The Watchtower — July 1, 1958

Give Credit Where Credit Is Due

WHEN a composer has produced a musical masterpiece, should someone else be given credit for it? When a scientist makes a great discovery, should another scientist be honored? It would be rank injustice to give credit where it has not been earned while ignoring the one to whom it is due.

Generally the world realizes this and so gives credit to great composers and scientists for the things they have done. But to whom does it give credit for the 8,600 species of birds, the 4,500 species of living mammals, the 150,000 kinds of flowers, besides the countless numbers of fish and insects? Does it give credit to the One who designed them and gave them the ability to reproduce their kind in great variety? Does it honor the One who could think up and produce these living creatures with such a vast variety of functional body designs, bodies that make use of many fundamental physical laws? Does it praise the One who could produce a multitudinous variety of trees and plants as well as design flowers in so many colors, shapes and sizes that man’s imagination is staggered?

The answer is a most shameful No!

While the world is very conscious about giving credit to men for great works in art, literature and science, it refuses to give credit to Jehovah God for his works of creation. It marvels at his works, studies them, and learns from them, but adamantly refuses to give him credit for them. It prefers to argue that nothing designed these wonders, nothing made them.

Its willful blindness does not alter the fact that all living things are the product of God’s hands. “How many your works are, O Jehovah! All of them in wisdom you have made. The earth is full of your productions.” (Ps. 104:24) Do not be like this senseless world. Show good sense by giving credit where credit is due.

Is the Rosary Christian?

It is claimed that saying the rosary has won battles against heretics and infidels. And one pope, Leo XIII, wrote twelve encyclicals exhorting Catholics to recite the rosary. But—

“BIGGEST Rosary in Japan.” Thus the Nippon Times, March 10, 1953, described the rosary illustrated above. While it did not state the exact size, the picture does at least give an idea as to how long this rosary is. Concerning it we are told that “the devout villagers believe they can keep off disasters from the village by reciting short prayers a million times with this rosary.”

This may cause one of our Catholic readers to exclaim: “I never saw a rosary that looked like that!” True, perhaps, but you sadly err if you think that there are only Catholic rosaries. Says The Catholic Encyclopedia: “In almost all countries, then, we meet with something in the nature of prayer-counters or rosary-beads.” Rosaries were used in ancient Nineveh and are being used by Moslems and Buddhists. In fact, Catholic missionaries, upon their first visiting India, Japan and Mexico, have repeatedly been surprised to find the rosary being used by the people in those lands.

Today the Catholic Church is urging increased use of the rosary. Spearheading the campaign is the “Family Prayer Crusade,” directed by priest Patrick Peyton. Among other things, in large cities this crusade sponsors mammoth rosary rallies, which draw as many as fifty to seventy thousand Catholics. The rosary is also advertised in the press and by the use of billboards.

Not just “Anglo-Catholics,” but even some Protestant clergymen urge the use of the rosary. For example, there is Rudolph Wissler, who says in the Rockland, New York, Independent, February 7, 1957: “Some sort of Protestant rosary would be an impetus to the deepening of faith.” Arguing for Protestants’ using the rosary, he points to the fact that Moslems and Buddhists also use the rosary.

To encourage reciting the rosary liberal indulgences are offered. Plenary or complete indulgence is to be had by reciting the rosary once a day for nine days, making a “Rosary Novena.” Depending upon the kind of rosary used, one may gain as much as 27,000 days of partial indulgence each time one recites the rosary.

Doubtless the foregoing raises a number of questions. Just what does a rosary consist of? What prayers are involved? And what about its claimed benefits? Does reciting the rosary find support in the Scriptures? Is the rosary Christian?

THE ROSARY AND ITS PRAYERS

The term “rosary” means “garland of roses.” Thus the German name for rosary is Rosenkranz, literally “rose-wreath.” It is claimed that the present form and use of the rosary was a gradual development beginning with repetitions of the Lord’s Prayer. “It was only in the middle of the twelfth century that the Hail Mary came at all generally into use as a formula of devotion,” says The Catholic Encyclopedia. The one most prominently associated with the history of the rosary is the founder of the Dominican order of monks. However, according to this authority he neither originated the use of the rosary nor developed it to its present form.

Strictly speaking, a rosary is a chain consisting of fifteen “decades” or sets of ten small beads, each set marked off by one larger bead; usually it also has a crucifix and a medal. What is popularly known as a rosary is technically merely a “chaplet,” or “pair of beads,” one third as large. It is a chain of five sets of ten or decades of small beads, marked off by five larger beads. The ends of this chain are joined by a medal bearing the imprint of Mary. Hanging from this medal is a short chain having three small beads, one larger one and a crucifix. (See illustration.)

In the use of the rosary the following recitations are involved: The “Apostles’ Creed,” our Lord’s Prayer, Hail Mary, Glory Be, and five “Mysteries.” Optional is the adding of the prayer of “the Lady of Fatima” and the concluding prayers. The so-called Apostles’ Creed, which starts off the reciting of the rosary, doubtless is familiar to most of our readers,a even as also is our Lord’s Prayer. (Matt. 6:9-13, Dy) The Hail Mary is based on the words of angel Gabriel and Elizabeth to Mary, to which have been added a prayer to Mary composed by Catholic theologians: “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of death, Amen.” The Glory Be consists of the following words: “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, Amen.” The Mysteries, of which there are three sets of five—”Joyful,” “Sorrowful” and “Glorious”—are references to events or claimed events in the lives of Jesus and his mother Mary and are said on certain days. For example, “The first Joyful Mystery—Mary Consents to be the Mother of the Son of God.”b

Reciting the rosary begins with repeating the “Apostles’ Creed” as the crucifix is fingered. Then for each large bead the Lord’s Prayer, termed the Paternoster—from the Latin words meaning “Our Father”—is recited and for each small bead a Hail Mary. The cycle begins with the announcing of one of the Mysteries and concludes with a Glory Be. At the end of each cycle the Mystery announced at its beginning is to be meditated upon. In all, reciting the rosary involves fifty-three Hail Marys, six Paternosters, five Mysteries, five meditations on the Mysteries, five Glory Bes and one repeating of the “Apostles’ Creed.” Unless hurried it takes some fifteen minutes at least.

BUT IS IT CHRISTIAN?

Does God’s Word authorize such repetitious praying? No. Jesus said: “But when praying, do not say the same things over and over again, just as the people of the nations do, for they imagine they will get a hearing for their use of many words. So, do not make yourselves like them, for God your Father knows what things you are needing before ever you ask him.” How well Jesus knew the human tendency to want to repeat prayers! And, in view of his warning, the fact that the use of the rosary is widespread among the people of the nations carries no weight with it whatsoever!—Matt. 6:7, 8.

Apologists for the rosary try to rob Jesus’ words of their effect by pointing to Revelation 4:8, in which the word “holy” appears three times: “Holy, holy, holy.” But it is quite different from repeating one word twice in a prayer for a total of three words to repeating the forty words in Hail Mary fifty-two times for a total of 2,120 words, not to say anything of the other repetitions involved. Repeating a thing twice for emphasis is done throughout the Scriptures and makes sense. Thus when Jesus was faced with his greatest test he prayed three times to Jehovah his Father. Likewise Paul three times asked God to remove a certain “thorn in the flesh.” There is nothing, however, in the Scriptures to indicate that Jesus and Paul had memorized these prayers or had used them at some other time in their lives. These prayers were born out of the serious trials they were undergoing.—Matt. 26:39-44; 2 Cor. 12:7.

But trying to remember all the various recitations required in saying the rosary and to repeat them in their proper order makes saying the rosary a memory test rather than a spontaneous expression of heartfelt prayer. Besides, one’s mind cannot help but wander when one has to say the same forty words fifty-three times in one prayer. Such repetition is but a variation of the prayer wheel of certain Oriental religions. It consists of a cylinder in which written prayers are placed. Each time the cylinder is revolved the prayers in it are supposed to have been repeated.

Nor is that all. The Hail Mary is said nine times as often as the Paternoster, or “Our Father,” fifty-three times as compared with six times. Is the prayer composed by men and directed to Mary nine times as important or effective as the prayer taught by Jesus and directed to God himself? The fact is that, look where we will in the Scriptures, not once do we read of anyone seeking access either to God or to Jesus by way of Mary.

NO BENEFITS

As for the benefits of indulgences promised those reciting the rosary: How can anyone gain such benefits when, look where we will in God’s Word, not a word do we find about a purgatory? On the contrary, we are plainly told the following: “The wages sin pays is death.” When man “goes back to his ground, in that day his thoughts do perish.” The dead “are conscious of nothing at all.” Man’s hope lies in a resurrection from the dead, “of both the righteous and the unrighteous.”—Rom. 6:23; Ps. 146:4; Eccl. 9:5; Acts 24:15.

And regarding the forgiveness of our sins, we are assured that it is “the blood of Jesus his Son [that] cleanses us from all sin.” And “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous so as to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”—1 John 1:7, 9.

The repeating of fifty-three Hail Marys every time the rosary is recited flies in the face of Jesus’ express condemnation of saying the “same things over and over again.” Its widespread use outside of professedly Christian lands argues that its origin is pagan. And the same must also be said regarding its associated features, the exaltation of Mary, the offering of indulgences for saying the rosary, the crediting of victories to it and its claimed power to decrease purgatorial suffering. None of these find any support in the Scriptures, but they do find parallels in pagan religions.

In view of all these facts, can the rosary be said to be Christian? It cannot!

[Footnotes]

Dishonest Shepherd Disgusts Catholic Lamb

SHE was a young, trusting Catholic lamb, a graduate of parochial schools. Upon her third Bible study with one of Jehovah’s witnesses she realized that what she had been taught by her church was not in line with the Bible and asked why. She was told the reason: because her church leans more heavily upon tradition than upon the Bible. She appreciated the explanation given but stated that, since she was no authority on the Bible, she would not be fully convinced until the witness accompanied her to her priest to hear his viewpoints on these matters.

This was agreed upon and the two visited the priest. He began by asking the witness if he had any degrees or diplomas as a minister; the witness, however, replied by asking if the priest thought such were essential, seeing that the early disciples of Jesus did not have any. He agreed that such were not necessary.

