The Watchtower — September 1, 1957

Religion—Has It the Key to Unity?

THERE are so many books on psychology, one might say tons of them, yet what help have they been? Judging by the mess the world is in they might just as well not have been written.” Thus complained a well-read Moslem, living in Brooklyn, to the witness of Jehovah that was visiting him. And how right he is!

It is strange that so obvious a deduction should elude so many persons. Blinded by the fallacious theory of their idol, Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, they think that all that is necessary to solve man’s problems is knowledge per se; that, and getting rid of religion. Indicative of how wrong their idol was is the fact that never before has man had so much knowledge regarding sex and yet never has he been more in bondage to it than in our day.

What psychologists are only recently beginning to appreciate is that the Bible’s stress on love is sound; that love is indispensable to successful and harmonious living and that love is the opposite of selfishness in any form, including sex for passion’s sake.

Who can furnish this key of love that will unite mankind? Can religion? Yes, says William B. O’Brien, priest of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. His church “is the only living force capable of harnessing the divisive, rending energies of mankind. Here are the refreshing waters to quench man’s thirst for unity and brotherhood—all men drawn within the family of [Christ’s] church.”—New York Times, June 10, 1957.

If O’Brien’s church has the key for uniting men and bringing about brotherhood why does Catholic politician time and again throw mud at Catholic politician? Why does Catholic labor strike against Catholic capital? Why do millions of Catholics seek to destroy one another, as in World War II, if their church, and she only, is able to harness the divisive energies of mankind?

Of course, the Catholic Church is not the only one in Christendom against which this charge can be raised. She is only here used as an example because of the claim of one of her spokesmen. Any religion unable to unite its devotees cannot have the key for uniting mankind. Is there a religion that by its fruits gives evidence of having that key? Yes, there is. The peace and harmony within the New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses gives proof that its religion has that key.

Is Open-Air Preaching Recognized?

Preaching in cathedrals and church buildings has long been recognized and admitted to an honorable and privileged status. What is the status of open-air preaching?

VISITORS to London are often impressed by the frequent use of open-air preaching. They often see a clergyman, perhaps in the front yard of a church, preaching in the open air to a crowd standing about on the lawn or the sidewalk. In America and elsewhere the street-corner activity of Salvation Army preachers is well known. Some householders have had the experience of Mormon ministers or missionaries calling at their door. And who has not been visited by one of Jehovah’s witnesses calling from house to house to preach the good news of God’s kingdom? As open-air preaching increases in its scope and use, an interesting question arises.

Is open-air preaching recognized? By that we mean, How does this form of preaching stand in four vital respects? (1) Is it historically recognized and proved effective? (2) What is the need for it in this day and age when churches are seldom far away from anyone? (3) Is it legally recognized by government agencies and courts of law? And (4) where does open-air preaching stand in the light of God’s Word, the Bible?

A common, modern view of open-air preaching is that it is rather novel. A probing into history, however, changes one’s opinion about its supposed newness. “Open-air preaching is not one of the ‘new methods,’” wrote Edwin Hallock Byington in Open-Air Preaching. “It was the original way of extending among men the revealed will of God. Not only is it ‘as old as preaching itself’ but for centuries it was the only kind of preaching. ‘We are at full liberty to believe,’ says Spurgeon, ‘that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, when he prophesied, asked for no better pulpit than the hillside, and that Noah was a preacher of righteousness willing to reason with his contemporaries in the shipyard.’”¹

USE DURING MIDDLE AGES AND REFORMATION

As a student of history probes deeper into open-air preaching he quickly realizes that here was a method used in no small measure during the Middle Ages. Historian Byington calls attention to the fact that St. Francis of the Roman Catholic Church began his missionary work preaching in the streets of Assisi. “Of St. Dominic,” Byington wrote, “it is said that he preached to whatever people he met . . . along the highway.”²

That “Morning Star of the Reformation,” the English theologian John Wycliffe, took a great interest in open-air preaching. He attracted many sincere men of his time, trained them as preachers and sent them forth to preach the gospel. Of Wycliffe’s ministers Professor Lechler says: “They wandered from village to village, from town to town, and from county to county, without stop or rest, preaching, teaching, warning, wherever they could find willing hearers, sometimes in church or chapel; sometimes in the churchyard when they found the church itself closed; and sometimes in the public street and market place.”³

Another authority writes of them: “Clothed in habits of peculiar simplicity, and without any license from the local ordinaries, it was their manner to preach their doctrine openly, not only in churches and church-yards, but also in the midst of markets and fairs, and indeed, in all places where multitudes were convened.”⁴

During the Reformation itself open-air preaching came in for extensive use. From the work Open-Air Preaching we learn that Martin Luther is reported to have had an audience of 25,000 at Zwickau’s market place. Another user of town shopping centers for preaching was John Huss. Throughout Europe during the Reformation missionaries preached by the roadside. How effective all this open-air preaching must have been! To counteract the effect of the Protestant’s open-air preaching the Catholic Church carried on open-air preaching of its own. “Rome sent forth her own open-air preachers,” wrote Byington,”who overcame their influence by opposing them before the people in the street and marketplace. . . . There was Robert, founder of the Cistercian order of monks, who received from Pope Urban II permission to preach everywhere. As he travelled from town to town and from province to province, he did not regard his permission as limited to Churches, and preached on the highways and in the forests.”⁵

And the Jesuits? They knew the advantage of open-air preaching. Wrote one historian: “Its members were a sort of field-monks, ready to be preachers, teachers, missionaries, traders, explorers or politicians. The order used any means to win, every method to rule, both nations and churches.”⁶

After the Reformation the Protestants did not forget the value of open-air preaching. The founder of the Methodist Church, John Wesley, was an active open-air preacher. He preached in the parks and on the streets. Indeed, he considered the world as his parish.⁷ Wesley eventually organized a large body of preachers both local and itinerant. They preached outdoors, in private homes and wherever they could find an audience. One historian says of them: “The country was divided into circuits, in which the preachers itinerated, each for a given time. In 1765 there were twenty-five circuits in England, two in Wales, four in Scotland, and eight in Ireland, and numbers rapidly increased amid no small amount of persecution. Riots were not rare, and Wesley’s life was often in peril.”⁸

Not just the Methodists, but also, as the pamphlet Preaching in the Open Air tells us, the Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopal and other churches have from time immemorial employed street and park preaching.”⁹

What historical testimony there is, then, to the time-honored use and effectiveness of open-air preaching! And yet many persons have thought it to be something new.

WHAT NEED FOR IT TODAY?

Granted that open-air preaching has proved effective in turning people to religion, but what is the need for it in this day when a church steeple is hardly far from the sight of almost anyone in Christendom? And why the need for it when, in America at least, churches are often overflowing? This prompts some penetrating questions.

Why is it that ministers and priests of orthodox religions have resorted to bingo, bazaars and other nonspiritual benefits? Why is it that ministers are so eager to have a Billy Graham crusade come to their town? Why is it that Billy Graham said, on beginning his New York crusade, “ministers have been discouraged and frustrated. . . . In talking with many of them we found almost a sense of desperation. Ministers who could not agree with us theologically . . . are willing to co-operate simply because there seems to be nothing else in sight”?¹⁰

Why are more than half of New York’s 8,000,000 inhabitants—or 54.9 percent—not affiliated with any religion? Why did a top-ranking Methodist official declare that Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam all consider America a fertile target for evangelistic work? Why does the recent book The New Ordeal of Christianity say this: “The most striking fact about Protestant churches in England today . . . is the emptiness of most of them. . . . The situation is even more dismal, if that is possible, in Scotland than England. And in Scandinavia it is appalling”?¹¹

Why did historian Arnold Toynbee declare: “There is a spiritual vacuum in the world”?¹² Why did priest John O’Brien, writing in the Catholic Herald Citizen, encourage “every Catholic, clerical or lay” to spend “at least one hour a week, going from ‘house to house’”?¹³ And why did Marcus Bach write in The Christian Century of Jehovah’s witnesses: “What should be our advice to those who insist that ‘somebody ought to put a stop to them’? . . . There is but one answer: Jehovah’s Witnesses are not a threat, but a challenge calling once more upon the traditional church to—witness!”?¹⁴

The answer is now obvious: Millions of people have failed to take to religion! They have failed to go to the traditional religious edifices, and church leaders see the need for some method besides conventional preaching in churches to attract them to religion. Aptly describing the state of affairs, J. Benson Hamilton writes: “For reasons that need no explanation a large class of our people have a prejudice against our churches. They will not attend divine service in them whatever may be the attraction. To such the gospel must be preached by the wayside, on the street corner, at the sea-shore, in the mountain, in the woods.”¹⁵

What a pressing need there is, then, for the most effective means of reaching the people to be put into use today! The need for what has been called by churchmen “aggressive Christianity” is even keener now than when a leading street preacher in New York, Dr. John W. Kennion, reported to the mayor of New York city in these words: “I have been engaged in lifting up Christ on the streets of our City . . . and during this time the public at large have almost unanimously conceded its necessity, utility and value as the mode best adapted to meet the requirements of the ‘masses’ who are without the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ, and are not in circumstances to attend those places where the sound of salvation’s trumpet is regularly heard. These street services reach that class of persons in the substrata of your community who are not approached or reached by any of our boards, associations, missionaries.”¹⁶

Yes, whether open-air preaching be on the streets, in the parks or from house to house, the need for this effective method is recognized. “It is the easiest and most effective way of pushing Christianity into new territory,” wrote E. H. Byington. “Without it missionary work would be crippled, and all advance would be slow and uncertain. It ever has been the speediest method of reaching those outside the influence of the Church.”¹⁷

LEGALLY AND JUDICIALLY RECOGNIZED

Something as vital as open-air preaching deserves legal recognition. That it has. Of the many instances wherein legal recognition has been extended to open-air preachers, few are as forceful as that expressed by the United States Selective Service System:

“The ordinary concept of ‘preaching and teaching’ is that it must be oral and from the pulpit or platform. Such is not the test. Preaching and teaching have neither locational nor vocal limitations. The method of transmission of knowledge does not determine its value or affect its purpose or goal. One may preach or teach from the pulpit, from the curbstone, in the fields, or at the residential fronts. He may shout his message ‘from housetops’ or write it ‘upon tablets of stone.’ He may give his ‘sermon on the mount’ . . . . He may walk the streets in daily converse with those about him telling them of those ideals that are the foundation of his religious conviction, or he may transmit his message on the written or printed page, but he is none the less the minister of religion if such method has been adopted by him as the effective means of inculcating in the minds and hearts of men the principles of religion.”¹⁸

That is a sensible, logical view of open-air preaching. How unreasonable it would be otherwise! How many of us could view Christ Jesus putting locational limitations on preaching? Did Christ deliver the most famous sermon of all time in a cathedral or religious building? No! He preached the sermon on the mount, of course, in the open air.

Did not Christ Jesus say: “Look! I am standing at the door and knocking”?¹⁹ But today few, if any, of the orthodox religious clergy preach from door to door. No wonder the need is so acute for house-to-house ministers.

