The Watchtower — September 15, 1957

Is Your Conscience a Sure Guide?

“LET your conscience be your guide”—such is the counsel people often receive when they ask a friend for advice on some moral problem. How sound is this advice? Is conscience a sure guide? To determine how good a guide conscience is we need to know what conscience is, what it does and what it does not do.

Conscience is a faculty of the mind. The all wise Creator equipped us with it. Since conscience is an inward sense of right and wrong, it accuses us or excuses us. It judges. It decides as to the moral quality of one’s own thoughts or acts, enjoining what one thinks is right. Besides expressing judgment, conscience does something else: it imparts pleasure or inflicts pain for one’s own good or evil conduct. What an amazing faculty is this gift from God!

Now what is it that conscience does not do? It does not instruct us as to what right is; it does not provide us with a standard for judging right and wrong. So unless a conscience is enlightened and trained by a sure standard of righteousness, that conscience is merely our own judgment of right or wrong of our actions. An unenlightened conscience can lead to disaster, as God’s Word declares: “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”—Prov. 14:12. RS.

So no person should jump to the conclusion that he is for a certainty doing right just because he is following the promptings of his conscience. If his conscience is untrained it may very well deceive him. Says the Bible: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it?” Yes, a conscience may so thoroughly deceive us that it will excuse us for doing something corrupt. Then the conscience is corrupt. “To persons defiled and faithless nothing is clean, but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.”—Jer. 17:9, AS; Titus 1:15.

And how corrupt are the consciences of many people today! This is not really strange. It was certain to be that way. The apostle of Christ Jesus foretold that in these “last days” there would be men “who speak lies, marked in their conscience as with a branding iron.” (1 Tim. 4:2) A branding iron leaves scarred, insensitive tissue; a conscience so seared has no feeling and cannot sense right or wrong. Such a conscience has ceased to be of value as an inward monitor.

So it is that a man may make up his mind that a certain evil course is the right one. When a person lets a defiled or seared conscience be his guide, the more he follows it the worse off he becomes! He becomes more hopeless as a wrongdoer. It becomes increasingly more difficult to straighten him out and to show him what is right. He may keep on doing evil conscientiously. Yes, a person can easily serve that enemy of God and opposer of all righteousness, Satan the Devil, and do so conscientiously! Though his conscience may excuse him, he does not stand vindicated. Christ’s apostle firmly declared: “I am not conscious of anything against me. Yet by this I do not stand vindicated, but he that examines me is Jehovah.”—1 Cor. 4:4.

When, then, can we safely subject ourselves to our conscience? Only after we have subjected our mind and conscience to the righteousness of God. Conscientiousness or sincerity is not enough. “I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God; but not according to accurate knowledge; for, because of not knowing the righteousness of God but seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.”—Rom. 10:2, 3.

We need accurate knowledge to train our conscience in the righteousness of God. This kind of knowledge is found only in God’s written Word, the Bible. “All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness.” “For the word of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword and pierces even to the dividing of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and their marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”—2 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 4:12.

God’s Word, then, has the power to discipline our conscience in righteousness if we are but willing to take in accurate knowledge of God’s standard of righteousness. By learning God’s laws and commandments and then obeying them we are in line to follow the Scriptural command: “Hold a good conscience.” How precious is a good conscience, one that does not accuse us of having done wrong against either God or man! An apostle who had a conscience trained by God’s Word declared: “Indeed, I am exercising myself continually to have a consciousness of committing no offense against God and men.”—1 Pet. 3:16; Acts 24:16.

Do you want to hold a good conscience like that? Do you want a conscience that can be a safe guide? Then you must do two things: (1) Enlighten or train your conscience to know what is right and what is wrong, using God’s Word as the means of discipline, and (2) follow the dictates of your enlightened conscience regardless of the consequences.

Without the first of these—a clear view of what God establishes as right and wrong—conscience can never be a safe guide. Why? Because it merely prompts us to do what we esteem to be right, and if our views of what is right and wrong are erroneous we may be prompted to do what may be in direct violation of God’s law. We may even find ourselves fighting against God.

Consider Saul of Tarsus before he became the apostle Paul. He was persecuting the Christians and doing so conscientiously. He really thought he ought to persecute the Christians, and his conscience approved his course of action, as he later explained: “I, for one, really thought within myself I ought to commit many acts of opposition against the name of Jesus.”—Acts 26:9.

Under the approval of an unenlightened conscience the most wicked deeds may be committed. Especially is this true when one’s conscience has been mistrained by a false religion. Not strange is it, then, that Christ Jesus declared concerning his true followers: “The hour is coming when everyone that kills you will imagine he has rendered a sacred service to God. But they will do these things because they have not come to know either the Father or me.” Thus not only deeds of theft, idolatry, spiritism, fornication, adultery and other unrighteousness may be committed conscientiously but even murder itself! Yet “the righteous decree of God” is “that those practicing such things are deserving of death.”—John 16:2, 3; Rom. 1:32.

So train your conscience by God’s Word. Then “hold a good conscience” by never violating it. Yes, let your conscience be your guide—but only after it has been enlightened, trained and disciplined in righteousness by the Word of God.

The Great Contest

What is this contest? How does it affect us? What dangers are involved? How can we safeguard ourselves?

HAVE you noticed in those opening statements of both John’s gospel and his first letter how he reveals a great contest, a contest between darkness and light? Referring to the Source of all light he says: “God is light and there is no darkness at all in union with him.” (1 John 1:5) Then, respecting the Word, God’s Son, who was sent into the world and who became the center of the conflict, John writes: “The light is shining in the darkness, but the darkness has not overpowered it.”—John 1:5.

The contest is fought over an issue of universal importance that arose away back in the prehuman existence of Christ Jesus. Another heavenly creature was involved. This one used, or rather misused, that precious gift of free moral choice, that gift which lifts intelligent creation far above the animal creation. In his position as covering cherub, given the oversight in Eden and specially gifted in many ways, he saw the possibility of getting man under his own control, so that man’s service and worship would be diverted to himself at the cost of loyalty and obedience to Jehovah, man’s Creator. He entertained the idea and so became “drawn out and enticed by his own desire,” which ultimately led him on to rebel against the Most High. But how did that become a contest between darkness and light?—Ezek. 28:13-17; Jas. 1:14.

God is the Creator of literal, physical light, and his first recorded command as quoted by Paul is: “Let the light shine out of darkness.” The apostle goes on to give this a symbolic application when he says: “And he [God] has shone on our hearts to illuminate them with the glorious knowledge of God by the face of Christ.” (2 Cor. 4:6) This shows that light is used in the Scriptures as a symbol of the truth that gives enlightenment. Yes, “God is light” and is “abundant in . . . truth.” (1 John 1:5; Ex. 34:6) In contrast, darkness is a symbol of error and falsehood, causing confusion, ignorance and corruption.

Recall how the contest began in Eden God gave enlightenment and a plain command respecting “the tree of the knowledge of good and bad,” and both Adam and Eve knew what would be the consequences of disobedience to that command. Then the enemy appeared, though not as an enemy, but as a knowing and sagacious friend, speaking through the serpent. He too promised enlightenment, implying that God had withheld it from them, saying: “God knows that in the very day of your eating from it your eyes are bound to be opened and you are bound to be like God, knowing good and bad.” (Gen. 2:17; 3:5) Eve was seduced by the enemy’s craftiness and her mind was corrupted away from its former sincerity and chastity. She was no longer safe, walking a straight course in the light of God’s favor, but fell victim to Satan and went stumbling along a diverted course to “the land of darkness and the shadow of death.” (Job 10:21, AV) So we can safeguard ourselves by learning how Satan seeks to get creatures under his control, “transforming himself into an angel of light.” His ministers, as deceitful workers, do likewise.—2 Cor. 11:3, 13-15.

But we cannot really appreciate the contest and its issue if we view it merely as a combat between individuals. Many make that mistake, which is just as Satan desires. They think of God and Christ as their friends who try to hold them to the right course, whereas they think of the Devil as ever seeking to do them mischief, blaming him for every misfortune that befalls them and wondering why God allows it.

On the one hand, Jehovah God is the Sovereign Ruler of the universe. He is the Maker of a universal organization, composed of perfect heavenly creatures, over which he is the head or “husband,” and which organization is spoken of Scripturally as Zion, a devoted and chaste wifelike organization. (Isa. 54:5) On the other hand, Satan too does not stand alone, but is the head of a mighty opposing organization, including ‘the governments, the authorities, the world-rulers of this darkness, the wicked spirit forces in the heavenly places.’ He is “the god of this system of things,” spoken of Scripturally as Babylon, the unclean woman and the unclean city of Revelation, chapters seventeen and eighteen. (Eph. 6:12; 2 Cor. 4:4) Thus our vision is broadened out to realize that two great organizations are in a mighty conflict, each side having its representatives, or “seed,” on this earth. (Gen. 3:15) But what is the issue involved? The primary issue is universal Sovereignty. However, it is not simply a question of which side is the more powerful and will eventually crush the other and rule the entire universe. There are other important factors involved. As revealed in the book of Job, Satan raised certain questions and a certain challenge, making it an issue of whether God could hold any of his creatures in loyal devotion and unbreakable integrity to him under test. That issue could not be settled just by destroying the one putting it in dispute. So God in his wisdom determined that the contest shall be fought to a final and satisfactory conclusion.—Job 1:9-11.

Final victory is assured. Meanwhile the contest is still on and we need to be particularly alert. Why?

CLIMAX REACHED—”ARISE, SHINE”!

From all the Scriptural evidence we know that we are living in the foretold “last days [when] critical times hard to deal with will be here.” (2 Tim. 3:1) Perhaps you are tired of the word “crisis.” When Hitler was rising to power there was an acute crisis. During World War II it was one crisis after another, and when fighting ceased that immense Iron Curtain loomed into view between East and West. And today the nations are certainly blind to the real issue, concerned with their own selfish interests and filled with the spirit of national sovereignty and self-determination, both on the part of the big nations and down to the smallest islands and peoples.

How can we live in such an atmosphere and get any enjoyment out of life, except by ignoring the facts and refusing to be bothered, cultivating a self-centered and hardened frame of mind? That is exactly what the enemy wants. That is one of the chief threatening dangers; it has lulled so many into a spirit of apathy already. How can we safeguard ourselves? Only by paying careful heed to God’s Word, learning how to look at the situation as God himself views it. If we do this we shall “not be overreached by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his designs,” not if we keep alert. (2 Cor. 2:11) With that end in view, let us review some of the highlights of Isaiah’s prophecy, reading from Isa chapter 59, verse 20, to Isa chapter 60, verse 5.

