The Watchtower — June 1, 1957

Conspiracy Against Jehovah’s Name?

GOD, the great Creator of the universe, gave himself a distinctive name. Why? Because, as the apostle Paul tell us, “there are many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords’,” and so to distinguish himself from all lesser as well as all false gods the Creator and Supreme Sovereign gave himself a unique name.—1 Cor. 8:5, NW.

In the Hebrew Scriptures his name is represented by four consonants, JHVH. While this unique name occurs at least 6,823 times in the Hebrew text it appears in the identifying form “Jehovah” only four times in the King James Version and not at all in the Revised Standard Version, being hidden by the terms “LORD” and “GOD.”

However, the American Standard Version of 1901 did justice to this name, rendering it “Jehovah” in every one of its 6,823 occurrences. Regarding their doing so, the translators of that version, among other things, stated in their preface: “This personal name, with its wealth of sacred associations, is now restored to the place in the sacred text to which it has an unquestionable claim.” Jehovah’s witnesses are in full agreement with that policy and therefore they have preferred the American Standard Version to the English King James Version.

This also explains why Mrs. Ida Eisenhower, in a letter dated August 20, 1944, to American soldier Richard Boeckel, who had gotten into difficulty with his superiors because of his Scriptural stand regarding war, wrote: “As the mother of General Eisenhower and as a witness of and for the Great Jehovah of Hosts (I have been such for the past 49 years) I am pleased to write you to urge you to faithfulness.” And that is also why, when her son Ike was about to graduate from the West Point Military Academy in 1915, she gave him an American Standard Version Bible, as clearly appears from a photograph of it appearing in The Illustrated London News, February 2, 1957.

However, in telling of President Eisenhower’s taking his oath of office and having his Bible turned to or opened at Psalm 33:12, the press did not quote that text the way it reads in that American Standard Version Bible: “Blessed is the nation whose God is Jehovah, the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.” No, but the press quoted it as it reads in the King James Version: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.” In passing, let it be noted that the psalmist would be making no point if the name of Israel’s God were merely “Lord,” for every kind of false deity is known as “lord.”

Why this substitution of “LORD” for “Jehovah,” and by whom was it made? Is there a conspiracy against the name of Jehovah on the part of the American press similar to that practiced by the translators of the Revised Standard Version, whose about-face made fools of their learned predecessors who produced the American Standard Version? That conspiracy might be involved is apparent from what Jack Anderson, junior partner of Drew Pearson, wrote in Pearson’s “Washington Merry-Go-Round,” as quoted in the Detroit Free Press, December 19, 1956:

“President Eisenhower, whose mother once sold Bible tracts for the Jehovah’s Witnesses, is looking for a delicate way to clear the family name of this affiliation. He is sensitive about the fact that Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t believe in saluting the flag or serving under arms. . . . Inside story is that the President’s mother was influenced in her old age by a nurse who belonged to the sect. Being Bible-minded, Mrs. Eisenhower cheerfully agreed to help the Jehovah’s Witnesses peddle Bible tracts. . . . Now the Eisenhower brothers would like to find a graceful way to announce that their mother was not, at heart, a Jehovah’s Witness.”

“Not, at heart, a Jehovah’s Witness,” and only “in her old age.” How could that be true, when she wrote Boeckel in 1944 that she was “a witness of and for the Great Jehovah of Hosts (I have been such for the past 49 years)”?

The attitude of those who switched the text of Psalm 33:12, from the American Standard Version reading to one more like that of the King James Version, to get rid of the name “Jehovah” is like that of an ancient world ruler. When, about 3,500 years ago, Moses appeared before Egypt’s Pharaoh in Jehovah’s name, that ruler sneered: “Who is Jehovah, so that I should obey his voice to send Israel away? I do not know Jehovah at all and, what is more, I am not going to send Israel away.”—Ex. 5:2, NW.

Like his modern counterparts, Pharaoh chose to ignore Jehovah’s name. But Jehovah made Pharaoh know who he was as he sent plague after plague upon him, even as He warned: “For this cause I have kept you in existence, for the sake of showing you my power and in order to have my name declared in all the earth.” And when finally Pharaoh and his hosts were engulfed by the waters of the Red Sea, Pharaoh had to admit defeat and recognize that the God of the Israelites, Jehovah, is indeed the Supreme One.—Ex. 9:16, NW.

Even as plagues gradually forced on Pharaoh’s consciousness the meaning of the name Jehovah, so in modern times, the plaguing preaching of Jehovah’s witnesses is forcing upon the consciousness of world rulers who Jehovah is. And since they, like Pharaoh of old, are determined to ignore Jehovah, they will be forced to know Jehovah in a way they will not like, by his destroying them at “the war of the great day of God the Almighty,” known as Armageddon.—Rev. 16:14, 16, NW.

Then the psalmist’s prayer will be fulfilled: “Let them be confounded and perish; that they may know that thou alone, whose name is Jehovah, art the Most High over all the earth.”—Ps. 83:17, 18, AS.

Rare Talk Today

● With Christendom immersed in materialism, it is rare these days to hear words such as those once spoken by Abraham Lincoln: “I should be a self-conceited blockhead if I should hope to get along without the wisdom that comes from God and not from man.”

Do You Understand the Bible?

To most people the Bible in an unknown Book. Why do so few understand it? What are the obstacles to understanding it?

FEAR OF MAN

RELIGIOUS TEACHERS

HUMAN WISDOM

SELFISH MOTIVE

BIBLE JUST HISTORY

MANY persons keenly wish to understand God’s Word. They want to know the will of the Creator. Yet, at the same time, they find the Bible difficult to understand. This has distressed many lovers of righteousness, and they rightly wonder why God’s Word should be a Book so little understood. To understand why the Bible is so little understood is to take a major step toward understanding God’s Word itself.

One of the major reasons why God’s Word is an unknown Book is that the god of this world, Satan the Devil, is a god of darkness. Small wonder that the Bible prophecy for this day has come true: “Darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people.” Concerning the effect of Satan’s influence over the earth, an early Christian wrote: “If, now, the good news we declare is in fact veiled, it is veiled among those who are perishing, among whom the god of this system of things has blinded the minds of the unbelievers.” Since “the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one,” even the masses of professing Christians have been misled and blinded by the Bible’s chief enemy, Satan the Devil.—Isa. 60:2, AS; 2 Cor. 4:3, 4; 1 John 5:19, NW.

Despite Satan’s efforts to blind mankind to the Bible, the time would come for God’s Word to be understood. The Bible’s Author instructed his prophet Habakkuk: “Write the vision clearly upon the tablets, that one may read it on the run. For the vision is a witness for the appointed time, and speaks of the end, and does not lie.” God’s Word thus discloses that there is an appointed time for the understanding of his prophetic Book.—Hab. 2:2, 3, AT.

When is this time? It is called the “time of the end.” God told his prophet Daniel: “Thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end.” Since 1914 we have been living in the “time of the end,” this set length of time also called the “last days,” that is, the last days of Satan’s world of darkness. Hence now is the most momentous time in human history. Now the prophetic visions penned by God’s prophets are being opened up to the understanding of the true followers of Christ Jesus.—Dan. 12:4, AS.

OBSTACLES TO UNDERSTANDING

In his insidious efforts to blind mankind Satan has raised up many obstacles to understanding. Knowing what they are, you are equipped to avoid them. There are five main obstacles.

Viewing the Bible as a mere history book is a great obstacle to understanding. History the Bible is, yes. But it is also prophecy, that is, history written in advance. Historical events concerning God’s nation of Israel are really prophetic pictures for our benefit today, just as the Bible says: “For all the things that were written aforetime were written for our instruction, that through our endurance and through the comfort from the Scriptures we might have hope.” And as Christ’s apostle put it concerning the things that happened to the Israelites: “Now these things went on befalling them as examples and they were written for a warning to us upon whom the accomplished ends of the systems of things have arrived.” View the Bible as prophecy and instruction for our day.—Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 10:11, NW.

Selfish motive is the second obstacle to understanding. Some persons go to the Bible, seeking formulas to get what they want—peace of mind, happiness and contentment. Such persons put their own desires above God’s will. They have the wrong motive. The right motive is this: “Let your will come to pass,” God’s will. Those who use the Bible to advance their own interests, to increase their popularity or to make themselves appear learned must overcome the obstacle of selfish motive before they can understand God’s Word.—Matt. 6:10, NW.

The third obstacle to understanding is the tendency to rely on human wisdom. In all other things human wisdom might prevail. But the Bible is unique. God does things differently from man. And it is not his will that human wisdom should open up his prophetic Word. Concerning God’s will Christ’s apostle wrote: “It is written: ‘I will make the wisdom of the wise men perish, and I will shove the intelligence of the intellectual aside.’ Where is the wise man? Where the scribe? Where the debater of this system of things? Did not God make the wisdom of the world foolish?” Why has the Bible’s Author chosen to “shove the intelligence of the intellectual aside”? As the Bible writer says: “In order that no flesh might boast in the sight of God.”—1 Cor. 1:19, 20, 29, NW.

Human wisdom puffs one up. If God allowed men to use their wisdom to fathom his Word, they would boast of their accomplishment. Never could that be! All glory must go to God. Hence the Bible is written in symbolic language for the very purpose that selfish, wicked and egotistical men might not know the holy will of God. The Son of God knew his Father’s will and said: “Do not give what is holy to dogs.” On another occasion he said: “I publicly praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intellectual ones and have revealed them to babes. Yes, O Father, because to do thus came to be the way approved by you.”—Matt. 7:6; 11:25, 26, NW.

Not understanding God’s rejection of the world’s intellectuals, men highly educated in this world’s wisdom may feel that they should be able to understand the Bible. When they fail to understand it they wrongly blame the Bible, calling it inconsistent, foolishness or mythical. Relying on human wisdom is a great obstacle.

PEDDLING THE WORD OF GOD

The fourth obstacle to understanding is relying on betitled religious teachers who have commercialized and adulterated God’s Word. These men use God’s Word as the basis for a business. They did this even in the days of the apostles: “For we are not peddlers of the word of God as many men are.”—2 Cor. 2:17, NW.