It is fortunate for the people that judges of high courts have extended judicial recognition to the house-to-house minister. In an outstanding decision in 1943 the Supreme Court of the United States said in its majority opinion:

“This form of religious activity occupies the same high estate under the First Amendment as do worship in the Churches and preaching from the pulpits. It has the same claim to protection as the more orthodox and conventional exercises of religion. . . . We only hold that preaching one’s religious beliefs or preaching the Gospel through distribution of religious literature and through personal visitations is an age-old type of evangelism with as high a claim to constitutional protection as the more orthodox types. . . . The mere fact that the religious literature is ‘sold’ by itinerant preachers rather than ‘donated’ does not transform evangelism into a commercial enterprise. If it did, then the passing of a collection plate in church would make the church service a commercial project. . . . We can restore to their high, constitutional position the liberties of itinerant evangelists who disseminate their religious beliefs and the tenets of their faith through distribution of literature.”²⁰

THE RECOGNITION THAT COUNTS

Even if open-air preaching did not have the legal recognition of men, what really counts in the final analysis is what God’s Word has to say about it. The Founder of Christianity, we learn by a study of the Bible, used every method possible to spread the good news of the Kingdom. Sometimes he preached in synagogues; more often he was out in the open, for he “went round about to the villages in a circuit, teaching.”²¹ Wherever Christ found people, that is where he preached: “When he saw the crowds he went up into the mountain; and after he sat down his disciples came to him; and he opened his mouth and began teaching them.”²²

On another occasion “Jesus, having left the house, was sitting by the sea; and great crowds gathered to him, so that he went aboard a boat and sat down, and all the crowd was standing on the beach. Then he told them many things.”²³

Jesus sent out his apostles and disciples to preach as he did. Of Paul we read: “He began to reason in the synagogue with the Jews and the other people who worshiped God and every day in the marketplace with those who happened to be on hand.”²⁴ “I did not hold back from telling you any of the things that were profitable nor from teaching you publicly and from house to house.”²⁵ And of the apostles it is written: “Every day in the temple and from house to house they continued without letup teaching and declaring the good news about the Christ, Jesus.”²⁶

With all this authoritative recognition extended to open-air preaching, it is strange indeed that no small number of persons believe that religion should be confined—limited to cathedrals and church buildings. Why should God’s Word be confined, when the Son of God said: “Man must live, not on bread alone, but on every utterance coming forth through Jehovah’s mouth”?²⁷ Spiritual food is essential. Material food is also, and material food is dispensed everywhere, in stores, out in the open, in market places, on street corners and from house to house. Should vital spiritual food be dispensed by less effective means, especially when we are face to face with what one clergyman called a “religious vacuum on a scale never seen before”?²⁸ And should anyone, no matter how high his station in life, look down on a method enjoying such overwhelming recognition? In the words of A. F. Schauffler comes the irresistible conclusion:

“Now if this matter of outdoor preaching were a new or an unscriptural thing we might well pause and think it over very carefully before trying it. But since it is ‘as old as the hills’, and has abundant scriptural warrant, and the personal sanction of our Master, why under the sun should anyone pause for a moment?

“I fancy I see the Apostle Paul in a modern ministers’ meeting . . . his remarks . . . ‘I made a great mistake, and if I had my work to do over again I would not preach from the steps of the Tower of Antonia, or from Mars’ Hill.’ Perish the thought! I rather fancy he would utter some burning words about the lethargy of the modern Church in not taking advantage of every opportunity to make known the gospel of the blessed Lord. . . . This I do with all my heart . . . commend the practice to all who wish to obey their Master’s injunctions, and ‘go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in.’”²⁹

[References]

¹ Open-Air Preaching, by Edwin Hallock Byington (Hartford, Connecticut, 1892: Hartford Theological Seminary), p. 9.

² Ibid., p. 30.

³ John Wyclif, by Professor Lechler (London, 1878: Kegan Paul & Co.), Vol. 1, p. 310.

⁴ Life of John Wycliffe, by Robert Vaughan (London, 1881: Holdsworth and Vaughan), Vol. II, p. 163.

⁵ Open-Air Preaching, pp. 29, 30.

⁶ History of the Christian Church, Blackburn (New York, 1879: Cranston & Stowe).

⁷ Open-Air Preaching, p. 71.

⁸ History of the Christian Church, p. 629.

⁹ Preaching in the Open Air, a pamphlet by George Charles Smith (London, 1829: W. K. Wakefield), pp. 4, 9, 10, 12, 25-28.

¹⁰ The Nation, May 11, 1957.

¹¹ The New Ordeal of Christianity, by Paul Hutchinson (New York, 1957: Association Press).

¹² The Christian Century, February 20, 1957.

¹³ Catholic Herald Citizen, January 5, 1957.

¹⁴ The Christian Century, February 13, 1957.

¹⁵ Empty Churches and How to Fill Them, by J. Benson Hamilton (New York, 1879: Phillips and Hunt), p. 64.

¹⁶ Report of Four Years’ Labor of Love and Deeds of Mercy, a pamphlet by Dr. John W. Kennion (Brooklyn Job and Book Printing Department, 1880), p. 3 of introduction.

¹⁷ Open-Air Preaching, p. 25.

¹⁸ Selective Service in Wartime, Second Report of the Director of Selective Service, 1941-42, pp. 239-241, under heading “Special Problems of Classification.”

¹⁹ Rev. 3:20, NW.

²⁰ Murdock v. Pennsylvania, 319 U.S. 105 (May 3, 1943).

²¹ Mark 6:6, NW.

²² Matt. 5:1, 2, NW.

²³ Matt. 13:1-3, NW.

²⁴ Acts 17:17, NW.

²⁵ Acts 20:20, NW.

²⁶ Acts 5:42, NW.

²⁷ Matt. 4:4, NW.

²⁸ New York Times, January 21, 1957, Presbyterian minister David H. C. Reed.

²⁹ Open-Air Preaching, introduction to book by A. F. Schauffler.

Pursuing My Purpose in Life

As told by Panayotis C. Spiropoulos

AT ATHENS, Greece, in 1929 I was studying, but I wanted to go to the United States to continue my studies and gain financial help. Immigration laws preventing that, finally, in 1931, I decided to come to Egypt. Here in Cairo, in a restaurant, I met a man who spoke to me about the Bible and the end of the world. I asked him to inform me about the fulfillment of the Bible’s various prophecies. From that time I started to study the Bible, discussing its many doctrines with the brother. The difference between the Bible and the teaching of the Greek Orthodox religion became clear to me. My instructor gave me the book Thy Kingdom Come (Volume 3 of the Studies in the Scriptures series of six by Pastor Russell). This book, in Greek, was the first one I read published by the Society. The brother had only this one book in Greek, having brought it with him to Egypt from Greece. Later he wrote to the Society at Brooklyn and received from there books in various languages. From that time I started to read the Society’s publications and also to distribute them, beginning thus to pursue my purpose in life.

In 1933 a pioneer brother came from the United States to work here with us and help us in arranging Bible studies and spreading Bible truths. A year later another pioneer brother came from the U.S.A. and I joined him in full-time pioneering. Together we worked in Cairo, helping persons of good will with Bible studies. At first I visited only Greek-speaking people, there being many in Egypt. Soon I learned to speak Arabic, and now we are giving the message in Greek, English, French and Arabic.

The two of us rented a small apartment, furnishing it with a few chairs, and here we invited persons of good will for our meetings.

One Monday I called at a Greek grocery shop and started to witness to the proprietor. He was unwilling to listen or to discuss religion, being very superstitious, saying it was Monday morning and the first day of the week. “All right, if you do not want to discuss religious matters, then tell me, how is your business these days?” He told me that business was not so good; that he had difficulty covering his expenses. Then I explained to him that the bad conditions prevail not only in Egypt but in all parts of the world; and after touching upon the disturbed political situation I showed him that all these things were foretold in the Bible, the Word of God, and now are occurring in fulfillment of Bible prophecies about the end of the world. Finally I invited him to take some literature if he was interested and to read it at home in his spare time. I showed him two books in Greek. He asked whether those were the only books I had. “No, I also have some booklets.” He then asked whether these were the only books in Greek published by the Society, whereupon I explained that there were about ten bound books and more than twenty booklets published by the Society. He told me to bring him all the books and booklets the next day, adding that at first he thought I was a Protestant or an evangelist but on hearing what I had to say about the Bible he knew what I told him was the truth. The next day I delivered to him all the Greek publications he had ordered and also some books in French.

As time passed it became very difficult to place literature with the people in Cairo; so I went to a port town, obtaining special permission from the government to board the commercial ships and give the Kingdom message to the sailors. They also took many books and booklets. Once I stayed aboard one ship about three days, having Bible studies with the sailors (as well as having my meals and lodging on that ship). Later I worked at Port Said, where more commercial ships constantly were calling. Then two other pioneer brothers and I went to Upper Egypt to carry on a campaign, placing many books while visiting all the villages and towns. Here it was difficult to visit people in their homes, so we called on them at their work, meeting judges, government officials in their offices, also clergymen and others. The clergymen were not happy after reading our literature. They saw how the power of the truth could upset their peaceful habitations; so they printed and circulated some tracts telling the people not to accept our message or buy our literature. The priests sent these tracts to all the towns in Upper Egypt, for distribution by boys on their way to school; so on reaching a new town we found the people expecting us, eager to hear the message and to see what our books contained.

During World War II the Egyptian authorities closed our Kingdom Hall and confiscated our literature; so we had to continue activities underground, literally, in an obscure basement apartment. Jehovah in his own way kept providing us with spiritual food and with opportunities to keep on dispensing it. Through those difficult times we happily continued, fearing Jehovah, doing his commandments. He protected and prospered our work.

After the war, in 1947, Brothers Knorr and Henschel visited us. Then the Society arranged to open a better place for meetings, office work and improved sleeping quarters; so we ceased to use the basement apartment. The Society’s Cairo branch was established and we were fully instructed for carrying on the good work.

Now we have a Kingdom Hall with three separate rooms, where we carry on our meetings in three different languages.

Besides sharing with the happy thousands the blessings and joys of the 1953 world assembly at Yankee Stadium, it became my privilege to be a member of Gilead’s twenty-second class, which graduated February 7, 1954, and then to go back to Egypt, not “for help” but better to keep on pursuing my purpose in life as a missionary here in the Nile valley.

Politics Even in Prayer

● The chief librarian at Dagenham, England, recently investigated the history of an area on which there now stands an immense Ford factory. One of the first purchasers of the site was a certain John Ward, a member of parliament, who bought it when it was flooded and therefore cheap, and then had a bill passed to drain it at the public expense. After his death there was found among his papers this extraordinary prayer: “O Lord, Thou knowest I have mine estates in the City of London, and likewise that I have recently purchased an estate in fee simple in the County of Essex. I beseech Thee to preserve the two counties of Middlesex and Essex from fire and earthquake, and as I have a mortage in Hertfordshire, I beg of Thee likewise to have an eye of compassion on that county; for the rest of the counties, Thou mayest deal with them as Thou art pleased.”—Questions People Ask, by Robert J. McCracken.