Note the dominant theme, first of Jehovah’s tender compassion to the true spiritual Israelites, spoken of as being “in Jacob,” who was surnamed Israel, cleansing them from all ungodliness and bringing them into his organization, Zion, fulfilling his covenant to put upon them his spirit and put his word, or message, into their mouths. Then, when they are fully equipped, comes the thrilling command: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee.” (AS) What a strong position for Jehovah’s organization, like the ancient city of Zion set on a hill and catching the rays of the rising sun, which, represented by Christ Jesus, the new world’s King, rises “with healing in his wings, and ye shall come forth and leap for joy like calves let loose from the stall”! (Mal. 4:2, Ro) No holding back! No hiding the light! This key position is enjoyed not only by the spiritual Israelites but also by their close companions, the “other sheep,” the “seed’s seed,” who are also equipped with Jehovah’s spirit and word. “Darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people,” that is, Satan’s organization and its slaves, but though they threaten and persecute they cannot ‘overpower’ the light. (John 1:5) Instead, Jehovah’s assurance is: “Ye shall tread down the lawless, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet, in the day when I am working with effect.”—Mal. 4:3, Ro.

With what effect? With the effect of guaranteed prosperity and peace for those who arise and shine in Zion. They continue to come pouring into Zion “as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows,” using Isaiah’s illustration, in whose land doves can be seen flying in dense flocks like a cloud. They quickly learn the fundamentals of the truth and learn how to “reflect like mirrors” the glorious truth of God’s kingdom. This is of tremendous encouragement to those already active in Zion and we are told to look for that very thing: “Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: they all gather themselves together, they come to thee.”—Isa. 60:4, AS.

Surely Jehovah and his organization under Christ Jesus are worthy of our unstinted devotion and service.

Many are the calamities of the righteous one, but out of them all Jehovah delivers him.—Psalm 34:19.

Babylon the Golden City

What does the tourist see there today?

FIFTY miles south of Baghdad, Iraq, on the railroad that links Baghdad and Basra, the train stops. Tourists get off. At the side of the line a wooden board announces simply: “Babylon Halt. Trains stop here to pick up passengers.” Such is the tourist’s introduction to Babylon, an announcement that the glory of the ancient world, called the “golden city,” is now not even a station—merely a halt.

With camera and sunglasses the visitor has come to see what remains of the “golden city.” To appreciate what the guide is about to show him the tourist does well to know something about Babylon’s origin and what went on in “the golden city.” Then he will not have to ask: “How could so great a city come to this?”

Babylon was built while Noah was still alive. Nimrod, that “mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah,” laid the city’s foundation. Nimrod built it as the chief seat of his kingdom; he wanted it to be the world’s capital. But as the capital city of a world power Babylon did not become the world’s capital until many centuries later, toward the end of the seventh century B.C. During the more than forty-year reign of King Nebuchadnezzar Babylon reached the zenith of its glory and was “the beauty of kingdoms,” “the praise of the whole earth.”—Gen. 10:9; Isa. 13:19; Jer. 51:41, AT.

ITS IMPREGNABILITY AND SPLENDOR

Built in the form of a square, Babylon was a checkerboard of gigantic squares. The principal streets, beautifully laid out, crossed each other at right angles. The great river Euphrates divided the city into two portions. For protection a deep and broad moat, flooded from the river enclosed the city’s walls.

What stupendous walls Babylon had! The historian Herodotus visited Babylon in the fifth century B.C. He recorded that Babylon’s wall reached the tremendous height of 300 feet. Its thickness? An incredible seventy-five to eighty-five feet! And this was a 60-mile wall, fifteen miles on each side. On top of the wall were 250 towers with guard rooms for soldiers. So enemies could not tunnel under it the wall extended thirty-five feet below the ground. Nebuchadnezzar well boasted, as an inscription shows: “A great wall which like a mountain cannot be moved I made of mortar and brick. Its foundations upon the bosom of the underworld I placed down deeply, its top I raised mountain high.”

For convenient entrance and exit the city had a hundred bronze gates, twenty-five on each side. Each gate closed with double leaves of ponderous metal, swinging upon bronze posts built into the wall. Along each bank of the river was a continuous quay that was separated from the city by a huge wall. This wall was pierced by twenty-five gates, from each of which a sloping descent led to the water’s edge. Ferries plied continually across the water where streets abutted. One street, however, led to an arched bridge, and another, into a tunnel beneath the river bed.

The king spared neither money nor labor to make Babylon the most magnificent city the world had ever seen. Temples and palaces sparkled with gold. King Nebuchadnezzar boasted by way of an inscription: “Huge cedars from Lebanon with my hands I cut down, with radiant gold I covered them, with jewels I adorned them. . . . Thresholds, door-posts, cornices, wings of the doors of the shrine, I clothed with dazzling gold.” Babylon was truly “rich in treasures.”—Jer. 51:13, RS.

The king’s pride and joy was his palace. It was a quadrangular building, surrounded with threefold ramparts of masonry, the outermost being nearly seven miles in extent. The inner walls were faced with enameled brick, upon which were pictured a vast array of animals. Nebuchadnezzar called his palace “The Admiration of Mankind.”

And no wonder people admired it! Within the enclosure of the royal palace was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world—the hanging gardens of Babylon. The king built these elevated gardens to please his wife. The queen, a Median princess, had come from a hilly country and, disgusted with the flatness of Babylonia, sighed for her native mountains.

So the king built four acres of arches seventy-five to 300 feet high. He overlaid this whole mountain of masonry with sufficient soil to nourish the largest trees. At the top the king built a reservoir fed from the Euphrates by a hydraulic screw—used here some centuries before it was invented by Archimedes! To prevent water from percolating to the masonry, floors of bricks laid in bitumen and sheets of lead were interposed between the earth and supporting arches beneath. This terraced garden rose to a height that overtopped the city walls. A profusion of the choicest flowers and shrubs nestled amid the roots of forest trees; brooks dashed down artificial crags. What matchless beauty! How impressive to a visitor from a foreign land! From a distance this wonder of the world had the appearance of woods overhanging mountains.

On the outside of the garden flights of steps led to the top. From here royal pleasure parties could banquet and view the whole panorama of Babylon’s glory that lay spread below as a picture. How dazzling the scene—the walls, the river, the quays, the boats, the magnificent streets through which swept the chariots of lords and princes, the bronze gates through which poured the captives of a hundred vanquished provinces! Walking on the roof of his royal palace and admiring it all, King Nebuchadnezzar glowed with pride and said: “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?”—Dan. 4:30, RS.

FOUNTAINHEAD OF FALSE RELIGION

Babylon’s founder, Nimrod, opposed the true God, Jehovah, and hence became a worshiper of Satan the Devil. Demon religion sprang up in Babylon. False gods of gold were praised. Almost every huge square had a religious temple in which golden gods abounded. One of the most remarkable of the more than fifty temples in Babylon was the large temple tower of Marduk or Bel, the national deity. Built in the form of a pyramid of eight square stages, with step-backs like modern skyscrapers, the temple soared to a height of 480 feet! A winding ascent led to the summit. Here stood a golden image of the god Bel—forty feet high! Two other colossal gold deities adorned the temple, along with a huge golden altar and two golden lions. With such gods of gold, Babylon was indeed “the golden city.”

Almost everything and everyone were contaminated with demon religion. The city’s most famous gate, Ishtar Gate, was named after the fertility goddess Ishtar, also called “queen of heaven” and “mother of the gods.” Through Ishtar Gate passed the famous Procession Street. Once a year in a colorful ceremony the pagan worshipers paraded their gods of silver and gold through this gate and down this street. Procession Street led to the temple of Ishtar. Ishtar altars were found not just in one temple; they were everywhere, there being at least 180 major altars to Ishtar. Oddly enough, this “queen of heaven” received more attention from the pagan worshipers than their chief god Bel.

On top of the temples Chaldean astrologers gazed at the stars and mapped out the heavens. These demon worshipers divided the heavens into certain mansions, with the view of tracing the course of planets through each of them, in the vain hope of being able to tell fortunes and predict future events. Thus Babylon’s astrologers originated the idea of the zodiac with its twelve signs—Virgo, Scorpio, etc. Long before Babylon became the world’s capital the eighth month was known as “the month of the star of the Scorpion.” Attributes of Babylonian deities influenced the choice of the symbol for the month. Thus Virgo (the virgin), the sixth sign of the zodiac, represents Ishtar, the ruling divinity of the sixth month.

From Nimrod’s wicked city of Babylon demon religion in all its forms—magic, fortunetelling, prediction, spells, king worship, image worship, sex worship, animal worship, etc.—spread to the ends of the earth to corrupt most of mankind to this day.

As is to be expected when a false religion is the national religion, moral conditions were unspeakably corrupt. The ancient historian Quintus Curtius wrote of Babylon that “nothing could be more corrupt than its morals, nothing more fitted to excite and allure to immoderate pleasures. . . . The Babylonians were very greatly given to wine and the enjoyments which accompany inebriety. Women were present at their convivialities, first with some degree of propriety, but, growing worse and worse by degrees, they ended by throwing off at once their modesty.”

And again false religion helped make it that way. A religious law enforced in Babylon was one of the most abominable in all history. It pandered to the grossest passions, attracting strangers in great numbers. Herodotus tells how every native female, once in her life, was obliged to visit the temple of Mylitta, the deity who was, as goddess of the moon, the female principle of generation. There a woman waited in the precinct of the goddess and received the embraces of the first stranger who threw a silver coin into her lap—prostitution practiced in the name of religion!

JEHOVAH DECREES BABYLON’S DOOM

Is it any wonder, then, that Babylon’s sins massed together clear up to heaven? “Her judgment,” said Jehovah through his prophet, “has reached up to heaven and has been lifted up even to the skies.” The God of heaven, Jehovah, decreed Babylon’s doom.—Jer. 51:9, RS.

Nearly 200 years before Babylon fell to Cyrus the Persian, Jehovah caused his prophet Isaiah to foretell Babylon’s doom: “These two things shall come to you in an instant, in a single day; loss of children and widowhood, in their full measure, shall come upon you—in spite of your many spells, and your numerous enchantments. You have wearied yourself with your many counselors, now let them stand up and save you—those who map out the heavens, and gaze at the stars, and tell you month by month what fortune will come to you.”—Isa. 47:9, 13, AT.

Whom would Jehovah use to destroy Babylon? How could an impregnable city fall? Again nearly 200 years before Babylon’s fall, Jehovah foretold who would take the city even his very name—and exactly how an impregnable city would fall: “Thus saith Jehovah to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut.”—Isa. 45:1, AS.

Many cities are conquered and destroyed and yet are rebuilt. But not so with Babylon! Isaiah foretold that it would “never be inhabited or dwelt in for all generations,” that “wild beasts will lie down there, and its houses will be full of howling creatures,” that God would make it “a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water,” and that “Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pride of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.”—Isa. 13:20, 21; 14:23; 13:19, RS.