The priest then began by referring to Jesus’ words to Peter regarding the rock to prove that the Catholic Church was the true one. The witness refuted his position by showing that Jesus was referring to himself as the Rock. The priest did not agree but then took up other subjects, such as hell, the soul and the war issue. Finally he came back to the words of Jesus to Peter. The witness then produced the Diaglott (which has both a Greek and an English reading of the “New Testament”) to show that Jesus could not have been referring to Peter as the Rock on which he built his church because Jesus used different genders in referring to each.

The priest, however, taking the Diaglott, insisted that, being able to read Greek, he would show that Jesus’ words did refer to Peter. Unable to find the text, he began hinting around as to just where it was but the witness did not tell him. Instead he asked the priest if he did not know where this text was to be found upon which his church leaned so heavily to prove that she is the true church. He said he did, stopped leafing and began to read.

When the witness asked if he was reading the words of Jesus to Peter regarding the rock, the priest replied, “Yes.” But when the witness got up to peer over the priest’s shoulder the priest’s hands began to tremble; and no wonder, for the witness saw that the priest was feigning to read Jesus’ words to Peter from Mark the fourth chapter, whereas they are found only at Matthew 16:18! The witness rebuked the priest for trying to pull a trick like that and then suggested to the Catholic girl that in view of what had taken place it would be best to leave.

As the witness and the disgusted Catholic girl left, the priest said, “I wouldn’t be a Jehovah’s witness for all the proof in the world!” The witness asked, “Including the Bible?” “Yes,” replied the priest, “including the Bible.”

The result of this two-hour discussion was that this Catholic girl severed her connections with her church and now continues to study the Bible and to attend congregational meetings with the witnesses.

Fulfilling the Commission to Go Preach

“I’M STILL rejoicing in the full-time ministry. This is my ninth year in it and I am seventy-three years old. My desire is to continue right on, no matter if the years do pile up.”

The dear old sister who recently wrote that letter to the Society appreciated her obligation to fulfill her commission to preach. She had not been coerced but had volunteered, as have all other witnesses of Jehovah, saying: “Here am I; send me.”—Isa. 6:8, 9, AS.a

To help us to get a better view of our commission to preach God’s Word states it in various ways. You are my witnesses; this good news of the Kingdom must be preached; let your light shine; feed my sheep, etc. God is keenly interested in these commands being obeyed and so will we be if we love him, want to share in the vindication of his name and gain life in his new world. In obeying we are not doing God a favor but rather are showing appreciation for his undeserved kindness.—2 Cor. 6:1.

Time is involved but, as the saying goes, one can always find time for what he really wants to do. If we truly appreciate the importance of our commission we will buy out the opportune time. We will eagerly look forward to evenings and weekends, not to “take it easy,” but to fulfill our commission to go preach.—Eph. 5:15, 16.

The fact is that by reason of our dedication we owe God all our time and should therefore be serving him full time. Doing so is the most enjoyable, satisfying and rewarding way in which to fulfill our commission to preach. True, it requires sacrificing many things; but appreciation, faith and love will make us glad to do that. If Scriptural obligations prevent us from serving full time, surely we can “vacation pioneer,” do full-time preaching for a few weeks or a few months each year, can we not?

Jesus and his apostles in fulfilling their commission to go preach went from house to house, and so must we. And we must keep calling again and again. Conditions change, people’s minds or dispositions change; or they move away and others take their place. Territory is therefore ever new. So we must continue going over it until the “cities be waste without inhabitant.”—Isa. 6:11, AS.

To help us fulfill our commission to preach as effectively as possible five weekly meetings have been provided and we should all know what they are. By attending them regularly, preparing for them and taking part as opportunity affords we will keep abreast of the light that gets ever brighter, as well as becoming ever better equipped for every good work.—Prov. 4:18; 2 Tim. 3:15-17.

Then we will never be at a loss for what to say but will have a number of sermons well in mind, both for initial calls and for making return visits. Yes, fulfilling our commission to go preach also includes making return visits and in particular conducting Bible studies. Only by regular and systematic feeding on God’s Word do men of good will become strong enough in faith and love to take their stand for Jehovah. If you are not conducting a home Bible study, why not? Is it due to lack of opportunity, lack of qualifications, or not wanting to accept the responsibility? Whatever it is, overcome it and enjoy the most delightful part of our preaching commission, helping others to grow to maturity. And that includes sharing in the training program. Truly, our commission to go preach is filled with many privileges, responsibilities and blessings!

[Footnotes]

The Divine Gift of Memory

WHEN God fashioned man’s body from the dust of the ground he placed complex organs in it that were designed to perform specific duties. The most intricate of them, the brain, was given the wonderful gift of memory. By means of it man could store away for future use whatever information was conveyed to his mind.

God did not limit the capacity of man’s memory. He did not make it like a vessel that can be filled until nothing more can be put in. Instead he designed it to be a reservoir that could never be filled, that could be drawn from at will without losing anything that was put in it.

Man could not exist without this gift of memory. It is a marvelous thing that brings credit to his Creator and is in itself good reason to say to God: “I shall laud you because in a fear-inspiring way I am wonderfully made.”—Ps. 139:14.

Memory powers vary greatly. Just as some people have healthier bodies than others, so some have better minds. But this does not mean a person cannot improve his memory. He can if he tries. As the body can be improved by physical exercise, so the power to remember can be improved by mental exercise.

Few people realize what immense capabilities God gave the human mind. It can remember far more than people generally expect of it. Throughout history there have been a number of people who have shown what it can do. Take, for example, Thomas Macaulay. He could listen to a long debate in England’s parliament and then days later repeat it word for word. Then there was Richard Porson, who could remember the complete text of Homer, Cicero, Horace and Virgil, as well as the works of Shakespeare, Milton and Gibbon. That was not a small achievement.

Elijah the Gaon, a Lithuanian rabbi, also had a prodigious memory. He could remember the entire Bible, as well as the Talmud, Midrash and a number of other Jewish writings. All together he memorized about three thousand volumes.

During the Middle Ages a religious sect known as the Bogomils expected its members to develop and use their memories. They were required to memorize large sections of the Bible. The historian Dragomanov claims that 4,000 of them memorized the entire Bible and that the entire sect had committed at least the Greek Scriptures to memory.

These instances may appear to be fantastic feats of memory, yet they are only a few of many that could be mentioned. What they prove is the astonishing power to remember that God gave the human mind. It reveals the greatness of his works. “How great your works are, O Jehovah! Very deep your thoughts are. There is none like you among the gods, O Jehovah, neither are there any works like yours.”—Ps. 92:5; 86:8.

MEMORY OF BIBLE WRITERS

The men who were used to write the Bible were men with good memories. When they sat down to record the things they saw and heard they could remember every detail. When the apostle John wrote the fourth Gospel it was sixty-five years after Jesus had died. Nevertheless, it contains detailed conversations. It records the things Jesus said to his followers and to his opposers, the things he did and the things that happened to him. It is rich in details. John remembered these things because they made a vivid impression on his mind. With the inspirational help of God’s spirit he was able to recall them in crisp clarity.

The ones who saw the miracles Christ performed and who heard him teach would have an impelling reason to remember what they saw and heard. They knew that the words he spoke were words of life. “Simon Peter answered him: ‘Master, Whom shall we go away to? You have sayings of everlasting life, and we have believed and come to know that you are the Holy One of God.’”—John 6:68, 69.

The Bible writers Mark and Luke were not among those who heard Jesus speak. Yet the information they wrote in their books was an accurate record of what happened. They were able to gather much of it from people who had heard him. These people were interested in his teachings and had made it a point to remember them.

In view of the fact that many men since the days of the Bible writers have had remarkable memories it should not seem incredible that the Bible writers were able to recall the many details they wrote down. Remember, too, they had God’s inspiring spirit to sharpen their minds.

Even in this twentieth century there have been men with unusual memories. Theodore Roosevelt, for instance, could read a page once and repeat nearly word for word what he had read. Since he could do this, could not the Bible writers do the same with what they heard?

DEVELOPING A GOOD MEMORY

It should be the keen desire of God’s modern-day servants to improve their memories and thus make the best use of this divine gift. There is much in God’s Word that should be remembered and used to his honor and glory. There are also his commands that must not be forgotten. “Acquire wisdom, acquire understanding. Do not forget and do not turn aside from the sayings of my mouth.” “The purpose is that you may remember and may certainly do all my commandments.”—Prov. 4:5; Num. 15:40.

When there is a gathering of God’s people, such as the assembly that is to be held this summer in New York city, a great amount of information is given that should be remembered. It will not be remembered unless an effort is made by those in attendance to fasten it indelibly in their minds. Even though some of the information may be a repetition of what they already know, they must not allow their interest to lag. Interest is essential to remembering. The divine gift of memory cannot function efficiently without it. Lack of interest is one of the reasons why so many people have trouble remembering things. They do not build up enough interest in the things about them, in the things they read and in the things they hear.

OBSERVATION

The failure to be observant is another reason for poor ability to remember. The average person does not quickly and accurately observe things. He only partially sees because he does not focus his attention on what he looks at. This leaves an indistinct impression on his mind. When he tries to remember what he saw he gets only a hazy image. What he cannot remember is then filled in by imagination. How can he expect to remember accurately what he did not impress clearly on his mind to begin with?

When being introduced to a person, do you give the person a casual glance and pay little attention to his name, and then later wonder why you cannot remember his face and name? You do not forget someone because your mind is not able to remember people, but rather because you do not pay attention when you are being introduced. You do not make up your mind that you want to remember him.

All that is necessary is observation and concentration at the time of the introduction. Observe his height, his build, the shape of his face, the color of his eyes and hair, the shape of his ears, nose, chin and mouth. Note any scars or defects he may have. Listen carefully to his name. Concentrate on it. Try to associate it with his features. Use his name several times during the conversation. Later in the day mentally review your mental image of him and his name. It is only by making a vivid impression in your mind that you can remember him. That is true of anything you see. When you look at something, see every detail. Focus your complete attention upon it. Teach your senses to be sharply observant.

The apostle Paul is an example of one who was observant. When he was in Athens he paid attention to what he saw as he passed through the city. He noticed small details, such as the one object of devotion, among the many in the city, that was dedicated to an Unknown God. “Men of Athens, I behold that in all things you seem to be more given to the fear of the deities than others are. For instance, while passing along and carefully observing your objects of devotion I also found an altar on which had been inscribed ‘To an Unknown God’.”—Acts 17:22.