Living True to Our Dedication

DEDICATION is a divine requirement. Jesus set the example for dedication when, as he came to John at Jordan to be baptized, he said: “I am come to do your will.”—Heb. 10:9, NW.a

All who will ever gain life in God’s new world must thus dedicate themselves to God. And what is more, they must live true to their dedication, as we read: “When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it; for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow.”—Eccl. 5:4, RS.

Many have not dedicated themselves because of neglecting to take in knowledge of God’s Word. Others foolishly and selfishly hold back from dedicating themselves to God because they prefer fleeting, base or worldly pleasures to the enduring joys of God’s righteous new world. Others, again, hold back because of the reproach that is associated with the name of Jehovah.

Still others hold back because of fear that they will not be able to meet the obligations of dedication to God. Such persons lack faith in Jehovah’s promises and power. But all such cannot escape the issue by not dedicating themselves. Refusal to dedicate themselves for selfish reasons will make them as deserving of destruction as are those who do dedicate themselves and then prove unfaithful.

What does living true to our dedication require of us? Basically it requires “exclusive devotion” to Jehovah. (Ex. 20:5, NW) Exclusive devotion is shown by Jehovah’s servants today along four fields of endeavor. First of all, we must keep on taking in accurate knowledge. We must be transformed by making our minds over so that we may prove what is the good, acceptable and complete will of God. Daily we should feed on God’s Word, reading the Bible or perusing Bible-study aids. Scriptural knowledge gives us strength as well as teaching us how to live true to our dedication.

Secondly, to live true to our dedication we must associate with other dedicated ones to the extent that we have opportunity, even as commanded at Hebrews 10:23-25. As Paul shows elsewhere, Christians are like the members of a human body; we all have need of one another. Living true to our dedication requires that we help others as well as doing our level best. For both, we need the association of others.

Living true to our dedication further requires of us that we strip off our old personality and put on a new, Christlike personality. (Eph. 4:22-24) We must heed the instruction to “deaden, therefore, your body members which are upon the earth as respects fornication, uncleanness, sexual appetite, hurtful desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” In their place we must bring forth the fruitage of the spirit, which is “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control.”—Col. 3:5; Gal. 5:22-24, NW.

Most important of all, living true to our dedication requires that we preach the good news of Jehovah’s established kingdom, that we witness to his supremacy and name and that we warn the wicked of Jehovah’s impending wrath. And to do all this in a way that is most effective and pleasing to Jehovah we must recognize and co-operate with the instrument he is using at the present time, none other than the New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses. That includes preaching publicly and from house to house as well as incidentally.

The facts show that some 700,000 Christian ministers are thus living true to their dedication. Are you one of them?

[Footnotes]

Never Compromising on Christian Principles

“Whoever, therefore, wants to be a friend of the world is constituting himself an enemy of God.”—Jas. 4:4, NW.

1. What are principles?

TRUE Christians are governed by principles. A principle is a fundamental truth. Since truth is that which is in accordance with the actual state of things, principles essentially are statements of basic facts. The Bible contains thousands of these principles, expressly stated as in the text above. Others are deduced or found in the book of nature, as Paul wrote at Romans 1:20 (NW): God’s “invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are understood by the things made.”

2, 3. What are some examples of principles, and how might they be used in reasoning?

² Some examples of principles will serve to show the part principles play in our understanding and reasoning. Here are a few: Jehovah is the Most High over all the earth. There is no God besides Jehovah. Jehovah is from everlasting to everlasting. Jesus is the beginning of the creation of God. God is head over Christ. The Father is greater than Christ. The Son is subject to God. God raised up Christ from the dead. God gave Christ a higher position than before. Holy spirit is not a person. People can be filled with holy spirit.—Ps. 83:18; Isa. 44:6; Ps. 90:2; Col. 1:15; 1 Cor. 11:3; John 14:28; 1 Cor. 15:28; Acts 13:30; 2:32, 33; 2:4, 17.

³ How would such principles be put to use? They might be viewed as building materials assembled according to plans to form a house. These particular principles of truth assembled together according to divine pattern form Bible doctrines of truth. One point that immediately becomes evident is that it is impossible for Jehovah God, Christ Jesus and holy spirit to be one ‘coequal, coeternal god,’ as trinitarians say. Jehovah is more powerful than Christ Jesus; therefore they are not equal. Jehovah is eternal, but Jesus was created by God; so they are not equal and Jesus is not the Eternal One. And the holy spirit is God’s force, not a person. People cannot be filled with a person, but they can be filled with an active force or holy spirit. The clergy refuse to reason on these Scriptural principles, but insist that the trinity doctrine is a mystery. In effect the clergy are tools of Satan, because Satan is trying to show that God is not supreme; and the clergy by teaching the trinity doctrine try to put Almighty God Jehovah into a position where others are equal to Him. That is impossible according to the Bible principles and the facts. So by reasoning on these principles you are enabled to see clearly that Christendom’s trinity doctrine is false. And, of course, the word “trinity” does not appear in the Bible.

4, 5. What is the relationship of Jehovah’s laws and principles?

⁴ Jehovah’s theocratic laws are based on principles of truth. For example, the divine law still in effect to this day forbids murder. It is based on the plain principle or fact that man is mortal. Therefore just as true principles are used to build up all the many Bible doctrines, so true principles lie behind all God’s laws.

⁵ Actually each of the hundreds of laws comprising the law covenant as given to Moses is based on one or more principles of truth. A multitude of righteous principles came to man’s attention for the first time when, as a revelation, the law covenant was given to the Israelites. So when God brought the legal binding force of the law covenant to an end at the death of Jesus, he did not destroy the eternal principles of truth that came to man’s notice by means of it. These principles of truth found in the Law, still preserved for us in the Bible, continue to guide Christians in the way of righteousness.—Col. 2:14.

6. Why was it easier to live in the time of Moses than under the instruction of Christ?

⁶ Living by rules laid down by Moses was not so difficult as learning to live by the principles of Christ. It is so much easier to conform the conduct to a rule than to make a principle guide the whole life. Moses prescribed rules; Christ inculcated principles. Rules are for children; principles for men and women mature in Christian growth.

7. Are Christians governed entirely by principles, or are there laws they must obey?

⁷ While Christ inculcated principles, that does not mean there are no laws that govern the activities of Christians. Laws are rules of action dictated by the superior for the conduct of the inferior, and Christians are therefore obliged to obey God’s laws. Examples of laws given to Christians are: forbidding to eat blood, abstaining from fornication, keeping oneself from worshiping idols, not forsaking the gathering together in assemblies, not committing murder, and so on. And we must not forget the two great laws or commandments that Jesus repeated for us: “‘You must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. The second, like it, is this: ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’” These laws are based on principles of truth. They are set out to lead Christians to maturity.—Acts 15:20; Heb. 10:25; Rom. 13:9; Matt. 22:37, NW.

8, 9. (a) How is a Christian governed by principles? (b) What does it mean to be governed by passion?

⁸ But for the Christian, advice and instructions given are often general, setting out the principle to follow and leaving each individual a free moral agent to choose to follow the faithful principles set forth or to follow his selfish desire. In that way God allows each individual to prove how much love and confidence he has toward God and how eager he is to do the divine will.

⁹ There are two forces operating toward all persons. One is passion, which is induced by the influence of others upon the person that is influenced, and the second is principle or law, that is, God’s law or rule of action prescribing the way that is right and proper. Those who are devoted to Jehovah are governed by his law and follow his commandments based on principles of truth. So, then, to be governed by principle means to act upon the knowledge of the facts according to reason and conscience. To be governed by passion means to act because of outside influence, to let personal considerations dictate, such as wealth, fame, power, safety, or gratifications of the senses or instincts.

10. How did Paul show the contrast between those who follow passion and those who are guided by principles?

¹⁰ Passion guides the minds of most men in the evaluation of things in this system under Satan. It is becoming more and more evident that the lusts of the passionate flesh are regarded with favor by the world, while those who are guided by the principles of God’s Word are scoffed at and ridiculed by the majority of mankind today. At Galatians 5:19-24 (NW) Paul showed the contrast between those who follow passions and those who follow God’s righteous principles, and we can note how the things inspired by passion are rapidly growing in popularity in these last days: “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, and they are fornication, uncleanness, loose conduct, idolatry, practice of spiritism, hatreds, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, contentions, divisions, sects, envies, drunken bouts, revelries, and things like these. As to these things I am forewarning you, the same way as I did forewarn you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s kingdom. On the other hand, the fruitage of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Moreover, those who belong to Christ Jesus impale the flesh together with its passions and desires.”

11. (a) What are two outstanding principles seen in Paul’s words? (b) How did Peter show that the right course of Christians brings praise to Jehovah?

¹¹ Note two principles set out here: those who practice the works of the flesh will not inherit God’s kingdom; those who are Christians do not do those works. The Christians want to live under God’s government; therefore they must stick to right principles. That is why Peter forcefully advised at 1 Peter 2:11, 12 (NW): “Beloved, I exhort you as aliens and temporary residents to keep abstaining from fleshly desires, which are the very ones that carry on a conflict against the soul. Maintain your conduct right among the nations, that, in the thing in which they are speaking against you as evildoers, they may as a result of your right works of which they are eyewitnesses glorify God in the day for his inspection.” The right course taken by Christians brings praise to Jehovah in the eyes of the men of good will, but not in the eyes of the world. In this system of things it costs something to follow principles. It means loving the truth even though it is unpopular. It means fearing God, not man. It means hating unjust gain, not going after it. These are the qualities Jehovah looks for in those who will serve him in the new world.—Ex. 18:21; Prov. 29:25.

PRINCIPLES—A FOUNDATION TO BUILD ON

12. What did Paul include in the basic principles or Christianity?

¹² The apostle Paul specifically wrote the Hebrews about some foundation or basic principles of truth that all Christians must adhere to, saying: “For, indeed, although you ought to be teachers in view of the time, you again need someone to teach you from the beginning the first principles of the sacred pronouncements of God, and you have become such as need milk, not solid food. For everyone that partakes of milk is unacquainted with the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to mature people, to those who through use have their perceptive powers trained to distinguish both right and wrong. For this reason, now that we have left the elementary doctrine about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying a foundation again, namely, repentance from dead works, and faith toward God, the teaching on baptisms and the laying on of the hands, the resurrection of the dead and everlasting judgment.”—Heb. 5:12-6:2, NW.

13-15. (a) What did Paul mean when he said we have “left” the elementary doctrine? (b) How might this be compared to the use of the foundation principles of mathematics?

¹³ And what does Paul mean when he says we have “left” these doctrinal principles of basic truth? By saying we have “left” them Paul surely does not mean we should cease to believe in or practice repentance and faith; neither does he mean we should cease to believe in and practice baptism. What the apostle is showing is that we should not have to learn all these things over and over again. We must not be satisfied with knowing only the fundamentals. Paul was reproving the Hebrews addressed because, when they ought to have been teachers, they required somebody to teach them the first principles over again. They should have understood all these things and been able to teach them; and while continuing to believe in these they should have been adding to their knowledge of the Word and purposes of God; and not only so, but they should remember that it is not only correct doctrines on these subjects that are necessary to our full development as followers of Christ, but in addition the gaining of the intended results, namely, becoming full-grown Christians able to reason on and understand the Word of God and conduct ourselves according to its principles of righteousness. That is what he means when he says “press on to maturity.”