For the time of the end Christ foretold many “false prophets,” religious teachers claiming to be Christian but who in reality are peddlers of the Word. Is it any wonder that the Bible is an unknown Book to the masses of churchgoers? It is as Dr. Robert J. McCracken of New York’s Riverside Church put it: “Even where church members are concerned, the Bible is largely an unknown book.”

Though they may appear learned in the world’s eyes, peddlers of God’s Word cannot impart the true meaning of the Scriptures. For such ones are in the same class with those of whom Jehovah said long ago through his prophet: “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.

Such learned men! And yet God does not let them understand. If he did they would adulterate his truth with traditions just as they do their religion today and as the Jewish religious teachers did in Jesus’ day. To such ones Jesus said: “You have made the word of God invalid because of your tradition.” Further, if God gave such men understanding they would commercialize his truth just as they do their religion today.—Matt. 15:6, NW.

Now the fifth obstacle to understanding. This is fear of creatures instead of the Creator. Do you want to understand God’s Word? Then fear God, not your neighbors, your relatives or any other person. Remember God’s rule: “The secret of the LORD [Jehovah] is for those who fear him.”—Ps. 25:14, AT.

BASIS FOR UNDERSTANDING

Having cleared out the obstacles to understanding, the person who would understand God’s Word must then seek the basis for understanding.

First, one must love righteousness and be searching for the truth. Such persons are, as the Bible says, “rightly disposed for everlasting life.”—Acts 13:48, NW.

Understanding will not be given wicked persons. God’s Word foretold for our day: “The wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand; but they that are wise shall understand.” (Dan. 12:10, AS) The wise ones who understand are not the worldly wise but those wise in the Scriptural sense—those who love righteousness and devote themselves to serving Jehovah God.

Secondly, as a basis for understanding, one must have the desire to be obedient to God’s Word. Those who are merely seeking to gratify their curiosity and have no desire to do God’s will cannot be blessed with understanding. As Jesus said: “Not everyone saying to me, ‘Master, Master,’ will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but the one doing the will of my Father who is in the heavens will.”—Matt. 7:21, NW.

Third, to lay a foundation for understanding that is sound, one must be willing to compare any religious instruction he receives with the Scriptures. Can it be proved by the Bible? If not, then reject it. God’s command is: “Make sure of all things.” The Bible commends those who do this, such as the Beroeans of whom the scripture says: “Now the latter were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with the greatest readiness of mind, carefully examining the Scriptures daily as to whether these things were so.” They examined even the teaching of the apostle Paul, checking it carefully with the Scriptures. So lay the right kind of foundation for understanding by following the Bible counsel: “Prove to yourselves the good and acceptable and complete will of God.”—1 Thess. 5:21; Acts 17:11; Rom. 12:2, NW.

AIDS TO UNDERSTANDING

Now that obstacles have been cleared away and a good foundation laid for understanding there is more: Avail yourself of the right kind of aids to understanding.

A fine aid to understanding is a modern speech translation of the Bible. How much clearer they are than the King James Version of 1611! For details as to how modern translations will help your understanding see The Watchtower of February 15, 1957. As an example, note this scripture at Acts 8:33, as found in the King James Bible: “In his humiliation his judgment was taken away.” What does this mean? Does it mean Jesus lost his power of judgment at the time of his humiliation? A modern translation makes the meaning clear: “During his humiliation justice was taken away from him.” (NW) How different! How easy to understand! So a modern translation, such as the New World Translation just quoted, will be an invaluable aid to understanding the Bible.

Of paramount importance in understanding God’s Word is God’s holy spirit, his invisible active force. By it the Bible was written: “You know this first, that no prophecy of Scripture springs from any private release. For prophecy was at no time brought by man’s will, but men spoke from God as they were borne along by holy spirit.” Since the Bible was written under God’s spirit, only his spirit can bring about understanding: “No one has come to know the things of God, except the spirit of God. Now we received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that have been kindly given us by God. But a physical man does not receive the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them.”—2 Pet. 1:20, 21; 1 Cor. 2:11, 12, 14, NW.

Now what did the Bible foretell concerning the operation of God’s spirit during this “time of the end”? That his spirit would be upon his organization of faithful followers of Christ Jesus and that through them spiritual food would be brought to the people. This agency for dispensing Bible-explaining spiritual food is called the “faithful and discreet slave.” Christ foretold: “Who really is the faithful and discreet slave whom his master appointed over his domestics to give them their food at the proper time? Truly I say to you, He will appoint him over all his belongings.”—Matt. 24:45, 47, NW.

Note that Christ foretold that he would use, not a multitude of organizations, but rather one organization to dispense spiritual truths, appointing this “slave” “over all his belongings.”

This “faithful and discreet slave,” then, is not an individual man but a company following the example of Christ; it is the united company of the anointed followers of Christ. They are identified by the prophet: “Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen.”—Isa. 43:10, AS.

Through this “servant” or group of anointed witnesses, God’s spirit under the direction of Christ has made available today a wealth of aids to make the Bible understandable. The Watchtower is one of these aids. There are many others, such Bible study aids as the volumes “Let God Be True” and You May Survive Armageddon into God’s New World.

Even with all the aids that are available no one can understand the Bible unless he engages in private study, for “the heart of the righteous studieth to answer.” He must also associate with others of God’s organization, for Christ’s rule is: “Where there are two or three met together in my name, there I am in their midst.”—Prov. 15:28, AS; Matt. 18:20, NW.

The Bible can be understood. First clear out the obstacles. Build up a sound basis for understanding. Then avail yourself of the aids to understanding.

Whatever virtue there is and whatever praiseworthy thing there is, continue considering these things.—Phil. 4:8, NW.

Pursuing My Purpose in Life

As told by T. E. Klein

IT WAS a beautiful summer day in 1917 when, as a lad of ten, I picked up a tract from the sidewalk in Blue Island (suburb of Chicago) advertising a Bible lecture: “The Rich Man in Hell.” My brother and I went to hear it. Upon our explaining to mother what the speaker had said, she agreed it was the truth, even though our father was a Methodist preacher. With my brother I began to attend those Bible study meetings; also, on Sundays, beginning at five in the morning (as was then the custom), we engaged in distributing Bible tracts. There were few young folks in the truth then; nevertheless it was a real pleasure for me to take the older ones out in the service in my car every Sunday. They were up in years but mature in the truth and I very much enjoyed their company.

I appreciated the truth and by 1925 I had symbolized my dedication and was regularly talking about the Kingdom, thus pursuing my purpose in life. In the cold winter of 1930 one of the Society’s traveling representatives, while visiting the Chicago congregation, spent a few nights at our home. We got to talking about the pioneer work. He pointed out what a privilege it was to be in the full-time service as a theocratic warrior for the only government, the theocratic government. I lost no time in making up my mind that there was nothing more beneficial or more important and nothing I would like to do more than to spend all my time in the pioneer work. I informed my employer about quitting my job and at once entered the pioneer work. As I look back now over the past twenty-seven years, to me it has been just as the apostle Paul wrote the Ephesians: that God can “do more than superabundantly beyond all the things we ask or conceive.”

In 1931, on the first day of April, the weather was still brisk as my wife and I left Chicago for Iowa, roughing it for three months by sleeping in the car. Pioneering there was a happy experience. Many obtained the Kingdom message and most people received us kindly. Three months slipped by and it was time to leave for the international convention held at the Columbus (Ohio) State Fair Grounds, at which convention all of us learned our new name. The initials J w on the printed program had everyone guessing. Could it be Jehovah’s warriors? Or Jehovah’s worthies? These and other questions many asked. Before the convention ended we had learned it was Jehovah’s witnesses.

Following that convention I obtained a trailer, a comfortable home on wheels. Soon we were on our way to the next assignment, Gulfport, Mississippi, and the county. In Gulfport and Biloxi there were several Watchtower subscribers and these were organized into a study group. One young couple that had some knowledge of the truth accompanied me in the service for the first time. When next heard of, many years later, both of them had been through the Bible School of Gilead and were enjoying their foreign assignment.

Upstate Mississippi was our next territory. In that cotton-raising area we found much poverty, but the Kingdom message really sounded good to these humble folk. As many as sixty books a day were placed with them. In 1933 the Society announced a new feature for use in Kingdom service, the portable transcription machine and recorded sermons. Many interesting experiences were enjoyed as lectures were given at night under trees, on porches, in school auditoriums and in churches. To advertise these lectures the grapevine or mouth-to-mouth method was very effective. Long before the lecture was to begin the church was packed. From far and near they came to listen to the good news of the Kingdom, always taking away with them a free copy of the talk. What a contrast to what they had been accustomed to!

In the fall of 1934 a new assignment—operating a sound car, traveling from New York to California by way of Florida. The sound equipment was mounted on a ton-and-a-half chassis, there being two 30-watt amplifiers and a steel mast that telescoped to a height of sixty-five feet to hold aloft four Bud units mounted to a three-foot flare speaker. The lectures delivered from this equipment could be heard two miles away. Many were our interesting experiences and the comments from those who heard. On our arrival in California in the spring of 1935 the sound-car trip ended. Here I was assigned five counties in the high Sierra Mountains, where many eagerly received the Kingdom message. The sound equipment on our car was used to good advantage.

While witnessing in this territory I met a young couple who had almost everything money could buy: a fine home among the pines, a car, milk, cream, butter and eggs in abundance. They had a good knowledge of the truth. The pioneer work was explained to them, that it is a life free from all worries, cares and burdens of this old world, a happy life; yes, the only life. There was no Gilead then, but when I next heard about them they too had been through Gilead and were serving in Panama.

After we spent more than a year bringing the Kingdom message to the ranchers, rangers and mountaineers among the Sequoia forests, the national parks (including Yosemite and Lake Tahoe) and the beautiful mountain streams and waterfalls fed by the snow-capped mountains decked with flowers growing just a few feet from the snow line, a letter came from the Society assigning us to the desert country of Yuma and Phoenix, Arizona. The change in scenery and climate at first seemed terrific. The temperature was over 100 degrees F., and there was no shade. The scenery? A desolate barren waste. But in just a matter of days I adjusted myself to the new surroundings with all its unique beauty. There were the mirage, the many varieties of cacti with their pretty flowers, and the animal life, which at first we had not noticed. The people of the desert were easy to witness to, even the Indian on the reservation. This was a new experience. He would listen and listen as long as you talked to him, with never an expression on his face and with nothing to say, but invariably availing himself of the message.