ASSOCIATION

When you associate what you read and hear with things that are already familiar to you or with knowledge you already have, the power of recall is greatly strengthened. The new material comes out more easily when you need it because the familiar thing with which you associated it acts as a hook and draws it out.

Suppose you wanted to remember the general outline of Italy. You could do it easily by associating the country’s shape with that of a boot. Or if you wanted to remember the number of direct quotations of the Hebrew Scriptures that can be found in the Greek Scriptures you can associate the 365 quotations with the number of days in a year.

Visualization also helps recall. It is the linking of the thing to be remembered with a visual image. For example, if a person you are introduced to has a name that is similar to a famous brand of soup you can make a vivid image of this person in your mind holding an extremely large can of this particular soup. The next time you meet him his name will come to you at once. Names generally lend themselves quite readily to visualization.

When you have certain duties to perform during a day, why use a notebook as a reminder? Why not trust your memory? Give it the exercise it needs. A notebook is a poor substitute for that divine gift. In fact, people are too much inclined to depend upon notes and the printed page to keep information that should have been put in their heads. This bad habit does not build up the ability to remember. You must learn to trust your memory.

Make mental images of the duties you must perform or the items you want to buy and then associate them with the familiar objects in a room of your house, beginning in one corner and working around the room. These familiar objects will serve as pigeonholes for the things to be remembered. Go through the series of items a few times, concentrating on them and giving them action so they will link together. Then go about your business, trusting your memory and not being bothered with a lot of notes that are frequently forgotten anyway.

MEDITATION

One of the reasons that God’s servants of Bible times had good memories was that they meditated. They mentally reviewed and thought about the things they had learned. The Bible mentions an occasion when Isaac did this. “And Isaac was out walking in order to meditate in the field at about the falling of evening.” (Gen. 24:63) He walked out from his camp that he might be alone and in a quiet spot. There he concentrated on the information stored away in his memory. He reviewed the things God had said and done and thus imbedded them more deeply in his mind. David also did this. “I have remembered days of long ago; I have meditated on all your activity; I willingly kept myself concerned with the work of your own hands.”—Ps. 143:5.

God’s servants today should follow the example of these faithful men. They should mentally review from time to time the things they learn about the Creator and his Word. Meditate upon specific things, reviewing every small detail.

When attending an assembly, make it a practice to review later in the day the things learned from the talks that have been given. Try to get a clear impression and a firm grasp of them. That will make them stick in your memory. Review is next to concentration in importance. Concentration puts into your mind the thing you want to remember and review fastens it there.

It is as important to remember what you read as it is to remember what you hear. The best study procedure is to go through the written matter first reading just the subheadings or chapter headings to get the general outline of the material. Then read it, focusing all your attention on what you are reading. Look for the ideas, and pause occasionally to review them. After reading the material through, go back and study it carefully. When finished, mentally review it to fix it in mind.

It takes effort to remember what you read as well as anything else you store away in your mind for future use. You cannot expect to remember something without trying to impress it firmly and vividly on your mind. The effort may be painful at first, but it is this effort that strengthens your ability to remember and eventually makes recall much easier.

The divine gift of memory is a credit to the One who gave it to us. It is a marvel and a blessing, and is worthy of every effort made to develop it. Use it wisely, and it will serve you well.

Pursuing My Purpose in Life

As told by W. A. Bivens

JUST a few weeks after I started studying the Bible with the help of the Society’s publications I was offered an unusual business opportunity. I was working in the office of an automobile agency and was invited by the manufacturer to receive six months’ free training in Detroit and then be set up in my own agency. This would mean financial security for life. But as I studied I learned that life could mean much more than living just some sixty or seventy years; that it could mean eternal life through obedience to Jehovah’s Word. More and more my job seemed like a loss of time. So my wife and I decided that the business we wanted to be in was the Lord’s business; so to pursue our purpose in living we decided to pioneer.

We bought a trailer and within a few months were in the pioneer service. Just a little more than a year later the Society invited me to become a special pioneer. That was a real thrill. But that was nothing compared to what happened a few months later. We had just come in from the service when my wife came running from the trailer camp office, breathless and excited. She had a letter from the president’s office. It was an invitation to go to Gilead. Our trailer must certainly have rocked around with all our excitement. We had hoped to go, but not for a year or two, so this was completely unexpected. Even when we got there we were still faintly suspicious that it had all been a mistake; but no, they were expecting us, and they even had a room ready for us. Now began five months of very hard but joyous work. And that was physical as well as mental. Being assigned to the garden crew for about three hours a day called for use of muscles that had just taken life easy for several years. But after a few days the stiffness and soreness were gone and the work and the companionship with other brothers in the crew were very pleasant and satisfying.

As we neared the end of the school term, all the students were thinking and wondering about their next assignment. Along with several other brothers I was assigned to New York city as a unit servant. It was a real privilege there to be associated with several members of the Bethel family and gain a much deeper appreciation of Jehovah’s earthly organization. But we had not gone to Gilead to prepare for work in New York city. So when we received an assignment to Central America we were ready to go even though it meant leaving the many new friends we had found in our temporary assignment.

Eight of us were assigned to go together. We left New York by train for Miami, Florida, there to take a plane to our foreign assignment. What lay ahead? We did not know, but it was our assignment from Jehovah’s organization and that is where we wanted to be. Although we were going to one of the largest cities of Central America our first view of it was not too encouraging. After New York it seemed pretty small. Little did I realize then that some years later, after working out in some of the pueblos, it would look as big and bright as New York. Our new missionary home was quite a change from a New York apartment. It was made of adobe (just another name for mud), and the plumbing left a lot to be desired. But, on second thought, are not bricks just mud too, only baked differently? The kitchen was a long, narrow room without windows, and with a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling. The stove, also made of adobe, required enormous amounts of firewood to keep it going.

But probably the biggest difficulty was the language. All the missionaries memorized a short testimony in order to present the literature at the door, but when that was said that was all. We could not understand the people when they talked to us, and to our unaccustomed ears it seemed that everyone spoke at machine-gun rapidity. After our short presentation someone might ask us where we were from and we would just reply, “Good book; thirty-five cents.” Difficulties? Sure. But these things were just something to laugh at. Our blessings were far greater. Soon we had a small congregation organized. In a little over two years it had grown to fifty-five publishers of God’s kingdom.

Within a few weeks after arriving we began to understand the language and were soon taking part in meetings and giving talks. After two and a half years six of us were sent to a much smaller place, to start the work there. This town was high up in the mountains and it was cold the year round. Living in a smaller town brought new problems. But here, too, a small congregation was organized and has continued on ever since. Having worked two years in this second assignment, my wife and I were moved to a still smaller place. There would be just the two of us and this would be a coast town, hot all the time.

Not the easiest conditions, of course; but not the worst either. There was very little opposition to the work; we were placing literature and finding people of good will. Soon some of these began to have part in the service, and that was a real joy for us. At that time we learned that new missionaries would be coming in to work there and my wife and I would go to a still smaller place. After working for a short while with the new missionaries, to help them get acquainted with the country’s customs and the language, we left to start out in virgin territory again.

Our new assignment was even hotter than the coast town, for it was in a low desert. Here the chief problems were lights and water. We used three twenty-five-watt light bulbs for the entire house. At times the lights would be so weak that candles gave much more light. Our water had to be boiled and filtered. We were happy here, too, because we were wonderfully blessed with people of good will who were anxious to learn the truth and become part of the New World society. In about six months ten publishers were reporting time in the service and learning to care properly for their theocratic obligations. It was a delight to hear one new brother (after being in the truth only three months) say in service meeting that “we who are mature have to help the weaker ones work from house to house”! And he was one of the more mature in that new congregation.

In addition to the town where we lived we also worked two or three small villages nearby. One of these was about eighteen miles away and we would leave home at 6:30 in the morning to take the train. This train was no modern streamliner. It took two hours to travel eighteen miles. We always rode second-class, which meant wood benches; and after a few miles you knew well that it was hardwood. Here you would try to make yourself comfortable among the people, baskets, bundles, chickens and, perhaps, a few live iguanas. We would work all day and until about 9:30 at night, eating the food we had taken on stone benches in the center of town. At 10:30 the train came through and we would arrive home about 12:30 or 1 a.m. However, one time we got home at 6:30 a.m., just twenty-four hours after leaving. The train had been held up by a landslide. But all that work was not in vain. The two chief supporters of a Protestant organization became Jehovah’s witnesses. Others joined these two in the service and soon a regular Watchtower study was being conducted with them. Endurance under hardships always brought rich blessings.

For two and a half years my wife and I had worked alone without the help and companionship of other missionaries or other mature brothers, but we had the joy of seeing new ones take up the truth and proclaim it, dedicate their lives to Jehovah God and grow to maturity in his service. One night when we returned late from one of these trips we came home hot and tired, but we were quickly refreshed. There was a letter from the president’s office asking if I would accept an assignment in another country as branch servant. I have been in this assignment several years now, and greatly treasure this privilege of service. Instead of working with a small group I am now associated with many hundreds of fellow servants. Now there are very few physical hardships, although there are always problems. But there is no place in Jehovah’s service that does not bring joy and happiness.

Now we have a lovely new branch home here in Costa Rica; the work is well established and continues to grow. In the last few years I have also had the privilege of visiting the branches in the Central American countries as zone servant and working with the missionaries in the field to help them surmount the obstacles they encounter in the ministry. Surely there is no end to the blessings that come in the full-time service.

Did I lose anything by not going into secular business? It would have meant an abundance of this world’s goods; material security. Do the joys and privileges of pioneer service outweigh the loss of those material things and the gain of hardships that many pioneers undergo—perhaps not knowing how tomorrow’s food will be bought, perhaps in isolated territories without the association of other brothers? There just isn’t any comparison! The full-time service is not the easiest life, but it is the best. For those who are able and willing to enter the full-time service there is no reason to accept anything less than the best. Those who will live in the new world will certainly enjoy the best of everything, so there can be no better time than now, just before stepping over into that new world, to begin pursuing one’s purpose in life by entering that service. Probably Jesus’ words at Matthew 6:25-34 mean more to pioneers than to anyone else: “So, never be anxious about the next day, for the next day will have its own anxieties. Sufficient for each day is its own evil.” Thousands of pioneers have demonstrated their faith in this promise. Their continued service proves that these words are true. And more thousands, when they courageously choose in this ever-shortening “favorable season” before Armageddon, also can prove them true, to Jehovah’s delight and praise.

