The new book The Dead Sea Scrolls by Millar Burrows brings up the question as to whether these scrolls change the Bible as we know it. The author answers with a categorical “nay.” In fact, both the Isaiah manuscript and the Habakkuk text confirm, as Burrows writes, that “the essential truth and the will of God revealed in the Bible . . . have been preserved unchanged through all the vicissitudes in the transmission of the text.”

Pursuing My Purpose in Life

As told by Victoria Dougaluk

DURING the past few years, while studying at the homes of people of good will or associating with Jehovah’s people in general, I often have heard remarked: “With all your experiences you should write a book about your missionary life.” I being out daily in the service and having such a full schedule, this was, of course, quite impractical. However, it was recently suggested that I write, not a book, but a few high lights that stand out during years that I have been pursuing my purpose in life as a missionary. Confidentially, I think a book would be simpler, as there is so much that can be said.

So back to the year 1939 when my mother, a resident of Chippawa, Ontario, Canada, after having frequented all the churches in the district looking for the truth, finally found in the Bible, with the aid of Watch Tower publications, what satisfied and continues to satisfy her. In spite of her patiently showing us the contrast between true and false religion, I continued to go to the Roman Catholic church, where I was a member of the choir, youth organization and catechism class. I remember her tactfully pretending to teach me to read her native Ukrainian tongue while at the same time choosing scriptures containing promises of Kingdom blessings for me to read. Her patience was rewarded when one Sunday, of my own free will, I left the church and waited outside for mass to finish so as to walk home with my sisters. The congregation servant and other brothers were just passing, taking my mother in door-to-door work. Seeing me on the church steps at such an early hour, they stopped and asked if I would join them. I was very happy to do so. At the time there was a girl of my own age in the car, who encouraged me very much and told me I had done the proper thing by leaving, as I could not partake from two tables.

At that time I was twelve, and ever since I have always appreciated the energy, patience and time the brothers of that area spent in training me, never feeling I was too young to bother with. In September, 1940, I dedicated myself to Jehovah, along with my mother and a younger sister.

Shortly after this a pioneer from Newfoundland came to visit our congregation servant. He was brought to our home so that we might hear some of his experiences. I recall sitting there entranced and saying, one day I would be a missionary like that. This brother’s encouraging words stayed with me and were emphasized when, in 1942, I attended my first assembly in Cleveland, Ohio. There I met many full-time workers and they all seemed such a happy lot. So I questioned them about their activities and resolved that as soon as possible I would put in my application for full-time pioneer service.

In October, 1943, at the age of 16, I began to pursue my purpose in life, my new career. After a short period of working alone in the rurals on my bicycle I was assigned to the city of Toronto, Canada, along with another sister—a complete stranger to me. It was not long to remain that way.

I like to think back of the kindness of the Toronto branch office in getting me settled, and of the love that the brothers showed in feeding, clothing and sheltering me. Being away from home and very young, I had much to learn and appreciated the counsel of the older ones in the truth.

Bringing my Bible students to the meetings and watching them graduate to publishers was my dream come true. What a privilege to be used by Jehovah in this way! I was very happy in thus having a share in the vindication of Jehovah’s name.

After a year my sister joined me in the full-time service, having been encouraged by the experiences I had related in my letters. This brought a change of assignment to another congregation. At the time my sister was 15; so again I mention what a help the older brothers were in aiding us to grow to maturity. We had many interesting Bible studies in this assignment, our study book at the time being Children. One study was with a family of deaf-mutes. At first it seemed a real barrier, our not being able to talk to each other; but soon I found it was quite simple to talk with my hands and make myself understood. The family accepted the truth and came along in the door-to-door work, using small cards that explained the purpose of their call. They moved shortly afterward and it was a thrill to know that they attended the 1953 Yankee Stadium assembly in New York, traveling 2,000 miles to do so. Having acquired this new means of thought communication, later on I was able to carry on studies with four other deaf-mute families.

Six months later I received an invitation to the special pioneer ranks. Our assignment was an isolated territory in the suburbs of Toronto, Ontario. Having been told to go as soon as possible, we immediately made inquiry as to accommodation. That very afternoon we moved, making arrangements to stay with a family for a week. It became our home for a year and a half.

Special pioneering called for more hours, more back-calls, this resulting in more experiences, more blessings. We would leave very early in the morning, taking our lunch, which we would eat in the huge cemetery nearby, and returning only after nightfall. We often witnessed to the caretakers and remember their astonishment at our fearlessness in such a place. One worker subscribed for The Watchtower and took the address of the Kingdom Hall nearest his home.

The sister we lived with often came along, spending the entire day with us, adding variety and pleasant companionship. In fact, the fellowship of the entire congregation we attended at the time did much to build us up spiritually for what was yet to come.

In our assignment we were very content, lacking nothing; but I will admit that secretly we were entertaining the thought of one day being sent to the Province of Quebec. We had heard of the persecution of the brothers there, because of their preaching work, how many of them were mobbed, beaten and imprisoned. We began thinking like this: We have our youth, strength and health; why, an assignment like that would be ideal for us, as we want to have a real share in the fight for freedom along with the brothers already there.

You can imagine our excitement when one day not only did my sister receive an invitation for special pioneering, but both of us were asked to go to Montreal, Quebec, to carry on our ministry there. We also heard that our younger sister was starting her third successive year as a summer pioneer, intending to join us in due time.

Before our leaving for Montreal others also had been invited to Quebec and we were called in to the Toronto branch. The importance of learning French was stressed; the customs of the people were explained, and we were encouraged in general. This gave us a fine start.

May 1, 1946, saw two excited and nervous sisters pulling into the big city of Quebec Province. Thankfully we were met by a brother who was then in charge of the legal affairs in Montreal. We were taken aside for a meal, then to the weekly service meeting of the congregation to which we had been assigned. At that time only one congregation was holding meetings, and I shall never forget coming out of the hall, my head feeling the size of a pumpkin, having tried so hard to understand all that had been said, in French. I recall listening to an English-speaking pioneer answering questions in French, and how much I admired his having made such progress. I was determined to do likewise.

It wasn’t long before we were experiencing what we had at one time read about. My sister was arrested and taken regularly to the juvenile court and I was a regular attendant at the recorder’s court, so much so that the judge one day informed me that I was the biggest nuisance that had ever come into the place. We had many opportunities of witnessing, not only to the court personnel but to other prisoners. A great bond of love grew up between the brothers who shared prison experiences; one occasion I specially recall: Several of us had been brought in together and as the bail would come through, the oldest, or those with families at home, were released first. In the end two of us remained. Six days passed, we not knowing when our turn would come. Finally bail came through, but only for one. The French sister with me said, ‘Two or nothing’; so gave up her immediate freedom to stay on with me. This was appreciated more than words could express. Eventually Jehovah’s witnesses came to be very much respected for their fight for freedom, as all attempts to discourage us failed. Their efforts to deaden our zeal made us all the more determined to carry on and find the sheep in that area.

This, however, was not our biggest problem. It was the French language. We realized that the only way we could be of help to the French people would be to talk to them in their own language; so having moved in with a family having no knowledge of English, we set about on this task. We wore out dictionaries. We would put into practice every new word learned, until slowly words finally came to make sense, then phrases, then thoughts or ideas. There would be hearty laughs at our attempts, but the French people were very helpful in explaining what we wanted to know.