Then about fifty years before Babylon fell Jehovah caused another prophet to speak out his decree: “I set a snare for you, O Babylon, and you have been taken unawares.” Its end would come with shocking surprise: “Suddenly Babylon falls.” Its soldiers would be massacred: “Her young men shall fall in the squares.” “The warriors of Babylon have ceased to fight” and “they are turned into women.” And Babylon’s great wall? Decreed Jehovah: “The broad wall of Babylon shall be razed to the ground, and her lofty gates shall be burned.”—Jer. 50:24; 51:8; 50:30; 51:30, 58, AT.

A few hours before Babylon fell Jehovah again foretold Babylon’s doom. King Belshazzar saw the handwriting on the wall; he did not understand it. Jehovah’s prophet Daniel interpreted it for the king. Doom was imminent! “Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”—Dan. 5:28, RS.

That very night Babylon fell in a manner Isaiah had foretold around two centuries before. The Babylonians held a great religious festival; the city was drunk. At this apt time Cyrus turned the Euphrates from its course into canals and gigantic reservoirs that had been made by the Babylonians themselves. The river began to sink but it made no moan. The din came from inside Belshazzar’s palace, where the king had “made a great feast for a thousand of his lords, and drank wine in front of the thousand.” (Dan. 5:1, RS) While the bacchanalian orgies were going on, Cyrus’ soldiers hurried along the now almost-dry bed of the river. But the river gates? Contrary to custom the gates had been left open! But the gates leading from the river to the streets? They too, contrary to custom, had been left open. But certainly the massive doors to the king’s palace would be shut. No, they too were open. Bursting into the palace, a band of Persians made their way to the king and slew him; his body fell to the floor amid spilled wine cups. Drunken Babylonians fled in terror in every direction and were killed as if they were unresisting women. It was no battle; it was a massacre.

Thus in 539 B.C. the impregnable city of Babylon fell in a single night without a battle. In an inscription Cyrus said: “I am Cyrus, king of the world. Without a battle my troops entered Babylon.”

Babylon did not immediately become a ruin. The Persians in time destroyed the large temple tower where Satan was worshiped under the name Bel. After Alexander the Great had conquered Medo-Persia he planned on making Babylon the capital of his eastern empire. In fact, Alexander put 10,000 workmen to work for two months to clear away the rubbish of the ruined temple of Bel. But his plans to rebuild the temple and bring Babylon back to its glory were frustrated by his sudden death. And so with the death of Alexander in Nebuchadnezzar’s palace, Babylon slowly fell into decay.

From earliest times visitors to Babylon have reported the city a desolate ruin. Benjamin of Tudela, a Jewish traveler of the twelfth century, found only the ruins of Nebuchadnezzar’s palace. Tumbled down, the palace was, he said, “inaccessible on account of the various and malignant kinds of serpents and scorpions living there.” Layard, the English archaeologist, visited Babylon in the nineteenth century and reported: “The site of Babylon is a naked and hideous waste.”

WHAT THE TOURIST SEES TODAY

At the beginning of the twentieth century German archaeologists began systematic excavation at Babylon. What, then, does the tourist see? Before his eyes are huge dilapidated heaps of disemboweled buildings and palaces. Hardly a trace of the great wall remains. There is a pond, a swamp of green-scummed water bubbling with frogs. Owls fly out of crevices; scorpions and jackals are the only couriers in Nebuchadnezzar’s palace. Instead of feeling beauty the tourist feels that no city could be a more complete ruin. Compared to Babylon, the Roman Forum is a model of tidiness.

The walls of Ishtar Gate have been uncovered. Inside it are huge stone slabs, three feet square. On each is the inscription: “Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, am I. The Babel street I paved with blocks of stone for the procession of the great Lord, Marduk.” The blocks are still there, just as they were when Daniel walked over them.

As the tourist tarries amid the ruins he cannot help but reflect on the past: Here Nebuchadnezzar, after he destroyed Jerusalem in 607 B.C., brought the captives of Judah. Here, still fondled by willow trees, is the Euphrates, calling to mind the psalm: “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. Upon the willows in the midst thereof we hanged up our harps.” (Ps. 137:1, 2, AS) Here Daniel, undazzled by the splendor around him, remained faithful to the God of heaven, Jehovah. Here the finger of God wrote on the wall of Belshazzar’s palace a prophecy of doom, fulfilled in a matter of hours.

Absorbed in thought, the tourist strolls to the place to get his train. That sign intrigues him: “Babylon Halt. Trains stop here to pick up passengers.” How apt, he thinks! How appropriate a comment on the fate of Babylon—just a halt now. As he prepares to board the train he muses on the thought that there could well be another sign put up alongside the present one. On it could be emblazoned the prophetic words of Isaiah and Jeremiah, spoken while Babylon’s splendor was undimmed: “Because of the wrath of Jehovah she shall not be inhabited, but she shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished.” “How is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!” “How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!”—Jer. 50:13; 51:41; Isa. 14:4, AS.

As regards the wicked, they will be cut off from the very earth.—Prov. 2:22.

Healing of the Nations Has Drawn Near

1. In what way do the nations have much need of healing today?

HEALING of the nations is very much needed in these days of trouble within nations and between nations. World physicians all realize this fact. The whole world is in a very sick condition. When saying this we do not think of just the human bodies of mankind, but especially of the moral, religious and political conditions everywhere. What will happen if healing of the political nations does not come soon, in our own lifetime? We all have reason to care.

2. How did President Sukarno of Indonesia show that the nations of the world need healing?

² Outstanding politicians of the world are disturbed. They are trying to act as healers, physicians, of the world. Recently President Achmed Sukarno of Indonesia said a pointed thing. Himself a devout Mohammedan, he is the leader of a nation of eighty-two million, of whom nine out of every ten are Mohammedans. Yet President Sukarno flew 900 miles from the nation’s capital into Sumatra to speak to a gathering of people of a different religion. It was called the Eastern Asia Christian Conference, and the 120 delegates there came from twenty-four nations. They represented the World Council of Churches, the headquarters of which are in Geneva, Switzerland. President Sukarno heard a Protestant minister on the platform say to the crowd of about a thousand persons of many languages: “We will all read the Lord’s prayer—each in his own tongue.” Later that March 17, 1957, President Sukarno addressed the outdoor meeting and he also spoke at his hotel. He explained that one of the five philosophical principles on which Indonesia based is “belief in God.” This world is in a “troubled situation,” he said, and he added that “man spoke with his mouth of world peace but that man was also making weapons of self-destruction.” Like a physician at the bedside of someone dangerously ill, he said: “We are living in the crisis of man.” (New York Times, March 20, 1957) Certainly a clear-headed physician would say that if people said one thing but did just the opposite they would be morally sick and mentally ill, not to speak of being religiously disordered—split personalities.

3. As noted in the Far East, what did President Eisenhower pledge to the healing of this divided world?

³ Another president has put himself forward as a world healer. The Far East took note of the remedy that he offered. On January 22, 1957, the China Post of Taipei, Taiwan (or, Formosa), came out with a front-page headline: “Ike Pledges US Might, Wealth To Help Heal World Division In 2nd Inaugural Address.” Then with reference to the second inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower as president of the United States of America, this only English-language newspaper of Free China published this CNA-UP news dispatch of January 21, from Washington, D.C.: “President Eisenhower today pledged America’s might and wealth to help ‘heal this divided world’ and bring it peace with justice under law. To achieve this goal ‘will be hard’ and ‘we must be . . . ready to pay its full price,’ the President said. ‘High will be its cost,’ he said, ‘in toil patiently sustained, in help honorably given, in sacrifice calmly borne.’ Eisenhower proclaimed America’s ‘deep involvement in the destiny of men everywhere.’”

4. (a) In what book did Eisenhower’s talk about healing this world have its roots? (b) At what scripture in this book did his hand rest when he was being sworn in as president?

⁴ Few men will realize that President Eisenhower’s talk about healing of this divided world had its roots in the Holy Bible, the book sacred to both Jews and Christians. But note these facts: When Eisenhower was sworn into office the second time he had his hand on the open copy of the American Standard Version of the Bible, given him by his mother when he was about to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1915. His hand rested on the scripture at Psalm 33:12, which reads: “Blessed is the nation whose God is Jehovah, the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.” This was as if to suggest that the United States of America should be that blessed “nation whose God is Jehovah,” and that, to become blessed, all nations of the earth must each be a nation having Jehovah as its God.

5. When Eisenhower was sworn in for the first time as president at what scripture did his left hand rest?

⁵ But Eisenhower’s mention of “healing” for this divided world throws us back to the days of his first inauguration as president four years before this, in 1953. When being sworn in then he had his left hand on two copies of the Bible. The one copy, the so-called George Washington Bible, was opened at Psalm 127:1, which reads: “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” The other copy, General Eisenhower’s gift Bible, with his full name inscribed in gold letters on the black leather binding, was opened at 2 Chronicles 7:14, which reads: “If my people who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”—New York Times, January 20 and 21, 1953.

6. Therefore what question do we ask concerning the healing of this world, including America?

⁶ Likely General Eisenhower felt that the land of America needed to be healed after the administration of the previous president; but did not the other nations of the world need healing also? Less than two months after General Eisenhower first became president the mighty Russian Communist dictator, Joseph Stalin, died, but has the condition of the nations of the world got better? In President Eisenhower’s second term of office, more than four years after he swore solemnly with his hand at 2 Chronicles 7:14, has the land of America been healed by him and other American politicians, and by business leaders and religious clergymen? Is the divided world being healed, thanks to the might and wealth of the United States of America that were pledged to this?

7. What world events and conditions since January 20, 1953, testify that the remedy of America cannot but fail to heal this divided world? And why cannot America itself alone be healed?

⁷ The explosion of the first hydrogen bombs by democratic and Communist powers since January 20, 1953; the failure of disarmament conference after disarmament conference; the continued aim of the Communist giant to expand his present domination of one third of the earth to full world domination, together with the grim determination of the noncommunist nations to resist him; the working away by scientists on both sides to bring into existence long-range missiles able to fly with atomic warheads for thousands of miles, even from one continent to another, to reach the far-off enemy with roaring, widespread destruction; the hatreds, jealousies, suspicions and rivalries between nations large and small; the numberless religious differences between peoples and communities; and the spirit of lovelessness, and, seemingly, some unseen, irresistible, superhuman demonic force that steadily drives the nations on in a mad course nearer and nearer to ruin and destruction—all of this eloquently testifies that the remedy of even the richest and most powerful nation on the earth cannot but fail to heal this divided world. Failure to heal means nothing less than the death of this world with all the consequences of that to earth’s population of two billion five hundred million. If the United States of America is to be healed, the rest of the world must also be healed. For today no nation lives to itself. No nation can stand alone. No nation can keep from catching the infectious disease that is bringing the sick nations to their grave.

8. (a) How can anyone announce as good news that the healing of the nations has drawn near? (b) Who was the one that spoke the words of healing at 2 Chronicles 7:14, to whom did he speak such words, and why?