With mixed feelings I left the desert country with its people, whom I had learned to love. Now we were assigned to work the business sections of Texas cities, Sweetwater, Brownsville, San Angelo and Beaumont. I found the businessmen pleasant listeners. Then came the 1937 convention at Columbus, Ohio. Here Brother Rutherford announced that a number of pioneers would be assigned to what he called the “flying squad.” The main feature of this work was presenting the transcribed Bible lectures in various languages, replacing the several hundred radio stations then broadcasting them. Galveston, Texas, and Lafayette, Louisiana, were my assignment. There the lectures were well received. French-speaking people of Lafayette never had heard such interesting Bible talks and such good French. They enjoyed them immensely, but not so the Catholic priest. He instigated our arrest. When explaining the Kingdom message to the police, I was reminded by one of them: “The City of Lafayette and not Jehovah signs our pay checks.” But the city judge was eager to let me out after I was in jail for five days.

In 1938 the zone work began and I was assigned to Zone 1 of Louisiana. While I was serving the New Orleans congregation out in the field “the Church” again had me arrested. Here the police, unlike those in Lafayette, wanted to know why. They were happy to receive every piece of literature I had in my brief case. The court received a good witness, after I had spent part of a day and a night in jail. The case on appeal was dismissed.

The zone work coming to a close in 1941, my next assignment was special pioneering in Gretna, Louisiana, among many Catholics. They listened, though, and soon a study group was organized. Here a letter came from the president’s office inviting me to attend the first class of Gilead (February, 1943), with the prospect of going to a foreign field. Thrilling indeed was this, freshly spurring me to pursue my purpose in life. After graduating and while awaiting my foreign assignment, I was sent to Del Rio, Texas, to serve many Mexicans. Among these humble people we had as many as thirty Spanish Bible studies a week, and a congregation was organized. In 1945 I was assigned to Denver, Colorado, where the Englewood congregation made good progress. With them we shared the privilege of building the city’s first Kingdom Hall, on Broadway. Shortly after its completion I started for my foreign assignment, the Virgin Islands.

Leaving New York January 3, 1947, on the Marine Tiger, we arrived January 7 in the quaint little town of Charlotte Amalie, V. I. After our getting located, witnessing started in earnest the following day. The Watchtower campaign was on and this actually was virgin territory. Several hundred subscriptions were taken, making it necessary for the post office to inaugurate rural delivery. So many studies were started that for the first two years it meant regularly coming home about midnight in order to care for all of them.

The first public lecture in the Market Square had a thousand in attendance. To these, 800 booklets in English, French and Spanish were given free. At the lecture in Coral Bay, St. John, V. I., the school was packed. A man standing at the door was invited to sit down; he refused, saying that if he did not like what was said he would leave. Shortly he was seen trying to share another’s seat. After the lecture no one cared to leave; they wanted to hear more, and they did. The Watchtower study and other meetings were announced. With at first three and four present, gradually the attendance grew. These experienced some service joys, too, as they promptly took part in helping to advertise the public lectures with handbills.

But now our assignment has been changed once more and at present we are continuing our missionary service in Cayey, Puerto Rico, where many joys are ours daily as we pursue our purpose in life.

Knowing that patience is meant for salvation, one soon learns to exercise the greatest patience and kindness among his newly found brothers and sisters, and they love the missionary for it. To him they become dearer in each passing year as he sees them grow to maturity, bearing Kingdom fruit, preaching the Kingdom message from house to house, making revisits, starting and conducting their own Bible studies. As I have kept on seeing Jehovah’s blessing upon the Kingdom service the joy of pursuing my purpose in life cannot be described in writing. It is Jehovah’s doing, and all who possibly can will eagerly desire to share in this feature of service.

Part 3—President Visits Europe and Middle East

This continues the report by the Watch Tower Society’s president, N. H. Knorr, of his service tour through Europe and the Middle East.

LAHORE, a very interesting city filled with Moslems, is in a Moslem state. Our missionaries are having a very difficult time, especially the sisters, because here women very rarely frequent the streets. But when one is in missionary service, with work to do of preaching the good news of God’s kingdom, she (or he) must appear before people in order to preach, for unless they hear the Kingdom message how can they ever put faith in it? The branch servant told me that the sisters certainly had wonderful success in distributing handbills and inviting people to the public talk. Because these women were on the street giving out handbills the men paid great attention to them. Moslem women who do appear in public have a covering, or burka, a tentlike cloak that normally covers from head to foot. Even over their face they have a cloth pierced with little holes so that they can see through, but no stranger can ever see the wearer. So when a European woman walks along streets of Lahore, or of any city in Pakistan, she is noticed. As the sisters stop for a moment, as they do when passing out handbills, a crowd of men immediately surrounds them, and they appear as if by magic. Therefore the sisters have to keep moving, trying to keep away from persons who feign interest in getting a handbill. Sometimes these persons are so interested in getting things from the sisters that they take their Bible, magazines, books, etc., unless the sisters have their bag on their arm and the top closed.

All the missionaries and congregation publishers and those attending the convention from other cities were working diligently in advertising among the Moslem people, inviting them to the convention and particularly to the public lecture. On Sunday morning I spoke to the brothers, seventy-two in number; and in the afternoon I spoke to 160 who attended the public meeting, eighty remaining for the final discourses of the assembly.

The branch servant mentioned to me that a new chapter in theocratic advertising in Pakistan had been opened because of my visit there. This was the first time that radio was used. The brothers had arranged with a man who interviews prominent persons to have me on his program, and I did answer questions for twelve minutes. The brothers were indeed pleased with this broadcast. I also had opportunity to talk about the Kingdom with a number of men in the radio station for about an hour.

Mode of travel in these Eastern countries is very different from that in the West. We might call it primitive, but it was not too many years ago, before the automobile, when even Americans still used the oxcart and horses. Here at Lahore, in Pakistan, bicycles are used considerably, but also many dongas. This two-wheeled carriage, drawn by a rather small horse, is so constructed that usually four persons can sit in it. At one time when coming back from the meeting to the hotel we decided to take a donga rather than walk a mile and a half; so the branch servant and I sat in the back seat while the driver sat in the front seat. But when he gave his very small horse the whip so that it would move ahead, the horse could not get any traction because the counterbalance was too great. So the driver had to ask Brother Pope to sit in front with him so that the horse could get down on the ground and do a little pulling. (This is not to imply that the branch servant is a fat man, for he is slender and keeps in good trim, but with the two of us in the back seat we just about equaled the weight of this very small horse.) We had our good laugh, but afterward, when needing to use a donga, one of us always sat in the front with the driver.

It certainly was wonderful to spend a few days with the missionaries at the missionary home and to hear of their experiences in this land where witnessing is very difficult. Thus far the only persons who have really taken a keen interest in the truth are so-called Christians who know something about the Bible and believe in Christ Jesus. With these our brothers can study. Moslems ask many questions, but when it comes to making a decision they find it much easier to keep their own religion, because they might be ostracized were they to change to Christianity. A few have taken their stand, but with very great difficulty. The twelve missionaries in the land are doing wonderful work, not only in the large cities (Karachi and Lahore), but they have gone off into smaller places. Using his bicycle, one brother goes to small villages, where he stays with the people as he preaches to them. It reminds one of the days of Christ Jesus when his apostles would travel from village to village, and as they traveled they would find people who showed hospitality, and these would invite them to stay at their homes. So one of our brothers, a missionary in Pakistan for many years, serves rural sections, with excellent success in distributing the Kingdom message. Five years ago, at my last visit there, an average of thirty-seven publishers was preaching the good news; now that average has increased to sixty-seven—a fine growth for only five years of work.

The convention aroused much interest. A university student, contacted during the assembly, called at the branch, asking for a study to be started with him. Later we had a visit from the professor of one of the colleges in the city, he too being interested in having a study.

When Christ Jesus told his apostles to go and disciple all nations he meant Pakistan as well as other places. Kingdom missionaries who have gone into this land must be admired and should always be remembered in our prayers because of the wonderful work they are doing, and who keep on doing it under really difficult circumstances.

When time came for me to emplane at Lahore for Karachi we started to the airport and found that the highway was bedecked with flags and floral arches. Along the road crowds were beginning to throng. Soldiers and policemen were at their positions. Many school children were being brought to sit in places along the route in preparation for a big reception. A very prominent personage was visiting Pakistan, due to arrive at Lahore that morning. He was Chou En-lai, prime minister of China. So they were making a very big fanfare over this dignitary; he would make his triumphant entry, along with other dignitaries, and people would hail him as a wonderful man. So they give glory to men, but very little glory to God. They do not accept his Son, and they do not accept the true God of the universe. While the missionaries were fellowshiping at the airport before my time of departure, the plane came in carrying Chou En-lai; the bands struck up their music, the army came to attention, and the big reception was on. This big man to whom they give such honor cannot bring about peace, nor are such men able to bring even to people of their own nations the prosperity all mankind longs to have. So while the nations rage and are filled with anxiety, calmly Jehovah’s witnesses all over the world keep on going forth preaching the good news of the Kingdom. They have a glorious treasure of service and are moving along with the great theocratic host in Jehovah’s triumphant march to victory. Soon Jehovah will show his power and destroy the evil world and its rulers.

It was not long until I was back in Karachi, where I met the brothers and had a very interesting meeting with them in the evening at their own Kingdom Hall, twenty-nine being in attendance. There I spoke to the brother who had met Brother Franz and received the firsthand story as to how he was and I learned that he had gotten away safely. It was good to be with the two missionaries, Brothers Young and Moss, in Karachi for a little while and I very much appreciated their seeing me off for my next stop, Bombay.