No Time

“I was speaking to a man the other day who has travelled extensively,” writes Ronald K. Ross. “When he arrived at New York the customs officer, observing his Bible in his bag, said to him, ‘Say, brother, you’ll have no time to read this in the States. We are all too busy making dollars. Guess the almighty dollar is our god.’”—Treasury of the Christian World.

Not Fair-Weather Christians

THE apostle Paul was no fair-weather Christian. Said he: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor governments nor things here nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other creation will be able to separate us from God’s love that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 8:38) That there are Christians today who have the same firm conviction that Paul had can be seen from the following experiences taken from the 1958 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Firm in Spite of Prison

A native man of good will toward Jehovah in the Solomon Islands was sentenced to two weeks in jail because of having in his possession some Watch Tower publications. Far from its discouraging him, he said: “Even if I spend my life in jail, they will not be able to take my new religion from me!” His onetime jailer is now his companion as they diligently witness to Jehovah’s name and kingdom.—Page 90.

Firm in Spite of Family Opposition

A young man of Eire, as a result of discussing religion with his neighbor, became convinced that Jehovah’s witnesses had the truth and so took his stand. Talking about his new religion at home, he met with fierce opposition and also had to face the rage of the priest. He being unmoved by all this, his family then threatened to turn him out of his home, but he quietly told them that if they did he would find a home among the witnesses. This firmness shook his family and they relented a little. In fact, in a few weeks a complete change came over them; they themselves began to appreciate that this new religion of his was the truth and began telling it to others. The young man has been baptized and his mother and sister are fast following in his steps.—Pages 107, 108.

Mother Fails to Separate Daughter

A twenty-year-old girl in Colombia took her stand for Jehovah and was baptized. Because of family opposition she left her home. The mother, finally locating her, urged her to come back, which the daughter agreed to do on the condition that her service to Jehovah be not interfered with. Before long the mother herself began to witness and then was baptized.—Page 120.

Firm in Spite of Husbands’ Opposition

A husband in the French island of Guadeloupe repeatedly beat his wife because, while “adultery and drunkenness are things one can bear,” he could not bear her being interested in Jehovah’s witnesses. One night he got so violent that she fled for her life, walking ten miles to the home of witnesses. She wanted to be baptized at once, saying: “If I have to face death, at least I will know that I am counted among the members of the New World society.” After a month two witnesses worked out an agreement with her husband regarding her return to him. He continues opposed while she continues firm.—Pages 171, 172.

And in one village in Holland a Catholic husband put his wife in a mental institution because of her interest in Jehovah’s witnesses. After strenuous efforts she was released at the end of six weeks. She immediately sought out the witnesses, began studying with them outside her home, was soon sharing in the preaching work and now hopes to be baptized at the very next opportunity.—Page 214.

Yes, the witnesses of Jehovah are not fair-weather Christians!

Anything but Live It

English clergyman Charles Caleb Colton has said: “Men will wrangle for religion; write for it; fight for it; die for it; anything but live for it.”

Scriptural Summit

“Let mental culture go on advancing,” once said German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “let the natural sciences progress in ever greater extent and depth, and the human mind widen itself as much as it desires; beyond the elevation and moral culture of Christianity, as it shines forth in the Gospels, it will not go.”

Studying with a Purpose

“Do your utmost to present yourself approved to God, a workman with nothing to be ashamed of, handling the word of the truth aright.”—2 Tim. 2:15.

1, 2. (a) What privilege may the student of God’s Word enjoy? (b) What is the pitiful condition of man today?

MOST people do not like to study. To use their brain is too toilsome. Especially do they not like to study God’s Word, the Holy Bible. However, the favor and approval of Almighty God is extended to the man who studies and treasures up the instructions contained in that sacred Word. That man is wise in Jehovah’s eyes. To him will come peace and life from God. But, as something of importance now, such man is permitted to stand before Jehovah and minister to Him, handling his Word, dispensing its life-giving truths to a bewildered, spiritually starved world.—Prov. 3:1-6.

² Today the people of the world are confused and at their wits’ end. They know not where to turn for deliverance from their befuddled state. Innocently and ignorantly they have entrusted their lives to men who have skinned them and knocked them about and led them further astray from the path of righteousness. Is there no hope for the people? Is there no escape from the labyrinth of confusion into which they have been led by their worldly leaders?—Ps. 107:27; Matt. 9:36.

3, 4. Why is a way of escape provided, and by whom?

³ Since the self-appointed religious instructors, schooled by the present evil world, cannot be relied on to provide education leading to life, where can these who are sighing and crying because of the abominations practiced in the land turn for succor? To Jehovah. He will not abandon them. “‘For the violence to the afflicted ones, for the sighing of the poor ones, I shall at this time arise,’ says Jehovah. ‘I shall put [him] in a place safe from anyone that puffs at him.’ The sayings of Jehovah are pure sayings, as silver refined in a smelting furnace of earth, clarified seven times. You yourself, O Jehovah, will guard them; you will preserve each one from this generation onward, which is to time indefinite.”—Ps. 12:5-7.

⁴ Jehovah, “the Father of the celestial lights,” has indicated the way of escape. In order to have his favor one must enter upon the path of light and pursue it constantly, turning neither to the left nor to the right.—Jas. 1:17; Prov. 4:18.

CHALLENGE CALLS FOR ANSWER

5. How and by whom is Satan’s taunt answered?

⁵ Satan taunts Jehovah. So to his servant Jehovah calls: “Be wise, my son, and make my heart rejoice, that I may make a reply to him that is taunting me.” (Prov. 27:11) For centuries the name of Jehovah has been reproached and maligned by Satan and his agents. Many blame Jehovah God for the present woeful ills of the people. Actually, Satan is the cause. Setting himself up as an angel of light and his present system of things as the long-looked-for kingdom, Satan has induced practically all persons to turn aside from true worship and to weak substitutes. Jehovah’s name people must meet the challenge flung at true worship by handling the word of truth aright and by providing to the people the accurate knowledge concerning Jehovah and his purposes, and the opportunity of coming out of darkness into God’s wonderful light. The people have spiritually been on a starvation diet of ‘husks’ long enough. They require and must be provided with accurate knowledge and nourishing food from Jehovah’s storehouse.

6. What spiritual provision has Jehovah made in this his day, but with what obligation?

⁶ This is the foretold day of Jehovah in which he has turned to his people a “pure language” and they “serve him with one accord.” Not only does he hear the cry of the needy but, in this his day, he has caused his “faithful and discreet slave” to provide spiritual nourishment for them, since without such sustenance they face spiritual starvation and death. All, without exception, may avail themselves of the invitation to partake, “without money.” But a serious obligation rests upon those who apply for such food after turning away from the “weak and inadequate elementary things” of this world. They must obey Jesus’ words: “You received free, give free.”—Zeph. 3:9, AS; RS; Matt. 24:45; Isa. 55:1, 2, AS; Gal. 4:9; Matt. 10:8.

LEARNING

7, 8. What is necessary to attain to an accurate knowledge of the truth, and why cannot the sincere seeker of truth gain it in Christendom?

⁷ Growing up requires our learning how to learn. This is particularly true with respect to spiritual growth. A wise person not only will hear, willingly listen, but will “take in more instruction,” and will not be one “always learning and yet never able to come to an accurate knowledge of truth.” Learning is a cumulative process. Increase in learning brings us a desire to advance to a complete and accurate knowledge of truth, so as to please and have the approval of Jehovah.—Prov. 1:5; 2 Tim. 3:7; Col. 1:9, 10.

⁸ No cheap substitute for accurate knowledge will be tolerated by Jehovah; neither can genuine Christians accept such substitute. Christendom’s leaders produce many pew renters, ‘pillars of the church’; but how many do they produce that are equipped to teach others God’s Word? Concerning present-day lack of accurate knowledge Jehovah through his prophet declared: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: . . . And it shall be, like people, like priest.” No one can come to an accurate knowledge of truth unless the teaching he receives leads to truth. Let each one of us ask himself: Does the teaching I have received square with the Bible? Has it qualified and inspired me to be an active servant of God, from day to day telling the good news of salvation by him?—Hos. 4:6, 9, AS; Ps. 96:2.

QUALIFIED TO BE TEACHERS

9. Why must Jehovah’s witnesses today study with a purpose?

⁹ Everyone who receives of Jehovah’s spiritual provisions becomes obligated to dispense them to others. But he must first qualify, progressing beyond ‘kindergarten.’ Today’s qualified minister of God needs to know how to nurture and bring to maturity properly many willing learners who are taking their stand for Jehovah’s new world of righteousness. Therefore study, continuous study, deep study, is a requirement in order for one to qualify as undershepherd directing sheeplike persons into Christ’s ‘sheepfold.’ Since the sacred interests of God are involved it behooves God’s servants today to study with a purpose.—Heb. 5:12-14; 2 Tim. 2:15.

10. What three aims do Jehovah’s witnesses have in serving?

¹⁰ Jehovah’s witnesses are primarily interested in pleasing the One who has called them to serve under Jesus, the great Teacher. They realize that if their service is acceptable they will receive life from God. This is not a selfish motive for serving; it is merely laying claim to God’s promises. They also experience unmeasured joy from engaging in the gathering work directed by their Leader, especially when their diligent activity prospers and succeeds.—Heb. 11:6; John 10:16.

11, 12. (a) How could lack of accurate knowledge be considered criminal, and under what circumstances especially so? (b) Why is accurate knowledge so vital today?

¹¹ Now the world is full of those equipped with just enough knowledge to ‘get by’ in getting a job for making a living. One so barely equipped may never be found out. And, even if found out, he might suffer no great loss except, possibly, loss of face. But such lack of accurate knowledge could be criminal. For example, an aeronautical student who failed to study with the right purpose might learn only enough to take his plane up and land it. In ideal flying conditions he might be considered a good flier. But his lack of knowledge would come to light when an emergency arose; then it would be too late to learn the fundamental intricacies of flying. He would be ill equipped to protect the lives entrusted to his care.