Brother Knorr’s visit to Montreal in the latter part of 1946 meant a great deal to the Quebec pioneers. Sixty-six of us were invited to Gilead for the ninth class (1947), to be trained for special missionary work in Quebec Province.

At Gilead we learned French grammar along with all the other essential topics. It was just the impetus we needed to get back into the field, having renewed strength, new refutation and increased knowledge. The unity and love manifest there trained us in how to live our everyday lives as well. The young girl who had encouraged me when I first left the church steps, never to return, attended the same Gilead class as I. Our having been to Gilead meant that now more was required of us; but by our having Jehovah’s spirit, His Word and His organization (for which we continually give thanks), all obstacles were overcome and we continued to enjoy the blessings of full-time pioneering.

In October, 1949, my sister and I were sent to the town of St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, an isolated territory thirty-five miles outside of Montreal. A friend drove us out to look for accommodations. Everywhere we inquired the people would say: “I will have to phone my priest to see if it is permissible to rent to non-Catholics.” After trying several places we finally found a woman who agreed to rent us her front room with the intention, as she later admitted, of converting us to the Catholic faith.

At that time we were petitioning the people for a written Bill of Rights for Canada. The first week the majority signed, agreeing freedom of religion was everyone’s right. Sunday’s sermon brought a change of scene. The parish priest announced that no one was to sign, that we were “Communists,” that we were ‘the foolish virgins of the parable,’ etc. Our landlady was warned to put us out after two weeks. One morning she told us to leave the house within two hours or our belongings would be put on the street. She cried as she informed us, adding that this was not her own idea. Taking our clothes to the train-station lockers, we began another search for lodgings, but to no avail. We were obliged to return to Montreal and for the next three days our time was spent hiking back and forth between these two cities looking for another home. We found it on the city’s outskirts, with a very openminded family that even after having been insulted in the local papers refused to put us out.

After a time we were arrested, charged with selling Bibles. Upon our trial we won. This stopped the mobbing that had become a daily routine and also gave us police protection. Later we were joined by two other missionaries and in due time we had the joy of establishing a new congregation. Several persons took a firm stand for the truth, being obliged to leave town to look elsewhere for work. To us, though, it became real home, and the territory being almost entirely French we were able to progress in the language. On many occasions people took us to talk to the local priests at their presbytery, not believing that we had the ‘good Bible.’ These discussions strengthened us as we realized how little these seminary and theologically trained men knew of the Scriptures. One even objected: “How do you expect me to discuss the Bible? I am a priest, not a Bible student.” Another, a Dominican “Father,” swore at us during a discussion in a closed retreat building when we showed him in his own Bible that his proof of “a trinity” taken from 1 John 5:7 was an interpolation. The young man who had driven us there was disillusioned, having at first promised us that though he did not know the answers to our questions surely the “Fathers” would.

September (1951) began another adventure in our missionary life. We were assigned with a classmate to Trois Rivieres, Quebec, eighty-three miles north of Montreal, along with five other newly graduated missionaries of Gilead’s seventeenth class. At the beginning they were strangers to us, but, we being able to find only two rooms to accommodate the eight of us, it was not long before we became acquainted. Our first day of service began by a visit to the local chief of police. This was to inform him of our arrival and intentions, so as to spare his men the need to make unnecessary investigation of false charges, which expectedly would be phoned in, that we were “Communists.” After we explained the method of our work, he wished us much success. Eight missionaries working every day soon brought the comment that an army had invaded the town. At first the priests tried several means to stop our working there, even following us from door to door to warn the public. A call to the police one day, to arrest us, was foiled when the police, on seeing who it was, drove right past. When we obtained larger quarters our home became a Kingdom Hall.

Many upon whom we called commented on the fact of eight girls living together in peace. That alone proved to them that we had a peaceful organization and that God’s spirit prevailed. Living in very close quarters, every one of us learned much and found that our particular individual way of doing certain things was not always the right way; so each in turn gave in to do better. We found that when there was organization there was peace. Living together for over two years united us as a real family, and when the time came to leave we realized what a strong bond had been established.

Now something new awaited us: an established congregation. Faithful pioneers had worked very hard to build up this group under very trying circumstances. Like Moses, we felt quite incapable of taking over, but knowing that our strength lay in Jehovah, we prayerfully took up our responsibilities. Soon we found the publishers responding and co-operating to further the Kingdom interests, and our mountain melted away to a molehill. A year later we were still increasing and very much enjoying our association with these “other sheep” who are in so great need, though gradually growing to maturity.

My sister, who had accompanied me for over ten years, now has left for another assignment along with another member of the family, my brother-in-law; but in her place my younger sister (a pioneer of three years), along with her husband (a full-time servant of five years), came into Quebec Province. In being thus privileged to be used by Jehovah I have been very happy. Pursuing my purpose in life as a missionary has proved it.

Now I am pursuing my purpose in life in a different capacity. After spending some time at the Toronto Bethel home, I married and became a member of the Brooklyn Bethel home, where I now live and serve as Mrs. C. A. Steele.

Gets Truth from Egg Wrappers

● The 1956 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses shows that today there are forty witnesses of Jehovah in South-West Africa. However, back in 1945 there was but one lone witness. Recently this lone 1945 witness was visited and he told how he came to be one of Jehovah’s witnesses. Back in 1929 while working in a mine he kept getting eggs from a nearby farmer. These eggs were individually wrapped in paper, pages from a certain book. The printed matter on these pages struck a spark of interest and he kept on reading them, wondering where the book came from. Then one day the last page of the book was reached and on it he found the name and address of the Watch Tower Society. He wrote to the Society in Germany, obtained literature and soon thereafter took his stand for the truth. Today, at the age of seventy, he continues, a faithful witness for Jehovah.

Irrelevant

● At the Texas Evangelistic Conference, attended by some 3,000 Baptists, preacher Roy O. McClain of Atlanta’s First Baptist Church said that about 25 percent of what he does and of what most other preachers do is “about as much related to the kingdom of God as Mother Goose.”—The Atlanta Journal, January 10, 1956.

“Offer to God a Sacrifice of Praise”

“We render as bullocks the offering of our lips.”—Hos. 14:2, AS.

1. How did Jewish priests say Jehovah’s table was contemptible, and what was Jehovah’s reaction?

JEHOVAH accused the Jewish priests of the fifth century before Christ of despising his name and of saying: “The table of Jehovah is contemptible.” (Mal. 1:6, 7, AS) Feigning shock and amazement, those religious leaders asked wherein they had done this. Jehovah answered: “When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that no evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that no evil? Present that to your governor; will he be pleased with you or show you favor?” The law covenant required animal sacrifices, and the priests were offering these. But it also required the offering of sound, unblemished animals, and this the priests were not doing. Instead they picked out the inferior ones, the sick and the lame and the blind, offered them on Jehovah’s altar or table. Thus they despised his name and treated his table with contempt. They would not for a moment think of presenting such sickly offerings to their human governor when seeking to please him and gain his favor. Yet when entreating the favor of the Most High God they held back the unblemished animals and offered him the inferior pickings that cost them little or nothing, being practically worthless anyway. Would it work? Jehovah said not: “With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you?” They were cursed as cheats, because they had vowed, had the means to pay the vow, but selfishly balked at doing so: “Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished.”—Mal. 1:8, 9, 14, RS.