INDIA

On its way to Bombay the plane I took (a small two-motored DC-3) made two stops. First, it stopped at Bhuj, a sort of summer resort; next, at Ahmedabad, where some of our missionaries are working; but they were already in Bombay attending the convention. Flying over these cities in India is interesting. You see how closely compacted the cities are; they are busy cities of commerce, and in them are thousands upon thousands of persons to be spoken to about the Kingdom. The final stop was Bombay and I arrived there about 6:30, finding two hundred persons waiting to meet me. Among them were many old friends, missionaries particularly, and Brother Skinner, the branch servant, besides scores of new faces, persons just coming into the truth during the last five years.

India was really having a series of conventions. Brother Franz had been to Delhi and had gone on to Calcutta, and I was serving those who could get to Bombay. The branch servant was able to obtain the finest hall in Bombay for the public meeting. It usually has to be booked six months in advance. It had already been booked by the Railroad Passengers Association for a conference. When the branch servant got in touch with the association’s secretary he agreed to change their conference date so that we could use the hall while I was in Bombay. Their only charge to us was eight dollars to pay postage to notify their members that they had canceled their third day of the conference, and this we certainly appreciated. That made it possible for us to use this fine hall for the public meeting. Excellent advertising was carried on for weeks prior to the assembly and the brothers felt very well rewarded, because there were 1,080 packing out the auditorium, the biggest public audience they have ever had in India. The people heard discussed the subject “New World Peace in Our Time—Why?” Of course, the convention was held two days prior to this climactic public meeting, the brothers using another hall. The convention started out with 315 at its first session. That session I was unable to attend because of the great amount of work to be done in the branch office, as a result of the expanding witness in India. It was therefore necessary for Brother Skinner and me to travel to different parts of Bombay itself in trying to find a better location where we can construct a Kingdom Hall, a branch office and a small printing establishment to take care of our work.

One of the brothers was kind enough to drive us in his car to different locations. We were accompanied by the real estate man, and now it appears that soon we shall have a good location and be ready to construct our own quarters and move from our present place on Love Lane. We certainly need a new building to carry on our expanding work in India. When this was announced at the closing session of the convention the brothers became tremendously enthusiastic, happy to realize that something new would be built for India, for this was another evidence of the expanding activity in this great land of many millions of people.

India surely is a land of languages and this is one of the big problems not only for the missionaries but for our brothers throughout the country, and particularly for the branch office. Right now in India we print The Watchtower in five different languages of the country. Its circulation has been increasing, and this makes us very happy. Arrangements were made to organize this work better so that all the magazines will be alike—similar in appearance to the English edition.

The convention halls were very well decorated. A brother who is in the motion-picture business donated the stage setting, which consisted of a typical Indian architectural façade with an open arch in the center, through which was seen a splendid view of the new Brooklyn factory. It showed the factory as just across the river, showing the part built in 1927, the later addition to that and now the thirteen-story structure with its large tower on top. This made a beautiful setting for the convention and showed the keen interest on the part of our brothers in India in the American activity, for it is from here that we supply many of the things that keep them equipped and busy in preaching the good news. To all present at the assembly it was a delight to observe sixty-five persons standing up and answering the questions in declaring themselves before all as dedicated to serve Jehovah God. They were baptized in the blue waters of Bombay Back Bay.

I had the opportunity, too, of speaking to sixty-five of the pioneers, special pioneers and missionaries. There is certainly a big field in India for more special pioneers, even as is the case in every other part of the world. If any are really interested in getting into the special pioneer work, preaching the good news 150 hours a month, the Society is interested in knowing about them. A wonderful work is being done by the sixty-five publishers in the pioneer service there in India.

The brothers in India were delighted that they were able to operate their own cafeteria, India’s first; and they did very well. The brothers at the branch would get up early and go down to the hall to get things started for the feeding of the crowds. Because of the fact that there were so many things to do in the office in checking the branch and handling the country’s problems, the branch servant and I would always prepare our own breakfast and be at work by eight o’clock in the morning. After the public talk in the Sir Cawasji Jehangir Hall, 560 remained to hear the final talk, in which I related some experiences of the trip I had already made and also explained the plans for expanding the work in India.

Jehovah is undoubtedly pouring out his blessing upon all of his witnesses in India, inspiring them to press on so as to ‘bring the whole tithe into the storehouse.’ Everyone knows there is still work to be done. The question is, Can we do it before Armageddon and how much does Jehovah want us to do? Our brothers in India certainly have a task on their hands. It is difficult to sit down and have a discussion with a Hindu. He is so interested in his own gods, of which he has many, that he is not particularly interested in the true God, nor does the true God appeal to the philosophical mind of the Hindu. They are very intelligent people and can ask very catchy questions, but it is not because they want to learn the truth but because they love to think their way rather than be guided by the true principles of Jehovah as set forth in his Word.

The three days in India were just too full of activity, but they were very happy ones and it was early Monday morning that we left the branch office to go to the airfield for my plane to Ceylon.

CEYLON

Ceylon is another non-Christian community. About the only response we get from people in this country is from those who know something about the Bible and call themselves Christians. When the Kingdom missionaries in this land and their associate publishers talk to members of various church organizations they say they will never join Jehovah’s witnesses but “have no objection to studying the Bible with you.” Many are the experiences that change very stanch Catholics (whose faith “could never be shaken”) after a few months of studying the Bible. They leave the Catholic church, take a firm stand with the New World society, and really become ministers of Jehovah God. All of us have had such interesting experiences and we shall have more like them the more time we spend in the field service.

Ceylon heard present truth away back in the year 1912 when the Society’s first president visited the island. Brother Russell, on a round-the-world preaching tour, found much interest there, but no one was there to follow up, to develop the interest into a congregation. Five years ago (1951) when I visited Ceylon there were only twenty-nine publishers reporting in the one congregation located at Colombo. However, on this second visit three congregations already were established in different locations and three missionary homes, total publishers having reached 112. This certainly makes the hearts of the missionaries glad, and mine too, for that is growth in five years from 29 to 112 in a land where not many people believe the Bible.

Publicity-minded, the brothers in Ceylon did everything they could with newspapers, handbills, placards and sound cars. They kept news releases flowing into the newspaper offices and the papers published them. In this country the brothers have never been able to use the radio to give information to the people, but they did not think it was impossible; so they called on the Director of Radio in Ceylon and, much to their surprise, arrangements were made for an interview. The only time available for the broadcast was on January 1 at 7:30 p.m., after the public talk; but much information was then given to the people generally throughout Ceylon. It was a successful broadcast and I appreciated very much being interviewed by a man prominent in Ceylon.

The account of my trip will be concluded in the next issue of this magazine.

[Picture on page 332]

Bombay

Ancient Israel Backslides

1 Corinthians chapter 10:11, NW. “Now these things went on befalling them as examples and they were written for a warning to us upon whom the accomplished ends of the systems of things have arrived.”

1. Why is it worthwhile to examine Israel’s religious history?

A LOOK at dead history can point the way to a live future. This is true if the history looked at is the prophetic history of the ancient nation of Israel. Men say hindsight is better than foresight. But in this case hindsight becomes foresight if we see it as a mirror reflecting future events. From the religious past of ancient Israel we can learn something of the religious future of modern Christendom. The Bible is a book that specializes in recording those parts of religious history that are typical or prophetic, that mirror the religious future of our present generation. For us in these last days the religious history of the Israelites was recorded: “Now these things went on befalling them as examples and they were written for a warning to us upon whom the accomplished ends of the systems of things have arrived.” Also, “all the things that were written aforetime were written for our instruction, that through our endurance and through the comfort from the Scriptures we might have hope.” Within these limits we can learn what will happen from what has happened. Examine this inspired prophetic history to see what happened to whom and why, so that you can be guided in determining by the course you choose what will happen to you.—1 Cor. 10:11; Rom. 15:4, NW.

2, 3. What events occurred during the rule of Israel by judges?

² Israel’s religious history during the period when judges ruled is summarized thus: “They abandoned Jehovah the God of their fathers who had brought them out of the land of Egypt and went following other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were all around them and they began bowing down to them, so that they offended Jehovah. At this Jehovah’s anger blazed against Israel and he gave them into the hands of the pillagers and they began to pillage them, and he proceeded to sell them into the hand of their enemies round about and they were no longer able to stand before their enemies. So Jehovah would raise up judges and they would save them out of the hand of their pillagers. And even to their judges they did not listen, but they had unfaithful intercourse with other gods and went bowing down to them. . . . And when Jehovah did raise up judges for them, Jehovah proved to be with the judge and he saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge, for Jehovah would feel sorry for their groaning because of their oppressors and those who were shoving them around. And it occurred that when the judge died they would turn around and act more ruinously than their fathers by walking after other gods to serve them and bow down to them.”—Judg. 2:12, 14, 16-19, NW.

³ This period of the judges spanned some three hundred and fifty years, and during this time ancient Israel backslid again and again. When Israel was faithful Jehovah protected the nation, but gradually pagan worship would make inroads, the people would abandon nourishing spiritual food to partake of demonistic doctrines, and in their spiritually weakened state they would backslide completely into false heathen worship. Since they no longer truly represented him Jehovah removed his protection from them and they came under the yoke of pagan peoples. In time the pillaged and oppressed Israelites would cry to Jehovah, he would raise up a judge from the midst of a faithful remnant to deliver them, and they would throw out the false spiritual food and be delivered from their enemies and be restored to Jehovah’s true worship and favor. Then they would later return to the unclean spiritual food they had thrown out, and they would slide back into false worship once more.

4. Did the situation change during the rule by kings?

⁴ The change from rule by judges to reign by kings brought no permanent halt to ancient Israel’s backsliding. When a good king ruled and the nation served Jehovah divine blessing and protection followed, but when a wicked king ascended the throne of Jehovah he turned the nation aside to demonistic doctrines and idolatries. Though still claiming to be Jehovah’s people and his worshipers, they fed on spiritual filth and weakened and backslid. Then there piled in upon them internal troubles or external oppressions from foreign nations, and no deliverance came until there was a revival of true worship and a return to Jehovah, usually touched off by the replacement of an evil king with a good one.

THE CAUSE OF BACKSLIDING

5, 6. What caused the backsliding, and how was the practice illustrated?