⁸ How, then, can anyone announce as good news that the healing of the nations has drawn near? We can announce so when we look in the right direction for the healing and when we look into the cases of the hundreds of thousands of all nations that have already received the healing remedy and that are on their way to complete recovery and perfect health. When, with his hand on the open Bible, General Eisenhower swore to be faithful in the presidency he felt he was swearing before God. When he had his hand at 2 Chronicles 7:14 in that sacred Book he had his hand at God’s words to another ruler, who long ago ruled in the Near East all the way from the river of Egypt on the south to the Euphrates River on the north, a territory with many different people in it. God spoke those words to the wisest ruler of ancient times, King Solomon, the son of David, who reigned in the holy city of Jerusalem centuries before the eras of Buddhism and of Confucianism began. King Solomon’s land was then in a healthy condition, for it had the one thing necessary for real health, namely, the true religion, and it was living in harmony with that religion. King Solomon had just built a temple and dedicated it to God, and now God made an appearance to him and spoke these words. God looked forward to the time when King Solomon’s nation would fall away from this healthy condition and when the land would suffer the punishment of plagues. So God told him how the land might be brought back to health.

9. How do we know that the God who spoke those words was not Jesus Christ?

⁹ But who was this God with the power to heal a nation? Was it Jesus Christ? No; for this Jesus was yet to be a fleshly descendant of King Solomon more than a thousand years later. No, but Bible history itself says at 2 Chronicles 7:12-14 (AS): “And Jehovah appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice. If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my peoples; if my people who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” With inspired authority the Bible says that the one that made such a comforting promise to King Solomon was the God who alone has the name Jehovah.

10. How do the two scriptures used at Eisenhower’s inauguration apply to those people who were called by Jehovah’s name?

¹⁰ He spoke of King Solomon’s people as “my people who are called by my name.” They were the people to whom the president’s inauguration verse at Psalm 33:12 (AS) referred, saying: “Blessed is the nation whose God is Jehovah, the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.” And if this people bearing God’s name tried to build a house or guard a city without his help and oversight, it would be just as it was said in the president’s other inauguration verse, at Psalm 127:1 (AS): “Except Jehovah build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except Jehovah keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” Long before, in the Sinai Peninsula and near what is now the Gulf of Suez, he had said to this same people these words of meaning for all peoples: “I am Jehovah that healeth thee.”—Ex. 15:26, AS.

WHY ALL NATIONS ARE AILING

11. In what other nation do we see illustrated the root of the trouble and the remedy thereof?

¹¹ From their very beginning all the nations of this old world have been ailing, and that includes the young nation of modern Israel. Their sickly condition is now coming to a grand climax. Why has this serious condition arisen? What is the root of the trouble, that we may know what is the only remedy to be applied for us to be healed? The answer to this vital question is given us in a national example. No, not in the modern-day Israel, whose very existence the Arab world hates, but in the twelve-tribe nation of Israel of more than two thousand five hundred years ago, the nation that produced the lawgiver, Moses, and King David and King Solomon. In the Sinai Peninsula, at Mount Sinai, Moses acted as a go-between between Jehovah God and men and brought these into a national agreement with God. Through Moses, God gave that ancient nation of Israel his special laws.

12. Because of their descent from what man did God choose that nation of Israel, and what promises of healing to the nations did God make through this man?

¹² Back there Moses told Israel that Jehovah God had not chosen the nation because of what they were in themselves. To the contrary, it was because their great-grandfather was the Hebrew named Abraham, and this Abraham really believed in Jehovah as God and obeyed him and was called for this “Jehovah’s friend.” (Deut. 7:6-9; 2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8; Jas. 2:23) God specially promised to his friend Abraham that there was to come a healing to all the nations of the earth, and that Abraham and his offspring or descendants would have a part in that wonderful healing work. God’s promises to Abraham were: “By you all the families of the earth will bless themselves.” “And by your descendants shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.” (Gen. 12:3; 22:18, RS) In view of those promises, let no one today make a mistake and think this means the modern nation of Israel. It is true that the modern Israelis can show they are natural descendants of ancient Abraham, but that mere line of descent does not make them the seed of blessing, not even to the eighty other nations in the United Nations organization to which Israel belongs. Today no one sees the nations of the earth blessing themselves by the nation of Israel and getting healed. The healing of people of all nations has drawn near in our day by means other than that modern nation of this divided world.

13. How did Psalm 33:12 apply to Israel under King Solomon, and of what was their national condition then a prophetic picture?

¹³ In the days of King Solomon, almost three thousand years ago, it could be said of his people: “Blessed is the nation whose God is Jehovah, the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.” (Ps. 33:12, AS) The nation of the twelve tribes was united in the worship of Jehovah. They worked together in building a glorious temple to him at Jerusalem. They kept their part of their agreement or covenant with him by obeying his commandments. So he kept his part of the covenant by blessing them with protection from their enemies and with prosperity. The history of King Solomon’s reign tells us: “Judah and Israel were many, like the grains of sand that are by the sea for multitude, eating and drinking and rejoicing. As for Solomon, he proved to be ruler over all the kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines and to the boundary of Egypt. They were bringing gifts and serving Solomon all the days of his life.” (1 Ki. 4:20, 21) That was a prophetic picture of what it will be like on earth when Jehovah God heals all mankind by bringing the blessing that he promised through Abraham.

14. What queen came a long distance to see and hear Solomon’s wisdom for herself, and afterward what was she honest enough to admit concerning Solomon’s people?

¹⁴ Even the queen of Sheba came a distance of one thousand five hundred miles, from the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula near modern Aden, just to learn for herself about Solomon’s wisdom. After seeing what he had done and how wise he was as a king, the queen of Sheba said to Solomon: “You have surpassed in wisdom and prosperity the things heard to which I listened. Happy are your men, happy are those servants of yours who are standing before you constantly, listening to your wisdom! May Jehovah your God come to be blessed, who has taken delight in you by putting you upon the throne of Israel, because Jehovah loves Israel to time indefinite, so that he appointed you as king to render judicial decision and righteousness.” (1 Ki. 10:1-9) Thus this non-Israelite queen was honest enough to admit that Jehovah God had chosen those descendants of faithful Abraham as his inheritance that he might be their God, and that for this reason those Israelites were blessed at that time, about three thousand years ago.

15. How was Israel divided after Solomon’s death, and what destructions took place upon those parts of the nation down to 607 before Christ, and why?

¹⁵ But examine Israel’s history after the death of King Solomon. The nation became divided into two kingdoms, the kingdom of Israel with its capital in the north and the kingdom of Judah with its capital at Jerusalem and with the son of Solomon as king. Why was that? Because in his later life King Solomon fell away from his heavenly wisdom and turned away from the God of his father, King David. The northern kingdom of Israel lasted for 257 years. Then it was destroyed by the world power of Assyria. Why? Because it, too, fell away from the worship of Jehovah at Jerusalem and took up the worship of the idol, the golden bull, and later the false god Baal and his consort Astarte, or Ashtoreth. The kingdom of Judah lasted for 390 years after Solomon’s death. Then in the year 607 before Christ its temple to Jehovah was destroyed, its holy city of Jerusalem was razed to the ground, and the few thousands of Israelites who lived through this destruction were mostly taken to Babylon, the land of their conquerors, and the land of Judah was left to become a wild waste, shunned by all who passed by. Why? Because these Jews, or people of Judah, forsook Jehovah, the God of their forefather Abraham. Without Him as God, how could they be blessed?

16. How was that people and their land healed, and of what fact do we thus have a historical proof?

¹⁶ Certainly that people then needed healing; certainly their sacred land needed healing. Did the healing come? Yes, seventy years after the destruction of the holy city of Jerusalem. Why? Because Jehovah God did not then cast them off from being his chosen people. As exiles in Babylon, or in what is now the Arab kingdom of Iraq, many of the Israelites sorrowed for having broken their covenant with Jehovah God and they turned again to his worship. For his own name’s sake Jehovah God did then what he had promised to do when they returned to him. He healed them. He healed their land by bringing them back from exile and peopling it with them, that there they might again worship him at a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. In this way the great Physician bound up their broken hearts and blessed their plagued land so that it became like the garden of Eden, like the paradise in which God, the Creator, put the first man and woman, Adam and Eve. (Ezek. 36:32-36) The historical proof is thus before us that Almighty God Jehovah can heal a nation, provided it makes him its one and only God.

17. (a) Why is there no temple to Jehovah today on Mount Moriah? (b) To find out whether Israel has been healed by the setting up of the republic in 1948 what questions must we ask and have answered?

¹⁷ Today, about two thousand five hundred years since then, we look at the hills where the sacred city of Jerusalem used to be located. Where is the temple to Jehovah on the hill or mountain of Moriah? It is not. It was destroyed by the Roman world power in the year 70 of the Christian era. Was this for the same reason as in 607 before Christ? Yes. It was because the Israelites fell away from worshiping Jehovah. For this decisive reason their holy city was besieged for several months and captured and destroyed, along with its temple, and the 97,000 Israelites that lived through the horrible destruction were carried away captive and scattered to the ends of the earth, where many are to be found today. But has not their nation been healed since 1948, when the republic of Israel was set up in the midst of the Arab nations? Has not their land been healed by all the farming and gardening and oil digging that the Israelis are doing? To answer these questions with hard facts we must ask, Has the temple to Jehovah been rebuilt upon Mount Moriah? Is the nation of modern Israel trusting in him for protection against all its enemies? Are the Israelis eating and drinking and rejoicing under Jehovah’s king of the tribe of Judah and of the royal family of David as in the days of King Solomon, the anointed son of David? Is their land flourishing like the garden of Eden? Are they happy as Jehovah’s people, bearing his holy name as his witnesses?

18. Why is the answer to all these questions No?

¹⁸ Why is the answer to all of these questions No? Because they today are not “the nation whose God is Jehovah”; they are no longer “the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.” (Ps. 33:12, AS) To hold on to the unscriptural traditions of their forefathers and to keep following false religious teachers, Israel cast away Jehovah as God. In turn Jehovah cast away that faithless nation as his people and removed his name from them. He has since put his name upon those worthy to bear it and to act as his witnesses.

19. How did Jesus Christ himself tell those Israelites so nineteen hundred years ago, and what fruits is the republic of Israel today bringing forth?

¹⁹ Nineteen hundred years ago Jesus Christ himself told those Israelites so. He said to them: “Why is it you also overstep the commandment of God because of your tradition? . . . And so you have made the word of God invalid because of your tradition. You hypocrites, Isaiah aptly prophesied about you, when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, yet their hearts are far removed from me. It is in vain that they keep paying respect to me, because they teach commands of men as doctrines.’” And a few days before such Israelites put Jesus Christ to death for the sake of their man-made traditions, he told them that they had rejected the promised descendant of King David, whom Jehovah God had anointed and sent, and then he added: “This is why I say to you, The kingdom of God will be taken from you and be given to a nation producing its fruits.” (Matt. 15:1-9; 21:42, 43) Since it is to be judged by its fruits, we ask, Is the republic of Israel today bringing forth the fruits of the kingdom of God in proof that they are his nation? No; no more than their forefathers nineteen hundred years ago did. Jesus’ sentential words to them continue true until now: “Look! your house is abandoned to you.” (Matt. 23:38) To this day they have no temple at its old location in Jerusalem. To this day they have no priesthood of the chosen family of Aaron, the brother of Moses. Their government is not a theocracy. Their republic is trying to bring forth the fruits of the United Nations organization.