2, 3. What sacrifices comparable to animal sacrifices do Christians offer today?

² Was that not a grossly sinful and presumptuous thing for a nation to do that claimed to be Jehovah’s people? For the people to bring diseased sacrifices and for the priests to offer them on Jehovah’s table was a most contemptuous way to treat Almighty God, a relegating of him far below their human rulers that they would never dream of treating so shabbily and insultingly. Had you lived in those days, you would not have shown such contempt for Jehovah’s table, would you? Or would you have? Do you do it now? Many, many persons do. But how can they, you ask, when animal sacrifices are no longer offered on an altar? There are offerings to be made now that are likened to those animal sacrifices made then, and the ones made now must be as clean and sound and unblemished as the ancient animal sacrifices were to be. What are these modern sacrifices? Are you making them? And are yours sick or healthy, lame or sound, blind or enlightened?

³ Hosea 14:2 (AS) states: “Take with you words, and return unto Jehovah: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and accept that which is good: so will we render as bullocks the offering of our lips.” If we have drifted from Jehovah’s favor we are to take words expressing repentance and requesting forgiveness and with these make a return to him, offering these words as sacrificial bulls. And not only to express repentance but also to declare publicly Jehovah’s name and praise are words to be offered, just as harvest fruits were under the Mosaic law: “Through him let us always offer to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips which make public declaration to his name.” So today words, the bullocks and fruits of our lips, are to be offered to Jehovah as a sacrifice of praise. The Christian must offer words of truth and sound doctrine, words that magnify Jehovah and his purposes, and especially now must the Christian offer right words about the good news of God’s new world of righteousness.—Heb. 13:15, NW.

4. In this matter of sacrifice, how is Christendom like the reprehensible Jewish priests?

⁴ Christians claim to follow in Christ’s steps, which would include a vow to offer up the verbal fruits and bullocks that he did. Like the Israelites with acceptable animals in their flocks, the millions claiming to be Christian have acceptable words available to them. The Bible, widely circulated in hundreds of languages, is filled with these words. To offer them from their lips Christians need only pay out the time and effort necessary to take them into mind and heart. But the majority of Christendom’s millions count this cost as too much, just as unfaithful Israelites thought the cost too high to sacrifice unblemished animals and so substituted the culls, the leftovers. The Israelites gave fine animals to human governors to gain favor, and Christendom’s millions give their best in time and effort to serve national leaders and worldly employers to get favor and prestige, reward and fleshly comforts. Jesus said: “Pay back Caesar’s things to Caesar, but God’s things to God.” The modern tendency is to pay over everything to this world and its works of the flesh, including what belongs to God. Only from the leavings and scraps of their time and energy will they even consider giving to Jehovah. From these leftovers they may offer a trifle of effort to give the appearance of devotion to God.—Luke 20:25, NW.

5. How do many who claim to be Christians pollute Jehovah’s table?

⁵ What does this amount to? To saying: “The table of Jehovah is contemptible.” To saying his table shall have on it only the scraps and leftovers. The words sacrificed on his table should constitute nourishing spiritual food, but if your Christian speech is no more than parroting the memorized creeds and religious traditions that Jesus said made void God’s Word, then certainly you are polluting Jehovah’s table. (Matt. 15:6) If the bullocks of your lips are words teaching such pagan doctrines as immortal soul, though the Bible says, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die”; and eternal torment for sinners, when God’s Word says, “The wages sin pays is death”; and trinity, in spite of Jesus’ statement, “The Father is greater than I am,” then those verbal bullocks are sick and lame and blind and anyone feeding upon them will be spiritually sick and crippled and unenlightened. (Ezek. 18:4; Rom. 6:23; John 14:28, NW) Millions who think they are Christians recite words without real understanding and go through religious formalisms and rituals and ceremonies, just as the ancient Jews went through the formalism of sacrificing by offering blemished animals. Such ones draw near to Jehovah with their mouth and honor him with their lips, but their heart is far removed from him; hence Jehovah says of them: “Their religion is a mockery, a mere tradition learned by rote.”—Isa. 29:13, Mo.

6. What will true Christian witnesses of Jehovah be diligent to do?

⁶ True Christian witnesses of Jehovah will not act so contemptuously toward Jehovah’s table. They make it their first concern to take the choice words of the Bible and offer them as the fruits and bulls of their lips. They use the words that are sound and enlightening and productive of spiritual health, even if in these last days the backsliding majority “will not put up with the healthful teaching.” (2 Tim. 4:3, NW) There is yet a minority of many thousands who are conscious of their spiritual need, and as they turn from the doctrinal offerings of orthodox religions that have been polluted with ancient paganisms and modern philosophies and scientific speculations, and turn to the Bible truth served up by Jehovah’s witnesses, they will be spiritually nourished and satisfied. So we must be sure that we have studied to gain the right answers, the forceful words and the clear explanations that will magnify Jehovah and his Word and purposes. They must not be vague and sickly and weak, but so powerful that they overwhelm and crowd out of our listener’s mind the false words implanted there. The necessary words are in the Bible; we must get them out for use as a sacrifice of praise.

BIBLE READING

7. What must we do to get sound wisdom from the Bible?

⁷ If our word sacrifices are not the good ones available from the Bible, if we are too lazy mentally to ferret out the best ones, then the spiritual food we set on Jehovah’s table will not be adequate and will seem contemptible to others, unable to offset their opposing beliefs or arguments. Only by previous study can we answer effectively: “The heart of the righteous studieth to answer.” And we have to dig into the Bible for these truths as a miner labors for precious metals: “My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and lay up my commandments with thee; so as to incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thy heart to understanding; yea, if thou cry after discernment, and lift up thy voice for understanding; if thou seek her as silver, and search for her as for hid treasures: then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, and find the knowledge of God. For Jehovah giveth wisdom; out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding: he layeth up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to them that walk in integrity.” Jehovah has laid up sound wisdom for us in the Bible; if we seek it diligently he promises that we shall find it.—Prov. 15:28; 2:1-7, AS.

8. What precedents are there for regular Bible reading?

⁸ We should read the Bible regularly. The king of Israel was commanded to “write in a book for himself a copy of this law” and “he must read in it all the days of his life.” In those days copies of the Holy Scriptures were scarce and few persons had individual copies, so public readings were commanded: “You will read this law in front of all Israel in their hearing.” On a special occasion soon after Israel’s entry into Canaan “there proved to be not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read aloud in front of all the congregation of Israel, together with the women and the little ones and the temporary residents who walked in their midst.” Centuries later King Josiah “read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of Jehovah,” and the result was a national purge against demon worship. Many more centuries later public reading was still regularly done: “For from ancient times Moses has had in city after city those who preach him, because he is read aloud in the synagogues on every sabbath.”—Deut. 17:18, 19; 31:11; Josh. 8:35; 2 Ki. 23:2; Acts 15:21, NW.