¹² Such unconcern for the lives of others is criminal indeed when the eternal life of such ones is at stake. It may be that so-called religious “sky pilots” with worldly wisdom are thus unconcerned about the spiritual lives of their congregations. But “the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God; for it is written: ‘He catches the wise in their own craftiness.’ And again: ‘Jehovah knows that the reasonings of the wise men are futile.’” One’s studying for the limited purpose of obtaining a religious degree so as to receive adulation of men and to become a ‘gentleman of the cloth’ may be sufficient to qualify one as a clergyman according to this world’s standards. Yet having a degree and “looking the part” does not make one a trusted servant of God, one to whom Jehovah will entrust the future life of his prospective children in his new world. In order to teach others adequately and bring them to an accurate knowledge of truth, more is required. In the matter of education for life, knowing just enough to ‘get by’ is criminal indeed, because eternal life is involved, life of both teacher and learner. So accurate knowledge is essential and vital, especially now when Jehovah is conducting his training program for endless life.—1 Cor. 3:19, 20; 1 Tim. 2:3, 4; Ezek. 3:17-20, AS; RS.

13, 14. (a) Why is zeal alone insufficient, and may God’s gift of the ministry be bought? (b) Is willingness to serve enough?

¹³ In the early days of the Christian congregation there were some who aspired to be leaders and teachers and to exercise the authority of the apostles. Whatever other qualities they may have had, they were not equipped to teach Christian doctrine. Consequently, concerning them Paul wrote: “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.” One ambitious man even sought to purchase a position from the apostle Peter and was soundly rebuked for his effrontery. In this period of the Christian congregation one may not ‘buy’ with money, or otherwise, a position as teacher in Jehovah’s organization. One must meet the Scriptural qualifications. One must be commissioned by Jehovah God.—Rom. 10:2, 3; Acts 8:18-24.

¹⁴ Persons commissioned by Jehovah must study “with a view to the training of the holy ones for ministerial work,” with the goal to “attain to the oneness in the faith and in the accurate knowledge of the Son of God, to a full-grown man, to the measure of growth that belongs to the fullness of the Christ; in order that we should no longer be babes, tossed about as by waves and carried hither and thither by every wind of teaching.” So willingness to serve is not enough; ability also is required—the ability and strength that God supplies.—Eph. 4:11-14.

15. Why is a superficial knowledge of the Bible inadequate to discharge our sacred trust?

¹⁵ Not all men in the world of today are satisfied with a mediocre or commonplace knowledge. Many realize the necessity of being well equipped to discharge responsibilities assigned or assumed. So too those in the New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses, being entrusted with the rare privilege of declaring Jehovah’s purposes, are not satisfied with only a superficial knowledge of the Bible. They must be “blameless and innocent, children of God without a blemish in among a crooked and twisted generation, among whom [they] are shining as illuminators in the world, keeping a tight grip on the word of life.” Serving as “ambassadors substituting for Christ,” they must follow his example and speak authoritatively. They must be ready always to provide an answer or explanation concerning the truth to anyone requiring it and deserving of it. This requires them to study.—Phil. 2:15, 16; 2 Cor. 5:20; Matt. 7:29; 5:14-16; Prov. 15:28.

16. In daily studying God’s Word, what examples do Jehovah’s witnesses follow?

¹⁶ Jehovah’s witnesses study God’s Word daily. Gladly they do so to be equipped to fulfill their God-given commission to “bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives” in Satan’s organization. Such study is not wearisome, not a chore, but is refreshing. It gives them a ‘lift’ over the many bumps of life. They are not above their Master. Before entering upon his preaching career, Jesus studied. While in the wilderness he meditated on Jehovah’s Word and purposes. For him study was no chore; it was pleasing, refreshing. Later his disciples studied under his direction. There is no record that he made them study too much. Still later the congregation at Beroea is reported to have received the Word and diligently studied therein daily. Is it less important to study today?—Isa. 61:1, AS; Matt. 5:16; Acts 17:10, 11.

17, 18. (a) To what end do Jehovah’s witnesses study the publications of the Watch Tower Society? (b) What “daily bread,” provided by whom, must they feed upon?

¹⁷ In order to qualify as witnesses of Jehovah and publishers of his kingdom good news, a continuous, properly directed study is required. By Jehovah’s undeserved kindness his true servants have advanced from being mere Bible students. Studying the Bible and other publications of the Watch Tower Society that explain it is a means to an end. That end is not to develop beautiful personalities. It is that they might be instruments of God for an honorable use by him, “prepared for every good work.” As they study their desire to study increases and so also does their desire to share with others what they have learned. They realize that the days are wicked; hence they keep a strict watch as to how they walk, “buying out the opportune time” for themselves, making the most of every opportunity to increase in accurate knowledge.—2 Tim. 2:20, 21; Gal. 6:6; Eph. 5:15, 16.

¹⁸ Christians properly repeat the model prayer recorded in Matthew, chapter 6, especially that the heavenly Father provide daily bread. But knowing their future life does not depend on material bread, but rather on the life-giving words that proceed from Jehovah’s mouth, Christians concentrate on understanding such inspired words. A portion of the prayer that Jesus uttered shortly before he was betrayed further explains the seriousness of studying God’s Word: “Father, . . . This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.” Yes, a prime purpose in studying the Bible is to become acquainted with the Father, its Author. Christians are admonished to draw close to God, to seek him and call upon him in faith, so that he will respond. This can be done by becoming closely acquainted with his great textbook, the Bible. Happy are those who learn well its lessons!—Matt. 6:11; 4:4; John 4:34; 17:1-3; Jas. 4:8; Isa. 55:6, 7, AS.

19. How only may one’s thirst for knowledge be fully quenched?

¹⁹ The Bible is an inexhaustible storehouse of knowledge. Its Author invites the inquirer to keep on asking for knowledge, which will be generously supplied. But mere asking is insufficient. To serve Jehovah expertly to his praise the servant must meditate on God’s words; he must dwell upon them in thought; he must make them all object of study with a view to acting thereon. A shallow reading of God’s ‘letters’ to us will be valueless, even though we may learn to memorize excerpts and, parrotlike, to repeat them. “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” Drink deeply therefrom!—Jas. 1:5, 6; Josh. 1:8; Isa. 12:3, RS.

QUALITY REQUIRED

20. What sacred trust has God placed in our hands? How may it be discharged?

²⁰ Jehovah’s servants have been entrusted with the responsibility of speaking “the sacred pronouncements of God.” This trust they may not shirk. In order to discharge it they must excel in learning, doing this “whole-souled as to Jehovah, and not to men.” To bring to spiritual maturity the many persons of good will daily associating themselves with the New World society, they must do their utmost in qualifying as workmen “with nothing to be ashamed of, handling the word of the truth aright.”—1 Pet. 4:11; Col. 3:23; 2 Tim. 2:15.

21. How can we apply our minds to instruction?

²¹ Regular attendance at Sunday meetings and weekday meetings, to listen and to learn Bible truths, and also regularly sharing in meeting the cost of maintaining the meeting place—these are fine acts of faith. But to win God’s approval more is required. “Do your utmost,” urges Paul, “to present yourself approved to God, a workman with nothing to be ashamed of, handling the word of the truth aright.” Can you be satisfied with attending meetings and just listening, letting others do all the work of communicating and explaining to still others the good things heard and learned? Would you be satisfied with such course as the full measure of your presenting yourself to God? Here persuasive words of Proverbs 23:12 aptly apply: “Do bring your heart to discipline and your ear to the sayings of knowledge.” Truly our meditation and our close mental application and exclusive attention to the taking in of accurate knowledge, for Jehovah’s purpose in providing it, are necessary. Be like the writer of Psalm 119:97-104: “How I do love your law! All day long it is my concern. Wiser than my enemies your commandment makes me, because to time indefinite it is mine. More insight than all my teachers I have come to have, because your reminders are a concern to me. With more understanding than older men I behave, because I have observed your own orders. From every bad path I have restrained my feet, in order that I may keep your word. From your judicial decisions I have not turned aside, for you yourself have instructed me. How smooth to my palate your sayings have been, more so than honey to my mouth! Owing to your orders I behave with understanding. That is why I have hated every false path.”

22. To be qualified to teach, what progress must be made?

²² It certainly is high time for Jehovah’s servants to be equipped to teach, so as not to have applied to them Paul’s cutting words: “Although you ought to be teachers in view of the time, you again need someone to teach you from the beginning the first principles of the sacred pronouncements of God.” Those first or basic principles are vital, the “ABCs” of Scriptural knowledge; but “in view of the time” there should be our graduating from such foundation principles. There should be progressing a building of a superstructure on them, because “solid food belongs to mature people.” Shall what we build thereon be a work likened to “gold, silver, precious stones”—meriting a reward? Or shall the building be a work likened to destructible “wood materials, hay, stubble”? Which will bring honor to the Lord God? Which will provide quality in teaching?—Heb. 5:12-14; 1 Cor. 3:12.

THE PURPOSE OF STUDYING

23, 24. (a) How does Jehovah use his Word, spirit and organization to guide his people today? (b) Especially how is this magazine helpful in this regard?

²³ Long ago Jehovah provided his Word, the Bible. Today it is translated into many languages and dialects. No longer is it kept hidden in dead languages. Its information means life to the one diligently searching its pages, loving its counsel, obeying its commands. Even as Jehovah has done through the ages, so too he today is guiding his people by means of his holy spirit, his active force. Especially in these momentous pre-Armageddon days, since Jehovah has come to his temple, accompanied by his “messenger of the covenant,” he has turned his attention to the affairs of his people in a marked degree. He uses his visible organization, represented in his “faithful and discreet slave,” to cause to be published, earth-wide, information concerning his purposes. That “slave” has faithfully dispensed “food at the proper time,” especially in this magazine, The Watchtower.—Matt. 24:45.

²⁴ The Watchtower has become available, in fifty languages, to all lovers of righteousness. In its columns everyone conscious of spiritual need finds invaluable aid. It regularly provides much-needed Scriptural counsel, instruction and timely information to servants of the true God. It endeavors alertly to keep Christians up to date as to the fulfillment of Bible prophecy. The Watchtower is written to upbuild and bless. This is the best entertainment one can find—good reading. It does not compete with nor is it like any other religious magazine. It does not provide some man’s opinion, because what is said is based on a Greater One’s thought. An understanding of Jehovah’s Word is a gift from God and the best help today to the earnest seeker for truth.