WHICH IS THE HEALED NATION?

20. How did Jesus Christ come to Israel, and why was he called Jesus, and how did he become Christ?

²⁰ Nineteen hundred years ago Jesus Christ came as a healer to the religious nation of Israel in the Middle East. The greatest physician of all, Jehovah God the perfect Healer, sent him, even down from heaven, for there was no human healer anywhere on earth. In fact, his name Jesus is the short form for the full name that means “Jehovah Is Salvation,” whereas his title Christ means “Anointed One,” that is, the one anointed by Jehovah with his holy spirit. Because this one was to be a healer from Jehovah God, the angel that told of his coming birth said concerning his virgin mother: “She will give birth to a son, and you must call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matt. 1:20, 21) When Jesus became thirty years old his cousin named John dipped him in the waters of the Jordan River, and when he came up out of the water there was a sign from heaven showing that God was there anointing the baptized Jesus with his invisible active force or spirit. (Matt. 3:13-17) Thus he became Jesus the Christ or Anointed One. Then he began the work for which he was anointed.

21. How did Jesus prove himself a healer, and what did his disciple Peter say about him?

²¹ On earth Jesus Christ proved himself to be a healer, although most of the Israelites rejected his services as a healer. Of course, Jesus Christ has a historical record for doing marvelous healing, curing the sick instantly, cleansing the diseased ones in a moment, giving back to cripples the normal position and use of their members, and even raising the dead to life, bringing one person right out of his tomb, where he had lain dead for four days. Jesus even shared his power to heal with his close followers. One of these, Peter by name, said: “God anointed him with holy spirit and power, and he went through the land doing good and healing all those oppressed by the Devil, because God was with him. And we are witnesses of all the things he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.”—Acts 10:38, 39.

22. What was the greater healing by Jesus, and how did Isaiah’s prophecy speak of this, as Jesus read it in Nazareth?

²² However, Jesus’ greater healing was of the people’s hearts and minds, a religious healing, a spiritual healing. This the entire nation needed regardless of whether they were bodily sick or not. They were all living under the Roman world power that worshiped all kinds of false gods and goddesses. Jesus tried to comfort the liberty-lovers and bind up their hearts by preaching, “The kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.” He could preach that because he himself was the one whom Jehovah God had anointed to be the king in the coming kingdom of God. (Matt. 4:12-17; Luke 17:20, 21) Once he went back to Nazareth where he used to be a carpenter and in their synagogue he preached. He took the prophetic book of Isaiah and read these words: “Jehovah’s spirit is upon me, because he anointed me to declare good news to the poor, he sent me forth to preach a release to the captives and a recovery of sight to the blind, to send the crushed ones away with a release, to preach Jehovah’s acceptable year.” After that he said to them: “Today this scripture that you Just heard is fulfilled.” (Luke 4:16-21) But the Nazarenes there turned down the healing Jesus offered them.

23. What freedom and salvation did Jesus offer them, but what did they prefer?

²³ As the Nazarenes went, so went the whole nation. Jesus said to them: “If you remain in my word, you are really my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” But they refused the freedom that he offered them by the truth. (John 8:31, 32) They did not get free from the oppressions of Satan the Devil, the false “god of this world.” They needed to be saved from their sins, but they turned away from Jesus, who became a human sacrifice for sins, “the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29, 36) They preferred sheep, goats, bulls and pigeons as sacrifices instead of Jesus’ perfect, sinless human body; they did not want him as God’s true High Priest with the only acceptable sacrifice. They did not seek to understand his message from God, nor believe the miraculous signs that he performed.

24. What prophecy of Isaiah did Bible history writers apply to those Israelites, and because of refusing spiritual healing what did they finally do to Jesus?

²⁴ For that reason the Bible history writers applied to those unbelieving Israelites God’s words through the prophet Isaiah: “Toward them the prophecy of Isaiah is having fulfillment which says: ‘By hearing, you will hear but by no means get the sense of it; and, looking, you will look but by no means see. For the heart of this people has grown thick, and with their ears they have heard with annoyance, and they have shut their eyes; that they might never see with their eyes and hear with their ears and get the sense of it with their hearts and turn back, and I heal them.’” (Matt. 13:14, 15; John 12:39, 40; Acts 28:24-28) Refusing spiritual healing through the Son of God, they were doomed to die spiritually. That is why in their spiritually diseased condition they finally put him to death on a torture stake, in the year 33.

25. How can it be that healing of the nations has now drawn near, and what warning can all the nations take from those Israelites who refused Jesus Christ as healer?

²⁵ But Jehovah’s great Healer lives again! That is why the healing of the nations has drawn near, for he lives now with all power in heaven and in earth as the descendant of Abraham through whom the blessing was promised to come to all the families and nations of the earth. On the third day the greatest Healer of all, Jehovah God Almighty, raised the good Physician from the dead and restored him to a place in heaven, but clothed him with still greater powers in a higher position. But let all the nations of the earth take warning: Those in Israel who refused Jesus Christ were cast off as a nation and they never did get healed spiritually. Being spiritually sick and doomed to death under the continued oppressions of the Devil, they were not given the kingdom of God and never did bring forth its fruits. Look at the nation of Israel today!

26. How can we know which one is the nation to whom Jesus said the Kingdom would be given?

²⁶ Since Jesus told ancient Israel that the kingdom of God would be taken away from them, which one, then, is the nation to whom he said it would be given? By its fruitage we can tell which nation it is, for it must bring forth the fruitage of the kingdom of God. To be given the kingdom of God, it must accept the kingdom of God.

27. (a) Before Pontius Pilate what fruits did the national leaders of Israel bring forth? (b) Why can the nation to whom the Kingdom is given not be any worldly nation?

²⁷ Jesus, as Jehovah God’s Anointed One, came to the Israelite nation with a message: “The kingdom of God has drawn near. Be repentant and have faith in the good news.” (Mark 1:14, 15) Certainly the national leaders of the Israelites were not repentant and did not accept the Kingdom when they urged the Roman governor Pontius Pilate to put Jesus to death, saying: “This man we found subverting our nation and forbidding the paying of taxes to Caesar and saying he himself is Christ a king.” Neither when they overcame the governor’s objections by shouting: “Every man making himself a king speaks against Caesar,” and, “We have no king but Caesar.” (Luke 23:1, 2 and John 19:12-15) By thus working to have Jesus hanged on a torture stake by the soldiers of the Roman Caesar, those Israelites were bringing forth the fruits of the kingdom of Caesar, the persecutor of Christians. So they were the nation from whom the kingdom of God was taken away, not the nation to whom it was given. The nation favored with God’s kingdom is no political nation of this old world. No worldly nation from that day until now could be that favored nation, for when Jesus was on trial for his life before the Roman governor he said: “My kingdom is no part of this world. 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) No, his is the “kingdom of the heavens,” not of earthly, human source.

28. What kind of nation is it to whom the Kingdom is given, and when did it begin?

²⁸ The nation to whom the kingdom of God was given is the nation that accepts the kingdom of God. It is the nation that accepts Jesus Christ as the one whom Jehovah God anointed with his spirit to be the king of that nation. It is no political nation, nor any nations of this old world who claim their own earthly sovereignty. It is a spiritual nation, a new nation that claims to have citizenship in the heavens with Jesus Christ. This spiritual new nation with its governmental capital in the heavens began on the festival day of Pentecost, that is, fifty days after Jehovah God raised his anointed king from the dead and exalted him to his own right hand in the heavens.

29. On that day how did Peter use the first of the keys to open the understanding of the Kingdom, and how did about 3,000 become part of the nation to whom the kingdom of God was given?

²⁹ On that day at Jerusalem, the apostle Peter to whom Jesus now gave the “keys of the kingdom of the heavens” used the first of these keys by preaching to over three thousand Israelites and opening up their understanding of the kingdom of the heavens. Peter said to them that King David had not ascended to heaven to become a heavenly king, but he was still dead and buried till that day. David wrote Psalm 110 and only prophesied about Jesus Christ who would be raised from the dead and ascend to God’s heavenly throne. Said Peter: “Actually David did not ascend to the heavens, but he himself says, ‘Jehovah said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a stool for your feet.’” Therefore let all the house of Israel know for a certainty that God made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you impaled.” Then and there about three thousand Israelites and proselytes repented and accepted Jesus as both Lord and Christ and were baptized, and with Peter they became part of the nation to whom God’s kingdom was given to bring forth its fruitage.—Acts 2:29-41.

30. When and how did Peter use the second of the keys, and who have ever since been made a part of the nation bearing the Kingdom’s fruits?

³⁰ Less than three and one-half years later, about October 1, A.D. 36, Peter on earth was given the second of the keys of the kingdom of the heavens. From Joppa in the Middle East he was sent north to Caesarea to preach, this time not to circumcised Israelites, but to uncircumcised non-Israelites, Italians. There at the home of Cornelius, a military officer of the Italian band, Peter told his hearers how God had raised Jesus from the dead and had made him Lord in the heavens: “Also he ordered us to preach to the people and to give a thorough witness that this is the One decreed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone putting faith in him gets forgiveness of sins through his name.” Italian Cornelius and the others listening believed the Kingdom message that Peter was preaching to them, for while Peter was still speaking Jehovah God through Jesus Christ poured down his holy spirit upon Cornelius and his fellow believers. Under this active force from heaven they began speaking in languages different from their own and glorifying God. This was audible proof that God had made these uncircumcised non-Jews a part of his new spiritual nation and had given them the kingdom of God that they might bring forth its fruitage. In the face of that, Peter “commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.” (Acts 10:1-48) Ever since Peter thus used the second of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, believers who are not Israelites by birth have been taken in and made a part of this nation that does bear the fruits of God’s kingdom.

31. How did Peter write to that nation to show their identity and that they were a healed nation?

³¹ To the members of this spiritual nation Peter wrote later on. He called attention to how his own earthly nation of Israel had rejected Jesus Christ as king and had therefore ceased to be the chosen nation of God, thus obliging God to bring forth a new nation. Then Peter said to these anointed believers of Christ the Lord: “You are ‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for special possession, that you should declare abroad the excellencies’ of the one that called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. For you were once not a people, but are now God’s people; you were those who had not been shown mercy, but are now those who have been shown mercy.” Then Peter goes on to show that this nation is one that has received God’s healing, the nation that has had its sins forgiven and has had the breach between it and God healed up through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ: “He himself by imputation bore our sins in his own body upon the stake, in order that we might be done with sins and live to righteousness. And ‘by his stripes you were healed’. For you were like sheep, going astray, but now you have returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.” (1 Pet. 2:7-10, 24, 25) It is only through a healed nation that God’s healing can be held out to people of all nations.