9. Why is Bible reading alone not enough, and what additional help is available?

⁹ Today we are more fortunate, with rotary presses printing Bibles by the millions of copies. Anyone thirsting can easily drink the waters of life by having and reading a Bible of his own. But sometimes reading alone is not enough. One may need help in understanding, like the Ethiopian that Philip the evangelist saw reading the book of Isaiah. “Do you really know what you are reading aloud?” Philip asked him. “Really how could I ever do so, unless someone guided me?” he replied. Philip gave the needed guidance to a right understanding. (Acts 8:26-38, NW) Today instruction to supplement Bible reading is provided by Jehovah through his “faithful and discreet slave” organization that he promised would serve spiritual “food at the proper time.” Much of this help is given through the distribution of printed Bible study aids, and with these an individual can gain an enlarged understanding from his Bible reading. Within the compass of a few pages one of these aids may gather all the scriptures that are scattered throughout the Bible on a given subject, thus saving the student time and also ensuring that he will overlook none of the texts essential to a full understanding. Even with these printed aids the new student often needs help from another person, and Jesus promised his assistance when even only two come together to learn: “For where there are two or three met together in my name, there I am in their midst.”—Matt. 24:45; 18:20, NW.

10. What instances show public Bible reading included explanations?

¹⁰ Just as the one reading in private may need help, so those listening to public reading are benefited by accompanying explanations. During his reign King Jehoshaphat sent princes and Levites and priests “to teach in the cities of Judah”: “And they began teaching in Judah and with them there was the book of Jehovah’s law, and they kept going around through all the cities of Judah and teaching among the people.” Certainly this program of education in the Scriptures involved more than merely reading the law; it undoubtedly included explanations and applications of the law and exhortations to obedience. After the captivity Governor Nehemiah had the law read aloud from daybreak till noon and the people listened attentively, but words in addition to those written were spoken to be sure everyone understood: “And they continued reading aloud from the book, from the law of The [true] God, it being expounded, and there being a putting of meaning [into it], and they continued making explanation in the reading.” Jesus did public reading in the synagogue at Nazareth, and, when finished, he explained: “Today this scripture that you just heard is fulfilled.” It is likely that he said more than the brief record preserves. After listening to public reading in a synagogue the apostle Paul, upon invitation from the presiding officers, discoursed at some length, and it was appreciated so much that the people entreated him to speak on the following sabbath also, and “the next sabbath nearly all the city gathered together to hear the word of Jehovah.” Paul instructed young Timothy to exhort and teach along with public reading: “Continue applying yourself to public reading, to exhortation, to teaching.”—2 Chron. 17:7-9; Neh. 8:3, 8; Luke 4:16-21; Acts 13:15-44; 1 Tim. 4:13, NW.

ATTENDING MEETINGS

11. Why is attendance at congregational meetings today vital?

¹¹ Both private and public Bible reading, accompanied by discussion and explanation, whether printed or oral, contribute much toward getting from the Bible the words we need to offer acceptable verbal bullocks. But today Jehovah through his visible organization gives additional assistance by arranging congregational meetings. At these meetings he spreads a spiritual table for us, and by staying away we say this table is contemptible, despise it as of no real worth. Yet it is vital to us, to our spiritual nourishment and strength, both as individuals and as a congregation of Christians. At meetings we can declare our hope before others by commenting, and by their comments hear their hope declared; we can encourage others by commenting, and by their comments be encouraged ourselves. This is especially vital in this present time of the end: “Let us hold fast the public declaration of our hope without wavering, for he is faithful that promised. And let us consider one another to incite to love and right works, not forsaking the gathering of ourselves together, as some have the custom, but encouraging one another, and all the more so as you behold the day drawing near.”—Heb. 10:23-25, NW.

12. What meetings are sponsored by the congregation?

¹² Congregations of Jehovah’s witnesses assemble several times weekly. One meeting is a public lecture designed especially for newly interested ones, but the entire congregation should be in attendance and everyone will learn something. And who would make the public welcome if the congregation were not present? If you are associated with the congregation you should be there to make new ones welcome and to answer their questions. The Watchtower study is vital. Everyone in the congregation should study the lesson, attend, listen, comment and show friendliness toward all, especially new ones. The theocratic ministry school trains the congregation in what to say, how to word it, and how to deliver it to others in ministerial service. Systematic Bible reading is a part of the course of study. The service meeting is another training session, specializing in instruction in house-to-house witnessing, delivering sermons at the door and conducting Bible studies inside the homes. No one deeply concerned about offering unblemished bullocks and fruits of the lips will miss the service meeting. One other congregationally sponsored meeting is the book study held in private homes strategically located in all parts of the congregation’s territory. In these small study groups Bible study aids are used, and the smallness of these groups makes it easy to get acquainted, comment and assist one another to offer to God unblemished sacrifices of praise.

13. How will congregational meetings improve us as Christians?

¹³ The congregations, with their appointed servants and scheduled meetings, are organized to make us grow into mature Christians, able to withstand the succeeding waves of godlessness by which Satan tries to overthrow us. This is as it was in the days of the apostles: “And he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as missionaries, some as shepherds and teachers, with a view to the training of the holy ones for ministerial work, for the building up of the body of the Christ, until we all attain to the oneness in the faith and in the accurate knowledge of the Son of God, to a full-grown man, to the measure of growth that belongs to the fullness of the Christ; in order that we should no longer be babes, tossed about as by waves and carried hither and thither by every wind of teaching by means of the trickery of men, by means of craftiness in contriving error.” By your attending meetings and commenting you can “keep testing whether you are in the faith.” If your comments go astray others more mature can bring you back to the right thought. How else can you as a congregation meet the divine requirement that “all speak in agreement” and “be fitly united in the same mind and in the same line of thought”?—Eph. 4:11-14; 2 Cor. 13:5; 1 Cor. 1:10, NW.

14, 15. Why is association together at congregational meetings important to Jehovah’s witnesses?

¹⁴ But the value of attending congregational meetings does not end with learning and coming to a oneness of mind and improving the sacrifice of praise we offer to Jehovah. There is a value from just the association together. There seems to be a concentration of Jehovah’s spirit there that buoys up our own spirits theocratically. Most of us have to spend so much time out in the world rubbing shoulders with corrupt persons, hearing their irreverent and foul talk and observing their base practices, that when we go to congregational meetings it is like passing from a city slum to an exhilarating mountain resort. “Bad associations spoil useful habits,” but good associations erase harmful habits and put good ones in their place. (1 Cor. 15:33, NW) Scattered out in the seas of humanity alienated from Jehovah we are like tiny islands in constant danger of being worn down to the sea’s level by the endless surf, but when we come together we draw strength from one another to become a strong land impervious to the assaulting seas. We take on fresh courage and fearlessness, renewing our strength to resist the world. But if we give in to subtle snares that keep us from meetings we shall soon give out: “So let us not give up in doing what is right, for in due season we shall reap by not giving out.”—Gal. 6:9, NW.