¹⁴ It might be compared to the way a child, when it goes to school, first learns the multiplication table and how to add, subtract and divide. These are the foundation principles of mathematics; and yet we would think a child either very stupid or careless in his studies to remain several years learning these first principles; and we would say that it ought to leave the first principles and go on to other things; by which we would not mean that it should forget these first principles or consider them something to leave behind never to be thought of again. The child should remember them and use them and add to them the higher branches of mathematics. If the child were going to become an engineer he would have to advance to the understanding and use of higher mathematics. And he would have to learn and be guided by the additional principles thereof. He could not make a success of his career if he ignored the principles learned because, through incorrect figuring of basic construction needs, the structure on which he worked would collapse.

¹⁵ The Christian might be said to be in a similar position. He, according to Paul, ought to use the foundation principles of Christ as a means of advancement to spiritual maturity. He must learn and be guided by advanced principles of Christ and should be able to teach them to others. If he did not understand them himself he would not be guided by them, and if he did not understand them he would be unable to instruct others about them. Christian teaching is both oral and exemplary; the course of life of the mature Christian is observed by the immature person as good to imitate, and it is good to imitate if it is based on right principles. This is another reason why the mature Christian has to be governed by principles.—Phil. 3:17.

16. What danger exists for those who do not advance beyond the first principles?

¹⁶ On the other hand, if we do not advance beyond the first principles of Christ, but childishly linger with the foundation truths of repentance, faith, baptism, begetting by the spirit, resurrection, judgment of souls and so on, there is danger. What is the danger? A relapse into sin. We must have a strong structure, well built on the solid foundation principles of Christianity, and continue building.—Rom. 14:19; Jude 20.

17. What may be said of one who, after learning the first principles, fails to undergo Christian dedication and baptism?

¹⁷ It should be noted that repentance, faith and baptism are foundation truths. The Scriptures bid us to advance beyond those and to attain maturity. Therefore, any individual associated with the New World society today who for one reason or another fails to undergo Christian baptism marks himself as very immature, not thoroughly understanding even the first principles of Christ. Though he may have been many years associating with the New World society and attending congregational meetings, he is still controlled more by passion than principle. Those who advance beyond these fundamental truths will, with the benefit of God’s spirit, advance to the mature spiritual food, gaining a penetrating understanding of God’s Word. The spirit or active force of God has clarifying powers, and with it the deeper things of God are delved into and uncovered to our understanding.—1 Cor. 2:9, 10, NW.

18. How does God’s Word help us be governed by principles?

¹⁸ All this spiritual discernment is based on God’s Word. Hence there is no substitute for knowledge of God’s Word. All of us need to meditate daily on God’s Word, to imbed more firmly in our minds the principles of truth of Almighty God Jehovah. The more basic principles we absorb, the more mature we become, the more stable and the more able to avoid collapse or a relapse into sin. The Jewish religious leaders prepared a Talmud for the Jews to follow, thereby setting out rules for every type of conduct, leaving little or no opportunity for reasoning on God’s Word, for logic and for learning God’s principles. Jehovah has not provided a Talmud-like set of rules through Christ for Christian living. He has stated some basic laws and rules in the Bible so we have a record of the principles that Christians must follow. It is necessary for Christians to apply these Christian principles to their daily living. Having a sparse knowledge of some facts found in the Scriptures is not sufficient.

CHRISTIANS AND THE WORLD

19. How does following God’s principles affect a Christian’s relationship to the world?

¹⁹ The righteous principles of God’s Word are more difficult for men than is the acceptance of Bible facts of common knowledge. Today Jehovah’s witnesses find themselves in a world where many people claim to be Christians and speak highly of the principles set forth in the Bible, but it is a rarity to find people outside of the New World society who try consistently to live up to the principles and rules set out by Almighty God in his Word. It is because Jehovah’s witnesses follow Christian principles that they are looked upon by the majority of those in the world as a peculiar people. The world is so far from Jehovah’s principles that Jehovah’s witnesses are made different from all the other people of this world, and they are looked upon by some governments of this world as an obstinate people, people that will not fall in line. The rulers do not understand the principles set forth in the Scriptures showing that Satan is the god of this world and that Christians are no part of this world, even as Christ Jesus was no part of this world. (1 Cor. 2:14) The world, through its judges and rulers, demands that Jehovah’s witnesses render to Caesar, not only the things that are Caesar’s, but more than that, and the world forgets the rest of the command of Jesus to pay the things that are God’s to God. Jehovah’s witnesses pay their taxes, accept education of the nation through the schools and support all the laws of the land that are in full accord with God’s principles of truth and righteousness, and wherever they live they comply with the rules and regulations of that nation. They dress as do other people and for the most part conform to the customs and habits of the people. But one thing Jehovah’s witnesses can not and will not do, that is, violate their conscience, which has been trained according to the principles set forth in God’s Word. True Christians, Jehovah’s witnesses, will adhere to the principles of Almighty God and pay back to God what belongs to God.—Matt. 22:21, NW.

20. What is an outstanding principle that is ignored by many?

²⁰ Men cannot ignore the outstanding principle that Jehovah is the Creator and Almighty God of the universe, if they are to have understanding. Some so-called wise men of science in the world set up an insurmountable barrier to comprehending the origin of life by deliberately ignoring this principle. Then try as they may, without this basic truth they cannot ever arrive at a satisfactory explanation of life.—Gen. 1:1.

21. (a) What is Jehovah’s right as Creator? (b) When one becomes a dedicated worshiper of Jehovah what is his position with respect to the world?

²¹ As the Creator and Almighty One, Jehovah has the right to receive the exclusive devotion of human creatures on the earth. Jehovah himself made this plain in giving his law to Israel: “You must not make for yourself a carved image or a form like anything that is in the heavens above or that is on the earth underneath or that is in the waters under the earth. You must not bow down to them nor be induced to serve them, because I Jehovah your God am a God exacting exclusive devotion.” (Ex. 20:4, 5, NW) That is a principle of truth or a fact. It is also a fact that his supremacy has been challenged by Satan, the god of this world, and this world is in opposition to Almighty God Jehovah. (Job 1:11; Isa. 14:13; Jas. 4:4) Christians make an unconditional dedication to Jehovah and thus become aliens to this devilish old world. Therefore dedication is like applying for citizenship in the new world and the formal ceremony of baptism is like an oath before witnesses confirming this fact. The founder of Christianity, Christ Jesus, set the example by his dedication and baptism, and then, at John 17:14 (NW), clearly stated concerning Christians: “They are no part of the world just as I am no part of the world.”

22. When Jesus set out the principle at John 17:14, why did he not give a multitude of minute rules and details for Christians to follow?

²² What did Jesus mean by the principle here stated? Why did he not go into detail and set out a multitude of rules for Christians to follow? It is true that he stated the principle a little earlier when he said to his followers, at John 15:19 (NW): “If you were part of the world, the world would be fond of what is its own. Now because you are no part of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, on this account the world hates you.” Yet he did not want Christians to be isolated from preaching to the world, for he prayed to Jehovah, at John 17:15 (NW): “I request you, not to take them out of the world, but to watch over them because of the wicked one.” Yes, there is danger from the god of this world. (2 Cor. 4:4) Jesus told Christians the theocratic principles, but he left it for them to reason on the Scriptures and to determine how to deal with Satan’s subtle snares and how to conduct their lives in this system of things.

23. How does the exemplary life of Christ aid Christians to reason on how to live in accord with the principles of God’s Word in this world?

²³ Christians upon the earth today have the benefit of seeing how Christ and the inspired apostles reasoned on Bible principles. Jesus himself had made a solemn dedication to serve Jehovah. That meant he was a minister or ambassador of Jehovah and was required to give his first attention to Jehovah’s service. He appreciated true values, visualizing the rightness of his position and keeping clear of the old world or false human reasonings. He preached the storing up of treasures in heaven and practiced what he preached by serving in full-time ministry. He understood the principles that all things belong to Jehovah and the blessing of Jehovah makes rich. He resisted the effort of the people to make him a king. Jesus was positive in his expressions and actions. He fully understood his place and the work to be done. While he was neutral toward the conflicts, politics and commerce of this world, yet he did not hesitate to speak out in condemnation of the violations of the righteous principles of God. He did not compromise principles with being overly tactful. Jesus refused to share in the false religions of his day, and by his strict adherence to God’s principles of righteousness he drew the fire of religious leaders, who caused him to be brought before the Roman rulers. There Jesus stated a principle: “My kingdom is no part of this world.” And then he said: “If my kingdom were part of this world, my attendants would have fought that I should not be delivered up to the Jews. But, as it is, my kingdom is not from this source.”—John 18:36, NW; also Matt. 6:20; 4:1-10; 23:4, 5.

Happy Those Who Refuse to Compromise

1. If Jesus had not been governed by principles what course of action might he have taken, but what course did he take?

BY TAKING a course of action contrary to the principles of Jehovah Jesus might have gained the favor of men and avoided some of the reproach and sufferings that he endured, but he was not the kind who bows to whatever is currently expedient. Jesus set his mind on exclusive devotion to Jehovah, resisting material things and entanglement with this world, and gained the eternal blessing of Jehovah. Our great Example was governed by principles rather than passion, and God’s law was in his heart. He would not compromise.—Ps. 40:8; Heb. 10:9.

2, 3. (a) What faithful examples of living by Christian principles do we see in the lives of the early Christians? (b) What principle did James set before the compromisers?

² The apostles saw his example and fully understood it with the help of holy spirit. They too dedicated their lives to Jehovah’s service, were baptized and advanced to spiritual maturity. The record of their actions and words emphasizes the way true Christians, guided by right principles, conduct themselves to be acceptable to Jehovah. It shows too that imperfect men such as we are can live by principles. When they faced persecutions they were as steadfast as Jesus, Peter and John, saying to the rulers who had them beaten for obeying right principles: “We must obey God as ruler rather than men.” They may have avoided reproach and physical suffering at men’s hands by compromising the Christian principles, but they would have suffered terrible pangs of conscience if they had compromised. They were mature Christians who thought out matters carefully and saw the only course was to give a straightforward answer.—Acts 5:29, NW; 1 Pet. 3:16, 21.

³ Early Christians did not make a sugary appeal to gain the approval of the world by compromising their position or message. Jesus had plainly informed them they would be hated by the world and would suffer persecution, even death, for holding to right principles. They knew that to compromise would mean sacrificing their standing with Jehovah. The outspoken James therefore forcefully addressed the compromisers: “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.”—Jas. 4:4, NW.

4, 5. Show how reasoning on Christian principles protects Christians from the so-called interfaith movements.