⁵ Throughout the centuries when first judges and later kings ruled, the tasting of pagan spiritual food was the beginning of backsliding and the spewing out of it was the start of recovery. On the table of Jehovah nourishing spiritual food was to be spread by Israel’s religious leaders, but this was not always done. At times they would set out for the people the doctrines of pagan nations and when these idolatries were taken into the mind and worshipfully practiced they snared the Israelites into manifold tribulations, as forewarned: “You must not serve their gods, because that will be a snare to you.” But they fed their minds on these unclean teachings, were made weak and sick and nauseous by them, and only recovered spiritual health after ejecting these falsehoods from their minds.—Deut. 7:16, NW.

⁶ Nevertheless, ancient Israel did not learn the lesson of these hard experiences and would later return to these same practices, would embrace them again, would be sickened by them again, and again have to expel them vigorously from mind before recovery was possible. What they had used as spiritual food before they used again, and just as it had sickened them before it sickened them again. It was a repetition of folly that reminds us of Proverbs 26:11 (RS): “Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool that repeats his folly.” The apostle Peter used this proverb to illustrate the course of Christian backsliders: “The dog has turned back to its own vomit.” And because Israel overindulged itself in worldly materialism under the influence of pagan religions, Jehovah caused his prophet to say: “All tables are full of vomit, no place is without filthiness.”—2 Pet. 2:22, NW; Isa. 28:8, RS.

7. Where did spiritual famine exist, and where not?

⁷ No place was without filthiness; that is, within the organized religious system that had backslid, that had become apostate. But not every individual in Israel or Judah slid back with this religious majority. As in the days of the judges, a remnant remained faithful and stuck to their clean spiritual diet, and the contrast is shown by Jehovah’s words to the faithless ones: “Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame; behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart, but you shall cry out for pain of heart, and shall wail for anguish of spirit.” Jehovah was not selfish or partial with the clean spiritual food, but sent it to the nation, made it available to them, by repeatedly sending his prophets to them: “I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day; yet they did not listen to me, or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.” Hence it was not among the faithful remnant of true worshipers but only within the nationally approved, orthodox religious system that had backslid that the spiritual famine ruled: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord Jehovah, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Jehovah.” To escape the famine individuals must abandon the ranks of the backsliding majority and associate with the faithful remnant.—Isa. 65:13, 14; Jer. 7:25, 26, RS; Amos 8:11, AS.

8. How did the backsliders ‘bite the hand trying to feed them’?

⁸ The religious leaders of the apostate nation not only refused to heed the prophets themselves, they tried to prevent others from heeding the warnings. Like the dog that bites the hand trying to feed it, these religionists persecuted Jehovah’s servants, even killing many of them. The ill-treatment of the prophets by the backsliding religious leaders and the blind masses following them is summarized at Hebrews 11:36-38 (NW): “Yes, others received their trial by mockings and scourgings, indeed, more than that, by bonds and prisons. They were stoned, they were tried, they were sawn asunder, they died by slaughter with the sword, they went about in sheep skins, in goat skins, while they were in want, in tribulation, under ill-treatment; and the world was not worthy of them. They wandered about in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth.”

BACKSLIDING IN JESUS’ DAY

9. Why did Jehovah finally abandon Judah, and what was the condition of the people spiritually when Jesus came?

⁹ Finally Judah sank so low that Jehovah abandoned it to the Babylonians, even using them to execute his judgments against the apostates. But even at this time there was a faithful remnant taken into captivity along with the backsliders, and in Jehovah’s stated time they were returned to Judah to re-establish true worship in Jerusalem, rebuilding the temple and resuming the offering of sacrifices there. It did not last. Wrong spiritual food in the form of oral tradition crowded in and the good spiritual food of Jehovah’s unadulterated Word was crowded out, until by the time Jesus came the Israelites had made void God’s Word by their tradition. As a result the people were spiritually sick and lame and blind—so sick they could not digest strong spiritual food, so lame they could not walk uprightly in the way of Jehovah, so blind they could not see Jesus as the promised Messiah and instead of accepting him they allowed their religious leaders to stampede them into demanding his death on the torture stake.

10. With what words did Jesus denounce the hypocritical religious leaders of his day?

¹⁰ But before his death he exposed as hypocrites those who murdered him in Jehovah’s name. He showed them that they could not escape identity with the hypocrites before them who had killed the prophets, for they would repeat these wickednesses with even greater reprehensibility. To them Jesus said: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you build the graves of the prophets and decorate the memorial tombs of the righteous ones, and you say: ‘If we had been in the days of our forefathers, we would not have been sharers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ Therefore you are bearing witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Well, then, fill up the measure of your forefathers. Serpents, offspring of vipers, how are you to flee from the judgment of Gehenna? For this reason, here I am sending forth to you prophets and wise men and public instructors. Some of them you will kill and impale, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city; that there may come upon you all the righteous blood spilled on earth from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly I say to you, All these things will come upon this generation.”—Matt. 23:29-36, NW.

11, 12. What did a faithful remnant do, and how were they ill-treated?

¹¹ But not all the religious Jews were hypocrites. Jesus found a remnant of faithful ones who listened to him, accepted him as Messiah, and took up the preaching work with him. They pushed ahead with it after Jesus’ death, despite persecutions, arrests, imprisonments and death from mobs riled up by the religious leaders. On the day that a mob stoned faithful Stephen to death a great persecution flamed out against the Christians in Jerusalem; “all except the apostles were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria.” (Acts 8:1, NW) But to scatter the Christians was to spread the message, for they never stopped talking the truth.

¹² And the religious leaders never stopped persecuting, never stopped ‘filling up the measure of their forefathers,’ as evidenced by the apostle Paul’s suffering at their hands: “By Jews I five times received forty strokes less one, three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I experienced shipwreck, a night and a day I have spent in the deep; in travels often, in dangers from rivers, in dangers from highwaymen, in dangers from my own race, in dangers from the nations, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, in dangers at sea, in dangers among false brothers, in labor and toil, in sleepless nights often, in hunger and thirst, in abstinence from food many times, in cold and nakedness.”—2 Cor. 11:24-27, NW.

13. So what course did Israel’s history take, yet through it all what did the backsliders claim?

¹³ Ancient Israel backslid when the judges ruled, when the kings reigned and when Jesus came to earth. The majority under the influence of the orthodox religious leaders turned to unclean spiritual food, weakened, sickened, backslid and suffered internal disturbances and external pressures. A remnant remained true to Jehovah, sounded his warning to aid the backsliders, but were persecuted instead of welcomed by them. Recovery came only when falsehoods were rejected and Jehovah’s Word was accepted and true worship was restored and respected. Yet through all of this backsliding the nation claimed to be faithfully serving Jehovah. In their idolatry the Jews pretended to be serving Jehovah; steeped in their Bible-voiding traditions they still said they were faithful to Jehovah, and even when persecuting and killing God’s true witnesses the Jews claimed it was done to safeguard Jehovah’s worship. As Jesus said concerning Jehovah’s faithful witnesses: “Everyone that kills you will imagine he has rendered a sacred service to God.”—John 16:2, NW.

14. What can we see happening today?

¹⁴ Can you imagine that people bowing down to idols would claim to be worshiping Jehovah? Can you imagine that those feeding their minds on pagan doctrines would claim to be taking in Jehovah’s truths? Can you imagine that they would think they were serving Jehovah by persecuting his witnesses? Can you imagine such religious inconsistency? Actually, you do not have to imagine these things. You can see them happening with your own eyes. These ancient happenings of Israel’s time were prophetic. They were typical of our day, foreshadowing events to come to pass in our day. The unfaithful religious leaders of ancient Israel were prophetic types of today’s religious leaders of backsliding Christendom. The majority of religious people today backslide with their clergymen, and together they persecute the faithful minority of Jehovah’s witnesses who hold fast to true worship, who offer clean spiritual food, who sound the divine warning.

How to Avoid Backsliding Today

1. How will charges of falsehood and distortion be avoided, and what questions are here raised?

TO AVOID backsliding we must avoid the backsliders. And to avoid them we must be able to identify them. In fact, let them identify themselves. Then there can be no charges of prejudice or distortion or falsehood that might meet statements by us as to the spiritual condition of Christendom’s orthodox religions. Let the religious leaders of these systems speak on the subject and evaluate the spiritual worth of these institutions. Let the judgment be on the basis Jesus indicated: “Out of your own mouth I judge you, wicked slave.” Let the rule Jesus gave govern: “By your words you will be vindicated, and by your words you will be condemned.” Will the words out of their own mouths vindicate them as matching Israel’s faithful minorities or condemn them as paralleling that typical nation’s backsliding majorities? Which role do Christendom’s orthodox religions play in the modern fulfillment of the prophetic dramas enacted by ancient Israel?—Luke 19:22; Matt. 12:37, NW.

2, 3. What fault do two clergymen find with Christendom’s spiritual food, and have such conditions existed before?

² Do they provide nourishing spiritual food? Dr. Pettingill said: “Religious teaching that is dished out now is a curse and not a blessing. Most of it is false religion which ignores the teachings of Christ.”^a Lamented Bishop Pardue: “The vicious malady of our orthodox American denominations comes from the corroding acids of disbelief which have watered down our convictions to the point where much of our religion has become a matter of mere custom and tradition. On the one hand, destructive higher criticism of the Bible has become so universal that many of us modern ministers hardly know what we believe. On the other hand, we have become such worshipers of intellectual cults and clichés that we dare not believe any longer in the supernatural powers.”^b

³ In Isaiah’s time religionists were scored for watering down Jehovah’s truth, symbolized by wine, and though they drew near to God with their mouth and honored him with their lips, “their hearts are far remote; since their religion is a mockery, a mere tradition learned by rote.” In Paul’s day there were those who were “adulterating the word of God” and extolling intellectual cults, so he reminded them of Jehovah’s warning: “I will make the wisdom of the wise men perish, and I will shove the intelligence of the intellectual aside.” And Paul asked: “Did not God make the wisdom of the world foolish?” But clergymen today water down God’s Word with this worldly wisdom and are so awed by this world’s intellectuals and so fearful of them that the clergymen dare not champion the Bible’s position on supernatural powers. Truly, “the fear of man bringeth a snare; but whoso putteth his trust in Jehovah shall be safe.”—Isa. 29:13, Mo; 2 Cor. 4:2; 1 Cor. 1:19, 20, NW; Prov. 29:25, AS; Isa. 1:22.