¹⁵ If we are alone and knocked about by the world we are apt to lose courage, thinking we are alone in our integrity and must surely be overwhelmed. Long ago the prophet Elijah had been zealous for Jehovah and to escape fulfillment of a dire threat against him he fled for his life. While holed up alone in a cave, Elijah was queried by Jehovah: “What is your business here, Elijah?” The prophet replied: “I have absolutely tolerated no rivalry against Jehovah the God of armies, for the sons of Israel have left your covenant, your altars they have torn down and your prophets they have killed with the sword, so that I only am left and they begin looking for my soul to take it away.” Elijah felt that he was the only one left interested in Jehovah’s cause; but not so: “I have let seven thousand remain in Israel, all the knees that have not bent down to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.” (1 Ki. 19:13, 14, 18, NW) Regular meeting attendance will keep us in strengthening touch with our brothers.

16. Why is it foolish for a Christian to isolate himself, to try to go it alone?

¹⁶ Satan likes to divide and conquer, scatter the flock and pick off the strayed individuals. The congregation must stick together for mutual help. If we are alone who will help us up when we fall? If we are alone it is harder to keep our zeal for Jehovah hot. Together we can help warm over the cooled zeal of inactive ones. These principles are shown at Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (RS): “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up. Again, if two lie together, they are warm; but how can one be warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.” If we fall, if our zeal cools; if we go under when Satan attacks, we shall be unable to offer public sacrifices of praise to Jehovah. To avoid this calamity we must not forsake assembling together. Do not be a lone sheep, for a sheep away from the flock is a lost sheep. Faithful servant shepherds of the congregation strive diligently to restore lost sheep to the fold of the New World society. (Matt. 18:12-14) So do not overestimate your spiritual strength and think you can go it alone pursuing selfish interests, flouting the sound principle of assembling together: “The recluse seeks his own selfish interests; he quarrels with every sound principle.”—Prov. 18:1, AT.

17. How must we take teaching from Jehovah?

¹⁷ If we are to get in our possession acceptable fruits and unblemished bullocks of the lips we must take teaching from Jehovah. Take it through Bible reading. Take it by systematic study. Take it at congregational meetings. Especially there does Jehovah spread a spiritual meal on his table. Come and get it! Do you have your meals of physical food served in bed? If you value them enough to go to the table for them, do you not value the more important spiritual food that much? Jehovah does not cater to laziness by serving spiritual meals in bed or at homes away from congregational meeting places. Go to the table, go to the Kingdom Hall! Unless we do all these necessary things we are not being diligent in getting the words we need for sound, healthful and enlightening sacrifices of praise. We shall fall shamefully short of the inspired exhortation: “Do your utmost to present yourself approved to God, a workman with nothing to be ashamed of, handling the word of the truth aright.”—2 Tim. 2:15, NW.

[Picture on page 627]

“The heart of the righteous studieth to answer.”—Prov. 15:28.

Problems in Bible Translation

● No other book has been translated into more languages than the Bible. At least one book of the Bible has been translated into 1,084 different tongues. How many more tongues are there that do not have the Bible yet? About 2,000. But these are mostly tribal tongues spoken mainly in New Guinea, Africa, Southeast Asia and among the South American Indians. So the remaining tongues are not spoken by many, probably by much less than five percent of the world’s population. To bring the Bible to people who speak these tribal tongues often presents big problems to Bible translators. There are just not enough words in these languages to make literal translation possible. Local idioms, often amusing and odd to English-speaking people, must be used. According to an official of the American Bible Society the Gbeapo people of Liberia have no word for “prophet”; the word has to be translated “God’s towncrier” to be understood. The word “worship” in the language of the Cuicatec Indians of Mexico becomes “wagging one’s tail before God.” And in the tongue of the Chokwe tribe in South Africa the phrase “he smote his breast” has to be phrased “he beat his head.” This is because smiting one’s breast, to these tribesmen, is a gesture meaning approval. So if the phrase were translated literally, it would mean just the opposite of what is intended—it would convey the meaning expressed in English by the phrase “he patted himself on his back.”

Offer Your Sacrifices of Praise Aright

“Let your utterance be always with graciousness, seasoned with salt, so as to know how you ought to give an answer to each one.”—Col. 4:6, NW.

1. What is symbolized by salt?

MOSAIC law required that sacrifices be seasoned with salt: “Every offering of your grain offering you will season with salt, and you must not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be missing upon your grain offering. Along with every offering of yours you will present salt.” Why? Salt is a preservative and prevents putrefaction. To offer anything fermented was forbidden, and salt with the offering prevented this. Forestalling change by decay, salt assured permanence, and was used in conjunction with a covenant to show the unchangeableness of it, the permanence of it. Among ancient peoples it was a sign of friendship to eat salt together and denoted perpetual fidelity and loyalty. The one sacrificing communion offerings on Jehovah’s altar was considered as a partaker with Jehovah; so the use of salt with the sacrifices indicated partaking of salt with him, which symbolized perpetual loyalty.—Lev. 2:13, NW.

2. What does it mean for Christians to season their word sacrifices with salt?

² Because the true followers of Jesus, by example and by preaching, would be an influence to preserve from putrefaction and moral decay, Jesus called them “the salt of the earth.” Salt is also mentioned in connection with their words of preaching: “Let your utterance be always with graciousness, seasoned with salt, so as to know how you ought to give an answer to each one.” (Matt. 5:13; Col. 4:6, NW) Christians do not offer grain or meat sacrifices to Jehovah as the nation of Israel did, but they do offer a sacrifice of praise by the words of their lips, and these are likened to bulls and fruits. Just as Israel’s material sacrifices were to be accompanied by salt, so the Christian’s words, the symbolic bulls of his lips, are to be seasoned with salt. This means the utterances are to be pure in truth, to have a preserving effect upon both the speaker and the hearer, and to be loyal and faithful to Jehovah, not despising his name or making his table appear contemptible. The words offered are to be appetizing to lovers of righteousness. Salt is an appetizing condiment in the food of both man and beast: “Is a tasteless thing eaten without salt?” “The oxen and young asses that till the soil will feed on salted fodder.” (Job 6:6; Isa. 30:24, AT) So the word sacrifices of Christians are to be seasoned with spiritual salt, not being tasteless, insipid and corrupt, but being appetizing, friendly, faithful and with preserving power.

DOORSTEP SERMONS

3. Why is it necessary to give advance thought and preparation to doorstep sermons?

³ Do you know how you ought to answer, to offer spiritual sacrifices, with graciousness, seasoned with salt? Just as it was in the days of Christ and the apostles and early disciples, so today it is at the doors and in the homes of the people that these verbal sacrifices are most frequently and most effectively offered. Do you give advance thought and preparation to your doorstep sermons, “so as to know how you ought to give an answer to each one” you meet at the door? On this initial visit it is especially important to find words that are plain, simple and pleasing, not controversial: “The Speaker’s aim was to find pleasing words, even as he set down plainly what was true.” If some controversy arises, however, be “always ready to make a defense before everyone that demands of you a reason for the hope in you, but doing so together with a mild temper and deep respect.” “A slave of the Lord does not need to fight, but needs to be tactful toward all, qualified to teach, keeping himself restrained under evil, instructing with mildness those not favorably disposed, as perhaps God may give them repentance leading to an accurate knowledge of truth.”—Eccl. 12:10, Mo; 1 Pet. 3:15; 2 Tim. 2:24, 25, NW.

4, 5. What counsel about sermons as to delivery and our attitude is given, and why is it important?