⁴ In those early days under the Roman Empire the leaders of the world practiced a conglomeration of religions, a sort of interfaith arrangement, with all religions being considered to have some merit. But true Christians remained separate and were hated for their uncompromising attitude. How could the Christians do otherwise? The principle had been stated by Christ that they were not a part of the world. They knew that worship of Jehovah and not that of idols was proper. (Note how Paul reasoned on principles and idolatry at 1 Corinthians 10:14-22.) Reasoning on the Scriptural principles protects every Christian from so-called interfaith movements. Jesus had warned, at Matthew 16:6-12 (NW): “Be on the alert and watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” “So they began to reason among themselves, saying: ‘We did not take any loaves along.’ Knowing this, Jesus said: ‘Why are you doing this reasoning among yourselves, because you have no loaves, you with little faith? Do you not yet see the point, or do you not remember the five loaves in the case of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? Or the seven loaves in the case of the four thousand and how many provision baskets you took up? How is it you do not discern that I did not talk to you about loaves? But watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’ Then they grasped that he said to watch out, not for the yeast of the loaves, but for the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” So they needed to have the facts in mind when doing their reasoning, and Jesus helped them to learn. Later on Paul came on the scene and reasoned clearly on the pressing interfaith problem in his day and helped fellow Christians to reason well by writing, at 2 Corinthians 6:14-17 (NW): “Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? Further, what harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what portion does a faithful person have with an unbeliever? And what agreement does God’s temple have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said: ‘I shall reside among them and walk among them, and I shall be their God, and they will be my people.’ ‘Therefore get out from among them, and separate yourselves,’ says Jehovah, ‘and quit touching the unclean thing.’” Clear logic by Paul. Seeing the principles involved, the Corinthian Christians could keep clean.

⁵ Therefore today, even though the word “interfaith” is not in the Bible, true Christians are found following Christian principles and are not in the interfaith movements, ministerial alliances or compromising church councils. We will not take any part in the conglomeration of divided false religions now so popular in this world. Why not? Because we reason on Bible principles and understand the position of a Christian in this world. As Christians we must keep clean and never compromise God’s righteous principles for the sake of being looked on with favor by this world.

6. How must the Christian reason on God’s principles and laws in connection with blood transfusion?

⁶ Another example that might be given of words not specifically mentioned in the Bible that must be reasoned upon according to God’s principles and laws is blood transfusion. How easily people who ignore God’s principles are stirred by passion or emotion! Blood transfusion has been developed in recent years and it therefore never occurred in the Bible days. God’s principles and laws are clear, however: The life of the flesh is in the blood. Blood may not be eaten. Blood must be poured out, not stored up. Blood transfusion is the same as intravenous feeding; it is a feeding upon blood. Therefore it must be reasoned that it is an unscriptural practice. Principle triumphs over emotion. True Christians will not compromise, allowing no form of blood to be transfused and thus suffer disfavor of Jehovah. It would be unreasonable anyway to lose eternal life in the new world just for the sake of wanting to live a few more weeks or years now.

7. What pressures may come upon a Christian in connection with blood transfusion?

⁷ But who will deny that when one is personally involved in the battle of stirred emotions of the world versus principles of truth he does not have a trial? Does blood transfusion not appear to be valuable on the surface? Could it not be argued that one would thus keep himself alive and be better able to serve God? It does no good to enter into arguments. It may be true that blood substitutes will not perform the same work as blood. But God’s principles are fixed and Christians adhere to his laws as against medical arguments. So pressures of life are applied constantly against Jehovah’s dedicated servants and it is only by calm, deliberate, clear thinking on matters, carefully and prayerfully searching out the will of Jehovah, that the Christian avoids the compromise.

THE DANGER IN COMPROMISE

8. Why avoid even one compromise?

⁸ Compromising is dangerous. Making one compromise breaks down a good conscience. Other compromises can easily follow. It may be compared to a man who told one lie, adding many more to cover up the first one.

9. Neutrality toward the world means what for the Christian?

⁹ The conscience that is guided by Jehovah’s Word will stick to right principles and help one keep the proper neutrality toward the world. A dedicated servant of Jehovah is in a position far different from that of a man of the world. He is under contract to make positive expression for Jehovah’s cause, both in words and in deeds, and he cannot withdraw from that contract. (Eccl. 5:4, 5) Some might think that neutrality of Christians toward the world indicates only that they do not participate in some things that violate Christian principles and conscience. But it is not only what you are not that counts, it is what you are! Neutrality toward the world does not void action toward New World interests. It means active Christian ministry—active support of the new world. Without such activity our faith is marked as dead. The activity now required is based on the principle stated by Jesus: “And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness to all the nations, and then the accomplished end will come.” Conscientious work is in order to share in carrying out this purpose of Jehovah.—Jas. 2:26; Matt. 24:14, NW.

10. On what must the Christian think when any effort is made to take him out of the ministry, and what will he do?

¹⁰ If one has taken up this ministry, how can he conscientiously allow anything to take him out of the service voluntarily? There are times when the world calls on an individual for special service of some kind that is contrary to Bible principles by which his conscience has been trained or that would involve him in lucrative extra activity to such an extent that he would be unable to give proper attention to the ministry. Here he must reason on the principles of God’s Word. Is he going to allow himself to be taken away from the ministry to serve the old world exclusively? Should he fear what might happen to him if he refuses? Will he lose his present means of livelihood? Will he suffer some loss of material things or reputation if he holds to his ministry? Will he be persecuted? It is a battle of principle versus passion. Based on the Christian principle concerning our relationship to the world, Paul wrote, at 2 Timothy 2:3, 4 (NW): “As a right kind of soldier of Christ Jesus take your part in suffering evil. No man serving as a soldier involves himself in the commercial businesses of life, in order that he may meet the approval of the one who enrolled him as a soldier.” We are Christian soldiers. We are ambassadors substituting for Christ. We have our work divinely assigned. With these principles firmly in mind, each individual Christian follows his conscience, even if his family and worldly neighbors do not understand what Jesus meant when he said: “Keep on, then, seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you.”—2 Cor. 5:20; Matt. 6:33, NW.

11. How have the clergy compromised on the principles of God’s Word, and what do we find to be the result to them and Christendom?

¹¹ We are deeply indebted to Jehovah for unfolding before our eyes his purposes concerning the present system of things under Satan. How different is our position from that of the clergy and men of this world! The clergy are worried as they see godlessness, communism and heathen philosophies sweeping like a flood up to the doors of Christendom and infiltrating their organizations. But we are not surprised, because Jesus foretold it in the prophecy at Luke 21:20-22. The leaders of Christendom are frantic in their efforts to hold the domination over the peoples, which was once so strong. But they do not give the people a solid basis for faith by teaching them the pure principles of God, and the people are drifting. The clergy have compromised time and again on the basic principles of the Word of God and twist scriptures to try to justify the compromises. They have introduced gambling, shows and social events into the churches to try to hold the flock together. They have allied themselves with politicians, and show themselves as a part of this world. The National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. gives evidence of this in announcing, as reported in the New York Times, September 10, 1956, that “ministers have a duty to think through the issues and take sides in politics.” Christ Jesus and the apostles would never do that. The clergy have blessed and shared in bloody wars. But even with their compromises and taking sides with political leaders, they have failed to hold off the spiritual bankruptcy of Christendom and to retain control of the people. They are divided, disunited and spiritually weak.

12. (a) In what direction have the compromises led Christendom? (b) In contrast, what is the position of Jehovah’s witnesses?

¹² Jehovah’s witnesses have expected this condition in compromising Christendom, and God’s Word shows it will grow still worse until finally unprincipled Christendom will fall harder than unfaithful Jerusalem in 607 B.C., whose fall was prophetic of the coming event. And Jehovah’s witnesses want no part of the compromising, unfaithful clergy and their ways. Christendom is doomed by God’s judgment. A great gulf has opened up between the principled servants of Jehovah and the unprincipled false worshipers. As the climax approaches, Jehovah’s organization remains clean. His true witnesses hold firmly to God’s principles and remain clean. We are not here on earth to become popular with the old world; we are here to uphold pure worship.

ENDURING SEPARATE FROM THIS WORLD

13. How has a patient, uncompromising attitude been demonstrated by Jehovah’s servants in connection with the work in Italy, and with what results?

¹³ Upholding pure worship requires patience and endurance while clinging to Christian principles. In many parts of the world our brothers have been called upon to be governed strongly by the principles of Jehovah in the face of the greatest tests. Jehovah has strengthened them. Consider our brothers in totalitarian lands. Have they abandoned principles for passionate expediency? Look back at the example of Italy. For years Mussolini’s Black Shirts stood in the way of the preaching of the good news by Jehovah’s witnesses. The Vatican enjoyed treaty relations and friendship with the world, but Jehovah’s servants in Italy, few in number, were severely persecuted. Jehovah’s witnesses inside and outside of Italy wondered how it would be possible to preach to Italy’s millions. The years seemed long then, but Jehovah’s witnesses were patient. They did not lose faith. They preached where they could. The time came for Jehovah’s principles to be made known in Italy and the ‘sword of the Roman Catholic Church’ was taken out of the way. When the opening came the work was quickly pushed throughout the land and now a rapidly expanding part of the New World society flourishes in sunny Italy.

14. How have Jehovah’s witnesses in other totalitarian lands endured separate from the world and gained Jehovah’s blessing?

¹⁴ Our brothers in Nazi Germany endured, some even to death. Our brothers in the Dominican Republic and Argentina endured. Christians expect to have to endure much while remaining separate from this world, but while waiting for deliverance by Jehovah they continue to preach the good news. Jehovah has richly blessed them in their faith, as in Quebec, where our brothers put up a hard fight and would not compromise what was right. Jehovah has given victories, and today the good news is openly preached in these lands, to Jehovah’s praise. Jehovah’s servants have stood firmly upon the solid principles of Jehovah even when the situation seemed the darkest. Thoroughly convinced of the rightness of their position they have fought valiantly and finally succeeded in convincing many rulers and judges, by Jehovah’s help, of the lawful rights of those who stick to Jehovah’s principles. And today in these lands the good news is openly preached, to Jehovah’s praise and to the great chagrin of the opposed clergy.

15. Why has it been possible for Jehovah’s witnesses to endure fierce Communist persecution, and what do they do while enduring?

¹⁵ For years now the brothers in communistic countries have had to endure vicious persecution. Extremely cunning and persistent efforts have been put forth to bring on compromise. The holding to Christian principles by faithful witnesses of Jehovah has made a great testimony to the rulers and the ruled. How much longer the brothers will have to endure these conditions we do not know. They keep in mind the principle stated by Jesus: “He that has endured to the finish is the one that will be saved.” (Matt. 24:13, NW) And the words of Paul give understanding: “You have closely followed my teaching, . . . my faith, . . . my endurance, my persecutions, my sufferings, . . . the kind of persecutions I have borne; and yet out of them all the Lord delivered me. In fact, all those desiring to live with godly devotion in association with Christ Jesus will also be persecuted.” (2 Tim. 3:10-12, NW) So as they endure they preach, and through them Jehovah gathers more of his sheep. The record of the endurance of Jehovah’s servants in these last days was made only with the help of Jehovah, and to him we give all thanks and praise. How happy those who are guided by principles and who endure in the glorious fight!—Jas. 5:11.