4. What admission does one minister make, and how might such a condition come about?

⁴ After a thirty-five-year ministry at one church a prominent minister said: “My church is slipping, and my men won’t do anything about it. Do you know what is wrong with my church? My people like me, but they don’t love God.”^c It is submitted that if the minister reflects the true light of Jehovah love for God will be instilled and the church will not slip back, but if it is the wisdom of man that is reflected admiration and exaltation of creatures will result. Jesus warned the Pharisees that advertised themselves: “What is lofty among men is a disgusting thing in God’s sight.” And Paul warned of those who “exchanged the truth of God for the lie and venerated and rendered sacred service to the creation rather than the One who created.”—Luke 16:15; Rom. 1:25, NW.

5. How is the formal, orthodox ministerial training of today a failure, and what parallel existed in Jesus’ day?

⁵ Why do so many modern ministers fail to provide nourishing spiritual food that inspires love for Jehovah? A writer in The Christian Century charged the failure to their training: “Why does it happen so often that a man who goes into a theological seminary warm or even hot in his conviction comes out cool or even cold? In some of the larger and more intellectual seminaries, a rather shocking proportion of men (more than a fourth, I am told) never go into the ministry at all. Is this all weeding out the unfit, shaking off the men who can’t meet the intellectual demands? Or does a great deal represent a spiritual failure on the part of the seminary? . . . I am troubled about what the seminaries do to so many of them.”^d Many persons say Jehovah’s witnesses should graduate from theological seminaries to qualify as ministers. But why go there to get cold water thrown on their burning zeal for Jehovah? Even lukewarmness is grounds for Christ to expel persons from the ministry: “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or else hot. So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth.” Neither Christ nor his apostles and disciples attended the formal religious schools of their day, yet they succeeded gloriously; the scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees studied there but as ministers they failed miserably.—Rev. 3:15, 16, NW.

6. What admissions are made as to backsliding and spiritual sickness?

⁶ Modern ministers admit their failure, acknowledge that their religions have backslid from true Christianity. Dr. Robert J. McCracken declared that Christians “must face the fact that a large proportion of the 680,000,000 Christians in the world are little more than nominal Christians, ignorant of what Christianity stands for in some cases, apathetic and indifferent in many more, their religion a second-hand affair.”^e The prevailing spiritual sickness moved the prayer committee of the All-Scotland Crusade to say on widely distributed prayer cards: “Let us pray that the church may first repent. That we as Christians may be shown how grievously we have misrepresented God, turned men from his ways and robbed our children of the heritage of joy that could have been theirs. That we may realize how far below the level of God’s promises we have been content to live. That we may turn from the prayerless, joyless and enfeebled lives which we have lived and be ashamed of the shrunken, nerveless message which we have too often preached.”^f

7. In Jesus’ day and now, how have orthodox religionists voided the Bible?

⁷ In Jesus’ day the spiritual strength of the people had been sapped by spiritual starvation. The philosophies and traditions they had been fed gave no strength and voided God’s Word, as Jesus said: “You have made the word of God invalid because of your tradition. You hypocrites, Isaiah aptly prophesied about you, when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, yet their hearts are far removed from me. It is in vain that they keep paying respect to me, because they teach commands of men as doctrines.’” And Paul warned: “Look out: perhaps there may be some man that will carry you off as his prey through the philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary things of the world and not according to Christ.” (Matt. 15:6-9; Col. 2:8, NW) Some of the pagan doctrines and traditions and scientific philosophies taught in ancient times are being taught today, with the same result, namely, discrediting the Bible. The Baptist Watchman-Examiner said: “The Christian church has often denied a revelation of God to man by substituting evolution, a seared conscience, and an emasculated and irrelevant Bible. It is the Christian church that has forgotten God and . . . spawned a host of Bible rejectors.”^g

8. What shows the present religious revival to be worthless?

⁸ But what about the present religious revival? An official of the Presbyterian Church in America brushed it off thus: “The so-called revival sweeping America isn’t genuine or permanent. Most people seem to want God as you want a hot water bottle in the night—to get you over a temporary discomfort.” He added: “The statistical columns reveal a nation increasingly Christian. The news columns reveal a nation increasingly pagan.”^h Jesus’ words are as fitting now as they were when he said them: “Every good tree produces fine fruit, but every rotten tree produces bad fruit. Really, then, by their fruits you will recognize those men.” Jesus told those considering Christianity to count the cost, but today the popular fad is to count the profit. What will it do for me? Will it give me peace of mind and soul or make me a success in business? It takes more than a psychologist in ministerial clothing to make a minister. True Christians are not so busy fitting people for this life that they have no time to fit them for the next, for the real life in Jehovah’s new world.—Matt. 7:17, 20; 1 Tim. 6:17-19, NW.

BACKSLIDING INTO WORLDLINESS

9, 10. In what way did the world overcome religionists in the past, and how now?

⁹ Because of wrong spiritual food Christendom’s religions are spiritually sick, and because they are spiritually sick they cannot stand against the world. They backslide into worldliness, into intimate relations with the world and captivity to it. They cannot resist its influences. Just as the Jews before Christ backslid from true worship and got involved with heathen nations, and just as the Jews of Christ’s time rejected him and cried, “We have no king but Caesar!” so today’s orthodox religions make themselves close associates of this world. The religious leaders admit it.

¹⁰ Jesus said he conquered the world, but the majority now claiming to follow him have been conquered by it. The Christian Century says as much: “There is an impression abroad that religion first and last is a comforting and comfortable affair. Twentieth-century Christianity has lost the stringent note. For most of us there is no cross in it, no abstinence, no subjugation of the flesh in the interests of the spirit. People are not made to feel when they look at the church and its program that Christianity is a creed for heroes or that to embrace it means ‘living dangerously.’ . . . But that was the general impression of Christians in the first century. It meant something then to be a Christian, and it cost something. No one from A.D. 30 to A.D. 313 thought of Christianity as a comfortable religion. It was a creed for heroes.”ⁱ How can one conquered by the world be from God? “Everything that has been born from God conquers the world. And this is the conquest that has conquered the world, our faith.” But since faith comes from hearing Bible truth, the spiritually sick who fail to feed on Bible truth cannot have conquering faith.—1 John 5:4; Rom. 10:14, 17; Heb. 11:1, NW.

11. How did one clergyman describe orthodox religion’s timidity and fear of the world, and what misconception about Christ did he contradict?

¹¹ Dr. McCracken noted the timidity of those in the comfortable rut of orthodoxy, marked their care never to buck the popular winds: “If only in church we were less hidebound by convention, less wedded to tradition, less fearful of innovation! It would be wonderful if we could get out of the ruts, have done with platitudes, break with a few hoary traditions, say, and do the unexpected, shock some people instead of soothing them, substitute for the flute the trumpet. . . . Today we are careful not to take a stand unless we know in what direction the wind is blowing.”^j With greater bluntness this minister said: “Religion in our time has little kick in it. It scarcely gives any offense. As a rule it is much too timid to make its influence felt outside its own immediate sphere. On most public issues it shows itself over-anxious to placate and accommodate the state and the world at large. . . . That is why all kinds of injustice, oppression and immorality can flourish right under its eye. Great numbers of people think of the Master as a meek and gentle soul who went about everywhere breathing mild benediction. . . . On the other hand, he went about giving the most violent offense to all kinds and conditions of folk—his relatives, the disciples, the scribes and the Pharisees, the people with vested interests like the money changers in the temple.”^k

12. What scriptures show worldliness is unfaithfulness?

¹² Jesus declared: “My kingdom is no part of this world.” The disciple James said one requisite of clean and undefiled worship is “to keep oneself without spot from the world” and bluntly denounced Christians having illicit relations with it: “Adulteresses, do you not know that the friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever, therefore, wants to be a friend of the world is constituting himself an enemy of God.” Why? Because “the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one” and to be part of it is to be under Satan’s power.—John 18:36; Jas. 1:27; 4:4; 1 John 5:19, NW.

13. What Bible warning is given against materialism, and have the clergy heeded it?

¹³ Christians are warned to resist the beckoning glitter of worldly materialism: “Do not be loving either the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because everything in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one’s means of life—does not originate with the Father, but originates with the world. Furthermore, the world is passing away and so is its desire, but he that does the will of God remains forever.” But it is not only the masses of so-called Christians that have succumbed to the worldly glitter; many religious leaders have also. Harold C. Case, Boston University president, warned clergymen: “Budgets may receive more attention than the Bible and competition for a place in the sun may be more captivating than co-operation or fulfilling the condition of the Kingdom of God on earth. . . . Ministers, in some cases, are losing sight of their objective by overinterest in their salaries, positions and advancements.”^l—1 John 2:15-17, NW.

14. Is this clerical materialism typified by Israel’s history?

¹⁴ How like the typical religious leaders in ancient Israel! In Isaiah’s day such ones were supposed to serve as Jehovah’s watchmen and to warn of perils from spiritual laxity, to bark out like good watchdogs. But because of greedy materialism they failed, and of them Isaiah wrote: “His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, the dogs are greedy, they can never have enough; and these are shepherds that cannot understand: they have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, from every quarter.” And the prophet Micah accurately took their measure: “The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet they lean upon Jehovah, and say, Is not Jehovah in the midst of us? no evil shall come upon us.” Is it not true today that backsliding, materialistic religionists, notwithstanding all of their admitted sins, still claim that Jehovah is with them and will protect them? When Jesus said, “You cannot be slaves to God and to riches,” the “Pharisees, who were money-lovers, . . . began to sneer at him.”—Isa. 56:10, 11; Mic. 3:11, AS; Luke 16:13, 14, NW.

“OH FOR AN ISAIAH OR A SAINT PAUL!”