⁴ We should not be diffident and apologetic in our manner or bearing, but remember that we represent the Creator of the universe and have his backing. You are convinced that you are speaking the truth? Then let that conviction show in your delivery. You are sincere? Let it shine through. You are enthusiastic about the truth? Make that manifest to them by your tone of voice and expression of face. Certainly you go to them as a friend; so be warm and friendly, conversational and direct. Draw them into the conversation by asking questions, by inviting their comments. Approach each door with the thought that the one behind it is a sheep, a friend, and let your interest and concern for him show. Have this positive attitude for each householder; before you think differently of him make him prove his difference. Do not let the goat at the last door sour you with a negative attitude for the next door. Each door deserves your best and should not get less just because it may be in the midst of a tough territory.

⁵ Have you ever read a paragraph, the eye seeing every word, yet at the end find you remember nothing of what you read? Your mind had wandered elsewhere. Or have you ever sat in a lecture hearing the words, but suddenly realize you remember nothing of what the speaker said for the past ten minutes because your mind strayed? Similarly, when a householder comes to the door he may appear to be listening to you, yet his mind is busy thinking of excuses, or noting your dress, or considering your personality. He may be forming an impression of you, without your words in his ears really registering on his mind. However, just as your mind will not wander if the paragraph you are reading is both interesting and well written, and just as it will not stray if the speaker you are hearing expresses good thoughts with earnestness and enthusiasm, so the householder’s mind will be on your sermon if it is thoughtful, clear and informative and presented with warm sincerity and deep conviction. Impressions are formed and decisions made not just by what we may say but by how we say it and how we look when we say it.

6, 7. What suggestions are given as to content of sermons?

⁶ Assuming that we dress neatly but not gaudily, and that we forget ourselves and let our friendly interest, sincerity, conviction and enthusiasm shine through to the householder, the content of the sermon itself demands our attention. It must be good in our own eyes, must make us enthusiastic with its points, if we are to pass on any enthusiasm to others. If it leaves us cold it will never warm up anyone else. So for the sake of your delivery get a sermon that pleases you very much. You may get ideas from others, but do not use them unless they fill you with enthusiasm. Otherwise you will give it spiritlessly and it will be received the same way. Have a theme, keep directing your points to this one target. Make it practical, of personal application to the householder. Everyone is interested in himself; many are not deeply interested in others. You may talk about world conditions—wars, famines, pestilences, calamities—but if these things have not touched the householder personally or do not threaten to soon he will not be too concerned. People have become calloused to large-scale suffering, to mass misery. If they or members of their immediate family suffer from these woes they take a personal interest. So if you talk on world woes try to bring them down to the personal level of the householder. If you discuss widespread juvenile delinquency, for example, bring it home to him by showing the way to safeguard his own children from it. The Kingdom is the remedy for all troubles, but show them it will solve their little personal worries, not just the big worldwide woes. Oftentimes the latter are too big and gigantic and staggering to be grasped.

⁷ In the sermon on the mount Jesus considered the everyday worries and anxieties that were troubling the people, what they would eat and drink and wear. Jehovah knows these things are needed and will supply them to humans just as he does for birds and even vegetation, Jesus said. “Keep on, then, seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you.” Doing this, personal anxieties will vanish and instead you will have “the peace of God that excels all thought.” So, as Jesus did, we must note the personal, individual worries and concerns of the people and embrace them in our sermons. These sermons should be adaptable to the mental levels and attitudes of our hearers, as were those of Paul: “I have become all things to people of all kinds, that I might by all means save some.”—Matt. 6:33; Phil. 4:7; 1 Cor. 9:22, NW.

8. After our sermons are prepared, how should we fix them in our mind for presenting at the door?

⁸ If we memorize our sermons they will lack flexibility and adaptability. If they are to be versatile and maneuverable to conform to the different situations that arise at the doors we should memorize no more than a brief outline. There are many familiar texts that we can discuss for a few minutes without notes. We talk about them on the spur of the moment with ease and confidence. So pick out three or four of these very familiar scriptures, memorizing only their location in the Bible. Then look them up in order at the door, reading and commenting briefly on each one. Unburdened by memorized words that would sound mechanical, your mind is free to cope with ideas as you supply the necessary words extemporaneously, just as you do daily in conversation. Only then will your sincerity and enthusiasm be manifest; only then can your natural personality and warmth and friendliness shine through. You can have alternate texts for use in different situations. You can list in the back of your field-service Bible several groupings of texts, each group comprising your notes for a sermon.

STARTING YOUR SERMON

9. What suggestion is given for coping with common excuses?

⁹ Many persons go from door to door for a variety of purposes, and when the bell rings the householder is often somewhat annoyed by the interruption and comes to the door determined to dismiss you quick. She has several stock excuses, but probably does not settle on one until she has taken a quick look and listened and jumped to a conclusion about you. Then she will break in with one. You have heard them often and may be able to refute them very logically, but after she has said it she is likely to stick to it, pride not letting her back down on it. If you could foresee the excuse and refute it before she voices it her pride would not be involved and she might hear you out. Perhaps after a very brief introduction of yourself you might abruptly say, before she has selected one of the common excuses: “You know, when we call at the door some people immediately say, . . .” and state one of these excuses. It may not be the one she would have used this time, but very likely she has often used it and may be taken aback momentarily when you cite it. She may be a bit curious about your next words dealing with this excuse she sometimes uses. Make them good, catchy, to hold her interest, and perhaps she will hear your sermon through.

10. How might you deal with the statement, “I don’t need anything today”?

¹⁰ After briefly stating why you are calling, you might say: “You know, when we call like this some persons say, ‘Oh, I don’t need anything today.’ But listen to what Jesus said about those who say they need nothing: ‘You say: “I am rich and have acquired riches and do not need anything at all,” but you do not know you are miserable and pitiable and poor and blind and naked.’ He didn’t mean they are literally, of course, for that would have been obvious to them. He meant that in a spiritual way they were in this destitute condition.” Then, after using Revelation 3:17 (NW) to cope with the excuse, you use two or three additional texts to complete your sermon. You might use Amos 8:11 to show that the spiritual famine is widespread and that despite the existence of many churches the people are not being spiritually fed, though many think they are. Read Matthew 5:3 to show that those conscious of their spiritual need will be satisfied. At this point you might present the literature offer and state that these publications provide spiritual food, and prove it to them by having a specific paragraph picked out to read, one that contains a particularly tasty point of information.

11, 12. How might you use in your sermon and refute the excuse, “I’m busy”?

¹¹ Another example: “So often when we call people tell us they’re busy. It’s good to be busy, because God hates idlers. But we shouldn’t be so busy with lesser matters that we refuse time to the more important things. One time Jesus was at the home of two sisters. Mary was listening to him explain the truth of God, and Martha complained because she was not helping with housework. Here’s the account: ‘Martha, on the other hand, was distracted with attending to many duties. So, she came near and said: “Master, does it not matter to you that my sister has left me alone to attend to things? Tell her, therefore, to join in helping me.” In answer the Master said to her: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and disturbed about many things. A few things, though, are needed, or just one. For her part, Mary chose the good portion, and it will not be taken away from her.’” Jehovah and Jesus speak to us through the Bible. If we won’t listen to them, why expect them ever to listen to us when we get in trouble and cry out to them for help?”—Luke 10:40-42, NW.