16. (a) Why is it important now to know how to reason on the principles of God’s Word? (b) How can we avoid becoming ensnared by human reasoning?

¹⁶ Satan has found little success by means of flaming persecution in conquering those who live by true Christian principles. But he is a wily opponent who has not given up the fight. Did he not put Jesus to the test by suggesting what might appear on the surface to be good but which would draw him away from Jehovah? (Matt. 4:1-11) Jesus knew how to reason on Bible principles and stood firm. Satan now knows his time is short and he is going about seeking to devour all, including Jehovah’s servants. By subtle snares he would like to compromise Jehovah’s servants, break them down and capture their worship. We are about to enter upon the greatest time of testing Christians have ever known. Then let us be careful how we think and reason. Stick to God’s righteous laws and principles. Even those close to us or associated with us could give bad advice by following human reasoning instead of following God’s principles. The heavily tested Job received unhappy words from his wife. (Job 2:9, 10) Even Christ Jesus had to watch out for dangerous words when Peter, his close associate, strongly objected to Jesus’ need to suffer and be killed. “He said to Peter: ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumblingblock to me, because you think, not God’s thoughts, but those of men.’” And then to help Peter think right Jesus stated a principle concerning all Christians: “For whoever wants to save his soul will lose it; but whoever loses his soul for my sake will find it.” (Matt. 16:22-25, NW) So let us look to the accurate advice of Jehovah’s Word and organization. Jehovah has given us his righteous principles upon which to meditate, and as long as we are kept strong in mind by conforming to these principles we shall not yield to Satan.

17. Why must we be alert against compromises now, and what will result to those who never compromise on Christian principles?

¹⁷ For Jehovah’s servants in the spiritual warfare it is now a time to give sober thought to what we are doing. We face a subtle foe in Satan and many snares are laid to trap us, lull us to sleep spiritually or draw us into the world and away from what is first in our lives, the kingdom of God. As each trial of our devotion comes along, we must keep our emotions calm. We must think matters out patiently and consider carefully the counsel from God’s Word and organization before making a move that may endanger our service. We have to become spiritually grown-up Christians who can make decisions that are right. More and more the world follows expediency or passion and ignores principle; but more and more Jehovah’s servants are adhering to Christian principles and putting aside the passions of the flesh. We are Christians. Our dedication is made. We are willing to suffer for righteousness’ sake. We are no part of this world, nor do we ever want to be. It is a time of final judgment. Everlasting life hangs in the balance. Think on God’s things and be governed by them. Gain everlasting life by never compromising on Christian principles.

False Religion Breeds Fanaticism

THAT false religion or false worship breeds fanaticism the Bible clearly shows. A modern case in point occurred in Panama to a full-time minister of Jehovah by the name of José.

It was last November 5 as a group of four witnesses of Jehovah, including José, traveled on foot to a certain small village to preach. En route they stopped at the home of an acquaintance of one of them to give a witness. This one, a Mrs. Gonzalez, belonged to the Evangelist sect, and, she being a firm believer in divine healing, the discussion centered around this teaching. As the discussion continued her husband, Mr. Gonzalez, came in from the field with his machete, a long-bladed general-purpose knife, shook hands with the four visitors and sat down to listen. At one point the wife stated that her pastor said that Jehovah’s witnesses were a false religion. This statement at once aroused her husband, who began to shout insults at the witnesses, saying they were drunkards and that their film about the New World society showed that they were a worldly lot.

Gonzalez demanded that they leave at once, and as they got up to leave, one of the witnesses, José, endeavored to reason with him. At that Gonzalez made a remark that the witness did not get clearly and he asked what had been said. This made Gonzalez furious. Raising his machete he began to repeat, “Yes, you or me, you or me,” as the witness backed away. As José tried to pick up a stick to defend himself, Gonzalez swung with his machete, cutting a large gash on the left side of José’s face and almost cutting off his ear.

As José ran out of the house with Gonzalez in pursuit the other three witnesses also scattered. Running down the road until exhausted, José called for help and a woman came from a nearby house and took him in and gave him a handkerchief to cover his wound. Her husband helped José to the highway, where, fortunately, a small bus, driven by a person of good will, happened to come along. He took wounded José to the local first-aid dispensary, only to find it closed because of its being a holiday. There seemed that nothing could be done but wait for a bus to take José to the city of Colón.

While waiting, José was lying on the ground with his head on a friend’s lap and blood streaming from his nose and mouth. Neighbors brought ice and towels to help stop the bleeding. After almost an hour a police wagon came by and took José and his good-will companion to Amador Guerrera hospital in Colón. Meanwhile the police arrested Gonzalez.

As for the rest of the Gonzalez family, they strongly disapproved of his fanatical act and expressed real sorrow for what had taken place. Visiting him in jail, his wife found him not at all repentant. Fanatically he tried to justify himself on the ground that Peter had used a sword to defend Jesus, overlooking entirely that the one Peter struck was part of an armed mob that had come to take innocent Jesus, the Son of God. Also that even under such provocative conditions Jesus strongly rebuked Peter for resorting to the literal sword. How blind does fanaticism make persons!

The full-time minister, José, fully recovered from his wound and is again enjoying his ministerial privileges. Because of this incident he is having many opportunities to witness to Jehovah’s name and kingdom in the vicinity; also pointing out that Jesus said his followers could expect to receive such persecution. On the other hand, Mrs. Gonzalez reports that others come to her saying that they could never think of becoming one of the Evangelists, since they are taught to kill. Truly, false religion does make fanatics of people and fanatics not only harm others but injure their own cause.

Part 5—Rounding the World with the Vice-President

IN ANCIENT times the meddling of Buddhist priests in politics became so distasteful to the Japanese court in Nara that, in the year 794, the emperor moved to Kyoto, to get away from the Nara priests. Kyoto remained the capital of Japan until A.D. 1868, when the capital was moved to Tokyo. But to Kyoto we now drove, the city from which the royal “Son of Heaven” had either in fact or nominally ruled Japan for more than a thousand years. Kyoto is free from the scars of World War II bombings. Its ancient culture and temples saved it from that indignity. It is a city of wide streets and beautiful parks, but is also a center for the many sects of Buddhism in Japan. It is packed full of demon gods. There is the hall of Kwannon, the goddess of mercy, with 1,001 images of the same goddess; there are huge replicas of the 108-bead Buddhist rosary, and gods with many hands, and a huge rope woven from hair donated by thousands of women worshipers.

However, focal point of interest in Kyoto this January 23 was this national assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses, now in its second day. Here an eager crowd of His witnesses was assembled from every corner of this insular country. Two months previous Japan had reached a new maximum of active Kingdom publishers, a 20-percent increase over the previous year, with a total of 657 ministers in the field. As the assembly started hundreds of these were in attendance and by the last day 470 of these members of the New World society were present, which was about sixty more than when the Society’s president visited the land nine months before that. It was very noticeable that these Japanese witnesses had now cast aside the reserve and formality that are so common among the Japanese. Here at the assembly they were laughing and happy and applauding, for this was one grand, big family reunion. When our party reached the convention building, the Okazaki Kokaido, the gathering had risen to 420 present. The first thing the vice-president was called upon to do was to make a five-minute recording backstage for a radio man, without interruption in English, this talk being then translated entirely from memory by our Japanese translator, this latter recording to be superimposed loudly upon the original English when broadcast over radio.

Among those attending were sixty-six missionary graduates of Gilead from ten different countries, as well as more than forty Japanese special pioneer ministers, young and old. On two occasions Fred W. Franz and these overjoyed ministers had a most profitable time holding meetings and talking together. Some of the Japanese special pioneers were preparing to go to new territory. Four of them were about to start work in the atom-bombed city of Hiroshima, which has grown again to a population of 400,000 and where there is much interest in God’s kingdom message. Another family of four adults and two children were shortly to open work in Fukuoka, a city of 600,000 in the southern island of Kyushu, where the truth has yet to be preached. During the assembly a ten-year-old girl from this group, who is still going to school, surprised the audience by giving a polished house-to-house Bible sermon from the platform, complete with looking up the scriptures in the Japanese Bible, and reading these and then presenting the Watchtower magazine subscription offer. Also special pioneers told many fine experiences resulting from the return-visit and Bible study work. One group, in less than a year, had established a congregation of fourteen publishers, and of these there were four that had now enrolled for vacation pioneer service. Another group, working in the far north, where the snow covered the names read by the postman on the houses and where all other religions hibernated for the winter, had in four months established a Watchtower magazine study attended by thirteen persons, and four of these were already Kingdom publishers.

The assembly organization functioned with good efficiency, and the cafeteria with tables in a large room on the first floor of the building fed hundreds of conventioners at each meal in quick time. The rice and other food was cooked in large boilers outside the hall. At the cafeteria table Brother Franz ate with chopsticks just as the others did and did a fair job of disposing therewith of a plate of fish and rice.

Now, on the evening of January 23, an assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses in Japan was to hear a discourse in English for only the third time in eight years, the two previous occasions being on the former visits of the Society’s president. Through a competent interpreter, a Japanese member Or the Tokyo branch office, Brother Franz spoke at 7:30 p.m. to an audience now grown to 437. A considerable number present who understood no Japanese or only some of it not too well were delighted and revived to hear once again a speech in English even if punctured with translation into the local language. It seemed that almost everyone in the audience had a Bible. Whenever the speaker mentioned a scripture, down from looking at him the heads would bow in unison, the Bibles would open and everyone followed along in his copy of the Word of God. It was a markedly attentive and enthusiastic audience, even to the sister who stood near the doorway with a baby strapped to her back, gently jogging to and fro to keep baby slumbering while mother listened.

The Kokaido platform was colorfully decorated with flowers, including many chrysanthemums, Japan’s national flower, and on the back wall of the stage was a large painting of the Society’s 1957 calendar picture. However, because of an emergency, the artist had unintentionally failed to paint in one thing—the bridge joining the new factory to the old. Artfully Brother Franz made use of this omission to emphasize the unity that exists between all parts of Jehovah’s organization. But next morning, sure enough, the bridge had been plainly added to the picture!

This Thursday morning, January 24, an event almost always an assembly feature took place—the baptism of newly dedicated ones. After the talk at the hall on the subject, many of us walked to the nearby Japanese bathhouse and there the immerser, standing in the small central square pool, baptized first six brothers and then twenty sisters, or twenty-six in all. The afternoon sessions were a protracted season of express joy, as Donald Haslett, the Society’s former missionary branch servant, as chairman introduced for talks first the district servant and then the acting branch servant, W. Lloyd Barry, and lastly the visiting vice president. A missionary graduate from Hawaii closed the afternoon sessions with prayer, as the final feature tonight was to be a public event. The afternoon audience showed a still further increase, to 470 conventioners.