25. With what attitude should we consider each issue of The Watchtower on receiving it?

²⁵ What do I do with my copy of The Watchtower when I receive it? Do I merely scan through it to see the latest news and then lay it aside for a more favorable opportunity to give more careful consideration to the contents of the particular issue? Or, instead, recognizing its high value, do I read it immediately? Do I read it as if it were a duty, or because I am anxious to learn more of God’s truth? When I read it am I absorbed in it? Do I give more than the usual attention to The Watchtower? Before I eat physical food I thank the Lord God for it and ask his blessing on it. So what about the spiritual food I expect to assimilate when I consider The Watchtower? As when I study the Bible, so with The Watchtower: I should seek the truths contained in it, as ‘silver and hid treasures.’ Each issue of The Watchtower should be eagerly awaited and its contents consumed with relish.

26. What do we have in mind when studying The Watchtower?

²⁶ What do I have in mind when studying The Watchtower? Is it that I wish to increase my understanding of God’s purposes? Why do I desire this increase? For my personal satisfaction alone? Or possibly I have in mind the apostle’s words: “That you may be filled with the accurate knowledge of [God’s] will in all wisdom and spiritual discernment, in order to walk worthily of Jehovah to the end of fully pleasing him as you go on bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the accurate knowledge of God.” (Col. 1:9, 10) That is a commendable attitude. My spiritual discernment will be put to a good use, that of aiding others. But how will your study be an aid to others?

27, 28. (a) How can one’s personal, advance study of The Watchtower equip one to help new ones grasp deep spiritual truths? (b) help new ones in our home Bible study work?

²⁷ At the weekly congregational study there are many new ones who find it difficult to understand the truth all at once. Many of the articles in The Watchtower contain ‘solid food,’ that is to say, deep spiritual material necessary for the mature Christian. God has promised to reveal such deep things through his spirit, “for the spirit searches into all things, even the deep things of God.” Here at the congregational study is where you can help; here is where your comment will open up to the minds of the newer ones an understanding of a point not clear to them. So your advance personal study of The Watchtower should not overlook this privilege. Prepare to that end by possibly underlining or noting such outstanding points. Then at the suitable moment during the meeting be quick to contribute your share to the congregational study for the edifying of others. You can thus also be inciting others to love and right works in making there this “public declaration.”—1 Cor. 2:10; Heb. 10:23-25.

²⁸ Or perhaps in your private study of The Watchtower you have in mind aiding those newly engaging in field preaching by your participating in the ‘training program,’ or aiding those upon whom you call and with whom you may be conducting a private home Bible study. This would be studying with a purpose and would be in harmony with instructions Paul gave Timothy: “These things commit to faithful men who in turn will be adequately qualified to teach others.” Remember that when you share what you learn, you can expect rich dividends: “Practice giving, and people will give to you. They will pour into your laps a fine measure, pressed down, shaken together and overflowing. For with the measure that you are measuring out they will measure out to you in return.” On the other hand, if you selfishly hoard the truth and do not share it with others, then, like the sluggish slave, you stand to lose God’s favor as well as the privilege of serving him.—2 Tim. 2:2; Luke 6:38; Matt. 25:24-30.

29. (a) What methods may be used in studying prior to the congregation meeting? (b) What arrangements should be made as to a definite time to have such study?

²⁹ How can one get the most out of the study? What will be the most profitable method to follow? Will one study alone or with others? Today, in most homes, Bible study and even Bible reading are either passing away or entirely unknown. A joint study will be profitable in the family circle and especially so where there are children. The parents are held responsible for the spiritual upbringing of children, as well as the physical. But whatever method is used, we shall find that it is necessary to arrange specifically for a time to study The Watchtower. There are so many demands on one’s time that one dare not conclude that one will study only when time permits. Time will never permit. Time will have to be taken and used for study. When it is understood that studying in order to be a better servant of God is a basic “must” in life, then one will take sufficient time for it. So let us include it in our time schedule. Put it on the top of the list. Yes, the top. And do not begrudge the time thus spent. Remember that the Christian has dedicated his all (including his time) to the service of God. So jealously guard such time and see that it is used in a manner pleasing to its Owner.

30. Why does the New World society place such great emphasis on study?

³⁰ Realizing the inevitable end of those who despise instruction, it behooves the servant of God to give the more earnest heed to cultivating the good habit of study. For that reason the New World society emphasizes individual and group study. The world is in a period of crisis. For our generation it is the judgment day. Righteous persons desire a favorable judgment, security and protection. God has provided such protection in this wicked day for those earnestly and honestly seeking him. The instructions contained in the inspired Word of God, the Bible, provide the means of finding such protection and blessing from God.—Ps. 50:16; Prov. 1:30-32.

Out to Buy a Bible

THE following experience was printed in the Hamburg (Germany) Abendblatt of May 16, 1957: “I wanted to buy a copy of the ‘Book of Books.’ A Bible. A Luther Bible. I entered a Hamburg bookstore which had three show-windows and six glass display cases. Some 3,000 books, their backs gleaming at me from their tall shelves, were there to meet me; likewise the polite faces of five lady clerks, three salesmen and one lady cashier. ‘What may I do for you?’ I was asked. ‘I would like a Bible,’ I said, ‘just an ordinary Bible.’

“The young lady twitched unexpectedly as might have been expected had I asked for pickled herrings. Then she blushed, smiled a lamenting smile and suggested I go to their competitor. I went. This shop had four show-windows and eight glass display cases. Here, along with 4,000 books glistening at me from their shelves, I discovered two limpid blue pools eying me with reserved attentiveness. The book salesman they belonged to was tall and lanky. ‘What can I do for you?’ he asked unsuspectingly. ‘A Bible,’ I said simply, ‘just an ordinary Bible.’ The man suddenly discovered something lodged in his throat. He coughed loud and long. Then he braved a smile and expressed his regret. If I would like to take the trouble of going to one of his competitors, however, then perhaps . . .

“I took the trouble. In one of the shop’s extremely promising show windows lay a best seller. Die Bibel hat doch recht [The Bible Is Right After All]. This looked like the right place. It just looked that way! My desire for a Bible was stirring up a small panic. ‘We never have any requests for Bibles here,’ stammered the lady clerk. Why she blushed—even way back behind her ears—remains a mystery. I was already at the door when she walked over and told me where I would be able to buy a Bible for sure.

“On my way I tried once again to obtain a Bible in three different bookstores. Each had a stock of half a dozen copies or so of every current French and American best seller. But not a single Bible, the Book of Books, to be found lying dormant on their shelves. Anyone who does not believe my story should try it and find out for himself. It costs nothing. If the story did not have such a serious background, one could almost find it amusing.”

Keeping a Firm Grip on the Word of Life

“Take hold on discipline; do not let go. Safeguard it, for it itself is your life.”—Prov. 4:13.

1. Why do Jehovah’s witnesses not have clergy and laity as do the orthodox religions of Christendom?

EVERY associate a minister? What a strange religion Jehovah’s witnesses practice! Yes, strange indeed to those of orthodox religions of this changing world, where each church still has its pastor, priest or otherwise-named religious leader who considers as his flock all who attend “his church.” But Jesus gave no instruction about a clergy and a laity. Hence Jehovah’s witnesses recognize no such distinction. Jesus made no room for clergymen, doctors of divinity, or “fathers” as distinguished from the ‘common herd’ of sheep. In fact he warned against it, as did his apostle Paul. So to be one of Jehovah’s witnesses one must be a minister. In the organization of Jehovah’s witnesses all are brothers, all are preachers of the good news of God’s established kingdom.—Matt. 23:8-12; 1 Pet. 5:3; Matt. 24:14.

2. (a) How widespread is the teaching work of Jehovah’s witnesses? (b) Do they preach to one another at their Kingdom Halls? To whom do they preach?

² Today we are experiencing a revival of the apostolic type of teaching. Even as Jesus instructed his disciples to go and make disciples of all nations and to teach the people, so today Jehovah’s witnesses are spread all over the globe, all doing the identical work of teaching the people, all speaking in agreement, fitly united in the same mind and in the same line of thought. Associated with the more than sixteen thousand congregations world-wide, and cooperating together as teachers of the Bible, are upward of 700,000 ministers of Jehovah’s witnesses. Contrary to the misunderstanding of many, these ministers do not preach to one another at their congregational meeting places. No, but in such meeting places, each locally known as Kingdom Hall, they assemble to study together God’s Word to prepare themselves as more efficient servants of God for teaching others. These others that they teach are persons of good will whom they meet in their door-to-door ministry and who are desirous of being free from false religious bondage and coming into the freedom of Christ. These are the members of their congregations, these are the ones to whom they minister, the ones Jesus commissioned them to find and to teach.—Gal. 5:1; Rev. 7:9, 10, 13-17; Matt. 28:19, 20.

3. How do they render service to these many members of their missionary congregations, and how do they consider such service?

³ To free these persons from the confusing doctrines of this world’s many conflicting religions requires patience, diligence and insight. Jehovah’s witnesses annually call on many millions of people with the life-giving message of truth. To persons showing interest they make return visits. During the year just past they made 33,327,637 such return visits or back-calls. They then painstakingly aid those genuinely desiring life and who manifest such by devoting time to making a detailed study of God’s Word. Thus it can readily be seen why Jehovah’s witnesses devote so much of their time to study, privately and congregationally. They give serious consideration to the command of Jesus: “Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them . . . , teaching them.” Their unselfish performance of this commission results in honor to their God and to their Master, as well as salvation to those whom they teach and to themselves. This teaching they do not consider as one of the “least commandments” of Jesus, but as one of “the more important things” entrusted to them.—Matt. 28:19, 20; 5:19, 20; 1 Tim. 4:15, 16; Phil. 1:9, 10.