¹² Or one might say this: “Some come to the door and say they’re too busy; but you know, if I offered them a hundred dollars they wouldn’t be too busy to accept it. Yet listen to what the Bible says: ‘Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gets understanding, for the gain from it is better than gain from silver and its profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called happy.’ If they aren’t too busy to take money, surely they shouldn’t be too busy to take in knowledge that leads to everlasting life.”—Prov. 3:13-18, RS.

13. How could you refute the excuse, “I’m not interested”?

¹³ After saying that many tell you, before finding out why you are there, that they are not interested, you might continue: “But do you know what the Bible says about people who answer before they hear a matter? Listen: ‘If one gives answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.’” You would not want to use this after a householder says he is not interested. It would be too blunt then; it would be like calling him foolish and shameful. But if you raise this point first you can use the text above, Proverbs 18:13 (RS), because you are applying it to other people that do this, not to the one you are addressing. The same is true of the following example.

14. What is frequently said in lands of plenty, and how can it be handled?

¹⁴ In some materialistic countries where people have plenty they brush you off by saying they are satisfied. “You know, some people refuse to listen and say, ‘Oh, I’m getting along all right; I’m satisfied.’ Well, God is not interested in people who are satisfied. He’s interested in those who are dissatisfied. Long ago he marked some for preservation, saying: ‘Go through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.’ Today Jehovah is interested in those who love righteousness, and such ones certainly are not satisfied with the corrupt, wicked conditions in the earth today. What decent person could be satisfied with these rotten conditions? They want clean government, an end to immorality, a halt of hypocrisy. They would also like health and life for themselves and their families, for all lovers of righteousness. The present evil conditions make them sigh and groan and long for something better.” After this use of Ezekiel 9:4 (RS), you might use Matthew 5:4 to show these mourning ones will be comforted, that now their desire for spiritual food will be supplied by God, and in the new world of righteousness all their desires will be met by Jehovah, using Psalm 145:16 and Revelation 21:4 to establish these points.

15. What further suggestions are given?

¹⁵ You might even raise common religious reactions, such as: “Sometimes persons say to us, ‘I believe if I am sincere God will save me; that’s all he requires of me, just to do what I think is right.’ But that isn’t what the Bible says: ‘There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.’” Thereafter you might use such texts as Galatians 1:8 and John 17:3 to show we must follow truth, not human ideas of what is right. In the above refutation of this sincerity excuse, Proverbs 14:12 (RS) was used. You might use with equal fittingness such texts as John 16:2, Acts 26:9 or Romans 10:2, 3. There is much variety we can get in our sermons. Think of excuses used, of common religious objections, of anything that might catch interest, then ferret out a quick rebuttal, preferably a scripture, as that will get you into your Bible sermon quickly. The above examples are to show possibilities, not necessarily to be used by you. Work out definite approaches and develop points with scriptures that suit you, that please you, that make you enthusiastic so you can deliver your sermon with personal enthusiasm and conviction. What has been said about the doorstep sermon also applies to the back-call sermon. The only difference is that you may use one or two more scriptures and enlarge on them a bit more. The same counsel given about delivery and mental outlines of doorstep sermons applies to the longer backcall sermon inside the house.

16. What shall we now do?

¹⁶ Let us do our utmost to be approved ministers of Jehovah God, diligently studying his Word to get from it the acceptable sacrifices of praise, the unblemished bullocks and fruits of lips devoted to him. Meditate on his truth, going over it in your mind, shaping it for public presentation, putting it in the best form so that it will appeal to the yet-scattered other sheep, so that it cannot be overturned by opposition from goats. Present it with graciousness, mildness, tactfulness and with the symbolic salt ordained to accompany our spiritual sacrifices of praise. Then they will be words that are loyal and true and faithful to Jehovah, words of permanence, words with preserving power for those who hear them and accept them and obey them. With such sacrificial words we shall never be guilty of making Jehovah’s table contemptible. We shall be privileged to pass out from it Jehovah’s feast of fat things for all people of good will in all nations.

Children Respond to Discipline

● A mother writes regarding her efforts at training four children: “I thought I had tried everything, as the saying goes, to make my children behave, still they were rebellious and antagonistic in our everyday relations. I had been a witness of Jehovah for five years, but my husband was violently opposed and I was forbidden to read any of the Watch Tower publications to the children. When it was stressed that it was the parents’ responsibility to see that children had daily Bible instruction I decided to set aside time for daily Bible reading. This raised a howl of protest from my boys, ages 7, 5 and 3, as it always seemed to come at their most enjoyable time. After the account of creation they lost interest and the howls grew louder as I turned off the television every night and announced it was time for Bible reading. Many times I sat with the Bible in one hand and the rod of correction in the other. However, day by day the antagonism eased and now, three years later, they not only are willing listeners but ask to have the Bible read and take part in reading and even want me to quiz them on what we have read. The effects of this habit have truly been far-reaching. Not only are they getting a good knowledge of what is in the Bible, but our family relationships have greatly improved and the need for discipline has lessened. And it has also helped to bring them to the top of their classes at school, the result of the practice of reading aloud and sounding out difficult words.”

Bible Questions Stump Clergymen

UPON the urging of some of their relatives two women witnesses of Jehovah attended a Lent midweek service at a New Jersey Presbyterian church. This they did, however, only because they were assured that there would be an opportunity to ask questions by means of question cards, the asking of which might help to expose error.

As the group entered the church each was given a card with space for two questions. There were three clergymen on the platform and while the guest clergyman was speaking, a rather young man compared with the resident clergyman who had been preaching for some forty years, these two witnesses wrote out their questions. Upon the conclusion of the talk the clergyman who was host asked the ushers to collect the question cards. As the only ones who had written out any questions by then were the two witnesses, their questions were at once used.

The first question was: “In view of the definition of the trinity, which states that the Father, Son and holy spirit are all equal in power, substance and eternity, how is it that even in the heavens the Son is in subjection to the Father?—1 Cor. 11:3; 15:28, etc.”

The host read the question and as he did so his face turned colors. The guest came forward slowly with head bowed, thinking hard and with his hands clasped behind his back. Then he shrugged his shoulders, raised his hands in a gesture of hopelessness and said with a sheepish grin: “Well now, that’s a very deep question and I’m sure that the one who asked it won’t be satisfied with this answer—it would take about an hour to fully answer it—and that is that the trinity is a divine mystery and we are not expected to understand it.” With that he sat down.

Then the second question was read: “Why are we led to believe that immediately after death we go to heaven or to hell, when, as Christians, our whole faith is based on the resurrection, which the Bible tells us will not take place until after the world’s end, at which time Christ will raise all those in his memory?”

Again the guest clergyman repeated his gestures of helplessness and the audience, as well as the two clergymen on the platform, smiled. Finally he said, “These are very difficult questions tonight,” at which everybody chuckled. He then repeated that it would take too long to answer this question and that even then it would not satisfy the one who had asked it. If anyone wanted to speak to him after the service it would be all right, but it should be borne in mind that there would be a new members’ get-together afterward. He concluded with, “We need not worry about the hereafter anyway, we must be concerned with living good lives now.”