The final evening of the assembly came on and the time neared for the advertised public talk, “New World Peace in Our Time—Why?” Would the reputedly self-satisfied people of Kyoto brave the wintry weather and come out? There was encouragement in the fact that the assembly was being held in Kyoto’s beautiful Okazaki Kokaido and the city prides itself in this Japanese-style hall. Moreover, the city of nearly two million people had been flooded with handbills, and it seemed that almost every shop window carried a sign giving public notice of the talk. Also Radio Kyoto had given the assembly excellent news coverage, broadcasting some of the Kingdom songs and a ten-minute interview. After all this the audience that showed up to consider New World peace was not a disappointing one. When the count was taken, look! 605 were in attendance, a comparison with the afternoon figure indicating that 130 of the public had turned out, well over one fifth of the total audience. And what an absorbed and attentive audience it was there in that Buddhist stronghold! They gave way to applauding most enthusiastically. Afterward many persons of good will were contacted and arrangements were made for further study with them.

In unmistakable fashion this national assembly demonstrated that New World peace is a reality in our time—among Jehovah’s witnesses in Japan and world-wide. As one Bible student attending for the first time remarked: “Everything here is so completely different. It is really a New World society!” The twenty-six newly baptized brothers and sisters rejoiced greatly at having made their entry into this New World society. Foreign missionaries and local Kingdom publishers alike agreed that it was the smoothest-running, most enthusiastic, most enjoyable assembly yet held in Japan!

The hour was not too late, and before parting for their scattered missionary posts practically all the missionaries, all graduates of the same beloved school of Gilead, gathered at the Kyoto missionary home, most of these more than sixty missionaries crowding out two rooms and sitting on the floor, enjoying a buffet lunch of unaccustomed morsels and listening to experiences of theocratic interest and import. The rarity of such a general gathering was worth the loss of some sleep beyond the midnight hour. Those not lodging there that night departed refreshed and with joyful appreciation. A few hours of sleep and at 5 a.m. it was time for three of us to rise and to proceed by car to connect up with the plane at Osaka for Tokyo. The afternoon at Tokyo was available for checking into the properties and the functioning of the Tokyo branch of the Watch Tower Society. The following morning the vice-president was off to the Haneda airport and at quarter after nine was flying through the air toward Korea. He and the friends left behind in the Tokyo area felt consoled at the hope of his dropping in at Tokyo for a day on his flight next week from South Korea to the Hawaiian Islands.

SEOUL, KOREA

Passing by Mount Fuji once again that Saturday morning, January 26, was an eye-filling spectacle, this sacred and highest mountain of Japan rising up solitary from the surrounding terrain in symmetric contour and with a stately crest of snow. After flying over very rugged Japanese territory, quite besnowed near the western shore, we head out over the blue Japan Sea. Time flies too, then through the thin mist of clouds one can view below new mountains, those of Korea, with snow in the valleys, crevasses and gullies. Nearing the Korean capital we descend through clouds and skim over snow-covered fields and terraces and iced waters, the Han River being frozen over. About fifteen minutes before 2 p.m. we have a happy landing at the Seoul airport.

Korea is not along the main concourse of international travel and consequently visitors from abroad are few. To the joy of Jehovah’s witnesses in that peninsula of the Asiatic mainland the Watch Tower Society’s president accompanied by a personal secretary had visited their land for the first time in April of 1956. Now the notification of the visit of the Society’s vice-president toward the close of January of 1957 added greatly to that measure of joy. His pending visit stirred up the arrangements for a national assembly the weekend of January 25-27. The witnesses were not daunted by the fact that this meant an assembly in the dead of winter, something never before attempted by Jehovah’s witnesses in icy Korea. But, winter or summer, the prospect of this official visit together with a national assembly was very welcome, and without loss of time preparations began. The largest indoor auditorium in South Korea, that of the newly rebuilt Kyung-gi Boys High School in Seoul, along with its gymnasium, was obtained. The gymnasium served as both cafeteria and overflow hall for the assembly’s public lecture. Early in November of 1956, during the traditional “kimjang” sea son, three huge earthen vessels of kimchi were prepared and then buried in the ground until assembly time. This favorite dish of cabbage leaves pickled in garlic and red pepper is featured at every Korean assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses.

Other preparations included advertising by means of handbills, and by 1,500 two color window posters and 250 signs in Seoul’s streetcars. December came and turned out to be the coldest December in thirty-one years, seemingly an ominously forbidding factor. Then another thing: Just before the assembly was to begin the Korean government doubled the railroad fares. Undoubtedly the effect of this was to keep some of the financially embarrassed brothers from coming to the Seoul assembly. How good it was, then, to see about four hundred come from the circuits and congregations south of the capital! Lovingly 324 of these were provided with accommodations in four of the Kingdom Halls of Seoul’s nine congregations, these Kingdom Halls being turned into large dormitories. Pallets and comforts were spread on the straw-mat floors, and stoves were kept going all night to provide warmth for the sleepers. Such communal living during the days of an assembly is very much enjoyed by the Korean brothers, and it reminds one of what the assemblies of the Israelites by the millions at Jerusalem must have been like.

The opening session of the assembly Friday morning, January 25, was attended by 647, who were thereafter dispatched to the city territories for field witnessing. In the afternoon the address of welcome by a native Korean brother, a worker at the Society’s Seoul branch office, and three half-hour talks on timely themes by a missionary graduate of Gilead and two Korean brothers were heard by 1,191. The evening’s program, beginning at 6:30, was handled by three Korean and two Gilead missionary graduates, one of these being the Society’s branch servant, Donald L. Steele. Preceded by songs and experiences, this program presented a symposium of four half-hour talks on theocratic marriage, and despite the wintry weather and the approaching curfew at 11 p.m. it was enjoyed with profit by an attendance of 1,043.

Saturday morning, before the vice-president was scheduled to arrive, there was the morning’s baptismal talk. When the candidates were asked to stand up to answer the questions to be propounded to them, the great crowd of observers applauded to see 154, namely, ninety-six women and fifty-eight men, rise and then confess their readiness and worthiness to be immersed in water in token of their dedication to Jehovah God. After the benediction these candidates were led to two public bathhouses, one for the brothers and the other for the sisters. There they were immersed in warm water.

The scheduled time of the vice-president’s arrival at the distant Kim Po airport was 2 p.m. The assembly’s afternoon session began at a quarter of two. When a checkup at the airlines office revealed that the plane would be early, a group of the brothers who had chartered a bus, also others in private cars, hurried out to the airport to extend a warm Korean welcome to their American brother. About seventy-five were on hand to welcome him. As he emerged from the plane a shout went up from the crowd of brothers behind the fence toward the right. Various missionaries were at the foot of the staircase that was moved up to the plane, and news reporters took flashlight pictures. The welcoming crowd were waving copies of the Korean Watchtower and displaying bright smiles as well as assembly badges. There was no difficulty in determining who were Jehovah’s witnesses in this foreign land. A Korean newspaper reporter gave help to facilitate one’s getting through the customary entrance formalities. As the Society’s vice-president came out through the custom’s door he gave attention to each one of this big reception committee, even calling some of the Koreans by name. There was no feeling of strangeness or reserve.

At the Kyung-gi Boys High School auditorium the assembly’s sessions for the afternoon were finishing shortly after 4 p.m. with a talk by a Korean brother, when the vice-president entered the rear of the auditorium. A crowd of 1,321 filled the auditorium and many were standing. The vice-president could not restrain himself from mounting the stage and talking to them all without delaying for the evening’s scheduled appearance, especially to express his joy and his gratitude to Jehovah for the privilege of being there and to transmit to them the theocratic love and greetings of all the congregations and assemblies of Jehovah’s people that he had served along the two-months’ journey there. In view of the time-crowding 11 p.m. curfew, he arranged from the platform for the program to be moved up earlier, that the most of the brothers might find it convenient to be present and hear all that was to be said. This had a good effect. Instead of decreasing that night, the audience increased and few, if any, were obliged to leave early.

From then on the vice-president was kept busy on the platform. For his talk that Saturday night 1,402 packed into the auditorium. All the space outside the many and long rows of chairs was utilized. Between the front row of seats and the stage many sat on the floor Korean-style. The Korean brothers sit very close together and really get the maximum number of persons into an assembly hall. From the auditorium stage the speaker seemed to see a great sea of upturned faces, dear faces, all attentive to the precious Word of God. The singing of this great throng was also notable, led by a small foot-pumped organ. During the assembly a chorus of trained voices sang Kingdom songs, to parts, in lovely harmony.

Sunday morning, January 27, an attentive 1,275 heard the vice-president’s exhortation to keep oneself faithfully within the safe limits of the New World society. Almost all the listeners were following along closely in their Korean Bibles and marking the scripture explanations in the Bible margins. This was pleasing to behold. Shortly after the conclusion of the talk the big crowd got a huge amount of enjoyment out of hearing Brother Franz’ concert of Kingdom songs that he played for them on his chromatic harmonica. Korean people love a spontaneous unscheduled thing like this, as at almost every social function the guests are called upon to perform by singing or dancing or by playing some musical instrument.

In spite of the forbidding economic conditions many are the full-time pioneer publishers in South Korea. To show appreciation of this Brother Franz now called upon all the pioneers to postpone a bit their taking of dinner by coming up on the auditorium stage to hold a Korean pioneer meeting. January had been a heavy month for vacation pioneers, and so it was quite overwhelming to see 147 pioneers, special and general and vacation, crowd up onto the stage, while Brother Franz encouraged them in their choice of pioneering as a career. His own choice of pioneering away back in 1913 had laid the foundation or paved the pathway for his being there in Korea that noon hour. So, too, greater blessings and privileges would be theirs by continuing on in their full-time service. To see so many of such Kingdom publishers there on the stage was heartwarming indeed, for it showed that almost all the pioneers in Korea had been able to attend the assembly.

Sunday afternoon was bright and not very cold. Consequently expectations were high for a good attendance. The high school auditorium and the gymnasium could seat 2,100 persons, and thoughts were on how wonderful it would be if both halls were filled. The witnesses of Jehovah were requested to fill up the overflow gymnasium hall to allow for most of the goodwill persons to get into the main hall and hear the speaker direct. The brothers considerately complied with this. The public turned out. They exceeded all hopes for that midwinter day. The count gave assurance that there were 2,254 present in both halls, sitting on the floor, seated in the available chairs and occupying the standing room. There were at least a thousand persons of good will that attended this public lecture by the Society’s vice-president. Many were the slips that were turned in by this audience requesting further information and a call by a competent witness of Jehovah.

After this public talk Brother Franz was introduced to an elderly brother from Suwon. He said he was an old friend of Korea’s president, Dr. Syngman Rhee, being also of about the same age as he. He told of how during the field-service session he had made a return visit on the nation’s chief executive, giving him a Korean-language copy of the booklet “This Good News of the Kingdom”. Some time previous he had placed with him a copy of the feature booklet of 1955, Christendom or Christianity—Which One Is “the Light of the World”? At this courtesy call on the president during this national convention Dr. Rhee had expressed appreciation of the booklet placed with him. Our elderly brother with the thin white chinbeard hastened to explain to Brother Franz that he had first asked the circuit servant of Korea if it would be all right for him to make this return visit upon Dr. Rhee instead of doing the accustomed magazine work that morning in the field.