SHARING KNOWLEDGE

4. What will you gain by attending the meetings of Jehovah’s witnesses and especially the Watchtower study?

⁴ Are you, if you are one of Jehovah’s witnesses, qualified to give instruction to those unlearned? or do you yourself need to learn the first principles? In either case, you still vitally need the association of your brothers, where you can have your ‘weak hands and feeble knees’ strengthened and can receive needed counsel. Your attending study meetings at the Kingdom Hall, especially the weekly Bible study, as discussed in The Watchtower, will build you up spiritually. Without such association and help one takes up corrupting association with worldlings, and thus one’s mind is open to the assault of Satan’s demons. Jude, in speaking of this condition to be manifest in “the last time,” counsels: “But you, beloved ones, by building up yourselves on your most holy faith, and praying with holy spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love, while you are waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ with everlasting life in view.”—Isa. 35:3, AS; Prov. 11:14; 1 Cor. 15:33; Jude 20, 21.

5, 6. (a) In what way can you make a public declaration of your hope and test whether you are in the faith? (b) Why should each one contribute his comment?

⁵ So make it your business to attend Kingdom Hall when The Watchtower is studied. And, so as not to miss any of the discussion and also to show no disrespect for the One making the provision, be on time! You will not attend this important meeting just to listen to what someone else has to say. No, but make “a public declaration” of your hope. Further, “let us consider one another to incite to love and right works, not forsaking the gathering of ourselves together, as some have the custom, but encouraging one another, and all the more so as you behold the day drawing near.”—Jas. 1:22-25; Heb. 10:23-25.

⁶ “Keep testing whether you are in the faith, keep proving what you yourselves are.” There is no better way of doing this than by offering your comment. Do not say, ‘I’ll keep quiet; someone else can express it better.’ Someone else can only express his own understanding. Your particular expression may incite someone to good works. All are in a school for life. All hope to receive life in the new world. So study as though your life depended on it, because it does. Then declare your faith and test it by expressing yourself among your brothers. If your answer is right, fine; you are inciting others to love and right works; if not, correction will aid you to get straightened out and you will not continue to err when you are distributing life-giving knowledge to others. Remember that private thinking might be embarrassing. So do not always be just on the receiving line, but “let anyone who is being orally taught the word share in all good things with the one who gives such oral teaching.”—2 Cor. 13:5; Gal. 6:6; 1 Cor. 14:11, 12.

7. Of what importance is it to progress in the truth, and what is an important aid in this respect?

⁷ It is impossible to stand still in Jehovah’s organization. Advancing in the truth is like ‘bucking the tide.’ If you do not progress you will ‘go downstream’ and eventually end up in the ‘dead sea.’ So advance, grow up, mature! It is a matter of making the mind over, learning to think on your own, not independently but according to God’s way of thinking, as clearly defined in his Word. One coming out of the religions of this world, where one paid someone to do one’s thinking, must undergo a radical change. So you must “quit being fashioned after this system of things, but be transformed by making your mind over, that you may prove to yourselves the good and acceptable and complete will of God.” Prepare for the congregational studies by reading and studying the Bible and the Watch Tower publications at home. Read a portion of the Bible daily. Try to cover the entire Bible during the course of the year. Reading the Bible is like listening to Jehovah speak of past, present and future happenings. It aids you in locating yourself in Jehovah’s arrangement of things. As you read the Bible, along with The Watchtower, make progress from the elementary doctrines and become mature. And dismiss from your mind the God-dishonoring theories taught by the many conflicting religions of this passing old world. As you partake of solid food you will find your “perceptive powers trained to distinguish both right and wrong.” So, as you learn through private study and in congregational study, you will be able to “carry on as men.”—Rom. 12:2; Heb. 5:11-14; 1 Cor. 16:13.

8, 9. How alone can those attending the Watchtower study benefit?

⁸ At the Kingdom Hall study of The Watchtower, questions will be propounded by the Watchtower study servant. Everyone in attendance has the privilege of responding. It is a spirited meeting, enjoyed by all. It is not a place to come and sleep. Each one there should be present not only physically but “in spirit” as well. Accurate knowledge cannot be assimilated by one asleep. In Gethsemane Jesus asked his disciples, whom he had requested to watch while he prayed to his Father, this question: “How can you sleep?” How can you sleep when the words of life are being discussed? Jesus promised that where there are two or three met together in his name, he will be in their midst. Certainly no one wants to sleep with such an important guest present!—Luke 22:46; Matt. 18:20; 1 Thess. 5:6.

⁹ During the meeting do not let your mind wander from the important spiritual matters under discussion onto mundane things. Forget, at least during that period, about such things as your home duties, your job, etc., and concentrate on taking in accurate knowledge. “Keep your minds fixed on the things above, not on the things upon the earth.” “Ponder over these things, be absorbed in them, that your advancement may be manifest to all persons. Pay constant attention to yourself and to your teaching. Stay by these things, for by doing this you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.” Put anxiety away as you place your mind on spiritual matters, making Jehovah’s kingdom and his righteousness your greatest care.—Col. 3:2; 1 Tim. 4:15, 16; Matt. 6:33.

ON THE ALERT

10, 11. (a) What dangers may be avoided by gathering and partaking at Jehovah’s table? (b) How does Peter express the plight of those falling to appreciate the privilege of associating with the New World society?

¹⁰ There is every reason why we should gather together today at Jehovah’s table to receive of his goodness. The time for the bright-shining of the truth has arrived. Those who immerse themselves in God’s interests are safely hidden in the secret place of the Most High. The Devil, having been violently hurled from heaven to earth by Jehovah’s great archangel, now is on the prowl, seeking to draw away from the truth and devour those not alert, those not busy in the work of the Lord God. It becomes increasingly important to cherish divine instruction and discipline in order to be assured of God’s favor and protection. “Once saved always saved” is a dangerous slogan. Through adopting it many have become negligent and careless with once-cherished privileges of service. Thus a way has been opened for the demons to come in and occupy their minds. Paul was inspired to utter timely warning for us today. He said that some, because of not glorifying and thanking God for his undeserved kindness, “became empty-headed in their reasonings and their unintelligent heart became darkened. . . . just as they did not approve of holding God in accurate knowledge.”—Rev. 12:12; 1 Pet. 5:8; Prov. 4:13; Rom. 1:21-23, 28-32.

¹¹ Neglecting study, failing to keep up with the truth, forsaking the assembling with others of like precious faith, causes some to drift away. It causes them to lose appreciation for their uncommon privilege as servants of God. Peter expresses their plight: “It would have been better for them not to have accurately known the path of righteousness than after knowing it accurately to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them. The saying of the true proverb has happened to them: ‘The dog has turned back to its own vomit, and the sow that was bathed to rolling in the mire.’” They take themselves out from under the shadow of God’s wings.—2 Pet. 2:17-22; Prov. 18:1.

12. Why is activity in Jehovah’s service essential?

¹² Life in the new world of righteousness is too precious to sacrifice on the altar of neglect, lack of appreciation or disobedience. Study of God’s Word is important. But it is just a means to an end: the obedient activity in telling the good news of salvation by Jehovah. There is no place in God’s organization for a lazy man. Jesus set the example when just a lad. He was surprised that his parents did not know that he would be about his Father’s business. So we should be about our Father’s business, making it our business. Consequently, “do not loiter at your business. Be aglow with the spirit.” “Become steadfast, unmovable, always having plenty to do in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in connection with the Lord.”—Luke 2:49, AV; Rom. 12:11; 1 Cor. 15:58.

MAKING USE OF THE TIME

13, 14. (a) What rare privilege does God extend to his servants today, and how do they guard it? (b) What results from their exercising that privilege?

¹³ The time is ripe for the vindication of Jehovah’s name. Rare indeed is the privilege extended to man by the Sovereign Lord of the universe to share in that vindication. We contribute by exposing God’s enemies and by furnishing to Jehovah the answer he requests, namely, that there are persons on earth anxious to devote their time, effort and life to prove the Devil to be a liar. The integrity-keeping witnesses of Jehovah refuse to compromise on righteous principles. They refuse to allow passion to affect their standing as servants of God. Never again will it be necessary for men to uphold God’s side of the issue, because, with the abyssing of Satan and his demon associates and with the humiliation and destruction of his visible agents, the issue will be settled. Then all breathing creatures will praise Jehovah.—Ps. 150:6.

¹⁴ Now is the time to find one’s place in the New World society and to maintain such place. It is God’s will “that all kinds of men should be saved and come to an accurate knowledge of truth.” Love of God and love of neighbor impels all of God’s servants to study with the purpose in view of engaging in that great lifesaving work. The time is limited. May “the peace of God that excels all thought . . . guard your hearts and your mental powers by means of Christ Jesus. . . . The things which you learned as well as accepted and heard and saw in connection with me, practice these; and the God of peace will be with you.”—1 Tim. 2:4; Eph. 5:15, 16; Phil. 4:7-9.

A Good Conversation

[This is a translation of an article written by a “Reverend” P. C. Shoonenboom, coeditor of Kerk en olde lantschap, a semimonthly religious paper for the province of Drenthe, Netherlands, dated January 10, 1958.]

“Recently he stood at my door. A blushing, handsome young man of twenty. He was one of Jehovah’s witnesses. Oh! dear reader, you likely know them too. At one time or another they have been at your door. What did you then do? Have you ever invited him in? Or was it restricted to a skirmish with a few Bible texts at the outside door, followed by your declination, just as you tell a vacuum cleaner salesman that you do not need anything? Let it at once be said that most of us know Jehovah’s witnesses only from this aspect. Often we know them as queer and annoying people, who simply knock at your door, and with support of many citations out of the Bible inform you that the end of the world is at hand. Our knowledge goes no further.

“When I saw the young man standing at my door, I could not say I viewed him as being queer. At once I thought to myself: A clean-cut young fellow of twenty who comes to testify for his faith, where do we have such in our church or congregations? I was very much interested. What inspired this young man? What has he found by Jehovah’s witnesses, of which so little or none at all is to be found in the church? What can I learn herefrom for my own faith?

“With these questions in my heart I invited him in. We talked the whole evening and it was a good conversation. Every time I think back, I am still thankful for it. And this I would like to say: You should all do that at one time or another, when there is occasion for it. Let him talk. Listen well. He will naturally declaim against the church and all her shortcomings. They all do that. Jehovah’s witnesses have very strong complaints against the Christian churches. The joke is that you then discover that you yourself in part share these objections and hesitations. And still you will note that your faith will hereby be sharpened and revived. Your love for the church is put to the test. And this can only be good and wholesome.”