15. What does Christendom lack, why, and when was there a similar condition?

¹⁵ After confirming the plunge into materialism, Dr. John Sutherland Bonnell acknowledged spiritual famine by saying: “We need a great breath of God blowing through the nation.”^m To a Methodist Student Movement meeting Boston University’s Professor Ehrensperger lamented this lack: “We have identified our religion with the powers of this world, and there are no true prophets to sound our doom, to shock us into awareness of our sins and to stab us awake before we destroy one another.” Religion, he said, has become “a name, an institution, not an experience in life. What we lack are prophets—there are no prophets any more.”ⁿ There are none in their systems, they admit. They acknowledge famine conditions similar to those Israel and Judah suffered, namely, “not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Jehovah.” (Amos 8:11, AS) The famine is of their own making. They have voided God’s Word by turning to tradition, philosophy, psychology, evolution and paganism. Jehovah’s words to his professed people in Jeremiah’s time fit modern Christendom’s religions: “My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”—Jer. 2:13, RS.

16. Why do Christendom’s religions dislike Bible truth, and how does their attitude fit in with that of their prototypes in Isaiah’s time?

¹⁶ As foretold, “they will not put up with the healthful teaching, but, in accord with their own desires, they will accumulate teachers for themselves to have their ears tickled.” Jehovah’s prophetic messages often proclaim calamity and “if any one hears both his ears will tingle.” But Christendom wants its ears tickled, not tingled; so, as did their prototypes in Isaiah’s day, they “say to the seers, ‘See not’; and to the prophets, ‘Prophesy not to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions, leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more of the Holy One of Israel.’” Today’s religious leaders prefer to be soothed by smooth words instead of upset by right ones, and they are so anxious to hear no more about Jehovah the God of Israel that they expunge his name from their translations of the Bible.—2 Tim. 4:3; 2 Ki. 21:12, NW; Isa. 30:10, 11, RS.

17, 18. For what did Truman dramatically cry out, but why is this unnecessary?

¹⁷ On one occasion after saying that America’s Catholic, Protestant and Jewish churches must unite to provide shock forces to accomplish the spiritual awakening deemed necessary to solve the problems raised by atomic energy, President Truman dramatically cried out: “Oh for an Isaiah or a Saint Paul to reawaken a sick world to its moral responsibilities!”^o These words have a nice roll as they come off the tongue, but it is doubtful that they were ever in the heart. In an illustration Jesus dismissed as needless the return of anyone from the dead to warn those still living: “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to these,” and, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.”—Luke 16:29, 31, NW.

¹⁸ The world has the words of Isaiah and Paul recorded in the Bible, and if they came back to earth they would not alter their message to tickle ears. Isaiah advocated beating swords into plowshares and learning war no more, and Paul stressed that the weapons of Christian warfare are not carnal, but Truman ordered the dropping of atom bombs on two cities. He did not heed the words of Isaiah and Paul as they are recorded in the Bible. Would he have heeded them if these two men had returned and repeated them in person?—Isa. 2:4; 2 Cor. 10:4.

19. In what sense are there prophets today, and who serve as such?

¹⁹ Actually, there are prophets today to sound the warning from Jehovah, to shock to an awareness of sins those willing to listen, to reawaken the spiritually sick to their moral responsibilities. Not that there are prophets in the same sense as in ancient times, but there are those proclaiming the prophecies recorded in the Bible that relate to our day, that tell what the future holds for those now living. They also show how the ancient prophetic dramas are now having fulfillment; how, for example, backsliding Christendom is so accurately prefigured by backsliding Israel of ancient times. The ones declaring these prophetic messages today are Jehovah’s witnesses. They zealously point to God’s Word, uphold it, preach it, apply it to modern life and try to get others to do likewise. They constitute a faithful minority class gathered out from the nations, and compare with faithful ones of ancient Israel who refused to backslide with the apostate masses and religious leaders.

20. How is the treatment of these modern witnesses similar to ancient conditions?

²⁰ And, as in ancient Israel, the backsliding masses persecute this modern minority of true witnesses of Jehovah. Of course, the orthodox religions call them false witnesses, refuse to recognize them, while recognizing as true ones the ancient prophets that were persecuted. It has always been this way with apostate ones who claim to be still serving Jehovah. They recognize as true witnesses the persecuted ones that lived long before their time, but never the ones living during their time. They persecute the contemporary ones that expose their backsliding; they cheer the ancient ones that exposed backsliders other than themselves. Those who lived when Jeremiah prophesied rejected him but recognized Moses. Those who rejected and killed Jesus recognized both Moses and Jeremiah. They always recognized as prophets the faithful ones living before their time, but not the ones that lived during their time and disturbed them with an exposing message. Yet Jesus said that on them would come all the righteous blood shed, by virtue of their conduct toward the true prophets and witnesses of their time. So it is today. As the Pharisees decorated the tombs of the prophets before their time yet rejected the ones of their day, so Christendom lip-serves the prophets of Biblical times yet persecutes Jehovah’s witnesses today. As Jesus said, he counts it as done to him.—Matt. 25:40, 45.

21. Who are going ahead in zeal and growth, and who are in decay?

²¹ However, even some of the clergy admit that it is not the orthodox religions with fine churches and high respectability and preachers trained in theological seminaries that are blessed, but it is the less respectable ones that have zeal for Jehovah and that are far closer to the purity of original Christianity. Writing in Presbyterian Life, Elton Trueblood says: “If we care about the Christian enterprise we must deal realistically with the fact that, in this particular comparison, the Christian organization enjoying the least social standing, having the shortest history, occupying the least fashionable district, and guided by the least trained ministry is going ahead of the others, not only in numbers, but also in zeal, in commitment, and in proportionate giving. . . . Small but vigorous bands of Jehovah’s witnesses meet in their modest quarters called Kingdom Halls . . . There can be no doubt that these vigorous and unrespectable sects which now flourish so mightily in our land are, in many respects, far closer to original Christianity than are those of us who represent the conventional movements of Christendom. We call ours the older tradition, but in this we may be inaccurate. Perhaps they represent what is truly old in the Christian witness. . . . We are already in decay.”^p

22, 23. (a) How do different groups view Christ impaled? (b) Generally speaking, what class of persons does Jehovah choose, and why?

²² In the day of the apostle Paul the Jews looked for special signs and the Greeks sought worldly wisdom. To the Jews Christ the ransom was a stone of stumbling and to the nations talk of Him as a ransom was foolishness. It was not the worldly wise ones in Paul’s day that accepted Christ, nor is it today’s superrespectable churches with ministers trained in higher criticism that unqualifiedly champion Him as Redeemer and King. Now, as in Paul’s time, it is generally the class “enjoying the least social standing” that embrace what the world rejects as foolish and weak:

²³ “For both the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks look for wisdom; but we preach Christ impaled, to the Jews a cause for falling but to the nations foolishness; however, to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because a foolish thing of God is wiser than men, and a weak thing of God is stronger than men. For you behold his calling of you, brothers, that not many wise in a fleshly way were called, not many powerful, not many noble; but God chose the foolish things of the world, that he might put the wise men to shame, and God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put the strong things to shame; and God chose the ignoble things of the world and the things looked down upon, the things that are not, that he might bring to nothing the things that are, in order that no flesh might boast in the sight of God. But it is due to him that you are in union with Christ Jesus, who has become to us wisdom from God, also righteousness and sanctification and release by ransom; that it may be just as it is written: ‘He that boasts, let him boast in Jehovah.’”—1 Cor. 1:22-31, NW.

SHUN BACKSLIDERS AND LIVE!

24. Whom must those wishing to avoid backsliding avoid?

²⁴ “Do not be misled. Bad associations spoil useful habits.” (1 Cor. 15:33, NW) Ancient Israel was warned not to companion with the demonistic nations round about them. But Israel did, and Israel was contaminated. Israel fed on false doctrines and slid into a morass of sin. Only a faithful remnant resisted and stood fast. It is the same today, for what happened then is prophetic of today. The majority are feeding on spiritual food that failed to nourish in Bible times and is failing to nourish now. So there is a spiritual weakening and backsliding afflicting the majority. But there is a small minority holding fast. Those wishing to avoid backsliding must shun the backsliders, for such bad associations would spoil useful habits of true worship. Do not be misled.

25. What questions should you ponder?

²⁵ The complete fulfillment of the prophetic dramas enacted with ancient Israel is taking place and will continue to its conclusion of destruction for the backsliding majority and preservation into eternal life for the faithful, resolute minority. It cannot be avoided. So it is not a question of whether this fulfillment will take place or not. The question is, Where will you fit into that fulfillment? Will you be counted in with the wicked majority and be destroyed, or with the faithful minority and be delivered? Will you heed the warning lessons of the ancient prophetic dramas and shun the spiritually weakening diet of Christendom’s religions, reject as unfit the doctrinal food that has been used before and sickened so many? Will you sever religious relations with the backsliders and companion with the faithful? Will you feed upon the pure truths of Jehovah’s Word to maintain the spiritual strength necessary to stand fast in integrity to Jehovah God? Remember, you are going to be involved in the fulfillment of the ancient prophetic dramas in one way or the other, for good or for bad, for your preservation or for your destruction. Why not make your role in the fulfillment of these dramas a good one?

REFERENCES

a New York Times, October 10, 1949.

b New York Times, August 7, 1950.

c Reported in If This Be Religion, by F. K. Stamm.

d Article by Samuel Shoemaker in The Christian century, April 29, 1953.

e New York Times, July 13, 1953.

f Scottish Daily Mail, February 1, 1955.

g Watchman-Examiner, October 4, 1951.

h Dr. Charles Templeton, secretary of the evangelist division of the Presbyterian Church in America, reported in the Greensboro Record, May 18, 1955.

i The Christian Century, February 27, 1952.

j New York Times, May 30 1955.

k New York Times, July 9 1951.

l Daily Times Herald, February 3, 1954.

m Oregon Journal, May 21, 1952.

n Washington Post (D.C.), January 3, 1954.

o Minneapolis Daily Times, March 6, 1946.

p Presbyterian Life, January 20, 1951.