In the announcements following upon the public lecture the people of good will were invited to remain for the final session of the assembly, when the public speaker would tell of his trip around the world to Korea. Appreciatively, 1,436 remained for this session, and this was the highest attendance at a regular assembly session outside of the public lecture of any assembly ever held in Korea. On request, first the Korean branch servant gave an impromptu talk directly in Korean, much to everyone’s appreciation. They were glad to hear in their own tongue branch servant Steele, who had served them so faithfully, together with his wife, during all these trialsome and perilous years, since before the Communist incursion of 1950 from North Korea. As for the vice-president in his farewell talk and travelogue, he had to avail himself once more of his accustomed translator, a tall young high school boy who has corresponded with him. It was strenuous for the young man, doing all that translating without benefit of any notes or previous coaching, but he stood up to the ordeal well and put across the truths and exhortations of the vice-president very well, discharging this heavy responsibility very conscientiously.

The three-day national assembly ended much too soon, according to the feelings of all. By the Watch Tower Society’s two films, which have been exhibited in South Korea, the Korean brothers had come to know the Society’s president and vice-president even before their coming in person. Now after the visit of both the president and of the vice-president they knew why Jehovah’s witnesses are a unified organization throughout the earth. They know that the principle of love and brotherhood is truly a real bond of Jehovah’s witnesses, along with the truth and our common determination to preach God’s established kingdom under Christ. Naturally they left this assembly deeply resolved to remain loyal to Jehovah’s theocratic organization and stay inside its bounds.

The following Monday and Tuesday as well as Wednesday morning Brother Franz spent with the missionaries and the Korean brothers. This enabled him to receive the very generous hospitality and warmth of the Koreans in thankful expression for the spiritual blessings brought to them. By experience, when visiting the Korean homes, Brother Franz got to see and know the way they sit on the floor to eat their meals. The floor heated underneath in offering radiant heat was particularly comfortable.

Wherever the vice-president was received he was asked to answer some of their Bible questions. Willingness to do this delighted these Bible-searching Koreans. One group of brothers from thirteen congregations arranged for a banquet of Korean food for the missionaries from the homes in Seoul and Pusan and for Brother Franz, this at the Korean Restaurant Nak Won Chang upon a hillside. Dinner began at 1 p.m., Tuesday, January 29, with all kinds of tasty dishes being served to the delectation of all present. All having eaten to satiety, the waiters cleared away the remnants of food and also the tables, clearing out the big banquet room. Then all the forty-nine reseated themselves—yes, on the floor—and besieged the vice-president with Bible questions. This went on till after 6 p.m., when it became necessary for many to get off to their service center book studies. When it became too dark for the forty-nine to see their Bibles longer, the question-and-answer meeting was continued by candlelight. The first translator had to be relieved by another, a high school principal. What eagerness there was to dig out the treasures of truth and revelation from God’s Word! It was an unforgettable experience for both the Korean brothers and the missionaries working with them. Repeatedly on other occasions so deep wouId be the engrossment in such profitable discussion that it was necessary to apply a reminder that the curfew hour was approaching. Then there would be a hurried scramble into scarce taxis and jeeps to make it home before the siren wailed out the curfew hour.

The final night of Tuesday was spent in the missionary home on the mountainside in the company of the eleven missionaries and three members of the Seoul Bethel family. Warm counsel was then given to the missionaries to abide in their assignments and to maintain their appreciation and enjoyment of their wonderful privilege of service to such responsive brothers as these Koreans, regardless of all the inconveniences and the dangers they had to endure. Since this farewell meeting was in the Seoul missionary home and Brother Franz was to lodge there that night, there were no worries over curfew this night. What wonder that this closely knit group beat off all weariness and stayed together talking and getting the fill of one another’s company till nearly two o’clock in the morning!!

This spending the night at the branch and missionary home enabled the vice-president to enjoy breakfast with the thirteen missionaries from Seoul and Pusan. Before partaking of the material food a Bethel service, the same as that carried on at Brooklyn headquarters, was conducted by Brother Franz. But all the discussion of the day’s Bible text by them was in Korean; only Brother Franz gave a comment, the sum-up, in English, and offered the prayer.

It is Wednesday, January 30, the day of the vice-president’s departure. At the Kim Po airport across the frozen Han River there crowded into the airport building more than 150 Korean brothers to bid farewell. Again they crowded against the airfield fence. Tears were seen on many faces, as their departing fellow servant walked to the waiting NWA plane. There is a mutual waving of good-by, and then the vice president boards the plane. The tightly sealed plane moves away, and a few minutes before 2 p.m. the watching Koreans see it mounting into the air and nosing toward Japan. Now for them all it was back to work, charged with new strength from the privileges of the past week. For the three preceding months they had had increase after increase until in their December of extreme cold they had attained the peak of 1,801 active publishers. Now this national assembly month of January did not lag behind.

(To be concluded)

Waits Six Years in Vain

● A Boston, Massachusetts, widow of eighty-three years, crippled and bedridden, laid aside ten cents each week of her old-age assistance to give to her pastor if and when he should visit her. After waiting six years one of Jehovah’s witnesses called and began to study the Bible with her. Some eight months later this widow insisted that the witness accept the ‘widow’s mite’ she had been storing all this time. The witness, however, sent it to the Watch Tower Society to help send missionaries to foreign lands.

Questions From Readers

● Page 68 of “Let God Be True” says that at Genesis 1:20, 30 the marginal readings show “soul” for “creature” and “life” in these verses. However, in the King James Version that I have the margin shows “soul” for “life” in these verses but not for “creature.” Is “Let God Be True” in error?—M. C., United States.

The book is not in error, but it depends on which King James Version you check. The marginal references vary with different Bibles. The Oxford edition of the King James Version was used as the basis for the statement on page 68 of “Let God Be True”, and at Genesis 1:20 “creature” has the marginal reference “soul.” At Genesis 1:30 the word “life” appears, and the margin gives “soul.”

● At our Kingdom Hall, and at other halls in our vicinity, we have been told that nothing should be discussed in the hall before or after meetings that does not pertain to Kingdom truths or service. For example, if we want to invite some of the brothers to our home after the meeting the invitation must be extended outside the hall, not inside. I have accordingly asked others to step outside with me for a moment to voice such an invitation, and then we go back into the hall. Is this the proper procedure?—E. C., United States.

It is possible that the instruction was misunderstood or was not clearly stated. However that may be, the Society thinks it inadvisable for the Kingdom Halls to be used as centers for the recruiting of large parties, such as some have done in the past, even using the information board in halls for announcement of such events, or going so far as to announce such arrangements from the platform. Also, the halls should not be used as a place to solicit business or conduct commercial affairs. Such matters can be taken care of at other times and in other places. It is to avoid such abuses of the Kingdom Hall, dedicated to Jehovah God and his service, that proper instruction should be given.

However, this should not become so strict that it becomes unreasonable. It is good for publishers to discuss Bible truths and service problems and experiences in the hall before and after meetings. It can be upbuilding and it should be an enjoyable part of coming to the hall. But it is not improper to talk some about daily activities or events, to invite someone to your home, to ask someone to join you in some recreation, to discuss the weather, to engage in some small talk as you visit, to discuss other persons so long as it is not malicious gossip or slander, or even to mention briefly some business matter and perhaps arrange a time to discuss it more fully elsewhere.

We should be able to feel relaxed and at ease in our halls with our brothers and visit freely, not always having to weigh cautiously every word and keep our mouths with a bridle, as though we were in the midst of wicked enemies. Be very careful to use the hall dedicated to Jehovah properly, but while avoiding the abuses do not become petty and unreasonable.

The Business of a Chaplain

● The book Bernard Shaw and Mrs. Patrick Campbell, Their Correspondence tells about a letter written by English actress Stella Campbell to the British playwright. She tells Shaw about her son’s death on the battlefield of World War I. She mentions that she received a letter from the chaplain that was “full of tragic gentleness and praise of my brave son.” Shaw writes her in reply: “It is no use: I can’t be sympathetic: these things simply make me furious. I want to swear. I do swear. Killed just because people are blasted fools. A chaplain, too, to say nice things about it. It is not his business to say nice things about it, but to shout that ‘the voice of thy son’s blood crieth unto God from the ground.’ To hell with your chaplain and his tragic gentleness! The next shell will perhaps blow him to bits; and some other chaplain will write such a nice letter to his mother.”

Announcements

LIVING TRUE TO OUR DEDICATION—Eccl. 5:4.

Dedication means a decision to do Jehovah God’s will, to serve him in spirit and truth with all the heart, mind, soul and strength forever. Having made this vow of dedication one must “defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.” Sharing in Jehovah’s service is a prime essential in fulfilling dedication vows. Such service includes making known the truth about Jehovah and his kingdom by Christ Jesus. As Jehovah’s witnesses participate in this blessed work, each in an assigned territory, news of the Kingdom is spread far and wide. During September Jehovah’s witnesses will call on people at their homes and offer a Bible-study aid in book form on a contribution of 50c.

SUBSCRIBE FOR “THE WATCHTOWER”

For more than seventy-eight years The Watchtower has been used by Jehovah God to provide up-to-date spiritual food for sincere Christians, in keeping with Proverbs 4:18, which promises that the path of the righteous would be like the light of the sun that shines ever brighter until the day is fully established.

In keeping therewith The Watchtower will publish the principal talks given at the “Lifegiving Wisdom” district assemblies held by Jehovah’s witnesses throughout the United States and Canada during the past summer. The first of these will appear in the September 15 issue and is the public lecture “Healing of the Nations Has Drawn Near.” Be sure to receive all these talks by subscribing now. A year’s subscription is only one dollar.

WATCH TOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA ANNUAL MEETING OF MEMBERS

It will be at ten o’clock in the forenoon of October 1, 1957, that the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania will hold its annual meeting of members. This will be at the registered office of the Society, which is located at 4100 Bigelow Boulevard, corner of Parkman Avenue, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Notice of the meeting will be sent by letter to the members of the corporation, and in order for this to be done it is necessary that the secretary’s office have the proper addresses to which to mail such notices. All who are members should be certain that their membership records do show their addresses properly. With the notice of meeting the proxy forms will be sent. All the proxies should be returned promptly to the office of the secretary of the Society not later than the 15th of September.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

September 29: Never Compromising on Christian Principles. Page 524.

October 6: Happy Those Who Refuse to Compromise. Page 530.

Check Your Memory

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

✔ Why it is wrong to conclude that open-air preaching is novel? P. 516, ¶3.

✔ Why conventional methods of preaching are not reaching millions of people? P. 518, ¶3.

✔ Where a people became eager to hear a message forbidden by their priests? P. 522, ¶1.

✔ What it means to live true to a Christian’s dedication to God? P. 523, ¶5.

✔ Why it is easier to live by the rules of Moses than the principles of Christ? P. 525, ¶6.

✔ Whether there is proof that imperfect men can live by principles? P. 530, ¶2.

✔ How Christendom’s clergy have failed to give people a strong basis for faith? P. 533, ¶11.

✔ Where there is a temple containing a huge rope woven from human hair? P. 537, ¶1.