Endurance

“The fortitude of the Christian,” once wrote English poet and author John Dryden, “consists in patience, not in enterprises which the poets call heroic and which are commonly the effects of interest, pride, and worldly honor.”

Worth Even More

Patrick Henry, the American Revolutionary leader famous for the words “Give me liberty, or give me death,” once declared: “The Bible is worth all other books which have ever been printed.”

In the World but No Part of It

“PROBLEMS Which Jehovah’s Witnesses Present in Our Time.” Under that heading the German newspaper Vorwärts, July 19, 1957, interestingly editorialized on the phenomena of the “Church Assembly of 20,000 Bible Students in the giant tent on the Theresa Meadow.” Without intending to do so, the writer demonstrates that the witnesses of Jehovah are indeed the true followers of Christ, for “they are in the world” and yet “they are no part of the world just as I am no part of the world.” (John 17:11, 14) Said the Vorwärts:

“Munich, the city of tolerance on the banks of the river Isar, will not have her next church assembly first in 1960, for which year the Eucharistic Congress has been announced; nor in 1959, in which the Evangelical Church Assembly will take place. Without making much advance propaganda, Jehovah’s witnesses erected on the Theresa Meadow of Munich a large tent which seats 20,000 and which is the biggest ever erected there, and opened their district assembly for South Germany and the Saar, which is to last until Sunday.

“A peculiar atmosphere greets the visitor as he walks along the tent streets called ‘Kingdom Street’ and ‘Watchtower Street.’ It is not the worldly cleverness of the Jesuits, not the radiant gaiety of the Dominicans, not the queer cheerfulness of the Benedictines that one can read on all faces. Neither is it the required seriousness called for by a creed, as with an evangelical church gathering, or a touristlike participation as with a Catholic Church feast, but a well-controlled, deep, inwardly rooted activity.

“One could almost think they were shadows, so frictionless does everything take place. When on Tuesday evening 15,000 of the expected 20,000 members of this teaching arrived, they were housed according to plans. Endless rows of rubber mattresses were laid out in the exhibition halls of the Theresa Meadow, which accommodated 5,000; 1,000 families had their own tents or trailers with which they settled down on the October-Feast Meadow, whose lawns are otherwise so carefully guarded by the city council of Munich. The rest found rooms in private homes which had been obtained by their friends in Munich.

“You do not hear a harsh word or any murmuring as one by one without hesitation takes his place before the cafeteria tent at noon, on ‘Kingdom Street.’ The ushers do not wear any armbands, but only small badges in their buttonholes for identification.

“The purpose of this gathering is to hold a convention. But its main feature is not, as might be supposed, the Theocratic Ministry School on Wednesday, . . . nor the baptism by complete immersion on Friday morning, nor the lectures on materialism on Saturday nor the main talk on Sunday. It is the field service every forenoon, the going from door to door by the convention delegates, for which purpose they are assigned territory. Also thirty-four buses are engaged to bring these preachers to the territory surrounding Munich. . . .

“If you ask yourself which other religious society is able to hold a convention of 20,000 people with unpaid co-workers from the organization chief down to the scrubwoman, it would be hard to find one.

“Those 20,000 people, many of whom came to Munich at the cost of great personal sacrifice, imply at the same time 20,000 questions to the great Christian churches. . . . They were seeking answers to their questions and thus they became witnesses of Jehovah in a world that has learned to get along pretty well without faith. But before they could believe that they had found the answer to their question, they had learned that they could get along without the world. But the world has never doubted that it can get along without the witnesses of Jehovah. . . . The witnesses are willing today, as before, to go to concentration camps because of their faith, but they refuse still to take any part in the political activities of this world’s systems.”

Summed Up

“The sum and substance of the preparation needed for a coming eternity,” Scottish clergyman Thomas Chalmers has said, “is, that you believe what the Bible tells you, and do what the Bible bids you.”

Questions From Readers

● Since Jesus knew he was to be bruised by the great Serpent, Satan the Devil, in fulfillment of Genesis 3:15, why did he, when dying on the torture stake, ask: “My God, my God, to what end have you forsaken me?”—Matt. 27:46.

Jesus on the torture stake asked this question, not because he did not know why Jehovah God, his heavenly Father, had forsaken him, but in order that prophecy might be fulfilled. The prophecy here fulfilled was one found in Psalm 22, which was written by David, who was a prophetic type of the Lord Jesus Christ in many respects.

In the opening words of that psalm, David cries out: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (AV) When any disciples of Jesus who were standing near his torture stake, such as John and Mary, the mother of Jesus, heard him cry out those words of Psalm 22:1, they may not at the time have appreciated why Jesus made such an outcry. But after understanding came upon them, following the outpouring of the holy spirit on the day of Pentecost, then they must have remembered and appreciated the fact that this prophetic outcry identified Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah of God.

On the torture stake Jesus was indeed forsaken by his heavenly Father, Jehovah, in order that his integrity to God might be tested to the very limit. God forsook him, abandoning him to the cruel devices of Satan the Devil and his wicked religious agents on earth. Thus Satan, who has the means to cause death, was given free allowance to exercise that power against the Son of God.

But God’s abandonment of Jesus was only as far as allowing the Devil and his dupes to put Jesus to death. This abandonment of Jesus did not include the disposal of his dead body or corpse. Instead of Jesus’ enemies taking his body down from the torture stake and casting it into the fiery valley of Hinnom (or Gehenna), his body was recovered from the torture stake by Joseph of Arimathea, who had the corpse buried in a new tomb that he had cut. This burial of Jesus meant he was in Sheol, the common grave of mankind. In Sheol he was not abandoned by Jehovah God, for Psalm 139:8 (which was written by David, a type of Jesus Christ) says: “If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou art there.” (AS) Hence on the third day after Jesus’ death Jehovah God showed that he had not permanently abandoned Jesus, by raising him from the dead to spirit life immortal. When Jesus later appeared to his disciples that same resurrection day he could therefore say: “All the things written in the law of Moses and in the Prophets and Psalms about me must be fulfilled,” including Psalm 22:1 (AV), namely, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”—Luke 24:44.

The Skin of Your Teeth

“I escape with the skin of my teeth.” This expression, found at Job 19:20, prompts the question: What is the skin of your teeth? A report in Scientific American of June, 1953, says: “Microscopic techniques now reveal tooth enamel to be not a dead shell but the hardest and strongest tissue in the body, a ‘superskin’. . . . Essentially the teeth consist of two types of hard tissue: the dentine or ivory core, and the enamel, or ‘skin’. . . . The enamel is produced by skin (epithelial) cells. . . . Enamel is unique among living matter in two respects; it has no cells or blood vessels. . . . Certainly enamel cannot reproduce itself, as living tissues usually do. But then, neither can some of the highly specialized cells of the body, such as the brain neurons. . . . We used radioactive isotopes of phosphorus, calcium, iodine and other elements to find out whether . . . a turnover took place in the enamel. The experiments proved that it did. . . . In short, the enamel is not as fixed or as dead as it seems. Like other hard tissues, it carries on a traffic with its environment, albeit without the aid of blood vessels or cells.” In its issue of November 15, 1916, page 348, The Watch Tower published a description of this ‘skin of the teeth’ in vindication of Job’s words.

Announcements

FULFILLING THE COMMISSION TO GO PREACH—Isa. 6:8, 9.

“Keep watching the ministry . . . that you fulfill it,” said the apostle Paul. (Col. 4:17) These words are important advice and admonition to all who are witnesses of Jehovah, for their commission to preach the good news of Jehovah’s established kingdom to all nations is clearly stated at Matthew 24:14. Just as Isaiah, after experiencing divinely provided cleansing from his uncleanness, accepted the commission, saying: “Here am I; send me,” so today the cleansed and enlightened witnesses of Jehovah willingly offer themselves and are desirous of fulfilling the commission to go preach. This month of July will be no exception. From house to house, and also on the way to the great international assembly, they will preach to all who will listen. As an aid to persons hungering for Bible knowledge two Bible-study aid books and two booklets will be offered on a $1 contribution. Be sure to share in fulfilling the commission to go preach.

BROOKLYN BETHEL VACATION

The Society’s office, factory and Bethel home in Brooklyn, New York, will be closed from August 16 to 31 inclusive. Orders and correspondence sent in during that period will not be handled until sometime after the reopening of the offices. Please anticipate your needs and place your orders in ample time for attention before the vacation period.

TO PLAN YOUR VACATION

The most profitable place you could be this summer is New York city. Why? Because it is in Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds there that Jehovah’s witnesses and their friends will convene from the ends of the earth for their 1958 Divine Will International Assembly. How will you benefit? From association with dedicated Christians from all walks of life and every major country of the world. From eight days packed full of Bible counsel and instruction. How can you come? By private car or by other arrangements of your own or by taking advantage of the many special travel plans being made through local congregations or branch offices of Jehovah’s witnesses. Where can you stay? Accommodations are available in hotels and private homes at reasonable rates, all secured for your convenience by voluntary effort of the congregations in the New York area. Where can you get further information? From the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s witnesses nearest you or by writing Watchtower Convention, 77 Sands St., Brooklyn 1, N.Y. What are the dates? July 27 to August 3. Will you be there?

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

August 3: Studying with a Purpose, ¶1-24. Page 401.

August 10: Studying with a Purpose, ¶25-30, and Keeping a Firm Grip on the Word of Life. Page 406.

Check Your Memory

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

✔ Whether the rosary is exclusively Catholic? P. 388, ¶2.

✔ What dedicated Christians owe God? P. 392, ¶5.

✔ How a person’s memory can be improved? P. 393, ¶4.

✔ How the apostle John was able to write down detailed conversations sixty-five years after he heard them? P. 394, ¶2.

✔ How to get along without written reminders? P. 396, ¶2.

✔ How a person can have God’s favor extended to him? P. 401, ¶1.

✔ Who is responsible for the spiritual upbringing of children? P. 407, ¶29.

✔ Whether Jesus was in favor of having a clergy class? P. 409, ¶1.

✔ Why the slogan “once saved always saved” is dangerous? P. 411, ¶10.

✔ Why Jesus cried out on the torture stake: “My God, my God, to what end have you forsaken me?” P. 415, ¶2.