ANY HEALING FOR CHRISTENDOM?

32. Why is not that healed nation the citizen-body of the United States of America?

³² Never before has there been greater need for spiritual healing from God than now. Happily there are some of that healed nation on earth today. No, these healed ones are not the citizen-body of the United States of America, even though Eisenhower was sworn in again as the president with his hand on the open Bible at Psalm 33:12 (AS). As much as the United States of America may have given of its money and medical programs and services to bettering the health of backward nations of the world, it is not the chosen nation whose God is Jehovah and to whom all other nations may look for the spiritual healing that leads to everlasting life in the perfection of health in God’s new world. Who on earth will say that the United States is today bringing forth the fruits of the kingdom of Jehovah God? Who will deny that the United States is backing up, not God’s kingdom of the heavens, but the United Nations organization, which is just as much divided politically and religiously as this old world is divided? How can the United States be God’s nation to bring healing to people of all nations when it is itself in need of healing spiritually? Not less than the United States with its hundreds of so-called Christian religions, all the other nations of so-called Christendom need healing spiritually, not to speak of healing mentally and physically.

33. What hard facts show whether Christendom has accepted spiritual healing?

³³ Christendom now claims to be God’s nation. Will she accept his spiritual healing that she in turn may offer this lifegiving healing to others? Not at all; no more than Jerusalem of nineteen centuries ago accepted spiritual healing through Jesus Christ and escaped destruction. Bible prophecy, backed up by world events since the outbreak of World War I in 1914, proves that in that year God’s kingdom of the heavens was established with Jesus Christ at his right hand. Particularly since the close of World War I Jehovah’s witnesses, with their earthly headquarters in the United States of America, have been bringing forth the fruits of God’s kingdom by fulfilling this prophecy that Jesus Christ gave concerning the end of the world: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness to all the nations, and then the accomplished end will come.” (Matt. 24:14) Has all Christendom, especially the United States of America, accepted the Kingdom good news and received spiritual healing and begun bringing forth the fruits of God’s kingdom? Christendom’s persecution and hatred of those who preach the Kingdom good news thunders out a deafening No! Consequently, as against more than 804,000,000 who claim to be Christians of hundreds of different religious sects, there are only about 700,000 witnesses of Jehovah who are preaching this good news of God’s established kingdom in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations before their end comes in the universal war of the great day of God the Almighty.—Rev. 16:14, 16.

34. Why will Christendom die forever, and why should we avoid her?

³⁴ Let no one look to divided Christendom for God’s healing work to come through her. Concerning her religious leaders the prophecy of Jeremiah says: “For every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. And they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.” Then, describing the expectations of the backers of Christendom, the prophecy adds: “We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and, behold, dismay!” (Jer. 8:10, 11, 15, AS) As with Jerusalem of ancient days, so with her religious counterpart today, Christendom, there is no healing of her. She has to die, forever! She will continue to prefer Caesar to Christ. She will continue to prefer the United Nations organization to God’s kingdom of the heavens, until she finds herself with all the rest of the unhealed world at Armageddon, the field of final battle with Jehovah, the God Almighty. There, at war with him instead of at peace with him, she will be dealt her Armageddon blow by his hand, and from this there will never be any recovery for her. Regarding her and all her worldly allies the witnesses of Jehovah today say as his witnesses said regarding Babylon of long ago: “We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country; for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.” (Jer. 51:9, AS; Rev. 18:1-5) Infection that leads to death, not healing that leads to life, comes through Christendom. Avoid her!

CHANNEL OF HEALING

35. Why will the old world die within this generation of men, and yet why is spiritual healing now at hand for people of all nations?

³⁵ This divided world and its nations and man-made systems are incurable. Destruction, not healing, has drawn near for them. Neither Jehovah God nor Jesus Christ is trying to convert this old world to save it. It is on its deathbed and the prophecies of God’s Word foretell its end within the generation of men that has been living since 1914. (Matt. 24:33, 34) Nonetheless, “healing of the nations” has drawn near, in that spiritual healing that leads to everlasting life in God’s new world is now at hand for people of all nations. No one of any nationality is barred from going to Jehovah God for this healing. The reason for this is that the kingdom of our Father in heaven, prayed for whenever anyone repeats the Lord’s prayer, rules in the heavens. It has been ruling since 1914, when Jehovah God enthroned and crowned his Son Jesus Christ at his right hand and commanded him to rule in the midst of his enemies and dash them to pieces at the coming battle of Armageddon. (Matt. 6:9, 10; Ps. 110:1-6) From this kingdom of God and his Christ, the sacrificed Lamb of God, there now flows a healing stream from which all may drink regardless of nationality, race, color, language or previous religion. This is lovelily pictured for us in prophetic symbols in the last chapter in the Bible:

36. How is this pictured for us in Revelation 22:1-3, 17?

³⁶ “And he showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, flowing out from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of its broad way. And on this side of the river and on that side there were trees of life producing twelve crops of fruit, yielding their fruits each month. And the leaves of the trees were for the curing [or, healing] of the nations. And no more will there be any curse. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in [the city], and his slaves will render him sacred service, . . . And the spirit and the bride keep on saying, ‘Come!’ And let anyone hearing say, ‘Come!’ And let anyone thirsting come; let anyone that wishes take life’s water free.”—Rev. 22:1-3, 17, margin.

37. Why did the remnant of the New Jerusalem need spiritual healing in 1918?

³⁷ The city down the broad way of which this river of water of life flows is the New Jerusalem, that spiritual nation of disciples that Jehovah God marries to the Lamb Jesus Christ as his bride. Of this spiritual nation that is in line for the heavenly New Jerusalem there is a faithful remnant of some thousands yet upon the earth. During World War I these citizens of the New Jerusalem suffered greatly at the hands of the enemies of God’s kingdom, which had been established in 1914. At the close of that global war in 1918 this persecuted and oppressed remnant needed healing, that they might gain strength and rise up to do the work that God had for them to do in the postwar period until the universal war of Armageddon. Just as he had long ago healed ancient Jerusalem in 537 before Christ, so he healed the present-day remnant of the New Jerusalem in fulfillment of this prophecy:

38. What prophecy in Jeremiah did the healing of them fulfill?

³⁸ “Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them; and I will reveal unto them abundance of peace and truth. . . . And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned against me, and whereby they have transgressed against me. And this city shall be to me for a name of joy, for a praise and for a glory, before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them, and shall fear and tremble for all the good and for all the peace that I procure unto it.”—Jer. 33:6-9, AS.

39. Who have become a name of joy to Jehovah, and how have they served like the trees growing by the river of water of life?

³⁹ Not the old walled city of Jerusalem today in the Middle East, but the anointed remnant of the heavenly New Jerusalem have become to Jehovah God a name of joy and for his praise before all nations, because these true, anointed Christians have had his name called upon them and have become his witnesses, yes, Jehovah’s witnesses. (Isa. 43:10-12, AS) They have become like those trees of life growing luxuriantly on both sides of the river of water of life that produce monthly the fruits of the kingdom of God. Even the unfading leaves of these symbolic trees of life, by which they purify the atmosphere and offer refreshing shade, are for healing purposes, “the curing of the nations.” Since the close of World War I they have borne these fruits and furnished these healing leaves for the spiritual curing of people of all nations. How? By carrying out the prophecy that Jesus said must and would be fulfilled before the end of this divided old world is accomplished at Armageddon, namely: “You will be hated by all the nations on account of my name. 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.” (Matt. 24:9, 14) This good news of the established kingdom sent out from the throne of God and of his Lamb is like a river of water of life, flowing through his New Jerusalem, his chosen spiritual nation, whose God is Jehovah. It flows out to all in danger of dying of thirst.

40. Who have come to these symbolic trees of life, and how have they acted on the invitation to say “Come!” to still others?

⁴⁰ Already hundreds of thousands of persons of good will in more than 160 nations, provinces, territories and islands have seen how Jehovah has healed the remnant of his spiritual nation by his truth and by his spirit and how he has put them in the way of everlasting life in the heavenly kingdom as the “bride” of Christ. Seeing the danger of being destroyed with this incurable old world at Armageddon, they too want spiritual healing in order to gain life in the new world, on a paradise earth under God’s heavenly kingdom. So they come and eat from the monthly fruit of the trees of life. They recognize these trees for what they give evidence of being, Jehovah’s witnesses, and come under the shade of their health-giving theocratic organization and receive spiritual curing. They accept the invitation of this “bride” class to come to the river beside which the trees of life grow. They drink. Then, nourished with the fruitage of the Kingdom, cured by the leaves of the trees, and with thirst satisfied by the river’s water of life, they use their new spiritual strength to act upon the divine invitation: “And let anyone hearing say, ‘Come!’” So they join the remnant of the “bride” class and become witnesses to all the nations by preaching the good news of the heavenly kingdom in all the inhabited earth. So doing, they join in passing out the invitation, “And let anyone thirsting come; let anyone that wishes take life’s water free.”

41. What are you instructed to do to act on this invitation for the benefit of your spiritual health?

⁴¹ You are now hearing that invitation. If you have not yet done so, act now on that invitation. Drink of the life-giving waters of truth that Jehovah God now causes to stream forth from his written Word, the Holy Bible. In the carrying on of your Bible study associate yourselves with these symbolic fruit-bearing, curative trees of life and with all those who have already united themselves with this spiritual nation, whose God is Jehovah and whom he has chosen for his inheritance. Get spiritually healed. Let the deadly breach between you and Jehovah God be removed. Come to oneness, to friendly relationship with him, that you may not be destroyed as his enemy at Armageddon. Seek the forgiveness of your sins through his Lamb, Jesus Christ, and be relieved of the condemnation of eternal death. Let the truth of God’s Word make you free. Get your upset mind made over to God’s healthy, peaceful way of thinking. Leave this unhealable old world to its agonizing death at Armageddon and give your loyal devotion to God’s kingdom by Christ and be relieved of the oppression of Satan the Devil, “the god of this world.”

42. For what opportunities of survival and life do we put ourselves in line, and how?

⁴² Let your broken heart be bound up by knowing the comfort and joy of practicing the true religion, the worship of the one true God with spirit and with truth. Tell others how you were spiritually healed and invite them and guide them to the riverside to drink of the water of everlasting life. Put yourself in line to be protected by God through the end of this dying old world and to survive in excellent spiritual health into God’s new world under his kingdom, there to be further healed bodily until you attain to human perfection in a paradise restored, where there will be no more death as a penalty for the first man’s sin. (Rev. 21:1-4) Recognize the curative power of the great heavenly Physician Jehovah and avail yourself now of the healing that has drawn near to all people of all the nations, through his kingdom by Jesus Christ.