A Lutheran Becomes One of Jehovah’s Witnesses

RECENTLY the Helsinki, Finland, branch office of the Watch Tower Society received a letter from a young woman who said:

“I am a former opposer of the truth, slanderer of Jehovah’s witnesses, who was in such a desolated condition that I wasn’t able to see a spark of light in the institution which I had served as a Sunday-school teacher and director of a girl’s youth group. For over twelve years I have used most of my free time zealously in Lutheran Church circles. The fact that I have often been in religious occasions where priests ridiculed and warned against Jehovah’s witnesses started me to thinking about the matter. What if they have the truth? I thought. My heart cried out in vain, for I desired understanding of my Biblical questions. I prayed to God that he would direct me to people who worship him in the right way. The traditions of my fathers no longer satisfied me. I felt that I needed the right kind of spiritual food for everlasting life.

“As if in answer to my prayer, two men came to me. They were Jehovah’s witnesses. They were seeking rooming accommodations for an assembly they were having in our city. I invited them in, much to the amazement of my family. I asked them questions one after another and every time I received an answer from the Bible. When I heard the truth from Jehovah God I grasped it immediately, for it was just what I longed for.

“Soon it became clear to me that the doctrines of the Bible they presented were much different from what I had learned as a child. Later, as I conversed again with Jehovah’s witnesses, an incident began to bother me. I had seriously warned one of my students who came to me and said that she had begun to go to the meetings of Jehovah’s witnesses, since she did not get anything from church. Now I desired to shout to that same girl that she should hurriedly get in touch with Jehovah’s witnesses because they have the truth. A heavy weight fell from my heart when one day I received a letter from that same girl saying that she did not heed my warning but, after moving to another city, had started to go to the meetings of Jehovah’s witnesses and was now one of them.

“Before me was a decision. It was not easy, but I understood that to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams. I left the church, much to the chagrin of my godfather and priest. The same day I took part in a social occasion where all the youth of the church were present, along with several priests and a bishop. In a private conversation with the bishop he admitted that infant baptism was not Scriptural. I asked why the church teaches it then, and I got this answer: ‘We have become so accustomed to it and if we moved it now according to the Bible it would just result in greater confusion.’ So that is it!

“My previously arranged talk at this occasion became my farewell speech to the church. I spoke first to the youth of the church, that the doctrines of immortality of the soul, trinity, infant baptism, etc., that I had taught them were not Scriptural. I exhorted them to be alert, not to believe credulously what they were taught but to study first. I noticed that before me was a more earnest audience than ever before. The priests and the bishop became pale as a result of what they heard. I rejoice that I don’t any more have to be a slave and teacher of lies (although I received $200 a month for it).

“I am happy that in this dark world there is still a chance to flee from the sinking ship to safety in the New World society, where we may serve God after Christ’s example. I hope that I will become a mature witness in connection with the theocratic organization and obediently make known the Kingdom, whose appointed King is our Redeemer Christ Jesus.”

New York City and Religion

● Where does religion stand in New York city? Time magazine, in its issue of February 11, 1957, gave an answer. Of New York’s 8,000,000 inhabitants 27 percent are Roman Catholics, 10.6 percent Jews, 7.5 percent Protestants and 54.9 percent are not affiliated with any religion.

Enjoying Each One “His Own Gift from God”

AMONG the gifts God has bestowed upon his human creatures are those of singleness and of marriage. As the apostle Paul states in his discussion of these two states: “But I wish all men were as I myself am. Nevertheless, each one has his own gift from God, one in this way, another in that way.”—1 Cor. 7:7, NW.a

The blessings and joys that God purposed to go with marriage truly show it to be a precious gift and an expression of his great love. To realize his purpose regarding the earth and to let man enjoy great happiness God put a very strong attraction into play between the sexes, causing them to want to marry. If each partner does his share the blessings of marriage can bring much joy and satisfaction. To that end, however, each one must work at it diligently.

While not many may think so, yet the Scriptures show that singleness is also a gift having many joys peculiar to it. That is why Jesus stated: “Not all men make room for the saying, but only those who have the gift.” In keeping with Jesus’ words are the observations of Paul. He shows that single persons are anxious for the things of the Lord, how they may gain His approval, whereas married persons are anxious for the things of the world, how they may gain the approval of their mates.—Matt. 19:11; 1 Cor. 7:32-34.

Among those who cultivated the gift of singleness was Jeremiah, who was commanded not to marry, in order to impress upon his hearers the urgency of his message. Another was Jephthah’s daughter, who readily acquiesced to her father’s vow, remaining a virgin for the rest of her life, which she spent in faithful service at the temple. And there are the examples of John and Paul, and especially of Jesus Christ, our Leader and Commander. Without doubt each one of these enjoyed many blessings he would not have had had he married.

Just as those who are married must work at their gift to continue to enjoy it, so must those who are single work at theirs if they wish to continue to enjoy it. Above all, it is necessary for them to cultivate the fruitage of the spirit known as self-control. They strengthen and fortify this specially directed self-control by looking at the advantages they enjoy by remaining single and the undesirable things they avoid. They also plan to enjoy their singleness to the full. This is not being selfish but is merely an enjoying of what they are entitled to, while they let married couples enjoy the blessings they are entitled to. And primarily it is done to the pleasing and to the praise of Jehovah God and in the interest of his kingdom by Christ.

To fill up the void that single persons might feel because of not having a beloved marriage partner they plan to fill up their lives with all the service of God that they can. Keeping fully occupied in God’s service keeps their hearts and minds fixed on the urgent work now to be done in the short remaining time. This self-application pays with joys and blessings that counterbalance anything that their flesh may at times want to persuade them that they are missing because of not having a Christian mate.

So in the words of Paul: “Are you bound to a wife? Stop seeking a release. Are you loosed from a wife? Stop seeking a wife.” Yes, let him who is married not envy those who are single and let not him who is single envy those who are married. Rather, let each one be enjoying his own gift from God.—1 Cor. 7:27, NW.

[Footnotes]

Questions From Readers

● Was it proper for Jesus to allow certain demons to enter into a herd of swine and destroy them, as recorded at Matthew 8:28-32, since the swine were not his own property?—A. P., United States.

This record is one critics of the Bible like to attack and to use as an excuse for doubting the authenticity of the Scriptures. Thus the Interpreter’s Bible comments on the various accounts of this incident by the Gospel writers in the following vein: “The notion that the legion of demons could enter the swine (vs. 13) was popular superstition, no doubt; but it seems better to leave the story as it stands, as a folk tale current in a pagan neighborhood.” “The story is legendary.” “One finds it hard to believe that Jesus would bargain with the demons and permit them to possess the swine, and perhaps these details have been added to the story.”

However, those having accepted the overwhelming proofs of the Bible’s authenticity, as repeatedly noted in the pages of the Watch Tower publications, will experience no difficulty in accepting the record as historical. According to God’s law swine were unclean animals, and not only were the Israelites forbidden to eat their flesh or to use them for sacrifices but even to touch the carcasses of swine made an Israelite unclean. For them to raise swine was therefore a flagrant disregard of God’s law. Since they had no business raising swine even for commercial purposes they could well consider this destruction of their herd as a just rebuke. Besides, it was not required that Jesus exercise foreknowledge as to what the demons would do once they entered the unclean animals. Also, it might be reasonably argued that one man is worth more than a herd of swine, especially since swine were supposed to have no commercial value among the Jews. So no fault can be found with Jesus’ permitting the demons to enter into the swine.

Bishop No Help

● A United Press dispatch from St. Edmundsbury, England, discloses: “The son of Bishop A. H. Morris will think twice before asking his father for any more help with his studies. He failed the Scripture examination for which his father helped him prepare.”

Check Your Memory

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

✔ Why God gave himself a distinctive name? P. 323, ¶1.

✔ Why God’s Word is an unknown Book? P. 325, ¶2.

✔ Why viewing the Bible as mere history is an obstacle to understanding it? P. 325, ¶6.

✔ How to understand the Bible better? P. 327, ¶10.

✔ What thrilling results Watch Tower missionaries have had in the Virgin Islands? P. 331, ¶3.

✔ How many persons attended Jehovah’s witnesses’ assembly in India? P. 334, ¶3.

✔ What growth in preaching Ceylon recently has experienced? P. 336, ¶3.

✔ How spiritual famine can be avoided? P. 338, ¶7.

✔ Why many modern ministers fail to provide nourishing spiritual food? P. 342, ¶5.

✔ What results from wrong spiritual food? P. 344, ¶9.

✔ Whether there are prophets today sounding God’s warning? P. 346, ¶19.

✔ Why some clergymen admit that it is not the religions with fine churches that are blessed? P. 347, ¶21.

✔ Why a Lutheran became one of Jehovah’s witnesses? P. 349, ¶3.

✔ How singleness may be considered a gift from God? P. 350, ¶3.

Announcements

ENJOYING EACH ONE “HIS OWN GIFT FROM GOD”—1 Cor. 7:7, NW.

Both the married state and the single state are referred to in the Bible as gifts from God. Both have certain advantages. The married state removes certain difficulties that men and women may experience, while the single state leaves one free from the responsibilities and limitations of marriage. Dedicated Christians carefully weigh the choice to be made, always keeping in mind the bearing their choice will have on their God-given treasure of service. But whatever the choice, one still has the privilege and obligation of using his own “gift from God” to Jehovah’s praise. So Jehovah’s witnesses, married or single, will continue during June to make known the good news of Jehovah’s kingdom. They will offer to all persons on whom they call two splendid Bible study aids in book form, together with two booklets containing outstanding Bible talks, all on a contribution of $1.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

July 7: Ancient Israel Backslides and How to Avoid Backsliding Today, ¶1-5. Page 337.

July 14: How to Avoid Backsliding Today, ¶6-25. Page 343.

Truth Requires Repetition

● In 1828 the noted German poet and novelist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said something that is still true. “The truth,” he said, “requires constant repetition, because error is being preached about us all the time, and not only by isolated individuals but by the masses. In newspapers and encyclopedias, in schools and universities, everywhere error rides high and basks in the consciousness of having the majority on its side.”

Offer of Literature

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I am enclosing $2.95 for the new book about Jehovah’s witnesses, Faith on the March. Please rush my copy at once.