The next question read asked why the cross should be used so much by “Christian” religions in view of its pagan origin. For the third time the audience saw this clergyman admit his being stumped by a Bible question, this time also he shaking his head. Then he remarked that there were different kinds of crosses, illustrating them with his hands, and added that it did not make any difference where the cross originated.

Then came the fourth and last question posed by the witnesses: “In view of 1 Corinthians 1:10, where Paul says Christians should have no divisions among them and that they should all speak the same thing, how is it that there are so many different religions all professing to be Christian?”

This time the clergyman who was the host and who had been reading the questions chose to answer. He told that when he first became a clergyman there were some twenty-seven different Presbyterian groups but now, because of the fight for unity, there were only eight, and within a few months they expected it to be only seven. He confessed that the disunity among Protestants was a disgrace, but added that they were putting forth every effort toward unity.

By this time some twenty more cards were being held aloft but there was no more time for questions. In closing, the host thanked the guest and said to him: “I’m certainly glad that I didn’t have to answer those questions tonight!” The people filed out in pensive mood; the witnesses, however, were silently rejoicing.

Truly the clergymen of Christendom today are the counterpart of the religious leaders of Isaiah’s day, concerning whom it was written: “And all vision is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed.”—Isa. 29:11, AS.

Questions From Readers

● Will the resurrected ones of the anointed class now with Christ in heaven share in the destruction work of Armageddon?—K. R., United States.

This question has recently been asked by many because of the statement on pages 338 and 339 of You May Survive Armageddon into God’s New World, as follows: “On the other side will visibly be seen the remnant of spiritual Israel and an unnumbered crowd of ‘other sheep,’ their companions, all backed up by the unseen hosts of heaven under Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, together with those of his anointed followers already resurrected.—Ezekiel 38:8-12; Revelation 2:26-29.”

What is there said may not specifically answer the question in so many words, but the scripture cited, Revelation 2:26-29, does. Verses 26 and 27 Re 2:26, 27 (NW) read: “And to him that conquers and observes my deeds down to the complete end I will give authority over the nations, and he shall shepherd the people with an iron rod so that they will be broken to pieces like clay vessels, the same as I have received from my Father.” Christ’s Father, Jehovah God, says of him: “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” So this is what Christ has received from his Father, authority over the nations to smash them at Armageddon, and this same authority is extended to the resurrected anointed ones now with Christ in heaven.—Ps. 2:8, 9, RS.

The same truth is understood in Revelation 17:12-14 (NW): “And the ten horns that you saw mean ten kings, who have not yet received a kingdom, but they do receive authority as kings one hour with the wild beast. These have one purpose, and so they give their power and authority to the wild beast. These will battle with the Lamb, but, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, the Lamb will conquer them. Also those called and chosen and faithful with him will do so,” namely, all the 144,000.

Neither the anointed remnant nor the other sheep on earth when Armageddon strikes will fight the political nations in a fleshly way. “Though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage warfare according to what we are in the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful by God for overturning strongly entrenched things. For we are overturning reasonings and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are bringing every thought into captivity to make it obedient to the Christ.” Jehovah’s earthly witnesses, whether of the heavenly or of the earthly class, expose religious falsehood, point the way to true worship, and warn the unrepentant nations of their coming smashup at Armageddon. Only the invisible heavenly forces with Christ, including the resurrected anointed ones, fight at Armageddon and dash the nations to pieces like a potter’s vessel.—2 Cor. 10:3-5, NW.

Man’s Rightful Role

● Trouble began for the human race when the first man Adam failed to hold to his rightful role as head of the family and yielded to the voice of his wife. Trouble still continues for mankind because fathers have not kept to their rightful role as head of the family, a Washington psychiatrist recently stated. Dr. John R. Cavanagh, as reported in the New York Times of March 14, 1956, called on fathers to “resume” their “rightful role” as head of the family. “Man must accept this responsibility for which he was designated by God and nature,” he said. Many wives, he observed, need help in making decisions that the “inadequate, dependent men of this generation” are not able or not willing to provide. Describing the plight of many of today’s families, the psychiatrist said: “When man abdicated his responsibility in the home he forced his wife into a position of leadership for which she is not prepared. At the same time, the male children were deprived of paternal supervision. This too frequently results in weak, passive males inadequate to take over the leadership in the home because they never learn independence of female leadership.”

Announcements

FULL SUPPORT OF THE SERVICE OF JEHOVAH’S HOUSE

Full support of Jehovah’s service, the bringing in of the whole tithe, as counseled in Malachi 3:10, AS, means, in the case of Christians, not merely giving an exact tenth of grain or gain, but the willing offering of service and means for the purpose of advancing the interests of God’s kingdom. In consideration of the specially difficult times in which we find ourselves, it is all the more essential that Jehovah’s people, as his servants and witnesses, meet together, work together, preach together and sacrifice together. In harmonious effort during November, Jehovah’s witnesses and persons of good will will present in house-to-house preaching the timely Bible study aid book You May Survive Armageddon into God’s New World and an important Bible booklet, on a contribution of only 50c. All are invited to share in this work in support of the service of Jehovah’s house. Write the Watchtower Society for particulars or inquire at the nearest Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s witnesses.

BECOME QUALIFIED FOR THE MINISTRY

The field of the ministry has never been overcrowded. In spite of the fact that the nation of Israel had a well-organized and highly trained priesthood, Jesus said of his day that the harvest was great and the workers were few. Why? Because those priests, by their own choice, were not workers in Jesus’ harvest. Therefore Jesus bypassed them and trained his own ministers, whose qualifications for their assignment were proved by the fruits of their work. A similar situation exists today with the harvest at the end of the world in progress. The organized clergy of Christendom are not trained to proclaim the end of this world and its replacement by God’s kingdom. Yet that is the assignment for true ministers of God in these last days. The New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses is evidence that a qualified ministry has been active, one in which all Christians are not only invited to participate but urged to do so. The book Qualified to Be Ministers has been especially prepared to train you for this vital work. It is yours for only 50c. Obtain it and study it with Jehovah’s witnesses.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

November 18: “Offer to God a Sacrifice of Praise.” Page 625.

November 25: Offer Your Sacrifices of Praise Aright. Page 632.

Check Your Memory

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

✔ Whether God says he created the races distinct from one another? P. 511, ¶4.

✔ Why men differ in color? P. 612, ¶5.

✔ Why many people have lost faith in God’s promised kingdom? P. 613, ¶4.

✔ Why, if the Kingdom has come, conditions actually are getting worse? P. 615, ¶4.

✔ Since Catholics believe only the pope really interprets the Bible, what astounding fact surrounds the famed Council of Nicaea? P. 618, ¶1.

✔ What unusual experiences have been had in discussing the Bible with priests? P. 623, ¶3.

✔ What offerings, like the ancient sacrifices, Christians must make today? P. 626, ¶3.

✔ Why attending congregational meetings is so urgent now? P. 629, ¶11.

✔ Why it is so foolish for a Christian to think he can go it alone? P. 630, ¶16.

✔ Why sacrifices were seasoned with salt? P. 632, ¶1.

✔ Why you cannot afford to be too busy to hear the truth? P. 636, ¶12.

✔ Whether Christ’s resurrected body members will share in Armageddon’s destruction work? P. 639, ¶3.