Handbill Message Convinces

● One way in which the Watch Tower Society makes the most of its opportunities is by printing messages on the backs of the handbills that advertise its public lectures. That doing this serves a good purpose is apparent not only from the requests for literature the Society receives from readers of the handbills but also from the reporting of such experiences as the following: “As the mother of five small youngsters, I used to find very little time for reading. But usually the day I washed and waxed my floors I’d read in the corner I had waxed myself into. On this particular day when I found myself in a corner I didn’t have a thing within reach to read. Then I remembered the little handbill a lady had left several weeks earlier. I had put it in my empty planter lamp on the radio. Because it was near I thought I might as well read it, rather than sit there idle. I was so convinced on the subject ‘Is Hell Hot?’ that I decided to look into the religion more thoroughly. As a result, both my husband and myself are sincere believers of the truth, and thank Jehovah for the many ways, though small, he has for gathering his sheep.”

Part 6 (Conclusion)—Rounding the World with the Vice-President

TOKYO, JAPAN

It is after 5 p.m., local time, when the plane from Seoul lands at the Tokyo international airport, where the Japanese branch servant and his wife and the district servant await also the return of the Society’s vice-president. There is a special farewell meeting for him to serve tonight, as announced the preceding Sunday in Tokyo. So after a brief stop at the Society’s Tokyo branch, he is whisked away to the Tokyo Shibuya-Ku Kokaido, a municipal auditorium, for a talk at 7 p.m. The Tokyo and Yokohama congregations had arranged to meet here as a central point. To the delight of all an appreciative audience of 446 Kingdom publishers and persons of good will occupied the ground floor and the balcony of this auditorium and sought instruction on God’s will for them during 1957 and time to come. They received a spur to more diligent Bible study and to activity in preaching “this good news of the kingdom.” To this profitable meeting one group of special pioneer publishers near Tokyo gathered in twenty-seven recently interested persons. Also present was a professor from the Waseda University, an educational institution with an enrollment of 25,000 students, where the Society’s president addressed a large body of students and professors in the spring of 1956. The professor was encouraged to prosecute his study of the message of God’s now-established kingdom.

Came the morning of Thursday, January 31, and the visiting vice-president has the rare pleasure of enjoying the regular Bethel service at the breakfast table in the branch office building and missionary home. Except for his own comment on the day’s Bible text and his prayer before the morning meal was served, all the Bible discussion was in Japanese, not only by the Japanese members of the household but also by the missionary members from foreign lands. It was gratifying to observe how well these latter showed ability to discuss God’s Word in the language of their missionary assignment.

The further hours of the morning allowed for additional checking over the records and facilities of the Tokyo branch establishment, and part of the afternoon was taken advantage of to visit two other missionary homes in other parts of the capital city. It filled one with joy to note that the missionaries were comfortably housed and were happy in living together as fellow workers, as helpers and backers of one another in unity.

The scheduled hour of departure, 7 p.m., drew near, and some sixty of the Tokyo and Yokohama missionaries, pioneers and congregation publishers gathered at the Tokyo international airport to say farewell to Brother Franz. It was a bright and happy group, enthusiastic and confident of grander expansion of the theocratic organization in Japan in the future. As the giant PAA plane rose into the air and bore Brother Franz on his way to Hawaii, it came the time at the Tokyo branch to close out the January service report for Japan. What did the adding up of all the reports received from within the country show? The best month ever for Kingdom service in Japan, with a new maximum of 685 publishers, which spelled out a 26-percent increase already over the previous service year. The momentum gained carried them to a new height in February, 693 Kingdom announcers. In Japan Jehovah’s witnesses thanked him for all the marvelous blessings of January, 1957, which no doubt were the forerunner of even greater blessings ahead.

FLYING BACK INTO YESTERDAY AND LAST MONTH

It was during the last hours of Thursday, the last day of the month of January, when the plane bearing the Society’s vice-president left Japan, with the mid-Pacific American possession of Wake Island as its first stop. We passengers tried to sleep in our reclining seats, with our seat belts fastened to hold us down, for we were due to pass through some rough areas of atmosphere. Midnight passed and at 2:10 a.m., Friday, February 1, Tokyo time, or 5:10 a.m., Wake Island time, we landed on this tiny, V-shaped coral atoll, the top of an extinct underwater volcano, with an area of three square miles. It had been a seven-hour flight from Tokyo to here. It was still dark when we reboarded our PAA plane and got off the ground at 6:48 a.m., Wake Island time. Soon it grew light into the morning of Friday, the first day of February. We continue our flight eastward, against the sun. By now it is about 10:12 a.m., Wake Island time, and Brother Franz steps up to the pilot’s cabin and asks the logmaster when we shall reach the international date line. “We are there right now!” says the logman on checking. In fact, we see no line of any kind in the Pacific Ocean below, there being broken clouds between it and us. But it is the place to draw the line as to the time.

So here we crossed the international date line. Did that make any difference? Yes! What, then, had happened? I did not feel a day younger, but we had here crossed over from Friday back into Thursday of the same week, and from February 1, 1957, back into January 31. All the hours that the vice-president had lost by flying eastward from New York city some fifteen thousand miles back due west he was now about to recapture. We now measure time by what it is in Honolulu, our destination, according to which we have gained a day in our life. So it is that on Thursday, January 31, at 5:35 p.m., after a fine aerial view of the famous Diamond Head promontory, we landed at the Honolulu airport, with the sun still shining brightly in the west. It had been an overwater flight of eight hours and fifty-one minutes from Wake Island. All together, seventeen and a half hours had been consumed since leaving Tokyo, Japan. By the calendar we had landed in Honolulu an hour and a half before we left Tokyo.

HONOLULU, HAWAII

It had been a pleasant surprise for Jehovah’s witnesses in Hawaii to learn early in October that they were to have a visit by the vice-president of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society the first weekend of February. At once preliminary plans were begun to hold a district assembly in that connection. It was hoped to be able to hold this assembly in Hilo, to advance the work on the Big Isle of Hawaii, over 150 miles to the southeast. But a place large enough to accommodate such a gathering was not yet available. Hence the American Chinese Club Pavilion in Honolulu, here on Oahu Island, the same Pavilion where the Society’s president and his secretary had spoken in March of 1956, was selected.

Work was started on printing 50,000 special invitations for persons of good will, 40,000 regular handbills and 572 window cards. Later, plans were made to have the public lecture radiocast on one of the prominent stations, and so an additional 30,000 handbills were distributed on the outer islands of the Territory of Hawaii just the weekend before the district assembly. This would enable interested persons who could not attend the assembly personally to hear the message by radio. Other means of advertising used were radio spot announcements, items in seven newspapers, and three spots on television, two in English and one in Japanese. No stone was left unturned in advertising this important event.

Finally the evening arrived when Brother Franz was to reach Honolulu via Pan American Airways on the last leg of his eleven-week service tour around the globe. So Thursday evening, January 31, found about 250 of Jehovah’s witnesses at the airport to give the traveler a characteristic Hawaiian welcome. After some delay in getting through customs he was finally in touch with them, and these members of the global New World society began to pile him high with the traditional fresh-flower leis, fifty-four of them, some of these being given Hawaiian-style! Overwhelmed, Brother Franz did not want to part company so soon with these newly met friends. To their delight he announced that he would give an account of his trip for them all at the Central Unit Kingdom Hall at 7:30 that evening. This Kingdom Hall adjoins the Watch Tower Society’s Honolulu branch building, where an assembly place of Jehovah’s witnesses was first named Kingdom Hall over twenty years ago, after Judge Rutherford’s visit in April, 1935. Almost all of the welcoming crowd made their way over to the designated place, and at 7:45 p.m. the meeting to hear the travelogue began, with 173 crowded into the hall. The time available was convenient, for, owing to another engagement at the American Chinese Club Pavilion, the district assembly workers were unable to get into this place of assembly until 11 p.m. to make final preparations for the opening day. So, right after the travelogue, many quickly changed into work clothes and swung into action at the Pavilion and about 2:30 Friday morning all was ready there for the opening session.

Those arriving for the initial gathering at 9 a.m. saw the theme “Pure Worship Expansion” in bold letters on both sides of the Pavilion’s stage proscenium. To the left they saw displayed a replica of the globe with a pictorial projection of the Hawaiian Island chain. This side depicted the progress of the work by 1937, showing all the islands colored brown except Oahu, which was in yellow, indicating that then there was only one congregation in all Hawaii and work was being done on only one island. The other side showed the progress of the witness work by 1957. Here the Island chain was all in yellow, having been bathed in the “golden light of Kingdom truth” by the expansion of pure worship and showing now a total of seventeen congregations. To show further the theme of fruitfulness, a large tray of literal Hawaiian fruits decorated the center of the Pavilion stage and large Hawaiian pineapples were spaced between colorful caladium plants along the front of the stage. Other native Hawaiian plants completed the scene.

At this time 275 turned out for the field contact here, and after a half hour of instruction they proceeded to the field. This time the advertising of the public lecture on the streets was promoted in a different way. Instead of walkers marching as usual with placards fore and aft, the conventioners held up signs mounted on sticks, so that they were displayed above the people’s heads. These were also equipped with colored arrows to attract more attention.

After dinner at the cafeteria, which was installed alongside the Pavilion auditorium, with long tables under canopy, a program followed with talks on spiritual prosperity and accurate knowledge and on announcing Jehovah’s kingdom with magazines, this being pointed up with practical demonstrations. The names of those on this and succeeding parts of the assembly program, such as Fajardo, Ito, Samson, Akiyoshi, Yoshikawa, Chum, Chong, Kong, Lu Shigemi, Kawasaki Ah You, Uchimura, Liu, Palusky, Kealoha, Nako, Krautheim, Higa and Tyson, showed up the polyglot, multiracial constitution of the inhabitants of Hawaii and that the New World society is made up of “all kinds of men,” whom God is saving by Jesus Christ.

During the course of the afternoon, at the studios of TV station WGBM, Brother Franz was televised on “Guest Time” for two and a half minutes. Also, following the afternoon assembly sessions, twenty-five missionaries and special pioneers from a number of the islands of Hawaii gathered for an unscheduled meeting at the Kingdom Hall alongside the branch and had a special hour and a half meeting with Brother Franz. During this time interesting service and Bible questions were treated. Brother Franz especially reminded these full-time publishers of their favored position in Hawaii and admonished them to keep on setting a fine example in zealous service.

Friday evening the 940 in attendance benefited by talks on spiritual need and unity in the New World society delivered by the circuit servant for Hawaii and the Society’s branch servant, Keith W. Stebbins. In sequence to them Brother Franz made his first official address on the assembly platform, to climax a blessed day. This night’s attendance of 940 stood out favorably in bold relief against the 918 witnesses who had reported field service during the preceding month of January, which figure was eight more than the goal of a 10-percent increase in the number of active publishers for Hawaii. Thereby further increase was certainly shown to be immediately possible in Hawaii.

At the Pavilion 650 gathered Saturday morning to hear the discourse on dedication and baptism. The baptism of the candidates took place in the blue Pacific Ocean alongside the public baths at Waikiki beach. After all the others had been immersed, one candidate from the island of Molokai arrived late at the beach, but on being found to have informed himself on the issue of baptism and upon individually answering in the affirmative the decisive questions put to him by the speaker, the branch servant, this eager candidate was immersed by himself, to bring the total of baptized ones to fifty-two, there being nineteen brothers and thirty-three sisters. The afternoon feature, “Witnessing with a Purpose,” was presented in first a discourse and then a four-part demonstration arranged by the circuit servant. A three-part symposium followed this up, entitled “A Career with the New World Society,” and in this the pioneer service was made prominent. Attendance at this session was 755.

The evening’s talks were designed to benefit Kingdom ministers of all ages, children, adults, aged men and women, and newly interested associates. For the closing event of the day the branch servant kindly offered to have the vice-president speak instead of him on the programed talk “Proper Administration of Overseer Duties.” Those gathered for this occasion were thrilled to hear announced that 1,005 were then seated around Jehovah’s spiritual table at the Pavilion, the biggest gathering of ministers yet. Before closing, congratulatory telegrams were read from Chicago, Illinois, and the Philippine Islands, and Canton Island, where one lone Oriental sister formerly in Hawaii is now carrying on the witness work under the Hawaiian branch.

Sunday, February 3, the final assembly day, came with overcast skies and there was some rain. How favorable would the weather be to the afternoon public meeting at the Pavilion? Last night the assembly attendance had overflowed out onto the beautiful grounds fronting on the Pavilion. Confidently the morning program of the assembly went forward, with 860 in attendance. The young ministers were specially admonished to flee from desires incidental to youth, and all those present were wisely counseled on guarding our association amidst this world and never to compromise Christian principles. The session concluded with timely advice on fleeing from materialism and on meeting the need to expand pure worship.

Final preparations were now made for the grand climax of any New World society assembly, the public lecture. Favorably, the Hawaiian winter skies held back from pouring down further rain and the temperature was mild. The subject, “New World Peace in Our Time—Why?” had been extensively advertised by the many available means. The public responded. As the speaker, the Society’s vice-president, addressed this visible audience, his speech was being recorded on tape. At the termination of a half hour that part of the speech was immediately carried to the studios of station KPOA not far away and broadcasting of it began at 3:45 p.m. The next half hour of the uninterrupted public address at the Pavilion was likewise tape-recorded and the tape was hurried over to KPOA and its radiocast of the address continued without a break. The concluding fifteen minutes of the speech, with its appeal to the listeners to pursue further the goal of New World peace and expressing the loving hope for their eternal enjoyment of it, was also recorded and the radiocasting of it over KPOA ended at 5 p.m. The distant station, KILA, on the Big Isle of Hawaii, was tied in with KPOA and it rebroadcast the entire speech by this relay to the island’s 80,000 inhabitants, mainly at Hilo. After the public address the branch servant exclaimed: “This is the last meeting we shall have here in this place.” How was that? “It is now too small!” Yes, the attendance had reached the proportions of the largest turnout at any public meeting of Jehovah’s witnesses in Hawaii, a new record peak attendance of 1,472 visibly present, not counting the indeterminate audience invisibly present by radio.

A short intermission, and the assembly reconvened to hear a summary of the weekly Watchtower magazine study and the branch servant’s exhortation on “Keeping Within the Confines of the New World Society.” Assuredly many of the public were staying for this finale of the assembly, for when the vice-president came on again to give an official conclusion to this spiritual feast the largest attendance yet outside of the public meeting was present to hear, an attentive 1,128. After once more expressing his appreciation for the opportunity to visit these fair islands and to make the acquaintance of all his listeners interested in God’s Word, new friends, he drew the assembly to its close with fervent prayer to Jehovah God for spiritual prosperity through his King Jesus Christ. Long after the dissolution of the assembly down came the rains, toward midnight.

Another night was at our disposal for meeting with these spiritually seeking Hawaiian friends. So at the assembly’s close it was announced that the vice-president would speak again at the Central Unit Kingdom Hall Monday night to all in position to come. In spite of the rain 303 filled the beautiful Kingdom Hall to overflowing and received further encouragement to sing to Jehovah the “new song.” The meeting the succeeding night, Tuesday, February 5, was different. It was one of farewell at the Honolulu airport. Many Hawaiian friends, together with the missionaries, thronged the waiting room and bestowed lovely leis of flowers and of candy and other mementos upon the departing vice-president. They followed him to the gate onto the airfield. After a last wave of Aloha! to them all Brother Franz entered the door of the waiting airplane. Shortly after 10 p.m. the PAA superconstellation pulls away from before the airport building and gets onto the distant runway and is soon lost to view in the blackness of the night sky, up above dripping clouds and under starlit Hawaiian heavens.

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA

Arrival of the plane on the American continent was next day, after 7 a.m., at the San Francisco international airport. Thirteen brothers, all servants and representatives from the numerous congregations in the San Francisco-Oakland area of California, were there. Brother Franz adorned each of them with a lei fresh from Hawaii. The public relations servant of the circuit was alert to his assigned task and so, before the evening meeting, a recording was made at the studios of Station KLX of a seven-minute interview with Brother Franz and then another interview at the Watch Tower Society’s former radio station, KROW. Invitations to the evening meeting at the Municipal Auditorium over in Oakland, California, were restricted so as not to draw too big a crowd. Yet, at 8 p.m., after a fine musical program of a half hour, the big auditorium had a capacity crowd of 8,091 to hear the round-the-world traveler give his first report in the United States of America. Listeners came from far points, even from Los Angeles to the south. All returned to their abodes much refreshed by the two-hour travelogue with which they were served.

The following morning, Thursday, February 7, the vice-president emplaned for the Brooklyn headquarters of the Watch Tower Society. There was a cross-country nonstop flight of over eight hours eastward to land safely, after some circling aloft owing to airport traffic jam, at the Idlewild International airport on Long Island, outside of New York city. On hand to greet Brother Franz were both the Society’s president and the secretary-treasurer, besides a goodly number of other members of the Brooklyn Bethel family. It was a joyous reunion, and there were still Hawaiian leis to grace those of this reception committee with. By 10:30 p.m. we were back at the Brooklyn Bethel home, grateful to Jehovah for his power and goodness that had preserved us all. The vice-president’s round-the-world service tour had taken seventy-seven days, including the day gained by crossing the international date line in the Pacific, or eleven full weeks. Seventeen different lands outside the American mainland had been visited with meetings with the members of the globe-embracing New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses. Everywhere there were members of this New World society that expressed their wishes and hopes of attending the already announced international assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses in the big New York city stadium in the summer of 1958.

Questions From Readers

● The Watchtower, September 15, 1955, page 572, paragraphs 38, 39, states that Satan did not promise immortality to Eve in Eden. Who, then, began this teaching, and when? Was it during Nimrod’s time that this teaching first began?—E. D., United States.

Satan, as the father of the lie and the originator of all false religion, must be held accountable for the teaching of the immortality of human souls. However, it does not seem that we can construe his remarks to Eve as teaching the immortality of a soul separate and distinct from the body, but rather that he led her to believe that even in the flesh she would not die at all.

As to when this teaching originated, that the dead did not actually die but lived on, Qualified to Be Ministers indicates it was believed in by men even before the flood of Noah’s day. Suggestion of this is seen where survivors placed food in the tombs of their dead. The present teaching of the immortality of the human soul, however, cannot be traced back to preflood times because all false worship was wiped out at the time of the Flood and only pure worship was engaged in right after the Deluge. Just exactly when the teaching of an immortal soul’s surviving after death of the human body again arose may be open to question, but at least by the time of Nimrod’s death it was current, as his wife taught that after his death he had become a god and was to be worshiped.

Announcements

ABREAST OF THE NEW WORLD SOCIETY

In the new world of righteousness the hopes of all godly persons will be fulfilled. ‘Righteousness is to dwell forever’ in that world. Members of the New World society not only anticipate the glorious things promised but serve the interests of the new world by keeping abreast in proclaiming the good news of its establishment far and wide. Gladly they engage in the ministry, telling others about it at every opportunity, as did Paul. (1 Cor. 11:1) During October householders will be given opportunity to subscribe for the Scripturally helpful magazine Awake! A year’s subscription is only $1, and three booklets will be given free.

SONGS OF PRAISE

Ever since they were first sung centuries ago, the Psalms have been a constant source of inspiration. It is fitting indeed that these beautiful songs can now be read in the clear and unmistakable language of today. They are available in Volume 3 of the New World Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, just released at the district assemblies of Jehovah’s witnesses held throughout the world. This volume contains the books Job to The Song of Solomon and has 512 pages. The regular edition is printed on thin Bible paper with gold-embossed hard-bound cover in green leatherette, and can be obtained by sending a contribution of only $1. It is also available in a de luxe edition, bound in genuine Morocco leather, for only $5. Send for your copy today.

LIFE IS NOT A GAMBLE

Life is not a gamble. Neither is right religion. You would avoid unnecessary risk physically. Why take chances spiritually with your everlasting life? You can lose it through ignorance, endanger it by negligence or you can win it by ‘making sure of all things.’ How? By going to the right source for information. The world is full of confused and contradictory ideas and beliefs. Religions differ as to doctrine and even as to what God requires of us. Who is right? Each one, of course, thinks he is. But what does God’s Word say? Do you really know? Can you call to your use the scriptures that give authority for right doctrine? “Make Sure of All Things” places them at your fingertips. It is a pocket-size hard-bound book of 416 pages that lets the Bible speak for itself. Seventy Bible themes and 287 subjects are presented without comment. Bible texts, quoted from eleven translations, provide the answers. Obtain “Make Sure of All Things” today by sending 75c.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

October 13: Healing of the Nations Has Drawn Near. ¶1-21. Page 557.

October 20: Healing of the Nations Has Drawn Near. ¶22-42. Page 563.

Check Your Memory

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

✔ What Bible translation is now the basic translation used in “The Watchtower”? P. 546, bottom.

✔ Why a person can be doing something wrong while his conscience says it is right? P. 547, ¶4.

✔ What two great organizations are in a mighty conflict? P. 550, ¶3.

✔ Which of the seven wonders of the ancient world was built by a king to please his wife? P. 553, ¶3.

✔ How the present condition of Babylon fulfills prophecy? P. 555, ¶2.

✔ In what sense the nations of the world are sick? P. 557, ¶1.

✔ Why the queen of Sheba traveled 1,500 miles to have an audience with King Solomon? P. 561, ¶14.

✔ What healing Jesus did that was greater than his healing of the crippled and the diseased? P. 563, ¶22.

✔ How a traveler ended a plane flight almost a full day before he started? P. 572, ¶1.

✔ Why it cannot be said that the doctrine of the soul’s immortality had its beginning in Eden? P. 575, ¶3.